A Blessing and a Curse
Anna Campbell
Publication date: October 31st 2023
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Blessing Savage barely remembers who she was before the unexpected death of her father, Pastor Savage. These days she clings desperately to the party girl persona she’s created for her second year of college, living with a new group of friends, joining their sorority, and partying non-stop. There’s only one thing that can kill her perpetual buzz, and his name is Camden Holbrook, the boy she’s pined for for nearly a decade.
Camden credits Blessing’s father for saving him when he was a child, giving him a place to stay when his mother abandoned him and setting him back on the right track. So when Pastor Savage asked a promise of Camden before dying – to look out for Blessing – he made a vow and meant it. Protecting Blessing has always come easily. Loving her has not. Not for someone who’s learned time and time again that love and loss are intricately interwoven.
After years of Camden keeping her at arm’s length, the last thing Blessing wants is him barging into her life. But new Blessing refuses to let Cam play knight-in-shining-armor, not when she knows – from one starry summer’s night slip-up – how he really feels about her. This time around, Blessing’s intent on pushing Camden’s limits, and she’s got some sexy new tricks up her sleeve to take him past them. Then maybe he’ll admit the truth of his feelings. Maybe the person who’s always known her best can help her find a way back to herself. Maybe she can prove to Camden that love doesn’t always destroy a person. Sometimes, it’s the only thing that can start putting them back together.
Guest Post:
So Why New Adult?
After my Book Club finished reading my self-published novel, A Blessing and a Curse, and we sat down to discuss it, one of the first questions my friend asked me was, “Why did you decide to write it as New Adult?”
Valid question, considering that I’d traditionally published several Young Adult novels and also shared several manuscripts of the Women’s Fiction variety with the group. I took a moment to consider what Blessing and Camden’s story might have looked like if I’d written them a few years younger as well as how their story would have unfolded if I had written them a few years older. And even though I hadn’t considered it when I sat down to write their story, after consideration, I decided that yes, New Adult was where their story belonged.
The concept of a New Adult genre has faced it share of criticism since its inception. Publishing companies make the argument it doesn’t have a broad enough readership to be marketable. Others claimed that the term is synonymous with sex scenes and little substance elsewise, writing it off as carelessly published smut. But I’ll make the claim that there is value in the concept of New Adult literature as it’s been otherwise conceptualized, a unique niche to explore themes and topics such as familial struggles, navigating college/friendships post high school, exploring and choosing livelihoods, living away from home, loss of innocence, fear of failure, individual identity, drug/alcohol abuse, and yes, certainly sexuality also, but as part of the experience, not the sole experience of the characters. After all, individuals at this age are certainly much more than rabid hornballs, and it’s rather insulting to reduce them to that in NA stories.
In telling Blessing and Camden’s story, I wanted to tackle these above-mentioned issues and challenges with a certain level of maturity and insight that would not have been inherent to teenage characters. At the same time, I wanted their struggles to be significant and authentic, fought in the moment, and thus the importance of them being ages nineteen and twenty-one in the present-day portions of the story. Many of the topics explored in the book, including choosing a college major one feels passionate about, finding the courage to take career risks, making decisions while not living under the same roof at one’s parents, navigating drinking and some of the possibly bad decisions (e.g., drunk visits to tattoo parlors) that come along with drinking, processing grief/angst, finding your identity after the loss of a parent/separation from your parents, and yes… getting it on with the super-hot guy you’ve longed for forever who just happens to live above your parents’ garage… these topics made sense to explore within new adult characters, no two ways about it. In short, their story came before their genre. I did not set out to write a New Adult book for the sake of including copious gratuitous sex scenes – anything but. Camden and Blessing’s story told itself to me, and I realized that given their ages and challenges within this story, they belonged within the New Adult genre.
And while some might claim the potential readership for these stories is small, might I kindly disagree? I know many adult readers out there who still find beauty and interest in Young Adult romance. It’s certainly plausible that these same readers can enjoy the same thing about New Adult stories, which provide some additional depth/insights as many New Adult stories, mine included, still include many heartfelt, innocent, and sweet interactions between characters, while still delivering, shall we say… five hot peppers on the spiciness scale, which this story also does. At the same time, being that young people (upper high school/beginning college) today are indicated to face more psychological challenges and new pressures at a younger age, while sexuality becomes part of a more open conversation, the exploration of these topics in the New Adult genre might feel more relevant and timely than the way they are approached in YA. (Disclaimer: I still attest that the content of this story is for 18+ or that any parent considering this story for anyone younger should review it first due to explicit content.)
In short, don’t judge a book by its genre. Many New Adult stories have a little bit of everything, and I feel confident that mine brings the feels, tears, laughter, warmth, and swoons in addition to the heat (five hot peppers, y’all). I sincerely hope you’ll take the time to get to know Camden and Blessing, in all their self-discovering, grieving, developing, loving, healing glory. A Blessing and a Curse is available for a steal on Amazon – 2.99 for eBook format and available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Author Bio:
Spend more time with Anna Campbell and her stories on Instagram: @annacampbellstories
Anna Campbell has traditionally published several stories for teens over the years under a different pen name. Anna Campbell stories are mature YA/NA angsty stories about beatiful broken people who love hard and still believe in happy endings.
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