Brigid Kemmerer Guest Post & Giveaway
Today I'm happy to welcome Brigid Kemmerer to the blog. She's telling us about her top ten worst dates, and boy are some of them doozies. Her new book Spark is set to be released on the 28th, but you can win an early copy. I really loved Spark. Make sure you check back on the 17th for my
review. *Update* Brigid is so awesome that she's going to sign the ARC, so not only will the winner be getting an early copy, but it will be signed!
Top Ten Worst Dates
1) When I was about 21, I was experimenting with online dating. It was fresh and new, and everyone was on dial-up, so real photos were few and far between. I'd arranged to meet the guy at a Barnes & Noble. When he showed up, he was wearing a filthy old sweatshirt and jeans. I'm a pretty optimistic person, and he seemed okay, so we decided to walk across the parking lot to Outback Steakhouse.
He proceeded to order three glasses of water. At the same time. During the course of the meal, he drank approximately 27 glasses of water. I am not making this up. He also ordered an appetizer, steak, a few sides, and dessert.
At the end of the meal, he told me he couldn't pay. Not just for my half. FOR ANY OF IT.
2) When I was a senior in high school, I'd planned to go to Hershey Park with my boyfriend and a bunch of our friends. I was lucky enough to have my own car, so I was one of the people driving. We'd planned this trip for weeks. That morning, we all piled into my Honda Accord, and I backed out of my boyfriend's driveway.
Well, I misjudged the turn and clipped his parents' mailbox. Not only did I take out their mailbox, but I ripped the entire front bumper off my car. (We tied it back on with rope and drove to Hershey Park anyway. Yes, really. My parents were PISSED.)
3) I'd been dating this college guy for a few weeks, when I decided to invite him out to the horse farm where I worked. He didn't have any experience with horses, which was fine. But he was eating chips from a bag when I led him into the field to show him one of my favorite horses. This older, pregnant mare, who was massive and lumbering, was attracted by the sound of the crinkly bag, and she picked her head up and started lumbering toward us.
The guy screamed (yes, SCREAMED), then yelled, "They're charging!" and ran for his car.
4) Once I was using an ATM machine at a movie theater. I was obviously alone. A guy sauntered over, clearly thinking he was all that, and said, all suave, "So. Have you ever used one of these before?"
Seriously. He was asking if I'd used an ATM Machine before. I wanted to ask if he'd ever talked to a girl before.
5) When I got my first apartment, I worked in a bookstore at a local mall. One of the security guards was sweet on me. I was NOT sweet on him. He knew where I lived, however, because his friend, one of the other security guards, had driven me home one night. So he thought it was totally okay to come over to my apartment when I wasn't home and leave a handwritten note on my glass sliding door that said, "I stoped by to see you." (Yes, with the spelling error and everything.)
6) I had dinner with a young man who was quite nice. He had his own place in downtown Baltimore, with a beautiful rooftop deck. Stunning view, very charming company. So while we're sitting on his rooftop deck, he says, "You know what I'd really like?" At the time, I was thinking all kinds of romantic thoughts. I said, "No. What would you really like?"
You can guess what he asked for.
7) I went to dinner with one guy who asked me for my coat at the end of the night. Hey, he was cold.
8) This one guy I dated for several weeks invited me to dinner with his mom, at her apartment. At that time, I also learned it was HIS apartment. She made very dry steak, and I choked down half of my piece. He proceeded to lecture me on not wasting food. Then asked if I wanted to see his porn collection.
9) One night, I went out dancing with this guy. For some reason, I thought I could handle four shots of tequila, despite the fact that I very, very rarely drink. On the way home, he had to pull over so I could throw up all over the side of the car. (I should also mention that it was two years ago, the "guy" was my husband, and the "car" was my minivan. First time I've EVER had to throw up after drinking.)
10) I can't end this on a negative note, so I'll give you a good one: One Monday, I got to work after the weekend from hell. It had been horrible. I'd broken up with my boyfriend, my car had been broken into and my video camera was stolen, I'd had a terrible fight with my mom -- you name it, it happened. So at work on Monday, a guy from another department called me for some information. I'd never talked to him before, but just out of kindness, he said, "Hi, Brigid, how was your weekend?" It was my first call of the day, so I just launched into this huge long story about how miserable my weekend was.
That guy? He listened to every word of that story, and many more later. It was the start of the best friendship I've ever had.
So you know, I had to marry him.
Brigid Kemmerer is the author of The Elemental Series, starting with Storm, which is available from Kensington Books. You can follow her on Twitter at @BrigidKemmerer, or visit her blog at www.brigidkemmerer.com.
Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all
over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the
lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling
near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first
real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs.
Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental
Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in
her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her
sound nuts.)
Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.
While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.
Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won't refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphonesurgically attached to her person nearby at all times, and email is the best way to reach her. Her email address is brigidmary@gmail.com.
I have an extra ARC copy of Spark by Brigid Kemmerer, so I'm giving it away to one lucky winner. Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
review. *Update* Brigid is so awesome that she's going to sign the ARC, so not only will the winner be getting an early copy, but it will be signed!
1) When I was about 21, I was experimenting with online dating. It was fresh and new, and everyone was on dial-up, so real photos were few and far between. I'd arranged to meet the guy at a Barnes & Noble. When he showed up, he was wearing a filthy old sweatshirt and jeans. I'm a pretty optimistic person, and he seemed okay, so we decided to walk across the parking lot to Outback Steakhouse.
He proceeded to order three glasses of water. At the same time. During the course of the meal, he drank approximately 27 glasses of water. I am not making this up. He also ordered an appetizer, steak, a few sides, and dessert.
At the end of the meal, he told me he couldn't pay. Not just for my half. FOR ANY OF IT.
2) When I was a senior in high school, I'd planned to go to Hershey Park with my boyfriend and a bunch of our friends. I was lucky enough to have my own car, so I was one of the people driving. We'd planned this trip for weeks. That morning, we all piled into my Honda Accord, and I backed out of my boyfriend's driveway.
Well, I misjudged the turn and clipped his parents' mailbox. Not only did I take out their mailbox, but I ripped the entire front bumper off my car. (We tied it back on with rope and drove to Hershey Park anyway. Yes, really. My parents were PISSED.)
3) I'd been dating this college guy for a few weeks, when I decided to invite him out to the horse farm where I worked. He didn't have any experience with horses, which was fine. But he was eating chips from a bag when I led him into the field to show him one of my favorite horses. This older, pregnant mare, who was massive and lumbering, was attracted by the sound of the crinkly bag, and she picked her head up and started lumbering toward us.
The guy screamed (yes, SCREAMED), then yelled, "They're charging!" and ran for his car.
4) Once I was using an ATM machine at a movie theater. I was obviously alone. A guy sauntered over, clearly thinking he was all that, and said, all suave, "So. Have you ever used one of these before?"
Seriously. He was asking if I'd used an ATM Machine before. I wanted to ask if he'd ever talked to a girl before.
5) When I got my first apartment, I worked in a bookstore at a local mall. One of the security guards was sweet on me. I was NOT sweet on him. He knew where I lived, however, because his friend, one of the other security guards, had driven me home one night. So he thought it was totally okay to come over to my apartment when I wasn't home and leave a handwritten note on my glass sliding door that said, "I stoped by to see you." (Yes, with the spelling error and everything.)
6) I had dinner with a young man who was quite nice. He had his own place in downtown Baltimore, with a beautiful rooftop deck. Stunning view, very charming company. So while we're sitting on his rooftop deck, he says, "You know what I'd really like?" At the time, I was thinking all kinds of romantic thoughts. I said, "No. What would you really like?"
You can guess what he asked for.
7) I went to dinner with one guy who asked me for my coat at the end of the night. Hey, he was cold.
8) This one guy I dated for several weeks invited me to dinner with his mom, at her apartment. At that time, I also learned it was HIS apartment. She made very dry steak, and I choked down half of my piece. He proceeded to lecture me on not wasting food. Then asked if I wanted to see his porn collection.
9) One night, I went out dancing with this guy. For some reason, I thought I could handle four shots of tequila, despite the fact that I very, very rarely drink. On the way home, he had to pull over so I could throw up all over the side of the car. (I should also mention that it was two years ago, the "guy" was my husband, and the "car" was my minivan. First time I've EVER had to throw up after drinking.)
10) I can't end this on a negative note, so I'll give you a good one: One Monday, I got to work after the weekend from hell. It had been horrible. I'd broken up with my boyfriend, my car had been broken into and my video camera was stolen, I'd had a terrible fight with my mom -- you name it, it happened. So at work on Monday, a guy from another department called me for some information. I'd never talked to him before, but just out of kindness, he said, "Hi, Brigid, how was your weekend?" It was my first call of the day, so I just launched into this huge long story about how miserable my weekend was.
That guy? He listened to every word of that story, and many more later. It was the start of the best friendship I've ever had.
So you know, I had to marry him.
Brigid Kemmerer is the author of The Elemental Series, starting with Storm, which is available from Kensington Books. You can follow her on Twitter at @BrigidKemmerer, or visit her blog at www.brigidkemmerer.com.
Author Info:
Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.
While writing STORM, it’s ironic to note that Brigid’s personal life was plagued by water problems: her basement flooded three times, her roof leaked, her kitchen faucet broke, causing the cabinet underneath to be destroyed by water, the wall in her son’s room had to be torn down because water had crept into the wall, and her bedroom wall recently developed a minor leak. Considering SPARK, book 2 in the series, is about the brother who controls fire, Brigid is currently making sure all the smoke detectors in her house have batteries.
Brigid loves hearing from people, and she probably won't refer to herself in the third person like this if you actually correspond with her. She has a smartphone
Find Brigid Online:
Spark by Brigid Kemmerer
Elementals #2
Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally.
Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.
Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.
More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake -- this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.
Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.
The fuse is lit…
Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.
Gabriel has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.
More than Gabriel’s pride is at stake -- this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets. She has a few of her own.
Gabriel can’t let her guess about his brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.
The fuse is lit…
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