33. HIS KISS – Young Adult Contemporary

Mentor Name: Trisha Leaver/ Lindsay Currie

Mentee Name: Jen Vincent

Title: HIS KISS

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary

Word Count: 63,000

Pitch:

Sixteen-year-old Nina Whitfield has never been kissed. Last summer, her crush, Hayden, made his move, but she panicked. Now Nina’s relying on her best friend Ev, a lip-lock pro, to coach her through her first-kiss fears. When Ev’s advice is unreliable, Nina ends up with three suitors, a heart-divided, and the need to figure out what matters most—her first kiss, making amends with Hayden, or finally following her heart.

Excerpt:

When I think of Hayden, I want to curl into a ball, hide under my bed, and forget that I ruined everything with him last summer. Almost a year later, and my heart still feels broken. I’m ready to swear off boys altogether and not torture myself anymore but then I get this text from Hayden.

“Hey heard your parents party is Saturday? You’ll be there?”

My eyes freeze in their sockets. I blink a few times, I must be imagining it. But no…there really is a text. From Hayden. I look over at my best friend, Ev, who’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, painting her fingernails neon orange. “Um, Ev?” I draw out the words, shocked.

She glances at me for a second, then goes back to painting her pinky finger. “Huh?” she says.

Pushing myself up from my chair, I look at my phone one more time to be sure it’s still there. “Hayden just texted me about Saturday.”

She stops, holding the nail polish brush in mid-air. “For real?” she asks.

There are too many thoughts racing through my head, too many emotions clamoring around – disbelief, anxiety, possibility. All I can do is nod.

“Let me see.” She motions toward my phone, and I scramble to sit down next to her, holding my phone out between us. As we read, my heart pounds in my chest.