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Certified Love Pusher Diane Alberts has just released another title in her Take A Chance series. She was kind enough to answer this Love Junkie Q&A about her latest book! And she’s provided us with an exclusive steamy exxcerpt! 

Play Me (Take A Chance series)

Diane Alberts

Publisher: Entangled Genre: Romance Age Group: Adult Release Date: July 31, 2013

Even the best-laid plans can go awry.

Single-mom Kiersten Worth knows a bottle of champagne and night of hot, nostrings-attached sex is the perfect solution to her jilted bride blues…and Garrett Kelly, long-time friend and her teenaged son’s sexy basketball coach, is just the stud for the job.

Garrett wants more from the elusive temptress than a casual affair, but he never expects it to come in the form of an unexpected pregnancy.

When he proposes an unorthodox solution—move in and raise their baby together—Kiersten has to decide whether to let down her guard and open her heart to the man who secretly loved her for years, or risk losing his tender embrace for good.

Q & A with Diane Alberts

What inspired you to write Play Me?

I love to write books where the characters are…different. In this case, the characters kind of reverse roles from the traditional romance books. There are so many books where the hero is the one who is scared to fall in love, or who doesn’t want to be in love. In PLAY ME, it’s Kiersten who wants nothing to do with it, and Garrett is the one to convince her that love isn’t so bad.

If your book had a theme song, what would it be?

I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz.

Who or what typically gets your creative juices flowing?

I draw inspiration from so many different sources it’s not even funny. It could be a conversation in real life, a show I watch, a book I’ve read, or even a tweet! Yes, a tweet! PLAY ME actually came to my mind after a few tweets with Rachel Harris. I was spending Valentine’s Day on a bench watching my middle schooler play basketball, and joked about how romantic it was. She joked that it could be romantic if the coaches were hot…and from there PLAY ME was formed. The rest is history!

Do you have any rituals or routines you follow when writing or preparing to write a novel?

I tend to prefer being a pantser myself, but sometimes I’ll plot out a whole book if my editor wants to see it before hand. And when I do, I make a detailed synopsis (4- 8 pages long), and then fill up a HUGE whiteboard with a timeline of all the major plot points, character arcs, and other notes I need to keep in mind while writing.

Worst writing distraction?

Twitter and Facebook. I spend waaaay too much time on there.

What can readers look forward to from you in the future?

More spicy contemporary romance, and a New Adult novel called OUT OF LINE, under the name Jen McLaughlin.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to write and/or publish a book?

Don’t stop writing, reading, editing, and watching. Draw inspiration from those you admire most, and most importantly: DON’T GIVE UP!

Speed Round

Guilty Pleasure: Watermelon Martinis

Can’t Live Without: My Kindle

#1 on Bucket List: Go to England

Celebrity Crush: Benedict Cumberbatch

Something Not Many People Know about You: I’m short. Only a little bit over five feet tall.

Theme Song of Your Life: I Will Survive from Tina Turner

Embarrassing Turn on: Any British accent. *grin*

EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT

Three months, two weeks, one day, and nineteen hours.

That’s how long it had been since Garrett walked away from Kiersten. She barely even 

spoke to him anymore, other than a soft hello as they passed on the court after practices. 

It was probably better that way. Anything more than a brief encounter hurt too much. 

He’d spent most of his life pretending not to care about her. Pretending he was fine 

without her. But now that he’d had one night in her arms, he knew he wasn’t.

And he wanted her more than he could ever possibly describe.

Oh well. Tough shit. He wasn’t going to get her on his terms. And he wouldn’t accept 

hers.  

He needed a drink. Or three.

He unlocked the door to his apartment and froze. Pots clanged in the kitchen. Dropping 

his gym bag to the carpet, he walked around the corner. Only his buddy Mike had a copy 

of his key, and that was just in case of an emergency or if he somehow lost his own set. 

But why would Mike let himself in and then cook? To the best of his knowledge, Mike 

didn’t even know how to cook.

“Mike?” he called out.

“Uh, no,” Kiersten replied. “It’s me.”

He tensed and walked slowly into his kitchen, his heart beating rapidly in his ears. “How 

did you get in here?”

She flushed. “I asked Mike for the key. Told him I needed something for Chris to practice 

at home.” She waved a hand. “He didn’t question me, thank God. My story was weak.”

He studied her. “Why are you here? You could have just knocked.”

“I was worried you wouldn’t let me in,” she said softly, averting her eyes. “So I took 

matters into my own hands.”

“And the dinner?”

“A way to try to make up for what I did. It’s pathetic and not big enough, I know, but I 

had to do something.” 

He raised his brows. “You could give me space, like I asked. Why cook for me? What do 

you want?”

She looked at him. “I thought you might like to eat some food. Last time I checked, you 

were human.”

“It’s been over three months since we talked or hung out.” He crossed his arms over 

his chest, not sure what her sudden reemergence in his life meant. What game did she 

play? “And last time I checked, we weren’t really on speaking terms. Yet here you are. 

Cooking me dinner.”

“Yep.” She set down the spoon she was stirring the sauce with, shoulders tight as she 

leaned on the counter. “Pretty much.”

He looked away from her and swallowed hard. Did she realize how much it hurt him just 

to see her face or to hear her voice? Probably not, since he’d been the only idiot who had 

wanted more. Every woman paled in comparison to her. No matter how hard he tried 

to move on, to be attracted to another woman, there was only one person on his mind. 

Kiersten. But if she was here…

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Have you changed your mind about us?”

She paled and he cursed himself for jumping to foolish, optimistic conclusions. “I—no, 

not yet. But—”

“Then you need to leave,” he said. He raised his head and met her eyes, unwilling to back 

down. “I haven’t changed my mind, either. I need space.”

“It’s been three months. Isn’t that enough space?”

“No.” He drew in a ragged breath. “It’s not. Now please leave.”

She bit her lip. “No.”

“Yes.” He stalked toward her, picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and headed 

for the door. He tired not to remember that the last time he’d carried her like this, they’d 

been going up to her bedroom. “If you won’t walk out on your own, then I’ll carry you 

out.”

She punched his back and squirmed. “Let me down. We need to talk.”

“The time for talking is over. I need distance right now. Eventually we can be friends 

again. But for now?” He opened the door, set her in the hallway, and closed the door in 

her face. “Please go home.” 

He turned away and stomped into the kitchen. Damn it, he wasn’t doing this anymore. 

He may have played the part of the lovesick friend for months—hell, years—now, but he 

was done with being a benchwarmer she pulled out when it suited her mood. 

From now on, it needed to be a starting position for him…or nothing at all. 

Shutting off the stove, he picked up the pot and peeked inside. She’d made his favorite 

meal. Cheese ravioli. Vodka sauce bubbled away in a different pot and he could smell the 

garlic bread in the oven.

“Listen, Garrett, we need to talk,” Kiersten said.

Garrett jumped and faced her with a glare. “What are you doing in here—again?”

“I have a key.” She waved a gold key under his nose, her nose tilted up in the air 

stubbornly. “And I know how to open a door on my own. I’ve been doing it since I was 

three.”

“Congratulations.” He snatched the key out of her hand and reached for her, determined 

to put her right back where he had left her. “But you need to go. I’m serious.”

She jumped out of his reach and sprinted behind the relative safety of his favorite chair. 

“Not until you listen to me. Sit down and shut up for a second, will you?”

He pursued her, ready to stick her back out in the hallway, sans key this time. “All I 

asked for was a break. Can’t you respect that?”

He bolted around the chair, reaching for her arm. Her eyes widened and she darted to the 

side when he feinted left and ran right, hoping to fool her into his arms. “I can’t leave 

until we talk,” she replied. 

“Why not?” he asked in exasperation, holding his hands up. “What could possibly be so 

damn important?”

She blinked at him, wringing her hands. “I’m pregnant.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Diane Alberts has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, a cat, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another.

She is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing, Swoon Romance, and Decadent Publishing. ON ONE CONDITION hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble Bestseller List, and TRY ME hit #76 on Amazon. CAPTIVATED BY YOU hit #31 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list. Her goal is to write so many fantastic books that even a non-romance book fan will know her name. She also writes New Adult books under the name Jen McLaughlin. Diane is represented by Louise Fury from the L. Perkins Agency.

FIND HER ON HER Website 

ON TWITTER (@DianeAlberts & @JenMcLaughlin6)

AND ON FACEBOOK (Under Diane Alberts & Jen McLaughlin)  

This has been a presentation of The Love Junkies: Authors Addicted to Romance