Exclusive cover reveal: 'Stupid Girl' by Cindy Miles

While HEA shares the very first look at Cindy Miles' upcoming Stupid Girl (May), Cindy shares her take on the allure of a bad boy … (To see a larger version of the cover, click on the blue arrow in the lower right corner of the image.)

Cindy: Just what is it about bad boys that causes good girls to lose their heads, and — ahem — other things? Is it the fearlessness? The tough-guy exterior? The smoldering scowl? Is it the tattoos, or, better yet — the deep, dark meaning behind that ink?

As everyone knows, bad boys aren't necessarily truly, utterly bad, nor Fight Club-level crazy. They're just different than your Average Joe, driven by their own distinct demons. And it's that deliciously torturous push-pull between good and bad, that combustive struggle in their natures which attracts so many of us ladies, just like moths to their flame.

Now, allow me to take a moment and own up to my personal membership (lifetime, unfortunately) in Club Badboyitis, which led me to creating the ultimate Bad Boy. Brax Jenkins, hero of my upcoming New Adult romance novel, Stupid Girl, is a guy we can all root for — someone who has suffered and struggled, and continues to battle his more sinful nature. Not because he's a spoiled rich boy, but because he's from a troubled, difficult background.

A ward of the state of Massachusetts since birth, Brax was raised on the tough streets of south Boston, shuffled from one foster home to another. He has the scars — inside and out — to prove it. Even that's appealing. He's bad. He's a little crazy. Trouble with a capital T. Deep down, though, he's as tortured as they come. And that makes him sexy as all get-out. Although his bad-boy status has awarded him his choice of Girls Gone Wild at college, it's a sweet yet tough-as-nails cowgirl with a life-long penchant for astronomy who unexpectedly steals his heart.

But Olivia Beaumont, galaxy Geek extraordinaire, has her own demons, carefully hidden away from the outside world. Not only does Brax knock the wind out of her — literally — after he accidentally tackles her on the lawn of her dorm, but they connect. Brax reaches a place in Olivia's heart she'd heavily armored and shut down, and she gets more than one warning to steer clear of him. Yet that infamous bad-boy persona, along with his breathtaking, crude charm, pulls the moth right back to the flame. Olivia knows these things, but still can't help herself. The allure of the tattooed bad boy has won.

Can a bad boy be trusted with something as fragile as a good girl's heart?

Only a stupid girl would be crazy enough to find out.

Here's the blurb about Stupid Girl:

Only fools fall in love…

After her senior year of high school leaves behind nothing but heartache, Olivia Beaumont is sure of this: She's no stupid girl. She sets out for Winston College, promising herself that she will remain focused on her first and only love – astronomy. But all it takes is cocky sophomore Brax Jenkins and an accidental collision with a football, to throw her entire year off course.

A quick-tempered Southie who escaped the inner city streets of Boston to pitch for Winston, Brax is known to play way more fields than just the baseball diamond. So, when his name is drawn to take part in his fraternity's hazing dare, Brax eagerly accepts the mission to take Olivia's virginity. But he doesn't plan on falling hard for the sweet and sassy Texas girl who sees right through his bad-boy persona.

As Olivia and Brax battle their feelings for each other, echoes of the past year begin to surface. A boy who once turned Olivia's whole world upside down reappears, and "harmless" pranks wreak havoc. Pretty soon the aspiring astronomer is on the verge of revealing her most difficult, heartbreaking secret. All the while, Brax must wrestle with the irrevocable dare, and Olivia struggles against all logic as she does the one thing only a stupid girl would do: fall in love.

Find out more at www.cindy-miles.com.