29 Jan 2018

Blog Tour: Dear Dwayne, with Love by Eliza Gordon – Guest Post and Giveaway!

Posted in Blog Tour, Giveaways |

Dear Dwayne, With Love

Author: Eliza Gordon

Publication Date: January 23rd, 2018

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 380

Formats: Paperback, ebook, audiobook

Synopsis: Wannabe actress Dani Steele’s résumé resembles a cautionary tale on how not to be famous. She’s pushing thirty and stuck in a dead-end insurance job, and her relationship status is holding at uncommitted. With unbearably perfect sisters and a mother who won’t let her forget it, Dani has two go-tos for consolation: maple scones and a blog in which she pours her heart out to her celebrity idol. He’s the man her father never was, no boyfriend will ever be—and not so impossible a dream as one might think. When Dani learns that he’s planning a fund-raising event where the winning amateur athlete gets a walk-on in his new film, she decides to trade pastries and self-doubt for running shoes and a sexy British trainer with adorable knees.

But when Dani’s plot takes an unexpected twist, she realizes that her happy ending might have to be improvised—and that proving herself to her idol isn’t half as important as proving something to herself.

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This is a work of fiction. While Dwayne Johnson p/k/a The Rock is a real person, events relating to him in the book are a product of the author’s imagination. Mr. Johnson is not affiliated with this book, and has not endorsed it or participated in any manner in connection with this book.

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Goodreads

Uh-oh. A playlist? Don’t kick me out of the club, but … I don’t typically listen to pop music. I listen to news radio in my car or a CD in the CD player (yes, my car is old enough to still have a CD player) but the majority of time I spend listening to music is when I’m *writing,* and when I’m writing, I can’t have the distraction of a singer crooning at me. Otherwise I sing along and it scares the children and neighborhood dogs.

I of course will listen to whatever is hot right now if I hear it while I’m walking through a bookstore or if my daughter has something playing on her phone while she’s making me brownies and I’m like HEY THAT’S AWESOME, WHO IS THAT? But most of the music I listen to comes from movies.

It’s fair to say that one hundred percent of the playlist music I listen to while writing is from movies, and nearly all of that is the instrumental score. But for music that involves artists singing? I’ve discovered tons of bands through movie soundtracks. I love Imogen Heap, Muse, Woodkid, Ingrid Michaelson, Florence + The Machine, Iron & Wine, Ellie Goulding, and Sia. OH, I love Sia. Pretty much all the music I “discover” wiggles its way into my iTunes account because it was played as accompaniment to a story unfolding on the screen. Because if you haven’t figured it out—I LOVE MOVIES.

So, in the spirit of introducing YOU, the nimble-minded reader, to Really Fantastic Movie Scores, here are my top ten favorites, as of today:

1. MAN OF STEEL, Hans Zimmer

2. TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, Alexandre Desplat

3. KING ARTHUR, Daniel Pemberton

4. WONDER WOMAN, Rupert Gregson-Williams

5. WELCOME TO THE PUNCH, Harry Escott

6. SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN, James Newton Howard

7. THE IMITATION GAME, Alexandre Desplat

8. THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, Rupert Gregson-Williams

9. FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM, James Newton Howard

10. GEOSTORM, Lorne Balfe

11. GAME OF THRONES, Ramin Djawadi

Oops. That was eleven. Sorry. (And I haven’t seen GEOSTORM yet but the music … terrific writing music!). I’ll also admit how hard it was picking my favorites because seriously, I love multiple scores from all these composers. I could’ve easily listed fifty films! And that, my friends, could be an entirely different post in itself—my favorite film score composers. When friends need good writing music, they email and ask for recommendations because they know I’m cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when it comes to movie music. I’m always on the lookout for inspiring, powerful instrumentals that can serve as the framework for whatever book I’m working on.

Next time you’re at the movies, close your eyes for just a beat, and listen to the magic going on behind the pictures. Remarkable, hey? Music is so powerful, in whatever shape it takes. It really is the soundtrack to our lives!

Eliza Gordon has excellent taste in books, shoes, movies, and friends, and questionable sanity in the realm of love. Best leave that one alone.

In real life, she’s an editor, mom, wife, and bibliophile and proud parent of one very spoiled tuxedo cat. Eliza writes stories to help you believe in the Happily Ever After; Jennifer Sommersby, her other self, writes YA and is repped by Daniel Lazar at Writers House.

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