Just when I’d swear on that big stack of religious tracts people leave stuck in my door that I don’t read reviews, I go and do it.
We’re not supposed to have favorites among our kids or our books, but I have an almost favorite. I have written a few romance novels and I love them. In fact, romance comprises the bulk of what I read and write. I love that breathless first kiss moment. The does he, doesn’t he, will they, won’t they, tension of romance. I love the sigh I get when I close a book after the author has tucked all the characters into their wee beds for the night, happy, safe, and sound.
But I also love stories where things aren’t so pat, where people are a flawed, where they get things wrong, or they’re selfish, or they aren’t listening to each other and it causes conflict.
Home The Hard Way is not a romance. It’s a mystery with romantic elements. It has BDSM in it. And fairly casual (within the context of the story) sex. The romance truly begins as the book ends, so it’s got an HFN and not an HEA. It is NOT the book anyone expected me to write, and maybe that’s why I like it so much.
It was a 2014 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention book, and that was very exciting for me.
Perceptions of that book may have suffered from my schtick–who doesn’t think of laughter and unicorn farts when they think of me? I’m that smiley Kool-Aid mom, the one who says, “I love you,” and “Drive Safe,” every time a member of her family leaves the house, even though half of them don’t drive at all, and even though I know to add the -ly ending on an adverb.
At any rate, though, I just gave the book a reread, because if it’s going to have a sequel–which it is–I need to create a series bible. I also looked it up on Amazon and I found this very recent review, from blogger/reviewer Elisa Rolle. She said:
“Fascinating tangle of old guilt and new sins, highly engaging characters, a suspenseful, inherently consistent plot and steaming hot eroticism. Plus, I loved to see the dom in this light BDSM setting come apart for a change too.
This book is one of the best examples of fiction done well. Each intricate thread is weaved perfectly through the story keeping tension high and the plot, character development, and setting perfectly balanced.
An incredibly absorbing novel. ZA peels back the layers of the plot masterfully, building suspense. By doing so, she develops her characters equally well. I liked both MCs, especially Finn, and found myself enjoying the BDSM interaction between them more than I usually would with such scenes. I enjoyed this a lot. The final showdown was excellent. She did not pad out the plot with sex, but used it to build on her characterization and introduced it at appropriate points, not as padding for a thin plot.
This author that never fails to deliver. Mystery in everyday life: just look closely in your past if you dare.” – Elisa
Thank you for letting us know one of your favorites. Since you are one of mine, I will definitely buy this. Currently my two favorites books of yours are St. Nacho’s and My Heartache Cowboy, whose characters speak as expressively as I wish I could.
I would like to be an author who naturally writes “drive safe” rather than add the “ly,” whichis why I appreciate your narratives. A friend recently suggested I type some of my favorite author’s dialogue to get better at it. Here is a small bit:
Right about then, I split into two different people and now I couldn’t get either one of them under control.
One part of me, the part that was used to stupid shit happening and then time passing and everyone forgetting about it, didn’t really give a fuck whether the kid liked me or not. He’d move on to another spread of he’d find a boyfriend among the very few gay cowboys around or he’d hit the rodeo circuit and be a buckle bunny for some rodeo star who liked his fans to come with a little something extra in their jeans.
And good for him, because what did it matter to me? As long as the kid was happy.
The other part, the guy who came to the J-Bar as a messed-up foster kid had rung like a bell when Crispin said Crandall Jenkins smelled like him. In that moment I’d felt some kind of vivid, colorful connection to Crispin – something I’d never known with another human being. I’d felt a spread of warmth throughout my body and I’d shivered all over, like I’d been cold for a lifetime and right then the sun came out.
That part of me … That part didn’t know what to feel. I’d been going through life like an old coyote, slinking around the edges of civilization because I wasn’t sure I was up the challenge of contact with people. It might have never occurred to me that I’d closed myself off to anything more than a passing acquaintance with the ranch hands and a cash-and-carry physical exchange with Reanna, except the kid seemed to be offering more than either of those things.
I cried reading this, because it expressed how each of us have so many selves, and did so in a manner that anyone could relate to.
Thank you for teaching me.
Annie
Aw, that is so sweet! Thank you for letting me know you liked it. Sometimes I manage to say what I’m trying to say, I guess, if it resonates with people!
XOXO
Just to be safe, the review is not “by” me, but it’s from the Rainbow Awards’ jury. I just posted it on Amazon since I wanted to share the words by the Jury you earned during the judge process 🙂 Elisa