Fierce (Book #1 in a Spinoff of the Groupie Trilogy)
Expected Release: 6/4/13
Book Summary:
In the first book in a spin-off series to her best-selling and
highly rated 'GROUPIE' trilogy, author Ginger Voight introduces us to a new
character named Jordi Hemphill.
All
her life, Jordi Hemphill was told that she needed to change to fit in and be
accepted. She talked too much, laughed too loud, and most definitely,
indisputably and inexcusably weighed too much. In fact, she wore her size-20+
clothes without so much as an apology. She didn’t care to fit in. She didn’t
want to be beautiful. Instead, she wanted to wear her hair in funky colors, she
itched for tattoos and piercings, and dreamed of a life much bigger than
working at the local Burger Palace for minimum wage. She had been born with the
voice of a superstar, and something inside her told her it was OK to dream big,
even if she had to do it in secret.
On
her eighteenth birthday, she takes every last cent she has and buys a one-way
ticket for Los Angeles. She is sure her talent will get her noticed by those
more open-minded to see it. Then and only then will she show all the naysayers
in her hometown that she was a somebody no matter what they say.
Unfortunately
Los Angeles wasn't any more welcoming. Jordi didn't fit into their pop machine
no matter how well she sang. Other pop princess had the "full
package," whereas Jordi still needed to change if she wanted her dreams to
come true. It took a plus-size TV producer to take a chance on her, casting her
for a reality talent show called "Fierce," which put attitude and
talent far above the traditional pop star image.
Thanks
to Giovanni Carnevale, the lead singer of "Dreaming in Blue" and
“Fierce’s” rock star judge, Jordi gets a chance to fight for her place on a
national stage.
But
will America embrace this alternative diva? Or will they too expect her to
conform in order to be accepted... to be loved? Despite the acceptance of new
friends and supporters, old ghosts continue to haunt Jordi on her new journey.
It will take handsome fellow contestant, Jace Riga, to finally help expose and
exorcise the demons that drive her self-destruction.
"Fierce"
continues the story introduced in the Ginger Voight novel, "Mogul,"
where Jordi joins a hodge-podge of other contestants to battle for the
championship that dares every single hopeful to live large, to be FIERCE.
Ginger
Voight, the author of the best-selling "Groupie" series, brings fame
once again to the forefront with her new adult series, beginning with the
novel, "Fierce." The characters you grew to love in the
"Groupie" trilogy and "Love Plus One" are back to help the
incomparable Jordi Hemphill carve a place for her as a pop princess despite the
odds in this coming-of-age Rubenesque romance.
Teaser #1
By seven o’clock that
following Monday morning, I was back on the studio lot, racing from one
building to another in order to make my appointment with Imogene. One did not
show up late for an appointment with Imogene. I had already made that mistake
once and she bypassed me completely for the next contestant who had “found it
important enough to show up on time.” I was five minutes early this particular
Monday. Instead of cracking that stony face with a smile, Imogene simply
glanced at her watch and glanced over the tops of her glasses to look me over.
With a muffled “harrumph,” she told me, “Get on with it. I haven’t got all
day.”
My hands were shaking
as I lifted the sheet music to the stand in front of me. I had finally decided
on the song I wanted to sing, a Celine Dion tune that was sure to show off my
range and give me something a little more current than an obscure tune from a
musical.
She stood in front of
me, arms folded in front of her, glaring over the tops of her glasses as I sang
the first couple of bars. Her countenance was as severe as her cropped silver
hair, and her pursed lips and narrowed eyes gave nothing away in how she
thought I was doing. My voice lost a bit of steam as I made it to the chorus,
and actually cracked when I went for my upper register. She held up her hand
with an exasperated sigh.
“I’m sorry,” I
mumbled.
“Don’t apologize to
me,” she said. “Apologize to the music.” She stalked over to the table which
served as her desk. It was overrun with sheet music, which she flipped through
to find what she was looking for. She finally found the one she was looking
for, came over to me and thrust it into my hands. “Here. Sing this.”
I glanced down. It
was another Celine song, but an upbeat number I had never performed before.
“Why?” I asked. When I looked up at her, she had an arched eyebrow that
indicated she did not like to be questioned about her choices.
She indulged me an
answer anyway. “Because your other choice bored me. It’ll bore the audience.”
“But I don’t know
this song,” I offered helplessly.
“Then learn it,” she
said. She folded her arms, leaned back against the edge of the table, and
waited.
I cleared my throat
as I read through the music. When I opened my mouth, I had zero self-confidence
I could pull it off. The more I struggled, the more awkward it got. Finally,
with another exhale of exasperation, she stomped over to me. She took up the
next verse with a powerful voice that demanded I look at her as she sang, but
the minute my eyes came off the page she was pointing her finger back down to
it. She wanted me to follow the notes as she demonstrated how it was supposed
to be done.
Even without a backup
band, her voice boomed through the empty auditorium that had been constructed
on the soundstage. When she finished, I could think of nothing to say.
“This is an
entertainment competition, not a high school pageant. You will not win by
playing it safe. You need to take risks and step outside your comfort zone. You
need to own what you can do on this stage. This song can do that for you. Or it
can break you. Your choice.” She walked back over to the table and screamed
out, “Next!” to dismiss me and invite the next victim into her little lair.
I passed Shelby as I
made my way down the steps. She gave me a sympathetic smile as she squeezed my
arm. Rather than watch her time at the gallows, I escaped and made my way to
the food truck outside. Pepper and Lavender sat together at one of the tables
nearby, and beckoned me to join them. They already knew from the look on my
face where I had been and what had happened.
“Imogene strikes
again,” Lavender smiled, her full lips painted a pale purple color indicative
of her stage name. She wore fabulous wigs in varying shades of purple as well,
and today she wore a grape-colored bob to match her 60s mod-style plastic
dress.
I nodded as I sat.
“Tell me I’m not the only one she hates.”
Pepper laughed. “She
doesn’t hate you, baby. She’s a hardass, but it’s to make you better.”
“I suck right now,” I
responded as I put the sheet music on the table. “She’s given me this song to
sing.”
Lavender smiled wide
as she picked up the sheet music. “This is a classic. I used to do this for my
drag shows. It’s a lot of fun.”
Pepper nodded. “It’s
a cover of an old tune. It’s a big sound. You can definitely pull that off,
easy.”
I still wasn’t
convinced, so after I ate the two of them dragged me to an empty sound stage to
show me how it was done. Like Imogene, their voices were big enough to carry
the song. Together they filled the empty space with a huge wall of sound. Once
they hit the chorus, I finally joined in. They spent the next hour teaching me
the song until I no longer needed the sheet music.
More than that,
Lavender used her considerable performance skills to show me how to deliver the
song. She tried to teach me some dance moves, but I felt like a clumsy idiot as
I tried to imitate what she pulled off so flawlessly. She was patient as a
saint, as was Pepper, as we fell into an impromptu group choreography I was
glad no one else could see.
At least, I thought no one else could see it. When we finished, we were
rewarded to hear applause from one lone spectator hidden in the darkened
shadows of the empty sound stage.
It was Jace, who had
a big smile plastered on his face as he approached. “Bravo! Encore! Encore!” I
blushed at least five shades of red while my two companions bowed for our
appreciative audience of one. “If that is a group number, it’s brilliant.”
“That’s all Jordi,”
Pepper said. “Imogene picked it for her to perform on the premiere.”
“I haven’t decided
yet,” I said as I gathered my stuff.
“She’s feeling a
little insecure,” Lavender told him quietly with a wink and a nudge of her
elbow. She glanced over at Pepper, nodding toward the door so they could leave
us alone.
Apparently Jace had
some convincing to do.
“So what’s the
problem with the song?” he wanted to know.
I shook my head. “I
don’t think I can pull that off. I was definitely a weak link in that trio.
They not only know the song, they know how to sing it. I feel like a big fat
idiot.”
“Hey,” he said firmly
as he looked me in the eye. “Don’t talk about yourself like that.” The tone in
his voice left no room for argument, so I said nothing. “Sing it for me,” he
instructed softly.
I cleared my throat
and glanced down at the sheet music, having completely forgotten every single
word of a song I had just sung over and over for the last hour and a half. I
started to sing, following the notes on the page, and Jace indulged me for
about a verse before he finally took the paper from my hands.
“Sing it to me,” he
corrected. He took a couple of steps back and gave me a stage. I looked into
those deep, green eyes and took a deep breath before I launched into a song
that talked about loving someone deeper than a river and higher than a
mountain. I sang this to a virtual stranger, memorizing every line in his
handsome face as I went through verse after voice of everlasting devotion. By
the time I got to the chorus, my huge voice made it all the way to the rafters
and back. I got stuck a little on the second verse, so he joined in.
Butterflies
tap-danced in my tummy as he sold the song very convincingly through his body
language and the look in his eyes. When we hit the chorus, he linked his hand
in mine with a smile that I couldn’t help but mirror. He pulled me through a
couple of dance moves as we brought it home, our voices echoing in the empty space.
He spun me around and I twirled around him, allowing myself to fall completely
in character of the song. We were laughing as we finished and he pulled me into
a hug. “You are so not a weak link, Jordi,” he said into my hair.
He pulled back a
little, but still held me in his embrace. His arms were linked around my waist,
pressing me into his strong chest. Long moments passed between us as we did
nothing more than look into each other’s eyes. I honestly didn’t know what to
say. Nervously I bit my lip, which drew his gaze in that direction. I felt
every single nerve ending go up in flames. What it took Eddie physical intimacy
to achieve, Jace had managed with just an absently placed glance.
I cleared my throat
as I pulled away. “I guess I should head over to see Jorge,” I said.
He nodded as he
stepped back. “Yeah, I have an appointment with Imogene.”
I had to smile. “Good
luck.”
He laughed. His eyes
were thoughtful as he studied me for a moment, then he turned to leave. Before
he got to the door, he turned back. “Wanna grab some lunch later?”
A flood of warmth
washed over me as I looked into his hopeful eyes. I didn’t know what I saw
there, or what I wanted to see there, but the way it made me feel was head and
shoulders above the high I got from anything else, even food. Just being in his
company made me feel better about me. I felt accepted… wanted… for the first
time ever.
Lunch was the least
of my concerns as I nodded with a smile.
About Ginger: (photo
attached to email)
Ginger Voight is prolific author, freelance writer and
optioned screenwriter. Her fiction is diverse, with novels like the edgy,
coming-of-age drama DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, and the fun family adventure for kids
of all ages, COMIC SQUAD.
Having grown up reading different authors like Danielle
Steel and Stephen King, Ginger has always been drawn more to story than to
genre. This shows up in her various stories. Titles such as MY IMMORTAL and
TASTE OF BLOOD are a delicious, heady mix of horror, suspense, and romance.
Genre romance, however, has held a special place in her
heart, ever since she read her first Harlequin novel when she was only eleven.
As a result, Ginger is making a name for herself writing romances of her own,
starring women who look more like the average American woman rather than those
traditionally represented in the size-biased American media. Her Rubenesque
romances were created especially for those heroines with fuller figures, who
can still get the man of their dreams if only they believe they can. Such
titles include UNDER TEXAS SKIES, LOVE PLUS ONE, GROUPIE and PICTURE POSTCARDS.
Ginger was included in the best-selling book by Smith
Magazine NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING, featuring her six-word memoir.
LINK TO THE GIVEAWAY for the $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD
a Rafflecopter giveaway
