Welcome to the You Were Made for Me Blog Tour!
YA author Jenna Guillaume is back with a fun and modern feminist twist on the 1985 pop cult film Weird Science.
Sixteen-year-old Katie Camilleri can’t believe she’s accidentally created a teenage boy. A boy six-feet tall with floppy hair and eyes like the sky on a clear summer’s day. A boy whose lips taste like cookie dough and whose skin smells like springtime. A boy completely devoted to Katie. But silly musings and kitchen antics with her best friend, Libby, have definitely taken a whimsical twist into something bigger than Katie could have ever daydreamed. Turns out the consequences of fumbling a human being into existence are rather complicated. More importantly, does Guy, the golden Adonis Katie’s created, like her because he wants to, or because he has to? And will he be Katie’s very first kiss?
From the author of What I Like About Me comes a hilarious feminist twist on a classic narrative, loaded with laughs, mishaps, and plenty of 80s and 90s pop-culture callbacks. Jenna Guillaume’s entertaining romantic comedy novel features a humorous and relatable voice and will appeal to fans of Jenny Han.
To celebrate the release of You Were Made for Me by Jenna Guillaume on April 1st, blogs across the web are featuring original content from Jenna, as well as 10 chances to win the hardcover!
You Were Made for Me Deleted Scene
by Jenna Guillaume
This is a deleted scene from the first draft of You Were Made for Me. If you read the book, you may notice that there is a similar scene in the final version of the book. It serves the same purpose—introduces Theo, reinforces Katie’s desperation to have her first kiss, and establishes her and Libby’s boredom which leads to their experimentation and the creation of the “perfect” boy.
There are a bunch of reasons why this scene evolved from what it is below to what you see in the finished book—one of them was that I wanted to take out the reference to Never Been Kissed, because it felt like one too many old school pop culture nods for a modern book. Theo changed slightly as a character from what you see here, too. But I did really like some of the banter between him, Libby, and Katie, so I’m glad to be able to share it now!
***
“We could…watch a movie?” I said.
“Hooooow?” Libby whined. “The internet’s down.”
“My mum has a bunch of DVDs.”
“What is this, 2007?”
After a good ten minutes of staring at my mum’s dust-covered DVD collection, we ended up picking this old rom-com starring Drew Barrymore called Never Been Kissed. Libby and I stretched out on the lounge with the plate of warm cookies between us. Max snuggled at my feet and cast longing looks at the cookies.
We hadn’t got far into the movie when I heard the back door slide open. Theo sauntered in, the shoulders of his hoodie darkened from the rain, his shaggy hair dripping wet. I mumbled a “hey” and turned back to the screen. Libby didn’t even look up. She was used to Theo waltzing in like he owned the place. He was in the year above us at school, and he lived in this little granny flat behind his dad’s house next door. Well, it was just a bedroom with an en suite really, there was no kitchen or anything, but still. He was so lucky to have his own space. Even though he was at mine half the time anyway. He liked to jump the back fence rather than walk all the way around to the front door, and he always seemed to show up when Dad had cooked something good, or I’d baked. Completely coincidentally, I’m sure.
Without a word, he flopped down on the lounge next to me. I tutted and looked pointedly at his wet clothes before sliding over to make more room for him, moving the cookies onto my lap. He pulled off his hoodie and used the inside of it to dry off his hair. Then he grabbed a cookie and settled back into the lounge. Max jumped up and tried to cram his huge body onto Theo’s legs. He’s a total traitor to me whenever Theo’s around. Theo laughed and shuffled closer to me to make room for Max on the other side of him. He was rewarded with a few big sloppy licks to his face. From Max, I mean—not from me, obviously.
By the time the movie was over, the cookies were gone and my foot was asleep.
“That’s going to be me in the future,” I said with a moan, getting up and shaking my leg around to get feeling back into it.
“What, making out with your teacher on a baseball field?” Libby said. “Super gross, by the way. I don’t care if she was secretly an adult, he thought she was a student. Why do teachers always hook up with teenagers in these things? It’s all kinds of wrong.”
“I dunno, if I had a teacher who looked like that…”
“Ewwwww, Katie!”
“What, you wouldn’t make out with Mr O’Malley?” Theo said, making kissing noises. O’Malley was an English teacher at our school who was at least 105 years old.
“At this rate, I’ll probably have to. I’m going to be 25 and never been kissed. Just call me Josie Grossie.”
“We would never do that,” Theo said. I almost smiled in gratitude, but then he said, “It’s not your name. You’re more like… Katie Latey.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Libby chimed in. “Don’t you know, she’s Kate now. So it’d be…Kate the Late.”
“Oh you’re both just hilarious aren’t you,” I said as the two of them cracked up. “It’s alright for you! You’re kissing a new girl every week,” I gestured to Theo and then turned to Libby, “and you’ve been with Michael since you were practically in nappies.” Libby’s boyfriend went to the selective school in town. They only saw each other on occasional weekends, but they’d been going out since Year 6.
Libby rolled her eyes. “Should we order pizza?”
“I’m 15 years old,” I said, not done with the subject yet. “It’s beyond ridiculous at this point.”
“You’re the one being ridiculous,” Libby said.
” am not.”
“You are too! There are plenty of people our age who’ve never kissed anyone.”
“Name one,” I said.
Libby’s lips tightened and she looked away.
“See! You can’t.”
No response.
“Face it, I’m a freak.”
Libby’s head snapped my way, and there was anger in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but Theo broke in before she got the chance.
“God, if it bothers you that much, I’ll do it,” he said.
“What?”
“I’ll kiss you.” He could not have sounded less enthused if he tried.
“Gee, thanks!”
“What? It’s a bona fide offer.”
“I’m not a charity case.”
“Well stop whinging, then.”
“You don’t get it. My first kiss can’t be just anyone. It’s got to be someone special. Someone perfect.”
Theo shook his head. “Huh. Good luck with that. Forget 25, you’ll be the only person in the retirement village who’s never been kissed.” He stood up and flung his hoodie over his shoulder.
“What are you on about?”
“Nobody’s perfect, KC.” He gave Max a pat on the head. “Well, except maybe Maxie. Hey, he gives you kisses all the time! There you go, problem sorted.”
Theo’s back was already to me as he headed for the door, so he didn’t see the middle finger I was sticking up at him. He wouldn’t have cared even if he did.
*****
Blog Tour Schedule:
3/29 - BookhoundsYA
3/30 - Book Briefs
3/31 - Novel Novice
4/1 - The Fandom
4/2 - YA Book Nerd
4/5 - Randomly Reading
4/6 - Crossroad Reviews
4/7 - The Young Folks
4/8 - A Dream Within a Dream
4/9 - I'm All Booked Up
Follow Jenna: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
About the Author: Jenna Guillaume was the editor-at-large for BuzzFeed Australia, where she wrote about very important things like pop culture, identity, feminism, social media, and Chris Hemsworth's biceps. Previously, she spent more than half a decade in the features department of Girlfriend magazine, editing the sealed section (yes, all those questions are real), and writing about everything from bullying and body image to bad kisses and boy bands. She was also a contributor to Girlfriend Life Hacks, an essential guide to navigating a girl's completely-awkward-but-totally-awesome teen years.
GIVEAWAY
- 1 winner will receive a finished copy of You Were Made for Me
- Check out the other tour stops for more chances to win!
- US/Canada only
- Ends 11:59pm ET on 4/18
I would love to see West Side Story remade with a modern twist.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see a silent film remade as a modern movie with dialogue.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun read. I remember Weird Science from back in the day. Curious how this twist turns out. Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess