What Was I Thinking by Donna Simonetta 💕 Fun Facts, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Contemporary Romance)

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A wild Vegas fling isn't the traditional Thanksgiving celebration, and Lily and Jason have been like oil and water since they met. Blaming their steamy hook-up on too many shots at the bar, they head home.
Back in the real world, Jason wonders if he's ready to give up his crown as the Playboy King of Rivers Bend to be with just one woman. And Lily has enough on her plate right now without adding Jason Braden to the mix, even if their attraction is crazy-strong.
But life is good at throwing curveballs, and a lot can happen between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. Maybe even enough to lead these two polar opposites home to each other in Rivers Bend.

My latest release, What Was I Thinking, is the third book in a trilogy I’ve written set in the fictional town of Rivers Bend. I’m a huge fan of reading series fiction, there’s nothing I love more than getting absorbed into a fictional world, knowing when I’m done with this book, there is another one in the same setting just waiting to be read. However, this was the first time I’ve written a complete series, and it presented some challenges I wasn’t expecting.

One of the things I enjoy about reading a book in a series is seeing the characters I’ve come to love in the previous books make guest appearances in the current installment. I like to see what they’re up to, and get a glimpse of their happy-ever-after. What I’ve come to learn in writing What Was I Thinking, is writing in this way requires a delicate balancing act. When I finished writing it and submitted it to my publisher for their consideration, my editor came back to me and said the person from their reading department was confused by all the characters. Who were they? Why should she care about them? My old ‘friends’ from the previous books were bogging down this one. Big problem. Because a reader picking up What Was I Thinking without having read A Sweeter Spot or Love is Lovelier, should be able to leap right into this story as a standalone book. So, for the first time in my writing career, I had to go back and make some serious revisions before my publisher would offer me a contract. I was flipped out beyond measure. What if I this third Rivers Bend book never saw the light of day? It made me learn something valuable about myself––fear is a major motivating factor for me. I hustled my buns and made changes to the manuscript to make it more understandable for a new reader. I streamlined some parts, and made it more clear who everyone was in the greater stream of things. And you know what? It made it a better book.

It made for a little bit of a stressful situation in the writing, but now, whether it’s your first visit to Rivers Bend, or if you’re practically a local in town, you can get comfy and delve in to What Was I Thinking, and either enjoy your trip to see old friends, or your adventure to meet new ones, while you read Jason and Lily’s story.

She jumped at a loud knock on the back door, and she dropped the white blouse she’d been holding. Who could possibly be here? She wasn’t expecting anyone, and there was a gate with a code someone would have to get through to come up to the house.

She chuckled as she picked her way through the laundry on the floor. Maybe she’d been wishing so hard for Indian food her thoughts summoned a deliveryman to miraculously appear at her kitchen door with a container of biryani.

In the brightly lit kitchen, she peered out the windows to see who was there, but only saw her own reflection, in the flannel pjs with the pink flamingos on them her friend Roni had given her as a farewell present when she left Baltimore. She hadn’t bothered to style her hair after her shower, she’d just shoved it back with a stretchy headband, and she wore fuzzy, pink socks on her feet. At best, her look could be described as eccentric, and she hoped it was Heather, Bethanne or Magda at the door––it would be too mortifying to be caught by a stranger in this ensemble.

She flipped the switch to turn on the porchlight, and her stomach plummeted to her pink socks at the sight of the person it illuminated.

Jason freakin’ Braden.

At her back door, with a pizza in his hands and a wicked grin on his handsome face.

Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.

Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff's world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.

Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?

Heather and Mick have a long history together, and Heather wants to leave it in the past where it belongs. Yet, here Mick is, very much in her present, thanks to her brother Jeff, who hired Mick to be her boss at the Retreat at Rivers Bend.

It wouldn’t be so bad, except Heather and Mick are still attracted to each other like metal to a magnet. Oh, and her brother is considering offering Mick a partnership in the Retreat, which by rights should be hers. And even if they act on their attraction, Heather is a small-town, country girl, and proud of it, whereas Mick can’t get far enough from his West Virginia coal-mining roots.

Will they be able to get a second chance at their first love and find their happy ending together in Rivers Bend?

Donna Simonetta writes the kind of books she loves to read––contemporary romances to help you escape the real world for a little while. Writing is Donna’s third career. She toiled in the business world, and when she decided being an Account Executive wasn’t for her went back to school to get her MLS degree. Next, she worked in a school library for many years. But, Donna dreamed of being an author since she was a little girl, and began to squeeze writing into her day. After the publication of her second book, she decided to leave the library and become a full-time author.

Donna lives in Maryland with her husband, who is her real-life romance hero. They enjoy traveling to visit far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.