Enter to Win a $50.00 Amazon eGift Card
HANGING BY A THREAD
Riley O'Brien & Co. #3
Jenna Sutton
Releasing June 7th, 2016
Berkley Sensation
Thirty-year-old Bebe Banerjee is
desperate to get rid of two things: her fiancé and her virginity. Escaping her
arranged marriage might be impossible, but she refuses to give her firsts to an
entitled jerk who lives on another continent. Instead, she devises a plan that
guarantees another man will get her momentous firsts. But she never imagined
that man would be Cal O’Brien, the gorgeous heir to the Riley O’Brien & Co.
denim empire…
Although Cal has always been
fascinated by Bebe’s brilliant mind and beautiful eyes, he’s never pursued her.
She can’t stand the sight of him, and every time they’re in the same room, they
end up trading insults. Yet when he finds out about Bebe’s bold plan, he makes
his move, unaware of her upcoming nuptials. He promises to make her firsts unforgettable,
but he doesn’t know how hard it will be to forget her when their arrangement
ends.
BUY NOW
Jenna Sutton is a former
award-winning journalist who traded fact for fiction when she began writing
novels. Surprisingly, the research she conducted for her articles provided a
lot of inspiration for her books.
Jenna is
the author of the Riley O’Brien & Co. romances including All the Right Places and Coming Apart at the Seams. She has a
Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Texas Christian University and a Master’s
degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.
Jenna and
her husband live in a 103-year-old house in Texas affectionately known as “The
Money Pit”. You can find out more about her and her books by visiting
www.jennasutton.com.
Q&A
with Deal Sharing Aunt
Where are you
from?
I
grew up in North Texas, and after living in Washington D.C., Chicago, and
suburban New Jersey, I moved to back to Texas, but settled in the capital city,
Austin. I didn’t stay there long before I moved back to Dallas-Fort Worth,
which is where I now live with my husband.
Tell us your
latest news.
I
just returned home from a very long, very fun road trip that involved visiting
eight states, with the purpose of researching for my next several books. While
I was on the road, I also was getting ready for the release of Hanging by a Thread, which is the third
and final full-length novel in the Riley O’Brien & Co. series. Later this
summer, I will publish two Riley O’Brien & Co.-related novellas. After
that, I will focus on a new series, which is based on a bourbon distillery. I’m
really excited about the series, which will include at least three full-length
books and one novella.
The
first book, which is already written, should be out early next year, probably
in February. The heroine is Ava Grace Landy, the best friend of the heroine
from All the Right Places and a
reader favorite who shows up several Riley O’Brien & Co. novels. Readers
were worried that she wouldn’t get her own HEA, and I promise you that she
does. The hero is Jonah Beck, and he shows up briefly in Hanging by a Thread. I will also be working on another series
concurrently, but instead of it being straight contemporary, it will have a
romantic suspense element. Sign up for my newsletter on my website (www.jennasutton.com) to get
book-related news.
When and why did
you begin writing?
I
feel like I’ve been writing for most of my adult life. I was a journalist for a
dozen years or so before I switched fact for fiction. I started writing romance
novels three years ago. I had wanted to write a romance for a long, long time,
but I never committed to sitting down and doing it. A lot of people want to
write a book. In fact, every time I tell someone I’m an author, the response is
usually, “Oh, I want to write a book, but I don’t have the time.” We’re all
storytellers, but only a few of us put the story on paper (or the computer,
rather). For several years, when I would be dissatisfied with a book that I had
read, I would say, “I could write a better book than that.” Now that I’ve
written a few books, I’m ashamed that I ever said that because it really
doesn’t acknowledge the effort that is involved in writing and publishing a
book.
Finally,
one day my husband said, “Either write a book or stop saying that when you read
someone else’s book.” Shortly thereafter, I received an email from MediaBistro
advertising a romance writing class, and I saw it as a sign that I should stop
talking about writing a book and actually write one.
When did you
first consider yourself a writer?
This
is such an interesting question. I’m not really sure. As a journalist, I didn’t
really consider myself a writer
because the bulk of the job is asking questions, distilling information, and
presenting facts. Even after I wrote the draft of my first book, All the Right Places, I didn’t feel like
a writer. I think my mindset changed when I first held a copy of All the Right Places in my hands. And the first time I saw it in a
store, I had a mini panic attack.
What inspired
you to write your first book?
As
I mentioned above, part of my inspiration was my husband and the MediaBistro
class. One of the reasons I had never attempted to write a book before was
because I didn’t want to put a lot of work into something that no one would
ever read. As self-publishing became a viable option, I finally felt ready to
write my first book. I initially thought that I would self-publish the book,
but I queried agents, found one, and then sold my Riley O’Brien & Co.
series to Berkley.
Do you have a
specific writing style?
I
write dual point-of-view, both hero and heroine. And I write third-person.
Frankly, I am not a fan of singular POV or present tense, although there are
exceptions, of course. I just feel that a romance is about two people falling in love, and I want to experience both sides of
it. In addition, I try to balance internal narrative with dialogue and action.
As a reader, I get a little distracted with books that have too much internal
narrative—narrative that really seems like stream of consciousness. I know a
lot of readers like this type of book, and I’m glad there’s such a variety of
books for people to buy.
How did you come
up with the title?
I
wanted the titles of my Riley O’Brien & Co. books and novellas to tie into
jeans since the company makes jeans. The creative team at Berkley came up with All the Right Places. My husband came up
with the title for book two, Coming Apart
at the Seams, which was perfect because Nick and Teagan definitely
unraveled. I came up with Hanging by a
Thread after writing a specific line of dialogue that the hero says during
a sex scene. Initially, I was brainstorming ideas with the word pocket but I couldn’t come up with
anything except for What’s in Your
Pocket?
Is there a
message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
On
the surface, Hanging by a Thread seems
like a very simple, uncomplicated book. Hero and heroine fight their
attraction, heroine wants to lose her virginity, and hero and heroine begin a
steamy affair with no intention of anything more.
Yet
Hanging by a Thread is more nuanced
than that. It has a lot of additional threads, if you’ll pardon the pun. One of
the themes that I explore in the book is how other people’s perception shapes
us as people. The heroine’s intelligence has always defined her value, and she
is subconsciously looking to connect with people who value her as an entire
person, not just a brain. The people in the hero’s life, meanwhile, have always
been his biggest fans, yet he too has struggled to find his place and to find
people who value both his strengths and his weaknesses.
Ultimately,
the message that I want readers to grasp is that everyone is multi-layered,
like an onion, and that it’s important to find people who are interested in
peeling back those layers and appreciating each one.
How much of the
book is realistic?
This
question made me laugh out loud because parts of it are very realistic, and
part are less than realistic. For example, the hero is uncommonly well-endowed,
and while that’s not unheard of, it’s not average. (Heroes in romance novels
never have small penises, have you noticed that?) There’s a scene in the book
where the heroine, Bebe Banerjee, and the hero, Cal O’Brien, are talking about
the average length of erect penises. I actually did research to discover this
fact, and while doing that research, I came across this awesome infographic
that showed average penis lengths by country. It was like a starburst of
penises. Let’s just say that there’s a wide range, and according to the
infographic, and men in many countries come up short… pun intended.
As
for the rest of the book, the plot involves an Indian-American heroine who is
in an arranged marriage. She’s a virgin, and she doesn’t want her fiancĂ© to get
her “firsts”. Cal is more than happy to help.
Arranged
marriages are common in many cultures, so that’s certainly realistic. In fact,
there’s a TV show on A&E called Arranged.
It follows three couples as they navigate the path to an arranged marriage.
Another
element of realism in Hanging by a Thread
is Cal and Bebe’s behavior when they’re around each other. They hide their mutual
attraction with insults, and in my experience that is very realistic. How many people have you known who seem like they
can’t stand each other but they really just want to tear off the other person’s
clothes?
Are experiences
based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
To
some degree, yes. One of my best friends from high school is Indian-American,
and we talked a lot about arranged marriages when we were boy-crazy teenagers.
I was always curious about that part of her culture… curious and kind of
envious. I liked the idea that if I had difficulty finding a partner that my
parents and family could help out. It seemed like the best kind of safety net.
My friend ended up meeting a guy in college so she wasn’t arranged by her
parents.
My
critique partner is married to an Indian, and so is my best friend. Neither
were arranged, but my best friend’s husband’s brother was arranged by his
parents. We’ve had multiple conversations about arranged marriages, the
motivations for people who enter into arranged marriages, how the process
works, and also how the marriages turn out. Most of the arranged marriages that
I know about (or have been told about) have worked out well, and the couples
are very happy together. But I was interested in writing a book about what
happens when two people agree to an arranged marriage for the wrong reasons,
such as parental pressure or the need for approval, loneliness, or simple convenience.
What books have
most influenced your life most?
I’ve
always read romances. I started out at a very early age—way earlier than I
should have. But I also read other genres too—women’s fiction,
mysteries/thrillers, even true crime and non-fiction. Over time, however, I
stopped reading other genres and exclusively read romance. I think part of the
reason was that I hated investing in characters only to have horrible things
happen to them. I loved the Outlander series, but I had to stop reading because
I just couldn’t handle the stress of wondering what horrible things would
befall the characters. More than once, I have felt betrayed by an author
because they killed off my favorite characters. Occasionally, I forget why I
stopped reading other genres, and I’ll read a book that, while well-written,
makes me feel like crap for days afterward. I want to feel a good-book glow
when I finish a book.
As for specific books that really
impacted me, I can list a few of my favorites: Seen by Moonlight, Blue-Eyed Devil, See Jane Score, On Thin Ice, and
The Bronze Horseman (which does not
have a happy ending but is wonderful anyway).
What would you
like my readers to know?
Five
things:
1)
Every
book in the Riley O’Brien & Co. series can be read as a standalone. You
won’t be lost or confused if you don’t start with the first book.
2)
Hanging by a
Thread has
a universal message that we can all identify with—the need to be loved. And it
also touches on the idea that people are complex and multi-dimensional and
often make decisions that have far-reaching, unexpected implications.
3)
Readers
and reviewers say that my books are smart, funny, and sexy. Hanging by a Thread is the hottest book
I’ve written, and the sex scenes are hot and explicit. Don’t let the sweet
cover fool you.
4)
I
love hearing from my readers. It makes my day when I get an email or Facebook
message from a reader telling me how much they love my books. You can send me a
message through my website at http://jennasutton.com/connect/ or email me at jenna@jennasutton.com or message me
at www.facebook.com/jennasuttonauthor
5)
You
can sign up for my monthly newsletter here. Subscribers
are the first to know about new books, giveaways, and get access to exclusive
excerpts.
****
Pre-Buy/Buy Links
Author GoodReads link
Thank you for featuring HANGING BY A THREAD today!
ReplyDeleteCrystal, Tasty Book Tours