Spotlight & Giveaway: The Sweetest Charade by Jadesola James

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jadesola James to HJ!

Hi Jadesola and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Sweetest Charade!

 
Thank you so much, I’m thrilled to be here! I love this site.
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

A good chunk of The Sweetest Charade takes place on a vintage-styled luxury train with glamour to spare! It’s an opposites-attract, fake relationship romance that features a stuffy history professor and a social media influencer. Readers get to experience Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Dubai through Alexander and Delysia’s eyes, and watch them fall in love in the process of shedding the facade they put on for the world.
 

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

Oh, this was hard! I’m a sucker for first kisses, so I’ll share theirs:

“Delysia heard shouts and whooping, but it was all just background noise at the moment because she was being kissed, very sweetly, tenderly, deliberately. He kissed her as if they weren’t virtual strangers who were basing this on some stupid deal. He kissed her as if they weren’t standing in the doorway of the hottest spot in SoHo, and she was suddenly, violently, hungry for more.”

What inspired this book?

I wrote The Sweetest Charade during maternity leave, after I’d had a difficult pregnancy and delivery and was feeling particularly down. I’d put so much pressure on myself to complete novels before this, and never had been successful, but this was a gift to myself- full of all the things I love in fiction: a hot intellectual hero, Old Hollywood glamour, pretty clothes, parties, and travel. It’s quite low-angst, and it just made me feel good to write!

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

They absolutely did! I knew I wanted to write two fundamentally flawed, but very kind people who are drawn together by that common trait despite their differences. I knew their basic backstories, but little elements did pop up and surprise me. For example, Alexander had a father whose shoes he was finding it difficult to fill, and he’s a bit of an opera snob! Delysia tried her best to avoid any ties, because for her the influencer lifestyle was the means to an end: money to pay for her mother’s medical treatments. She also grew up in Dubai, and showing her childhood home was especially fun to write.

What was your favorite scene to write?

I don’t have a favorite, but I loved anything, anything that had to do with descriptions of luxury swag. I think I was channeling Kevin Kwan writing this book; I couldn’t get enough of it. There’s a scene early on where they go to an influencer-studded party in a NYC converted factory. I had so much fun just making it completely over-the-top. There are acrobats dangling from the ceilings, servers in body paint, monkeys, macaws, and the birthday girl is wearing a tiara on loan from the Met!

Alexander’s reaction was pretty on brand:

“…the sight of a macaw balanced delicately on a server’s shoulder scattered Alexander’s wits completely. How was this hygienic? Weren’t there laws?”

(He does identify the provenance of the tiara on sight, though, so that’s something!)

What was the most difficult scene to write?

Good question. I think, without giving anything away, the big ‘declaration of love’ scene. I just didn’t think my humble pen (or rather, keyboard) had the ability to convey what I wanted to be something really beautiful and tender, so I kind of danced around it and left it to the reader’s imagination. My editor was like, “no, readers want to see that!”– and I’m glad she gave me that gentle nudge, because I’m happy with how it came out, and I hope you are, too!

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

Preserving my voice is hugely important to both my editor and myself, so I would say it does. Alexander has a very old-fashioned sensibility that I enjoyed creating, as I’m sometimes that way myself.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

A warm feeling on the inside! This book is meant to be comfort reading. Preferably with cake and tea, or a glass of wine.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I also write for Harlequin Presents, and Redeemed by His New York Cinderella comes out in September! The cover is up, it’s gorgeous, and I had so much fun writing it. I hope it has all the passion and drama that makes Presents such a joy to read (and write!)

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 ebook copy of THE SWEETEST CHARADE by Jadesola James (limited to North American entrants).

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Alexander and Delysia fall in love while on a luxury train journey. If you could plan a dream trip (no price limit!) where would you go, and what would you do there?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from The Sweetest Charade:

The Gilded Express pulled off exactly on schedule in a flurry of thick white flakes, its passengers giddy with excitement, ready for a week of play-acting at the highest level. There was something infinitely exciting about wandering from car to car at barely half past two, dressed in evening finery, in surroundings as luxurious as any of the finest hotels.

Servers circulated the lounge cars holding trays of canapés obtained from Boston’s Plaza Hotel. Brandy, whisky, and mulled wine were passed around in heavy crystal-cut goblets of Romanov glass borrowed from a private collection Alexander had sourced. It was opulence at the highest level (carefully tempered with nods to sustainability, to the environment, of course). Later that night guests would have towels and soap laid out and have their eiderdown quilts turned down, with chocolates and tea and cherry brandy and whisky offered before bed.

They didn’t feel like they were in the real world anymore; this felt as if they’d been transported to some faraway land, making the din outside irrelevant. It was audacious. And for the moment, it was a roaring success.

Delysia had spent years building an image of herself online—she knew how to craft a narrative of beauty, of richness, of a life that would inspire envy, or awe, or at the very least spark a curiosity that would keep followers hitting that little heart-shaped “like” button. However, she’d never been the driving force behind something this big.

She hung back a little when she reached the lounge car. She and Alexander had agreed to arrive separately, to mingle a little, and he was already there. She could see Faye across the room as well, her thin shoulders enveloped in black feathers, looking incredibly smug. Alexander, resplendent in a black tuxedo, a glass of barely touched Hibiki in his left hand, was perched on a high barstool by the south windows, gesturing to three influencers that she recognized immediately. She was pretty sure Alexander didn’t, though.

He’d started the night off with a touching acknowledgment of the history of the lands they would pass through on the journey, of their legacy, their beauty, their strength. He then gave a brief overview of the night’s activities, and invited them to “laugh, love, and delight,” to their heart’s content that night.

Delysia waited for a lull in conversation, then snuggled into his side and put her lips to his ear. “Very well done.”

His smile was slight. “I’m a professor. Rhetoric is virtually our only useful quality.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A fake relationship leads to real love in this charming opposites-attract romance from debut author Jadesola James

Delysia Daniels didn’t intend any of this. Accidentally tagging the wrong person in a slightly racy photo could have happened to anyone. But when the slipup gains her thousands of followers and a much-needed opportunity, she takes full advantage. Fake dating an uptight history professor complete with the proverbial stiff upper lip will raise both their profiles, if she can just get him to agree.

Dr. Alexander Abbott-Hill isn’t delusional enough to believe his sudden popularity is due to his fascinating lectures. Agreeing to a high-profile, all-expenses-paid trip across the country isn’t exactly a hardship, although getting along with an online influencer might be. But he doesn’t plan on Delysia. She’s smart, beautiful, and far more…everything…than he’d imagined.

Fake relationship aside, neither of them is very good at pretending. Add their instant attraction and undeniable chemistry, and it isn’t long before they realize this fictional relationship is going to change their lives—just not the way they thought.

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Jadesola James loves summer thunderstorms, Barbara Cartland novels, long train rides, hot buttered toast, and copious amounts of cake and tea. She writes glamourous, escapist tales designed to sweep you away.

When she isn’t writing, she’s a reference librarian and a scholar of American romance publishing. Her hobbies include collecting vintage romance paperbacks and fantasy shopping online for summer cottages in the north of England.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |