Spotlight & Giveaway: The Yes Factor by Erin Spencer & Emma Sable

Posted July 2nd, 2020 by Sara @HarlequinJunkie in Blog, Spotlight / 25 comments

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Erin Spencer & Emma Sable’s new release: The Yes Factor

Just what do you find out when all of your no’s turn into The Yes Factor?

Liv just wants her best friend Bex to find love.
Bex just wants to stay in bed with Outlander.

With 40 just around the corner, divorced, single mom Bex is too busy being a chauffeur for her teenage daughter to bother swiping for dates.

Her best friend Liv, who is married to the supposedly perfect man, swoops in from London on a mission to get Bex out of her own bed and into someone else’s. Liv pushes Bex into a week-long whirlwind of dates, awkward kisses and missed connections.

What could possibly go wrong when Bex agrees to Liv’s harebrained scheme of saying Yes to every possible suitor? And why is Liv so intent on fixing Bex’s love life, or lack thereof?

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from The Yes Factor

“Hey. I’m Jason.” Bex looks up, expecting to see Mr. Laker, but instead she’s staring up at a tall, lean, brown-haired guy who looks like he could be Channing Tatum’s brother (siblings of celebrities aren’t ever as hot as their famous brother or sister). Still, there’s no doubt he’s attractive, and with that slim fitting V-neck sweater you can see he has the tight body of an Olympic swimmer. Bex, meet Jason, your date that you don’t know is your date. And who’s also not a Laker.
“Hi,” Bex says somewhat unsure as she looks over at the Laker booth.
“I’m Toby.” Jason’s friend steps up to extend a hand. Toby has the kind of arrogant jerk appeal of an ’80s era James Spader. He’s cute and he knows it.
“Hi, I’m Liv. And this is Bex.”
Interpreting this as an invitation, Toby sits down beside me in the booth while Jason slides in next to Bex. We’re now sandwiched in between these two man-children.
“Bex, you’re hot. Even better than your photo.” Okaaay, well, Jason doesn’t beat around the bush. Does this generation even know how to flirt?
“My photo?”
“Yeah.” Jason whips out his phone from his jeans pocket and opens Tinder. He turns the phone to Bex and I can see her photo and a preview frame of their conversation on the screen.
“I wasn’t too sure if you’d show up tonight. I mean, I figured at your age you probably have kids or something.”
“Oh, right, you know, I did almost forget. That early onset Alzheimer’s is getting to me.” Bex turns to me in a harsh whisper. “What the hell have you done now?”
“It’s fine,” I whisper back, fully cowed. “Just think of it as the last of my matchmaking. Trust me.”
“Do not say trust me, because I don’t,” Bex hisses, then turns back to the table to face Jason and Toby.
“So,” she says to Jason in a fake upbeat voice, “we met on Tinder and here we are in person!”
“I know, cool isn’t it? Hey, what was it like when you were dating at our age? Would people really put ads in newspapers? Like paper newspapers?” Jason seems dumbstruck, and I realize that despite the insensitivity, he’s being serious. I also realize that hot bod of his doesn’t have much of a brain.
“No, we’d send out carrier pigeons with notes attached.” Bex goes to take a swig of her bourbon, then frowns when she sees the glass is empty.
“And what about video dating? My mom said she did that one time. Hired a makeup artist and everything.” Toby says this with a tone of disbelief, like it’d be more believable if his mom had said she’d been kidnapped by aliens. “Whatever, man, I’m just glad we have these apps now, it helps to cull the herd. I’ll get us a round.” Full of largesse, Toby motions for the waiter.
“Finished with the Pappy?” the waiter says to Bex. “Another round?”
“No thanks, man, we’ll change it up and have four Jack and Cokes,” Toby says.
Upon hearing Jack and Coke, the waiter gives Bex a glance as if to say, “For real?”
“Did you fine women want those Cokes to be diet?” Toby looks at Bex and me. God, this was a mistake. I’m surprised he didn’t call us ma’am.
“I’m good, I don’t need another drink.” Bex’s face has turned as hard as stone.
“Go ahead and bring four,” Toby says. “No harm in me having yours if you don’t want it. So,” he turns to me, “what are you on?”
What am I on? Is this guy for real?
“I’ve only had a couple of drinks. I’m not on anything.” I sniff at him, losing my ability to be nice. Why do we women feel like we have to be nice to everyone anyway? These guys are redefining the word jerk.
He laughs and pulls out his phone. “No, I mean like what apps are you on? Seems like you’re up for it, too.” He gives me a sleazy look. “I’m on Tinder, Bumble, Match, The Society. Pretty much everything. I think it’s good to diversify. You know, like stocks.”
Toby is swiping through the photos on his phone. “I met her on The Society, it’s the invitation only one. I think you might be out of the age bracket.” He looks up and intently assesses my face. “It’s very high class, very exclusive. She is total second wife material.”
“Second wife material?”
“Yeah, you know. First wife material is the kind of girl you want as the mother of your children. Reliable, nice, good-looking but not too sexy, so she’ll stay at home and raise the kids.”
“Raise the kids?” I’m in total shock. I can’t believe the words I’m hearing from this jerk’s mouth. If Toby is the future of what it means to be a man, I can only hope that every woman becomes a lesbian. I thought this younger generation was supposed to be past stereotyped gender roles. Toby sounds like he’s straight out of a 1950s misogynist guidebook.
He continues on, oblivious. “Whereas second wife material is the hot girl, the girl every guy in the room wants to fu—”
“Okay, I get it,” I snap.
“First wife—Jennifer Garner. Second wife—Jennifer Lawrence,” Jason chimes in and lays it all out as a simple equation.
“Exactly, bro!” Toby reaches across the table to give Jason an enthusiastic high five.
“Liv, I need to run to the ladies’. Come with me.” Bex grabs my arm.
We both sit there and wait for either Jason or Toby to move out of our way so we can leave the booth. Jason is staring at his phone. Toby finally gets up so we can leave and says with tacky innuendo, “Don’t have too much fun without us. Or if you do, take photos.”

Giveaway: One paperback copy of The Yes Factor by Erin Spencer & Emma Sable, US only

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and post a comment to this Q: What did you think of the excerpt spotlighted here? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the book…

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Meet the Author:

Erin Spencer and Emma Sable are two Southern girls who met in L.A. at a mutual friend’s engagement party. They bonded over their shared love of fried shrimp, queso, and The Golden Girls. After a girls’ night out in Hollywood to celebrate Emma’s birthday, the two were inspired to begin writing The Yes Factor, their first novel together.
To celebrate finishing the novel, Erin and Emma travelled to the Amalfi coast where they enjoyed a week of sunshine, pasta, and Pinot Grigio. And where a few notes might have been scribbled for their next book, too!
Erin lives in L.A. and Emma now lives in London. They can’t wait for you to meet Bex and Liv.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2W6HCdj
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TheYesFactorESES
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-yes-factor/
Nook: https://bit.ly/3c4guB7
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2WrKAI3

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Yes-Factor-Audiobook/B0891LMTQS
Narration by Ava Erickson and Andi Arndt