Author Interview, Exclusive & Giveaway: REAL by Katy Evans

Hey Katy, this is Amanda from My Secret Romance. Thank you for taking the time for an interview today. Can you tell us about yourself?

Hi Amanda, thanks so much for having me over and for taking the time to read and review me!

About me? Hmm. How can I make myself sound more interesting than I am? :)

Okay, so, I’m wife to the love of my life and have been so for seventeen years, and we have the two most amazing children, a daughter and a son who are my everything! I struggle a bit with my health so I am also very disciplined in what I eat and try to stay healthy and stress-free. I love writing, reading, cooking, am definitely addicted to chocolate and to music.

Who is Remington "Riptide" Tate?

Remington is a fallen boxer who now fights in the Underground. He is a fighter physically, and also, mentally and emotionally. He is my HERO. I admire the hell out of this man. When I first “met” him at the start of REAL, I swear I never imagined how deeply he would make Brooke and I fall in love with him. But he has such a compelling force, it was just inevitable!

Visually, I love the description of Remy. Do you have an actor/model in mind when you wrote about him?

Curiously, I didn’t! He came to me unique in all his Remington Tate sexiness, and now I have had tons of trouble to try to find a picture of “REMY” to show all the fans. He is so unique, I can’t find the perfect REMY anywhere!

Where did the idea for the book come from?

I had always, always, wanted to write Remington. He’s been in my head for a long time, like a mash up of every sexy hero I have ever read, only even more loveable because he’s also special. Alpha, strong, driven, sexy as hell, a fighter in both body and mind, you can’t help but love Remington to pieces!

If you were to pick a few lines from the book that are your favorite, which ones would they be?

Oh I have a lot. Two, at least, are:

He just fucked my name right in front of me. – Brooke

When I take you, you’ll be mine. – Remington

 

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? Were there any difficult parts?

The first chapter was fantastic to write because that’s when both Brooke and Remington came alive for me, and the rest of the book just flew. I’ve never been so fevered. I felt like the Universe was giving me this precious gift of a story to share with the world, and I got to be the lucky person who sat down to tell it.

What does Remy see in Brooke?

This is something we will get to experience on a more personal level when we are in Remy’s head instead of Brooke’s (in his POV book which is currently in the works and scheduled for summer). But I love the connection they share, the kind many of us don’t find in a lifetime. Brooke was a little more shocked than Remy when they first meet, but Remington instantly knew. He saw her and he felt the magnetic pull that he’d never felt before and that made him wildly chase after her. Remington is a man that doesn’t listen to anything but his gut. And he knew, without a doubt, she was his.

Are you working on anything other books at the moment? What can we expect from you in the future?

I am working on Remington’s POV book, REMY, and also on Brooke and Remington’s sequel, MINE.

 Is any of REAL based on real life events?

No. It is purely fiction, even though Remington and Brooke are very alive to me.

While reading the book, I saw that you mentioned Whataburger and I thought to myself, is she a fellow Texan? Isn't their ketchup and fries the best?!

Amanda! Yes! Yes absolutely! And you see, this was a little mistake of mine that will not end up making it to publishing. Apparently they don’t have a Whataburger in Chicago. It’s so crazy. My husband thinks there should be Whataburgers everywhere, but there you have it. So now, they’re going to have to go to Popeye’s and then McDonald’s, hah. :)

Not a question, but I applaud and want to say a HUGE thank you for not leaving your book with a cliffhanger. Those cliffhangers which have become very often in my reading material have been grating on my nerves. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! And also thank you for bringing Remy into my world. :)

Amanda, thank YOU for taking the time to read and review REAL. I hope you had a great time with it! And I second the cliffhangers starting to drive me crazy as well. REAL will have a sequel, as there are still tons of little things I wanted to explore and address with Brooke and Remy, but it can also act as a standalone, so I’m just happy about that.  

Here is an exclusive sneak peek of Remy and what his kisses are like. :)

He comes into the room carried on the shoulders of four guys. My heart stutters. He’s got this big smile on his face, cocky Remy to the tenth power, high on his wins, and the women scream, high on him. “Remy! Remyyyy!”

“That’s right, who’s the man?” he shouts, and pounds his fists on his chest. I laugh, completely sucked in, mesmerized and enchanted by him. The aura he emanates makes him blaze like a sun tonight. If right now he says he can fly, I think we’d all believe him. Everyone present seems magnetized by him, helplessly gravitating to where he is. He spots me, and his smile softens and his eyes alight with a strange, hungry, and somehow glowing look. 

“Brooke.”

He hops down to his feet and beckons me forward, and the crowd parts to let me pass. He smiles at me, and his dancing blue eyes hold mine as he slowly walks forward and meets me halfway. He lifts me in his powerful arms and swings me around, and then he kisses me.

The instant he takes my lips, fireworks shoot off in my body.

All the pent-up desire of days and weeks adds up to this one moment when everything that I am, and everything that I want, is narrowed down to this. To me, pulling Remington Tate’s dark head closer to mine as I open my mouth and let him give me anything and everything he wants to.

His kiss spins my stomach into a wild swirl. He holds me tightly by the hips and deftly moves his lips as he rubs his tongue to mine. A rumble vibrates deep in his core as he gathers me closer and forces me to feel his erection, all while he angles his head and fucks my mouth like there’s no tomorrow.

People whoot loudly nearby, and when they tell him to “Go fuck that pussy!” Remy tears free. He breathes harshly through his nose as he drags his mouth to my ear, where he whispers, hot and gruff, “You’re mine tonight.”

A fevered moan escapes me. He cups my face in those big hands that make me feel fragile and tiny, and he hungrily recaptures my mouth. He takes it slowly this time, as if I’m precious and valuable. “Tonight you’re mine.”

He looks into my face again, his eyes seething with desire. I think I just nodded in agreement, but I’m too shaky to know for sure. A sweltering fever runs unleashed through me. My legs won’t stop trembling as every one of my cells scream in lust because I want him now. I want him now.

“Remy, I want you, take me!” a woman shouts, but he ignores her, ignores everything. But me.

His eyes dark and intent, he scrapes the sides of my face with the pads of his big, callused thumbs, then spreads his fingers wide over my scalp as he kisses me again, our mouths hot and wet as they blend, thirsty and anxious. I grip the soft gray of the t-shirt he wears in my fists, dying with sensations. I don’t even care who’s watching, am oblivious to the crude things they’re whistling. I hadn’t realized how much I want this, need this, until these shivers ripple through me and I’m in a flux under his insistent sexy mouth, the look in his eyes that makes me feel like I’m the only woman alive to him.

  

"Take her to your room, Tate!” someone yells. But he seems engrossed only in me, and me in him.

Holding me protectively in his strong arms, he brushes my hair back as his lips buzz along the bare curve between my neck and collar, his fingers sliding up my neck as he once again, like a chant, nuzzles my ear and tells me, “Mine. Tonight.”

Katy is giving away one signed paperback of REAL. To be entered in the giveaway, please leave a comment for Katy, add REAL to your Goodreads to-read list, and leave your email address so a winner can be chosen. Thanks and good luck!!