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Mar 28, 20224 min read

New Release | Win Place Show by @LizCroweAuthor #romcom #romance #derby #bookboost



Title: Win Place Show

Author: Liz Crowe

Genre: Rom Com/Contemporary Romance

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Blurb:


All bets are on!


Start with a perfect spring weekend full of pretty dresses, high heels, fancy hats, horse races, and bourbon. Combine with a friend-from-childhood lover, Nate Hawthorne, whose ongoing misunderstandings have led Lucy Granger to swear she’ll never move back home. Mix in a splash of combined family pressure for Lucy and Nate to be The Golden Couple. Pour over crushed ice and garnish with plenty of hot, secret hookups. What do you get? A funny sort of romance, chock full of dressing up, mint juleps, an axe-throwing bar, and a huge winning bet at the big race.


18+ Excerpt (Strong language aka swearing):


“Bourbon from local distillery Trifecta was picked as this year’s feature,” the female voiceover said.


He grinned. One of the women he’d seen last night was the lovely talking head from a local CBS station who’d interviewed him, angling for a date the entire time. A photo of him with Harrison and their father appeared next, one of the company official ones.


“Trifecta’s current owners, brothers Nathaniel and Harrison Hawthorne, recently inked a deal with Radiant Brands, an international conglomerate that will make Trifecta’s two distilled products—bourbon and gin— part of the company’s vast collection of internationally known brands.”


Nate smiled at the sight of the woman who’d interviewed him and Harrison at the distillery last week. She was hot, no doubt about it. But he’d tactfully ignored her hints about catching drinks or dinner sometime. The last thing he needed at the moment was yet another meaningless hook-up with a woman who was not Lucy, considering that he fully intended to end the meaningless part of their connection this very weekend.


As if he didn’t have enough to worry about.


He poured half the cup of coffee down the drain, unable to handle any more acid in his stomach.


“It’s quite a feat.” He heard the talking head lady say.


He heard himself agreeing then giving his usual spiel about it being a partnership and how he and Harrison and his father would remain in charge of all aspects of the business. He sighed, tired of hearing that come out of his mouth as much as he was of saying it.


Harrison gave his version of things, more or less the same words but with emphasis on the purity of the recipes for both the bourbon and the trendy gin. He’d also hinted at the rye that would release soon.


Nate smiled. Sooner, now that they had money in the bank.


He took a few long, deep breaths, cursing himself for not getting his ass out of bed in time for a ride. As he was sending a text to Lucy to remind her that he had a car coming for her and her family in about half an hour, something else flashed up on the screen that made him drop the phone to the floor.


“In honor of this weekend’s debut of his company’s bourbon as the official ingredient for thousands of mint juleps, along with the news that he’s received a huge influx of cash for new projects, Nathaniel Clark Hawthorne has been named our official Most Eligible Bachelor for this year,” an unfamiliar female voice was saying.


He stared at the photos of himself that flashed, montage style, while a famous country singer crooned “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That?” in the background.


“Oh, Jesus.” He dropped onto a tall barstool at his raised kitchen counter.


Photos from his boyhood riding horses, playing baseball, in his high school football uniform, as prom king, graduating Northwestern, sitting on a bunch of barrels when he’d been named President of the company. And most alarming were photos of him at past events, most of them with Lucy on his arm, smiling, drinking, laughing, in their Derby Day finery. Snaps of him with other women were included, of course. Him with Flynn being the most recent one, at a fundraiser three months ago. Someone was talking, interspersed with the song. But all he heard was the capper:


“That’s right, all you ladies out there. This guy is unmarried, unattached, and will be at the track today, on Millionaire’s Row.” The song switched to “Super Bass”. “Get yourselves ready. He might have eyes for you.”


“Fuck. Me.”


His phone rang. He picked it up without looking at the screen, fixated on the final photo of him from the night before, kissing Lucy Granger at the axe bar.

“You are in such trouble.” Harrison’s voice was muffled by laughter. “Oh shit, dude. I really am glad I’m not you right now, Mr. Eligible.”

“Shut up,” he said, closing his eyes. This was not what needed to happen today. Not at all. Lucy was going to... What? Be mad? Jealous? How was that bad? “Why did they use... How did they get a... Fucking shit, Harrison. She’s gonna have a field day with this.”


“I don’t know who got that shot. I didn’t realize we had to start watching out for paparazzi.”


Nate heard the crucial riff from the song “Paparazzi” in the background. “Nice. You’re not helping.”


Harrison chuckled. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”



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Author Biography:


Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in South Carolina. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a digital marketing and fundraising consultant, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.


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