July 2018
On Sale: July 17, 2018
Featuring: Ryan De Luna; Maisy Harrison
320 pages ISBN: 1503902838 EAN: 9781503902831 Kindle: B0797SNSSQ Trade Size / e-Book Add to Wish List
My newest release, #MOONSTRUCK, which goes on
sale July 17, is the second in my #Lovestruck series for Montlake about
"hometown" girls who fall in love with celebrities, with the help of social
media. In #MOONSTRUCK,
Maisy Harrison is a hairdresser and lead singer in the fledging rock band
Yesterday. She and her three brothers play in a local bar once a week—and dream
of making the big time. It's actually her friend Angie's obsession with
international pop singer Ryan de Luna, though, that puts Maisy and Ryan together
when he comes to town to perform in concert.
And the obvious question I get asked a lot is, am I—or was I—ever a fangirl of
celebrities? The answer is, YES! And I kind of still am. I make a daily stop at
eonline.com to catch up on entertainment news. I'm glad that I had no Internet
or social media growing up, because I can see how that might have gotten me in
trouble. I might have cyberstalked some celebrities back then!
I've never had a backstage pass to a concert, as Angie and Maisy do in #MOONSTRUCK. When I was a
teenager, going to concerts wasn't something my parents could afford. (There
were nine of us kids in the family—imagine the expense of just feeding us!) I
did get to see The Party in concert for free at Disneyland. Other than that, I
have been to one big pop concert in my entire life. It was the B-52s and The
Go-Gos in the early 2000s. As an adult, I'm not a concert person—too many
people, music too loud, and I typically prefer recorded versions of music over
live performances.
But now, because of social media, fangirls can have instant access to their
beloved celebrities 24/7. And celebrities have used social media both as dating
apps (something professional athletes do a lot) and to gather up their superfans
for launches and releases.
I had fun writing about a gorgeous pop star who is accustomed to girls literally
throwing themselves at him—and a young woman (she's 21), who is more obsessed
with his fancy guitar than with the star's "celebrityness." Turns out, there's a
lot more to Ryan de Luna that his gorgeous face, sexy dance moves on stage and
electric personality. And Maisy's hilarious three brothers are determined to
make sure Ryan doesn't "bag" their sister. Hint: like a lot of Millennials and
Gen Ys, Maisy is saving herself for the marriage bed. But, boy, does Ryan test
Maisy's resolve. The result: lots of sexual tension, especially on the tour bus
when Maisy and her brothers accept Ryan's invitation to be his opening act.
Over one million "likes"—but only one of them matters.
After pop star Ryan De Luna praises Maisy Harrison's YouTube cover of his
classic hit, he offers Maisy and her fledgling band the opportunity of a
lifetime: to be his opening act.
Music may be Maisy's life, but she has one ground rule: never date a
musician. That goes double for a heartbreaker like Ryan. If only she didn't feel
so vulnerable to his larger-than-life charm. And maybe now more than ever, when
he asks for her help to shake off his playboy image. How can she resist playing
the part of his fake girlfriend for the duration of the tour?
Ryan's never met anyone like Maisy. She sees past all the star-studded fame
and treats him like any other guy. And the more time they spend together, the
more he finds himself falling for her. Now he'd like to make their imaginary
fling an IRL thing. But can he convince her to take a chance and trust him with
her heart?
Check out these YouTube videos of songs I wrote, with the help of the talented
band from my Brigham Young University alma mater, TREN.
Click
here to see the music video for "One More Night"
Sariah Wilson has never jumped out of an airplane, never climbed Mt. Everest,
and is not a former CIA operative. She has, however, been madly, passionately in
love with her soulmate and is a fervent believer in happily ever afters—which is
why she writes romance. She grew up in southern California, graduated from
Brigham Young University with a semi-useless degree in history, and is the
oldest of nine children. She currently lives with the aforementioned soulmate
and their four children in Utah, along with three tiger barb fish, a cat named
Tiger, and a recently departed hamster that is buried in the backyard (and has
nothing at all to do with tigers).
Sariah's book ROYAL DATE was selected as one of the first winners in Amazon's
Kindle Scout program and is Kindle Press's most successful author to date. She
has sold five books to Montlake Romance, three to Kindle Press and helped launch
Amazon Publishing's Kindle In Motion technology with her release, ROYAL DESIGN.
She was given her own Kindle World for THE ROYALS OF MONTERRA. Sariah has
repeatedly hit Amazon's overall Top 100 (both in and outside the U.S.) and been
a #1 bestseller on Amazon category lists multiple times. Her books have been
featured in USA TODAY and GLAMOUR UK.
"Wilson has mastered the art of creating a romance that manages to be both sexy
and sweet, and her novel's skillfully drawn characters, deliciously snarky sense
of humor, and vividly evoked music-business settings add up to a supremely
satisfying. John Charles, Booklist starred review
"Making excellent use of sassy banter, hilarious texts, and a breezy style,
Wilson's energetic story brims with sexual tension and takes readers on a
musical road trip that will leave them smiling. Perfect as well for YA and new
adult collections. Library Journal
"Where were you?" Cole asked in a teasing tone when I found him at the bar. "Let
me guess. You found the man of your dreams but were too aloof for him to notice
you. That's my IQ. Nobody scares men off the way you do."
I hated when he called me IQ. I was about to tell him as much when I was
interrupted.
"What? Maisy was roofied?" Parker repeated, obviously mishearing the word
aloof. "Who do we have to beat up?"
"I am fine! All of you calm down!" I loved my siblings, but they needed to stop
acting like we were living in the seventeenth century and they'd been personally
enlisted by the king of England to guard my virtue.
"All joking aside, you know how dangerous clubs can be," Fitz added, his worried
expression making me feel a little guilty for not telling them where I was
going.
"I'm fully aware of the dangers, thanks to your many hypocritical lectures." How
was I supposed to tell them what had just happened outside? I hardly believed it
myself. "I think you guys should sit down. There's something I need to talk to
you about."
They warily did as I asked.
I stood silently for a moment, not sure what to say or how they would react.
Better just to rip off the bandage all at once. "So this random thing happened.
Ryan De Luna came to see us perform tonight. He liked what he saw, and he asked
if we wanted to be his opening act for the rest of his tour."
My brothers just gaped at me. Like I'd announced my recent return from exploring
the planet Mars and discovered a new humanoid species there that made me their
empress.
I told them the financial details and how Ryan was waiting to hear from us. "If
we don't meet him at the Brown Bear diner in half an hour, he'll assume the
answer is no."
"Ryan De Luna was here. Tonight. He listened to us play, and now he wants us to
open for him? The biggest tour of the year?" Parker said each word slowly and
carefully.
I nodded. "That's what I just said."
"And he's at the Brown Bear diner right now, waiting for us to say yes or no?"
"Do you guys have a hearing problem? Yes, he wants us to open for him, and yes,
he's waiting for our answer."
All three brothers exchanged glances and without another word jumped to their
feet and sprinted for the back door. Fitz grabbed my wrist, pulling me alongside
him as they ran.
When we were all in the van and Parker had somehow coaxed the beast into
starting, I asked, "Does that mean you're interested?"
Fitz looked at me like I was especially dumb. "This is the biggest opportunity
we've ever gotten. We'd have to be total idiots to pass it up. I just don't
understand why he'd want us to open for him. We're not going to bring in any new
fans. Everybody in the audience would be there just to see him, and we'd get to
benefit from it."
"Yeah, and what he's offering salary-wise is really generous, given where we're
at in our career," Cole added. "He could have paid us a lot less. Why would he
pay us so much?"
"Maybe he's just a nice guy." It was something I had been considering since I
left his car. I had initially assumed he was an arrogant, playboy douchebag, but
maybe I'd been wrong.
We were stopped at a red light. All of my brothers turned to stare at me, and I
could see the moment when all three light bulbs lit up over their heads.
"He wants you," Parker said, forced to face forward as the light changed. "This
is about you."
"No way. This is not about me. I have made it very clear to him that I'm not
interested. At all. The night I met him backstage? He was a total jerk to me. I
called him names. The only reason I didn't hit him was because he has big, scary
bodyguards. And I really laid into him. You guys would have been proud."
"Maybe that's what he's into," Parker murmured to Cole, who nodded.
I threw up my hands in exasperation. "You guys are seriously the stupidest
people ever."
"Even if he tries to make a move on Maisy, and we have to rough up his
pretty-boy face"—Cole kept talking like I hadn't even said anything— "it
wouldn't matter. This will get our name out there in a big way, and if people
like what they see, we'll book new tours and sell our songs. We might finally be
able to make a living as artists."
That hadn't occurred to me until he'd pointed it out. That opening for Ryan
might mean opening for other acts. That we would get to travel all over the
world, performing for thousands of people, building a name for ourselves,
gathering a fan base that would actually buy our music.
Ryan was offering to help us start down the path that would lead to everything
we'd ever wanted.
It seemed too good to be true. "Do I get a say in this? Like always, you guys
have decided what we're doing without even asking what I want."
"Okay, IQ, what do you want?" Cole asked.
"Don't call me that. I don't know what I want. But what if I say no, I don't
want to tour with Ryan De Luna?" I couldn't imagine months of my brothers
jumping to idiotic conclusions where he and I were concerned.
"We need the money." Parker looked at me in the rearview mirror.
We pulled up in front of the diner. I felt both relief and a bit of panic when I
saw that Ryan's car was there. As we climbed out of the van, I was hit with the
smell of pumpkin pie, my absolute favorite. I worried a bit about how the
introductions would go but stopped with my hand on the front door when I
realized my brothers had stayed on the sidewalk, near the van. "What are you
doing?"
"Go on ahead of us. We're going to have a discussion on how to handle your new
boyfriend," Cole said.
If I kept rolling my eyes this hard, I was going to permanently detach them from
my eye sockets. "He's not my boyfriend. He's not even boyfriend-adjacent. We're
not going to date, and the quicker you Neanderthals get that through your
furrowed foreheads, the easier your lives will be. Now I'm going in not because
you told me to but because I really want pie."
Holding up my head, I marched inside. There weren't many people in the diner,
and Ryan sat all the way in the back, near the bathroom. He had his hat and
glasses on. "Hey," I said, sliding into the booth.
He sported that bone-melting smile again. "I didn't know if you'd come."
"Here I am." Yeah, this wasn't at all awkward. How was it possible for one
person to be this good-looking? He sat there looking like a half-Latino Clark
Kent. As if it wasn't bad enough that he was so handsome he could have been a
movie star, he had this . . . power. This draw that made it so you didn't want
to look away from him. Like he was the sun and you were the planet formerly
known as Pluto, desperately wishing you weren't so far apart but knowing he
would burn and consume you with just one touch if you altered your orbit to get
closer.
He was so gorgeous he made you think inappropriate things.
Not that it had ever happened to me.
"What about the rest of the band?"
"Outside, acting like morons." I pointed at them as a waitress approached. I
asked for the pumpkin pie and told her to bring some for Ryan as well. He
started to protest, but I insisted she bring it.
"I don't really eat processed sugar," Ryan said. "I'm into the whole
clean-living thing."
"Me, too. Although sometimes my clean living includes eating a pound of fudge at
midnight."
He nodded seriously. "Oh no, I don't have food issues."
Without thinking, I leaned over and smacked him on his manly forearm. "I don't
have food issues!"
He laughed. "The pounds of fudge consumed at midnight would suggest otherwise."
Which made me laugh, too.
The waitress returned with our slices of pie, topped off with Cool Whip, and we
both thanked her. I immediately dug in and couldn't help but let out a little
moan when the combination of pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg hit my
tongue. "This is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to my mouth."
"That's sad."
He was such a flirt. And I had the racing heart rate to prove it.
"It's not sad. It's amazing. Try it."
Ryan took one tiny bite, just enough to taste it. "It is good. But I can say
with all confidence that it's not the best thing that's ever happened to my
mouth." The fiery intensity of his stare was enough to make my Cool Whip melt.
I swallowed hard. He was making this difficult. I was going to go on tour with
him unless my idiot brothers were outside coming up with a way to ruin that, and
I didn't know how I would be able to handle a sweet, nice, flirtatious Ryan De
Luna.
Maybe it was just a waiting game. If I gave him enough time, he'd go back to
accusing me of using his cousin to make him jealous. Or bragging about how great
he was or how women worshipped him. Something.
Then I could get over this teeny physical crush I had on him.
Okay, this King Kong–size physical crush I had on him.
Trying to look away from him was like trying to pry two really powerful magnets
apart. There was a lot of resistance.
Stop staring at him. You've seen good-looking men before. Why are you acting
like this is the first time it's ever happened?
I couldn't stop. I didn't know what was wrong with me.
"So, tell me the names of the other guys in your band."
"Um, the tallest one is Fitz, the one in desperate need of a haircut is Parker,
and the one waving his arms around is Cole."
"Since you don't date musicians, do you just hook up with them instead? Any
history there I should know about? Touring with exes can get complicated."
I choked on my pie and tried very hard not to gag. "Ew. Gross. Zero history.
They're my brothers. And the no-dating thing includes hooking up. I don't, how
did you put it, notch with musicians, either. That's also a rule."
"So, what, you notch nonmusicians?"
I could feel the flush burning its way through all my layers of skin, setting my
cheeks on fire.
"No."
His eyebrows flew up. "Seriously? You've never—"
"Not that it's any of your business, but never. It's something I plan on waiting
for. Until I get married." After watching my mother throw away her entire adult
life, I had no intention of following in her footsteps. I would never give that
much of myself to just some guy. Especially some musician guy. The only way I
could imagine it ever happening was if I was so committed to someone, and so
trusted him, that I was willing to marry him.
Thankfully, he changed the subject. "They're all your brothers?
"Is Fitz short for something?"
"Fitzgerald. Our father wanted to name us all after famous jazz musicians. Cole
is short for Coltrane, and then Parker couldn't really be shortened."
Ryan ate another tiny sliver of pie. "I don't know anyone in jazz named Maisy."
I pushed down the lump in my throat as I thought of my mom. "My mother insisted
that I be named after my grandmother. So my middle name is Ellington."
"Do you get your talent from her?"
"No. She couldn't have carried a tune in a bucket. She used to swear that my
first word was shubbup. When she sang me to sleep, I would tell her to
shut up every single time." I would have given just about anything to have her
sing it to me again, though.
Ryan laughed at my story, and it warmed me inside not only to hear it but also
to share this good memory of my mom. I had actually forgotten about it.
"Does your mother like jazz, too? Is that why she went along with the
jazz-musician names?"
No, she'd gone along with it because she had absolutely no self-respect or pride
where my father was concerned. "She was more of a Beatles fan. If she'd had her
way, we'd be John, Paul, George, and Ringo."
He gave me a serious nod. "I can see you as a Ringo."
Now it was my turn to laugh.
"Is that why your band is called Yesterday?"
"Yep. It was her favorite song."
Ryan pushed the Cool Whip off his pie and looked like he wanted to say something
but wasn't sure if he should. "You talk about your mom using the past tense. Did
she pass away?"
I let out a shaky sigh. "No . . . but it's hard to explain." Especially without
curling up into a ball and sobbing.
He tapped his fork against his plate. "Maybe you'll tell me the story someday."
"Hey."
I had been so caught up in my conversation with Ryan that I had completely
forgotten about my brothers. Now all three of them stood next to the booth,
glaring at us.
"One question, dude," Parker said, taking a step forward. "Are you asking us to
be your opening act so you can bag our sister?"
Romance Music [Montlake Romance, On Sale: July 17, 2018, Trade Size /
e-Book / Audiobook, ISBN: 9781503902831 / ]