OMG Another 2018 Favorite!!! Long Shot Review and Interview with Kennedy Ryan and GIVEAWAY!

What I’d like to know is why Kennedy Ryan hates me so much to put me through this emotional torture. I’m in literal shreds. With every page I’m more shocked and devastated. The visceral reactions are instant and a constant throughout this whole book.

I feel so much pain for Iris and her situation and more pain for the people who deal with this every single day in real life. These strong individuals who are able to withstand so much and still are able to live another day.

Iris has to be one of the strongest heroines I have ever read about. I admire her so much. SHE IS THE TRUE HERO OF THE STORY! I loved everything about her. I knew that every decision she made was because she was trying to do her best in a HARD situation. She trusted the wrong person and it really backfired.

This book was very emotional and Intense. The angst was REAL. But we did get some comic relief from two amazing characters that I LOVED. Mimi and Lo.

“...Gimme some of that broke dick. That unemployed, still-living-with-his-mama, sleeping-on-her-couch dick.”

Mimi and Lotus are essential parts to the story. They add a rich background to Iris and make the book stand out in a cultural sense. Lotus had amazing humor and made me laugh and you will really need that humor to get through. Mimi had so much beauty in her soul. There was so much amazing imagery in the way her home in Louisiana was described. I felt like I was there myself. She was really a key turning point in the book.

“Breathe in truth.” Her hands are busy in the air over me, slicing through lies. “You are pure. You are enough. You are strong.”

I also loved Jared and Kennan. They were so funny as well! I know Kennan and Lo will have a book but I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Jared too!

The second half of the book is about healing and moving forward. I love Kennedy’s approach to this. It was very realistic and stayed true to Iris’ personality.

We were totally rewarded for all the pain we had to go through because the good times were SO worth it.

August and Iris have that once in a life time love. The obstacles they overcame to be with each other was mind blowing.

There are so many times where he could have given up and I admired him for his belief in Iris. When everyone around him was doubting her character he knew there had to be more. He waited to take the shot.

I want someone to play me at the five

Kennedy Ryan is a true talent. Her words rendered me speechless at every page. I can’t even put into words how amazing she really is. Her success hasn’t even reached its peak yet and I can see so many amazing things for her in the future. The woman is a poet. An artist. A rare talent.

“Life is a constellation of decisions, connected by coincidences and deliberations, painting pictures in the heavens. During the day, when things are brightest, we don’t see the stars, but they are there. It’s only in the contrast of night, when things are darkest, that the stars shine.”

The story really leaves you feeling hopeful. For the future, for your story!

Buy Link (Kindle Unlimited):

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2pt8wuZ

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2GOHnu1

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2pt7Llx

Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2DHbC2V

Why did you write this story? When reading a book this intense and emotional I always think to myself, what made the author want to go through this emotional wreck all the time LOL and What kept you going when things got tough?

Without spoiling too much, I saw the video of Ray Rice knock his fiancée unconscious in an elevator and drag her out like a bag of trash. His disregard for her and the subsequent cultural discussion really got to me. I literally told my husband that night I wanted to write a book that touched on domestic abuse in professional sports. Most of my books are kind of emotionally wrenching. I’m a one-trick pony. I don’t do funny or fluffy or light, unfortunately. LOL! I enjoy layering a love story with lots of real life issues. The thing I hear most commonly said about my books is that they’re “more than just romance.” That’s not to denigrate other romances in any way, but I understand what they’re saying. There is always something “else” beyond the love story that I want the reader to consider; to walk away with. That is definitely true of LONG SHOT, probably more than any other book I’ve ever written. I wanted to add my voice to the broader cultural discussion using the platform I have, which is fiction. I had...fear honestly at points that it might be too intense? But not enough to do less because I felt to have the impact I wanted, this was the right approach. What really kept me going, if I’m frank, were the survivors. I interviewed several women, but there were two who ended up being sensitivity/beta readers for LONG SHOT. Having them so close to the story deepened my urgency to make this book compelling. They were incredibly strong women who have been through a lot. Some nights I would sit in front of my computer and say, this is soooooo hard. And then I would replay the things they had told me and it gave me perspective. Sitting there writing that book wasn’t hard compared to those things. Those things they experienced, that was hard. Now get your butt back to writing! hahahaha

What five words would you use to describe Long Shot?

Forbidden. Wrenching. Relevant. Romantic. Triumphant. (I guess? LOL)

You did a lot of research with Long Shot, What is something new you learned when you went to the woman’s shelters and spoke to domestic abuse survivors face to face?

Generally the thing I learned was how complex these situations are. I think we often oversimplify what is, for most woman, an extremely volatile situation. I hadn’t accounted for a mother’s fear that if she left, her abuser would still have access to their children. Our laws really protect the abuser’s rights more than we realize, especially parental rights. Over the course of my research, I also learned about 70% of homicides in cases of domestic abuse occur when the woman leaves. So that is a huge decision for her to make, and in many cases, very dangerous. Not that she shouldn’t leave, but she has to be prepared for the consequences and have a plan. And usually assistance and support. The abuser’s general profile is that of a manipulative narcissist who thrives on control. Controlling the money, transportation, relationships, even reproduction, some withholding/stealing birth control pills when possible. If you’ve never found yourself in a relationship with someone like this, you really have no idea what they’re capable of. Many of them don’t demonstrate the extent of their controlling behaviors until the woman is “trapped” or chained to them in some way.

How did you do your research on the Louisiana Bayou? Is there a personal connection to you?

I’ve only been to New Orleans once. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there, so it’s special to me. It’s such a unique place - the food, the music, history, the melding of religions. I’ve always been fascinated by the vibe of that city. Louisiana at large, really. More than most American cities, you see the influence of how it was originally settled. The French influences especially. There are parts of Louisiana where they speak more French than English. And the voodoo aspect really intrigues me; the influences of West African religions and practices that persist in the modern Louisiana culture. I read a lot about Louisiana. I did a lot of research online because I didn’t have time to physically go back. Research, interviews, snooping comes naturally to me because of my journalism background. I just apply those skills and habits to learning about the things I need to know when I write fiction. I also made sure to include a Louisiana resident as one of my beta readers to help keep me on course. She corrected me a few times to ensure I got it right! And I watched lots of Queen Sugar (LOL!) which is set in Louisiana and gorgeously filmed!

What made you decide to incorporate the voodoo aspect to Iris’ family background? I found it to be very unique and I haven't read about it before.

It’s interesting. Someone asked me the other day if there were developments I hadn’t anticipated in the book or accounted for, and at the time, I really couldn’t think of many. But now I realize the voodoo was not something I considered in my original imagining of the story. Lo, Iris’s cousin, was really the character who introduced that element. I started thinking about the movie Eve’s Bayou on a walk one morning, and it just started meandering into Lo and Iris’s family history and backstory. I was careful not to use the voodoo too heavily in this book because I didn’t want to confuse readers who might start to think of it as...I don’t know...paranormal somehow. I wanted it to flavor the story without overpowering the taste. ;-)

There are A LOT of hard moments in this book. Did you ever think wow this is going a little too far? Did you have any doubts?

I recognized that it was difficult material, but I had a specific way I wanted to tell it, which was raw and unmitigated. I had the chance to publish it traditionally with a book deal, but would have most likely had to fade those difficult scenes to black. If I set out to write a romance novel that was just escapism and swooning (nothing wrong with that, but not generally what I do), then I would have taken that deal. But I honestly had a strong sense of writing on mission the entire time I was creating this story. Meaning, I had a bigger purpose than just writing a romantic story. I wanted to challenge readers to think differently potentially about domestic abuse and about survivors; to, in some cases, reconsider some of our preconceived notions about what that situation is like and what it takes to extract oneself safely from it. I wanted us to...hurt with them. I wanted us to experience their suffering and how trapped they must feel sometimes. I had one friend who was like, okay. If you take out all these hard scenes, pick up once that is in the past and maybe have some flashbacks, but just focus on Iris and August, the hero, you’ll have a great romance. LOL! And she was right. That would have been a great romance, but it wouldn’t have elicited the feelings and the empathy I wanted for survivors. It wouldn’t have been visceral enough. And for me, it wouldn’t have been creatively on mission. Believe it or not, there were scenes I pulled out because they were “too much.” I have a great beta process with really intelligent and ruthlessly honest early readers. There were some things in earlier versions which, though accurate to what a woman might experience, in this context could have felt gratuitous, so I revised. Then there were times when a beta reader might say, wow. I was disgusted on this part. I was angry. I had to close my Kindle. For me that was not a cue to pull back, but to press forward because I wanted readers to experience that range of emotions.

Lotus is one of my favorite characters in the book. She has also been through a lot in her youth but still has a beautiful light in her and provided me with lots of laughs. What can we expect from her book with Keenan?

Ahhhh! I can’t tell all my secrets! LOL! But I will say that Kenan is this surly kind of character who finds himself...sort of undone by this tiny, powerful woman. His nickname is “Glad”, short for gladiator, so seeing this huge guy feeling confused and almost helpless because he is so drawn to this woman will be rewarding for readers, I think. And because Lotus grew up with more voodoo influence than Iris did, we’ll see a little more of that in her story. ;-) Lotus has a very complex childhood, and it deeply affects her as an adult. I want her to find her own healing and her HEA!

How do you keep each book different and fresh from the last?

I don’t know that I always do! LOL! But I definitely try. With LONG SHOT, one of my friends was reading early and said August kind of sounded like Grip, another of my heroes, on this one part. I think that’s because I tend to write good guys; men who are truly devoted to the women they love and who respect them and their ambitions and dreams. Basically men a lot like my husband! And from time to time they sound like each other because sometimes they sound like my husband! Some days I feel like I have this bottomless pit of ideas, and then other days I feel like everything I think of has been done. When people ask me to describe my books using a “trope” it never quite fits because I don’t write that way. If you characterize LONG SHOT strictly as the trope of a sports romance, it connotes something the reader isn’t expecting and doesn’t get when they read the book, really at all. That’s a challenge for me because that element of predictability and knowing what to expect is comforting for many readers. And I don’t do that much. If you go into my GRIP series thinking it’s a “rock star romance” because Grip is a musician, you’ll be scratching your head when you encounter the themes and issues I want to explore in those books. I think that is part of what helps me to keep things fresh. I want there to always be an element of intellectual curiosity with my books. Something that goes wayyyyy below the surface and starts to break out of those molds that in romance we sometimes like to maintain for comfort. My books sometimes defy those dynamics we use to categorize. Second chance. Rockstar romance. Friends to lovers. Those are great for helping readers know what to expect and have something they can grab hold of, as long as they know with my books to hld those descriptions very loosely because they probably barely fit. LOL!

Finally, are there any exclusive details you can share right now about Lo and Keenan’s book?

Hmmmm...exclusive details? I already told you I’m not giving you my KeLo secrets! LOL! I will say their story has a tighter focus on them as a couple than LONG SHOT, which allowed more space between Iris and August than is typical in a romance novel. Kenan and Lo’s book, which is still untitled, is wildly romantic and has more of those elements of mysticism than LONG SHOT. It is emotionally wrenching, for sure, but not quite as difficult. That’s all I got. Or at least all you’re getting! hahahaha!

A huge thank you to Kennedy Ryan for graciously agreeing to do this interview with me!