**BLOG TOUR With Giveaway** Rebel Cause by Cassandra Giovanni

Reese White has spent her whole life trying so hard to be perfect, that when she looks in the mirror, she doesn't know the person staring back at her. Sure, she's always gotten high grades and excelled academically, but she's never put much time into herself. Now, as she heads off to college, Reese realizes she's remained so hidden inside a book that she's invisible to everyone, including herself.

Kellin Lake has always seen Reese, his little sister's best friend, the beautiful girl hidden behind baggy clothes and good grades--but he's hiding, too-- even from her. Tattoos, lip piercing and lead singer in a metal band, he's a rebel without a cause. But that's just to the people at school. At home, he covers it all up, and he's the boy with the angel's voice, and a 4.0 only his parents know about.

When Reese flips the switch and takes control of her looks, they make an arrangement-- pretend to be in a relationship to elevate Reese's social status. It's simple. Kellin helps his sister's best friend, and Reese isn't invisible anymore. No one falls in love. No one gets hurt. But what Reese doesn't realize is Kellin is already in love with her.

And now things get a hell of a lot more complicated.

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EXCERPT ONE

“So are you going to explain what all of this is about?” Lindy asks as she holds the door open for me to the mall.

“I may have asked Tyler out on a date…and he rejected me.”

And I’m insanely jealous of any girl I see your brother kissing…

Lindy is silent for a moment, and all I can hear is the sound of her heel’s clicking on the ceramic tiles and noise of my too big jeans as they drag on it.

“No shit,” Lindy replies, and I look at her bubble gum pink sweater, floral tank, and skinny jeans.

I bite my cheek before looking straight ahead. “Apparently, you’re more his type.”

“Like I’d ever go for that,” Lindy replies, her lips curling under as she sticks her tongue out. “So what is this, a makeover?”

“Exactly.”

The smile grows on Lindy’s face as she looks me over. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I nod. “I know exactly who I am, and it’s time for me to show it.”

“So are we going for preppy?” she asks as we begin to walk again.

I shake my head. “Not at all.”

“What are we going for then?”

“I love you, Lind, but I am definitely not you,” I answer as we walk past Express and Lindy’s head stays fixed on a mannikin in a set of dark wash skinny jeans and a tight black v-neck tee. I stop, and she slams into me. “Think Kellin’s type.”

“Softcore rebel without a cause?” Lindy asks as I turn into the store and grab my size in the jeans and the smallest version of the shirt I can find.

“Exactly, except I love the music he plays,” I reply.

Lindy shakes her head at me, taking the pants and putting them back down and grabbing a smaller size. “Right, then you’ll want pants that are actually your size.”

“How do you know what size I am?” I ask.

“I’ve seen you in a bathing suit. You’re tiny beneath all that cotton.”

I take the pants from her and head into the dressing room. When I come out, Lindy has a pile of jeans for me just as skinny as the ones I’ve slipped into but in a variety of colors including a pair of ripped ones. I grab them from her hands and smile.

“Perfect,” I reply.

“Reese, you’re going to make Tyler have a heart attack,” Lindy says as she looks me up and down with the widest smile I’ve ever seen on her.

“This isn’t about Tyler,” I reply as I turn to the full-length mirror.

“Who is it about then?”

My heart stutters for a moment as Kellin’s face comes to mind. I shake my head, before looking up at the girl in the mirror and smiling. “Me.”

“If I know you well enough this shirt is going to be right up your alley,” she says, draping a black t-shirt with silver scroll and skulls over my shoulder.

I take a deep breath. “How did you know?”

Lindy shrugs. “I knew you were hiding a rebel under there; now we just need some band t-shirts.”

I turn to her. “And dye.”

“Dye?”

I nod. “And I’ll need to get contacts…and make-up.”

“We don’t want you to overdose on make-over here, Reese,” Lindy replies, chewing on the inside of her lip as I smile at her.

“I know exactly who I want to be, now are you going to help me or not?”

“Lead the way,” Lindy replies as she shakes her head with a laugh.

EXCERPT TWO

“Yeah, I’m not the ugly friend anymore,” I reply, picking at the strands of my ripped jeans.

Kellin scoffs. “You never were.”

I look up, raising my eyebrows at him. “Come on, Kell. I wasn’t pretty before.”

He shakes his head, his lips in a harsh line just like his jaw. “That’s bullshit, Ree. You’re the same girl you were before, except your clothes fit a little too good and you stopped wearing glasses.”

“Don’t forget this,” I reply tossing my hair over my shoulders, and staring at him through my bangs.

He reaches over and runs his fingers over my chin in a way that makes me inhale deeply.

Breathe, Reese. Breathe.

“I do like that color on you,” he replies, his hand falling over mine and weaving our fingers together.

“I thought you would, ” I answer without thinking, squeezing my eyes shut as I think of exactly how that sounds like I did this just to impress him.

“I’m glad you considered how I’d feel about the change.”

“You’re one of my best friends…besides Lindy, so of course I thought of what you’d think,” I explain, and Kellin’s hand pulls away from mine to go to the steering wheel.

He stares ahead, and I’m struck by the urge to take his hand back into mine again because now it feels wrong for his hand not to be there. We sit in silence until I finally speak.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?” Kellin asks as he shifts the truck into park.

“I don’t know…you just seem angry,” I reply as I watch him squeezing the steering wheel with white knuckles.

“Not at all.”

“You sure?” I ask as he jumps out and moves the seat forward so he can grab his guitar and amplifier.

“Of course.” He slides the guitar over his back, taking the amp in one arm, so his biceps bulge as he holds out the other for me. “Ready to make an entrance?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask as I look at the already crowded venue.

“Absolutely positive.”

Being Kellin’s arm candy is strangely satisfying. Girls eyes follow us as we enter the room, and narrow on me when I kiss his cheek before he goes on stage. At the end of the show, I can feel their stares as he pulls me into his arms to hug me, and then slings his arm around my waist, tucking his hand into my front pocket.

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, Reese,” Kellin explains. “Joey Schmidt,” he nods to the screamer. “Carl Fague,” he nods to the drummer, and finally the bassist. “Johnny Temple — who you already know as Temp.”

“In other words, Schmidt, and Fague,” I fill in the blanks of how he usually refers to them.

“Exactly.” Kellin’s lips twitch as he looks at them staring at me.

Cassandra doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character’s stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.

Cassandra Giovanni is published by Show n’ot Tell Publishing based out of Connecticut, USA

Connect with Cassandra on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.  Learn more about her and her novels at her website, www.cgiovanniauthor.com and read the first ten chapters of each of her published novels through her Book Catalog.

Finding the Cure

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In Between the Seasons (The Fall Series #1)

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Love Exactly  

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 Walking in the Shadows 

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Rebel Cause Giveaway

**EXCERPT TOUR With Giveaway** Finding The Cure by Cassandra Giovanni

Ellie Abela’s life has been anything but easy. Tragedy follows her where ever she goes, and she’s been a lot of places. At twenty she’s lived in over ten different states, all because of her dad’s career in medical research. His career is just another list of the causes of tragedies in El’s life. He’s dying, and with every breath he takes closer to Heaven, Ellie dies a little bit inside too.
At twelve she lost her mom in a drunk driving accident, and in a matter of months she fears she’ll lose the last person she has in the world to cancer.
While Ellie’s life has been rife with sadness, Trent Wentworth’s has been a challenge. A drug-addicted mom and a dead-beat dad meant at twenty three he was the adoptive father of his two year old sister. Now at twenty five he’s working his way up the corporate ladder and a struggling single parent.
Each is searching for a cure to the things in their lives dragging them down.
Not all cures are black and white; not all cures save us–and sometimes saving isn’t what we need. Sometimes we just need to realize how lucky we are to be alive, at least for this moment.

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ONE

I wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel, and it squeaked with the pressure as my knuckles turned white. The sound echoed through the car as my grip continued to tighten. I used to wonder if it was harder to know you're going to die, or just dying without the ability to say goodbye. The tears began to stream down my face as I sped down the highway. The guardrails were just silver blurs as I hammered the gas.

I shouldn't have wondered it. My life was cruel punishment for the thought. The question should've been what's harder, never getting to say goodbye or knowing that every breath could be goodbye?

My chin trembled as my eyes fell to the speedometer.

I was going too fast.

The highway was too straight; a never ending path in front of me that I wanted to drive on until I fell off the edge of the Earth.

I already had, hadn't I?

My eyes lashes fluttered, the drops of tears weighing them down.

Never getting to say goodbye.

I knew that evil. God, did I know that evil. The look on Dad's face as the phone slipped from his hands, the words forming at his lips never reaching my ears.

I read them.

I knew them.

The shock hit my body, and I desperately wanted to feel something--anything besides the rolling waves of pain. That numbness weighted down my limbs as the physical ache coursed through my veins. The anger and pain crushed down on me until my chest was so tight I couldn't breath. Then I had Dad-- he was always there, despite his own pain. His warmth overtook the shocking cold of loss. He broke the edges that hardened on my soul.

Knowing that every breath could be goodbye.

Now.

That was now.

I lifted my foot off the gas, letting the car slow until I pulled over and stopped. My head dipped between my shoulders as my chest heaved with a sob. I let my hands drop to my lap, red lines marking them where my skin had met too tightly with itself. The tears puddled in my palms.

I knew he was going to die. There was nothing that could stop it. I had to watch it. The pillar of strength when Mom died was withering into nothing in front of my eyes. The numbness that hit me when Mom died was a constant part of my life; it never left. I had just gotten better at hiding it. The chains around what was left of my heart tightened with each passing day. Each day meant there was one less breath. Who would save me now?

My eyes rose to the black sky above me.

There was no cure for Dad.

There was no cure for me.

TWO

I walked over to the door leading to his room and pushed it open. I wanted a distraction. I didn't want to think about it. I heard Trent follow me, and I walked over to the guitars hung on the wall. I ran my fingers over the strings. I knew Trent was leaning against the door frame, watching me carefully.

"My dad used to play drums before he got sick," I explained. "I used to want to learn how to play guitar...then we could have our own band."

Trent walked forward, going to sit on his bed, and I turned to face him.

"He's a scientist. He's been trying to find the cure for different types of cancer for as long as I can remember...and I don't mean little labs somewhere. Government labs...and all those tests...and chemicals--and whatever the fuck," I replied, stopping as my body trembled. "He was handling--that's what gave him it...the cancer. He was trying to find a cure," my neck pushed forward as I fought back the tears. "And he...he basically killed himself."

"There's no cure?" Trent whispered.

I looked at the ceiling, dimly lit by the bedside lamp. "If there was, he would've found it."

Trent stood and his face came into my vision as he looked down at me. He ran his hand up my back until it reached my head, tipping it back to a normal position. He put his forehead against mine, his hand cupping my cheek as his other stayed on my lower back.

"Not all cures are black and white--not all cures save us," Trent whispered, and I felt my eyelashes heavy with tears.

"I'm dying too--every time I look at him and know that every breath he takes is closer to his last one." I didn't bother wiping away the silent tears now making their way down my face.

"It's always been that way, El. We're all going to die someday," He crushed his eyes shut, shaking his head. "That sounded harsh. I didn't--"

"You're right."

He opened his eyes, his chest rising with the deep inhale he took. "I do get it. I used to come home and wonder if I was going to find my mom dead." His eyes drifted before coming back to mine. "But every time I didn't--every time I came home and she was fine--I was thankful for it, even more so if she was straight."

I laid my head on his chest, and his hands stayed on my lower back, his own head lowering into the crook of my shoulder. We stayed like that for a moment as my heart beat evened out, my eyes drifted to his bed and the rate picked up again. My chest tightened as I stared at the neat brown and tan checkered comforter, and then my eyes drifted to the time.

1:30 PM.

My eyes suddenly felt heavy, and my mouth formed a yawn.

Trent looked down at me, and his own eyes were heavy. "Tired?" he asked.

"Yeah, and I don't feel like driving home." I ignored the whooshing of blood through my ears as my face heated.

"I can take the couch," Trent explained as he pulled away and pointed his thumb over his shoulder before going to his dresser and pulling out a pair of pajama bottoms and a plain black tee. "They might be big, but it should be more comfortable for you."

I took them from him, my hand touching his and causing tingles to run up my spine. "You know, I don't mind if...if you don't take the couch."

Trent's eyebrow twitched as he looked at me, and I laughed.

"Come on, we're both adults, and I'm sure you can keep your hands off of me if I'm hidden under all this," I replied, holding up the clothing that undoubtedly would be baggy on me.

"Are you sure?" he asked, pulling his own pair of pajama pants out of the drawer.

"Positive, now turn the other way so I can get undressed," I ordered, using my pointer finger to signal a circle.

He put his hands up. "Of course, but I think you'll be the one peeking."

I rolled my eyes as I turned, pulling my shirt off and replacing it with his. I paused as I heard the zipper of his pants go down. I pursed my lips as I gazed straight ahead as I unzipped mine and pulled them off. I cursed as I struggled to pull the tight bottom off. "Skinny jeans."

"You okay?" Trent asked, his voice deep with amusement.

"Oh, shut up! If you had to wear jeans this tight you'd understand."

I turned and flopped on his bed, putting my arms behind my head as I stared at his bare back. Between his shoulder blades was another tattoo, this one of a bird flying through the sun.

"You didn't tell me about that one," I commented, and he turned, putting his hands up.

"I didn't know you wanted to know where all of them where," he replied, smirking down at me as my jaw dropped.

There was another tattoo on the cap of his shoulder, this one a Japanese lotus in bright orange and pink. My eyes wondered to his chest, which was covered in a thin layer of hair I hadn't expected. He scratched it, his neck turning red up to his ears.

"Sorry about the hairy chest. I can put a shirt on if it bothers you," he said.

I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest as my eyes wandered again. I shook my head, putting my eyes back where they belonged, on his face. "If you have to put a shirt on it won't be because of your hairy chest."

His eyebrows twitched as he laughed. "You like it then?"

I tapped my hands on my knees as my eyes dropped to his slightly sculpted chest, down to his flat stomach and his hip bones. I lay back, pulling the pillow over my face. "Why couldn't you put on a burlap sack?" I muttered into it.

I felt Trent's body indent the bed next to me, and he lifted up the edge of the pillow, blinking at me.

"What was that?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes smacking him with the pillow before putting it back under my head and turning my back to him. Trent reached over me, flicking off the light switch, and wrapping his arm around me. I snuggled into him and closed my eyes.

Cassandra doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character’s stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.

Cassandra Giovanni is published by Show n’ot Tell Publishing based out of Connecticut, USA

Connect with Cassandra on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.  Learn more about her and her novels at her website, www.cgiovanniauthor.com and read the first ten chapters of each of her published novels through her Book Catalog.

Flawed Perfection

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Goodreads

In Between the Seasons (The Fall Series #1)

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Goodreads

Love Exactly  

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Goodreads

 Walking in the Shadows 

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Goodreads

Finding the Cure Blog Tour Giveaway