Friday Favourites is a new feature on my blog where you have a chance to learn more about my favoruite authors in a blitz interview and see what their favourite books are.
This week my guest at the blog is Ms Jessica Topper, author of the rockstar romance Louder Than Love (my 4-star review) and the series of contemporary romances/women's fiction Much "I Do" about Nothing.
Friday Favourites
Red Rocks. It’s an open-air concert amphitheatre in Colorado, nestled into the landscape. Because the stage is literally surrounded by rock, the acoustics are amazing, and the scenery is breathtaking. I once saw a double-rainbow appear over it, Magical!
2. Favourite food and drink
I am currently obsessed with Chuao maple bacon chocolate bars. The salty/sweet combo is addictive! My drink of choice is Crown Royal with ginger ale, and I tend to make the characters in my books drink it, too.
3. Favourite music/genre/artist/song
Almost impossible to choose! I appreciate all kinds of music, depending on my mood. I’ll tell you what’s in my car’s 5-disc CD player right now: Sam Roberts Band, Iron Maiden, Black Eyed Peas (that might be my daughter’s CD), Arctic Monkeys and Chet Baker.
4. Favourite movie/TV series
When Harry Met Sally makes me laugh every time I see it. I don’t watch much TV, but Shameless is the one series I watch faithfully.
5. Favourite hobby besides writing, if you consider writing a hobby
Yoga, although lately I haven’t had much time to practice it.
1) Girl Goddess #9 – short stories by Francesca Lia Block. She is an auto-buy author for me, and the books she released in the 1990s made a huge impact on me.
(Young Adult, LGBT, Fantasy)
2) How to Kill a Rock Star - Tiffanie DeBartolo Best random library find ever – the title grabbed me first, then her voice hooked me.
(Rockstar romance, realistic)
3) Bad Haircut: Stories from the Seventies - Tom Perrotta. Clever and funny, even if you didn’t grow up in the 70s.
(Short stories, coming of age, humour)
4) The Collector – John Fowles. Not my usual genre, but so well done.
(Literary ficiton, suspense/mystery)
5) The One That Got Away – Bethany Chase. A new favorite, and a promising new Women’s Fiction author
(Women's fiction, contemporary)Author bio and links
Jessica Topper is an ex-librarian turned rock and roll number cruncher. By day, she does bookkeeping for touring rock bands. By night, she creates books of her own. She is the author of two novels from Berkley: Louder Than Love, and Dictatorship of the Dress.
Her forthcoming release, Courtship of the Cake (Much "I Do" about Nothing #2), releases June 2nd. Here is the synopsis and you can also read an exclusive excerpt. Enjoy!
Synopsis
“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride” has suited Danica James just fine…until the mysterious man who crashed her sister’s wedding steals her heart, leaves a slice of groom’s cake under her pillow, and then disappears.
Hoping to forget her unforgettable fling, Dani takes a job as a backstage masseuse for a rock music festival, not expecting the tour’s headlining bad boy to make an offer she can’t refuse. Nash Drama needs a fiancée—and fast…
Mick Spencer is the best wedding cake designer in New Hope and the town’s most eligible bachelor. But despite the bevy of bridesmaids he’s sampled, Mick can’t get the evening he spent with Dani out of his mind.
So when she shows up for a cake tasting at the Night Kitchen—with his former best friend’s ring on her finger—Mick vows to charm the woman of his dreams into choosing a sweet and sinful ever after, with him.
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Exclusive Excerpt
“Smooth,” Dani said drily. “You should try frosting a cake with those moves.”
“I do. Every day. And I can’t wait to frost yours.”
“Not going to happen.” Her cheeks reddened. “The ‘cake consult’”—she air-quoted—“was Nash’s idea of a joke. He just wanted to bust your balls when he got to town, Mick.”
“Oh, so you two are not in need of a wedding cake, then?”
“I didn’t say that,” she stammered.
“Then I do need your help.” Reaching into my back pocket, I slid out the pair of photo booth strips I had taken out of my bakery appointment book. Her copies had been keeping mine company since New Orleans. She’d played her hand that night just as well as I’d played mine, and it was now time to return these to their rightful owner.
“I’m looking for this girl I’ve lost. Have you seen her?” I placed them in her hands.
Dani had been working to keep her shoulders held so defiantly, but at the photographic proof of our chemistry, I watched them drop in surrender.
“Yeah, I know her.” Her voice was whisper soft. “Used to, anyway. Heard she got herself engaged to another guy.”
“Because she plans on loving, honoring and cherishing him? And vice versa? Until death parts them, and all that jazz?”
Because I didn’t believe that for a second.
Dani’s eyes widened, and her delicate nostrils flared. But she remained mute, leaving my challenge un-refuted. She moved to give the photos back, but I shoved my hands in my pockets and refused to take them. Not gonna happen.
And this wedding wasn’t going to happen, not if I had anything to say or do about it. And suddenly I knew exactly what I was going to do.
I was going to go above and beyond. I was going to exceed expectations.
I was going to ruin their day.
Nash would not be having his cake and eating it, too. Not this time.
“You deserve a beautiful cake,” I said, gauging her reaction. “I insist. It’ll be my wedding gift to you and Nash.”
Dani’s lips parted and puffed a surprised sigh at my three-hundred-sixty-degree turn. “Seriously?”
“You heard Nash. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Who am I to stand in the way of . . .” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, just gestured with my hand.
“Of what Nash and I have?” she tested. Or perhaps she was having trouble buying into the words, too. Was that too much to wish for?
“Exactly.”
“And I don’t want to come in between whatever it is you and he have,” she said softly. “You guys have known each other your whole lives.”
“Nash was the closest thing I ever had to a brother,” I admitted. “I love him dearly. But sometimes . . . sometimes I’m allowed to hate him fiercely.”
The blink of her long lashes flashed a wicked game of Truth or Dare. “He’s probably going to want you to be his best man, you know.”
“I know.”
And may the best man win.
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I hope you enjoyed the blitz interview and the short excerpt from Courtship of the Cake! Make sure to stop by next Friday when my guest will be the amazingly talented Alexis Hall.
