Spotlight & Giveaway: The Dachshund Wears Prada by Stefanie London

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Stefanie London to HJ!

Hi Stefanie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Dachshund Wears Prada!

 
Hi! Thanks for having me.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Dachshund Wears Prada is a story about starting over when life doesn’t go the way you want it to. Isla gets herself embroiled in a social media scandal and not only loses her job, but becomes blacklisted from the entire industry! Desperate, she ends up taking a job as a dog sitter for a reclusive billionaire and his cranky but hilarious Dachshund, Camilla.
 

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

“People can take me as I am,” Theo said. “Or as I’d rather, not at all.”
She tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly like she was trying to figure him out. “Don’t you get…lonely.”
“Loneliness is privilege.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The hero doesn’t like to be attached to anything or anyone, but he ends up with a misbehaving dog when his eccentric grandmother leaves him the pooch in her will. They have their own relationship arc through the story.
• The book opens at a funeral… but it’s a romantic comedy, I promise!
• Dachshunds are one of my personal favourite dog breeds. They have so much personality and are sassy as heck, so I HAD to choose this breed to suit Camilla’s feisty personality.

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

They definitely have an instant connection. It’s not instalove, more like… insta-fascination. They’re opposites in many ways and are curious about the other person, because they find them so unusual. Add in loads of sexual tension and these two might not get along right away, but they sure can’t resist one another!

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

Any scene with Camilla the Dachshund had me laughing, because she has so much personality! Here’s the first meeting between her and the hero, Theo, in the book.

At that moment, as if summoned by a sound no human could hear, or perhaps by the devil himself, Camilla entered the room. The Dachshund was less than a ruler’s length in height, with stumpy little legs that made her waddle with each step. Despite that, you would have thought the Queen of England had entered the room.
In fact, for a minute Theo was sure he’d heard trumpets announcing her arrival. Or was that simply warning sirens going off in his brain?
Her long champagne-colored fur was brushed and gleaming, and a pink collar sat around her neck, a silver C-shaped charm dangling from the loop at the front. On first glance, one might call her cute. Or even sweet. But more fool anyone who assumed Camilla was some passive little lap dweller ready to cuddle and beg for belly scratches.
Oh no, this tiny beast was a dictator on four legs.
“Everything you need is in the other room,” Marcie said, the pitch of her voice climbing. “I’ve marked off where we are in her daily routine and I’ve packed all her things so you can take her straight home. On that note, I really need to get going. Actually, right now.”
And with that, Marcie scurried from the room as though fearful someone might try to stop her. The woman clearly had an exit plan. After the sound of the front door closing echoed through the room, Theo stared at the dog.
Camilla stared back.
“Well, then…” Frank cleared his throat. “What do you want to do? I can call a shelter and have her picked up. Or I can call around Etna’s friends and see if anyone will take her.”
Camilla’s head swung to Frank, and Theo would swear he saw the little dog’s eyes narrow in fury.
In his heart of hearts, he knew he couldn’t dump the dog. Not now. His grandmother had meant the world to him, and while he would absolutely have argued the point when she was alive…that was no longer an option. Which meant he only had two choices: honor her wish, or not.
“I know I’m going to regret this,” Theo said, with a shake of his head. “But I’ll take her.”
“You sure?” Frank asked with a grimace. “What does it matter now? Your grandmother won’t know the difference.”
“Yes, but I will.” He sighed. “Gram obviously wanted me to have her for a reason.”
Both men looked at the small, sausage-shaped dog and for a moment, no one made a move. Then Camilla marched over to Theo and tipped her face up, two beady black eyes looking right into his soul as if telepathically communicating how much she hated him. Why did Theo have the feeling that this wasn’t going to end well? It wasn’t until a few seconds later, when the dog trotted back into the other room, nose and tail in the air, that he realized she’d peed all over his shoe.

Readers should read this book….

if you love furry sidekicks and romance that’s a mix of sexy and sweet!

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

So. Many. Things. LOL
I’m hard at work on my Holidays in the Bluff series, which is an Aussie small town series featuring holiday books and (again) lots of furry sidekicks. Book #3 features the brother of one of my most beloved heroes as well as a sparky heroine and a ninja-like cat who gets into all sorts of mischief.
I’m also working on the second book in the Paws in the City series, which features Isla’s best friend as the heroine. It’s a second chance story about a couple who got hitched in Vegas years ago and never divorced, despite not having seen one another for the last five years. It’s fun, emotional and sexy!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed mystery paperback by Stefanie London

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favourite animal?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from The Dachshund Wears Prada:

“Camilla, stop right now!”
Camilla’s ears and tail flapped as she ran, her fur shimmering in the late afternoon sun. She barreled past a toddler, making the kid stumble and topple over onto his well-padded backside. An indignant piercing wail shattered the air. More people were looking now, but not a single one stepped in to help. They all got out of Camilla’s way, clearing a path right around the edge of the pond.
“Stay away from the water,” he called out, knowing it was useless. The dog didn’t listen to anyone.
He gained some ground and made a swipe for her, but she dodged his grip, darting to the side with a professional-grade evasion tactic. She had an unfair advantage being so low to the ground. Theo’s six-foot-two frame was not made to bend in half and move at the same time. The dog scampered away from the pond and toward the Hans Christian Andersen monument, where a teenage girl in a ballerina outfit was posing.
The dog bolted straight for the girl, who was standing on one leg, the other extended behind her. Another woman was crouched in front of the girl, holding her phone up to take a picture.
“Camilla! Stop!”
The monument of the great Danish storyteller had him sitting on a bench, book open in his hands. There was also a sculpture of a little duck on the ground. The ballerina posed next to the statue, in perfect ballet form, peering over as if reading the book.
“Okay, ready?” the woman on the ground called out to the teen. “Three, two, one…”
Camilla raced into the shot, bypassed the girl and went straight for the duck statue, and began…humping it.
“Camilla, no!”
The dog wiggled up the back of the unsuspecting duck, and threw her paws over it, hinging her little hips back and forth. Her mouth was open, tongue out, and she looked like the happiest canine on planet earth. An older woman grabbed her small child and covered his eyes, gasping at the lurid scene. Angry eyes followed Theo as he ran over. But the young ballerina burst into laughter and came out of her pose, heading straight for the dog.
“Wait, don’t touch her!” Theo finally caught up and had his hand outstretched. “She can be vicious.”
The ballerina froze, startled by Theo’s warning, her hand hovering over Camilla’s body. Usually this would be the point where Camilla would bare her teeth and make the kind of growl that sounded as though it belonged to a creature four times her size. But instead, probably because today was the day the dog decided to well and truly fuck with him, Camilla paused her sexual interlude and flopped onto her back, legs in the air.
Theo stopped dead in his tracks. He’d literally never seen her do that with anyone before.
“Yeah, she looks real vicious.” The woman who’d been taking the photo stood and smiled. “You should put a muzzle on her before she hurts somebody.”
“More like a condom.” Theo shook his head. “That poor duck.”
All the people around the monument had paused, watching the scene with every expression ranging from prudish disgust to intense amusement. Some even had their phones out to take pictures. But since it was clear that the peep show was over, the crowd began to dissipate.
“Oh, Isla, she’s so cute!” The teen girl was crouched beside Camilla, tentatively stroking her belly. A huge smile blossomed on the girl’s face. “We should get a dog.”
“Now you’ve got me in trouble,” the woman said, looking at Theo with a rueful expression. “I’m going to be hearing about how we need to get a dog constantly.”
“You’re welcome to take this one. Free to good home,” Theo joked.
The woman laughed and the sound was like church bells and snowflakes and sunshine. She had wide blue eyes and glossy brown hair, and her figure was perfectly enhanced by one of those dresses that tied at the waist. The fabric was pale blue and dotted with white flowers and she reminded him of some Brigitte Bardot-esque silver screen siren.
“We could do a trade. I’ll take the dog and you take the teenager.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

How do you start over when the biggest mistake of your life has more than one million views?

Forget diamonds—the internet is forever. Social media consultant Isla Thompson learned that lesson the hard way when she went viral for all the wrong reasons. A month later, Isla is still having nightmares about the moment she ruined a young starlet’s career and made herself the most unemployable influencer in Manhattan. But she doesn’t have the luxury of hiding until she’s no longer Instagram poison. Not when her fourteen-year-old sister, Dani, needs Isla to keep a roof over their heads. So, she takes the first job she can get: caring for Camilla, a glossy-maned, foul-tempered hellhound.

After a week of ferrying Camilla from playdates to pet psychics, Isla starts to suspect that the dachshund’s bark is worse than her bite—just like her owner, Theo Garrison. Isla has spent her career working to make people likable and here’s Theo—happy to hide behind his reputation as a brutish recluse. But Theo isn’t a brute—he’s sweet and funny, and Isla should not see him as anything but the man who signs her paychecks. Because loving Theo would mean retreating to his world of secluded luxury, and Isla needs to show Dani that no matter the risk, dreams are always worth chasing.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Stefanie London is a multi-award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romances and romantic comedies.

Stefanie’s books have been called “genuinely entertaining and memorable” by Booklist, and “elegant, descriptive and delectable” by RT magazine. Her stories have won multiple industry awards, including the HOLT Medallion and OKRWA National Reader’s Choice Award, and she has been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA award.

Originally from Australia, Stefanie lives in Toronto with her very own hero and is doing her best to travel the world. She frequently indulges in her passions for good coffee, lipstick, romance novels and anything zombie-related.
Website | Facebook |  Instagram |