INTERVIEW
Tell us about the absolute BEST fan letter you have received.
I’ve had two recently that really stand out. One last year in response to my one and only Young Adult title, Life as a Teenage Vampire, from a man about my own age (30s, shhhh), who contacted me on my website, https://www.amandameuwissen.com/, just to let me know how much the story meant to him as a gay man who wished he had a book like that to read while growing up because it touched on so many of the thoughts and feelings he experienced. Really, that book, while about vampires because I love my paranormal romance, is more about high school life and the relationships between characters, one who is openly gay and in love with his best friend, and the friend who becomes a vampire and has to come to terms with that identity as well as the revelation that he is bisexual.
More recently, on one of my upcoming books, an initial beta reader went out of their way to tell me that they felt truly transported by the story, a feeling from reading they thought they had lost in recent years that had them tearing up before the end – which of course had me tearing up to hear! Just the absolute best praise I could imagine. Do your friends think you are an introvert or an extravert? Why?
I am an introvert who presents as an extrovert. Introvert doesn’t mean shy – and I am certainly not that! It just means that my rejuvenation comes from alone time, and being around people is more draining, but I definitely act as though I’m an extrovert.
Where are your fans most likely to find you hanging out?
Tumblr – and probably more than I should! I’m at http://crimsondomingo.tumblr.com/. I post snippets from works in progress, writing exercising, posts on my favorite shows and passions, and I generally love to interact, so feel free to follow me there and ask questions or offer prompts at any time. Several of my recent books have come from fan prompts that inspired me more than I can say.Use no more than two sentences. Why should we read your book?
If you are a fan of urban fantasy romance or superhero storylines, this takes that excitement and imagination to glorious heights, with an enemies-to-lovers focus as well as angst-with-a-happy-ending. The Lovesick Series also delves into issues of bipolar depression and trauma recovery from a realistic view that I have been told is meaningful and inspiring, adding a whole other dimension to the tale.Entice us, what future projects are you considering?
I have a spin on The Little Mermaid mixed with the Tom Hanks Splash film currently being reviewed by my publisher that I think is one of the tightest and most heart-warming novels I’ve ever written. I also am just starting to write a slightly more contemporary romance story about an early-retired dance choreographer recovering from hip surgery, and the young beach bunny neighbor who keeps crossing his path. I am not hurting for ideas or works in progress, so fans know they will always get at least one new title from me each year.
Do you have a favorite quote, quip, or saying? What is it?
The quote I always come back to is the Japanese Proverb “We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.” Life is short, we always make mistakes and have trouble throughout our lives, so why hold back? I think it’s part of why I love writing, because that is my dance, it’s how I get across the love and excitement I have for life, and sharing that with others makes it even better.Is there one passage in your book that you feel gets to the heart of your book and would encourage people to read it? If so, can you share it?
The passage that stands out for the whole series is from this second and final installment, Lovesick Titans:
“Hey…” Mal held Danny’s hand still resting against his stomach and reached with the other for Danny’s face. He brushed away the tears that had formed with a gentle swipe. “It’s okay. It’s okay…if you’re not okay.”
Besides showing a tender moment between the love interests, it also gets to the heart of what people recovering from trauma and dealing with bipolar or any kind of depression need to hear, because it’s true. It’s okay to not be okay sometimes, and hearing someone say that instead of automatically trying to cheer us up can often be more impactful.
What are your hero and heroine of the story like?
I tend to say that this series has a hero, a nemesis, and a villain, because the enemies-to-lovers aspect makes it seem like there is an initial villain in the character of Mal/Prometheus, but you quickly learn that this thief is not as bad as he seems. Conversely, the hero, Danny/Zeus, has a dark side that turns his tropes on its head too. As they find a connection in each other, they soon have a villain to face together, which is both a physical character in Ludgate/Hades and also metaphysical in the internal demons they each have to face.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Lovesick Titansby Amanda Meuwissen
GENRE: Gay Romance, Superhero
BLURB:
Not even a Titan can always stand up to a God.
Malcom Cho is in over his head, wrapped up in a love affair with his superhero nemesis Zeus, who most people in Olympus City only know as Detective Danny Grant.
Lovesick Titans begins where Lovesick Gods left off, after a heist gone wrong that ended with a museum guard dead and Mal and Danny beaten and exhausted from their fight with the new threat in town, Cassidy Ludgate—Hades.
Unaware that Ludgate’s true motivation is revenge for the death of his father at Zeus’s hands, Mal wants only to keep Danny close, while Danny races to solve the cases surrounding Ludgate to stop him from whatever he has planned for them next.
What Mal doesn’t know is that Danny didn’t pursue him with the purest of intentions but sought to break his heart in retaliation for not being there when he needed him in the fight against Thanatos. Even though Danny no longer seeks that end, the lies between them loom like a shadow about to descend upon them both.
And Hades has only begun to toy with them…
Amazon http://tinyurl.com/y8zanfyw
EXCERPT
Danny let Mal hold his hand in place on his arm, while his other hand strayed, drifting down to Mal’s hip and resting at the edge of one of his larger scars. Mal had many, from years of abuse and a hard way of living. Normally, when Danny touched one, he pushed on with confidence, but tonight, the raised scar tissue made him snap to his senses like he’d been in a trance.
“Sorry,” he said and pulled both hands away.
But Mal reached for them, hung onto them, and brought Danny’s hands back to his skin. “It’s okay. Broken bottle one night when Dad got drunk. Now I get to add another knife wound to the collection.” Mal smirked as he nodded at his bandaged arm.
Danny smiled with him, but it was a sad, shattered expression. He teased the tips of his fingers over the scar tissue. “Are all these really from…” With a startle, he tried to pull away again as if he’d said something he shouldn’t.
“My father?” Mal said, refusing to let him go. “Not all. Most though. Some are from prison. Some dumb mistakes. Fights like tonight. But most…yeah, they’re his.”
Taking Danny’s hand still resting on his hip, Mal drew it upwards, guiding it across his bare chest until he reached his shoulder and the faint circular scar tissue near his clavicle.
“Freezer burn. From his powers. Because I broke my leg when I was eight and I cried. He wanted to teach me a lesson. Teach me how to keep pain in and never let anyone see it. So he held the tip of a frozen finger there until it burned.”
Danny’s brow furrowed with indignant anger.
Mal trailed the hand lower to a particularly bad scar across his stomach—his worst and the one he remembered the clearest. “First knife wound. Caught me with a boy in my room. Would have killed him if I hadn’t stood in the way. I took the brunt of it. Let him run off. Never brought a boy home again, not ‘til Dad was gone. Brought a couple girls home,” he shrugged.
“Girls?” Danny asked with a touch of humored skepticism bleeding through his concern. He splayed his hand flat against Mal’s stomach, warm and intimate in his touch.
“Occasionally. Not as often.”
Danny nodded but his smile quickly faded, his eyes trained on the scar and the affectionate way he traced it with his fingers. “Sometimes…I think my dad hates me because…” he trailed and the motion of his hand slowed. “There’s something I never told you. About the night I killed Thanatos.”
The smile dropped from Mal’s lips as well as he waited for Danny to continue.
“He killed my mom.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Author web links:https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Meuwissen/e/B00IASVAJO/ http://www.amandameuwissen.com/http://crimsondomingo.tumblr.com/https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6831429.Amanda_Meuwissenhttps://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmandaMeuwissen/https://twitter.com/MissSuperCube
GIVEAWAY
Amanda Meuwissen will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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