New Book Alert: MY LAST KISS

by Brittany Geragotelis

Hey guys! I'm so excited to introduce you to an exciting new author whose debut novel, MY LAST KISS just came out! Her name is Bethany Neal, and I had the pleasure of meeting her on one of my author tours and since then, we've become social media buddies. She's sweet, fun, thoughtful and we've had more than one convo about one of our TV faves, AMERICAN HORROR STORY.

Well, you're in luck because Bethany's stopping by to give you a little insight into the sometimes evil world of frenemies...just in time to prepare you for MY LAST KISS. I've already ordered my copy...don't wait too long to get yours!

Congrats to author Bethany Neal to her debut novel MY LAST KISS!

The art of the frenemy. We’ve all had them. Some of us might have even been one in the past—or at this very moment—but one thing is true when it comes to frenemies (at least in pop culture): we love to hate them. But why? My novel MY LAST KISS has its fair share of frenemy love/hate that leads to the ultimate betrayal of the main character Cassidy Haines. Read on as I analyze this list of royal Queen Bee-otches to find out.

First up is Ali from the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. Talk about two-faced. Ali manages to torment her band of hot for teacher, pill-popping, donut-purging, closeted friends more after she's dead than when she's alive. Brutal, right? But behind every scheme and lie Ali orchestrates, one thing is evident. She’s afraid. Of what? You’ll have to read the books (or watch the show) to find out. The point here is there are two types of frenemies: those who are afraid and those who are jealous. And they’ll tear you down one insecurity at a time to avoid having to admit it. 

Courtney Shayne from the movie Jawbreaker is the latter. Her signature color might be red, but her blood runs a deep envious shade of green. Liz Purr’s death by birthday-prank-gone-wrong courtesy of a particularly bitter jawbreaker might have been an accident, but damned if Courtney wasn’t pleased at punch to strut down the school halls in a V formation—Courtney at the point—mere hours after the much-adored alpha nice girl bit the big one. Courtney couldn’t stand that Liz was revered and loved. Nothing pisses off an alpha girl more than coming in second place to someone who doesn’t have to resort to suggestively licking popsicles to impress a guy in a letter jacket.

Kathryn from the movie Cruel Intentions takes the saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" to a whole new level of villainy when she helps her stepbrother/borderline incestuous play toy Sebastian de-virginize the self-proclaimed waiting-for-marriage Annette. Kathryn is so hellbent on revenge that she swaps spit with her droll nemesis Cecil in Central Park in an attempt to “corrupt” her. But playing puppetmaster on the elite Upper West Side has its pitfalls and Kathryn falls victim to just about every one of them in the end…including an unhealthy dependency on her suspiciously powdery rosary. 

Regina George from the movie Mean Girls epitomizes the term frenemy. She will literally tell you she loves your “vintage” skirt to your face and turn around to tell someone else that it’s “the ugliest f-ing skirt” she’s ever seen. In my totally professional psychoanalysis (based solely on a lifetime of watching teen movies), Regina is both afraid (of being alone) and jealous (of anyone with better hair than her). Regina deals with her insecurities by portraying a persona that will land her as many “friends” as possible. The sweet on the outside, sour on the inside game is a classic from the frenemy playbook. To double the offense, pro-frenemies like Regina “friends” equal power in which she can wield to fill the gapping void of insecurities sticking to her insides like glitter rubbed off the Burn Book. She’s the typical kid who never learned to share on the playground…only she had a perfect enough smile to get away with it, and now she’s stealing away boyfriends and teacher’s integrity instead of sandbox toys.

And then we have Beth Cassidy from Dare Me by Megan Abbott. Beth is the prototypical mean girl—hot cheerleader with a cool, blasé façade—but she’s the antithesis to every established frenemy law. She’ll just as easily trash talk to your face as behind your back, and you’ll want to be nearer to her all the more for it. She reigns with fear, but not her own—she’s fearless, as exemplified by her high-flying cheer stunts. She’ll play footsie with your fears then train them to kick you in the ass with your own foot, and you’ll still want her as your hard-as-acrylic-nails “friend” and have no idea why except that it’s better than the alternative. Beth is either the most messed up female on this list or she’s simply the most evolved. Hey, at least she’s honest. Kinda begs the question: what’s worse, the beast you know or the one lurking at the base of a cheer pyramid waiting to drop you when you fall? 

Lastly...Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss—the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died—is a blur. Now, Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made—good and bad—that led to her last kiss.

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Be sure to check out Bethany's new book and visit her on social media! Facebook & Twitter.

Congrats Bethany!

5x5,
B.