Tuesday, May 12, 2015

*.✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*JO RAVEN: SPOTLIGHT AND Q & A*.✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*

JO RAVEN






SYNOPSIS: 

Almost three years ago, a car crash took Audrey’s dad and scarred her for life. Now eighteen, she returns to her hometown for the first time after the accident. 
She’s here to start again. Go to college and have fun. Make new friends. Get over the past. 
But the past won’t let go. 
Asher is here—her first kiss, her first heartbreak. More handsome and distant than ever, he’s still the boy who used to be her best friend. That was before he changed into someone she hardly knows anymore—the boy who started getting into fights and gave her the cold shoulder for years. 
Asher isn’t what she needs. In fact, she hates him and should try her best to keep away from him. 
Yet her body doesn’t seem to care about how she feels, and maybe, just maybe this time her body got it right. Not that she has much of a choice. Asher draws her like a bright flame, and if she isn’t careful, she’ll burn. 
And that may not be such a bad thing after all... 

Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

Inked Brotherhood Series: 

Five boys brought together by fate. Five young men trying to overcome their troubled pasts. Five tattoos marking them as a brotherhood built on tragedy. Will they find understanding and rise above the pain? 
Five girls tied by friendship. Five young women fighting their own demons. Five lives laced with sorrow. Will they be strong enough to save the men they love and make them happy? 

The series comprises five interconnected, stand-alone novels: Asher, Tyler, Zane, Dylan and Rafe. 







SYNOPSIS:


*** PREQUEL TO THE AMAZON TOP 100, USA TODAY AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "ASHER (INKED BROTHERHOOD)" *** 

At fourteen, Audrey has the perfect life: great parents, great buddies, and her best friend, Asher. Only lately Asher has begun to change. He seems distant and standoffish, ignoring Audrey. 

Not all of the changes are bad. He’s growing from a pretty boy into a handsome man, and Audrey is all too aware of that. But if they cross the line from friends to something more, will things stay the same or will she lose her best friend forever? 

This is not an erotic story. It is the prequel to the events that unfold in “Asher” and set up many of the characters of the Inked Brotherhood Series.




SYNOPSIS:

TYLER (Inked Brotherhood #2) 
Four years have passed since I left home, my parents, and my brother Asher behind – since I shut out my past. 
And Erin. Four years since I last saw her, since I heard her voice and held her in my arms. I’ve spent my time forging a path from woman to woman, from bed to bed, trying to find an answer. But I think I’ve lost my way. There’s no light at the end of the dark. 
No big surprise. I carry the dark inside me. I’m a bastard – branded as such from the start. I never give my phone number and address. I take my pleasure, and don’t come back for seconds. No commitments, no promises and no happy endings. Yeah, I’m a bastard down to the bone and I don’t give a damn. 
But now I’m back in my birth town, the town I fled at eighteen – back to make amends to the brother I abandoned and watch from afar the only girl I’ve ever wanted. Hope isn’t a currency I can afford. I learned that lesson long ago. 
Yet when she looks at me and says my name, I can’t help but hope. 

Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

Inked Brotherhood Series: 

Five boys brought together by fate. Five young men trying to overcome their troubled pasts. Five tattoos marking them as a brotherhood built on tragedy. Will they find understanding and rise above the pain? 
Five girls tied by friendship. Five young women fighting their own demons. Five lives laced with sorrow. Will they be strong enough to save the men they love and make them happy? 

The series comprises five interconnected, stand-alone novels: Asher, Tyler, Zane, Dylan and Rafe.




SYNOPSIS:

They call me Zen-man, the cool-headed one, the protector. I keep an eye out for everyone, take them in, find them homes. They think I’m the calm and collected one, the self-assured one, the one who knows the way. They think they see me. They think they know me. 
But they’re all wrong, because inside I’m broken. I have a jagged hole in my soul I can’t fix, a festering blackness. I’ve been to the pits of hell, and nobody comes back unscathed. Life in foster care fucked me up, and now a thread is all that’s holding me together. 
So I sleep around and never date, keeping chicks away. One day I’ll snap, and when I do, there’s no telling who I might take down with me. 
All the same, there’s this one girl who won’t be scared away. Dakota. She’s hot, and I won’t deny I want her. But she keeps coming back, pushing me, trying to get me to talk, to open up to her.
She has no idea she’s playing with fire. When the demons come, she’d better be far away from me, just like everyone else. 

Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

Inked Brotherhood Series: 

Five boys brought together by fate. Five young men trying to overcome their troubled pasts. Five tattoos marking them as a brotherhood built on tragedy. Will they find understanding and rise above the pain? 
Five girls tied by friendship. Five young women fighting their own demons. Five lives laced with sorrow. Will they be strong enough to save the men they love and make them happy? 

The series comprises five interconnected, stand-alone novels: Asher, Tyler, Zane, Dylan and Rafe. 



SYNOPSIS:

When you’ve tried your best for years and never managed to please your demanding parents… When you’ve fallen head over heels for someone who keeps ignoring you… When you’ve hit rock bottom. 

Tessa is this close to giving up – on her authoritative parents and their demands, on her studies, on everything in her life. 

Including Dylan. The one boy she has loved since she can remember. The one who dated her and promised her forever when they were fourteen, and then dumped her without an explanation only to ignore her ever since. 

The one who shows up to save her from violence before the stroke of midnight, who kisses her and holds her close, only to tell her in the course of the same night he doesn’t love her. 

Tessa knows Dylan has gone through some tough times, and they’re only getting tougher - but is he telling the truth about his lack of feelings for her, or is he running from his own demons? 

The way Tessa sees it, she has two options: run away, leaving it all behind - or stay to fight against her controlling family, and win back Dylan. She has a feeling he needs her, and how can she leave when he's the only man who’s ever made her feel alive? 

Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

Inked Brotherhood Series: 

Five boys brought together by fate. Five young men trying to overcome their troubled pasts. Five tattoos marking them as a brotherhood built on tragedy. Will they find understanding and rise above the pain? 
Five girls tied by friendship. Five young women fighting their own demons. Five lives laced with sorrow. Will they be strong enough to save the men they love and make them happy? 

The series comprises five interconnected, stand-alone novels: Asher, Tyler, Zane, Dylan and Rafe. 




SYNOPSIS:

His name is Rafaele Vestri, Rafe to his friends. 
He’s tall, strong, handsome. Distant. He often comes to the coffee shop where I work, but we don’t talk much. He looks at me, though. Stares at me, his gaze heated, and I can’t help but stare back. I want him, I won’t deny it. I’ve never seen anyone that beautiful, anyone that powerful, in my life. 
But he’s growing more withdrawn by the day. Something’s up, and he won’t tell. I know about his past—the murder of his family when he was fifteen. I can imagine how much it must have cost him. So much violence contained in that strong body, waiting to be unleashed. What is he seeking? What is he training so hard for? Why is he looking at me like he’s dying to touch me, but won’t dare? 
Even as I try to stop thinking about him, get interested in other boys, I realize I can’t. I’m caught, body and soul, just like that. And I tell myself, Megan, girl… What have you gotten yourself into this time? 
Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

Inked Brotherhood Series: 

Five boys brought together by fate. Five young men trying to overcome their troubled pasts. Five tattoos marking them as a brotherhood built on tragedy. Will they find understanding and rise above the pain? 
Five girls tied by friendship. Five young women fighting their own demons. Five lives laced with sorrow. Will they be strong enough to save the men they love and make them happy? 

The series comprises five interconnected, stand-alone novels: Asher, Tyler, Zane, Dylan and Rafe. 



SYNOPSIS:

There’s me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. 
And then there’s her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn’t know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She’s pretty. She’s clever. She’s goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. 
Which is why I can’t tell her. A smile from her and I’ll do all I can to make her mine – including pretending to be someone I’m not, someone worth having. 
Isn’t love weird? 
Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. 
*Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* 

MICAH is book 1 in the series Damage Control - a series set in the same world as Inked Brotherhood. The boys of Damage Control were taken in by Zane Madden and Rafe Vestri and offered apprenticeship and work in the tattoo shop Damage Control. 
Next in the Damage Control series: Jesse, Seth, Shane and Ocean.



I can honestly say that it is authors like Jo Raven that make blogging, reading and reviewing worth doing. She was one of the very first authors to host a giveaway on the Romance Bytes Facebook page, for this I am forever in debted to her. I was just starting out and she was promoting Asher. 

I truly hope that you all get a chance to pick up a copy of her books. The series is PHENOMENAL, good luck with the boys. This lady has an amazing writing style. I am a fan for life. 

RB: You have one AMAZING series with INKED BROTHERHOOD, where did the inspiration for that series come from?

JR: First of all, thank you for the kind words. As for Inked Brotherhood, I was sitting in my back yard one day and this group of hunks just passed by, all tattooed arms and chiseled chests, and said, “Hi, Jo, how about you write our stories?” *wink* 
Okay, so they didn’t pass by my back yard, but you know what I mean. They just popped into my mind – this close-knit group of friends who have been through a lot and have these dragon tats. And I knew I had to sit down and write it all down.

RB: Being known as a USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES best seller is a big deal. What was the first thing that went through your mind when you first got news of your accomplishment?

JR: Oh God, that was a year ago. It was crazy. I can barely remember what I was thinking back then, but I know what I felt: I was totally stunned and shocked and so happy I could cry. I never expected it to happen, you see. It was my first romance book and nobody knew me. I was so grateful to the readers – and still am! – for putting my books on the bestseller lists.

RB:  Have you always wanted to be a writer?

JR: YES. LOL, that wasn’t hard to answer. Well, when I say ‘always’ I mean since my first thoughts of my future profession, when I was about eleven years old. Before that I hadn’t really considered work seriously. Then I gave up on this dream for a long time because I thought it wouldn’t work out. So glad it did.

RB:  Was there someone or something that inspired you to write?

JR: Apart from the five tattooed guys walking through my back yard? *wink* When you are a writer, practically everything around you is a source of inspiration. When I am immersed in a project, which is usually a novel, I go around with this project on my mind and everything I experience and feel is turned into a facet of the project. For instance, I may be watching a TV program about drug abuse, or watching a bird hop in that famous back yard, or talk to a friend about her parents. And instantly I think – could I use this for my book?

RB:  Do you have a favorite book you have read in the last year?

JR: I have loads of favorite books. For the last year I can recall off of the top of my head the following: Kyland, by Mia Sheridan. Ugly Love, by Colleen Hoover. Rowdy and Better when he’s bad, by Jay Crownover. Patch Up, by Stephanie Witter. But I read a lot and there are so many wonderful books out there!

RB:  In the INKED BROTHERHOOD series, were any of the guys difficult to write?

JR: There were all both difficult and a joy to write. They are very different guys and their stories are quite different. I like that. They are absolutely real to me.

RB:  What about scenes; was there one scene that you struggled to write in any of the books?

JR: I struggle when I write the really tough scenes – scenes where they remember past abuse, scenes where they suffer in any way. I sometimes cry while writing these scenes. Seriously.

RB: Your fans have a favorite guy in your series, do you have a favorite?

JR: Sorry, no I don’t. I love them all the same. I am being really honest here. It’s normal to have a favorite, but in this case, I just can’t pick one.

RB:  Names. Each one of your boys have a unique yet strong name.  How did you decide on the names for the characters?

JR: Names are very important to me. When I know a character’s name, I can picture this character and hear his voice in my head. I have files of names I like, and when I have a character in mind I go through them until it clicks.

RB:  What have you learned about yourself from the first time you hit published to when you hit publish on Rafe?

JR: About myself… This is a tough one. I mean, we learn things about ourselves every day, right? So this has to do with publishing and writing. I learned that, if I put my mind to it, I can write pretty fast. I was really proud of myself for finishing the series in one year. I know this may not be fast for some other authors, but it is for me.

RB:  What do you think is the most difficult part about being an Indie Author?

JR: Self-discipline and quality control. When you are traditionally published, you have someone keeping track of your time, pushing you to meet deadlines – and someone controlling the quality of your output. Is the story tight, suspenseful, is it free of errors, is it well formatted? Is the cover good? 
When you self-publish, all this is on you. Nobody controls you – so you need to control yourself. First, set yourself a work schedule and stick to it. Then find professionals to help you ensure that what you put out is top notch writing.

RB:  What is the most rewarding aspect of being an Indie Author?

JR: Being in control. Being able to choose your deadlines, your editor, your cover, your promotional schedule. I love that.

RB:  What book are you currently reading?

JR: Asa, by Jay Crownover. I love her books.

RB:  What advice do you have for anyone who would love to write a book?

JR: Read a lot in your genre. Think about what makes good books work. Apply that to your writing.

RB: Are you currently working on anything?

JR: Always! I am currently working on a short sequel to MICAH (I felt there were a few loose ends I wanted to tie) and JESSE (Damage Control 2).

RB: What was your first author event like?

JR: It was amazing! It was Tattooed Bad Boys, in York, England, quite small, perfectly organized, the other authors and the readers who attended were lovely. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

JO RAVEN'S LINKS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjoraven
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjoraven
Blog: http://www.joraven.com/
Sign up to newsletter: http://bit.ly/1CTNTHM

A HUGE THANK YOU TO JO RAVEN!!!

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