You Can't Hurry Love Guest Post

 

Sometimes love is worth the wait.

Title: You Can’t Hurry Love

ASIN: B09S35VNTL

Release Date: ebook: March 24, 2022, print: March 6, 2022

Rating: Explicit/Mature Audiences Only

Hashtags: (suggestions, but feel free to use your own) #AustralianContemporaryRomance #EnemiesToLoversTrope #JukeboxCollectionRomance #IndieAuthor #AustralianRomance #AustralianUrbanRomance #SteamyContemporaryRomance #ANVerebesAuthor

Blurb:

Sometimes love is worth the wait.

Sara Carlisle and Charlie Rhodes are complete opposites. Oil and water. Chalk and cheese.

Before Sara even meets Charlie, she hates him. He's insulted her best friend -a woman Sara considers family- and that is unforgivable. In person he proves to be just as obnoxious and insufferable as she'd anticipated. And, as far as she's concerned, the fact that he's tall and muscular with an accent to die for is not enough to redeem him. Charlie Rhodes is an arrogant A--hole (with a capital A!) and that's all there is to it!

For his part, Charlie thinks Sara is a conceited pain in the arse. A prissy princess to the nth degree. It becomes his prerogative to get under her skin for the sheer pleasure of riling her up. He feels genuine enjoyment in the face of her frustration, and he makes no secret of it. Besides, she gives as good as she gets!

Fundamentally opposed in every way, it's obvious to those around them that they're not going to get along.

But unfortunately, thanks to their respective families, they are stuck in each other's lives for the foreseeable future. Being civil is as good as it is going to get...or is it?

When their relationship turns from reluctant acquaintances to red hot lovers, they find it's good.

Really good.

What could possibly go wrong?

In a slow-burn romance that follows hot on the heels of Handle With Care*, Sara and Charlie discover that you really can't rush romance.

*Both Handle With Care and You Can't Hurry Love can be read as standalone novels in the expanding Jukebox Collection series.

Excerpt 

(Chapter One) – 418 words – rated PG

“So, tell me,” Charlie directed the question her way once she’d made her promise to Gemma, the glint in his eye seemingly payback for her smugness at his own telling off, “why doesn’t your boyfriend ever attend these family get-togethers?”

“Roger marches to the beat of his own drum,” she answered easily with a shrug. “Sometimes he comes along, other times he doesn’t. We don’t need to live in each other’s pockets.”

After a couple of years of doing the whole on-and-off/casual relationship thing, she was used to it. Besides, Roger didn’t pressure her to attend events with him, either. Which was a good thing, because his snobby parents couldn’t stand her, and vice versa.

Sara felt as though things were pretty equal in that way.

“I couldn’t imagine him in a low-key restaurant like this, to be honest,” Jeff chimed in, chuckling. He stuck his nose in the air and assumed a haughty tone as he looked down at his menu, “Sara, darling, I don’t see a single main here over twenty-five dollars. Outrageous! We’re truly dining with the commoners tonight.”

Balling up a purple paper napkin, she threw it at her friend, even while she smothered her own giggles. “Stop it,” she chastened, “he’s not that bad.”

Gemma snorted. Sara levelled her with a glare, but all Gemma did was raise her glass of water to her twitching lips and sip primly. “Sorry,” she said, sounding anything but apologetic, “but that impression was spot on.”

“You both suck,” Sara sighed, shaking her head.

“Sounds like you could do with a real man in your life,” Charlie was having far too much fun at her expense, and it ruffled her feathers the wrong way.

It was one thing for her friends –who also worked with Roger in the hospital– to playfully tease Sara about him, but altogether different for this random English wanker to do so.

“I hope you’re not suggesting you’re a viable option,” she sassed back, “because I don’t think you fall into that category either.”

Okay, so it was a bit flat and ridiculous as far as comebacks went, but he scowled back at her, so she took it as a win, nonetheless.

“Don’t flatter yourself, love.”

“Aww, diddums, did I hurt your feelings?”

They were interrupted by their names being snapped on either side of them. He was cowed by his mother’s frown, while Sara sighed and apologised to Gemma.

This really was going to be much more difficult than she’d initially thought.

Prices (in USD):

Print: $9.99

E-Book: $2.99 (and enrolled in Kindle Unlimited)

Length: 240 Pages

Guest Post

Once Upon A Daydream

One of my favourite Author Interview questions to ask people is ‘If you could cast the movie version of one of your books, who would you cast as your protagonists?’

I love this question because it gives you a sneak-peek into how authors see their characters.

But also, it’s kind of the dream, isn’t it? That one day some Hollywood hotshot is going to come across our novels -the stories we’ve poured love, sweat, and tears into- and want to turn it into a movie. Well, it’s one of my recurring daydreams, anyway.

It’s not even about the fame or the money, no matter how awesome both would be. Instead, I get all giddy thinking about seeing my imagination brought to life.

When I wrote Book 1 of the Jukebox Collection, titled Handle With Care, I wrote it purely for my own enjoyment. I probably broke a hundred rules along the way. I channelled every bit of my geeky inner fangirl and created a hero (Everett) based on all of my favourite parts of my current favourite actors. I had a clear vision for who I saw him as.

But, if I were to cast him, I actually don’t know where I’d start. There’s a LOT of Colin O’Donoghue’s Killian Jones (from Once Upon A Time) in him, and a good splash of Tom Hiddleston…and, okay, a substantial nod to Tom Ellis, too. And, in Book 2, titled You Can’t Hurry Love, we get hints of Brett Goldstein’s Roy Kent (from Ted Lasso) in both Everett and Charlie.

I clearly have a type. Cheeky, British, generally dark haired and bearded/stubbled. Yes please. I’ll take two!

(Though I will say that, physically, I see Charlie as more Chris Hemsworth-y, just to shake things up a bit.)

For my heroines, I imagine home-grown Aussie talent. For Sara, I vividly see Nathalie Kelley. For Gemma? Emilie de Ravin would be my go-to. Yeah, another Once Upon A Time alum. If you’ve read Handle With Care, I don’t think that will surprise you. I have zero regrets.

But, all that aside, I do love the freedom that reading gives us over movies. Every reader will see my characters in their own unique ways, and I find that fascinating. So, even though the likelihood of my daydreams coming true is slim to none, I find that I don’t actually mind so much. My imagination is still being brought to life, and that’s mind-blowing.

So I’ll just stick with the writing for now…and the daydreaming.

Author Bio:

Anita (A.N.) Verebes is a daydreamer and romance novelist. As a civil marriage celebrant, Anita makes a living telling other people’s love stories and celebrating real romance! Also armed with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary), Anita is a qualified -but not practising- High School English teacher who loves to read anything she can get her hands on, including fanfiction. (And, yes, she’s written her fair share of that, too.) Living directly between Queensland’s sunny Gold and Sunshine coasts, Anita spends her days exploring the Great South East with her husband and their two rambunctious sons. When at home, she’s also a slave to two cats and one very spoilt Great Dane X.

Social Media/Website Links:

Website: https://anverebesauthor.wordpress.com/

Blog: https://anverebesauthor.wordpress.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ANVerebes

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21688142.A_N_Verebes

Amazon Author Profile: https://amazon.com/author/anverebes

Bookbub Author Profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/a-n-verebes

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