Book Extract: Play It Back by Sara Palacios
Please join me in welcoming Sara Palacios to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Play It Back.
Ten years. Two hearts. One love story that never forgot how it began.
Ten years ago, Erin Campbell left Texas without saying goodbye to the only boy she’d ever loved.
Ten years later, he’s the biggest name in country music… and every song he’s ever written is about her.
After losing her mother at eighteen, staying meant facing a life she no longer recognized. So Erin left – her hometown, her grieving father, and Jake Ingram, her best friend, first love, and the future she’d always imagined.
A decade later, Erin has built a successful career as one of New York City’s most sought-after photographers, creating the life she always thought she wanted. But no amount of distance – or success – has been enough to silence the memories she left behind.
When her father needs surgery, Erin returns to Texas expecting to stay only long enough to help him recover.
Instead, she comes face to face with Jake.
The boy she left behind is now one of country music’s brightest stars, known for writing songs that have captivated millions. Fans have spent years wondering who inspired the heartbreak woven through every album.
Only Erin knows the answer.
As old memories resurface and long-buried truths finally come to light, Erin and Jake must decide whether the love they never stopped carrying is strong enough to overcome the heartache they never healed from – or whether ten years is simply too much time to ask two hearts to begin again.
Play It Back is a heartfelt second-chance romance about first love, grief, forgiveness, and finding your way home.
Because some love stories don’t end, they simply wait for you to come home.
Sara has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
I’m kicking things off with an extract from the prologue of Play It Back. Interestingly, the prologue was quite literally the last part of the novel I wrote.
By that point, the manuscript had already gone through a pretty rigorous review process with a couple of beta readers, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. I wanted the opening to immediately put Jake, my MMC, on the page and give readers a glimpse of who he is, while also planting a few hints about what they could expect from the story ahead.
And this prologue did exactly that.
My favorite part? Honestly, all of it. But if I had to choose, it would be Jake Ingram fresh off his third tour, talking about some of his new music when he accidentally reveals a little more than he intended during an interview with journalist Timmy Collins. Suddenly, there’s a question about a heartbreak ballad everyone seems to love… and perhaps a certain someone who inspired it.
I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into Jake’s world.
COLLINS: How does it feel to wrap your third tour?
He leans back, considering.
INGRAM: It feels good. Real good. This album was different; took a few risks. I didn’t know how people would take it, but it connected. That’s all you can really ask for.
COLLINS: Any songs that stood out for you along the way?
by 
A Moment With… Karen Storey
Please join me in welcoming Karen Storey to Novel Kicks as we say Happy Birthday to her book, The Approval of Sheep.
Gordon Slee fears he was never meant to be born. Anxious since childhood after hearing he was an accident, the forty-two-year-old is still struggling to escape the shadow of his high-achieving family.
But a glimmer of hope is on the horizon – a huge promotion within his hotel group is up for grabs, and he is sure that his time has come to make a mark on the world.
However, within his own department, redundancies are afoot. He may lose his job before he gets the chance. Until he learns of a historic covenant that preserves the right for sheep to run through the company’s top London hotel. Could he convince his boss that he’s the man to save the hotel from catastrophe?
Up in Bryn Nefyn, North Wales, live the descendants of the covenant owner. The elderly sheep farmer and his aging hippy brother could use the money the hotel might offer. But along with their strong-willed American shepherdess, they laugh at Gordon’s attempts to negotiate a deal. Surely, they couldn’t use a covenant that’s been forgotten about for over a hundred years.
Or could they?
For lovers of upmarket commercial fiction with a touch of romance and comedy, The Approval of Sheep is an uplifting story about family and love, overcoming adversity and discovering our reason for our place in this world.
To talk about the inspiration behind The Approval of Sheep, it’s over to Karen. Welcome.
The crazy inspiration behind my quirky, uplifting debut novel, The Approval of Sheep
When I tell people about the premise behind my debut novel, The Approval of Sheep, they’re often surprised to hear that the story was inspired by a real sheep covenant. When the idea for this book first came to me, I had been focusing on creating darker fiction tales, both with my short stories and a women’s fiction novel I had been working on. But then, one day, my husband came home from work and told me about this crazy policy he had to sort out.
Well, I always thought my husband had the most boring job in the world. He was a corporate insurance broker at the time (now a consultant) and used to come back in the evenings and tell me stories about devising policies for factories and financial institutions. Not very exciting stuff in my mind. So, I would smile and nod while not really listening. Until that evening he came into my writing room after work and told me about this posh London hotel where they found this old covenant that would allow sheep to run through the hotel’s premises. I was like, ‘What? You had to sort out an insurance policy about sheep? What would the policy actually protect the hotel from? And what if they didn’t take it out?’
by Book Review: The Sparkly Waistcoat by Sue Wickstead
I am so pleased to be welcoming Sue Wickstead back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, The Sparkly Waistcoat.
In this delightfully illustrated picture book, Nanny tells Alexander the story of her waistcoat. A waistcoat so sparkly that all the children in her class love it.
But then, one day…
…it’s not there!
Where is it? Nanny looks everywhere. The children look everywhere. They even put up ‘LOST’ posters in the local shops. But will they ever find it?
Find out in this suspense-filled story for young readers.
“The perfect book for a cosy night in with mum or dad. Highly recommended.” The Wishing Shelf.
*****
The Sparkly Waistcoat tells the story of Alexander. He loves stories. He adores sitting down with his nanny, reading stories and acting them out.
She tells him a story of her sparkly waistcoat. How it went missing and what happened next.
Having previously reviewed The Christmas Play Rehearsal, I was looking forward to reviewing Sue Wickstead’s latest children’s book, The Sparkly Waistcoat.
by Audiobook Review: Debt Reckoning: Teetering on the Brink by Jack Meyer
I am pleased to be welcoming Jack Meyer to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for his audiobook, Debt Reckoning: Teetering on the Brink.
What if the greatest threat to America wasn’t war, terrorism, or China…but the trillions of dollars of debt we’ve pretended doesn’t exist?
U.S. Senator Rick Taylor has been warning anyone who’ll listen: the national debt is no longer a spreadsheet problem-it’s a ticking bomb. But in Washington, truth is toxic. Colleagues dismiss him, constituents scream about “cuts to my benefits,” and the media paints him as the villain who wants to gut Social Security.
Then the blackmail begins.
A shadowy network led by a ruthless operator making huge profits from unchecked government spending will stop at nothing to silence anyone who threatens the status quo. After Taylor’s wife is targeted in a terrifying swatting attack and a sniper’s bullet nearly ends Taylor’s life, the message is clear. Shut up… or die.
*****
The audiobook, Debt Reckoning by Jack Mayer is narrated by Dannul Daily.
Debt Recking is a hard-hitting political thriller which feels so close to reality that it is scary. Thought provoking and gripping, Jack Mayer weaves a complete plausible narrative which quite frankly kept me up at night. The plot had me guessing and I couldn’t see where it was going to go.
by Book Extract: All Or None by Clive Fleury
Please join me as we welcome Clive Fleury to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for his book, All Or None.
Returning to Sydney, Detective Ramesh Ryan is promoted to the Homicide Squad. Zoe Yang joins him there. Now a detective herself, she is assigned as his junior partner. Straight up, the cops are off and running—investigating the discovery of a murdered company director. Following the clues, Detective Ryan finds that this and a second murder may be linked to past events.
As the pressure mounts for a quick solution to the case, the detective finds that he too, is in the killer’s crosshairs. But Ryan is distracted from the investigation by a romantic encounter with an old university friend. He also worries about his mother, Mumta, and her new obsessive desire for grandchildren from her only son. Could this be linked to her recent medical tests? And there’s another pressing problem—the plague of rats in his apartment block.
Detective Ryan’s hands are well and truly full.
Clive has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
beginning of extract
Tommy Clarke and his wife Anne are saving up to buy a house, so they need all the money they can get. However, despite this, Tommy is still not pleased to be working on Saturday. He is to drive a small group of demonstrators down to a rally in Sydney and so will miss the all-important grudge match between the Swans and the Eagles.
There were eleven of them squashed into the red Ford Transit van. All were in high spirits—except, that was, for the driver, Tommy Clarke. He wasn’t happy.
Tommy had thought long and hard about offering his services locally as a driver and wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Anne, his wife. She had heard that people were looking for transport into the city for a protest march and saw it as the perfect opportunity for them to earn some money—even though it was scheduled for Saturday, which would mean Tommy missing the big match: the Swans versus the Eagles.
by Book Club
