Spotlight & Giveaway: Would You Rather by Allison Ashley

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Allison Ashley to HJ!

Hi Allison and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Would You Rather!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Would You Rather is a contemporary marriage of convenience where two long-time best friends, Mia and Noah, get married so Mia can use Noah’s health insurance. They’ve avoided underlying feelings for years, and suddenly living together while pretending to be in love in front of people is making it extremely difficult for them to ignore the truth.
 

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

He leaned over and kissed her, smiling against her lips. “It’s just…I realized sometimes you look at me the same way you look at chicken wings.”
Mia’s cheeks went pink. “I do?”
He nodded slowly, the grin widening on his face.
“And is that a good thing?”
“Hell yes.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Mia’s obsessed with chicken wings
• Noah is a cinnamon roll hero with tattoos
• Meddling best friends bring comedic relief

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

You know, the book starts a good 20 years after their friendship started, and well after they fell for each other (even if they kept it secret). So this isn’t expressly written in the book, but Mia fell for Noah’s stoic, quiet demeanor and intense loyalty. He fell for her bright personality and her ability to make friends wherever she goes.

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

Oh gosh, there are examples for all of these. I think I’ll go with a blushing scene, which is when they practice kissing when they’re alone to make sure it seems believable in front of others.

She rubbed her hands up and down her thighs, the blue fabric of her skirt rippling under the movement. “Um, do you think maybe we should kiss again? Maybe we just need to get used to it. Make it less of an ordeal.”
He almost choked on his tongue. “Here? Now?”
“Yeah. While we’re alone. It feels so much worse with an audience, and maybe that’s the problem.”
He shook his head at the same time his heart screamed the affirmative. “I don’t think—”
“You’re always thinking,” she said, shifting to her knees. “We both are. Let’s just stop for a minute.”
She took his face in her small hands, angled his head toward her, and pressed her lips to his. Like before, her eyes were open, brown and wide and beautiful. His hands shook with the effort to keep them to himself.
“Noah,” she murmured against his mouth. “Don’t think.”
Don’t think.
He gave in to his body, allowing his arm to rise up and his fingers to slide across her cool cheek. Her eyes slid closed and a small murmur escaped her throat, and at that tiny sound his control snapped. He grabbed her by the waist and hauled her onto his lap. She let out a little yelp but kept her lips against his, settling her thighs down to frame his waist, her hands still on either side of his face.
One of his arms clamped around her back, pressing her against him, while the other slid up the back of her head, gripping her hair in a frenzy. She arched her back—fuck, he couldn’t get her close enough—and opened her mouth to him.
Deep and intense, it is.
Her tongue was in his mouth and he was completely lost. Dying and drowning in her breath, her scent, her touch. He never wanted to come up for air. Ever. Her hands were under his shirt, scorching his skin as they slid up his stomach to his chest.
He lifted his hips a little, unable to stop himself, and she pressed down against him, causing the most beautiful and painful friction. When she said his name on a breathless moan, he was seconds away from flipping her onto her back.
That’s when he came back to himself.

Readers should read this book….

If they are fans of these tropes: marriage of convenience, friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine.

If they’re looking for a book that will make you laugh and cry.

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

In WOULD YOU RATHER you’ll meet two friends, Claire and Graham, who end up becoming roommates in this book. They’ll be the stars of my next book, THE ROOMATE PACT (also from MIRA< 2023) where Graham, a firefighter, is injured on the job and Claire, a nurse, ends up acting as his reluctant (and sassy) caretaker.
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: US winners only, A print copy of Would You Rather by Allison Ashley

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Excerpt from Would You Rather:

Mia startled awake, heart pounding. Her eyelids fluttered and she pressed her hands into the sheets, awareness setting in.
The dream always ended in that moment, never continuing on to the disaster that set in shortly thereafter.
It was almost as if fate wanted a do-over.
She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. A do-over. What would she do with a second chance with Noah, if such a thing were possible? What if things had turned out different and they’d been able to meet that night like they’d planned?
She covered her face with her hands. Thinking about it was pointless. She couldn’t go back in time, and couldn’t change what happened that night, or shortly after.
Even if Noah’s proposal could be seen as a second chance (which it shouldn’t, because he was just doing it to help her out), and even if she wanted a second chance with him (which she didn’t, because their friendship was perfect), her reasons for staying out of a real relationship were still valid. Even if it were Noah, someone who loved her (like a friend) and cared about her well-being, he still didn’t deserve the burden of her illness. It was time-consuming, costly, and stressful. It came with a lot of unknowns, and that was something she was determined to shoulder alone.
It was bad enough her parents had to foot the early medical bills. She’d never be able to repay them.
Her hands slid down her face a little, as a new realization set in. She’d have a better chance of giving them some money back, if she had a better paying job. She wouldn’t become rich as a dietician, but she’d probably double her current salary as an administrative assistant. She could keep her current expenses and put aside a little every month for them.
They wouldn’t accept it, a voice in the back of her mind argued.
That was beside the point. It was the principle—the fact that she tried. Even that would lessen her guilt, if only a fraction.
She’d barely spoken to her parents in two years, and couldn’t put her finger on exactly why she felt she owed them so much after learning of their deception. Her conscience argued it was probably because they were so good to her for the first twenty-eight years of her life, but she wasn’t quite ready to make peace yet.
She missed them more every day, so maybe she was getting there.
She glanced at the clock—ten minutes before her alarm. There was no point in closing her eyes again, so she got out of bed and got ready for work.
When she arrived at her desk, she found two things.
One, her entire computer was covered in plastic wrap. Tower, screen, keyboard, mouse. All of it. And thick, too—her computer could survive an explosion with the multilayered protection around it.
Two, a steaming cup of coffee from her favorite coffee shop.
She hadn’t even looked up yet, but she knew she’d find Noah’s light on. She was often the first one in, and when his car was in the lot before hers, it was usually because he’d arrived early to mess with her workspace. She grabbed the warm drink that smelled like caramel heaven and walked to his office.
She stopped in the doorway, fixing him with her best glare, trying to pretend he hadn’t completely thrown her for a loop last night.
He didn’t even look up. “Morning.” He said it like nothing was out of the ordinary.
And in a way, it wasn’t. This was standard operating procedure. Last Friday she’d covered everything on his desk with Post-it notes.
It was that pesky proposal that had her stomach turning over itself, but she wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.
“Your use of plastic isn’t good for the environment,” Mia said.
“Recycle it.” He still hadn’t looked away from his computer screen. A single pink Post-it remained on the back, and she wondered if he’d missed it.
“You gonna help me get it off?”
“Did you help me the time you put cups of water around my desk like a castle moat?”
She had not.
She took a sip of her coffee, savoring the sweet flavor. He knew exactly how she liked it. Without conscious thought, she let out a little sigh.
She lowered the cup to find his gaze on her face.
A few seconds of silence passed and he leaned back in his leather chair. “Stop thinking so hard and just marry me already.”
She nearly dropped hot coffee all over her shoes. Her eyes darted to the open doorway.
“No one else is here,” he said, guessing what she was thinking.
Still, she turned and closed his door before sitting across from him. She cupped the warm drink between her palms, unsure how to begin.
“Mia.” His voice was low and even.
“Noah.” Hers came out unusually high-pitched.
She kept her eyes on his immaculate desk.
“Look at me.”
Something in his voice forced her eyes to his. He looked at her the same way he always did—with focus, friendly
affection…maybe a hint more intensity than usual. But overall, he just looked at her like he was Noah and she was Mia.
So what was it about this moment that had her breath trapped in her lungs?
“Don’t make this a bigger deal than it is,” he finally said.
That sent an exhale between her lips. “Marriage isn’t a big deal? Insurance fraud isn’t a big deal?”
He pursed his lips and glanced around briefly, as if to confirm his earlier assertion they were alone. “Insurance fraud isn’t why you’re hesitating.”
Dammit, why did he know her so well?
He just watched her for a few seconds. “I usually don’t have to ask what you’re thinking.”
Funny, she felt the exact opposite about him.
“Noah, it’s too much.”
“It’s not. It’s signing a piece of paper. I’ll even let you pay the court fees if it would make you feel better.” He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his desk. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing the dark ink covering the inside of his left forearm.
Her eye caught on the words the sun will rise and we will try again less than two inches above his wrist. If he slid his sleeve a little higher, she’d see a mountain.
“Don’t focus on the short term. Think about what it could mean in the long run. We do this, what—for a few months, a year? Maybe two? Until your time comes and you get a transplant? Then it’s over, and what did we lose? Nothing. What did we gain? You took a chance on an opportunity that could lead to the career you’ve always wanted.”
“What did you gain?”
“The knowledge that I helped my friend achieve her dream. Lifelong happiness.”
“What if you meet someone—”
“I won’t.”
“Noah.”
“Mia. I don’t care about that.” His eyes dropped to his hands for a second before he looked back at her. His next words were so quiet she almost didn’t catch them. “You mean more to me.”
Her mind skipped back to that night in college, and a tiny part of her wondered if they’d made a mistake. What if…?
She swallowed and glanced away. “What if we got caught?”
“We wouldn’t. We’ve been friends for decades. It’s completely plausible we’ve been pining after each other all these years and finally decided to do something about it. No one else needs to know the situation.”
“Don’t you think your dad would know? If I quit, we got married, you put me on your insurance…he’d know something was up.”
“Let me deal with my dad.”
Her face must have revealed her doubt, because he kept going.
“My dad loves you like you’re his daughter. Even if he suspected something, he’d never say anything.”
Was she actually considering this? “I’d leave him in a lurch.” She waved a hand in the direction of the lobby.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but we can find another administrative assistant. Maybe even one who doesn’t pry the letters off my keyboard once a week.”
She grinned at that. “You’d probably move offices if I left.” He hated being so close to the lobby.
“Probably.”
She leaned back, slumping against the cushion. “I—I can’t, Noah.” She closed her eyes, wishing… For what, she didn’t know. Just…wishing.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.”
“Because you don’t want to marry me? Or because you don’t want to put me out?”
She sat up and frowned. “Both, I guess.”
“Wow. Okay.”
“Noah, you’re my best friend. I love you, you know that. But I don’t want to marry you because it’s not fair to you. And because it would be too much of a burden.”
“So, it’s all because of how you think it affects me? It has nothing to do with hating the idea of being married to me? Or because you’d be embarrassed to introduce me as your husband?”
“Of course not,” she said, surprised he’d even think that. “I’d be proud to call you that. But we’re friends. We’re not in a relationship. It’s…weird.”
“Lots of people get married in name only.”
“Is that the marriage you’ve always envisioned for yourself? A fake one?”
“Is this the life you’ve always envisioned for yourself? In a job with no potential for growth, while your dream of improving childhood nutrition passes you by?”
“I hate it when you do that.”
He stilled. “Do what?”
“Answer a question with a question.”
“Well,” he said with a shrug. “This is about you, not me.”
“It’s about both of us!”
“It’s really not.” He stood and walked around his desk, then sat in the chair beside her. He took her free hand, and she dropped her eyes to his large warm fingers encompassing hers. A tingling sensation traveled up her arm. “My mind is made up. I want to do this for you. You just have to let me.”
She stared at their hands for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his face. His ice-blue gaze was concentrated, but gentle. He pulled the corner of his lower lip between white teeth, waiting.
His desk phone rang, the tone piercing through the air. Noah released her hand and leaned over to look at the caller ID. “I need to get that.”
Mia leapt to her feet. “Sure. We’ll talk later.” She went for the door.
“Mia.”
She stopped with her fingers on the handle and kept her back to him.
“Do one thing for me.” The phone kept ringing.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

USA TODAY, August’s Best Rom-Coms, PopSugar, Romance Novels to Spice Up Your Summer
Goodreads, New Romances to Heat Up Your Summer
“A pitch-perfect mix of all the best romance tropes, Would You Rather is what happens when friends to lovers, fake-dating, and mutual pining are elevated to perfection. Allison Ashley gives me all the feels, and I love every one of them!” —Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis

Noah and Mia have always been best friends, and their friendship is the most important thing to them. Life is going great for Noah and he’s up for a promotion in a job he loves. But Mia’s life is on hold as she awaits a kidney transplant. She’s stuck in a dead-end job and, never wanting to be a burden, has sworn off all romance. So when the chance of a lifetime comes to go back to school and pursue her dream, it’s especially painful to pass up. She can’t quit her job or she’ll lose the medical insurance she so desperately needs.

To support her, Noah suggests they get married—in name only—so she can study full-time and still keep the insurance. It’s a risk to both of them, with jobs, health and hearts on the line, and they’ll need to convince suspicious coworkers and nosy roommates that they’re the real deal. But if they can let go of all the baggage holding them back, they might realize that they would rather be together forever.
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Allison Ashley is a music-loving, coffee-drinking mom of two who loves love stories. She’s an oncology pharmacist and spends her days focused on helping patients through the hardest thing life can throw at them. Her escape has always been books—specifically reading books about happiness, love, and laughter—and it was inevitable that she’d eventually write her own. She promises to always write stories with deep romance, intense connection, and humor…but most of all, that coveted happy ever after.
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