Hi, readers! I am beyond pleased to announce a very special post today on ILRB. Recently, I asked authors to come to the blog with a little background into their characters. Exactly what is it about them that keeps a writer up at night, composing those romance novels we love? I wanted to dig deep into each of these characters. Today is the next post in this series.
So, without further ado, let’s turn the mic over to author Cleo Scornavacca, who has some things to say about her character.
Hi, Cleo! Describe one of your main characters and why he or she impacts the story.
Tommy: The Unforeseen Hero
When I started to write my debut novel Miss Taken, book one in a three book series, I wanted it to be slightly different. I wanted my female lead to have a best friend, but not the typical girlfriend. I wanted her friend to be a guy. One, that as the story developed was not her childhood sweetheart, but instead her childhood hero.
Secondly, I wanted the lead alpha pursuing the female lead to have issues with her best friend, versus the female in the book having jealousy issues over another woman.
Tommy’s character was all of that and more. The thing is ‘the more’ was very much of a surprise to me. Although he was a secondary character, he was quite strong and almost a third lead.
That being said, when the books came out I received letters and emails from readers saying how much they loved Tommy. At first I put the comments in the back of my mind…yeah, he is great but he isn’t the alpha.
Tommy to me was the boy next door with the bad boy looks. Yet, because he was written as a secondary character in book one and was not being concentrated on heavily until the end of the book, I hadn’t realized at first what the readers were feeling. My focus was the two main characters and how they grew and interacted with each and with everyone around them.
As Rain’s character had to deal with an incredible amount of turmoil with Dominick in Miss Taken and in the following two books, Tommy become somewhat of the glue or the anchor that held her together, when Dominick wasn’t part of the scenario.
He was her sounding board, her friend, her devil’s advocate. He was her light at times when there was darkness and he was the person that knew when to step up and to also step away and let her fly on her own.
He knew every part of her…the good, the bad and the ugly, but he was never her lover.
He was the unforeseen hero…especially for me as a writer. He was the character that took me by surprise, the one I didn’t see coming, yet now that I’m writing a new series with him as the alpha, he’s the character whose story I never want to end. The story that I want to do right by…to do Tommy’s character the justice he deserves.
His book, Within Six Months, is due out at the end of summer this year.
It’s the story of a man that always put everyone before himself and now the part of him that he neglected, the selfish part, wants to find true love. You would think with Tommy’s charm and sexy looks it would be easy, right?
Wrong.
You see, Tommy has set his sights on a girl who’s done with men and doesn’t want commitment, and even if Tommy could persuade her, in this story he has something far more difficult to deal with…a memory.
Jade, the female lead, lost a very important man in her life and much of her decision-making comes from the tragedy that took that man’s life. Tommy has learned to accept that he may never find love with her.
There’s only one problem…
She’s the only woman he wants.
The new book takes Tommy on an internal journey of how to cope with his past to move forward towards his future. He’s renovating a beach house, while almost renovating himself. To top everything off, Tommy has given himself a time frame to get the girl, finish the house and start a family…
…all Within Six Months.
Congrats on your upcoming release. When a new book comes out, it’s always an exciting time for an author!
Cleo is giving away book one of the Miss Taken Identity Series, MISS TAKEN, in the cool offer below.
☆.•°☆ GIVEAWAY ☆°•.☆
Thank you for telling us about your contemporary romance, Cleo! I know I can’t wait to read it! 🙂
Don’t forget to pick up a free copy of Miss Taken, everyone!
Readers, please check out the whole series! It looks fantastic! And we’re all looking forward to the new series, Wild Roses! ♥
In 2012, Cleo began writing Miss Taken, her debut novel and book one in the Miss Taken Identity Series. Identity, book two, was published in 2014 and The Ties That Bind followed in 2016, which completed the series. In addition, Cleo is currently working on several other titles. Two of which are Within Six Months, one of four standalones in her new Wild Roses Series, which will feature the secondary characters from Miss Taken Identity, and The House On Leighton Avenue, which is an adult romance with a haunting twist; an unusual departure from her other books.
Cleo was honored to be a part of two anthologies. This Beautiful Escape: Volume One, contains her personal short story called “Small Gestures”. All of the proceeds to This Beautiful Escape go to the fund for Ataxia Awareness. Cleo is the senior columnist for Lust Bites Magazine and a proud member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the New Jersey Romance Writers (NJRW) organizations.
When she isn’t writing, she’s spending time with her family, friends and her Dobie, Brayden. Cleo enjoys reading all types romance, books on Italy, listening to 80’s metal bands, watching movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, indulging in pink Prosecco and of course, squishing her feet in the sand down at the Jersey Shore every chances she gets.
Author Links
Website: https://www.cleoscornavacca.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cleoscornavaccabooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/cleoscornavacca
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Cleo-Scornavacca/e/B00FW92ILS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7242174.Cleo_Scornavacca
Google+: https://plus.google.com/115250823507233903870
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cleoscornavacca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoscornavacca/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cleo-scornavacca?list=author_books
Booksprout: https://booksprout.co/author/482/cleo-scornavacca
Thanks again, Cleo, for giving us a peek into the world of your character. Awesome! 😀
Readers, stay tuned for our next special feature on this topic when author Molly Lovell visits us on September 5th! Yay! 🙂
We’ll definitely have many other posts before then, though.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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