Iโm every womanโฆ
Admit it. Youโre singing with me, arenโt you? Whitney Houston could sing the
heck out of a song, and whenever Iโm jamming out to this one in my carโI have
mad car-dancing skills, yโallโI canโt help but think, I
am every woman,
Whitney!
Donโt tell me Iโm alone in this.
One of my favorite things about being an author is the ability to truly run with
this concept. On any given day, I can become a chef, a fire fighter, an event
planner, or more recently, a budding marketing genius for a country music label.
While thereโs a piece of my personality and soul in every heroine I write,
thereโs so many new things I get to experience only through them.
While I have a lot in common with Arabella Stone, the heroine in
YOUโRE STILL
THE ONE, there are some noticeable differences. For example, we both had
starry-eyed crushes on celebrities and wrote embarrassing fan fiction during our
awkward preteen years, but sadly, I never grew up to meet (much less skinny-dip
with!) Jordan Knight or Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block. The real me
is much too boring for that.
Also, Arabella and I both enjoy taking care of the people we love, spoiling them
with culinary treats, but her morbid love-affair with dishes is
not a
passion that we share. I personally consider the dishwasher to be one of the
worldโs greatest inventions. Every time I watch an episode of House Hunters
International where the future tenants see an apartment sans dishwasher, I
immediately scratch it from my list. As if I have a stake in where these people
choose to live anyway.
I didnโt meet my significant other in the menโs room, and Iโm certainly not the
daughter of Nashville royalty. But I
do have incredible friends, a
strong relationship with my father, and a fascination with old Hollywood.
Iโm also a list-maker.
See, this is Arabellaโs thing. Her summer top-ten list is one for the record
books, and because of it, she stretches her wings, steps out of her comfort
zone, and experiences more than a few escapades with the bad boy of country
music, Charlie Tucker.
Sometimes fiction inspires life. While my husband and I drafted bucket lists a
few years ago, listing things we wanted to experience before we cashed in our
chips, Iโd never considered creating a list of goals for a short period of time
until I wrote this book.
Thanks to Arabellaโs summer list, Iโve decided to create my own list for 2016. A
top-five set of attainable goals that may just lead to a more daring me:
What about YOU, friends? What fun, adventurous things would make your 2016
short list?
Rachel Harris grew up in New Orleans, watching soap operas with her
grandmother and staying up late sneak reading her mam's favorite romance novels.
Now a Cajun cowgirl living in Houston, she still stays up too late reading her
favorite romances, only now, she can do so openly. She firmly believes life's
problems can be solved with a hot, powdered-sugar-coated beignet or a thick
slice of king cake, and that screaming at strangers for cheap, plastic beads is
acceptable behavior in certain situations.
She homeschools her two
beautiful girls and loves watching reality television with her amazing husband.
She writes young adult, new adult, and adult Fun, Flirty Escapes, and LOVES
talking with readers!
Love is one dare neither of them can take...
Arabella Stone,
Nashvilleโs darling, is eager to shuck her prim-and-proper rep, and a few wild
months spent checking items off her โ summer bucket listโ is the way to do it.
First up: kiss the man sheโs crushed on since she wore a training bra, the bad
boy of country himself, Blue bassist Charlie Tucker.
For Charlie, a
beautiful woman flirting with him isnโt out of the normโbut a beautiful woman
bolting after the hottest kiss of his life sure is. And when he finds out his
kiss-and-run Cinderella is none other than Arabella Stone, daughter of his
labelโs CEO, he knows heโs in trouble. Because not only is she a Stone, sheโs
also his employee for the next few months at the recording studio he just
bought.
Over the course of one thrilling summer, Arabella and Charlie chip
away at her bucket list and fight the simmering attraction between
them...knowing that once it's all over, so is their time together
Zip line...I'm not a fan of heights, nor me not being in control...this ought to take care of two things ;)
(Kathleen Bylsma 9:10pm February 16, 2016)
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