Jill Sorenson RELEASE PARTY and giveaway!

Hey everybody! I'm so excited and flattered to have Jill Sorenson here on her release day. I'm such a big fan of her work (and it turns out we also share a fondness for beater cars, have similar book tastes, and I got an advanced copy of EDGE out of the deal, and let me hog the floor for one more sec to say, I am loving its excitingly intertwining plots, its vivid world and its steamy, steamy hotness. Hello.)

Welcome Jill!

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be here on release day!! When I found out that Carolyn Crane used to be a cocktail waitress, just like my heroine in The Edge of Night, I thought it was only fitting to turn her blog into a wild n’ crazy dance bar.

So welcome to Coyote Fugly, where the drinks are cold, the heroes are hot, and the waitresses are fast.  We’ll be talking about beverages and bar scenes in romance novels.  Yep, it’s Romance Ladies’ Night!  You can read excerpts, play The Hookup Game, and enter to win a copy of my new book.  Whee!!

This scene from The Edge of Night takes place at Club Suave, where the heroine works.  Once a strip joint, the club is situated near the US-Mexico border, and it caters to a raucous crowd.  April Ortiz is struggling to make ends meet as a college student and single mom.  When one of her coworkers is found dead, two gang unit police officers show up to interview the staff.  Officer Noah Young comes back another night to see April:

The overhead lights clicked on, a rude glare that signaled closing time.  Grumbling patrons began to shuffle out the front entrance.  April crossed her arms over her chest, self-conscious in her cheap outfit and heavy makeup.

Noah was so clean-cut, so handsome and sincere.  In contrast, she felt soiled, as if the grit of the club coated her skin.  Her hair probably smelled like booze and cheap cologne. 

She glanced toward Eddie’s office.  He hadn’t said a word about Lola, but he’d donated some funds for the funeral.  Perhaps his conscience was bothering him.  “I have to clear tables.”

“When do you get off?”

“A little after 2:00.”

“Can we talk?”

April was an expert in letting men down easy.  She received offers from customers almost every night.  Some requested her phone number, or tried to give her a friendly hug.  Others invited her to wild after-parties, hot tub socials, and hotel room tete-a-tetes.  None had tempted her half as much as Noah.

“I’ll wait for you in the parking lot,” he said, studying her face.

Although a polite demurral was second nature to her, her mouth refused to form the words.  “Okay.”

He turned his attention back to the crowd, his lips curving with satisfaction.  The expression was another hint that he wanted more than information from her.

Heart pounding, she went behind the bar, filling a glass tumbler with ice and lemon-lime soda.  Any amount of interaction with him was a risk.  Eddie would assume she was turning against the neighborhood, telling secrets.

Hand steady from years of practice, she passed Noah the tumbler, watching while he took a measured sip.  He didn’t seem surprised that she remembered his preference. 

She stared at his mouth, wondering how it would taste. 

Blushing, she blinked out of her stupor, grabbing an empty tray from the bar as she walked away.  Feeling his eyes on her backside, she added a little extra swing to her hips.  Then she glanced over her shoulder, catching him looking.

He smiled, guilty as charged.  And lifted his drink, saluting her efforts.

Laughing breathlessly, she set her tray down and started clearing off tables.

Want more?  You can read a full excerpt here.

My hero and heroine from Set the Dark on Fire also spend time in a bar. The Round-Up is a no-frills dive in the backwater town of Tenaja Falls, California. Interim sheriff Luke Meza (formerly of Las Vegas) is there to chat up the locals about a questionable mountain lion mauling.  But he can’t stop thinking about his impulsive hookup with bad-girl wildlife biologist Shay Phillips:

Luke watched her approach, unable to tear his eyes away from her body.  Her faded black T-shirt was vintage Stones, the infamous image of the wagging tongue.  He knew by the way her breasts moved beneath it that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

When she maneuvered onto the bar stool next to him, he had to wonder if she was similarly bare under that tiny skirt.

Sweat broke out on his forehead.

With a knowing smile, she grabbed his bottle of Bud and took a sip.  Her hair was loose tonight, falling in sexy waves to the middle of her back.  He wanted to stick his hands in it.  Her mouth was plump and moist and red, and when he thought about what he wanted to do tot it, his skin overheated and his jeans got tight.

She let her lips linger on the rim of the bottle, torturing him.  “You want to dance?”

Dance?  He couldn’t even stand.  “No.”

“Why are you here?” she asked suddenly.

“Here, in this bar?”

“In this town.”

He took the bottle away from her, plagued by dirty fantasies in which she ran her tongue up and down the neck.  “I needed a job.”

“Did you get fired?”

Luke hesitated, caught off guard by her question.

“Las Vegas is the city of vice,” she murmured, studying his face.  “What’s yours?  You don’t strike me as a gambler.  Too uptight.  And it can’t be alcohol.  You’ve been nursing the same drink for an hour.”

“Maybe it was drugs,” he said glibly.

“Please.  You’re so in love with being in control, I bet you’ve never even tried pot.”

He shrugged, too proud to admit she was right.

Although I’m a fan of bar scenes, most of my characters don’t drink. Ben Fortune of Crash Into Me is a recovering alcoholic. Shay Phillips from Set the Dark on Fire has a nasty hangover in the opening chapters, but she isn’t a lush.  In The Edge of Night, only one character overindulges. The hero’s little sister, Meghan, gets drunk at a beach bonfire and tries to catch the attention of her cute coworker, tattooed grocery boy Eric Hernandez. That scene is a little too dark for a release day party, and it doesn’t take place in a bar, so I didn’t include it.    

 

Now that you’ve met the characters, let’s play the Hookup Game!  Who’s zoomin’ who?  And what’s their poison?

A	jungle juice	1
B	Bud	2
C	lemon-lime soda	3

Directions:

Read the post/excerpts for clues, match the heroes with the heroines, and name the beverage from their scene.  For example, if you think hero A hooks up with heroine 1 over jungle juice, your answer would be:  A-1, (character names), jungle juice.

Possible heroes/heroines: Luke Meza, Noah Young, Eric Hernandez; Shay Phillips, April Ortiz, Meghan Young.

First person to solve the puzzle gets a copy of The Edge of Night.

By the way, I chose these celebrities based on coloring and hairstyle; none are a perfect likeness of the characters. Feel free to make your own mental pictures.  Someone said they imagined Luke Meza as The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), which I thought was pretty funny. 

Don’t want to play my cool game?  Fine then!  I have discussion questions: 

What do you think about bar scenes, heavy drinking, or casual hookups in romance novels?  Do you prefer squeaky-clean heroes like Noah Young?  Is it okay for heroines to be flawed and forward, like Shay Phillips?

Thanks for having me, Carolyn!!

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Thanks for stopping by, Jill! 

Added: Another way to WIN: If you answer one of Jill's questions, krazy hostess Carolyn will put your name in a hat to win a copy of EDGE - anywhere in the world Book Depository ships. This contest ends Saturday.