Spotlight & Giveaway: The Chemistry of Love by Sariah Wilson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sariah Wilson to HJ!

Hi Sariah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Chemistry of Love!

 
Thank you so much for having me! HJ is one of my favorite book reviewing sites.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Nerdy/fangirl cosmetic chemist Anna is desperately in love with her boss and can’t figure out how to get his attention. Enter his dashing, handsome half-brother and CEO Marco, who offers to help by fake dating her (given that his brother is so competitive with him). Anna agrees and despite her best intentions, starts to fall for Marco.
 

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

“In case you didn’t know, the ugly duckling never had to change. She just needed to figure out that she’d been a swan all along.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

This book has a couple of my favorite tropes including fake dating (with real feelings) and only one bed (sort of). It has a lot of fandom references–I’m a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings nerd and that figures into this story! I also got learn a lot about cosmetic chemistry, which is something I knew nothing about when I started this story. I was able to get in touch with an actual cosmetic chemist and she graciously allowed me to share a lot of her real life experiences.

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

The first thing that my hero is attracted to is that the heroine seems to need his help. Then it’s her smarts and her devotion to the things she loves. My heroine is first attracted to the hero’s ridiculous handsomeness, but she’s in love with his brother, so she tries to keep those feelings at bay. Then she loves his mind, his kindness, and how much fun she has with him.

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

A scene that made me laugh involves a face mask, and I can’t include it here because it would be spoiler-y. It is something that happened in real life to the cosmetic chemist I spoke to, and it made me laugh when she told me the story. I knew I had to include it in the book while pushing the awkwardness and humor even further, and it’s one of my favorite scenes.

Readers should read this book….

You should read this book if you love fake dating, if you like steamy kisses (for science!), a STEM heroine, nerd/fandom rep, if you like to laugh, or if you love cinnamon roll heroes with awkward, messy heroines.

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

My next book coming out is called THE HOLLYWOOD JINX, and it’s about a small town putting out a viral request for a movie star to come to their festival to increase tourism, and he accepts! And the temporary leader of the town is called on to keep an eye on him, which she doesn’t want to do, but doesn’t have much of a choice. Shenanigans and romance ensue from there!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’ll give away a copy of THE CHEMISTRY OF LOVE, US only.

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Excerpt from The Chemistry of Love:

CHAPTER THREE
I had honestly expected Catalina to argue with me. To tell me this was a terrible idea and that I should be a good little worker drone and head back to my desk.
But to my surprise she said, “You should. If I had more practical experience, I’d leave in a heartbeat. Any lab’s got to be better than this one There are dozens of makeup companies in the Los Angeles area. You can get another job. A better one.”
I could get a better job. I was routinely contacted by headhunters via my LinkedIn profile. There had to be something waiting for me out there.
Not only that, and much as I didn’t want to admit it even to myself, this meant that I’d be able to get over that pesky nonfraternization rule. There wouldn’t be anything to stop me and Craig from being able to be together. I loved him, he seemed interested in me, and I was going to clear the pathway for us.
I’d never tell anyone else that I’d thought that, though. The Craig thing was not my primary motivation. This was about how badly I’d been treated by Jerry. This was going to be my moment where I triumphed over my terrible boss. Living out my quitting fantasy. Taking back my life.
“Wish me luck,” I said, forcing my feet to move forward.
“Good luck!”
Every step felt like walking through quicksand with iron shoes. The old me didn’t want this—it was better to sit back and hope for better things instead of making it happen.
That’s what I’d always done, and was how I’d ended up here. Time to shake my life up.
Jerry’s door was still open, and I walked into his office without knocking. He glanced up briefly and then looked back at his computer screen. “What?”
If he’d been even a little bit courteous or human in that moment, I might have reconsidered. Instead I screwed up all my courage, repeated the word “happy” as an internal mantra, and then said, “I’m giving you my two weeks’ notice.”
That got his attention. He said, “What?” for a second time, as if he hadn’t heard me.
So I repeated, “I’m giving you my two weeks’ notice.”
There. It was out in the world. There was no taking it back now.
I envisioned the next few minutes in my head. He would ask me why I was quitting, and I would get to tell him about all the awful things he’d done, how much he’d undervalued me as an employee these last four years, and how Catalina was right—I did deserve better. I queued up all my potential responses in my mind, ready to go.
Jerry leaned back in his chair, studying me. Like I was a butterfly he’d pinned to a board, still trying to flap my wings while being stuck in place. “Well, I don’t think there’s any reason to prolong this. If you’re quitting, you can clear out your desk today.”
Now I was the one saying, “What?” This felt too sudden. I mean, quitting spur of the moment was definitely high on the spontaneous scale, but I thought I’d have time to ease into my new, brighter life. Look for another job while still holding on to this one.
I also thought I would get the chance to finally (FINALLY) speak my mind but was so flustered by his words that I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Give me your badge and pack up your things,” he said, emphasizing the first sound of each word. He went back to his computer, as if I didn’t matter to him at all. “I hope you’re not expecting to get a reference.”
I’d expect to solo a trek up Mt. Everest before I’d expect a reference from this terrible man. I unclipped my badge from my front pocket and put it on his desk. Realizing that my moment to speak up had come and gone, I went back to my workstation. My ex-workstation, I mentally corrected myself.
I didn’t work here anymore.
Packing up the few things I had in my desk drawers took a surprisingly short amount of time. I was on autopilot, and then Catalina was there, asking me questions, but there was just this buzzing noise in my ears and I couldn’t really make out any distinct sounds. I grabbed the box of products she’d wanted me to try. I could still help with that.
“Anna, what happened?” Her words were finally clear.
“He told me to go home. To not wait the two weeks and be done today,” I said, for both my benefit and hers. So she would know, so I would register what had happened. My voice sounded muffled to me.
Then Daniel, the security guard, was there with a very apologetic look on his face. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Jerry would call security on me, but I was.
“I’m sorry about this Anna,” he said. “I have to escort you from the property.”
“Right. I get it.” He was only doing his job. Something I was no longer going to be doing.
I was unemployed.
Catalina asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’ll call you later,” I told her. For some reason, it was right then when I realized that I wasn’t just quitting Minx Cosmetics—I was also leaving Catalina. Tears filled my eyes. “I’m not going to see you every day!”
“We will talk and text every day, just like we do now. And when you start your own successful business, you can hire me. I’ll be your right-hand woman.”
If I’d been able to laugh, I would have. That was such a pipe dream. One that I wanted but lacked the ability to turn into reality.
“Anna, we do have to go,” Daniel said, still sounding very sorry.
“Okay.” I didn’t want him to get in trouble. I hugged Catalina. “We’ll talk soon.”
“Definitely.”
I felt the stare of every other chemist in the room as I walked out for the final time. My throat was hot and tight. I would not cry in front of all these people. The least I could do was not give Jerry the satisfaction of making me break down in the middle of the lab.
Daniel walked me all the way down to the parking lot, opening all the locked doors in the building for me with his badge.
“You’ll find something else,” he said when we reached my car. “Take care, okay?”
I nodded, still not trusting myself to speak yet. When he went back into the lobby, I unlocked my car and put the box into the passenger seat. I headed over to my side and climbed in, locking the door shut behind me.
What did I just do? What did I do?
This was so unlike me. I was not impulsive! I had never quit a job before. Granted, this was the only real job I’d ever had, but until today I hadn’t ever quit it!
As the adrenaline and shock started to wear off, I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel. My hands were still trembling as I wondered whether I’d made a huge mistake. I seriously considered running back inside and telling Jerry I didn’t mean it. That I had overreacted and would do anything to get my job back. Even take a pay cut, if I had to. Although I didn’t know how they could pay me any less—I was pretty sure I made the least out of all the other chemists, including the recent hires. I’d never even had a raise in the whole time I’d been there.
And I hadn’t been brave enough to speak up, to advocate for myself. Look where that had gotten me.
No, I was right to quit. I had to go home and figure out my next steps. I started the car up and put it into gear, backing slowly out of my spot. I had a quick revenge fantasy of reversing my car into Jerry’s BMW, but I refrained.
I was almost out of the parking lot when I slammed my brakes so hard I was surprised I didn’t make the car flip completely over.
In all of this I’d forgotten one very important thing.
What was my grandmother going to say?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

True love requires a little research and development in a funny, heart-racing romance by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of The Paid Bridesmaid.

How can Anna Ellis, a geeky, brilliant, and hopelessly smitten cosmetic chemist possibly win over Craig Kimball, the man of her dreams—who also happens to be her boss? The answer is Craig’s empathetic (and handsome) CEO half brother, Marco. The makeup mogul knows Craig for the ridiculously competitive rival he is. Whatever Marco has, Craig wants. That can be Anna, if she’s game to play.

All Anna and Marco have to do is pretend they’re falling in love and let the rumors begin. If the experiment in attraction works, a jealous Craig will swoop in and give Anna her happily ever after—if it weren’t for one hitch in the plan. There’s more to Marco than meets the eye. With every fake date, Anna’s feelings are starting to become dizzyingly real.

Blame it on chemistry. It’s unpredictable, exciting, and occasionally combustible. If Anna and Marco are really falling in love, who are they to argue with science?
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Meet the Author:

Sariah Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Paid Bridesmaid, The Seat Filler, Roommaid, Just a Boyfriend, the Royals of Monterra series, and the #Lovestruck novels. She has never jumped out of an airplane, has never climbed Mount Everest, and is not a former CIA operative. She has, however, been madly, passionately in love with her soul mate and is a fervent believer in happily ever afters—which is why she writes romance. She currently lives with the aforementioned soul mate and their children in Utah, along with three cats named Pixel, Callie, and Belle, who do not get along (the cats, not the kids—although the kids sometimes have their issues, too). For more information, visit her website at www.sariahwilson.com.
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