Susan Sey Winner

The winner of a (print or Kindle-winner's choice) copy of 

PICTURE ME AND YOU by Susan Sey is:

erin

Congratulations!

Please send an email with your choice of print or Kindle copy of the book and the 

appropriate email/mailing address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Today's Special - - Susan Sey

It's my pleasure to welcome Susan Sey back to the Romance Dish today. If you read any of Susan's posts while she was blogging at the Romance Bandits, then you already know she writes with humor and heart. If you've picked up any of her books, you're also familiar with her quirky characters, out of the norm settings, sweet and sexy romance, and touch of suspense. In Picture Me and You, she also proves herself a master of the dysfunctional unit. Only this time, it's not just a family. It's the whole darn town. As this is the first book in a planned trilogy - and I couldn't put it down - I can hardly wait to see what she brings us next! 

Take it away, Susan! 

I’m deeply in love with HAMILTON these days. 

Surely you’ve heard of it? It’s Lin-Manuel Miranda’s retelling of founding father Alexander Hamilton’s story through a musical mash-up of Broadway and hiphop. Nominated for a record 16 Tonys, it’s infectious, ingenious and educational.  (It isn’t just history, either. At one point, we get into the crucial importance comma placement. Kid you not.) It’s also a master’s class in characterization.

Obviously, Alexander Hamilton is our hero here.  He’s a driven genius, creating everything from the Coast Guard to America’s banking system. He was also an arrogant, social-climbing philanderer, despised by both Thomas Jefferson AND John Adams, who could agree on nothing, it seems, except that Hamilton was a jerk.

Aaron Burr is our villain.  Their lives run along very parallel tracks -- both were brilliant, ambitious, and politically inclined orphans.  But where Burr respects the political machine, plays within its rules and loses, Hamilton breaks every rule, writes his own ticket and wins. He does everything wrong but always manages to win, and by the time these two get down to dueling, you can see exactly why Burr shoots. It breaks your heart, but you get why he does it.  Why you might, too, in his shoes.

By the time Lin-Manuel Miranda is done with us, we know in our bones that Hamilton was no hero and Burr was no villain. They were just two really strong, really different men who were standing in each other’s way and neither one knew how to yield. So who’s the hero? It depends entirely on whose point of view you’re in.

It’s a beautifully written lesson in compassion, yes, but it’s also a lesson to writers everywhere. It’s easy to hate faceless evil-doers, but it’s just as easy to forget them.  You want to write a story that grabs people by the throats, shatters their hearts and leaves them thanking you for the privilege? Write a rich, fully-drawn, well-motivated villain, then a hero who lives up to the challenge.

I’m no Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I try really hard with my villains.  I write dozens of scenes in their points of view, scenes I know I’ll have to cut eventually. But not a word is wasted because each moment I spend inside my villain’s head and heart is time I spend understanding that character, getting to know what drives them, who they are and who they’re desperate to be.  And it only makes my hero that much stronger.

In my new book, PICTURE ME & YOU, the villain does some pretty awful stuff. Borderline unforgivable stuff.  But by the time I’m done with him -- and it’s a trilogy, so be patient -- I’m hoping you’ll understand why.  In fact, I’m hoping you’ll go one better and not only understand but forgive and -- maybe -- fall in love.

So tell me -- who’s the worst villain you ever forgave?  Can you think of a character you initially hated with a grand passion but who eventually turned it around until you loved him?  I desperately love a reformed bad boy, so shout them out!  One lucky commenter will receive a copy of PICTURE ME & YOU, book one of my new Devil’s Kettle trilogy, in either print or for Kindle.  

The perfect wife…

All Addison Davis has ever wanted is a family of her own and a place to call home.  So when the art world’s favorite bad boy paints her as a masterpiece, puts a ring on her finger and tucks her away in the gorgeous little lakeside hometown he made famous, she finally has everything she ever wanted.   Everything except love.

The loyal brother…

Fire chief Jackson Davis knows his brother isn’t in love with the big-eyed waif he married.  Diego might be enchanted with his angelic little muse now but he’s never loved anything more than his addictions.  When those addictions leave Addy a painfully young widow, Jax can only watch while her precious heart shatters.

The secrets they keep…

But Addy inherited more from her late husband than a family, a hometown and the masterpiece she inspired.  She inherited his secrets, too, but secrets don’t keep in Devil’s Kettle.  When all is revealed, what bursts into flame between her and Jax is hot enough to burn down the whole town, forcing Addy to choose — will she protect the life she loves, or risk it all for the man who loves her?

Welcome to Devil’s Kettle.

Learn more about Susan and her books at her website. 

Connect with her online at Facebook and Twitter.

Susan Sey Winner

The random winner of a copy of MONEY SHOT from Susan Sey is

MARIA

Congratulations, Maria!  Please send your full name and mailing address to us at theromancedish (AT) gmail (DOT) com to claim your prize.  Please put "Susan Sey Winner" in the subject line.  Thanks!

Today's Special - - Susan Sey

It's my pleasure to welcome contemporary (with a dash of mystery) author, Romance Bandit and a wonderful friend of the Romance Dish, Susan Sey!  Susan's debut book, Money, Honey was a huge hit with the Dishes and we've all been eagerly anticipating the release date of her second book, Money Shot.  I'm happy to say that Money Shot is now out in the wild and it's terrific! (read the whole thing in one day)

Please welcome Susan as she blogs with us about the fun of writing a little crime!

You Wanna Kiss It Out Of Me?  Or why it’s fun to write a little crime.

A lot of people who know romance ask why I write contemporaries.  It’s not a hot market, and that’s putting it mildly.  If I’m looking to build a career, I have to sell books at some point, right?  Why not at least try to write something that sells?

Paranormal?  Sad to say, I have no world-building skills.   

YA?  Ooooh, I was an angsty teen.  No desire to go back down that road, even in my imagination.

Historical?  I blow at research.   It involves calling strangers on the phone and I hate calling strangers.  (I’m not particularly great at calling people I know, either.)  Plus, thinking I can write a good historical just because I want to seems insulting to people who’ve worked their butts off to develop the voice, style and body of knowledge a decent historical requires.

This leaves me writing largely in the here and now.  Lucky for me, I like the here and now.  I find life and love complicated enough without throwing in super powers or lordships or fangs.   Life as it stands is quite enough to keep me busy, frankly.  But I am willing to do a little research in order to set my stories within a criminal investigation.  And why?  I like the interrogation scenes.

In MONEY SHOT, my heroine (Maria “Goose” di Guzman) is a Secret Service agent sent to Mishkwa Island to determine whether Park Ranger Rush Guthrie is involved in funneling counterfeit cash into the country via Canada.  She arrives on the island under the pretext of investigating a threat to the governor but Rush is no dummy.  He knows she’s looking at him for something else.  But what?  Here’s a scene that encapsulates everything I love about putting a crime element into my romances:

“So I’m in the clear?” Rush asked.

“Looks like,” Goose said.

“On the assassination-via-flaming-pitchfork thing, anyway.  What about the other?”

She pulled her hand away from his and stared.  “The other?”

“You don’t expect me to believe the Secret Service wastes personnel like you on flaming pitchforks, do you?  I know you’re looking at me for something else.”

“Am I?”

He lifted his hand, traced a finger down the line of her cheek.  He came up with a piece of straw from the ends of her hair and flicked it away.  Goose didn’t breathe the entire time.

“A girl like you doesn’t kiss a stranger like you kissed me unless she’s looking for something.”

“Ah.  And what was I looking for?”

“Hell if I know.”  He cocked a brow, leaned in.  “You want another go at kissing it out of me?”

I’m just mean enough that I enjoyed the heck out of writing this scene.  Now Rush is pretty comfortable letting his subconscious have a voice in his decision making process, and his subconscious--along with the rest of him--likes Goose.  A lot.

And Goose likes him right back.  But she’s not one to make decisions with her gut.  She makes decisions with her head, and being deeply and inexplicably drawn to Rush--heart, soul and libido, baby--feels dangerous to her.  She likes her space and she likes her secrets.  Letting somebody close enough to fall in love goes against everything she is, and finding her potential Mr. Right on the wrong side of a criminal investigation? Well.  This is a problem. 

For her, that is.  For me, though?  As a writer?  This is a gold mine.  I have two strongly principled, highly moral people on opposite sides of a criminal investigation while they fall in love.  They have my full attention, no fangs required. 

Plus I’m sort of charmed by a torture-proofed ex-Navy SEAL offering to be kissed out of a confession.  I think he’s serious, too.  He doesn’t know what she wants to know but he’s willing to have it kissed out of him if that’s what it takes.  What a guy.

So what about you?  Do you like a little crime in your romance?  A little suspense?  A secondary love story?  A little time travel?  What gives a love story that special little zing for you?   One lucky commenter will receive their own copy of MONEY SHOT!  (Continental US only, please.)

For more information about Susan, visit her website and "like" her on facebook! 

Today's Special - - Susan Sey

  
The Romance Dish is delighted to host Stop #3 of the Money, Honey Blog Tour, in which author (and well-known Romance Bandit) Susan Sey celebrates the July 6 release of her debut novel by counting down the Top Ten Most Common Reactions an ill-groomed stay at home mom receives when confessing her secret career as a romance novelist.  Please give Susan a rousing welcome and be sure to leave a comment because Berkley Books is giving away FIVE copies of Money, Honey! (U.S. & Canadian mailing addresses only)
 






Hello, Dishers! Thanks so much for having me! I’m just thrilled to be here at the Dish today where we’ll be tackling Reponse #8: “Oh, romance. It’s so unrealistic.”

(If you’re all a-flutter to know the other nine, check out  http://www.susansey.com/pages.php?ID=5.)

Now this one makes me chuckle. Unrealistic? Really? That’s the objection?

Come on, people. That’s the point.  Now I don’t know what your reality looks like, but I have two kids under eight and I’m looking straight down the barrel of summer vacation here. I have a small mountain of laundry moldering in the basement. I have a shopping list as long as my arm, a black hole under the couch that gobbles up library books, and a gang of rabbits who think my garden is an all-you-can-eat buffet. (Alas, poor sweet peas. We barely knew ye.)

When I take the kiddos to the beach, I have no interest in dragging along six pounds of hard-cover reality. Frankly, I want something better than reality. I want a couple hours of adventure and action, a little flash and cash. I’m looking for witty repartee and sexual tension and happily ever afters. In short, I’m looking for a story that casts reality in the shade. And if I can follow the thread while keeping one eye on the kids, all the better.

But within all this anti-reality, I do insist on one small piece of truth. One itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, shining beacon of honesty: the emotion. For everything else, the farther over the top the better as far as I’m concerned. (And just to prove it, Money, Honey features a jewel-thief-turned-crime-novelist in love with a cult-survivor-turned-FBI-agent who’s hot on the trail of a cold-blooded, knife-wielding, revenge-obsessed counterfeiter. So there!)  But when it comes to emotion? To true love? To laying it all on the line for a shot at happily ever after? That I take very seriously indeed.

Liz and Patrick are two of the most damaged, guarded characters I’ve ever written. They’d much rather crack wise than wax poetic, so when it comes to love, they don’t fall into it so much as they face-plant. And we’re talking real love, by the way, in all its painful, messy, terrifying glory. Writing these two sharp, funny, wary people into a well-deserved happy ending was an absolute pleasure. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride as much as I did.

Want to meet them? Read on….

     “I’ll work for you, Liz.” He pulled back just far enough to smile into her eyes. “With you, I mean. One last time. But it’ll cost you.”
     She lifted her hand slowly, rested it against his chest and applied a questioning pressure. The touch of her hand burned through the light cotton of his shirt, but Patrick seized the threads of his control and dropped back a step. Obediently.
     “Cost me what, exactly?” Her eyes were clouded, though with what he couldn’t tell. Unhappiness? Fear? An answering desire?
     “Nothing you don’t want to give.” He took a second to pull it together, to breathe, to make sure that what he wanted to say would come out in one coherent piece. He tucked his hands into his pockets, nice and nonthreatening. “I’m done taking the high road, that’s all. I want you, and I can be damn persuasive when I try.”
     Her eyes went narrow with comprehension. “What does that have to do with forcing my boss to promote you?”
     “Nothing. That was just for fun.” He smiled at her, though it cost him an effort to keep it smooth. “But it came with an unforeseen bonus.”
     “What’s that?”
     “You’re an ethical soul, Liz. You would never sleep with an informant. An independent consultant, however, an equal . . .” He let the words trail off into suggestion.
     She rolled her eyes. “For God’s sake.”
     “Hey, if I’m not good for you, if you don’t want me, all you have to say is no. I won’t take anything you don’t willingly give.” He let years of suppressed want loose in his smile, felt it shift from warm to carnal. “But I swear to God I can make you want to give me things you don’t even know exist yet.”
     She stared at him, her lips parted just slightly in shock, eyes maybe a little glazed. An insane rush of anticipation had an unexpected laugh bubbling up in his throat. Why hadn’t he thought of this approach years ago? Either she’d resist him to the bitter end or they’d set his sheets on fire. Either way, he’d get what he wanted—a resolution to the Villanueva issue without going stark, raving mad from suppressed lust.
     He summoned up a level look for Liz. “You still want me on the team, you’ve got me,” he said. “But those are the new ground rules. Take it or leave it.”

So, tell me, do you have a favorite pair of reluctant lovers? Books, movies, legend, myth, anything goes. We’ll pick five commenters at random to receive free copies of Money, Honey.  (U.S. & Canadian mailing addresses only)