Spotlight & Giveaway: SWEET MEMORY by LJ Evans

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

Hi LJ Evans and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, SWEET MEMORY!

 
Thank you so much for having me here today to talk about the first book in my brand-new series. I’m madly in love with these characters and hope that everyone falls just as hard for them as I have.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Sweet Memory is the first book in an intense, fast-paced series! The idea for them came to me while writing a scene with a diverse rock band for a bonus epilogue. Suddenly, the entire adventure wound its way through my mind, but I knew it was going to be the toughest series I’ve ever created, so it’s taken me two years to finish them all.

Paisley and Jonas’s HEA is…well… an epic journey. They start young and idealistic and then go through the worst of times before finding themselves again. The story gives you full access to every part of their lives. The innocent joy. The heartbreaking tears. And the all-consuming reconciliation several years later.

She’s the youngest, sweetest member of her band. He’s a troubled music producer trying to shed his mistakes, and when they come together it’s cataclysmic.

The Painted Daisies series has an all-female rock band, the alpha heroes who steal their hearts, and suspense that will leave you breathless. Each full-length novel has a different HEA couple and a completed suspense plot, but the series is best read from book one to keep track of the overarching murder mystery.
 

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

There are two quotes I want to share because they really show the headspace and dynamic of both the main characters.

Here’s one from Jonas:
“I’ll prove I can be the man she deserves.”
He’d show the entire world Paisley Kim wasn’t settling for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, but falling for a man who helped her shine.

And here’s the one from Paisley:
The kiss was fierce in a way she was never fierce.
Certain when it was the last thing she ever felt. A kiss that refused to let him walk away from her.

He’s full of angst and regrets. She’s shy and trying to break out of her cocoon. When they fall together, it’s all earth-shattering attraction and desperate longing.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• One: When I was looking for a band name for the series, I went through hundreds of them. All the cool names were already taken. I searched for names using places, objects, colors, and even feelings. I think my friends were ready to toss me over a cliff if I asked them one more time if they liked a particular name. But then I stumbled onto a type of daisy called the “Painted Daisy,” and I was like, this is it. Then, I went down an entirely different rabbit hole. Did you know there are hundreds of types and varieties of daisies? Well, there are! And that’s how each book in the series got its name. The title and the flower on each cover is the daisy representing the band member who is in it. For example, Paisley Kim is the singer/songwriter/pianist of the group and her flower in the band is the “sweet memory” daisy which is the flower on the cover of her book. It’s also all over her equipment and her leather jacket, etc. It was kind of fun figuring out how the daisy matched the band member’s personality AND the mood for the book.
• Two: If you’ve read any of my books, you know that music plays a very important role, twining itself into the words and inspiring every chapter. The songs on the playlist are the chapter titles and are meant to be listened to as you read the book. It’s a whole “mood” thing. The songs and the chapters belong together. While I was writing this series, I found some incredible, new-to-me artists. Two of my favorite finds were Dami Im and The Brothers Bright.
• Here’s a picture of the Sweet Memory Playlist, and the link to it on Spotify in case you want to see how this book came to life with music. https://spoti.fi/3y21AZk

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

What first attracted Paisley to Jonas is the fact that he didn’t see her as a shy, kid musician but a brave artist with a story to share with the world. She loved arguing bands and songs with him when normally she could barely speak to anyone off stage. But as time passes in the book, what truly attracts her to Jonas, what really makes her fall, is how he’s willing to put her first no matter what it costs him.

And Jonas? He doesn’t just see a quiet rock star, he sees a dynamo waiting to bloom, and he wants to do anything and everything to make sure that happens. He wants to be the one at her side, helping her shine her light on the world, and he’s willing to go to blows with anyone, including her over-protective, big sister to make it happen.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There are a couple of chapters in the book where I was actually sobbing while writing them. Full tears and goosebumps. And the ending… goosebumps all over again. But I can’t share those with you because of the huge spoilers related to them.

Instead, why don’t I share a sweet scene that shows just how connected these two are and makes my heart sing every time I read it.

He placed his hand on the valley between her small breasts, palm opened wide, feeling the banging of her heart. Then, he closed his eyes and replaced his hand with his ear.

He stayed there lost, listening to the music she was making with her body, just for him. He was there so long she finally whispered his name in confusion. “Jonas?”

“Shh. I’m listening to your heartbeat. I’m finding your rhythm so I can match it.”

She made a strangled noise in her throat as if his words had hurt her, and then she was pulling him up and kissing him again. Hot and fierce like she had at the studio. As if proving to him that this, them together, was all they ever needed to face the world.

Readers should read this book….

Fair warning, this book is an emotional roller coaster. Joys and sorrows. Loss and discovery. I can’t promise I won’t make you cry, but I do promise you’ll be smiling in the end.

It has:

• Female Rock Star
• Troubled Hero
• Opposite Sides of the Track
• First love
• Second-chances
• Stalker suspense
• Self-discovery
• Diverse characters
• Heartache and angst
• Family and friends who’ve got your back

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

Right now, I’m putting the finishing touches on the last book in the series (LJ, squeals uncontrollably), and holy snack cakes, is it an adventure! This final story feels like it takes every single aspect of all the ones before it and combines them into a heart-wrenching journey I hope readers will never forget.

The best thing about this series? You get all five HEAs in five months!

March 15th – SWEET MEMORY, is a second-chance, opposite-sides-of-the-track story. The world’s sweetest rock star falls for a troubled music producer whose past comes back to haunt them.

April 12th – GREEN JEWEL is an enemies-to-lovers, single-dad romance. He did it. She’ll prove it. Her body’s reaction to him be damned.

May 17th – CHERRY BRANDY is an opposites-attract, forbidden romance. Being on the run with only one bed is no excuse to touch her…until touching is the only choice.

June 14th – BLUE MARGUERITE, a frenemy, second-chance, celebrity romance. She’ll never forgive him for humiliating her. Not even when he offers the answers her family desperately seeks.

July 12th – ROYAL HAZE, is the stunning conclusion to the series. It’s an antihero, secret society romance. He was ready to torture, steal, and kill to defend the world he believed in. What he wasn’t prepared for…was her.

I hope you’ll join me on the journey, and get swept away!

Reminder: Each full-length novel has a different HEA couple and a completed suspense plot, but the series is best read from book one to keep track of the overarching murder mystery.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed paperback of Sweet Memory and 12-pack of The Painted Daisies Character Cards.
U.S. only, sorry!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite type of flower?

 
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Excerpt from SWEET MEMORY:

She inhaled sharply, pain hitting her eyes, and then she was pushing him away. She jumped off the counter, retrieved her clothes, and reassembled them on her body all while he watched.

When she lifted her beautiful eyes to his face, they were no longer soft. They were hard and angry, but she was still painfully quiet when she finally spoke.

“You really think I’d do that to either of us?” she demanded, hands on her hips, looking very much like some fiery sprite. “Bring her anger into this with us?”

He ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he was going to get out of this without pissing her off or leaving more wounds on her heart.

“I think, right now, you want to prove she’s wrong.”

Her eyes closed and opened almost as if the words had been a slap to her face. “She is. But that isn’t why I want this. I want this because I never feel like I’m truly home until you’re touching me. I want to know what it feels like when you’re fully inside me and our bodies become one. I want to find the end of the song we’ve written together. There’s no reason to keep stopping us.”

He swallowed hard, her words echoing what he’d been thinking moments before and settling into his heart like a Band-Aid over cracks that always seemed to bleed. But he reminded himself of the harshest truth. The number one reason he refused her. He simply wasn’t sure he was the man she deserved. Not yet. Maybe never. Right now, he was still a broken kid who tended to ruin everything he touched with roiling anger.

He had so much work to do before he became…something worthy. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get there, but he wanted to try because Paisley Kim…she was his whole world. A shiny star in a sea of dark. She brought so much damn beauty into his life that it physically hurt, and he wanted to make sure he could give her the same thing back.

Paisley closed the distance between them, drawing his hand into hers, aligning their palms.

“Two years, Jonas. I’ve missed you…wanted this…for two years. And now that we’re here, this close, I don’t want her to be the reason we aren’t together.” Paisley shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

Jonas swallowed. “We barely knew each other then, sweetheart. And now…now I’ve got a lot of things to work on, and I think you know that as much as Landry does.”

“We belong together. We’re two pieces of a whole. You need me to ground you, and I need you to lift me up,” Paisley said quietly, eyes begging him to admit the truth. “She shouldn’t be able to take that from us.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The world’s most beloved rock star falls for a troubled music producer whose past comes back to haunt them.

As the youngest member of The Painted Daisies, keyboardist Paisley Kim’s entire life revolves around writing songs and playing music. It’s easy for her to fall head over heels for producer Jonas Riccoli from the moment he enters her life. Amidst their fiery arguments about music and lyrics, it feels like he’s the only one who sees beyond her stage fright and shyness to the bold, brave musician she wants to become.

However, not everyone in the band is happy for the new couple. When her sister, Landry, warns her to stay away from the troubled producer, Paisley doesn’t listen, and her sister pays the price.

Jonas thinks Paisley is the woman he could spend his future with, until his past catches up to him and Landry is murdered. He blames himself, and so does the brokenhearted Paisley, who walks out of his life without looking back.

But when she decides to offer herself up as bait to catch the killer, Jonas returns to Paisley’s side. There’s no way he’s going to let her face the danger alone. He’ll be there to keep her safe even if she doesn’t want him, even if it means his own destruction.
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Award-winning author, LJ Evans, lives in Northern California with her husband, child, 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. A former first-grade teacher, she now spends her free time reading and writing, as well as binge-watching original shows like Ted Lasso, Wednesday, Veronica Mars, 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 why LJ loves fiction novels—the characters can be everything you’re not and still make their way into your heart.

Her novels have won multiple awards including CHARMING AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM, which was Writer’s Digest’s Self-Published E-book Romance of the Year in 2021.
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