Title – Whiskey Love
Author – Joy Allyson
Genre – Historical Romance
Publisher - The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb –
She’s a headstrong Bostonian.
When proud and beautiful, Chloe Tanner, inherits her family’s famous Tennessee distillery—she’s determined to save her legacy from looming disaster. Her troubles can be traced back to one man. The man whose very presence is more intoxicating to her than whiskey.
He’s a laid-back Tennessean.
No one disputes handsome Penland Kittrell’s expertise in all things whiskey. But Pen can’t make heads or tails of his new neighbor and business rival; an undeniable attraction tainted by her connections to powerful Eastern moguls and tycoons she moves among.
Passions ignite between Chloe and Pen in this deadly tangle against revenuers, moonshiners, and robber barons who all try and come between them and their whiskey where the real gold is amber nectar. Are they willing to lose their hearts to each other in this gilded age whiskey war both want to win?
Excerpt –
“Maggie, who’s that man staring at me?”
“Every man in this room is staring at you, Chloe.” Her cousin paused mid-step. “Which one do you mean?”
“The one in the brown suit over by the door. Standing next to Milo,” Chloe answered as the two descended the giant staircase of her family’s Victorian Queen Anne style home. She stopped on the bottom step, still clasping the mahogany banister. Peering up to the turret tower on the third floor, she wished she could flee back up the stairs and barricade herself inside until everyone left.
“Oh, that’s Pen Kittrell.”
“Of Penland Kittrell Distillery?”
“The same.”
“But he’s too young.”
Chloe Tanner stood looking through the doorway to the parlor, undaunted by his perusal. And way too handsome. She toyed with the top button of her dress. Her pulse throbbed in her throat. His chiseled face, straight nose, and sweeping black lashes contrasted with a strong jawline. All belying her belief that attractiveness could ever project raw power. A flicker of a quizzical look betrayed his half smile hovering on his mustached lips. His dark brows rose Joy Allyson 2 then lowered down over intelligent—or were they amused—eyes.
Old Man Kittrell was at least eighty when he died. He had one son. And three wives. No other children. The man had an awful reputation. If there were any other offspring, indeed the entire county would know. This man had to be near her brother’s age, around thirty. His black hair and bronze complexion confirmed the rumor of the Kittrells having Cherokee blood. Perhaps some Melungeon too, based on those turquoise eyes staring back at her. No matter their mixed blood, little doubt about it, the Kittrells produced the purest rye whiskey around. No equal there. But it was their signature sour mash whiskey, with its incredibly smooth finish, that kept them as Tanner’s chief competitor.
He returned her stare, scrutinizing her from her head down to her toes, then up again—stopping where most men wondered if she stuffed her high-neck silk and-lace bodice with padding—or in his case looked as if he knew every inch of her was real.
“What’s he doing here? He wasn’t at visitation last night or the funeral this morning?”
Her cousin shook her head. People clustered in groups throughout the front rooms of the house, staring at her and Maggie like they’d grown horns or tails. This collection of men wearing bowler hats and diamond stick pins, so different from the mourners who paid respects this morning.
Was Penland Kittrell like these parasites just waiting for the reading of her grandfather’s will to see if they could gain control of Tom Tanner’s Tennessee Whiskey? I’d say it’s obvious. Wants to eyewitness the demise of the competition. Maybe not fair. He and Noah were sure to have known each other.
After the burial this morning, Milo Knox, the company’s foreman, warned her to be prepared for New York paper reporters. Her aging black foreman came from a family of sharecroppers in the neighboring county who provided corn and workers for the distillery and looked after Tanner’s as far back as she could remember. “No disrespect intended. To them, it’s the summer’s most sensational news story. Dying to cover it firsthand. I can see the headline now, ‘Tom Tanner Distillery, the country’s most famous whiskey maker, going to the one and only heir. A nineteen-year-old and a female to boot!’ Be ready,” he said patting her back.
“I’ll be ready.”
Pen Kittrell bent his head and spoke to Milo. Confident in demeanor, tall and broad-shouldered, he was lean but appeared so coiled of energy the room just contained him. Hardly an even playing field, she determined, weighing her major rival. Her foreman nodded his head as they both glanced her way.
“He’s coming over here now.” She tightened her fists, bewildered when heat flushed through her body. No sir, I won’t let you or anyone else have my company.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub) –
Giveaway: I’m one of the authors participating in the Dog Days of Summer Book Giveaway and you can win a print copy of Whiskey Love by Joy Allyson (US only).
Runs August 1 - 31 and is open internationally for many prizes. Winners will be drawn on September 1, 2022.
Author Biography –
As the daughter of a United States military officer, Joy Allyson grew up with a love of travel and a deep appreciation of history. A teacher by training, she always preferred reading historical romances to pedagogy. Her favorite characters – rebel heroines and salvageable scoundrels. Joy believes the best romances are the ones you want to read over and over again.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Music City Writers. She resides among the beautiful hills of Tennessee with her husband and near her two daughters and six grandchildren. Whiskey Love is her debut novel.
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