Play Your Heart Out by Crystal Kaswell blitz with giveaway

Play Your Heart Out
Crystal Kaswell
(Sinful Serenade #4)
Publication date: May 24th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance

He parties like a rockstar.

She’s there to make sure no one finds out…

Jess James has her eye on the prize. She is finding the money to pay for law school. Period. She is starting a new life on her own. Period. And she’s absolutely staying in Los Angeles, three thousand miles away from the people who expect her to lie for them. It doesn’t matter how lonely she gets on her own, how exhausted she is from working overtime as a cocktail waitress, or how deep the knife wound in her back cuts. She is going to be a lawyer, whatever it takes.

Only she doesn’t have what it takes. She can barely afford to pay her rent.

Sinful Serenade bassist Pete Steele has enough to pay Jess’s rent and buy her a small island in the Caribbean. The famous, talented rock star has everything… except the one thing his manager wants. Pete rose to fame as a devoted boyfriend. Doesn’t matter that his ex slept with his best friend, he needs to stop screwing his way through Los Angeles to keep his reputation clean. Pete works hard, and parties harder… and the sweet, blond waitress is exactly the girl he needs on his arm if he wants to keep the record company happy.

Their arrangement is simple: he pays her tuition, she plays his girlfriend. They’ll lie to the world, but not to each other. Especially not when they’re alone, in his bed, him figuring out exactly which buttons to push to get her moaning his name.

Jess is good at keeping up appearances. She can play the enigmatic rock star’s girlfriend. But Pete shouldn’t play games with a girl who’s been broken before…

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Previous books in the series:

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EXCERPT:

My eyes find Pete’s. There’s an earnestness to his expression. I feel like I can trust him. Like I can talk to him.

That might be worth lying to everyone else.

His hand slides under my skirt. My thoughts fade away. My shoulders and back relax. I want to feel the way I did at the park, like there’s nothing in the world but the two of us.

Sex first. Decision second.

I lean in to whisper. “Do we have to stay to talk?”

“Have to clear something with Aiden but I can do it after.”

Mmm. After. I nod. “Yes please.”

“Yes please, what?”

I can hear the smile in his voice. “Yes, please… will you… Do I have to say it?”

He chuckles. “I’ll get you there.”

His fingertips skim my thighs as he pulls his hand back to his lap. He pulls back enough he can stare into my eyes. I still can’t figure out what the expression in his deep brown eyes means, but damn if I don’t like staring into them.

They’re gorgeous eyes.

That vulnerability returns. He blinks and it’s gone. I shift backwards, breaking his touch. But it’s too loud to think.

Pete stands and pulls me to my feet. He nods goodbye to his friends then leads me to the back of the VIP area. There’s a roped off area with a NO ENTRANCE sign. He scans the room. A cocktail waitress has her eyes on us. More likely, she has her eyes on him. She licks her lips hungrily.

He could easily take her home. But he looks at her with apathy. He doesn’t want her. He doesn’t want any of the gorgeous models in this place.

He wants me.

Pete leans in to whisper. “Wait for me on the balcony. I’ll lose her.” He motions to the closed door in the corner of the roped off area.

He wants to do this on a balcony? Damn. First the bar bathroom then this. He has a thing for public sex.

I should say no. I’m going to be a lawyer. I can’t get caught having sex in public.

I try to force the word to my lips but it refuses. “What if we get caught?”

“This is private property. They’ll ask to leave. That will be it.” His eyes meet mine. “We can hold off till we get back to your place.”

I shake my head. I don’t want to hold off. I want him. Now.

I trust his assessment of the situation.

“No. Let’s do now,” I say.

He nods.

I wait for him to grab the waitress’s attention and I sneak past the velvet rope. The door to the balcony is frosted glass. You can’t see in or out. I turn the handle and check my footing. All good.

We’re overlooking the alley. No one can see us, not from the street, not from the club.

No one is going to catch us. Not on camera—it’s too dark for that.

Thoughts swirl around my brain. I like Pete. Find him interesting. Hell, find him fascinating.

Can I play his girlfriend without falling in love with him?

I press my hands into the smooth metal railing. It’s the only cold thing here. The sounds of the street—conversations and cars—flow into my ears, competing with the music coming from the club.

There’s only one thing I know: I can’t leave without being with him.

Period.

 

Author Bio:

Crystal Kaswell writes steamy new adult and erotic romance books. She loves when flawed characters fall head over heels for each other. Especially if they fall into bed first. She loves police procedurals, tea, and The Hunger Games series. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

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Play Your Heart Out Interview

Can you sum up Play Your Heart Out in two sentences?

Girl accepts offer from rock star to play his girlfriend in return for him paying her law school tuition. Feelings and sexual awakening ensue.

How does this book fit into the Sinful Serenade series?

It’s the fourth book in the series, but it can be read on its own. Each book follows a different couple– one of the guys in Sinful Serenade and his heroine. Pete is the bassist and sometimes lyricist of Sinful Serenade. He’s also the brother of Tom, the drummer slash de facto manager. I must warn– this book is filled with spoilers for the three previous books plus spoilers for Mockingjay and The Force Awakens– so I really, really recommend starting with book one, Sing Your Heart Out, and reading the series in order. It’s a lot of fun seeing new layers to the characters as they grow and let down the walls around their hearts.

But this book is a standalone.You can jump in to Play Your Heart Out without any background and you’ll still understand the plot and the characters.

How is Pete different than the other guys in the band?

All of the guys in the band are fun-loving, passionate about music, and fantastic between the sheets. A lot of people have described them as bad boys with hearts of gold and I think that’s accurate. They sleep around, they curse like sailors, they have tattoos, and they DGAF about what other people think. Pete is more of a straight shooter than the other guys. He’s willing to admit he’s been hurt. He’s more intense and mysterious. He’s also a dirty-talking tease 😉

Pete has a long distance girlfriend in the first three books. What is the deal with her? Why did he stay with her for so long?

I write a lot of first love stories. I really enjoy those, but I wanted to do something a little different with Pete’s character. I wanted him to have been through a messy relationship that he grew out of. He started dating Cindy in high school. They were long distance for a long time before they finally broke up (in Rock Your Heart Out, book three). I think a lot of us have the experience of growing apart from our high school friends or lovers. There’s a part of us that wants to stay together or stay in touch because we aren’t ready to let go. There’s a lot to be said for inertia. We don’t change unless something forces us to change. I think Pete does a great job explaining why he stayed in that relationship in his book, so I won’t speak for him.

Your heroines are all ambitious women. Was this a conscious choice?

Yes. I don’t think there are enough examples in popular culture of women who are both career-oriented and loving. In most TV, movies, and even books, women are either ambitious or loving but not both. A lot of romance heroines start off ambitious but end up giving up on their dreams so the hero can pursue his. This is especially true in rock star romance. Tons of the heroines end up quitting their jobs to follow their boyfriends/husbands around on tour. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a woman putting family first, but I don’t like that it’s the default. I want to remind women that their feelings, thoughts, needs, goals and ambitions matter. I don’t think women hear that enough.

Which Sinful Serenade character are you most like?

I think I’m most like Miles. I know how to present myself as being collected and aloof, and I only reveal myself once I really feel like I can trust someone. It might be my fantasies of being a lyricist and having thousands of being analyzing my words and wondering what they mean talking. When I

described Ophelia (Tom and Pete’s mother) to my husband, he said “oh, so she’s like you, only older and a lesbian?”

Which of the Sinful Serenade guys would you date if you could only choose one?

Tom has a c**k piercing. I have to give that a shot.

What inspired you to start writing about rock stars?

It’s something that always appealed to me. Rock stars are passionate, sexy, confident, and successful. They have a dash of bad boy in that they’re tattooed and they think for themselves rather than doing what is expected of them, but they’re also focused and ambitious. I relate to ambitious, passionate characters, because I am incredibly ambitious and passionate about my writing.

Oh, the tattoos. I get weak in the knees over a fit guy with sexy tattoos—especially a chest piece poking out from under his v-neck. Yummy.

Is Sinful Serenade based on any real band? Are there any bands or albums that inspired you?

Sinful Serenade is definitely its own thing. I don’t see them as being like any particular band. But there were a few albums that got me hooked to music. In high school, I got really into emo/pop-punk music. I love analyzing the lyrics and thinking of the lyricist and what he or she was like.

The two albums I was most obsessed with were Deja Entendu by Brand New and From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy. If I’m being totally honest, it’s 90% From Under the Cork Tree. I think I’ve listened to that album a thousand times. Maybe more. Both albums present really interesting characters in terms of “the character of the narrator.”

Jesse Lacey, the lyricist/singer of Brand New, writes songs that are open and vulnerable. He lays his pain out in his words. It’s actually hurts, listening to that album, because you can feel how much he hurts. Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, has some of that hiding behind cleverness I can’t admit you hurt me vibe, but their second album, Deja Entendu does not. His defenses are down. He invites you into his head and his heart. You just want to hold him and whisper it’s going to be okay and take all his pain away.

Now, Pete Wentz, the lyricist/bassist of Fall Out Boy, is a different story. His (well, the character of the narrator) defenses are up high. There’s a real push and pull to From Under the Cork Tree– some of the songs push you away and some pull you in. It opens with this tongue-in-cheek cleverness (“the ribbon on my wrist says do not open before Christmas”) that invites you in and pushes you away at the same time. It’s a really compelling dynamic. The more the album goes on, the more the defenses drop, the more the narrator lets you in.

That impulse, that desire to know someone, is a big theme in my books. My characters are usually damaged. They are still processing something, still unsure of whether or not they can really be in a relationship. They aren’t ready to open their hearts to breaking, or they don’t believe they deserve love, or they feel they’ll end up a burden.

The characters in Play Your Heart Out are named Jess and Pete. Any relation?

Yes. I started naming my characters after my fictional characters and famous people a while back—I hate thinking up names. My characters are not in any way based on the people they are named after. It’s just that it’s more fun to go hmm, I have an awesome woman in her 50s. Who’s an awesome woman in her 50s? I know, Meryl Streep, and to name a character Meryl than to look at the most popular names from a relevant year.

When I started writing Sinful Serenade, it only seemed right to name my bassist Pete. When I got to this book, I realized I had to name my heroine after the other man who inspired my rock star obsession.

What’s next?

I’m writing a fifth Sinful Serenade book, Sinful Ever After. It’s going to be a collection of novella sequels—one for each couple. I want to check in on them in six months or a year to see how they are doing.

That will be the last Sinful Serenade book but it won’t be the last of the Sinful Serenade guys. They’ll appear in my next series, Dangerous Noise. That name might sound familiar to regular readers. Dangerous Noise is the band Drew left to join Sinful Serenade. You’ll meet Ethan, Dangerous Noise’s new guitarist in Play Your Heart Out.

 

 

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