Sparkle and Shine by Julia Talbot blog tour | Cat's Review, Author Guest post & #giveaway @Dreamspinners @juliatalbot

All that glitters is not gold. No-frills cowboy Evan learned that lesson the hard way while married to a rodeo princess, a relationship that was all flash and no substance. At least Evan held on to his daughter, Cheyenne, and his best friend, Brooks, when the sparkle wore off and things fell apart. Life could be a lot worse.

But it could also be better… if Evan and Brooks took a step beyond friendship. Just as they start to explore their feelings, Evan’s ex-wife sticks her nose in to sabotage them. Suddenly everything is up in the air, and they have difficult choices to make about the rodeo, Cheyenne, and the romance they both want so badly to pursue.

2nd Edition

Buy links: Dreamspinner | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Cat gives this one 4 Meows 4 Purr heat index...

Evan is a rodeo cowboy but as his daughter Chey gets older he is spending less time on the road. Broks his best friend and traveling partner wants Evan with him. they decide to let Evan's mom watch Chey so she can go to school then she can travel with them in the summer circuits.

Evan's ex-wife is a rodeo queen and barrel racer but put her career before her daughter running off and leaving her with Evan when Chey was a baby. Now that she sees someone else wants Evan she is stirring p trouble.

Sparkle and Shine is a fun, sweet and steamy romance between two best friends that become lovers. If you are a Julia Talbot fan you will love her wit and way with bringing life to characters. If you haven't read any then you should read this. My only issue was the story got rushed at the end and I would have liked to see more.

If you like cowboys, friends to lovers, cute kids and some smoking hot man-sex then I think you will love this.

Julia’s Top 5 Rodeo Songs

By Julia Talbot

Hey y’all! I’m Julia, and I’m here chatting about Sparkle and Shine. I do love that book so. Dreamspinner Press is being kind enough to re-release it for me, and it’s out August 2!

Evan and Brooks are rodeo riders, and I always think of rodeo songs when I write a book like that, so here are the top ten for this book!

10. Amarillo by Morning- George Strait. This is a quintessential rodeo song. Love. Loss. Freedom. I love this song, and the first time I saw George in concert I burst into tears.

9. Shotgun Rider. Tim McGraw. Tim has 2 songs called this, so look for the 2007 duet with Faith Hill from the Let It Go album.

8. Rodeo by Garth Brooks. Bulls and blood, dust and mud. Hoo yeah. This captures a rodeo man to the T

7. I Can Still Make Cheyenne by George Strait. How does a cowboy deal with a break up? Just like this.

6. Bareback Jack. Chris Le Doux. Brooks is a bronc rider and this is his song

5. Bandy the Rodeo Clown. Moe Bandy. Old school, but so true. I got to see him sing this at the Professional Bullriding Finals in Vegas on retro night. We all sang so loud.

4. Much Too Young to Feel This Damn Old. Garth Brooks. Anyone who’s on the road all the time can relate to this song.

3. Someday Soon. Suzy Boggus. Shows the rodeo from the side of the wife/family

2.  July in Cheyenne. Aaron Watson. Brutal. Recounts the death of Lane Frost, a bull rider who died in the arena dirt.

1. Everything that Glitters by Dan Seals. This story is based on this very song. Check it out!

Thanks for letting me ramble, y’all! I hope you’ll google some of these songs and see what rodeo is all about!

XXOO

Julia

Stories that leave a mark. Julia Talbot loves romance across all the genders and genres, and loves to write about people working to see past the skin they're in to love what lies beneath. Julia Talbot lives in the great mountain and high desert Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia has been published by Dreamspinner, All Romance Ebooks, and Changeling Press. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. She also writes BDSM and erotic romance as Minerva Howe. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at www.juliatalbot.com "The mountains are calling, and I must go"

• Julia Talbot: http://www.juliatalbot.com
• Minerva Howe: http://www.minervahowe.com
• Julia's Blog: http://juliatalbot.blogspot.com/

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