Spotlight & Giveaway: From Seduction to Secrets by Andrea Laurence

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Andrea Laurence to HJ!

Hi Andrea Laurence and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, From Seduction to Secrets!

 
Hi, Sara!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

At the end of From Riches to Redemption, a mystery redhead crashes Morgan’s wedding and slaps her brother Sawyer across the face. That is where this story pics up. You find out that the redhead is Kat and she has a really good reason (or thinks she does) for giving Sawyer Steele a piece of her mind. It’s the story of two rivals, mistaken identities, and a pregnancy that no one expected (especially the father!).
 

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

His brother Finn preferred a sports car type girlfriend. Sexy, high performance and exciting to drive, so to speak. Those women were as high maintenance as the cars and likely to get Finn in trouble before too long.

Sawyer’s ex, Mira, had been a Ferrari if ever he saw one. After that, he’d decided that maybe a roomy, luxury SUV was more his speed. Beautiful, adventurous, flexible, and if you took good care of it, it would reward your efforts for years to come.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I had been wanting to do a wrong twin plot for a while. When my editor asked me to add a pregnancy, that brought a whole new element – and stress – to writing this book.
• Sawyer and Finn Steele are modeled after hottie Sam Clafin (from Hunger Games series and You Before Me). One of him is great, two of him is AWESOME.
• I did a lot of research in Charleston for this series because that’s where my boyfriend is from and where his family still leaves. A great reason to go downtown, take a carriage ride, and soak in some of the fun architecture.
• The District is based on an actual place where I live in Alabama, called Lowe Mill. It’s full of fun and funky artist studios and workspaces, including the popsicle shop I mention in the book.

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

The first moment he sees her from across the room, he’s taken by her. When she slaps him, well, he’s hooked by the mystery of it all. She’s a sexy redhead, an artist, and as it turns out, just his type in every way.

Kat’s attraction is more complicated. She does not want to be attracted to Sawyer. At all. She doesn’t like him. But then she falls prey to the very charismatic Finn. Once she meets Sawyer in person, which combines Finn’s looks with Sawyer’s thoughtfulness, she’s done for.

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

I love the opening scene. I knew the book would start with Kat slapping Sawyer long before I knew why.

His gaze fell on a woman entering the ballroom. Even from this distance, she instantly captured his attention with fair skin that stood out against her black cocktail dress and bright auburn hair. She looked around the room, searching for someone. And then their eyes met. In an instant, it was like Sawyer had been hit directly in the gut. He’d never felt anything like that before. It was powerful.

It made him forget all about the woman in his arms. At least for a moment.

Then he noticed the angry look on the newcomer’s face and wondered if it wasn’t attraction he was feeling so much as a woman’s fury.

She moved quickly through the crowd toward him. Sawyer was frozen in place on the dance floor—unable to pull away from the hold the redhead had on him even though his brain was telling him to escape.

Then, at last, she arrived. “You skeevy little prick!”

The angry shout cut through the sounds in the ballroom like a knife. The dancers paused, and even the orchestra was startled into an awkward silence. Everyone turned to see the stunning redhead standing at the edge of the dance floor. Now she was only a few feet away from Sawyer, with her eyes still focused directly on him.

He’d thought for a moment that maybe he was in someone else’s line of fire. He looked over his shoulder, but no one was there. Was she really talking to him? Shouting at him? That wasn’t possible.

“Who is that woman, Sawyer?” his date asked.

That was a really good question. He’d never seen her before in his life. He certainly would’ve remembered a woman with hair like waves of fire and skin as flawless and pale as a porcelain doll. Even as angry as she was, he wanted to know more about her. Sawyer shook his head. “I have no idea. Can I help you, miss?”

“Can you help me?” she repeated bitterly. “Yes. You can hold still.” The angry woman walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face.

He was too stunned to respond for a moment. He’d never been slapped before. Somehow, being hit by a stranger made it that much worse. She hadn’t hurt him, not really. It just stung, but he could feel the emotion behind the slap. She’d wanted to hurt him, and for good reason. He just didn’t know what that was.

Readers should read this book….

…if they love really emotionally complex stories. If you think loving one brother and having the baby of the other isn’t complicated, you’re very wrong.

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

I am currently working on Finn’s book, probably coming out late 2020 or early 2021. (I know, it seems like forever but I had a new project come up in between.)

That project is my contribution to the 2020 Texas Cattleman’s Club. My story features an anonymous one night stand at the Club Masquerade Ball, and food truck chef heroine Lauren, who isn’t sure if Wyngate heir Sebastian or his twin Sutton is the one she’s fallen for. It’s a year for sexy twin switches for Desire.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: U.S. Only – (1) autographed copy of From Mistake to Millions, Switched Book #1
World Wide – (2) digital copy of From Mistake to Millions, Switched Book #1

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In From Seduction to Secrets, Kat is a woodworking artist. Her friend is a metal worker. Part of the fun for me in writing is getting to learn about different jobs. If you could have any job you wanted, what would you like to try? No skills required!

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Excerpt from From Seduction to Secrets:

Damn it to hell.

The realization of what really happened washed over him like a wave. Sawyer brought a hand to his face and rubbed furiously at it in frustration. It had been years since Finn had done something like this. Maybe even since college. Back then, he’d liked to meet girls at bars and give them Sawyer’s name instead of his own. He was never sure if his brother just did it for a laugh, or to keep the girls from tracking him down, but Sawyer had earned quite a reputation on campus without doing a single thing to get it. But now they were in their thirties. Thirty-three, to be exact. Way too old for this kind of childish bullshit.

“I think I know what the problem is.”

“The sex was so amazing you blocked it from your memory because you knew you’d never experience anything that good again?”

His jaw dropped open for a moment, then he shook his head. He’d never been so jealous of Finn in his whole life. “Uh, no. I was supposed to attend that event, but my brother went in my place. Apparently he didn’t bother to tell anyone he wasn’t me.”

“He was wearing a name tag that said Sawyer Steele,” she argued.

Sawyer wasn’t surprised. “Yeah. Knowing Finn, he just went with it and pretended to be me so our father wouldn’t know I bailed on the party.”

Kat stopped for a moment, her mind visibly racing to process what he was telling her. “And when he kissed me? When he got a hotel room? Wouldn’t that have been a good time to mention that he wasn’t really you?”

“A perfect time, and I have no idea why he didn’t. Listen, I’m really sorry about all this. My brother is…the trickster of the family. If he were here right now, I’d drag him outside and make him apologize for lying, but he’s actually in Beijing for business. He’ll be there a few weeks more, but I’ll be sure to pass along your message, slap included, when he gets back.”

The redhead’s bravado seemed to deflate as she listened to him talk. With her anger no longer aimed at Sawyer, she seemed smaller somehow. Almost petite compared to a moment ago. “So you’re saying that the man I met was actually Finn Steele? I can’t believe, after everything that happened, that he wouldn’t tell me his real name.”

Sawyer could believe it. Masquerading as his brother gave Finn free license to do what he wanted without consequence. “If you don’t mind me asking, was it just a one-night thing between the two of you?”

She looked at him with conflict in her eyes. “Yes. That was the plan, at least.”

That was his brother’s style. Love ’em and leave ’em, regardless of what name he used. “Then I doubt he would bother to correct you if you thought he was me. In the end, what would it matter? It’s just a one-night stand.”

Kat’s expression softened for a moment as she glanced down at the ground, her eyes hidden beneath her thick auburn lashes. “It does matter, Sawyer. That’s why I’ve crashed this party even though it’s obvious he doesn’t want to see me again. It matters because I’m pregnant with his child.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

They put their rivalry to bed for just one night.

Now they’re in for a surprise.

Struggling artist Kat McIntyre should have known that sleeping with her nemesis Sawyer Steele was a bad idea. Her unexpected pregnancy proves it. Not only that, Kat’s discovered that the cagey billionaire isn’t who she thought he is. Can she trust Sawyer to be there for the baby…without falling for him all over again?
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