BLOG TOUR: Return to Autumn, by John Richards

Good morning, daisies! Welcome to the blog tour for Return to Autumn, by John Richards =D Spoiler alert: I’m in love with this cover!

Return to Autumn

by John Richards

Genre: Upper YA Contemporary Fiction/Coming of Age

Release Date: October 14^th, 2016

Adam Raynor and his best friends started the summer of 1992 with their usual antics. Each of them in their own way preparing for their last year of high school and the interruption of their friendship that college would bring. What they didn’t know was how getting a girlfriend, using drugs and experiencing the death of someone close would turn their worlds upside down.

*read more for an excerpt, the source of inspiration for the book, purchase links and an awesome giveaway!*

Return to Autumn is available in both ebook and paperback formats!

Amazon

Every year on the last day of school it was our ritual to exit the school bus by jumping out of the emergency exit in the back. Mark, Joey, and I had been doing it since we were in sixth grade. Irritating the bus driver went back further than the sixth grade though. In third grade when we had a substitute bus driver that didn’t know the route, we would yell, “That’s it! That’s my house!” This shouldn’t have mattered since the driver was only supposed to stop and let us out at designated stops. Nonetheless, she slammed on the brakes and jerked the bus to a halt and we hid behind the tall-backed green seats calling out “Why are you stopping?” or “NO! Not here you idiot.” The woman just sat there looking back at all us kids in her huge rearview mirror, stunned and trying to figure out if someone was actually going to get off. Someone would eventually tell her no one was getting off, and she would start driving again to the chorus of our profanity. The bus was so full she wouldn’t have a clue who was doing all the yelling, and in hindsight, I don’t think she cared who was yelling. She just wanted off the bus herself. Now, we were juniors in high school. Even though we all had our driver’s licenses we couldn’t drive to school until we were seniors due to limited parking spaces.

You could only jump out the back of the bus on the last day of school. If you did the jump midyear, the principal would be waiting on the bus after school the next day and the bus wouldn’t leave for home until he found out who had activated the fire exit. He would threaten to give everyone a detention if nobody tattled or confessed. I know because we tried to do it on a Friday once in eighth grade, and the next Monday there he was waiting for us inside the bus. Carolyn Autumn was the one who told on us. She didn’t even hesitate; she wanted to get home and ‘prepare’ for a history test she had the next week. Carolyn was constantly worrying and studying. She lived down the street from us and we rode the bus together since our first-grade year.

“I’m sorry, Adam,” she said. “I had to. I thought I was going to fail.”

But she was one of the most successful students in school. She was always on the honor roll, as long as I could remember anyway. Her obsessive worrying was likely the reason for all her success in school.

With the word… John Richards!

Inspiration behind Return to Autumn

Return to Autumn was based on many events that actually occurred while I was in the 7th grade through senior year of high school. Not the same exact events, but similar. The characters in the novel are also based on people that I have known along the way. It was funny because my editor would tell me that something I wrote wasn’t actually believable or that people don’t really talk like that. I would tell her on those occasions that the events actually happened or that we actually did talk like that. Much of what she had wanted to cut, I left in to be true to the story. Caroline, who is Adams main love interest was based on a girl I knew from the first grade. She was an awesome student, and never did anything wrong. She grew up to be stunningly beautiful.

John Richards was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs where he currently resides with his wife, kids and German Shepherds. John worked as a book seller for a few years before attending law school and becoming a litigation attorney. John’s writings are loosely drawn from personal life experiences but would never admit to it. When not at work or writing, John and his family enjoy spending time outdoors and vacationing in the Mountains of Tennessee.

Website│Goodreads

Two lucky INTERNATIONAL winners will take home each a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

GIVEAWAY!

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Thank you for reading! Any fans of books set in the 1990’s over here? =D

With love,