Blog Tour - A Stardance Summer By Emily March
Summary
Return to the beloved small town of Eternity Springs in the newest installment of Emily March’s New York Times bestselling series with A Stardance Summer.
Sometimes the end of one road
Brick Callahan enjoys every minute of chaos at his campground, Stardance Ranch, especially after the Tornado Alleycats arrive for an extended summer stay. The members of the all-female glamorous camping club are primarily seniors—active and adventurous, friendly and fun. But when he discovers Liliana Howe frolicking with the glamping grannies in a late night skinny-dipping session, he fears he's in for a summer of trouble. Because his best friend's kid sister has grown up to be drop-dead gorgeous.
. . .is the start of another
Betrayed by those she trusted, Lili decides she's put her career first for too long. She sells her practical sedan, buys a travel trailer, and heads to Eternity Springs for a summer of rest, relaxation, and reassessment as the newest member of the Alleycats. The last person she expects to find running an RV resort is her high school crush. Their undeniable mutual attraction is a reminder that life is full of surprises. But when the past comes calling, will their summer romance stand the test of time?
REVIEW
The very first time I read the blurb of this book I was immediately intrigued ,so when I got the chance to read this book , I was so excited .This book was fantastic ! I loved Brick and Lili , this story was sexy , addicting , heart felt and swoon worthy . Seeing Brick and Lili fall in love was just amazing and I felt that they got the perfect story . Iam so eager to get my hands on the next book in the eternity springs series , I know its going to be fantastic . I just loved everything .We got see Brick and Lili face somethings that have been been in there way for years , for Lili it was her need to constant seek her parents approval and for Brick it was finally letting go of his ex , in so many ways this helped bring to them closer and I loved that . This is my very first Emily March book and A Stardance Summer was just such a fantastic read .If you are looking for a sweet , sexy , fun , heartwarming read that will have your eyes constantly on page then you should definitely pick up a copy of A Stardance Summer .
RATING
5/5 STARS
5/5 STARS
EXCERPT
Twenty years later
I
won’t cry. I absolutely, positively will not cry.
Liliana Howe
silently repeated the mantra as she rang the doorbell of her parents’ home in
Norman, Oklahoma. She still had a key to the house, but her arms were full with
two large white paper bags of her father’s favorite Tex-Mex from the taqueria
over by Oklahoma University.
Brian and
Stephanie Howe met at home for lunch every day, but it was rare for Lili to
join them. She usually worked through lunch. But then, today was not a usual
day, was it?
Her father
answered the door. His gray eyes rounded in surprise. “Lili? Did we forget a
lunch date?”
“No, Dad. I was
in the neighborhood. Thought I’d surprise you with lunch from Miguelito’s.”
“Well, that’s nice.” He opened the screen
door. “Come on in. Let me help you with those bags.”
He led her
through the house back toward the kitchen. “That smells wonderful. This is a
real treat, Liliana. Your mother doesn’t let me have Mexican too often.”
“It’s been too
long since I’ve seen you guys.”
They walked into
the kitchen to find her mother seated at the table staring intently at her
computer. Typical Stephanie Howe. Always working. Without looking up, she said,
“Stevenson has the best rating, but—”
“Look who’s
here, honey,” Lili’s father interrupted.
Stephanie Howe
finally glanced up, her thoughts obviously somewhere else, because she gazed at
Lili as if she didn’t recognize her. Lili waved her fingers. “Surprise.”
“Oh.” Stephanie
gave her head a little shake. “Lili. Hello. Did we forget a lunch date?”
Inwardly, Lili
sighed. “No. I was in the mood for Mexican and I thought of Dad.”
“It’s not good
for his cholesterol.”
“No, but once in
a blue moon won’t hurt him. Dr. Derek told me that himself.”
She unloaded the
bags, setting tacos, cheese enchiladas, refried beans, guacamole, and tortilla
chips in the center of the table. Her mother brought plates and silverware from
the cabinet. “Nevertheless, it’s nice to see you. It’s been too long. How are
you, Lili? Have you recovered from tax season?”
“It’s definitely
behind me,” she replied with a wry twist of her lips.
They all filled
their plates. Not anxious to spill her own beans, Lili took an extra spoonful
of refried and asked, “So, what do you hear from Derek?”
Her parents
spent quite a bit of time talking about their renowned heart surgeon son.
Nerves caused Lili to make a pig of herself on chips and guacamole, and she
didn’t miss her mother’s judgmental frown.
Finally, after
extolling Derek’s most recent peer recognition award, her father asked Lili
what was new with her work and the moment was at hand.
She sipped her
water, wished it were a beer, and summarized the sequence of events that had
led her to this crisis point. Then she waited for them to react.
And she waited.
And waited.
Her parents
shared one of those long, hard-to-read looks that made Lili’s stomach do a bit
of a sick flip. Her father cleared his throat. “It’s an incredible tale.”
Her mother
nodded. “Unbelievable.”
Lili sucked salt
off her bottom lip. She hadn’t expected them to jump to their feet and vow to
make the villains pay, but she’d thought they’d be angry on her behalf. Not . .
. reserved.
Deep within her,
despair kindled to life. They were her parents. She was counting on them.
Nevertheless, she pressed ahead, calmly and logically laying out the approach
she wanted to take and the assistance she needed from her mother and father.
Again, her
parents shared one of those inscrutable looks. Lili’s heart began to pound. “I
don’t know, Liliana,” her father said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It would
be hard to fight them. They’re powerful people. I hate to say it because it’s
not the way this country was supposed to work, but if a Normal Joe tries to go
up against powerful people, most often he loses.
“I don’t want to
see you get involved with making a charge against the police. That could turn
nasty real fast. This cop . . . you said you think your bosses might have
threatened him, too? He might be in an even tougher position than you.”
“But he lied,
Dad! He falsified records.”
“But you have no
proof of that, do you?”
“Just my word.” Isn’t that enough, Dad? At least for you?
“Maybe you
should let things lie for a while. Give it some time. See how things work out.
I think it’s simply too soon to call the governor and ask for a personal
favor.”
That, Lili knew,
was a no. A no and a verbal punch to the gut. After her father’s heroic efforts
during Central Oklahoma’s most recent tornado outbreak, hadn’t the governor
given Brian Howe her direct phone number and instructions to call if he ever
needed help with anything? Lili could think of only one reason why he denied
her request, and it made her want to toss her guaco.
“Maybe later on
when everything settles down we can look at the situation again.”
He didn’t
believe her. He didn’t believe in
her. Neither did her mother. Lili’s heart twisted. She knew her parents. They
wouldn’t come right out and say it, but she saw the significant looks they’d
exchanged. Noticed the way they wouldn’t meet her eyes.
They believed
she’d been driving drunk last night and the DUI was legit. They did not believe
that she’d been set up.
They thought
she’d lied.
Lied!
Hurt like
nothing she’d ever known washed through her. Lili had never been a liar. Even
as a child she’d been frightfully honest. Hadn’t that been her way of
attempting to gain favor with her parents? Her brilliant older brother spun
stories that had fooled her equally brilliant parents, but eagle-eyed little
sister often knew the truth. And tattled. But always with the truth.
Always.
Yet now, they
doubted her? They believed her so irresponsible that she would climb behind the
wheel of a car after she’d been drinking, thus risking her life, the lives of
others, and her license to practice her profession?
Good grief, did
they think she’d embezzled money from senior citizens, too?
Lili swallowed
hard. Inside, her heart was bleeding. I
will not cry. I will not cry. She couldn’t believe this. What was she going
to do now?
The only thing
she was certain of was that she needed to leave. Immediately. Before she lost
her enchiladas all over her mother’s Italian tile.
But Lili
couldn’t make herself stand up. Her knees were too weak.
“I think your
father is right.” Stephanie Howe reached over and patted Lili’s hand. “You
know, dear, maybe this is for the best. You haven’t been happy in your work for
some time now.”
“You never liked
accounting,” her father added helpfully. “Perhaps it’s best that you look on
this event as an opportunity.”
An opportunity? For what? Prison? Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her, but Lili swallowed it
down.
Lili’s mother
rose from the table and removed a glass pitcher of iced tea from the
refrigerator. She topped off her husband’s glass and changed the subject.
Lili didn’t
really care about the plans for their next-door neighbor’s upcoming retirement
party. Nor did she give a fig about OU football recruiting rumors. She spent
the rest of the meal in a distracted fog.
Finally, having
cleaned his plate—twice—Brian Howe set down his fork, wiped his mouth with a
napkin, then checked his watch. “I’ve gotta run. I have a one o’clock
conference call.”
Standing, he
leaned over and pressed a kiss against Lili’s hair. “It was nice to see you,
sweetheart. Don’t be such a stranger.”
Minutes later,
he walked out the door and Stephanie was preparing to follow. “I hate to rush
you, Lili, but I have office hours before my two o’clock lecture.”
Stephanie Howe
taught advanced mathematics at OU. “That’s okay, Mom. Why don’t you go on? I’ll
stay and load the dishwasher.”
“Thank you.
You’ll lock up when you’re done?”
“I will.”
Her mother
ducked into the master bedroom and returned a few moments later with her hair
and teeth brushed and wearing new lipstick. On the way out the door, she
paused. “Lili, things happen for a reason, and often, we don’t know what that
reason is. Sometimes you simply need to give it a little time.”
She gave a
little finger wave, then exited the house. Lili stood in the center of her
parents’ kitchen, her arms hanging limply at her sides. She heard her mother’s
car start, then back out of the driveway. Lili was alone. Alone and . . . lost.
Her parents
didn’t believe her. Why not? What had she ever done to earn this lack of faith?
Nothing. She might not have been the smartest
Howe sibling, but she’d made it a point to be the one who never screwed up.
Derek the Favorite couldn’t say that. The time her brother had come within a
phone call of getting an MIP, he’d deserved one. He and his trouble-magnet best
friend had celebrated the no-hitter Mark had thrown in the regionals of the
state baseball tournament by buying a fifth of bourbon with fake IDs and
drinking themselves silly in a public park. Neither had gone near a car, but
still.
Derek’s good
luck was that their father’s administrative assistant’s husband was the chief
of police. Dad had called the chief on Derek’s behalf and worked out a deal.
Derek would pay the required fine and do the required community service, but it
wouldn’t go on his record. Gotta protect the college applications, you know.
He’d called for
Derek.
He won’t go near the phone for me.
Pressure filled
Lili’s chest. It reminded her of that achy feeling she got when reading a novel
where the protagonist discovers that her loved one has betrayed her. At that
point in a book, Lili invariably skipped ahead to read the ending. Lili needed
happy endings.
Satisfying
endings didn’t work for her. She wanted happy-ever-after.
Once she knew
the book was a safe read, the emotional grief she experienced eased. Then she
invariably read the rest of the book backward. She was weird that way.
She’d never
expected to be the wronged character in a real-life novel. Not with her parents
cast as the betrayers, anyway. She wished she could skip to the end of this
story. Maybe then she’d discover that her parents had believed her and believed
in her all along and they had a really good reason for doing what they’d just
done.
Yeah. Right. And I’ll win the next season of Who’s Got
Talent because of my spreadsheet expertise.
Ordinarily, pity
parties were not Liliana’s style. Today as she picked up her father’s plate
from the table, she had a star-studded gala going on.
Mom and Dad
didn’t believe her.
She took two
steps toward the sink, then abruptly stopped. She dropped the plate.
Actually, she
threw the plate. With both hands. Hard.
It smashed
against the floor, shattering into dozens of pieces. Next she threw his glass
and her mother’s plate and her own plate and glass. And Liliana realized she
was panting as if she’d run five miles. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she
blinked them away.
Then, because
she was Liliana, she got a broom and dustpan and cleaned up her mess. About the
time her mother would be pulling into the faculty parking lot at OU, Lili
exited the house and locked the door behind her. Then she removed her parents’
house key from her key ring and dropped it through the mail slot in their front
door.
As she walked
down the sidewalk toward the slate-gray sedan she’d parked at the curb, the
soon-to-be-retired neighbor drove into his driveway. They exchanged waves and
Lili extended a trembling hand toward her car door.
“I absolutely,
positively won’t cry.”
Maintaining her
composure, she slid into the driver’s seat and calmly buckled the safety belt.
She started her engine, shifted into drive, and slowly pulled away from her
childhood home. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t curse. She wouldn’t break any
more dishes or squeal her tires in a fit of temper.
Lili wasn’t
reckless. She didn’t act rashly and seldom lost control of her temper or
emotions. She was logical and deliberate and controlled.
And honest.
Totally honest.
Just the way a
good accountant should be.
The faintest of
sobs escaped her at the thought.
She’d broken her
mother’s Fiesta. And yes, she had goosed the gas on her practical sedan, though
not enough to squeal the tires. She wasn’t certain that her engine even had
enough power to do it.
Her landlady’s
voice echoed through her mind. I think
this car’s get-up-and-go got up and went before it ever left the showroom
floor.
“I bought it used,” Lili had defended.
Patsy Schaffer clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“Oh, honey. Of course you did.”
Buying this car
had been a good decision, Lili told herself now. A practical purchase. Cars
lost value the moment they were driven off the lot. The last thing she needed
was a big car payment.
Especially since
as of today, she didn’t have a job.
She sucked in a
shuddering breath. What am I going
to do?
“Fight.” That’s
what she needed to do. That’s what she’d come to her parents’ house to do. To
gather her resources. To prepare for war. This injustice could not be allowed
to stand!
So fine. She’d
go into battle by herself. Work from the bottom up instead of the top down. She
could do it. She was a grown-up. She didn’t need her parents to fight her
battles. She was accustomed to doing things alone, wasn’t she?
She’d go back to
the office. Today. Now. What could it hurt? They couldn’t fire her again. She’d
demand to speak to Fred Ormsby, the other founding partner. She’d outline her
case and demand that the situation be investigated by an independent party.
Then she’d go to the police and do the same thing with them.
She could do
this. She was strong.
She was scared.
By the time she
pulled onto I-35 headed north to her office building in downtown Oklahoma City,
she’d lost the battle to hold back tears. Soon she’d soaked four tissues and
was on to drowning her fifth.
Then, just as
she signaled her intention to take the upcoming exit, a motorcycle screamed by,
passing on the right. Only by the grace of God did she avoid hitting him.
In that instant,
the blaze of Lili’s temper evaporated her fears. If she’d had another dinner
plate, she’d have thrown it at the fool. She was furious that the rider had
endangered himself by riding recklessly without a helmet. She was incensed at
her former friend and mentor in the firm and at his criminal connections in the
police department who were able to create false DUI charges out of nothing.
And her parents . . . Lili swallowed hard. Her
parents. For them, she had no words.
Downtown, she
found a parking spot two blocks from her building, so she took it. She grabbed
a fresh tissue, flipped down the visor mirror, and wiped away mascara tracks.
She blew her nose, put on fresh lipstick, and pinched some color into her wan
cheeks.
Drawing two
calming, bracing breaths, she stepped outside and prepared to go to war.
Lili marched up
the street. You can do this. You can do
this. Right is on your side. Justice will prevail.
She was halfway
to her building’s front door when the problem occurred to her. They’d taken
away her credentials. She wouldn’t be allowed upstairs.
They’d taken her
credentials. They’d taken her reputation. They’d taken her license. A great
yawning sense of despair opened up inside her. I’m powerless.
The door to her
building opened and her former mentor and the firm’s other founding partner
stepped outside. Okay. Okay. Her luck
was turning. Here was an opportunity. Approaching them on a public street
wouldn’t be her first choice, but the fact that they’d come out of the building
right at this particular moment was a sign, was it not?
She took one
more step forward, then stopped abruptly. A third person had joined them. A
third person smiled and laughed and flirted up at the two men old enough to be
her father.
Tiffany Lambeau.
Lili’s nemesis.
When Tiffany had
followed Mark Christopher to the University of Hawaii, Lili had hoped Norman,
Oklahoma, had seen the last of her. Instead, Tiffany had come home with an MBA
and a “broken” heart quickly healed by a prominent banker. Now Tiffany was on
the prowl again, and she’d started working at the firm late last year as a
consultant. She knew everyone of consequence in town— maybe the entire
state—and she’d quickly weaseled her way into visiting the corner offices.
Often.
Lili watched the
trio turn the other direction and stroll up the sidewalk, arm in arm, and she
had no doubt that she was looking at Ormsby, Harbaugh, and Stole’s newest
partner.
The guacamole in
Lili’s stomach made a threatening rumble. “Oh yes,” she murmured. “Talk about a
sign.”
She could
possibly face the powers that be at the firm. She might even be able to hold
her own while presenting her case to the cops. But Tiffany Lambeau? Forget
about it.
Some parts of
high school a girl simply couldn’t leave behind.
Lili pivoted and
returned to her car. She thumbed the lock, opened the door, slid inside, and
calmly fastened her seat belt. She sat with her hands on the wheel for a full
five minutes, the events of the day running through her mind like a bad movie.
How many times today had she asked herself, What
am I going to do?
Now, finally,
at—she glanced at the clock on her dash— 2:27 p.m., she knew the answer.
“That’s it. I’m done. I quit.”
Lili switched on
her ignition, shifted her car into drive, and spoke her life-changing decision
aloud. “I’m going to join the Tornado Alleycats.”
Copyright © 2017
by Emily March and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press.
Q&A
Q: What is your favorite scene in A Stardance Summer?
A: I read an article in our electric co-op magazine about a camping club like the Tornado Alleycats. I visited one of the campouts and knew I had to write them into a book.
Q: If you could switch places with one of your characters from this book who would it be and why ?
A: Any of the Callahan women would be just fine with me. Can’t think of anything better than to be the wife of one of those men.
Q: Describe A Stardance Summer in 5 words.
A: Camping with the Callahans—Yum!
Q: We all love books, what are some of your favorite ones?
A: I’m a huge fan of the Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt. I recommend the audio because Grover Cleveland does the narration and he’s fabulous! I read everything Mary Balogh writes. I adore Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series and her Alpha and Omega series. Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books. Susan Elizabeth Philips. I listed authors instead of books because I think in authors and series instead of individual books. :)
Q: What are you working on currently writing-wise?
A: I’ve just finished the next Eternity Springs book, THE FIRST KISS OF SUMMER, and I’ll be starting another Eternity Springs Christmas book next.
Author Bio
Emily March is the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a "master of delightful banter," and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Emily is an avid fan of Aggie sports and her recipe for jalapeño relish has made her a tailgating legend.
Social Links
Twitter @emilymarchbooks
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