Spotlight & Giveaway: Falling for a SEAL by Paige Tyler

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Paige Tyler to HJ!

Hi Paige nd welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Falling for a SEAL!

Hello everyone! Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to spend time hanging out with me and talking about Falling for a SEAL, the newest book in the SEALs of Coronado Series. We had a lot of fun writing it and hope you’ll check it out!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Navy SEAL Darwin Sutton and full-time nanny Katrina Weber have been flirting with each other for weeks, trying to find the time for their first date, but life just keeps getting in the way.

So, when an opportunity finally comes up, they both go for it, even if that means their first date will be at a destination wedding for Katrina’s sister. Meeting rich, snooty parents on the first date? What could go wrong?

It isn’t until they find a dead body at the vineyard where the wedding is being held that Darwin and Katrina realize they shouldn’t have tempted fate.

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

These three scenes occur the first time Darwin meets Katrina’s mother. As you can see below, her mother doesn’t approve of him. You can imagine her trying to look down her nose at him, even if he is well over six feet tall). These three parts cover her mother’s reaction to seeing Darwin with her daughter.

“Boyfriend?” Katrina’s mother echoed. “You didn’t mention having a boyfriend at Khloe’s bridal shower. And you certainly didn’t say anything about bringing anyone to the wedding.”

“Sutton, you said?” Katrina’s mother asked with an arched brow, scanning him critically up and down. “Of the Silicon Valley Suttons?”

“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m in the Navy,” he said simply. “I’m assigned to a platoon on Coronado.”
Darwin wasn’t sure what he expected Katrina’s mother to say, but he had to admit he was stunned when the woman let out a sniff of what seemed like disappointment before turning to Katrina.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The vineyard in this story is modeled after several in Escondido, California. We don’t know anything about wine or vineyards, so we had to do a lot of research to give us an idea of what that world looks like. The different kinds of wine, the grape trellises, wine pressing equipment, etc. It was fun learning so much.
• We also had to learn about fancy hors d’oeuvres for the first night’s reception at the fancy resort Katrina’s parents own. There were things like smoked trout croquette, caviar and crème fraîche tartlet, and cheddar and herb gougères.
• In the book, the SEALs spend time out on San Nicolas Island, part of the Point Mugu Sea Range complex. So, we had to find maps and stuff to have a general idea of what they might be doing there.
• We have a unique way of coming up with the names for our SEAL books. We have thirty or so cool names to start with (anything that has the word “SEAL” in the title, like Falling for a SEAL. Then, when we write the story, we pick which title fits best.
• For diehard fans of the SEALs of Coronado Series, you get to see the return of frequent bad guy, Nick Chapman. That guy was only supposed to appear in one book, but he simply won’t go away!

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

Darwin first met Katrina during Dangerous SEAL. There’s a part in that book where he saves her life while escaping from some bad guys. They were immediately attracted to each other but couldn’t seem to find the right time to get together, so when they finally do, it makes that much better.

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

This is part of the scene from Darwin’s point of view where Katrina’s mother springs a surprise on her daughter, having invited one of Katrina’s old boyfriends to be part of the wedding party, clearly trying to put Katrina together with someone she approves of. The meeting doesn’t go well.

“You remember Upton Vandermark, don’t you, dear?” Grace said, stepping away from Katrina and motioning toward Mr. Perfect, who was looking at her like she was a midnight snack.

Darwin was hating this jerk more and more by the second.

Katrina looked from Upton to Grace and back again, a baffled expression on her face. “Upton, what are you doing here?”

“Your mother invited me. She suggested to Asher that I be one of his groomsmen.”

Suggested or demanded? Either way, Darwin didn’t have to be a genius to know the woman had done it because Katrina was one of Khloe’s bridesmaids. Something told him that poor Asher couldn’t have refused to allow Upton to be part of the wedding if he wanted to.

Grinning, Upton stepped forward, arms wide and clearly ready to hug Katrina.

Despite how cringeworthy the whole thing was, Darwin almost laughed when she smoothly sidestepped the man and moved even closer to him. Flushing, Upton dropped his arms, looking crestfallen and a little embarrassed. If the guy wasn’t trying to make a play for his girlfriend, Darwin might have felt sorry for him.

Readers should read this book….

Any reader who loves action and suspense with their romance will love Falling for a SEAL. There are plenty of good, old-fashioned troupes, as well!

• Their first date will be at a wedding.
• Katrina’s mother invited a guy to the wedding she thinks is more suitable for her daughter.
• Someone among Katrina’s family and friends might be a killer.
• And Darwing and Katrina all but trip over a dead body.

If you’ve enjoyed our other books, you’ll love this one, too. If you’ve never read any of our other books, you’ll want to read the rest after getting your hands on this one!

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

Right now, we’re working on the next book in our paranormal romantic suspense, SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team Series, which should release in the summer. Then it’s on to the next book in our cozy mystery, Pupcakes and Peril Series. You can also look for the next book in the SEALs of Coronado Series. At the same time, we’re also working on a brand new series that’s a spin-off of both the SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team and SEALs of Coronado Series. We’re so excited about it!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: We’re giving away eight copies of Falling for a SEAL in eBook, so all you need is an email to enter!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you ask someone you haven’t officially started dating yet to be your plus-one to a wedding? Extra credit if it’s a destination wedding!

Excerpt from Falling for a SEAL:

This is the scene where Darwin and Katrina “stumble” over a body in the vineyard during a scavenger hunt. Of course, since this is their first date, they also spend a little time getting to know each other.

“Okay, I get it. I know when two people want to be alone,” Upton said. “Just remember that the scavenger hunt ends in about forty minutes, so unless you want everyone to think you were just goofing off out here, you need to finish up your list.”

“We’ll do that,” Darwin promised as Upton turned to head back toward the resort again, actually humming as he walked away. “Well, that went better than I thought. For a minute there, I was afraid we’d be stuck with him for the rest of the night.”

“Thank goodness for small miracles,” Katrina agreed. “Do you want to head back inside now and admit defeat, or should we wander around some more and see if we stumble over anything else on our list?”

“Let’s walk around some more,” Darwin said, getting to his feet and holding out his hand. “I hate the idea of being worse at this scavenger hunt thing than your ex-boyfriend.”

“He’s not my ex-boyfriend! Upton was just a friend I used to hang out with in school,” she said as she took his hand. “Now, where to? Before taking our break, we were heading into the fields. Want to keep going?”

“Why not? That’s the way Upton came from, so maybe he found something out there,” he said as he led her into the deep shadows of the trellises.

The sweet, fruity scent of grapes enveloped them, and she inhaled appreciatively. She’d missed that fragrance. This far out, she couldn’t even see the lights of the resort anymore. Normally, being out here at night would have been a little scary, but as they walked hand-in-hand through the vineyard in the dark, Darwin made her feel safe.

“Do you ever get nervous when you’re out on a mission?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I know walking through the vineyard isn’t like being in a dangerous combat situation,” she said softly, realizing how silly the question probably was to him. He was a SEAL. “But being out here in the dark made me think about you being out there somewhere in the world, by yourself and in danger.”

Darwin didn’t answer right away, and Katrina thought that this might be one of those things he might not be able to talk about. She was disappointed, but kind of understood.

“First off, we’re never alone,” Darwin finally said. “SEALs are always sent out as a Team. Usually, there are four to six of us, but never less than two. So, you always have someone to depend on.”

She blinked. Four to six people weren’t enough as far as she was concerned. And a two-person team was just silly.

“But as for your question,” Darwin continued, “when you’re downrange, you don’t have a chance to think about being nervous or scared. You’re so locked in on what you’re there to do that you don’t think about what might happen. Instead, you focus on what you’ve been trained to do, being where you need to be when you need to be there. When you’re doing that, there’s no room for nerves or fear.”

“There’s no room?” Katrina repeated, shaking her head in the darkness. “It seems hard to believe that you can ignore all of that.”

“It’s why we train so much,” he said as if that explained everything. “We do something over and over until it’s muscle memory, so we don’t have to think in a crisis. It’s no different than what law enforcement, firefighters, or even emergency room doctors do. You train, train, and then train some more until your body responds without having to remember what to do. When you’re in that zone, you aren’t scared.”

Katrina thought that sounded all kinds of crazy. To imagine that a person could train to the point where they didn’t have to think was mind-boggling.

“Of course, afterward, well, that’s a completely different story,” he added softly a couple seconds later, his gaze turning distant. “When everything’s over, and the shooting and explosions have stopped, that’s when you get the chance to relive every second you’ve stuffed in the back of your mind and ignored. That’s when you get to think about how close you came to something bad happening. And yeah, in those moments, you can’t help but think a little.”

Katrina was about to ask if there were people in the SEALs he could talk to after something like that, but all that came out was a gasp when she stumbled over something and almost fell. Darwin tightened his grip on her hand, keeping her from completely embarrassing herself and falling on her butt.

“What the hell?” Darwin murmured.

For a second, Katrina thought he was asking why she was so clumsy, until she realized he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was focused on whatever she’d fallen over.

She leaned closer, trying to see what he was looking at, but the shadows cast by the trellises were obscuring it. At least until Darwin took out his phone and illuminated the scene. That’s when she recognized exactly what the shape on the ground was. And the large pool of darkness surrounding the still form.

Katrina might have screamed. She wasn’t quite sure because she was more concerned with scrambling away from the dead body. The only thing that stopped her retreat was the grape trellis she backed into.

“Who is that?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Darwin didn’t answer. Instead, he crouched down and rolled the man over, then reached out to press two fingers against the side of the man’s neck.

“Oh, crap,” Darwin muttered.

Not sure she really wanted to know what he was talking about, Katrina found herself inching closer anyway. The man’s crisp white dress shirt was soaked red with blood. And there, to the left side of the material covering the man’s chest, was a neat hole the size of her pinkie finger. He’d been shot.

Her gaze traveled upward to the man’s face, and she gasped when she realized it was Arthur Davis, one of the men who’d argued with her father that morning. The same Arthur Davis who’d been with Rhett on the vineyard tour today.

Yeah.

Oh, crap was a good way to put it.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Her parents wouldn’t approve…
Katrina Weber is second-guessing inviting Navy SEAL Darwin Sutton to be her plus-one to her sister’s destination wedding. A family event of this magnitude was not the place to have a first date. But with Darwin’s busy SEAL schedule and Katrina’s full-time job as a nanny, she’s taking this opportunity to make plans with the handsome man. But now that he accepted, she’s worried her strained relationship with her very snooty parents will end up ruining any chance she has with Darwin. Her mother is a who’s-who snob, and her father only cares about money and how to make more of it, not caring who he hurts in the process. In fact, he’s using the wedding to conduct business––shady business if the dubious men lurking around are any indication.

He’s way out of his depth…
Petty Officer Darwin Sutton isn’t easily intimidated. Tough situations come with the territory for a SEAL. But spending a week with Katrina’s wealthy family makes even him pause. Still, he’d been hoping to go out with the beautiful blonde ever since he saved her from a hail of bullets a while ago. He wasn’t going to let something as silly as some pretentious family members stop him from getting to know Katrina better. Even if he did wonder if he was dating above his pay grade. Unfortunately, her mother seems determined to reunite Katrina with her old blue-blooded boyfriend. To make matters worse, Darwin is called away for an overnight testing mission, leaving Katrina to be pursued by Richie-Rich. But when Darwin starts to suspect some of the wedding guests aren’t there for cake and nuptials, it’s going to take help from his SEAL Team to make sure the destination wedding isn’t a destination to death. Because he’ll be damned if he’ll let Katrina get caught in the crossfire.
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Meet the Author:

Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and cozy mystery. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog!).
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