Spotlight & Giveaway: Wild Goose Chase by Sarah Adler

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sarah Adler to HJ!

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

Thanks so much for inviting me back!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Wild Goose Chase is the story of Callahan Leitner, an antique dealer with a whole cargo hold of emotional baggage, and Annie O’Neill, a whirlwind of a woman who shows up to wreak havoc on his life via being way too sexy while eating meatball subs and blackmailing him. After a taxidermy goose of dubious legality comes into Cal’s possession via his ex-girlfriend and then goes missing from the shop, he and Annie have to team up to track it down as it makes its improbable journey through the mansions, moving trucks, diners, and Mother Goose-themed burlesque shows of Baltimore.
 

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

My favorite out-of-context line is probably “Listen. I know it’s not like, reassuring that Roland has round-the-clock access to a warehouse full of mannequins…”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The plot of Wild Goose Chase hinges on an actual U.S. law called the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which has some fascinating history behind it. For example, one of the many events that prompted people to finally take notice of how many birds were being killed for food, fashion, and sport was the extinction of the passenger pigeon, which used to be so abundant in the United States that flocks could literally be a mile wide and thirteen miles long. They’d fly over places and block out the sun, create their own wind from the flapping of their wings, freak out livestock, and rain down excrement all over everything for hours. It’s so hard to imagine the scale of that nowadays, or that humans could manage to erase a species that was so abundant through greed and the false assumption in earlier centuries that natural resources were limitless.
• The inspiration for this story began many years ago now, right after I finished writing Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, when I started drafting something about a taxidermy eagle and a local cryptid called the snallygaster. I kept tabling the idea, though, and then one day, over lunch with my husband, the plot for Wild Goose Chase suddenly came together as I brainstormed aloud. It’s so nice when something that’s been in your head for so long finally finds its proper outlet!
• This book is set in Baltimore, which is where I was born and where both of my parents are from. It’s been funny (and frustrating) to me though that a lot of readers are super confused by the Baltimore accent, which Cal slips into occasionally when he’s flustered. To me, it’s just such a part of my childhood to hear people—and sometimes myself—saying things like “amblance” and “meer” that I never imagined non-Marylanders finding it odd.
• Another fun fact is that Ora Worthy, the naturalist in the past-timeline of the story, was inspired by several American and British women who were instrumental in developing ornithology as a formal field of study and advocating for bird conservation, including Mabel Osgood Wright, Gene Stratton-Porter, Harriet Mann Miller, Oriana Wilson, Florence Merriam Bailey, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Harriet Hemenway, and Minna B. Hall.

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

Initially, Annie is interested in Cal after seeing him appraising a lamp on TV. She’s attracted to his looks, intelligence, and passion for antiques. Cal is completely bowled over by Annie’s exuberance and willingness to call him out when he’s too brusque upon their first meeting.
 

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

I was so excited to write the first intimate scene between these two, knowing I wanted to include this line for literally years…

“Wait,” I say. “The front door. Did we lock it?”
Cal glances up, and it’s such a titillating sight to have his eyes meet mine, my hand fisting his hair while my thighs frame his head. “Maybe,” he says. “Don’t know. But no way in hell I’m about to stop and go check right now.”
“What if someone doesn’t realize we’re closed and walks in?” I ask.
“Then I guess they’ll get to watch you come,” he says simply before lowering his mouth to me again.

Readers should read this book….

…if they like to laugh, swoon, and sneakily be fed fun facts about bird law.
 

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

I am currently waiting for my editor’s notes on the first draft of my fifth book, which I can’t really share much about yet!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 copy of WILD GOOSE CHASE, U.S. only

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Book Info:

An antique dealer and his inconvenient(ly irresistible) new colleague must contend with an illicit stuffed goose and their sizzling attraction, from USA Today bestselling author Sarah Adler.

Antique store owner Callahan Leitner has an illegal taxidermy goose in his living room.

Why? It’s…complicated.

But it may end his career unless he finds a legitimate way to dispose of the bird ASAP. Except, there’s an unexpected wrench in his plans—the frustrating, effervescent Annie O’Neill.

Annie is happy to fill in for her uncle at his antique store; it’s the perfect opportunity to gain more experience before opening a shop of her own, plus she’ll finally meet his handsome young business partner. Unfortunately, Cal is nothing like the charming man she expected. She’s tempted to take his apparent dislike personally, until she stumbles upon the source of his moodiness: the contraband waterfowl hidden upstairs.

When the goose goes missing, both of their professional reputations are on the line. As Cal and Annie attempt to track down the bird before it can be traced back to the store, their tentative alliance turns into something much deeper. Will the hunt for their felonious fowl lead to true love, or end in ruin?
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Meet the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Sarah Adler writes romantic comedies about lovable weirdos finding their happily ever afters. She lives in Maryland with her husband, daughter, and very mischievous cat. When not working, you can find her attempting to course-correct an ill-advised late afternoon nap with an equally ill-advised late afternoon coffee, as she is incapable of ever learning a lesson.
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