Author Carolyn Brown guesting along with a giveaway!!

 Hello! It’s great to be visiting here at your blog site this morning. And a big, big thank you for the awesome reviews you have given me! I Love This Bar started the Honky Tonk series in June. Hell, Yeah, the second book in the Honky Tonk Series came out a couple of weeks ago. The third book, My Give A Damn’s Busted, will be on the shelves the first week in October and the fourth, Honky Tonk Christmas, will be available the first week in November. So there’s lots of country music, boot scootin’ boogies, belt buckles, cowboy hats and cowboy boots in store for the readers. Grab a cold beer and put a couple of quarters in the juke box.

Since I’ve been asked to discuss my five favorite songs and how they relate to love I’ll pick out the songs and tell you why such strange songs relate to love in Hell, Yeah!  I will even give you proof of why they are love songs.

Number one has to be “Redneck Woman” by Gretchen Wilson. And you are all raising your eyebrows because that song is anything but a love song?

Well, in Hell, Yeah it is very much a love song. Gretchen has just belted it out from the juke box in the Honky Tonk and here comes Travis in the door, ready to kiss someone for good luck at the stroke of midnight. How about an excerpt for proof?

“Ten, hell yeah!”

The women yelled with Gretchen Wilson as she sang “Redneck Woman” and asked the redneck girls to give her a big hell yeah as the New Year’s countdown began … Cathy O’Dell was halfway across the dance floor headed for the bar when she stopped to look at everyone who’d be kissing someone in four more seconds. She remembered the previous year when she had someone to kiss. Even if he did turn out to be a first-rate son-of-a-bitch, she missed the excitement of bringing in a brand new year with a kiss.

“Four, hell yeah!”

She looked up to see a cowboy coming right at her. She blinked several times. It wasn’t possible. Her imagination was playing tricks like it had for twelve years.

“Three, hell yeah!”

Watching him cross the floor in those long strides made goose bumps the size of mountains rise up on her arms.

“Two, hell yeah!”

Was he deranged or just drunk? If he didn’t stop soon he would plow right into her.

“One! Hell yeah!” The noise shook the rafters.

He stopped with the toes of his scuffed up boots barely an inch from her feet and wrapped his strong arms around her, tilted her chin with the flat part of his fist, and kissed her hard and passionately.

“Hell yeah!” the whole crowd roared when their kisses ended.

That kiss set Cathy and Travis both on an emotional roller coaster that turned their lives inside out and upside down. Every time either of them heard the song they remembered the steamy hot kiss that had glued them to the floor that night so it was definitely a love song.

Number two: “Why’d You Come in Here Looking Like That,” by Dolly Parton. I see eyes rolling again. Take a sip of beer and let me explain. Cathy was havin’ trouble keeping her eyes off Travis with his tight fittin’ jeans and pretty eyes and she was wondering why the devil had sent him to shake her roots.

Travis had a hip propped on the side of the other pool table. Merle said something to him and he smiled. Heat vibrations started in the depth of Cathy’s heart and warmed her from the inside out. Between customers she stole glances that way and looked her fill of him. He was at least six feet three inches because he was slightly taller than she was. He had dishwater blond hair with that just-crawled-out-of-bed look. Light brown thick lashes and brows. Nice wide chest that narrowed to a tight, firm rear end. The whole picture set her hormones to singing one of Dolly’s old country tunes, “Why’d You Come in Looking Like That?”

Number three: Are you ready for this? “That Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” by Trace Atkins. No eyes going up to the ceiling? Good! Either you’re getting used to my crazy love songs or else the beer is loosening you up. You see there was this night when Travis was sleeping at her place … on the sofa … and that song kept going through his mind. I believe the man knew even then that he was falling in love with her but he was still fighting against it.

Travis hummed “That Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and thought about how often he’d stared at Cathy’s cute little fanny every time her back was turned. The words to the song asked just how she did get them britches on? Travis didn’t care how she got them on; he wanted to take them off. He pulled the covers up and shut his eyes and dreamed of her again that night.

Number four: “Behind Closed Doors,” by Charlie Rich. Ah, I see a few heads nodding. I chose that one because it was playing the first time Cathy and Travis danced together after the Tonk closed down one night.

He tipped her chin up and brought her lips to his for a lingering kiss. “Behind Closed Doors” played as the kisses went on and on.

“But I really am too tired to say ‘I want to,’ like Charlie Rich is singing,” Cathy whispered.

He kissed her eyelids and her forehead before going back to her lips. “For tonight this is enough.”

And number five! Drum roll please because I know all of you are going to agree with me. “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” by Elvis. Do I hear a big hell, yeah from the crowd? I thought so. Trouble is I’m not going to give you an excerpt from that song. Suffice it to say that you must read the book and find where that fits into Travis and Cathy’s story. But it is a love song and it plays while a major scene is going on in the Honky Tonk.

And now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite love song and why?

All Excerpts © Carolyn Brown, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010

HELL, YEAH BY CAROLYN BROWN – IN STORES AUGUST 2010

She’s finally found a place that feels like home…

When Cathy O’Dell buys the Honky Tonk, the nights of cowboys and country tunes come together to create the home she’s always wanted. Then in walks a ruggedly handsome oil man who tempts her to trade in the happiness she’s found at the Honky Tonk for a life on the road with him…

He lives the good life…

Gorgeous and rich, Travis Henry travels the country unearthing oil wells and then moving on. Then the beautiful blue-eyed new owner of the Honky Tonk beer joint becomes his best friend and so much more. When his job is done in Texas, how is he ever going to hit the road without her?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carolyn Brown, an award-winning author who has published 36 romance novels for the library market, credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. http://carolynlbrown.com/

GIVEAWAY!!

Sourcebooks is sponsoring a giveaway for two readers to win Hell, Yeah!

USA and Canada Only

***You must answer Carolyn's question above  What’s your favorite love song and why?***

***You must be a follower/subscriber of this blog to enter ***

Winners announced on September 6th.

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.