Lyrical Embrace

          Out-of-work violinist Erica Timberly decides enough is enough. She leaves her abusive boyfriend and flees the big city, but then her car breaks down in the middle of the night. Though wary of men, she accepts help from Dylan Haynes, a stranger driving by on the road, and soon recognizes him as the sexy former drummer of her favorite indie rock band. Maybe, just maybe, her run of bad luck is finally turning around.

          Music teacher Dylan Haynes knows Erica is in trouble, and her black eye is only the first clue. The stubborn yet vulnerable woman needs a friend, but he’s determined to give her everything she deserves.

          Will Erica listen to the music in her heart and trust Dylan, or will her past always threaten her future? 

     

     Wild Women Authors is pleased to feature, Lyrical Embrace, a contemporary novella-length romance, part of the Deerbourne Inn series out of the Wild Rose Press, and it's creator author Amber Daulton. Along for the ride, is Dylan Haynes. We'll start with him.

Where are you from? There’s only one place I call home, and that’s Willow Springs, Vermont. I’ve lived there all my life, except for the five years I spent in New York City and touring up and down the eastern seaboard with my band, Fortune’s Glory. Only about three thousand people live and work in Willow Springs, but tourists come from all over the world in the winter to ski and snowboard in the Green Mountain National Forest. During the summer, the Fourth of July festival draws in a big crowd. Even though I love New York, it doesn’t compare to my hometown.

Tell us a bit about Lyrical Embrace. It’s about making mistakes, learning from them, and moving on with your life. You see, I joined an indie rock band a few years ago, and I lost myself to the partying lifestyle. After I quit Fortune’s Glory, I moved back home, joined a volunteer firefighter crew, and got a job at Haynes Music Academy, my parents’ music school. I love teaching kids how to play instruments.

     I grew up around music, so it’s a big part of my life, but I didn’t realize what I truly needed until I met Erica. Her car had broken down at night in the middle of a rainstorm, and I stopped to help her out. I could tell right away she would be nothing but trouble for me, but hell, I couldn’t just leave her out there in the cold. Turns out, she was a big fan of my band. We connected over music and hard times, but our relationship wasn’t smooth sailing. Erica was on the run from an abusive prick, which put both of our lives in danger.

What did you think the first time you saw Erica? She was soaking wet and bending over the engine of her car, so I didn’t see how pretty she was at first. I only saw a woman in need of help, so that’s all I cared about. 

And your second thought? That I wanted to get out of the damn rain. Erica is just standing there, trying to decide if she could trust me. She was asking me questions, thinking I might be a psycho or something. The rain is slamming down on us, and I’m doing my best to keep calm and not freak her out.

Was it love at first sight? No way. I definitely liked her, and I wanted to get to know her better, but I didn’t fall head over heels right away. Still, our relationship bloomed fast, and I was smitten within a few weeks.

What do you like most about Erica? Her strength and desire to never give up. She went through hell with her last boyfriend and that bad relationship threatened the sour my relationship with her. Luckily for both of us, Erica pushed aside her reservations and seized the chance to fight for us. I couldn’t be prouder of her.

How would you describe her? Blonde, green-eyed, and tall. She’s strong and stubborn, a hard worker, an excellent violinist, and an all around decent person.

How would Erica describe you? That’s a two-fold question. Back when I was still drumming for Fortune’s Glory, Erica attended the concerts at the clubs and crushed hard on me, but I didn’t even know she existed. I just never saw her in the crowd of screaming, dancing fans. I was nothing but an arrogant, sexist hound dog back then, and Erica knew it. After I stopped drinking and left the band, I headed back home to get my life together. Then Erica and I finally met. I’m not proud of the way I acted before, and I’ve since proved to Erica I’m a changed man. I think she would describe me as levelheaded and giving. That’s the man I want to be. Hopefully, I’ve succeeded.

What made you choose music for a career? As I said earlier, my parents own and operate a music school. I spent my childhood listening to music, writing songs, and learning how to play several instruments. Music is my life, so much that I dropped out of college to join Fortune’s Glory when I was eighteen years old. I’m now twenty-five and retired from performing, but I love teaching a new generation of music-lovers how to rock out on a set of drums or how to strum an electric guitar. Besides that, I’m also a fireman and a certified EMT. After acting like a jackass with my band for five years, I felt like I needed to give something back to my community.

What is your biggest fear? I’d say it’s the same fear everyone has. Losing the person you love. Erica’s ex-boyfriend found her a while back, and I could’ve lost her so easily. I don’t think I’ll ever really get over that moment, and I cherish each day I have with her.

How do you relax? I play the drums. Hitting the hard notes in a difficult song always sends me spiraling to the moon and feeling good about myself.

Who is your favorite fictional character? Not sure I have one. Most of the books I read are biographies or autobiographies of musicians I respect and admire.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? My older brother, Birley, once told me I can’t change the past and that I have to move on from my mistakes. He’s right. The past is just that—the past. The man I am today is the one I choose to be. The life I want is the one I strive for everyday. And I gotta say, I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out. 

Dylan brought along an excerpt of Lyrical Embrace. . .

Erica checked her watch. “It’s almost nine o’clock. What do you want to do now?”

“I have something in mind, but I’d like to surprise you.”

“Ooooh, interesting.” She braced her elbows on the table, weaving her fingers together, and braced her chin on her linked hands. “The movie theater in Montpelier?”

“Nah, it’s too late to go there tonight. The back-to-back movie marathons will have already started by now.”

“You’ve piqued my interest. C’mon, let’s go.” Erica handled the check, to Dylan’s irritation—she asked him to dinner, after all—but he took care of the tip.

After they left the tavern, Dylan pulled her close and circled his strong arms around her waist. Heat radiated from his body as he kissed her in the parking lot.

The shock of his lips on hers stilled Erica’s heart, but then the organ jump-started like an engine. Erica kissed back, desperate to taste him, and she savored the hint of spice on his tongue. She moaned and gripped the soft fabric of his shirt, almost ready to tear his clothes off.

Thanks, Dylan. We'd like to chat with Amber now.

What movies or books have had an impact on your career as a writer? I love action/adventure movies and romance books of most sub-genres, but I don’t have a certain movie or book that has ever influenced me.

What event in your private life were you able to bring to this story and how do you feel it impacted the novella? I wasn’t able to bring in any of my real-life experiences into this story, so I just pulled ideas straight from my imagination. I love music, but I can’t play an instrument and I find song writing difficult. I really respect people who can do that. I love reading and writing stories about people who have had a hard life or have gone through some kind of trauma, and I want to give them a happy ending. That’s what I did for Dylan and Erica.

Tell us a bit about your publisher: how did you hear about them and what influenced your decision to submit to them? The Wild Rose Press is a small press publisher, but also one of the longest running and well-respected publishers in the field. Last year, TWRP sent out a submission call for in-house authors only to write for the Deerbourne Inn, a new multi-author series spanning several sub-genres of romance. I’ve already published one novel with them and was pleased with both my editor’s and the publisher’s professionalism, so I was happy to submit a second manuscript.

What books currently rest on your TBR pile? I can’t possibly answer that question in full. I have almost one thousand ebooks on my Kindle and a few hundred print books in my office. I’ve read a lot of them, but I keep one clicking books on Amazon, so my TBR pile keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Last, what's up next and when can we expect to see it on the shelves?Arresting Mason, book one in the Arresting Onyx series, came out last year, and I hope the second installment in the series will come out sometime in late 2019. Arresting Jeremiah follows hard nosed parole officer Jim Borden and his obsession Calista Barlow as they stick their noses where they don’t belong and fall deep into the trouble with the criminal organization known as Onyx. This series is a set of five romantic suspense books with a standalone HEA for each rough-and-tumble hero and their spunky heroines.

To purchase Lyrical Embrace, go to:

Amazon – https://amzn.to/2ChIhNT

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A bit about our feature author:

Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through The Wild Rose Press and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.

Amber lives in North Carolina with her husband and four demanding cats. Feel free to visit her at http://www.amberdaultonauthor.blogspot.com.

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