Crushing on You
Burlfriends, Book 1
Praise from early readers:
"Jen's debut novel is witty, fast-paced, and a joy to read. A book I didn't want to put down, and made me laugh out loud multiple times. Think Meg Cabot-style fun meets millennials, with the associated techies, foodies, and climbers we all know and love. Can't wait to see what happens on the rest of the series!"
-Romance reader and expert at V0s and the occasional V1
"Surprises and chemistry abound! I will also never think of bathrooms in quite the same way."
-JD, fellow romance author
“This book really improved my grip strength, I couldn’t put it down!”
-Yosemite Climber & New Romance Reader
"I found it extremely hard to put the book down once I started. I was so enthralled in this smoldering romance between Anna and Ian with a twist of climbing. It's a must-read!"
-Artist, V3 / 5.11a climber
"I really enjoyed this book! I love both a good romance and climbing, so this was a welcome melding of the two!
-Voracious reader / 5.11 climber
Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Trinh
Copyright cover art © 2019 by Jia Liu
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
First edition
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all of the friends out there who make relationships possible…
...to my parents and my family, for their relentless love and support…
...and to my husband, the greatest bub of all time (GBOAT).
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Preface
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Preface
You guys…
There’s some graphic sex in this book.
It’s a lady in the streets, freak in the sheets.
I know it might be kind of shocking, given the beautifully illustrated cover, but that’s one of the great things about self-publishing—you don’t have to compromise on your vision!
You can have a cute and pretty cover instead of a photo-realistic image of two people in a hot and heavy embrace.
You can write about an intimate moment between two people’s lives, and not have to censor either character’s thoughts, or use euphemism where it doesn’t make sense to.
You can write with "medium-good" style (forgive me, it’s my first time!), but still get a touching story out there.
Yes, there is sex. There’s flirtatious foreplay and wordplay, and maybe some things that you won’t understand until you get older (put this book down, child!). But there’s a lot more than that, too.
This book is about all of the gritty details in people’s lives that shape who they are, and the relationships that they share. But it’s also fun and frivolous in the way that romance novels often are, with characters who are a bit unrealistically attractive, and perhaps slightly over-primed for happy endings.
It’s probably not going to win any literary awards, and that’s fine—I’m proud of it anyway. I could definitely spend more time cleaning it up and fixing some minor details, but for now, it’s good enough. I will get better at it with time.
Besides, if I find a publisher in the future, it’ll be their problem to deal with. Ha!
This book draws a lot from my own personal experience, but please don’t be fooled—it’s not about me, nor is it about you, nor any of my family members or friends. It’s a story that I completely made up in my head, after decades of reading and reading and reading.
And feeling.
And learning.
And growing.
This is my first book, and I’m so thrilled that you’ve picked it up.
I hope you’re thrilled, too!
A few additional notes:
This book is written from the first-person perspective of each of the two main characters, Anna and Ian. I alternate between their chapters, so for narrative continuity, there are a few times when events that occur concurrently are addressed out of order (i.e., something that happened in a previous chapter is addressed later by the other character in their next chapter).
There’s a decent amount of climbing in the book, especially in the second half. I tried to explain most of the terms, but if you aren’t a climber (yet), you might want to look online for a climbing terminology guide.
There’s also a lot of music in the book. I wanted to give readers a closer connection to Anna’s character, so check out the Crushing on You companion playlist on Spotify. You can find it through my website (jentrinhwrites.com).
Prologue
-Anna-
From the first few seconds of a song, I can usually tell if it’s going to be a groover or a hoover.
Hoovers are simple. They suck. Three seconds in and I press the skip button.
But groovers...no matter how fast or slow the song is, groovers make me want to dance. Need to dance. They put me under a spell, force my body to sway, and turn my head into a slow wobbling vase on the pedestal of my neck. My eyes drift closed and my body becomes one giant sound vessel, quivering with anticipation for the next note and the next. And when the song ends and I awaken from my trance, I’m a woman possessed, rabid with music, and I can’t rest until I’ve passed the feeling on to someone else.
I need to infect you with my earworms.
And that, my dear hosts, is why I blog about music and create playlists. Why it’s
