Welcome to the Fae Out of Water blog tour, phase one–Cutie and the Beast! I’m so looking forward to introducing you all to the Kendrick brothers and their guys, starting this month with Alun and David. As you follow along on the tours—phase two, The Druid Next Door, in August, and phase three, Bad Boy’s Bard, in September—please leave a comment and your contact information for a chance at a $50 Riptide gift card. The drawing will take place after the last Bad Boy’s Bard blog stop. Thank you so much for stopping by!

What’s in a Name?

I can never really get started on a writing project until I have a title for it. Sometimes the title is really stupid—usually because it’s the result of some obscure reference that nobody but me (or someone with similar nerdy frames of reference) will understand. But I have to have something.

When I first started working on Cutie and the Beast, the working title was “Fae Psychologist”—and that was only because the germ of the idea was born as an offhand pitch at a lunch in Vegas with an editor from my first publisher: “What about a psychologist who treats the supernatural community?”

Originally, this was only going to be a single category-length book, but as I started to develop the story, it turned into a trilogy about three brothers, with an overarching story arc in addition to the plot of each book.

By the time I’d gotten through my plotting process, before I started the first draft, I had a different title for book one: Temping for the Beast. I’d already plotted the second book and begun developing the story for the third. The original name for the second book was The Ill-Tempered Knight. I knew this wasn’t really right and wouldn’t stick, but like I said—placeholder! (Nerd reference alert: If any of you are familiar with T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, this is a riff on book three, The Ill-Made Knight.) The original name for the third book was Rock and Reel.

As it turns out, by the time I’d revised book one into a submittable draft, I had two other books contracted with Riptide (the Legend Tripping series), so I sent the proposal (for all three books) to Riptide instead of the original target. (Can I take a time-out here for heart-eyes for Riptide? <3 <3 <3)

While the editorial staff loved the series premise (and the first book, the only one that was complete at the time), they hated all the titles, so my editor (the fabulous Rachel Haimowitz) and I started brainstorming. Cutie and the Beast was her idea, since we wanted to keep the Beauty and the Beast trope front-and-center.

That gave me an idea for the others—a contemporary element and a paranormal element smooshed together with a standard romance trope. So The Ill-Made Knight became The Druid Next Door, and Rock and Reel became Bad Boy’s Bard.

And the series as a whole? From the original descriptive-yet-unimaginative “Kendrick Brothers series,” we twisted the trope and turned it into what it is now: Fae Out of Water.

Ba-da-boom.

 

About Cutie and the Beast

Temp worker David Evans has been dreaming of Dr. Alun Kendrick ever since that one transcription job for him, because holy cats, that voice. Swoon. So when his agency offers him a position as Dr. Kendrick’s temporary office manager, David neglects to mention that he’s been permanently banished from offices. Because, forgiveness? Way easier than permission.

Alun Kendrick, former Queen’s Champion of Faerie’s Seelie Court, takes his job as a psychologist for Portland’s supernatural population extremely seriously. Secrecy is paramount: no non-supe can know of their existence. So when a gods-bedamned human shows up to replace his office manager, he intends to send the man packing. It shouldn’t be difficult—in the two hundred years since he was cursed, no human has ever failed to run screaming from his hideous face.

But cheeky David isn’t intimidated, and despite himself, Alun is drawn to David in a way that can only spell disaster: when fae consort with humans, it never ends well. And if the human has secrets of his own? The disaster might be greater than either of them could ever imagine.

Available now from Riptide Publishing. http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/cutie-and-the-beast

About the Fae Out of Water Series

Once upon a time, there were three brothers, nobles of the Seelie Court of Faerie, who set out to seek their fortunes. The eldest—

Scratch that. Rrrrrewind.

Nowadays, when tales are told in 140 character bursts on tiny LED screens, rather than spun out by the glow of a midnight campfire, even Faerie’s elite have to get with the program.

The Kendrick brothers have traded longbow for briefcase, battle steed for Harley, and enchanted harp for electric guitar.  But while they’re finding their feet in the modern world, instead of finding their fortunes, they stumble straight into love.

#faeoutofwater

Check out the Fae Out of Water series! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/series/fae-out-water

About EJ Russell

E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer, and business-intelligence consultant. After her twin sons left for college and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class, she returned to her childhood love of writing fiction. Now she wonders why she ever thought an empty nest meant leisure.

E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her curmudgeonly husband, the only man on the planet who cares less about sports than she does. She enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

Connect with E.J.:

Website: ejrussell.com

Blog: ejrussell.com/bloggery/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/E.J.Russell.author

Twitter: twitter.com/ej_russell

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ejrussell/

 

To celebrate the release of all three books in the Fae Out of Water series, one lucky winner across all three tours will receive a GRAND PRIZE of a $50 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 23, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the Cutie and the Beast tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!