Spotlight & Giveaway: Catch and Release Groom by Cindi Madsen

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Cindi Madsen to HJ!

Hi Cindi Madsen and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Catch and Release Groom!

 
Thank you so much for having me again!
 

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

First comes honeymoon, then comes marriage?
A runaway bride convinces a fly-fisherman to pose as her betrothed during her failed, couple-centric honeymoon, only to discover she might be the one getting hooked.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

*I love you, but I’m afraid this isn’t something I can get over—the wedding’s off.*

The words had scraped on the way out, leaving her throat achy and raw. It’d been the hardest declaration that Imogen Kaplan had ever uttered in her life, and she couldn’t imagine a time when she’d say otherwise.

Relief had immediately whorled, only to be combatted with a heavy dose of guilt. Disbelief over speaking the unspeakable crashed into hysteria, and she’d nearly taken it back.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I had the idea for this book during my 20 year anniversary trip with my husband, while talking about how particular and grumpy fly-fisherman can be.
• Growing up, my family and I went fishing fairly often. I always thought it was a little boring, because I’m not a very patient person. LOL
• It was so fun heading back to the town of Uncertainty and the group of friends who play poker in a houseboat every Friday while their dogs play together.
• I put some of the struggles I’ve experienced with second-guessing myself and getting stuck in obsessive rumination cycles into this heroine, which I recently learned is a result of OCD. So in many ways, I was learning how to cope with it right along with my heroine.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Sass and witty banter, as both of them have misconceptions and a slight chip on their shoulder against love when they first meet. Even as they’re snarking and riling, there’s immediately that spark, though 🙂
 

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

Runaway bride hooks jilted groom.
 

The First Kiss…

It was everything he’d wanted.
Claimed to want, anyway.
Imogen was headed in the opposite direction, storming
off with enough haste he’d likely get a firehose blast of anger if he dared interrupt.
Reason enough not to, regardless of the disappointment that’d filled her expression or how heavy the guilt lining his gut. Imogen Kaplan was a distraction he couldn’t afford. Pieces were finally falling into place so he could transition into his dream career, and life so rarely handed out second shots.
But out shot his arm anyway, fingers grasping the empty air Imogen had occupied a moment ago. He stretched the extra inch and snagged hold of her wrist, uttering a “hold up” as he towed her back to him, steady and slow, the way he’d do out on the river with a skittish fish.
Once he’d reeled her close enough, he gently spun her
around to face him. She pirouetted into the embrace so easily, too, a busty ballerina already familiar with the steps. A gasp escaped her plump, red lips, luring him close enough to inhale her exhale, and suddenly he was wondering
who was fishing for whom. “Look, I—”
“No, you look,” she said, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Do you think it was easy for me to ask for help? Because it wasn’t, and you made it harder on purpose.”
His temper flared right alongside hers, regardless of being guilty as charged. “Afraid that’s just part of my natural charm, which is why you’d have a better time with someone else.”
“There isn’t anyone else. Yeah, it’d be nice to set sail with someone who actually likes being around me, but—” Her voice cracked, but it was the sniff at the end that completely did him in.
“I never said I didn’t like being around you.” It’d slipped without his permission, the revelation that’d caused him to dig in his heels harder last night when his friends were pushing him to ask Imogen to the wedding.
Ever so slowly, she lifted her face to his, a questioning scrunch marring her brow. “Wait. Do you?”
His huff of laughter stirred the strands of hair near her temples, and he cupped her cheek, his need to soothe any hurt he’d caused overtaking his common sense.
But with his palm against her soft skin, he couldn’t bring himself to let go.
Nope, he went and dug his grave deeper by sweeping his thumb across the pink tinging her cheek.
Their gazes met and held, tossing tinder on the fire.

Then Imogen’s tongue darted out to wet her upper lip, and he charged, headfirst.
Eradicating the infinitesimal space between them and crashing his mouth over hers.
Just for a taste, only a taste.
Not only did Imogen open up for him, she stretched onto the tips of her toes, nails biting into his shoulders. And, so she wouldn’t have to overextend herself, he filled his hands with her supple ass and gave her a boost.
He was a giver like that.
So was she, apparently, as she wound her legs around his waist and threw herself into the kiss.

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

As the two of them are pretending to be on their honeymoon, they use over-the-top pet names. Honeybun, Sugar Dumplin, the worse the better. Then there’s a moment between them when they’re in the river and she’s just leapt out of the way to avoid the hero’s dog, who barrels into the hero and sends him falling into the water. This snippet comes right as he’s standing up from that.

A moment later, Easton breached the river’s surface, pushing to his feet and raking fingers through drenched locks. Water ran trails over his torso, highlighting his drool-worthy features with divine precision. Pecs, abs, and a trail of dark hair that led down, down, down…

To where it disappeared into the waistband of his plastered-on jeans.

Imogen sank her teeth into her lower lip and looked her fill—well, she’d never be at capacity, given the specimen. Was this what Michelangelo felt like when he stood in front of his finished statue of David?

It made her want to get her hands on clay.

Her hands on him.

That way she could commit the feel to memory. When it came to this particular subject, she didn’t want to miss a detail. For art’s sake.

He cleared his throat, arrogance bleeding into his voice. “Eyes are up here.”

“I’ll get there eventually,” she fired back without missing a beat. “Right now, I’m too preoccupied with the fact that you could win a wet T-shirt contest.”

“I’m not sure it’s fair to declare me the winner if I don’t have competition.” Mischief flared in his amber depths, and he advanced a step, obviously plotting a dunk in the water.

“No-no-no,” she said, backpedaling and cursing her sandals’ flimsy, slippery soles. “Easton Reeves, don’t you dar—”

“That’s right. Say my name, baby.”

Everything within her went perfectly still at the growly way he’d called her “baby.”

It sounded so different from the over-the-top pet names they’d used to goad and annoy.

It was intimate. Automatic. Un-fucking-fair.

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

She’s forgotten she booked fly-fishing lessons for two–as a present to the groom she left at the altar–and Easton shows up at her door at nope o’ clock. Leading up to this moment, they’ve mostly been grumping and goading each other.

That sculptor she criticized earlier for not forging a smile? She’d been right—gifting this man with one on a permanent basis would be far too dangerous. It amped his attractiveness to panty-melting levels and left her locking her knees to prevent herself from falling at his feet.

“If you’ll give me another chance, I promise I’ll work on the patience.” He extended the rod he’d prepared for her, with the fuzzy pink fly she’d chosen secured to the end and ready to go. “I’m afraid the temperament is what it is.”

Gator shoved her big snout between the two of them, glancing back and forth.

“Ain’t that right, GB?”

The dog lifted her head, literally forcing Easton’s hand—to pet her. A dozen mushy sensations tumbled through Imogen as she watched the wagging of Gator’s tail and the affection flooding Easton’s expression.

Okay, so the guy wasn’t a total lost cause.

As he positioned himself behind her and demonstrated the best grip to control the pole, she decided that in some ways, it’d be easier if he were.

A notion she doubled down on as he explained line tension and how to work the reel, using terms as foreign as the shock of awareness that’d seized her spine.

Her breaths turned shallow as his long fingers wrapped around hers. She gave in to his pull as he guided the rod back and then forward, over and over again. “Think you have the feel of it now?”
She felt something all right. The sparks she’d always been missing with Brett fired and spread, until her entire body tingled with them. She didn’t dare wonder if Easton felt them, too—what good would that do either of them, and seriously, why him?

With her ability to form complete sentences compromised, she kept the answer simple. A hint false, too, since she’d been paying more attention to her body’s reaction than to his instructions. “Mmm-hmm.”

“Okay, now I’m going to step back and let you try it solo.” Instantly, she missed the heat of his body. “Remember. Nice and smooth.”

“Be one with the pole, got it,” she joked, and it took every ounce of her self-restraint not to glance over her shoulder so she could see if it’d made him smile.

The first cast was so pathetic that she quickly cocked her arm to try again. She flung forward with all her might, only the line didn’t land in the water.

In fact, she felt resistance from behind her, and at the harsh swear, she spun around.

And gaped at the fuzzy pink fly embedded in Easton’s ear.

Readers should read this book …

for a fun escape at a wilderness resort where everyone besides a runaway bride and a grumpy fly-fishing instructor are on their honeymoon. They strike a deal to complete the couple-centric tasks (after the heroine paddles her swan boat for two in a complete circle alone), which leads to over-the-top pet names, a lot of laughs, and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers that’ll leave you with a smile on your face.

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

I’m working on a book with one of the funniest set ups I’ve ever written. It straddles the line between women’s fiction and romantic comedy, has a strong cast of women of all ages and a heroine trying to get back on her feet, and I can’t wait to say more as soon as I can!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed paperback copies of the other two books in the series, Just One of the Groomsmen and Always a Bridesmaid. (Prize will default to ebooks for international readers, due to shipping costs)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Where would be your dream honeymoon (or second honeymoon) location?

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Excerpt from Catch and Release Groom:

Easton glanced down at the woman in his arms, and his blood turned molten with lust. He’d always been a visual learner, and with her shirt now see-through, he could make out her lacy bra and the barest glimpse of peaked nipples he couldn’t wait to tweak and suck.
That certainly hastened his steps.
Once they reached his pickup, he lowered Imogen to a seated position on the tailgate. He walked closer, wedging himself between her legs and gathering the hem of her shirt in his fingers. “I’m afraid we need to get you out of these wet clothes. It’s survival 101.”
“How convenient.”
“Is it now?” He peeled the damp fabric up and over her head and tossed the wad into the bed of his truck. “As I recall, you were the one who started the ogling and instigated the wet T-shirt contest.”
His mouth went dry, and he fumbled as he craned his arm to remove his own shirt, the wet fabric requiring an extra hard yank on the collar. Once he’d shed that layer, he switched it up, going from fisherman to interrogator. Bracing a hand on either side of her thighs, he leaned close enough to see the outer rim of her irises was a darker shade of blue and adopted a sterner tone. “So, Miss Kaplan? Convenient for whom, exactly?”
“I’ll gladly fess up to the ogling, but you—” She jabbed a finger to his bare chest, her mouth falling open and a crinkle of intrigue forming as she slowly poked it again and then flattened her palm and squeezed. A dazed smile curved her lips as she kneaded his pec in a similar way he’d imagined doing to her breasts.
“You gonna finish that sentence?” he asked, and she looked up as if surprised to find him there—while fondling him. Not that he was complaining.
“It doesn’t seem pertinent anymore.” The tip of her pink tongue darted out to wet her lips, and his cock stirred, immediately launching a complaint about the heavy, binding denim. “But those safety measures sound super important. I’d hate to skimp on those.”
He undid the button on her shorts and felt a corresponding zing behind the fly of his jeans as he undid her zipper. Their gazes collided and sparked, and he grasped both sides of the denim waistband and said, “Then hips up, buttercup.”
Satisfaction whirred when she rushed to do as instructed, and he paused to memorize the sight of her in the back of his truck, water trickling from her saturated strands and over the swells of her breasts before getting lost in the valley between. “That contest you mentioned? I was a fool to go up against you”—he stripped her of her shorts and reveled in the matching red underwear—“you win, hands down.”
“Except, now you’ve gone and turned it into a no shirt contest.”
“Actually, that reminds me…” Easton reached around and unhooked Imogen’s bra, adding a low whistle of appreciation as he came away with the undergarment clenched in his fist. “Hate to break it to you, but I’m the clear winner here.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A runaway bride is on her honeymoon—and hilariously off-the-hook—in this irresistible romantic comedy from USA Today bestselling author Cindi Madsen…

Imogen Kaplan may be a runaway bride, but she’s determined to take her “honeymoon” at a luxury wilderness resort, even if she is surrounded by annoyingly mushy couples. No husband. No happily-ever-after. Just trees, bugs, and one very grouchy, mouthwateringly fit, and—let’s just admit it—unfairly gorgeous guide who’s shown up to take her fishing at Nope O’Clock in the morning…

Easton Reeves is pretty sure that Hell looks a lot like Honeymoon Week. It’s over-the-top romantic crap as far as the eye can see—everything a guy who’s been dumped at the altar wants to avoid. And now he’s supposed to teach this cute, smart-mouthed little city pixie how to fly fish? I’ll be lucky to escape without a hook in my ear.

Now it’s like fate keeps throwing them—the two people least interested in romance—together at a resort that’s all about the love. Sparks are not supposed to happen, let alone the temptation to kiss each other senseless. But it’s one thing to get hooked on sizzling chemistry…and quite another to turn a sexy little fling into real life.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Cindi Madsen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. She loves music and dancing and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children. She and her family also take their Marvel addiction very seriously, as their one-eyed cat, Agent Fury, and their kitty named Valkyrie can attest.

You can visit Cindi at: www.cindimadsen.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter to get all the up-to-date information on her books.

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