Today there’s a Contemporary Romance that has such a fun premise and is a great way to ease into fall.
Blurb:
They’ve only got a week. They need to make it count.
Coy Blackburn is an up-and-coming country singer, but right now he feels more like he’s down-and-going. He’s at the end of a long tour, and his band is dragging. A week-long gig at the Faro tavern in Konigsburg, Texas, may get them back on their feet or it may be a disaster. For Coy, it feels like it could go either way.
Lexi Markham is living life on auto-pilot at the moment. As the main driver at her family’s tour business, she spends her days taking tourists around the Texas wineries and trying to get over her breakup with her lying fiancé. Now her sister has booked her to drive a country band around town, and she’s definitely not feeling it.
When Coy and Lexi meet, sparks fly—and not it a good way. Still, trust the power of music (and a back country cloudburst) to overcome a few bumps in the road. But can they even think about the future when they’ve only got a few days together?
I LOVE the limited-time trope.
Here’s an excerpt:
Lexi propped herself against the doorway watching the band slide into the complete number. After a moment, Deirdre stepped up behind her. Lexi didn’t recognize the music the band was playing, but it must be one of their regulars, given the easy way they seemed to be moving through the verse. As if they felt comfortable with what they were doing. After they’d played a few minutes that were strictly instrumental, Coy stepped to the microphone and began to sing.
The words weren’t familiar, but she found herself listening closely. Something about a couple that had broken up but still had feelings for each other. The man in the song missed the way they’d been together, even though he didn’t exactly miss the woman herself. It was a complicated kind of lyric, a lot more complex than she might have expected.
Lexi wasn’t sure if she’d heard Coy sing before or not. The last time she’d heard them rehearse, she hadn’t paid much attention. She was fairly certain now she’d never really heard him sing. His voice was deep and resonant, but not exactly a bass. More like baritone. Something about the way Coy sang those complicated lyrics began to reach deep into her senses. He wasn’t really living the song, but he made her feel as if the feelings he described weren’t totally unfamiliar. As if he knew how to make her feel them, too.
A shiver traveled up her backbone, and her arms seemed to tingle. She checked to see if she had gooseflesh.
So, I wondered about her inspiration, and this is what she told me:
There were a lot of sources of inspiration for Take That Ride, my most recent Konigsburg, TX,book, but if I had to choose one, it would be music. Specifically, Americana music. I’m a true fanof that spinoff of country/folk/regional music. But I think a lot of people who listen to and enjoyAmericana don’t realize that’s what they’re hearing. It’s “outlaw country” or “roots rock” or“folk” or “Delta blues.” In reality, it’s all of the above and more, which is why I’m so fond of it.
I loved the idea of a touring musician coming to a Texas Hill Country town, specifically my TexasHill Country town, Konigsburg. I’d already had a musician heroine in my earlier Konigsburg book, Fearless Love. But MG was a Konigsburg resident, and I really wanted to try a story with
someone who was an outsider coming to the slightly closed world of Konigsburg. And I wanted this musician to specialize in the music I love, and to like some of the musicians I like. Coy Blackburn, my hero, is a touring musician based in Nashville. But he’s been on the road fora while with his band, and things seem to be coming apart at the seams. His band members are sniping at each other, the music is going to hell, and Coy himself is so tired he’s having a hard time caring. He needs time to recharge, and he’s got a week-long gig at a Hill Country tavern to pull it all together again. But does he have enough energy to do it?
As it turns out, what he needs is music. He discovers a collection of seventies country and folk rock that reminds him of what he loves about what he does, as well as making him fall in love
with the place where he’s doing that rediscovery.
I needed a heroine to set off against my musician, and I knew I didn’t want another artist because I wanted some contrast between them. Instead, I took my inspiration from tour drivers I encountered in San Diego. They were tough, knowledgeable, and frequently female—women
who could wrestle a bus through traffic while reeling off tourist facts for their riders. I liked the idea of my heroine being a driver like them, and I also liked the idea of her driving the hero and his band.
I worked in a trip around the back country ending in a run through a cloudburst and flash flood, just to show what my heroine can do at the wheel of her SUV. And yes, that trip is so that she can take some pictures of back country scenery because she’s a photographer in her spare time. So she’s also an artist, but an artist with a practical streak.
When it comes to inspiration this time around I’ve got music, a resourceful woman in what’s sometimes considered a man’s job, and the Texas Hill Country, one of my favorite places. As inspiration goes, that’s a nice trifecta. I had a lot of fun putting it all together, along with a few twists and turns along the way. I just hope it’s an enjoyable ride for everybody else, too.
And this makes me want to read it even more.
About the author:
Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance. Meg’s Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing and from Meg’s indie line). Her new cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Along with contemporary romance, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Soul Mate. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.
Website: http://www.MegBenjamin.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/megbenjamin
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/meg_benjamin
Twitter: http://twitter.com/megbenj1
Email: meg@megbenjamin.com.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Take-That-Ride-Konigsburg-Texas-ebook/dp/B0CB9BZBGT
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D. S. Dehel 