Spotlight & Giveaway: Fragmented Loyalty by Tonya Burrows

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Tonya Burrows to HJ!

Hi Tonya and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Fragmented Loyalty!

 
Hi! Thanks for having me!
 

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

Nerd boy meets geek girl. Both have secrets. Forbidden relationship. Danger and sexytimes.

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Deep breath. Keep breathing. This is NBD. You’ve done crazier.
I repeated the words to myself, over and over, as I watched the tiny airport clear out around me.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• When I decided to write about hackers, I had no idea how in over my head I was. I’m fairly technologically savvy but some of the research I did was so far above my pay grade, I still don’t understand most of it. Fake it till you make it, right?
• My working title for the book was Operation Chaos.
• Harvard surprised me with all of his secrets. When I first started writing about him in the HORNET series, I had no idea he was hiding so much from his teammates.
• All of the weapons mentioned in this book are in some stage of development. It’s real life sci-fi!
• My favorite part of writing this book was all the geekery I got to include. Shoutout to The Boyfriend for helping me with a lot of the Star Wars references!

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

Their mutual love of Star Wars. Of course there is an instant physical sizzle, but Harvard is sunk the moment he sees Sami carrying a R2-D2 suitcase. He just fights it because he’s not supposed to want her. For Sami, it’s when Harvard argues with her over whether R2-D2 is the best hacker in the galaxy.
 

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

Forbidden. Sexy. Sweet. Geeky. Dangerous.
 

The First Kiss…

happens in Harvard’s kitchen over mac & cheese. (The neon orange stuff in the blue box, of course!)
 

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

I can’t share my favorite scene because it reveals too much, so I’ll share my favorite conversation. If you’ve read my HORNET series, you know Jean-Luc Cavalier is one of my favorite characters. He and Harvard have had a fun relationship since the first book, and I love this exchange between them:

Someone had to go over an eight-foot electrified fence topped with barbed wire and block the IR before the rest of us could go inside. I voted Jean-Luc, since the guy could climb like a monkey, but he vehemently shook his head and shoved the wool blanket back at me.
“You want fried Cajun, I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant in New Orleans.”
“I already took care of the electric current.” I pushed the blanket back at him. “You’re the best climber.”
“Trees, mon ami. I climb trees. Not electric fences.”
“It’s not electric right now,” I insisted. “I rerouted the current.”
“Nuh-uh.” He shook his head again. “My balls aren’t going anywhere near that fence. I wanna make beautiful babies with Claire someday.”
“Okay, fine.” I held out a fist. He scowled at me for a second, then sighed with acceptance, and we rock, paper, scissorsed it. His rock beat my scissors, and he dropped the blanket back into my hands with a grin.
“You wanted to be in the field…” He motioned to the fence with a dramatic flourish. “Embrace the suck, kid.”

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

The meet-cute of course!

Twenty minutes passed before a guy came in through one of the sliding doors and glanced around. He was mid-twenties at least, with a mess of light brown hair that reflected auburn when the light hit it just right. His black T-shirt hugged a muscular chest—not steroid-bulky, but
lean, sexy muscle. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted at first sight. And then I saw the writing on his shirt: I’m the Nigerian prince who keeps emailing you.
Ha. And a nerdy sense of humor to go along with all of that muscle. My kind of guy.
I snorted a laugh, and the sound carried across the baggage claim, embarrassingly loud in the empty space. He swung around, and his gaze zeroed in on me. He had light brown eyes, close in color to his hair. Whiskey eyes.
I stood as he strode over. His smile was just a little bit shy and made a dimple appear in one cheek, which did funny things to my belly.
“Are you Samira?” he asked.
“Sami,” I corrected and held out a hand. He enfolded my hand with long, elegant fingers. He could be a pianist with hands like that. Or an artist. I briefly wondered if maybe he was the latter, because his skin was also rough with callouses, like I imagined an artist’s would be.
“I’m your ride,” he said. “They didn’t mention you were missing from the group until the last minute. I hopped right into the truck but thought I’d be too late and— I’m sorry. How long have you been waiting?”
He was babbling. How cute was that?

Readers should read this book …

if they like a hero whose biggest muscle is his brain.
 

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

I’m currently bouncing between three books: Class Alpha book 2 (Wolfe and Asha’s book), Edge of Honor (HORNET book 7), and the first book my Northern Rescue trilogy about three brothers looking for their father in Alaska.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: eBook copy of Fragmented Loyalty by Tonya Burrows

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Everyone has something they geek out about like Harvard and Sami and Star Wars. What’s your thing?

 
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Excerpt from Fragmented Loyalty:

He set the drone down on an outcropping and manipulated the controller, which looked like a modified video game controller. He commanded the drone into the air, made it hover, then zip back and forth in front of us.
“Wow. It does move like a real hornet.”
“That was the plan when I started building it. I want the enemy to mistake it for a bug. If I can get the camera problem sorted, it will be the smallest nano-drone in existence. It’s two inches smaller than the current smallest combat drone in use.” He landed it back on the rock and handed me the
controller. “Want to give it a spin?”
My fingers all but itched with anticipation while he gave me a quick tutorial on how to work it. Then it was my turn. A thrill of pure joy sung through me as the drone lifted into the air. It was light and quick and so much freaking fun to fly. I made it swoop and loop and dive down the cliff to skim along the surface of the lake. The whole time, I giggled like a little girl.
“Do you want to name her?” he asked.
“Can I?”
“Go ahead.”
“Well.” I considered the hornet drone, watched it zip around, and grinned. “She’s Tinkerbell, of course.”
“Of course,” he said like he understood. He lasted a full minute before he cracked and asked, “Why?”
“She’s a spy drone, and Tink was always spying.”
He laughed softly. “I love that brain of yours.”
“Oh, c’mon. It’s nothing like yours.” I realized he had stopped watching the drone and was instead staring at me.
The longer he stared, the warmer I got. I could feel him undressing me with his gaze, and my nipples hardened, rubbing almost painfully against the fabric of my bra. A tremor of anticipation raced through me. I decided to bring the hornet back because I couldn’t concentrate, and I didn’t
want to dump it in the lake.
“No,” he said softly and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s better. I don’t have your imagination.”
“Mm.” I tilted my head to the side, giving him access to my neck. “I’m imagining lots of things right now.”
He skimmed his lips along the side of my neck and nibbled at my earlobe. “Any of those things involve us getting naked as quickly as possible?”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

All I want is to leave my past of criminal hacking behind. Oh, and ditch the blackmailer who has been dogging my every move for the last three years.

The plan: Hack my way into being part of Class Alpha, a training program for a secretive organization that rescues hostages the government can’t or won’t go after. Save the world and make enough money to pay back my blackmailer—solves all my problems, right?

The complication: Sweet, nerdy, and unbearably sexy Eric “Harvard” Physick. Harvard is my ideal man, but he’s also my instructor. Seriously a no-go, except we can’t seem to keep our hands off each other.

My blackmailer isn’t willing to let me off the hook, though, and a series of freak accidents—deadly accidents—sends Class Alpha into a tailspin. And the more I get to know Harvard, I start to realize his past is just as troubled as mine.

Am I the cause of this chaos…or is he?
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