Spotlight & Giveaway: SEAL with a Secret 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 with a Secret!

 
Thanks for having me…I’m so exciting to chat about SEAL with a Secret. I love doing HJ blogs! They’re always so fun and get me excited about the book coming out!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Hi everyone…Paige Tyler here with the tenth book in the SEALs of Coronado series. Thanks for taking the time to check in with me and my recent release. Hope you love hearing about it!

As a Navy SEAL, Lane Roberts has always expected his life to be rather intense and complicated. But lately, things have gotten even more bizarre than normal. First, there’s work. Lane and three of his Teammates had been asked to extract a Belarus diplomat and his family out of Europe. Not exactly your typical job for a Navy SEAL. Then they get back home to San Diego and discover that the four of them have been handed over to a CIA/State Department team to continue protecting that same Belarusian family. Apparently, daddy politician has decided that SEALs are the best thing since sliced bread. Lane’s not even sure it’s even legal for him to be doing this, but what are they going to do?

Then there’s his love life. Well, what there is of it. Lane was lucky enough to meet a really amazing woman—Laurissa Bradley—on a dating app a few weeks ago. It was like the two of them were perfectly made for each other and the fact that she’s the younger sister of one of his teammates—Noah—only makes it better. Now, Lane doesn’t have to worry about explaining what SEALs do for a living. Should be a win, right? The only problem is that every time he and Laurissa try to set up a date, something gets in the way. It’s like there’s something—or someone—out there actively trying to keep him and Laurissa apart!

Good thing Laurissa is a ballerina at the same ballet academy where the daughter of the Belarusian diplomat is performing. That should give him plenty of time spend with her. Of course, there’s still the issue of someone trying to kill the diplomat and his family. And now, Laurissa is caught in the middle of that.
 

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

This part takes place after Laurissa mentions that she has a plushie Belgian Malinois named Storm. It’s like a good luck charm for her. Lane flashes her a grin and says that he can’t wait to meet him.

Laurissa laughed, appreciating the fact that Lane didn’t rag on her for having a stuffed toy as an adult. “We’ll have to see about that,” she said playfully, giving him a sultry look. “I don’t show my furry friend to just anyone. I have to get to know you first.”

Gotta love some sexy double entendre.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This story was written for one of my favorite readers that we met a few years ago at the Lori Foster Reader Author Get Together in Cincinnati. She told us this super fun story of meeting her husband to be (who actually is in the Navy) on a dating app, so of course we had to come up with a way to incorporate that into one of our SEAL books (especially since it’s her favorite series!) naming the hero and heroine after Laurissa and her husband, Lane!
• I studied ballet dancing for twelve years, all the way from first grade to a senior in high school (and still have the beat-up feet to prove it!) so it was fun to incorporate a little of that into the story. Trust me, it’s taken years to work pointe shoes and ballet into a romantic suspense story!
• While there really is a ballet company/school in San Diego (several of them actually), we made up the name of the one where Laurissa dances. That way, no one at a real place will get upset about using it. Plus, we don’t have anyone saying “such and such ballet academy doesn’t look like that!”
• The practice of “reassigning” military personnel to the CIA—referred to as sheep dipping—really does happen. It appears to have been a big thing during Vietnam and supposedly continues to this day. So all you conspiracy types, have fun with that!

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

As I mentioned above, this book was inspired by the real-life Laurissa and her husband, Lane. She swiped right and found true love. That’s how we wanted it to work in this story. We also worked in the fact that Laurissa is a very petite woman while Lane is a very big guy. That worked perfectly for a protective SEAL and his badass ninja ballerina (okay, in real life, Laurissa isn’t actually a ninja ballerina, but I wanted to write that into a story somehow).

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

I really love those first kiss scenes, don’t you? There’s something that’s so amazing about writing that moment when the hero and heroine first kiss. In some ways, even though we’re writing the story, it’s like I have no idea if the two characters have any chemistry until that very moment.

Deciding there was no way in hell she was letting him get away without a goodnight kiss, Laurissa placed her hands on his shoulder and urged him down, raising up on her tippy toes at the same time. It took a moment to navigate—the height difference between the two of them was pretty huge—but when she got his mouth down on hers, it was all worth it.

The kiss started gentle, almost tame, but quickly heated up. She wrapped her arms snuggly around the back of his neck and lifted herself a little higher, her tongue slipping between his lips to tease his own. He tasted so scrumptious that she couldn’t contain the moan that found its way out of her throat if she tried.

Lane’s hands slipped down to her waist, lifting her off her toes a little, and Laurissa had to resist the urge to jump up and wrap her legs around him so she could hold on like a koala bear on her favorite tree. That would probably be a bit much on a first date.

By the time Lane gently set her back down on the floor and took a reluctant step back, she was breathless.

“Trust me when I tell you that stopping is the last thing I want to do right now,” he said, fingers of one hand intertwined with hers. “But if we don’t, kissing isn’t the only thing we might get up to in this hallway. And you need to get some sleep.”

Readers should read this book….

Because this story has it all. Romance, action, suspense, intrigue, mystery, snarky characters, more spies than you can shake a stick at, and a perfect HEA. Toss in a best friend’s little sister trope, and this may be the best romance book ever written (okay, maybe I’m stretching that last part a little, but work with me!).

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

We recently finished writing the 15th book in the Special Wolf Alpha Team series and sent it to our publisher a few days ago. Now, we’re working on SEALs of Coronado Book 11, which literally takes up minutes after SEAL with a Secret finishes (a first for us as far as plot devices goes). I should note that all of the books in the SEALs of Coronado can be read in any sequence, so if you haven’t checked them out yet, you can definitely start with SEAL with a Secret!

We’re also going to try and finish a project that we’ve been trying to get to for a while—Animal Instinct, the second book in the Alaskan Werewolf Series (Animal Attraction is the first book). We’ve had fans asking us to finish that one for a while, so we’re going to try and do it.

Of course, there’s also this little Christmas story bubbling, so we’ll see what comes of that.

As for upcoming releases, the next Special Wolf Alpha Team book, The Wolf is Mine releases January 2023, so be sure to check that out!
 

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 Amazon Kindle format. The giveaway is open to US readers only and you must have a Kindle ereader.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you could have one animal with you during a zombie apocalypse, alien invasion, world-wide dinosaur stampede, etc.), what would it be and why? And yes, you may assume that the animal you pick is well-trained. Can’t wait to read your answers!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from SEAL with a Secret:

This is a patented Paige Tyler “running while being shot at scenes.” This one includes Laurissa and some of her friends from the ballet company. For some reason, all of our books seem to have at least one of these scenes.

Laurissa grabbed both girls’ hands and ran down the closest alley. She had no idea where it led and could only pray it wasn’t a dead end. She didn’t know who the people behind them were, or what they wanted, but common sense suggested that getting caught by them would be a bad thing.

She took the first turn they reached, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder as they skidded right at the intersection. The four men were gaining on them fast, two now openly carrying small handguns. The idea that a group of armed people could be chasing them in the middle of the day like this was astonishing.

Laurissa and her friends zigged and zagged down every turn they came to, darting behind dumpsters and piles of boxes, doing anything they could to lose their pursuers. She was so focused on that she barely noticed when she wasn’t holding Anya’s hand anymore until the three of them stopped to hide behind a stack of old wooden pallets. She glanced over to see Anya tapping away at warp speed on her phone.

“I’m texting Kira,” Anya whispered, fingers still moving a mile a minute. “She’s on her way to help and will be here soon.”

Sofia looked hopeful at that. Laurissa wasn’t sure she shared that sentiment. She’d thought about calling Lane for help but knew it would take him much longer than Kira.

“How is Kira even going to find us?” she asked softly. “We’ve taken so many twists and turns that I don’t even know where we are. Besides, what’s she going to do when she finds us? These people have guns.”

“She has a tracking app installed on my phone,” Anya said without looking up from the screen.
“And don’t underestimate Kira. People with guns aren’t an issue for her.”

O-kay. Kira was a strength and conditioning coach who installed tracking apps on her dancers’ phones and wasn’t worried about going up against people with guns. Sounded completely legit to Laurissa.

Laurissa and her friends stayed hunched down behind the pallets, more than ready to remain hidden there until help came. But then she heard the crunch of footsteps on gravel and realized that their plan might have suddenly gone wrong. She dipped her head down a little, trying to see through the spaces between the pallets. When she caught sight of several pairs of shoes coming closer, she knew they were in serious trouble. All she could do was hope they wouldn’t think to look behind the pile of pallets.

That hope proved futile, as a few seconds later one of the men she’d seen earlier coming out of the black SUV walked around the stack of pallets and found them. Stocky with a buzz cut, he smirked and lifted the gun, pointing it directly at them.
Laurissa’s stomach dropped.

Then suddenly, the man jerked back and tumbled to the ground as a shot rang out.

Laurissa flinched and turned toward the source of the gunshot, fully expecting to see Kira there to save them. But instead, it was a dark-haired man in jeans and a T-shirt with a beard. Behind him were two other men dressed in similar fashion.

Who the hell were they?

Laurissa didn’t have long to consider that question before everything went crazy, a barrage of gunfire ringing out, pieces of brick raining down on her and her friends as bullets ricocheted off the wall behind them.

An instinctive part of her mind wanted to get as close to the asphalt as she could, even disappear into it if possible. Anything to hide from those bullets. But even in the midst of her total mind-numbing panic, a small voice was whispering in the back of her head that if she and the others stayed there, they’d be dead. Because it seemed clear that these two groups were fighting over them. Well, probably Sofia. Regardless, when the fight was over, whoever won would come for them.

“We have to run!” she shouted to her friends, who were both hugging the pavement as hard as Laurissa was. “We can’t stay here!”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Secrets are his job.

Navy SEAL Lane Roberts is used to danger––but not from within his own SEAL Team. However, secretly dating his teammate Noah’s little sister Laurissa might put Lane in more jeopardy than walking into Afghanistan carrying only an American flag. Noah has a huge problem with his sister getting involved with a SEAL, and both he and Lane have a problem with political pawns infiltrating the ballet company where Laurissa performs. Living on the edge every day is part of Lane’s job but letting the woman he’s falling hard and fast for risk her life doesn’t sit well. How can he keep his mind on protecting a diplomat’s family and salvaging government secrets if he’s worried about keeping his own beautiful secret safe?

This secret is personal.

Laurissa Bradley has had her heart set on Lane Roberts for quite some time. But between his SEAL missions and her work dancing with the San Diego Ballet Company, they’ve had to postpone all their dates. But when Lane is assigned protect one of the foreign dancers, it throws him and Laurissa together every day––and thankfully, some nights. It also puts Laurissa in the deadly path of international espionage and the hired killers who will stop at nothing to gain access to the information being traded by a member of the dance troupe. But despite what Lane and her brother think, Laurissa isn’t the fragile flower they imagine. And she isn’t about to let her hunky new boyfriend be killed by some terrorist––not without a fight. Who says only SEALs can save the world?
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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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