The Music Behind What the Gambler Risks

It's no secret that music plays a big part in all of my books, whether they are stand-alone books or parts of a series. Music actually plays a big part in my life - from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed, music is usually playing somewhere in the house.

What kind of music is the best music? All of it, really, depending on what else is going on. When I'm cooking, I'll shuffle through all 1432 songs on my iPhone. I have a playlist for when I'm working out, another for when I'm waiting in the carpool pick-up line at bebe's school. When I'm drafting, I'll either have my white-noise app playing (a mix of nature and mellow guitar music) or turn on the light classical station on our TV.

As I'm drafting, though, I'm thinking about pop, country, oldies, rock, and even holiday songs that fit my characters or the plot or a specific scene. And, when the draft is turned in and I'm beginning to think about polishing and revising, those songs become a new playlist - one that gets a pretty heavy workout of its own.

I'm just finishing up my Billionaire Cowboys trilogy - book three released earlier this month - and for that series I actually had a series-specific playlist, and each book had it's own playlist, too. Some of the artists that made the series playlist include Elvis (how could he not? the books were set in Las Vegas, after all!), Kenny Chesney, Smokey Robinson, Train, and Wilson Phillips. Here's a peek into the songs that spoke to me while I was writing What the Gambler Risks: 

Brothers Osborne - 21 Summer
Zac Brown Band - Beautiful Drug
Ashes Remain - On My Own
A Thousand Horses - Smoke & This Ain't No Drunk Dial
Chase Rice - MMM Girl
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble
Dierks Bentley - Riser

But the song that got the most play? Sugarland's Run - here's the video, which I absolutely love...it really evokes both Jase and Sabrina, for me:

Okay, readers, your turn to share - does music play a part in  your life? Who are some of your favorite artists? 

Kristina's third Billionaire Cowboys book, What the Gambler Risks, is available now from Crimson Romance. Here is a bit more about Kristina's book:

What the Gambler Risks: 

Best-selling author Kristina Knight's Billionaire Cowboys are back for one final ride with this seductive story of long-simmering feelings and hot Vegas nights.

Twenty-something ice queen Sabrina Smith enjoys the fame and fortune she's found writing self-help books for a largely female audience. Her readers hang on every word of how the Vegas Virgin - an unflattering and inaccurate moniker given to her by a local shock jock - juggles dating, working, and friendships in Sin City.

And that's why Jase Reeves spells trouble.

Jase knows Sabrina's secret - that she's not nearly as cold as she would like people to think - and he's through keeping it. He didn't intend to have a one-night stand with the Vegas Virgin, but now he can't get her out of his head. And he can't keep living this lie.


With Jase back at the tables in Vegas, Sabrina has one goal: stay away from the handsome gambler before he melts her career - and her heart.

Buy What the Gambler Risks: Amazon  B&N  Kobo  iBooks

You can find out more the book and Kristina on her website, and feel free to stalk follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

The Music Behind What the Heiress Wants

It's release day, readers, and that has me thinking about how I came to write What the Heiress Wants - and the answer to that is: musically!

Our house is filled with music, so I suppose it's no surprise that my books are filled with music, too. The kiddo still goes to sleep every night to her favorite lullabies, there is always music playing in my office, and RadioMan is completely incapable of doing yard or garage work without music. I'm in the middle of writing my Billionaire Cowboys trilogy - 3 books, 3 brothers and 3 feisty females! - and I'm finding that several songs are overlapping between the books.

Those songs - like Elvis' A Little Less Conversation (a song that always reminds me of Las Vegas) and Dierks Bentley's Sounds of Summer (a song I'm slightly obsessed with right now - fit the overall 'brother/family' theme of the series, and they also fit the books' settings (Las Vegas). But, each book definitely has its own feel.

Here are a few of the songs that are specific to What the Heiress Wants, the second book in the series:

• Tim McGraw ~ She's My Kind of Rain (this is Connor's theme - he never thought he'd fall in love, but Miranda makes him re-think that stance!)
• Sade ~ The Sweetest Taboo (this is Miranda's theme because she's failed to separate her personal and professional lives before...and lost...but she can't resist Connor)
• Shania Twain ~ She's Not Just a Pretty Face
• Jake Owen ~ American Country Love Song (the love theme for Connor and Miranda)
• Maroon 5 ~ Maps
• A Thousand Horses ~ Smoke
• Dierks Bentley ~ Say You Do
• Chase Daniels ~ Gonna Wanna Tonight

Ooh, and here's a peek at the video for Dierks' Say You Do (isn't is perfect for a romance novel?):

<iframe width="360" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4xpr1fLqEj4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

What type of music takes you to your happy place?

Kristina Knight's latest contemporary romance, What the Heiress Wants, is available now, plus you can pick up the first book, What the Bachelor Gets, for only $0.99 for a limited time. 

The Billionaire Cowboys trilogy by best-selling author Kristina Knight continues with What the Heiress Wants.

Denver publishing heiress Miranda Clayton craves more from life than society parties and shopping sprees, but her tycoon father refuses to take her seriously. Her solution? Beat him at his own game by going to work for his top competitor, Connor Reeves, in Las Vegas.


Connor isn't fooled by Miranda's new plan for a second. He knows exactly who she is; what he doesn't know is why she's pulling him into her games. After their first meeting, Connor knows what he wants - Miranda in his bed! But the more he's around his new vice president, the more he wants something deeper than a short-term fling. The question is does the lady want Connor - or his business?

Amazon  B&N  iBooks  Crimson Romance

You can find out more the book and Kristina on her website, and feel free to stalk follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Kristina Knight: Welcome to Las Vegas

I have a love affair with Las Vegas. For every person who hates it - and some hate the glittering, neon-ringed, gambling den with a passion - I can come up with a reason to love it. Not all of those reasons are found on the Strip, either. Some, of course, are.

Like, the neon. I know, I know. Neon is ugly during the day, it's wasteful, the old signs clutter up landfills. I know all of these things. But after the sun goes down and before the moon comes out, you can look out of your hotel suite and the Vegas Strip is transformed into a fairyland. Twinkling lights, brilliant colors and fantastical displays as far as the eye can see...it's a very modern display, but it is also very beautiful.

Or, if you're not into neon, you can go into the desert to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. I love sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, but there is something completely other-worldly about the grey-to-pink-to-blue changes that take place over the Canyon at daybreak...it takes your breath away.

And then there is the food. We've been to Vegas at least 5 times now, and I've never found one of those mythical 99-cent buffets. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't eat there because there are places like the Original Lindo Michoacan and a local brick over pizza place that we stumbled onto just off the strip... and there are the fancy options at Cesar's and the Luxor.

I love vacationing in Vegas, and that's part of the reason I set my Billionaire Cowboys trilogy there - because it gave me an excuse to go back (it was a business expense!!) while researching the books...and it also gives me the chance to go back every day that I'm drafting or editing one of the books.

Tell me, where is your favorite vacation spot?

About What the Bachelor Gets:

The Billionaire Cowboys trilogy by best-selling author Kristina Knight kicks off with a seductive story of long-simmering feelings and hot Vegas nights.

When Vegas Nightly names local property developer Gage Reeves as its sexiest bachelor, he's barraged with a stream of showgirls, local socialites, and entertainers who all expect something from him. But all Gage wants is to make a success of his new luxury shopping development.

Enter Callie Holliday. Callie dreams of having the hottest day spa in Vegas, but she's saddled with a bad location and an account balance full of zeroes. When she walks into a last-chance meeting with an angel investor and finds herself face to face with Gage, the childhood friend on whom she had a huge crush, she's not sure his reputation is the right match for her business. But then he offers her a storefront in his new high-end retail complex, and she has to admit it's a thoroughly tempting proposition. But feelings she thought were long buried threaten to turn their deal from strictly professional to decidedly personal.

It's risky business gambling on love . . .

Buy the Book: Amazon  B&N  iTunes  KOBO  Crimson Romance