Tell Me S’more by Beth Merlin – excerpt and giveaway

Tell Me S’more
Beth Merlin
(The Campfire Series, #4)
Published by: Firefly Hill Press
Publication date: May 25th 2021
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary

“A beautifully written contemporary romance, with plenty of enjoyable comedy, it challenges us to evaluate our lives and make big decisions on who we want to be and not necessarily what everyone expects us to be.” – Adventures in Lit about The Campfire Series

Camp Chinooka was supposed to be a place of inspiration, the place where Perry Gilman would finally compose his symphonic masterpiece. But four years later, Perry Gillman isn’t any closer to his dream of becoming a world renowned musician. Instead, he fell love in with Gigi Goldstein and he thought that love would be enough. Now, struggling to find the right subject for a new musical while hustling as a piano player at a local jazz bar, he can’t help but measure his own shortcomings to his famous father’s monstrous success. So, when he stumbles onto the idea to write a musical about the life and times of Elizabeth I, everything finally changes. The musical is an international sensation and suddenly, Perry is on the fast track to super stardom.

However, fame and success come at a price. When his relationship with Gigi is thrown into a tailspin, he must decide whether to follow his dream for which he fought for so long or sacrifice it all for true love.

Told from Perry’s perspective, Tell Me S’more shows that there are two sides to every story and a cost to every choice.

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Excerpt

“Hey, what’s this?”

“What’s what?” she yelled back.

Gigi took a few steps toward me. “You’ve seen that sketch before. It’s one of my winning looks from when I was on Top Designer.”

“I guess I’ve never really noticed it on the wall,” I said, looking down at the outline of a sleek woman’s tuxedo with ornately patterned shoulders and pressed black-and-gold velvet lapels.

She took the picture from my hand. “This was my unique take on this black-and-gold brocade gown worn by Elizabeth I in the famous Ermine Portrait. It’s what I imagined she’d wear if she’d been born in the twentieth century instead of the sixteenth.”

I was in awe. “It’s extraordinary.”

“Thank you. It’s the design that got me to the finale,” she said, hanging it back on the picture hook.

“Tell me more about her.”
“Who?”
“Elizabeth I.”
“Me? You’re the Brit, aren’t you?” she ribbed.
“I suppose we get taught a bit of history in grammar school, William the Conqueror, the

War of the Roses, and all that, but I was always more focused on music.”

Gigi strummed her chin with her fingers. “Let’s see, Queen Elizabeth I? Her mother was Anne Boleyn. She returned the country to Protestantism after the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary. What else? Oh, she never married but had a tumultuous love affair with Joseph Fiennes—no, sorry, that’s the actor from the Cate Blanchett movie. Elizabeth had an affair with Robert Dudley, that’s the one.”

“She never married?”

“No, played by her own rules. She liked to say England was her husband, and her subjects were her children. Some have argued she was one of the first feminists in modern history. Maybe she was.”

My wheels were turning. “What else? Tell me more.”

“You’re really pushing the limits of what I remember from my AP European History class. During her reign there were political coups, attempts on her life, wars with Spain and France, and all the while she was cultivating artists like William Shakespeare. Pretty incredible stuff, really.”

I ran to retrieve a notebook from the bedroom and started jotting down everything she was saying, my hand barely keeping up with the ideas. I sat down at my keyboard and turned to Gigi. “Can you search for Elizabeth I on Wikipedia and read me some of the highlights?”

She picked up her mobile, typed in my request, and started reading. “Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeth’s birth. Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate.” Gigi looked up at me, “That’s a rough way to start out life.” She continued, “During the reign of her half-sister, Queen Mary, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. Upon Mary’s death, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne.”

“Can you read it again minus the commentary?” I asked.

She cleared her throat and repeated the passage while I played a church-like hymn common in the sixteenth century overlaid with a modern techno beat found in most electronic dance music.

“One more time, please,” I shouted to her over the thumping techno beats.

Gigi read the paragraph again, music soaring behind her. She arched her left eyebrow. “What’s happening here?” she yelled.

“There’s a lot of backstory before the main action, isn’t there? An awful lot happens before Elizabeth’s even crowned queen.”

“Perry, I’m sorry, but I don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about?”

“Robert Dudley could narrate the show, or maybe a nameless Tudor court musician?”

Gigi set her phone down on the table, clearly exacerbated. “Perry, narrate what! What are you talking about?”

And just like Gershwin on that fateful train ride between New York and Boston, inspiration came to me in a jolt, arousing the very depth of my soul and every molecule of my creative being. In that moment, I knew my future wasn’t to be found as Principal Second Chair of the New York Philharmonic. It was here, in this moment in this idea.

“My new musical, Elizabeth.”

Author Bio:

Beth Merlin has a BA from The George Washington University where she minored in Creative Writing and a JD from New York Law School. She’s a native New Yorker who loves anything Broadway, rom-coms, her daughter Hadley, and a good maxi dress. She was introduced to her husband through a friend she met at sleepaway camp and considers the eight summers she spent there to be some of the most formative of her life. One S’more Summer is Beth’s debut novel.

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