Spotlight & Giveaway: His Reason to Stay by Jennifer Hoopes

Posted December 4th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 58 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennifer Hoopes to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Jennifer and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, His Reason to Stay!

 
Hello to everyone at Harlequin Junkie! Thank you so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to chat about Tabby and Eli.
 

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

Death brings a photographer home, but when a distillery owner drops a pregnancy bomb, she just might become his reason to stay.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Elijah Ellis swallowed a groan as his left leg cramped and begged to be stretched. If he moved on the icy mountain slope, the sound would echo for miles. All wildlife, including the cat he needed to capture images of, would go to ground, and his butt would be stuck in Bolivia for who knew how much longer. A clicking screech sounded, and he looked up. A Chilean hawk circled above, a good sign things were proceeding as he’d hoped, cramp be damned.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • This will be my fifth published book but was actually written before books 2, 3, and 4.
  • I first visited Gatlinburg over thirty years ago, before it was the built-up destination it is today. But even then, I knew how magical the town and mountains were.
  • The barn cat, Toffee, is a cameo of my real-life fur baby and she loves her spine being scratched.
  • His Reason to Stay was the original title and I actually got to keep it, which rarely happens.

 

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

Since they have both known each other since they were children, their attraction started early and evolved. Eli is, and always has been, attracted to Tabby’s quiet strength and her desire to forge her own way within the distillery. Tabby is attracted to Eli’s desire to be something other than what was pre-destined for him and his unwavering belief in her.

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

A long time coming…
 

The First Kiss…

“Things don’t have to be awkward between us,” he whispered.
She couldn’t have stopped the kiss, nor did she want to. She might not lean on him, might try to keep her secret hidden for as long as he was here, but that didn’t mean she didn’t crave to feel him again. Wrap herself up in his body and the tender way he’d brought her to peaks with skilled fingers and tongue.
Tabby slid her hands up into hair that brushed the collar of his shirt. He angled his head and swept her mouth with such authority that her knees shook with the intensity. Eli knew her. Knew her body, knew her soul, her secrets, her fantasies. Well, except for one. When you had that much connection, it roared through you on a freight train of passion.

 

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

That would probably be the hotel scene. It’s a little sweet, a little funny, and a little awkward, and almost results in Tabby’s secret being spilled.

Movement around the room drew her three-ton eyelids open only to see a jacket then a shirt find its way to the back of a chair. Talk about a shot of caffeine.
She lurched up. “What are you doing?”
Eli turned, providing her a view of a lean muscular chest covered in a tight, white tank. Only a saint wouldn’t have licked their lips, and Lord knew when it came to Eli, Tabby was no saint.
“I’m getting comfortable.”

 

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

I would have to say the scene at The Biltmore. It sets up the reveal of Tabby’s secret and also gives a glimpse into Eli’s feelings toward Tabby changing.

She sucked in a breath and immediately swayed. Eli grabbed both arms, the tremors in Tabby’s body tingling his fingers. He pulled her close. “I have you. Let’s get you seated.” He maneuvered her over to a small straight-back chair and helped her sit. Snagging a flute of champagne off a tray, he handed it over to her trembling fingers. She stared at the glass and then him.
“Thank you. I think I just got overheated. I’m fine now.”
“Dammit, Tabby, you’re not fine. When are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

 

Readers should read this book …

if they love large families, hope after tragedy, and love that is worth the wait.

 

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

Just finished the second Ellis Family Saga book, which should be out in 2020. Sam, Eli’s twin, is in for a roller coaster of a ride (literally.)

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: I will be giving away a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card and a Hallmark Holiday Ornament.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Eli and Tabby grew up together and were friends before lovers. What about you? Were you and your partner friends first, or did love come first followed by friendship?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from His Reason to Stay:

“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tabby looked up from the catalog to meet Eli’s accusatory gaze. “Tell you what?”
“About your virginity.”
“My what?” she croaked. The catalog slid to the floor. She got up and paced.
“Becky told me.”
“That’s funny because I didn’t tell Becky,” she threw over her shoulder.
“So it’s true?”
“No. I mean.” She threw her hands up. “I didn’t tell Becky that.”
“Well, she didn’t exactly say me, but I can count.”
“Well, two and two are coming up ten, Eli.”
He caught her mid-stride and spun her around and against his hard body. Not melting against his wasn’t an option for her. But God, how she needed to get out of this conversation. The last thing she needed was him hanging on to the fact that he’d been her one and only and using it as even more ammo to conjure up some permanent future for them.
So far he’d shown no resentment. No reason he regretted being there with her. He, at most, had lasted three or four days in past visits. They were edging on weeks now, and the haunted look hadn’t come. The pacing and need to be outside and away from his family had not materialized.
All her reasons seemed to be proving false. Except one.
Eli brushed her lips, and she couldn’t hold back the shivers. “So I wasn’t your first?” His velvety voice slid across her skin, begging her to answer.
“Does it matter?”
“You know it does.”
She wriggled to get away. Not because it was what she wanted, but because it was what she needed. Too much emotion wrapped up in a heavily loaded question. His steel-encased body didn’t budge.
“Answer me, and I’ll let it go.”
“Tell me why it matters, and maybe I’ll answer you.”
“It matters because if I’m the one you trusted—after how many years?—there’s a reason. And that reason matters to me.” His lips brushed the curve of her ear. “Anything to do with you matters to me.”
God. She was going to kill Becky. The conversation had been one of those late night sessions where confessions had slid out. Becky was the only girl, and when the topic had come up, Tabby had confessed about her waiting. She never thought the topic would end up in discussion with the man whom she’d waited for.
She could tell him it didn’t matter really. He’d been there, and she’d grown tired of waiting. But it wasn’t fair. To him or to her.
And he wouldn’t believe it anyway.
“I trusted you.”
He pulled her closer if possible and kissed her head.
“And you always can.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Award-winning wildlife photographer, Elijah Ellis, has come back home due to the tragic accident that killed members of both his and his best friend Tabitha Brodie’s family. Despite their grief, Eli hopes that he and Tabby can pick up their familiar friendship. He’s never forgotten the way Tabby makes him feel—full of hope and a sense of home—but she seems determined to keep him at arm’s length.

Tabby has always loved Eli. He’s everything she wants in a man. But he left Gatlinburg to make a name for himself outside of his famous family. Even though there’s no one better to help her through this time, she refuses to be an anchor to a life he never wanted. Not to mention Tabby’s hiding a secret that will change all of their lives.

As Eli and Tabby spend more time together, he’s determined to show her they could be perfect together. Too bad she’s spent years building her walls against him…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Contemporary romance author, Jennifer Hoopes, lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband, and two daughters. Add two cats and a dog and the fur flies sometimes. Stories have been in her head for as long as she recognized every person had one and figuring out how two people meet and fall in love makes for a rewarding dream job.
When not writing she wears the many mom hats of PTO, dance, and music, all while driving a mean, mom-taxi. She loves caramel and roller coasters, plays a solo version of Carpool Karaoke, and cannot live without coffee and Jane Austen adaptations.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |

 

 

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58 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: His Reason to Stay by Jennifer Hoopes”

  2. Jeanna Massman

    I think I would prefer the desert island. I’ve lived in the Arizona for 5 yrs. so I’m more used to the heat.

    • Celeste Herrin

      I would have to choose Desert Island because I just cannot imagine what pain with arthritis it would be to be stuck in the snow!

  4. Lilah Chavez

    Definitely lust… He chased me , I didn’t play too hard to get lol

  6. Diana Tidlund

    We were actually best friends . Both married . Then he got divorced And I got divorced from an abusive relationship. He bought me a new wardrobe to go out and see that they were other fish in the sea and watched my kids while I did that. It was on my third date I realized I wanted the man that was home watching my kids so when I went home and he asked me how it went I told him “it was OK but I realize something” and he said “what ?”and I said “ I realized I wanted you !” the next day we started dating. We e been together 27 years , we got married and he adopted my kids.

  8. Jennifer Shiflett

    I’m single now, but I met my ex husband in 8th grade science class.

  9. John Smith

    “Which would you prefer, being trapped in the snow or stranded on a desert island?” Stranded on a desert island.

  12. Debra Branigan

    Oh, what a horrible thought. I would prefer the island. Snow is too cold.

  13. Juli Huber Hall

    We were work friends first but I would say love and friendship came at the same time

  16. Didi

    We were best friends first, but even that relationship didn’t last. Oh well. 🙂

  17. Rita Wray

    1. No we were not friends first.

    2.I prefer being stranded on a desert island because I hate the cold weather.

  19. Kim

    I think love came first, then friendship. It was almost love at first sight for me.

  20. Caro

    None, I don’t have a significant other at the time, lol. But I say friends first. <3

  25. Kathleen Bylsma

    Rescued me and my sister from an obnoxious drunk…hadn’t met him before that….he decided we belonged together and pursued me until I agreed…43 yrs married until his premature death

  26. Joy Tetterton Avery

    I went the friends to lovers route twice with neither ending in a positive way. My husband and I developed the love and friendship not long after meeting.

  29. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    I’m single.
    I love friends to lovers
    Thanks for the chance!

  30. Glenda M

    We were and still are friends, however we only knew each other for a couple months before we got together – the attraction was there from the start. We’ve been together over 28 years now. 🙂

  38. Jennifer Beyer

    I would be stranded on a desert island because the snow is cold!

  40. erahime

    Hadn’t met that special someone, but I would like to be friends first.

  45. Anita H.

    Question1- No significant other at the moment but I’d hope we be friends first

    Question2 – I’d rather be stuck in the snow since I don’t enjoy the heat

  51. Tracie Cooper

    I would being trapped on a dessert island. I live in FL so is pretty much like a dessert island year round, LOL.

  53. Patricia B.

    My husband and I were classmates in high school. Just more acquaintances than good friends. After he moved the end of our junior year, I wrote him a few times a year, as I did with several others from the air base whose dad’s had been transferred. I didn’t see him again for 7 years. We went to college, me in NY and he in Florida. Then I went into the Peace Corps and he into the Air Force. I came home for Christmas after extending for a third year and stopped off in CA to visit my cousin and recover a bit from jet lag. He was stationed at the same base as her husband, so she had him over to dinner and he took us out to dinner the next night. I then went home for a few weeks and flew back to my assignment. I will say when I saw him again and we talked a bit, I realized we had a lot in common and there might be possibilities if we managed to be close enough to see each other. Evidently he felt the same way because he came to my assignment 5 months later and proposed. No dating, just will you marry me. When I did get back to the states, he was stationed 11 hours away. We saw each other for 2 days every 3 weeks. We did become good friends and then lovers after we got married the following summer. Over the last 47 years we have become even better friends.