Spotlight & Giveaway: Set the Night on Fire by Laura Trentham

Posted July 27th, 2018 by in Blog, Spotlight / 34 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Laura Trentham to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Laura and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Set the Night on Fire!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Searching for a purpose in life, Ella Boudreaux, wealthy divorcee, has unintentionally staged a hostile takeover of a local car garage and restoration business. The part-owner, Mack Abbott, will get her percentage back in his hands come hell or high water. Their attraction to one another proves distracting and complicating and a whole lot of fun for the reader.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Ella Boudreaux drove past Abbott Brothers Garage and Restoration instead of pulling into the parking lot and marching inside like the part owner she was. She wasn’t scared exactly. More like slightly nervous about her reception.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • I’m not actually into cars and used my amateur mechanic husband to get things right.
  • We have a yellow 1970 Datsun 240Z (see snippet below) sitting in our garage right now.
  • My heroine has a special attachment to Datsun 240Zs as it was the kind of car her beloved, deceased brother drove. My husband has the same kind of attachment to our Datsun as it was owned by his cousin who passed away last summer.

 

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Mack Abbott is the defacto leader of the family and the garage. As his two younger twin brothers have found love, he grapples with loneliness. He big both physically and by personality and isn’t used to accepting help or being challenged.

Ella Boudreaux is building a new life in Cottonbloom after her divorce. She has plenty of money but no purpose. Until an opportunity to buy a stake in Abbott Brother Garage presents itself.

I got to know Mack quite well after writing his brothers’ books, but Ella was fun. One of her challenges is how to handle her ex-husband’s current wife when she shows up on Ella’s doorstep. That storyline surprised even me!

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

She shouldn’t rise to the bait. Unfortunately, her mouth was less mature than her mind, and she reeled off facts her brother had recited with pride.
“That Datsun 240Z you were under? It’s a seventy-three with a 2.4-liter straight-six and side-draft carburetors. It can hit sixty in 8.2 seconds with 151 horsepower. Top speed is a hundred twenty-five miles per hour. Not that anyone should be driving that fast on parish roads.”
He looked . . . stunned. She confined herself to a small self-satisfied smile. She had a feeling nothing much surprised Mack Abbott, or if it did, he made sure the world didn’t realize it.
“How did you . . . How do you know all that?”
“That’s not important. What is important is that I can help you.”
“We don’t need help.” He shook his head and re-chinked the breaks in his wall of grump.
“Yes, you do.”
“No, we don’t.” The playground-level annoyance continued with his childish denials.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes, probably not helping to diffuse the situation.
“Name your price.”
“That’s not how this is going to work, Mack.”
“I say how things are run and done in this garage. Not you, Ms. Boudreaux.”
“I have a quarter stake and an equal voice.”
“Except, we handle things democratically around here and my brothers will have my back. Every. Single. Time.”
Dangit. He had her there. Pushing against Mack was like trying to move a mountain. She glanced at the twins. If she couldn’t move Mack, then she’d have to go around him. She wanted to stalk out and slam the door, but forced herself to mosey as if she wasn’t bothered at all by the situation or the man. He followed her to the door. She stopped with one foot out and one in. The breeze caught her hair, and she tossed her head to get it out of her eyes.
“Name your price,” he repeated in a growly, grizzly voice that was meant to grind down her dissension.
Where she found the gumption she didn’t know, but she gave his cheek two pats and said, “You can’t afford me, tough guy.”

 

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

Sometimes your key to happiness can be found where you least expect it.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned for 2017?

A Military Wife, my first romantic women’s fiction book releases in February 2019. Then, I’m excited to be writing a romantic comedy series called Highland Games, set in the unique small town of Highland, Georgia, set around their Scottish Games festival. Summer 2019 release.

I’ll also expand my Regency historical series, Spies and Lovers, with a new installment, A Sinful Surrender, coming Fall/Winter 2018.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: 1 MM paperback copy of Set the Night on Fire to one US only winner.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: As this is set in a car restoration and garage, do you have a favorite classic car? Or maybe your first car is now considered a “classic?”

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Set the Night on Fire:

Mack’s cheek burned as Ella Boudreaux walked away with a sexy twitch to her grease-covered ass. He let his gaze travel down her legs and back up again. Holy hell. He’d never met a woman who exuded her kind of raw sexuality and confidence.
Was that what money could buy? Mack shook his head to reorder his jumbled brain. It wasn’t often he suffered from a crisis of confidence, but Ella had sucked his out like a leech. He no longer felt grounded, but flailing on the edge of a precipice.
The truth was she was right. He couldn’t afford her. He couldn’t even afford what she’d paid Ford for the twentyfive percent stake in the garage. Not yet anyway. The upgrades to the equipment had eaten away at their capital. It had been a good investment and would pay off, just not fast enough to avoid the oncoming collision with Ella Boudreaux.
“What’d she say?” Wyatt’s voice startled Mack into the doorjamb.
He had managed to come up on Mack unawares. No surprise, considering his thoughts were centered on the woman who was heading toward a tiny convertible. Its soft-top was closed in deference to the cool spring day, but he could imagine her dark, silky hair whipping through the air like an old-school movie star driving with the top down. He caught a peek of her leg as she climbed in, her skirt sliding up a few more inches.
Those legs.
The sight of her sprawled on the shop floor with her long white legs against the dirty gray floor had done something strange to his innards. He couldn’t describe the feeling because he didn’t understand it. All he knew was that for the sake of his sanity, he needed her gone for good.
“She’s not looking to sell,” Mack muttered.
“I didn’t think we had the money to buy her out anyway.”
“We don’t. But we will. Unfortunately, it seems like she’s not willing to be a silent partner after all.”
“Are you worried she’s going to try to change things?”
Change. He was forever worried about change.
Ella backed her car up and gave them a wave through her open window. “I’ll see you boys soon!”
She hit the parish road fast and fishtailed on the gravel, correcting the skid and handling the nimble convertible like a pro. Mack stood staring at the curve where she disappeared from sight.
“She says she wants to help market the shop,” he said darkly.
“Sounds like a good thing.” Wyatt nudged Mack with his shoulder.
“I don’t trust her. She has an ulterior motive. Why would she want to go out and hustle for the shop? Who are we to her?”
Wyatt let out a gusty sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe it will all become clear if we give it some time.”
Time. How much did they have? Not enough of it in the day to get all his work done, that was a certainty. Since Ford had abandoned them and with Wyatt and Jackson spending more time with Sutton and Willa, Mack felt like Atlas trying to hold up the world by himself.
Something else bothered him. The way she’d reeled off the facts about the Datsun. Finding out which cars were being restored wouldn’t be difficult, as they kept a Facebook page updated with their progress, but the Datsun had just come in, and he hadn’t had a chance to post the before pictures. How had she known to memorize the details? Or was she more familiar with classic cars than he’d given her credit for? If so, a new deep worrying wrinkle complicated the issue.

Copyright © 2018 by Laura Trentham in Set the Night on Fire and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Paperbacks.
 
 

Book Info:

Ella Boudreaux has a lot to prove to her family, friends, and foes―and to herself. So when her marriage ends she decides to invest her energy and money into a place that brings back some of Ella’s happiest memories: the Abbott brothers’ garage. Maybe, if she puts her mind to it, she can teach skeptical, stubborn Mack Abbott how to make the business a true success. Which would be a lot easier if the hunky mechanic didn’t make her motor run quite so fast…and hot.

Mack was furious when his brother, Ford, sold his share of the business. He’s in no rush to team up with a wealthy divorcée who shows up to the garage in stilettos―and the longest, sexiest legs he’s seen in forever. But Ella’s grit and determination won’t quit…and soon Mack can see that she’s been down a few rough roads herself. Neither Mack nor Ella can deny the fierce attraction that’s revving up between them. Could it be that true love has been in the backseat all along…and they’ve finally found the key?
Buy Link: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250131300
 
 

Meet the Author:

Laura Trentham is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance, including Then He Kissed Me and Set the Night on Fire. She is a member of RWA, and has finaled multiple times in the Golden Heart competition. A chemical engineer by training and a lover of books by nature, she lives in South Carolina.

 
 
 

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34 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Set the Night on Fire by Laura Trentham”

  2. Tonya Lucas

    I just love your books Laura!
    My favorite classic car is a ‘57 Chevy Car, but I’ve also recently gravitated toward the 60’s Belle Aire. My husband loves classic cars. He just sold last week his ‘49 Buick to a gentleman in NM that shows cars.
    He’s now looking for a new one to have. He’s thinks ‘65-67 Mustang or a Charger.
    Thanks for the chance to win one of your autographed books.

    • sejoc1968

      Now Rob wants some of my favorite cars! I can’t wait to see what he ends up with. I thought of him when she asked the question!

  3. Debra Guyette

    I am sure my first car would have been a classic by now. I wonder if it was not then. My favorite is the really old ones like a Model T.

  6. janinecatmom

    I used to have a 73 Trans Am but we had to sell it when my husband lost his job one time. I would love to have another one. But my husband is into classic trucks now.

  8. laurieg72

    Our neighbor had a great 63 Corvette that I thought was really cool.

    Coincidentally the book I’m reading now, Robyn Carr’s THE CHANCE, features Eric who owns a a classic car renovation body shop and garage. I hadn’t realized how much some of those cars are worth.

  10. hartfiction

    We had a station wagon with the back seats facing to the rear. We always loved sitting back there watching the road behind us.

  11. kermitsgirl

    I have always wanted a cherry red 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang with a white convertible top. It’s been my dream car since I was 10 years old and my dad showed me a picture of one.

  12. sejoc1968

    Oh my I can’t pick just one classic car as my favorite! I’m not good at picking one of anything. If I could own a completely rehabbed car I’d want a late 70’s model turbo Pontiac Firefird Trans Am like my brother owned when I was young. That car was part of a very tragic ending the very night that my brother sold it for the car and several lives. It packed a lot of power under the hood and then alcohol was also involved. I also love old Mustangs and Chargers. I’m always in awe of any old fixed up classic cars.

  14. Amy R

    No favorite classic car but some are very pretty and the classic muscle cars are great.

  17. Daniel M

    my first car was a 57 chevy bel air, had it in 1978, loved it but needed more work than I had money for

  19. Nancy Luebke

    I’ve never driven or riden in one, but I love the look of the older Mustangs. I worked in a repair shop as a bookkeeper and one of the managers had an older bright yellow mustang. It was a beauty. That was way back in 1970’s.

  23. erinf1

    zilch interest in cars. I only care if it gets me from point a to point b with no problems. This sounds fun! Thanks for sharing!

  24. Glenda

    I would LOVE to have a convertible 50’s Corvette! My hubby’s first car was a ’58 Bel Aire, He currently has a ’61 Impala. (I honestly preferred the ’66 Impala my dad had but don’t tell my husband 😉 )

  25. eawells

    My dream car was a MGB but when I went looking at them I found that I couldn’t reach the pedals with the seat all the way up. I was so disappointed. So I bought a 78 Celica GT instead. My dad had a brown Datsun 260Z, which I drove trying to learn how to drive a manual. I would also love to own a Miata convertible. I love looking at all the old muscle and sports cars.

  27. Shannon Capelle

    My great uncle had an old mustang that was so cool that I loved when I was younger!

  32. Patricia B.

    The first car we go just as we got married was a 1972 Land Rover. Think Hatari and other old safari movies. My husband ti be ordered it new as he left on a tour to Vietnam (one of 4). We have really enjoyed it, but it needs to be refurbished. He has most of the parts, but isn’t having much luck finding the time to do it. Our son sanded it, but that is as far as we got. It isn’t a comfortable vehicle to ride in, a bit bumpy and the heat doesn’t work all that well. If you want air conditioning, open a window. We built a tent platform for the rack on the roof. Great to use in the woods.

  33. Amber Bourland

    I’ve never been much into cars, but my husband had a 1969 Chevelle that he restored over a few years and loved that car- until a drunk leaving a bar caused him to wreck it. I always thought, if I got the money and a chance, I’d buy him one like it.