Becca the Bibliophile: BLOG TOUR STOP: Undeclared by Jen Frederick

For four years, Grace Sullivan wrote to a Marine she never met, and fell in love. But when his deployment ended, so did the letters. Ever since that day, Grace has been coasting, academically and emotionally. The one thing she’s decided? No way is Noah Jackson — or any man — ever going to break her heart again.

Noah has always known exactly what he wants out of life. Success. Stability. Control. That’s why he joined the Marines and that’s why he’s fighting his way — literally — through college. Now that he’s got the rest of his life on track, he has one last conquest: Grace Sullivan. But since he was the one who stopped writing, he knows that winning her back will be his biggest battle yet.

This is a mature New Adult book. I see that it is classified as YA - not sure how to change that - but I wanted to be clear that it has explicit love scenes in the story.

Dear Grace

My biggest fear, huh? I don't think I ever told you about my recruitment experience, did I? So the AF reps show up at high school on career day. Bo has skipped and gone to somewhere to drink the day away. Lucky bastard. I would have skipped that day, but I had too many skips and was warned that if I had any more that they would withhold my diploma and make me go to summer school. Not going to happen.

Anyway, I end up talking with the Army and Marine recruiters. Their spiels are pretty similar. They ask me my interests. I tell them getting the hell out of Nowheresville. The Marine recruiter nods as if he gets me and says he felt the same way. He tells me that I can earn money, get my college paid for, and make a lot of friends. The first one sounds interesting, the second intriguing, the third I could care less about. Turns out that the last one is actually the biggest benefit of joining.

Later, the recruiter follows up with me. Gives me a huge laundry list of awesome things about joining. I tell him he doesn't have to sell me anymore, that I'm ready to sign, only I'm debating between the Marines and the Army. Then I make my biggest mistake ever. I admit that I am not a fan of water. The Marine recruiter laughs and says "you'll be infantry, son" and I sign.

I get to boot camp and am told that the Marines are a branch of the Navy. The Navy, Grace. The Marine recruiter must have noted that I had an aversion to water, because every punishment I ever received was water-related.

The moral of this story is that I can't go around telling you my greatest fear because someone will use it against me. It ain't water anymore.

~Noah

Grace’s Fun Facts about Noah

1. He's going to own the world someday.

2. He is more vulnerable than he lets on.

3. He has an answer for everything.

4. He looks sexy with his clothes on and off.

5. He likes country music and hard metal rock. He says it is the steel guitar that strings them together.

6. He wears boots almost exclusively but not cowboy boots.

7. He has very nice penmanship.

8. He smells awesome. I think his cologne is made by forest nymphs. It smells like pine and fresh turned soil at spring

9. He has a plan for the zombie apocalypse.

10. His favorite channel is not ESPN. It is CNBC. (I read romances while he watches the financial news).

Noah's top ten list of things you should know about Grace

1. She is super loyal. She'll never allow anyone to say a bad word about someone she loves.

2. Every inch of her body is sexy. Grace thinks that there are parts of her body that aren't attractive, but she'd be wrong.

3. She takes awesome photographs. Grace's confidence on this subject is a little whack but I'm working on her.

4. Her worldview is totally unique. See #3. If you've seen Grace's photographs, I wouldn't even have to list this. It's just an obvious truth.

5. She has a great sense of humor. It's sly and quiet, kind of like her, but she's still got it and you can't be with someone who you can't laugh with.

6. She walks kind of slow. She says this isn't true and that I walk too fast. I'm trying to slow down, in all things.

7. She gets embarrassed watching a dirty movie with me.

8. She wants me to go dancing with her. I tried to tell her the only dancing I do is in a metal cage, avoiding the fists and feet of other fighters. Someday this excuse won't work for me anymore.

9. She once sent me nail polish and a book. Guess which one I liked better?

10. I love her name. By the Grace, I'm free.

Jen Frederick lives with her husband, child, and one rambunctious dog. She's been reading stories all her life but never imagined writing one of her own. Jen loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at: jensfrederick@gmail.com.