Spotlight & Giveaway: Hard Chrome by Vanessa North

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Vanessa North to HJ!

Hi Vanessa and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Hard Chrome!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Hard Chrome is the first in a series set in a classic car shop in North Georgia. At its heart, it’s a homecoming story, but it’s also a story of opposites attracting and looking beyond the surface of people and places, making doorways and connections instead of walls. And of course, there’s lots of old cars and kissing.
 

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

*author skipped this section*

What inspired this book?

I’m married to a mechanic, so cars are definitely a big part of my life. I was inspired by “car culture” which is a legit thing, and how the old muscle cars evoke a particular nostalgia. This series, and this book, are definitely inspired by that nostalgia, but hopefully showing small town Americana in a more modern light.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Tanner started out in my mind very driven, very focused, and very, very afraid. She’s like a cat with its back up and its tail puffed. Starting with that image in my head and working through her vulnerability was really how I figured her out. She did surprise me at times because it’s very hard for someone like Tanner to show weakness, but she stayed true to my initial plans for her. Duke on the other hand, was one revelation after another. He’s got this carefully constructed identity that is rooted in what it means to him to “be a man” after having been raised by a man who was the embodiment of toxic masculinity. Getting under that to see his inner moral code, the way he rejects toxicity even while feeling trapped by it at times, was constantly surprising.

What was your favorite scene to write?

There’s a scene where Tanner’s siblings give her the keys to her dad’s Camaro, and it’s one of those moments where they’re slipping under her defenses, but she’s trying hard to keep everyone at arm’s length.

“Yeah.” Tegan shrugs. “I mean, you already have the keys. And none of us need a car—hell, I have three in my garage.”
“I don’t think the ones you harvest for parts count.” Tyler bumps her shoulder.
“Whatever. One of them runs. And Tyler has his truck.”
“I don’t know that I’d call the El Camino a truck,” Tiffani interjects.
“It’s in the goddamn name!” Tyler shoves against her. “Anyway, this monolingual heathen with her eighties-era M3 wouldn’t be the one to take as any kind of authority about American heavy metal.”
Tiffani smirks. “Dad didn’t speak to me for a week after I bought it. Then one day he comes into the shop and says, ‘Guten morgen, tochter.’”
Tegan and Tyler erupt with laughter, and I feel a smile tugging at my lips.
“How very Dad.” I swallow hard. “But his Camaro—”
“He’d want you to have it,” Tiffani insists. “We want you to have it.”
I remember how much Dad loved that car, already a classic when he bought it. He’d taught me to drive in it. He was driving me home from school when I told him about the scholarship to Cornell, and we cried together because we were happy and terrified and everything was about to change again.
“Thank you.” I look down at my hands, unable to meet my siblings’ eyes, afraid they’ll see my guilt and my shame all too clearly.
Tegan stands up and pushes me into the chair. “Stop perching on things like you’re about to fly away. We’re proud of you. Dad was proud of you. And for however long we’ve got you at the shop, we’re going to take advantage of your big ol’ brain. Love you, Tanny.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

There’s a scene where Duke sees his stepfather for the first time in years—it was hard to write because there’s a lot happening, physically, in the scene, but it was also a big moment emotionally for Duke, and in the midst of the action, I had to show the impact of the moment on Duke.

“Makayla!” Cliff Wilson’s voice echoes through the empty backyard.
Shit.
I thrust the leash into Kayla’s hands and turn to face the stepfather I haven’t seen since I put him in jail. When I was a boy, he was a giant. Large, mean, with fists like battering rams and a voice like a tornado. But I’m not a boy now, and he’s just a man—head shaved to hide a receding hairline, rail-thin, with teeth yellowed from smoking and drug use and a mean-looking scar on his face. If I didn’t hate him, I might feel sorry for the husk of a man he’s become.
Disgust churns in my stomach. He could have been a father, a husband, a family man. But he gave that all up to be cruel instead. No, he ain’t no giant. But he’s still a monster.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

I think in a lot of ways, it’s right in my happy place: a big cast of characters, a small town, and an emphasis on the internal journey. The biggest surprise for many will be my return to writing M/F romance after 5 years of writing almost exclusively same-gender pairings. Writing for Carina Press has given me an opportunity to truly write all across the sexuality spectrum in the same series, so naturally I jumped at the chance!

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

As always, I hope they’re entertained, and that they enjoy the time they spend with the Ellis family!

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

I’m mid-edits for Flying Gold, book 2 in the American Heavy Metal series, which will feature Tiffani Ellis and her high school sweetheart getting a second chance at HEA. And I’m writing the third book, Salvaged Steel, where Tegan will finally meet the woman of her dreams. Both of those books, and the last book in the series, Iron Bid, will be out in 2020.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 eBook copy of HARD CHROME by Vanessa North (open internationally)

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Excerpt from Hard Chrome:

“If I wanted to wear a uniform, I woulda joined the Army and gotten out of this shithole town,” I grumble at Tyler.
“You’re a pacifist,” he reminds me.
“Not when your sister is around, I ain’t.” I hold up the blue coveralls. Coveralls, when it’s ninety fucking degrees in the shop. Fuck that. I carry them over to my bench, open the middle drawer, and pull out my scissors.
“I wouldn’t do that.” Tegan is leaning on the wall from the hallway to the parts room, coveralls zipped to the waist and hanging open the rest of the way.
“Well, you ain’t me.” I cut the first sleeve off and grin in satisfaction before moving on to the next. I unzip the bottom of the legs, pull the whole thing on and flex for Tegan, who shakes her head and laughs at me.
“You’re a nut.” She turns and heads back to parts, calling back over her shoulder, “And my sister is gonna kill you.”
The coveralls are hot as all get out, but I forget about them soon enough as I start moving around the Stingray on my lift. I always liked the ’vettes. I get lost in the motions of a job I’ve done a thousand times, whistling along with the radio and wishing Tiffani were here to make up stupid lyrics with me.
Well, wish and guess who arrives? I hear them laughing as they walk through the shop. Tiffani’s familiar chuckle, and Tanner’s—giggle? It almost makes me laugh, hearing the tough bitch boss lady giggle like a teenager, but I’m too mad at her for that. As they reach Tiffani’s bay, I stand up and cross my arms over my chest.
“Duke, you won’t believe the place Tanner is renting. It’s amazing. It’s got a freaking tower!”
“Turret,” Tanner corrects her then looks at me. The smile drops from her face and she stiffens. “What the hell have you done to those coveralls?”
I shrug, jutting out my chin. “I needed some room to move my arms. Thought about just ripping ’em off, but figured you’d be happy with the way the scissors cut: clean.”
“Cleanly,” she says, blue eyes flashing with anger. “It’s an adverb.”
She must be really at a loss if she’s correcting my grammar. I let a grin spread across my face. “Clean-ly. ’Course they’ll fray real nice when I wash ’em.”
“Get back to work,” she says, her voice dripping with ice. “I’ll see you in my office at the end of the day.”
She turns on her heel and stomps away. Tiffani stares at me, jaw clenched.
“What? It’s funny!”
“You’re such a fucking tool sometimes.” She shakes her head and walks away. When she comes back, wearing her own coveralls, she doesn’t say anything to me, just gets back to work.
“Tiff, come on.” I tug on her ponytail. “It’s a joke.”
“You’re a joke,” she grumbles, turning away from me.
“Don’t be like that.”
“I’ll be how I want. Don’t be a dick to my sister.”
“Or what? She’ll use my picture for darts practice?”
Tiff turns around, face bright pink. “She was having a good day. She signed a lease on an amazing house. She laughed! She actually smiled and acted like she wasn’t depressed for the first time since she got home; I had my sister back. And you ruined it with this stunt.”
“I’m sorry.” And I am. I didn’t mean to piss Tiffani off. “I’ll apologize to her. If she doesn’t fire me.”
“She’s not going to fire you.” Tiffani wipes sweat from her brow and scowls at me. “But she probably should. Fucker.”
None of the Ellises talk to me the rest of the day. Which I guess I deserve. Blood really is thicker and all. But after years of sitting at their family table? Of Tom treating me like one of his own? It stings to see them close ranks against me, and be reminded I’m not one of them after all. At five o’clock, Tiffani puts away her tools and walks away without so much as a goodbye. I put my head down and keep working. Tegan pats my shoulder on her way out the door, and Tyler offers me a half-hearted shrug.
I glance over at the office door—shut, of course. Time to face the music.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He’s tough. But she’s tougher.

Tanner Ellis left American Heavy Metal in her rearview mirror. She didn’t see the beauty behind the grease stains and the polished chrome until it was too late. Now she’s back, determined to save her father’s legacy—and bring the South’s premier classic-car shop into the new century. Nothing is going to stop her—especially not the sexy tech who refuses to follow her lead.

American Heavy Metal is the only home Duke Wilson’s ever known, and no high-heeled, sharp-tongued princess is going to take it away. He tolerates Tanner’s advice, and it’s fun to push her buttons, but she doesn’t belong in the shop—never has, never will. The sooner she realizes that, the sooner he can find his new normal.

When Tanner falters, revealing the pain beneath her bravado, Duke comforts her the only way he knows how. And when violence from his past threatens their future, she’ll be there for him, offering him the one thing he’s always wanted—a shot at a real family. He just has to convince himself to take it.

This book is approximately 49,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

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Meet the Author:

Vanessa North is a romance novelist, a short fiction geek, and a knitter of strange and wonderful things. Her works have been shortlisted for both the Lambda Literary Award and the RITA© Award, and have garnered praise from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Publisher’s Weekly. She lives in Northwest Georgia with her family: a Viking, twin boy-children, and a very, very large dog. For up-to-date information on new releases and special projects, sign up for Vanessa’s newsletter or follow her on social media:
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