A warm welcome to author R. Phoenix joining us today for their blog tour on new release “Too Close”.
Welcome R 🙂
Asking an author to pick their favorite character to write (Noah) or their favorite book of the ones they’ve written (tie between Too Close and Owned) is sacrilege. Really. Impossible. Couldn’t possibly. But alas, someone asked me who my favorite characters are, so I suppose I’ll have to cover some of my darlings’ ears and permanently raise the self-esteem of some of the others.
The sacrifices we make.
Thereís something in each of my characters that I love, some trait — whether it’s a weakness or a flaw, or just some nuance in speech or mannerisms — that sets them apart for me. Itís what makes them a joy to play with and explore. As much as they go hand in hand, I prefer characterization over plot, so my characters are usually strongly developed before my plots are. Oops.
I wanted to talk about the top two, but after an author takeover event the other day, I clearly have to include the third. (Just for you, Sloane. Just for you.) These three could not possibly be more different.
First off, I want to talk about Skylar Orion, the main character of my latest book. In Too Close, my first contemporary romance, we follow Skylar’s journey as his acceptance of an abusive situation is challenged by a glimpse of what he could have instead. (Mind the warnings for domestic violence; the scenes could be triggering.) Humor can be a potent coping mechanism, and he relies heavily on puns and other bad (wonderful — no, Iím not biased at all) jokes to get him through. I may have had entirely too much fun picking out the puns I used here. Might. But beyond that, I love his ability to love so deeply that it ends up being both a positive and a negative. Heís stronger than he knows, and he can do more than he ever could have dreamed. He has a truly special place in my heart.
The other character I truly love is Noah Franklin, who is introduced in Recoil, one of the books in my “Ripples in the Status Quo” series. After the vampires, witches, and werewolves took over the world, he was trained to be a soldier in the Rebellion who do their best to fight the “status quo”.He’s a zealot, firmly and fully committed to his cause, and he faces some of the most difficult situations when his life changes yet again in such a radical way that he can’t go back. I’ve put that poor guy through hell, but heís coming out stronger for it. There’s something about resilience with me, I think, because that’s one of the other things I truly love about him. He has no intention of being broken” but what he’ll become may not be what he expects. (Cue dramatic music.)
And then I have to talk about Elias Ivers. Elias is a witch in my RISQ world, and he’s one of the main catalysts in what happens. Heís power-hungry, calculating, sadistic, and he owns a place called Tartarus — where supes can pay to hunt down humans and traitors through something like an obstacle course. (Really, he’s a great guy. So misunderstood. *cough*) I admit to getting a perverted pleasure out of peopleís responses to him: they seem to love him or hate him, with very little in between. I think Meredith Kingís comment was my favorite: “if he was on fire and I had a glass of water, I’d drink it.” And Sloane keeps trying to talk me into killing him. What’s up with the violent tendencies, folks? 😉 He’s going to feature more prominently in the 7th book, which I’m very much looking forward to writing.
Anyway, Too Close is out at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited, and I hope you’ll check it out. It truly is something I’m proud of, and I hope it helps you understand why people stay in abusive relationships just a little better or reminds you that there is a way out. Here ís the link
I’m in the process of editing the 6 Ripples in the Status Quo books (and when I’m done, I’m renaming the series, but blah blah so on and so forth) and putting them back up. They’re also on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited, and the ones that aren’t up right now will be soon. Pinky swear. Here’s the link: Bought (#1) [Warning for graphic sex/dubious consent.] & Ravel (#2) [Warning for romance. ;-)]
Thanks for reading my ramble. 😀 Those are my favorites, though I could write things like that for all of them. (Well. Okay. There’s one I donít like very much, but shhh. Don’t tell anyone.)
Love,
R.
Skylar Orion’s life has been complicated ever since his mother abandoned him and his sister Evie. Making ends meet seemed impossible until Tate Chandler took them in — his knight in shining armor who promised to make life about more than just surviving. But Tate is not the man he seemed to be, and even his whispered I love yous and generous gifts do little to soothe the pain he causes. Knowing he can’t give his sister all that she deserves without Tate, Skylar stays with him, relying on bad puns and a worse sense of humor to keep up the charade.
Warning: This book contains scenes of domestic abuse and violence that some may find triggering to read.
January 9 – Because Two Men Are Better Than One
January 11 – Sinfully MM Book Reviews
January 13 – The Blogger Girls
January 16 – Bayou Book Junkie
January 19 – Love Bytes
January 20 – Alpha Book Club
January 23 – MM Good Book Reviews
January 25 – Prism Books Alliance
January 26 – The Novel Approach
January 30 – My Fiction Nook
R. Phoenix has an unhealthy fascination with contrasts: light and dark, heroes and villains, order and chaos. She believes that love can corrupt and power can redeem. Her muse is a sadomasochistic slavedriver who thinks itís terribly amusing to give her the best ideas when she just got comfortable and warm in bed, and she passes on that torture to her readers.
If she had it her way, she would describe the books in her ìRipples in the Status Quoî world as: ìSupernatural creatures take over the world and turn humans into pets and food. Thereís some sex between guys. AndÖ umÖ fucked up things happen.î Itís probably a good thing she has people around her to remind her that she actually wants people to read her books. (They should really be more diligent, especially when they know sheís writing her author bio.)
Sheís an author, stay-at-home mother, housewife, second time college student, and duck herder extraordinaire. Sheís learning how to cook without burning the house down, her garden is somehow neither drowning nor drying up, and one day she might remember what that mythical thing called ìfree timeî is. Sheís starting to wonder who thought it was a good idea to write bios in third person.
She also tries entirely too hard to be funny, and she mercilessly inflicts her terrible sense of humor upon anyone who speaks to her. Really, itís not you. Itís her. All the same, sheíd love it if youíd say hello, because it makes her day to hear that someone read something she wrote. If they enjoyed it, thereís usually an awkward happy dance and embarrassing sounds of joy to accompany it (no, not that kind of sound, you perv). If all of that hasnít scared you away, please say hello!
http://www.facebook.com/raissaphoenix
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