Synopsis:
After dating her childhood sweetheart Max on and off for years, aspiring actress Nicola Charles is finally ready to move on. It’s time for her to focus on her stage career and stay away from Max–before he can break her heart again.
Max regrets hurting Nicola, but he wants another chance. So when his play loses its leading lady, giving Nicola the part seems like the perfect opportunity to win back his old flame.
But the course of true love—and a theater production—never do run smooth. As Max fights to reignite Nicola’s love, the onstage antics can’t rival the bedlam backstage: a neurotic cast, a prickly crew, and an evil diva of a director who’s got designs on Max.
As Nicola and Max battle to keep the drama onstage, Max can’t help wondering if their romance will end with the last performance. Or have the two of them finally captured what they’ve dreamed of all their lives? True Love.
A contemporary romance that should appeal to fans of the wry humor and playful sexiness in the works of Julie James and Victoria Dahl.
To start off, here's an interview from the author!
What inspired you to write A Midsummer Night's Fling?
I've been in A Midsummer Night's Dream twice as an actor (once as a fairy and once as Hermia, the
ultimate Shakespeare bimbo) and I met my boyfriend during one those productions. So, for various
reasons, it's kind of my sentimental favorite of Shakespeare's plays. Reunited lovers is also one of my
favorite tropes so, when I started brainstorming ideas for a contemporary, the idea of reunited lovers having to work together to play Titania and Oberon (the ultimate Shakespeare power couple) just got all of my creative juices flowing.
What scene was the hardest to write? Why?
When I was doing research for A Midsummer Night's Fling I read this great story about Richard Burton and JFK having a contest at a party to see who could remember the most Shakespearean sonnets. (Burton won, by the way.) I knew I had to steal this for my book--and I did! The hero and several of the other actors have a "Sonnet Faceoff"--but working the contest into the story was difficult. I had to keep the pace moving and find a balance between working the sonnets in but not drowning the reader with them. I think I finally nailed it, but it took a LOT of drafts.
What's your favorite moment from your book?
I really love this exchange between the hero and heroine right after she joins the play:
"I should have asked for more money to do this play," she said.
Max nodded. "Probably."
"And my own dressing room."
"Definitely."
"And some sort of cabana boy to feed me grapes in the breaks between scenes."
"Well," Max paused, putting on a thoughtful expression. "We don't have anyone like that on
staff, but maybe one of the interns."
Who's your favorite character in A Midsummer Night's Fling?
Well, of course I love the leads and I love their chemistry together, but one of the secondary characters snuck up on me too and became a real scene stealer. That was Lachlan, the hero's main rival in the theater company. Lachlan is really fun to write because he is snarky and sneaky and British and sexy as hell. (He might or might not be based a little bit on Tom Hiddleston...) Lachlan is going to get his own book at some point--he's just too much fun to write!
What is your next project, and when will it be released?
Right now I'm polishing up a New Adult romance, Love's Last Call, for release later this year. It's about a dorky bouncer and the cocktail waitress he's sure is out of his league. If people want to learn more they can check out the book's info-page on my website.
Next we have an excerpt for you!
Nicola leaned against Max, that big body radiating warmth. Something was poking at her back-brain. A thing she had to talk to him about. "I wanted to talk to you," she told him.
"Me too."
"They kept buying me drinks, though."
"I saw that." He clicked his key ring, unlocking his SUV, then he popped the door open for her. When she hesitated, he put his hands on her waist and hoisted her up onto the front.
Her stomach swooped and she clasped his wrists, keeping his hands pinned to her waist. Romeo and Juliet kept running through her head. Ridiculously. Incessantly. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night . . . Romeo leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen . . . "Max."
The line of his jaw stood out strong beneath the scruff of his beard. She traced the muscles, there, the bone. An insistent thrumming had started inside her, like a guitar string vibrating after it's been plucked. Each heartbeat seemed to come slowly, and too far apart. "Max?"
He covered her hand, holding it against his skin, but he was shaking his head. "You're drunk, honey. We'll talk in the morning."
He pulled away and slammed the car door shut, closing her in, shutting himself out. Max waited outside, his hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders stiff as he faced the pub, as if he couldn't even look at Nicola.
She sat in the car and watched him, trying to lift her brain out of its boozy lethargy. Her breath fogged the window glass, and she sketched her fingers through it, making nonsense shapes. Her heart was still pounding, blood popping through her veins with little fireworks of feeling. Max. Max. Max.
Yes, she was drunk tonight, and confused, and suddenly very scared. But, like her finger streaking against the cool glass, cutting clear lines through the fog, she sensed a new clarity within herself. A truth. She wanted Max. Wanted to touch him, be with him.
She'd wanted that for weeks, ever since she'd opened the door and saw him on her doorstep again. Nobody else caused this riot inside her. Nobody else would do. Nicola hunched into her seat, hugging herself, and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. What am I going to do?
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Beth Matthews is a California girl, born and raised. She’s a total geek, a movie buff, and a mediocre swing dancer. She lives in sunny SoCal with her boyfriend and two of the neediest housecats on the planet.
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Giveaway info!
In order to be entered to win one (1) ebook copy of A Midsummer Night's Fling you have to comment on this post which will count for 1 entry. You can share this post on any social media platform for an extra entry, and you can comment for each place you share which will increase your odds. Please leave your email address in your comments, or a way I can contact you if you win. I'll be choosing a winner at the beginning of September, since the winner needs to be turned in to the author by the 2nd of September.
I am just a middle man in this case. I'm hosting the giveaway but the author is giving out the prize, not me. Once I turn in your information I can no longer be held responsible for your prize, or the delivery of the prize.
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