Ballroom Blitz by Natalie Cross - Book Tour - Book Playlist - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Natalie Cross and her new book, “Ballroom Blitz,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Natalie and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Ballroom Blitz

Dancesport Mysteries Book Series

Book One

by Natalie Cross

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GENRE:   Romance Suspense

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BOOK BLURB:

In the glamorous world of ballroom, love and dancing do not always mix.

Professional dancer Anita Goodman has learned that lesson the hard way. With her studio and her reputation on the line, she has to take a chance on the last person she ever wanted to partner with: her best friend.

Patrick O’Leary has loved Anita since high school, but he has languished in the Friend Zone for long enough. He will take this last chance to prove to her that love is greater than winning.

Neither of them realize that conquering their rising attraction won’t be their biggest obstacle. Someone does not want them to be together, and will stop at nothing to get their way.

Love, dance, and danger. It’s a Ballroom Blitz.

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EXCERPT ONE:

The ballroom still thrummed with the clack of heels and the slide of suede, though its last inhabitants had vanished over an hour before. Applause and cheering from the final night party echoed across the hallway. The tables were strewn with hair pins, empty water bottles, and sweaty towels tossed with exhilaration before another heat. The perfume of sunless tanner and hairspray drifted toward the apex of the ballroom’s ceiling, and it almost seemed that a few notes of a Viennese waltz still clung to the utilitarian white hotel tablecloths.

Rapid footsteps broke the waiting silence. Stilettos from the click click click, glimmering with crystals, a few of which scattered from the shoes with a brackish clatter as the heels struck the parquet of the ballroom floor. Heavy breathing, panting. “No!” A stumble as one heel of the red satin crystal-encrusted stilettos snapped. Sobbing.

Then another pair of footsteps, flats, fashionable. Something hard, with an edge that might draw blood. These footsteps were measured. No panic. No anxiety. Calculating.

The sobs intensified. “Please, please, please, no, I didn’t do anythi—”

A gurgle, a grimace, a thud. The wash of silk from a bone-white evening gown susurrated along the cold parquet floor. The scent of copper flooded the air.

A grunt, a vicious exhale, an audible sneer.

Then the ballroom closed upon itself again. The tables, the cloths, the chandeliers, the lights. All waiting for its new secret to be discovered.

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BOOK PLAYLIST:

Check out Natalie’s fabulous Spotify Playlist inspired by new book, “Ballroom Blitz,” below!!!

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GUEST POST:

World Building in a Dancesport Mystery

One of the most fun parts of being a writer is going down a research rabbit hole. It’s hard to write about a topic if you don’t love it. If I’m not completely confusing Google’s search algorithms, I don’t feel like I’ve put in a good work day.

At the beginning of the lockdown, when I stopped going to my own ballroom dance lessons, I realized how badly I missed that part of my life. It wasn’t just the lack of socialization, it was the loss of learning something new, of moving my body in a way that made me love myself, and meeting some wonderful people.

And that’s when the idea for Ballroom Blitz hit me. A cozy mystery/romance suspense series set in a location where people could embrace their love of glitter and glitz, but they could also be accepted as themselves.

There was only one problem. I do not own a ballroom dance studio, and while I’ve danced on and off since college, I am one thousand percent not a professional.

Thank goodness for lockdown and Google.

Within moments, I had hundreds of hours of ballroom dance tutorials, showdances, competition videos, makeup and hair tutorials, and more within my reach.

I started with ten-time world champions Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko, whose dance routines are fun, incredibly technically complex, and completely captivating. Since they are so well-known, there’s also a plethora of interview material from them, as well as their own real-life love story. I’ve watched their 2014 Samba more times than I can count.

SKDancesport.com, founded by Simeon Stoynov and Kora Stoynova, has wonderful tutorial videos that were especially helpful.

Dance Today on YouTube also offers a ton of dance videos, interviews, and more. It’s far too easy to lose an hour or two scrolling through them.

At its heart, Ballroom Blitz is a small-town workplace romance, where the office happens to be a ballroom dance studio. Its Jim and Pam are Patrick and Anita, friends and now reluctant dance partners. I read countless stories of real-life teachers as well as consulting my own former teachers and experience in crafting Lewis Dancesport and its cast of colorful characters, and I am so excited to share this world with you.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Love is an adventure.

Natalie writes romances and cozy mysteries featuring women who want to be seen and the men and women who cannot look away from them.

Natalie lives in Los Angeles, where writing is an acceptable way to avoid sunburn. She is mom to two lovely young munchkins who despise brushing their hair and eat way too much cake. She is unapologetically terrible at taking selfies.

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CONNECT WITH NATALIE:

Website:

https://nataliecrosswrites.com

Newsletter:

https://nataliecrosswrites.com/nlsignup1

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nataliecrosswrites

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nataliecrosswrites

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/natcrosswrites

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22700513.Natalie_Cross

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62022163-ballroom-blitz

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3V1RCA9

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3V0kB75

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3THOx74

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Ballroom-Blitz-Dancesport-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B0B6T1ZDMC

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Ballroom-Blitz-Dancesport-Mysteries-Natalie/dp/1509244336

Universal Books2Read:

https://books2read.com/u/3yV6r6

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Natalie will be awarding a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.