And, thanks to Carina Press, we have an exclusive excerpt for those who are anxious to revisit Parker’s writing, as well as three (3) digital ARCs to give away!
For readers who may not want to be spoiled ahead of time, we’ve hidden the excerpt. Just click the pink bar to reveal the text!
“I kissed you. Technically.” Although he’d been a fairly active participant in the whole misguided, shivery shebang.
“It was—” He stopped, obviously intensely uncomfortable.
It was like coming home.
She couldn’t say that. She wasn’t this woman. She was not going to be, for the rest of her theatre career, the actress who got her first big stage break and slept with the director. Some of the less reputable papers had already implied as much, but there was made-up sex and scandal, and there was knowing and living the truth.
There was self-respect.
He was speaking stiffly now, back in his robotic comfort zone. “But I can assure you that it won’t happen again, and it will have no impact whatsoever on your role in this production or any other.”
“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “I know you wouldn’t punish or reward anyone professionally for anything that happened outside of work. You’re not that sort of man.”
That sent a flush of colour into his face. He tucked a stand of hair behind her ear. Apparently realising what he was doing, he swore and took a deliberate step back.
Lily lowered her hand from where she’d instinctively reached to hold on to his fingers. “Maybe we ought to keep some distance between us for a while.”
“Until Monday, you mean, when we go to Oxford together, and then the next four weeks of intensive, occasionally one-on-one rehearsals?”
Well, if he was going to be rational about it.
“You could try being pleasant and malleable,” she suggested. “I’d probably find it a complete turn-off. I didn’t realise I had this penchant for militant men. It’s giving me whole new insights into my personality.”
“Militant?”
“I thought it sounded more polite than ‘bossy.’ No?”
“I’m not bossy.”
He actually sounded like he believed that.
“Okay, Captain Von Trapp. Keep telling yourself that.”
She’d broken the stern director facade again. He was grinning. “Are you sure you weren’t fired from CTV? Because if you talk to Steve Warren like this, I’m surprised you didn’t find yourself falling down an empty lift shaft in the second episode.”
She would never dream of speaking to Steve, or any other director, like this. It was just hard to return to business as usual when she knew what his tongue felt like against the roof of her mouth.
“No, amazingly I left by choice.”
“When do you shoot your final scenes?” Luc seemed to be equally determined to get things back on a professional footing, and finding it as difficult. His eyes kept wandering over her lips and tousled hair.
“End of the week. Then I’m all yours.” She closed her eyes and groaned. “It’s like I’m reading from the script for The Cliché Film, the unresolved sexual tension scene, isn’t it? Do you want to kiss again? I think that was our cue.”
Don’t miss PRETTY FACE by Lucy Parker,
available February 2017 wherever Carina Press ebooks are sold.
www.CarinaPress.com
Copyright ©2017 by Laura Elliott
Now to the really good part: giveaway time!
To enter to win one of three digital ARCs, comment with your favorite stage play or musical. Maybe it’s an old favorite that you watching growing up. Or perhaps it’s something new that you’re excited to see performed. Let us know!
Standard disclaimers apply: We’re not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Must be 18 years of age. Be sure to study your lines and work on those jazz hands! Get those high kicks higher and remember to speak from your diaphragm. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Comments will close at or near 12pm ET on Monday 23 January 2017 and winners will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck!
Update: The winners are Marci, Camille, and Jessica! Congratulations and thanks so much to all the awesome stage/musical talk!
Annie. Oh, Annie. Gimme some Hannigan any day.
My all-time fave musical is A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. It’s romantic, absolutely hilarious, the costumes are gorgeous, the music is appropriate Edwardian, and the women are theee-dimensional and delightful.
Loved Lucy Parker’s book!
My favorite is Mary Martin as Peter Pan!
My favourites are a tie between two ridiculous plays meant for school productions.
1. I Sincerely Doubt That This Okd House is Very Haunted
2. Surfin’ Santa
Both plays are wackadoo awesome. #1 involves love at first sight, a car wreck, death, and ghost/human pairing.
#2 is about a comedic villain and his henchman pretending that Santa had won a vacation so they can take over the North Pole.
Both have the BEST songs. Oh yeah… they are musicals. Why they never broke out beyond teenage dramatic productions …?
Hamilton!
I have never seen Wicked (an unfortunate incident in which I had tickets but finals prevented me from attending…), but I have listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times and know most of the songs by heart! One day…
My favourite right now has to be Hamilton. I’m also giddy because I have tickets to Hamilton London! For next year, but still *excited*.
Hamilton. It’s all I’ve listened to for months. Saw it in NY in October and will see it again next year!
My favorite musical of all time is The Light in the Piazza. One day I want to go to Florence to walk it. The music is half in Italian and the orchestral overture is one of the most beautiful you will ever hear.
I loved Act Like It and I am looking forward to this new addition to my must-read list.
Biggest fan of The Sound of Music!
Taming of the Shrew
Favorite overall is hard, but my favorite theater-going experience was seeing The Fantasticks in New York, in part because the theater was so small that even seats in the back were really close.
Oh, I loved Act Like It – what a great giveaway!
I’d have to say Les Misérables, which I was *obsessed* by in my teens, and it never really wore off. I had such a crush on Enjolras (and a bit of a thing for Javert, who really is his own tragedy), though now he just seems so tragically young to me, and I have a lot more sympathy for Grantaire…
My favorite is probably sound of music 🙂
I have to say Rent, which I saw in my formative years and was completely blown away.
Anastasia, at Hartford Stage, coming soon to Broadway!
Romeo and Juliet before Mercutio dies. After, obvious, no good at all.
Prasinous, you are so very right. I never could understand why Juliet would fall for Romeo when Mercutio was around.
(I may possibly have memorised every single one of Mercutio’s speeches when I was fourteen and still know most of them)
Hamilton. I feel like every time I go and relisten to the soundtrack it becomes even more amazing.
Favorite musical: The Last 5 Years
Les Mis, hands down. I get goose bumps and cry. Every Single. Time. And I’ve seen it on stage at least 10 times!
Soooo excited for Pretty Face!
Wicked! Or Book of Mormon!
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
I’ve never been big on musicals, but I recently started watching Crazy Ex Girlfriend on netflix and find it delightful. Unlike a lot of other shows that have tried to integrate this concept, the singing actually makes sense (and know it is ridiculous) within the context of the show.
Agh this is so hard! I have to say “Kiss Me, Kate” in spite of its…questionable 1950s messaging because I directed it in college and it’s just so ludicrous.
Guys & Dolls
Favorite play: death of a salesman
Favorite musical: this is a really hard decision, but today i’m going with RENT
My favourite is Phantom of the Opera. I went to go see a local staging alone a few years ago, and just sat in the dark with tears streaming down my face because I was so moved by it.
I love the musical Ragtime – and it feels more relevant today than ever.
Old School: Bye, Bye, Birdie
New School: Wicked
(Future School: Hamilton)
Drama major here! I have soooo many favorites, but I’m going with Happy Days by Samuel Beckett!
Wicked has been my favorite performance I’ve ever watched! Hoping when I get to see Hamilton in person I’ll have a new favorite 🙂
Romeo and Juliet. Thank you!