CBB Book Promotions Blog Tour, Guest Post, & Giveaway: Level Up (Cathy Yardly)

Welcome to my tour stop for Level Up by Cathy Yardley. This is a romantic comedy and the tour runs January 4-22 with reviews, interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for the full schedule. 

Geeky introvert Tessa Rodriguez will do whatever it takes to get promoted to video game engineer– including create a fandom-based video game in just three weeks. The only problem is, she can't do it alone. Now, she needs to strong-arm, cajole, and otherwise socialize with her video game coworkers, especially her roommate, Adam, who’s always been strictly business with her. The more they work together, though, the closer they get…
Adam London has always thought of his roomie Tessa as “one of the guys” until he agreed to help her with this crazy project. Now, he’s thinking of her all the time… and certainly as something more than just a roommate! But his last girlfriend broke up with him to follow her ambitions, and he knows that Tessa is obsessed with getting ahead in the video game world.Going from friends to something more is one hell of a challenge. Can Tessa and Adam level up their relationship to love?

Goodreads 

Cathy Yardley needs to get out more. When not writing, she is probably cruising the Internet, sleeping or watching D-list movies and adding to her unnatural mental store of character-actor trivia. She is a closet fangirl for Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and too many others to name. Her family is considering performing an intervention for her addiction to pop culture. Want to read more of her writing? Sign up for her notification list, and get a free novella, Hooked, from the Fandom Hearts series!  http://www.cathyyardley.com/notification-sign-up

Inspiration for LEVEL UP article

Age of the Geek, Baby!

I have a terrible confession to make.

I don’t like Alpha males.

I don’t hate them. There are plenty of novels with Alpha males that I enjoy: J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, Suzanne Brockmann’s Navy Seals. Throw in the occasional billionaire with control issues, you’ve probably got a good time. 

And let’s face it: I wouldn’t kick Aragorn out of bed for eating crackers.

But I grew up with geeks. My first love was a shy cutie who set up his own server and knew how to whip up nitrogen tri-iodide and homemade fireworks. He was part of my nerd posse, a group that watched Star Wars marathons, snickered thrown Dr. Strangelove, could quote Monty Python with ease, watched Twin Peaks with complimentary cherry pie & coffee. 

In college, my best friend and I had Disney-fests and baked. We’re Doctor Who fans, Sherlock fans, Supernatural fans. We can speak entirely in movie quotes and can finish each other’s sentences. (And we’re still best friends.

Beyond that, I’ve always been attracted to funny guys, the ones who were brighter than they let on, and had that wicked wit and snarky humor to back it up. Chandler from Friends. Mal Reynolds from Firefly. Give me the goofiness of Paul Rudd over a scowling, brooding beast any day. Chris Pratt is a hottie now, but you can still see the glimmers of oddball cut up Andy from Parks & Rec, despite his rippling muscles and Alpha grin. 

Guys that make me laugh are the ones that make me melt.

I wanted to write a series of romantic comedies about geek girls, and the funny guys they fall in love with. And with the rise of geek culture, I felt like I finally wasn’t alone in wanting to see these heroes and heroines. Leverage’s Hardison crows: “It’s the age of the geek, baby!” Big Bang Theory is on top in ratings. My Pinterest board called Geek Love has 2400 followers and counting – with no promotion. Acapella topped the Billboard album chart -- #1 – for the first time in… well, ever.

So I decided to write my Fandom Hearts series. Each book has little nods to my favorite geek fandoms. The first book, Level Up, is about a video game designer who meets her own geek posse, and falls in love with her funny (and previously platonic) roommate. There are plenty of hat-tips to Sherlock. I also wrote my novella, Hooked, taking place at the same time, right after Christmas. That one has Easter eggs from the TV show Once Upon A Time. The next books in the series will hint back to Supernatural, Game of Thrones, Arrow, Firefly, and Doctor Who.

Do you have a geek streak? How do you feel about funny heroes and romantic comedy? And what are your favorite fandoms?

$25 Amazon gift card (INT)

Ends Jan. 27, 2016

Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible. Must be 13 or older to enter and have parental permission if under 18. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary to win.

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This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.