Author Ashlynn Monroe's Reality Hero is a Fantasy/Superhero Contemporary Romance released last week and I'm thrilled to have her post here today. The cover is fab and since reading not one but two excerpts below, I couldn't help but start reading my own copy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you so much for hosting me! I loved writing this book and I hope that
readers will enjoy reading it as much as I adored the process of writing
it. I am working on a novella sequel to
this novel, Ella’s story. Enjoy Reality
Hero, I can’t wait to hear what you think.
I love reader email at authorashlynnmonroe@gmail.com!
Can reality TV handle a reluctant superhero bachelor, ten
attention-seeking women, and one evil villain?
Dina Dell's career as a television producer has hit bottom. Desperate to
save her job, she comes up with the idea for a reality show called I Want
to Date a Superhero. But the only superhero bachelor she knows is the only
man she's ever loved—Zane Blair.
Zane was once a normal human, but a traumatic childhood incident mutated
him, along with Dina's sister and their friends. Dina was the only one who
escaped without any superhero abilities. And while she might be the
"normal" one, that only left her feeling like more of an outcast.
Her lack of powers put Zane in danger. Knowing that it was only a matter of
time before someone used her to get to him, she left, breaking both their
hearts in the process. After all the pain she caused him, will he be willing to
help her now?
Then an old enemy emerges, putting Dina's plans on hold. When her superhero
friends are the ones who need help, Dina just might learn that sometimes little
Miss Average can be a hero too.
Content Warning: graphic sexual content
Here’s an excerpt:
#1
Zane looked at Dina in disbelief.
Before he could stop himself, he was crushing her to him in a desperate kiss.
His mouth ravished her with primitive savagery. Dina melted against him. Her
lips parted and he slid his tongue into her mouth. She tasted so damn good.
Feeling her body against his was an incredibly heady sensation. He never wanted
to let her go. Her tongue slipped inside his mouth and explored. Zane growled
and held her close for a second longer.
He pulled back, searching her
expression for any sign that she was ready to admit they belonged together. Her
wide eyes gazed up at him, and her lips parted slightly. She flushed, looking
incredibly sexy. Just looking at her made his cock stiffen.
She put her forehead against his
chin and closed her eyes. “You’d better go before someone comes to investigate
how I am.”
He pushed back from her. She was a
damn stubborn woman. He must like to suffer, because that was part of her
appeal. He’d always loved a challenge. “Someday, I won’t obey your every command,
Di.”
He had no idea just how much those
old feelings still lived inside of her. She opened the door, this time he
didn’t get it for her, and she ran up the stairs and into her building like the
chicken she was. Her inner voice made clucking sounds the whole time she fled.
Nothing terrified her quite like her longing for him. She wondered if he knew
it and hoped he didn’t.
She’d never get any rest and she
had a mountain of work so she sat down and started going over everything. There
was a lot more to putting on good TV than just turning on a camera. The phone
rang and she jumped. Her hand slapped around on top of all the papers on the
desk until she found her cellphone buried under them. Her eyes were so blurry that she didn’t even
bother to look at the caller ID.
“Hello,” Dina said.
“I’ve never been ashamed of you
until today. Dina, how could you? You know Zane would never let you down. You
used his feelings to abuse his good heart. I’m so angry with you that I don’t
even know the right words to express it. If you needed something, why didn’t
you talk to me first? I could’ve helped you. We could’ve come up with something
different.”
There was a pause. Dina didn’t know what to
say. It was a small relief when Ella continued.
“He hates the media, and now he’ll
not only just be on your show, but the tabloids will eat him alive too. They’ll
do all they can to find out his secret identity. You know the lies those rags
print. This will start a feeding frenzy.”
Dina knew she deserved the tongue
lashing, so she said nothing. She had no defense, because her twin was right.
“Call this off. Please, as my
sister, do this for me and save the best man in the city from this horrible
mistake. I know how you feel about him, and you know how I feel about him. We
both know how he feels about you.”
There was another pause. Dina’s
throat closed. She knew, and it tore at her heart.
“Are you still there?” Ella sounded
annoyed.
“Yes,” Dina whispered brokenly.
“When you left, you ripped out his
guts. Don’t destroy his life. He still loves you.”
“I know.” That was what made asking
him to be on the show so damn hard.
“I don’t know why you turned your
back on us, but you owe him. We all do. He’s the best of us. We’ve lost Aaron.
Don’t take Zane away too. If he’s exposed, God only knows what will happen to
him—us. Don’t do this, Dina.”
She bit her lip. She wanted to tell
her sister she’d come to her senses, but it was too late.
“Ella, I’m so sorry. I hate myself,
but it’s too late. They’re already airing the promos on the network, and the
casting call went out. In the morning, I’m going to have dozens of women
begging me to be on this show. Zane and I have been over for a very long time.
We both know which one of us is in his life. You should be with him, not me.
I’m his Achilles heel.”
“Being in his life isn’t the same
as being in his heart, sis. He’s always loved you, and while we look alike,
I’ll never be you. He wants you.”
Excerpt #2
Dina Dell sat in the conference
room waiting anxiously. A huge lump began forming in her throat. She knew
things weren’t going to go well, yet she held hope old Ervin might be feeling
generous. Her past hip and innovative programming ideas had once made her his
most valued employee. Now she was hanging onto her job by a thread. That’s how
the television business is: unforgiving. She was the mastermind behind top
rated shows such as Kid Exchange and Please, Someone Marry my Mother.
Unfortunately, the wellspring of
creativity had run dry. For the last year, every show she’d produced had been
ratings disasters, if her productions had even been lucky enough to air at all.
Dina saw the writing on the wall, and with the network making major cuts to
combat the economic slump, she knew the axe was coming down…on her head.
Watching the wily old codger walk
toward the room through the opaque glass, even without seeing his face, she
knew he was on the warpath. His body language said it all. His fists were
clenched and his shoulders were tight. He lumbered down the hall as if he were
preparing for murder—the murder of her career. Ervin threw open the door with
dramatic flair.
“My Cat is in Charge?
Really? Really and truly? Dear God, Dina. You honestly thought this was going
to make good television? Who’d ever watch this? What happened to that brilliant
brain of yours? Did you have a head injury? Did you have a stroke? Did someone
hit me in the head, and this is all some coma-induced nightmare? What
could possibly keep me from canning your sweet little ass right now?”
“Well, the sexual harassment
lawsuit over your ‘sweet ass’ comment for one, and two, I have an idea that’ll
blow your mind. I swear it. This one will put the network on top again. When
the big boys hear the premise, neither of us will ever have to worry about our
jobs again.” She paused and took a deep breath. Sweat ran down her face, but
she resisted the urge to swipe at it, just in case he didn’t notice. Oh God,
can he see that I’m lying? “That whole cat thing was just to get your
attention for this. I swear the network will be kissing your ass after this
airs.” Dina was lying through her teeth. She had nothing that she could
produce. Her only idea was one she could never actually use without destroying
people she cared about. The cat thing
was the most creative idea she’d had in months. Plenty of people loved
cats. Someone would want to watch a show about families letting their furry
feline make major life decisions. Oh fuck, that is awful. Crap. Hold it
together, girl. The old man can smell fear. She gulped in another lungful
of air.
He cocked a bushy, gray eyebrow and
crossed his arms over his chest. Waiting. She took a breath. Folding her hands,
she put them in her lap so he wouldn’t notice them shaking. Closing her eyes,
she exhaled slowly. It was time to pull out the dramatics. She’d been around enough
TV personalities to have picked up a thing or two about acting. Okay, maybe
if I lie well, he won’t send me to spend the rest of my life living on the
street and rambling incoherently about my glory days working in television. The
desperate thoughts sent her heart racing. She opened her eyes and regretted it.
Ervin was staring at her. He still hadn’t said a word, but she could see
curiosity in his expression. Good. He’d taken the bait, too bad she had nothing
to reel him in with.
“I respect you, Ervin, but I’ll
take this idea to another network if you don’t want to hear it.”
His eyebrow rose. “Okay?”
He was giving her one last chance.
She opened her mouth to condemn the one person who really mattered to her. Her
mouth went dry and she shut it. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes. There was
no more waiting, she had to do it, even if this idea cost her what was left of
her soul. She looked up at her mentor.
“What if I told you I had a
superhero who was willing to star in a new show? Would you want me to run with
that?”
His watery eyes bulged, then he
recovered and a scowl replaced his shock. “You’ve made this network some
serious money, but that’s in the past. For the last year, you’ve been a
harbinger of series death. Whatever you’ve touched around here has turned to
steaming piles of…crap. Your ideas stink. Once upon a time, I called you the
Queen of Reality TV. What happened to my amazing, rising star? Why are you
pushing terrible, idiotic, horrible programming? Everything you’ve done lately
makes me want to stick sharp pencils in both my eyes so I can’t see them, and
scratch off my ears so I can’t hear them. Then I’d rip the hair out of my head
so the pain can distract me from the memory.” His face was turning from red to
purple. She cringed. This graphic assessment of her talent left her queasy. He
glared at her before opening his mouth,
as if to speak, then closing it again. The old man ran a hand through what was
left of his straggly gray hair and pinned her with a less than friendly look.
She tried to stand her ground, but under the weight of her mentor’s ire, she
crumbled. Her shoulders slumped, and she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“If I didn’t respect you so much, and
love you like the daughter I’m glad I never had, I’d have put you out of
here six months ago. I put my sweet ass on the line for yours this
morning with the network, so don’t screw me. I swear this cat thing made me
want to stick a firecracker up my nose and blow my head off.”
She winced, Ervin was never one to
spare feelings, but ouch…harsh. His dramatic criticism felt completely
deserved. He was right. She did suck. The old coot’s face was still red from
his tantrum.
“If this thing works out, I’ll be
the queen again. So cool off before my only supporter has a massive heart
attack and dies. Just think about your wife, and how much she’d like to
spend your life insurance money.” The words seemed to calm him down, but not
much.
“You’re giving your only supporter
the heart problems, so last chance, kid. Turn the dung into gold or you’re
fired.” He whirled around, leaving the same way he came in: abruptly. She could
almost see him wiping her self-respect off his shoes as he marched away. If she
screwed up this time, her career was finished. Dina genuinely worried about his
health. For all his bark, he wasn’t a bad guy. He’d given her a good start in
the industry. She’d been the one to screw it all up.
Dina sat quietly looking at the
blank, smooth tabletop. She nibbled her lip and fought back tears. She had the
perfect idea, but it was going to be a hard sell. Oh, it’d be easy to get the
network interested, they’d love it. Old Ervin would respect her again. Masses
of television viewers would praise her. Yet she’d hate herself…probably until
she died. The only person who could star in this thing was the one person she
loved the most. He was the only person she’d ever intentionally hurt. The
person who could save her was the one who’d given Diamond City almost
everything, and now she was going to ask for one last thing—his heart.
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