Friday, February 10, 2012

Guest Post + Giveaway with Rebecca Royce featuring "Love Beyond Loyalty"!


As a teenager, Rebecca Royce would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was well worth it.

  
Rebecca is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.
She's in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She's been told she's a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. Rebecca loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

In Rebecca Royce's world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

Rebecca's Other Releases:



Where to Find Rebecca: 


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The Making of a Hero: Creating a Man the Reader will Love

I’m really in love with this blog topic and I’m so grateful to be here today to talk about it and to talk about Love Beyond Loyalty, the third book in my Outsider series. I actually think this is a perfect topic to discuss Gabriel, the hero in this story.



Creating a hero, in this case Gabriel, the readers would love was easier in this book than in some of the others I’ve written. Why? Well, because this is book 3 in the series. The readers of the Outsider series have had two full books to get to know Gabriel…a little bit. They’ve had touches of him, moments, in fact, when we’ve briefly been in his point-of-view.


Up until this point, they know some very remote things about Gabriel. They know he is tall and dark haired. They know that in book 1 he was briefly working with the demon, the bad guy in these novels. Why was he doing that? They’re not entirely sure. They know that in book 2 he was approached on the street by an elderly woman who ordered him to go to New Jersey and join in a fight. Who was she? They don’t really know.


But, they’ve had just enough Gabriel to know he’s conflicted, dark, moody, and desperately needing love. Already, before I’ve ever created his book, they know him and they want him to find a happy ending. So did I.


Taking the things we already know about Gabriel and making them more intense, more flushed out, more understood was a pleasure for me and its why I think, in this book, I really did create a hero the readers will love. He is a man who, as a child himself, kept another Outsider alive on the streets of New Orleans. He is self-made, self-taught, and powerful with his Outsider abilities.


He doesn’t betray those he cares about ever. And he has dreams that he holds onto deep in his soul that he still hopes can happen for him.


I love Gabriel. And I think it comes through on the page.


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Gabriel Ward has no problem with the fact that he’s an Outsider. Hell, he’s always known he was different. What he takes issue with is the idea he has to follow any destiny at all. He’s taken care of himself-and others-since birth. There’s no way he has to start following rules now.



Loraine Peacock can speak to animals. Other than that she thinks she’s just a regular woman making her way in the world. She figures its not that weird. Many people have unusual abilities.


But when Gabriel and Loraine are forced together by a destiny he denies and she is ignorant of, they will both finally have to accept their Outsider legacy and help the others in their quest to defeat the ultimate evil—a demon bent on world destruction. That is, if they can both survive to find their way to the most important part of their destiny: love.


Read my review on Love Beyond Loyalty HERE.


 
Excerpt #1


“Are you going to tell me what happened to you? You just stood there and let that wave slam into you. I thought you were dead but Futon knew you were alive.”

Futon? He regarded the dog. A medium sized border collie with black spots stared back at him. His heart sped up. He‘d heard that name for a dog before. In fact, it was the same damn dog.

“I know you.” He pointed at the creature. “But the last time I saw you was with an old woman on Magazine Street in New Orleans.”

Gabriel had been working for a shady lingerie storeowner on the bad side of Magazine Street at the time. Trying to find out what Sebastian wanted with the man, he would later uncover that the demon had employed Trent, the owner, to kill virgins by bleeding them to death. Gabriel still didn‘t fully understand how it benefited Sebastian and he wasn‘t sure he ever would. On his second day, he‘d been hassled by an old woman on the street who‘d told him Sebastian was in New Jersey and that he needed to hurry up and get there.



She‘d spoken of fate and a lot of mumbo-jumbo he hadn‘t understood. It had turned out that she was right and he‘d high-tailed it off to New Jersey to help stop Sebastian‘s assault on the Outsiders. The woman had been with Futon.



The woman shook her head. “There are lots of border collies around this area. You must have seen a different one because Futon never leaves me.”



Excerpt #2

She turned on her heel, and Gabriel‘s heart sped up. He walked forward and grabbed her arm, which was tricky to do because he needed to hold up his blanket to prevent from being arrested for public indecency.

“You‘re leaving?” God, he wanted to shout, ‘don‘t leave.‘


Nodding, she gave him that forced smile again, and he wanted to wipe it off her face. “I am. I brought you to Alexa. It‘s time for me to go on my way. You‘ve told me a lot of stuff I have to digest. Good luck.” She looked at Alexa and he wished that one of his powers was mind reading because he had no clue what was going on inside of hers. “To both of you. It was nice meeting you.”


Pulling her arm free of his grip he thought for a second he felt her shake. Was she okay?


“Loraine, wait a second…”


He wouldn‘t have believed she could move that fast. One second she was there and the next she, while still walking, sprinted out of the building.


“Loraine,” he yelled but she didn‘t turn around and soon the crowd in the room blocked his view.


Why was she leaving? Like a light turning on, realization struck him. She had used the phrase your Alexa. What did she think his relationship with his oldest friend was?


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GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER--THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!


Rebecca is offering a $50 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour!

To Enter:
Mandatory: Please leave a comment on this post, with a valid email address included at the end of it.

You can comment about anything, but questions or comments about the Guest Post topic would be appreciated. Show Rebecca some love--ask her what is on your mind and maybe even tell her a bit about your opinion on what makes a perfect hero!

Be sure to follow the tour around the other blog sites! Commenting on the other stops on the tour will also increase your chance of winning!



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Thanks to Rebecca for stopping by today--I enjoyed reading your post and I am curious as to what the readers have to say about the topic!

Also, big thanks to Goddess Fish for the review copy, as well as allowing me to participate in this blog tour.




Enjoy!




Until Next Time,

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*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!

18 comments :

Mary Preston said...

That is a great blog topic & thank you for the wonderful excerpts.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thank you for hosting Rebecca today.

MomJane said...

This story sounds exciting. I would love to read the entire series.

Gabby said...

This series sounds interesting I think I'll definitely have to check out the other two books!

I had a question though and I'm asking this from a reader/budding writer to a professional writer.

Was it difficult giving a little bit of insight Gabriel in your other two books without accidentally fleshing him out to much?

kakuchouakisame_19@yahoo.com

Between The Bindings said...

This book sounds really good, I'm going to have to read the whole series, thanks for the excerpts!

MLawrence731@yahoo.com

Karen H said...

The more I read about this series, the more I know I want to read it.

Do you now, or have you ever, based your characters on real people you know? If so, could the real person recognize him or herself in print?

kareninnc at gmail dot com

MMAR said...

I am definitely interested in reading this series : )
msrheinlander(at)gmail(dot)com

The_Book_Queen said...

marybelle, MomJane, Gabby, My Book Obssession, Karen H in NC, & Melissa Rheinlander---

Thank you all for stopping by! :D

I hope that you enjoyed Rebecca's guest post, and if you are interested in buying this book, I would highly suggest doing so (though perhaps first read book 1 and 2). :)

Rebecca should be by to answer your questions, so please check back!

Also, I would like to remind everyone that if you wish to learn more about Rebecca, as well as gain more entries for the prize, be sure to follow the blog tour to the other stops!

Thanks!
Enjoy,
TBQ

Rebecca Royce said...

Gabby--Yes. But not because I was worried about telling too much about Gabriel. I knew he was a very complete character. He had some real depth to him. I knew it wouldn't be a problem to write about him in full length mode. But, it was difficult to know where to stop talking about him. Love Beyond Time was Kal's book and Love Beyond Sanity was Jason's. I didn't want him overshadowing them and sometimes very distinct characters can have a tendency to do that.

Which is why I really try to not put too much Point of View in new books from characters who have already had their own books. Gabriel kept trying to pop up in the next book too and he'd already had his turn.

Rebecca Royce said...

Karen-
No one has ever been based so entirely on a real person that they would be able to recognize themselves. Sometimes touches of people but never the whole deal.

Rebecca Royce said...

Book Queen-
Thank you for having me today and for that incredible montage of my books. That was very thrilling!

Catherine Lee said...

I would love the ability to speak to (and understand) animals. I already speak to them...but they don't speak back. When my cats meow, I'd love to know what they're saying.

catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

Deb PelletierC said...

I think I know what my cats are meowing about, feed me, clean my kitty litter box and pat me when I want attention. They run the show.DebP
r.d1@myfairpoint.net

Anzu said...

I don't know why but I disliked Gabriel at first but now I'm warming up to him, but I still like Loraine better :)

anzumerlin at mail dot ru

Anas said...

Gabriel is an interesting character, who is not your typical hero.
I love a hero who is not superman but has some weaknesses.

Anastasia K

anas-karina(AT)mail(DOT)ru

The_Book_Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emiliana25 said...

How do you come up with ideas for your stories?

emiliana25 (at) web (dot) de

Rebecca Royce said...

Thats a good question. I'm not sure. They just sort of come to me. Perhaps they are a compilation of things my mind puts together over time without me knowing it.