Book Into: The Rebound Guy by Farrah Rochon

Please tell us a little about yourself: I’m a chocolate-loving, Broadway show-watching, Disney World-vacationing sports fanatic who takes football way too seriously. I also write romance novels in my spare time.  I’LL CATCH YOU, the second book in my New York Sabers football series with Kimani Romance, is a 2012 RITA® Finalist. I’m very proud of the fact that it is the first African American romance novel outside of the Inspirational Romance category to ever be nominated.

What genre is your current title? The Rebound Guy, like my other books, is a contemporary romance.

What is The Rebound Guy about? I think of The Rebound Guy as a cross between the movies “Hitch” and “The Wedding Date.” Here’s the back cover blurb:

Guy Rule #1: Never date a woman on the rebound…
Leave that to Dexter Bryant. The self-declared relationship advisor specializes in “counseling” women who have just ended long-term relationships. He wines them. He dines them. He treats them like queens, all with the purpose of rebuilding their self-confidence. Most importantly, he excels in the fine art of making ex-boyfriends jealous. But Dexter is trying to shake off the stud-for-hire persona in hopes of turning his service into a legitimate consulting business.

However, a stud-for-hire is exactly what Asia Carpenter is looking for. The career-minded PR Crisis Manager is completely blindsided when her ideal man dumps her for another woman, leaving her with a broken heart…and the bill for her engagement ring. Humiliated and dreading the looks of pity from her friends and co-workers, Asia hires Dexter as her pretend love interest, to show her ex-fiancé that she can land a sexy man—and keep him. What Asia doesn’t anticipate is how quickly their pretend love turns into the real thing.

What inspired The Rebound Guy?  I was actually only minutes away from sitting down to plot out an entirely different novel when I heard a singer performing on The Today Show on NBC. I’m not even sure what the song was about, but the artist said something about being on the rebound, and The Rebound Guy just popped in my head. The story idea caught hold of me and would not let go.

Who was your favorite character in the book and why? Definitely Dexter Bryant, the book’s hero. I just tend to like the heroes more than the heroines, but Dexter is extra sweet, along with being very sexy.

Please give us a sneak preview, a short excerpt:

Chapter One

“Another late day at the office, Ms. Carpenter?”

“Another late one, Harmon.” Asia Carpenter waved good night to the doorman, who, as far as she knew, had never missed a night’s work in the six years she’d lived in a loft in this former 19th-century brewery in Manhattan’s historic Kips Bay neighborhood.

“This is the last time you get home after ten o’clock,” Asia murmured as she bypassed the bank of shiny brass mailboxes, heading straight for the elevator. Her finger hovered over the “up” button for just a second before she pivoted and walked back to her mailbox. She knew Cortland, her fiancé, hadn’t picked up the mail. Two years of living together and he had yet to have his mail forwarded from the apartment he’d shared with his old college roommate on the Upper West Side.

Asia thumbed through the junk mail as she walked back to the elevator, dumping it all in the brushed stainless steel waste receptacle before stepping into the empty car paneled with Scandinavian-blond wood. As she got off on the fifth floor, she whispered a silent “thank you” that she’d had the elevator to herself the entire ride up. She was too tired for idle chitchat with neighbors she still only knew by face. She’d learn their names eventually. If she ever found time to strike up a conversation instead of just offering a passing wave while striding through the lobby, that is.

She slipped out of her gray pumps before she even unlocked the door to her three-level loft apartment. Holding both shoes in one hand, she eased on the dimmer switch in the entryway so she would have just enough light to cross the kitchen to the lower set of steep, yacht-style stairs.

“Cortland?” Asia whispered, not wanting to wake him if he was already asleep in the open bedroom directly above her.

She tripped over something on the floor and grabbed the back of a barstool to break her fall, dropping her Italian glove-leather suitcase. She looked down to find the light-blue and dark-brown throw pillow that usually sat on Cortland’s armchair.

“What in the hell?”

Asia dashed up the six steep wooden treads to the high-ceilinged living room and turned on a lamp.

And gasped.

They’d been robbed. The flat-screen television, Cortland’s sound system, his favorite chair. All gone.

“Cortland!” Asia yelled. She turned and looked up to the open bedroom loft, but he wasn’t there. An eerie sensation traveled up her spine as she carefully navigated the tricky stairs down and walked through the tiny kitchen to the bathroom between the refrigerator and the entryway. She knocked before opening the door

“Cortland?”

He wasn’t in there, either.

Read the rest of the first chapter at my website: https://sites.google.com/site/farrahrochon/books/the-rebound-guy

How can readers purchase The Rebound Guy?  Currently, The Rebound Guy is available in eBook only on the following websites:Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Smashwords

How can readers follow you?  Readers can catch me at these following places:

Website: http://www.farrahrochon.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farrahrochonauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FarrahRochon

Dee here: Thanks for dropping by Farrah. I have my copy and look forward to reading it. Good luck with the RITA®!