Spotlight & Giveaway: My Life As A Mixtape by LJ Evans

Posted November 23rd, 2018 by in Blog, Spotlight / 49 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author LJ Evans to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

 

Hi LJ EVANS and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, MY LIFE AS A MIXTAPE!

Hi everyone, I’m so happy that you stopped by HJ to talk about my new release, MY LIFE AS A MIXTAPE. This book makes me so happy and sad at the same time. I love Lonnie and Wynn’s story, but I’m sad that it’s the last book in the standalone series.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Lonnie and Wynn have always been background players in the lives of their superstar friends. But when Wynn comes back to her hometown in Tennessee to recover from a divorce and a life that she thought was hers but wasn’t, and Lonnie finds himself in the same town making sure that his best friend and bandmate doesn’t make a huge mistake, they fall into each other’s orbit in unexpected ways.

The last thing either Wynn or Lonnie is looking for is a relationship. The last thing either of them is looking for is each other. But, suddenly, destiny takes over and finds them both singing a new tune.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

This book is about starting over and about unanswered prayers leading to love that was always destined to be, so my favorite lines are:

“One mistake doesn’t make you a failure.”
AND
“You didn’t choose me. I didn’t choose you either. We were always meant to be.”

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • My sister demanded that I write a book about Lonnie after reading about him as the teasing sidekick in MY LIFE AS A POP ALBUM.
  • My hubby came up with the title AND the larger-than-life series epilogue idea that ties up the entire series. I’m lucky, you see, the man I love insists on reading all my words even when he isn’t a romance reader.
  • I first intended Lonnie to be Wynn’s one-night stand after her divorce, but once I started writing it and made both their lives

 

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

Lonnie is drawn to the contradiction that is Wynn. Her mix of control and freedom, sadness and happiness, and confidence and vulnerability. He’s drawn to her ability to give unconditionally to others even while her own life collapses.

Wynn is attracted to Lonnie’s ability to be a friend to someone who isn’t his friend as he helps her laugh through her tears. And then, she finds it irresistible the way he can set aside all the things that are making him unhappy to enjoy something so completely in the moment.

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

First, if my book was optioned, I’d squeal like no one has ever heard a squeal before. Then, I would use the scene from the “Take Your Time” chapter when Lonnie and Wynn are on the dock in the middle of the lake and Lonnie gives Wynn hope for her future after being divorced at 25.

“One mistake doesn’t make you a failure,” I replied automatically but truthfully.

She didn’t respond, and we just laid there watching the stars wink into existence in a way I never got to see in L.A. Here in this part of Tennessee, they were out nightly. And here at the lake, they were stunning. Like her, glimmering…shiny…heart wrenching.

“Look at it this way,” I told her. “Now you get to have a whole bunch more firsts.”

“What?” she asked. I could feel her looking at me now, and I risked turning my head to meet her eyes. They were so pale that it was hard to see them in the darkness that had settled over us as the sun disappeared.

“You know. First time getting drunk…after the divorce. Well, hell, you already did that.” She smiled weakly, and I continued. “How about first date…after the divorce? First kiss…after the divorce. First time making love…after the divorce. It’s like you get a whole shitload of do-overs now but with more experience than you had when you did those things the first time. You can do them better than you did them as a kid.”

She held her breath at my words and stared at me. Then she leaned slightly forward and kissed my cheek.

 

Readers should read this book….

Because the characters will worm their way into your heart and make a permanent home there. Because it is a beautiful slow burn that twines music and romance with friendship and family and ends with hope and new beginnings.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m working on a contemporary women’s fiction called SUNSHINE AND ELM about a broken one-hit wonder who runs into her childhood sweetheart ten years after she was forced to leave him behind in their tiny Texas town.

AND

An untitled urban fantasy about a fairy godmother’s union that is stealing all the magic from the world and the snarky, twenty-year-old virgin who is destined to stop them with the help of the chiseled badass who saves her life.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $10 Amazon Gift Card, eBook of each of the first three books in the series, and a SWAG bag mailed via snail mail to the winner. If winner is International, they will need to have Kindle address for me to email the books to after adding me as a safe sender.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you could have one famous musician come into your life, who would it be and why?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from My Life As A Mixtape:

“You have chocolate…” and I swiped a thumb at the corner of her mouth where it transferred from her skin to mine. I brought my thumb to my mouth and sucked the chocolate off while she watched, eyes wide, lips parted, breath increasing.

I leaned in slightly, closing the gap between us so that we could smell the chocolate sweetness on each other’s breaths. It was stronger than the berry scent that always surrounded her, but that was still there, too. Like an aphrodisiac to my senses. Chocolate and strawberries.

She watched as I bent closer to her, her eyes journeying from my lips to my eyes as they had earlier in the day. And I finally let myself touch her. Lips to lips. Skin to skin. As soon as my mouth touched hers, she moaned as if it was something she’d been waiting for as long as I had. I pulled her from the couch so that she was sitting on my lap and didn’t hold back.

I devoured her lips as I’d been dying to do. The sensation of her softness filling me in a way a woman’s lips had never filled me. Calling to my heart as much as it did to my groin. Her full lips pushing against me, calling me home. I ran my tongue across them, tasting more of the sweetness that surrounded her not just because of the cupcake.

She let me in, my tongue tangling with her own. Every nerve ending on my body was alive, feeling every inch of her that was touching me. Lips, tongues, fingers. Where her beautiful curves were touching my thighs. Where her soft neck lay against my shoulder.

It was worth every single second that I’d waited to kiss her like this. To feel every part of me reach out to every part of her. To know that she was mine. To know that, even though I had resisted almost as much as she had at first, that this was the plan all along. Us. Together.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

LONNIE
I came to Tennessee to help a friend.
And now, I’m stuck.
By the Southern charm,
By the sweet tea and
By a tall, red-headed “Strawberry Shortcake.”

And when my world crumbles apart,
Wynn is there to help me pick up the pieces.
To show me the way.

WYNN
My life was a huge disappointment.
My marriage,
My job,
Everything slipped away.

Coming home seemed like the final failure.
But then I meet him,
Lonnie Brennan, the sexy bass player,
Who adds laughter to my life.

And now, I realize that I can
Change my tune,
Sing a new song.
Book Links: Amazon |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Award winning author, LJ Evans, lives in the California Central Valley with her husband, daughter, and the three terrors called cats. She’s been writing, almost as a compulsion, since she was a little girl and will often pull the car over to write when a song lyric strikes her. While she currently spends her days teaching 1st grade in a local public school, she spends her free time reading and writing, as well as binge watching original shows like The Crown, Victoria, and Stranger Things.

If you ask her the one thing she won’t do, it’s pretty much anything that involves dirt—sports, gardening, or otherwise. But she loves to write about all of those things, and her first published heroine was pretty much involved with dirt on a daily basis. Which is exactly what LJ loves about fiction novels—the characters can be everything you’re not and still make their way into your heart.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
  
 

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49 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: My Life As A Mixtape by LJ Evans”

  1. Diana Tidlund

    Willie Nelson I’ve always admired his talent as a songwriter and musician

  3. Mary Preston

    I’m going with Mozart. That kind of genius would be worth meeting.

  4. Didi

    I can never pick just one name, but I agree with Evelyn, Adele seems like a good pick. Not only she’s talented she seems so nice and down to earth.

  6. lorih824

    Alan Jackson because I think he has a beautiful voice. I also think he would be an interesting person to get to know.

  8. laurieg72

    I really like the love, emotion and poetry of Chris DeBurgh’s songs. Lady In Red, So Beautiful, You Are My Paradise and Song For Rosanna are such beautiful, heartfelt songs.

  9. Jaime Long

    Gary Allan…there is just something about that man that does it for me. LOL!

  10. Tammy V

    David Bowie. I always loved how he did things he wanted to do no matter what critics said. I absolutely love his duet with Bing singing Little Drummer Boy.

  14. Caro

    Freddy Mercury, I just love Queen and I’d love to hear about his life first hand.

  16. Kathleen Bylsma

    Warren Zevon….his songs are so moving…cheating: John Prine……”Hello in There” ….I mean, who can not like that song?

  17. John Smith

    “If you could have one famous musician come into your life, who would it be and why?” Paganini, because he would play something nice on the violin.

  19. Teresa Williams

    Kane Brown .I’ve really fell.in love with some of his songs.He seems like he’s so down to earth.

  24. erinf1

    Either Adele or Ed Sheeran b/c I think we could be friends 🙂 thanks for sharing!

  25. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    Bon Jovi because I’ve liked him for the longest time
    Thanks for the chance!

  27. Joy Tetterton Avery

    Jon Bon Jovi because I love his music and I have many good memories I associate with his songs. Plus he seems to be a genuine good person.

  28. Monique D

    Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. He’s a true Renaissance man, a fantastic singer, he has a wicked sense of humour. He’s an accomplished fencer and a pilot; he’s one of a kind.

  32. Jana Leah

    I’d love to meet Tina Turner. She’s so talented & has experienced a lot in her life.

  33. Marisela Zuniga

    Chris Young, i love his music and he sounds like an amazing person that i would love to be friends with

  38. Glenda

    It’s not an easy choice really. Since I just saw Bohemian Rhapsody, I’m going with Freddy Mercury. The man had an amazing voice.

  39. Jillian Too

    I would like to meet Alison Krauss because I like how she combines softness and power.

  43. Stephanie Grant

    That’s a tough question but I would have to go with Vince Neal from Motley Crew because he is my very first crush!

  45. Celeste Herrin

    PRINICE because I was always so fascinated by his many different talents. I always admired him.

  46. Tracy Shafer

    Bruce Springsteen. I first heard the Born to Run album when I was 10 years old and have loved him ever since. I went through a really bad period in my life in my early 20’s with an abusive person and Bruce’s songs helped me through…

  47. Debbie Penney

    I would love to meet Loretta Lynn and her family. They seem down to earth.

  49. Clarissa Hiciano

    I would have love to have met Michael jackson because he was the king of pop