Spotlight & Giveaway: Tourist Attraction by Sarah Mogenthaler

Posted May 5th, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 54 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sarah Mogenthaler to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Sarah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Tourist Attraction!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Cheerful tourist Zoey Caldwell is on her dream vacation to the quirky mountain town of Moose Springs, Alaska, unaware she’s about to run headfirst into grumptastic diner owner Graham Barnett. Graham is a Moose Springs local who can’t stand the tourists constantly invading his town and bothering the wildlife. But when Graham and Zoey meet, sparks fly. She’s taking a trip, but he’s the one about to fall.
 

Please share your favorite quote from the book

“I’m just a guy. With my head in the lap of a girl. Asking her not to spill her drink on me.” –Graham Barnett

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • -I was in Anchorage doing research for another story when I had the idea for THE TOURIST ATTRACTION. And I’m so glad I did!
  • -A lot of the excursion scenes are inspired by my own adventures (and misadventures!) in Alaska, especially the whale watching and ATV scenes.
  • -Since I love small town settings in books and tv shows, TOURIST was pitched as “Gilmore Girls meets Northern Exposure”.

 

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

Most of all, I want people to have fun! It’s a tough time in the world right now, and I hope TOURIST brings a smile to a reader’s face. I also hope that this book will cause a reader fall in love with Alaska as much as I have.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: A paperback copy of TOURIST ATTRACTION by Sarah Mogenthaler

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: My whole life, I had always dreamed of taking a trip to Alaska. Where do you dream about going?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Tourist Attraction:

What had she just gotten herself into? She didn’t even drink.
Those same words had been replaying in Zoey Caldwell’s head ever since she’d gotten off the plane in Anchorage. She wasn’t a risk taker, far from it, but she’d dreamed of coming to Alaska her whole life. Zoey had scrimped and saved every spare penny she could scrape together for years. When she had finally saved up enough and Lana mentioned her plans for her next trip to Moose Springs, offering to share a room as she always did, Zoey couldn’t pass up the chance at her dream vacation.
A trip to Alaska wasn’t just the top item on Zoey’s bucket list. Alaska was the whole bucket and the water inside it.
Never had Zoey been so excited, so overwhelmed, and so ready to sleep off the jet lag her nine-hour flight had given her. But Lana insisted on them coming to the rustic little hamburger and hot dog joint, claiming this a rite of passage. The Tourist Trap was charming in the same way the guy at the grill was charming. A little rough around the edges, but amusing. There weren’t any menus, only a whiteboard sign with a Magic Marker. It read Menu: Same crap we always have. Specials: Whatever you jerks didn’t eat yesterday.
Zoey liked it here already.
Swirling her glass idly, Zoey decided the gorgeous cook should have at least added salt to her yellow water and made it room temperature.
If one was going to be a smart-ass, it was important to go all in.
Graham was disturbingly attractive. Too attractive. Grab your moose pee and run back to the hotel on the mountain type of attractive. In Zoey’s world, that level of attractiveness was almost off-putting. Medium attractive was more her type. Safer. Calmer. Less…whatever was happening over there behind that grill.
If the Tourist Trap wanted to make money, they needed cooks who were remotely approachable. Not tall, muscled, scruffy-faced men in blue jeans and snug white T-shirts with warm eyes.
He caught her looking at him and winked.
Graham gave exceptionably good wink.
“Oh, you’re a bad, bad idea.” Zoey groaned, shaking her head. “Nope, not doing that.”
“Not doing what, love?” Lana dropped down in the seat next to Zoey, drumming her fingernails on the tabletop. “Who are we not doing?”
“No one.” The clack of rattling ice cubes against metal pulled her attention. Yep. Sexy T-shirt man was shaking something in a makeshift cocktail shaker fashioned from a YETI tumbler. Strong fingers held the shaker closed with a single hand, biceps flexing as he absently shook the YETI and scooted fresh-seared burgers to the far side of the flat top grill.
Competent and gorgeous just didn’t seem fair.
Lana followed Zoey’s eyes. “Oh, trust me. He’s not for sale. That boy is locals only. But he can shake a cocktail, can’t he?”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He had a strict “no tourists” policy…
Until she broke all of his rules.
When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he meant it as a joke. Now he’s stuck slinging reindeer dogs to an endless parade of resort visitors who couldn’t interest him less. Not even the sweet, enthusiastic tourist in the corner who blushes every time he looks her way…

Two weeks in Alaska isn’t just the top item on Zoey Caldwell’s bucket list. It’s the whole bucket. One look at the mountain town of Moose Springs and she’s smitten. But when an act of kindness brings Zoey into Graham’s world, she may just find there’s more to the grumpy local than meets the eye…and more to love in Moose Springs than just the Alaskan wilderness.

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

Meet the Author:

Geologist and lifelong science nerd, SARAH MORGENTHALER is a passionate supporter of chocolate chip cookies, geeking out over rocks, and playing with her rescue pit bull, Sammy. When not writing romantic comedy and contemporary romance set in far-off places, Sarah can be found traveling with her husband, hiking national parks, and enjoying her own happily ever after. Sarah is a two-time Golden Heart Finalist and winner of the NOLA STARS Suzannah award.

Author Website: https://sarahmorgenthaler.com/
 
 
 

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54 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Tourist Attraction by Sarah Mogenthaler”

  2. lynnpallaske

    I dream of going to Athens, Greece and Rome, Italy. So many historical sights I want to see before they disappear.

  11. janinecatmom

    There are a lot of places I would like to visit. Too many to list. But if I won the lottery, the first place I would go to would be Bora Bora.

  14. Laurie Gommermann

    I worked with a person from Switzerland. I loved to look at her pictures. I’d also like to visit Austria. I’d visit the places where Mozart lived and worked. See where the Sound of Music VonTrapp family lived etc.

  20. JoAn V.

    I want to see Australia and New Zealand. I would have been traveling to Alaska this month but the pandemic stopped those plans.

  21. Amy R

    Where do you dream about going? Maine, Seattle or PNW, Italy and Scotland

  22. Pammie R.

    Ireland and Hawaii. I am at least 1/4 Irish and I watch entirely too many shows filmed in Hawaii.

  38. Glenda M

    SO many places! Alaska is one in fact all the US National Parks are on my list as are; Scotland, Ireland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Galapagos Islands, multiple island nations. . . .

  40. Kay Garrett

    I, too, have always wanted to go to Alaska. My parents were stationed in Alaska when they found out they were expecting me. My Mom being RH- meant they were sent back stateside. They loved it there and always talked so fondly of it. I was almost my home state.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  46. Anita H.

    I have a trip to Europe on my bucket list- France, Italy, Spain, England, Scotland