Eight Weeks to Mr. Right

Every reality show needs a villain. But what happens when no one steps up?

January Burleigh never expected to go on reality TV. But when she found out that the young CEO of her dream company, a major perfume house, would be the inaugural Mr. Right on a new dating show, she thought it would be a good way to get her foot in the door. Now, the cameras have finished rolling and January is back in her hometown of San Francisco, caught in limbo until the episodes air and she can make her next move.

On the night of the first episode, January runs into her old high school boyfriend, Ben Strafford, who throws all of January’s plans for a loop. It’s been thirteen years since they were together, but his familiar, comforting scent is still the same, as is the way he brushes his hair out of his eyes and teases her with a single raised eyebrow.

When January discovers to her shock that the dating show’s producers have cast her as this season’s villain, it’s Ben she turns to for support. But January is keeping secrets from Ben — secrets that threaten to tear them apart. Especially when being with Ben would mean giving up everything she’s worked so hard for.

As each new episode reveals a little bit more about what really happened during filming, January must make a choice about where her allegiances lie, what is real and what is fake…and ultimately, what her future holds.

This is a sweet, chick-lit style romance novel. It contains mild sex scenes and no cliffhangers.

Enjoy this sneak peak:

I sipped at my wine and glanced around me. The bar was buzzing with activity, but something caught my eye. I blinked. Ben?

My high school boyfriend strode through the door and up to the bar, only feet from where I was sitting. I swiveled around in my seat to get a better look. Yes, it was definitely him.

He looked amazing. While he’d always been an attractive guy — medium-brown hair that always seemed to fall over his haunting green eyes, a smile that would make you forget your own name — in the years since I’d known him he’d turned into a man. He was tall with a well-sculpted body and a gentle but confident demeanor. Not bad, high-school me, I thought. Not bad.

“Oh wow, January!” he said when it hit, and a huge smile spread over his face. I smiled back and got up to give him a big hug. “You smell amazing,” he said when we broke apart.

“Thanks!” I said with a grin. “I made the perfume myself.”

I opened my mouth to ask about his life, but a woman walked up to us and tapped me on the shoulder. “I’m sorry to bother you,” she said timidly. “But aren’t you the girl from that new Mr. Right show?”

My eyes flitted past Ben’s face toward her, and I saw his confusion. “Oh…” I said, simultaneously embarrassed at having this happen in front of Ben and proud to have been recognized before the show even started. “Yes, I am, actually.”

“I knew it!” the woman said, clapping her hands together in distinctly Midwestern excitement. “I’ve seen you on the ad all week, and when I saw you here I just thought, ‘That has to be her.’”

“You’re on what now?” Ben interjected, an amused look on his face.

“I, um…I’m about to be on a reality TV show,” I told him.

“What kind of show are you on?” he asked, that same amusement still filling his voice.
I swatted at him playfully. “You can drop the tone. I know it’s silly. It’s a…it’s a dating show.”

He raised his eyebrows. “All right then. I see you’ve gotten desperate since we broke up. And did you get the guy?”

I laughed and looked down at the floor. “I can’t tell you that. You’ll just have to watch. It starts tonight.”