Spotlight & Giveaway: Love Around the Corner by Amanda Weaver

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Amanda Weaver to HJ!

Hi Amanda and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Love Around the Corner!

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

This is Book 3 of the Romano Sisters series. We’ve already gotten to know Gemma, the oldest sister, through Jess and Livie’s stories, and in both of those, she’s sort of the “stand in mom,” since she’s several years older than her sisters and their mother died when they were young. She’s helped her father run the family bar and kept the family afloat since she was a teenager. Now we get to see what Gemma’s life has been like and the secret she’s been keeping all these years.
 

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

I think it’s this exchange between Gemma and John Romano, her father, because it so perfectly encapsulates Gemma and her arc in this story.

“When your mother died, I’m not sure if we’d have made it through in one piece if not for you. You stepped up and held this family together when I couldn’t.”
“Because it’s my family, too.”
“Yeah, but I let you keep doing it. I relied on you too much. So much that I didn’t notice that you’d never even bothered to dream for yourself. You were too busy dreaming for your sisters. What kind of kid grows up without a dream?”

What inspired this book?

Well, by the time you’re writing Book 3 of a series, the character has pretty much told you her story, but they always have their secrets. In Books 1 and 2, we’d seen Gemma from the outside. We knew how her family and community sees her. I wanted to give her a real inner life when I told her story. I wanted her to have experiences and dreams that no one close to her knows about. It was fun to unfold this character I felt I already knew so well.

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

I already had a good handle on Gemma after writing her for two books. Brendan surprised me. I’d originally planned him to be a little bit more of a lady-killer, charming and a bit dangerous. But he just insisted on being a REALLY NICE GUY. Seriously, he might be the biggest marshmallow hero I’ve ever written (in a good way.)

What was your favorite scene to write?

Gemma’s a chef. She doesn’t think of herself that way when the story begins, but food and cooking are her passion. I love to cook, too, so writing all of Gemma’s cooking scenes were a lot of fun. And writing the cooking and the sex? Super fun.

“Tell me what you’re doing now,” he murmured against the silky skin behind her ear.
He kissed her behind her ear, flicking her slightly with his tongue. She let out a low sigh, her head tipping to the side in surrender. “Um…sautéing the vegetables.”
“It smells fantastic. So do you.”
“That’s just the beef.” She emptied a small bowl of minced garlic into the pot, her hands less steady than they’d been a moment ago, and the fragrance blossomed around them. “And the garlic.”
“Mmm, this spot right here is all you.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

The black moments are always hardest to write, and this book actually includes two—one between Gemma and Brendan and one between Gemma and her father. That one was hard, because they’re so close and they love each other so unconditionally, and yet Gemma is really hurt and feels betrayed by him. Even re-reading it in edits made me teary.

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

This book has so much of me in it! It’s set in Brooklyn, where I live. All the locations are based on places I actually go to. Gemma’s a descendent of the early 20th century immigration wave, like me (Gemma’s Italian, my family was Hungarian and Austrian.) Gemma loves to cook, and so do I. Also, it involves Brooklyn real estate, which is like the ultimate Brooklynite spectator sport. And Gemma’s my favorite kind of character to write—smart, tough, and secretly a big-hearted softie.

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

This book highlights the fading of a community that has existed for over a hundred years. Change is inevitable, but for everyone in the book, the goal is to make that change positive. So often in real life, change just means loss—loss of community, loss of a neighborhood, loss of a business—and the people losing out never get anything in return. I wanted to write a book where change happens on their own terms. It’s not a loss, only a chance to do something new. I wish the world were more like that.

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

I’m in the middle of writing the first book in what I hope is a three-book series. It’s about Broadway actors. I work in theatre in New York, and I always swore I’d never write about that, because it felt too close to me, and too intimate. But then I got bit by a plot bunny and…well, you know how it goes.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 eBook copy of LOVE AROUND THE CORNER by Amanda Weaver (open internationally)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Everyone in this book is a descendant of immigrants, and through the story, we see how those immigrants helped shape their community. So many of us in this country are descended from immigrants. Where are your people from? When did they come here? What was their story?

 
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Excerpt from Love Around the Corner:

Brendan walked across the bar and Gemma was catapulted back in time to Sacred Heart Catholic High School. The school uniform of Brendan’s teenage years had been replaced by a suit—a sharp gray spendy-looking one. His once-unruly head full of golden ginger waves was shorter, darker. Money looked good on him.
She couldn’t believe this was happening. After all these years, he just showed up in her bar? Bold of him to assume she’d be okay with that. She’d just squared her shoulders and lifted her chin in preparation to toss him out when Dennis and Frank swiveled around and caught sight of him.
“Brendan Flaherty? Is that you, son?”
Brendan’s eyes slid away from Gemma as he turned to face Dennis and Frank. “Yes, it’s me. How are you, Dennis?”
“Ah, fine. Same old, same old around here.”
Did he have to make it sound so dreary? Good ol’ Romano’s Bar, slowly crumbling into the ground, along with everyone in it.
“Frank.” Dennis clapped his buddy on the shoulder. “You remember Brendan? Mike Flaherty’s kid, God rest his soul.”
“Sure, I remember you! Look at you all grown up. It’s been…what?”
“Fourteen years.” Three sets of eyes turned to look at her. “It’s been fourteen years,” she repeated, then cleared her throat. “What brings you back to these parts, Flaherty? Slumming it for old times’ sake?”
His gaze shifted back to her, sending an unexpected shock of electricity down her spine. He’d changed a lot, but those eyes were just the same. The color of melted milk chocolate, and just as beautiful as the rest of him. It had been a long time since she’d been on the receiving end of that look of his. Like he was irritated and impressed by her all at once. How dare he come in here flashing that look at her like it would still work after all these years? After what he’d done?
“Actually, Gemma, I came to see how you were doing.”
Bracing her hands far apart on the bar, she leaned forward and smiled. “Here I am, right where you left me.”
Because that’s what he’d done fourteen years ago. He’d left and never looked back. And there was no way she was going to make his sudden return easy for him by pretending everything was fine, pretending they were just old friends catching up. Because they weren’t.
Dennis and Frank might be delighted to see him again, but she intended to make this as unpleasant as possible for him. He’d earned it.
Something flickered in his eyes and his smiled faded slightly.
“Can I—”
“Walk out the way you came in? Sure. There’s the door.”
“Get a drink,” he finished after a beat, staring her down.
“Sure, sure!” Frank answered for him, absolutely oblivious to Gemma’s simmering antipathy. He pointed to the empty bar stool next to him. “Sit down and have a drink. Tell us what you’ve been up to.”
“Brendan’s been busy making his millions.” She flashed him another bright, false smile. “Isn’t that right, Brendan?”
“Ahh… I’ve been working in building construction.”
That was an interesting way to put it. Because she knew, from ill-advised Google searches guiltily done in the middle of the night, that he’d been working for his uncle since he left, developing multimillion-dollar luxury high-rises all over Chicago and the Midwest. Building construction was a laughably quaint way to describe it.
“Well, let me and Dennis buy you a drink and you can tell us all about it. What’ll you have?”
Damn. There went her plan to kick him out as quickly as he’d come in.
He glanced back at her. “I’m not too sure Gemma wants me hanging around, guys.”
Oh, of all the transparent, manipulative ploys. He knew Dennis and Frank were going to back him up. And sure enough, Frank charged in to do so.
“Oh, sure she does. You kids went to high school together, didn’t you?”
Gemma let out a snort of laughter. Sure, she’d gone to high school with Brendan. She’d spent months following him around like a lovesick fool, sneaking kisses in every corner and stairwell in Brooklyn, spinning ridiculous fantasies about true love and happily ever afters. Oh, yeah, she also lost her virginity to him. And then…he left.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

“Weaver’s delightful reimagining of You’ve Got Mail is a satisfying treat for fans of enemies-to-lovers romance such as Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game.” —Library Journal (starred review), on The One I Love to Hate

The last thing Gemma Romano needs right now is her first love coming back home. She’s trying to keep her family’s bar from being bought up and developed into some glass eyesore, just like all the other family businesses in her beloved Brooklyn neighborhood.

Like it or not, she’s in charge of the Romano legacy, and she can’t afford to risk it—or her heart—on Brendan Flaherty. Not now and not ever again.

Brendan’s old neighborhood is changing fast, but some things are still the same. Gemma’s as devoted to her family, her neighbors, and the bar as she’s always been. And she’s still the one woman he can’t seem to forget.

Gemma’s determined to steer clear of Brendan at first. Not only did he break her teenage heart, but now he’s grown up to be a property developer—he’s the enemy. Staying away from him would be a lot easier if she didn’t find him so infuriatingly attractive. Their chemistry still burns as bright as it ever did. But their painful past is still there, too, and Gemma’s not sure she’s ready to risk her dreams, her business, or her heart on Brendan a second time.

This book is approximately 82,000 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:

Amanda has loved romance since she read that very first Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel at fifteen. After a long detour into a career as a costume designer in theatre, she’s found her way back to romance, this time as a writer.

A native Floridian, Amanda transplanted to New York City many years ago and now considers Brooklyn home, along with her husband, daughter, two cats, and nowhere near enough space.

Contemporary romance titles include The One I Love to Hate (Romano Sisters #1), Love and the Laws of Motion (Romano Sisters #2), Always, Sky High, and This Book Will Change Your Life. Historical romance titles include The Grantham Girls series (Carina Press); A Duchess in Name, A Common Scandal, and A Reluctant Betrothal.
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