Today contemporary romance author Robin Kaye is here to talk about her latest book, Too Hot To Handle (Domestic Gods, Book 2). Her debut, Romeo, Romeo (Domestic Gods, Book 1), was very well received and one of my favorite reads of 2008.
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I have a confession to make. I never read a romance before 2004. I wasn’t a literary snob. Really, I wasn’t. I grew up reading my father’s books and was in a rut most of my life. That ended the day my sister-in-law gave me a copy of Bridget Jones’ Diary. I read it in one sitting and I loved it. I couldn’t believe what I’d been missing all my life. That was the day I became a romance-reading addict. Since I’ve always written, it seemed natural that I would eventually turn my energies toward writing a romance.
When I wrote Romeo, Romeo, I had no plans for a series until my editor said “So, tell me about the next book in the series.” I couldn’t very well say I had no plans for one, could I? I just did what I usually do; I punted. I pitched a book off the top of my head. Luckily, she loved it and that pitch became Too Hot to Handle.
The thing I love best about romances, aside from the happy ending, is watching two people grow and change over the course of a book. I’ve since learned that this is called the character arc. I suppose it’s a good thing I love character arcs because my heroine, Annabelle Ronaldi wasn’t the nicest person in Romeo, Romeo. To put it nicely, she was…difficult. When her character appeared in my mind I knew she had tons of baggage that went along with all that attitude, but I never fully explored it. When I began writing Too Hot to Handle, I had to dive right in to all her baggage. The scene that popped into my head was Annabelle waking up after a night of too much champagne wondering if ghosts had sex. She was either in bed with the ghost of her deceased fiancé or in bed with a total stranger who looked just like Chip, only his nose had been broken, he had different colored eyes, and larger…feet.
From that moment on, I knew everything there was to know about Annabelle. She had to overcome the death of Chip, the man she thought was her soul mate, while dating Mike, a man who looked enough like Chip to be his twin. Personality wise, Mike and Chip were as different as night and day, thank God, Mike was different in all the right ways.
The hero, Dr. Mike Flynn has his own set of hurdles to leap, the least of which was awakening with a screaming woman who, after a night of amazing sex, couldn’t remember his name. He’s in debt up to his eyeballs in school loans, working his way into a medical practice only to find out that one of the partners was a malpractice suit waiting to happen and that is all before he finds out about Chip and their uncanny resemblance. There was no lack of conflict in this book.
It was great fun writing a sequel because I got to see all the characters I loved so much in Romeo, Romeo. Nick and Rosalie make an appearance, as does Dave their dog. Vinny, Aunt Rose, Rich Ronaldi and the rest of the Ronaldi clan comes back. I got to introduce a few new characters like Becca, Annabelle’s best friend who also happens to be Chip’s twin sister, and Mike’s mother, Colleen, who has a little love story of her own.
Writing a series from a stand-alone book has its challenges. You can’t go back to change someone’s profession when you realize he’s the hero of your next book, but I think it also makes you grow as a writer. Would I do it the same way again? No! But now I know enough to know what not to do with my next series.
Thank you so much for being here with us today, Robin!
**CONTEST ALERT** Leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 15th and you’ll be entered* to win a copy of Too Hot To Handle. **CONTEST ALERT**
Check out our reviews of Robin‘s books:
Casee’s review of Too Hot To Handle
Rowena’s review of Romeo, Romeo
Holly’s review of Romeo, Romeo
Romeo, Romeo and Too Hot To Handle are available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy them here and here in print.
I’m going to add these to my collection. Thanks for talking about your series.
The book sounds like a fun read!
The more I hear about this book, the more I want to read it!
I’m going to put both books on my WishList. They sound great.
I’m in! This post made me curious about this new book!
These books look like a hoot 🙂
I sure would love men like that
I really really want to read this book! I keep hearing such wonderful things about it.
I’ve put Romeo Romeo on my list of books to get my hands on! This new series really intrigues me.
This is on my wishlist.
I hope I win!
mj.coward[at]gmail.com
Hi Robin,
What a great story on how you started a series. Congratulations on the new book. It looks like a fun story.
Sounds great, count me in.
The book sounds fascinating. Count me in. Have a great day.
Thanks, everyone~
Good luck in the give-away. I hope you all enjoy the books as much as I did writing them.
Best,
Robin 🙂
this romance sounds really cool!
adding to my wishlist!
Hahaha it already sounds really interesting with a lot of twists and turns for the character.
Hi there Robin! I quite enjoyed Too Hot to Handle. But I have to say though that I hadn’t recall who or how Annabelle was from Romeo, Romeo when I picked up the book. If I had remembered Annabelle at the bookstore, I’m not so sure if I would have grabbed the book so readily. To say the least, I didn’t like Annabelle much from her interactions with Rosalie! By the time I remembered Annabelle, I was already about a quarter of the way into the book and by then I just couldn’t stop myself from finding out what happened next. So thank you for an entertaining read!
I’d like to be included for te giveaway!
These sound so fab! I haven’t read a contemp in a while and now finding more here!! It would be a joy to be in for this one! Thanks!
Robin! Nice to see you again at another awesome blog! 🙂
Crossing my fingers on this one. Romeo, Romeo was fabulous and am really looking forward to this story. Thanks!!
rachie2004 AT yahoo.com
Hi, Robin! Romeo, Romeo’s on top of my TBR, and I’m looking forward to more DGs in Too Hot to Handle!
great to see uhere
congrats on teh books
please enter me
kh
Too Hot to Handle looks like a great read!
Sounds great. Please count me in!
I’ll have to hunt up the first one now…
I can’t wait to read that book !!!!
(did I mention that I luuuuuuve the covers..;-)
These books sound great! Can’t wait to read them.
This book sounds really great, I’d love to read it!
Too Hot To Handle sounds good. I would love to read it. Great cover.
Both of these books sound like they would be a lot of fun to read. 🙂
Larena
I’ll have to put Romeo Romeo on my TBR list!
Woah! That is so surprising that you hadn’t read a romance before 2004! I now you are writing a series! You GO! mesreads[at]gmail[dot]com
Please enter me in the contest!
Both these books sound intriguing!
Thanks!