Adulting 101 by Lisa Henry Blog Tour, Guest Post, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway!

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Hi peeps, we have Lisa Henry stopping by with her new release Adulting 101, we have a brilliant guest post, a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Aerin’s review, so check out the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

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Adulting 101

by

Lisa Henry

The struggle is real.

Nick Stahlnecker is eighteen and not ready to grow up yet. He has a summer job, a case of existential panic, and a hopeless crush on the unattainable Jai Hazenbrook. Except how do you know that your coworker’s unattainable unless you ask to blow him in the porta-potty?

That’s probably not what Dad meant when he said Nick should act more like an adult.

Twenty-five-year-old Jai is back in his hometown of Franklin, Ohio, just long enough to earn the money to get the hell out again. His long-term goal of seeing more of the world is worth the short-term pain of living in his mother’s basement, but only barely.

Meeting Nick doesn’t fit in with Jai’s plans at all, but, as Jai soon learns, you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have the adventure of a lifetime.

This is not a summer romance. This is a summer friendship-with-benefits. It’s got pizza with disgusting toppings, Netflix and chill, and accidental exhibitionism. That’s all. There are no feelings here. None. Shut up.

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Lisa Henry!

Hi, and welcome to the blog tour to celebrate the release of Adulting 101 by Lisa Henry. I’m visiting some of my favourite blogs around the place to talk about writing Adulting 101, some of my influences and inspiration, and even sharing an excerpt or two! Don’t forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a prize!

Look, I’m not going to lie. When it came to creating a character with an unholy love of fandoms, it was harder than I thought. Because there are so many to choose from, right? That’s not a rhetorical question. I’m asking my Kylo Ren beanie figure.

Nick, one of my MCs in Adulting 101, is an enthusiastic member of pretty much every fandom. He wears Star Wars shirts, Harry Potter shirts and Captain America underwear. But he’s not a fanboy in the negative sense of the word. Nick’s not going to troll anyone who disagrees with him about a franchise, or a console, or canon. He just loves his comics, and his movies, and his Tumblr feed with its side of bishonen and tiny hint of hentai. I’m pretty sure that in addition to his webcomic, Nick also writes fanfiction. Probably Stucky. Definitely some StormPilot.  And McHanzo is hot as hell.

And if none of what I’ve just written above makes any sense at all to you, don’t worry too much because Nick’s love of fandoms doesn’t overwhelm the story at all. Nick is enthusiastic about his fandoms, but only in the same way that some people are enthusiastic about sports. And it’s interesting, I think, that one is so much more socially acceptable than the other. Nick follows what makes him happy, but somehow being a Giants fan comes with a lot less judgement than being, say, a Dragon Ball Z fan. 

Nick’s idea of a perfect night is sitting in Jai’s basement watching Attack on Titan. He’s educating Jai, okay? Jai might have been to six million countries around the world, but he keeps getting Erwin and Armin mixed up even though they are completely different characters. 

When I wrote that Nick follows what makes him happy, that’s exactly what I mean. Nick loves stories with heroes and villains, with battles and sacrifices, where winning means saving the universe. Nick uses his imagination to escape:

“I wish I lived in Middle Earth,” Nick mumbles a while later as the hobbits set off on their quest. “I wish someone would come along to me and say, ‘Nick, you need to do this thing. The fate of the world depends on it.’ It would be good to have a purpose, you know? To be important.”

Jai looks at him questioningly. “You think you’re not important?”

Nick huffs. “I think I’m just the same as every other kid at this party. I think that when we’re little, they tell us stories about being heroes and saving the universe, and then when we get older, they tell us to grow up and stop believing in dumb stories anymore.”

And I think that’s probably at the heart of Adulting 101 for me. There’s this idea that fantasies are for children when, really, that’s not true at all. Everyone, whatever their age, should be allowed to take joy in escapism and adventure, in whatever form you find it. And I hope that comes across in the story.

Also, you should watch Attack on Titan, okay?

(Kylo Ren agrees.)

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Excerpt

Nick: Holy shit dude, u have to help me!

Devon: What u do?

Nick: Remember how my dad got me this job so I’d “straighten up & fly right” before college?

Devon: Yeah . . .

Nick: There’s a guy at work I want to do things to. With my tongue & my dick.

Devon: Dude. TMI.

Nick: If I suck his dick on the site I’ll probably get fired right?

Devon: Dude.

* * *

Jai Hazenbrook is ridiculous. Firstly, there’s his name. If Nick were on a quest to return the One Ring to the fiery pits of Mount Doom, Jai Hazenbrook would totally be the hot-as-fuck elf in tight leather pants who could shoot the left testicle off an orc at a thousand paces. Whereas Nick, of course, would be the short hairy-footed guy who liked beer and fireworks and second breakfasts. Even in his fantasy worlds, Nick is a realist.

What? He’s been waiting for another growth spurt, okay? He doesn’t want to be a giant or anything. He just wants to crack five foot ten, really. Five foot ten feels a lot more respectable than five foot seven.

Nick’s been waiting on his growth spurt since he was fifteen. He’s eighteen now and starting to think it’s never coming. Not that he obsesses about it or anything. He’s got much more interesting things to obsess about.

Jai Hazenbrook, for example.

Jai Hazenbrook is tall, fuck him.

(Nick wishes.)

He’s tall and has features that can really only be described as chiseled, if Nick’s late-night research into romance novels can be believed. Which they probably can’t. Otherwise surely Jai would also wear kilts and be a millionaire, but whatever. He’s tall, and he’s chiseled, and he has incredible eyes that sometimes can’t decide if they’re blue or if they’re gray, but are usually narrowed in Nick’s direction in a glare. A why-the-fuck-is-this-kid-always-staring-at-me glare.

Nick is not always subtle.

Okay, Nick is never subtle.

Which is why he’s pretty sure he’s going to be fired by the end of the week.

Nick’s dad got him the job at Grover Construction. Disappointingly, it has nothing to do with the Sesame Street puppet, because Nick totally would have been down with that. Harvey Grover is one of his dad’s clients. His dad is an accountant. A certified public accountant. It’s his life’s deepest regret that he’s dedicated himself to pecuniary responsibility, and has somehow managed to raise a son who “doesn’t understand the value of a dollar.” Hence this experimentation with a “job.”

Look, Nick likes having a job. It’s just Mr. Grover very sensibly doesn’t trust him much around the actual construction parts of the construction job. Because power saws and nail guns. So it kind of means Nick answers the phone, and runs errands to the sites and back, and spends as much time as he can staring at Jai Hazenbrook’s fucking perfect ass.

It is seriously fucking perfect. It’s the sort of ass that should inspire goddamn poetry. Nick’s not the kind of guy who can write sonnets or anything, mostly because he can’t remember how to, but if he happens to have a page in his notebook dedicated entirely to ass-related haikus, that’s his business, right?

That ass is so hot.

I would totally hit it.

Yes yes yes yes yes.

Nick’s haiku skills are maybe a little rusty too, but at least the sentiment is heartfelt.

When Nick’s dad arranged this job, well, of course Nick drifted off to sleep with visions of hot construction guys dancing in his head. The visions, not the guys. The fantasy guys did not dance. They just kind of stood around and struck poses, making their unnecessary abs tighten right up, like they were in a Diet Coke commercial or something. Even then, Nick knew the reality wouldn’t be so sweet. There would be no come-hither looks from hot-as-the-sun shirtless construction guys. No. There would be hairy backs and beer bellies and lots of ball scratching but not in a fun way. Nick knows the difference between fantasy and reality.

Which is why Jai Hazenbrook has no fucking place in reality.

Which is why whenever Nick is sent out to the site Jai works on, or Jai comes into the office for something, Nick’s brain kind of goes offline. It shuts itself down into a protective coma in case Nick starts believing in unicorns or something. Jai Hazenbrook simply does not compute.

And Nick is totally, absolutely going to suck Jai’s mythical elf unicorn dick if it’s the last thing he does.

Which, at least as far as his job at Grover Construction goes, it probably will be.

* * *

Nick: Which is hotter? My red shirt or my blue shirt?

Devon: Nothing makes u look hot. U have a face like an ass.

Nick: Fuck you. This is an emergency!

Devon: Red.

* * *

Devon Staples has been Nick’s best friend since third grade, when their teacher, Mr. Packer, was such an asshole he seated the class according to alphabetical order instead of letting them sit next to their friends. Well, his whole evil plan backfired, because Devon Staples and Nick Stahlnecker are now, and forever will be, best bros. Their bromance is epic. Devon even took Nick to prom, which was beyond incredible because he’s not even a little bit bi—except for the thing that happened at baseball camp when they were fourteen that they don’t talk about. He’s just super cool, and gets a kick out of pissing off his stepdad, who is an evangelical Christian and can be kind of a dick. So prom was pretty funny.

Devon is also oddly protective of Nick sometimes. He claims it’s because he’s three months older than Nick, and therefore the big brother in this bromance. Nick claims it’s because he’s secretly jealous of any guy who tries to get with Nick, because of complex abandonment issues and uncertainty about his own sexuality. It’s probably some weird mix of both, but they’ve never bothered to analyze it except in a teasing way. Whatever it is, it works for them and it’s cool.

Devon, naturally, thinks making “blow Jai Hazenbrook” a life goal is a dumb idea.

“Bro, this is a dumb idea.”

Nick holds his phone awkwardly between his ear and his shoulder as he buttons up his red shirt. It’s his lucky red shirt. If everything goes well, Nick hopes to upgrade it to his lucky red cocksucking shirt. And it does make him look hotter than the blue. It’s a little tighter maybe. It makes his shoulders and his biceps look good, and kind of pulls across his chest when he moves. He can make this work.

“Is it?” he asks idly, turning this way and that in front of his mirror to try to judge how hot his reflection is. Either he’s really hot, or he’s some kid wearing the wrong-size shirt. It’s kind of hard to tell objectively which look he’s rocking. “Or is it the greatest idea ever?”

“No. No, Nick, it’s not.” Devon sighs into the phone. “Your dad is going to be pissed if you lose your job. And also if you get caught blowing some guy—”

“Jai Hazenbrook is not just some guy, Dev,” Nick tells him haughtily. “Jai Hazenbrook is a glorious, beautiful, dangerous creature who makes Legolas look kind of plain.”

“Dude, you need to stop jerking off to the Fellowship of the Ring.”

“They could be the fellowship of my—”

Nick!”

Nick gets the feeling he’s just scarred Devon for life. Which is only fair, really, because last year Devon got really drunk and confessed he’d had a wet dream about Nick’s mom. Seriously? And Devon thinks Nick overshares. Nick still gets creeped out whenever his mom offers Devon cookies. He’s always half-afraid the bow-chicka-bow-wow music will start up somewhere in the background and things will get crazy gross.

“It would be cool if he had long hair,” Nick says. “And leather pants. Maybe he’s got leather pants. Do you think I should ask him?”

“You want to blow some guy you don’t even know and ask if he has leather pants? You know you’re more likely to end up in a weird sex dungeon than Middle Earth cosplay, right?”

Nick considers the possibility for a moment. “I could totally be into that.”

“Dude.”

Yeah, Nick could totally be into that. He’s looked online. He’s seen videos. But he also isn’t sure. It’s like the time he tried blue cheese. It looked pretty good, and heaps of other people like it, and right up until the moment he put it in his mouth, he was totally keeping an open mind. And then it turned out it tasted like ass. Like Satan’s ass. But he hadn’t known until he tried it for himself. And how else is he supposed to learn things except by trying them? Kinky shit may be awesome and hot and incredible. It may also be blue cheese. Nick kind of wants to know which one it is.

But that’s a life goal for another day.

Today’s life goal: blow Jai Hazenbrook.

“You’ve got this,” he tells his reflection, determined to give it some confidence. “You’re wearing your lucky red shirt, you look hot, and you’re totally going to suck some dick today.”

A little voice in his head reminds him this is the worst idea ever.

The little voice is Devon. He’s still there. Nick tries to explain how this isn’t just some random dick, this could be a life-changing dick, but apparently it sounds better in his head than in actual words, because Devon starts making strange high-pitched sounds like he does when they’re watching slasher movies and blood and body parts are flying everywhere.

“Fine,” Devon says at last. “But when you get busted, then fired, don’t come crying to me about it.”

“I won’t,” Nick promises.

He will. They both know it.

“Good luck, I guess.”

“I don’t need it, bro,” Nick says with way more confidence than he feels. “I’m superhot today. Not even Jai Hazenbrook will be able to resist me.”

He manages to believe it almost all the way out the door.

Read more at: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/adulting-101 (just click the excerpt tab)

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About Lisa

Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.

Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

Connect with Lisa:

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Giveaway!

Win a $20 Riptide credit and an ebook of your choice from Lisa Henry’s back catalogue. You’ll also win a super secret cute little gift that’s very close to Lisa (and Nick’s) heart!

(Just leave a comment on this post)
Remember to leave your email address in the comments so Lisa can contact you if you win!
(Entries close August 20, and contest is not restricted to US residents.)

Review

Lisa Henry - Adulting 101 Cover sTitle: Adulting 101

Series: N/A

Author: Lisa Henry

Genre: Comedy, Contemporary

Length: Novel (231 pages)

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (August 15th 2016)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: The struggle is real.

Nick Stahlnecker is eighteen and not ready to grow up yet. He has a summer job, a case of existential panic, and a hopeless crush on the unattainable Jai Hazenbrook. Except how do you know that your coworker’s unattainable unless you ask to blow him in the porta-potty?

That’s probably not what Dad meant when he said Nick should act more like an adult.

Twenty-five-year-old Jai is back in his hometown of Franklin, Ohio, just long enough to earn the money to get the hell out again. His long-term goal of seeing more of the world is worth the short-term pain of living in his mother’s basement, but only barely.

Meeting Nick doesn’t fit in with Jai’s plans at all, but, as Jai soon learns, you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have the adventure of a lifetime.

This is not a summer romance. This is a summer friendship-with-benefits. It’s got pizza with disgusting toppings, Netflix and chill, and accidental exhibitionism. That’s all. There are no feelings here. None. Shut up.

ISBN: 9781626494497

Product Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/adulting-101

Reviewer: Aerin

Review:   I think Lisa Henry needs to write more comedies, because she rocked this book! I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had reading it, I constantly smiled, laughed or snorted in amusement from the beginning to the very end. But while this book was funny and uplifting, it was also touching. Under all the laughter there’s a vulnerability to Nick, one of our MCs, that made me love him more than I thought I could.

So Nick Stahlnecker is 18 years old and still a kid in every sense of the word. He’s immature, totally not ready to grow up and has absolutely no control over his mouth. NONE AT ALL! Which made him hysterical, people! Nick has a crush on Jai, a construction worker who works for the same company Nick does. Jai is 25 years old, an avid traveler with so much life experience, Nick seems to him like a child who has no idea what he’s doing half the time. And as much as Jai wants to stay away from Nick, who’s always creepily staring at Jai’s ass (and writes poems about said ass), he loses the battle, because Nick’s pick-up game is strong!

“So, my name’s Nick.”
“Listen, kid—”
“I’m eighteen,” Nick says. “And it’s Nick.”
“Okay,” Jai tells Nick. “And I’ve got work to do.”
Nick flushes. “Oh, yeah, sure.”
“Do you own leather pants?” Nick blurts.
“Excuse me?”
“Wait! That was weird. Sorry, that was weird. I’m weird. So, um, if you can forget that thing I said about leather pants, that would be awesome.” Nick’s face is scrunched up, like a toddler refusing vegetables. “But, okay, I’m seriously wearing my favorite red shirt and I would really, really like to suck your dick.” 

See what I mean? Nick’s just so freaking cute! And you guessed it, Jai accepts that offer for a blowjob, only Nick and Jai seem to get into the habit of being found in very compromising situations by different people throughout the entire book. So when Jai’s foreman walks in on them in the port-a-potty while the blowjob was happening, both Nick and Jai get fired. Nick’s parents are bound to be upset and the confrontation had me gasping with laughter.

“What?” Nick’s mom asks. “What’s going on?”
Nick’s parents have him trapped in the kitchen, and Nick is a little bit worried that if he attempts to leave, one of them will rip his face off.
Chris looks a little manic. One eye bulges more than is probably medically advisable. One hand claws at the knot of his tie like he’s afraid it’s trying to strangle him. His other hand still clutches his phone.
“What?” his mom asks again.
“Nick got sacked,” his dad says.
Right in the eye, Nick wants to tell him, but no. No, Nick.
“Do you want to tell your mother what happened, or shall I?”
“Um,” Nick says, and wonders if neither is an option. It’s probably not. “I kind of got caught doing stuff with a guy? In a porte-potty?”

“No, nobody is going to turn this into a thing. This is not a thing.”
Nick’s eyes widen as she reappears from behind the cover of the refrigerator door, clutching a wine cooler. She twists the cap off the bottle aggressively and takes a swig. His mom is day drinking. He’s broken her.
“It was an accident?” Nick attempts.
“An accident?” Chris huffs out. “An accident? You accidentally gave someone a blowjob?”
If Nick never hears the word “blowjob” come out of his dad’s mouth again, he’ll die a happy man.”

What I loved the most about this book is the depth Nick’s character has. Nick might be immature and funny as hell, but under all that hides a boy who’s scared about his future, who doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, who’s scared of screwing up, and who refuses to imagine life without his best friend Devon. We all know what it’s like to be suddenly at that point in life when you have to be a grown-up but aren’t ready for it yet. Don’t we all hate Adulting every single day?

Nick and Devon are hilarious and their texts throughout the book were funny and gave me a great insight into the kind of once in a lifetime friendship that people can only dream about having. As secondary characters go, this book was the shits. I loved all of them for different reasons and I was sad to see this book come to an end. 

Jai and Nick are my new favorite couple, and if one half of that couple is slightly immature and childish, that’s okay; I love his innocence and honesty and the way he approaches life. It reminded me of times when adulting was totally optional.

I couldn’t recommend this book enough, especially to people who loved MAPS!

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Check out the other blogs on the blog tour

August 15, 2016 – Love Bytes Reviews
August 15, 2016 – Boy Meets Boy Reviews
August 15, 2016 – Man2Mantastic
August 15, 2016 – Rainbow Gold Reviews
August 15, 2016 – My Fiction Nook
August 16, 2016 – The Novel Approach
August 16, 2016 – BiblioJunkies
August 16, 2016 – Unquietly Me
August 16, 2016 – Creative Deeds
August 16, 2016 – Prism Book Alliance
August 17, 2016 – Joyfully Jay
August 17, 2016 – Book Reviews and More by Kathy
August 17, 2016 – Alpha Book Club
August 17, 2016 – KT Book Reviews
August 17, 2016 – Attention is Arbitrary
August 17, 2016 – GGR-Review
August 18, 2016 – The Day Before You Came
August 18, 2016 – Keysmash
August 18, 2016 – Dog-Eared Daydreams
August 18, 2016 – AReCafe
August 18, 2016 – TTC Books and More
August 18, 2016 – Butterfly-o-Meter
August 19, 2016 – Bayou Book Junkie
August 19, 2016 – Booklover Sue
August 19, 2016 – Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
August 19, 2016 – Boys on the Brink
August 19, 2016 – Sinfully Gay Romance
August 19, 2016 – MM Good Book Reviews
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18 thoughts on “Adulting 101 by Lisa Henry Blog Tour, Guest Post, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway!

  1. HELL YEAH STUCKY!!! High five, Nick!!! This has been fun blog tour 🙂

    amie_07(at)yahoo(dot)com

  2. Thanks for the review! (And I don’t know, as a female hockey fan I get a lot of bemused looks…)

    vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com

  3. I cannot wait to read this book – it sounds so fantastic! I’ve loved following the tour and learning more about it! 🙂
    jenndonald00(at)gmail(dot)com

  4. Thank you for the awesome review! I look forward to reading Adulting 101.

    jen(dot)f(at)mac(dot)com

  5. I so understand Nick! I’ve wished I lived in the Middle Earth myself so many times… What would be better than an epic fate? Instead I’m here doing office work…
    susanaperez7140(at)Gmail(dot)com

  6. I’m really looking forward to this – the humor seems right up my alley. Thanks for this opportunity!

    paperaddictions16(at)gmail(dot)com

  7. Just finished this last night. Nick is so funny & awkward!
    legacylandlisa(at)gmail(dot)com

  8. Thank you so much to everyone who followed the tour and took the time to comment! You’re all in the draw! And thank you of MM Good Book Reviews for hosting me!

Comments are closed.