Guest Post: Heather Thurmeier

I am so happy to have author Heather Thurmeier on the blog today with a fabulous guest post. I reviewed her novel Stuck on You the other day, the review is here if you missed it, and I absolutely loved it. As I mentioned in my review, I enjoyed that it played on the popular reality TV show The Amazing Race. The first novel in this series, Falling for You, did a similar thing with the show The Bachelor. While I don't watch The Amazing Race, I really like the idea of it and thought it was fabulous that Heather had her fictional TV show feature geocaching. Don't know what that means? Don't worry - Heather explains in her post! Enjoy!

Geo-What-Now??

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cash-ing) is a giant, worldwide treasure hunt. Using a handheld GPS unit—or cell phone with app—you look for caches based on their longitude and latitude coordinates. The cache you’re looking for might be as tiny as an acorn (called a nano-cache) or as big as a 5-gallon pail. Inside each cache will be a logbook where you can record that you’ve been there and the date of your find. The larger caches often have other things inside them as well like toys for the kids to take, trackable items you can take and leave at another cache, and any number of other things. It’s great fun and very satisfying when you follow that little GPS arrow all the way to the cache and find it! And it’s always a surprise about what you’ll find inside. My kids love going ‘treasure hunting!’

In my novel, Stuck on You, the characters go on a reality TV show inspired by The Amazing Race. But I wanted to make it different in a few ways. So I kept my contestants local to the New York Hudson Valley area and I made them have to geocache to find prizes and accumulate points to eventually win the ultimate grand prize at the end of the show.  I had so much fun thinking of different places and ways I could hide these caches to make my contestants work to find them. And let me just say, they got into some pretty interesting—ahem—and steamy situations while searching for caches.

For the next quarter mile, they walked in silence following the arrow of the GPS. A few more minutes and they should reach the cache. Paige leaned in closer to the unit, watching the distance on the screen decreasing. Ten more feet.
The ground fell away beneath her and she was suddenly on her back, sliding down a very bumpy surface. After a short slide, she came to a stop, staring up at the canopy of trees.
Ouch.
Footsteps pounded down the slope after her then Miles was down on his knees in the dirt beside her.
Well hello there, Mr. Muscles. Let’s get dirty together.
The image of getting dirty in the forest with Miles was a little more sex kitten than her usual train of thought. Did I hit my head on the way down?
Or maybe it was the influence of the super hot, super built man hovering over her with concern in his eyes that caused the shift in her mental state.
“Are you okay?” Miles asked, touching the side of her face and turning her head first one direction and then the other. Her eyes never left his.
“I’m fine. Just dirty—muddy,” she clarified. Not that he could read her mind, but still. “I’ll get up now.”
“Let me help you,” he said, standing over her and wrapping his large hands around her upper arms, pulling her up to stand in front of him. His hands dropped to her waist and she found hers groping his chest again. Seemed she couldn’t keep her hands off of him. Not that the rest of her complained in the least.
“Thanks,” she whispered, looking up to meet his gaze. The mix of concern and... something else made her breath hitch in her throat. Damn.
“My pleasure.”
Her feet went out from under her again, but this time she didn’t slide down the slope. Possibly because she’d managed to drag Miles down to the ground with her. Perhaps his body weight pressing her into the soft dirt was enough to stop her from going anywhere.
Definitely every inch of his tall, muscular body against hers was enough to cause the lightheadedness she now felt.
Or possibly the lightheadedness could be from his leg pressing against the junction of her thighs. He’d managed to anchor them both to the ground as she straddled his leg. Yes, that could cause lightheadedness to hit full force.
As could the length of something else currently pressing into her.
Either he suddenly had less blood traveling to his brain or he’d managed to shove a tree branch in his pocket on the way down the hill. A very large tree branch.

Geocaching with Miles sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? Now I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same results as Paige, but geocaching with your friends and family is always a good way to get outside and enjoy nature together!

Author Bio:

Heather Thurmeier is a lover of strawberry margaritas, a hater of spiders, and a reality TV junkie. Her passion is contemporary romance—writing stories filled with laugh out loud moments, uber-hunky heroes, sassy heroines, and always a happily ever after. Author of romantic comedies: Meadow Ridge Romance series, Bunny Hills and Bikinis, and the Reality TV Romance trilogy. You can find out more about Heather's books, news and giveaways by visiting her blog: heatherthurmeier.com 

Just Finished: Stuck on You

A couple of months ago I reviewed Heather Thurmeier's novel Falling for You and I just loved it (review is here if you missed it). I was so happy when Heather contacted me to review the second novel in this series, Stuck on You - especially because I think I loved this one even more!

Here's the synopsis:

If being forced to team up with reality TV’s favorite bad girl wasn’t enough, falling for her brother might just make this reality show a real nightmare.
Paige Anderson agrees to be on a new reality show called Treasure Trekkers, a show where contestants use handheld GPS units to find hidden caches filled with prizes, with her good friend Cassidy. But when Cassidy is unable to compete, Chip Cormack, the show’s producer, steps in with a last-minute replacement to be Paige’s partner—Zoe Oliver, reality TV’s favorite bad girl.
Jack Miles (aka Miles) is a mountain climber with the body to prove it. Miles convinced his climbing partner Ben to come on the show with him for one reason—to prove to Ben that they can still hike together, regardless of the fact that Ben lost his foot in a tragic accident. Miles isn’t about to let anything get in his way of winning—not even beautiful Paige.
But when Miles and Paige are thrown into an alliance with their teammates, working closely together leads to more than just good strategy. Can Paige steal Miles’ heart while surviving Zoe long enough to win the game?

This was such a fun premise. I love the reality show focus in this series and I would definitely watch Treasure Trekkers. I was familiar with geocaching before reading this book so I was immediately interested in how the show would play out. Of course, the show isn't the main part of the story, it is a romance novel after all!

And what a romance it was! I loved Paige and Miles and was totally rooting for them through the entire book. Even though Paige was a bit of a twit when she was following Zoe's instructions to wear stilettos while competing (OK, a major twit...what was she thinking? Ack!), you could still tell that she was a really likeable girl. I knew the two of them would eventually get together but that didn't make the build up any less fun to read.

You know when you meet a character in the first and/or second book of a series and you just really dislike her? And worry because the following book will feature said character? I felt like this about Zoe. She is...well, she's a bitch. At least, she starts out that way. We met her in Falling for You when she was competing in The One (a Bachelor-esque show) with Paige and Cassidy and then she pops up again in Stuck on You. I really disliked her. I grumbled and cursed and then...she started to grow on me. Let me tell you I was quite surprised! Heather wrote Zoe in such a way that, as I told her, made it OK for the reader to like her. You honestly go into this book disliking her and if the subtle changes in Zoe hadn't been written well, I would not have been OK with how things ended with her and where they'll go in the third book. Let me compare it to another well known chick lit character - Darcy from Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed and Something Blue. Raise your hand if you disliked Darcy in SOBO. Me too! Were you worried when you realized book two was all about her? Yep, I was too. Did it surprise you when you actually quite liked her by the end of the second book? You guessed it, I was too. Heather has also hinted at a secret in Zoe's past that may explain why she is the way she is and I can't wait to find out exactly what that is. Wow. I just realized this was a very long description of my dislike turning to like of Zoe. Obviously I'm looking forward to book three!

Overall, Stuck on You by Heather Thurmeier was a great read. It was sweet, fun, and a little sexy. I definitely encourage chick lit and romance fans to give this one a read. Especially if you enjoy reality shows as well! I will now wait (im)patiently for book three, Lost Without You, to be released...come on July!

Happy reading :)

*A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*