Spotlight & Giveaway: America’s Sweetheart by Jessica Lemmon

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jessica Lemmon to HJ!

Hi Jessica and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, America’s Sweetheart!

 
Thank you for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

A well-loved Hollywood starlet falls from grace and returns home to lick her wounds, only to fall into the arms of her high school sweetheart.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Ten years ago, Allison’s dorm room
I’m settled between my girlfriend’s legs, slowly rolling up her scarlet-and-gray OSU T-shirt to kiss her flat belly when her fingers, twining in my too-long hair, halt. I place my lips on her belly button, dying to go lower. It’s play-off season and I’m tired as hell, but we agreed to blow off studying to blow each other’s minds.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Allison is the first actress I’ve written
• I loved delving into the fantasy of being famous and all that went along with it – good and bad!
• It’s a book 5 in the Real Love series but works well as a standalone

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Jackson was such a softie! I love alphas with gooey centers. They’re my favorite to write. So yeah, I had fun with him. 😉

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

I’d want to see them after they’d already had the shock of running into each other unexpectedly, so I chose this scene in her parents’ kitchen. It’s mostly banter, but I’d be looking for chemistry between the actors to make sure they could pull off the awkwardness and sexual tension.

Snippet:

“I owe you an apology,” she says.
Color me surprised. She’s apologized to me before—we dated for nearly five years, so we both have eaten our share of crow, but if I’m recalling correctly, she’s never apologized voluntarily . . . or before I did.
“For?” I ask.
“Come on.” She rolls her eyes. “For walking into this house and crying on your shirt. For accusing you of ruining my dress. It was lame. I was jet-lagged and fragile.”
I was right about the jet lag.
“How’s the dress?” I ask instead of asking how she is. I can see how she is. A hell of a lot better than she was that afternoon.
“It’s dry-clean-only and I’m not going out in the world alone unless I absolutely have to. Plus, I already returned my rental car.”
“Worried you’ll run into more rabid fans like Tommy?” I tease.
Her smile falters and her gaze hits the floor. “Worse. Much worse.”
She reaches for the laptop sitting on the island between us. My sister Julieann has the same one. She hasn’t stopped crowing about her “rose gold MacBook.” Not pink, let’s be clear about that. Rose gold.
Allie pops the lid, types a few keys, and then turns the laptop to face me. A headline, black and bold, reads hollywood’s most hated. Her photo is at the top.
“I’m number one,” she says. “Go me.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I’m currently writing a book for release through Harlequin Desire next fall. My upcoming releases this year are a Christmas book with Desire called A CHRISTMAS PROPOSITION, and a Valentine’s Day release, and start of a new series with Desire, called BEST FRIENDS, SECRET LOVERS.

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

I want readers to simply enjoy the sweet escape of a reunion love story.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: eBook: AMERICA’S SWEETHEART by Jessica Lemmon. (Gifted via Amazon)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In the past, I’ve had fun writing a few celebrity characters. I’ve written a rock star, a billionaire mayor, and now an Emmy-award-winning actress. Do you enjoy reading celebrity heroes or heroines?

 
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Excerpt from America’s Sweetheart:

After a quick trip downtown, I arrive at the Murphy household Monday afternoon. I’m carrying two milkshakes, one strawberry for Allie and one chocolate–peanut butter for myself. I’m not sure if she wants one or if she’s on some weird Hollywood diet that prohibits her from drinking it, but I want to apologize and flowers seem . . . wrong.
I hesitate at the door before knocking. Tommy and Daryl are on another site today, since we’re still waiting on lumber for the deck here. We need to paint the closet, too, but I wanted to check with Allie’s schedule before filling the house with paint fumes.
The door swings aside, revealing the future receiver of a milkshake. Allie is wearing a short, short miniskirt, her legs temptingly bare. She’s given a few inches of height thanks to a pair of tall sandals, and I absolutely do not linger on the hot pink toenail polish. I jerk my eyes north, encountering several thin gold bracelets and necklaces on the way. Her hair is swept up on top of her head, a pencil jutting out of the sloppy bun.
Wide brown eyes take inventory of me—but I can’t tell if she approves of my uniform of well-worn Levi’s and a white T-shirt or not.
“Milkshake?” I offer awkwardly. We’re not what we used to be to each other and we’re not interested in being anything else. It’s an odd limbo.
“What flavor?” Her eyebrows arch with interest.
“Strawberry. It’s from UDF. Your favorite.” I frown in thought. “Or it used to be, anyway. There’s a smoothie shack in town, but I wasn’t sure if you were a shot-of-wheatgrass kind of girl or if you liked fruit.”
Yep. Definitely not getting any less awkward.
“So you bought me a milkshake,” she states.
“Yeah.”
“It’s not like I’m preparing for a part anyway.” She holds out her hand and I place the cold cup in it. Our fingers brush and that subtle touch stirs some unnamed thing between us. For me, anyway.
She shuffles aside and invites me in. “I didn’t think you were working today.”
I step into the foyer. The A/C is cranked and it feels fantastic.
“My guys aren’t, but there are things I can do. We’ll need to paint here in the next week or so. If you can arrange to be away for a day, it’d probably be better than breathing fumes.”
She puts the straw to her lips and sucks the pink milkshake into her mouth. Her eyes close and she lets out an Mmm that borders on orgasmic.
“It’s been forever since I’ve had a milkshake. Like, a real one.” Her gaze softens on mine, her smile easy. She used to look at me like that all the time. And when she did, I never was able to resist pulling her close, bending low, and kissing her mouth.
“Live a little. Or a lot. It’s your vacation.” I clear my throat to dislodge the lust clogging it. “Or whatever this is.”
“Hiatus.” She quirks one eyebrow.
“What’s with the pencil?”
She reaches up and plucks it from her hair. “Oh, right. I forgot about that. I was having trouble typing out my ideas, so I found a pencil in the junk drawer and went on a search for paper. I thought maybe changing my medium might help the ideas flow better.”
“Writing?”
“Yeah.” Shyly, she looks away. “I had this idea for a screenplay. I don’t know. It’s probably stupid, but I need something to do besides sit around and read articles about myself.”
A shrill beep, beep, beep comes from the kitchen.
“My oven fries are done. Want some?”
“With my milkshake? Hell, yeah.” We share a smile and I wonder if she’s remembering the many, many fries she’d dipped into one Wendy’s Frosty or another during the summers when we went out.
Positioned at the stove, she scoops the fries from pan to plate and serves them on the island with a bottle of ketchup riding sidecar. We dig in, each pulling the lids off our shakes and dunking a hot fry into the ice cream, reserving the ketchup for later. Or maybe not at all.
“Strawberry’s still my favorite.” She smiles up at me.
“Good.”
We both reach for another fry.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Allison: When I left for California, I gave myself a new name and never looked back. Now my carefully crafted good-girl image is getting torn to shreds in the press thanks to my Oscar-winning A-hole of an ex-boyfriend. So I escape to the only safe haven I know and trust—my hometown—to take a breather while I plot my triumphant Hollywood comeback. However, when I arrive at my parents’ house, Jackson Burke answers the door instead. And suddenly the past comes rushing back. . . .

Jackson: First kiss. First time. First love. Yep, Allison Murphy and I shared a lot of firsts back in the day. When she left, she took half my heart with her. Now she’s back in town, and even though I swore I’d keep my distance, her parents hired me to remodel their house, and I’m going to finish the job. But one hot kiss later, suddenly the press is calling us the next big celebrity couple. Sure, I’ll play the part, for Allison’s sake—but I refuse to let her close enough to break my heart all over again. . . .

Buy Links: http://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/575308/
 
 

Meet the Author:

A former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an impressive frame. When she’s not writing about super-sexy heroes, she can be found cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want.
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