Release Blitz: Review, Q&A, Excerpt, and Giveaway!
Meant to Be by Nan Reinhardt
Meant to Be by Nan Reinhardt
Four Irish Brothers Winery (Book 2)
Tule Publishing (July 18, 2019)
Contemporary Romance/Small Town Romance
Can a near-tragedy help two best friends realize they’re meant to be so much more?
Best friends since grade school, high-powered Chicago attorney, Sean Flaherty, and small-town mayor Megan Mackenzie have always shared a special bond. When Sean is shot by a client’s angry ex, Megan rushes to his side, terrified she’s about to lose her long-time confidant.
Upon his return to River’s Edge to recuperate, Sean discovers that his feelings for his pal have taken an undeniable turn for the romantic. While Megan struggles with an unfamiliar longing for Sean, she worries that he may be mistaking a safe place to land for love.
Can Sean help her realize that they are truly meant to be so much more than friends?
BUY LINKS
Amazon: https://books2read.com/u/b5QOWk?store=amazon
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/meant-to-be-nan-reinhardt/1132053861
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/meant-to-be/id1465309420?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/meant-to-be-77
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=QW2dDwAAQBAJ
Find on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46147235-meant-to-be
REVIEW
“We’re two halves of a whole, we always have been. We’re just late discovering it, that’s all.”
Meant to Be is a well written friends to lovers’ story. The childhood friends who one day realize they’re in love. Very descriptive, likeable characters, and entertaining story. I loved the dialogue between the Flaherty brothers and their brotherly bond. The special author/character mock conversation talking wine and food pairings was an added special touch at the end of the book. Can’t wait for the next brother!
ARC provided by Tule Publishing via Netgalley
Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (July 2, 2019)
EXCERPT
“Stop.” Tossing the cane on the settee, he grasped her shoulders in his big hands. “Stop now, Meggy, talk to me.”
They were standing so close Sean could feel the heat of her blush radiating off her cheeks and even that set his heart to pounding. He breathed deeply, inhaling the familiar and yet somehow brand-new scent of Megan Mackenzie.
“What would you like me to say, Sean?” Megan wasn’t looking at him.
Instead her glance darted around the room, making her appear like a frightened doe. She grabbed the tea towel he’d tossed over his shoulder, just like Da always did when he cooked or was working in the wine cellar. After drying her hands briskly, she shoved the scrap of terry cloth at him as she twisted out of his grasp and stepped around him.
“I think I’ve pretty much reached my humiliation tolerance for one night, so… see ya.” Before he could catch his breath, her footsteps clicked on the hardwood floor of the foyer.
Geez, that woman moved fast… and he couldn’t, dammit.
“Megan, wait!” Sean hopped on his left leg, trying to get turned around in the narrow space between the settee and the trunk without falling over. She was gone, the front door shut softly behind her. He hobbled to the door and yanked it open just in time to see her backing out of the driveway.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
He sagged against the doorjamb, watching the little Honda’s red taillights disappear in a cloud of gravel dust. Suddenly, he was exhausted. When he shut the door, he stopped for a moment to rest, leaning back on the heavy wood. His right leg ached, as did other parts southward—something that both delighted and astonished him. How long had it been since… he tried to recall the last time that kind of desire had hit him with such force and he couldn’t. He flexed his fingers, remembering Meg’s soft skin, how she’d shivered when he kissed her, and the hunger that hadn’t yet fully subsided grew inside him again.
He wanted her. He wanted his best friend.
It was that simple… and that complicated.
———————————————————————————————————————
FOUR IRISH BROTHERS WINERY SERIES
Flaherty brothers–Sean, Conor, Brendan, and Aidan.
The brothers have inherited their family’s historic winery in River’s Edge, Indiana, a small town on the banks of the Ohio River. Single dad and winemaker Conor is waking from the grief of losing his wife. Attorney Sean lives a high-octane life in Chicago, but feels as if life is somehow chasing him. Analyst Brendan lives and works quietly in Washington, DC, but is longing to write novels. Rising star Aidan is an actor in a hit TV series, but has grown tired of the LA glitz. In four romantic novels, follow the Flaherty brothers as they return to their family legacy and find love in the sweet and quirky small town where they were raised. If you love sweet. small town romances, you will fall in love with the Four Irish Brothers Winery series.
Book 1: A Small Town Christmas
Book 2: Meant to Be
GIVEAWAY
Blitz-wide giveaway (US only)
Nan is offering a $10 Starbucks gift card + sets of six handmade wine charms
ends August 1st:
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251233169/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today-bestselling author of romantic fiction for women in their prime. Yeah, women still fall in love and have sex, even after 45! Imagine! She is a wife, a mom, a mother-in-law, and a grandmother. Nan has been a copyeditor and proofreader for over 25 years, and currently works on romantic fiction titles for a variety of clients, including Avon Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Books, and Entangled Publishing, as well as for many indie authors.
Although she loves her life as an editor, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. Her latest novel, Meant to Be, Book 2 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing releases on July 18, 2019. A Small Town Christmas, which is the first book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing, is available now, and she is currently hard at work on Book 3.
Visit Nan’s website at www.nanreinhardt.com, where you’ll find links to all her books as well as blogs about writing, being a Baby Boomer, and aging gracefully…mostly. Nan also blogs every sixth Wednesday at Word Wranglers, sharing the spotlight with five other romance authors and is a frequent contributor the RWA Contemporary Romance blog, and she contributes to the Romance University blog where she writes as Editor Nan.
Author links:
https://twitter.com/NanReinhardt
https://www.facebook.com/authornanreinhardt/
https://www.instagram.com/nanreinhardt/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5758438.Nan_Reinhardt
Q&A with Nan Reinhardt, author of Meant to Be
Questions compliments of USA-Today bestselling author Liz Flaherty
Tell us about one of those defining, aha moments when, as a writer, you were in the place you needed to be.
If you mean those “oh, that’s how I’m going to write this scene!” moments, then for some weird reason they always seem to come to me when I’m driving of all things. It’s awkward because then I either have to stop in a parking lot or on the side of the road to make notes. Fortunately, I’m never without paper and pen. But if you mean, literally a place that I know is a story in itself, I’d say on my first trip to Frankfort, Michigan.
What heroine in what favorite book would you like to talk to, maybe have lunch or a glass of wine with? What would you talk about?
Unquestionably, Anne Shirley and Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have tea with them on the porch at Green Gables and talk about Prince Edward Island and writing and Avonlea? Maybe Matthew and Gilbert might join us later. Sheer heaven!
If trends and marketing weren’t things you had to consider, what book would you like to write?
A NY Times bestseller? Seriously, I think I’m writing the books I want to write at the moment. I have a women’s fiction novel and a time-travel story in me, I’m sure, but right now they’re still brewing, so until one of them comes to the top of the cycle, I’ll continue with contemporary romance.
You’re not only a bestselling author but an editor as well. Do the two jobs ever get in each other’s way?
The editor slows down the writer, I’m afraid, and that’s often discouraging because I’m driven to reread what I write and to edit as I go along. That means sometimes I lose steam in storytelling. I’m working on that.
Share a paragraph you’ve written that you particularly love—whatever the reason.
This is silly and it’s more than one paragraph, but I love the scene in Meant to Be when Sean and Megan are driving home from their disastrous double-date and he tries to explain Vinnie using an analogy from the movie Up. I loved his rationalization and her complete rejection of it.
He glanced over at Meg, who appeared focused on navigating the curvy driveway into the winery property. “Here’s the thing”—he side-eyed her as she pulled into Char’s driveway—“Vin is like… like that dog in Up.”
She switched off the car and turned to face him, her expression incredulous. “What?”
“You know the dog in that movie Up? We watched it with Ali at Christmas?” His point was valid if she would just open her mind, so he explained further. “The dog had a great ball that he was playing with—having fun, enjoying himself. Loved that ball. Then a squirrel ran by and he was completely distracted, dropped the ball, and chased the squirrel.” He grinned, hoping to get some kind of positive reaction.
She rested her elbow on the steering wheel and cupped her chin in her palm. “So, I’m the ball in this scenario?”
“Yeah.”
“And Vin is the dog?”
He nodded. She was getting it.
“And Gia is what? The squirrel?”
He threw his hands up in exultation. “Yes, exactly.”
She gazed at him for a long moment, “I’ve heard you say some really dumb stuff over the years, Sean Flaherty, but that has to be the dumbest. Stop defending him.”
I know you researched heavily for both of your series. Do you remember anything particularly surprising you learned?
I was surprised when I learned that Indiana was one of the very first places that grew wine grapes and sold wine commercially. I had no idea our state was so steeped in wine history.
Do you ever feel pressured to write something you don’t want to—by publishers, readers, or the little voice in the back of your mind?
I did when I first started writing and trying to sell romance. My agent sent me a book from another client of hers and told me to “write like this.” I tried, but it wasn’t me. That’s a big part of the reason I went indie with my Women of Willow Bay series. But Tule, my current publisher is amazing and gives me lots of freedom. I love working with them.
What’s something we don’t know about you?
I love Big Band music and the songs from the Great American Songbook. Sinatra, Crosby, Tony Bennett—they all make me swoony. I would love to learn how to dance the way they did back in the thirties and forties when that music was popular. I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know much about today’s music or artists…I’m hopelessly stuck in the musical past.
Tell us about your favorite day in all the world, whether it’s already happened or you’re still hoping.
This is so trite I know, but my best day ever was the day my son was born. We’d waited so long and tried so hard to have him. He’s been a blessing from the first moment he took a breath.
You love traveling, right? So what’s on your bucket list for trips not yet taken?
Prince Edward Island with my bestie, Liz. We’re definitely going to do it in the next year or two. I’d love to go back to Ireland and France, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m okay with that. Liz and I do writing trips together once or twice a year and those satisfy the wanderlust.
A few short ones here just to get people acquainted:
Favorite color: Yellow
Favorite song: Anything from the Great American Songbook
Favorite movie: Little Women, the Denise DiNovi version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder (Yes, I’m a true sap!)
Favorite wine: Armida Winery’s El Campo Estate Field-Blend zinfandel (I know that’s scary specific, but it is amazing wine!)
Coffee or tea? Coffee mostly, but I love Harney and Sons’s Paris tea
Any tattoos? Nope and nope it remains for all eternity.
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