Some books are hard to write. Just…difficult beasts, with the words fighting me the whole way.
I wouldn’t say writing Savage Penance was easy (in fact, I remember whining about Chapter 21 being a pain in the ass), but it was certainly fun. Doug’s transformation was a challenge, that’s for sure.
In the previous book in the series, Savage Redemption, Ben’s transformation was already on its way–he not only needed to change, he wanted it. Doug, however, was a lot harder to redeem. He doesn’t want redemption; in fact, his mantra in Ben’s book and in the short prequel, “Irredeemable,” is “Fuck redemption.”
So how do I take a big, potty-mouthed, unlikable guy and turn him into a hero?
With the same special sauce that drives all romance novels–love.
While Doug doesn’t recognize it immediately, he falls prey to the pitter-patterings of his deeply-buried romantic heart and starts falling in love and falling in line. There’s some growing to do, sure, for both him and Gwyn, but this is a dance heroes and heroines of romance novels have danced millions of times. It finally becomes more painful for the alphahole to walk away. The proud, snarky heroine must admit that she’s self-sufficient…but hell, she needs his love. Evil is overcome, and love wins.
Love wins, y’all.
And that’s why I keep writing these stories. They give me hope–and that’s what I want to give you, too. <3
Savage Penance is coming out in just two weeks (you can pre-order it on your favorite retailer), and I am so excited to share it with you! While you wait, there’s a free prequel up on Apple Books. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can grab it on BookFunnel.
