Spotlight & Giveaway: Getting Real by Emma Chase

Posted January 24th, 2022 by in Blog, Spotlight / 47 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Emma Chase to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Emma and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Getting Real!

 
Hi! Thrilled to be here on HJ!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Getting Real is Connor Daniels and Violet Robinsons’s story. Although Connor is Garrett Daniels’s brother, from Getting Schooled, this book can 100% be read as a standalone. Connor is a 42 year-old dad of 3 boys and an emergency department doctor in the small-town of Lakeside NJ, who is stepping (and stumbling) back onto the dating scene after a divorce. Violet is a 30 year-old awesome emergency department nurse who has had a massive (and secret) crush on Connor since she moved to Lakeside two years ago. Connor has definitely noticed Violet, but due to their age difference and the fact that they work together, he doesn’t think a relationship is possible. But then their friends and family decide to play matchmaker…

Please share the opening lines of this book:

I never thought I’d be that guy.
You know the type I mean. One of those guys who makes it through the first few trial and error decades of adulthood, finally gets life figured out – and then has to start all over again.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • I had Connor’s story in my mind when he first appeared in Getting Schooled.
  • I knew from the start that this story would be special – a fun, light-hearted romance with a few heart-tugging moments that my readers would thoroughly enjoy.
  • I wrote Getting Real from the backseat of my car. It was written during the early months of the pandemic (but there is no Covid in the story) and because my entire family was home, in the house, I had trouble focusing the way I needed to. I started going to the park to walk and then eventually bringing my computer to write afterwards. The time alone and lack of distraction was exactly what I needed to make this story everything I knew it could be.

 

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Connor is a handsome, honest, intelligent (most of the time, lol), self-depreciating and caring man whose top priorities are raising his sons and being the best doctor he can be. He recognizes that his family and his patients depend on him and it is important to him that he never lets them down.
Violet is beautiful, resilient, kind, dedicated, self-aware and funny. She tends to be extremely clumsy around Connor because she likes him so much, but that doesn’t make her weak. Although she is generous and giving and a natural care-taker, she knows her own worth and can speak her mind.
What surprised me about these characters is how deeply decent they both are. They are not perfect – but they are GOOD – and I realized that writing about two good people navigating life and finding love is sexy, entertaining, and beautifully satisfying.

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

For the audition, I would use the scene when we first see Connor and Violet interact in the story, because the chemistry between the characters is palpable, endearing, and adorable, and the actors would need to be able to show that. Here’s a snippet of the scene:

Now all four of us stand there watching her, but Violet doesn’t notice. It’s like she’s lost in her own little world as she hops onto the handle of the shopping cart—bracing her mid- section against the bar, feet off the ground, so she can coast play- fully across the lot.

It’s a move I would probably tell my kids not to do—but with her endless toned legs stretched out long and lithe behind her, she reminds me of a ballerina.

Elegant and graceful.

I raise my arm. “Hey! Hey, Vi!”

She turns in the direction of my voice, and there’s this slow motion moment when our eyes meet. There’s a spark of warm recognition in hers, and her lips start to curve into a sweet smile.

But then they stop.

And she goes down hard.

Smacking the pavement when her shopping cart crashes into the light pole she never saw coming. The cart tips on its side, her groceries spilling and rolling across the pavement.

Maybe graceful was too strong a word.

Violet’s . . . occasionally clumsy. Occasionally a lot.

Not when she’s working, but in those in-between real-life times when she’s eating or walking . . . or breathing.

“Shit.” I jog over with my brothers right behind me. Because like I said: gentlemen.

I offer her a hand up from her knees.

“You okay?”

When she’s on her feet, she lets go, brushing dark gravel specks off her knees and shins.

“Yeah, I’m all right.” She lifts her face to mine, her pretty cheeks flushed and pink.“ Nothing broken but my dignity.”

 

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I want people to feel happy after reading this story. I want them to think of certain lines and think back to certain scenes and smile with those warm and fuzzy, lovely book feelings that readers know so well.
The dedication says: “For everyone who struggled in 2020 and anyone who is still struggling today. This story was my happy place, my hug, my sweet joyful escape. I hope it is for you too.”
For me, that says it all.

 

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

I am currently finishing a Royally series companion novella whose release date is to-be-announced and a new, standalone, enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity romance that will be released in 2022.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: 2 signed, print copies of Getting Real – open internationally

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Are you an audiobook listener? Do you prefer to listen to the audiobook first and then read the story or read the book and then listen to the audiobook?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Getting Real:

Connor
I grab a sandwich from the counter and take a seat across the square table from Garrett and Dean in the hospital cafeteria.
“Hey. Sorry you had to wait for me.”
“No worries,” my brother answers. “The chocolate pudding here kicks ass. I remember it from when Charlotte was born—made the wait worth it.”
I take a bite of my sandwich. I eat sandwiches a lot these days—they’re quick, filling, and require little cleanup—basically the ideal meal for a single guy.
“So what’s up? Why did you guys want to meet for lunch?”
“Does something have to be up? Can’t I just want to visit my older brother?” Garret asks. “We had a few days off this week.”
“Gotta love those unused snow days,” Dean adds, his blue eyes scanning from the door of the cafeteria, across the room, then back again.
“O-kay . . .” I look back and forth between them, because something seems off.
Shady.
Before I can push the issue, Dean’s attention darts to the doorway.
“Hey, look, there’s Violet.”
I turn around in my chair. We worked on two of the car accident cases together, but this is the first time I’ve actually looked at her.
Vi stands in the doorway, her eyes drifting around the crowded room behind a pair of sexy as hell, black-rimmed librarian glasses she doesn’t often wear at work.
She’s also wearing the bunny scrubs today—dark blue and dotted with little white rabbit faces. Scrubs look good on Violet—which is a feat in and of itself—but those scrubs are something else entirely.
They remind me of pajamas.
And that makes me think about what Vi wears to bed. Lacy, sheer lingerie or barely there cotton ensembles that are as translucent as a wet T-shirt on spring break. And that makes me imagine Violet in bed, wearing nothing at all. Laid out bare, with that long dark hair spilling over the pillow and those bedroom eyes beckoning.
And that pretty picture almost always turns me on.
I haven’t had a public erection since I was a teenager, but if I let myself contemplate Vi in those Peter Cottontail scrubs long enough—that’ll do the fucking job.
“How do you know Violet?” I ask Dean, still watching as she navigates the food line.
“She’s in Lainey’s sewing circle.”
“Lainey has a sewing circle?”
I thought sewing circles were for rocking-chair-sitting, gray-haired ladies in the 1800s.
Dean lifts a shoulder. “If it involves making something awesome out of absolutely nothing, Lainey does it. It’s like witchcraft. Hot, modern-day witchcraft.”
He cups his hands around his mouth and calls across the room. “Hey, Vi! We have an open seat here—come sit with us.”
For a quick second, Violet’s gaze vacillates warily from me to Garrett, but she quickly flashes a bright smile and takes a step toward us.
And then she trips.
Over nothing but air.
Momentary panic stabs me in the chest, but she recovers! Catching herself in a half turn around an occupied chair, lifting her tray over the head of the person sitting in it, with an agility that’s impressive. Especially for her.
“Hey, guys,” she says when she reaches us, sliding into the open chair beside me. “Thanks—this place is a madhouse today.”
Vi takes a drink of her iced tea and makes small talk with Dean about the upcoming wedding.
“I can’t wait to see how the table linens look,” Violet says.
“You’re going to Dean and Lainey’s wedding?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“Hey,” Dean says, leaning forward. “I just got an idea, just this second sitting here. The seating arrangements have been driving Lainey a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Some of the tables have an odd number of chairs and she likes even numbers, you know?”
I’ve met Lainey Burrows . . . she’s almost as laid-back as Brayden. There’s no way she suddenly has a rabid obsession with symmetry.
But Violet nods, like that’s a totally normal thing to say.
“Right. I mean, who doesn’t?”
“Exactly,” Dean continues. “So, since you’re coming solo to the wedding, Vi, and Connor here isn’t bringing a date either—would it be okay if we sat you two together?”
And my brother and Dean’s need to visit me here at the hospital suddenly becomes so clear.
For a few seconds, Violet says nothing.
And I don’t say anything because I’m too busy waiting to see what she’s going to say.
“Ah . . . yeah, sure,” she eventually stammers out, the way people do when they’re not sure. “Connor and I know each other—it’ll be fun. It’s not like I’ll knock the candle centerpieces over and set the table on fire.”
She barks out a harsh laugh, then adds under her breath, “Hopefully.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

Connor Daniels never thought he’d be starting at dating square one again. His career as a successful doctor, and his three boys, are everything to him. It’s not exactly a setup conducive to a scorching love life – but he’s giving it a shot.

ER nurse Violet Robinson never intended for Connor to find out she’s had a crush on him forever. It was a dirty little secret only meant for her dirty dreams. Her heart trips every time he’s around – and so do her feet.

When Connor sees Violet coasting across the grocery store parking lot – and she falls on her face – he starts falling for the gorgeous young nurse right back.

Dating can be tricky. And life can be beautiful and crazy and unpredictable. But when it gets real, you discover what matters most…and the one person you want loving you through it all.

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Emma Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance novels filled with humor, heart and heart. Her stories are known for their clever banter and sexy, swoon-worthy moments. Emma’s novels have been translated in over twenty languages around the world. Emma lives in New Jersey with her amazing husband, two awesome children, and two adorable but badly behaved dogs. She has a long-standing love/hate relationship with caffeine
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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47 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Getting Real by Emma Chase”

  1. EC

    I listen to audiobooks but not a lot. Depending on the story, I may or may not read the book before/after the audiobook.

  4. Mary Preston

    I am a very fast reader. I tried audio but found it too slow and ponderous.

  6. Anita H.

    I haven’t really got into audiobooks, I prefer to read paperbacks or ebooks

  11. Kathy P

    Love audiobooks! Prefer to listen to the audio after reading the book or just listening to the audio.

    • Kathy P

      Prefer the audiobooks that are recorded at a normal talking speed instead of the unnaturally slow ones (if I speed these up to a speed I can pay attention to – which I do to around 1.8-2x speed – they sound clipped and not so great)

  18. Amy R

    Are you an audiobook listener? Yes
    Do you prefer to listen to the audiobook first and then read the story or read the book and then listen to the audiobook? I typically do audiobook only

  19. Jana Leah

    I love audiobooks & tend to listen to them first before reading the book. There are some books, though, that I only want to read & not listen to the audio version.

  23. Laurie Gommermann

    My favorite is a print book. I have audiobooks for traveling. I would not like to hear a story then read it. Too many stories too little free time! No repeats.

  24. courtney kinder

    I prefer to read the book. I read audiobooks when I go on vacation.

  25. Caro

    I love audiobooks, I usually read the print version first. However, more often than not, I either read the print version or listen to the audiobook.

  27. Ivana Brez Murk

    I dont do before/ after, I do either or combine both. Never have I yet read a book that Ive previously listened or vice versa…Though, I did came close to reading Greenlights after listening it.

  29. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    I do enjoy audio books. I usually prefer to read the book first but don’t need to.
    Thanks for the chance!

  30. lovebachbooks

    Book before audio. I’m pretty new to audiobooks & I enjoy them well enough. I find I prefer print books. If a book impresses me, then I would look for the audiobook to “read” the book again.

  31. Lilah Chavez

    I don’t listen to audio, I have to really pay attention. I’m one of those people who need visuals to properly understand what they’re listening to.

  37. Ellen C

    I don’t use audiobooks. My mind wanders too much and I miss too much.

  42. Rachael Constant

    I prefer reading. I think I would find it hard to focus on audio

  43. Banana cake

    I’ve never listened to an audiobook. I like having a book in my hands.

  45. Patricia B.

    When I was commuting, audio books were my constant companion. I enjoy them when they are well done. That was back when they were on CD. I haven’t yet gotten the hang of using the audio books on my tablet. I really do prefer a print book. I often go back and reread sections while I am still reading the book. That is so much easier to do when dealing with a print book.

  46. Terrill R.

    I love audiobooks with the right narrators. I usually have the audio and ebook downloaded and interchange the two, depending on what I’m doing.