For all the gals who fell in love– or dreamed of falling 😉 –with a perfectly imperfect Texas Cowboy, here’s a special treat for you! Today, I’m excited to share two top secret special features (including a deleted scene!) from Tonya Peece’s Whiskey on Our Shoes. Keep reading for more & the chance for a special giveaway below!
WHISKEY ON OUR SHOES
by Tonya Preece
Contemporary Romance / New Adult
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Page Count: 238 pages
Publication Date: February 12, 2023
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Eva dodges the fans, media, and gossip that follow her supermodel mom and rock star family members by wearing disguises. After an aimless gap year, she struggles to figure out what she wants from life. She moves in with her famous guitar god brother in Austin while he recovers from a drunken stage stunt accident and tries to stay sober. When a hot Texas cowboy named Alex takes Eva by surprise, she risks her safety and security of anonymity by letting him into her unconventional life.
Alex is captivated by Eva and promises to protect her privacy. Yet he has a secret of his own—the fling he had with an older woman is fraught with scandalous potential for him and now Eva. He broke free of that mistake months ago, or so he thought. As things heat up with Eva, his old flame returns and won’t leave him alone.
Just when Alex thinks he has the reins on the situation, his ex teams up with a gossip reporter hell-bent on invading Eva’s privacy. The resulting exposé, with a sly spin on a recent encounter with his ex, is Alex’s worst nightmare, and Eva’s unsure what to believe. Can she face the world with Alex at her side or will she return into hiding?
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Author’s Note: This was from a pre-pandemic version in which Eva’s brother Lor is dying of liver disease and multiple sclerosis. I cut this scene and changed Lor’s struggle to be that he was recovering from a drunken stage stunt, rather than facing imminent death, because of a literary agent’s reply to a query. She said it was too depressing during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and I had to agree. The deleted scene was at the point in the story when Eva and Alex’s relationship was on the rocks.
Around the time I consider calling Alex, Lor gets ill. Like really ill—with pneumonia.
Dr. B comes to see him and makes suggestions for new levels of palliative care.
“I’m sorry, Eva,” he says before he leaves. “But I don’t think he’s got much longer.”
And I know, in my heart, he’s right. So, I spend as much time with Lor as possible, guiltily trying to make up for the times I wasn’t here and should’ve been.
He sleeps a lot, doped up on meds for pain and infection control.
On Thursday, I call Nadine. “There’s a lot going on right now,” I tell her vaguely. “I won’t be able to volunteer today or tomorrow.”
“Take whatever time you need,” she says. She doesn’t press for an explanation, which is good because I can’t bring myself to tell her that, on top of the bad publicity I’ve been dealing with, Lor is literally about to die.
I don’t leave his side for more than a few minutes at a time for bathroom breaks.
“Thank you for sticking around, Eva,” he says, his speech halting and labored. “I know the truth about Mom was hard. Have you talked to her?”
“No,” I answer quietly. I wanted to call her last night, to update her on Lor’s condition, but Jojo said Mom had told her, “Don’t call me until it’s over. I don’t want to hear about, know about, or be part of the sad, lingering process.” I thought to myself, what a monster. She’s missing the last opportunity to see her firstborn child. The last chance to tell him she loves him. And she’s missing it because it would make her uncomfortable. How selfish.
“Do you want me to call her?” I ask Lor. “Maybe she’d want to say goodbye after all.”
“We already said our goodbyes that day she left here in March.” He traces the scar on my hand. “You know, the day this happened, I wasn’t even supposed to be in charge of you. I wouldn’t have been drinking otherwise, but Mom dropped you off with me so she could go hook up with God knows who.”
“Really?” My stomach turns. “Well, that tracks with what I know of her now. But I never held it against you, you know?”
“I know. You’re a good person that way.” He smiles weakly.
Then, knowing I’ll never get another chance to, I ask, “What was it that you wanted from your father?”
He takes a long time to answer. His eyes are closed, and I check for the millionth time to make sure he’s breathing. He is. And he finally says, “I wanted him to be a father to me. That’s all. You’re lucky, Eva. You’ve got two father figures who love you.”
“Counting you, I’ve had three. I love you, Lor.”
“I love you too, little sis.” He squeezes my hand, closes his eyes, and a minute later, takes his last, ragged breath. And just like that, Lor is … gone. Free. No longer in pain.
But my heart rips apart from missing him already. Missing his smile. His laugh and everything that could have been. I drop my head down, forehead resting on our clasped hands, and shed way more tears than I expected to. I’ve had lots of time to get used to the idea of him dying, but it hurts like hell anyway.
MEET TONYA PREECE
Tonya Preece writes romance and contemporary young adult fiction and incorporates music into all her books in one way or another. She lives near Austin, TX where she’s a small business manager for a forensic engineering firm. She and her husband enjoy traveling, live music, wine, and spoiling their fur babies.
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Grand Prize: autographed paperback & $10 Amazon gift card;
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3rd Prize: eBook
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What a fun post, and so interesting what authors had to change in their manuscripts due to the pandemic. Thanks for sharing!
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It’s always so interesting to see how the pandemic continues to affect everything, including stories like this one. Loved getting to share this with everyone!
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