More Than This by Shannyn Schroeder Excerpt Promo & Giveaway

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When a lonely teacher teams up with a handsome bartender for some outrageous acts, they both get more than they bargained for…

Learning her ex-husband is going to be a father, Quinn Adams is determined to have a baby of her own—without the partnership of a man. But her sister and friends believe she needs to focus on herself first, and step out of her comfort zone by completing a list of adventures. Challenge number one is to go on five dates within two weeks. After a few disastrous attempts, Quinn’s ready to give up—until sexy bartender Ryan O’Leary offers his assistance.

Ryan has always been the dependable one in his family, often at his expense. But lately, he’s been longing for a life—and a woman—of his own. The woman he has in mind is Quinn. Though it seems all she wants is friendship, Ryan can’t ignore the explosive chemistry he feels between them. In the hopes of becoming closer, Ryan offers to help out with Quinn’s list. But when she asks him for a serious favor, he’s afraid it will jeopardize his chance to become more than friends.

Ryan stood at the opposite end of the bar from Quinn’s booth. Watching in the mirror, he saw a new side of Quinn. She was relaxed. When she’d first come into the bar with a crowd of teachers, she’d hung back from the group, ordered one drink, gulped it down, and left. It was like she had to make an appearance and she did the bare minimum. Now, she’d invited other friends here.

He couldn’t believe he’d almost been busted eavesdropping on her conversation. And, of course, it had to happen right when they got to a good part. He wanted to know if she got laid for her birthday. Judging by the way she looked when she came in, she hadn’t been given a birthday orgasm. He almost wanted to offer to change that, but knew she’d shoot him down.

A slight tap on his arm had him turning to look at his younger brother, who was supposed to be stocking alcohol.

“Who’s the gorgeous blonde?”

“Who?”

Michael hitched his chin up toward the mirror. “The one you’ve been staring at.”

“Oh. That’s Indy, but I was looking at her sister. Short dark hair.”

Michael looked at all three women. “She’s not your usual type.”

“I know.” The concept rubbed at him like a wool sweater.

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Shannyn Schroeder 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 professional author. She came to reading romance later than many, but lives for the happy ending because real life can be depressing. She writes contemporary romance because she enjoys the adventure of new love.

In her spare time, she loves to bake cookies and watches far too much TV, especially cop shows. 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.

Connect with Shannyn Schroeder:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Thanks for having me today, especially since I get to talk about my hero, Ryan O’Leary. I have a couple of confessions to make. The first is that I’m a little in love with Ryan. The second is that when I started writing, I had no idea who Ryan was.

When I came up with the idea for MORE THAN THIS, I had a pretty clear picture of who my heroine, Quinn, was, but I was less sure about Ryan. I love to read a strong alpha male and I was sure that’s who Ryan was going to be. Turns out, I was wrong. When I started writing, all I knew about Ryan was that he came from a big family. What I discovered is that his family is his priority.

Overall, Ryan is just a good guy. He doesn’t have weird hangups or excess baggage (no abuse or horrible childhood or cruel ex-girlfriend who broke his heart). I think it’s easy for readers to fall in love with Ryan because he is a good guy. He’s not overly bossy and he’s not mean. He’s protective and caring, without being a wimp.

His sense of duty and responsibility for his family is what prevents him from finding what he wants in life. Ryan feels a need to be everything for everyone all the time. He runs his own bar and the family’s pub on top of fixing things around his mom’s house and making sure his siblings are taken care of. While all of this is well-meaning, it prevents Ryan from having much of a personal life. Did I mention that all of his siblings are adults? He has a hard time trusting that they’ll be okay if he’s not there to make sure. His conflict comes from this, which made it hard to strike a balance.

Things change for him when Ryan meets Quinn. He wants to be everything for her, but that means he needs to loosen the control on his family. Ryan has to learn to trust his family to be okay while he’s convincing Quinn that they should be more than friends.

Kim asked if I had an inspiration for Ryan, and I do. Jason O’Mara is my inspiration. Although as Ryan his hair would be a little darker and a tad longer, he’s pretty damn good (smile).

~~~What’s the most important characteristic you look for in a guy? Or what one thing is a total deal-breaker?~~~

Shannyn will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.  To increase your chances of winning, please visit all of the stops on the tour and leave comments.  Be sure to leave your email address in the comments section, so that you can be contacted if you are chosen as the winner.