Spotlight & Giveaway: Accidentally Famous by Marissa Clarke

Posted January 30th, 2023 by in Blog, Spotlight / 43 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Marissa Clarke to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Marissa and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Accidentally Famous!

 
Thank you so much for hosting me today!
 

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

A small-town home renovator is thrust into the spotlight when an A-list movie star’s assistant accidentally tags her Instagram account causing his fans, the paparazzi, and the hunky actor himself to descend on her quiet coastal town.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The last time Cassidy James had seen Tristan McGuffy, he’d been wearing his medical school graduation robe, and she’d been wearing a mouth full of braces and her high school band uniform. At the time, she remembered thinking that nothing could have been worse.

Way wrong. This was worse.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • Lolo, the ancient, toothless cat in the book is modeled after my daughter’s elder rescue cat, Sushi.
  • Jack Winston, the movie star in the book, is modeled after not one specific actor, but a mash-up of several.
  • Megalodons were my son’s favorite prehistoric creature, just like Jack’s nephew. I learned all my fun facts about them from reading to my son years ago.
  • I remodel homes, like the main character, Cassidy, only she and I are not alike. She’s not modeled after me at all. I wish I were more like her.
  • The tiny town of Blink and Hideaway Harbor were inspired by the town where my grandparents lived and the coastal township where I live right now. The people there are completely from my imagination, though.

 

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

He admires her strength and she admires his looks at first. He’s a hot movie star after all. Later she is drawn to his compassion for others.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Unexpected, exciting, enriching, deep, and then committed.
 

The First Kiss…

Unexpected, intense, surprising, memorable, enticing.
 

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

Not sure I have a favorite but I enjoyed writing Jack and Cassidy’s first scene where they were pretending to be a couple for the benefit of the paparazzi. Here is a short bit of it:

He closed his fingers around hers and gave a squeeze. “We’re playing a part. It’ll get easier as we get to know each other.”

He would know all about playing parts.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Cassidy glanced over at the paparazzi. “What do they say when you’re about to start filming on one of your movies?”

“Well, first someone would announce ‘standby,’” he said, dropping one of her hands. “Then, there would be some stuff about sound and cameras.” He led her toward the front of the deck that offered a clear view for the paparazzi. “Then, it’s marked with a slate to designate the date, project, scene, and take.” He turned her to face him and placed his hands on her waist.

Cassidy looked up into his smiling face, and her anxiety dialed back a bit. This was all for the cameras. She could do this. “I suppose we should hug now to give them something to photograph?” she suggested.

His smile was truly beautiful. “Then, after the scene is marked,” he said, “the director or A.D. will call, ‘Action.’”

“In that case…” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist for a photo-perfect hug. “Action.”

 

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

The scene were Jack’s manager, Marion Hill, proposes the fake relationship scheme to Cassidy is probably the most crucial to include. Here’s a few paragraphs:

Jack relaxed against the dining room wall and gave Cassidy what he hoped was a confident, encouraging smile when she set the pen down after signing the NDA. Good thing he’d taken all those acting classes because this whole thing was a disaster, and he was anything but confident.
She held his gaze for a moment, then brushed her bangs out of her eyes and folded her hands in her lap, waiting for Marion to commence the big reveal. Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be awful; he could sense it. No way was Cassidy going to go for this ridiculous scheme—though he should know better by now than to underestimate his manager when her mind was set on something.

Marion was intimidating on a good day, even to him. She’d be overwhelming to someone like Cassidy. Not that Cassidy was weak, as she’d shown by her behavior so far, but Jack doubted she was accustomed to swimming with sharks like Marion Hill. In fact, Marion had been at it so long, she was more like one of those enormous prehistoric sharks his nephew talked about constantly—the ones with teeth the size of a man’s hand. He imagined the page from the book he’d read to Mason dozens of times depicting the prehistoric predator. What were those things called?

Megalodons. That was the name he was looking for. Marion Hill was a Megalodon.

 

Readers should read this book …

For a fun, swoony, light-hearted read.

 

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

I’m working on three projects in different genres. Two of them are a complete departure for me and I’m super excited about them.

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $10 Amazon (US and Canada) gift card

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever had a brush with a celebrity? If so, who and how? If not, who would you most want to bump into?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Accidentally Famous:

Their first kiss:

“May I kiss you?” he asked. “Nothing makes a fake relationship more believable than a kiss.”

She should say no. Yeah. Absolutely. She should say no freaking way. It wasn’t part of the ground rules. But rules were made to be broken, right? Or at least expanded. Swallowing hard, she glanced around. She was on the deck of her best friend’s store surrounded by her neighbors and friends. She should 100 percent not kiss the hottest movie star on the planet in front of all of them. Heart hammering, she took in a deep breath through her nose. Jack made no move, waiting on her answer.

And as she stood there, a series of truths dawned on her, ticking through her head like a timer on a bomb: the most handsome man on earth wanted permission to kiss her, she hadn’t been kissed since the summer after her senior year in high school, this whole thing was for show, the music had stopped, he’d turned them sideways to the photographers to give them the best shot, and darn it, despite all that, she really wanted to kiss him.

She took a deep breath, and heart hammering so hard it hurt, she whispered, “Yes.”
And he did.

His lips were soft and teasing at first, but the moment she kissed him back, he made a little growly noise that made her dig her fingers into his shoulders. She forgot about everything and everyone as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. His hands roamed up and down her back as his body pressed firm and hard against her. Little shimmery stars danced behind her eyelids and her body felt liquid. The man had talent.

A noise that seemed to start in the far distance grew closer and louder. Raindrops? No. Applause. Applause?

With a gasp, Cassidy pulled away, but Jack kept his arms around her. “It’s okay. Your friends are just happy. I’m happy.” He shot a glance across the water at the handful of creeps with their cameras still up. “The paparazzi are really happy, but the most important thing is, are you happy?”

She stared up at him, emotions battling between embarrassment and arousal. Arousal was winning. “Yes.”

Loud dance beat music started, and the floor filled again with energetic dancers, but as if glued to the floor, Jack and Cassidy simply stared at each other.

“In the film world, they would call ‘cut’ at this point.”

She laughed, glad he broke the tension with a joke.

“I think I’m going to call it a night,” he said. “I was at the airport early this morning.”

She nodded, still unable to move. “Jack, thanks for…” For what? For coming to fix the mess the mis-tag had made of her life? For making her feel special and “lovely?” For giving her the best kiss ever? Yeah, all of that.

But, instead, she settled for, “Thanks for the dance.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Jack Winston may be Hollywood’s biggest action hero, but he’s seriously burned out. He can’t even save himself from his PR team’s latest scheme: dating a starlet. But when his assistant accidentally tags Cassidy James from Blink, Maine (wherever that is) on social media, the paparazzi decide that she’s Jack’s latest fling. Now Jack needs to do some serious damage control…starting with the adorable home reno pro in paint-splattered overalls.

Cassidy is not prepared when the Jack Winston shows up in her quiet little town—and whew, he is that gorgeous in person. Before she can pick her jaw up off the floor, his PR team is bombarding them with a whole new plan involving “fake girlfriend,” “optics,” and “sign this NDA” (whatever that is). But no one warned her that Mr. A-List Action Star is hot, funny as all get out, and loves old houses as much as she does.

Now they have two weeks to convince everyone they’re in a fake relationship—two weeks that will drive Cassidy’s reno business through the roof and help Jack reclaim his “spark.” The plan is going fine, dare she say, perfectly…until she discovers something that will change everything.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Marissa Clarke is a multi-award-winning, RITA nominated author of romance for adults and teens. She lives on the Texas Gulf Coast with her ever-patient husband, two cantankerous Cairn Terriers, and an abundance of bossy chickens.

Marissa also writes YA for Entangled Teen and Penguin/Random House as Mary Lindsey
Website | Facebook | Twitter |

 
 
 

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43 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Accidentally Famous by Marissa Clarke”

  1. EC

    When we were at a shopping mall, I heard that there was an athlete at the same time. Didn’t really see that person, but I believe it. I did pass by a local weatherman; my parent even went up to the person.

  2. Jeanna Massman

    I got to meet Dr. Joyce Brothers years ago. My husband was principal of the high school where her grandson attended. She came to a concert at the school.

  3. Mary Preston

    I shook the hand of Prince Phillip years ago. The British Royal family visited a nearby town. I saw Prince Charles, as he was then, and Queen Elizabeth too.

  4. Athena Graeme

    I got to go to Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jose Ramos-Horta’s birthday party at his house when my husband was serving in Timor-Leste. He was so amazingly humble and kind. He won the prize while in prison during their war with Indonesia for independence and just never gave up writing and finding ways to help the people, it was an amazing experience.

  5. Audrey Stewart

    I was an extra for ‘Prince of Tides’ and chatted it up with Barbra Streisand.

  7. Amy Donahue

    When I lived in Pittsburgh I used to run into the occasional hockey player.

  8. Lori Byrd

    I’ve met so many but the funnest was I use to meet Chuck Berry at the casino in st charles MO every Sunday and we’d gamble together. Weird but true.

  9. Texas Book Lover

    The closest I got was being at a dance competition with Dallas Cowboys tightend Jason Whitten. His daughter was compteting and so was my daughter. He was trying not to be noticed but those of us that are football fans all noticed him.

  10. Pat Lieberman

    We were at a pizza parlor and I ran into a soap opera actor, don’t remember his name, it is a long defunct show. I also got autographs and some photos with various Los Angeles Dodgers players when they played in the Polo Grounds while Shea Stadium was being built. Don Drysdale, Frank Howard, Ron Perranoski and Willie Davis. I was in Heaven being and still an avid Dodger fan.

  11. Pat Lieberman

    I met a soap opera star in a pizza parlor of a now defunct show, sorry I don’t remember his name. Also met several Dodgers – Don Drysdale, Ron Perranoski, Willie Davis and Frank Howard. I got autographs and a few pix.

  12. Diana Tidlund

    Many actually. When I was 12 I got to spend a week In DC and meet with President Reagan and Vice President Bush. I even got Autographed pictures sent to me of us in the Oval Office.
    Tons of country singers doing meet and greets at concerts and getting pictures taken with them.
    Aaron Lewis lived a couple towns over and came to hubbys work. Have pictures of that. Funny thing was we had just been to his concert the day before .

  13. Rita Wray

    I met Deidre Hall from Days of Our Lives. She was signing autographs at a mall. She was really nice and that night when I was watching the news, they showed the clip of me and her. It was very exciting.

  16. Amy R

    Have you ever had a brush with a celebrity? Yes, authors and some professional athletes If so, who and how? At book signings and charity event

  17. Sue G.

    I have met some country music artists and I was about 10 feet away from Jay Leno once but that would be it.

  21. Maryann

    We stayed in the same hotel as the NY Yankees once and Derek Jeter opened the door for me.

    • lorih824

      I’ve met Charlie Daniels and Marie Osmond. My dad worked for Charlie Daniels and I met Marie Osmond through him.

  29. Anna Nguyen

    saw sean astin at a book signing and the twilight wolves at a twilight fav event. my dream is to meet adele or taylor swift.

  30. Debbie P

    I have had a few over the years. Brian May from Queen was the 1st celebrity and rock star I ever met Super nice!). And a couple years later I met Sebastian Back (Very pretty!) from the Band Skin Row.

  32. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    No. I would love to run into Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp
    Thanks for the chance!

  34. Janie McGaugh

    I’ve met a number of actor/actresses, authors, and artists at conventions.

  36. Shannon Capelle

    No I havent but would love to meet and talk to Kelly Clarkson shes an amazing singer and mom and is so funny

  37. Marisela Zuniga

    I saw Rick Flair at the Dallas airport, he was at the bar at one of the restaurants there but I was to shy to go up to him. I don’t think many people recognized him!

  38. Kim

    Several. My favorite will always be talking on the phone with Holly Hunter and her telling me to go home because I was sick.

  39. Laurie Gommermann

    Charleston Heston was married to Lydia Clark. She was from my hometown, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Her father, LB Clark, had a middle school named after him. Charleston Heston spoke at the dedication.
    I also spoke with and received autographs from the German band, CHICKERIA at Germanfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
    I’d like to meet Michele Obama. I like her warmth, intelligence, integrity and her family values.

  40. Latesha B.

    I saw Jon Bon Jovi in the parking lot if Target during the Christmas season over a decade ago.

  41. Patricia B.

    I met actor James Varney, best known as Ernest P. Worrell, in a commercials and several films. He spent a couple days doing a fundraiser for the children’s museum where I worked. He was the farthest thing from the goofy character he played. He was a Shakespearean trained actor and very different from the clownish character, Ernest, he was known for. He was genuine, friendly, personable, took time to visit with everyone, and was very good with the children and young adults. I remember him sitting with our daughter and young son just visiting with them for 15 to 20 minutes during a down time. There have been a few others, but he made the best impression.