Spotlight & Giveaway: Fake It Till You Make It by Anne Harper

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Anne Harper to HJ!

Hi Anne and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Fake It Till You Make It!

 
Hey, y’all! Glad you came by!
 

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

Secret blog + Rosé = Sloane De Carlo & her now-public blog going viral #Yikes
Everyone wants more of Sloane’s story, specifically the tale of being hopelessly in love with ‘Guy.’ Now the only way out is through and she’s agreed to fake date the one person who knows her biggest secret, brooding bartender Brady Knox. He needs her status, she needs his cover, and
both are about to realize that faking it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“I’m going to have to move to Antarctica.”
Sloane De Carlo was staring at her computer screen,
trying to run the numbers on how fast she could buy a plane ticket, pack a bag, and disappear into the icy tundra.
“It’s not that bad.”
Emma Castings was lying. Just sitting there staring at her computer screen and L-Y-I-N-G.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This book and series was inspired by the time I almost sent an email meant for app support for a vaginal thermometer (meant to read core temp for ovulation when my husband and I were trying for kids!) to my editor. Although I caught the mistake I thought, ‘What if I hadn’t?’ Thus the ACCIDENTALLY VIRAL series was born.”
• I am an extremely awkward person…Or should I say I find myself in extremely awkward situations a lot! Some of the awkward situations that happen in this book are based off of real-life events.
• I’m from and live in South Alabama and every southern phrase used in this book is something I’ve grown up hearing and currently still hear and use on the daily!
• One of my favorite scenes in this book is a rant about the price of tampons…And I think it will be a favorite of a lot readers too!
• There’s a scene that lines up with a song and my husband and I actually acted it out to make sure the timing of it worked out! (You’ll know the scene when you read it!)

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

Sloane, from the beginning, keeps Brady on his toes. She is constantly taking what he thinks he knows about her and throwing it out the window. She’s intriguing and that’s enough to start a spark for him.

The same could be said for Sloane when it comes to Brady. She makes a snap assessment of him only to have him surprise her with agreeing to their deal. There’s a curiosity there that makes her want to know more about him, which pairs nicely with a physical attraction she has to him that’s already in place.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Hilarious.
Awkward.
Adorable.
Authentic.
Moving.
 

The First Kiss…

Is a sham! Brady instigates a pretty public lip-lock to help Sloane out of a not-so-fun situation. But even though it was part of an act it definitely didn’t leave their thoughts once it was over!
 

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

I have a few favorite scenes but the spider scene really gets me every time I think about it! Imagine looking for painting supplies in a garage when all of a sudden there it is. A gigantic wolf spider…and it’s on you. #Cringe

Snippet:
A screech unlike any he’d ever heard came from the woman’s mouth and echoed through the room. She added movement to the sound with a violent, flailing dance. One second, she was next to him; the next, she was in the middle of the garage wide-eyed, terrified, and ready to rumble.
Then she did something Brady had only ever seen in movies.
With wild abandon, Sloane De Carlo lifted up and then threw her shirt off like she was at Mardi Gras and had a burning desire to get a new beaded-necklace collection.
“Is it still on me?” she yelled, dancing a few steps away from where her shirt had fallen. She slapped at her body and spun around so he could see her back.
It, like the strap of her bra, was clear.
“You’re good.”
“Are you sure? Check my hair!”
Like he was magnetic, Sloane flew toward him. He didn’t mean to, but he laughed.
“Brady, I’m serious,” she screeched. “Is it in my hair?”
Brady put the paintbrush down again and took the dark waves of hair in his hands. It was soft, as he’d guessed it would be, and also spider-free.
“You’re good,” he repeated. “It’s not on you or in your—”
“Ahhhhh!”
Sloane did another move he’d never seen outside of the TV screen: she levitated off the ground and at Brady with one high jump. From a petite woman or not, Brady hadn’t expected that. On reflex alone, he caught her, wrapping his arms under and around her until he was holding her like a bride.
“What the—?”
“Look!” She pointed at her discarded shirt.
Even Brady got the willies as he watched the wolf spider scurry to the other side of the garage.

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

I can’t say exactly what’s going on in the scene (that would take out some of the fun!) but Sloane and her best friend Emma get kind of stuck in an…interesting situation. One where they have to call in Brady who is absolutely surprised at what he finds. It’s a good mix of physical comedy and great banter, especially since Sloane and Emma are bickering like an old married couple during it!

Snippet after Brady first shows up at the scene:
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on and if we’re breaking the law?”
Emma stepped in close, lowering her voice to match. “Oh, we are absolutely breaking the law. Why do you think this one here tried to escape through a window so she wouldn’t get caught?”
“In my defense, I had no idea I’d picked the one window that’s higher than Willie Nelson,” Sloane muttered.

Readers should read this book …

If you like awkward situations, shenanigans, and are a fan of older romcoms but now with some added social media mayhem!

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

I’m currently working on a free novella for my newsletter subscribers! It follows two characters from Fake It Till You Make It and will be a nice little segue between Book#1 and Book #2. The second book in the ACCIDENTALLY VIRAL series has already been written but the release date hasn’t been decided yet! Also Book #3 may or may not be in the works…

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A free eBook of Fake It Till You Make It, plus access to exclusive information, fun facts, and future giveaways!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite show, movie, or book featuring a small town or the South?

 
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Excerpt from Fake It Till You Make It:

Sloane first knew she’d gone viral after a google search showed her several articles saying as much. #TheGirlWhoSaidNothing was trending on Twitter with thoughts, quotes, and relatable me toos from the blog. Most, though, had been focused on the Guy aspect. Hundreds of tweets had users admitting that they, too, had someone like Guy in their lives. Someone they liked or loved but never said a word. When some of those hundreds started to slide into her inbox, encouraging words and stories, a few others started to slide in with their own form of trying to connect.
Sloane had deactivated her Twitter after the tenth dick pic.
After that, people she knew in real life had come out of the woodwork. From Raphael at the catering company she sometimes subbed in at, to Nancy, the neighbor down the hall who sometimes had her mail sent to Sloane’s box on accident, to a customer at the florist shop who had been alerted to Sloane’s sudden internet fame by her granddaughter.
Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat had already been picking up, but when BuzzFeed had started to do the listicles, that was when Sloane had locked her privacy down hard. Though that hadn’t stopped the messages.
The phone calls and texts came next.
And when her ex-boyfriend, Mayce, had shown up at her door wanting to know why he was barely mentioned in the blog?
That’s when Sloane just kind of left it all.
She might have loved her jobs, but sometimes you had to take a break, even from things you loved, so you didn’t lose your damn mind.
She’d told Mrs. Baker and Raphael that she would be back in time to work the Saunders’ wedding and, if they needed her before that? Well, maybe try not to? Because she certainly didn’t like her phone anymore. Every time it buzzed or chirped, a ball of nerves would twist in her stomach as she imagined something else embarrassing had happened.
Something she had caused.
So when her phone vibrated in her pocket between Brady’s truck at the curb and Roger Norman’s front porch, Sloane wanted to throw it instead of check it. She mentally recapped her day instead, wondering what she could have possibly done to get more attention, and bit the bullet when she decided she hadn’t really done anything of consequence.
Well, other than see a mostly naked, very wet Brady.
And, wowzer, what a sight that had been.
Even driving across town, away from the scene, Sloane could still feel the heat in her from their exchange in his bedroom. Along with the embarrassment of being caught snooping. All she’d wanted to do was understand the bartender more, but his room had been surprisingly bare.
That is, except for a few pictures on the walls, most interesting among them the one over his bed.
But no one knows what happened in that room, Sloane reminded herself, pulling her phone out. Other than Brady, and he isn’t going to tell. I hope.
“Hey, give me a second,” Sloane said, reading the caller ID. “I need to take this.”
Brady made a noise, but Sloane was already retreating back to the driveway.
“What’s wrong?” she answered, new worry thronging through her. Emma never called during the school day unless it was something.
“The mayor wants to talk to you.”
Sloane blinked at the concrete. “Say again?”
“The mayor wants to see you.” Emma was whispering. It must have been quiet time for her kindergarteners. “He pulled me out of class to tell me so.”
“He pulled you out of class?”
“Yes. I thought I was in trouble somehow, but, nope, he wanted you.”
Now it was time for Sloane to feel like she’d done something wrong. “Wanted me for what?”
He certainly didn’t know about her seeing the mostly naked and very wet Brady.
“To talk about officially sponsoring the kickoff party at Cassidy’s. He gave me his card for you.”
“Why not come to me instead?”
“He apparently tried? Said no one was home earlier.” Suspicion sprung up into Emma’s voice as quickly as the grumpiness had lit across Brady’s face at being left alone on Roger’s front porch. Even now, from the distance between her and the house, Sloane could feel the annoyance still emanating. “What have you been up to all day? Writing that new blog post that Rizzie wanted?”
Sloane turned to the sound of the front door opening. Roger Norman.
She could really feel Brady’s annoyance now.
“Just running around. Brady and I are actually seeing a man about a boat right now.”
“Is that some kind of sex euphemism?”
“No,” Sloane defended a little too harshly. Then a bite of laughter broke through. “Wait. What would that even mean if it was one?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the boat is a penis?”
“That both of us want to get?”
“The boat could like, I don’t know, represent the idea of sex?”
“So we’re going to see another man about the two of us having sex?”
Emma groaned. “Dammit, woman. I just called to let you know the mayor wants a piece of you. I’ll text you the number, but I have to go now. Dante just woke up, and I have two point five seconds to get him to the potty before things get wild over here.”
Sloane laughed as the phone call ended. The sound drew Brady’s and Roger’s attention.
The thought of them having a threesome, on a boat no less, popped into her head.
Dammit, Emma!

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

Sloane De Carlo is going to have to move to Antarctica.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that she accidentally made her private blog very public, and all her innermost secrets and embarrassing moments are trending, now the entirety of the Internet is dying to know who her all-consuming, never-get-over-him crush “Guy” really is. She’s even got a literary agent dangling a book deal in front of her nose—but there’s a catch. She’ll have to get closure with “Guy” and give her story that pitch-perfect ending.

Too bad the real “Guy” is engaged to someone else. #Blessed

The only person in her teeny hometown of Arbor Bay who knows the truth is local bartender Brady Knox. And he’s not telling…for a price. He’ll pretend to be Sloane’s “Guy” if she’ll use her newfound Internet fame to bring more business to his struggling local bar. Brady’s always been a lone wolf, but there’s something about the pint-sized, supremely awkward, yet beautiful Sloane that charms him.

But keeping secrets in a small town like Arbor Bay isn’t easy. And Brady was never meant to be the guy for a pitch-perfect ending…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Anne Harper writes romantic comedy that embodies the shenanigans of an I Love Lucy episode and the awkwardness of saying “you too” after the waiter tells you to enjoy your meal. She lives in South Alabama with her husband, their three cats, and a humidity that threatens to destroy them all. Anne is an advocate for coffee, selfies, and adoption from foster care. When she isn’t dreaming about meeting her future kiddos, she’s getting herself into wild situations and hilarious misunderstandings. #ItsFine
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