Spotlight & Giveaway: Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Rachel Lynn Solomon to HJ!

Hi Rachel and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Business or Pleasure!

 
Thank you so much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

BUSINESS OR PLEASURE is about a ghostwriter who has a terrible one-night stand with a C-list actor, not knowing who he is, only to learn she’s been hired to work on his memoir—a partnership that grows even more complicated when he asks for help in the bedroom.
 

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

I have quite a few favorites that are NSFW, but here’s a bit from right after my main characters, Chandler and Finn, decide to start sleeping together so that she can give him some pointers in bed.

Finn’s shock is etched into the soft curve of his mouth and the creases at the corners of his eyes. He recovers quickly, standing straighter and raking a hand through his hair. “Well. Uh. That’s—wow. Okay. This isn’t where I thought this conversation would go.”
“Me, either,” I say, laughing. “I have no idea what happens now.”
“Should we . . . should we shake?” He extends a hand, but then immediately withdraws it. “Nope, that feels weird.” Another scratch at the back of his neck. It’s similar to what Hux does in the clip of him and Meg at a campus formal Noemie showed me, right before he tells her he’s never seen anyone as beautiful as she is and that he might die if she doesn’t dance with him. Only in real life, it’s even cuter—because it might be real.
“Maybe a hug?” I suggest, because at this moment in time, a hug seems innocent. Something you’d share with a friend or a professional collaborator-slash-sexual-experimenter.
His features relax as his arms fall open. The instant my chest meets his, something loosens inside me. Relief or anticipation or satisfaction, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a reaction to his scent, that lovely mix of earth and spice. I knot my hands behind his neck, relishing the warmth of his skin against my fingertips. You are so fucked, the practical part of my brain tells me, the part I decide to ignore. His exhale hums through me as his hands settle against my lower back, thumb stroking shivers up my spine.
Whatever semiprofessional boundary we still had earlier today: it officially no longer exists.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

My original title for the book was UNQUOTABLE, which reflected both the fact that my main character is a journalist and that what she’s doing with the hero is quite literally unquotable — and maybe mildly unethical to be sleeping with the person whose memoir you’re ghostwriting. But when we started cover conversations, we all felt strongly about having a bed on the cover, and it was tricky to get the title to match up with that. After some long brainstorming sessions, we landed on BUSINESS OR PLEASURE and it instantly felt right. Once it hit me, I emailed it over to my editor and it was approved by my entire team within fifteen minutes!

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

Finn, my C-list actor hero who’s most known for starring in a cult classic werewolf TV show, is drawn to Chandler because of her confidence, a trait she doesn’t always realize she has, and he deeply admires her ambition. Chandler, my ghostwriter heroine who’s feeling stuck in a career rut, loves how earnest Finn is, how honest and vulnerable he can be with her — first, when they’re discussing his memoir, and then when he peels back even more of his layers to show her who he truly is.

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

Oh my goodness, I blushed SO MUCH while writing this book! I’ve been joking on Instagram that the book has 6.5 sex scenes (up to you to figure out what constitutes the .5, haha), plus many conversations that revolve around physical intimacy. I LOVE writing spicy scenes, but this was somewhat of a departure from my previous adult romances, which have just a few open-door scenes. In BUSINESS OR PLEASURE, the door is wide open from the very beginning. And even though I was blushing, I had such a blast while writing.

Here’s the tiniest spicy tidbit!

“You’re not hopeless,” I tell Finn once the cyclist is out of earshot and we’re relatively alone again. “I have plenty of awkwardness in my past, too. And the fact that you’re not making this about your fragile wounded masculinity is a huge plus.”
“I want my partners to have a good time. Or at least, for us to be able to talk honestly about why someone isn’t.”
And it’s ridiculous, isn’t it, the way those words settle low in my belly after having had a decidedly not good time with him.
“A solid place to start.” I lean back against the railing, draping my arms over it. “Women can just be . . . a little harder to please, and it’s not always easy to express that. There isn’t some button you can press and then voilà, instant orgasm.”
I watch him swallow hard as he dips his head, inching closer. The wind twirls his hair across his forehead, nudges open the collar of his flannel shirt.
“How would I do it, then?” he asks, curling a hand over the railing next to me. His voice is only a notch above a whisper, and though his body is at least a foot from mine, it feels like he’s speaking right against my ear. I can practically feel the vibrations along my skin. “How would I make you come?”

Readers should read this book….

…because it’s a steamy, tender, and empowering story of two people whose quick physical relationship leads to a deeper emotional connection.

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

I’m working on my next YA, scheduled for summer 2024, though I can’t share details about that one quite yet! I’m also drafting my next adult, which is set in Amsterdam — I moved there two years ago and I’ve been so eager to write about expat life in this beautiful, fascinating, very weird city.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A Print copy of BUSINESS OR PLEASURE

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Could you read a romance novel that begins with a hero who is an absolute disaster in bed?

 
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Excerpt from Business or Pleasure:

This excerpt is from when Chandler shows up to a lunch meeting with the actor she’s about to ghostwrite a book for — not knowing that he’s the guy whose room she sneaked out of last night after the worst sex of her life.

This has to be a mix-up. A mistake. The wrong table.
But his manager is getting to his feet, giving me a warm smile. “Chandler Cohen?” he asks, and somewhat mechanically, I feel myself nod.
Drew/Finnegan finally glances up, and when his gaze meets mine, he spills one of the restaurant’s signature juices down the front of his unfortunately white shirt. Something with beets, from the look of it.
“Careful there!” his manager says, flagging down a server. “Could we get some more napkins?”
I just stand there, frozen, Noemie’s skirt too tight around my hips and her shirt too tight around my breasts and that bruise far too noticeable and dear god why. And how. And fuuuuuck.
Finnegan/Drew is ashen, unsure whether to focus on the spreading fuchsia blotch or the sudden appearance of the one-night stand who wasn’t there when he woke up this morning. He seems to settle for both and neither, mouth falling open while he dabs a napkin two inches to the left of where the stain starts.
“I’m so sorry,” I sputter out, wondering if it would reflect poorly on Stella if I turned and made a run for it. “Your shirt, I—”
“Not your fault,” Finnegan says to the stain. It’s a different kind of voice than the one he used on me last night. Professional. Distant.
The server arrives with another glass of water and a stack of cloth napkins, which Finnegan uses to attack his shirt with a newfound gusto. His manager pulls out a chair for me, and I practically collapse into it, folding my legs to hide the bruise from view.
Slowly, the pieces come together. He lives in LA. He was here for a conference—that must have been Emerald City Comic Con. The way he spoke about his career, the vagueness . . . he must have been worried I’d recognize him. Hence the fake name. And when those costumed con-goers showed up, he’d acted strange, hadn’t he?
“Well! What a way to break the ice,” his manager says with a laugh. He extends a hand to me. “Joe Kowalczyk.”
“Chandler. And you must be Finnegan.” I place a distinct emphasis on his name.
“Finn,” he says, and when he breaks from the stain long enough for a handshake, his eyes flash with suspicion. As though maybe I planned this all along. His freckles are even more pronounced in the daylight. At night, he seemed to have an air of mystery about him, but at one thirty, the September sun slanting through the greenhouse windows and turning his red hair golden, he looks every bit the Hollywood type. Defined cheekbones, microscopic pores, a my-moisturizer-probably-cost-more-than-your-entire-outfit set of his jaw.
This isn’t the first time I’ve touched him, of course, and it’s much less intimate compared to anything we did in that hotel room. The handshake should be perfunctory. Awkward, maybe. And yet somehow, the way his fingers slide against mine, thumb briefly rubbing my wrist—so slight, I’d think nothing of it if we hadn’t already met—manages to spark far more electricity than anything we did last night.
Last night. The way he kissed me up against the door of the hotel room before everything went so horribly wrong. The way I moaned into his mouth and—
—and faked an orgasm.
Holy hell, I cannot work on this book.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A ghostwriter and a struggling actor help each other on the page and in the bedroom in this steamy romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk.

Chandler Cohen has never felt more like the ghost in “ghostwriter” until she attends a signing for a book she wrote—and the author doesn’t even recognize her. The evening turns more promising when she meets a charming man at the bar and immediately connects with him. But when all their sexual tension culminates in a spectacularly awkward hookup, she decides this is one night better off forgotten.

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. Her next project is ghostwriting a memoir for Finn Walsh, a C-list actor best known for playing a lovable nerd on a cult classic werewolf show who now makes a living appearing at fan conventions across the country. But Chandler knows him better from their one-night stand of hilarious mishaps.

Chandler’s determined to keep their partnership as professional as possible, but when she admits to Finn their night together wasn’t as mind-blowing as he thought it was, he’s distraught. He intrigues her enough that they strike a deal: when they’re not working on his book, Chandler will school Finn in the art of satisfaction. As they grow closer both in and out of the bedroom, they must figure out which is more important, business or pleasure—or if there’s a way for them to have both.
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Meet the Author:

Rachel Lynn Solomon is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk, Today Tonight Tomorrow, and other romantic comedies for teens and adults. Originally from Seattle, she’s currently navigating expat life in Amsterdam, where she can often be found exploring the city, collecting stationery, and working up the courage to knit her first sweater. Connect with her on Instagram @rlynn_solomon or online at rachelsolomonbooks.com.
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