Spotlight & Giveaway: The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Annabelle Slator to HJ!

Hi Annabelle and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Launch Date!

 
Hello! I’m so excited to talk all things The Launch Date!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Grace Hastings’s dream job at the popular ‘true love’ dating app, Fate, has her in a rut. Her boss sucks, her career is stagnating, and her fiancé brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. But when the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table.

The opportunity? To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection. The problem? She must develop and test drive a series of ‘first dates’ with the other person gunning for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft. Though they were once friends, Eric is used to battling Grace from his plush office at Ignite, the hook-up competitor app to Grace’s lovey-dovey Fate. It’s a match made in hell!

During their disastrous hikes, dangerous cooking classes and steamy yoga sessions, they begin to realise their stark differences may just be surface level. And despite a drunken almost-kiss 6 months ago and some subsequent choice words that caused their friendship to crash and burn, Eric might just be the perfect person to challenge Grace’s perceptions of love, dating culture and self-worth.
The Launch Date was inspired by own experiences working in marketing and growth for brands and start ups for 10+ and is the perfect rivals to lovers workplace romance if you love old school 90s and 00s romcom movies!
 

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

“You’re all gin and no tonic,” – I love this line Grace says when describing Eric, as it sums him up perfectly. I even have it designed as a poster on my office wall!

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• My Mother-In-Law was the first person to read The Launch Date and told me to add another sex scene, I did and got an offer from my agent immediately after!
• When I was having a crisis in the middle of writing The Launch Date and I decided to cut all the flashbacks! Once they’d bought The Launch Date, I sent my editors at Penguin and HarperCollins the cut scenes, and they loved them so much they made it back into the book.
• Grace’s idea for ‘Ever After’ was an idea I briefly thought about cutting from the book because I wanted to create it in real life if this whole author thing didn’t work out!

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

The Launch Date is a ‘he falls first’ story. Eric is first attracted to Grace because she is the one person at the company who seemingly DOESN’T want him. Who sees through his bravado, legacy and pageantry to the real flawed person underneath. Grace falls for Eric when she realises he is one of the few people truly looking out for her, even when she refuses to be his friend. Ultimately, their attraction to each other builds because they recognise each other as equals. They want the same things, but have very different ways of getting there.

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

I was giggling and kicking my feet while writing the scene in the merchandise cupboard. Where the tension is simmering, but neither of them knows what to do with it. It’s the moment when they both realise their attraction for each other has become more than physical, and emotionally there’s no going back now.

Readers should read this book….

If they want to experience that same warm feeling as when watching 90s and 00s romcoms. I was heavily inspired by so many movies while writing The Launch Date and I hope Grace and Eric’s relationship feels like it could be lifted straight from a movie.

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

I’m currently editing my second book and writing my third. My second book will be released in February 2026!
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A print copy of THE LAUNCH DATE by Annabelle Slator

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you had to create a profile and use one of the dating apps in The Launch Date which would you choose? Fate (the lovey dovey app), Ignite (the hookup app) or Ditto (the IRL dates app)?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Book Info:

In this witty and fun rom-com debut from Annabelle Slator, rival coworkers become reluctant daters after they’re forced to work together on a brand-new dating app in hopes of winning a promotion—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game.

Grace Hastings’s dream job at the popular “true love” dating app, Fate, has turned into a nightmare. Her boss is a leech, her career is stagnating, and her fiancé has just brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. When the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion, she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table.

The opportunity? To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection.

The problem? She must develop and test-drive a series of “first dates” with the other person gunning for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.

During their disastrous hikes, dangerous cooking classes, and steamy yoga sessions, they begin to realize their stark differences may just be surface level and Eric might just be the perfect person to challenge Grace’s perceptions of love, dating culture, and self-worth.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Annabelle Slator grew up writing stories in the depths of the British countryside. After achieving a degree in creative writing she spent most of her late teens and early twenties writing social media and blog posts for start-ups and tech companies in London. Nowadays, if she isn’t spending time writing, you can almost always find her obsessing over niche internet drama, practicing her fencing parry or mooching around vintage fairs and flea markets with her husband and two mini dachshunds, Gruffalo and Gryffin. The Launch Date is Annabelle’s first book, inspired by her time working at a global dating app.
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