Thanks for having me! I’m so excited to get to share some insight into the Hot Wire series in general and Backstreets specifically. Backstreets (Hot Wire #2) is a continuation of Peter Bauer and Nikos Petrakis’ story—a romance sparked between a career car thief and an honorable mechanic.
I truly believe the mark of any author is that we are all voracious readers and consumers of media long before we ever set pen to page (or fingers to keyboard, in this case.) The Hot Wire Series was birthed from my love of dark comedies, neo-noir thrillers, and HEA romances. I think the common thread throughout at least the latter two of those genres is strong characterizations.
So, that’s going to be the focus of this blog tour. Let’s spill some tea about my characters, lovelies. My first MC is Peter Bauer, and he is admittedly a bit of a wreck. When we meet him in Night Moves, he’s spent a lifetime working for his abusive and criminal father, a job that’s always been a little ill-fitting for Peter. He’s chronically self-defacing, uncomfortable in his own skin, and works hard at covering all of that up with an easy, superficial bravado. As soon as someone starts to get close to him, Peter pushes off as hard as he can.
When things are going bad for Peter, he has coped in the past by disconnecting, repressing, and using drugs and alcohol to numb himself. He’s trying hard to change, but let’s be honest, fam, his recent sobriety has sat just about as well on him as being a criminal. Worse, when things are actually going good for Peter, he’s just constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is where the beginning of Backstreets finds him.
—
“I think Nik’s going to ask me to move in,” he added neutrally.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, this is a natural next step. You’re there all the time. You love Nik.”
Peter flinched; he hadn’t told Liv he couldn’t say it yet.
“He loves you,” Liv continued.
“And Helena,” Peter said, surprising himself at how bitter he sounded. “Nik loves me and Helena, except she was doing everything I was but better and first.”
“Peter, you can’t possibly be jealous of a dead woman.”
“How can I not be? Nik’s practically deified her at this point, and it’s not like it was a typical breakup situation where there was some animosity or betrayal or something. If she hadn’t died, he’d still be with her.”
“But he’s not,” Olivia said, frustratingly patient. “He’s with you.”
“I’m the consolation prize, Liv. I’m just filling up the space she left. And sometimes it’s like he wants me to do it as quickly as fucking possible.”
At the heart of it, Peter couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that he had not only stolen Helena’s perfect life with Nik, but that he was fucking it up. Peter wasn’t her. Peter wasn’t enough. Whatever it took to shore up those cracks, Peter didn’t have it. Peter didn’t keep the shop books the same way as her and he didn’t get along with Nina like her and he couldn’t make Mia’s breakfast right like her. He couldn’t do any of the million other things Nik sometimes mentioned absently when he talked about his late wife.
Erik had made Peter feel inadequate for Peter’s whole life. It wasn’t fair that being with Nikos was making him feel that way now too.
“Have you talked to Nik about this?”
“No, I’m not a goddamn monster,” Peter said acerbically. “What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey Nik, would you mind keeping your grieving down a little? It’s bumming me out.’”
—
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link
Length: 48,000 words approx.
Hot Wire Series
Book #1 – Night Moves – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb
“Where there’s nothing to gain and everything to lose.”
It’s modest, but after a lifetime spent barely holding on, former car thief Peter Bauer is proud of what he’s managed to achieve. He’s got a legal, legitimate job as a mechanic, a firm grasp on his addictions, and a steady relationship with Nikos Petrakis—stable, handsome, and recently widowed. Nothing is going to upset that, not the ever-present memory of Nik’s wife, not the claustrophobia Peter is starting to feel trapped in domestic bliss, not even the sudden reappearance of Peter’s ex—the sexy and dangerous Stavros Giannopoulos.
But when Nik’s daughter goes missing, Peter will be forced back into the seedy underbelly of the LA crime world, where anything goes. Can his and Nik’s relationship survive? Can Peter?
Backstreets is the second book in Kat Cassidy’s Hot Wire series which contains themes of crime, suspense, family drama, hurt/comfort, dark humor, addiction, and abuse. It should not be read as a standalone.
Kat Cassidy is a romance novelist. She’s a dreamer, a schemer and, above all else, a believer in true love. She lives in Canada with her husband and her lovable mutt, and she likes loud guitars and strong IPAs.
Her debut novel, Night Moves, has been nominated for the Goodreads M/M Romance Members’ Choice Awards Best of 2018 for both Best Debut Book and Best Main Character.
 |
| Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions |