GIVEAWAY & Guest Post: A Hero Comes to Life

Welcome to the  

Unexpectedly You 

Book Tour & Giveaway!

As part of today's tour stop, Lily Santana author of Unexpectedly You, is sharing a guest post titled A Hero Comes to Life. Lily is also giving away and awesome gift basket to one lucky winner today- on my blog, so be sure to fill out the Rafflecopter below. Also, there is a 2nd giveaway for the entire tour and for a $25.00 gift card so be sure to leave a comment as well. Just think- one of my lucky readers are going to win this awesome gift basket full of beach goodies related to the book Unexpectedly You.

So, to keep you gals from waiting any longer, please welcome author Lily Santana! 

A Hero Comes to Life by Author Lily Santana

Thank you Stephanie for hosting me today on your blog. It is a pleasure to be here.

I get asked a lot by readers about where I find inspiration for my heroes. I’m happy to say, my heroes come from…real life.  Let me tell you a story.

Last week, during a particularly nasty rain storm, the fence around the external perimeter of my home came loose from its post. Four large panels were barely hanging on and I was worried they would fly off onto oncoming traffic and cause an accident. Unfortunately for me, it was 3:00 PM on a Friday afternoon which meant that every single fencing company I called was already closed until the following Monday. I was new to the neighborhood and didn’t know any of my neighbors well enough to ask for help.

Panicked by the potential danger, I grabbed my hammer - to do what with, I wasn’t sure. But other than get completely soaked, I didn’t stand a chance. To say I’m not handy is an astounding understatement.

Thankfully, just when I’m about to cry my eyes out in pure despair, my phone rang. It was a contractor who owned a fencing company in town. He offered to stop by right away and take a look at my fence. To my utter amazement, he not only took a look, he offered to reinforce the fence temporarily using his own supplies until I can get it permanently fixed. He also went ahead and inspected the rest of my fence to make sure that it too could withstand the storm. Did I mention it was pouring rain? After he was done, Hurricane Katrina could have come and my fence wouldn’t have moved an inch.

Naturally, I asked him what I owed. Here was the part where I turned into a sappy heroine in a romance novel and he turned into a genuine hero. He said I owed him nothing. Zero. Zilch. He offered to give me a quote to fix the fence permanently, but he didn’t need payment for what he’d done.

The poor guy doesn’t know I’m a romance writer, so he probably has no idea that he’d just been cast as the hero in my next story. I can see it now…sexy smile, hard edges, and wearing a tool belt that is the envy of all….  

About the Author

Lily Santana is an author of contemporary romance. Her first book, Unexpectedly You will be released August 26, 2013 with Carina Press.

Lily is a native of the Philippines but stewed for twenty-five years in the melting pot of New York City to which she credits her respectable ability to curse in multiple foreign languages. Fortunately, she also discovered the NYC Library where she spent countless hours daydreaming of one day becoming an author.

Like many of her readers, she began reading romance as a tween when she stumbled fortuitously upon her mother's stash of Harlequins and Mills & Boon. She loves sexy alpha heroes with a sense of humor and a little bit o’ grit.

Today Lily lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her two adorable puppies. When she's not writing, Lily spends her time splashing into puddles, shucking oysters, and learning to eat ice cream in the rain.

Learn more at www.lilysantana.com or email her at lily@lilysantana.com  Follow her on Twitter @lilyoftheword .

About Unexpectedly You

{BLURB} To save his flailing real estate development project Mitch McKenna knows what he must do: persuade his nemesis and neighbor Emma LeFleur to go to bat for him and convince the town that he’s a sweetheart. Easy as pie, unless you consider he’s threatened to bulldoze her home with her in it.

You can purchase Unexpectedly You at ($2.99):

 BUY at Amazon.com      
 BUY at Barnes & Noble  
BUY at Carina Press      

~ GIVEAWAY ~

Remember, there are two giveaways for this tour!

One is specifically for readers at Stephanie's Book Shelf, and the other is tour wide. The SBS giveaway is being conducted by the Rafflecopter and is for an awesome 'beachy' gift basket full of beach related items such as sand dollars, saltwater taffy and other goodies. 

The 2nd giveaway is tour wide and is for a $25.00 gift card. At the end of the tour, the author will randomly select one comment form all the posts to select a winner. Simply post a comment to enter the drawing for the $25 gift card. (This is also an option through the Rafflecopter so one single comment is actually an entry into both drawings- be sure to list your email!) You can follow the rest of the tour an enter each day by visiting the tour page for a list of all stops.

a Rafflecopter giveaway