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Title: Swelter Author: Nina G. Jones Genre: Erotic Romance Release Date: October 1, 2015
Synopsis I married the right brother. At least that's what I tell myself at night, when I stare at the ceiling and listen to the rhythm of the grandfather clock down the hall. It never feels like the mere passage of time, but a countdown towards something inevitable. Bobby Lightly is selfish, irresponsible, and careless. I haven't seen him since the day I married his brother. He slipped out during the wedding reception without a word. A year later, I heard Bobby was drafted to Korea. He never said goodbye to anyone. Never sent a letter. We had all come to terms with the fact that he was probably dead somewhere, either a victim of the war or its aftermath. That is, until in the midst of an unrelenting heatwave, he showed up at the doorstep of the house I lived in with his brother. Everyone thinks I'm cruel. Everyone thinks I should be easy on him. They think I don't understand him. They all think I hate him. But what no one understands is that it was Bobby who broke my heart. And I think he’s back to do it again.Buy The Book
Excerpt I snickered to myself. "He never had a chance. Rory never had a chance." I shook my head in pity for the man I had grown to begrudge. "From the first day of our marriage, he couldn't win because he wasn't you." I spun around, looking to the black forest for a way out, an exit from my tragic dilemma. "I don't know how to fix this. He'll never be you. It's not his fault or our fault. It just is. And for years I resented him for that. I loved you. I loved hating you. I loved loving you. And when you left, I blamed him. It's not fair. None of it is fair. For him. For us." My shouts vanished into the dark night. Just like all my efforts, they meant nothing. "We tried so hard to do the right thing. We sacrificed us for him. And I think it just made things worse. Look at him." "Stop," Bobby said firmly. "I was so cold to him. I pushed him away so much. I created that man you see today. Do you think that was the right thing?" "Stop," Bobby repeated. My emotions erupted out of me, explosive from years of being crammed into a secret space. Years of secrets I couldn't tell. Of unrequited love. Of a life unfulfilled. Of dreams demolished. I pounded my fist to my chest. "It hurts. It physically hurts to see you every day. You are the first person I think about when I wake up. When I thought you died, I died. Rory was with a corpse." Bobby stepped closer to me. "Stop it, Lil." "And you keeping being you and I am trying so hard not to love you." I didn't care anymore about pretending. The threads were ripped and I felt as raw as the festering wound I had dealt with for the past seven years. "And then you take me dancing and you tell me how you wrote me letters that you never sent and you bring me here. You make it impossible not to love you, dammit.” I thrust a finger in his direction and scowled. “And I hate you for that."
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/Y_rxXbsztYc
Facebook Release Party: https://www.facebook.com/events/1482471028744932/ Interview with Nina
Q: What was your inspiration behind this book?
The idea of this book came to me in phases. First, it started off with the premise of something set in the 50s or early 60s in a heat wave. I wanted the heat to be an invisible character, keeping the characters uncomfortable and on-edge. Then the concept of a prodigal brother hit me. I sat on it for about a year until the storyline hit me hard, and then I was scrambling to get the story written. Q; Which of the characters is most like you? It's funny because I don't really write characters like me. They are have very distinct personalities. However, I do put pieces of myself in each. It might be a single character trait, or hobby, or insecurity. So in this book, pieces of my personality are in Bobby, Lilly, and Julia. It's easier to say I am the least like Rory and Stan Q: How hard was it to write a love triangle? Since this triangle is more of a right triangle than an isosceles, it wasn't that hard. I think the challenge was in making Rory sympathetic. A lot of this book is about how most people aren't all good or all bad. People are often put into circumstances where there is no clear right/wrong choice. Some people get dealt a hand that brings out the worst of their character. Q: Did you know initially who Lilly would end up with or did it come as you wrote? It's hard to remember as the story came in a flash. I wasn't sure about the ending, though I did know who she would end up with. However, you will see that is not as clear-cut as it sounds. Q: Tell me a bit about your writing process...(Do you have music on, the tv?) It varies for each book. I do usually listen to music. However since this book was made in the 50s and I was born in the 80s, I didn't have the music as a constant backtrack. Music of that era is just not background listening music to me. What I did do was find songs for which that would be the case for my characters and play them as I wrote the relevant scenes in the book. Q: For someone new to your writing, what book of yours would you recommend reading first? That's a challenge. I am known, for better or for worse, for not writing the same subject matter or even subgenre over and over. You may even wonder if the same person wrote all these books! I think you have to decide what you are in the mood for first. Erotic Suspense would be the Strapped Series. It's somewhat dark, but more of a suspense than anything. It falls under the whole rich-CEO trope, but then just as you think you know what you are reading, everything goes left and it gets more complex with each book. DEBT is certainly my most popular, but very taboo. So not for everyone. GRS is a sexy romcom. It's sassy and spunky and a light beach read. If is NA. It is angsty and fades to black. So, as you can tell, they are all very distinct. I have had readers find me from all of these books. Q: Any authors you would want to co-write with? I am pretty solitary as a writer. I would have to be really comfortable with someone to co-write. Frankly, I don't have many author friends. However, I am totally open to co-writing, just don't have anyone in mind. Q: What is your pay it forward book? (The one you tell everybody they HAVE to read). That's a hard one! Again, tastes are so different that I hesitate to say 'read this!' unless I know what the person likes. Q: If you could have anyone write the story of your life, who would it be and what would the title be? William Shakespeare - A Hirsute Scribe (honestly, I just pulled that out of my ass to sound smart). Q: Favorite motivational phrase/quote. "We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams." - Willy Wonka Q: What is next in your pipeline? No idea! I have a few ideas fertilizing, but not sure which will be the one to sprout next :) About The Author
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