Author Kathy Bosman: February 2017

Today, I want to welcome fellow Clean Reads author, Jessica Kreger, who is sharing her brand new novel, Fit to Love. It's such a sweet, wholesome love story.

Fit to Love

Sweet Contemporary Romance

Jessica Rachel Kreger

Blurb:

Debut author Jessica Rachel Kreger tells a heartwarming tale of a woman whose struggle for fitness leads her into the studio of an irresistible trainer who needs her more than she knows…

After her mother’s tragic death from diabetes, mousy Daisy Day embarks on her own life-saving mission to lose a hundred and fifty pounds. Handsome personal trainer and Army veteran, Eric Anderson, seems like the answer to her prayers, but he’s way out of her league…not to mention taken by a picture-perfect model almost half her age.

When Daisy lends her marketing acumen to launch Eric’s personal training business and helps him overcome his grief from losing his brother in Afghanistan, he realizes he has more in common with her than his own girlfriend. Yet when the hours of training pay off, and Daisy is transformed into a head-turning beauty, he’s not the only man to notice.

Daisy Day is fit to love and she’s already fallen for Eric… but with his now ex-girlfriend chasing after him, and another man in Daisy’s arms, is it too late for him to catch her?

Excerpt:

It’s now or never, Daisy Day vowed, easing her naked body onto the cracked scale in the bathroom of her Miami Beach apartment. The numbers flashed 272. She inched her toes off the machine and tried again, but the battery sputtered off. Throwing the old thing in the trash, she let a chuckle escape. Good riddance, she thought. Time for new beginnings.

Moving into her bedroom, she fished out the navy sweat suit from the bottom of the closet. Stepping into an outfit as bland as yesterday’s leftovers, she sucked in her stomach and wormed into the pants. A tiny hem broke when she squeezed the matching shirt over her shoulders.

Throwing on a pair of nurse-white sneakers she had never worn, she rushed to her apartment’s entranceway and snatched her keys from their hook.

Grabbing her driver’s license on the way out, she blinked back warm tears, seeing her mother’s round dimpled face, mousy brown hair, and brown eyes speckled with green reflected in her own picture. She slammed the front door behind her before she had time to lose her nerve.

Her little blue sedan sunk with her weight as she eased herself in. She started the car, her palms moist, remembering holding her mother’s hand on her deathbed, promising she would get in shape and not meet the same fate as her mother and grandmother before.

Clutching the steering wheel, she silently prayed, Lord, help me lose the weight. I’m too young to die at thirty-eight. Please let me see my fortieth birthday. Don’t let me give up again. Be my rock.

The address for Eric Anderson, the personal trainer her mother’s nurse had recommended, was in Coconut Grove. Tourists flocked to the shaded, suburban community for its artist colony roots, lush vegetation and parks, wild peacocks, and as of late, its exclusive spas. But instead of the posh drive she expected, she found herself winding down a narrow residential road and pulling up to its most modest ranch home.

“You have arrived,” her GPS announced, but Daisy wondered if she stopped in the right driveway. She killed the ignition, but another fire ignited in her belly when she stepped out of the car.

She recognized the bona fide hunk shooting hoops in his driveway from the picture on his website. She knew he was about her age from reading his bio, but that’s where the similarities ended.

A foot taller than Daisy, Eric had sandy-blond hair and sky-blue eyes set off by a glowing, rosy complexion. Sculpted muscles jutted out symmetrically from each arm as if he were a classical sculpture. When he jumped up for a basket, she could see hints of his six pack—a toned stomach he must have attained through hours of sweat—peek out from underneath an orange-and-green Miami Hurricanes T-shirt.

Please don’t let him take one look and laugh at me, Daisy prayed.

But when she beeped her car alarm, he put his basketball down and faced her with eyes that gleamed with kindness.

Hiding her trembling fingers behind her back, she followed him into his garage studio. She wasn’t sure she could find her voice but, as luck had it, this strong, silent type didn’t speak right away.

Inside his garage, she took a closer look at this man, who from afar seemed to be the polished image of perfection. A few days’ worth of uneven stubble prickled from his tanned cheeks.

He looks like a Norse god who needs a shave, she thought and then giggled at her own silliness before noticing a small faded scar on his arm. Even Norse gods could scar.

“Eric Anderson,” he said, ignoring her laughter and extending a firm hand.

As he reached toward her, Daisy inhaled faint hints of his subtle cologne—an alluring woodsy musk with a mix of spices. Much better smelling here than any other gym, she thought.

Clearing her throat and steadying her hands, she returned his solid grasp. A spark of static electricity flew from the tips of her fingers to the top of her shoulders when he shook her hand. “Daisy Day.”

Author Bio:

Jessica Rachel Kreger’s love of fitness, Florida, and respect for military veterans like her father spawned the idea for her first novel. While working as the research communications director at the University of Miami’s medical school, Jessica learned about our country’s obesity epidemic, and came up with the plot for Fit to Love.

At an early age, Jessica developed a passion for reading from her mother, and continues to find inspiration in her family, friends, and faith. When not writing, Jessica enjoys hitting the gym, snorkeling the South Florida waters, and predicting what is going to happen on her favorite TV shows.

A member of the Romance Writers of America and the South Florida Romance Writers, she has over seventeen years of experience as a professional writer, and earned a B.A. in English from Penn State University and an M.A. in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fit-Love-Jessica-Rachel-Kreger-ebook/dp/B01N9VMOHK

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fit-to-love-jessica-rachel-kreger/1125556723?ean=2940157621452

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/fit-to-love/id1198888606?mt=11

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/702438

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fit-to-love

Online Links for Jessica:

Website: http://www.jessicarachelkreger.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/jessicarachelkreger/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaRKreger

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/JessicaRKreger/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/jessicarachelkreger