Valentine’s Day | marloberliner.com

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m super excited to be revealing the cover of Wendy Higgins’ new book, Kiss Collector! But first, the blurb:

KISS COLLECTOR

from HarperTeen and Wendy Higgins

YA Contemporary Romance

Coming December 18, 2018

When seventeen-year-old Zae Monroe gets cheated on by the only guy she’s ever loved, then watches her parents’ marriage crumble, she decides to forget about relationships and turn the tables on the boys of the world. It’s time to take what she wants, and what she wants are kisses. Athletes, musicians, poets, and bad boys—their lips are all on her agenda, and it’s time to collect.

Zae proposes a contest with her friends to see who can kiss the most boys during spring break. But what starts as a harmless competition leads to a downward spiral she can’t seem to break free of. As family, academic, friend, and guy drama come to a head, Zae is forced to face the reasons behind her boy angst, and starts to wonder if she was wrong about the male race…or at least some of them.

This book sounds amazing!

Quick, quick! Add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18457118-kiss-collector

And now, feast your eyes!

What a swoony cover, am I right?!

Enter the Giveaway here:

Kiss Collector Giveaway

And now for another Valentine’s treat. Hop on over to the YA Outside The Lines blog where I’ve whipped up a special post about love, called Loved and Lost. I shared something very personal and it may not be what you expect. Loved and Lost…

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

XOXO

~Marlo

It begins in mid-January. On the radio, television, and internet. From every direction, we’re assaulted by ads for flowers, candy, cards, perfume, lingerie, furs, and jewelry (particularly the diamond variety). Want to show your love? Well, you better open your wallet, pull out your credit card and buy, buy, buy.

Wait. Not so fast, love buns. According to a recent study conducted by Laurie Puhn Communications, that may not actually be what your significant other wants for Valentine’s Day at all.

The results of the study showed that what most women (ages 30-49) want for Valentine’s Day is simply rest and relaxation. Yup, a little R&R.

According to the survey:

• 72% of women want a day off from housework and/or childcare
• 14% of women want a special plan for dinner
• 9% of women want a gift
• 5% of women want ‘the horizontal tango’

And what about everyone else? Well, women over 50 or under 30, and men as a group, also rejected the usual store-bought gifts. The majority of respondents in those groups preferred a special plan for dinner. What, you say, men preferred dinner over the horizontal tango? Just goes to show, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Making his favorite recipe of chicken and dumplings might be all you need to do.

It seems money can’t buy you love after all. Imagine that. Valentine’s Day can come without ribbons. It can come without tags. It can come without packages, boxes or bags. Maybe love doesn’t come from the store. Maybe Valentine’s Day, perhaps, means a little bit more.

In light of those findings, I’d like to put forth the idea of the Intangible Valentine. Instead of buying a gift from the store, why not try doing something nice for your mate instead? Let them put their feet up, while you do the vacuuming for once. Play with the kids for a while and let them take a nice, hot bath or read a book. Help them with a project they could use a hand with and have been dying to finish. Get something done on the honey-do list that they’ve been nagging you about. Take some errands off their hands. Cook their favorite dinner and dessert. Let them pick the movie for once, even if it means sitting through that “action” flick, or that ten-tissue, tearjerker of a romance movie. Chances are, giving them a little attention, appreciation and recognition for all their hard work, love and support, might go farther than that bouquet or box of chocolates anyway.