Spotlight & Giveaway: Once in a Blue Moon by Amanda Ashby

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome romance author Amanda Ashby to HJ!

Hi Amanda and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Once in a Blue Moon!

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

Once In a Blue Moon is a sweet book about widow who is brought back to life by the guy who destroyed her life the first time around.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“We all have that one girl locked in our memory. The one who reminds us of our youthful desires and lost loves. The one who taught us the hard way what happens to those foolish feelings. Mine’s Nina. Henceforth known as Nina- the-girl-who-stole-my-favorite-blue-sweatshirt. Let’s just say it didn’t end well.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This book was inspired by the Carly Simon’s song, You’re so Vain. I’ve always been fascinated by all the curiosity it’s aroused and I wondered what it would be like to be the person at the receiving end of a tell-all song/interview/book
• The title came from a jazz bar I used to go to as a student. It was called The Blue Moon Cafe, and I always thought it sounded like it should be in a book!
• In the book Laney is a florist who loves to forage for wild flowers and branches, and since writing the book, i’ve become obsessed with finding wild blackberries and other cool treasures.

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

This is a second chance story and the first time Adam met Laney he loved how wild and spontaneous she was, while for Laney, she loved how secure he made her feel. And he had really great arms.
 

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

A sweet, second chance romance.
 

The First Kiss…

“You said you wanted to kiss me. Did you mean it?” Her voice was husky.
Endless silence stretched between them as his eyes searched her face.
“Yes.”
Then he tilted his head. He said he wouldn’t push it. She would have to make the rst move. She answered him by standing up on her toes and brushing her lips against his.
And there it was.
The wild spark that had always been there. Electric. All-consuming. Fourth of July. Her mouth hungrily pressed against him, arms sliding around her waist.
He finally broke the kiss.
“W-what’s wrong?” she croaked, need pulsing through her.
“Nothing.” He cupped her face, his mouth close to hers, breath caressing her skin. “I want this. I’m just not sure what this is.”
“Does it have to be anything? We’ve done it before,” she said, her mouth finding his again. He groaned, and his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her close. Sweet goodness. His lips found her neck, and he planted a trail of hot kisses along it, his breath burning into her. She couldn’t tell if her feet were still touching the ground. Then he broke the kiss again, his chest heaving against hers.
“And look what a mess I made of it.”
“We’re not those people anymore,” she said, the scent of his skin thundering through her like a primal call. “Just one night with no strings. The two of us. It doesn’t feel wrong. This is what I want.”
“One night?”
“Yes. Then we can go back to the way we were.”
This time, he didn’t answer.
He dragged her against his chest, and his mouth crashed
into hers. The tiny thread of sanity tethering her to the world broke as he carried her into the empty bookstore and up the stairs to his apartment, his mouth never leaving hers.
Why oh why had she been scared of this? Then they reached his bedroom, and she was entirely lost.

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

I really love the first scene where Laney sees Adam for the first time in ten years. Let’s just say she wasn’t happy….

It was him. The man who’d almost ruined her life.
Adam Fitzpatrick.
At twenty-three, he’d been gorgeous in a lean kind of way. Olive skin that had been almost baby soft, intense eyes, full of plans for the future. But at thirty-nine, the leanness had turned into thicker muscles, and his dark hair was shorter.
Still beautiful.
And still the guy who wrote a freaking book about their relationship. Turning her into the infamous Nina—a character who’d made Glenn Close’s bunny boiling seem like a walk in the park. And one of the many fictional crimes he’d accused her of was stealing his favorite sweatshirt.

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

There is a cute scene where Laney spies on Adam and sees him being mauled by a group of elderly women who belong to a book group.

She peered over the fence.
Adam was standing between two elderly women who both had their arms wrapped around him while a third woman held up her phone and snapped shot after shot. All three of them belonged to Olive’s book club and were notorious flirts.
“That’s great, Doctor Josh, but could you just undo one more button of your shirt? Remember the scene where Joshua and Elle were in Paris? They were so hot that they went swimming in the fountain?”
“Two buttons,” the second woman said firmly, her hand still clutched tightly around his waist. “I’m sure it was two buttons in the book.”
Laney’s eyes widened, and she turned back to a grinning Olive. “What’s going on?”
“Poor Adam. He only came in to grab coffee, but when Moira saw him she insisted he join us. I had to give Paige a hand with a delivery, and when I came back this was happening. They’re getting him to reenact their favorite scenes from Blue Moon. Though I think they might be getting carried away.”

Readers should read this book …

Because it’s a sweet small town story with two older characters who have messed up first time around…

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

I’m just about to start on the third book in the series, You Spin Me Round.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A digital copy of Once in Blue Moon by Amanda Ashby

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: This is my first book with a dog in it and I had so much fun writing about Violet and what she gets up to. My question is do you prefer to read about dogs or cats

 
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Excerpt from Once in a Blue Moon:

“Carl? Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He hiccupped and let out another shuddering sob. Laney licked her lips and tried to gure out what to do.
“You don’t sound ne. Is this about Giselle?” she said in a cautious voice as she patted his arm.
“It’s my fault” was the muffled reply. “I messed up, and I don’t know how to fix it. I love her so much. I don’t care if she wants to keep dancing.”
“Is there someone I can call? A friend?”
The crying got louder, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach as the spring breeze picked up. She couldn’t take him back into Carriage, and she didn’t want him at her place. But she couldn’t leave him.
“And now I’ve messed up another date. I mean, look at you. So pretty. And your dress had maidenhair ferns on it. I like maidenhair ferns. We both—”
He broke off into another dry sob. She could only imagine Giselle liked them, too.
“You didn’t mess anything up,” she said and patted his arm again as footsteps echoed across the parking lot. Her nose twitched. Cedarwood with a hint of mint.
Adam.
So far, he’d found her up a tree, hiding outside Sam’s café, and now on an awkward blind date. Why did he keep turning up at the worst possible moment?
When Carl stops crying, he can make me a Venn diagram to explain it.
“Problem?” His voice swept across her skin. A delicious thrill pooled in her belly, and her itch put in its rst appearance of the night. Her brow pounded as she tried her hardest not to compare the two men in front of her. On paper, Carl had made sense. But it seemed her body didn’t care about paper or logic.
“He’s just…a bit overwhelmed,” she said as the sobbing subsided.
“Am I in the middle of a breakup?” Adam shifted his attention back to her.
“Not exactly.” Her stomach churned with embarrassment, but poor Carl needed help. “It’s our first date, but…I don’t think he’s over his ex.”
“Ah.” His brow lifted. “Want some help?”
No. Laney shut her eyes.
The last thing she wanted was to be rescued by Adam Fitzpatrick. But, as Carl let out another shuddering sob, she reluctantly gave him a little nod.
Adam smiled. It was…breathtaking. It radiated out through his eyes and touched parts of her that hadn’t been touched in quite some time.
Do not unpack that thought.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Florist Laney George has a successful business, amazing friends and big, big dreams––oh, and a broken heart. But she’s working through that last one. Then the man she hoped to never see again shows up––and Laney’s carefully ordered plans are experiencing technical difficulties.

Celebrated Author Adam Fitzpatrick planned to be in St. Clair for no more than a day. Sign the books, and get out. Same story, different day. What he didn’t count on was Laney George, who happens to be the star of his somewhat fictional tale. She broke his heart years ago, and he’d gone a bit mad. Okay, maybe a lot mad––and he put everything in his book, never imagining it would be a world-wide best seller.

Now that he’s seen her again, he wants answers. But it isn’t just her that draws him in. It’s the town, something is happening and for the first time in years…he can write again. If only he could convince the woman who hates him most to start a new chapter in their story.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Amanda Ashby was born in Australia but now lives in New Zealand where she writes romance, young adult and middle grade books. She also works in a library, owns far too many vintage tablecloths and likes to delight her family by constantly rearranging the furniture.

She has a degree in English and Journalism from the University of Queensland and is married with two children. Her debut book was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award, and her first young adult book was listed by the New York Public Libraryʼs Stuff for the Teen Age. Because she’s mysterious she also writes middle grade books under the name, Catherine Holt and hopes that all this writing won’t interfere with her Netflix schedule.
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