Spotlight & Giveaway: A Lot Like Love by Jennifer Snow

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennifer Snow to HJ!

Hi Jennifer and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Lot Like Love!

 
Hi everyone! So happy to be back visiting Harlequin Junkie!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

A Lot Like Love is a fun, flirty second chance romance with humor and heat. It is the first book in my new Blue Moon Bay series and the coastal setting and cast of characters will hopefully sweep you away.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

This was how she was going to die.
With her lower body dangling below the splintered
landing on the spiraling staircase of the B&B, Sarah
Lewis supported her weight as best she could on the
broken wood around her. She’d fallen through and had
been hanging there for almost seven minutes, and
according to her Apple Watch her heart rate was
reaching a dangerous level.
Her inheritance of Dove’s Nest B&B felt more like
punishment the longer she was stuck there.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Sarah and Wes are complete opposites! He’s old school and charming. She’s all about the latest tech, but slightly socially awkward. Which makes them the perfect balance for one another and Wes’s daughter Marissa.
• Sarah discovers family secrets with the discovery of her grandmother’s journal which adds a heartwarming secondary romance to the plot.
• I’ve always longed to live near the ocean in a small coastal town, so Blue Moon Bay was definitely an escape for me…and I’ve since realized the dream myself, having recently moved to Alicante, Spain!
• This book has already been optioned by two Hollywood producers! And I’m attached to write the screenplay version if it gets the greenlight!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

My heroine has always had a thing for the hero. She’s always been attracted to his outgoing, extrovert personality…and of course his sexy abs!
My hero didn’t see the heroine as more than a tutor and friend in high school, but now that she’s back, he’s seeing that opposite most certainly attract. Her dedication to restoring the old Inn-a community landmark-and upgrading it to help put the small town back on the map as a tourist destination makes him see her in a whole new light. And when she’s able to connect with his daughter, he starts to fall hard!
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Steamy, fun, flirty, complicated and tumultuous.
 

The First Kiss…

“I worry about Marissa,” he said, and he sounded
reluctant to confide in her, but also like he was sensing
she might be the perfect person.
“About what?” she asked carefully.
“We used to be so close.” He shook his head. “Now I
feel like I don’t even really know her sometimes.”
Sarah bit her lip, unsure what to say. She didn’t want
to overstep again or cross any boundaries. The family’s
dynamic was none of her business, but he was opening
up to her, so she had to say something, right? “I think
you’re both just very different people, and maybe it
might help if you tried to understand her world a little,” 100 A LOT LIKE LOVE
she said gently.
He nodded. “I’m not sure I’m smart enough for her
world. All that coding stuff you told me went in one ear
and out the other, but I have been trying lately,” he said,
attacking the wall with the roller. “I just don’t get why
she doesn’t want to play sports and hang out with
friends…actual friends, like she used to.”
Sarah had dealt with the same issue. Her parents
never fully understanding her… She could never get
them to understand. Could she help Wes for Marissa’s
sake? “Maybe don’t try so hard to put her into a box she
doesn’t want to fit in.”
He stopped and turned to face her. “You think that’s
what I’m doing?”
“I don’t know, but I think your relationship would be
easier if you gave her some space to be her own person.”
He frowned, and Sarah tensed. Too far. She should
have minded her own business.
But then he nodded. “You’re absolutely right,” he
said with a heavy sigh. “I’m messing this up, aren’t I?”
He looked wrecked, and Sarah reached out and
touched his shoulder. It was meant as a comforting
gesture, but the intense, immediate shock that radiated
through her core at the contact had her body reacting.
She could see her pulse vibrating in her wrist and her
mouth was dry.
Wes’s gaze met hers, and he looked as conflicted as
she felt.
Nope. Nope, nope. This was definitely not the time…
The guy just admitted he wasn’t sure he was ready for JENNIFER SNOW 101
another relationship. Things between them were
complicated, and there was Marissa to think about…
But his gaze fell to her lips, and she could see his
breath pick up with the heaving of his chest. So she
hadn’t imagined things the week before. Wes Sharrun
did want to kiss her.
As if on autopilot, she dropped the roller and moved
toward him, her body not listening to any of her mind’s
warnings. Standing on tiptoes, Sarah wrapped her arms
around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
Wes hesitated only a second before his arms went
around her body, pulling her against him. She closed her
eyes and sank into him, enveloped in the manly scent of
his aftershave and savoring the taste of sweetened,
spiked coffee on his lips.
Her fingers tangled into the back of his hair and she
deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue into his mouth.
His grip tightened at her waist, and then his hands
slid higher around her ribs as he held her close to his
body. Eager, hungry lips and hands—his and hers—
frantic, unthinking, they explored and caressed until she
could barely breathe.
She didn’t want air; she just wanted him—his kiss, his
touch…
She was kissing her high school crush and he was
returning it with as much passion as she was giving. No
kiss had ever felt this intoxicating. No touch had left
her craving more the way his did in that moment.
Nothing else mattered right now. Just years of
unrequited feelings mixed with weeks of chemistry and 102 A LOT LIKE LOVE
sexual tension came out of her in a whirlwind of pure
emotion…zero logic.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene in the book is the scene when Wes is going on a guy’s weekend away/ fishing trip and Marissa convinces him to let her stay at the Inn with Sarah, instead of going to her grandparents house. It’s funny and emotional:)

Snippet:
He was going to be late for check-in if he didn’t leave
now. Still, Wes lingered on the front porch of the B&B
almost an hour later. “Did you pack enough clothes?”
he asked Marissa, eyeing her Minnie Mouse suitcase in
her hand. The one they’d bought for her first trip to
Disneyland when she was four and the one she always
took on sleepovers.
“Yes.”
“Toothbrush?”
She nodded.
“Toothpaste?”
“I assumed Sarah had some,” she said, looking at JENNIFER SNOW 125
Sarah for confirmation.
Sarah nodded.
“Your nighttime retainer? The dentist said the
grinding was causing cavities.”
“Yes, Dad. I have it. I packed everything just like if I
was going to Grandma and Grandpa’s,” Marissa said,
her small hands against his stomach, pushing him off the
deck and down the steps. “Go. If traffic is bad, you’ll be
late.”
Wow, she was eager to get rid of him. Guilt washed
over him. Years without a female role model in her life
might be taking their toll. Or maybe it was just having
someone in her life with shared interests, someone she
could bounce ideas off and have them understand,
someone she could learn a lot from.
Maybe this time with Sarah would be a good thing…
but then what?
Could he, should he try to protect Marissa from
potential disappointment and heartache by cautioning
her not to get too attached, or would that be teaching
her to be guarded, closed off in relationships?
Where was the parenting book on how to deal with
situations like this?
“Dad. Go,” Marissa said when he continued to stand
there like a statue.
“Okay…I’m going.” But he paused at the base of the
steps. “You sure?” he asked Marissa. Sure, she liked Sarah,
but the woman was still virtually a stranger. They’d only
really met a week ago. Would Marissa be comfortable with
her for two full days? What about at night? 126 A LOT LIKE LOVE
“Yes, I’m sure,” Marissa said confidently. Confidently
annoyed.
He glanced at Sarah next. “You sure?” She seemed
less so, but she nodded.
“Absolutely. Go. We’re going to have a great weekend,” she said with what might have been forced
enthusiasm—he couldn’t be sure. He really couldn’t
read her at all. Seeing her for the first time after the kiss
had been as awkward as he’d thought it would be. He
was torn between wanting to talk about it and wanting
to pretend it hadn’t happened. Torn between wanting to
avoid her at all costs and grabbing her and getting another taste of those lips.
Luckily, he’d been saved from having to make any
decisions because Marissa was around, listening and
watching. Closely.
“Okay…” He didn’t move. His gaze shifted from his
daughter to Sarah and back again.
“Go!” they both said in unison.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

It was optioned for a movie!!! Yay!!!
I think the most crucial scene to include is the ocean scene where Sarah gets her revenge.
Can’t share a snippet because of spoilers, but it’s a great scene!!

Readers should read this book …

Readers should read this book if they are looking for a fun, heartwarming beach read this summer. If they are looking for an escape or just have a few hours to relax and enjoy a sweet but steamy HEA.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m currently working on edits for book two in the Blue Moon Bay series, A Lot Like Christmas, releasing in September and a few work-for-hire movie scripts! I’ve been focusing a lot on screenwriting this year, with my first holiday rom-com, Mistletoe and Molly, airing this holiday season!
I also have a new Wild Coast, Alaska series releasing next year!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Giveaway!!!! Please comment below to be entered to win 1 of 5 $20 Amazon Gift Cards!
Good Luck!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I love staying in B & B’s when I travel! My favorite is Inn Boonsboro in Maryland, owned by Nora Roberts. Have you ever stayed in a B & B? What do you enjoy most about it?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from A Lot Like Love:

Excerpt:

The delivery truck was right on time. Bringing the B&B
into the twenty-first century made sense. Sarah could
still preserve its charm and uniqueness, while
transforming it into a property people would want to
buy. She wasn’t installing virtual reality or anything…
not yet anyway. Just the basics that guests expected
from other vacation properties.
She’d done her research. Countless searches and
online tourism review sites had provided all the data
she’d needed to finalize a list of upgrades that would
make Dove’s Nest more appealing to travelers and help
establish it as the place to visit along Highway 1.
A few rush overnight order shipments had cost more
than she’d originally planned on spending, but adding
these elements to the renovations were increasing her
confidence level, and they would only help her secure
the best price when the time came to sell.
“What’s this?” Wes asked, coming up behind her. He
wiped his dirty hands on his jeans, and his bare chest
glistened with sweat. As usual, his half-dressed state had
Sarah’s heart pounding. How was she supposed to have
a conversation with him when she was continually
distracted by the toned, sculpted, tanned muscles?
Could she make it mandatory for her hired workers to
wear shirts? Then again, she’d really only be hurting
herself. This daily viewing of Wes’s hot body was the only
“action” she was getting or had gotten in a long time.56 A LOT LIKE LOVE
“Just some stuff I ordered,” she said casually. She
suspected he’d be annoyed by her plan, and she’d
already decided to take care of most of the work
involved with the upgrades herself—like installing the
TVs in the bedrooms and internet modems, projectors
and screens in the large meeting rooms, and the like.
She would only need Wes and his crew for the big stuff…
He squinted to read the boxes the delivery men unloaded from the back of the truck. “Flatscreen
televisions?”
“I decided the B&B could use some upgrades.”
His hands on his hips only drew her attention to the
oblique muscles disappearing beneath the low-hanging
denim, weighed down even farther by his heavy tool
belt.
How did one even get stomach muscles like that?
“Dove never wanted televisions in the guest rooms.”
Sarah sighed. Her grandmother hadn’t watched
television a day in her life. She never owned one herself
and insisted that guests on vacation didn’t need one,
either. No one ever complained, but that was before
Yelp reviews gave everyone a public voice to share their
opinion.
“All rental properties have televisions,” she said. It
was a basic expectancy.
“The inn was great the way it was,” Wes said tightly.
His jaw was tight, as though he were clenching his teeth.
But this wasn’t his decision to make.
“In your opinion,” she said, waving to the delivery truck
driver. “The front door’s open. Just bring them inside.”JENNIFER SNOW 57
“I thought you were trying to keep the reno costs
low?”
Sarah averted her eyes and shrugged. She had
dipped further into her savings than she’d planned, but
with a quick sell, she’d recoup the extra expenses. “Let
me worry about that,” she said, taking a list out of her
pocket. “And you can worry about these.” She handed
him her new list of construction improvements, and he
lifted his sunglasses over his dark hair to read.
Sarah stared at the soft-looking, messy locks. What
would it feel like to run her hands through his hair?
She’d always been tempted to. He’d always had great
hair. He hadn’t buzz cut it like most of the other athletes
in high school and he hadn’t let it grow long like the
stoner, surfer kids. It was always clean-cut but just long
enough to fantasize about.
Fantasies that had just left her heartbroken. Time
and distance hadn’t changed the fact that Wes had only
ever seen her as his tutor. After that night in the water,
they’d barely spoken, and once school had ended and
she’d moved away for college that September, they
hadn’t kept in touch. She may be stuck there longer than
she planned, but that didn’t mean she had to get sucked
right back into old habits and unrealistic hopes and
dreams.
“Solar panels…” he was saying, as though she were
asking for spaceships to be installed on the roof.
She waited. He was going to love the next one.
“You want to put balconies off the rooms?” His
eyebrow rose as he glanced up at her. “All of them?”58 A LOT LIKE LOVE
She’d considered only adding them to a few of the
bigger rooms but then decided to go all in. Even if she
wasn’t going to be running the inn herself, she wanted
Dove’s Nest to be special for everyone who stayed there,
not just the guests who booked premium rooms. She
knew her grandmother would approve of that choice as
well. “Yes. The rooms have an amazing view of the
ocean. Both sides. It’s a shame that there isn’t a place
where guests can sit and enjoy the view with their
morning coffee or evening glass of wine.” The reviews
online had been significantly higher for resorts and
hotels that provided that extra outside comfort.
“That’s why they leave their room and go to the
beach or sit out on the existing deck,” Wes said, folding
the list and handing it back to her as though her
requests were never going to happen.
Which just fueled her fire even more. Sarah took a
deep breath. “And I’m sure most guests still will, but I’d
like to give them an option. It’s their vacation. They can
choose if they want to go outside or watch Netflix all
day.”
Wes winced, as though that sounded like a horrible
vacation to him. Well, not everyone was into surfing and
swimming and beach volleyball. Some people went on
vacation to relax or get away or be alone. To catch up on
binge-watching shows their demanding, fourteen-houra-day jobs didn’t give them the opportunity to enjoy.
She didn’t expect an extrovert like Wes, who had the
freedom to make his own work hours, to understand.
“These decks are a lot of work,” he said, obviously JENNIFER SNOW 59
attempting to sway her with a more logical approach.
“We’ll need extra support beams, and depending on the
dimensions, you may need to get a building permit.”
She shook her head. “I’ve already checked into that
with the mayor’s office.” Thanks to Whitney. “As long as
the decks don’t extend farther than the existing
wraparound deck on the lower level of the house, no
extra permits are needed.”
“Wow, you did your homework,” Wes mumbled. “But,
Sarah, I don’t think you understand how much extra
work is going to have to be done in a short period of
time. My quote was for the work I’d discussed with
Dove.”
She refused to let him discourage her. She’d watched
episodes of Flip This House and Love It or List It.
Under pressure, things could get done fast. “Can you do
it?”
“I can, yes,” he said through gritted teeth, “but I don’t
want to.”
Damn, he was hot when he was annoyed. The stern
expression with the tight jaw combined with the slightly
reluctant look that said he knew he wasn’t going to win
this battle only made him that much more attractive.
Not attractive enough for her to back down. “Okay.”
She shrugged. “I’ll hire someone else,” she said, turning
to head inside. One, two, three…
“Sarah, wait.”
She hid a grin as she turned back and waited. The
first person to speak in a negotiation lost.
His chest heaved as he sighed. “I’ll get you a new 60 A LOT LIKE LOVE
estimate by tomorrow. But I’m warning you, you’re not
going to like how much this is going to cost.”
She walked back toward him and handed him the list.
“It will be worth it.” Once she made her improvements
to the B&B, the place was going to look amazing and be
even more functional than before. Someone would
definitely want to buy it.
Her gut twisted slightly at the thought, which was
ridiculous. She did not want to keep the place. Letting it
go would be easy. It would not be hard to leave her
hometown the longer she stayed.
Or the hot-as-hell man scowling at her.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

They have different ideas about the fate of an old inn…until it brings them together.

When Sarah Lewis inherits a run-down B&B from her late grandmother in coastal Blue Moon Bay, the logical thing to do is sell it and focus on her life in L.A. But when she learns that interested buyers will only tear it down in its current state, she feels a sense of obligation to her grandmother to get it back to the landmark tourist destination it once was…even if that means hiring the best contractor for the job, who happens to be her old high school crush.

Wes Sharrun’s life has continued to unravel since the death of his wife three years before. Now with a struggling construction company and a nine-year-old daughter, he sees the B&B as an opportunity to get back on his feet. Unfortunately, despite trying to keep his distance, his daughter has taken a liking to Sarah, and his own feelings are tough to deny.

As they spend more time together painting, exploring a forgotten treasure trove of wine in a basement cellar, and arguing over balcony placement, the more the spark between them ignites. But will saving the B&B be enough to convince them both to take a second chance at love?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Jennifer Snow has published over thirty award-winning romance and women’s fiction novels with Harlequin, Grand Central and Penguin Random House and Entangled. Her stories of love, romance and love lost have earned Jennifer a loyal following – as well as accolades– around the world. In 2014 and 2015, she won the Booksellers Best Award and her Brookhollow series was a finalist in both The Aspen Gold Awards and Golden Quill Awards. She has also received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly. Her debut psychological thriller, written under her pen name J.M. Winchester, will be released in the fall of 2019.
Jennifer is also the writer of the Mistletoe series of screenplays. She is known for her romantic comedies and female-driven dramas for TV and film. In 2014, she was a finalist in the New York Screenplay Contest for her work “Mistletoe Fever”. She’s also written true-crime and thriller screenplays as work-for-hire assignments for various production companies. Her first movie, Mistletoe and Molly is scheduled to air this holiday season!
Jennifer is an active member of the Romance Writers of America, the Alberta Writers’ Guild, International Thriller Writers and FAVA. As a former Audrey’s Books Writer in Residence and an Edmonton Public Library Spotlight Writer, she has hosted many writing workshops and has published many writing how-to articles in various trade publications. She resides in Torrevieja, Spain with her husband, son and three mischievous cats.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |