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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

the trust is tested, respect is bartered - Surrender Games Series by Lydia Michaels

"Lydia Michaels writes such powerful romances. For me, her books are the ultimate romance indulgence. They feed my soul. Her writing is just that beautiful. Her ability to write lines so mesmerizing, you want to linger over them, write them down to remember. It’s like poetry. She writes stories that stay with you. Books that you want to read again and again. " - Amy, Goodreads

Description:

Surrender Games is a spin-off of The Surrender Trilogy. It is a series that features the side characters of the trilogy and will eventually deliver each hero and heroine’s HEA.
The Surrender Trilogy was released in 2013. It was an Apple iBooks Bestseller. 
It is highly recommended that readers read The Surrender Trilogy BEFORE reading Surrender Games.

Sacrifice of the Pawn

Release Date: September 26th, 2017

Surrender Games follows the emotionally charged and highly erotic contemporary romance saga, The Surrender Trilogy. 

Isadora Patras has sacrificed years raising her younger siblings, Lucian and Antoinette. As her brother and sister grow more independent, she feels her purpose is lost. Aching to do something selfish and hungry for a taste of the forbidden, she takes a lover—her father’s protégé and trusted family friend, Sawyer Bishop. 

In a secret affair trust is tested, respect is bartered, and reputations are on the line. Sawyer has always been Isadora’s mentor, but now it’s her move. She’s through being a pawn and ready to demand the respect of a Queen.

Queen of the Knight

Release Date: October 24th, 2017

The game has changed and no player’s position is safe…

In a world of power, money, deceit, and lust, no player is exactly how they seem. Love and trust are at stake when the game is changed and old enemies come out of hiding, disguised as friends. 

Isadora Patras must proceed wisely. After thirteen years of heartbreak and denial, she no longer trusts her instincts. One man embodies her past, the other could be her future, but which one holds her heart? Isadora must choose between her family and two very different men. Either way, her choice could cost her everything. 

In a game of kings, bishops, rooks, and knights there are no guarantees. But if Isadora wants to be a Queen, someone will have to lose.

AUTHOR's Q&A

What inspired you to write this book? 
An event from my past that I’d compartmentalized and forgotten. Journalling helped me remember, and writing down the recollections helped be discover my calling in life. Writing is a part of who I am. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. 

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in the SURRENDER GAMES series? 
The characters from my new SURRENDER GAMES series all stem from The Surrender Trilogy, which published in 2014. The Surrender Trilogy was about Evelyn “Scout” Keats, a homeless, illiterate badass who the world met and instantly fell in love with. She wants to get off the streets and finds herself caught between two men, one’s a billionaire and the other is as homeless as her. The SURRENDER GAMES series is a spin off of the trilogy, so it isn’t focused on Scout or the man she ends up with, but they are in it (a lot). The SURRENDER GAMES are about all the side character. You see many relatives and friends and this time it’s their chance to shine. The series was created after enough readers contacted me asking for follow up books. Now each interesting character will get their own story! Some will even get more than one book, because nothing is simple or predictable when it comes to games of surrender.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book? 
Revisiting the cast of The Surrender Trilogy. 

Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick? 
The main character os Sacrifice of the Pawn and Queen of the Knight (SURRENDER GAMES 1 and 2) is Isadora Patras. She is Lucian Patras’s older sister and we met her in The Surrender Trilogy, seeing her through the eyes of Scout as “the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen in real life”. But the real Isadora hides a lot of secrets. She’s been a caregiver for her siblings since she was fifteen, taking over after their mother died and their father abandoned them to nannies and the like. Because she chose to take care of her siblings, she missed a lot of rites of passage most girls experience in their teen years. As Lucian leaves for college, Isadora finds her purpose is blurred. She feels lost. She wants to do something solely for herself. Something selfish. This leads her to sleeping with her father’s trusted colleague, a man much older than herself. No one can know what she’s done and as the affair goes on life gets more and more complicated. Isadora learns a lot about independence, self-respect, and the varieties of love. All she’s ever wanted was to be loved, but she might never get that wish. 

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? 
I’ve never really thought about that. I suppose all at the same time, because a lot of my stories have more to do with how the characters play off each other than anything else. It’s all about chemistry and complications.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book? 
Tons! Research is SO important! I speak to people who are in the situation of my character. I’ve interviewed countless experts and my Google search history could probably land me under an interrogation lamp. 

What are your top 10 favorite books/authors? 
Blue Eyed Devil, Lisa Kleypas 
Peter Pan, JM Barrie 
Sugar Daddy, Lisa Kleypas 
Tangles Lies series, Pam Godwin (3 books) 
Letting Go, Michele Zurlo 
Black Dagger Brotherhood series, JR Ward (10+ books) 

Tell us about a favorite character from a book. 
Riley from La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink). This is, hands down, my favorite of all my books. The topic is an emotional one that tests even the truest forms of love. Riley is a not so serious guy who learns how to go above and beyond for the woman he loves. This is what all men should be. It’s, in my mind, what all women should expect. He’s not perfect, but his personality was inspired by every beautiful trait my own husband has shared through the years. I. LOVE. RILEY. 

What can we expect from you in the future? 
Untied, the sequel to Blind (Mastermind series) 
Calamity Rayne: Back Again, the sequel to Calamity Rayne: Gets a Life 
More Surrender Games! (Toni’s story is coming and it’s going to be insane!) 
The re-lease of 2 original series (The Order of Vampires and New Castle) that have been in the vault for years while getting re-written. Sorry to keep so many of you waiting! 
And I have six other novels in the works! (My muse will let me know which one gets finished first) 

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day? 
Sinning with my favorite people. 

Who is your hero and why? 
Martin Luther King, JR… he’s good. The world needs more men and women like him. 

What book do you think everyone should read? 
Writers: How to Write a Damn Good Novel 1 & 2, James N. Frey 
Readers: Walden, Henry David Thoreau 

Describe your writing style. 
Evocative. Poetic. Descriptive. Emotional. 

What makes a good story? 
Emotion. High stakes. In depth character development. 

What are you passionate about these days? 
Writing. Finding books that haunt me long after the last page. My family. Game of Thrones. 

What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision? 
I don’t know if there has ever been a more “right” decision in my life. I became an author by accident. Never in a million years did I expect a career in writing. When I found it, my soul exhaled. I wouldn’t be surprised if I bled ink, because writing is in my bones. It’s a part of me. 

Advice they would give new authors? 
Keep going. And DO NOT compare yourself to others! Tomorrow, just be better than than the author you are today.

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? 
My editor wishes I outlined, but I don’t. Outlines make my brain hurt. However, I am an extremely fast writer, so I’ve been known to write 400 pages in under 10 days. Sometimes they’re beautiful and sometimes they’re “Burn it. Burn it with fire.” bad. It’s a crap shoot, but my editor totes a mean whip and doesn’t let me publish garbage, so even the burnable drafts translate into something beautiful in the end. Typically, I write a book straight through—sort of the way an actor becomes the character. I have to shut everything else out and focus on writing only for about 2-4 weeks. Then I put it away for two months and read it back with fresh eyes. I do this over and over again until I feel like I’m reading someone else work and it’s good enough to take my breath away. Then off to editing it goes and about a year later it’s in readers’ hands. 

Describe yourself in 5 words or less! 
Loud. Hermit. Eighties. Disco. Wine. 


About the author:
Lydia Michaels is an award winning author of over 30 contemporary romance novels. She lives in Pennsylvania with her wonderfully supportive husband, beautiful daughter, and many crazy fur babies. If she is not off spending time with her family you can usually find Lydia at her computer working on her next story or hiding somewhere quiet with a great book. She loves taking a romantic plot with steamy chemistry and pressing the bounds of love. Her books are intellectual, erotic, haunting, always centered on love.

Lydia Michaels' darkly compelling Surrender Trilogy was an Apple iBooks bestseller and she has been featured in USA Today. In 2015 she was the winner of The Best of Bucks Award and she has been nominated as Best Author in the Bucks Happening Magazine three years running [2015, 2016, and 2017]. She is a four time nominee for the prestigious RONE Award.


Author's GiveawayS

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