Blog Tour for Fugly by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff: 9/29-10/2
Release date 9/15
Giveaway:
Blurb:
fugly,
a USA TODAY BESTSELLER from Mimi Jean
Pamfiloff
UGLY
IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER...
My name is Lily Snow. I am twenty-five
years old, and despite being born with an unattractive face, I have never
doubted who I am: smart, driven, and beautiful on the inside.
Until I met Maxwell Cole.
He's handsome, excessively wealthy, and the
owner of Cole Cosmetics. It's been my dream to work for this man for as long as
I can remember. The good news is he wants to hire me. The bad news is he wants
me for all the wrong reasons. Ugly reasons.
In exchange, he's offered me my dreams on a
silver platter. The job. The title. A beautiful future. But this man is as
messed up and ugly as they come on the inside. I'm not sure anyone can help him,
and he just might take my heart down with him
Barnes & Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fugly-mimi-jean-pamfiloff/1122604622?ean=2940150948686
Mimi Jean’s bio:
Mimi Jean Pamfiloff is a New York Times & USA Today
bestselling author of Paranormal and Contemporary Romance. Her books have hit the Amazon and B&N
top-100 lists multiple times and have been #1 genre sellers around the world.
Both traditionally and independently published, Mimi has sold over 500,000
copies since publishing her 1st title in 2012, and she plans to spontaneously
combust once she hits the one-million mark. Although she obtained her
international MBA and worked for over 15 years in the corporate world, she
believes that it’s never too late to come out of the romance-closet and follow
your dreams.
When not screaming at her computer or hosting
her very inappropriate radio show, (Man Candy on Radioslot.com!), Mimi spends
time with her two pirates in training, her loco-for-the-chili-pepper hubby, and
her rat terrier, DJ Princess Snowflake, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She continues to hope that her books will
inspire a leather pants comeback (for men) and that she might make you laugh
when you need it most.
Website - http://www.mimijean.net/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MimiJeanPamfiloff
Twitter - https://twitter.com/MimiJeanRomance
Excerpts:
Excerpt 1
“Lily Snow?” I heard a woman call my name.
I looked over at the slender, gorgeous
redhead, not much older than me, wearing a fitted blue dress and strappy blue
heels. Her smoky, mascara-caked eyes scanned the nearly empty lobby, looking
right over my head.
“Hi. I’m Lily Snow.”
Her eyes fell on my face with a spark of
shock she quickly tried to conceal. “You’re…Miss Snow?”
I gave her a quick nod.
“Oh,” she said stiffly. “Don’t you have
lovely hair.”
Her comment was what I liked to call a
“conscience clearer.” It was when someone realized they just acted like a
coldhearted ass and then quickly tried to make it up to me with a compliment.
Usually about my long, wavy blonde hair or my “cute little body.”
I stood from my chair and extended my hand.
“Thanks. I’ll trade my hair for your shoes. Your Manolos are to die for.” They
were a limited release made just for Oscar season. Very expensive.
My shoes, for the record, were Franco Sarto
heels I’d found on clearance at The Rack, black and simple, just like my pencil
skirt and blouse. I would’ve loved to wear something more expensive, but the
job I’d been in—a one-year consulting project at B&H Cosmetics—was for the
experience rather than a big paycheck. I could’ve done better, but I’d had my
sights on C.C., and I knew Mr. Cole, the owner, worked at B&H right after
college.
I’m
on your heels, big man.
A little smile popped on the redhead’s
face. “My boyfriend got them for me,” she said, doing a little pivot to show
off the shoes. “He works for Babs Levine.”
Uh.
Wow. Babs was the world’s top formal dress designer,
who once worked for some of the biggest names in fashion before going out on
her own. She practically owned the red carpet this last season.
“Well,” I smiled, “if you ever get tired of
your boyfriend, I’m single.”
She laughed so loud her voice echoed off
the sterile-looking walls of the lobby. “I don’t think so.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d meant she’d never
give the guy up or that he’d never go for me in a million years.
Both.
Definitely both. I didn’t take offense, though. I’d
made the comment to break the ice, and it worked. She introduced herself as
Keri and became all smiles and warm chatter on the elevator ride up. I liked
her immediately.
Excerpt 2
“You’re not qualified.” He threw the sheet
of paper on the table and shot me a harsh look before abruptly standing.
“But I—”
“Thank you for coming,” he said in a tone
that told me he wasn’t thankful at all. More like put out, annoyed, maybe
pissed off.
My mouth hung open as he walked out of the
tiny conference room, not bothering to shake my hand or look at me or hear
anything I had to say.
My emotions fell somewhere between epic
rage and heartbreak. He’d treated me like a leper or some mangy dog with
rabies. And as my mind quickly digested everything that happened in the last
sixty seconds, I could only come up with one reason for his behavior: my looks.
And, hell no, I wasn’t crazy or making it up. That expression on his face when
he’d walked in the door? The way he’d shaken my hand?
I covered my face and let out a shaky
breath. This can’t be happening. I
expected this sort of behavior from a shallow, pompous asshole that only valued
women for their beauty, but from Maxwell Cole?
My mind went into a tailspin of anger,
despite my conscience urging me to take the high road—a road I knew like the
back of my hand. After all, I was a nice, caring person. I didn’t yell at
people—or hadn’t in years. But that had been back in school, and only when some
jerk decided to mess with one of my painfully shy friends or my disabled
brother.
But
you can’t let Maxwell Cole do this, Lily. I’d
worked my ass off to have the right experience for a job like this. Okay, yes,
I had other options besides C.C.—I wasn’t stupid or naïve enough to put all my
eggs in one basket—but those other companies weren’t Cole Cosmetics. They
weren’t companies I related to and believed in. Those other companies didn’t
tell the world you were beautiful for who you were on the inside and to buy
their products simply because you enjoyed pampering yourself. Cole Cosmetics
didn’t believe in making women feel ugly to sell makeup. And that’s exactly
what inspired me to work in this industry. We all deserved to feel beautiful
and have nice things regardless of what others thought about our looks.
Only
that prick has been lying to the world.
Excerpt 3
“What the hell are you doing here?” I stopped with my hands on my waist and
felt the beads of sweat running like a little river down my spine.
His eyes moved over my body, almost
reaching the top before they made another sweep, lingering an extra moment on
my breasts. He still hadn’t uttered a word.
“What did you expect? Scales on my legs and
a uni-breast?” I couldn’t believe I’d said that, but pretending to be civil to
this horrible man felt like a lie.
His eyes reluctantly settled on my face,
his revulsion immediate. “Not the uni-breast.” He cracked a dimpled smile.
Totally forced.
I hissed out an unappreciative breath and
marched straight to my door, pushing past him. I dug my key from the little
pocket of my waistband while he just stood there staring at the view down the
front of my panties.
Asshole.
I shot him a look and released the elastic
waistband with a snap. As I turned the key in the lock, I decided I’d be
slamming the door in his face before he had the chance to say a single word. My
guess was he feared I’d tell his little secret or sue him or something.
Let
the man stew.
But the moment I pushed open the door, he
said something that made me think twice. “Invite me in.”
Okay, it wasn’t so much what he said, but
the way he’d said it: a demand. It gave me the urge to do far worse than shut a
door and leave him on the other side.
I turned and looked up at him, shooting my
own breed of disgust his way. I hated the gorgeous bastard. I hated every
perfect hair on his perfect head, and I wanted him to know it. “Why the fuck
would I do that, asshole?”
“You have a dirty mouth.” A subtle smile,
laced with a hint of sadistic delight, twitched across his lips. That time his
smile was real.
“You bring out the ugly bitch in me. Why
are you here?”
“I want to talk. Invite me in,” he demanded
again with that deep authoritative voice.
I laughed at his attempt to boss me around.
“If you’re worried I’m going to tell anyone the truth about you, don’t. I’d
actually have to give a crap about you.” The only thing I cared about was
getting on the road to starting my own company as quickly as possible so I
could build a company where women like me were genuinely valued.
“Miss Snow, stop being such a hostile bitch
and invite me in.”
My knee twitched with the urge to salute
his balls.
“I’ve got a job proposal for you,” he
added, “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
This sonofabitch wanted to offer me a job?
After everything he’d said? Hell yeah,
I’ll invite him in. Just to tell him to go fuck himself.
I stepped aside and replied with a noxious
sweetness, “Why…won’t you come in, Mr. Cole?”
He dipped his head of thick dark-brown
hair. “Why, thank you, Miss Snow.”
“Oh, please. Call me Lily. I insist.”
Excerpt 4
“Be here tomorrow morning. Keri will show
you your office,” he said flatly.
“You—you’re serious?”
He turned and frowned at me. “Don’t go
backpedaling on me now, Miss Snow. Not after you’ve just shown me your pretty
little teeth and sharp claws. We might make a CEO out of you yet.”
I shook my head no. “Not. Back. Pedaling.”
Just wondering where the nearest exit was. Now I really felt like an idiot. I’d
just proposed to my future boss that he have sex with me in exchange for my
acceptance of his offer.
Wasn’t it usually the other way around?
And what was that other feeling? It
was…shock or excitement or something connected to that little spot in my brain
that controlled my sexual fantasies.
“Good,” he said. “Have your ass to my house
Friday at eight p.m. sharp. And bring your running clothes.”
Today was Wednesday, so that meant I had
two days to get psychiatric help. Wait.
You’re not doing this. You can’t.
“You okay?” were the words he asked, but
his tone and expression accused me of being a spineless coward.
I stared at him, trying to comprehend what
was going through this man’s mind. Honestly, I was confused as hell. Possibly
frightened, too. He, on the other hand, looked like he’d been given an
injection of piss and vinegar. He also looked sort of…happy? Okay, maybe not
happy, but excited or determined, like challenging me turned him the hell on.
But that couldn’t be right.
“Why aren’t you sweating anymore?” I asked.
He blinked as if startled by himself. “It
seems you’re already having a positive effect. Too bad it’s your ability to
piss me the fuck off that’s doing the trick.”
Speechless, I turned for the door again and
grabbed the handle. I needed to retreat. I was way over my head with this
situation.
“Oh, and Miss Snow?”
“Yes?”
“Do me a favor, would you? Fire Craig on
your way out. He’s the one waiting for me out there.”
I blinked. “Sorry?”
“It’s your first lesson in running a
company: You’ll have to come down off that pedestal of yours and get your hands
dirty.”
Interview:
Where do you do most of your writing?
I mostly write in my office at home. It’s a
separate studio with its own entrance, so it has everything I need (super
comfy!) with a view of my palm tree. The
only downside is that I have to vacate when we have guests. If I’m not writing
there, I’m in my backyard since we have great weather in California most of the
year.
What rituals help you get into “writing
mode”?
Drinking coffee. Or wine if I’m writing sex
scenes (LOL). But I don’t have any real
rituals other than getting a very basic outline figured out (which I end up
chucking away). Maybe the chucking part is my ritual. Hmmm…
Are you an early-bird or a night owl?
Early bird 98% of the time since my kids
get me up early anyway. By the end of
the day, I’m toast.
What career other than your own would you
most like to try for a year, if anything was possible?
Nothing else. I had a corporate career for
15 years, and now I’m doing exactly what I love. Even if I won the lottery, I’d
still do this!
Do you do lots of outlining when you write,
do you wing it?
I do a little outlining, but then I let the
creative process flow. It is SO much fun, and it’s so exciting to know we’ve
got to go from point A to point B in a story, but not how the characters will
get there. Surprises always pop up along the way that are much better than
anything I could pre-plan. I’ve found that detailed outlining takes the fun out
of writing—I need to feel some suspense along the way since every story is like
watching a movie someone else has written. I’m just trying to capture
everything I see. Sounds strange, but
it’s true.
Who is your favorite character to write and
why?
Any and all Alpha males. I just love, love,
love trying to capture that inner male strength that can make any guy the
sexiest thing alive and that turns us ladies into putty, yet also pisses us
off!
What's your weirdest writing habit?
I don’t think it’s weird, really, but when
I’m in the middle of writing story, I don’t stop to add much detail or look
things up. It breaks my flow. Instead, I insert a note to “ADD here” so I can
go back at the very end and add whatever. Usually it’s clothing, setting
related, or more detail about the scene. But I plow right through like a
freight train until that dang plot is hammered out.
What's the most common question fans ask
you?
“When’s the XYZ book coming out?”
What book have you read that somehow
changed your life and how?
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a book
I always come back to because it speaks to one truth: you can’t live in the
past because it’s over, and you can’t live in the future, because it hasn’t
happened yet. So all you’ve got is the present. Make it count.
For me, that book really changed my life
because it helped me to let go of things I can’t change and to stop worrying
about things that haven’t yet happened. It’s very freeing to just live in the
moment. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t learn from my mistakes or plan for
the future, but I focus on what I can do in this moment versus always being
somewhere else that doesn’t exist.
TMI…I know!
Who is your favorite author?
Me!!!
Just kidding…Umm…I don’t really have a favorite anymore, but my top two
are Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris. I think both were instrumental in shaping
who I am as a writer.
Do you have any books you re-read over and
over?
Reading? What is reading? I don’t think I know that word. I eat, sleep,
write, and raise two kids. Nope. No reading happening here.
What one piece of advice would you give to
aspiring writers?
You CANNOT- and I really mean this- you
CANNOT write for anyone but yourself. This doesn’t mean you can’t take advice
or learn or improve. What it means is that it must be a self thing for you and
you alone, an act of pure joy and fun for your entertainment. The moment you
start writing for someone else, you’ll get lost and you’ll feel like crap because
you can’t make everyone happy. Even if
your book doesn’t sell, you’ll have created something you love.
What’s your favorite thing about being an
author? Least favorite thing?
My favorite “thing” are my readers. I love
their emails, messages, mail, Tweets, reviews, whatever. I just feel so damned
grateful every time one of my stories lands in someone’s hands and it makes
them happy for a few days or hours. What
do I hate? The mean people. Yeah, you know who they are. They get sick joy and
a sense of importance out of telling other people how much they suck. The
honest truth is that those people add no value to this world, and I think they
know it. I feel sorry for them.
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