Katee Robert & Tawna Fenske Dish About Everything Lovestruck, a New Entangled Publishing Imprint

Authors Katee Robert and Tawna Fenske are here to discuss Entangled Publishing's new category romance imprint, Lovestruck. Their new releases, MEETING HIS MATCH and FIANCEE FOR HIRE, mark the launch today! Lovestruck stories feature "original, often hilarious 'meet-cutes,' a strong romantic connection, sizzling sexual tension, and satisfying endings that leave readers smitten."

KATEE: Hi Tawna! Let me start off by saying I totally fangirl squeed when I found out we were launching Lovestruck together. I've been in love with your stuff since MAKING WAVES made me laugh so hard I cried, and MARINE FOR HIRE only solidified my fangirl status. So what can we expect from FIANCEE FOR HIRE?

TAWNA: Awww, thanks so much for squeeing. That's not messy to clean up, is it?

When our editor first told me about Lovestruck, I liked the sound of stories with a lot of emphasis on "meet-cutes," smart dialogue, and powerful love connections, but the second she told me you were one of the launch authors, I was hooked. I even had my agent try to negotiate it into my contract that I'd get to launch with you!

I've always loved crafting sexy romantic comedies, and FIANCEE FOR HIRE was one of my favorites to write. Fans of MARINE FOR HIRE began emailing me right away asking when I'd tell Mac and Kelli's story, so I was thrilled to have the chance to write it. But readers who've never heard of me or my books can still jump right in with this tale of a feisty, ball-busting veterinarian who agrees to play the role of a sweet, demure fake fiancée to a stoic ex-Marine turned covert government operative. The book has oodles of action, humorous dialogue, steamy sexytimes, and of course, the pleasure of watching this stoic alpha-male meet his match.

Now I get to ask you a question, right? Wait, that wasn't it.

I've always been in awe of your knack for writing characters with such fabulous chemistry. Your interplay between Bri and Ryan in IN BED WITH MR. WRONG is absolutely delicious. What can you tell me about Addison and Caine in MEETING HIS MATCH?

KATEE: Aww, thank you! Bri and Ryan were a complete blast to write! I love the interplay between two characters who have blatantly opposing goals, and that's something that you see a TON of with Addison and Caine.

Addison is a NYC matchmaker who believes that each person gets only one soul mate and that she's already had and lost hers. Helping people find their happily ever afters is what fulfills her. And the fact Caine has no want or need of a soul mate... Yeah, she finds it almost personally offensive. Addison and Caine are very much the Unstoppable Force and the Immovable Object, and throwing them together was the so much fun to write.

So, I have to admit, I've been intrigued by Mac since we first saw him in MARINE FOR HIRE. The thought of having him paired with the irresistible Kelli is something that makes me downright giddy. Which means I have to ask--since everyone will want to know--exactly HOW hot do things get between them?

TAWNA: Oooh, I can't wait to read Caine and Addison's story. That sounds like one I'll want to read straight through in one sitting, so I'm going to need you to write a note to our editor letting her know why I'm missing my next deadline.

Things definitely get pretty steamy between Mac and Kelli. Mac learns pretty fast Kelli isn't the sweet, demure fake fiancée his sister said she'd be, and Kelli wastes no time showing control-freak Mac that he doesn't need to be in charge all the time. Of course, Kelli also learns how sexy it can be to have someone else calling the shots sexually. The result is a lot of back-and-forth wrestling for power. Naked wrestling. Sweaty, naked wrestling with some public indecency and maybe handcuffs. Is it hot in here?

I'm a junkie for research (evidenced by the thrill I got from learning about prolapsed lizard penises and methods for de-fuzzing cat nards for the veterinary scenes in FIANCEE FOR HIRE) so I'm super intrigued by the idea of your matchmaker. What sort of research did you do to learn about professional matchmaking, and do you have any personal experience with things like blind dates or online dating that helped you craft this story?

KATEE: You had me at sweaty, naked wrestling! I'm a hardcore research junkie, too. My nonfiction library keeps growing exponentially with each new book. Matchmaking is something I've been fascinated with for years now. I spent...entirely too much time watching Millionaire Matchmaker. Having a matchmaker is a very different experience than using an online matching service (which I have WAY too much past experience with it--oh, the stories I could tell). With a site like Match.com, the algorithm can point you in the direction of the "right" matches, but the control is totally in the hands of the person who's cruising the catalogue, so to speak. You can go with the people it suggests, or you can go off searching on your own.

A matchmaker, though? That's a real, live person who is there to push and guide you into a very personalized process. As Addison points out pretty early in MEETING HIS MATCH, sometimes what people want isn't really what they need in order to be happy. It's part of her job to see beyond the surface and give them that. And, with someone like Caine, she's got to persuade him that he wants to be matched to begin with!

Check in tomorrow for part two of this interview, and buy Lovestruck launch titles MEETING HIS MATCH and FIANCEE FOR HIRE today!