RELEASE DAY POST! Find Out What Inspired Laurie LeClair’s The Cowboy’s Rebellious Bride!

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Music is the soundtrack of our lives.

— Dick Clark

Growing up, music was a constant in my life—the radio always played as we rode in the car, my parents sang and listened to records (the original vinyl) in our house, my older siblings introduced me to the latest and greatest singers and bands, and I sang in chorus for nearly a decade.

Now, one of my husband’s and my favorite things to do is go to concerts, especially to see all the performers we didn’t get to see ages ago. Along the way, we’ve discovered a long list of new favorites to hear and see.

When I began to write, music played in the background and created the perfect mood for the story. Many songs inspired scenes and some wound up in my books. A phrase in one song even became the title of one of my books.

But nothing surprised me or influenced me more than when I heard Chris Young’s song, Think Of You, for the first time. Cody and Hannah’s book, The Cowboy’s Rebellious Bride, came to me in an instant—best friends to lovers, life of the party, all their friends wishing they were them, memories that can’t be erased, etc. It was a perfect fit. The song played in my head when I wrote their story. (It’s now the ringtone on my phone.) And, it just so happened, the day I turned in the manuscript to the Tule Publishing Group was the same day my husband and I got to see Chris Young in concert. I remember hearing him sing Think Of You and tears came to my eyes. What an incredible full circle moment for me—a very grateful writer, indeed—to merge my love of music with my love of characters and stories.

I hope you fall in love with Cody and Hannah the same way I did when they jumped out of this song, danced in my head, and came to life on the pages of The Cowboy’s Rebellious Bride.

Here’s a few of the tunes on my playlist for The Cowboy’s Rebellious Bride:

Think Of You by Chris Young

Kiss Me Like This by Toby Keith

Top Of The World by Tim McGraw

Perfect Storm by Brad Paisley

Life’s A Dance by John Michael Montgomery

Bestselling author Laurie LeClair writes romantic comedy, contemporary romance, and contemporary women’s fiction. Laurie’s habit of daydreaming has gotten her into a few scrapes and launched her to take up her dream of writing. Finally, she can put all those stories in her head to rest as she brings them to life on the page.