Interview & Giveaway: Kendall Grey

Smut, oh how I missed you and thank you Kendall for bringing it back to me!

WARNING: STRINGS is not suitable for slut shamers, uptight stone throwers, Holier-Than-Thou prudes, humorless virgins, persons with chronic neck or back pain, pearl-clutching bitties, those who disparage crude humor or vulgarity in their many forms, closed-minded people with sticks up their asses, or anyone under the age of 18. The vile, base language and shocking, unholy sexual acts contained herein are not condoned by anyone with a lick of sense and should certainly not be reproduced without proper training and protection. The potty-mouthed and perpetually horny "heroine" (the term is used loosely) of this book does not resemble a normal, well-adjusted, or remotely believable person in any way, shape, or form. The author acknowledges that the characters in this book are shallow and two-dimensional; the plot is both ridiculous and insipid. She makes no apologies for any of it.

The warning is what caught my attention. I thought to myself, let's see what this author can do and I can tell you KG does it like no other. She created a story that I haven't come across with her excellent writing, characters that you can't help but love even with their potty mouths and the one liners. <----I'll share some of those with y'all in a bit.

We are introduced to Letty Delinger, a rock singer/bass guitarist who is like no female heroine I've ever met. She's in your face, crude, hilarious, makes no apologies, loves sex and wants to be a famous rock star with her band Cherry Buzz Float. While at a bar she meets 'Shades' and from here the smut comes into play. All I'm saying about their first encounter is that if a man lets you take a strap on to him, SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE, he's a keeper in my book.

'Shades' is sexy, hot, pierced tattoo guy who is somewhat mysterious. He's something special, and no it's not because of the strap on...ok I lied, it's somewhat because of that but he's also honest and sweet and the things he says and does had me smiling. Later on in the story we meet the "real" man.

Other band members are introduced Rax(biggest horndog), Toomb(mystery man), Jinx(just as mysterious) and they are just as horny, crude, hilarious as Letty and Shades.

Let's get down to the smut part cause it was my favorite. You get raw, nitty gritty hardcore fucking, oral, double penetration, light m/m, squirting, anal...you name it, you got it.

The one liners had me LOL and I shared it with my co-workers and I shall share it with y'all.

If I had nuts, they'd have crawled so far up my ass, my breath would smell like cum.

My twat churns out a fresh batch of batter in my drawers.

His curled finger and thumb pull my chin up and the sincerity in his face incites my twat into mass production of rainbow cum bullets. I've got one in the chamber and at least a couple waiting anxiously in the magazine. Ready, aim, fire!

Before I can get on my knees to bow before the altar of Shade's glorious wanger and praise it with my mouth...

"This might be the last time yo uget to drive the beef bus to tuna town,"

"So, you're not opposed to another leisurely stroll up the Hershey Highway? Be still my beating heart."

I could go on and on and on but I'll stop. Read the book, you should not be offended if you read the warning so I don't want to see any ugly reviews out there cause DUH...you've been warned.

*side note* Twat broth has been added to my vocabulary.

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself and Strings.
I've been writing since 2008. My first book INHALE was published in May 2012, and the other two books in that urban fantasy trilogy, EXHALE and JUST BREATHE, came out in June and January. I included some pretty steamy scenes in the JUST BREATHE series, and reviewers seemed to like the heat, so I decided to try my hand at erotica. From plotting to publication, STRINGS took me two months. The others were FOUR YEARS in the making.

2. Who or what inspired you to write Strings?
Dissatisfaction with my JUST BREATHE Trilogy's sales inspired STRINGS. Sales weren't terrible, but I'd poured SO much time, heart, money, and energy into those books, I *really* thought they would do better than they did. I believe the books are well-written, so I don't attribute the series' performance to quality issues. I think people just aren't interested in urban fantasy anymore. Add to that the fact that my books feature Elementals (no vamps, shifters, or demons here), a strange Dreaming world, and whales of all things, and my target audience is narrowed down to only a sliver of the reading population.

When all was said and done with the JUST BREATHE Trilogy, I rebelled by writing something completely different. I knew many readers wanted sex, sex, and more sex, so I that's what I wrote. Sex sells. *Shrugs*

3. What is your writing process? Do you like to write in a coffee shop, alone, outside, etc.
I don't have much of a process, but I tend to be much more productive in the morning, and I must have quiet to write. Once my Demonlings get home from school, I can't get any work done.

I spend most of my day writing with my dog beside me. I rarely sit in the same place twice and often stand while I write. I also meet a fellow writer/friend once a week at Starbucks. We drink coffee, bounce ideas off each other, and chat about where our stories are going. I love those weekly meetings!

4. Letty is a character within herself. Do you know a real Letty?
Um…yes. The truth is…Letty is me. Not the sex-addict part of her (HA!), but her personality and her struggle. I channeled a lot of my anger and frustration with the publishing industry into her. That's all I can say about that. :-)

5. What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
The first two chapters started off as one big chapter. It was my favorite because it flowed so fast and smoothly. When I finished writing it, I went back to read it, fanned myself, and said, "Damn, that was hot!" I actually didn't have to change much of it in edits. I guess I caught the wave at the right time, and rode it into the sunset. :-)

6. Which character(s) do you relate to?
As I mentioned above, Letty is a lot like me, so I relate most to her. She's wild. She speaks her mind. She doesn't give a crap about offending people. But she's also hugely passionate about her art. That's where her heart is.

7. I play the trumpet and can do a mean beat on some table tops. Do you play any musical instruments?
Trumpet…cool! I played bass clarinet in high school. A little bit of oboe too. I also sang in a couple of bands. I love to sing. Does voice count as an instrument? :-)

8. What can we look forward from you in the future?
BEATS and NOCTURNES are the other two books planned in the Hard Rock Harlots series. I'd like to get those out by the end of 2013.

After JUST BREATHE wrapped, I plotted a 5-book spin-off UF series featuring some of the characters from the trilogy. That series got shelved when I realized there's no audience for it. Naturally, I can't get it out of my head. The characters have been screaming at me lately. Now I'm trying to decide if I should go for it and say, "Screw what the readers want. I'm writing this book for me!" Much as I love Letty and the band, I love my urban fantasy characters even more--especially Sinnder, whose book would be up first if I write the new series. :-)

9. What are you currently reading?
I don't read. It's against my religion. HA! I don't have the time, and nothing holds my attention from start to finish. I average about two books a year. No joke. BUT…I just read an early version of a book that will be coming out in the next year or so. I can't mention the person's name or the title, but I'll say that this book totally blew my mind, and with an attention span like mine, that's pretty damn hard to do.

10. The warning for Strings is what caught my attention. How did it come about?
Funny story…My JUST BREATHE series is frequently mislabeled as Young Adult, despite the CLEAR warning at the beginning of the blurb: "WARNING: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. NOT SUITABLE FOR READERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18." How do people read that and think, "This is YA"? I have no idea. It became a running joke among my friends. They love to tease me and say I'm a YA writer. So, when I put the STRINGS blurb together, I jokingly made up this huge disclaimer as a "screw you" to every dumbass who's ever complained in a review about the sex and language in my books despite the massive warning label. I read it to my husband, and he loved it. So I put it on the Goodreads page for STRINGS before the book came out, and I got a huge, positive response from it. I decided, "Why not put it on the book seller product pages? Can't hurt." Now, I'm so glad I did it. What started off as a joke has brought me a ton of sales from people who told me, "I bought this book solely because of the warning label." SCORE! :-)


I have to say a HUGE THANK YOU for getting me out of my reading funk. The last couple of reads didn't do nothing for me and when I finished Strings, I texted all my smut book lovers that they had to start this. I loved it! And on a side note I shall be using twat broth in my vocabulary from now on. Thanks for the interview and keep up the smut!

Aww, thanks! I'm glad to be the one to pull you out of your funk. :-) Twat broth was a good one, wasn't it? HA!

Kendall is offering one person a chance to win an ecopy of STRINGS or JUST BREATHE!! Please leave a comment for Kendall and your email address so a winner can be contacted. Thanks!!