Spotlight & Giveaway: An Accidental Date with a Billionaire by Diane Alberts

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Diane Alberts to HJ!

Hi Diane and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, An Accidental Date with a Billionaire!

 
Thank you so much for having me here again!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

An Accidental Date with a Billionaire is a fun enemies to lovers story where the heroine goes to a charity to help out her best friend’s brother…but accidentally bids on the wrong guy. She’s pretty sure he’s a pompous jerk, so she plans a horrible first date with him, but ends up being quite surprised to discover that perhaps he usn’t quite what he seemed.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

I think this snippet encompasses their feelings toward one another in the beginning pretty well, as well as the humor interlaced throughout:

“I think you’ve made it pretty clear that you wouldn’t like me even if I saved ten orphans
from drowning in the Chicago River in front of your eyes.”

She clenched and unclenched her hands in her lap, trying to decide how to respond to that statement. He wasn’t wrong. She didn’t really like him. She tended to avoid people with a lot of money, and there was that devastating handsomeness of his…

But she didn’t hate him.

Forcing her tone to stay flat, she finally settled for: “I don’t know. I have a soft spot for people saving drowning children from certain death.”

“Oh, great, I’ll keep my eyes open, then.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I wrote this book while in grad school full time, and also after going back to work at a day job. Life was crazy and hectic and brand new in a lot of ways, but this book was my “usual” life, and it helped ground me while I learned how best to juggle it all.

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

Her unwillingness to like him is what captures his attention at first, and then he’s effectively sucked in by her kindness and her seemingly unselfish nature toward everything. To him, she’s refreshingly different in every way.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I loved their banter in the beginning of the book, where they’re both trying to figure one another out still. Here’s a scene where she’s determined not to like him, and she’s succeeding…for now.

“Let me help you,” he said immediately, taking the toolbox out of her hand. He frowned down at it. “May I ask what’s in the toolbox?”

She forced a smile. “No, you may not.”

“Right.” He flexed his jaw. “Let me guess? It’s the giant chip that’s normally on your shoulder? Did it not match your outfit, so you had to put it in a box?”

“No, it’s for your huge ego,” she muttered under her breath.

“Excuse me?”

Ignoring the question, she asked, “Should I sit in the back or the front?”

Hastily, he set the toolbox down and opened the passenger-side door for her. “The front, of course. I’ll set these in the backseat.”

“Why not the trunk?” she asked as she slid into the car. The leather seats were the softest leather she’d ever touched. Softer than silk, even.

“There’s no room because that’s where I put my huge ego,” he said, smiling as he slammed the door in her face.

Sam: 0

Taylor: 1

Readers should read this book….

Because it’s a quick, fun, lighthearted read that’s light on drama and high on romance.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m working on a children’s middle grade book (think early Harry Potter books) that takes a lot of stereotypes and turns them on their heads. I’d say more but I haven’t even given it to my editor yet, so I’ll leave it at that!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An eBook copy of any of my Diane Alberts Entangled releases besides An Accidental Date with a Billionaire.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What’s your favorite type of hero to read?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from An Accidental Date with a Billionaire:

A shiny black Alfa Romeo pulled into the parking lot, and she swallowed hard. Had he been kidding last night when he told her he owned her apartment building?

He pulled up, stopping directly in front of her. She started for the car, but he hopped out, rushing around the front. He wore a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans that appeared as if they’d just had the tags ripped off this morning. They still had the creases in places where they’d been folded.

Had he gone out and bought what she told him to wear?

“Let me help you,” he said immediately, taking the toolbox out of her hand. He frowned down at it. “May I ask what’s in the toolbox?”

She forced a smile. “No, you may not.”

“Right.” He flexed his jaw. “Let me guess? It’s the giant chip that’s normally on your shoulder? Did it not match your outfit, so you had to put it in a box?”

“No, it’s for your huge ego,” she muttered under her breath.

“Excuse me?”

Ignoring the question, she asked, “Should I sit in the back or the front?”

Hastily, he set the toolbox down and opened the passenger-side door for her. “The front, of course. I’ll set these in the backseat.”

“Why not the trunk?” she asked as she slid into the car. The leather seats were the softest leather she’d ever touched. Softer than silk, even.

“There’s no room because that’s where I put my huge ego,” he said, smiling as he slammed the door in her face.

Sam: 0

Taylor: 1

After sliding the toolbox onto the backseat, he went around the back of his car and joined her inside. As he shut his door, he let out a sigh. She echoed it. He smelled even better today. Like Yves Saint Laurent. God, she loved that cologne.

Why did he have to wear it?

The flannel he wore hugged his biceps, leaving nothing to the imagination. Those arms would come in handy today, hammering nails into wood.

“You don’t like me,” he stated, breaking the silence.

It wasn’t a question. “Did you go out and buy that outfit special for today?”

He glanced at his clothes. “My assistant did. Why? Is it not what you wanted? You said flannel, jeans, and boots—”

“I know,” she said, touching her seat belt.

“I did what you wanted,” he added, frowning. “I wore what you asked me to.”

“It’s good. You’re good,” she said, trying not to laugh.

He acted so worried that he’d done something wrong, and it was hard not to laugh when he clearly took everything so seriously. She was totally not that kind of person. At all.

“Why do you care so much, though?”

“I always try to give a woman what she wants,” he stated.

She bit her lip, biting back the snort trying to escape. “Of course, you do.”

This guy…he was too much.

On any other woman, his polite words and charming smile might work, but on her?

Nope.

But she had a feeling Taylor was a guy who didn’t relinquish control easily, or ever, and she wasn’t down for some dude telling her what she could and couldn’t do, thank you very much.

No matter how hot he was.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Samantha Matthews turned her back on her wealthy family to focus on social work. Those who know her think she’s the heart of kindness. Those who know her really well know she’s in a never-ending battle to make up for the harm her family’s companies inflict on the world. Which is how she finds herself at a charity bachelor auction of all places.

But oops, she was supposed to bid on her bff’s brother as a favor and accidentally bid on the wrong guy. Sue her for not being able to tell one stick-in-the-mud CEO from another.

Backstage, she goes to tell him not to worry about having to go through with a date or anything, but the oafish billionaire cuts her off dismissively. Looks her up and down, hands her a card with his assistant’s contact details, and reminds her that sex is definitely off the table.

Oh, she’ll call the assistant all right and have her make sure he wears jeans and comfortable shoes and to pick her up at seven a.m. The only “hammering” this guy is going to be doing is at Habitat for Humanity.

Too bad he turns out to be nothing like she expected.
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Diane Alberts is a multi-published, bestselling contemporary romance author with Entangled Publishing. She also writes New York Times and USA Today bestselling new adult books under the name Jen McLaughlin. She’s hit the Top 100 lists on Amazon and Barnes and Noble numerous times with numerous titles. Diane is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency. Her goal is to write so many fantastic stories that even a non-romance reader will know her name. Diane has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, and five cats.
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