Spotlight & Giveaway: Southern Heartbreaker by Jessica Peterson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jessica Peterson to HJ!

Hi Jessica and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Southern Heartbreaker!

 
Hi there! Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been a big fan of this blog for a while now, and it’s such an honor to be featured here.
 

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

SOUTHERN HEARTBREAKER is a super sexy single dad, second chance romance. It’s set in Charleston, South Carolina–one of my all time favorite cities!–and features a heroine who’s a pit master (how cool is that?) and a hero who’s a sexy suited up venture capitalist. Think tons of fun banter plus feels plus boat sex!
 

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

“Answer when I call you,” Ford says at last. His voice sounds like sandpaper.
He leans in, surrounding me in that woodsy smell again, and covers my mouth with his. Pulling at me. Quick and hot.
One of my knees buckles.
Everything inside me buckles.
I watch Ford climb into his fancy Uber wearing his fancy suit and fancy shoes. A pulse of want moves through me, settling in my stomach like a brick.
One night together, and I already want this heartbreaker so bad it hurts.
Sh_t.

What inspired this book?

Absolutely! I love single dad romances, so I knew I eventually wanted to write one of my own. Melanie Harlow writes amazing single dads, as does Claire Kingsley.

In terms of character inspiration, Ryan Reynolds was 100% my celebrity muse for Ford Montgomery, and Gina Rodriguez was my celebrity inspiration for Eva. Loved her in Jane the Virgin!

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

I just started writing them! And yes, they definitely surprised me. Eva was so full of conviction and heart from the beginning. Ford turned into this INSANELY foul mouthed dirty talker who I couldn’t get enough of. They were so fun to write!

What was your favorite scene to write?

The boat sex scene, obviously! Here’s a sneak peek:

“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say.
But really, I’m not. Safe to say this is so much more than lust. There are a lot of great reasons why I shouldn’t be falling for Ford—he broke my heart once, we lead totally different lives—but it’s happening anyway.
I don’t know what to do.
“Let’s get back in the water,” Ford murmurs against my skin. “Get you cleaned up. Maybe open a few more beers and hang out on those floaties I was talking about. I have a unicorn, a flamingo, and a donut with sprinkles. Which one do you want?”
My lips curl into a smile, even as my eyes burn. Just the sunscreen. Although, please. That’s not at all true.
“In keeping with today’s food theme, I’ll go with the donut,” I manage.
“Solid choice.” He kisses my neck, and I shiver at the feel of his scruff against my skin. “Also. I can’t properly clean you up if you have your bathing suit on, so…”
I straighten, falling back on my haunches. “If yours stays off, mine will, too.”
“Deal.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

You know, the beginning scenes are always the most difficult for me to write with each book. I don’t know the characters yet, so I end up heavily editing the first quarter of the book or so. Here’s a snippet from the beginning of the book–a scene where Ford and Eva see each other for the first time since he broke up with her a decade ago in college:

I set the cake box on the long farm table at the front of the space. Tuck my hair behind my ear. Damn it, I don’t even know why I curled it this morning. The humidity has already made a mess of—
“Nice box.”
A tremor—electrifying but silent, like heat lightning pulsing inside my skin—echoes through me at the voice behind me.
It’s the kind of deep that sounds like it’s been roughened by sweet-smelling vices. Expensive cigars. Barrel-aged Kentucky bourbons.
The kind of deep I’d know anywhere.
Oh, Jesus.
I turn around, and my stomach dips.
He is standing there. All six-foot-two inches of him, hands tucked casually into the pockets of his perfectly tailored, perfectly pressed grey trousers.
Dark hair, light brown eyes, heavy scruff that borders on a beard.
Ford Montgomery. In a suit.
At heart, I may be a pit master who normally has no interest in power suits like this one. But I’m also a red-blooded woman.
And damn does Ford look good.
Really, really good.

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

This book is my most personal to date. I’ve found that the more honest I am in my writing–the more I incorporate my own experiences and thoughts–the more readers connect with it.

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

That you can build your own life on your own terms and make your dreams come true!

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

I’m eight months pregnant at the moment, so I’m planning on taking maternity leave after this book releases. Then I’m diving back into some exciting new projects in 2020!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One signed paperback of Southern Heartbreaker by Jessica Peterson

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What’s your favorite city or place to visit? What’s your dream city that you’d like to visit one day?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Southern Heartbreaker:

I lift my hand for the bill and push off the bar.
Push right into someone behind me.
I turn around to apologize and lock gazes with a familiar pair of gorgeous dark brown eyes.
Oh God.
It’s happening. My half-baked plan to run into the woman I broke up with a decade ago actually worked.
“Eva!” I say, my heart skidding to a momentary stop inside my chest. “Hey.”
She smiles, this big, genuine, unguarded thing, and fu-uck my heart is skidding again.
Damn she’s a stunner. It’s not just her looks, although she’s a knockout, her brown hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders, full lips done up in pink gloss. She’s got long, dark eyelashes, and a small, Cindy-Crawford like mole above her upper right lip.
It’s her confidence that catches my eye, same as it did more than a decade ago. The honest, certain way she carries herself. She’s totally at home in her own skin, and it shows.
I feel a swift kick low in my gut.
Arousal.
Regret, too. Part of me always felt like a schmuck for breaking up with Eva, and for saying the things I did. But now that I’m with her again, that regret has intensified tenfold.
“Two times in two weeks,” she replies. “And both times you’ve been in a suit.”
Eva lifts her arm, inviting me into a hug. I expect it to be awkward, but it isn’t.
Nothing with Eva ever was.
The embrace is quick but warm. My body perks up at the press of her breasts to my chest. The scent of her perfume. Not floral, not sweet. Decidedly sexy.
“You were never one for suits,” I say, smoothing my tie after I reluctantly let her go.
Her eyes spark. “I don’t hate them. Not on you. Just takes some getting used to. Although I have to admit that I’m missing the tats.”
“Tats are still there.” I pull back my sleeve, revealing the lines of script that cover my left forearm. A line from a favorite poem. A block of text from the Dave Matthews Band song we were both obsessed with back in college, if only because it captured the poignancy of our marathon make-out sessions so beautifully.
Eva turns around so that her back is to me.
“Mine are, too.” She gathers the thick mass of her hair in her hand and pulls it over her shoulder. Revealing a back that’s almost bare, save for the teeny tiny straps of her silky white tank top. My eyes rove over her skin, smooth. Soft, if memory serves.
She doesn’t have a lot of ink, but what she does have is pretty. Feminine. Lines of text stacked neatly just beneath her arm—the same Dave Matthews make out quote. A small constellation of stars on one side of her spine.
I imagine tracing the path of those stars with my fingertips. Then my tongue.
She’s the same but different. Just as beautiful. A little more weary. Confident and full of life like always, but there’s this sadness about her. It’s new. A gash on the inside that’s still bleeding.
What caused it? Who?
“I see you still have the Dave Matthews quote.”
Eva nods at my arm. “So do you.”
“Yup.” I lift my sleeve a little farther.
She smiles. So do I. I’m not ashamed of my tattoos, per se, but I definitely haven’t been showing them off these days. For the most part, I have to cover them up for meetings. Conferences. Consults. To the point that I’ll forget I even have them some days.
I’ve forgotten that, once upon a time, I was the kind of guy who was capable of being so moved by something, a lyric or the line of a poem, that I had to have it permanently inked on my skin.
I could be moved by the conviction and the courage of someone like Eva.
Heat gathers in the head of my dick.
I should close out my tab and get back to my house. There are so many fucking things that need to get done.
Then again, I told Hannah I’d be home around ten.
Who am I kidding? I’m definitely staying for another drink if Eva will have me.
The bartender appears, and I look at Eva.
“Whiskey neat?” I ask. My heart lifts, still and hopeful, as I wait for her to reply.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He was the bad boy I fell for in college. Now he’s a sexy single dad and Charleston’s most successful venture capitalist. Dominant and decisive, Ford Montgomery is used to getting what he wants. And he just set his sights on me…

Ford Montgomery was my first everything.
First love.
First guy I slept with.
First heartbreak when he dumped me without explanation.

A decade later, it’s just my luck he’s the first guy I run into after moving back to my hometown of Charleston. Three piece suit, tie, and a watch worth more than my car—being a mogul looks good on Ford. So does being a doting dad to his adorable four-year-old daughter.

I tell myself I can resist him. But one impulsive, ill-advised kiss later, and Ford is in hot pursuit. He’s determined to make up for his past mistakes, and convinces me to give him a second chance.

What started out as fun between the sheets gets really serious, really fast. Problem is, I swore I’d never give up the dreams I worked so hard for to settle down and do the family thing.

But seeing Ford light up around his daughter—seeing how he’s chasing his ambitions while rocking fatherhood—is making me rethink what I want out of life.

It doesn’t help that behind his corporate veneer is the bad boy I fell in love with. And bad boys aren’t afraid to play dirty…or break hearts.

SOUTHERN HEARTBREAKER is a full-length, STANDALONE romance. It is part of the Charleston Heat Series, which is a series of interconnected standalone novels set in the steamy southern town of Charleston, South Carolina.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Jessica Peterson writes smart, sexy romance set in her favorite cities around the world. She grew up on a steady diet of Mr. Darcy, Jamie Frasier, and Edward Cullen, and it wasn’t long before she started creating irresistible heroes of her own. She loves strong coffee, stronger heroines, and heroes with hot accents.

She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband Ben and her smelly Goldendoodle Martha Bean.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | GoodReads |