You know I read a review today for The Song That Seduced Paris. It was perfect. After reading a review from Dii of Tome Tender Blogspot, I couldn’t help but wonder how I could even hope to compete with that. Good thing reviews aren’t competitive. They are also totally subjective. While everything Dii said was right on, the story didn’t resonate with me as highly as it obviously did with Dii. I really did like the story, it just didn’t have those extra elements that seem to trip my trigger. That is totally on me and not the author or the story for that matter. I just really happen to be partial to adventure, action, suspense and that out of this world element.So what are the elements in The Song That Seduced Paris that appealed to me? One, I love music that combines what may seem like totally different genres and styles to make something that reaches inside you and takes hold. To get a clue at what I’m talking about take a listen or recall the operatic piece in the movie Fifth Element or you could listen to Breath of Life from Snow White and the Huntsman by Florence + Machine. I totally love rockin music that combines great lyrics, soulful voices, a full orchestra… music that crawls down your spine and totally juices you. That’s what I envisioned as I read The Song That Seduced Paris. I envisioned the beauty of four very different singers combining their great vocals to do something not heard before. Something that reached deep not only into the hearts of their listeners but deep within their own souls.

This particular story reaches deep inside the soul of two couples. Although the main story arc belongs to Annie and Gabriel, underlying it is the long time coming romance of Teddy and Harriet, his assistant of fifteen years. Both are second chance romances. In the case of both Teddy and Annie, it’s the chance to discover they can both move on from the losses and grief of losing someone they loved. Harriet and Gabriel are just what these two need to realize that love can come again.

Teddy is a gruff, womanizing, ex-prizefighter running an international music media business. He’s cunning, manipulative and at the top of his game. His latest venture proves to be a world-class success and he needs someone super special to spearhead wrangling his new artists into their new careers as today’s leading international pop band. He needs someone just like his assistant Harriet, definitely not someone like the classless bimbos he’s been keeping around as arm candy. It’s also time to stop pussy footing around, put away his toys of the moments and get serious. He’s in for a wide awakening when his rules of no fraternization lead to the eye-opening discovery of what’s been right in front of him for years… Harriet.

Harriet is a no-nonsense, ball busting, serious as sin, take no names kind of assistant. She’s efficient and very intelligent. The perfect foil for Teddy’s brilliance. She’s put up with Teddy’s playboy persona for years. Now she’s been instructed to find a duplicate of herself to handle the new band… who better than her own niece, Annie? The influx of new blood on the scene is also just what’s needed to put new life and a new look on a stodgy looking Harriet. Watch out Teddy because he’s in for the ride of his life.

Annie has been through the wringer the last few years. She’s lost her husband of years to cancer. Now all those someday dreams are gone. No children. No grand travels. The school she works for has become a graveyard of memories. Her home a weight around her neck. So, when her aunt calls right after she has tenured her notice and put the house up for sale, it seems like an auspicious sign it’s time to move onto something new. She certainly didn’t expect it to be such a drastic change from her teaching children music to the wrangling of grown musicians. Life is now full of challenges and starring the top of the charts in the challenge department is keeping her hands off of lead singer Gabriel Grenier. The more time they spend together the deeper she falls. But, as much as Gabriel is proclaiming his feelings, he’s holding back. He has his secrets. Secrets that could blow things apart before they ever begin.

Gabriel is tired of his life. Tired of all that stardom means. Tired of the empty relationships. Tired of not having any privacy. So, what little he holds dear, he holds very privately. He has women clamoring all over his life and they mean little to nothing. They stir him not at all. Then he meets Annie and everything and everyone fades into the background. His missing muse is back. His joy in life is awakened. He’s in love. The music and the lyrics flow from him like they never have before. This Paris boy has been seduced by the song that is Annie. Now he has only to tell her his secrets and hope she’ll accept all of him. If he gets the chance before life slams them a cruel one.

The band has three more striking men waiting for love to find them along the road to international pop stardom. All-American golden boy, Michael O’Malley who gave up a full-ride sports scholarship to study music is a tenor wonder. Nico Biviano, the Italian lothario just happens to sing opera. Then there is Jamie Stratton. He’s in it for the money. A Brit raised at Stonehenge by a tarot reading grandma. And grandma says love is in the cards. Be sure to read Love’s Timeless Melody to find out if the cards are right. If you love a good second chance romance and music you’re going to love The Bel Homme Quartet series.

The Song That Seduced Paris, Book 1

The Bel Homme Quartet Series:

Cloaked in darkness, Gabriel thought he was dreaming when she floated past him like a sweet phantom: filaments of timorous light. He didn’t make a sound because he didn’t want to lose this, whatever it was. Stopping at the keyboard, she played seven notes that made him smile: Mary Had A Little Lamb. Why, it was Little Bo Peep, he thought, charmed right out of his trance.

His parents had been very progressive people. They’d wanted him to learn many different cultures and languages, so he’d been tutored in English since he’d been quite young. Childhood memories bombarded him as he remembered one of his favorite nannies, an American woman who used to sing this song to him.

Something awakened inside him then. It felt like happiness.

When she moved toward the window, moonlight caught her just so, and Gabriel lusted. He stopped his groan before it hit the air, but his groin had a mind of its own. He hardened, the urge to thrust nearly overpowering as she crawled up onto the pillowed seat. She opened a locket hanging around her neck and sighed. Then she closed it and let it drop back to her chest, wrapped her arms around her knees, and sighed again.

He started at the sound of her voice.

“What lovely music I heard coming from up here tonight—but it made me cry in my sleep. The music was crying, too.”

Dieu, he wondered, was she talking to him?

“A beautiful man whose melodies weep. How can someone like him be lonely? But I felt his pain all the way to my bed, and I wanted to take him inside me and kiss him until it went away.” She covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe it’s you I’m telling this to.”

Gabriel asked himself again. Who in the world was she talking to?

She knelt and placed her hand on the window. “I was so lucky to be married to you, Stephen, but I need you to help me say my real last goodbye. Do it for me from your side of Heaven. Push me away, because I’m too weak to do it alone. Please let me go.”

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Cindy Irish writes Contemporary, Paranormal, and Speculative romance fiction. She’s a member of The Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, as well as the Mid-Michigan and Greater Detroit RWA chapters.

Cindy lives in Michigan with her family.