At Arm’s
Length – a enemies to lovers romantic comedy
Series: Love in the Suburbs, #2
Genre:
Romantic Comedy, Romance, Enemies to lovers romance, Humor, Small
town romance
Published: January 31, 2020
Word count: 55,000
Blurb:
Jackson Schmidt is the biggest jerkity
jerk ever. They should totally erect a statue to commemorate his
jerkityness, jerkdom— Uggh! There are literally not enough words
for ‘jerk’ to depict the man.
Unfortunately, Jackson is also the most
gorgeous specimen of manhood I’ve ever laid eyes on. One look at
him and I want to jump and climb him like a tree. But whenever he
opens his mouth, his status as the biggest bastard on the planet is
immediately reinstated. It’s impossible for the man to say anything
remotely nice – at least not to me. To my best friend, though? To
her, he’s Mr. Perfect Gentleman. Did I mention he’s carrying a
torch for my engaged best friend?
My libido does not give one flying hoot
Jackson is a dick who has a crush on my bestie. Nope. Not at all. No
matter how much of a schmuck the man is – and trust me he takes
schmuck to the next level – I continue to pant after him like a
nerdy freshman crushing on the prom king. If I want to keep my
sanity, I’m going to have to keep Jackson at arm’s length.
Sanity is totally overrated.
Buy links:
Excerpt:
“Woman, can we
have one dinner when we don’t have to deal with your infernal
matchmaking,” Frankie’s grandpa growls.
My eyebrows
raise of their own accord at his grumbling. Bill is usually a
mild-mannered dude, but I guess even the mild-mannered have their
limits.
“You’re
ruining my fun,” Grandma pouts. Seriously, pouts. She sticks out
her bottom lip and flutters her eyelashes at him.
“You can
flutter your eyelashes until the cows come home. I stopped falling
for that bologna approximately three decades ago.”
“Cuddle-pumpkin,
you didn’t have a problem with my eyelash fluttering the other
night.”
He grunts. “You
were offering something I wanted.”
“Oh my god,
are you talking about sex?” Frankie shrieks. “Stop!” She slams
her eyes shut and covers her ears. “La la la. My grandparents do
not have sex. Nope. Nope. Nope.”
“I’m
surprised she didn’t hear us when she lived here. Guess it was a
good thing she had those pain pills to put her to sleep,” Grandma
remarks.
I choke on the
piece of lamb I’m chewing on. Jackson pats my back as he bursts out
laughing. “I thought there was nothing that could phase you, babe.”
I take a sip of
water. “Oh, I’m not phased.” I smirk when I see Frankie take
her fingers out of her ears. “I’m perfectly okay with Grandma and
Bill having loud sex.”
Frankie screams
and jumps to her feet. “I’m…” She looks around as if the
walls will offer her some type of excuse. They don’t. She throws
her arms in the air and stomps out of the room.
Bailey watches her leave before turning
to me with a grin on her face. “You were right. Sunday meals at
Frankie’s grandma’s house are the best.”
About D.E. Haggerty:
I grew up reading everything I could get my grubby hands on, from my
mom's Harlequin romances, to Nancy Drew, to Little Women. When I
wasn't flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous
poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories
which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S.
Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although
on the odd occasion I did manage to sneak a book into my rucksack
between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. After
surviving the army experience, I went back to school and got my law
degree. I jumped ship and joined the hubby in the Netherlands before
the graduation ceremony could even begin. A few years into my legal
career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job
and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic
before returning to the law. But practicing law really wasn’t my
thing, so I quit (again!) and went off to Germany to start a B&B.
Turns out running a B&B wasn’t my thing either. I polished off
that manuscript languishing in the attic before following the husband
to Istanbul where I decided to give the whole writer-thing a go. But
ten years was too many to stay away from my adopted home. I packed up
again and moved to The Hague where, in between tennis matches and
failing to save the world, I’m currently working on my next book. I
hope I’ll always be working on my next book.
Author links:
Interview D.E. Haggerty:
1.
Can you tell us a little about your books?
I
write in three genres: romantic comedy, cozy mystery (with a dash of
romance), and historical novels. I started out writing historical
novels because history is my jam, but with the research, they take a
loooong time to write. I switched over to cozy mysteries, although I
didn’t know that was what I was doing. I thought I’d give chick
lit a go, but I kept on writing mysteries. Someone labelled my books
cozies and I was like ‘oh yeah’. Then, I had an idea for a
romance and decided to give it a try. Now, I concentrate on romantic
comedies with the occasional cozy thrown in there.
2.
What inspires you to write?
Everything.
A funny comment from a friend. A newspaper article. An interaction
between a couple at a bar. Song lyrics. You name it and I can find
inspiration in it.
3. How
many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Hold on, I
need to count. Seventeen (excluding one book I’ve unpublished
because yowza!). Oh gosh, picking a favorite would be like picking a
favorite child. But seriously, my favorite book is usually the one I
just finished. If I you twist my arm, I’d say Searching
for Gertrude (historical
romance) is my favorite. I spent a year researching and writing the
book. I feel like I could climb right into the book and settle in.
4.
If you could be friends with one of your character, which one would
you chose?
Hmmm… I
think I’ll go with Shelby. She’s the heroine of At
Arm’s Length.
And she’s totally and completely crazy. I love hanging out with
people are up for just about anything.
5.
Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?
Interesting
question as I was just listening to a podcast about this. I always
thought the best time to write for me was right away in the early
morning (6 a.m. onwards). Then, my neighbors started reconstruction
on their house – at 7 a.m. each day. I was forced to head to the
library to work, but the library doesn’t open until 10 a.m. I found
this time works well. I work on admin and marketing in the early
hours now and only start writing after I walk the dog. (Sorry, the
dog insisted I mention him as he’s my writing companion.)
6.
Do
you have a release day tradition?
Not
really. I used to try and take a few days off with each new book, but
now I’m trying (trying being the operative word here) to publish
six books a year. So, no time off for me with each new release. This
time I am having lunch with two of my best gal pals.
7.
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Do I have
to choose just one? *Pouts* For my writing, I’d choose
invisibility. Then, I could listen to stranger’s stories without
them worried I’m stalking them or something. Because yeah, that’s
happened.
8.
What writing projects are you currently working on?
I’m
nearly finished with the rough draft of the next book of the Love in
the Suburbs series. After that, I’ll start on a novella in my cozy
mystery Death by Cupcake series.
