Spotlight & Giveaway: Work It Out by Eva Siedler

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Eva Siedler to HJ!

Hi Eva and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Work It Out!

 
Hi, fellow junkies!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

When a Hollywood hunk needs a superhero glow-up, he sneaks off to a struggling new high-end health resort in his hometown of Bigbone, Arizona (a fictional southwestern Stars Hallow ). But Rayah, Jake’s sexy, hard-ass new trainer, quickly discovers that he’s hiding more than his location. He has a chronic illness that causes him to collapse during even the lightest sessions, a lie that could not only cost him the role of a lifetime. It could close the doors on the business she’s so desperately trying to save—and her little found family—forever.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“You didn’t bring me out here to murder me, right?” Jake asked because grown men didn’t whine, Are we there yet?

The six years since he left Bigbone, Arizona, hand changed his life right down to his name, so much so that he wasn’t sure he liked the man he’d become. Riding through the mountains of the Coconino National Forest in his best friend’s Jeep, crisp fall air whipping through the open windows, might’ve been a great trip up memory mountain if he weren’t two seconds from throwing up, passing out, or both.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Jake’s case of POTS is modeled after my own when I was that age and learning my way around the gym.
• The original title for this book was SWOLE MATES. Unfortunately, that sounds pretty dirty if you don’t know that swole is slang for having muscles.
• I try not to play favorites with my characters, but Hogrid wins, hooves down.
• The poisonous spinies (the local version of Bigfoot ) were inspired by a dream my dad that was so hilarious, I worked it into a book more than 20 years later.
• There has been a major increase in POTS diagnoses in recent years, due at least in part to its high occurrence in long COVID patients. While unfortunate, this upsurge has increased POTS awareness and spurred more much-needed research. Being able to bring a character with POTS to traditional publishing, particularly to romance readers, is a dream come true.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Jake almost immediately sees the soft heart Rayah tries so hard to hide behind her grumpy exterior, the one that he wants to protect the same way she protects the people she loves. Not because she needs him to, but because she deserves it.

Small as she is in stature, Rayah is used to fighting to be seen as anything but weak. She never stood a chance against the relentless, teasing, matter-of-fact respect Jake shows for her strength.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Adorkable, sparkling, teasing, heartwarming, and magnetic.
 

The First Kiss…

“She told herself it was another thank-you kiss, a sweet, innocent meeting of mouths. The moment her lips touched his, that reasoning went up in smoke and took her caution, her good sense, and her self-preservation with it.”

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

-Jake and Rayah are alone on a mountain, handcuffed together, when Jake hurts his ankle while saving Hogrid the piglet. With a storm rolling in, there’s only one option.

“Rayah shoved Hogrid at him. It was catch the pig or let him fall. Then she bent over, draped him sideways over her shoulders with their cuffed hands at his hip, and hauled his six-foot-plus frame off the ground like it was nothing.

‘Rayah, stop! You’ll hurt yourself.’

‘Oh, shut up, Jake.’ In truth, she sounded more irritated than strained. ‘You told me I could carry you off anytime. Well, I’m calling your bluff. Besides, if Drew Barrymore can do it, so can I.’ She started back the way they’d come like she was out for a stroll.

Well, damn. That was pretty freaking hot.

Rayah’s step faltered. He didn’t bother hiding his smile.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

‘I can’t help it,’ Jake admitted, his cock lengthening more at her sass. ‘Buck those traditional gender roles, cupcake. Haul your man back to your cave and take what you want! I’m totally down. One hundred percent consent here.’ “

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

-When Jake first arrives at Explosion, he’s immediately greeted by the last person he suspected to see, his grandmother.

“ ‘Apparently, you aren’t paying Blaine enough, Granny. Looks like he can’t afford a shirt.’

She let loose a tinkling laugh. ‘Oh, honey, I pay him plenty. Including a little extra to forget he can afford shirts.’

‘Kill me now,’ Jake muttered.

‘I keep telling Ruth and Georgia to pay their boys extra, too, but they shake their heads and call me shameless.’

‘Ruth and—’ He looked past her and saw his grandmother’s favorite cronies with their own man candy. ‘Are those martinis?’

‘Of course, dear. Georgia makes the most delightful—’

‘It’s nine thirty in the morning!’

‘Don’t you take that tone with me. We used to drink mimosas, but Samuel—that’s Ruth’s young man—pointed out how much sugar those have. Vodka is much healthier.’

He scowled at Pierce. ‘What the hell kind of place is this?’

‘Right now,’ replied a husky voice behind him, ‘I’d say it’s the entertaining kind.’

Jake turned and looked down—way, way down—into big, sparkling brown eyes and promptly forgot what he was so cheesed off about.”

Readers should read this book …

…if you’ve ever wondered what it would have been like if you favorite Hollywood superhero had fallen for his trainer, literally and figuratively. Or if you simply love…
– puny heroes
-sassy heroines
– positives chronic illness representation
– big found families full of quirky characters
-weird small towns with serious Gilmore Girl vibes

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

I have a few projects in various stages, but book 2 has me back in Bigbone and loving it!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: e-book copy of WORK IT OUT by Eva Siedler

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: No one will ever definitively settle the debate over which Hollywood Chris is best (for me it’s a two-way tie), but what actor or actress do you think has pulled off the best superhero transformation?

 
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Excerpt from Work It Out:

“Come here, cupcake. We need to get a few things straight.”

She rolled over and stared at him. He stretched out the arm closest to her and patted his chest with the other hand. “Come on. Get in on this while I’m still soft and squishy. A few weeks from now, I’ll be all buffed out. It’ll be like cuddling a boulder.”

She wanted to laugh and make a place for herself against his shoulder. It would feel amazing, even if it wouldn’t solve anything. Instead, she shook her head and settled against her pillow. “This isn’t necessary, Jake. You don’t owe me an explanation, and you certainly don’t owe me pity cuddles.”

“Pity cuddles? For fuck’s sake, Rayah.” Jake slipped his arm under her and hauled her against his chest. “This has been the longest day of my life. I swear, my hair hurts. It actually hurts. I always thought that was an exaggeration, but I feel it, and it aches.” She did chuckle at that. Pierce had worked him hard.

Jake’s silver eyes gleamed like white-hot flames in the moonlight. “I desperately want a whole host of things, the most notable of which is to sink into your tight little body and not come out for a week.” He smoothed the hair from her face, raining a cascade of tingles over her skin. “Unfortunately, we need to talk about a few things before that happens. Moreover, you’ve been through a hell of a lot tonight.

“I can absolutely be pushy and assuming, but I’d never, ever purposefully risk taking advantage of anyone, let alone a woman I respect as much as I respect you. And if I’m being honest, I want to mean more to you than some rebound lay. You’re understandably emotional over things with Blaine. I want you to be with me because you can’t think about anything—or anyone—else. God knows, you’ve made a full-time job of starring in some very dirty fantasies of mine. I think I might deserve some airtime in your head, too.”

Oh, he’d had several leading roles he didn’t know about. Not that she’d admit it.

“For tonight,” Jake said, arranging them both so they lay on their sides with her back pressed against his front, “I’ll settle for being the big spoon.”

He was right. He could absolutely be pushy and assuming, but only in the most wonderful ways. She needed someone who respected her strength enough to cart her around and position her like a doll when she was being stubborn even as he challenged her to be brave enough to ask for what she wanted.

Jake would make her admit how much she burned for him before he truly laid a finger on her, and he’d make sure her focus didn’t waver. No one had ever made her feel so seen. Not even Blaine.

The heaviness of the last few years leached from her heart and settled in her bones—always a part of her but more dormant somehow. Though the feeling was utterly exhausting, all that ache seemed more manageable with a lighter heart and an extra set of arms to carry the load. She and Blaine would work it out; they had to. But that was tomorrow’s problem. For tonight, being enveloped in Jake’s warm embrace was plenty. They’d never last, but they could steal a little time. That would have to be enough.

Rayah scooched closer to the curve of Jake’s body. Her breath hitched and her pussy clenched when her bottom wiggled against the long, thick ridge of him, and that unfamiliar thrill felt amazing, too.

He wound an arm around her waist, tucking her closer still and pinning her against him. “Be a good little spoon and go to sleep before you make me cross-eyed.”

“Fine.” She kissed her bicep pillow. “Since I can’t persuade you to be the big fork.”

His sensual chuckle went straight to the place where she ached for him most. “Don’t worry, cupcake. I have every intention of forking the hell out of you. Very, very soon.”

For once in her life, she couldn’t wait.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

With the lead role in a huge action film up for grabs, actor Jake Newman has ninety days to get in shape. How does a man grow abs without the tabloids watching his every move? By sneaking off to a high-end health resort in his Arizona hometown to supersize his biceps…Thor style. Oh, and hope no one discovers the real reason he bailed from Los Angeles—or the teeny little health issue he’s hoping to keep from everyone.

Especially his cute, sunshiny, and absolute hard-ass new trainer.

Former gymnast Rayah Summers has poured everything she has into her desert dream: a full-service resort that helps people transform their bodies and lifestyles. But a run of bad luck has her on the brink of bankruptcy —and the Hollywood hunk with insanely sexy dimples is all that’s standing between her and disaster.

Now everything depends on her success: her future, her roof over her head, and especially her trainers—who are more family than employees. Rayah can’t afford for anything to go wrong… and no one’s able to explain why Jake Newman keeps collapsing during even the lightest workouts.

Now it’s a balance beam nightmare, with Rayah trying to keep her business afloat—all while managing her staff’s drama, keeping her celebrity client a secret, and not falling for him or his devilishly sexy grin. And it’s just a matter of time before Jake’s secrets threaten not only her dreams, but the chosen family she’s found…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Eva Siedler and her sexy aircraft mechanic husband have built a crazy home in Central Ohio filled with almost as much neurodiversity as love. By day she wrangles two teenage boys with the supernatural ability to misplace anything, her POTS symptoms, and carpools. By night she writes funny, spicy love stories packed with strong, sassy heroines, big-hearted heroes, and tons of wacky small-town shenanigans.
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