Sept Author of the Month Faith Andrews: Character Spotlights & Giveaway

~ Synopsis ~

 

Mia Murphy may be married to the man of her dreams. But the man in her dreams is the one that got away—her high school crush.

Mia’s stuck in a rut, just like every other stay-at-home mom, and the only thing saving her from her monotonous routine is her perfect husband, Declan. He’s gorgeous, he adores her, and the man stole her heart with his sexy singing voice. Mia feels like the luckiest girl in the world, until she discovers that Mr. Perfect is not Mr. Faithful. Mia is devastated. Everything she once believed about Declan and their marriage is now covered in a big cloud of doubt and regret. On impulse, she kicks the cheating bastard out, pushing them into a separation that could mean the end of the picture-perfect couple.

But when Mia receives an invitation to her high school reunion, she finds herself abandoning the present for the oh-so alluring pull of the past. Although her heart still belongs to her husband, inescapable thoughts of her crush, Noah, resurface. And ten years later, Noah isn’t afraid to make his move. When the build-up of fantasies and ‘what ifs' comes to a head, sparks fly and it’s Mia’s turn to question if her marriage is everything she wants out of life. Searching for answers, Mia dives head first into dating Noah, falling further away from her husband and closer to her old flame.

But Declan’s not giving up so easily. Mia is his one and only and he’s not about to let another man win her heart.

 

~ Character Spotlight ~

 

Mia is definitely not one of Heather’s faves. She’s flawed—what woman isn’t? But her stubbornness and her own insecurities almost lost her the love of her life. 

 

Here are some facts about the woman we love to hate.

 

Full name: Mia Page Murphy

Born: July 17, 1979

 

Stats: 5’5”, 115 lbs, blond hair; chocolate-brown eyes

 

Favorite music: Lover of all music, especially Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, Alanis Morisette. 

Favorite TV Show: Teen Wolf (doesn’t Declan look at lot like Derek Hale?)

Favorite Movie: Dirty Dancing…nobody puts baby in the corner!

First kiss: Billy Denker, freshman year of high school. She tired of holding out for his baseball teammate, Noah Matheson, and decided to just get it over with.

First love: Declan Murphy.

 

First heartbreak: Although her heart needed mending after what didn’t happen in high school, her heart shattered into pieces the night she found out Declan wasn’t faithful.

 

Biggest fear: Growing old.

Biggest regret: Not hearing Declan out from the beginning.

 

Best friend: Grace Buono. They met in the school yard when Mia was in 1st grade and Grace was in kindergarten. They played a game of hopscotch together and have been inseparable ever since.

 

Proudest moment: Becoming a mother. Her children own her heart—even if they drive her crazy sometimes.

 

Wildest thing she did to defy her parents: sneak out to an underground grunge show with Grace and her brother, Tony.

Random Stuff:

 

~DVRs reruns of Full House for the kids to watch.

~ Totally named her son after a teen-heart throb vampire.

~ Wrote fan mail to Leonardo DiCaprio for months after Titanic and hunkered down with Grace for an entire weekend to watch every movie he was ever in.

 ~Can’t sing to save her life, even though Declan would never tell her that.

~Slept in her parents’ bedroom every night for 4 months after seeing the Exorcist and will never watch another scary movie again.

 ~Went to a psychic during her split with Declan—seems the “kook” knew who she’d end up with all along. 

~Believes in Santa Claus, unicorns, a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, and happily ever afters.

Heather has fallen head over heels in love with Declan Murphy—even though the synopsis of Man of My Dreams had her certain she’d hate him. Let’s face it, he cheated, he did some things in the past that made Mia doubt his love for her, and he’s a workaholic, BUT when you get to know who he really is…it’s hard not to melt from his swoon worthy ways.

Here are some facts about Mia’s leading man.



Full name: Declan Michael Murphy




Born: October 12, 1980




Stats: 5’11”, 175 lbs, jet black hair; smoldering ice-blue eyes




Favorite music: Anything from the ‘90s grunge or alternative era. One of his favorite bands is Third Eye Blind because of Mia’s influence.




First kiss: He was 15 and she was a tomboy from the neighborhood that had suddenly turned all girly and interested in boys for things other than games of man-hunt. One day after school she asked him if he’d ever kissed a girl before. When he told her no, she cornered him in her backyard and pulled him in for an awkward first kiss. There were no sparks, well—except for the ones from their braces colliding, and rumor has it that she went door to door breaking all the neighborhood boys in that year.




First love: There’s no doubt in his mind that he’s only ever loved Mia.




First heartbreak: The day Mia kicked him out. He knew he’d done wrong, but just wanted the chance to explain. The moment he walked out that door his heart felt like it would never be the same. He feared he’d lost the best thing he ever had.




Biggest fear: Losing his wife and kids to one horrible moment of stupidity. The idea of having them slip through his fingers because of something he did—those are the things that keep a man up at night.




Biggest regret: That’s easy. Her name is Samantha.



Sweetest moment: Hearing Mia say ‘yes’ that day in the library. He knew his destiny was set the second he saw her on campus, but when she agreed to go out with him, a lifetime of love and happiness flashed before him.




Sexiest moment: Serenading Mia at The Alibi. It made him feel good to make her feel…wanted. And God, did he want her bad that night, but all good things come to those who wait.




Proudest moment: Besides becoming a father, he takes pride in waiting to be in love before he had sex. Carl and some of this other buddies dogged on him for a long time about it, but holding out for his one true love goes down as a shining moment in his book.




Craziest thing he’s ever done: Quit his corporate, high paying job to follow a dream.



Random Stuff:

~Has a fear of raccoons, squirrels, and opossums.

~Started a garage band called Murphy’s Law in middle school. He sang lead and played bass guitar but his rock star dreams fell flat when his parents made him join marching band in high school.

~Went to college on the marching band scholarship—total band geek for all of one semester.

~Is totally ticklish and will giggle like a girl if someone touches his belly. Cara uses this to her advantage a lot!

~Cried like a baby the day his kids were born.

~His favorite thing about Mia is her smile. He hates that he was the reason she didn’t for a while.

~Has a once a month wing eating ritual with his dad, his brother Connor, and Mr. P.

~Will forever hate the name Noah and plans on escorting Mia to any and all high school related functions even if he has to take a boat home from China to do so.

~Grace is his hero.





He may be Heather’s least favorite MOMD character, but I’m hoping ladies will fall in love and dub him their new book boyfriend. There is no reason not to love Noah, he’s sweet yet rugged, kind yet flirty, and even though some may hate him for pining after a married woman, he is as respectable as they come.

Here are some facts about Mia’s high school crush.



Full name: Noah Daniel Matheson




Born: February 21, 1979




Stats: 6’2”, 203 lbs, dirty-blond hair; magnetizing jade-green eyes




Position played for the Westmont Pirates baseball team: short stop




Favorite major league baseball team: the New York Yankees




Favorite song: Teen Spirit by Nirvana




Least favorite song: The One That Got Away by Katie Perry




First kiss: Ladies loved him even in nursery school. He played a seemingly innocent game of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” in 1st grade and had is first French kiss from a seventh grader when he was ten years old.




First love: No comment




First heartbreak: No comment




Biggest fear: ending up alone, not sharing his life with that special someone.




Biggest regret: being too blind to notice Mia in high school




Biggest accomplishment: bringing his talents and expertise in contracting to people in need through Habitat for Humanity.







Random Stuff:

~Rejected Lila Peters at least 3 times a week

~He still has his lucky eraser. It has a safe place in the top drawer of his desk in his office

~Was scouted by 5 major league baseball teams, but left that behind to follow his real dreams to “build”

~ Paid his little sister’s way through college

~Will never admit to cheating his buddies out of poker money

~ Never got into a physical fight—except for that one time

~ Is dying to have children of his own

~ Author Bio ~

 

 

Faith Andrews lives in New York where she is happily married to her high school sweetheart. They have two beautiful daughters and a furry Yorkie son, Rocco. If she isn't listening to Mumford and Sons or busy being a Dance Mom, her nose is in a book or her laptop. She's a sucker for a happily ever after and believes her characters are out there living one somewhere...... 

~ Giveaway ~

 

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