Author Interview and Revew of Behaving Badly by Kristen Beairsto w/giveaway

Behaving Badly

by Kristen Beairsto

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BLURB:

 

Delaney Pierce is desperate, no, determined, to rebuild the family business, Manners Matter, after the disaster her own mother brought down on it, and her, a year ago.  With two crazy aunts living life moving from one misadventure to the next and her younger sister waitressing to help make ends meet, she pins her hopes on her commission to curb the undesirable habits of Cyrus Chapman, one of New York’s premier businessmen and one of the city’s most eligible bachelors.

 

Her resolve to succeed with Cyrus is immediately put to the test during her very first meeting with him and she realizes that no matter how much she prepared for all that was Cyrus, it all paled in comparison to the real man.  Things only get worse when he starts hinting at wanting more than a professional relationship.

 

But Delaney can’t entertain the idea of having more than a professional relationship with Cyrus.  After all, that’s something her mother would do and she’s not about to start emulating that woman now.  However, fighting her attraction to Cyrus becomes harder and harder the more she’s around him and she finds herself wondering if she’s become so wrapped up in trying not to be her mother that she’s forgotten to just to be herself.

 

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Excerpt Two:

 

As he stepped up to the door, he wondered briefly what a life coach would look like.

Probably a tall skinny guy that weighed about a buck fifty soaking wet with slicked back hair, who thought he knew everything.  He hated know-it-alls.

Shoving open his office door, ready for a fight, he spotted the focus of his irritation staring out the window behind his desk, her back to him.

He froze.  A woman?!

Clearly hearing him enter, she turned to face him.

Pushing the door closed behind him, he took his time looking her over.

Despite the neat black skirt falling modestly below her knees and the trim blazer that didn’t give away a hint of any of the skin beneath it, failed to hide an obviously curvy figure.  A definite change from the usual stick figure models he normally associated with, but he had to admit, he’d always liked navigating curves.

He noted she held her hands clasped in front of her, creamy skinned hands that matched the creamy skin of her oval shaped face that wore a carefully blank expression.  She watched him from a pale aqua gaze that concealed any thoughts that might be going through her mind.

At least he’d been correct about the slicked back hair.  What appeared to be deep fiery strands were smoothed back severely into a bun at the base of her skull.

He wondered what she’d look like with her hair down around her shoulders.

Naked.

Under him.

Mentally kicking himself for letting his mind go there, he shoved his hands into his pockets.  She firmly belonged on his Do-Not-Touch list at the moment.  Besides, he didn’t need a prissy life coach in his bed.  She’d probably try to lecture him on what to do.

“Hello, I’m Delaney Pierce.”  Her smooth timbre held only the slightest of hints of a city accent.

 

Again, another contemporary that I absolutely fell in love with right from the start.  Great writing, sexual tension to the hilt and two great characters kept me glued to my Kindle.  Now I want you are thinking?  But Harlie, you think every book that you read is awesomesauce.  You would be correct but every book is different.  Ms. Beairsto hit a home run with Behaving Badly.  She put the old trope of bad boy/Bachelor/Playboy reformed out there but with a completely different take on it.  What ends up is that the hero ends up teaching the heroine more about herself than she does him. Brilliant, actually.  And made for a much richer story.

Cyrus is your typical New York City hero.  He’s rich, sexy, handsome and a handful that he’s father and CEO can’t handle anymore.  People, especially employees are starting to talk about all the gossip that seems to surround Cyrus.  If Cyrus is to take over the company, he will need to clean up his act.  Read the excerpt and that’s he’s reaction to his dad hiring a life coach.  Man, I loved Cyrus.  He wasn’t arrogant, an a**hole or a complete Neanderthal.  He worked hard and played hard.  Plus, when it came right down to it, he was a softy.  He did have issues that still followed him throughout his adult life regarding the death of his mother so some of what he did was purely reactionary.  And come on?  He knew what he was doing was wrong but once a pattern starts, it is hard to break.

Delaney is a sweetheart.  I completely understood her “mother” issues.  I have those issues too regarding how my own mother treated me up until the day I got married.  Now, my mother didn’t con me, leave me or use sex.  Mine was more psychological but I did understand what Delaney’s thought process was and how it had affected her life.  Plus, with Fae and Mae (her crazy but lovable aunts), she was basically trying to keep it together.  What she didn’t count on was Cyrus and how their relationship would grow from irritation to love so quickly.  Sometimes you just know.  Delaney had a lot to figure out and when Cyrus finally put the mirror up to her face and made her realize something…my heart broke a bit.

I can not say that I really did want to slap the crap out of Dom, Cyrus’ buddy.  No piece of a*s is worth losing a friend over and you almost did.  That said the scene were Cyrus took Delaney to Dom’s club was hilarious and then another layer of sadness for Delaney.  Bit by bit Cyrus without knowing it was peeling away the hurt, shame and abandenment that Delaney encounter from her mother.  The panic attack was real and relateable.  Again, my heart started to splinter but they way Cyrus handled it in the end…*swoon*

Again, loved, loved this story.  The writing was rich, hero and heroine AWESOME, great secondary characters and a trope that I normally don’t like…I loved because of the spin that Ms. Beairsto put on it.  Don’t miss this book peeps!  You will kick yourself if you do.  Oh and the sex…its there but nothing that your mother couldn’t handle.  😉

 

 

Welcome, Kristen! Please start off by telling us a little about yourself.

Thanks so much for having me! J

I’m the mom of two monsters – I mean, two wonderful girls. 😉  My husband is a great guy who thinks my quirks are cute.  And for the next month and half I’ll be living in Southern California, but then my family will be moving to Southern Oregon where my husband is from.  We’re all very excited about this adventure and can’t wait to see where life takes us!

Is Behaving Badly a single title, or part of a series?

It’s a single title, but I’m hoping in the not too far future I’ll be writing a follow up featuring a couple characters from the story.

What were your inspirations for the story?

Believe it or not, I got the idea first for Cyrus after watching the movie Magic Mike. (Love me some Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. J)  Cyrus came to me first and then I started thinking about what kind of woman it would take to settle him down.

Please share your setting for Behaving Badly. Have you ever lived or visited there? If so, what did you like most?

Behaving Badly takes place in New York City.  I’ve visited there a few times and at one point in my life, wanted to live there.  My dad’s side of the family is from that area, so I grew up hearing stories about it.  I love how New York has a personality all its own.  You can be exactly what you want to be in that city.

When did the writing bug first bite?

I’ve always had a thing for telling stories and playing make believe.  As I learned to write, I started writing short stories whenever I could.  Then when I was eleven, I wrote my first novel length story.  From that point on, I seemed to always have a work in progress (or 3) going.

Who are your favorite authors, book/series?

At the moment, I’m really enjoying Kristen Ashley’s books.  I’ve read several of her series now and have really enjoyed all of them.  My favorite so far is the Rock Chicks series. J

If you could have an author roundtable discussion with any authors, who would you invite?

Oh geeze, talk about a tough one!  I could go on for hours . . . but ok, let’s see . . . self-imposing a limit of five (because otherwise you’d be here for the next twelve hours, no, I’m not kidding), I would include: Jane Austen, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Christina Dodd, and Mark Twain.

Do you have any hobbies or special things you like to do in your spare time?

I recently discovered archery.  I haven’t gotten a lot of time to spend practicing, but I really love it and look forward to getting to do it more when I move to Oregon this spring.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve heard or seen?

The thing that comes to mind is the Freemont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas.  Some strange things down there, lol!  Anyone who’s been there knows exactly what I’m talking about. J

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

In between her to-be-read pile and trying to bring the characters in her head alive, Kristen spends as much time as she can with family and friends.  Much to her husband’s dismay, she enjoys collecting purses, shoes, and jewelry.  During those rare times she’s not working at her day job, rushing her daughters somewhere, watching movies with her husband, and trying to meet a deadline, she can usually be found energetically cheering for one of her favorite New York sports teams.

 

As with just about every other writer on the planet, Kristen grew up an avid reader.  She started with young adult before she technically hit the age range and moved on to sci-fi classics by Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury.  At fifteen, her best friend gave her a book she just had to read!  The book was Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts.  Always a sucker for a happy ending, she was a goner and fell in love with the romance genre.  Having started writing novel length stories at the age of eleven, Kristen’s stories all took a romantic turn from that point on.

 

You can connect with Kristen through her website www.KristenBeairsto.com , Facebook www.facebook.com/AuthorKristenBeairsto , or Twitter www.twitter.com/AuthorKBeairsto.

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7NH5BK

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/behaving-badly-kristen-beairsto/1117655931?ean=2940148939207&itm=1&usri=2940148939207

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/386104

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/behaving-badly-5

 

Kristen will be awarding an eCopy of Behaving Badly to five randomly drawn commenters during the tour, and a Grand Prize of the complete set of all 5 of Kristen’s ebooks to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.