Hello and welcome to my blog! Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Liz Crowe, multi-published, award-winning author, and fund raising specialist for a regional humane society. I love pretty much all animals, and will read in pretty much any genre as long as the book is well written. I am the mom of 3 grown kids, and while they were small we lived in 3 different countries—Japan, Turkey and England—which was amazing and also provided them with superb grad-school essay fodder. I currently have 1 rescue dog and 2 rescue cats in my care, love my I-fit Nordic Track bike, and drinking bourbon on the weekends.
Tell us about your most recent book.
Backup Offer is a second chance romance that, while it is the end of a long and successful series, was written to be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel. I call it my love letter to my hard core fans who quite probably became my fans while the series was releasing (between 2011 and 2015 although all the books got re-edited and re-released in 2019/2020).
Would you share something about Brandis and Blair that isn’t in the blurb?
Brandis was a rising football star in high school and college, but suffered a career ending injury during a game that broke his spine. He was already an alcoholic by this time, but once he was given opiates to get him through the surgery and recovery, his addictions got worse.
He and Blair have known each other since birth, and their families spent weekends, holidays and sometimes vacations together. When they fell for each other as teens, it put a lot of strain on the families’ friendship, since even though Brandis was a great student, bound for success, his reliance on Blair to “ground him” was unhealthy for them both, ultimately. All of this backstory is in the NOT a romance novel that comes before this book called GOOD FAITH.
What was the most difficult part of writing Back Up Offer?
Keeping it as stand-alone as possible since I have known and been writing about these characters for over a decade! But I made sure several readers who had not read any of the previous books signed off on it before it was published. The easy part was bringing Brandis and Blair together in a healthy way, to a mature, adult relationship that respected their histories and how hard they’d both worked to be successful.
If you could give Brandis or Blair one piece of advice, what would it be?
Never skip a therapy session.
Who is one of your favorite fictional characters (can be from a book, movie or television)?
I adore Fiona Gallagher from Shameless (the older sister). I also love Debbie Vance, the aging comedienne in Hacks. Oh, and pretty much any character that the actor Sebastian Stan plays (He’s my mental inspiration for Brandis!)
To you, what makes a great romance hero?
A man who is strong and secure enough in his own skin and character to allow himself to be vulnerable to the people he loves. And an ability to ask for help. I made sure Brandis did this, since from my direct experience, addicts have a tough time doing this. Part of his growth and recovery is him relying on his family when he made up his mind about what he wanted from Blair.
What else would you like readers to know about Back Up Offer?
I feel so strongly about this couple it was crucial to me to finish the series on a high note. For many of my existing loyal fans this book has been a lovely full-circle in their fandom around The Stewart Realty series. But I do hope to find some new readers, eager to find a new-to-them author with this satisfying, stand-alone, second chance romance with a scene-stealing rescue pit bull!
Backup Offer
by Liz Crowe
Genre: Contemporary second-chance Romance
An ex-boyfriend, his massive dog, her house, and no hotel room in sight. What could go wrong?
After Blair ended things with Brandis, she was determined to get away–and stay away from him for good. She put family, friends, and the life she knew in Michigan in her rear view mirror and started over. As owner and head chef of her own place in Louisville, she stays plenty busy, especially since “Blair’s Kitchen” is the darling of the restaurant scene. She’s managed to avoid Michigan for almost a decade, but when her best friend needs her help, she drops everything and heads home.
Brandis has spent the last ten years coming to terms with addiction, personal tragedy, and the loss of the woman he loved. He’s now the third generation to run his family’s construction business, and he’s managed to reconstruct tattered relationships with his family. He’s even adopted a dog, thanks to some donated renovation time spent at an animal shelter. He’s got everything he needs—except a for one thing.
When the contractor she paid to build her restaurant’s expansion vanishes, leaving her with a giant mess, Blair only hesitates a moment before calling Brandis for help. But when he rushes to her side to evaluate the crisis, there isn’t an available room in a twenty mile radius. So they settle in to a routine—her, her one-time boyfriend, and his giant, slobbering dog in her small house. It doesn’t take long for the temptation of close proximity to give way, and while Blair tries to keep it all physical, Brandis has other ideas.
The end of the Stewart Realty saga brings the second generation full-circle in ways many never expected, but no one regrets.
Stewart Realty Book 9
Or as a stand-alone novel
Content warnings:
References to past addiction
Pregnancy
Birth scene
Super cute bonding between man and his adopted pit bull
Feels. Lots and lots of feels.
Heat level: medium-hot (3 scenes that are explicit)
Amazon: https://books2read.com/u/md7EoE
Universal: https://books2read.com/u/mvqEq2
Author Bio
Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in Central Illinois. She’s spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a social media consultant and humane society development director, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, at times frustrate, and always linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
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AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Liz-Crowe/e/B00573TC7M
GOODREADS PAGE: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4350864.Liz_Crowe
WEBSITE: http://www.lizcrowe.com
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INTERESTING HUMANS PODCAST INTERVIEW; https://interestinghumanspodcast.buzzsprout.com/639664/6917804-liz-crowe-romancing-the-romance-novel
BOOKS ON THE MIC PODCAST INTERVIEW: https://www.audible.com/pd/Books-on-the-Mic-Ep-16-Liz-Crowe-Desiree-Holt-Podcast/B092QRW2HP
EMAIL LIZ: lizcroweauthor@gmail.com
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Book Excerpt
“He’s doing really well, Blair.”
She froze, her jaw locked, her heart pounding in her ears. “Don’t,” she squeaked out.
“Seriously, I think you guys should…”
“Don’t you dare, Gabriel Freitag.” She kept her voice level. “Don’t you even think about daring. I couldn’t bear to keep watching him fail, or for you to have to watch me watching him.” Her voice cracked. She didn’t believe she was having this conversation after all these years. Fury blinded her.
“Listen, hear me out. He’s really great now. His company is gangbusters. He’s added this whole handyman thing, he calls it the Honey Do Crew. And he’s mentoring at-risk kids out of juvi, hiring them for scut work and making sure they get supervision so they can learn a trade. He… he got a dog, Blair.”
She was shocked that there was anything left to of it to break, but the look in her brother’s eyes shattered what remained of her heart. Brandis Gordon. The great mistake of her young life. The thing that had come between her and her family, and her friends. He’d been a golden boy, rising star football player, stellar student, handsome son of attractive, successful parents who were her own parents’ best friends. They’d celebrated every single holiday together, traveled and vacationed as a giant, rowdy group, partied as a unit for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, the works.
Until she and Brandis had gone and fallen for each other the way only teenagers did—fully, and with the sort of gusto and conviction which had, for a time, been the one thing she’d lived for. When he’d come apart on so many levels and in so many ways, it had blasted holes in relationships between the close-knit families. She shuddered and held up both hands as if in surrender.
“I left him, and my family, behind on purpose. Because I had to do it. Brandis and I will never be anything but a memory. Period. I have to get some sleep.” She whirled on her heel and marched into the bathroom. Once inside, she slammed the door, leaned against it, and slid to the floor, grabbing a hand towel on her way down to muffle the stupid, inevitable sobs.
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Thank you for being a guest, Liz!