Elley Arden is back with a
new sexy and emotional romance that will make you cry and swoon, all at the
same time, with MARRIAGE BY DESIGN, book 2 of the Designing Love series.
When carpenter Angie Corcarelli goes
steel-toe boot to high-polished loafer with her best friend’s ex, construction
engineer Stuart Perrault, sparks fly in Elley
Arden’s latest Designing Love novel, Marriage by Design.
Want to get to know Elley
better? Check out this exclusive
interview!
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About MARRIAGE BY DESIGN:
Family first. That motto
led Angie Corcarelli to become a carpenter and take over the family
construction business when she was barely out of her teens. And now it’s
leading her into battle against her best friend’s ex. Stuart Perrault and his
swanky, family-run construction engineering firm have been tapped to oversee a
highway project that includes demolishing a stretch of row homes. Over her dead
body will it come to that. Stuart Perrault knows a thing or two about family
allegiance. For the past fifteen years, he’s been working alongside his brother
and father, dreaming about the day he’d be named CEO of the Perrault Group. But
then came the bridge debacle in Paris. And now his dream seems a little further
away. As he fights his way back to the top of the company, he isn’t about to
watch another project fall apart just because his ex-girlfriend’s best friend
is a loose cannon.
When Stuart’s father insists he take
Angie out to dinner and neutralize things, he obliges. But has he bitten off
more than he can chew? Angie isn’t at all what he expected, and his usual
self-control doesn’t seem to work when he’s around her.
The more time Angie spends with Stuart,
the harder it is to see him as the bad guy she’d believed him to be. But
falling for each other would mean going against their respective families. Are
they strong enough for that?
Also in the Designing Love
series: BABY
BY DESIGN
First Dates: Can You Say Awkward?
The first date I had with my husband resulted in his Pepsi
being spilled on my white shorts. It wasn’t pretty (The stain never completely
faded.), but his clumsy/nervous streak didn’t stop me from seeing him again. In
fact, the awkward moment turned comical fast, and by the end of the night it had
endeared him to me. I try to keep that in mind while I’m writing romances.
Awkward moments can be cute, sweet, and heartwarming. They
can definitely lead to more dates, like in the following instances from books
I’ve written.
In my newest release, Marriage
by Design (Designing Love #2), the heroine, Angie Corcarelli, is sitting across
a pub table from the hero, Stuart Perrault, who is her business rival, when she
realizes he’s somehow become much more. He slips his hand over hers, and she
knows that despite her best attempts at deluding herself, this is an actual date
… and things between them are about to rocket to a whole new level.
In Heal My Heart
(Kemmons Brothers Baseball #3), heroine MJ Rooney pushes hero Dr. Tag Howard to
open up about his family only to find out how bad his childhood had been.
Multiple times during the evening, she regrets opening her mouth, but it’s that
level of intimacy that brings them closer.
And in maybe my favorite awkward-moment-turned-fabulous from
Change My Mind (Kemmons Brothers
Baseball #2), Centerfielder Grey Kemmons shows up at an event to play surprise
escort to his realtor Nel Parker only to realize her entire inquisitive family
is there, too. (Nothing like meeting the parents out of the blue!) Nel makes it
through the awkward introductions and ensuing conversation, and by the end of
the night, she realizes how perfectly Grey fits into her life.
I love it when awkward moments lead to good things.
Of course, awkward moments can also spell the end of a
relationship before it begins. I don’t have many instances of lousy first dates
in the stories I’ve written, but what I do have is pretty unforgettable.
Psychotherapist Maggie Collins, the heroine of Save My Soul (Kemmons Brothers Baseball #1), is in a coffee shop
with a man she recently met at a gas pump when he shows off a picture of … wait
for it … his wife and eight kids! The man turns out to be a polygamist looking
for a second wife.
Can you beat that? I know I can’t. But I’d love to hear
about your awkward first dates. If you had one, did it lead to more dates, or
did it spell the end of the relationship?
About Elley Arden:
Elley Arden is a born and
bred Pennsylvanian who has lived as far west as Utah and as far north as
Wisconsin. She drinks wine like it’s water (a slight exaggeration), prefers a
night at the ballpark to a night on the town, and believes almond English
toffee is the key to happiness.
Charming characters.
Emotional stories. Sexy romance.
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