Welcome to a Release Day Event for Carolyn Crane’s latest addition to The Associates
series, Into the Shadows. I am a huge fan of Carolyn’s
work and especially this particular series.
Join us for a special interview with the
author (fan-girl *squeal*), a book review, and a giveaway.
Welcome, Carolyn to Love Affair with an E-Reader. I am so pleased that you dropped by to talk about your latest book, Into the Shadows.
Hi, Sunny! Thank you so much for having me out to your lovely blog!
To start with, for those readers who are new to the series, tell us about
The Associates. How is this series different from your other books?
The Associates are a group of undercover agents who are hot, brilliant, and
lethal, and they each have a kind of specialty, like linguistics or with this
book, a philosophical approach to fighting. The Associates solve mysteries,
stop horrible crimes, and prevent dangerous world events. They don’t belong to
any government, though they sometimes help different governments. So, they’re
slightly vigilante-ish.
Where did
you get the idea to incorporate Bruce Lee's philosophy? Are you a fan of
Bruce Lee?
Actually, my
husband, who studied and taught martial arts much of his life, is into Bruce
Lee, so I absorbed a ton of information about—and respect for—Bruce Lee over
the years. Bruce Lee is such an icon, and he was so physically beyond anybody
else in martial arts, and he had this whole system of thought around what he
did - I felt like it could be interesting for a hero to embrace Bruce Lee.
Also, Bruce Lee’s outlook can be applied to fighting, but so much more, and
that makes it rich for a book. (As I worked on the book it occurred to me his
thinking could be applied to writing, like, getting yourself out of the way,
being totally responsive, etc.)
Your
characters always have a special skills/mindset - math wiz, linguistic genius,
emotional detacher/Bruce Lee philosopher - how do you find these characteristics?
How do you go about doing your research?
After I
finished the book about the linguist secret agent (Off the Edge) I thought,
WHAT have I gotten myself into? What if I run out of things like that for the
agents to be into? But I haven’t yet. Each requires different research. On the
first book, I only read books and I didn’t find a live expert to talk to, and I
think the incorporation of logistics in that one was thinner than with books
2&3. Now my method is clear – I read books on the topic and find somebody
who has expertise and interview them. Obviously it was easy with the Bruce Lee
thing.
Who, if any, was your inspiration for Thorne?
Thorne just evolved
inside the book. The thing that really helped me see him was when I started
defining the relationship between him and Nadia and trying different things,
and when I got it right, he came into focus.
You given us
some enticing tidbits about The Associates, Dax and Zelda. Will they get their
own story someday or will you be revealing a little more of their story in each
book?
Zelda is the
subject of the next book! She’s a forensic botanist who takes the place of her
long-lost twin—a prostitute who was won in a card game by a dangerous drug
cartel.
Dax’s book is coming, too. It’s sort of dangerous, because I don’t have the idea for his book, and every time I write something about him, I lock in some details about him that I may chafe against later. But I really like Dax.
Here's our
rapid fire 3-2-1 List:
What are the
Top Three ways you like to spend a lazy afternoon?
1. Reading at
the beach
2. Running
3. Or a crafty project, like drawing.
What are
your Top Two favorite books from your childhood?
1. A Tree Grows
in Brooklyn
2. Every Nancy Drew.
What one
person, past or present, would you choose to share a meal with?
1. Yikes!!
I would have to say rocker Patti Smith. I think she is so smart and cool, and I actually think about her a lot.
Thank you, Carolyn for joining us and letting us share in your "Opening Day"!
Into the Shadows is
book 3 in The Associates series.
BLURB:
He’s working undercover for the good guys. That doesn’t
mean he’s one of them.
HE’S A KILLER.
Thorne McKelvey knows exactly how Nadia sees him—as a
brute and a killer just kinky enough to play her sexy games. And that’s how it
has to stay. Leaving her was the hardest thing he ever did, but his undercover
mission could blow up at any second. No way will he drag Nadia down with him.
SHE CAN’T RISK HER HEART.
Maybe it was foolish to fall in love with her late
father’s deadliest henchman, but Nadia Volkov’s not sorry; without Thorne she
wouldn’t have their beautiful little boy. There’s nothing she won’t do to
protect Benny, which means she must hide his identity—especially from his father.
Now Thorne has burst back into her home, searching for
clues to a gangland mystery…and stirring a hunger Nadia hasn’t felt in two
years. But Benny’s identity isn’t the only secret she’s keeping, and things are
turning deadly. Can Thorne and Nadia trust each other long enough to stay alive
and have a chance at happiness?
REVIEW:
Thorne is an
“unofficial” operative of the Associates, a clandestine organization fighting
crime so deep undercover that the members don’t even know who is on their side.
Thorne is recruited by the Associates to
infiltrate the Hangman gang and work his way to becoming its leader. He is in
deep in more ways than one. During his
tenure under the former boss, Victor, Thorne falls in love with Victor’s
daughter, Nadia. Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Thorne and
Nadia break up. Only years later are
they reunited both in love and in purpose, but she now has her own set of secrets as she searches for a treasure that heretofore she didn’t know existed.
This is a story
about being redeemed, giving and accepting love, knowing and believing that you
are worthy of it, all wrapped up in an intense romantic suspense thriller. They say that the farthest distance that a
person can travel is from the heart to the head. Our hero Thorne is so blinded by his past
that he fails to see what is real and vital before him. He cannot see his own heart, much less believe that he is good. He thinks he is a thug; he believes he is
unworthy. The only time he feels worthy
is when he is with Nadia. Their
relationship is tricky. There is a different
kind of dynamic in the relationship, not your normal romantic trope. Their romance is edgy, relentless and devouring: There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don’t know how
to untangle it.
In the past, they
played this dark game where she calls him derogatory names and belittles him
and he loves it. He loves it because he
feels like she is naming his truth – that he is a thug and lowlife. She does it as a game; he uses it as a means
to be real and connect with her: He never could resist her distain because it
was real and raw. And it got him hot. However in truth, if he were truly that
evil man, he wouldn’t feel any need to connect.
We discover that
Thorne is a philosophical man, living the words of Bruce Lee both in
life and in battle. He is a Zen warrior. He believes that his superpower to win
fights is his ability to detach from everything and everyone: Best way to fight was to releasing all
needs, need to stay undercover, releasing the desire to live. His mantra is, I’m free to win because I’m free to die.
However, despite
his denial, he is a deeply feeling man.
Nadia helps him find his real truth. His awkwardness is endearing and when he tries to learn to relate to her, it is so sweet: like going to
movies alone to figure out how men were suppose to act with women they loved.
What shit they would say and do. Because
what the fuck did he know about couples?
He’d even read one of the Hunter S. Thompson books she so loved.
Nadia is a woman
completely comfortable in her own skin.
Growing up the daughter of a head of a criminal organization, she knows
how to use humor, both soft and hard, to make people feel at ease. However, that is not who she is.
Thorne breaks through the façade to see the real Nadia.
There are a lot of
great things about this book – the characters, the plot, the intimate scenes,
the heart-stopping suspense, but to me, the very best part of this book is the
writing. Carolyn Crane has such a unique
voice; there are no other writers like her. She invites readers to follow her distinctively
quirky thinking – complex, but not confusing. I love how she finds and uses
funny and uncommon details like the forensic botanist. Who knew? The line about
the “preventive pee” before a big mission is so right on (This is a lesson I
learned when I went on my first ride-along. Go the bathroom before and whenever
you can because you don’t know when you’ll be able to go again). And the
comment about the hotel soap…it completely gutted me. She is a master
storyteller.
IN A NUTSHELL: I
can always tell the level of engagement I have with a story just by the number
of highlights I have in my book. This
one is a sea of yellow. This is one of my best reads of the year. Period.
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