Guest Post with author Taryn Eilliott

Ellora’s Cave Feature Month

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Reader’s Edyn

Guest Post with author Taryn Eilliott

Good Morning my Lovelies! Quick reminder: Ellora’s Cave Feature Month ~  Remember, the author may have been previously published with EC or is currently published with EC. Either way you will be learning an awful lot about the Ellora’s Cave authors this month. I hope you will continue to join us for this exciting adventure! You are sure to find it very entertaining! Week 3 was a rough one for me and it ended up being pretty much non-existent. So I am moving forward with week 4 and hoping for a much better week with all of my problems behind me! *runs to find some wood to knock on*. Wish me luck y’all. And here he go …

My next EC author is Taryn Elliott. Here is her bio from the EC website:

**BIO**

Taryn is half sweet and half snarky (depending on how well her current novel is going) from the great state of New York—upstate NY, thank you very much. She can’t go a day without laughing, adores her fans, and falls in love with each and every one of her leading males.

Her family consists of a brother who takes care of keeping the snarky side of her alive and a dog that is more spoiled child than mutt. She counts her writer-friends as the glue that keeps her crazy ideas more in the sane category, and her girlfriends as the reason she’s not a complete hermit. Music is life and every story has its own playlist.

Taryn is shamelessly addicted to the internet and you can find her on most social media outlets, but the hub is her website.

Ms. Elliott has generously sent me UNCROSS  YOUR  HEART which I will be spotlighting toward the end of the post. I will post my review as soon as I can so that you all know what I thought of the book.

Please help me welcome:

**TARYN  ELLIOTT**

**GUEST  POST**

**Without Music, Life Would Be A Mistake**

Without music life would be a mistake.

                                ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I've been writing for a long time now. It's a part of me. Even before I tried the submissions game, I took it seriously. The words, the emotion, even the characters are always battering at my poor brain whether I have time to write or not. If I'm working on a fun side project that would only be seen by a select group of people, or one of the dozens of novels I've started and stopped over the years, one thing is always my constant.

Music.

I can't write in silence. I know there are others out there that need the silence of their office or even the chaos of life to write. I need really good headphones and music. In the beginning it was just my favorite songs thrown on random in iTunes. I have to know the songs so they can sit in my subconscious while I write. Listening to a new album requires attention and a few listens before it gets added to the rotation.

I'm picky as hell. I need the right mood, the right tempo, and the right voice for my writing music. It has to be intense enough to bubble up that well inside of me that infuses my words with emotion, but not too distracting that I'm sitting there jamming to the music when I should be writing.

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons.

You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.

                                ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

A few years ago I discovered that I needed to be even more picky. That certain songs fit my stories more than others. I wanted to experiment with other kinds of music. Smart phones came into ready use and things like Pandora and Rhapsody allowed me to try out songs that maybe I never would have listened to. Pandora was more like a tailored radio station. You used the like or dislike feature and they offered up suggestions for new artists.

Then Rhapsody was introduced. My scope widened. I didn't have to rely on Pandora's mixed bag of hit and miss. I could listen to full albums that I may never have tried. I found indie artists that focused on lyrics and music. It empowered me to try out more artists and bumped up my creativity another level. My day job consisted of a lot of soul sucking monotony that was eased with music. And it helped me through tough times with family illnesses and loss. Music has been there for me in so many ways, but to find all this NEW music...well it was a huge turnaround for me writing wise.

Insert current day.

I've broken up with a few different music outlets at this point. I've since decided to go steady with Spotify. I can share my music lists, get recommendations, and it's got a great feed through Facebook. And the very best part? You don't have to live ONLY in the US to play with it. Just recently my friend in New Zealand finally got Spotify. We're always dumping a song into each other's in-bin to check out.

Just like books, there's a whole world of new music out there for people. We need to embrace it and experiment. Push yourself to try a new author or maybe a new artist. Spotify has a free account if you don't want to get involved with any pay subscriptions. Do yourself a favor go in and look around. You never know what you'll find out there these days.

How do you feel about music?

Do you use it to get through the tough times? Celebrate the amazing times? Do you use it for writing? Or do you need the silence? If you're a reader, do you want to know if your book has a playlist? Let's chat all about music. ;)

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to read your comments!

And thank you, Reader's Edyn for hosting this amazing spotlight on Ellora's Cave authors. We appreciate it more than you know.

~Taryn Elliott

You can visit Ms. Elliott at the following places:

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

I want to thank Ms. Elliott for appearing today and for taking the time to create this fabulous post. I have exchanged several e-mails wilth Ms. York and can tell you that she is fabulous! Not to mention completely gracious about my failure to post as scheduled. When she suggested this topic, I jumped on it. I have seen a crazy number of posts in recent months about authors and their playlists, so I though … YES! We need to know more about this topic. I have truly enjoyed getting to know her a bit and I hope you have as well.

Ms. Elliott one book out with Ellora’s Cave. And she has a new release coming out on the 24^th – just 2 days away! SQUEE! With Entangled Publishing entitled ASHES  AND  WINE. But for today, I would like to share her Ellora’s Cave title with you.

**UNCROSS  YOUR  HEART**

**BLURB**

Sometimes starting over means facing your greatest fears…

Miranda Woods is adept at pretending to be someone else, someone without a past. She’s able to forget for chunks of time that she comes from a very wealthy, notorious family. She’s given up most of the party-girl vices from her old life, including sex. But that’s before Nathan Cross barges into her life.

To all appearances, Nathan Cross is a simple man—devoted to family and friends, committed to his work. But nothing is simple about Nate’s feelings for Miranda. Fascination quickly blooms to outright lust, and not just for her body. He wants all of her, even the parts she hides from the world. But Miranda’s secrets threaten to drive away the one man capable of helping her come to terms with her past, and allow a future with a love that’s all about truth.

**EXCLUSIVE  EXCERPT**

(adult content)

Stifling a sigh, she scanned the room to entertain herself.

The businesswoman looking over her shoulder as she slid into the erotica section caused a quick grin. Then there was a spiky-haired teen at the comic book and manga aisles flipping through the spinners, an armful causing him to list to the left a little.

Her interest piqued at the span of shoulders that flashed from the shelves along the back of the store. A battered, brown messenger bag bumped his hip, thick-soled motorcycle boots peeked around the end of the aisle followed by navy pants that had the starched look of a working man. Her gaze slid up, enjoying the long line of leg and soft sweater hugging his midsection.

Something about watching someone unaware always gave her a little spurt of pleasure. The hand resting on the bag had long fingers with blunt ends. Man hands. She pushed up her glasses as her belly fluttered. She was in bad shape if staring at some stranger was getting her all hot and bothered. She hadn’t even seen his—

Gray eyes met hers and her mouth dropped open. She quickly swung her gaze back to Jayne as she wrapped up her lecture. The questions buzzed with the baker’s dozen of females in the room. Each had a story, of course.

She would not look back there again. She laughed with the rest of the women, trying to pay attention to their chatter.

What was he doing there?

She slowly let her gaze fall to the back again, but he was gone.

Dammit.

She shook her head and turned back to her group. She was seeing things. She was just putting a face to the stranger, that’s all. It wasn’t her dance partner-delivery guy. She was still mortified by that, thank you very much.

“If you don’t recognize me this time, Ms. Woods, I’m taking you to the optometrist.”

Miranda stiffened at the voice behind her. She twisted around in her chair, looking down at the café from her slightly elevated perch on the book floor. His long, rugged frame was sprawled out on the too-small chair. A large hand swallowed his mug as his lazy, hooded gaze traveled over her body. His face had gone to scruffy, accentuating his long neck and an Adam’s apple that made her mouth go dry. The V-neck of his sweater showed a smooth notch of skin that teased at her memories of their dance.

Saying nothing, she turned back around and ignored him. If she pretended he wasn’t there, he’d eventually give up. Stuffing her foot back into her shoe, she gathered her untouched notebook and pens, tucking them into her purse.

“Miranda?”

She smiled at Jayne, “Hey, great topic tonight.”

“Right.” Jayne crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t think you heard a word I said tonight, darlin’.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry, I’ve been a little distracted.”

Jayne peeked over her shoulder and waggled her fingers at the delivery guy. “I’d be distracted if he was trying to get my attention too.”

Rolling her eyes, she glanced back and saw him in the same spot, with the same sleepy look in his eyes. “He’s not trying to get my—”

“Yes he is,” Delivery Guy called out.

She pressed her lips together. “I’ll see you next week?”

Jayne smirked. “Sure, Miranda.” She reached for her briefcase. “But if you’re smart, you’ll have plans next Friday instead of trying to sit through Debbie’s lesson about beefing up your online profile to get more hits on Facebook and other lessons on social networking.”

“You’re kidding.” Miranda’s hands went limp on the table.

“I wish I was.” Jayne waved and winked at her delivery guy. “See ya.”

Sighing, Miranda turned around again and leaned on the railing that sectioned off the two parts of the bookstore. “Are you stalking me, Dance Guy?”

He stood up. “Nate.” He looped his bag over his head and stuffed it behind his back. “I’m your FedEx guy too, Ms. Woods.” He grinned. “But you knew that.”

“I did,” she said simply. No use hiding it now. She didn’t lie very well anymore. She was sorely out of practice. “Tell me, Nate,” she emphasized his name, “just why are you here?”

His chin was lifted to meet her gaze, which only showed off his ridiculously chiseled jawline. Who the hell looked that good all over for God’s sake? “Funny thing happened at Casey’s today.”

She blinked. “Casey’s?”

“Yeah, you know the little place on—”

“Everyone knows Casey’s, Nate,” she huffed.

“Well, Miranda,” he used the same emphasis, “did you know your coworker, Max, was going to be there for dinner?”

Miranda’s heart sank. Yeah, she knew that. Max and Will called Friday night their carb night and went to get their fill from Casey’s or Fertelli’s. “Did Max put you up to this?”

Nate held up a finger and rounded the tables within the café area, took the two steps that led to the reading area as one and met her at the table. A few of the girls who lingered simply stared, giggled or blatantly purred in his general direction. Miranda groaned. Man, she was never going to live this down.

He towered over her, his well-worn boots giving him yet another inch on her as his shoulders seemed to block her in against the railing. She fought the urge to escape, or at the very least push him out of the way. He was big in a way that made her uncomfortable and aware all at the same time. She didn’t want to be aware, dammit. “Look, Nate, if Max gave you some sort of indication that I was interested in anything other than that dance we shared, then he’s mistaken.”

He leaned into her space. “Today was the second time you nearly snacked on me with your eyes from across a room.” He paused a beat, angling his chin up, challenge in his eyes. “If I’m not wearing my uniform, of course.”

Miranda fought a wince. She couldn’t deny that one. His eyes were a stony gray under the black slash of dark brows and they weren’t happy. “Look, it wasn’t on purpose.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

One of his brows arched. “So you’re rude by nature?”

“Not on purpose!” She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “I don’t know, I’m just getting the package and moving on. It’s nothing personal, you’re just—”

He tipped his head to the side. “The delivery guy?”

She could feel her cheeks flaming. “It’s not personal,” she said stubbornly.

“I’m not sure if I should be offended or relieved.”

“Go with the good one,” she said, bending her lips in what could pass for a smile. Man, she didn’t want to keep him interested in her, but she couldn’t be rude to his face now that he was a flesh-and-blood person.

He tucked his thumb into his belt. “Miranda, do you know how long I’ve been delivering to your place?”

Her stomach did a slow turn at the way he said her name. His voice was a throwback to the DJ era. It had this extra purr to it that made her think of tangled sheets and lots of red wine. God, that wasn’t good.

Fuck the red wine, go with tequila.

That long-ago voice in her head chilled her right down to the marrow. She cleared her throat. “I’m going to say awhile.”

“Three years, give or take a few months.”

“Hell,” she muttered.

“Know how many times I talked to your dog and called her by name?”

She winced, full on this time. “All right, all right, I know I’m a shit, Nate.” She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “Happy now? Yes, nasty Miranda ignores the blue-collar boy but secretly finds him really hot from across the room when he’s in a sweater or button-down plaid shirt. Let me go open my laptop and write the romance novel when I get home.”

His eyes deepened, drawing her in. “Skip the romance novel and meet me at The Gryphon at eleven o’clock.”

Buy Links

Ellora’s Cave        Amazon        Barnes and Noble

Holy crap! *fans self* That was fabulous! I. Must. Read. This. Soon! So what do you think? If you liked those blurbs, or you want to know more about Ms. Elliott, please visit her website. And if you are interested in the books, support these awesome authors and buy their books. You can find out more about the mentioned Ellora’s Cave titles by clicking here: Taryn Elliott.

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know a bit about Ms. Elliott and her EC title. Please feel free to leave a comment or question for Ms. Elliott in the comment section below. We love hearing what you think and finding out what you want to know!

Until next time …

HAPPY READING!!!