End the week with LAURA KAYE

Meet Lucien!! Hero of FOREVER FREED by Laura Kaye


Now lets meet Lucien's author!! Today, we’re here with published author, Laura Kaye.

Laura: I want to start out by thanking Linda for having me over today!

Linda Kage: Well, thank you for stopping by, Laura. Why don't you tell us a little about you and what you write please.

Laura:My first reading love was paranormal romance, so it’s no surprise that’s also where I cut my teeth on writing fiction. Besides paranormal, I also write contemporary and erotic romance (the latter I’ll publish under Layla Kane). On my most recent project, I took a pretty big genre detour and wrote a women’s romantic fiction because the story idea just wouldn’t leave me alone. Though I’m a historian in “real life,” so far I haven’t been lured by historical fiction—the required research might just make it a little too much like work for me! I guess the multiple genres makes me a little schizophrenic, but each one poses different challenges that I love to take on, and regardless of genre, I’m always exploring people’s (or vampires’, etc.!) basic need to belong, to feel connected, to not be alone.

Kage: What happened to the first book you ever wrote?

Laura:There are so many ways to answer this! The first “book” I ever wrote was a handwritten paranormal retelling of The Secret Garden when I was fourteen. In my mind then, it was a book. I wish I knew whatever happened to that! I remember feeling like I was engaged in such a serious endeavor while writing it. LOL The first true novel I ever finished was Forever Freed’s great-grandfather, or at least that’s how it feels given how many iterations Forever Freed went through before becoming what it is today. The first draft came out at a whopping 150,000 words and was structured more as urban fantasy than romance. Watching approximately 60,000 words drop to the cutting-room floor as I edited was painful but necessary. Plus I have in mind maybe reworking the chopped-off beginning that most of those words represent as a prequel to what will ultimately be a 4-book series.

Kage:What’s your backlist and coming soon bookshelf look like?

Laura:My debut books are releasing this spring from The Wild Rose Press, a paranormal novel called Forever Freed and a contemporary novella called Hearts in Darkness. So there’s a whole lot coming soon!

Kage: Alright then, let's talk about FOREVER FREED. Spill all the good stuff!

Laura: Forever Freed will be released this spring by The Wild Rose Press (release date expected any day!).

********************BLURB********************
FOREVER FREED
by
Laura Kaye
Empathic vampire Lucien Demarco, sired in a horrific attack that left his human wife and child dead, never lets himself know a human beyond the horrified emotions he drinks down when starvation forces him to feed. When an alternate blood source becomes available just as Lucien gains new neighbors—a beautiful human woman radiating an alluring joy and her young daughter—he struggles over his contradictory needs for the healing, absolving emotions her blood promises and the newfound comfort and affection their companionship offers. As Lucien’s friendship with Samantha and her daughter Olivia deepens, awakening the long-lost man and father inside him, he must decide exactly what he craves most.

Coming SOON to THE WILD ROSE PRESS
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Kage: What would the story be rated if it were a movie?

Laura: I love this! Definitely R. There are G-rated romances? My pervy brain must be steering me clear of those titles. LOL.

Kage: If you HAD to fit this story into a cliché, which one would it be?

Laura:Beauty and the beautiful-brooding-Italian-fanged Beast. Without question. ;)

Kage:Okay, now that we have a general idea which class to fit FOREVER FREED under, what makes this book so unique from every other book out there?

Laura: One thing that makes this vampire romance different is the vampire’s quite close and central relationship with a 5-year-old girl, the heroine’s daughter. Her innocence and acceptance disarms him completely and is just so sweet! I’ve always been fascinated with the idea that children, free from preconceived ideas of what’s possible and real in the world, have a greater capacity for perception and acceptance of the paranormal. So I play with that here. And when you find out what little Ollie thinks Lucien is, You. Will. Melt. Guaranteed! LOL

Kage:What was the easiest part to write?

Laura: This book was the fastest thing I ever wrote. Them there 150,000 words I mentioned above? Yeah, they spilled out into a completed draft in under 12 weeks. It wasn’t always easy, exactly, but this story and its characters slammed nearly fully formed into my head and took root there so deeply that it changed my music interests for months. Lucien is a tortured soul, and it was while channeling him that I fell in love, for example, with Linkin Park, whose songs might as well have been written with my guy in mind! LOL I couldn’t even listen to fluffy pop music for about six months—it literally rankled me like Lucien was another personality in my brain. I knew him intimately from the very beginning, so he was always easy to write—and still is.

Kage:What do you like most about the main character(s) and what do you like least? Did you learn anything from them?

Laura: Lucien is so easy to love, but what I most like is how much he appreciates everything that develops in his relationship with Sam and Ollie because it’s all so new to him. Maybe what I like the least is his penchant to think himself unworthy, and to sometimes act on that feeling. About Samantha, I love the way she’s devoted her life to her daughter, despite the hardships it’s imposed on her. That also relates to something I don’t like about her, but I can’t say more without ruining an important moment in the climax! ;) Ollie is just complete awesomesauce from beginning to end.

Kage:Laura, Thank you so much for stopping by today and gracing us with your presence. Before we go, is there anything else you’d like to say to wrap things up?

Laura: I think everyone can relate to the healing power of second chances, and at root that’s what Lucien’s really searching for in Forever Freed. Watch my website for release date information and contests—free stuff will abound shortly!

If you're still curious about Laura, here are other places to find her on the web:

Website: http://www.laurakayeauthor.com/ (under construction)

Blog: http://laurakayeauthor.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/laurakayeauthor

Twitter: @laurakayeauthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3703867