Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway: RUSHING AMY by Julie Brannagh

Avon is hosting a TOUR WIDE Rafflecopter Commenter Giveaway for TWO Digital Copies of BLITZING EMILY by Julie Brannagh.

Book Info:

Title: Rushing Amy
Author: Julie Brannagh
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Love and Football #2
Release Date: February 11, 2014

Book Blurb:

Julie Brannagh’s sparkling and romantic Love and Football series continues!

For Amy Hamilton, only three Fs matter: Family, Football, and Flowers. It might be nice to find someone to share Forever with, too, but right now she’s working double overtime while she gets her flower shop off the ground. The last thing she needs or wants is a distraction … or help, for that matter. Especially in the form of gorgeous and aggravatingly arrogant ex-NFL star Matt Stephens.

Matt lives by a playbook—his playbook. He never thought his toughest opponent would come in the form of a stunning florist with a stubborn streak to match his own. Since meeting her in the bar after her sister’s wedding, he’s known there’s something between them. After she refuses—again and again—to go out with him, Matt will do anything to win her heart … But will Amy, who has everything to lose, let the clock run out on the one-yard line?

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

Guest Post:

A few minutes with Samantha Stephens of RUSHING AMY

JB: (brings a chilled Diet Coke and a glass of ice to the table) How are you doing, Samantha?

SS: (looks excited when she sees the can of pop, opens it, pours it into the glass) Great! How are you?

JB: I’m fine. So, tell me how things have been since your dad met Amy Hamilton.

SS: I knew something was going on with my dad when he told me that he’d met a woman, but he wouldn’t introduce me to her right away. He dated before he met Amy. I met a few of those women. I didn’t like them. They weren’t really his type.

JB: What was your dad’s “type”?

SS: He likes women that are just as happy going out into the driveway to play basketball as going to some fancy place for dinner. He wanted someone who had her own career, but she also wanted to have a family. Mostly, he wanted someone who wasn’t scared off by me. I can be pretty scary sometimes!

JB: Scary? How so?

SS: I’m a teenager. Plus, I wanted him to meet someone he’d be happy with, so I’m pretty picky.

JB: What did you think of Amy when you finally met her?

SS: She’s awesome. No, really. If I got to pick out my own stepmother, I’d pick her. She’s fun to be around, she asks me to do stuff with her on our own, and she listens to me talk about guys. She also keeps the stuff I tell her to herself, which I appreciate. I love her.

JB: What happened when your dad finally decided he was going to marry Amy?

SS: There was no “finally” about it. He wanted to marry her a long time before he asked. They had a big fight, they didn’t see each other for a while, and my grandma had to get in his face about it. I don’t know what happened to make them finally decide they wanted to get back together, but my dad took me to the jewelry store with him when he picked out Amy’s engagement ring. I was pretty excited about that. Somebody took a cell phone video when my dad asked Amy to marry him at a Sharks game and uploaded it to YouTube, so I got to see that, too. She cried a lot.

JB: Are things different now that you’re a family?

SS: A little. Amy still owns her flower shop, and I help out on Saturdays sometimes. I got a basketball scholarship, but the college that offered the scholarship is really far from home. Don’t tell my dad, but I don’t want to leave my little brother and sister for that long. It’s good for him if he thinks I’m moving all the way across the country.

(Samantha takes a sip of pop and leans forward in her chair.) My dad and Amy are the mushiest people I have ever seen. When they’re not kissing each other or my little brother and sister, they’re kissing and hugging me. They hold hands at the dinner table and whisper to each other. I babysit for them every Wednesday night so they can go out on a date. They’re usually only gone for a couple of hours, but Amy looks a little rumpled when they get home sometimes. I thought older people were beyond the making-out stage!

JB: What’s next for you?

SS: (lowers her voice) I met a guy. He was getting his hair cut at my mom’s salon. He goes to Lakeside School, and he’s really cute. He asked me out for a coffee at the shop by the salon. My mom said I could go as long as I had a chaperone. (Samantha rolls her eyes.) A chaperone! Some of my friends are already group dating. Was she kidding? What kind of trouble could I possibly get into in broad daylight?

So, I said it was fine if she was in the coffee shop with us, but she had to leave us alone. We had fun, and he asked me out again. My mom said the only way I could go is if I tell my dad.

JB: Did you tell your dad?

SS: Amy said she’d do it. We’ll see. (She lets out a sigh and brightens a bit.) May I have another soda?

JB: Of course. Thanks for spending some time with us today!

SS: You’re welcome. Maybe you’ll write about it when I fall in love someday, too…

My Review:

Their cute-meet was that exactly, cute. Matt arrives late, by his own plan, to his friend’s wedding and he meets Amy at a bar after the reception. Amy gets almost wasted but Matt does the gentlemanly thing and brings her to her room, takes care that she’s comfortable, and then leaves. But not without Amy spilling a little bit of her heart and soul, albeit under the influence of alcohol to him. Cue, humiliation on Amy’s part and part amusement and appreciation on Matt’s part. I think that was what truly intrigued Amy to him. And so he started pursuing her, almost zealously. And it was so sweet how it was like Matt being a kid trying to get the attention of the girl he likes by pulling on her pigtails. Only now, Matt drops by or calls Amy’s flower shop and orders a bouquet of flowers every day. Only to give each of these to a different woman. Never mind the fact that it’s mostly women like his daughter Samantha, or his mother, or the nuns who taught in Matt’s school years before. That was hilarious and sweet.

I love the ease in which these two interact. Of course there is still that thrill of being strongly attracted to each other and the rush of feelings in a courtship. But at the same time, I almost always get the feeling that these two have shared more of themselves with each other than before they even realized it. Because of that, there’s this positive undercurrent between them that made me feel as if they’ve been together as a couple for a long time now.

One would think that they are at different stages in their lives at the moment, Matt having gone through divorce already and having a teenage daughter, and that age would somehow be a factor, with Amy being a lot younger than Matt is. But it didn’t affect the way I feel about them at all. Even more, it made me believe that despite what differences these two people may seem to have, if the connection is truly and wholly there between them then the rest are just circumstances that they can easily overcome.

The conflict between them seemed trivial to me at first glance. But then I realized what they had experienced in the past, how their histories have shaped them to become who they are now: Matt, growing up and having to watch his mother work two jobs and 3 shifts and vowing that he would never let another person he loves go through so much hard work when he could do something about it, and Amy, growing up in a shadow of her sister’s success, finally deciding to ditch a job she did not love and pursue the one that she does and struggling to prove something not just to everybody else but to herself as well. Having realized all these, I now understand how both of them can clash when it comes to Amy’s financial troubles with her small business. And it makes sense where each of them is coming from.

I admire Amy because it would be so easy to just sit back and let your millionaire boyfriend save you from financial debt but she stands up for herself and has enough not only pride but belief in herself that she’s capable of being independent and of standing on her own two feet.

At the same time, I also get where Matt is coming from. Because of his experience growing up and also what happened to his marriage, of course he would want and need to protect those he loved most in his life. Even at times it means not making them make their own mistakes, which is at times unhealthy especially in big doses. Although his approach is somewhat bordering on this, you know that his intentions are from his heart and he is doing it out of care and love.

I really appreciate the resolution that the author was able to present for the story because it made sense, it was logical story-wise and characterization-wise. It was a resolution that came from understanding and acceptance. And this made me believe that the relationship between these two characters will last for a long time.

My Rating: 3 1/2 stars!

About the Author:

Julie Brannagh has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She lives in a small town near Seattle, where she once served as a city council member and owned a yarn shop. She shares her home with a wonderful husband, two uncivilized Maine Coons and a rambunctious chocolate Lab.

Julie hasn’t quite achieved the goal of owning a pro football team, so she created a fictional one: The Seattle Sharks. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, or armchair-quarterbacking her favorite NFL team from the comfort of the family room couch. Julie is a Golden Heart finalist and the author of four contemporary sports romances.

Connect with Julie Brannagh:

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