Spotlight & Giveaway: The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Allison Ashley to HJ!

Hi Allison and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Roommate Pact!

 
Hello to the best people in the world – romance readers!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Roommate Pact is a frenemies-to-lovers story about an adventure-loving firefighter (Graham) and an ER nurse (Claire) who are roommates. They’ve been friends for a while, the roommate part a more recent development. Living together has created some friction-namely a constant feud over the thermostat and the fact Graham’s tiny dog hates Claire (the feeling is mutual). When Graham is injured in a rock-climbing accident, Claire steps up as his live-in nurse, forcing them to spend even more time together than before. Despite Graham’s aversion to commitment and Claire’s firm belief Graham isn’t marriage material, they’re helpless to stop the feelings developing between them.
 

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

I’m pretty in love with the opening line of this book: “Claire Harper was holding a penis when the commotion started.”

Another favorite:
“There’s no way you actually want to marry me.”
“I’d marry the hell out of you. Have you seen you?”

During a rough time when their apart, this section of an email Graham writes to Claire is a favorite:
I don’t know where I’m going with this, but (1) I got in the habit of writing things down (thanks to you) (2) I wanted to tell you how badly I want to hate you for how this turned out, but (3) I don’t hate you. I love you.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Original title was “Letters to Claire” since Graham writes her secret love emails throughout the book. Vetoed. Next was “Famous Last Words” because Claire is so adamant she won’t end up with Graham (nice try, honey). Vetoed. But I love the title we landed on!
• The banter in this book was SO FUN. They’re both so snarky and take no shit from each other, I loved it.
• Character inspiration: James Marsden for Graham, Brittany Snow for Claire
• A few songs on the book playlist: If The World Was Ending by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels, Favorite T-Shirt by Jake Scott, Dance With Me Baby by Ben Rector, I Fall Apart by Post Malone, A Little Bit Yours by JP Saxe

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

Graham is attracted by Claire’s confidence, wit, sarcasm, and take-no-shit attitude
Claire thinks Graham is hot AF

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

I really love this scene where Claire first comes to the realization that maybe Graham cares about her more than she ever realized:

The following evening, Graham appeared in her doorway while she stood in front of her open closet.
“You okay?” he asked. “I heard cursing.”
“I don’t know what to wear,” she whined.
He gestured to her silk robe. “That looks pretty fucking hot.”
He flashed that gorgeous crooked smile, which was the last thing she needed before going on a date with another guy.
Please, please let me like the new guy’s smile, too.
Determined to keep character to convince herself as much as Graham, she rolled her eyes. “If you’re not gonna help me, move along.”
Graham moved farther into the room, eyeing the outfits she’d discarded on the bed. Putting his weight on one crutch, he gestured with the other. “What’s wrong with that one?”
Claire scrunched her nose. “I decided it’s too fancy, and a little too revealing.” She ignored the flare of heat flashing through his eyes. “He just asked me for coffee, remember? I need to consider the setting.”
Graham frowned as if the concept were foreign to him, but he didn’t argue. “Okay, what are the other options?”
She pulled out a floral sundress that she’d always found cute and flirty and made her ass look great.
“You look really hot in that.”
“I do?”
“Sure. You wore it last year when we went out for your birthday.”
Her heartbeat slowed a fraction and she hooked the hanger
on the back of the doorknob, trying to ignore the way her hand trembled slightly. She grabbed an emerald green silk tank top. “Um, I was also considering this one. With jeans.”
“Also a good choice. Didn’t that make it through an entire night at Dante’s Bar?”
It had, and that night had been insane. “How do you remember what I wore that night?”
He didn’t answer the question and instead asked his own. “What about that yellow dress you have? The one with buttons down the front?”
What the hell was happening?
Don’t call attention to it.
She did a one-eighty back to her closet and mouthed holy shit to her clothes. Carefully keeping her expression neutral, she faced him again. “This one?”
“Yeah. I’ve always thought you look nice in that one. You know, goes with your hair and stuff.”
It suddenly felt as if the walls of her room were slowly moving in. “Really?”
“Why are you looking at me like that? It shouldn’t be news to you that I think you’re beautiful.”
A tingle spread along the back of her neck as if he’d touched her there. “Beautiful?”
He appeared dumbfounded. “Have I not made that clear?”
“I don’t know… You usually use words like hot or sexy. Beautiful sort of feels like a different category.”

Readers should read this book….

If you like:
Banter
Only one bed
A sassy heroine
A sexy hero who is horrified to learn he has actual human emotions
A hilarious canine side character
Cameos of Mia and Noah from WOULD YOU RATHER

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

I actually have several projects I’m currently working on – all of them have my trademark elements: emotional depth, surprising laughs, high tension/chemistry, and a medical twist.
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Paperback copy of THE ROOMMATE PACT, US only

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever fallen for your roommate?

 
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Excerpt from The Roommate Pact:

Graham dropped his arm and tilted his head as he watched her. “Claire. Were you…worried about me?”
“No.”
A tiny grin curved one corner of his mouth, drawing her attention there. “You were.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well! Of course I was. You’re my roommate. If you die I have to find someone else to help pay rent in this overpriced condo.”
He took a step forward, his grin widening as he shook his head. “No, I think it’s more than that. You were worried about Graham, the person. Not Graham, your roommate.”
She didn’t blink as he took another step closer. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
She’d quickly lost control of the situation and desperately tried to think of how to get it back.
He was right: she had been worried about him.
But it was more than that. She’d never told him the details of her dad’s death and didn’t intend to talk about it now, but the truth was that history made her hypersensitive to situations like these.
“Admit it,” he continued, his voice softening as he stopped about a foot away. “You care about me, Claire. A lot.”
His brown eyes held a spark and a challenge, which was familiar and welcome in her flustered state. This back-and- forth felt normal, and it hit home just how much she needed this and how important Graham was to her. After the emotional whiplash of the last few hours, the realization caused something inside her to snap.
She was pissed off, but she was so happy he was okay. Ever since she’d heard the words firefighter injured, she’d battled images of Graham coming through the ER doors on a stretcher. She was mentally and emotionally spent and had very little filter left, in voice or action.
She would later blame her state of mind on what happened next as she lurched forward, grabbed his rough cheeks between her palms, and kissed him.
Graham sucked in a sharp breath and froze, his body going taut. She pulled back, the separation of their lips sending a faint wet sound echoing in the silence. Before she could fully process what she’d done and take it back, claiming momentary insanity, his face came into focus.
All awareness slipped away with her surprised exhale.
The way Graham was looking at her…
His ever-smiling mouth was slack and devoid of the quick,
sarcastic words she’d come to expect. His pupils dilated and his usually playful eyes were dark and ominous.
Her heart pounded as his gaze dragged down her face, from her eyes to her lips, where they lingered for a long moment before slowly scrolling back up. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he stared at her, brow furrowed, as if seeing her for the first time.
Time stopped as they stood inches apart, his breath warm against her lips, chest brushing hers with each inhale. Heat rippled through her as she felt want rolling off him in thick waves.
Just when she’d decided she had to say or do something, Graham leaped into action. His mouth came back to hers, warm and hard and unyielding. His hands were in her hair and his strong fingers threading between the strands sent a shiver racing down her spine. She gripped his shirt in her fists and pulled him along as she stumbled backward. She stopped when she hit the dresser and his body molded to hers, as if he couldn’t get close enough. Yes, closer.
Something fell and hit the floor with a crash, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.
Exactly like she’d pictured them in the hospital supply closet scenario, damn him.
She definitely liked what he was doing and must have made some enthusiastic moan or murmur or something, because he hummed against her lips and slid one hand in the small space between the drawers and her lower back, arching her hips into him.
Her body threw caution to the wind and chose to ignore that which had just been discussed: Graham was her roommate, whom she decidedly did not care about.
Definitely not a lot.
He had great lips, though. She’d always loved his smile— one of those ridiculously wide ones that was nearly impossible not to respond to. Channeled James Marsden in The Notebook or 27 Dresses.
As it turned out, smiling wasn’t all his mouth was good for.
The man knew how to use it, and she melted against him with each passing second. Any moment now she’d come to her senses and push him away. Maybe slap him just to be contrary, even though she’d started it. But then his tongue slid across her lower lip and she trembled, opening her mouth and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Later. She’d put a stop to this later.
She bit at his lower lip and he growled into her mouth, grabbing her hips and lifting her onto the dresser. Of their own accord her legs cinched around his waist, pulling him closer. Shit, he smelled good. Like the outdoors and some manly body wash.
Did he always smell like this? She hadn’t been in this position before to notice. As in literally up against him, his tongue moving with hers and his body between her thighs.
Damn, those lips were really, really good. His chest pressed against hers as he ravaged her mouth like he was an addict and she was his drug of choice. Her brain had short- circuited and her pulse spiraled out of control. What were her hands doing? Shit, was that his ass (correction: firm ass) underneath her palm?
A rumble vibrated deep in his chest and he shifted his pelvis.
When she felt how turned on he was, awareness shot through her and she opened her eyes to find him looking back at her, irises black. For a long second they didn’t move, lips still pressed together, gazes locked. It was too much, but she wasn’t ready to stop, so she reached up and put one hand over his eyes.
He laughed against her mouth and pulled back, gently pulling her hand down. His chest heaved with exertion, and his voice held a trace of amusement. “What the hell are you doing?”
She swallowed and reached for her voice. “Is that about me kissing you, or me not wanting you to look at me while we do it?”
His eyes went wide. “Damn, are we about to do it?” He nodded enthusiastically and kept one hand wrapped around her thigh as he reached sideways to swing his door shut.
With the click of the latch, it hit her all at once.
She’d just made out with Graham. Her friend and roommate. Had let him—no, encouraged him to—hoist her onto a piece of furniture and grind his body against hers while her tongue tasted his mouth.
All with the door wide open.
Was Reagan home? What if she’d walked by?
Claire pushed him back and slid down, landing on
unsteady legs, and swung the door open.
“No, we’re not about to do it,” she whisper-yelled. “Momentary lapse in judgment.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The proposition is simple: if ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott, are still single by the time they’re forty, they’ll take the proverbial plunge together…as friends with benefits. Maybe it’s the wine, but in the moment, Claire figures the pact is a safe-enough deal, considering she hasn’t had much luck in love and he’s in no rush to settle down. Like, at all. Besides, there’s no way she could ever really fall for Graham and his thrill-seeking ways. Not after what happened to her father…

Just as things begin to heat up way before the proposed deadline, Graham’s injured in a serious rock-climbing accident—and he needs Claire’s help to heal. She’ll do whatever it takes to nurse him back to health…even if it means moving into Graham’s bed and putting up with his little dog who hates her. But with this no-strings arrangement taking a complicated turn, keeping “for now” from turning into “forever” isn’t as easy as they’d planned.
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Meet the Author:

Allison Ashley is a science geek who enjoys coffee, craft beer, baking, and love stories. When she’s not working at her day job as a clinical oncology pharmacist, she pens contemporary romances, usually with a medical twist. She lives in Oklahoma with her family and beloved rescue dog.
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