RELEASE DAY ALERT: Tania Joyce’s ‘Distractions’ + EXCERPT

Posted on September 7, 2016 by ausromtoday in Cover Reveals & Release Days // 1 Comment

Distractions
Tania Joyce

A steamy New Adult College Romance – where your heart overrules your head and delivers nothing but a constant distraction.

University student, Wiley Cayton’s world turns upside down when she meets college newcomer Cameron Wilks. With his irresistible good looks, he seems to be nothing but a party-boy and a constant distraction. But is there more to the hottest guy on campus?

Even when Wiley finds out about Cameron’s troubled past, she’s determined to keep her distance and her previously shattered heart protected. But with him studying the same degree and falling in with her group of friends, she’s drawn to him in unexplainable, illogical ways. How can one’s heart overrule one’s mind? Inevitably she falls for his charismatic charm and her insecurities take hold. Her life spirals out of control and she struggles to find balance between partying, sex and maintaining her scholarship grades.

With her future at risk, her family battle to keep her and Cameron apart, but that only weaves their relationship tighter together. When a college prank goes horribly wrong – threads snap, and just when she needs him most, Cameron disappears. Is their tumultuous romance meant to be or is it just a temporary distraction?

PAPERBACK COPIES: Amazon | Author Signed

What drove me to Distractions?

Sleep deprivation, life changes and finally listening to my inner self delivered Distractions.

Ask me five years ago if I’d write a novel, I would have laughed at you. But after having my second son, I could no longer deny the thoughts multiplying and melding together inside my head. I was going crazy with the bombardment of characters developing, scenes forming and plots thickening. I had to do something about it. One day while my son was having his lunch time nap, I sat down in front of the computer and started to write. I had no idea where this would lead, but I had to get the story out.

I have always been career-oriented and driven. To stop and have not one, but two children was a major life changing event. Distractions is not influenced by having children, but more a reflection on the time I had at university when as young adults we weren’t burdened with financial responsibilities, had to learn about life (the good and the bad) and pushed boundaries to the limits. Love was intense and every emotion extreme. It’s the time in your life where you made decisions that would influence your career, developed lasting friendships and maybe found true love.

Distractions is a coming of age, New Adult Romance. It is set at Steele Rudd Residential College at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba. As a former USQ student, I loved my time at university. Distractions however, is fiction. Most people will be able to relate to the events that take place. Dealing with bullying, bitchiness, pranks, and learning to take responsibility for our actions is part of growing up. You’ll experience everything in Distractions!

Distractions – Wiley Cayton faces a gruelling final year at university with her goal set on gaining an internship at one of the country’s largest accounting firms. But when Cameron Wilks walks through the door, her heart has other ideas. Lured by his charm, intrigued by his trust in her, Wiley’s insecurities take hold and her downward spiral begins. What will be the consequences of her constant distraction?

I like to write about strong, career-minded woman. Women who know what they want, are successful, fight for what they believe in and are rewarded for their hard work. I have drawn on my own experiences from working many years in professional marketing. The constant struggles I endured while working in male-dominated industries and with employers who possessed old boys-club mindsets has given me grit determination and I think readers will see that feistiness in my characters.

Over the past few years of writing, I went through the phase of attending high school and university reunions, and catching up with friends I had not seen for years. I was faced with meeting old boyfriends, girlfriends and was intrigued by all the life choices we had made to end up where we were. It made me reflect on my own situation and realised that in spite of all the hurdles, challenges, experiences and decisions I’ve made, I wouldn’t have done anything differently. This has helped me form the foundation for all my heroine characters.

Travel, my love of shoes, shiraz wine and sparkles all play a part in my writing. I have been fortunate enough to visit many countries around the world and love to write about the places I have seen. My weakness is shoes – there are always shoes in my stories. As the Disney Princesses say “One shoe can change your life.” It may be a Jimmy Choo or a steel-cap boot, but all shoes are worthy of a mention.

I grew up in the country, but now I’m a city girl. While I feel more at home among the bright lights and with a pair of stilettos strapped to my feet, I still love the outdoors, camping and horse riding.

Distractions has been a work in progress for over four years. I had to learn how to write creatively, develop character arcs, understand plot and structure, and develop my skills to engage the reader. This book is the result of my passion for writing and my persistence to constantly improve. After countless rewrites and edits, I am excited to see Distractions finally released.

I was published in 2015 with Momentum Books (Pan Macmillan) – my first two novels, Propositions and Acquisitions, my Strictly Business Series, are readily available at all online retailers (Amazon, iTunes, etc) or through my website at www.taniajoyce.com

In reality, life is not easy. I reflect that in my books. But I love the fact my characters, regardless of how flawed, still have hope and believe that one day they’ll find someone to love, who treats them right and they’ll find their happy ever after. This is why I write romance – a happy ever after is always guaranteed.

About the Author:
Tania Joyce is an Australian author of erotic, contemporary and new adult romance novels. Her stories thread romance, drama and passion into beautiful locations ranging from the dazzling lights of Sydney Harbour or the glitter of New York, to the rural countryside of the Hunter Valley or Darling Downs.

She’s widely traveled, has a diverse background in the corporate world and has a love for shopping, shoes and shiraz. She’s rarely seen without glitter, sparkle and stilettos.

Tania draws on her real-life experiences and combines them with her very vivid imagination to form the foundation of her novels. She likes to write about strong-minded, career-oriented heroes and heroines that go through drama-filled hell, have steamy encounters and risk everything as they endeavor to find their happy-ever-after.

Tania shuffles the hours in her day between part-time work, family life and writing. One day she hopes to find balance!

EXCERPT from Chapter 3…

Carefully avoiding any body contact, I grabbed Cameron’s iPad and glanced over his timetable. “You’re in nearly all my classes.” My worst suspicions were confirmed as I read through his schedule.

As I handed back his iPad, his fingers crossed over mine. I gasped as a shock shot through me gain when our skin connected. Our eyes met. I nearly dropped his tablet as I slowly pulled my hand away.

What was wrong with me? I’d never experienced anything like it before. It was nothing like an electric shock; this was exhilarating and exciting. It snaked through my veins like tendrils of fire. I was mystified and intrigued…and beyond baffled.

Having missed the introduction, the lecturer brought us to attention. I blinked my eyes to adjust to the dimming of the theatre lights.

As the room darkened, I had an urge to test this extraordinarily strange body contact experience and to see if it happened again. Yes, conduct my own little science experiment. How was I going to do this subtly? Dave was going to be my control specimen. I leaned over toward him and rested my arm against his. Skin on skin.

I waited a split second or two. Daring not to breath.

But…nothing happened.

It was just Dave.

I straightened back into my chair and smiled to myself. I then casually leaned over in Cameron’s direction to see what he was typing on his iPad. My arm rested against his. He inhaled deeply and at the same time my blood started to swirl like the ocean in a wild storm and my heart pounded like a runaway racehorse. The hairs on my arm stood on end. He stared at me, his penetrating metallic-blue eyes shimmering in the dim lighting. My mouth gaped open. I couldn’t move and simply forgot how to breathe.

He closed his eyes. “Are you okay? Did you want something?”

I stuttered, but finally managed to form some words. “Um, no, I’m all good.”

Yes, I’d finally come up for air. I flopped back in my chair and could feel his eyes linger on me as I tried to understand what had just happened. This was not normal. Exhilarating, intense, but not normal. I was being stupid or out of my mind. Was I having an allergic reaction to the lotion or soap he used? Surely there had to be a logical and realistic explanation?

Whatever it was, I wanted and needed it to stop. It was way too much of a distraction.