Nashville Crazy Blog Tour! (+Giveaway!)

Title: Nashville Crazy

Author: Bethany Michaels

Series: Naughty in Nashville

Pages: 183

Date Published: 2015

Publisher: Dragonfly Press

Format: Kindle

Genre: Romance

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:
When Harper Perry’s latest Hollywood debacle blows up the internet, the fallen starlet returns home to Nashville…and the man she left behind. She needs someone to make her Tennessee home livable--someone who will be discreet while she lays low and lets all the negative press blow over. Former lover Dan Ryan is just the handy man for the job. With her personal life being primetime tabloid fodder, her career on the skids, and her concert tour facing cancellation, Harper has a lot to figure out. The last thing she needs is the irresistibly sexy handyman working his way back into her life…and her bed.


Dan Ryan has never forgotten the girl who left town the second he confessed his feelings for her ran deeper than the sizzling hot hours they spent burning up the sheets. And with half a dozen women on speed dial, he’s tried! But once he sees Harper again, he knows why no other woman has ever touched his heart--he gave it away to Harper years earlier. Now that she’s back in town, however briefly, Dan is determined not to let Harper get away a second time...even if he has to give up everything he’s worked for to keep her.

~A Mom's Guide to Surviving Summer Vacation: God Bless Party Pizza!~

It’s summer here in Nashville, and I have four teens/tweens who are out of school for nine glorious weeks. Well, glorious for them. Don’t get me wrong—I love spending more time with the kids. Really, I do. They are getting to an interesting age. They are becoming their own little people, arguing with everything I ask them to do, bickering constantly, eating everything in my house as if they’ll never see another Poptart again in their lives. So sweet. As fun as all this is, I don’t get a nine-week vacation. I still have to work my day (night) job, sleep, try to wrangle the laundry heap into submission (this is the year—I just know it!) and oh, yeah, write books. For most parents, normal life does not pause during the summer months just because the kids don’t have school stuff to keep them busy and out of the house most of the day. Here are some things I’ve found help me survive the summer:

1. Teach the kids to make their own food and drinks. At this age, cooking for themselves is a novelty. It’s fun! It’s exciting! It’s only a slight fire hazard! (We live about two blocks from the fire station, so it’s fine.) Put things within easy reach for quick meals. Tweens and teens eat constantly. I stocked up on paper plates and make sure I always have bread, bologna and cheese in the house. Also, the lemonade packets you just have to mix with water. Lately they’ve been making Party Pizzas—those small one-serving pizzas that cost about a dollar at Kroger. What a feast! (if you’re 12). Don’t worry, I stock the fridge with healthy stuff, too. They love fruit and they love yogurt. And dry cereal. I swear, my kids’ middle names should have been “Kelloggs”. They’ll snack on that stuff all day, thereby leaving me to write, sleep (I work nights) or clean house. The only meal I have to cook is dinner, which usually consists of Papa John’s or burgers when I’m on deadline with a book. They get it. They love it! 
2. Teach the kids (and husband) Latin. Ok, really you only need one phrase in Latin to get through the summer: quid pro quo. You do something for me and I’ll do something for you. This can take many forms. Sometimes I negotiate the kids doing extra chores. “If you fold this basket of laundry and bring it upstairs, we’ll go get ice cream later, after I make my word count goal.” My laundry gets done, the kids are distracted from the bickering and hey, I get ice cream, too. It’s a win, win, win. Sometimes I just negotiate for straight-up writing time. “Let me write for two hours and we’ll go to the park.” They go off and watch tv or go outside to play basketball, I work on my book. (Netflix and Hulu plus—best $20 I spend all month!) My son made me a great sign for the back of my desk chair—he sticks it on there when I’m working. It says “Get Lost. I’m writing.” See, they get it!! It works on husbands, too, but they are usually not as easily bribed. Still, I’ll trade a back rub for an hour of uninterrupted writing time any day.
3. Multi-task. This worked especially well when my kids were little. I’d take the kids to the park and bring my laptop. On rainy days, I’d take the kids to McDonald’s Playland—and bring my laptop. Dr’s appointments? Yep, laptop came along, too. Sports practices, games (when you have to be there an hour early), picking up or dropping off (how many hours of my life are spent waiting in the van for one of the kids to come out of practice or a friend’s house, anyway? I probably don’t want to know.) All good times to pack a small notebook in the old mom-purse and jot down a few words while you’re waiting. Even if you don’t achieve a huge amount of word count, you’re still writing and keeping the story fresh in your mind, so when you ARE sitting in a relatively quiet space by yourself (bedroom closet) you can really pound out those words.

These methods should work for all parents who work at home, whether it’s writing or accounting or just trying to keep a lid on the ridiculous amount of housework the rugrats generate. The key is understanding and accepting that you won’t really have any quiet time to yourself until the kids go back to school…or you send them to an all-summer camp somewhere in the Adirondacks. Once you accept this reality, you’ll start to find pockets of time and horde them like the last M&M in the couch cushion.

Hope you have a great summer!
P.S. Kroger is running a sale on Party Pizza right NOW!

~Try an Excerpt!~

“One more thing.”

He moved into her space, crowding her against the counter. His body pressed into hers, making her suck in a deep breath. He looked down at her, stroked the line of her jaw. Her body responded with a delicious shiver.

“What?” she managed to get out, fighting the urge to grab a handful of his tight t-shirt and pull him even closer.

He bent his head slowly, not taking his eyes off hers, giving her a chance to protest, to move out of the way, to tell him to stop.

But she didn’t do any of those things.

Instead, she let her eyelids drift closed and leaned into him. He kissed her softly at first, just nibbling at her lips, teasing her, making her want more. Then he dipped inside and she tasted the sweet pastry. She let out a sigh and prepared to settle into the kiss, but just as quickly as the kiss had begun, it was over.

Dan pulled back. “This is something else we need to discuss,” he said, stepping away.

“What?”

“How much you want me. And what we’re going to do about it.” He grinned at her. “See you at lunch.”

He sauntered out the back door, whistling, and a moment later, Harper heard his truck pull out of the driveway.

~Meet Bethany!~ 

Bethany Michaels is the author of over a dozen steamy contemporary novels as well as a few Regency-set historicals and light paranormals. The first book in her “Naughty in Nashville” steamy country music series, Nashville Heat, was a finalist in RT Magazine's Reviewers' Choice awards for Best Small Press Erotic Romance.

She also creates cover art for indie authors through Dragonfly Press Design (www.dragonflypressdesign.com).

When not writing, Bethany enjoys movies, travelling, the outdoors, volunteering with her kids' scout troops and visiting the cool places around Nashville where her books are set. A native Hoosier, she now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and children.

Bethany Michaels will be awarding a Naughty in Nashville prize pack(paperback copies of all five Nashville books plus lots of local Nashville goodies, US and International) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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