Spotlight & Giveaway: SEAL in DEEP WATERS by Paige Tyler

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Paige Tyler to HJ!

Hi Paige and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, SEAL in DEEP WATERS!

Hi everyone! Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule to talk about everyone’s favorite topic…books! I hope you have fun reading about the newest addition to the SEALs of Coronado Series because I had a wonderful time writing it!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Petty Officer Ace Harmon is a Navy SEAL from Team 6, and he’s in trouble. Someone has put out a contract on his life and he has no idea why (beyond the theory that there are a lot of bad guys in the world who don’t like SEALs).

Ace gets yanked off his deployment and dropped off at San Diego, home of SEAL Team 5, and given one simple order—lay low. Sounds easy enough, right? I mean, what could go wrong?

Things are going well and he’s fitting in with his new team like the band of brothers they are. But then he meets Tabitha Turner—or Tabby, for short—and things get complicated. She’s more than amazing, but should he be risking his heart when he won’t be staying in San Diego for very long, either because the Navy will find the person trying to kill him or that person will succeed in killing him. What’s a Navy SEAL supposed to do in an impossible situation? Well, Ace is about to find out!
 

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

These are a fun few lines showing the “bonding time” between Ace and some of his new Teammates from SEAL Team 5. They’re so warm and welcoming!

“Then someone put a bomb in my hotel room. I found it just in time to jump out a window, or I’d be dead. That’s when headquarters called me back to Jakarta. I was there less than a day before a sniper took a shot at me. I learned about the contract right before they put me on a plane out of the country. I didn’t even have a chance to shave and get a haircut, which is why I look like a stand-in for Nicholas Cage in that Con Air movie.”

“You don’t look anywhere as cool as Nicholas Cage,” Holden pointed out with a snort.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Nicholas Cage and Con Air were worked into the book simply because he’s such a fun actor. He has the rare ability to be both manly and adorkable at the same time.
• Tabby was never intended as a main character. She was the spunky sidekick in a previous book (SEAL with a SECRET) and that’s where she was supposed to stay. But, as sometimes happens, the character refused to stay in her lane, jumping off the page and demanding more screen time. In this case, that meant her own story and her very own SEAL to cuddle.
• Laurissa, one of the other characters in the book (who had her own story not too long ago in SEAL with a SECRET), is actually inspired by a super-sweet reader I met at a conference and really connected with. Lane, her book boyfriend, is actually her husband in real life, who is also in the Navy.
• There are lots of foreign locales described in this story, which id sort of a must when the books are about Navy SEALs. Obviously, I’ve never been to any of these places. Thank goodness for Google Map and Wikipedia. I don’t know what people did before the internet!
• I never actually know the name of the book until the end. I have a big list of book titles that include the word “SEAL” in it. After we write the book, I pick the name that seems to fit the best.
• It’s sad to say, but I eat vicariously through my characters. Tabby and Ace’s first date involves getting dinner off a food truck. We did a lot of research on all the trucks in the San Diego area, but while they sound wonderful, I don’t think I could ever eat off one. I’m a terrible germaphobe and couldn’t get past the idea that the food and prep surfaces aren’t clean enough even if they are. Silly, I know, but I gotta be me!
• The date where Ace and Tabby ride in a gondola through an area that looks somewhat like Venice is real. There’s a place there where you can take a boat out for hours at a time, with food, wine, and everything. For a person who’d love to see Venice for real, it sounds pretty amazing.
• One of the tropes for this story is about taking a risk and trying to have a relationship with someone when you aren’t sure how long they’re going to be in town. That idea was somewhat inspired by my relationship with my hubby. He’s retired from the Army now, but was active duty when we met and had already been on station for longer than normal. The whole time we dated, we kept waiting for him to come down on orders to leave. It’s why we got married in less than a year after meeting. Six months later, we came down on orders for Korea and moved there. So in a way, that part of my life became the inspiration for this story.

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

Ace wasn’t looking for anything or anyone when he showed up in San Diego. He was hoping to keep his head down and keep someone from putting a bullet in it. Then he met a complete stranger, and everything changed. It was impossible to put into words what attracted him to Tabby. She’s just this free spirit with a huge smile and a lust for life. She’s bold and unapologetically bodacious and he fell with a thud.

Tabby had never done the long-term relationship thing. She always enjoyed herself when she could and then moved on before things got too complicated.

There were a dozen reasons why nothing could ever work between them, including the fact that Ace was supposed to leave soon—if someone didn’t kill him first!

Yet, it happened anyway. They both caught the feels and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

This is a scene between Ace and one of his Teammates. They’re in the middle of a SEAL operation that could see them getting shot at any second, but instead of worrying about that, they talk about their weekend, and the movies they watched with their girlfriends. My husband promises that this is what men really talk about when they discuss the PG-rated stuff they watch at our request.

“Laurissa mentioned that you and Tabby took Tiff and Sofia to see a romantic comedy at the movies over the weekend,” Lane said softly as they pulled the last of the gear from the Zodiac boat they’d just dragged up onto the darkened rocky beach on the unnamed island east of Malaysia. “How’d that go?”

Ace didn’t answer right away, taking a moment to lower his night vision goggles and scan the lightly forested area ahead of them. Flipping to thermal imagining revealed Lennox and Colt moving through the trees about a hundred meters in, conducting a recon to make sure there was nobody else around. According to their intel, there shouldn’t be since this island was uninhabited. But in a couple hours, at least two different criminal elements were supposed to be meeting on the far side of the island to do a show-and-tell to arrange some kind of future arms deal. While Ace had no reason not to trust the intel, he and his fellow SEALs couldn’t take the chance that headquarters had gotten the time wrong. Because heaven knew, that had never happened.

“It was nice,” he finally said once he was satisfied the area was clear. “Though I can’t tell you what the movie was about. It had a lot of teen angst and stuff. The only thing I can say for sure is that there wasn’t a single gunfight or car chase in the entire thing, so basically, I was lost.”

“I feel you,” Lane muttered, tossing a section of camouflage net across the boat, and then draping a few pieces of brush on top of that. “Laurissa had me watching some historical show on Netflix with her over the weekend. I spent the entire time praying Predator would show up.”

Ace chuckled.

Readers should read this book….

If they love reading about a romance that couldn’t possibly ever work, yet it does anyway. The book just goes to show that you find the best things when you’re not even looking. Throw in a bit of found family, heart-stopping adventure, steamy romance and some much-needed laughter and fun, and there’s something for everyone!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Already working on the next SEALs of Coronado book. It will tell the story of Colt and the lengths he’ll go to make a relationship work with a certain former Russian covert agent. I’m also in the process of doing a rough draft for a romantic comedy series (six books) that revolve around a picturesque ski resort town. Last, but not least, we’ve started outlining the next two books in the SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team Series.

As for upcoming releases, the aforementioned next book in the SEALs of Coronado Series will release this summer. Also, LOVING A WOLF (SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team) releases May 9th and WILD AS A WOLF (SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team) releases September 5th so make sure to look for those. Remember to visit my website to sign up for my newsletter (and get a frees book!) to get the scoop on all my books, as well as other fun stuff!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’m giving away the first three books in the SEALs of Coronado Series (SEAL for Her Protection, Strong Silent SEAL, and Texas SEAL) in ebook format! The giveaway is open to US and International readers as long as you have an email address!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you up and change your whole life for love or even just a shot at love?

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Excerpt from SEAL in DEEP WATERS:

This is the scene where Tabby realizes what she’s up against if she wants to spent time with Ace. This is also the point where Ace learns that you have to let other people make their own choices when it comes to how they want to live their lives.

Ace lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Because someone is trying to kill me.”

Tabby stilled completely, the fork in her hand forgotten. Ace wasn’t even sure she’d remember to breathe.

“If you’re joking again, that isn’t even remotely funny,” she finally said.

Ace sighed. “I wish I were joking, believe me.”

He told Tabby about the attempts to murder him in Indonesia and learning that someone had taken a contract out on his life, as well as the Navy’s decision to hide him in SEAL Team 5 and the fact that the people in charge of the investigation only seemed interested in painting him as some kind of criminal who’d brought this entire situation down on himself.

Tabby didn’t say a word the whole time, and even after he was done, she sat there toying with her cake again, like she was thinking about everything he’d just told her.

“Is there any chance any of these hitmen could find you here in the States?” she finally asked, her eyes filling with worry.

“I’d like to think that they won’t, but yes, they could try and come after me here,” he said softly. “Which is why I wanted to talk to you about this. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and I love spending time with you, but getting involved with you in the middle of all this crap would be selfish. It might put you—and now Tiff—in danger. To make things worse—if that’s even possible—I have no idea how long I’ll be in San Diego. Once the Navy decides I’m out of danger, they’ll ship me back to Virginia Beach.”

Tabby gazed at him for a moment, her expression impossible to read. “Are you saying that we shouldn’t hang out anymore?”

Ace mentally stumbled over his own feet for a second, not sure what was going on. The hurt in Tabby’s voice, mixed with equal parts anger, didn’t make sense. He was trying to keep Tabby and her sister safe. Wasn’t that what he was supposed to be doing?

“I assumed you’d want to put some distance between us, for safety’s sake, if nothing else.”

She lifted a brow. “Did you ever consider asking me what I might want to do and let me make that decision?”

“I just thought…”

He’d never understand women as long as he lived. Which, considering there was a contract on his life, might not be that long.

“I understand what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it,” Tabby said, reaching across the small table with a smile and taking his hand in hers. Her skin was warm and smooth against his. “And while there’s a part of me that wants to take Tiff and run merely thinking about her being in danger, the other part of me can’t imagine these people coming after you here in San Diego. I mean, it’s why the Navy sent you here. It’s because they know you’re safe. So, if you’re cool with it, I’d like to keep hanging out while you’re in town.”

That all sounded incredibly sensible, Ace decided. It also hurt like hell for some reason. But he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the part Tabby said about hanging out together while he was there. He could deal with that. He was a SEAL, after all. He was used to living life one day at a time. Be in the moment and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

His life is always in danger, but never his heart.

Petty Officer Ace Harmon is used to almost dying on a weekly basis. It comes with the territory. But this time there’s an actual contract on his head. Someone powerful wants him dead. The Navy figures hiding him in plain sight—like “SEAL central” San Diego—will buy them some time while they figure out who has it out for Ace. Blending in is the name of game, and the guys on TEAM 5 take him in as a brother immediately, willing to protect him as one of their own. But when he meets Tabby at a cookout, he realizes it’s his heart that might need protecting. A licensed electrician and Jane-of-all-trades, she’s like MacGyver mixed with Megan Fox, but more down-to-earth than any woman he’s ever met, and he’s falling head-over-combat boots. But his time in San Diego is limited––so is breathing if the Team doesn’t figure out who paid to have him killed.

Until now.

Tabitha Turner isn’t your typical California beauty. Defying her high-powered parents’ plans, she’s been on her own since the ink dried on her high school diploma. Independent and proud of it, relationships have never been her thing––not after growing up in her parents’ marital war zone. That is until she met Ace. They fit together like the proverbial missing pieces but getting involved with a SEAL on temporary assignment isn’t smart, and Tabby prides herself on being smart. However, keeping it casual is easier said than done because her heart isn’t listening. Even when she finds out he’s the target of a vengeful enemy, she refuses to walk away from the man who’s quickly becoming the love of her life. But when Tabby is kidnapped and used as a pawn to ambush Ace, all hell breaks loose as SEAL Team 5 jumps into action.

Ace doesn’t care if he has to break every military code ever written to rescue Tabby. He’ll get her out alive or die trying.
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Meet the Author:

Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
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