by: Ara Grigorian
Series: Pacific Coast Sunrise
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Coming of Age Fiction
Release Date: September 24, 2019
Publisher: Love, Laugh, Learn Media
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“Filled with tumultuous emotions of grief, romance, guilt, secrecy and anger, 15 Days With You is an accomplished work of drama sure to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.” 5-Star Review, K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite
A mother’s dying wish. A son in search of answers. A fifteen-day surf odyssey with the California girl who will dare him to rethink everything.
Alone after his mother’s unexpected death, seventeen-year-old Shep leaves Texas to crash with his uncle’s family in Malibu. Before he can hang his cowboy hat, Shep learns something that blows his mind—in her youth, his hard-working single mom was a gifted surfer on her way to international fame. And her dying wish was for him to recreate the surf tour she completed when she was eighteen—the summer she got pregnant with him.
Along with his cousin Carmen (the red-blooded competitive surfer) and her best friend Samantha (the opinionated and mildly annoying beach goddess), Shep hits the road for a surf trip up and down Pacific Coast Highway. Armed with his mother’s ashes and fifteen sealed envelopes—each containing a page from her high school diary—Shep will discover a new side of the complex woman he’d only thought of as Mom, and might finally learn the identity of a man he’s never met—his father.
But each time he paddles out into the waves, a nagging question haunts him—the one he may not be ready to answer: Is he learning to surf because he wants to honor his mother’s dying wish, or running from the real reason he can’t go back to Texas—his own terrible mistake?
Excerpt from Chapter 12
Shep
It’s been a long day of planning. It’s late. We should be in bed. Instead, we’re lounging around the fire pit in the backyard. The night breeze is cool, a bit damp. The crickets are participating in the largest open-door concert in the western hemisphere, and the moon is about ten days away from showing its full glory.
I glance at Sam. She’s staring at me.
“What was she like?” she asks.
“Mom?” I shift in my seat. “Perfect. Tough. All heart.” I pause. “She was generous even with those things we desperately needed for ourselves. A good, decent person.”
“That’s because she was a surfer.”
I grin.
“So she never told you she was one of us?”
“No, never. And I would've never guessed it either. Honestly, she was the furthest thing from a surfer girl.”
“Hey. What’s that supposed to mean?”
I put up my hands. “Look, she was the school librarian. Not a cool, aloof, skateboarder-on-land and surfer-at-sea woman. She was the church volunteer. The person who’d latch on to the soul-saving-cause-of-the-month. Don’t get me wrong, she totally believed in her causes, she just had too many.”
“And what causes did you have?”
“Causes?” I chuckle. “Three of them. Me, me, and me. I was on the football team with a future that millions pray for, but only a few hundred will ever taste. I worked at it daily, because I wanted that shot. Even the work I did on the ranch was for personal benefit. Four o’clock every morning, running chores to help the family that had taken us in because I didn’t want us to lose our only shelter.”
“A legit cowboy.” Under this lighting, her grin radiates. “And now you’re about to be transformed into a beach bum. Did you guys ever talk about moving back here?”
“Never even discussed it. Even if we put aside the fact that we couldn’t afford a box under a freeway in L.A., our hometown was everything. She loved serving, helping, being part of the community.”
It was because of how much the community loved her that everyone gave me a pass after she got ill. They didn’t bother me or question me. But that may change now.
“Wish I had met her,” Sam says, pulling me out of the memory.
“What are your parents like?” I toss out.
“Exactly like your mom. Just completely different.” She runs her hands through her hair, quickly separating long strands which are then brought together into braids. The fire’s reflection gives her hair a glow. She glances up at me. “I basically have no parents.”
“But you do.”
“They exist, yes. But do they know what I’ve been up to? Did they congratulate me when I won gold for my school’s swim team? Do they care that when I’m on a board, riding a wave, I forget their names and faces?” Her eyes glisten, but she’s not crying. Not yet. “What am I gonna do? Cry over ghost parents? Or that for now, one child means more to them than the other? Am I going to resent them?” A tear streaks down. “Absolutely not.” She hasn’t even registered her tear. “So I go on with life.”
I cross my arms. “I didn’t take you for a philosopher.”
She rises, towering over me. “Nah, that’s just real speak. People who surf don’t load up others with bull. We call things as they are and find the joy in life. Because we know something no one else does.” She extends her hand. I take it and she hoists me.
“And what’s that?”
“That when we’re walking on water, we are that much closer to God.”
Shep
It’s been a long day of planning. It’s late. We should be in bed. Instead, we’re lounging around the fire pit in the backyard. The night breeze is cool, a bit damp. The crickets are participating in the largest open-door concert in the western hemisphere, and the moon is about ten days away from showing its full glory.
I glance at Sam. She’s staring at me.
“What was she like?” she asks.
“Mom?” I shift in my seat. “Perfect. Tough. All heart.” I pause. “She was generous even with those things we desperately needed for ourselves. A good, decent person.”
“That’s because she was a surfer.”
I grin.
“So she never told you she was one of us?”
“No, never. And I would've never guessed it either. Honestly, she was the furthest thing from a surfer girl.”
“Hey. What’s that supposed to mean?”
I put up my hands. “Look, she was the school librarian. Not a cool, aloof, skateboarder-on-land and surfer-at-sea woman. She was the church volunteer. The person who’d latch on to the soul-saving-cause-of-the-month. Don’t get me wrong, she totally believed in her causes, she just had too many.”
“And what causes did you have?”
“Causes?” I chuckle. “Three of them. Me, me, and me. I was on the football team with a future that millions pray for, but only a few hundred will ever taste. I worked at it daily, because I wanted that shot. Even the work I did on the ranch was for personal benefit. Four o’clock every morning, running chores to help the family that had taken us in because I didn’t want us to lose our only shelter.”
“A legit cowboy.” Under this lighting, her grin radiates. “And now you’re about to be transformed into a beach bum. Did you guys ever talk about moving back here?”
“Never even discussed it. Even if we put aside the fact that we couldn’t afford a box under a freeway in L.A., our hometown was everything. She loved serving, helping, being part of the community.”
It was because of how much the community loved her that everyone gave me a pass after she got ill. They didn’t bother me or question me. But that may change now.
“Wish I had met her,” Sam says, pulling me out of the memory.
“What are your parents like?” I toss out.
“Exactly like your mom. Just completely different.” She runs her hands through her hair, quickly separating long strands which are then brought together into braids. The fire’s reflection gives her hair a glow. She glances up at me. “I basically have no parents.”
“But you do.”
“They exist, yes. But do they know what I’ve been up to? Did they congratulate me when I won gold for my school’s swim team? Do they care that when I’m on a board, riding a wave, I forget their names and faces?” Her eyes glisten, but she’s not crying. Not yet. “What am I gonna do? Cry over ghost parents? Or that for now, one child means more to them than the other? Am I going to resent them?” A tear streaks down. “Absolutely not.” She hasn’t even registered her tear. “So I go on with life.”
I cross my arms. “I didn’t take you for a philosopher.”
She rises, towering over me. “Nah, that’s just real speak. People who surf don’t load up others with bull. We call things as they are and find the joy in life. Because we know something no one else does.” She extends her hand. I take it and she hoists me.
“And what’s that?”
“That when we’re walking on water, we are that much closer to God.”
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Ara Grigorian is the international award-winning author of GAME OF LOVE, his debut novel. He is a technology executive in the entertainment industry. He earned his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Southern California where he specialized in marketing and entrepreneurship. True to the Hollywood life, Ara wrote for a children's television pilot that could have made him rich (but didn't) and nearly sold a video game to a major publisher (who closed shop days later). Fascinated by the human species,
Ara writes about choices, relationships, and second chances. Always a sucker for a hopeful ending, he writes contemporary romance stories targeted to adult and new adult readers.
Ara is committed to helping writers tell better stories. He is the co-founder of the popular Novel Intensive seminar. Also, he is a workshop leader for the Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and the Southern California Writers' Conference (both Irvine, CA and San Diego, CA). Ara is an active member of the Romance Writers of America and its Los Angeles chapter.
He is represented by Stacey Donaghy of the Donaghy Literary Group.
Places to find Ara Grigorian:
You can follow the 15 Days With You Blog Tour here.
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This sounds like a very thoughtful coming of age novel. Young adult readers will enjoy the drama. Congratulations on your new release. I look forward to reading this one.
ReplyDeleteJust seeing the cover has drawn me in. I love the beach look. I look forward to reading this book.
ReplyDeleteThe cover has blinded me. xD
ReplyDelete