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Book Blurb
Three years later, she finds him again, but their separation was poisoned with narcotics and bloodied by enslavement.
Her freedom gambled away, Charlee Grosky escapes the international businessman who held her captive. But his power reaches beyond her protective barriers and threatens everyone she has come to love.
Jay Mayard wears his tortured secrets under his rock god facade. Drugs are his release, even as he seeks to be the man forged of the steel only she can see.
In a celebrity world filled with paparazzi, groupies, and drugs, Jay and Charlee must face their worst fears. When the battle is over, what will be left...Beneath The Burn.
Genre: Romantic/Erotic Thriller
Content warning: Includes graphic rape, sex, anal, bondage, and violence. Age 18+ only.
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Book Excerpt
A woman with a white-blonde pixie haircut backed out of the shop and dammit if he couldn’t stop himself from gawking. She was slender, but not in a bones-pressing-skin kind of way. She had a figure that could only be toned with good nutrition and rigorous activity. Oh yeah, she was built for stamina. She locked the door, and turned toward him, tipping back her head.
The bluest eyes he’d ever seen stared up at him. They were ringed with navy and glimmered with silver flecks. They were also wide with...fear? No, that couldn’t be it if her smile were anything to go by. Her beautiful face seemed to swallow up the glow of the streetlamps, the passing headlights, the goddamned moon.
“Hi.” Her smile wavered. “You look lost. Can I help?”
Oh Christ, her voice. It was the complete package, like the full-bodied Fsus2 chord humming from the hole in his Martin Acoustic. Gentle, cool, hypnotic—
“You’re lost, right?”
She had no idea. “Just found what I’m looking for.” Smooth, Jay. What the hell was he doing?
Book Playlist
Swing Life Away by Rise Against
Paparazzi by Lady Gaga
Running Up That Hill by Placebo
Nothing Else Matters by Metallica
Drive by Deftones
Where Is My Mind by Pixies
Lebanese Blonde by Thievery Corporation
Waiting Room by Fugazi
Just Like Heaven by The Cure
Forty-Six & 2 by Tool
Author Interview
Thank you so much for sitting down with Toot's for an interview. If you don't mind, I have some questions for you about the series and your process for our budding authors as well as fans, which I am definitely among!
So first off, Beneath The Burn Questions.......
In your own words, what is Beneath The Burn about?
The corruption of obsession and addiction, the power in control, and the triumph of two broken souls.
How did you come up with the title and does it have any significance?
The Burn is the name of the band featured in the story. There are also multiple events in the plot symbolized by fire, though, I...uh...er...can’t/won’t elaborate.
How difficult was it to tackle the Romantic/Erotic Thriller genre and what sets your book apart from other stories in the same genre?
The difficulty is in the contrast in consensual and non-consensual erotica. Both are prevalent, and heroine’s sexuality as a result of her trauma messed with my head. Non-consent is a worn concept in dark erotica books, but the bulk of the story focuses on how the heroine overcomes the abuse by trusting a man who is equally damaged.
What was your favorite scene to write for your hero or heroine?
The hero is untouchable, in the physical sense, and I enjoyed sketching the scene when he was at his most vulnerable, allowing her hands on him the first time, letting her in.
What was the hardest scene to write?
Ugh, the bad guy action sequence in the middle of the story. Having been so focused on the emotional aspects of the H/h relationship, I struggled to pull myself out of their tangled psyches long enough to position and arm a gun fight with clarity. Give me a squeezing heart! A meaningful glance! Who cares where the goons are standing and how they’re pointing their guns? LOL. I grudgingly reworked the logistics of feet and weapon placement—with a few too many yawns on my part—and was relieved to get back to the emotional tension.
*with a wink* What type and how much research did you have to do for the book?
What doesn’t have to be researched? I wonder how authors wrote before the birth of Google (By the way, you can absolutely believe everything you read on the Internet. Heh.) I look up everything from what crop fields smell like in Texas in July to the statuary rape laws by state. The bulk of my research, however, focused on national defense technologies, the side effects of various street drugs, and the psychology behind BDSM.
Writing.......
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated and what made you decide to pursue it as a career?
I’ve read horror and romance voraciously since I was young enough to have to hide the taboo content from disapproving adults. At some point, I began rewriting the books I read in my head, with different characters and alternate endings. The Anita Blake series tipped me into outlining my first story. I wanted that series to take a different direction, so, I wrote my own horror thriller (Dead of Eve) and found an obsession that has taken over my life.
What inspires you to put the pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard?
When I don’t write, I spiral head first into the boring dregs of reality. Writing lifts and supports the areas of life that sag. Is it like a bra? Botox? Whateva. It plumps my withered places.
What are some of the elements in/of your writing process?
Outline, outline, outline. The entire story is graphed, scheduled, and extrapolated in a spreadsheet. Before I begin to write, I know every scene and its purpose to the plot. I’m a Computer Science major and couldn’t fathom attacking a plot without a formula. When my writing buddies raise their creative brows at me in disbelief, I raise my middle finger. Aw yeah, beyotches. I’m a plotter. Poke your fun, I’m still gonna plot.
What's next for you?
Blood of Eve (Book 2 the Eve Trilogy). I’m squirming to get back to the horror and heroes that make up Evie’s apocalyptic adventures.
Is there anything you’d like to add before we get into the personal questions?
A couple pieces of advice I live by:
Pretend you know what you're doing in whatever situation, and 99% of people will leave you the hell alone. Unless those people are zombies.
Love is like a fart. If you have to force it, it’s probably shit. This is not to be confused with: Love is work, because it really effin’ is.
Personal questions......
So we all know our goal is to help spread the word about your book, what would you say to a would-be reader to sway them to read your book?
It’s dark. Maybe too dark for some, not dark enough for others. The pain is as fierce as the love story, but I promise a happy ending.
Now I know this is like asking you to choose between your own children, but who is your favorite character of yours and why?
Joscelin Verreuil in Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel's Legacy series. He’s so admirably loyal to his priesthood and beliefs, yet his strength is tried and tested a million times over through his love for the heroine and horrors they face. He is the epitome of the fictional hero and his courage shines in the best series ever written.
What was the most recent book you read and would you recommend it?
Escape from Paradise. Hell yes, I’d recommend it. I read it in one sitting.
Lastly, let's steal an idea from the magazines.....What 5 things do fans not know about you and 5 they don't know about the book?
Author:
1.Raised in a strict Catholic household.
2.Lifelong vegetarian.
3.Insomniac.
4.Addicted to M/M porn.
5.I read my Kindle while driving.
Book:
1.My husband wrote one of the songs in the book (including all the instrumental pieces).
Book:
1.My husband wrote one of the songs in the book (including all the instrumental pieces).
2.My experience as a groupie with my husband’s band inspired a number of the scenes.
3.The hero is based on a fictional version of Maynard James Keenan from Tool. I saw him in concert once, and he sang the entire set from the shadows behind the drum kit.
4.I tried to write a severely broken version of the heroine. Turns out I couldn’t do it. Writing her grief the few times she cries nearly broke ME.
5.The effort to write this book in completion was fueled with 20 gallons of coffee, 10 gallons of Monster energy drinks, and 150 packs of cigarettes. Oh, all right. I didn’t actually track this, but I bet my estimate pretty damn close. Eek.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your precious time. We are so honored to have you here.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your precious time. We are so honored to have you here.
Author Info
Java, tobacco, and dark romance novels are her favorite indulgences, and might be considered more unhealthy than her aversion to sleeping, eating meat, and dolls with blinking eyes.
Author Links
Website
Goodreds author page
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Tour Info
Thanks for participating in the blog tour! Love your site.
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