I'm so excited to be hosting a tour stop for Jenna Sutton's All the Right Places! This contemporary romance, from Berkley, focuses on one of the owners of a denim dynasty, and the designer who might help launch the company into a new era of success. I found this book to be such a refreshing change from so many stories that focus on the wealthy but don't spend much time actually showing us how they're acquiring that wealth!
I'm especially excited to share my interview of Jenna Sutton, along with the usual blurb, review, and giveaway! Stick with me, it's all good stuff!
I'm especially excited to share my interview of Jenna Sutton, along with the usual blurb, review, and giveaway! Stick with me, it's all good stuff!
For the rest of the stops on the tour, check out Tasty Book Tours.
The Book
The first in a brand new
contemporary romance series starring the men and women who are determined to
keep the billion-dollar denim dynasty, Riley O’Brien & Co, on top, but
aren’t about to let success stand in the way of love…
Amelia Winger is a small-town girl
with big dreams of becoming a successful designer. So when she gets a gig
designing accessories for denim empire Riley O’Brien & Co., it’s a dream
come true. Amelia can handle the demanding job, but she isn’t quite prepared
for sexy CEO Quinn O’Brien. She’s doing her best to keep things professional,
but the attraction sparking between them makes it personal. And so does the
secret project she's working on behind his back...
Quinn’s not interested in the new
accessories, but he is interested in the woman designing them. Amelia is smart,
sexy, and talented, and he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her since
they met. Mixing business and pleasure isn’t wise, but that doesn’t stop him
from coming up with excuses to spend time with her. He thinks he understands
the risk he’s taking when he gets involved with Amelia. But he doesn’t know
he’s risking a lot more than his heart.
All the Right Places is available now!
About the Author
Jenna Sutton spent most of her career as an award-winning journalist covering business-related topics including healthcare, commercial real estate, retail, and technology. Nowadays she writes about hot, lovable guys and the smart, sexy women who make them crazy. It’s the culmination of a lifelong dream, and she feels so lucky to be able to do it.
Jenna and her husband live in a 103-year-old house in Texas.
Jenna Sutton spent most of her career as an award-winning journalist covering business-related topics including healthcare, commercial real estate, retail, and technology. Nowadays she writes about hot, lovable guys and the smart, sexy women who make them crazy. It’s the culmination of a lifelong dream, and she feels so lucky to be able to do it.
Jenna has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Texas Christian University and a Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.
Jenna and her husband live in a 103-year-old house in Texas.
The Interview
Before you read this interview, I just want to say that I had a blast coming up with questions for Ms. Sutton, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview her! Onwards:
TETOR: First, I'd
like to congratulate you on your debut release, All the Right Places.
SUTTON: Thank you!
I am really excited about the book and the opportunity to share Quinn and
Amelia’s story with romance lovers.
TETOR: One thing
that really drew me to All the Right Places was the denim empire at the heart
of it. Contemporary romance definitely has that 'wealthy businessman' trope,
but it's rare to see that businessman engaging in something so concrete as
Riley O'Brien & Co. What drew you writing about a denim company, in
particular?
SUTTON: I know it
sounds just a little weird, but I think jeans are really fascinating. Can you
think of any other piece of clothing more ubiquitous than jeans? With the
exception of a few isolated spots on the planet, jeans are everywhere. At any
given moment, at least half the world is wearing jeans, and the vast majority of
people own at least one pair.
Jeans have an
almost universal appeal, yet they mean different things to different people.
Some people wear them because they’re comfortable and durable. Some wear them
as a statement of style or status.
For me, it’s not
just the jeans that make Riley O’Brien & Co.’s denim empire so interesting;
it’s the company’s history and the generational element. I’ve been fascinated
with the idea of generational businesses—those that have been passed down from
generation to generation—for a long time.
As a journalist, I
covered many retail chains and fashion brands that were generational businesses.
Nordstrom is a great example of one. For more than 100 years, the department
store chain has been run by the Nordstrom family. Today, it’s in the hands of
the fourth generation of Nordstroms. They’ve managed to keep their family
company at the top, staying true to the brand and serving their customers,
while also evolving and growing.
In my Riley
O’Brien & Co. series, staying relevant and maintaining market share is the
challenge for this generation of O’Briens. Unfortunately, competition
from designer denim is eroding the company’s bottom line, and the women’s
division is in really bad shape. The company has alienated its female
consumers, and it must find a way to win them back.
The three heirs to the company—Quinn, Cal, and
Teagan—have differing opinions on how to do that. Responsible, risk-averse
Quinn clashes with smart, headstrong Teagan, while easy-going, witty Cal is
kind of stuck in the middle.
TETOR: Who are
your go-to authors? Do you read a lot of contemporary romance, or romance more
broadly?
SUTTON: For the past
several years, I’ve read romance almost exclusively. I used to read other
genres including mysteries, legal thrillers, women’s fiction, and the
occasional non-fiction book. I’m trying to be a little more inclusive in my
reading choices, but I really crave that happily ever after. I don’t like to
invest in characters and then have something terrible happen to them. I feel
cheated and angry, not to mention weepy. Ugh.
Within the romance
genre, I definitely prefer contemporary romance, although I read historical,
new adult, romantic suspense, and erotica. I have a fairly long list of authors
I like, but the books on my keeper shelf—the ones I read over and over again—are
written by Lisa Kleypas, Rachel Gibson, Elizabeth Hoyt, and Anne Stuart. And I
have discovered some great new authors over the past several months including
Penelope Douglas, Elle Kennedy, and Jackie Ashenden. I love scorching hot sex
scenes, and these women really deliver.
TETOR: You worked
for several years as a journalist, and there are certainly other journalists
who have made the transition to writing fiction. I always wonder how much
the skills developed as a journalist help (or perhaps even hinder) authors. Can
you talk a little bit about how your background in journalism has impacted you
as an author of fiction?
SUTTON: I
absolutely believe the skills I developed as a journalist help me as a
novelist. As a journalist, I thought about my job in two parts: asking
questions (reporting) and answering questions (writing articles). I approach
fiction writing similarly. When I write a chapter, I think about what questions
my readers might have about my characters—what they want to know about them—and
then I answer those questions with backstory, internal narrative, dialogue, and
action.
As a journalist, I
outline every article, whether it’s a simple 500-word news brief or a
5,000-word feature piece. For me, outlines prevent problems in the long run,
providing a roadmap for me to follow and a path that leads my readers to their
destination.
When
I start a new book, I outline it from beginning to end and really flesh out
each chapter. I already know how the story is going to end before I even open
up a Word document to type the first word. On average, my outlines are about
100 pages.
And then there are
the deadlines. As a journalist, you live and breathe deadlines. You don’t have
the luxury of writer’s block or “not feeling it” that day. You have pages to
fill, and if you don’t meet your deadline, those pages are blank, and a lot of
people are very unhappy. And if you don’t meet your deadlines, you don’t have a
job for long. So, I’m very comfortable with the deadlines in book
publishing.
Beyond the
deadlines, journalists must write to specific word counts. You have to maximize
every word because there’s no room to waste. And you can’t sacrifice
information just because you have limited space. Your writing must be concise
and digestible. You have to make it easy for your reader.
I’ve been told
that my books are “easy” – that it doesn’t take a lot of effort to imagine a
setting or connect with the characters or immerse oneself in the scene. And
that’s a huge compliment to a writer.
TETOR: Shifting
gears, I want to say that I love the banner on your website. I love the 'brand'
effect of your name on the denim background. I could absolutely see that name,
with the fireworks, stitched into clothing, which I think is a very clever
tie-in with the series. There's such a huge emphasis on authors marketing
themselves and their books, and it looks you've got a pretty good sense of how important
even those little details are. Is marketing a component of being a writer that
you're enjoying or maybe not so much? What kind of balance have you found
between that social media/internet presence/marketing aspect of the work and
working on the next book?
SUTTON: Thank you!
I’m so glad you love the banner and the look of the website. I’m lucky that the
Riley O’Brien & Co. series lends itself to interesting imagery,
specifically the denim background. To be frank, I’m still trying to figure out
how to balance the writing part of being a romance author with the business
part. Marketing isn’t something that’s completely foreign to me because I have
a Master’s degree in integrated marketing communications. For a long time, I
was convinced that I wasted a bunch of time and money getting that degree
because I chose not to pursue a marketing-related career. But now I’m happy
that I did because I’ve applied a lot of that knowledge to marketing myself and
my books. I don’t claim to be a marketing guru, far from it, and there’s a lot
of debate about how effective author websites actually are. Personally, I’m a
reader who loves to visit author websites. As for social media, I enjoy
interacting with readers via Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, I think most
people are suffering from what I call social media fatigue. They’re bombarded
by messages, and at some point, those messages become nothing but noise.
TETOR: Tell us
what's coming next! Have you got several Riley O'Brien & Co books planned
already? When will the next book in the series be available?
SUTTON: Right
now, there are three full-length Riley O’Brien & Co. novels. The second
one, COMING APART AT THE SEAMS, is scheduled for publication on Dec. 1, 2015.
The third in the series, HANGING BY A THREAD, will come out in spring 2016.
I’ve also written two Riley O’Brien & Co. novellas, but I don’t have any specifics
on when they’ll be published.
TETOR: Thank you
so much for taking the time to talk with me today!
SUTTON: Thank you for having me! I had a great time, and
I hope I can visit again soon.
My Review
All the Right Places is a contemporary romance with a surprisingly erotic kick to it. Or, maybe now that you've read that sentence, it'll have a completely expected erotic kick to it! Ha!
Main character Amelia is doing her best to blaze a trail as different from her less-than-shining-example mother. This made her seem a little... restrained. There are some fantastic, sexy scenes that, for me, strongly contrasted with her slightly naive, teetotalling behaviour.Quinn is a hardworking, responsible guy. While he shares some characteristics with the alpha millionaire/billionaires that have flooded the market, I don't think I'd go so far as to slap the label on him. He's driven by such loyalty and such a sense of responsibility not only to the company as a legacy he must continue, but also to all the men and women working for the company. I appreciated that the weight of that was really communicated through how seriously Quinn approached business decisions.
My favourite aspect of this romance is how Quinn reacts to his interest in Amelia. I won't spoil any of it, but overall, it's a refreshing change from those aloof alphas I mentioned earlier!
Now, Quinn's siblings both appear in this book, and I presume they'll receive their own books in the series. I did find that their 'stuff' was a bit distracting, taking focus away from Amelia and Quinn. Contrarily, I am hoping that when I read the next book in the series, there'll be some overlap of Amelia and Quinn into that book. It's an element that really conveys the sense of closeness in the family, and that will work well in the larger picture. I also found Quinn's sister to be rather unlikeable (I wanted to throttle her repeatedly) and am curious to see how Sutton will handle the character as a romantic lead.
All the Right Places is a light read, perfect for the beach, a hammock, or park bench. Or, you know, wherever else you might find yourself reading this summer. I also, and this is really a personal thing, think it would be a great book to read while commuting to college or university in the fall. Something about being well-dressed/well-accessorized while wearing jeans screams start of the fall semester at school to me.
Bottom line:
I found a lot of surprises in All the Right Places, and I enjoyed almost all of them. Absolutely pick this one up if you love contemporary romance, particularly if you like books with a fashion industry flavour.
4.5 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, fashion
Thank you so much for hosting ALL THE RIGHT PLACES and Jenna! Great Interview!
ReplyDelete