Today I’m delighted to present a guest post by Suzan Holder as a part of a blog tour for her new book Rock’n’Rose!
About the book:
Rock ‘n’ Rose
It’s Now or Never…In the summer of 1960, eighteen-year-old Rose Featherstone took a trip to Memphis that changed her life. Now, Rose confesses to her granddaughter, Daisy, that she returned home with more than just memories all those years ago – she was carrying Elvis Presley’s child!
Daisy is sure the claim can’t be true, and yet, what if it is? When her grandmother passes away soon after her startling revelation and leaves Daisy with a ticket to Memphis, Tennessee, Daisy decides it’s time to discover the truth. She’s always struggled to fit in but this trip might just show her the benefits of being born to stand out and is a moody motorcycle cop called Blue the answer to all her dreams?
Her adventures in Memphis take her behind the famous music gates of Graceland. Pack your Blue Suede Shoes for a rockin’ rom-com.
Purchase Links
Amazon UK / Amazon US / HarperCollins
A Guest Post by Suzan Holder
I LOVE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL!
They say ‘rock n’ roll will never die’ and ‘the old songs are the best’ and looking around at the resurgence of love for both The Beatles and Elvis Presley this year you have to admit both claims are proving truer than ever in 2022.
That’s very lucky for me! I’ve written two rock n’roll themed rom-coms published this year by One More Chapter, Harper Collins so I certainly seem to have my finger on the musical pulse.
My debut novel called ‘Shake It Up, Beverley’ is about an obsessive Beatles fan and my new book ‘Rock ‘n’ Rose’ is about a woman trying to solve a mysterious family connection to Elvis Presley and goes behind the gates of his Graceland home in Memphis.
But I don’t think it’s just the music that flips my heart and blows my mind, there’s another reason Elvis and the Beatles aroused a passion in some of us that will never die… I mean … have you SEEN Elvis clad head to toe in black leather in the 1968 Comeback Special? Never has anyone, male or female, ever looked more beautiful … imho ) As for darkly bearded, intense but playful Paul McCartney in 1969… as writer Caitlin Moran so wittily observed on twitter – why are techno gazillionaires like Elon Musk wasting money on space rockets when they could be developing the technology for 1969 era Macca-style sex-bots for willing consumers? I mean, it’s a fair question.
We live in an era where we can access brilliance and beauty that has gone before. When you stop to think about it, that is a wonderful, amazing, magical thing and many of us give thanks for that every, single day.
While politicians let you down and the cost of living crisis crushes us; as the fall out from a global pandemic rumbles on and the war in Ukraine sends us delirious with worry what have we got we can actually rely on? Rolling Stone Keith Richards once said: “Music is all you can trust.” Wise words Keef and never have those words resonated with me more while the world seems to be spinning out of control. I accept it won’t pay rising bills or bring peace to war-torn nations but music can be uplifting, hopeful and can connect you with a place or a person you love or have loved in a way nothing else can.
So it doesn’t surprise me at all that the release late last year of unseen footage of The Beatles in Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ documentaries made such a huge impact. Beatles fans were reminded why they thought John, Paul, George and Ringo were the very best band in the world and youngsters got to see just what all the fuss has been about. Watching the footage is like hanging out in the recording studio alongside them. Incredible. Not only does music pour out of them like they are possessed, they are funny, sensitive and emotionally mature in ways history would tell you was impossible in men in the late sixties and early seventies.
Similarly the Baz Luhrmann biopic movie of Elvis Presley shows the heart and soul of a man left lost and tortured by the price of his colossal fame. Elvis may not have written his own songs but his amazing ability to channel his emotions into music never left him.
You see, the people who create such music are also my ultimate heroes. They are the ones who help us connect with each other when we sing or dance or put our arms around each other at a gig.
I am a writer, but it’s taken me around 90,000 words to tell each story. A gifted songwriter, however, can tell a story, unleash an emotion and tap into your innermost feelings and desires all in a three minute song with a tune that never leaves you. That’s a skill I am completely in awe of.
Songwriters take the feelings we all feel and put them to words we very rarely have the guts to say out loud. Why do you think so many people have ‘a song’?
When I sat down to write both of my books I wanted to spread some of the magic from the music I love through the pages. I want readers to feel like dancing down the street once they’ve read the book, just like when they’ve seen a brilliant rom-com movie with a killer soundtrack.
The Beatles sang ‘All You Need is Love’ but I believe Love is all we really have … Love and Music.
Suzan Holder
Author Bio
Real rock wife Suzan, wife of former Slade frontman Noddy Holder, has written another ‘rock n’ roll rom-com’ to follow her Beatles themed debut ‘Shake It Up, Beverley’.
Journalist and TV producer Suzan once again weaves her love for music into a hilarious and heart-warming story that is uplifting and laugh-out-loud funny.
Suzan says: “I love that my books celebrate music and have been inspired by my own life experience of living in a slightly crazy, rock ‘n’ roll, rom-com world…some of the weirdest and funniest stories in the books really have happened to me!”
Suzan Holder trained as a newspaper journalist and worked on regional and national newspapers before moving into TV. She produced a variety of television news and lifestyle programmes and was executive producer of ITV’s daytime network show ‘Loose Women’. She is a monthly columnist for Cheshire Life Magazine and appears regularly on radio.
Suzan has one son, two step-daughters and two step grand-children. Originally from the West Midlands Suzan now lives with Noddy Holder in Cheshire, they have been together for 32 years.
Social Media Links –
.Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/HolderSuzan
Twitter https://twitter.com/HolderSuzan
insta – https://www.instagram.com/SuzHolder15/
Thank you for stopping by and reading Suzan’s wonderful guest post! Have a lovely weekend!
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