We're back at it again, turning your weekend into a bookish feast! Today's title in the spotlight features a sunshine and rainbows song writer competing against a gloomy and grumpy DJ for top ranking, but things are about to get interesting as their social arrows fly, and the target may be the other's heart, just in another way! KEEP READING for a little more insight to the story at heart, both from the synopsis AND the special GUEST POST from the author herself!
Berlin Calling
by
Lilo Moore
About the book...
The song contest is hotting up, on and off the stage!
Rose writes twee pop, smiles a lot, and believes in magic and rainbows. When the cheesy love song she wrote is chosen for the European Song Contest, her luck seems to be turning around – especially when a chance encounter leads to the hottest one-night stand of her life. It’s almost too bad she’ll never see him again.
But then Rose discovers it wasn’t a chance encounter. The hot German DJ with the sexy deep voice is her rival for song contest glory.
Grumpy Emil is incredibly talented and the song he spins with his sister could be a winner, even if he doesn’t appreciate the playful spirit of the contest. As the continent falls in love with Rose and Emil’s competitive banter on social media, they must hide their history from the press or risk losing credibility – and a future songwriting career.
With an anonymous gossip out to ridicule the colourful contestants and a plot to undermine European public broadcasting bubbling under the shiny surface, Rose must be strong in the face of criticism and stand up for everything the contest means to her.
If this Canadian girl can save the contest, maybe she can believe that her feelings for Emil are the real deal.
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~~~ GUEST POST ~~~
A Silly Romcom or Subtle Social Commentary?
by Lilo Moore
I wrote Berlin Calling as a creative exercise (the first time I’ve written in first person point-of-view and with really over-the-top humour), purely thinking about the jokes and the characters and the thrills of the romance. Then, to my surprise, a thread appeared in the story about diversity and tolerance, about Europe as a concept and about the importance of independent public broadcasting. I sat back and wondered what sort of book I’d written. I’m still not sure, but I love it, anyway.
The thread grew out of two parts of the story: the tribute to Eurovision and the character journey of our sunshine-and-rainbows main character, Rose. Eurovision was such an interesting place to start thinking about a book. The format of the competition gave the story a shape that was very easy to deal with, to create tension and a structure. And the innocence of the project, the determination to create a good show and resist the differences between the participant countries, very much grew into the book, as well as the support for the LGBTQI+ community, many of whom are big Eurovision fans. Plus, of course the contest is funded by the European public broadcasters, including the BBC, one of our national treasures.
Throughout the story, the main character, Rose, begins to accept that, despite the determination to ignore the continent’s problems and support tolerance and have fun, nothing is ever perfect, bad things happen and even good intentions are sometimes not enough. Her ‘rosy’ perceptions are sorely challenged. But by the end, she discovers that love and solidarity are even sweeter when they happen despite the challenges.
This is romcom: idealised love stories with a guaranteed happy ending, unlike the uncertainty and knocks in real life. This is Eurovision: a sparkly dream that doesn’t reflect the real situation between the participating countries. But it’s amazing that the broadcasters are dreaming the Eurovision dream – and that writers are creating gorgeous love stories.
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About the author...
Lilo Moore is the steamy romantic comedy pen name of travel romance author Leonie Mack. She lives among vineyards in Germany, creating fictional worlds and counting down to her next trip.
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Special thanks to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the author for the guest post. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, so click on over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today! Be sure to check out the rest of the sites participating for more bookish fun...
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
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