Just Between Us - Haley Oakes

An attraction that can’t be denied ….

Ten years spent trying to forget.

Now

Kyle returns to his home town following years away to discover Sophie, the girl he could never have, nursing a broken heart after being dumped by her fiancé.

Then

A decade before Sophie and Kyle hated each other, she thought he was an arrogant playboy and he thought she was a spoilt princess. However one night a drunken kiss changed everything ….

Back then he was the achingly attractive bad boy that, however much she tried, Sophie couldn’t resist. Now as Kyle spends the summer attempting to revive Sophie from her misery, she wonders if the one person she wouldn’t let herself have is the only one who can save her?

Just Between Us – Hayley Oakes

Real life versus fiction – which parts of Hayley Oakes are included?

Interview with Hayley

Have you ever had your heart broken? Yes – a few times.

Have you ever had an attraction to a bad boy? Oh God yes – where are the good boys???

Have you ever fallen for someone who was out of bounds? No – however I craved a forbidden romance as a teenager.

Have you ever craved someone you hated? No – I’m too good at hating lol.

Are your parents divorced? Yes but I don’t have any step siblings

Have you ever had a holiday romance? No – that one passed me by.

Have you ever loved someone so intensely that you couldn’t bear the thought of living without them? Every day <3

Do you have a best friend like Ashley? Yes, I have an extremely close and amazing best friend but she isn’t as selfish as Ashley.

Do you regret letting a long lost love go? No, I have found my bad boy.

Have you found your HEA? Yes ….. thank God.

My Inspiration Behind the Characters

            I have always loved angst ridden romance ever since the days of ‘My so called life’ and ‘Party of five’. I love the idea of a romance that is doomed to fail despite how much the characters are drawn to each other.

            I wanted to create a story where the characters were unable to stay apart but didn’t really like each other. I also don’t like stories where the end is a foregone conclusion and so I like the reader to always guess what will happen next.

            My inspiration for Kyle was every bad boy in fiction that I ever read, in my mind he was a lot harsher than I wrote him but it didn’t translate to paper and he became a tortured good guy deep down. I wanted him to be a mixture of Jordan Catalano from ‘My so called life’, Griffin from ‘Party of Five’ and Patrick from ’10 things I hate about you’. Someone who is adored by people but doesn’t require the adoration, who is effortlessly cool but doesn’t need the acceptance.

            My inspiration for Sophie was the teenage angst movies that I have enjoyed my whole life. The torture of feeling like you don’t quite fit in and the hardship of realising that your parents aren’t perfect. You realise that your mum can love again and be giddy. You realise that you can get yourself into trouble and don’t have to ask permission for everything. My own teenage experiences and those of my friends were drawn on heavily,

            Sophie gets a bad rep in some reviews for being whiny and selfish but really all she is someone who is too scared to just be herself and accept what she wants. She’s a typical teenager who worries more about what everyone else thinks rather than just following her heart.