Swoon Sunday: Wade Miller from Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Welcome to Swoon Sunday where you get to meet some of our swoon-worthy heroes. Today we have a visit from Wade Miller from Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance by Danielle Younge-Ullman.

So Wade, tell us more about what you do for a living.

I’m an actor on TV and in film.

That must involve a lot of traveling. Where do you call home?

Los Angeles—I have a great pad, bought with my own money, in the Hollywood Hills.

What is your biggest dream/wish/desire?

I want to play one of those big parts in a movie that changes the world, or changes how people think and feel in the world, at least. And I want to win an Oscar of course.

What’s your biggest regret?

Getting hooked on painkillers and sent to rehab, for sure.

Describe your idea of an ideal date.

I think the best kind of date is when you start out doing something a little crazy, a little risky—lake parasailing or cliff jumping. Because you really get to know someone that way, and you find out if they’re up for a challenge, if they’re fun, if they’re too worried about how they look to have fun, and it gets everybody’s blood pumping. Doesn’t matter if either of us good at whatever it is—if we end up laughing about it, that’s good too. Then I’d take her to dinner somewhere exclusive where I know I can get a table right away…a nice, quiet table. No movies, even if I’m in them. Especially if I’m in them, because then I’m thinking about work too much. Dinner, a good conversation, maybe a long walk…up my driveway if I’m lucky.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

I like to dream big, and so I don’t like it when people say “no” to something I want to do before they fully hear me out. Say yes! Seize the day.

Boxers or briefs?

Boxer briefs.

Early bird or night owl?

Total night owl.

If you had to describe yourself as an ice cream flavor, what flavor would you be?

Butter Pecan.

Chunky peanut butter or smooth?

Smooth, baby. All the way.

Thank you Wade for joining us!

Check out this excerpt from Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance to find out what happens with Lola and Wade.

We both laugh, and water swirls around my ankles.

“But Carlyle, what happened?” he says, his expression getting serious again. “Last I knew, you were a kid and now you’re here. What’s the deal?”

“Oh,” I say with a dismissive wave, “just a bit of a drinking thing. You know how it goes.”

“Right…”

“Yeah…”

“I wondered about something,” he says, coming closer.

“What?”

“You, ah, you kissed me, Carlyle.”

“Oh, you noticed,” I say, trying to be nonchalant even as my heart rate increases.

“Yeah, I noticed. Hard to miss.”

“Well then, so I did.”

“So…? What was that about?”

“Poor impulse control?”

“Really?”

“No.” I swallow. “Actually, I always wanted to kiss you. Figured I’d check it off the list.”

“Off the list?”

“Yep.” I shrug like it’s no big deal, even though my legs feel like Play-Doh. “So, now I have.”

“And?”

“And it was fun,” I say, and then turn and start walking back along the shore toward Talia.

Wade follows, half walking, half paddling in the shallow water.

“Wait, wait! So…you had a crush? During the movie? Are you saying you had a crush on me?”

“I wanted to kiss you, that’s all,” I say over my shoulder.

“That’s a crush, Carlyle. I call that a crush.”

“Maybe.”

“Why didn’t you say something? I know we lost touch for a bit, but you could’ve called me. Or friended me on Facebook, followed me on Twitter,” he says, all the while struggling to get out of the water and balance his board.

“Followed you on Twitter? Please. I’m not some cheesy fangirl.”

I searched Facebook early on, but he wasn’t there. By the time I looked again he had three thousand “friends,” most of them female. And I do follow him on Twitter, but not as me and not that I’d admit it, ever.

“But you’d have been my cheesy fangirl.” He comes up beside me, carrying the board by his side. “I’m very fond of cheesy fangirls.”

“You have enough of those.”

“My loss.”

“I’d be a bad cheesy fangirl. I’d get bored. I’m too fickle, I’m crap at the adulation thing, and I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing you on a T-shirt.”

He howls with laughter.

“Plus, I have trouble sharing.”

He stops laughing and looks at me. “Sharing, huh? You sure?”

I feel a moment of eww, but brush it away. “Very.”

We get closer to Talia on her rock and the lifeguard station, and our walking slows almost to a stop, as if by silent agreement.

“By the way,” Wade says, “I’m sorry about your parents.”

“Aw, no big deal.”

“Of course it’s a big deal. It’s your parents.”

“Sure, but it happens all the time, right?”

“Not where I’m from. Well, not as much.”

“That’s why you started out sweet, W.A.D.E.”

About Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance:

Lola Carlyle is lonely, out of sorts, and in for a boring summer. So when her best friend, Sydney, calls to rave about her stay at a posh Malibu rehab and reveals that the love of Lola’s life, Wade Miller, is being admitted, she knows what she has to do.Never mind that her worst addiction is decaf cappuccino; Lola is going to rehab.

Lola arrives at Sunrise Rehab intent solely on finding Wade, saving him from himself, and—naturally—making him fall in love with her…only to discover she’s actually expected to be an addict. And get treatment. And talk about her issues with her parents, and with herself. Plus she has insane roommates, and an irritatingly attractive mentor, Adam, who’s determined to thwart her at every turn.

Oh, and Sydney? She’s gone.

Turns out, once her pride, her defenses, and her best friend are stripped away, Lola realizes she’s actually got a lot to overcome…if she can open her heart long enough to let it happen.