Dancing to an Irish Reel Blog Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Dancing to an Irish Reel! Today I have a fantastic excerpt from the book to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Dancing to an Irish Reel

Author: Claire Fullerton

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Release Date: March 6, 2015

Description:

On sabbatical from her job in the LA record business, twenty five year old Hailey Crossan takes a trip to Ireland for the vacation of a lifetime. What she finds is a job offer too good to turn down.

But her new life in Ireland comes with one major complication—Liam Hennessey. He’s a famous Irish musician whose entire live has revolved around performing. And Hailey falls in love with him. Because Liam’s not so sure love can fit into his life, he’s afraid to come closer, but neither can he bring himself to go away.

And so begins Hailey’s journey to a colorful land that changes her life, unites her with friends more colorful than the Irish landscape, and teaches her more about love than she’s ever known before.

I looked toward the door and noticed an unusually small woman walking in with what appeared to be members of her family due to their similarity in stature. I’d met her in Galway before: she was a musician named Deanna Rader who played guitar and sang anything from Irish traditional music to her own compositions. I’d heard her sing in her low, husky voice a few times before, and because she was a friend of Declan’s, I’d exchanged pleasantries with her a few times as well. From the looks of things, she was in Mannion’s with her father and two sisters. She came smiling to my side instantly.

“Well then, you’ve made your way out here now, have you?” She looked up at me.

“I came here with Liam,” I said, grateful to know someone in the crowd.

“I knew you must have. So, it’s the two of you now, is it?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d put it that way,” I said, diverting the implication. I couldn’t recall if I’d seen Deanna while I was out with Liam, or if she asked this because she’d heard people talking.

“You’re a long way from home yourself,” I said. “Is this festival a big deal?”

“Oh God, yes. People look forward every year. Luckily my parents live in Letterfrack, just up the road. I’ve been spending the last couple of nights with them. We’ve all come ’round tonight for the craic.”

“Well, it’s nice to know someone here,” I said.

“My sister came out to sing tonight. Would you mind asking Liam if she could give us a song?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll ask him when they take a break.”

“They probably won’t do that, so you’d be waiting for ages,” Deanna said. “You’ll just have to lean over and ask, like.”

“When?” I asked.

“How about now?” she said.

“Right now?”

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” she smiled sweetly.

I looked over at the musicians, who were in full swing. There was no way I was going to butt in, even though Deanna kept standing there looking up at me expectantly. Just then, a man at the bar stepped forward enthusiastically. He leaned into the musicians circle, grabbed Liam by the arm, and shouted loudly, “The young lady here wants to give us a song.” With that, the music came to a screeching halt, and a whirlwind of preparation commenced. Liam leaned over and whispered to the two musicians beside him, instruments were set down, a microphone was raised, a path spontaneously cleared, and into the arena stepped Deanna’s sister. It was like the infamous scene of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy.

There was a hush in the room as all eyes riveted upon the girl. She stood all of five foot two, but within that minuscule framework there was a lot going on: thick, raven hair fell in loose waves across her forehead and down her back. Large green oval eyes slanted and squinted catlike beneath thick, dark lashes. Turn by turn, her eyes focused and held one man in the room after another. She stood with her right hand on her hip and her voluptuous weight shifted to the left. With great histrionics, she crooned out a song in the Irish language I’d never heard before. When she finally stopped, she sashayed over to Liam, totally aware everybody was watching. With grand theatrics, she threw both her arms around his neck and kissed him square on the mouth, nearly knocking him over with her forward advance. All hands in the room clapped loudly, wolf whistles erupted, and a few eyes turned my way.

“I imagine you’d have something to say about this passionate display,” said Deanna’s father,
who had materialized beside me.

“Not really,” I said. “Do you?”

“You have to watch that one is all. She’ll be the death of me one day, he said, cocking his head toward her.

“I hope not,” I said.

“No harm done then?”

“No harm at all,” I said. 

Claire Fullerton is the author of Paranormal Mystery, “A Portal in Time,” set in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (Vinspire Publishing) and “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” Fiction, set in Connemara, Ireland, (Vinspire Publishing.) She is a three time award winning essayist, a former newspaper columnist, a contributor to magazines, and a four time contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series. Claire hails from Memphis,TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. Currently, Claire is writing her third novel, which is based on her award winning essay in the 2013 San Francisco Writer’s Conference.

Author Links:

http://www.clairefullerton.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7388895.Claire_Fullerton

https://www.facebook.com/clairefullertonauthor?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

https://twitter.com/cfullerton3

Buy Links: Amazon / B&N

Tour Wide Giveaway (Open INT):

• Signed copy of Dancing to an Irish Reel
• eBook copy of Dancing to an Irish Reel

a Rafflecopter giveaway