Whiskey on Our Shoes
Tonya Preece
Publication date: September 16th 2022
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Eva dodges the fans, media, and gossip that follow her supermodel mom and rock star family members by wearing disguises. After an aimless gap year, she struggles to figure out what she wants from life. She moves in with her famous guitar god brother in Austin while he recovers from a drunken stage stunt accident and tries to stay sober. When a hot Texas cowboy named Alex takes Eva by surprise, she risks her safety and security of anonymity by letting him into her unconventional life.
Alex is captivated by Eva and promises to protect her privacy. Yet he has a secret of his own—the fling he had with an older woman is fraught with scandalous potential for him and now Eva. He broke free of that mistake months ago, or so he thought. As things heat up with Eva, his old flame returns and won’t leave him alone.
Just when Alex thinks he has the reins on the situation, his ex teams up with a gossip reporter hell-bent on invading Eva’s privacy. The resulting exposé, with a sly spin on a recent encounter with his ex, is Alex’s worst nightmare, and Eva’s unsure what to believe. Can she face the world with Alex at her side or will she return into hiding?
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Interview with Tonya Preece
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written six novels and, while I love Whiskey on Our Shoes for its big cast and unconventional family dynamics, my favorite is my young adult book presently titled The Missing Memories of Cordy O’Reilly. It’s about a teen girl who undergoes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to address her panic attacks and nightmares. The story is important to me because of my own life-changing experience with EMDR for complex PTSD. I hope the book will someday bring awareness of EMDR benefits to readers.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
There is no sequel planned…but if there was a sequel, you can bet it would include Eva and Alex taking a Pacific coast highway tour in her tiny house. Oh—and a trip to Hungary where Alex just might propose to Eva in a fantastically romantic way.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Each book stands on its own, but I sometimes include things,like fictional band names, in more than one.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
I’m usually terrible at titles! Luckily, I have writer friends who are more creative with them. Credit for the title of WOOS goes to my fellow writer and critique partner Ashley Martin, who I met and befriended through Goodreads.
How long did it take you to write this book?
The first draft came quick, in less than a year, but periodic revision took another four. So, I’d say five years in all.
What does the title mean?
The title of Whiskey on Our Shoes is a nod at the meet cute between the main characters Eva and Alex. The meet cute comes about when Eva’s bedridden brother cooks up a scheme to get his hands on a bottle of whiskey, despite his promise to stay sober. The scheme involves an unsuspecting Alex, who’s just the delivery person. As Eva confiscates the bottle, it gets dropped and broken at her and Alex’s feet.
What did you learn when writing the book?
With this book, I learned to get out of my head and made steps toward not worrying what people (read: my ultra-conservative family) would think. The book I’d written previously was meant for my mom and grandmother’s eyes. WOOS wasn’t, so I gave myself freedom with details of the characters’ lives and wacky situations in which they found themselves.
What surprised you the most?
In hindsight, I think Eva’s brother, Lor, surprised me. He turned out more likable than I expected. This made it easier to not kill him off in the end as originally planned.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
In early versions of WOOS, Eva’s brother, Lor, died from advanced liver cirrhosis and multiple sclerosis. His demise was unpopular among beta readers who came to love his sense of humor and sibling relationship with Eva. Also, a literary agent rejection I received during the height of the COVID pandemic suggested I try for something less devastating in those trying times. I found a different reason for Lor to be bedridden and revised accordingly.
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
I listen to the music that I picture that character liking. For example, while writing Alex’s POV, I listened to a lot of country music, especially Cole Swindell and Luke Bryan. In my YA novel, Cordy is a big pop-punk fan, so I channel her through bands like Mayday Parade, State Champs, Broadside, etc.
Author Bio:
Tonya Preece writes romance and contemporary young adult fiction and incorporates music into all her books in one way or another. She lives near Austin, TX where she’s a small business manager for a forensic engineering firm. She and her husband enjoy traveling, live music, wine, and spoiling their fur babies.
As an active SCBWI member since 2015, Tonya has volunteered for several conferences and has served as a critique group facilitator. She joined the Writer’s League of Texas and The Author’s Guild in 2021. She’s serving as the 2022 WriteOnCon Financial Administrator and Critique Boutique Coordinator.
Tonya’s 2022 debut, Whiskey on Our Shoes, was selected for the 2019 #WriteMentor program. One of her YA novels, THE MISSING MEMORIES OF CORDY O’REILLY, earned her a 2020 scholarship/mentorship with Austin SCBWI and was a finalist at the 2018 Houston SCBWI conference.
An avid consumer of written stories, Tonya reads and/or listens to an average of 75 books a year. Some of her favorite YA authors include Jeff Zentner, Julie Buxbaum, Sarah Dessen, and Robin Benway. In adult romance – Kate Clayborn, Christina Lauren, Helena Hunting, Emily Henry, and Abby Jimenez. Series she tries to keep up to date on: Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. Recent mainstream faves are Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Five Fun Facts about Tonya that aren’t reading or writing related:
1. She volunteers at a local food pantry, where she’s enjoyed serving weekly since 2017.
2. Her travel bucket list includes Italy, Ireland, and Bora Bora. Australia would be awesome, too!
3. She loves ziplining, indoor skydiving, and rollercoasters.
4. She’s a fan of bands like With Confidence, Broadside, All Time Low, State Champs, Sleeping with Sirens, and As It Is.
5. 5. In her free time, she can be found indulging a jigsaw puzzle habit and/or binging shows like Outer Banks, Never Have I Ever, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Good Girls, Veronica Mars, and iZombie.
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2 comments:
This sounds like a really good story. I like that she is trying to lay low, but his past drama comes back in the picture. Sounds great!
I love the cover and look forward to reading the book.
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