Spotlight & Giveaway: Unexpected by Kelly Rimmer

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kelly Rimmer to HJ!

Hi Kelly and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Unexpected!

 
Hi there! Thanks for having me stop by 🙂
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Unexpected is the story of Abby and Marcus, lifelong friends and roommates. They’ve been laughing off speculation about something more between them literally for decades, but when Abby discovers the window of opportunity for her to become a mother is closing, Marcus offers to have a child with her. The decision to co-parent forces them to evaluate their relationship all over again, and they soon discover they’ve both been ignoring an undertone for years…
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“So, I wanted to talk to you about something tonight…”
There’s a strange edge to my best friend and roommate’s voice tonight, but I’ve just walked in the door after a thirteen-hour day at the office and I’m so hungry I can barely think straight. As curious as I am about whatever’s going on with Abby, I need to get organized before we talk.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I decided I wanted to write a romance series after reading some edgy, cool, rock-star romances. Being that I’m not anything like edgy or cool, nor have I ever been anything like edgy or cool, what came to me instead was a series set around a software startup. Marcus is a marketing guru, and Abby is an extremely passionate gamer who has built a business creating digital content about online games. I worked in IT for years before I left to write fulltime, so I had plenty of real-life experience to help plan out the startup setting, but I’ve never been into online gaming. Luckily, my husband is, so together we had a lot of fun talking about the kinds of things Abby might do for her job.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

I started writing the book and gradually realized that I was picturing Abby as a curvy girl. I didn’t set out to write a plus sized heroine, she just popped into my mind and kind of shrugged at me, like “this is who I am”. Abby’s body shape doesn’t actually impact the plot at all—this isn’t a story about a woman with low self esteem or someone trying to change themselves to find love. She likes how she looks and she’s proud of who she is, and Marcus, as her friend-turned-lover, adores her just the way she is too.

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

Abby and Marcus have an easy, relaxed connection. After all, they’ve been friends forever, and they’ve even lived together for years. But if I was auditioning actors for a movie about this story, I’d use the scene where that easy dynamic starts to change. Abby is watching TV late at night, after a day where Marcus hasn’t been in contact with her—which is unusual, because they usually chat online even while they work.

“Abs?”
“Yeah?” I say a little defensively, but then I notice the bags under his eyes and the pinched look on his face. He’s been working so hard lately, and that stupid message from [his biological father] Warwick must be playing on his mind, too.
“Are you okay?” I ask, just as he blurts, “Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Ask you to…”
“Help you have a baby,” Marcus says stiffly, then he repeats, “You asked Luca. You’re looking at fucking strangers on the internet. I’m right here, Abby. Why didn’t you ask me?”
“I… We’re…” I clear my throat, then whisper, “We’re just too close, Marcus.”
“You’re close with Luca, too.”
“Not like I am with you.”
“Did you not want me to be…” He breaks off, uncharacteristically struggling to express himself. But he doesn’t need to finish the question, because I know what he’s asking.
Did I not want him to be the father of my baby?
All of my anger drains away. I climb up onto my knees on the sofa so that I don’t have to stare all the way up at him. Our gazes lock.
“Of course that’s not it. It just didn’t seem fair to ask you, and I was pretty sure you’d say no, anyway.” I did consider asking him for about five frigging seconds, until I remembered what it was like between us in the weeks after The Kiss, when everything felt stilted and awkward and how utterly miserable I was at the thought that I might have damaged the most important relationship in my life. “I just didn’t want to ask too much of you and risk making things awkward between us…” I say. His brow furrows, until I add very carefully, “Again.”
His expression clears as understanding dawns. Marcus nods curtly, then turns as if he’s going back to his room. But he doesn’t leave; he just freezes where he is. He’s only a foot or two from me but he’s facing away, staring at the ground.

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

I really hope people enjoy the journey Abby and Marcus take, evolving from the best of friends into lovers. But to find their happy ending, Marcus has to work through some baggage from his own family and to figure out who he really is…and whether he can be the man Abby needs him to be. To varying degrees, I think almost everyone can relate to that. And Abby has had some mental health issues in the past, which she’s overcome with the support of her friends and family, as well as medical and psychological support. I hope people reading this story take away both how important it is to be there for our loved ones when they face challenges with mental health, but also, that there’s nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to mental illness.

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

I’ve just about finished the next two books in this series. Unspoken will be out at the end of November. It’s Isabel and Paul’s story, and it opens with them both arriving at their vacation home on Long Island, just a few days before their divorce—sparks fly, and no I’m not (just) talking about the sexy kind! The final book in the series will be out next March. It’s called Undone, and it’s the story of Jess and Paul’s brother Jake.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 print copy of UNEXPECTED (Start Up in the City #1) by Kelly Rimmer entrants limited to North American mailing addresses

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Excerpt from Unexpected:

“I wish I could find potential boyfriends as easily as Jess does.” I sigh.
Isabel laughs softly. “Maybe if you went out every now and again without Marcus, you would.”
I glance at her, surprised. “You think Marcus is the reason I’m going to die old and alone?”
“I don’t think it,” she says, opening the door to the cafe. “I know it.”
I frown. “You actually think I’m going to die old and alone?”
Isabel ponders this for a moment. “No, so let me correct that. You are going to die old and single, but you won’t die alone, because Marcus will be right there beside you. You two are practically joined at the hip since you moved in with him. You may as well just hook up with him and be done with it.”
I can’t help the too-loud peal of laughter that bursts from my mouth. Several sets of curious eyes turn our way, and I press my hand over my mouth to try to con¬tain the giggles.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I assure her, still chuckling. Isabel’s gaze grows skep¬tical.
“Is it, though?”
“Yes, it really is.”
“Sometimes he looks at you with this affection…”
“Oh, he’s fond of me,” I agree. I know exactly the look she’s talking about. Sometimes I can see warmth burning in his eyes, too. It’s understandable how some¬one might misinterpret that. “We’re emotionally inti¬mate, but honestly, that’s all there is to it. And people have been trying to pair us up since we were kids. They see what they want to see.” I raise my eyebrows at her. “That’s what you’re doing.”
“Are you sure that’s not what you’re doing?” she asks me, and I frown. “I mean…if he was into you, would you go there?”
I have thought about Marcus Ross in a romantic fashion, but only once. It was an apparition—a fleet¬ing moment of complete impulsivity and one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made. I like to think of it as The Kiss Which Shall Not Be Named. The Voldemort reference fits, because speaking of it aloud would un¬leash all manner of evil, and the truth is, I’m not so great at facing the dark arts. I don’t even let myself think about that night anymore.
“Unless I had some nasty zombie virus and his semen was the cure, I’d probably try to avoid it.”
“But why? He’s so great.”
“He has two main flaws. One, he doesn’t like gam¬ing.” I shrug. “Between work and fun, I spend most of my life playing games, so I’ve decided I’m only going to date men who like online games, too. I think that’s where I went wrong with Roger. He was forever com¬plaining that I wasn’t spending enough time with him.”
“Where you went wrong with Roger was that he was a fucking idiot.”
“That, too.” I smile sadly. “Anyway, the number one problem with Marcus is an absolute deal-breaker. You said the word date. And what’s dating, Isabel?”
“Well, I’m a little rusty on the concept,” she says wryly. “But I’m pretty sure it still means spending time with someone with a shared goal to forming some kind of romantic relationship with them.”
“Exactly. So, by that definition, Marcus doesn’t date. He has periodic flings with women who are happy with a no-strings arrangement, but he always maintains a very careful distance. If he thinks they’re catching feelings for him, he gently calls things off.”
Isabel shakes her head. “Lots of people think they don’t want long-term commitment until they fall in love. Take Luca, for example.”
“Luca is a different kettle of fish altogether. Sure, he used to say he wouldn’t settle down, but I always knew he would—he wasn’t nearly as cynical about re¬lationships as Marcus is. Marcus just isn’t the kind of guy who falls in love. I’ve seen him flirt plenty, but I’ve never seen him giddy over a woman. Ever since we were old enough to understand what marriage even is, Marcus has been sure that’s not what he wants for life. He’s not going to settle down.”
If we’re still single when we get to forty should we just get married? To each other, I mean.
I was joking when I said that to Marcus last year, at Jess’s legendary New Year’s Eve party on her build¬ing’s rooftop courtyard. We were both more than a little tipsy, and we somehow ended up cuddled under a blanket together. It was completely innocent at first. Romance was the farthest thing from my mind—in fact, we got to talking about how messed up I was after I broke up with Roger, and I half joked that I was giv¬ing up on men altogether.
I was actually hinting for him to say something more typical of Marcus…something reassuring like, Oh, Abs, you’re so great—you’ll find someone! I wasn’t at all serious—at least in part because I know Marcus has zero interest in a wife, even a pretend one. But his reaction really caught me off guard; he scowled, and then snapped, You know I’m never going to get mar¬ried. And anyway, I could never think of you that way.
If I hadn’t guzzled some unknown quantity of pricey champagne that night, I’d probably have told him where to go and we’d have laughed about it and carried on as we were. But between the bubbles and his apparent re¬fusal to see me as a woman even just for one damned hypothetical moment…well, frankly, I was more than a little pissed and pissed off.
So I kissed him, and nearly ruined everything.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Co-parenting with her best friend. What could go wrong?

The next three decades of Abby Herbert’s life are as carefully planned out as the last three were. Best career ever? Check. Great friends, one of whom she lives with in a stunning TriBeCa apartment? Check. Perfect man to share her dream family? Surely just a matter of time. But then she gets devastating news from her doctor—if she wants to get pregnant, she needs to get started on that by…well, yesterday. On the bright side, she has the perfect person in mind to be the father.

Tech entrepreneur Marcus Ross has been harboring decidedly not-friends feelings toward Abby. He doesn’t want to lose her and, knowing his feelings are one-sided, he’s been trying to move on. When he learns about the curveball Abby’s just been hit with, he promises to be there for her however she wants him to be, even if the idea of fatherhood is a little complicated for him right now. But it isn’t long until boundaries start to blur, and a deal struck between friends starts to turn into something perilously close to feelings that could change everything…

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Meet the Author:

Kelly Rimmer is the USA Today bestselling author of six women’s fiction novels including Me Without You and Before I Let You Go. Unexpected is her first contemporary romance novel, although writing it was so much fun, she’s already working on more. Kelly lives in rural Australia with her family and two fantastically naughty dogs.
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