Today, Beth Albright is here to talk about her latest, Stardust In Dixie! I’ve been a fan of Beth’s for quite some time- so let her sweet Southern drawl wash over you and if you like what you read- well, Stardust In Dixie is available for purchase!

 

Guest Post by Beth Albright:

It was a he-said-she-said moment. That fateful day I first laid eyes on the man I would marry. I shook my head and bit my lip and knew everything I was thinking was better left unsaid. He was long and leggy and big— way too big for the little desk he sat in, so uncomfortably fidgeting, trying to settle into a comfortable position. I knew he was gonna be trouble. A little pompous, over confident, and so irritating. Right away he became my arch nemesis, and eventually, my best friend, and finally my husband.

How that happened was a true journey of epic proportions. In my latest book, STARDUST IN DIXIE, out now, my heroine falls for 2 men, one who was her best friend and one who had been her first lover but became her rival. I took my relationship with my husband and split it into two men. And I lived through them both.

In the beginning it was certainly not love at first site with Ted and me. We began on such a sour note that when we think of it today it’s hilarious and unreal that we fell so deeply in love and were married less than two years later. No one would have ever guessed. Least of all, us. We began in New York City as interns for CNN, which at the time, was located in the World Trade Center. Ted quickly appointed himself as my boss. That was his first mistake. We exchanged sharp tones and haughty attitudes as we became fierce competitors. I may have been a southern belle but my chime could be pretty loud when I needed it to be. Ted was snarky and he tried to be intimidating but he couldn’t really pull that persona off. Though he was six foot two, a full foot taller than me, he had blonde hair and soft blue eyes and I knew I was much smarter than he was, and faster. If he wanted a competition, he had it! We began trying to one up each other on story assignments. I went for the big name celebrity guests while Ted went for the major news of the day. We worked opposite hours so when he was leaving from the morning shift I was coming in for the late afternoon shift, exchanging little pops of the eyebrow, as if to say, Ha! I got a good one today, now you try to catch me!

But then—one day—a sudden change, and after that, everything was different.

I came in just as Ted was leaving at 1pm. I wouldn’t be finished until five o’clock—four hours later. He gave me his usual list of inane instructions, which of course I did not need, coming from another lowly intern. I rolled my eyes and walked past him to my desk. When five o’clock rolled around I gathered my things as usual and walked out heading to the subway under the building. I passed through the lobby of the World Trade Center—and there sat Ted. He saw me as I walked over to him and he stood up.

“What are you still doing here?” I asked confused.

“I was just waiting on you. I didn’t want you to have to ride the subway by yourself.”

What did he just say?

Okay that was it. His blue eyes twinkled and yes, the situation was a tad awkward. I remember smiling and feeling my heart jump and in a leap of faith I reached up high and threw my arms around his neck. He bent down and hugged me tightly back. I felt the walls come down and a shift in the relationship that took my breath away. Chivalry. And the belle in me melted. A small gesture that set in motion the trajectory the next 33 years of my life. Ted continued to escort me around but now he says it was because he just wanted to be with me and used the whole protector thing as a cover. We were together all the time—companions not competitors. He loved taking me all over New York City. It was OUR city.

I had made arrangements to move home to Alabama for the spring semester before I realized I was in love with Ted. Classes were scheduled and my parents picked me up on that cold December day and we headed south to Alabama. But that didn’t stop that dogged determination of Ted. After the Christmas holidays, he drove down to Alabama from Toledo, his home town, and packed me into his car and drove us both back to New York. He took the lead and I followed. He was a man on a mission and fully in charge and I loved it. We have been inseparable ever since. We have chased our careers, him moving for my many radio talk show positions and me moving for all of his TV promotion jobs. It has been challenging to say the least and still we are competitive to a fault. I mean, our marriage vow was, whoever had the bigger job, in the larger market we would move, no matter what, together. And we did, even though that meant me quitting jobs I loved and Ted quitting jobs sometimes just six months in. It was challenging and very messy but here we are, all these years later.

In the end, it was the best-friend aspect of our connection that created the indestructible bond we still share.

Abby, my new heroine in Stardust In Dixie, has to figure that one out for herself as she is forced to choose between lusty competition and real love.

 

Summary provided by author:

Abigail Harper Cartwright was coming undone.  As the promotions director for a Tuscaloosa radio station, a huge upcoming Mother’s Day live event could make or break her career.  But at the same time, two former lovers have stumbled back into the picture turning her life upside down.

One old boyfriend – who works for a competing radio station, seems to be out to sabotage everything she does, while another may just be her knight in shining armor. But after being dumped during a very public marriage proposal, he may not be able to give Abby a second chance.

To make matters worse, a nosey neighbor has started an epic turf war and azalea bushes, a stolen mailbox and some front porch graffiti are the result.

As event day draws near, the dirty tricks at work get more intense and Abby has to call on her sassy sisters to help get to the bottom of it.

And Abby’s new/old love has another love of his own – a three year old thoroughbred horse whose name holds the secret to some long harbored feelings.

It all culminates in some Derby Day and Mother’s Day fireworks that will get your heart pounding and tears flowing.

National best-selling author Beth Albright does it again with this new Southern page-turner filled with romantic comedy, emotion, passion and laugh-out-loud humor.  Grab your best girlfriends and hang on tight for this hilarious, exciting, sassy, southern tale.

 

 

Beth Albright is the author of the award-winning, best-selling series The Sassy Belles, and the nationally best-selling series In Dixie. After spending nearly 15 years as a talk radio host in talk radio, acting as a principal character on the soap opera, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, owning her own acting school and children’s theater, and raising a son who was a nationally ranked figure skater, Beth returned to her roots; storytelling. “In the south, we are good at stories. We hold them close like fine diamonds, polish them up like precious silver, and we hand them down like a priceless heirloom to our young with the hope that they will tell our stories for us when we are buried beneath the red clay of home.” Except from Southern Exposure, Tales From My Front Porch. (Beth’s Memoirist book of essays.)

“It’s just what we do down south, pass on our stories,” she says.

Though Beth has had a remarkable career, literally from New York City to Hollywood, she has never forgotten where she came from, and what she loves: The Deep South!

Beth is also a screenwriter, a voice-over talent for commercials, and a nationally known speaker and emcee. Beth lives with her TV producer husband, award winning promotions and branding executive, Ted Ishler. Her son, graduating with Distinction from Berkeley in the top 10%, is on his way to graduate school in the fall.

Want Stardust in Dixie? Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo.

 

 

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T