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