Spotlight & Giveaway: The Nashville Bet by Shana Gray

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Shana Gray to HJ!

Hi Shana and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Nashville Bet!

 
Merry Christmas! Wow, it’s only a week away!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is the 3rd book in my series Girls Weekend Away. Each book is a standalone, so you don’t have to read them in order.
We go to Nashville in this story and have a whole lot of fun during the CMA Fest, and having some honest to good country fun, mixed in with some passion, shenanigans, and a looooove.
 

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

It was a sea of cowboy hats, western shirts, jean-covered asses and, right in front of him, a woman with the most sparkly boots he’d ever seen. She was stumbling all over herself, trying to keep up with the music, and he smiled. This must be her first time line dancing.
Chase put his hands on his hips and swung into the steps like he’d been born to do. Which he supposed he had. But he couldn’t drag his gaze away from the woman in front of him.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

The Girls Weekend Away series is set in different cities for each book. I had the first two cities nailed, but couldn’t decide on the 3rd book city. When I visited with my UK editor in London last February, she mentioned how much she loved the show Nashville and I knew she was hinting. So, as a surprise to her, I decided it would be the setting for Ave and Chase’s story. I have never been to Nashville and I really wanted to go for some research. Sadly, I couldn’t make it happen. So, I had to do different research. I was a latecomer to watching the show NASHVILLE and totally binged it! It was a great way to learn about the city and country music.

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

It’s her lack of skill dancing and her sparkly boots that first attracts Chase…which inspires his nickname for her.
Ava is a romantic through and through. Their first meeting is when he takes charge of a situation and when she looks up at him is lost.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

Oh, my gosh! I have such a hard time deciding who should play the role. But for some reason I see Bradley Cooper and Blake Lively. It’s always tricky to match up hair and eye colour. Also, I think you the reader will have your own internal image of the hero and heroine, so sometimes giving a visual reference can mess up your own image and ruin the story for you. Do you prefer to conjure up your own internal image of the hero and heroine?

Readers should read this book….

Look what Jill Shalvis said about What Happens in Vegas, book one in the Girls Weekend Away Series.
“Full of fun, friendship and romance – a real escapist treat.” – NYT bestselling author Jill Shalvis
So….if you love friendship, fun and laughs sprinkled with shenanigans and of course passion and an HEA, then this series is for you!

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

I just finished writing the 4th book – A Match Made in Monaco – which is coming out April 7. So right now, I’m plotting out a Christmas story. I’ve always wanted to write one. So!!! I’d love to hear your Christmas romance story fantasies to help as I build my world. Also, I’ve got three other projects I’m working on that I have to keep secret for a while.

The Nashville Bet is on Netgalley right now, and if you decide to grab a copy, I look forward to hearing your review!

Please sign up for my newsletter at my website www.shanagray.com/contact and I’m also building an ARC team.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed copy of my Harlequin Blaze – A Cowboy In Paradise. Open internationally!

But, if you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you’ll received a copy of my erotic romance Hot Fusion. Here’s the link: http://eepurl.com/cS6VHb

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Did you watch Nashville? Are you on team Deacon or Luke as Rayna’s love interest. I really like Luke. As much as I loved Deacon, I had a soft spot for Luke.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from The Nashville Bet:

“You guys have to ride that jet sometime,” Celia told them as she put her purse on the coffee table. She made an exaggerated movement with her hand. “It’s not big, but it’s posh. It’s the first time I’ve been on it and I think I could live there. Maybe even join the Mile-high Club one day.” She did a little body wiggle and clapped her hands together.
“As if you haven’t already,” Fredi replied.
“Wellllll …” Celia didn’t say any more, just picked up her bag, which had fallen over.
Ava giggled. “Hey, speaking of which, why didn’t you guys pick me up along the way? It would have saved me from flying commercial.”
Bonni and Celia looked at each other then Bonni replied sheepishly, “Sorry, Aves, didn’t think of it. I don’t think we’re used to being able to use a plane like an Uber yet.”
Fredi gasped in mock-hurt. “Aw, Ava, if they’d done that, then you wouldn’t have zoomed around with me in the fancy-dancy candy-apple bug.”
Ava shuddered for real and regaled Bonni and Celia with how many death-defying collisions had narrowly been avoided while Fredi snooped through their bags. Ava broke off her story when Fredi squealed in delight and hauled out a big bottle of Jack Daniels.
“I love you guys. You never forget. Smart of you to do a booze run. Saves us having to go out right away.” She hugged the Jack with a sublime smile on her face. “But, you know, we will be going to the distillery sometime over the weekend. I have so decreed. You really didn’t have bring any with you.”
Ava watched Fredi take the bottle over to the bar and twist the cap off. “Shots, everyone.”
“Of Jack Daniels?” Ava asked, surprised. “I know I can drink most of you under the table, but straight shots of Jack are …” Ava shivered. “It just burns so bad.”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Fredi said as she lined up some tumblers she had found behind the bar. “Don’t we always start off our weekends with a bit of booze?” She pursed her lips as she measured out the shots.
“Okay, ladies, get over here. We have to get ready, don’t we? Line dancing tonight!” Fredi barked out the orders and everyone was quick to oblige.
“Pre-drinks!” Celia skipped over to the bar and picked up her glass.
Bonni had hers in her hand and Ava took her glass.
The women raised their glasses, clinked them together and, amidst a variety of grimaces, groans and shivers, downed their shots of Jack Daniels.
“Brrr, that’s harsh.” Ava said, shaking her head, her tongue hanging out, sucking in some air.
“What’s the matter, honey? Is your tongue on fire?” Fredi asked.
“Uh-huh.” But Ava slapped the cup down and indicated with a finger that she wanted some more. May as well start the night out with a bang, she thought. Tonight was the launch of their long weekend together. She was going to have fuuuun.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The romantic…

When her boss offers her free tickets to the CMA Fest, Ava Trent jumps at the chance for a weekend in Nashville with her best girlfriends. Great music and new opportunities to look for Mr Right? What more could a former country girl ask for? Well, maybe not to literally fall at the feet of the hottest guy she’s ever seen.

And the superstar singer…

After becoming an overnight success, fame doesn’t rest easy on Chase Hudson’s shoulders. It’s hard to tell who’s interested in him and who’s interested in the star. So when he and Ava collide, and she has no idea who he is, he’s immediately intrigued. Something about Ava calls to him – even though he’s convinced she’s a city-type who couldn’t handle his Nashville life.

Are about to get their country on.

What starts as a light-hearted bet to test one another, becomes something much deeper as Ava and Chase can’t stay away from one another. But with so many differences between their lives, will they win the relationship they’ve been dreaming of? Or lose each other?

Each book in the Girls Weekend Away series is STANDALONE:
* What Happens in Vegas
* Meet Me In San Francisco
* The Nashville Bet
Coming April 7 is the final book in the series * A Match Made in Monaco
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Shana Gray writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction that just might make you laugh. With 30 books behind her, some translated into multiple languages, she’s always eyeing the next story line. She lives in a small town in Ontario, Canada, is a mom of two grown sons, a brand new daughter-in-law, and is her black cat’s human. When she’s not writing or at her day job, she can be found daydreaming about life, usually with a glass of wine or cocktail in hand and making travel plans to far off lands to feed her wanderlust. Her newest series – Girl’s Weekend Away – is out now.
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