YA author Cheyanne Young has just published her latest novel The Breakup Support Group. To celebrate the release of the hopeful and romantic new YA novel, Hypable has an exclusive excerpt to get you hooked!

What’s ‘The Breakup Support Group’?

Cheyanne Young’s new book is about a girl who’s just out of a four year relationship — her first serious romance. With her spirits down in the dumps, the school counselor suggests joining their “Breakup Support Group.” While there, a hot guy named Emory, who she’s been crushing on, joins the group. He’s known for… shall we say… really getting around at the school.

It’s too bad he showed up, because Isla has a major crush on Emory. So much for a helpful support group!

“Isla’s little crush on Emory might be exactly full blown. Isla can’t afford another heartbreak so soon after the last one. She will have to resist his charms, refuse to look into those dreamy eyes, and above all else, not make the mistake of letting him kiss her. If only she hadn’t let her guard down at the end of the night, under the light of her porch in a toe-curling kiss moment of weakness. And now, after months of Breakup Support Group therapy, and with a heart fully on the mend, Isla has just handed it over to a guy who knows full well just how to break it.”

Read an excerpt

Cheyanne has provided an exclusive Breakup Support Group excerpt for Hypable readers in honor of the release. In it, we see Isla during happier times prior to her breakup. Read it below!

My hand slips easily into Nate’s, and he gives it a little squeeze, his calloused palm fitting perfectly against mine. I draw in a deep breath of summer air and lean into his bicep as we walk through the parking lot of Deer Valley’s only movie theater. After spending the day indoors making a million school spirit pom-poms with my mom, the warm summer air is refreshing in my lungs. I close my eyes and draw in another deep breath. My free hand grabs Nate’s elbow, and I rest my cheek on his arm. I can never be too close to this boy. He is my boyfriend, my everything, and he has held that title since summer of seventh grade.

Nate makes a flourish of his hand as we approach the historic movie theater. “So are we seeing Mediocre Movie number one or Mediocre Movie number two?” he says.

The two screen facility is our town’s biggest attraction, although I am certain it’s because of the antique architecture and not the low-budget films it shows each week. If you want to see a good movie, you go to the massive cinema in the next town over. But for date night, when all you really care about is sharing popcorn and cuddling in the dark, you come to Hastings Cinema.

I purse my lips and gaze up at the vintage marquee. Nate’s gorgeous face glows from the red and yellow neon lights that surround the vertical HASTINGS CINEMA sign, a restored and renovated version of the original sign from the forties. His short brown hair looks like it’s on fire beneath the lights. He peers down at me, expecting an answer. I bite my lip, reminding myself that staring at my hot boyfriend all night isn’t an option. “I don’t know … maybe we should do a coin toss?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. You made me choose last time so you choose this time. Looks like we’ve got a movie about old people in love and an action flick about saving the president. What’ll it be, Rush?”

My boyfriend always calls me by my last name. I think it’s a football thing. I shrug. “Action flick. And a large popcorn. I’m starving.”

“Okay, but Tom Cooley is in this movie, and you hate him,” Nate says, stepping to the side so we can pass between two concrete pillars hand-in-hand. He’ll never get over how horrified I was freshman year when we watched the European actor portray a freakishly deformed party clown in a movie that was supposed to be a satirical take on a horror film. All of our friends were laughing their asses off in Nate’s rec room, and I was hiding behind his back, covering my eyes with a throw pillow.

“I think I can survive seeing him wielding a gun instead of that gigantic red nose.”

“Guns are definitely more terrifying than a big red nose,” he says with a snort. I shake my head and start to disagree, but he’s already slipped out of the conversation—and my grasp.

“Hastings! Man, what’s up?” Nate shouts across the remainder of the parking lot toward the lanky quarterback of Deer Valley High’s varsity team. He’s also the grandson of Alexander Hastings, owner of the theater. And he’s the reason we get all the free popcorn and soda we can consume. Alexander waves us over, and a few other massive guys from school shout out to my boyfriend. Even without their football uniforms, they all look similar. One of them calls my name as well, and waves for us to come over.

Nate heads toward his teammates and best friends, all smiles and hearty small-talk insults about last week’s football practice. I shimmy along the asphalt in an attempt to keep up with him, cursing myself for wearing heels. Actually, I curse myself for more than the heels. The heels aren’t what annoys me; they are just a symbol of it. My hot pink pumps, paired with this black lacy knee-length dress are the symbol of a girl on a date night.

I should have known this would turn into a group affair—Nate, the guys on the team, and me, the loyal girlfriend, Isla Rush. Alexander throws an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me in a one-armed hug and the scent of his woodsy deodorant fills the air. I force a smile and say hello to the guys, most of them seniors like Nate and me, and all of them the same guys I’ve known since kindergarten.

Disappointment seeps into my bones, starting with my aching feet that are shoved into these sexy shoes and ending in a vise grip around my heart. I love these guys, I swear I do, but is it so hard to expect a single night alone with my boyfriend? I can’t even remember the last epic make out session we’ve had. This summer has been a whirlwind of football practice and cheer clinics and preparing for senior year. There hasn’t been much time for being in love lately.

I untangle myself from Alexander’s arm and reach for Nate’s hand again, this time giving him a firm look. “Honey, we should get into the theater. I want a good seat this time.”

“All seats are good seats at Hasting’s!” Alexander says, projecting his voice like he was in an old-timey commercial.

“Bro, I think she means the good seats,” a guy we call Ford says, wiggling his eyebrows. “The seats in the way back of the theater.”

He throws me a not-so-subtle wink and the group of athletes whoop at the innuendo. Seizing the opportunity, however embarrassing, to take my boyfriend away from his friends, I don a sultry gaze and tug on Nate’s arm.

“Thanks, Ford. That’s exactly what I meant.”

“Shit, man,” Ford says, turning his gaze onto Nate. “Teach me your ways. I need a woman, bad.”

Nate rolls his eyes. “I have no special ways. She’s been my girl for a million years. We’re like an old married couple.”

I don’t know why that stings, but it does. “Are we going?” I ask, unable to hide the bite in my voice.
Nate runs his tongue across his bottom lip. “What did I tell you?” he says, gesturing to his friends. “She’s my ball and chain.”

My face flushes until I’m probably as pink as my stupid shoes. I look toward the ticket booth, hoping no one notices. But at least the movement gets Nate’s feet moving as well. “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he says to Alexander and the rest of them. “The old lady won’t stop until she gets her way.”

I punch him playfully in the arm and almost wish I would have put some muscle behind it. My shoulders straighten. “You’re welcome to stay and hang out,” I say with a perfectly pleasant tone. “Maybe one of your friends wants to get a good seat with me instead?”

A chorus of oooooohhhs roar from the group of football players and the look Nate gives me reminds me that his heart is mine and that it always has been. I guess he just needed a little playful reminder. He slips an arm around my waist and tugs me close to his chest. “Sorry, guys, looks like I’m busy for the next couple of hours.”

About the author

Follow Cheyanne on Twitter and visit her website!

Cheyanne Young is a native Texan with a fear of cold weather and a coffee addiction that probably needs an intervention. She loves books, sarcasm, and collecting nail polish. After nearly a decade of working in engineering, Cheyanne now writes books for young adults and is the author of the City of Legends Trilogy from Alloy Entertainment. She doesn’t miss a cubicle one bit.

Cheyanne lives near the beach with her daughter and husband, one spoiled rotten puppy, and a cat that is most likely plotting to take over the world.