Posts Tagged ‘Blind Date Bride’
I have a confession: I love reality TV.
Well, not all reality TV. I’ve never watched a full episode of “Big Brother” or “The Amazing Race”—and I quit watching “Survivor” several years ago, about the time the networks decided to make me choose between it and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
But before my day job became a “night job,” forcing me to work through prime time TV hours, you could find me glued to shows like “Mr. Personality,” “Joe Millionaire,” “Temptation Island” and “My Big, Fat Obnoxious Fiance.”
Notice a pattern there? All FOX shows, the trashier the better. 😉 Seriously. If it had train-wreck potential, I tuned in and eagerly awaited the derailment. (Anyone remember “Playing It Straight”?)
My love of trash-tastic reality shows probably made it easier for me to dream up BLIND DATE BRIDE. I had no problem imagining a reality show run amok.
The story starts with two reluctant grand-prize winners in Romance TV’s “Get a Love Life” contest. Their “prize” for having the worst love lives in America—as selected by a panel of experts that included Dr. Drew and Danielle Steel—is a blind date wedding. To claim the prize money, Kari and Damien must marry and live together for ninety days.
When the ratings from the wedding special are through the roof, the network offers Kari and Damien another opportunity: More cold, hard cash to let a camera crew film them 24/7 for a “Newlyweds”-type show called “Just Married.” Because they both have plans for the cash, they agree.
And that, my friends, is where the craziness really begins. Because marrying someone you’ve never met before isn’t crazy enough, right?
BLIND DATE BRIDE, my first single title indie-pubbed novel, goes on sale tomorrow. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
The blurb:
Nearly a decade ago, accountant Kari Parker shed 220 pounds of dead weight — her hulking, abusive college boyfriend. The last thing she wants in her life is another man — especially one as tall as a Windy City high rise. Yet when her best friend enters her in Romance TV’s “Get a Love Life” contest, another man is exactly what she gets. As much as she’d love to just say no, she can’t turn down the prize money that will allow her to help her parents save the restaurant they’ve run all her life. Sparks fly between Kari and her bogus groom, and as she and Damien share close quarters, intimate meals and — gulp — his bed, Kari doesn’t stand a chance of resisting his considerable charms. Even worse? She might not want to. But building a real future out of their sham marriage will be tougher than baking a wedding cake from scratch … with no flour … in a broken oven.
Writers, take note!
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Today must be the day for motivating thoughts, because this Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog post also has me thinking: What I really want to say on Twitter by Liz Talley.
I’m pretty sure that’s what every author really wants to say on Twitter (and everywhere else), but can’t. “Look at me! Look at me!” gets really old, fast.
An endless stream of RT’s of fellow authors’ books, all at once — bang, bang, bang — also doesn’t cut it. That’s why I use Buffer to space out my tweets.
Liz also talks about planting butt in chair to write the next book, which is something I need to get back to doing. With releases coming from TMP in March and April, as well as plans to self-pub in June, I haven’t written any new words in too long. Been self-editing BLIND DATE BRIDE and prepping for the release of BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER and SLIDING INTO HOME (formerly Untitled Book 3).
Speaking of SLIDING INTO HOME, I don’t think I’ve shared the cover on my blog yet. Look for it later this week.
At least Saturday’s plot group meeting got my creative juices going again. I now have some ideas for a fourth Love & Baseball story, thanks to some brainstorming with the NARWA crew. I’ll be back to banging out new words in no time.
You know what day it is, right? Saturday! That means it’s time for another entry in the My Sexy Saturday blog hop.
The rules are simple:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
This week, I thought I’d give you another peek at Kari and Damien from “Blind Date Bride.” I’m breaking the rules by serving up a couple of extra paragraphs — but since some of my lines are one or two words long, I think y’all can roll with it.
Kari and Damien, strangers who were married after becoming the lucky winners of a blind date wedding, have just agreed to allow cameras to film them for a “Newlyweds” type of show over the course of their network-mandated 90-day “cohabitation period.”
Kari agreed because the network offered them extra cash, but only hours later — when it’s time for bed — does she realize what the decision means for their sleeping arrangements. Her new roommate is now also a bedmate. With the camera crews around 24/7, they’d actually have to sleep in the same room — so she can no longer bank on coasting through the next 88 days or so by avoiding her unwanted husband.
***
Kari plumped her newly acquired pillow, stretched out on her back and stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling fan whirred lazily, making only a few slow circles before Kari was convinced that no one would be spending the night on Damien’s floor. The hardwood floor wasn’t just rock-hard; it was also freezing cold. Kari didn’t know how that was possible when it was in the low 80s outside, but if she didn’t climb into Damien’s bed soon, her boxer-clad butt was going to end up with a severe case of frostbite.
Her gaze flitted from the ceiling to the bed, where Damien still sat, watching her intently.
“Stop looking at me like that!” she snapped.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re on a diet and I’m a hot fudge sundae!”
Damien rolled his eyes. “You think you’re that irresistible, huh?”
“Well —” Kari began. More concerned with her own response to the look he was giving her, she hadn’t thought about how conceited the complaint would make her sound.
“Because I have news for you, sweetheart. I can resist — no problem.”
Kari stood up and sat on the edge of Damien’s bed opposite him, but not before scowling at him. “You don’t have to be such a jerk about it.”
He glowered right back. “Why shouldn’t I be? You’re basically saying you don’t trust me to keep my hands to myself, right?”
“Uh —”
“Because I’ve never had to force my attentions on an unwilling woman before, and I don’t intend to start anytime soon. So until you decide you want my hands on you, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Blind Date Bride” coming to e-bookstores everywhere in Spring 2014.
It’s Saturday again. You know what that means — My Sexy Saturday time. I totally forgot to take part last week … but I hope that’s the exception rather than the rule.
The idea is simple:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
In honor of receiving the cover for “Blind Date Bride,” this week’s My Sexy Saturday entry is from that story.
A little about “Blind Date Bride”:
The last thing Kari Parker wants in her life is another man — especially one as tall as a Windy City high rise. Yet when her best friend enters her in Romance TV’s “Get a Love Life” contest, that’s what she gets. Sparks fly between Kari andher bogus groom, and as she and Damien share close quarters, intimate meals and — gulp — his bed, Kari doesn’t stand a chance of resisting his considerable charms. But building a real future out of their sham marriage will be tougher than baking a wedding cake from scratch … with no flour … in a broken oven.
The setup for these seven paragraphs: Their blind-date wedding now a bad memory, Kari and Damien have ditched the reception in favor of getting to know one another over coffee (at the nearest Starbucks, of course!). Kari’s having trouble concentrating on Damien’s words over the attraction she doesn’t want to feel for her bogus husband.
* * *
Damien’s eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t seem all that shy when you were kissing me.”
Oh, god. There was that directness again. Kari bit her lip. How could she handle a man who said exactly what he meant? “Call that an aberration.”
Damien shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Trust me. I don’t normally act like that.”
He leaned across the table, and for a second she thought he’d kiss her again. Her lips parted in anticipation. But he merely turned her hand over, palm up, and ran his thumb over the skin at the base of her fingers. She watched it move back and forth, fast then slow, fascinated by the friction-generated heat.
His eyes never left hers, so she saw the instant his desire flickered back to life. Her thighs grew damp as her body answered Damien’s call.
The dampness provided a rude wake-up call. Kari clamped her knees together as she jerked her hand out of his grasp, ruthlessly reminding herself how badly her last run-in with lust at first sight had ended.
“Blind Date Bride” coming to e-bookstores everywhere in late 2014.
Check out the other entries in the My Sexy Saturday blog hop here.
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