Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Book Review, Interview & Giveaway: Seven-Night Stand by Nicole Helm




  
Today I welcome Nicole Helm, author of Seven-Night Stand, which is an amazing romance that I had a hard time putting down.  So go grab your favorite cuppa, snuggle up if you are in certain parts of the country and learn a little more about Nicole and then check out my review of Seven-Night Stand and enter the giveaway to win your own copy of Seven-Night Stand.  



What three things do you need in order to write?

My Ipad, something or someone occupying my children, and the Internet so I can procrastinate
when I get stuck.

What's your favorite season?

I love spring. I have a spring birthday and when I was a kid spring meant I usually got to spend
a week at my grandma's where we would search for the first signs of wildflowers. My absolute
fondest memories.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

I'd love to see New Zealand, I think. Or Alaska. Somewhere with very few people, but a
gorgeous landscape. :)

What's the first sentence of Seven Night Stand?

"Vivvy Marsh stepped out of the car and saw nothing but flat, barren land and sky."

Tell us what is Seven Night Stand about.


Here's the blurb: Reality TV scout Vivvy Marsh loves her job, but she'll lose it if she doesn’t find
a hit. When she’s sent to Demo, Kansas to scout a show, it looks like a bust. It’s flat, boring, and
she's not inspired...until she meets sexy pilot, Nate Harrington.

Nate can’t deny his feelings for Vivvy. She’s beautiful, and doesn’t blink an eye at his crazy
family. He could get used to her...but her Hollywood lifestyle doesn’t fly in his small town.

Their feelings deepen, but they’re going to have to part ways at the end of seven days, or one of
them is going to have to make a sacrifice that’ll change their lives forever.

Dish, who’s your favorite character?


That is tough. I love them all for different reasons. (Except for Nate's parents. They're awful, of
course). In the end though, I'd have to give the edge to Nate. He's kind of rough and tumble, but
he's got a soft spot for Vivvy. He likes that she evens out the crazy in his life, and I love that he
likes that about her.

Do you watch Reality TV? If you do, what is your favorite show?


I watch some, though I used to watch a lot more before I had children and watching any TV
became an exercise in which is louder...TV or my kids? Right now my favorite is probably either
The Voice or Pawn Stars. I like competition shows like The Voice because I think it's fun to root
for someone, and I love listening to music. I also think Adam and Blake are hilarious. Pawn
Stars is nice because it's the only reality show my husband will watch with me, and they have a
bunch of fun history facts for the history nerd in me.

Did Seven Night Stand go the way you thought it would when you started or did it take on a life
of it’s own as you wrote?


I spent most of Seven-Night Stand whining to my critique partner that I couldn't write it. And then
she would tell me I could, and I'd write a bit more. Spicy contemporaries were new for me at
the time. Still, more changes happened in the revision process with my Entangled editors than
did when I was actually writing it. In the end, it's still the same story it was supposed to be. A
woman afraid of connecting with anyone, and a man she does just that with, even with all his
crazy baggage.

What can we expect next from you?


Late this summer I'll have a release from Samhain Publishing titled Flight Risk. Then, if all goes
well, there will be two more Harrington books. Book 2 will feature Nate's twin, Ryan, and Book 3
will feature a heroine readers will meet in Book 2.

Thanks Nicole!



To follow the tour, click on the banner at the top of the post or go here.


My Review:
From the first page I was drawn right into the story of Vivvy and Nate in Seven-Night Stand.  Ms. Helm has written a wonderful and believable romance that's fun to read and hard to put down.

I loved Vivvy, loved getting to know her and understanding her and Nate and seeing how they work together and fall for each other.  And Nate is a wonderful make something of himself despite his family type man and I really like him. And I like his protective streak. He wants to protect his grandfather, the business and his brother.  He's a good man with a tough exterior.  Vivvy is a Hollywood woman who's not really a Hollywood woman. Vivvy's tough, she's trying to make it, but she won't sacrifice people and ideas to do it.  Watching Nate and Vivvy together made this a perfect romance.  And yes there is conflict, how does a man who is made for a small town and a woman who is very use to travel and loves her job plan to make a seven-night stand into more?

The story revolves around the week that Vivvy is in town trying to get Nate to agree to the reality show.  And that morphs into their "seven-night stand"  So the storyline revolves around these two plots, the romance and the convincing to do the reality show.  Both bring about conflict that make the story interesting.  Of course the romance brings about quite a bit of interest as well.  I found the story moved at a great pace.  I was drawn right in and felt I was right there with the characters.  Ms. Helm does a great job with pacing and creating a realistic story that the reader both believes and wants to keep turning the page to find out what happens next.  The reader cares about the characters and what is happening in the story.

I found Seven-Night Stand to be a realistic and delightful story.  It was a great romance between two characters that I really cared about. I also loved that it introduced some secondary characters that will be in future books (I'm so glad she answered that in the interview, it was something I was wondering about when reading).  The book really came alive for me.  The romance, the story, the characters were all wonderfully written and I look forward to reading more Nicole Helm books in the future!
 
My rating: 5.0/5.0    

About the book:

Title: Seven-Night Stand
Author: Nicole Helm
Genre: Category - Contemporary Romance
Length: 183 pages
Release Date: February 2013
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62266-005-6
Imprint: Indulgence


Reality TV scout Vivvy Marsh loves her job, but she'll lose it if she doesn’t find a hit. When she’s sent to Kansas to scout a show, it looks like a bust...until she meets sexy pilot, Nate Harrington. His family would make the perfect show to save her career.

Nate can’t deny his attraction to Vivvy, but no way can he let this show take off. The Harrington family is riddled with secrets, and she wants it all out in the open. For the next seven days, he’s going to stop at nothing to keep her out of his family's business, even if it means keeping her distracted in his bedroom.





About the Author:
I grew up with my nose in a book and a dream of becoming a writer. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, a husband, and two kids, I get to pursue that dream.

I write down-to-earth contemporary romance over the backdrop of America’s flyover states for Entangled Indulgence and Samhain Publishing.

I live in Missouri with my husband and two young sons, and write my novels one baby’s nap at a time. I’m slightly (okay, totally) addicted to Twitter (nicolethelm), the St. Louis Cardinals, and someday owning a barn.

You can contact me at NicoleTHelm@gmail.com. I am a contributor at the From Fact to Fiction blog and the Entangled Indulgence Author’s blog.


Social Media:

Website

Twitter
Facebook
Blog 

Giveaway:
Thanks to the publisher is for one ebook copy of Seven Night Stand and is open internationally, ends 3/13.  Enter through the Rafflecopter.  



a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

FTC Notification: I received this book from Entangled Publishing for review.  I was not compensated in any other way than receiving a free book.