Arse. Brought to you by Mark Cooper.

I'm so excited! Mark Cooper versus America is out on January 28, and JA Rock and I have a cover to show you: 

Mark Cooper is angry, homesick, and about to take his stepdad’s dubious advice and rush Prescott College’s biggest party fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi. Greek life is as foreign to Aussie transplant Mark as Pennsylvania’s snowstorms and bear sightings. So, when the fraternity extends Mark a bid, Mark vows to get himself kicked out by the end of pledge period. But then he’s drawn into Alpha Delt’s feud with a neighboring fraternity.

Studious Deacon Holt is disappointed to learn Mark’s pledging Alpha Delt, his fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa’s sworn enemy. Mark is too beautiful for Deacon to pass up an invitation for sex, but beyond sex, Deacon’s not sure. He wants a relationship, but a difficult family situation prevents him from pursuing anything beyond his studies.

Mark and Deacon’s affair heats up as the war between their fraternities escalates. They explore kinks they didn’t know they had while keeping their liaison a secret from their brothers. But what Romeo and Juliet didn’t teach these star-crossed lovers is how to move beyond sex and into a place where they share more than a bed. That’s something they’ll have to figure out on their own—if the friction between their houses, and between Mark and America, doesn’t tear them apart.

Is it wrong that the thing I'm most proud about in this book is the fact that we get to use the word "arse" instead of "ass"? Because ass, as we all know, is the incorrect word. Right, JA? 

Anyway, Mark Cooper versus America is a really fun book. We had heaps of fun writing it, and I hope you'll have heaps of fun reading it. I think Mark is one of my favourite characters, and not just because he says "arse", but because he's fun, he's fearless, and he's stubborn. That stubbornness isn't always a good thing, or a smart thing, but he's also eighteen, and who didn't do some dumb things at eighteen? 

With that in mind, here's one of my favourite Aussie songs: