They Met in a Tavern by Elijah Menchaca Book Tour, Guest Post & Giveaway! {Ends 12/7/22}

Review By LAWonder10:

In an earlier time, five young people in their late teens were thrown together through varying circumstances and became a team. Together they were an almost unbeatable force until a tragic circumstance occurred. They were shocked ten started to blame each other. They split apart with hatred and betrayal.

Years later, the former leader of the group was a husband and father. His wife was the sensible, calming one in his life. She helped him, once again, to find self-worth. Now after years of anonymity, he was approached by one of the former five to let him know there was a high-price contract on him and the former “team”. When other strange things began to happen. The leader couldn’t just wait around. He needed to warn, the others, protect his wife and child, and do all he could to dissolve the situation that he could. He could;t do it alone. Could he persuade any of the others to join him?

This is action-packed and a unique fantasy with superheroes and varying strange powers.

#BEWARE: There are many graphic, violent scenes. There is a huge amount of “F-bombs” and other very foul language.

I found the violence and language to be excessive when other descriptive words would accomplish a higher quality of writing

The Characters were developed well and most seemed real. The scenes were vwer==ry f=gerapic and mostly easily visualized.

This book was gifted me with no pressure to post a positive review. This is my honest review.

i offer a Three and a Half Stars rating.

Sometimes I feel like They Met in a Tavern was born in a perfect storm. So many different
factors fueled the inspiration behind it—books I’d read, tv shows and movies I’d watched, where I was in my life—but I think my favorite inspiration to talk about was the music that inspired the story.

I was never into music as a kid, so it’s been kind of a surprise to realize just how important it’s
become to me later in life. A lot of the biggest turning points in my life have hinged on me
hearing the right music at the right time, and that absolutely applied to my first novel.

I’ve made multiple playlists related to They Met in a Tavern and its characters, but these three
songs are the ones I credit with inspiring the story in the first place.

Don’tThreaten Me with a Good Time — Panic!  At the Disco

I had not heard of Panic! at the Disco when I saw a random comment on the internet saying that this song reminded them of a character in Season 2 of Critical Role. I liked that character, so I was curious, and I gave it a listen.

The first time I heard this song, I could immediately picture the character that would become Brass. I knew exactly what he looked like, how he acted, what he was about, and I fell in love with him.

From that first listen, I knew I had to put him in something. He didn’t have to sit on the shelf
long.

The One That Got Away — Katy Perry
The story of this song had been living rent-free in my brain for a long time, but when I started
thinking about the cast of characters I wanted to create for Tavern, and the dynamic I wanted
them to have, this song came barreling to the forefront of my brain.

The book’s whole premise is “typical band of young heroes ten years later,” and those stories
always have that main couple everybody roots for, so I was really interested in exploring

“What if that couple broke up?”

Also, fun fact, this song is the reason that all of the Starbreakers have matching tattoos.

Good Old Days — Macklemore Feat. Kesha
Of course, this was the song that drew me to that premise in the first place. I started hearing this song right as I was graduating college, and it sent me into such a self-reflective spiral until I just had to write a book to find my way through it.

Just that idea of getting older, looking back on good days, fearing you’d wasted them, or worse,
that they could be happening right now and you’re missing them—that was the feeling I kept in the back of my mind when I was writing Tavern. Whenever I wasn’t sure about the tone of a scene or where to take the plot, I’d put on this song. If any single track deserves to be that book’s theme song, it’s this one.