Where are you from?
Oatman, Arizona—It’s a little mining town. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s pretty desolate now that the mines have closed down. That’s why I moved to Los Angeles, California.
What is your job?
I want to be a real professional lady and get a job as a secretary in an office. I’ve been practicing my typing and my shorthand. But the only thing available was this cocktail waitress job at the West Edge nightclub. The bandleader Oz Dean says I could be a singer, but for now I’m just serving drinks.
What is your main goal in life?
I’m going to get a big city job, so I can provide for my Mama. Her little store in Oatman isn’t going to last much longer. Not many folks pass through our little town anymore.
Who is your closest friend?
I would have been lost in the city without my boarding housemate Ruby. If she didn’t bring me to the West Edge and help me get a job, our landlady Mildred Perry would have kicked me out for sure and certain.
Who is your love interest?
Goodness, I can’t very well call him a beau yet, but Oz Dean danced with me ever so briefly the other night. I nearly kissed him, it was so romantic.
What is your favorite thing about Oz?
No one has ever looked at me like he did right before he kissed my knuckles.
What makes Oz sexy?
You’d be smitten too if you saw him take the stage. I never saw a man more confident. And the way he plays…he’s the best trumpet player in the state of California, I wager.
What is the most annoying thing about Oz?
He thinks I’m naïve. I may be a small-town girl, but it was a rough-and-tumble Wild West town. I know how to stand up for myself.
Describe Oz in three words.
Ambitious. Chivalrous. Talented.
Title: Notes of Temptation
Author: Rebecca Halsey
Genre: Historical Romance
Hollywood Jazz, Book 1
When Carrie Cooper leaves her small gold-mining town to seek her fortune, it’s not until she arrives in L.A. that she learns her college certificate is a fraud. The only work available is in a less-than-respectable speakeasy.
The job comes with the opportunity to take the stage with Oz Dean, the club’s captivating bandleader. But rivals out for her blood along with her place in the spotlight lurk behind the curtain.
Oz Dean has the rare ability to “see” music as brilliant colors, but nothing has ever dazzled him like Carrie’s pure, choirgirl voice. With a mob debt hanging over his head like a guillotine, he organizes a revue that will launch them all to stardom. Unfortunately, his bold move attracts exactly the kind of criminal attention he’d like to avoid.
Mired in Hollywood’s underbelly, caught off-guard by their growing attraction, Carrie and Oz are forced to consider the cost of success. Or their one chance to make beautiful music together could be their last.
Author Bio
Unquenchably curious, Rebecca Halsey travels around the country looking for souvenirs and experiences to include in her fiction. For Notes of Temptation she curated mementos from a voodoo museum in New Orleans, a ghost town in Arizona, and the beach at Santa Monica.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Georgia. When not writing, she works in cybersecurity and enjoys running, cooking, and painting portraits. She resides in Maryland with her husband and three children, all of whom tolerate her immersion into jazz music and black-and-white movies.
Notes of Temptation is her debut novel.
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