Kate Barnett, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your book.

Hard to Break by Kate Barnett

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

Miranda Reed is a successful young marketing executive living in New York City. She has an active social life, a casual boyfriend, a fast track career, and a lot of confidence in herself. If she lacks real passion for her lifestyle and her work, she is too busy to notice. Adam Taylor lives life in the fast lane, focused on growing his real estate development business. He’s never met a woman who tempts him to carve out a place for her… until he meets Miranda.

When Miranda and her sister inherit their grandparents’ country estate, they are faced with a difficult choice. The property is too expensive to keep as a family retreat, but Miranda can’t bear to sell the place, with her fondest memories attached to it. Finding a creative solution to keep the manor provides a sense of purpose she’d never realized was missing.

The moment Adam and Miranda meet, their mutual attraction offers a tempting reprieve from her constant hard work. But when he becomes the unwanted management consultant running her renovation project, the prospect of a steamy affair becomes a lot more complicated. Still, Adam and Miranda cannot ignore the gravitational pull between them, and when they do come crashing together, the chemistry blows their minds. Inevitably, what starts out as a physical outlet for both of them evolves into a whole lot more.

By the time Adam and Miranda realize they belong together, their future is abruptly threatened. Miranda is viciously attacked by a malicious rival, and betrayed by somebody she trusts. Suddenly unsure of Adam’s loyalty, she shuts herself off from the closeness they shared. Adam is desperate to avenge the assault on Miranda and win back her trust, but after everything they have endured, is their love strong enough to survive?

Why did you write this book?

I think a lot of us fantasize about starting over, simply walking away from the major life choices we made in column A, and checking out what it’s like to live over in column B, instead. We see this happen a lot in stories after a character experiences a major loss, or has some other compelling motivation to chuck it all and start over. But what about starting over as a pioneering act? What if a character’s column A life is actually pretty good, but she’s brave and adventurous enough to walk away from it anyway, because her heart is pulling her in another direction? Miranda takes that step early in this book, leaving her perfectly successful Yuppie life behind her in New York to pursue a risky labor of love in the Pennsylvania countryside. I enjoyed crafting the ups and downs, the challenges and payoffs of her journey. These include her relationship with Adam, which brought a lot more than Miranda bargained for on all fronts… and in all the best ways! After she’s already uprooted her life and undertaken one very risky challenge, meeting Adam and falling for him brings her to another fork in the road. She struggles with whether following her heart to him is the right choice, or whether it would jeopardize the venture she has already risked everything for.

What is your favorite genre to read?

I devour romantic suspense novels, but I read a little bit of everything, based on my mood. I am always up for a good mystery or police procedural. Right now I am reading Where the Crawdads Sing, which is a beautiful novel by Delia Owens.

Who is your favorite character from fiction (not including your own)?

How does anybody choose one favorite character?! I am most inspired by female characters who are smart and strong and solve their own problems, but who are by no means perfect. One good example is Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

What are you working on at the moment?

In Hard to Break, I introduce Claudia Reed, Miranda’s sister, and Greg and Paul Taylor, Adam’s brothers. Their own stories are told in the final three books of the Fearless Hearts series, and I’m currently hard at work on all of them! The second book focuses on Claudia Reed, a designer and businesswoman who’s been burned by a past relationship and has vowed never to position another man between herself and her goals. Then she meets Jeremy MacDougall, a sexy celebrity statistician who is determined to deliver fun and romance to her all-business existence. Next comes the story of Greg Taylor, a cyber security expert who is so focused on his computer systems and booming business that connecting with a woman is way at the bottom of his priority list. Fate intervenes in the form of Lily Suarez, the doctor next door, and things get spicy pretty quick! Last but not least is youngest brother Paul, a brilliant scientist with a secret side hustle that gets him into trouble. When he seeks help from his recent one-night-stand, the introverted academic Audrey Sinclair, the pair is thrust into a temporary cohabitation, and they discover how interesting life together could be

What books will we see from you in coming months?

Great news for those of you who love to read books in a series — I expect to have Book Two, Against the Odds, out to you in mid-2020! And I hope to have the remaining two novels in the Fearless Hearts series out to readers within the next eighteen months –root for me!

Where to buy Hard to Break

Publisher https://www.eredsage.com/store/HardtoBreak.html
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YLW3SXQ
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hard-to-break-kate-barnett/1133865145
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48337884-hard-to-break

Kate Barnett Social Media

Kate Barnett is a lifelong bookworm who has enjoyed both reading and writing romance for years. Her favorite characters are strong women who are not afraid to pursue their dreams, and the men who love them for it! She believes that love is a theme which all people in all places have in common, and she hopes her stories will inspire readers to open their hears to life’s possibilities.
Kate currently lives with her husband, the one true love of her life, and their family in New York City. Publishing her first contemporary romance series is a dream come true!
Twitter https://twitter.com/katebar30124379
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kate.barnett.9212301