Welcome to the blog tour for
THE LAST TIME WE WERE US by Leah Konen

Today I’m sharing my blog post for THE LAST TIME WE WERE US blog tour! Thanks to Harper Teen and Hannah from Irish Banana Blog Tours for having me be a part of this one! I’m really excited to share a new post for me but one that really fits in with my interests and hobbies… Book Scents!

Before we jump into the tour, let’s take a second to check out some details about the book:

Title: The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konen
Publishing Info: May 10, 2016 by HarperCollins
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: March 18, 2016
Related Posts: The Last Time We Were Us

Liz Grant is about to have the summer of her life. She and her friend MacKenzie are getting invited to all the best parties, and with any luck, Innis Taylor, the most gorgeous guy in Bonneville, will be her boyfriend before the Fourth of July.
Local teen convict released early.
Jason Sullivan wasn’t supposed to come back from juvie. A million years ago, he was her best friend, but that was before he ditched her for a different crowd. Before he attacked Innis’s older brother, leaving Skip’s face burned and their town in shock.
“Everything is not what you think.”
Liz always found it hard to believe what they said about Jason, but all of Bonneville thinks he’s dangerous. If word gets out she’s seeing him, she could lose everything. But what if there’s more to that horrible night than she knows? And how many more people will get hurt when the truth finally comes out?
“You’re the one person who believes in me.”
Leah Konen’s southern romance swelters with passion as it explores the devastating crush of lies, the delicate balance of power and perception, and one girl’s journey to find herself while uncovering the secrets of so many others.

ABOUT LEAH KONEN

Leah Konen grew up in a two-stoplight farming town in Washington State before moving to suburban North Carolina, where there were many more stoplights and lots of sweet tea. After studying journalism at the University of North Carolina, she headed to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. When she’s not working on novels and articles or writing for fashion brands, she enjoys devouring new books, spoiling her dog, Farley, biking around Brooklyn, checking out live music, and binge-watching TV. Find her online at leahkonen.com.
LINKS: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

BOOK SCENTS: THE LAST TIME WE WERE US

Ever since I started making candles, I’ve been so much more in tune with the sensory notes in the books that I read. I feel like aromas in a book are easily skipped over and forgotten once a reader has finished because noticing and committing a smell to memory is such a unique experience that it’s harder hang onto if you haven’t experienced it first hand. I know at least for me, when a book draws on a familiar smell, I’m instantly hit with memories and nostalgia that have the potential to tie me to a book more than any other scenic description so I feel like those smells that add to the atmosphere are not to be overlooked!

Drawing upon my newly heightened awareness, I’ve started keeping tracking of specific scents described in book and how they really paint an even more vivid picture for a reader! Today on Book Scents, I’m sharing some of my favorite aromas from THE LAST TIME WE WERE US! They immediately had me thinking back on what fragrances I would use to mimic each experience and I’ve included each one below. (Now how do we make these posts scratch and sniff?)

Innis shuts it behind him, and in seconds, we’re kissing again. He smells like Downy and cologne and faint cigarettes. His lips are salty with summer sweat.

Inspiration: Clean laundry, cologne, cigarettes
Fragrances: Clean cotton, cool clear water, tobacco

She fiddles with the strings of her half apron. “I thought it would be nice if we had lunch out on the porch. It’s only eighty-two out, and there’s a breeze.”

She looks at me like a lost puppy, waiting for an answer. This funny thing happens to moms, right about when you turn fifteen. They start trying to be your friend.

“Sure.”

“Great. Grab a plate. I’ll pour the tea.”

“Half and half, please.” During the summer, our house always has two pitchers of tea in the fridge. One sweet and syrupy for Mom—the kind that’s led many a Southerner into the throes of obesity—one unsweet for Dad. I like a little of both.

I fill my plate with a slice of ham, lots of cucumbers, and a dollop of Mom’s neighborhood-famous potato salad, and head out front, taking a seat on a wicker bench covered with floral pillows. It took Mom four solid months to find pillows in a pattern she liked that you could keep outside. I kick up my feet on the ottoman and pop a cucumber into my mouth, watching as the bugs collect on the wraparound screen, looking for food or a long drink.

Inspiration: Iced tea, cucumbers, summer air
Fragrances: Tea, lemon, cucumber mint, fresh outdoors

I sidestep the rest of the way down, between dogwood bushes and wildflowers and weeds that are too pretty to even be called weeds, and then finally we reach the clearing, a grassy circle surrounded by trees and climbing ivy. There’s a mass of crumbling bricks on one end that used to be one of those huge barbecues no one makes or uses anymore. I look up, and all I see is sky, a blue, clear ceiling. I look back down, and there’s Jason, looking at me.

Inspiration: Dogwood bushes, wildflowers, grass, ivy
Fragrances: Cotton tree, meadow, French market (light floral scent), four leaf clover

After Mom and Dad have gone to bed, after the TV turns from late-night hosts to infomercials, right around when the honeysuckle reaches the height of its dewy perfume, we talk. About the little things, the daily things, more than anything else. How often he ices his jaw. The games I play with Sadie and Mary Ryan. The oppressive heat, the way Dad skimps on the AC to be cheap, how his dad does the same

Inspiration: Honeysuckle, dew, summer heat
Fragrances: Honeysuckle, rain, fresh outdoors

I open the door to the truck, and the smell hits me immediately, sugar, flour, and pure nostalgic warmth. The polka-dot box sits on the dash.

“You didn’t.”

“I was driving to work, and I saw the light on,” he says. “I figured my boss wouldn’t kill me if I was a few minutes late, given that I’m recovering and all.”

He opens the lid, and the sweet smell is even stronger.

“Still your favorite?” he asks.

“Are you kidding?”

Your first time having a real Krispy Kreme doughnut is a rite of passage in North Carolina. It has to be the real deal, fresh from the shop when they have the HOT light flicked on.

Jason and I had ours together when we were five or six. I’d stayed over the night before, and Mrs. Sullivan slipped into his room superearly, got us out of our bunk beds and told us we were going to have the best doughnuts of our lives. She always said that fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts were the only thing North Carolina had on New York, food-wise. When she handed them to us, they were still hot, and they melted in our mouths, just like she’d said they would.

Inspiration: Krispy Creme Donuts
Fragrances: Cake, pink sugar, vanilla

So what do you think?! Which scents do you think are the strongest sensory inspirations? Which are your favorites?

Don’t miss the rest of THE LAST TIME WE WERE US blog tour stops!

I’m closing out the tour but don’t miss the rest of the stops that came before me! Check out the rest of the tour info below:

GIVEAWAY

Three lucky winners will receive a finished copy of THE LAST TIME WE WERE US! Enter through the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!! 

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