Book Blitz, Excerpt, & Giveaway: Highballs in the Hamptons

Title: Highballs in the Hamptons
Series: Girlfriends of Gotham #2
Author: Delancey Stewart
Release date: 09/30/14
Publisher: Swoon Romance

Book Description via Goodreads:

Natalie Pepper thinks she can just be friends with CJ, the man of her dreams. But after seeing him every day at work – and after he lays it all on the line – it becomes pretty clear that something’s gotta give. She’d admit to herself, and to him, that all she really wants is him…if she wasn’t so afraid of losing the best job she’s ever had (and the life it has made possible).

At least she’s got her friends to distract her. Lulu Rossi is an unorthodox and unpredictable spitfire of a girl who has a habit of saying whatever’s on her mind. And while that attribute entertains friends and intrigues her new boyfriend, Andrew, it might be the one thing that stops their relationship from moving forward. Lulu has unintentionally entered the world of Upper East Side royalty, as her ER doctor boyfriend turns out to be the pedigreed heir to an old money fortune – one that is watched over by his manipulative and exceedingly judgmental mother, Elizabeth “Tippy” Barton.

Natalie’s insane supervisor worsens the situation at work when her own man troubles result in a new “no fraternization” policy, and CJ finally gives up and begins to look for other opportunities. Natalie is forced to decide what is important to her for once and for all. Will it be CJ or her job?

Lulu must prove her worth to Andrew’s family – or make him see that the only person whose opinion really matters is his.

Excerpt:

Natalie:

I sat on the couch in my apartment, staring at the television, watching people I didn’t know go through some serious issues on Days of our Lives. I’d watched the show in high school but hadn’t so much as glanced at it since then. Strangely, I found that I could still follow a few of the story lines. I felt like my life might make a good plot. Everyone watching would be rolling their eyes, telling me to just go after the guy, only to realize that it was already too late.
I ate my sandwich and brooded, and when my cell phone rang in my bag it woke me from a stupor. I’d been staring at the television and hadn’t even noticed when a new show had come on.
I scrambled to pull the phone from my purse on the floor where I’d dropped it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Tamara.”
“Hi, Tam.” I was a little surprised to hear from her; out of our group of friends, I spent the least amount of time with Tam. But I was glad she called. There was a spark of energy and fun in her that made me want to get to know her better.
“Hey, are you still looking for an apartment?”
“Well, kind of. I can’t pull the trigger on anything for a while because I need a few thousand bucks to handle the broker fee and first and last.” My current situation wasn’t bad, but my roommate sometimes felt like either a stranger or a displeased parent. I wanted to live on my own.
“Might not matter,” Tamara said. “I know of a sublet, and they need someone, like, now.”
“I’m about to head out of town for a week, Tamara.”
“When? Now?”
“No, Monday morning.”
“Well, if you want this apartment, it’d have to happen this weekend anyway. Let’s go look at it.”
“So fast?” I was shocked. Could I make a decision like that in one day?
“That’s how things work here. You wanna go look or no?”
“Yeah, I guess so … ” It was almost the end of the month, though I hated the idea of leaving Tory in the lurch. “What’s the rent?”
“It’s amazing. It’s twelve.”
Twelve hundred dollars was double what I paid Tory. But to have my own place? “Wow.”
“I know, right?” Somehow, I didn’t think Tamara understood that my “wow” was not the “wow” she thought it was. “Meet me outside my office? 56th and Seventh.”
“Okay,” I said, my brain still whirling. “I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Cool.” Tamara hung up.
Twenty minutes later I stood beneath a towering office building, waiting for Tamara to appear. When she came out of the building, she looked far more corporate than I could have imagined, in a tailored skirt suit and shiny black pumps.
“You look amazing!” I told her.
“It’s the uniform.” She winked.
Tamara worked at a high-end real estate firm selling properties that I would most likely never see the inside of. I had no idea how she’d landed that job, but got the sense that she was probably good at it.
We grabbed a cab and headed downtown. “You excited?” she asked.
“Yeah, kind of,” I said. “Things are just insane right now … I’m not sure it’s the right time to move.”
“Well, it probably never will be if you look at it like that.”
We rode in silence for a minute.
“Look, Pepper.” She turned to face me. “Apartments—good apartments at least—are like hot guys. When they’re available, you have to take a chance and go for it. They won’t last long and if you hesitate, then someone else will be snuggled up on your window seat tomorrow.”
“This place has a window seat?”
“Well, no. It has a radiator in front of the window. But you could put a pillow on it and call it a window seat.” She smiled. “Some New York real estate takes a certain amount of creativity.”
“So do some New York men, I guess.”
“Exactly.”
Tamara knew less about the CJ situation than my other friends did, so I didn’t think that her metaphor was actually a quip about him. But it hit home nonetheless.
We pulled up outside a nondescript brown building on West 15th Street near Eighth Avenue.

Links for Men and Martinis (Book One):
Amazon | Kobo | Goodreads | B&N

About the Author:
I'm not big on labels, but there are a few that fit me (not necessarily in this order. Or maybe in this order):
- wine drinker (and wine geek)
- mother of small boys
- military spouse
- writer
- chocolate eater

I've written the Wine Country Romance Series, which ties my love of wine to my love of falling in love... and the Girlfriends of Gotham series, which begins publishing with Swoon Romance in December 2013.

I also love short stories, and my themed collection (all set in the same NYC brownstone across the span of a century) published in 2012.
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