Today historical author Kate Moore is here with us talking about bad boys (one of my favorite topics). Kate’s latest release, the second Sons of Sin book, To Save the Devil
______________
Hello bookbinge fans, and thank you for having me, especially today, the release day for To Save the Devil
Writing a trilogy has been a whole new learning experience for me teaching me profound respect for my sister authors who keep their series going book after book. Right from the beginning of writing To Save the Devil, book two of my Sons of Sin trilogy, I realized I was stuck with choices I’d made in book one To Tempt a Saint.
What did I have? A missing blackmailer, an upscale brothel where a murder had taken place, a dark slum where a kidnapped teenager was hiding, and a bad boy hero who in book one had disappointed his family, lost his job, and been badly beaten. I also had a time line with major historical events happening that my London-based characters could hardly ignore. How could I weave these elements together into a love story?
I started with the hero. I confess that I’ve always been curious about bad boys even when I thought sexual congress involved external body parts meeting north of the collarbone. Bad boys were troublemakers who wore their jeans slung lower than an Abercrombie model and who openly defied authority whenever they could. At fifteen I suspected, with no real basis for judgment, unless slumber party gossip counts, that bad boys knew moves that good boys didn’t know or wouldn’t make. Writing To Save the Devil would be my chance to explore a bad boy character like some of my favorites—Patrick Swayze’s Johnny Castle from Dirty Dancing, or Dominic West’s Jimmy McNulty from The Wire.
Will Jones, my bad boy hero, doesn’t have fangs, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a drinking habit, or inner demons except of his own making. Mostly he’s a very human bad boy, but like Satan he’d rather “reign in hell than serve in heaven.” His particular hell is a London slum. An ex-spy, in the army he discovered what he was best at was not being himself at all, but disappearing into false identities to get information for the British.
Like all bad boys in romance fiction Will is really an alpha male whose circumstances deprive him of the natural position of authority and leadership his intelligence and energy deserve. He’s arrogant and sarcastic, but competent and fearless. Because bad boys can’t be the men they are meant to be—princes, generals, leaders, CEO’s, chiefs–they become pirate captains or the leaders of outlaw gangs or loners, and buck the system.
Who, I wondered, could help Will Jones stop being his own worst enemy and find his way back into leadership and into his family—a good girl, of course, and she had to be very, very good.
My good girl wasn’t hard to find in1820, a time when girls were told how to be good not only by their parents but also by the publishers of sermons on the subject. Helen, my heroine, has a father who is famous for his strict ideas about female goodness. Helen’s struggle is to find the strength to stand up to her overbearing father and save her mother. Ironically, the hours of Greek lessons her father has imposed on her give her intimate knowledge of one of history’s most independent women—Helen of Troy. My Helen draws inspiration from that ancient beauty and strength from Will, a bad boy fresh from the fight against injustice.
Then history gets in their way. If writing bad-boy-meets-good-girl scenes was the fun part of writing To Save the Devil, working with real history was the tricky part. Naturally, I set this pair of unlikely lovers in the midst of one of the most potentially dangerous terrorist plots in English history. (Yes, they had terrorism back then.) In London in the dark days of early 1820 when the popular old king died and his unpopular son took to his bed ill, a secret insurgent cell gathered arms, trained, laundered money, and plotted to assassinate the entire cabinet. The plotters nearly succeeded except for a certain dinner party in Grosvenor Square. Will’s ties to the Home Office, the part of the government in charge of security, and Helen’s mother’s ties to one of the plotters makes for an uneasy alliance between the lovers. Only in bed can Helen trust Will, and only when each of them has been true to himself can they find their happily ever after.
Whew! In the end, the things I was stuck with–a brothel, a blackmailer, a bad boy, and a terrorist plot–led me to write an emotional story about learning to be your true self by falling in love. I hope you’ll enjoy Will and Helen’s journey. If you are reading the book with a group, there are reading group questions on my website www.katemoore.com. I’d love to hear from you today about bad boys and good girls, English history, Helen of Troy, the writing process, and what’s coming up in the Sons of Sin trilogy.
For more on To Save the Devil and the Sons of Sin trilogy see my website at www.katemoore.com. Readers can follow me on my Kate Moore author page on Facebook, or at us.penguingroup.com.
I’ve lived most of my life along the California coast. That experience has made me a jeans-wearing, toes in wet-sand, married to a surfer, fog-loving weather wimp, with a hint of East Coast polish from spending my college years in Boston. Family history connects me to Irish and English immigrants, Cornish miners, gold prospectors, and adventurers who sailed around Cape Horn bound for San Francisco.
When I’m not reading, writing, teaching, or brainstorming, I walk in the redwoods; feed birds; collect books, apples and leaves; watch the tele-novellas on Spanish-language TV; and immerse myself in all things English. My favorite food groups are butter, brown sugar, dark chocolate, and red wine. My early literary influences were The Little Engine That Could, The Little Red Hen, and Winnie the Pooh. Austen, Heyer, Chaucer, and Homer came later and inspired me to put that first plot on paper.
_____________________________
Thanks Kate!
I’ll tell you a secret – I loved Will Jones, the hero of To Save the Devil. He was everything Kate described above and more.
Would you like to read To Save the Devil
The series:
To Save the Devil is available now from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here
Bad boys . . . you just have to love them. I am not convinced they are really bad–I suppose some are, but the ones we encounter in many of the stories we read are good guys living inside of a risk-taking, live-right-on-the-edge kind of exterior. I like to read enough that the shell cracks and one can spot the good guy inside. It’s fascinating and sort of like solving an engaging mystery. Loved the review . . . even with all the books I have, I’ll be adding this one to my To Be Read list. Would love to be added to the drawing.
Hi Kate. Your book sounds great. I love bad boys. They always keep you on your toes.
Sounds like a great book, a bit of history, a lot of romance and some intrigue too. I hope to find your book in the bookstore today, can’t wait!
Hi Kate, your book sounds great and enjoyed the post. Love the bad boys!!
myra0502@yahoo.com
Hi Myra, Carol, Crystal, and Dr J–thanks for stopping by and good luck in the contest. DrJ, I’m with you–they’re not bad. Jerks are to be avoided, but romance’s bad boys are actually good to their women friends and relations.
I love bad boys! They are the best at what they do. I am lucky enough to be married to a reformed bad boy.
We got to see a little bit of Will in the first book and I’m looking forward to getting to read his story in the second book.
Gotta love bad boys!
Bad boys often make the best heroes.
I loved the first book although I wanted to bop Xander over the head a few times. Although I really can’t wait for Will and Kits Stories. Hopefully we get to see more of Kit in this book. I really can’t wait to read this one though.
Hi Kate,
I love bad boys, especially the imaginary kind. They’re so much more fun to read about than good boys. And of course, they always have to run across good girls and get themselves set straight by them. I’m looking forward to reading To Save the Devil, it sounds like a fabulous story.
Hi, Kate! Will sounds like a good bad boy, so to speak. I like to read about bad boys rather than to meet any (fictional bad boys are redeemable by the love of a good woman; real ones, not so much).
ironss[at]gmail.com
Bad Boys – love ’em or hate ’em?
oh, i love them – in fiction, that is…for real life, not so much…
k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com
It’s bad boys for me…but only in books….hehe!!!
Bad boys make the best heroes!!
Valerie
in Germany
valb0302@yahoo.com
Open worldwide? Then I am in.
Welcome and good luck with the book! 🙂
I love them in books, not so much in real life, but in books they just work so good
I love then bad boys they keep the reader on there toes wondering what he is up to next
The bad boy only works if he’s imbued with wit and a fundamental sense of morality. Being a fan of your previous books, I’m sure Will has both in spades. The bad boy without those qualities is just a jerk.
Hi, Kate! I love the way your book sounds!
And I adore badboys, of course 😉
Hi Kate! I love bad boys—sexy, handsome, and an edge of danger.
Ooo the book sounds great, and who doesn’t love a bad boy hero? All the fun without the hassle in books 😀
Congratulations on the new release!
I really like bad boy heroes. But throw in facial scarring, antisocial behaviors including bad attitude, and weapons – then I’m in love!! …Congrats Kate
I just like…boys (well, men, actually). There is an appeal for bad boys but there’s also something to be said about the Atticus Finch’s too.
Anyway, what really makes me want to read this (and find the first in the series, too) is the time period in which you set this.
History, British history, is a passion of mine. Throw in a yummy romance and I’m a goner!
Well done!
Hi All, Taking a break from grading ninth grade papers on The Odyssey. It’s a school day, not a writing day, sigh. There’s a theme here–fictional bad boys thrill us; real life bad boys not so much! I just want to say, the real life men we don’t like may be, as anonymous suggests, just jerks, not bad boys. The test is in the treatment of women and animals. All our fictional bad boys usually have, or have had, in their lives women they’ve respected or defended. Jerks break a woman’s jaw in a bar. I have to say, though, that I may need to think more about facial scarring and weapons. Thanks, Cyberclipper, for the suggestion.
Your bad boys trilogy sounds like a lot of fun. Seems like there’s so much for you to work with when the heroes start out so wicked!
I adore bad boys! I enjoy their sexy looks and the wildness that I can participate in with them. I like that they give off a bad boy vibe while doing something sweet when you least expect them to.
joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com
Kate – You’re such a good writer, your books are always winners, but I’m really excited about this one. It’ll be fun to see you weave your magic across three novels!
And I love those bad boys, too, so long as they’ve got heroism inside, and your male leads always do …
Bad boys are fun to fool around with but sometimes hard to settle down with.
Love bad boys, particularly alpha male bad boys 🙂 I’ve always been a “good girl” with a hidden naughty streak waiting for a the right bad boy come along and discover it. 🙂 Congrats on the new book — sounds like a good one to me
Visiting with Book Binge today has been great. Thanks everyone for the comments and the enthusiasm for the bad boys of fiction even if we’re all wise and cautious about their cousins in real life. Just remember, a bad boy in a romance is never a permanent jerk because he’s got a cause or a code, an inability to tamely accept injustice or a capacity for self-sacrifice when the chips are down. We love them, but that doesn’t mean we can’t love Atticus Finch, too. Is anyone writing his love story?
Bad Boys, don’t you just love them?
Love him for his bad boy ways. They seem more attractive b/c they seem to have more playfulness, sexuality and fun, because they are so damn unpredictable.
Hi Kate! Great post and congratulations on your new book. I loved the summary and can’t wait to read the book. As for bad boys, I love to read about them. Who doesn’t? I really enjoy reading about how the love of a good woman changes them and how they fall hard for her.
Love the post Kate! Congrats on your release!
Hmm Bad Boys… yes I’ve always had a thing for bad guys fangs, special ops, rakish duke, or the average jaded hero. Even as a little girl my fav stories were Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast ;).
Pam S
pams00 @ aol.com
Hi Kate,
The book sounds great. I have a thing for bad boys in books – it’s always interesting how they change once they’ve started to fall in love with the heroine.
i know the bad boys are bad, but when it comes to a story in a book. i love them 🙂
uniquas at ymail dot com
Hi Kate,
Congratulations on the new book! Some bad boys are really appealing but I have found some to be jerks so it really depends on the story.
I love bad boy heroes. They can sometimes add a level of excitement to a story. Risk takers and alpha males make for interesting characters. The thing I like most about them, though, is when they fall in love with a woman and she gets to see beneath the bad boy exterior.
I’m all for bad boys! They make great heroes because they most often have a softer side hidden deep down (sometimes quiet deep inside). And its for the heroine to find that side and I love reading about the “search”. 🙂