Coming Soon – Summer Revival (Sides A and B)

If you’re on my email list, then most of this is old news to you, but I just realized I never put this on my blog! For shame!

Summer Revival is my current work in progress. Crossroads is *not* its prequel, but rather just a sort of introduction to the world. What Crossroads does is simply set up the environment for Summer Revival. It establishes a friendship between Max Rosser and Trey Holland. It talks about the living arrangements of Will, Max and his mother. It give you a sense of who they are and what influences them. That’s about it.

Summer Revival is not Will’s story. It is Max’s. It will pick up about 8 years after Crossroads, when Max is sixteen. The series will be split into two books.

Side A, the first book, will be narrated by two characters you already know:

Fifteen-year-old Trey Holland is definitely his father’s son. Responsible and conscientious, he always tries to do the right thing. He’s popular in school, a good athlete, and driven to exceed in academics. He doesn’t allow his new girlfriend, Zaina, to hinder any of his plans, either. He knows what he wants and he knows what it’ll take to get there. Even though Trey and Max have gone to different schools since childhood, they’ve been best friends for the past eight years. They’re as close as brothers, and Trey would do just about anything for his friend.

Twenty-eight-year-old Jon Scott is adjusting to life in Manhattan again, and it’s a whole new world. After living in Brazil for the past four and a half years, he’s getting used to a new job, getting reacquainted with his family, and trying to establish a new home life for himself. He’s relied heavily on his brother, Will, to keep an eye on their youngest brother Max, and he’s not sure he made the right choice in leaving them behind when he sees how Will has decided to live his life. He feels obligated to step in, and provide the support he should have given his brothers while he was away.

Side B will be released later. One narrator is Max; another is someone you will meet in this story:

Sixteen-year-old Max Rosser is outgoing, happy, flirtatious and fearless. He’s been afforded more freedom than most kids his age. While his mother has continued with her sobriety, her interest in other things has still kept her attention away from her sons. While Jon was away, Will was supposed to keep a watchful eye on Max, but Will’s constant focus on school kept him busy, and his disdain for his mother kept him away from their apartment unless he needed a place to crash for a night. Fortunately, Max and Trey have stayed very close over the years, and the Hollands have often provided much needed structure when others have not.

Sixteen-year-old Callen is a schoolmate of Trey’s and a friend of his and Max’s. The three have been close friends for a few years, playing summer sports together and going out as a group on the weekends. Callen is the best athlete at their school, and has the ego (and girlfriend) to prove it. His relationship with cheerleader Brinlee is the talk of the school. They’re the perfect couple–inseparable, so in love and serious. Callen’s parents are well-known in the community, and in their conservative private school. They don’t always see eye-to-eye with their son, but when they hear rumors about him, they simply deny everything. Their Callen is a good boy. He would never do anything wrong.

Summer Revival will test friendships, relationships and family bonds. The whole series hinges on the happenings of one night… and the involvement of quite a few people. There are central characters. There are supporting ones. There are peripheral ones. But they’re all important. Below are the actors/models/whatever I see for these characters.

What about Will, you ask? Well, I’ve already fallen for him, and the guy won’t stop talking to me, so yes, I plan to have a book for him after Summer Revival… it will likely pick up (chronologically) right where this series leaves off. I’ve kind of already figured that part out.

I have no ETA for this. No. No release date. Please don’t ask. I can’t give you one. Keep in mind that I still have that ‘real’ 8-5 job that I have to do… so all the writing comes second to that, unfortunately. It’s not what I want either. (We can all whine together now.)