Spotlight & Giveaway: Hold Me Today by Maria Luis

Posted January 17th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 71 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Maria Luis to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

 

Hi Maria and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Hold Me Today!

 
Hi there! I am so excited to be here – thank you so much for inviting me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Hold Me Today is a super steamy, slow burn romance. When Mina Pappas realizes she’s in trouble, there’s only one person she can turn to for help: her best friend’s older brother, Nick. He’s her old crush, the guy she’d prefer to avoid forever—but Nick has other plans. He needs something from Mina too . . . he needs her to pretend to date him.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

~ Nick ~
Breaking hearts isn’t in my DNA.
Call me a pussy, a romantic, a believer in the unicorn of all emotions—true love—but I want the real deal. I crave what my parents have shared for thirty-something years; what my younger sister Effie has with her wife; what I almost had six years ago before my ex-fiancée dumped me at the altar with a half-hiccupped, “I’m in love with someone else.”

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Three fun facts – okay, I’ve got this!

  • The Put A Ring On It series was inspired by my love of The Bachelor franchise. For years, I’ve wanted to write a dating show book. But instead of focusing on the filming part of the progress, I wanted to dedicate a series to the fallout that happens after the show has wrapped up production and the contestants have gone home!
  • As a Greek-American, I’ve wanted to write characters who are also Greek for so long—and with Hold Me Today, the opportunity finally presented itself! Both Nick and Mina are Greek, and although the book is so much more than this, I couldn’t resist putting my own spin on My Big Fat Greek Wedding. (Disclaimer: this movie could be a definition for my life/childhood!).
  • I love using crossover characters from other series of mine—making all my books feel as though they belong to a real world. Since Hold Me Today takes place in Boston, I couldn’t resist using my Boston Blades hockey players in a few of the scenes!

 

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

Nick and Mina have known each other for their entire lives. The Greek community in Boston—where I set the book and where I grew up—is large, but it’s safe to say that there’s no such thing as keeping things private for long. For Nick and Mina, this means that they’ve known each other for their entire lives. They’ve witnessed each other’s ups and downs, ten times over. Which meant that I had to find a way to uncover previously emotions/struggles . . . and, in doing so, these characters surprised me over and over again—Nick, especially. I wanted to write a good guy. The hero we all want and need, the book boyfriend that, when you finish a book, you see reflected in your other half, your friend, your brother. But, as Nick says at one point, being good doesn’t mean he can’t be a little bad too—at least with Mina, who pushes him like no other!

 

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

Oh, that’s a tough one! I think I’d have to go with the very first scene in the book that Nick and Mina are together. You can practically feel the simmering tension between them—the slight animosity, the unrelenting tension that vibrates just beneath the surface. Nick and Mina may know each other but they aren’t exactly friends—and their confrontation is downright delicious. It would be so much fun to see this moment come alive!

~ Mina ~
A masculine hand sticks through the closing elevator doors, cutting off my train of thought as I lurch forward to jab the KEEP OPEN button. I smack it once with a heavy, don’t-fail-me-now finger, then again, my gaze flitting to the doors that are inching closed like the gates of Mordor.
That hand balls into a fist and then a suit-encased forearm appears, followed by a long leg and a brown, leather dress shoe. The leather is so soft, so visibly supple, I wouldn’t doubt that they cost more than my mortgage.
“Gamóto.”
At the Greek curse for “fuck”, and the more than familiar gravel-pitched voice, my back snaps straight, and I yank my gaze up. Up past the lean waist not even a suit jacket can hide. Up past the barrel chest and the bulging, I-swing-hammers-for-a-living arms. Up to a face that’s as unforgiving in its aristocratic, angular bone structure as his hair is a wild, dark mop on his head.
Only that curly hair and a pair of full, pillow-soft lips—not that I’ve ever tasted them, of course—make him seem more human than rigid statue.
Bingo.
Has there ever been more appropriate timing? I don’t think so.
She who asketh shall receive—or however the saying goes.
For possibly the first time in six years, I smile at the man standing just inches away.
Nick Stamos stares down at me, his pewter eyes hard and narrowed with suspicion. “Trying to amputate my arm, Ermione?”
My smile slips, hackles twitching like a cat’s fur standing on end when stalked by a predator. Er-me-o-ne. His tongue rolls over the R in my given name, his Greek accent perfect and sultry despite the condescension dripping heavy and thick with every purred syllable.
Don’t let him get to you.
Only, he’s gotten to me for years now.
“If by amputate you mean save,” I murmur with practiced flippancy, “then sure. It’s not my fault if technology doesn’t want to work for you.”
Those slate-gray eyes, unlike any pair I’ve ever seen, drop to where I’m still pressing the KEEP OPEN button. When his dark brows rise, taunting me with their perfect arches, I follow his lead and glance down at the illuminated button.
CLOSE DOORS.
Oh. Oh.
Air puffs up my chest with indignancy as I inhale swiftly. “You didn’t really need that arm, did you?”
Nick snorts derisively. Without sparing me another look, his big hand circles my wrist. His touch is bold, his skin hot. A shiver of something—revulsion, I hope—rolls down my spine, unwinding and unfurling until even my gold-painted toes curl in my heels. And, as though he fears I’m completely incompetent, he angles my still-pointed finger at the button to close the doors.
Pushes down and lingers, as though to taunt, see? This is how a contraption called an elevator works. Welcome to the twenty-first century, Ermione.
Ermione. Even in my head I can hear him slinging around the name I inherited from my maternal grandmother, knowing that it makes my mouth pinch and my hands clench.
My smile has, as it always does around him, completely evaporated.
The elevator pings shut.
Locking me in with Satan’s mortal sidekick, my best friend’s older brother.

 

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

It sounds so incredibly cheesy to say it, but I hope that people walk away from Hold Me Today feeling like their dreams are tangible. Despite hold backs, Mina is one of the most driven characters I’ve ever written, but she does so with a smile on her face and the belief that everything always happens when it’s meant to happen—and that it happens when she herself can personally handle whatever comes next. Dreams, no matter what they are, are always worth fighting for.

 

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

I’m currently working on Kiss Me Tonight, book 2 in the Put A Ring On It series, along with a secret project that I can’t say too much on just yet. Fans of my Blood Duet will love this series, though! Kiss Me Tonight will be releasing in Spring 2019, with Book 3 to follow in late summer/early fall!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $25 Amazon Gift Card and a signed paperback of Hold Me Today – open internationally!

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: The topic of dreams as “temporary longings” plays heavily in Hold Me Today. (In the sense that, our dreams are always morphing. When one is achieved, we move on to another dream). What is your temporary longing?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Hold Me Today:

~ Mina ~
“You do realize that you don’t know everything about me, right?”
My breath constricts in my chest. “I think I know enough.”
One shift of his large frame and then the toes of his work boots are kissing the tips of my flats. I catch his scent, that musky combo of male and sawdust and something woodsy that shouldn’t be appealing given who he is—Effie’s brother, my old, teenage crush—but nevertheless succeeds in sweeping around me like forbidden temptation.
Entrepreneurial spirit that I am, I’d bottle up that scent and sell it by the boatloads. I’d make a mint off it. Change the lives of millions of women and men because I’m not kidding when I say this: Nick Stamos smells delicious.
His warm breath wafts across my forehead, rustling the baby hairs that have escaped my top-knot. My knees pin together, unwelcome lust spiking at his nearness, and I shift my focus from the breadth of his chest to his too-handsome face.
Nothing in his expression speaks to the same arousal flaring to life within me.
As usual.
“We’ve known each other a heck of a long time, Mina, but make no mistake”—his gaze drops to my mouth, lingers, before lifting once more—“we’ve never been friends.”
And welcome to that moment in my life when good reason disappears and need slips in. Licking my lips, I counter, “You’re lying.”
“Lying about what?”
“About us not being friends. We might not be besties”—he snorts derisively at that and I refrain from punching him in the solar plex—“but I’ve known you my entire life. I know more than what Effie’s told me over the years.
“I know you’re a details guy,” I go on, refusing to step down and let him win this round. I would never consider him a close confidante—a frenemy, perhaps, more than anything—but to hear him dismiss our relationship riles me up in a way that leaves me feeling rattled. “I know that when you started Stamos Restoration, you lived off Ramen noodles for almost a year. You were twenty-three and full of dreams and Brynn hated that you put everything you had to give into a new business and not on dates and outings and the little trinkets she wanted.”
Controlled as his expression is, I don’t miss the flare of his nostrils. “I did it for her,” he growls, drawing ever closer still, “for us, for our future.”
“No.” I angle my chin in silent challenge. “You worked all those hours for you. Because you spent years as a kid holed up in your room building anything and everything. You interned at an antique place in high school, restoring furniture, long before Brynn entered the picture. So, maybe I’m not your friend, but let’s not play it like I don’t know you. I know plenty.”
I’m breathing hard. You revealed way too much, my heart bemoans. I may as well have waved the I-crushed-on-you-for-years flag. A white flag, of course, for surrender and acceptance. Fact is, I spent my teenage years and early twenties collecting any and all anecdotes regarding Nick’s life that I could. I know more than I should because I once cared more than I should.
Those old feelings may be long gone but that doesn’t mean all the memories have dissipated along with them.
After my little rant that has nothing at all to do with the renovation project, I expect Nick to return to the topic of my salon and botched plans and new mock-ups and everything that is professional and orderly. Nick is, at the end of the day, a rule-follower.
Obsessively so.
But maybe he’s trying to prove me wrong—to axe his saintly nickname once and for all—or maybe he’s right and I’ve never known him the way I thought I did.
Because instead of wheeling around and leaving me alone in the hallway, he grinds his molars, jaw clenching, and then that hand on the wall is shifting over until it rests mere inches away from my head, invading my precious space. His sweatshirt-covered chest grazes mine with each labored contraction of his lungs. And those unreadable gray eyes blaze with emotion.
Too far. This time, I’ve pushed him way too far.
Abort. Abort the mission!
My feet refuse to move. They’re rooted to the concrete flooring as my back collides with the wall and my fingers curl in at my sides.
“Nick?”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Rock bottom has never felt so good.At least, that’s what I tell myself when I bargain with the enemy and score a renovation for my hair salon. The enemy? Nick Stamos, my best friend’s older brother. He’s got a body and face the Greek gods would envy but his personality needs a major overhaul. He’s surly. A rule-follower.Did I mention he’s seen me naked? I may have crushed on him for years, but the only place I want Nick swinging his hammer nowadays is at my salon. Except, he needs something in return. . . A fake girlfriend.And I’m just reckless enough to say yes.HOLD ME TODAY is a slow burn romance. It’s the first book in the highly anticipated series, Put A Ring On It, and can be read as a standalone.

Book Links: Amazon |  Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Maria Luis is the author of sexy contemporary romances.
Historian by day and romance novelist by night, Maria lives in New Orleans, and loves bringing the city’s cultural flair into her books. When Maria isn’t frantically typing with coffee in hand, she can be found binging on reality TV, going on adventures with her other half and two pups, or plotting her next flirty romance.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
 
 
 

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71 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Hold Me Today by Maria Luis”

  1. Jeanna Massman

    My temporary longing is for my husband and I to recover from our recent health problems.

  4. Mary Preston

    It is unbelievably HOT here right now. So I guess my temporary longing is for autumn to arrive and quickly.

  5. Diana Tidlund

    I honestly don’t dream or long per say . 5 years ago I had over a hundred strokes and spent weeks in icu and then had to relearn to walk and talk. I can no longer work and am on disability. I stopped dreaming and accept what is and am happy with it. Each day I wake up is a good day cause i could have been dead back when the strokes happened . Teaches you to accept life for what it is and just be grateful for what you have.
    But if I have to pick a temporary longing it would be winning contests I enter if that counts?!

  6. Kim Brewing

    My longing is to celebrate a 50th anniversary with my best friend and hubby.

  7. Heidi

    I don’t remember most of my dreams, but I do have a recurring one about buying a new car outright. So I suppose that’s my temporary longing.

  12. Marcy Meyer

    My temporary longing is to take my boys on a family vacation. Somewhere they can take their first flight and see the ocean.

  14. John Smith

    “What is your temporary longing?” Finishing my present projects!

  15. Amy Donahue

    My dream is to read through my TBR pile in 2019 (lol never gonna happen! )

  16. Glenda M

    I’m going with the hope the government shutdown ends soon. We had a vacation planned to a national park.

  17. laurieg72

    My dream is to visit our country’s national parks. I love the outdoors. I want to hike and take a lot of gorgeous pictures.

  22. Amy Woolard

    Mine was having a baby. Once that happened (after 12 years of trying), I haven’t had that dream again.

  23. Daniel M

    making enough to survive and thrive, instead of neverending putting things off when someday i’ll afford it – someday never comes

  31. Joy Tetterton Avery

    To be able to mentally and physically have a normal life or close to it.

  40. Lynne Brigman

    I dream about different things. Sometimes I dream about traveling to different places. Other times I might dream about a story line that I just read with me as the female lead(hahaha). I think I dream about what is on my mind before I sleep.

  44. Debra Branigan

    The topic of dreams as “temporary longings” plays heavily in Hold Me Today. (In the sense that, our dreams are always morphing. When one is achieved, we move on to another dream). What is your temporary longing?

    I think I want to travel to the many places on my bucket list. I am in a place to do so, but it seems I am inching along and not really visiting the places I want to go!

  50. Anna Nguyen

    my longing is to improve myself but then i realized i liked myself the way i am

  53. Anita H.

    My temporary longing is to go somewhere much warmer to escape the winter cold!

  56. Natalija

    I have a big dream that I work towards to. It’s not the kind of thing that will happen only by dreaming about it so it takes a lot of work. Since I’m very supersticious, I’m not gonna say what it is 🙂

  57. Anissa

    My current, or temporary, longing is finding the time and courage to committing to starting a blog!

  58. isisthe12th

    I just had a nightmare last night! Someone was trying to harm my children, So, I think I have been worrying about them. Thank you

  61. Laurajj

    Oh that is hard. I think I would say mine would be for my back to get some healing!

  63. Celeste Herrin

    Mine is to declutter my house right now which will alleviate some of the stress I’m trying to decrease.

  65. Tyler Ginter

    My longing is to finally invent something cool & not have to work the 9 to 5.

  66. Cassandra D

    I want to take a pottery class and reenact the pottery scene from the movie Ghost with my significant other.

  69. Patricia B.

    My temporary longing is to travel to Alaska this summer. It is the third year we have planned the trip, but health issues prevented us from traveling the past two years. My husband really wants to go to Alaska, and it will be trip one. I hope next year we can go to England, Scotland, and Ireland. The health issues aren’t going away, but I am hoping they will be under control enough to make the trips.

  71. Karina Angeles

    My temporary longing is for my kids to clean their room-by themselves.