Spotlight & Giveaway: The Book Tour by Emily Ohanjanians

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Emily Ohanjanians to HJ!

Hi Emily and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Book Tour!

 
Thanks so much for featuring my debut romcom! I hope you love the read. 🙂
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Ana Movilian has built an empire out of her special brand of online cheerleading for second-generation immigrants and anyone else seeking the words of encouragement they don’t hear at home. She’s parlayed viral videos to a popular podcast, sold-out speaking events and now a six-figure book deal. Her Armenian family may not be thrilled with her career choice as an influencer, but the next step in her plan—to land her own national talk show—may finally bring them around. All she has to do is impress producers on her upcoming book tour. Which would be in the bag, if only the publicist accompanying her weren’t Ryan bleeping Grant.

Ryan’s publishing list is populated by highbrow, “important” books. Ana knows the brooding grump would rather drink binding glue than jet set across the country promoting her book, and she’d rather read a million troll comments than spend two weeks faking nice with a stuffed shirt. Even if he does fill out that shirt quite nicely…

As they travel from city to city and Ana learns more about Ryan, however, the story she wrote about him in her mind starts to shift and take new shape. A decidedly more appealing shape. Soon, staying professional becomes even more challenging, for entirely different reasons. Crossing that line will derail each of their careers faster than you can say “conflict of interest,” but their growing attraction is starting to feel like a ticking time bomb for their dreams…and their hearts.
 

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

When Ana is checking Ryan out:
-If there is one redeeming aspect of the storm cloud coming on tour, it’s that he is…not hard to look at. Hard not to look at.

When Ana expresses her love to her cousin, Maral:
-I take a sip of the vodka-soda. “Boyid mernem,” I whisper. An Armenian expression that translates literally to “I’ll die for your height” but somehow means “I love you.” Aggressive devotion is an endearing quirk in our culture.

A repeated, romantic sentiment that feels apt to the travel aspect of the book:
-“If you’re there, I want to be there.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I wrote The Book Tour after resigning from my position as a senior editor at a big-5 publisher
• Ana’s character was partly inspired by high-achiever female protagonists in some of my favourite sitcoms, specifically Leslie Knope (Parks & Rec) and Devi Vishwakumar (Never Have I Ever)
• Some of the bookstores on the book tour in the story are real bookstores
• Like Ana, I love dark-roast coffee and hate camping!

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

Ryan is first attracted to Ana’s confidence and the way she absolutely commands a room. I wanted to create a MMC who is not only attracted to the FMC’s tenacity and strength, but reveres her for it. And he wants to give her the freedom to not always *have* to be so strong.
On her end, Ana is drawn to Ryan because he gives her that freedom—he’s the first person in her life to make her feel accepted for being 100% herself. And he doesn’t look half bad in those gray button-downs he wears. 😉

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

Beyond the romance, one of my favourite aspects in The Book Tour is Ana’s relationship with her cousin, Maral, who calls her on her BS at every turn. While they’re out at a bar after a tour event, Maral mentions that Ryan is cute and notices that Ana doth protest too much—which causes Maral to double down. It makes me laugh every time Ana squirms under Mar’s keen appraisal:

“Anyway, this isn’t about me,” I say.
“No, it’s about Ryan, and your crush on him,” Mar teases.
“Can you stop? You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“More like I’m embarrassing you.”
I glare at her. “You should never drink.”
“Excuse me!” She stops a passing server. “Can we get another round, please? This evening is getting interesting.”
I drop my head into my hands. “Okay. Yes, sure, he’s cute. But we’re professionals and there are boundaries and it’s not right for us to shit where we eat, so to speak.”
“First of all, gross analogy. Second, nobody’s shitting anywhere,” Maral says. “Commenting on someone’s looks—positively, no less—is a far cry from ripping his clothes off.”
I try not to let my brain conjure the image of ripping Ryan’s clothes off . . . and fail. I push my pint glass away. I need to reduce dopamine production, and drinking isn’t helping.
“And I’d have thought,” she continues, “that for someone who compartmentalizes her sex life like a bento box, it would be no big deal for you to do that.”
“Well, maybe it is a big deal.”
Maral’s face exposes her surprise—and delight—like a showcase. I suddenly realize the error of my words, which could be construed as being more significant than they are.
“I mean,” I clarify, “that it would be wrong to cross that professional line. With him.”

Readers should read this book….

If they’re looking for:
-an empowered, tenacious, shameless FMC
-an MMC who is the yearningest mayor of Yearntown
-strong friendships and women supporting women
-foot-in-two-worlds second-gen experiences & themes
-publishing behind-the-scenes
-road-trip vibes
-banter & spice!

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

My second novel, releasing in summer 2027, is a sports romance set in the professional tennis world, about two pro tennis players who have to pair up to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon. It’s swoony and romantic and has a lot of delicious forced-proximity tension!
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: (1) A copy of THE BOOK TOUR by Emily Ohanjanians.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Raffle form and Leave a comment to this Q: What did you think book catches your attention

Book Info:

Sparks fly between a lively debut author and her grumpy publicist on book tour in this sizzling rom-com from a fresh new voice in contemporary romance.

Despite her popular podcast and sold-out speaking events, Ana Movilian still feels like she has to prove herself. To her family, who can’t believe she quit med school to build an influencer career, and to literary snobs, who decry her buzzy self-help book. Happily, her upcoming book tour is the perfect chance to show the world just how bright her star can shine.

That is, until her beloved publicist resigns the night before their plane is set to take off, announcing that her replacement is none other than Ryan bleeping Grant.

Ryan specializes in highbrow, “important” books, and his perma-scowl in every interaction with Ana makes one thing clear: he does not get her book. Or her. He’s the last person who should be promoting her work, the last person she should be stuck with for two weeks . . . and the last person who should look that damn good in business casual.

As they travel from city to city, however, Ana’s assumptions about Ryan take new shape. A decidedly more appealing shape. Soon, their growing attraction starts to feel like a ticking time bomb. But crossing that line could derail each of their careers faster than you can say “conflict of interest,” and they both have bigger dreams at stake than the bestseller list.
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Emily Ohanjanians lives with her family in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a professional book editor. After many years on the other side of the desk, she decided to parlay a lifelong love of joyous, escapist, romantic stories into her own writing. The Book Tour is her first novel.
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