Spotlight & Giveaway: The Love Dare by Kay Marie

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kay Marie to HJ!

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

Thank you for having me! I’m so excited to be here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

THE LOVE DARE is a brother’s best friend hockey romance with a reality TV show twist! It follows Winnie Rusu, a romance-obsessed book cover designer, who is in love with Tyler Briggs, a hockey superstar and the long-time best friend of her older brother. When Tyler is announced as the new lead of a Bachelor-type dating show, Winnie takes a leap of faith and signs up as a contestant to win his heart. What she doesn’t know is his heart belongs to her already 🙂
 

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

The best part about writing a friends to lovers story is when all that tension you’ve been slowing building between these two irresistibly compatible souls finally combusts into a full-fledged fire! I adored writing the opening scenes which showcase the building blocks of Winnie and Tyler’s connection, but I had SO MUCH FUN finally unleashing their flirty romantic “no holds barred” lovers era! Here’s a little taste of that shift 🙂

She wrinkles her nose, then gestures at his formal black suit with an air of desperation. “I can’t go on a date looking like this, when you look like that.”
“So I’ll change into my sweats, too.”
“You’re an athlete.” She scoffs. “That’ll just make you hotter.”
He stands and pulls her roughly against his chest so he can slide his fingers around that sliver of bared midriff he can’t stop thinking about as he murmurs, “If you’d rather I be naked, you only have to ask.”
She snaps her head back to stare up at him with eyes as wide as saucers. All at once Tyler realizes that while being in love with Winnie Rusu has been fifteen years of sheer torment, wooing her is going to be another thing entirely.
“Who are you and what have you done with Tyler Briggs?” she asks with utter disbelief.
He slips his thumbs under the hem of her shirt and traces the contours of her ribs, just to watch the heat in her eyes flare. “I’m the Tyler Briggs who’s done pretending he’s not absolutely head over heels for you.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I have three more books I’m hoping to write in this series, and the six leads of those three books are ALL mentioned in THE LOVE DARE. Any guesses who?! My lips are sealed, ha!
• Each book in this series is inspired by a different component of The Bachelor franchise – my total guilty pleasure show! THE LOVE REMATCH was inspired by The Bachelorette, THE LOVE LIE was inspired by the reunion show called “After the Final Rose”, and THE LOVE DARE was inspired by The Bachelor. The next few books will take on some other related shows like Bachelor in Paradise and Dancing With The Stars!
• There’s an Easter egg mention in the book of the first hockey romance I read which inspired my personal deep dive into the genre and obsession with writing one of my own! See if you can find it when you read the book 🙂

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

When Winnie is thirteen, Tyler defends her honor when a bunch of bullies trick her into kissing a frog as a cruel prank. In a split second, the completely platonic friendship feelings she’s had for her brother’s best friend switch and a childhood crush is born 🙂 He’s her knight in shining armor and she loves him for it!

For Tyler, the change occurs more like a cresting wave. He’s always been intrigued by Winnie, but as his best friend’s little sister and his coach’s daughter, she’s always been off-limits. He tries to ignore how he feels, until the day he sees her wearing his jersey at a championship game, and he can’t deny it anymore.

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

Oh man, I have SO MANY scenes I absolutely adored writing in this book. I think I spent half the time I was typing with a goofy grin because I just fell so head over heels for these characters and their story. My favorite, favorite moment though is when Winnie and Tyler come clean to her family. I just had too much fun making it as hilarious and over the top as possible! Winnie’s brother Alex wins MVP in this scene, and I think you’ll understand why…

“And you.” Alexandru turns on Tyler this time. It’s not an exaggeration to say his life flashes before his eyes. “You waited to date my daughter until you were dating thirty other women at the same time?”
Tyler glances at Winnie, still fighting for air. Her eyes are caught-in-the-act wide. For the first time in her life, she seems completely at a loss for words.
Alex, on the other hand… “Yeah, not gonna lie, Ty. That’s kind of a dick move.”
“Oh, now you want to defend my honor?” she gripes.
“I’m trying to help,” he counters meaningfully. “In case you haven’t realized, this is a bit of a shitshow here.”
“In case I haven’t realized?” she scoffs. For a moment, Tyler thinks her eyeballs may actually fall out of her head. “In case you haven’t realized, you’re the one DOING THE SHITTING!”

Readers should read this book….

If you love new spins on hockey romances! Also if you love childhood friends to lovers, brother’s best friend romances, and love stories that burn slow and build up over a lifetime before blossoming into something truly magical! It’s also perfect for anyone who needs a little taste of reality TV show drama between seasons – I have a twist in here that will provide the shock you need!
 

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

While I have three more books planned in this series, two stubborn characters invaded my psyche and refused to leave until I wrote down their love story, so my current WIP is completely unrelated to this series! It’s an enemies-to-lovers sports romance set at a university, and that’s all I’m giving away right now 🙂
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One signed (US option) or personalized (international option) paperback copy of THE LOVE DARE!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever taken a leap of faith in the name of love?

Excerpt from The Love Dare:

With shaking fingers, Winnie accepts the glass and downs in it one gulp before she follows Nina out the door and into the warm summer night. They weave past trailers and crew, slipping through spotlights and shadows on their way toward a brilliant white limo. There isn’t another moment to talk as she’s shuttled inside. A makeup artist quickly does a few touch-ups while a wardrobe assistant cleans the dirt from her shoes. A production assistant and cameraman sit opposite her. The door slams shut. A blinking red light next to the lens turns on. And suddenly, it’s real.
She’s here.
She’s being filmed.
She’s on her way to Tyler.
And she has no fucking idea what to do.
Tease him. 
Do the last thing he would ever expect you to do.
Honesty can wait.
Be a fantasy.
The words infiltrate like a swarm of locusts. There’s no escape. Every time she tries to pivot, they’re there, smacking her upside the head. She can’t swat them away. The production assistant asks her questions, and her answers probably make her sound like an idiot, because even as she speaks, she can’t think about anything else.
By the time the limo stops, she’s lightheaded—from the nerves, from the champagne, from the lack of dinner, from the epic spiral she’s been unceremoniously launched into. Someone comes and opens the door. She gets out. Hopefully, it’s somewhat graceful, but she doesn’t know. She can’t remember. It’s as though she’s not in control.
Winnie looks up.
Tyler is standing fifteen feet away, handsome as sin in a black tuxedo, his face painted with shock, his brows knitted with confusion. The moment their gazes meet, everything clicks. Nina’s right. He’s looking at her as if she’s his best friend’s little sister. And she needs him to see her as anyone else.
“Winnie, what the—”
She doesn’t give him time to finish. She closes the distance between them, slides her hands up his chest, and gives him a fantasy—her fantasy.
Winnie threads her fingers through his hair the way she’s imagined doing a thousand times. She lifts onto her tiptoes. Then she waits, just long enough to soak in the way his blue eyes stare at her in stunned disbelief, before she closes the distance between them.
I’m kissing Tyler.
I am actually kissing Tyler.
Holy shit.
It’s over practically before it begins. A mere brush of the lips. A taunt. A tease, just as Nina suggested. By the time he nestles his hands on her hips, Winnie’s already retreating. Her face burns. Her heart thuds. Her body thrums, every synapse firing, setting her ablaze with the sparks. She’s completely overwhelmed by the enormity of what she’s just done.
His grip tightens, as if to stop her.
When his eyes flutter open, he looks at her as though he’s never seen her before.
It’s exactly what she wanted, but now that it’s over, she’s not ready to know what comes next. So she does what she’s always done in the face of sheer mortification.
She runs.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He’s the most eligible bachelor in professional hockey.

She’s his best friend’s little sister—aka, completely off-limits.

Until now…

Winnie Rusu is obsessed with romance—which is good when considering her budding career as a book cover designer, but not so good when considering the massive crush she’s harboring on her brother’s grumpy best friend. Not that she’d ever admit it to him, of course. The man is a hockey superstar who can get any woman he wants, and clearly, that’s not her. But when she discovers he’s the new lead of the hit dating show, The Love Match, Winnie is forced to make a decision—finally embrace her main character energy and tell him exactly how she feels, or watch him fall in love with someone else.

When she steps out of a limo on night one of filming, Tyler Briggs is sure he must be dreaming. She’s the one girl he’s always wanted, and the one girl he can never have—because her father saved his life, her brother is like blood, and he promised himself he would never cross that line. But when she says those three little words he’s always longed to hear, Tyler doesn’t have the strength to say no.

On the set of a show designed to produce love, falling is easy. But for a man who’s never felt wanted and a woman who’s never felt worthy, staying there is something else entirely.

THE LOVE DARE is a brother’s best friend hockey romance perfect for fans of grumpy/sunshine, it’s always been you, and dual POV. It’s the standalone, third installment of The Love Match series.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Kay Marie writes sweet romantic comedies with a touch of spice. Her books are full of humor and heartache with lots of swoony moments and, of course, a HEA! Under the name Kaitlyn Davis, she also publishes YA fantasy. Publishers Weekly has said, “Davis writes with confidence and poise,” while USA Today has recommended her work as “must-read romance.”
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