A Perfect Mistake by Laura Brown 💕 Behind the Scenes, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Contemporary Romance)

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Falling for the forbidden has never felt so right…

When social worker Nica Anders indulges in one night of sexual passion with delicious Deaf man Cam Thompson, the last thing she expects is to see him the next day while visiting her dying client. He’s Cassie’s grandson and caregiver, the one treat she shouldn’t have tasted. Now her job is on the line, demanding she stay away.

But their attraction is building like a raging inferno and Nica can’t help but get burned.

Cam Thompson’s life is a mess. He’s losing his grandmother, the one person who’s supported him his whole life, and her dying wish is for him to settle down with a good woman—specifically her social worker Nica Anders. Despite Nica trying to hold tight to her ethics, he’s falling for her hard and fast.

Yet Cam's grandmother isn’t the only matchmaker in his family, and someone's determined to keep him and Nica apart.

Steamy, touching, heart-warming. A much-needed #OwnVoices romance to go perfectly with that plate of chocolate brownies and glass of wine!

When I first sat down to write A Perfect Mistake, it was going to be my first contemporary romance, and my first time writing a sex scene. I had avoided it until that point, writing more Women’s Fiction type novels, with closed doors if necessary. I’d been devouring romance novels after a long reading drought, and had decided full on romance, with open doors, was what I wanted to write. Therefore it was time to pop my sex scene cherry!

Naturally my story begins with a one-night-stand—when I decide to do something I jump right in—and seven pages into my first draft my characters are all mouths and hands and removing clothes! My love of romance novels meant I’d read quite a few sex scenes, and had ideas on which authors I wanted to mold my own after. Still, it was a daunting process.

There is a lot to consider in writing a sex scene, and I often describe it as being a director rather than in the moment. The author needs to be aware of where each character’s head space is, who’s wearing what, is that position realistic, etc. I know I messed up on a lot of these at first!

For the longest time that scene was mechanical, I focused too much on what happened rather than the emotion behind it, which is the heart and soul of romance novels. But everyone has to start somewhere and I still remember sitting on my bed, cross legged, laptop in lap, cat by my side, getting intimately acquainted with my main characters.

Then I told my husband I had finished and he ran into the room to read!

That scene has changed a lot. Beyond removing the awkward mechanical from the page, my writing has grown by leaps and bounds. I really fine-tuned my craft on this novel, growing along with my characters, changing as they changed.

This early sex scene probably should have been cut at some point, scrapped and moved or completely rewritten. It remains, because it’s crucial to the plot, and even in my newbie sex scene writer days I got a few things right with how my characters first time should go. Therefore most of my initial envision for the scene remains, improved upon, sure, but there. Because even when things need work, sometimes it’s just right. Much like characters in a romance novel, especially these two!

As I approached the room, my grandmother’s door inched open. I waited a minute, but no one emerged. I stepped to the side, letting the social worker finish up, trying not to tap my foot in impatience and envision how many digits my inbox had soared to.

I wondered if this was the social worker Grandma always talked about. The thought alone caused me to laugh and my foot to still. For years Grandma had matchmaking aspirations between me and the social worker. Then again, Grandma always had matchmaking aspirations, really bad matchmaking, take one look and run the other way kind. We’d never met but had e-mailed many times. I contemplated taking another step to the side to avoid any additional matchmaking attempts when the door opened further. A female with familiar blond curly hair backed out of the room. She waved to my grandmother and closed the door. Before I could chastise my dick on the urges the hair created, I found myself face to face with Nica.

She froze, an expression of pure bewilderment that I surely mirrored. Eyes wide enough that white surrounded her irises. On the lapel of her pink button-down shirt she had an ID badge. Her picture was on the badge, under the logo for Independent Senior Services, with her name: Veronica Anders.

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Laura Brown lives in Massachusetts with her quirky abnormal family. Her husband has put up with her since high school, her young son keeps her on her toes, and her two cats think they deserve more scratches. Hearing loss is a big part of who she is, from her own Hard of Hearing ears, to the characters she creates.