Kisses to Remember by Christine DePetrillo (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Please give a warm welcome to romance author, Christine DePetrillo, who is joining us with her new novel, Kisses to Remember. 

I still have imaginary friends. Yes, I’m well into my thirties, but I just haven’t outgrown the need to surround myself with fictional pals. They meet up with me wherever I am. Walking my dog in my neighborhood. Standing in line at the supermarket. Sneaking up on me in the shower. You’re right. Most of them have no understanding of personal space and privacy, however, I don’t mind.

You see these imaginary friends become my characters. I want them hanging around and chatting incessantly. They are always welcome to describe an adventure to me, talk about a problem, or even better, tell me a secret.

Many times I get my ideas for characters from stumbling across interesting jobs. This was the case with my latest novel, Kisses to Remember. I read an online article about a marketing technique where companies would hire people to design T-shirts promoting their business, service, or product then get a team of people to wear the shirts out in public to advertise. This struck me as such a fun notion that immediately, fictional graphic designer Johanna Ware introduced herself to me. She just sat opposite me on my backyard patio and started unloading what she’d been through in her life. I could barely write it all down fast enough. After telling me about her work, she ended with wanting to find someone, and I knew I was just the person to play matchmaker for her.

Corporate pilot Holden Lancaster didn’t make himself easy to find, however. It took a few weeks of poking around here and there for him to take shape. Again, I found him accidentally. I saw a picture of a King Air 350i plane somewhere, came home, and googled it. Instantly, I fell in love with the small craft. I mentally toured the cabin by searching through online images and made my way up to the cockpit. Holden Lancaster was working the controls when I got there, and I thought, “You’re the guy for Johanna.” Luckily, he agreed.

Now much of this may sound like the ramblings of a crazy person, and I suppose in order to be a writer, there is a certain amount of crazy you just have to accept. I like to think it keeps things interesting. I wake up in the morning and never know who I will “meet.” The possibilities are wide open, and I’m always in the mood to make new friends.

About the Book:

Graphic designer Johanna Ware knows family is the most important part of life. Her son, Kameron, is her world after losing her daughter and husband. She hides away on her Nebraska farm, wishing for adventure but settling for responsibility.
Corporate pilot Holden Lancaster is ready to fly for Donovan Electronics at a moment’s notice. When he isn’t in the air, he’s at his Texas home remodeling old cars to race and sell. He enjoys the speed of his life but not the solitude.
When Holden discovers shady dealings at Donovan Electronics, an attempt on his life leaves him with amnesia in a crashed plane in Johanna's field. With no memory of family or friends and a company who denies employing him, Holden is placed in Johanna’s care.
Will Johanna regret opening her world to this sexy stranger? Will Holden remember a life that makes it impossible for him to be with Johanna? Or is love enough to make them forget everything but each other?

Excerpt:

Johanna navigated her way through the parking lot toward her vehicle. A few steps behind her, Holden Lancaster followed. His eyes had been beautiful when she’d seen them in the crashed plane and her field, but she hadn’t noticed that the rest of him was beautiful too. When he’d emerged from his hospital room wearing Alex’s jeans and T-shirt, she’d felt as if she had opened a magazine. The one where they counted down the fifty most beautiful people and she’d just gotten to number one.

Holden’s legs filled the jeans as Alex’s had, but the T-shirt fit was a new experience. Alex had always been in good shape. He went to the gym, ate right, could wield heavy farm tools when called upon to do so. Holden, however, must have spent more time at the gym, ate more right, and wielded much heavier tools, because that black cotton was stretched across serious pectoral muscles. Johanna suddenly wished she had forgotten to bring a shirt for him so she could get a peek at his abs.

You’re taking him home. You’ll get to see the abs. She shook her head. No, that’s not why you’re taking him home.

But wasn’t it? Would she have agreed to let him hang out at her farmhouse if he looked like a troll? Probably not. Everybody knows trolls are trouble. Holden was definitely no troll. Wasn’t she searching for someone to fill Alex’s shoes?

Wasn’t Holden actually wearing Alex’s shoes?

Johanna huffed out a breath and stopped at the passenger side of her vehicle. She was being silly. She had to get her head on straight. Let Holden rest, hope he got his memory back, and send him off to Texas where he belonged. He really wasn’t a lost puppy. She couldn’t keep him.

“This is what you drive?” Holden’s voice startled her.

“Yeah.” She turned to face him. Mistake. He was even more handsome out in the sunshine. She focused on the slant of his eyebrows as his blue gaze swept over her beat-up Bronco. “Something wrong with my wheels, Mr. Lancaster?”

“Ah, no. I just…” A faraway look washed across his face.

“You just what?” Johanna touched his arm, and he snapped his gaze to her face.

“I think cars are important to me somehow.”

“Aren’t cars important to all men?” A loud creak echoed into the parking lot as she opened the passenger door for him. Why hadn’t she asked Ted to fix that?

“Just because I can’t remember myself, doesn’t mean you should apply every male stereotype to me to fill in the blanks.” He got into the Bronco, wincing a little as he repositioned himself in the seat.

“Right. Okay. So I shouldn’t expect you to leave the toilet seat up while you’re staying with me?” She liked the way the left side of Holden’s mouth turned up in a smirk as she closed the door. She walked to the driver side and slid into the seat.

“I will make a special effort to put the seat down. Promise.” He held up his hand as if taking an oath.

Johanna pushed the key into the ignition and started the aging Bronco. Now every grumble and groan of the engine embarrassed her. Kam never said anything about riding in the beast, but maybe the Y-chromosome didn’t truly get active until puberty. Ted never commented on the Bronco either. Maybe he just didn’t want to have to fix it.

“This thing is going to make it to your house, right?” Holden patted the dashboard.

“It has yet to fail me.” Johanna caressed the steering wheel. “Although, I don’t drive that often. Don’t have to.”

“Why not?” Holden stretched out his right leg and rubbed his kneecap. The movement shouldn’t have hypnotized her, but it did.

She blinked and reluctantly focused her gaze out the windshield. “Work from home. Don’t have to haul my butt anywhere each morning but down the hallway.”

“What do you do?”

“Is this the twenty questions portion of our encounter?” Johanna plunged her hand into her purse and pulled out her sunglasses.

“I can’t remember me,” Holden said. “I may as well get to know you.”

“Good point. Maybe me saying something will jog your memory.” She merged onto the highway and settled in her seat for the twenty-minute drive home. “I’m a graphic designer. Make promotional items for companies. In fact,” she glanced at him quickly, “I designed the logo for the company you may or may not work for.”

“Donovan Electronics?” Holden pulled on his lower lip. “The doctor showed me the logo, but I didn’t recognize it.”

“And the company doesn’t recognize you apparently.” That little tidbit still unsettled Johanna. It was like a splinter subtly irritating her flesh. And knowing the plane was no longer in her back field only added to the mystery…or the danger. “Maybe Holden Lancaster isn’t your real name?”Show More

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Buy the Book:

Amazon Kindle version

Amazon Print version

About Christine:

Christine DePetrillo tried not being a writer. She attempted to ignore the voices in her head, but they would not stop. The only way she could achieve peace and quiet was to write the stories the voices demanded. She also has been teaching fifth grade for thirteen years where she inspires young people to love writing. Today, she writes tales meant to make you laugh, maybe make you sweat, and definitely make you believe in the power of love.
 She lives in Rhode Island and occasionally Vermont with her husband, two cats, a big, black German Shepherd, and a lizard.
 Other titles by Christine include ALASKA HEART, ABRA CADAVER, LAZULI MOON, FOR THE LOVE OF LIBERTY, SPEAK EASY TO ME, and ALLEY CAT. FIREFLY MOUNTAIN is coming in October. Find Christine online at her Author Website, on Facebook, on Twitter, at Night Eternal (where she writes poems as Drake, the vampire), and at The Roses of Prose Blog on the 4^th and 14^th of every month.

~*Giveaway*~

Christine is giving away a PRINT or E-BOOK copy (Amazon Kindle version) of Kisses to Remember to one US/Canada reader (winner’s choice) OR an E-BOOK of Kisses to Remember (Amazon Kindle version) to one International reader. To enter, just leave a comment or question for Christine on this post and then fill out the rafflecopter below. Additional entries are available but not required. Good luck!

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