Spotlight & Giveaway: How the Italian Claimed Her by Jennifer Hayward

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennifer Hayward to HJ!

Hi Jennifer and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, How the Italian Claimed Her!

Hello! It’s so lovely to be back with you all after an extended break for me.

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

Enter the world of the glamorous Davis sisters. The offspring of Hollywood royalty, Ava, Jensen and Scarlett have grown up in front of America. The reality show that chronicled the drama of their famous family as the girls transformed from fashion-obsessed California teenagers to grown women with ultra-successful careers was a smash hit, watched by millions each week. The sisters’ exploits, high jinks and supreme fashion sense have made them style icons young women aspire to be. But beneath the glitz and the glamour of their privileged, celebrity-filled world lies a far different picture.

Growing up in front of America isn’t a normal life for Ava, Jensen and Scarlett, whose lives revolve around the show’s scripted plotlines and their mother’s insatiable thirst for drama. Because of their notoriety and fashion sense, everyone wants them to endorse their products on-air. They build themselves into their own personal brands, doing what they love. But although girls might want to be just like them, the sisters are also castigated in the media for their superficial lives and the roles they play on the show. It’s taught them not to trust, to close themselves off inside, to hide their true feelings from the world.

After a decade of living their lives in the public spotlight, the sisters have had enough. In their mid-twenties now, they move to Manhattan to forge lives of their own. Ava and Scarlett, with their design school backgrounds, are designers with their own Davis brand, and stylists for the New York elite with a chic Manhattan boutique to their name. Jensen has transformed herself into the world’s highest paid supermodel—a new breed of pop culture model who is half celebrity, half model.

The first book of the series, How the Italian Claimed Her, is Jensen’s story. I love the back cover blurb, so I’m including it here:

The Italian wants her…between his billion-dollar sheets in this passionate opposites-attract romance from Jennifer Hayward.

He always puts business first…
then it’s mixed with pleasure!

After taking the reins of his family’s legendary but failing fashion house, CEO Cristiano Vitale vows to restore its legacy. To do that he needs the face of the brand, supermodel Jensen Davis, to do her job. Only she’s committed to living up to her headline-hitting reputation.

Jensen doesn’t want to jeopardize Cristiano’s company, but courting scandal distracts from her mother’s self-destructive spiral. So, lying low at his Lake Como estate, she’s caught between her familial duty…and how much she wants the dangerously sexy Italian to claim her!

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

This comes from the opening of the book, when Cristiano, fed up with Jensen’s very public antics, tracks her down at a fashion show in London and lays down the law. She realizes she is in big, big, trouble. It gave me goosebumps to write.

“You are the one blowing off the assignments, not me.” He forged on, as if he hadn’t just thrown a grenade at her. “The rest of the plan,” he expanded, “is that you will travel back to Milan with me tonight. You will stay on my Lake Como estate where we are shooting the collection, out of the media eye, a level of discretion my security team will ensure. There will not be one more photograph, one more stunt, one more indiscretion before this launch, or I will personally cancel your contract so fast it will make your head spin.”

What inspired this book?

The idea for this book came to me one day, when I saw a celebrity tear a strip off of a reality show star, very undeservedly, in my eyes, because I think it simply stung that she was far more successful than him. And I wondered what it would be like to be a member of one of the most famous show reality families in the world, judged for who the world thinks you are and not for what you really are. And how painful that must be. And so, my three vulnerable, colourful heroines emerged, who I love to bits. Ava is the damaged oldest sister, who had the most expensive reality show wedding in history, only to have it almost ruin her life. Jensen can’t seem to escape her wild-child reputation and Scarlett is so tired of being the ‘least compelling Davis’, a wound which plagues her.

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

Well, I always interview my characters, as per my journalist past, but also, I find birth order fascinating and so this really inspired these three sisters, who really embody those roles, which define them so greatly. So, it’s a combination of character sketches and interviews to start with, then I get to know them as I write the book. And sometimes they do surprise me! And I love that.

What was your favorite scene to write?

My favourite scene (which a reviewer just called out, which I loved) is the scene where Cristiano goes after Jensen in the pool, outside the pool house, where is he babysitting her, to make sure she lives up to her commitments as the face of his brand. I’m a big fan of characters owning their actions, and Cristiano is very clear about what he wants in this scene, despite his massive conflict about getting involved with wild child Jensen. The heat’s been building between these two for weeks, and when I finally got to sit down and write it, I really felt it was fire.

What was the most difficult scene to write?

I think it was the last scene (which I won’t describe, because I don’t want to ruin it for you!) I’ve written a lot of books and I always put a lot of pressure on myself to write a great ending. I know how much it means to readers. The black moment in this book, which breaks Jensen and Cristiano apart, is one of the darkest I’ve ever written and it was physically and emotionally hard for me to write. I wrote one ending, then passed the book in, then decided it just wasn’t impactful or sparkling enough for these two characters I adored, so I went back to the drawing board and rewrote it, and I think now, it’s worthy of this love story, which is definitely one of my favourites.

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

I think this book is very much a true Jen Hayward tale, full of glamour and scandal and lots of heat. It has fun, secondary characters, which I know my readers love, with a real villain of an ex-girlfriend for Cristiano to spice things up.

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

That things and people are not always who you think they are and it’s perhaps good to take a moment and really get to know someone/get all the facts before you make a judgement. I think the world would be a better place these days, if people stopped judging and started to try and understand each other.

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

I’m just working on finishing the second book of this series, Scarlett’s book. It’s my first best friends to lovers story, featuring a Spanish soccer star, and I think you’re going to love it. Scarlett is one of my favourite heroines ever, with her witty, sarcastic core and her vulnerable, love hard inside.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed copy of How the Italian Claimed Her, along with two of my other favourite books. Open internationally.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Which Davis sister do you think will be the most fun?

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Excerpt from How the Italian Claimed Her:

Jensen swallowed hard, attempting to absorb the energy that had passed between her and Cristiano, that had literally frozen her to the spot where she’d been standing, but the constriction in her throat was so seemingly immovable, she took a sip of her drink instead, the sparkling soda water infused with a splash of lime moistening her parched throat, so that she could actually swallow.
She was exhausted from a sixteen-hour day on her feet. Back to back days of the same. It had taken them three hours to nail that final shot on the terrace, working against the clock as the light had faded, everything that could go wrong having going wrong, blowing the schedule completely. Her feet were hurting in the five-inch killer high heels and all she wanted to do was get out of the close-fitting dress, and into her bikini, then head straight for the pool for a refreshing swim, which would make everything feel better.
Despite her mythical reputation, she was not in the business of stealing anyone’s future husband, of breaking up Italian dynasties or challenging Cristiano’s honour, not when the world already believed the worst of her. That she had been the catalyst behind Alexandre and Juliana’s royal break up and the resulting calamity which had ensued. Destroying one national fantasy was enough for the calendar year. This one she would leave alone.
Making the requisite rounds of the party, thanking everyone who’d done their part to make the commercial a success, she slipped quietly out of the crowd as the party was beginning to break up and down to the pool house, where she changed into an orchid-pink bikini. Securing her hair in a high ponytail, she scoured her face clean of her camera make-up, before padding outside to the spot lit pool, glittering a deep cerulean blue on a perfect Italian night, the only sound on the still evening air, the peaceful trickle of the waterfall at the far end of the butterfly-shaped pool.
Dipping a toe into the cool, refreshing water, she tested the temperature before wading in, allowing the water to carry away the grime and hard work of the day and ease her sore muscles. Floating silently on her back, soaking up the paradise she was in, the scent of jasmine and peony filled her head, the sky a blanket of sparkling gold stars overhead. She was in a dreamlike, half-awake, half-asleep state when the sound of clinking crystal broke the silence.
Flipping over, she tread water, her gaze widening at the figure standing on the pool deck. Cristiano, clad in navy-blue and green-striped swim trunks, set a bottle of champagne and two glasses he was carrying down on the tiled surface of the pool deck. Her throat, already dry from the blazing heat, went to desert dust.
She’d worked all day with a famous male model who’d been sashaying around half-naked during the out-of-control house party they’d thrown, and not once had she looked twice at his lean, well-built body. Cristiano, however, was a whole different story. All hard-packed muscle, underscored by the perfectly cut walls of his abs, a delicious vee forged a descent to his lean, powerful hips. Which were accented by muscular, trim legs that had clearly logged a great deal of miles on the cross-estate run he did every morning. The ideal combination of brawn and stealth, innate grace, which allowed him to wear his beautifully cut clothes so perfectly.
Except he didn’t have many clothes on right now, she registered, her throat going even drier as she took in the low-slung, dark swim trunks, which rode his lean, graceful hips. He was insane. Spectacular. Millie would be having a coronary right about now.
“You don’t usually swim at this time of night,” she managed, the words coming out as half sentence, half croak.
“You are supposed to alert someone when you are using the pool,” he stated in that low, husky, accent-affecting tone that sent goosebumps to every inch of her skin.
“Yes, well,” she prevaricated, “everyone was busy cleaning up from the party. I was just taking a quick dip.”
“It doesn’t change the rules.” She could see from the stern look on his face that he wasn’t kidding. And, given the rumours she’d heard about his parents’ untimely death on the famous lake a few hundred feet below them, she could understand the reasoning behind the autocratic set of rules he’d thrown at her upon their arrival.
Which left only his supreme arrogance as her source of antagonism between them, and that wasn’t holding up very well as the days had passed and she’d watched how hard he’d been working to make his dream for FV a reality. To systematically bring the vision he’d promised the world to life, all of the responsibility he bore to his family sitting squarely on his broad shoulders.
“Your parents died in a boating accident,” she observed quietly, as he uncorked the champagne and poured it into two glasses, the froth reaching up to the rims.
“When I was fourteen, si.” He carried the glasses to the edge of the pool, set them on the edge, then stepped down into the water, rivulets of moisture rolling off his hard-packed abs. What might have been a humiliating form of drool moistened her mouth. Good God. She swallowed it back. Lifted her gaze to his sapphire-blue one as he lounged back against the side of the pool opposite her. Which didn’t necessarily help, as she read the banked heat gleaming there, mirroring what was bubbling up inside of her at an alarming rate.
“That must have been very traumatic,” she murmured, determined to ignore it. Desperate to ignore it. To focus on more sobering things, such as the loss of his parents at such a young age, which must have had such an impact on him.
“It was…difficult.” A dark light flickered in his blue gaze. “But you weather it and move on. My grandparents needed me. My sister needed me. You do what you need to do.”
Which had been to protect his vulnerable, young sister and eventually, to save the company his grandfather had founded. His legacy. Which once more underscored the impenetrable stuff this man was made of. Explained the rigid control with which he exerted that authority. The loyalty and duty that drove him.
She’d never met a man like him before. Her own father was so far from that type of man it was laughable, the way he’d abandoned their family without a backward glance, leaving her mother devastated and in tatters. It made her wonder, just for a second, what it would be like to be wanted by someone like him—someone so strong and honorable. Not just physically, because she knew they shared that devastating chemistry. But emotionally. Unconditionally.
How safe you would feel. How buffeted against the world. She imagined it would feel…life changing.
But he wasn’t hers to have. He would eventually be someone else’s. And that she had to keep reminding herself of.
He picked up the two glasses, filled with the frothy liquid, and handed her one.
She wrapped her fingers around the glass. Cocked a brow. “Champagne?”
“I thought we could celebrate wrapping the campaign. You did a spectacular job on it. Grazie mille, Jensen.”
His rich, deep voice, laced with that undeniably sexy, husky accent warmed something deep inside of her. And it wasn’t all professional pride, because she was sure he didn’t celebrate like this with all his employees. This was something else entirely.
She shrugged a shoulder, attempting a nonchalance she didn’t remotely feel. “I was just doing my job. Working with Pascal and Claudio was a dream. I’m the lucky one.”
“Well, you were brilliant,” he murmured. “The marketing team is over the moon. Not to mention the assistance you’ve been with Federico. We pulled the Kyra campaign and showed it to him. He was very impressed. So much so that he is warming to the idea of allowing Nicolas some creative control. Which is a much more flexible stance than he’s had thus far.”
“That’s great.” She was happy her advice had helped. “I knew he would like that campaign.”
“He did. Ilaria,” he added, “is also ecstatic with your buzz campaign for the anniversary party. Saluti,” he murmured, lifting his glass. “To all of your hard work.”
She raised her glass, attempting to control the wild butterflies beating circular tracks through her stomach. “Aren’t you afraid I might get wild?” she quipped, in an attempt to break the intensity between them. “Out of control?”
His sapphire gaze darkened with amusement. “I’m not so sure about that depiction of you anymore. You were drinking soda water at the party. Nor have you drunk much of anything on any social occasion we’ve attended since you’ve been here. Which leads me to believe that partying might not be your natural state of existence.”
Her lashes drifted down, shielding her from his inscrutable assessment. “And what do you think is?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “I think it’s buried somewhere beneath those numerous impenetrable layers of yours. Those pieces of you you refuse to show the world. You are so much more than that, Jensen.”
“Perhaps,” she agreed, with a self-conscious shrug. “And, perhaps, there isn’t that much more to tell.”
“I think there is.” He levered himself away from the wall with the push of a powerful bicep, propelling himself to within an inch or two of her. She felt a rush of blood in her ears as the force of the attraction between them roared to life, the heat of his muscular body so close she could feel it emanating from him.
“You are a brilliant marketer,” he observed, his eyes on hers. “You have an innate talent that can’t be taught. Incredible instincts. You could run my marketing department with the tip of your baby finger. And yet, to my knowledge, you have no formal education in business.”
She shook her head. “I am self-taught. Marketing always fascinated me, right from the beginning. I would study how girls reacted to the things I would post. Pinpoint the best ones, study the messaging, and learn how to replicate that success.” She hiked a shoulder. “It came from a genuine place within me, I think that was the key. I loved fashion. I loved helping other people find their own. People picked up on that and followed me.”
He cocked a dark brow at her. “And yet you persist in allowing the world to believe that you are a glamorous party girl and nothing more.”
“That’s my brand,” she corrected. “It sells your clothes, Cristiano. Young girls want to be that glamorous icon.”
“Yet we have no idea what’s underneath,” he said softly. “Who the real Jensen is. I wonder what the truth is?”
“A mixture of both,” she answered honestly. “I’m not so difficult to figure out. I wouldn’t overthink it.”
His mouth curved. “There you go again, avoiding the subject.” He pointed his glass at her. “Perhaps we can try another.”
“Which is?”
“I would like to discuss what happened in the kitchen.”
Oh no. No. They did not need to do that. “I think we should ignore it,” she proposed firmly. “It’s been working great so far.”
“No it hasn’t,” he murmured. “I think we both know that. I think we need to address it, Jensen.”
Her throat seized. “A—address it?” she stammered, when she’d finally yanked in some air. “What do you mean?”
“Confront it,” he said softly. “Face it. Deal with it. This thing between us isn’t going away. It’s only getting worse. And I, for one, am done fighting it.”
She swallowed hard, past the flock of butterflies in her throat. He was close, too close, and her heart was beating so hard in her chest, it was difficult to function. So, she grappled for the most pressing piece of information she could find to avoid what seemed like the inevitable. “Alessandra,” she breathed, her eyes on his. “I am not stepping into the middle of a relationship between you two, Cristiano. It isn’t my style, as much as the media likes to paint me as Mata Hari incarnate.”
He frowned, a furrow burrowing his handsome brow. “Alessandra? We are not together.”
“But you will be,” she countered, far more out of breath than she would have liked. “Everyone knows it.”
“Except me,” he responded silkily. “Perhaps you will provide me with the benefit of the doubt on this, bellissima, because I am sure I am correct. Alessandra and I broke up months ago.”
She caught her lip between her teeth. “I saw you together at the party. When you went to get the car. It looked intimate, Cristiano.”
The furrow in his brow deepened. “So you thought there is still something between us? That’s why you walked away from me in the kitchen?”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “I walked away from you because it was a bad idea. Which it is,” she added quickly at the dark glitter that entered his sapphire eyes. “Alessandra is only a secondary reason.”
He raked a hand through his rumpled hair. “Alessandra,” he said, after a moment, “was…emotional the night of the party. We have tried to make things work multiple times, and yet, they are not working. She seems determined to make it happen. I have my doubts it ever will.”
So, what was he doing with her? Entertaining himself in the meantime? Blowing off some steam? Because surely, he would never be serious about her. She wasn’t about to do that with Cristiano. Not with the depth of the feelings she already had for him, feelings that seemed to be growing exponentially stronger by the moment.
“I’m not interested in being your plaything,” she murmured. “Someone you blow off some steam with when you feel like it, Cristiano.”
An offended look moved across his aristocratic face. “Is that what you think I’m doing? Blowing off some steam?”
“Yes,” she said staunchly, “I do. We are attracted to each other. That’s clear. Both of us are having a difficult time controlling it. Also true. But, I won’t put my career in jeopardy so I can have a dalliance with you, Cristiano. It’s not happening.”
His brow hiked higher, the offended look on his face deepening. Setting his glass down on the side of the pool, he moved, until he was so close the heat emanating from him seared her skin. “Although I am a fan of blowing off some steam at this very moment,” he murmured darkly, “because I think we both need it, my interest in you is more than surface deep, Jensen. I like you. I desire you. I would like to get to know you on a deeper level, if you will let me in. “

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

The Italian wants her…between his billion-dollar sheets in this passionate opposites-attract romance from Jennifer Hayward.

He always puts business first…
then it’s mixed with pleasure!

After taking the reins of his family’s legendary but failing fashion house, CEO Cristiano Vitale vows to restore its legacy. To do that he needs the face of the brand, supermodel Jensen Davis, to do her job. Only she’s committed to living up to her headline-hitting reputation.

Jensen doesn’t want to jeopardize Cristiano’s company, but courting scandal distracts from her mother’s self-destructive spiral. So, lying low at his Lake Como estate, she’s caught between her familial duty…and how much she wants the dangerously sexy Italian to claim her!

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Meet the Author:

Jennifer Hayward has been a fan of romance since filching her sister’s novels to escape her teenage angst. Her career in journalism and PR, including years of working alongside powerful, charismatic CEOs and traveling the world, has provided perfect fodder for the fast-paced, sexy stories she likes to write—always with a touch of humor. A native of Canada’s East Coast, Jennifer lives in picturesque Nova Scotia with her Viking husband and teenage Viking-in-training.
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