The Next Big Thing Blog!! ~ Rumor Has It

I got tagged in the Next Big Thing blog hop by Mary J. Mccoy-Dressel!  So this is my Next Big Thing blog, featuring my April release with Champagne Book Group.

      1)      What is the working title of your novel?

Rumor Has It

      2)      Where did the idea for the novel come from?

I was listening to a song, actually.  I live in a very small town where everyone knows your name, backstory, and projected future.  Whether their opinion on any of these things are correct or not has little bearing on what everyone ‘knows’ so rumors tend to make the world go round.  Just thinking back to some of the more interesting things I’ve heard about myself—most stranger than any fiction I could concoct—I found the premise for this fun erotic romantic story.

3)      What genre does your novel fall under?

Contemporary Erotic Romance

4)      Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Well, it’s sort of got a romcom feel, so Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds would be awesome.  I adore Ryan’s chest.  *purrs*

5)      What is the one sentence synopsis of your novel?

An Elvis Impersonator, a single mother/former showgirl, The World’s Longest long game, and one precocious child…Rumor Has It things are getting interesting.

6)      Will your novel be self-published or represented by an agency?

Rumor Has It will be out in April from Champagne Book Group.

7)      How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Oh, two days?  It’s a shorter story.  Edits took longer than writing it.

8)      What other novels would you compare this book to within your genre?

Um…I don’t know.  I’ve not really tried to compare my work to others.

9)      Who or what inspired you to write this novel?

I have a friend who asked if I wrote a book about him.  So, this one is very, very loosely my response.  Lol!  He also lives in this small town and the rumormills have run him through their storytelling before so I figured he would see the humor there.

10)  What else about your novel might pique the reader’s interest?

Elvis? Check.  Showgirl? Check.  Small town? Check.  Hot romance? Check.  Um, besides that, it’s full of snark and humor…

Blurb:

Elvis left the building a long time ago…

Liz knows that there are some things you just can’t live down. Marrying an Elvis impersonator was one of her biggest mistakes yet when he comes rolling back into town, needing a place to couch surf, she can’t say no to the father of her child.

And someone else took his place…

Jeremy has been engaged in the world’s longest long game. For thirteen years he has loved Liz and her daughter but never made a move, waiting for the right moment. When her ex-husband shows up out of the blue, he realizes it is time to put up or shut up.

But now that Elvis is back, the rumors are flying.

Jeremy makes his move, leaving Liz in a tailspin. Elvis comes back, the man she has always secretly loved is making moves…but why now? The sparks fly and the gossips mouths are running…but will Liz find the love she has been waiting for or will the small town gossips destroy her like they did so long ago?

I tag and nominate the following bloggers as The Next Big Thing:

Heather Geoffries

Heather Long

Megan Slayer

Wendi Zwaduk 

Kristy Bock

Excerpt:

Liz made some dumb mistakes in her life...marrying an Elvis impersonator in Vegas, for instance. That shit they tell you about stuff staying in Vegas? Lies. Just sayin’.

The Elvis was a guy she knew since high school. Vernon decided he was going to be a professional poker player, moved to Vegas and became an Elvis after he was there but still…

No one lived down being the small town girl who married Elvis. Not where Liz lived.

Small town Ohio is good for one thing. Gossip.

Slamming her car into park, Liz glared at the man outside her window. “This better be good.”

“You know I am good, baby. We had a few years solid of good and—”

Glaring at her ex-husband, Vernon, the Elvis impersonator, Liz let her lips turn up in a smile which said nothing about being happy and a whole lot about being threatening. “For starters, I spent about four thousand dollars to stop having good times about a decade ago, Vernon. Call me baby again and I am gonna shove my foot up your ass sideways.”

Clearing his throat, he tried another route. “A child needs her father and I came back to—”

“You can stop that line of bullshit right there. Don’t tell me after seven years of running around doing everything to avoid child support, and anything else considered parental, you are having a sudden wash of caring for your child. How about you try again, sans bullshit?”

“Lizzie, you don’t know how hard my life has been and—”

“Vernon, if this is why you called me, I am driving away and leaving you and your bag right here at the Greyhound station and you can just plop your ass on the next bus outta here. I don’t want to hear about your life.”

As if someone flicked a switch, his inner asshole shone through his plaintive expression. Angrily, he jabbed a finger at her. “You never did understand me. You always were judgy and superior and did everything just perfect, didn’t you?”

At this, she laughed but the laugh held as little humor as her earlier smile. “Apparently not. I married you.”

Silence fell as they glared at each other. Liz couldn’t be sure what he thought but her brain whirred with possibilities, all of which ended with his demise. Cutting his black heart out with a spork gained high marks in the pro column. He sighed, shoving one hand through his Elvis-thick hair. “I need a place to stay. Just for a week or two. Until I can get on my feet.”

She snorted. “I have known you thirty-four years, Vern. You have yet to get on your feet. What is going to change in the next two weeks?”

“I don’t want to fight, Lizzie.”

“Elizabeth,” Liz corrected, but she weakened. “If I let you stay with us for a couple weeks, you can only sleep above the garage, not in my house. You are not confusing Sara with your bullshit.”

“Baby, if you want me in the garage after a couple days of having me around the house, I will gladly stay there. You are looking good, by the way.” His smile practically leered.

Rolling her eyes, she tilted down her sunglasses so she could give him a quick once over. “I can’t say the same. The years have not been kind. And quit calling me baby.”

Snagging his bag, he moved to her passenger side and slid in the car. “Whatever makes you happy, Lizzie.”

“We aren’t doing what makes me happy. If we were, I would be driving away from the bus station and you would be still standing there.”

He laughed. “I always loved your sense of humor.”

Slamming the car back into gear, she ignored him. Shit. This was not how I planned to spend spring break.