Something
to Prove
The
O’Learys
By: Shannyn Schroeder
eKensington
Releasing January 2014
Blurb
Two ambitious people team up to prove
themselves to their families—and find there may be more to their partnership
than just business…
Elizabeth Brannigan
is determined to show her father she’s capable of running the family business.
Saving his struggling Chicago bar seems like the perfect project. But she’ll
need a little help dealing with the rough crowd. Who better to assist her than
the handsome co-owner of a thriving Irish pub? Of course, with so much work to
do, there are bound to be a few late nights…
Colin O’Leary’s
father passed away before he could prove to him that he wasn’t a screw-up. Now
he wants to show his brother he’s responsible enough to own a bar of his
own—and Elizabeth may be able to help him. But when their professional
aspirations clash, tempers—and passions—flare. Are they mature enough to mix
business with pleasure—or will they have to choose between the two?
Buy Links:
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Excerpt
Maybe she’d invite
Colin to lunch. She had to be able to work with him. He hadn’t done anything to
make her think he wasn’t trustworthy. He’d done nothing wrong. In fact, he’d
come up with some good ideas.
She grabbed her purse and headed
back into the bar. He stiffened at the sight of her. Oh, yeah, this was going
well. “We missed lunch. I thought maybe you might want to grab something to eat
before we have to meet with people.”
His shoulders relaxed and his mouth
quirked. “Is that an invitation?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
“That’s all?”
What else did he want? She raised
her brows, waiting for an explanation.
“No ‘thank you’?”
“Why should I thank you for doing
your job?”
He walked around the bar and stood
much too close for her comfort. “I think you owe me a thank-you for rescuing
you from the biker.”
She rolled her
eyes. “You did not rescue me. I handled myself fine.”
His smile
broadened. “From where I stood, he was about to handle you.”
“I didn’t ask for your help.”
“What would you
have done if I wasn’t here?”
She debated telling
him that the door wouldn’t have been open. The clientele of this establishment
made her uneasy, but she wasn’t about to give him that fuel. “I would’ve called
the police.”
“Wrong choice. You
need me more than you thought, Legs.” He walked past her toward the door.
“What did you call
me?”
“Legs.” He tilted
his head and his gaze ran down the length of her. “As in you’re all leg.”
“My name is
Elizabeth.”
He smiled, and her
heart jumped. A smile should not have that effect.
He continued,
oblivious to her condition. “Anyway, if you’d made that call to the cops, he
would’ve gone into a rage. You have to be able to read people.”
“That’s why I hired you. So
we’re back to you just doing your job and no thanks are necessary.” She turned
to the door with her car keys in hand. His laugh echoed in the empty bar behind
her and she couldn’t hold her smile back.
10 Things About Shannyn Schroeder
1. I
love to bake. I make mostly cookies because they’re easy and they keep well. I
bake whenever I’m stressed out because it relaxes me and everyone enjoys the
end product.
2. I
think the DVR is one of the best inventions EVER. I’ve always watched a lot of
TV. I was one of those latch key kids who did homework in front of the TV. When
I really got into writing and taking it seriously enough to work towards
publication, I had to give up some TV time, mostly because I was too lazy to
set the timer on the VCR or DVD player. Once we got a DVR, though, holy cow did
my TV watching increase. I’m more likely to give new shows a try and I watch
more because I never watch commercials any more.
3. I
listen to music all the time. The radio is always on in my car and I create a
soundtrack or playlist for each book before I start writing. I have the radio
on in the kitchen any time I’m in there for more than 5 minutes. I listen to a
lot of country music because it often gives me story ideas, but I do listen to
the “oldies” station – it really bugs me that the 80s are now considered
oldies.
4. Popcorn
is my all-time favorite snack. I eat it 3-4 times a week easily. I have a hot
air popper that I’ve had for probably 10 years. Although I like to argue that
the hot air popped popcorn is healthy, I do add some real butter and lots of
salt. I still think it’s healthier than any other popcorn.
5. I
keep chocolate on my writing desk. Most of the time, it’s a small bowl of
M&Ms, but I recently bought a container of dark chocolate sea salt caramels
and I’m convinced they’re addictive. Salty and sweet at the same time? Win-win!
6. When
I write, I never really know what’s going to happen. I don’t outline or do a
lot of plotting ahead of time. I get to know my characters before I start and I
have some basic scenes that I think will happen. I tend to see the book as a
movie in my head as I write. Sometimes this works well for me and I’m treated
to a wonderful surprise that I hadn’t anticipated. Other times, I end up
writing many, many (MANY) words that I end up cutting.
7. In
every other part of my life, I am a total planner. I’m a bit of a control
freak. I plan everything out from the best way to get from home to whatever
errands I need to get done to how I can juggle getting words in around the
kids’ schedules. I’m often surprised that the control freak in me doesn’t take
over when I’m writing. I don’t know where she goes to, but I’m glad she’s gone.
8. I’m
a mean mom. It’s a title I hold dearly because it means that I’m strict and
have high expectations for my kids. I’ve taught them that there are
consequences for their actions and I don’t say things that I don’t mean. I’m
far from being a perfect mom, but my kids know what to expect from me.
9. In
addition to being a writer, I juggle many part-time jobs. I’m an editor for an
education company that publishes daily on-line current events lessons. I run
the office end of my husband’s construction company. I teach college level
academic writing. I love the flexibility all of these jobs give me because it
means that I’m at home with my kids. I can do everything around their schedules
and still have time to spend with them.
10. I
suck at housework. I always have. I can’t even blame it on the kids or being
consumed by writing. For years we had a housekeeper who came it twice a month.
She was worth every penny we spent, but she decided to become a real estate
agent. Now, I’ve delegated the housework to the kids who are all old enough to
take it on, but it’s never as good as I (or my housekeeper) would do it.
Author Info
Shannyn is a former
English teacher, who now works as a part-time editor while raising her three
kids.
Even though she
wrote from high school through college (mostly poetry), she’d never considered
a career as an author. Writing fell by the wayside as she focused her energy on
creating lesson plans and new and fabulous ways to torment her teen students.
One group in particular dubbed her “The Torture Master,” a title she carried
into motherhood.
After the birth of
baby number two, Shannyn resigned from teaching and fell in love with reading
romance novels. She read so many books so quickly that her husband teased, “If
you’re going to read so many damn books, why don’t you just write one?”
So she did.
That first book is
safely buried on her hard drive, but the process set Shannyn on the path to
where she is today—agented with a debut ebook coming out with Kensington in
late 2012.
She is recovering
from her Diet Coke addiction, fears putting her foot in her mouth on social
media, and has a renewed appreciation for the bad girls of the world.
Author Links
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