Spotlight & Giveaway: Taking A Shot by Taryn Leigh Taylor

Posted September 10th, 2018 by in Blog, Spotlight / 36 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Taryn Leigh Taylor to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Taryn and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Taking A Shot!

 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book

Man…I did not realize how many letters were in the title of this book. LOL. Here goes nothing:

T is for teammates. Hockey players are nothing without their teammates.
A is for anonymity. No names. No strings. Just passion.
K is for kissing. ALL the kissing.
I is for incorrectly. As in, incorrectly thinking your one-night stand would remain a one-night stand.
N is for Netflix and chill. ‘Nuff said.
G is for gambling puns. (You’ll see what I mean when you get to chapter fifteen.)

A is for abs. Because sexy, tattooed hockey gods have abs.

S is for swoon. Because there’s nothing swoonier than sexy, tattooed hockey gods with abs.
H is for humor. Is a romance novel without witty banter even a romance novel?
O is for opposites attract. A good girl who wants to be back and a bad boy who needs to be good? Yes please!
T is for true love. HEA for the win, always.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Chelsea London took a deep breath and unbuckled her seatbelt, ignoring the lack of gravity in her stomach.
Here goes nothing.
She turned to face her chauffeur/moral support. “How do my boobs look?”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • I made one Little Red Riding Hood joke at the beginning of the book, and by the end, fairy tales had become a major motif of the book!
  • My heroine’s last name is London in tribute to my friend and fellow romance author, the fabulous Stefanie London
  • The Montana Wolfpack series is a spinoff of my previous hockey series, so if you’ve read those, you might see a couple of fun call backs! (If you haven’t read them, fear not! Taking a Shot is a standalone novel and requires no pre-reading whatsoever.)
  • Brett Sillinger, has appeared in every single one of my hockey romances. He was eighteen in his inaugural appearance and he’s twenty-six in this book.
  • The first time I put Brett on the page, I never thought for even a second that he would become the hero of his own book, and now he’s a strong contender for my favorite hero I’ve ever written.

 

Was there a scene in this book that was harder to write than others?

I think one of the hardest scenes I had to write was one that took place in the stairwell of a casino. It’s a pivotal moment when Chelsea’s fears about being enough for Brett get the best of her. She wants to prove she’s sexy and wild enough for this handsome, famous professional hockey player who has women throwing themselves at him, but her seduction plan goes awry, and she’s left embarrassed and sad and feeling really low. This scene put me through the wringer. It was a delicate balancing act, getting these two be so emotionally vulnerable with each other, because prior to this, the book has such a fun, sexy vibe. It wasn’t easy, but I love how the scene turned out. Here’s an excerpt:

“I want to be bad, Brett. You make me want to be bad. But you just want me to be good.”
“Is that what you want? Or do you think that’s how I want you to be?”
The question gutted her. Suddenly, Chelsea wasn’t sure. Nothing made sense anymore.
He stood a couple of feet from her, but it felt like a chasm. He’d completely rocked her world,
tipped it off its axis. She and Dustin had never made it much past missionary, so she couldn’t even reciprocate like she wanted to. Shame washed through her. Hell, she couldn’t even execute a basic blowjob.
And if he thought she wanted to talk about that, well…
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.” She strode toward the exit, but her attempt to save what was left of her tattered pride was foiled when she put her hand on the door…and nothing happened.
Frowning, Chelsea pushed again, this time with both hands. It didn’t budge.
Her eyes darted along the perimeter of the painted metal. There was no handle. No push bar. Nothing. Well, great.
“We’re stuck.”
Brett walked up behind her, reached past her to place his palm on the door, but he didn’t push. He just stood there, not touching her, but crowding her between two immovable objects nonetheless. She dropped her chin to her chest.
“Turn around,” he said softly.
She didn’t want to, but there was something in his voice that made it impossible to resist him. A promise. Temptation. She kept her head down as she obeyed, staring at his brown leather wingtips, trying not to notice how her body vibrated at a different frequency whenever he was close.
He said nothing, didn’t move. She held out for about four shaky breaths before she lifted her eyes to his face, desperate to know what the point of all this was. Why he was pushing it.
His stormy eyes were more gray than blue as he searched her face. She didn’t like the furrow in his brow, more like intense concentration than a frown. It made her worry he could see too much. And then her worst fears came true, spoken in his beautiful, deep voice.
“You think I don’t want you?”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

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

I think this book is really about being brave enough to be yourself, and not letting other people define who you are.

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: Winner’s choice between a digital book or a signed paperback copy of Taking a Shot. Open internationally.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Obviously, I have a thing for hockey players. (It’s my Canadian roots!) But I want to know, what sport do you think has the sexiest athletes? Tell me in the comments below for your chance to win a copy of TAKING A SHOT.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Book Info:

Hockey star Brett Sillinger’s never been afraid of a little trouble. But when his personal life ends up in the tabloids, he knows his career is on thin ice. Luckily, a new team decides to take a chance on him. All he has to do is keep head in the game. But when temptation walks up wearing black knee-high boots, looking for one night of nameless, no-strings passion, well, what’s a guy to do?

Chelsea London is looking to misbehave. What’s being good ever gotten her, besides getting dumped and passed over for a big promotion at work? But her one delicious night of rebellion has unexpected consequences–her hot one-night stand is the latest addition to her father’s hockey team. And suddenly, one night of bad-girldom isn’t nearly enough.

But one false move, and Brett might spend this season in the penalty box…

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Taryn Leigh Taylor likes dinosaurs, bridges, and space, both personal and of the final frontier variety. She shamelessly indulges in cliches, most notably her Starbucks addiction, her shoe hoard, and her penchant for falling in book lust with hot fictional men.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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36 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Taking A Shot by Taryn Leigh Taylor”

  4. Anita H.

    I may be a little biased but I’m totally with you on the hockey players!

  5. Rachael constant

    Not a fan of sports, never watch them. Except sometimes the swimming during the Olympics.

  6. Sue C.

    I enjoy all hot athletes (hockey, football, baseball) but I’ve been a fan of baseball since I was a little kid.

  7. Mary Preston

    Swimmers are always rather yummy. Thinking surf life savers here mostly.

  12. Kim M

    I didn’t start watching hockey until last seasons playoffs. I definitely see why you think hockey has the best looking players. I think I’m going to go with hockey as well.

  13. Kathleen O

    Hockey is in my roots too.. being Canadian, but I have say the first athletes I ever found sexy was Joe Montana and Joe Namath..both football players.

  30. erahime

    Hmm, since I’m not a sports fan, this is tough. If I have to choose, then the trifecta of hockey, soccer, and ruby.

  36. Terrill R.

    Rugby and Baseball have some of the sexiest athletes. All the padding in hockey and football disguise what’s underneath.