IN A DREAM BEYOND...: Author Spotlight #TNTConfidential on Kacey Hammell and Guarding Midnight #music #romance @Evernightpub

Happy Thursday, guys! How about some music? Author Kacey Hammell is popping in with the setlist that helped inspire her recent release, Guarding Midnight.

A Writer’s Triggers & Habits: Top 10 Playlist for Guarding Midnight

Music is one of my favorite forms of art – outside of writing of course. Classical music can calm the soul, bass can drive the need to let loose, and country music and make someone cry – sometimes. LOL

More times than not, I’ll write in silence. There are many times where silence is golden, then there are times when the silence is too foreboding and I need noise. And a lot of it!!

With the attitude and gruffness of Gavin and the occupation of Midnight, there was a lot of music playing while I wrote Guarding Midnight. And one of those songs inspired the story from the first time I heard it.

Here’s the top 10 that could be heard in my house for months (the story was revised three times until I was happy with beginning, middle & end.)

Midnight Queen – Nickelback

Trying Not to Love You – Nickelback

Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N Roses

Thunderstruck – AC/DC

For the Nights I Can’t Remember – Hedley

She Will be Loved – Maroon 5

We Are the Outsiders – Eric Church

Outta My Head – Daughtry

Burlesque – Christina Aguilera

Mustang Sally – The Commitments

Watch Thunderstruck by AC/DC

Get ready to grab your copy of Guarding Midnight on April 1^st!!

Being the hired muscle just got a whole lot harder.....

No one knows sacrifice better than former Army Sergeant Gavin Bennett. He’s witnessed firsthand the emotional, physical and mental toll of being caught in the crossfire. Being a bouncer-slash-bodyguard may not be Gavin’s dream job, but he’s willing to do just about anything to help out family. When Gavin reports for his first day of work, he quickly discovers a woman who threatens to crack his legendary cool.

Shree Walker is on the run from a dark past she tried to shut away. Battered and broken, a happily ever after doesn’t exist for her. Ready to start fresh with a new life in a new city, she is happy dancing at the Vixen Club. She’d be even happier without the presence of the prickly new bouncer who won’t let anyone or anything get past his carefully guarded defenses. He’s a distraction she doesn’t need. And a temptation she can’t resist.

When Shree is kidnapped by the criminal mastermind hell-bent on taking the club at any cost, Gavin has to make a decision. Hold tight and continue to keep Shree at arm’s length. Or break down his walls and take a chance on something more powerful than them both: Love.

Exclusive Excerpt:

Shree flipped the page of the medical textbook laid out on top of the treadmill ledge so she could study while she walked. Thank heavens she knew how to multitask.

Studying and working out at the same time took practice, and she’d mastered how to get the most out of the hours she was awake in a day. Four years working nights would pay off within the next few months. She’d worked hard toward becoming a nurse, and the bountiful amounts of money had definitely helped.

The move to Vancouver hadn’t been just to dance at the Vixen Club. She loved dancing and the people she encountered for the most part, but she didn’t want to be fifty years old and still be a Burlesque dancer. She had about five months left of school, and had secured a spot at Simon Fraser University for the chance to work with one of the most renowned surgeons in Canada.

Her dreams were so close to coming true. Not bad for a thirty-two-year-old woman who decided her career path late and was putting herself through school.

Tonight would be the first time she performed at this club. Normally, butterflies in her stomach were minor flutters, but she could barely keep down the early dinner she had a couple hours ago.

After wiping her brow, she hit the incline button on the treadmill to get a better burn. There was no time to worry about nerves or anything but getting in the zone for tonight. She’d have to forget about studying for the next fifteen minutes. Silently thanking the club owner for having the accommodating workout area in the building, she let her mind drift as she kept pace.

The last forty-five minutes had been a blessing. She’d squeezed a lot of study time in and her workout had been bliss. She chuckled. Most people would think her crazy for enjoying workouts. But if there was no enjoyment in it, then why bother?

It was a mantra she lived by.

Humming, she picked up her pace and tried recalling different medications, temperatures, and syringe types in her mind. Deep in study mode, her eyes flew open as a dinging sound filled the room.

She glanced to the right.

Men came in all shapes and sizes with various builds, physiques, and widths, and she understood that. But this man, whom she was sure could barely fit through the doorway, was one unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

Tall, at least six-six. Herculean shoulders, biceps that the short sleeves of his white t-shirt had no hope of getting over, and hard thighs that were easy to determine even beneath the sweats he wore, which probably got their workout from just carrying this man around every day. Hell, even her long arms wouldn’t be able to get around his midsection.

Damn if she didn’t want to try, though.

But it was her most favorite feature on a man that captured her attention completely.

His head—bald, tanned—she had a weakness for his kind. To her there was a wildness, a stronger soul to a man who kept things clean and crisp.

His attention zoomed in on her as the door shut behind him.

The amber hue of his eyes reminded her of fine cognac—clear, luminous, and golden like honey.

It was the alcoholic drink she was most partial to. Oh yes, she could get drunk on him for sure. She was going to hell from lusting after this stranger. There was no time in her life for tangling with the opposite sex.

No matter how damn sexy and sinful he was.

“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here,” he rasped, his voice gravelly and rough.

“Oh, umm.” Her feet nearly stumbled over each other as she turned back and hit the off button. Her workout was done for the day, as was her studying. Her focus was shot now.

How was a woman to concentrate on anything with Mr. Hot Hulk around?

“I’m just finishing up. The room will be yours in a second.” She grabbed up her belongings from the treadmill and crossed to the table on the other side of the room.

“Don’t leave on my account. Hell, the room is big enough for twenty people.”

Shree laughed and curled a towel around the back of her neck. She turned and hooked her duffel over her shoulder. “I was done anyway. I have to get ready for tonight.”

He nodded and suddenly bent over.

Shree gasped when he touched the floor with his palms. Rarely had she ever seen a man even close to his size do that. She frowned, noticing he kept one leg bent a bit. A man of his obvious athletic ability had no doubt injured it at some point or another, and it seemed as if it hindered him some.

Not your business.

“You’re the star of the show, I hear.”

She blinked. “Pardon?”

He straightened, lifted his arms high, and twisted at the waist. His muscles bulged with every movement, drawing her gaze. Sweat broke out on her upper lip that had nothing to do with her working out.

He needs to stop moving like that in front of me.

Afraid she’d do something stupid—like faint just so he could administer some mouth-to-mouth life-saving techniques—she strode to the door. “Never mind. I’ll see you later.”

“At least let me introduce myself, especially since I’ll be keeping an eye on you for a while.”

She spun fast. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean I’m the security around here for now.

Book Page (for all buy links on April 1^st)

Kacey’s Evernight Publishing Page

Avid Reader. Romance Author. Redhead…

Canadian-born author Kacey Hammell is definitely a book-a-holic. A romance reader from a young age, she fell in love with happily ever afters. These days, as a multi-published erotic romance author, she enjoys adding a lot of heat, sass, and emotion to the many genres she writes.

A mom of three, Kacey has made certain each of her children know the value of the written word and the adventures they could escape on by becoming book-a-holics in their own right. She lives her own happily ever after with her perfect hero in Ontario, Canada, and is a true romantic at heart.

Connect with Kacey…