Spotlight & Giveaway: He’s with the Band by Julie Stone

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome romance author Julie Stone to HJ!

Hi Julie Stone and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, He’s with the Band!

 
Thanks so much for having me! I’m excited to chat with your readers!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Campbell’s rock and roll re-do is not what she expected, it just might be better.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The lights were bright and flashing to the point I couldn’t see
past the first row, not that I would have tried to look if it was
possible. All I could think to see was the man dancing with
me. The man who had pulled me up on stage, who held my
hand to his lips as the driving beat sent me tumbling back
to the girl I’d been the last time I’d seen him. Though, back
then I’d never captured his attention.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This book was inspired by my love of live music, especially the 80s music I grew up with.
• The earliest version of this book was both Vince and Campbell’s POV, alternating.
• I LOVED getting to write the song lyrics for this book.
• Because this takes place on a concert tour, its multiple settings and locations.
• Sarcasm just might be my love language, and so it is Campbell’s as well.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Back in the day, Vince was drawn to Campbell’s curiosity, the way she treated everyone on the tour as equals, and her ability to hold a conversation. He liked the way she looked at the world, and the words she used to express that. Seeing her again brings that all back for him. Reminds him of who he wanted to be.
Campbell is drawn to Vince’s soft interior, the one he hides behind his gruff exterior. His loyalty. Oh, and the lines that crinkle around his eyes when he smiles.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

That longing music creates, personified.
 

The First Kiss…

Twenty years in the making.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

I absolutely love the scene on the motel roof in Colorado.

“Wow.” Vince, understated as always.
“You missed this part last time.” I said, finally pulling my hand away.
“Yeah, by the time I got up here, it was nothing but a sky so dark it looked navy, dotted with a million stars.”
I smiled. That’s how I remembered it too.
I walked to the edge, pulling my camera around from where it hung over my shoulder and started snapping. Moving slightly to change the angle, flipping from horizontal to vertical. Lost in the colors, the mountains. All of it. When I turned around, Vince had set the cooler down next to the chairs and was watching me.
My face red, I walked over and flipped open the cooler.
Beer. Sandwiches, and a bottle of whiskey.
He raised an eyebrow. “We may need that room if we drink all that tonight.”
The thought of Vince and me in a tiny motel room made the skyline tilt a bit. I sat down.
“Not if we pace ourselves.”
“Valid. What can I start you off with?”
I glanced towards east. “Whiskey with the setting sun.”
“It’s called alpenglow.” Vince said. His voice was low, and it seemed more gravelly than usual.
I turned to see he was staring at the same thing I was, still standing, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, his face transfixed by the beauty we were witnessing.
“Alpenglow?” I looked back at the mountains, now lit up even more pink than just seconds earlier.
“When the sun dips just below the horizon, it throws its rays on the mountains opposite.” He nudged me and handed me a glass of whiskey, on the rocks. Then he sat down next to me and in silence we watched as the sun finished setting, the pink fading to black.
“I had no idea it had a name. I remembered it as something almost mystic from years ago. I wanted to see if I had made it up, if my memory was making something more amazing than it actual was.” I was still staring at the void and not at Vince even without the glow it was hard to tear my eyes away. “But that proves it wasn’t all rosy retrospection.”
“Rosy retrospection? That’s quite a turn of phrase.” Vince chuckled, and I turned to look at him.
“I had the opposite with you, you know.”
He tilted his head. “Do tell.”

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

Campbell finally getting a ride on the tour bus.

“So, now that everyone is awake, what were you saying about giving me a real tour bus experience?”
“I can help with that,” Alex was awake now too, and went behind me to the bar. I heard the sound of a champagne cork popping. And then he was setting it down on the table in front of me with flutes to go with it.
“This seems awfully high-brow.” I reached for a glass, and Rex grabbed the bottle and started pouring.
“Best way to wake things up in the morning.” Tony said, pulling a deck of cards from his pocket and setting them on the table.
I glanced at my watch. “It’s one o’clock in the afternoon.”
Davis laid his arm along the back of my chair. “That’s considered morning on the road, doll.”
I shifted away from him. I didn’t want to insult him, but doll was really the worst nickname.
I reached for the cards. “How about this, if I beat you, you never call me doll again. And if you beat me, we can change this game into one that looks a hell of a lot more like the photos I saw of the last tour.”
Rex’s whole face broke into a ridiculous smile. “You mean…”
“Yes. Strip poker.”

Readers should read this book …

If they love music. More specifically, if they love the way music fills you up, takes you down memory lane. If they are looking to read a love story about a woman falling in love with herself, and the love of her life. And bonus points if they love that the couple they are rooting for have a few years under the belts.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

This book is the first in a series , with the best friend in the earlier book being the heroine in the next. So, right now I’m working on Marissa’s book. In it, she accidentally becomes a social media influencer, finding love in the most unexpected place and proving to the world that she isn’t too old for anything. I am hopeful that this will continue in another book with her friend Rachel, and then finally wrap it up with the friend featured in all of the books, Sam.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A Signed Paperback of He’s with the Band and a limited edition “Golden Tiger Reunion” T-shirt

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Is there one decision you’d go back and change if you could? Where do you think life would have taken you if you’d made that choice?

 
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Excerpt from He’s with the Band:

The voice that launched pretty much every fantasy of
my youth—Davis Scott. I let myself succumb to the song.
Singing along, remembering. That summer, my Golden
Tiger summer.
My heart squeezed.
I crossed the room to where Jack had left his liquor
(which was only for show and guests anyway), pulled out
a bottle of whiskey, and poured two shots. I handed one to
Marissa, who took it skeptically. White wine and margarita
Mondays were as crazy as she got.
“Cheers to the good years!” I said and threw back the
whiskey.
It burned, like whiskey always does, but this time it felt
good. Like a cleansing.
I poured another.
“I thought I’d feel different when the divorce was final.
Like I had a new life. But the thing is, it’s all still the same.
Same ridiculous beige house, same uninspiring job I hate.
Just no Jack.”
Marissa did her shot, throwing her head of jet-black
curls back in dramatic fashion.
“No offense, but your job is pretty terrible. All those
annoying parents and screaming kids.”
I nodded. My ears felt warm. “Don’t forget about the
sulky teenagers. They might be worse, yours excluded of
course.”
“Of course. Sasha is never sulky.” She rolled her eyes.
“You know, once upon a time, I wanted to be an actual
photographer. I had talent, too. Or so I was told.”
“You should quit your job,” Marissa said, a slight
whiskey slur to her words, but to my fuzzy brain, it sounded
like a good idea.
I nodded in agreement. “I totally should.”
The song switched to a pounding beat. The bass coming
in low and hard, and then the guitar. I turned the volume up
so loud the pictures on the walls shook.
By the time the vocals started, Marissa and I were
shout-singing along and dancing. Jesus, how long had it
been since I danced? We made it the whole song, collapsing
on the couch as it transitioned into a ballad. My heart was
pounding.
“I cannot believe I still know all the words!” she said
breathlessly.
“I don’t think I could ever forget them.”
I poured us another shot, the booze spilling out onto the
cream carpet I despised.
“If I sold this crappy house, I could quit my job and live
off the money until I figured out what’s next!” I exclaimed.
“Clean slate.”
Marissa nodded her encouragement. “Now you’re
talking. Take control of your own destiny!” We upended
our shots, slamming the glasses down on the Pottery Barn
coffee table in—you guessed it—beige as though it were a
water-stained bar top.
I let my head fall back on the couch, embracing the way
the whiskey was somehow able to make all the harsh edges
of my life smooth. I hummed along to the song, grasping at
the fine threads of that perfect summer. I turned the album
over in my hands, so familiar but so out of context in these
uniform walls. Destiny, that was a word I hadn’t thought
about in a long, long time.
“I think I read somewhere that they’re launching a
reunion tour, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their
first album,” Marissa mumbled.
My head rolled in her direction. “Who?”
She blinked. Slowly and then again.
“Golden Tiger. Something about going back to their
roots. Before the stadium tours. To reconnect with their
fans.”
The burn in my throat caught fire in my cheeks. Their
first tour was the one I followed.
When I was someone else.
She fumbled for her phone, typing with her thumbs and
then holding it directly in front of my face.
My eyes struggled to focus. I reached for her hand to
steady it and bring it closer.
There he was, Davis Scott. His mouth pulled to one
side in his infamous smile. They were all there. Tony. Rex.
Alex. Slightly older, but no less attractive, their arms slung
around each other’s shoulders in that casual cool way. I felt
my insides go weak. The headline screamed at me from the
screen.
Golden Tiger Is Coming Back to the Stage
The band that showed the world how to rock and roll
is headed back on the road. They all but disappeared
without so much as a smoke machine send-off. But
they’re back. Gone are the giant stadium tours—
instead, they’re bringing it back to the venues where
they got their start. Playing the small clubs and
bars that made them famous for their intimate but
raucous shows. Do they still have that magic that set
them apart, and can they measure up to the bands
they inspired? Time will tell, but shows are already
selling out, so clearly their fans are thrilled by the
news.
Marissa pulled her hand away and poured us another
drink.
“If they have a show anywhere near us, we should totally
go,” she slurred, handing me my glass.
I wasn’t the sort of person who believed in signs, at least
Jack and I had had that in common, but as I stared at those
familiar faces, the taste of whiskey in my mouth, a new song
began.
If you can’t love yourself, at least come let me love you.
Baby, don’t you know? I can love your life right, when
you’ve done it all so wrong.
I picked up her phone, still open to the article. The first
show was in Chicago, only a short five hours from our quaint
little Iowa existence.
“Yes. Yes, we should!” I replied and threw down my
shot.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

After twenty-three years of marriage to an utter jackass and beige décor as far as the eye can see, Campbell Cavett is now divorced. Officially. But how did she lose herself for all these years? Somehow she went from being a bold, starry-eyed young groupie who followed Golden Tiger on tour to…snapping photos of snot-nosed kids for their Pinterest moms at the local Sears portrait studio.

But she takes her Divorce Party one bottle of Pinot Grigio too far and wakes to discover she’s quit her boring-ass job, arranged to sell her house, and has tickets to the Golden Tiger reunion show. Which is exactly when fate and Campbell decide it’s time to pick up where she left off all those years ago.

Now Campbell’s on tour as the official photographer of her favorite band and living the life she’s always dreamed. But backstage access means that she’s about to discover a whole lot. Not just about herself, but about a blast from her past who looks way hotter than he has any right to twenty-plus years later. Plus there’s that mind-blowing secret Golden Tiger’s been hiding from everyone. They say time can heal anything. But is six weeks on the road enough to truly start fresh?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Julie Stone was born a child of the seventies, complete with rainbow shirts, roller skates and magic rocks. All that whim and whimsey ushered her into the wonderful world of being a teenager in the eighties, something she has a hard time letting go of most days. She grew up watching John Hughes movies, pegging her jeans, and avidly reading everything Judy Blume and Sweet Valley High.
Alas, she had to leave it all behind and become an adult. Graduating from the University of Iowa where, along with a degree in English, she also earned herself a husband and embarked on all of the regular, boring grown up things that come with age. Until the magical world of motherhood brought along a new chapter of joy, terror and sleepless nights. But also, nap time. Suddenly there was occasion to go back to her creative calling and write. Through raising two kids, several moves around the Midwest, those stories and that keyboard kept her company and kept her, relatively sane. (Depending on who you ask.)
Now settled back in her home state, she writes Rom-Coms with a more mature heroine, because Happily-Ever-Afters shouldn’t have an expiration date. Always a fan of big hair and an even bigger fan of Eighties music, she is currently working her way through a bucket list of reunion tours.
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