Rock With the Rhythm by M.J. Schiller

Hi, Liz! Thank you for having me today and entertaining the boys in the band. I think the rock stars that haunt my writing are born from my husband’s and my love for music, particularly live music. I enjoyed writing my first rock romance series—the LOVE AND CHAOS SERIES, centered around the band Just Short of Chaos—so much that I followed it up with my latest series about the band Insatiable Fire.

This is my third Last Chance Beach Romance. The first two were about the drummer, Levi Cannon, (BEATING IN TIME) and the lead guitarist, Caleb Winthrop, (LEAD ME ON). The final two are about the Blackstone brothers. My newest release, ROCK WITH THE RHYTHM, is about the lead singer and rhythm guitarist Phoenix Blackstone. It will be followed by Dakota Blackstone’s story, BASSIST’S INSTINCT, (he plays bass guitar for Insatiable Fire).

Phoenix and Dakota are about as physically different as you can get. Dakota is barrel-chested, with long, dirty blond hair and the glaring lack of a filter. He takes after his Swedish mom. Phoenix, on the other hand, is more long and lean. He generally is a pretty smooth talker, with long, black hair, and the dark coloring of his father’s Apalachee ancestors. It’s only when he’s around Savanah Drew that he becomes a bit tongue-tied.

Rock star Phoenix Blackstone never dreamed he’d fall in love with the designated driver.

Rock star Phoenix Blackstone never thought he’d fall in love with the designated driver.

Sure, she’s strait-laced and uptight, maybe even a little prickly at times. Not the best fit for a “rock star”, right? But that’s part of the appeal. There was always something about Savanah.

 In high school I worshiped her from afar. But while I was the boy from Last Chance Beach’s version of a ghetto, she was born into a 24-carat crib. She was the beautiful princess in the castle; I wasn’t fit to live in her gatehouse.

Although Savanah had never seemed like the rest of the glamor girls, she was still untouchable. But now I’m coming back to the island having garnered fame and fortune. Maybe my platinum records will tip the scales in my favor.

Savanah Drew never wanted the silver spoon stuck in her mouth.

But it’s not like I could do anything about it. And Phoenix’s dad may have worked on the docks, but Phoenix was the one who was unapproachable. His good looks, charm, and charisma, made him popular beyond my reach—I always knew he would go far. But when we were growing up, some people looked down on him because his dad wore a slicker and not a three-piece suit. One thing I can tell you, the Blackstones would be the first to come to the aid of someone in need. The people on my side of the island? If they can’t throw money at it to fix it, they don’t want anything to do with it.

But no amount of money or charisma can keep you safe when someone is out to get you, and someone on the island is gunning for the band members of Insatiable Fire, and anyone they’re close to.

Is Savanah the next target?

Excerpt 

Phoenix

Women gulping down drinks in fish bowls could work to a guy’s advantage, as it might put his woman in the mood. Or, it could work to his disadvantage, if she drank too much and ended up lying on the tile at the foot of the porcelain deity all night long. I liked to watch couples from the high platform of the stage while I sang and try to determine which scenario would play out for them.

But tonight I was focused on a couple in particular. A couple of girls. One was screaming “Insatiable Desires” —the song that had catapulted my band, Insatiable Fire, into the limelight—over and over again at the top of her lungs. The other was Savanah Drew.

“Insatiable Desires” was actually on our setlist, a few songs away from what we were currently singing. But the girl was annoying me. I’ll take requests. In fact, I love requests. I had even taken one earlier from this same girl. But this wasn’t a request; it was a demand, and I was starting to feel like an organ grinder’s monkey.

I turned to my boys. “So, we’re going to play her song, because we don’t want to be total pricks, and it was on the setlist…but it’s going to be at the end of the night.”

They nodded and grinned, agreeing with me that not giving in was the best course of action. But I had my doubts. Mostly because the party in question was still screaming as Savanah shushed her. 

I wasn’t really paying attention to the loud mouth though. I was eyeing Savanah.

Even though we’d been in the same class at school, she was a complete mystery to me. I was intrigued because she seemed different than the people she ran around with in high school. 

Does she still see them?

I knew nothing about her life now. We’d come back to Last Chance Beach a couple dozen times since we’d first left to try to make it to the big time eight years ago. But whenever I came home, I was pretty monopolized with family stuff. And even had I not been, I would have never asked Savanah out. 

The island had its own little caste system when I was growing up, and Savanah and I had been from different strata. Her dad was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Mine was a supervisor down on the docks. Hers wore $500 an ounce aftershave. Mine smelled of fish. My family wouldn’t have even been able to afford the golf cart that took the Drews from one end of their property to the other. She was the princess in the castle. I wasn’t fit to tend her gate.

But I was returning a very wealthy man. I wonder if a pile of platinum records evens the scales some…

I knew to some people it wouldn’t matter what my net worth was; I would still always be the son of a dockworker and therefore unworthy. The question remained, was Savanah one of those people?

Links ~

For MJ

Website: https://mjschillerauthor.blogspot.com/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/m-j-schiller

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Schiller-Romance-Author/286382241460365

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479377.M_J_Schiller

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/M-J-Schiller/e/B009JOQFQQ

For ROCK WITH THE RHYTHM 

Books2Read: https://books2read.com/RockWithTheRhythm

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCYMNPTB

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rock-with-the-rhythm-m-j-schiller/1143836177

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/rock-with-the-rhythm

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/rock-with-the-rhythm/id6453885394

Bio 

M.J. Schiller is a retired lunch lady/romance-romantic suspense writer. She enjoys writing novels whose characters include rock stars, desert princes, teachers, futuristic Knights, construction workers, cops, and a wide variety of others. In her mind everybody has a romance. She is the mother of a twenty-eight-year-old and three twenty-six-year-olds. That's right, triplets! So having recently taught four children to drive, she likes to escape from life on occasion by pretending to be a rock star at karaoke. However…you won’t be seeing her name on any record labels soon.