A warm welcome to Renae Kaye who is joining us today to answer some questions about her newest release “You Are The Reason”, also check out todays word for her Scavenger Hunt !

Welcome Renae 🙂

I can honestly say that you have written some of my favourite characters. There’s no way I could even narrow it down to a top three. Do you have a favourite or maybe one that you’re particularly proud of creating?

**Hangs her head in shame** Yes. I’m a bad mother who has favourites.

Jay from Loving Jay has to be my all-time favourite character. He’s just so much fun, and so open and honest. I really respect honesty and transparency in people, and Jay has that in spades.

Something that I’m proud of creating, is The Shearing Gun. It’s not the typical setting for a romance story, and I was taking a little bit of a risk writing it. The land, the animals, the shearing, the town – all that is the heart of me, and I really did feel like I was writing “home” when I wrote this. I’m proud of how it turned out.

In You Are The Reason, Davo relies pretty heavily on his Magic 8 ball to make his decisions for him. Do you ever search out “signs” to make decision making easier?

Poor Davo. Yes – he clings to the decisions made by his Magic 8 Ball. I think that takes strength of character. If you really didn’t like the answer, yet still followed it, you believe pretty strongly.

I’m a Christian, and yes, I look for signs from God. He doesn’t make it very easy for me, but I look. Mostly I ask him am I on the right path in life, and he doesn’t say no.

I know some readers refuse to read books featuring children, and Baby Maxine plays a rather important part of Davo’s journey. Have you ever hesitated to write a story the way you see it going, concerned by how it may be received?

I wrote The Blinding Light before I had my first story accepted by my publisher. So when I wrote it, I wrote it for me. I liked the idea of Jake being thrust into the responsibility he was. No one would choose that path, but that is the point. We don’t get everything we want in life, and it’s how we deal with it that makes us who we are.

I have seen some people who say they don’t like MM romance featuring children, and if this is you, please be assured that the baby is just someone Davo babysits. She is key to unlocking his emotions, but she isn’t on every page.

For me, I hesitated over writing Shawn’s Law. I hesitated over how people would receive the Alzheimer’s patient, and I also hesitated over the OTT humour. I know that the slapstick-type comedy level in this story is not everyone’s cup of tea, but as an author, I’m never going to write something that resonates with everyone. I was right with Shawn’s Law. You either love or hate it.

I have also nearly finished writing a story that technically involves cheating. This was a big dilemma for me – because I don’t like cheating stories either. One of the MCs in this story is married when the story starts, and I know people will instantly say “No way, Jose” on reading it. But I urge them to try it before they judge.

Are you currently planning to add any more stories to The Tav series? We met some interesting characters at the GLBT drop in center…

You’re on the ball, Donna! I do think that I have a story for some of them, but the next book in The Tav series won’t be someone who comes from this direction. It will be someone you briefly meet in You Are the Reason.

As I was writing the drop-in centre, I knew I could possibly pull some of these guys from their teenage-hood and give them HEAs.

Is it just me or is the sex getting hotter as you continue to release books? Do you feel pressure to keep amping up the heat with each new story?

LMAO. I find this comment extremely funny, because I tried to keep the “sex level” about the same as The Blinding Light. I deliberately amped the heat for Safe in His Arms, but I thought I dialled it back again with this one. I’m obviously mistaken. You’re not the first to mention this.

I don’t feel pressure at all to amp the heat. I don’t write stories for their heat – I write them for the romance that happens, and sometimes the sex is a part of it. I do think that perhaps I’m becoming more comfortable in writing it. (And I’ve worked out a few different words for “thrust” which was a major pain for me in the first two books I wrote.)

I love including quotes from a book in my reviews and you always provide me with endless awesome-quote material. Do you ever write a line or two, sit back and think – wow, I nailed that!

**Blushes** Am I allowed to say yes?

There are times that I just roar with laughter over a line I come up with, or sit there and think, “Yep – the readers are going to love that one.” But often I’m mistaken. There are a number of lines I wrote that just seemed to pass people by.

I was actually listening to the audio of The Blinding Light today, and there were a number of sections where the delivery of the line is entirely different from what I intended. I think this accounts for some of it, because where I would pause and then deliver the punchline, you can’t always see it in a book.

 And the only question that I could possibly end an interview with – what is coming next from Renae Kaye?

Nothing for certain. (Yes – major let down on my behalf, but sorry.) I can tell you that I’m writing a spin-off to Safe in His Arms, and I’m also writing a spin-off to Loving Jay. Hopefully the end product is publishable. I have plans for another story in The Shearing Gun world, and a second spin-off to Safe – but neither of these are started.

Just know that I am forever working on new stuff, and getting it out as quick as my busy mummy-life allows.

 

Thank you for having me, Love Bytes. I always enjoy coming on. Thanks for interviewing me, Donna – and hopefully I can catch you for coffee soon.

 

 

Blurb:

Davo’s a pretty average guy. He has a decent job, owns his own home, and spends his weekends at the pub. He fully accepts that he’s gay, but doesn’t want to be one of those gays, who are femme and girly. He likes football and other masculine pursuits, and firmly avoids anything that could be seen as femme—including relationships that last beyond fifteen minutes.

Then Davo’s friend and gay idol not only gets a boyfriend, but also adopts a baby girl. Davo is seriously spooked and scuttles down to the pub in fright. That’s where he meets Lee, who is cute from her cherry-red hair, to her pretty little dress and pointy red shoes. Davo is charmed—but how is that possible? He’s gay. Isn’t he? Then Lee tells him he’s actually a guy—he just likes to wear women’s dresses occasionally. Thoroughly confused about an attraction that’s out of character for him, Davo begins the long journey to where he can accept himself without caring what everyone else thinks.

Buy links:

Amazon

Dreamspinner

All Romance eBooks

Barnes & Noble

Renae Kaye is a lover and hoarder of books who thinks libraries are devilish places because they make you give the books back. She consumed her first adult romance book at the tender age of thirteen and hasn’t stopped since. After years – and thousands of stories! – of not having book characters do what she wants, she decided she would write her own novel and found the characters still didn’t do what she wanted. It hasn’t stopped her though. She believes that maybe one day the world will create a perfect couple – and it will be the most boring story ever. So until then she is stuck with quirky, snarky and imperfect characters who just want their story told.

Renae lives in Perth, Western Australia and writes in five minute snatches between the demands of two kids, a forbearing husband, too many pets, too much housework and her beloved veggie garden. She is a survivor of being the youngest in a large family and believes that laughter (and a good book) can cure anything.

How to contact Renae:

Email:  renaekaye@iinet.net.au

Website:  www.renaekaye.weebly.com

FB:  www.facebook.com/renae.kaye.9

Twitter:  @renaekkaye

Check out the Scavenger Hunt Giveaway to visit the different blogs featuring Renae 🙂

In order to celebrate my release of You Are the Reason, I’ve organised a scavenger hunt. I will be releasing ONE WORD as the hunt item on several stops of my blog tour. In order to WIN an eBook copy of the book, follow along the blog tour and find a minimum of FIVE unique words. Email the five words to me at renaekaye@iinet.net.au before August 16th to be in the draw.

Today’s word is: HEAT

I look forward to hearing from you.