Heavy Metal Symphony by A.K. Palombo

“I hope you never reach a day where you have to choose between your band and your relationship.”

Welcome to one of the October 9th stops on the blog tour for Heavy Metal Symphony by A.K. Palombo with Bewitching Book Tours (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more exclusive content, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

Heavy Metal Symphony
by A.K. Palombo

Published 8 August 2023
Cover Artist: Jennifer Hark-Hameister

Genre: Women’s Fiction
Page Count: 333
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“I hope you never reach a day where you have to choose between your band and your relationship.”

Ava Tomei seems to have it all: she’s the lead singer of Buffalo-based symphonic metal band Handel’s Messiah and is in a committed relationship with the band’s keyboard player and brilliant lead composer Killian Sterling. But as the band hits the studio to record their fifth album, Ava and Killian can no longer hide the cracks in their relationship from their bandmates-or from themselves.

What started as an artistic collaboration between Ava and Killian six years before quickly bloomed into a passionate romance. Then, when the original lead singer of Handel’s Messiah-and Killian’s ex-girlfriend-leaves the band right in the middle of the band’s world tour, Killian calls on Ava to fill in. Ava is plunged into the pressures of stepping in to front one of metal’s biggest rising bands amidst fan disappointment, skepticism from her new bandmates, the physical demands of a world tour, and sexism in the metal scene.

But she also has the chance to fulfill her wildest dreams, and to do it at the side of the man she loves. Still, as Ava’s desire to express her creativity comes to a head with Killian’s artistic dominance, they are forced to confront whether what they have can be repaired-and what will happen to their band if not.

Told in alternating storylines that show Ava and Killian’s seemingly fairytale past and their fraught present, Heavy Metal Symphony is a novel of rock stars, ambition, creative control, finding your voice, and, of course, heavy metal.

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Excerpt

For the first time, Ava thought maybe she could live without him. She was standing in the doorway of the recording studio, waiting for him to look up and notice that she was leaving, and it occurred to her that yes, maybe, just maybe, her life could go on without him. What kind of life? Now, that was a different matter. Even just imagining it was a sort of cold, bleak hell; more screaming than music, more brutality than beauty, more static than sound. But still, life it would be. It would be something, which was more than she had been able to admit until that moment.

“I’m leaving,” she called to him, when it was plain that he was too lost in his own head to notice her, even should she stand there all night. He looked up at her then, the candlelight deepening the planes of his face, casting his eyes into shadow. There were lit candles everywhere; on the floor by the grand piano at which he sat, on the piano’s lid, on the chair beside him, on the table behind him. He claimed he worked best with darkness and candlelight and “atmosphere”. For so long it had been so romantic to her, so mysterious and sexy. Now it just seemed too dramatic. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Killian studied her for a moment, and Ava felt her heart catch in her throat. I take it back, she said to herself wildly in that one, fragile instant, regretting her traitorous thought of just seconds ago. I didn’t mean it. Maybe, Ava thought, he was going to ask her to stay, or tell her he would come to her apartment later. As he once would have.

But he didn’t say either of those things. Instead, he nodded and turned his attention back to the score on the piano in front of him. “All right. See you tomorrow.” She stood there and watched him for just a beat longer, but she needn’t have bothered. As far as he was concerned, she was already gone.

About the Author

A.K./Alyssa Palombo is the author of four historical novels from St. Martin’s: Griffin: The Violinist of Venice, The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence, The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel, and The Borgia Confessions.

She graduated from Canisius College with degrees in English and creative writing, respectively. In addition to her love of heavy metal, she is also a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She lives and works in Buffalo, New York, and when not writing she can be found at metal shows, listening to records and adding to her vinyl collection, lost in a good book, or planning her next travel adventure.

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Giveaway Alert!

1 signed paperback with a Handel’s Messiah band t-shirt (will need to know winner’s t-shirt size). US Only.

4 signed paperback copies of the book with bookmarks.  US Only

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