In The Rebound Girl, my heroine is a plastic surgeon opening a medical spa with her friends. Because I like to be thorough (and because it’s never a bad idea to start thinking about Botox), I figured it would be worthwhile to visit a medspa to get a feeling for the setting. I wanted to know how the business was set up, what kind of services they offered, the technology they used… You know. The usual.

I assumed a few local places would be willing to help. I mean, I’m not exactly famous, but who wouldn’t want a chance to help a romance author out? I pretty much live for the rare opportunities when someone asks me a question I actually know the answer to. Who doesn’t?

Medspas, apparently.

I called half a dozen places in my area—and got shut down each time. The people I talked to on the phone were nice enough, but there was always some sort of legal or business complication in the way. It went against HIPAA regulations. It was company policy. There were issues of sanitation to consider. Tours were open to prospective clients only.

CUE THE SCREECHING HALT. Prospective clients, huh?

Now, I’m not proud to say that I lied and coerced my way through the doors, but that’s exactly what happened. With a professed interest in liposuction (which, let’s face it, carries a respectable plausibility), I booked my tour and got to see all the dirty secrets.

I know it wasn’t fair of me to take up the receptionist’s valuable time when I had no intention of actually having any work done. And the poor woman probably thought I was a touch crazy, scrambling to take notes and drawing an eerily detailed map of their facility while I was there. But research is an author’s best friend, right? No matter what lengths she must go to get it?

Hey—we should all just be glad I didn’t have a police ride-along turned down. Can you imagine what I might have to do to sneak a ride in the backseat of a cop car?

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Plastic surgeon Whitney Vidra knows all about getting over a cheating ex. She followed her boyfriend halfway around the world before she found out about his infidelity. Now she’s focusing on her career and her friends, and using men just for single-serving, no-strings fun. Until she meets charming Matt Fuller.

Newly single Matt is captivated by the vibrant Whitney, in every way the opposite of his cheating ex-wife. When he confesses to Whitney that he hasn’t had sex since his divorce, she volunteers to be his rebound girl. But Matt’s not a no-commitment kind of guy—he’s either all in, or all out.

Whitney is determined to remain attachment-free, but Matt is equally determined to prove to her that what they have is more than just a rebound fling.

Available at Carina | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks and most ebook retailers

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Tamara Morgan is a contemporary romance author of humorous, heartfelt stories with flawed heroes and heroines designed to get your hackles up and make your heart melt. Her long-lived affinity for romance novels survived a B.A. degree in English Literature, after which time she discovered it was much more fun to create stories than analyze the life out of them.

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I’m guessing everyone out there is guilty of bluffing their way through at least one thing in life. Maybe joined in a game of pool without knowing which end of the cue to use, just because there was a hot guy at the table? (Guilty!) Or accepted a new job that had computer program requirements you’d never even heard of (hey, that’s what manuals are for, right?).

Well, here’s my behind-the-scenes confession of one time I overreached as a writer. When my editor, Angela James, put out a call for contemporary trilogies, I got excited. I had a finished book that—in theory—was the start of a trilogy. I say in theory, because I’d never written a sequel, let alone three connected books. Sure, when I wrote that first one, I planned enough secondary characters to sprinkle throughout a trilogy. But all I had was a vague plan. And, when I submitted my manuscript to her, this single, additional sentence: I plan for book two, A FINE ROMANCE, to focus on a sexy male chocolatier fighting his attraction to a romance store manager who hates chocolate.

She bought the trilogy, sending me into about 5 minutes of sheer happiness, followed by seven straight days of sheer panic. Did I have what it takes to write a trilogy? Could I figure out how much of book one’s storyline had to be woven in to book two? Could I figure out how to stretch a dislike of chocolate into 98,000 words? Yup, I overreached. But it was good for me—and worked out far better than my attempt to flirt my way through a game of pool. Sometimes, we need to be pushed out beyond our comfort zone. Now it’s your turn – share your examples of overreaching—and how it worked out!

Here’s a peek at the end result of my overreach—A Fine Romance:

They say you form your first impression of someone within thirty seconds of meeting them. Or, in Mira Parrish’s case, within thirty minutes of not meeting them, when said person is supposed to pick you up from the airport and never shows. This is not a perfect start to her new life. Her friend Ivy is depending on her to run a new romance store, and Mira can’t afford to let her down.

Sam Lyons should probably apologize. But every time he sees Mira—which is often, since his family owns the bakery next to her shop—he can’t resist antagonizing her. There’s something about the sexy, straitlaced woman that drives him crazy. He can’t get involved, though. He has too much baggage to be any good in a serious relationship.

Despite his teasing attitude, Mira finds Sam too sweet to resist. (His hot body may be a factor.) But if there’s going to be anything permanent between them, they’ll need to let go of their pasts and look to the future…

Purchase at  Carina Press

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