A warm welcome to author Parker Foye joining us today to talk about new release “Mage of Inconvenience”.
Welcome Parker 🙂
Hello, and thanks to Love Bytes Reviews for hosting me today!
One of the key ingredients in Mage of Inconvenience—in addition to tropes and shifters, which I’ve also written about this week—is humour.
Comedy is something that is really hard to write effectively, certainly for me at least, and I am filled with admiration when writers can successfully capture and share humour in their work. Especially the physical stuff, slapstick and pratfalls, which like all things that have to seem effortless is actually super difficult to achieve.
Humour is also important in building relationships, and I wanted West and Julian to be able to share this as much as they do everything else. They have their differences—in personality, status, nationality, you name it—but they’re both in the same, slightly absurd, situation, and from this footing they move forward together. Shared humour helps grease the wheels, as anyone whose ever shared a raised eyebrow with a stranger knows!
The scene I’m sharing today is from one of Julian’s chapters. Julian is joyously flippant in that way only attractive, independently wealthy, overly-powerful mages can be. Like if Harry Potter had been played by Hugh Grant. West is the straight man, through choice—but Julian hasn’t worked that out just yet…
I hope you enjoy this excerpt! And thanks for joining me on the tour!
“Getting old?”
“Mother of God!” Julian flailed in his seat, twisting to face the door and groaning twice as loudly when he discovered other aches. He grimaced at West, looking far too cheery for whatever abhorrent time of the morning it was. Definitely a meta if he had recovered from the drive so quickly. “Did you bring me coffee? I’m liable to hex people when my caffeine levels are low.”
“I found the machine. Half’s left, if you want some.”
“Generous.”
Easing from the couch and wishing—not for the first time—his magic had the finesse for aches and pains, Julian shambled toward the kitchen. West followed at a more leisurely pace, already in jeans and boots and a criminally oversized long-sleeved T-shirt. Though, having slept in his clothes, Julian didn’t have much weight to cast aspersions in that regard.
“I thought we might go for a short hike today, if you agree? We’ll stay at the cottage, at least until the formal announcement, so we might as well get you acquainted with the place. There’s some magnificent views from the top of the hill,” Julian said, studiously pouring his coffee as he spoke and trying not to think of the punishment he was about to subject his body to. He dared to look over his shoulder. “Unless you object?”
West put away his phone when he saw Julian looking. Rude. “No problem. I like the outdoors.”
“Well. Okay. Excellent.”
“Great.”
“Good.”
“Fine,” West said, lips twitching.
Julian rolled his eyes and took a deep drink from his coffee in an attempt to prevent himself from laughing at the sheer awkwardness of the situation. West’s shoulders shook as he poured himself a cup, stealing Julian’s hard-earned coffee. The honeymoon period is over.
Can they find the magic in a practical union?
West is on the run from his werewolf pack, but if he cannot renew his magical defenses, he won’t get far. What he needs is a mage….
Julian is part of a wealthy and ancient family, and one day, his legacy will include his mother’s vast library of spell books—and the knowledge he needs to correct his past mistakes. But his inheritance comes with a stipulation: he has to be married before he can collect. What he needs is a husband….
West and Julian can help each other, and at first they don’t want anything further. But as they dodge meddling cousins, jealous rivals, and an insidious drug, it becomes clear that their lives are entwined in ways they never imagined—and they’re in greater danger than they thought possible.
Buy the book at Dreamspinner | Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
Parker Foye writes speculative-flavored romance under the QUILTBAG umbrella and believes in happily ever after, although sometimes their characters make achieving this difficult.
An education in Classics nurtured a love of heroes, swords, monsters, and beautiful people doing stupid things while wearing only scraps of leather. You’ll find those things in various guises in Parker’s stories, along with kissing (very important) and explosions (very messy). And more shifters than you can shake a stick at.
Used to living out of a suitcase, Parker is currently of fixed abode in the UK but still travels regularly via planes, trains, and an ever-growing library.
This sounds really good! I hadn’t considered humor being a trope before, but I totally agree, it can ‘make’ a book!
Since I haven’t read anything by Parker Foye I think this would be a great way to introduce myself to her work.