On Tour with Hot Lap (Arkadia Fast #2) by Leslie Scott and Meet the Author

When I read the title, I expected something super hot. Then I saw the cover, and it didn’t go with what I had in mind. It’s sweet, and hot in a different way (those cars in the background…). Then I finally read the synopsis, and it’r neither, or probably a bit of both. But I loved all these twists it took me, so here’s for you.

The book is Hot Lap (Arkadia Fast #2) by Leslie Scott, a New Adult Romance.

Starting a new life isn’t easy when the skeletons locked in her closet are the notorious town drunk for a father and a haunted past. But, Hadley Morgan isn’t one to shy away from second chances or giving them either.

When a young, single father wrapped up in an octane fueled package takes particular interest in her, she begins to dream. But well-known drag racer Aiden Casey is also her boss, making her hesitate to grab at her chance at happiness.

Will her secrets shatter their chance at love or will his past come back to destroy both of them?

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Excerpt

Before anyone could question Aiden’s sudden appearance, he grinned at Jordan. I jogged behind Breanna as she edged closer. “So, how about a hot lap, Slater?”

Jordan’s brow furrowed beneath the brim of his dark ball-cap. The affable excitement of the moment replaced by an almost suffocating tension.

I leaned to whisper in Breanna’s ear. “What’s a hot lap?”

“Turning the car around, making another run right now without a real cool down period on the engine.” She chomped hard on the candy in her mouth, it gave with an audible crack.

“In what?” The answering engine rumble fired behind me. My head swiveled in time to see Hunter inside the Camaro, rolling off the back of the trailer.

Chills skittered across my skin.

“Aiden—” The happiness and color had drained from Raelynn’s face.

Her brother’s rebellious lift of his shoulders spoke volumes.

“You didn’t tell me it was ready.” Jordan hitched his chin at the car then leveled a hard stare at Aiden.

Everyone there would have flinched, but he smiled brighter in dimple winking challenge. “If ya scared, say ya scared, Slater.”

Jordan’s upper lip curled, and he took one step away from Raelynn and closer to Aiden. “Boy,” he drawled out the one word. “When have I ever been scared of you?”

Breanna and I were members of the small circle that seemed to surround them now. No one outside heard Aiden’s quiet reply. “You need this as much as I do, brother.”

“Let’s do it.” Jordan never looked away as he pulled his and Raelynn’s joined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

The crowd dispersed like a colony of disturbed ants. Everyone shooting off in different directions.

“Isaac,” Vic shouted and tossed the flashlight to his little brother. “You flag it, this one I gotta roll with my boy.”

When Vic jogged over to the Malibu, Aiden clutched at his chest as if he was wounded.

He turned and looked at me for the first time that night. “Which lane are you riding with, Hadley?”

Chatting with the Author

Leslie spends most days attempting to wrangle the voices in her head and often wishes she could clone herself so that their stories get told faster. She loves words, romance, and characters that feel like family and spends almost all of her free time with her own family; including a boisterous eleven year old that she homeschools and an assorted cast of rescue pets. She lives her own happily ever after with her soul mate and best friend in the northern part of Alabama and hopes you enjoy reading her stories as much as she enjoys writing them.

Leslie came by to talk a bit about writing books.

Let’s face facts. Writing books is hard. Sitting down and putting ideas on paper, playing around, writing for the sheer joy of it? That part is easy. But structuring a novel out of writing for fun—doesn’t happen without a lot of work.
Part of that work is honing your craft, learning how a story progresses, and all the things they don’t teach you in high school English. So my writing career began with a lot of stops and starts. I probably have around fifty half-finished manuscripts. A dear friend finally told me not to send her anything else to read, until I finished one.
I finally did. It’s actually the manuscript I sent in to RWA to prove I was a real live writer. Also, it’s horrible. I’ve often thought of rewriting it and may still do that one day. But finishing that one story gave me the confidence to write the next one. Which, was The Finish Line, my first published novel. No I don’t have a sob story about all the manuscripts I sent in, that were rejected. Not because those types of work don’t exist, but because they are all in a file… to never see the light of day. I put in the hard work it took to write a publication ready story before I ever submitted.
So if you’re a fledgling writer and want my advice? Do the work and write your story, that’s the absolute best any of us can do.
Also, don’t be me. I always have multiple projects/books going at once. Today, for instance, I’m writing blog posts for my third release Hot Lap (I hope you go buy it; Aiden is smoking hot and Hadley is all of us), finishing revisions on a novel due Monday (today as I write this, it is Friday), also working on revisions of another novel, writing the rest of a series Urban Fantasy that should release on the Radish App later this spring, and writing three synopsis (synopsises? synopsi?) for my publisher (for the remainder of the Arkadia Fast series).
Totally don’t try this at home, it’s completely overwhelming. Also it’s 5:20 pm and I’m still in my pajamas and just ate ice cream for dinner. Be a writer, they said. Chase your dreams, they said. (I’m kidding, these are the moments when I am the happiest).
Expect all of these things I just mentioned from me in the future. Four more Arkadia Fast novels, several romantic suspense series, my Urban Fantasy, and who knows what else I’m going to come up with. I promise you this, though, I won’t write anything boring.
~ Leslie

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