Spotlight & Giveaway: Catching Her Heart by Jody Holford

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jody Holford to HJ!

Hi Jody and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Catching Her Heart!

 
Thanks for having me!!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Catching her heart is about a woman who needs a favor. In a bit of a tizzy over her celebrity date canceling on her, Addison Carlisle needs a stand in for the charity event she’s attending. Working for the Nashville Slammers means she knows the team’s schedule. She also knows there’s one player who isn’t busy that night. Sawyer McBain thinks he’s just getting a ride home. Instead, he meets a woman who surprises, intrigues, and captivates him. More than that, she gets under his hard exterior and makes him remember what it’s like to trust.
 

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

“Sometimes you have to make your own family. That doesn’t mean you give up on the one you have but it’s okay to need more. To watch out for yourself without feeling guilty. And to let others care enough about you to want to watch out for you as well.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Sawyer and Addie are opposites. As he says, she’s the sun and he’s the clouds.
• There are a lot of IOUs exchanged.
• Sawyer is afraid of his grandmother’s poker pals because they can get a little…handsy.
• Addie doesn’t know much about baseball but she loves the game.

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

I think, initially, it’s physical. In fact, for Addie, once Sawyer shows his jaded perspective, she isn’t sure they suit each other at all. For Sawyer, he originally thinks that Addie’s optimism would be hard to deal with all the time. They’re both wrong and, instead, bring out the best in each other.

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

The grin faded, and his eyes went a shade darker. “You always see the best in people?”
Stepping back, needing the personal space for her own sanity, she shook her head. “I’m not looking at the world through rose colored glasses. But I like to think positively.”
Sawyer stared at her a moment longer and then grabbed a ball, placed it on a little plastic piece on the raised turf, and lined up his body. It gave Addie time to take in his profile. He really was a strikingly handsome man. The right mix of rugged with that five o’clock shadow on his square jaw and polished in his dark jeans and crew-cut, designer looking sweater. Sawyer adjusted his grip repeatedly on the club. Glancing around, she saw they were still alone. It struck her as odd that he’d call her and ask her to join him when he easily could have asked one of the few he did consider friends.
Crack. The sound jolted her out of her musings and made her heart race.
“Jeez, look at it go.” Like Sawyer, she watched the ball until she couldn’t see it anymore. “That’s awesome.”
He looked over his shoulder. “You ever played?”
Shaking her head, she took a step back, seeing exactly where this was going. “Not my sport.”
“How would you know?” He reached out and wrapped warm fingers around her wrist, gave her a gentle tug forward. He was making it clear that he wanted her closer but giving her the choice with his light grip.
“Same way I know baseball isn’t my sport but I haven’t played. Or squash. Basketball. Lacrosse. Basically, any sport that could result with me getting beaned in the head with a hard object is not my sport.”
Sawyer chuckled and turned her away from him. “Here. Hold the club. Okay, line your body up.”
Right. Make your body and brain function naturally while he’s crowded in behind you like the very best shelter from the breeze. She held the club loosely. His hands went to her hips and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“I’m going to put my arms around you to show you how to hold the club, okay?”
She nodded. It was less embarrassing than answering with what she was sure would be a breathy response.
As he slid his arms around her, tucking her into his body so he was plastered to her back, he adjusted her fingers and then covered her hands with his. His chin was tucked into the crook of her neck and if she turned her head, they’d be in optimal kissing distance. No kissing. She kept her head down.
“Keep your eyes on the ball. The entire time. Bend your knees a little,” he said, his voice husky in her ear. His knees nudged hers and when she bent them, it locked their bodies together even tighter.
“You’re going to pull all the way back and then swing. It’s not about hitting hard, it’s about connecting and following through.”
He used his own motions to guide hers, stopping before they connected with the turf. Up, down; their bodies moving in tandem. It shouldn’t have felt sexy. They were on fake grass. In the cold. And yet, there was something about the way he held her that made her want to turn and snuggle into him. Sawyer McBain did not strike her as a snuggly guy. And this isn’t a date. Back when Isla had started up with Liam, he’d taught her how to swing a bat. Addie’s body flushed with warmth when she remembered where that had led for those two. Not the same thing. Not at all.
“I’m going to step back and you stay in this position. Eye on the ball.” He moved so he was in front of her and she had plenty of room to swing. Which she did four times before he put down an actual ball for her to keep an ‘eye on’.
When she skimmed the top of the ball, her brows scrunched together.
“Widen your stance. You looked up. Keep your arms straight.”
She tried again. And missed.
“Follow through all the way. Glide back, eyes on the ball, swing.”
The sound of the club slicing through air seemed louder each time she missed.
Sawyer came behind her again. “We’re going to hit this one together so you can feel it, okay?”
She swallowed, feeling far more than she should. “This game is stupid,” she whispered.
“Say that again in a second,” he whispered back.

Readers should read this book….

if they like feel good, smile-inducing, books with sweet moments and lots of kisses.

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

I’m actually working on a romantic comedy under my pen name, Sophie Sullivan. I’m excited about trying something new. My next release is actually the third in my cozy romantic mystery, Deadly Ride. It comes out October 22nd.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’ll be giving away a $5.00 amazon gift card.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: For Addie and Sawyer, their different personalities complimented one another. Do you think, in real life, opposites do attract?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Catching Her Heart:

“Where are we going?” Addie asked for the third time since he’d picked her up.
Sawyer reached for her hand and held it across the console. “You know what a surprise is, right? It’s where one person doesn’t know what’s going to happen until the other person is ready to tell them?”
Squeezing his hand, she laughed. “Yeah. I’m familiar with the process. I love planning them but get antsy when they’re aimed my way.”
“How often do you get surprised?”
“Uh…not all that often, actually. My parents’ visit was a surprise. They think you’re wonderful, by the way. I’m not sure who seemed more enamored, my mom or my dad.”
He turned off the freeway at their exit. “It can be a tie as long as you are as well.”
He felt her gaze on him, and his body lit up with awareness. The quiet hummed between them, electric.
“You know I am, right? Against my better judgment?”
With a rough laugh, he pulled to a stop at the traffic light. “Uh, thanks?”
Addie traced over the back of his hand, like she was memorizing it, with one finger. “I’ve been in a couple of relationships and I’ve dated, but I’ve always stopped short of being all the way in.”
It was a sentiment he definitely understood, but coming from her, it surprised him. “Why? You give one hundred and fifty percent to everything you do in life. Why would you stop short when it comes to being with someone?”
Since it led her to you, maybe you shouldn’t be asking.
The light turned and Sawyer accelerated, looking for the street that would take them up into the hills. She was quiet for a few moments, but after he’d taken a right, she sighed.
“I think that’s exactly why. There’s never been a guy I was ready to give that much to. I’m not saying that to scare you or whatever—”
He huffed out a laugh. “You haven’t met my family yet. I won’t be the one wanting to run.”
“They can’t be as bad as you’re making them out to be. But, really, I’ve never met anyone who pulled my focus from the other things in my life that took precedence. That probably wasn’t fair of me.”
Sawyer turned his hand, linked their fingers. “Their loss, my gain.”
She didn’t ask where they were going as the space between the houses lengthened. The incline steepened as the road grew curvy. Addie all but bubbled with energy beside him.
“You’re going to combust,” he said, laughing.
“What? I’m totally chill.”
He’d laughed more with her than any other woman he’d known. “Yeah, babe. You’re completely chill.”
When they reached the end of the drive, the road plateaued into an expanse of landscaped yard with a gorgeous plantation-style home resting against the bluff. It overlooked the Belle Meade area of Nashville and with the heated glass terrace, they’d have a great view of the stars. Turning off the truck, he shifted in his seat and was more than a little thrilled to see Addie’s jaw had dropped open.
“Whose house is this?”
“It’s a friend of a friend of a friend’s. I thought of taking you somewhere else; there’s a few restaurants that people rave about and are hard to get into and all that,” he said, thinking of the list his mother gave him for possible dinner venues. “But I selfishly wanted you all to myself.”
The moonlight washed over her features in the cab of the truck so he saw the sheen of tears. When he reached out to stroke her cheek, she covered his hand with hers and leaned into it before pressing her lips into his palm. The simple touch, that gentle gesture, undid him in a way he knew no other woman ever could. He wanted that sweetness in his life.
“When I said I hadn’t met anyone worth the one hundred and fifty percent? I was about to say, until you. But really, you’re worth double that. Thank you for tonight.”
An unfamiliar lump of emotion lodged in his throat, but he smiled and tried to lighten the moment. “Thanking me before we even start? Totally Pretty Woman.”
Addison’s laughter washed over him, and he fell a little harder for her right there in the driveway of someone else’s home.
When they got out, walked hand in hand toward the elaborate, pillared porch, she bumped him with her hip. “I think you may have watched that movie far more than you’ll admit to.”
At the door, he stopped before putting the key in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’ll admit to nothing.”
They took their time walking through the house. It was stunning and almost surreal in its grandeur. Seemingly endless ceilings and two spiral staircases, a kitchen that would house his entire rancher, and the kind of art on the walls that most people only saw inside museums.
They made their way out to the terrace. A long, ornate table took center stage, twelve chairs around it. Two place settings were at one end with taper candles flickering between them. The room was enclosed in glass, allowing them to look out at the city below and the stars above. While Addie stared out at the lights, Sawyer connected his phone to the Bluetooth and shuffled the playlist he’d made for tonight.
Addie turned when the music started. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romantic.”
They met in the middle and he pulled her into his arms, gave her the truth. “I’ve never wanted to be. Until you.”
Addison went up on her toes, pressing her body into and up his torso as she initiated a kiss that pushed away the rest of the world. It was easy—too easy—to let the music and feelings surround them.
“This is incredible, Sawyer. Thank you.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.