It's really wonderful to have author AJ Rose here today. Her Power Exchange series is one of the best series' I've ever read. When she release Restraint (Yesterday) which is the 4th book I was ecstatic!
She's here today to talk about this book and this series, you'll get to see them all, and there is a fabulous giveaway. So, enjoy.
It is so wonderful to have you back here on Diverse Reader.
You’ve been writing us some amazing words and it’s exciting to talk about what
you have in store for us. So, let’s begin.
Restraint is the 4th installment of your Power
Exchange Series. Did you ever see this series growing to 4 books? What was the
original intention for this series?
I never thought in a
million years, when Gavin fell into my lap while I was stuck in traffic, that
there would be enough about him and Ben to fill four books. And after the first
two, I said I wasn’t going to write more, not because I don’t love Ben and
Gavin, but because I didn’t have an idea to move their story forward. I’ve read
series where the first few books were interesting and great, but beyond a
certain number, their stories felt forced, as if the author had exhausted the
spark in the first few and was conjuring the rest to keep the series alive when
it was past its prime.
I never wanted to do
that, but each of the Power Exchange books has been a story idea that hit me
and wouldn’t let go. I had to write them, because the more I ignored them, the
more space in my brain they took up. But they’re also difficult to write.
There’s some pretty heavy subject matter in them, and they sort of wring me
out. The breaks I’ve taken between books have been necessary, but then when I
come back to Ben and Gavin, it’s like donning a favorite leather jacket after
the summer’s over. It’s like coming home.
How many years span from the first book to this book and
what were your timeline goals for that?
The first book was
released in 2012, and it’s set in that year. The fourth book is set at the end
of 2016, so four years in Ben and Gavin’s world. For a series that’s older than
five years (in real time) to still be doing pretty well in sales, it’s a
humbling accomplishment. When I started Power Exchange, I didn’t have any idea
it would become a series (and especially not a successful one), so I had no
timeline in mind. As each idea for the sequels came to me, I set them in real
time, and it followed Ben and Gavin’s relationship trajectory pretty well.
Restraint took me way longer than the others to write (mainly due to personal
and health issues), so by the time release rolled around, it’s a bit in the
past. But if there’s a 5th book (no promises!) I’ll worry about the
timeline then.
In Power Exchange (book one) and Safe word (book two) we
meet Ben and Gavin and are thrown into a whirlwind of thrills, chills, and dark
mystery. In Consent (the third and most dark) we are thrust into darkness, at
times a very rough read. What are we going to get with Restraint?
Restraint is much
lighter than the previous books, especially Consent. The nature of
mysteries—especially murder mysteries like books 1 and 2—is that the content
can be disturbing. People die, often brutally. But when I woke up one morning
to Ben whispering, “You haven’t told my story yet,” I knew I didn’t want to put
them through near as painful a wringer as the others. Not only did it feel like
too much for one couple to deal with, but after Consent, even I couldn’t handle
a lot of brutality. So with this one, as Ben’s background unraveled, it was
clear I could still have an impact, not by harming him or his loved ones
(much), but by challenging his usual finesse and grace. By flipping Ben’s world
on its ear and defying a fundamental belief he held, I could reveal pieces of
him, and especially pieces of Gavin, and do it without breaking them. In fact,
by yanking a rug from under Ben, I set up more than a few opportunities for
Gavin to build Ben up similar to how Ben did for Gavin. Gavin’s the strong
pillar shouldering Ben’s burdens this time. Gavin’s the voice of reason when
Ben wants to push past his own limits (or ignore them entirely). It was nice to
flip the script.
I have to ask this question because SO many of your readers
wonder it and I’d be doing them a disservice if I didn’t ask. WHY did you go so
dark in the third installment?
It was the idea that
came to me. What’s something that could happen that would make Gavin buck the
authority he’s spent his life upholding? Take away a loved one and then watch
while Gavin gets them back. I didn’t open the Word doc with the intention of
writing the darkest, most brutal thing I’d ever written. It just happened that
way. So I took Myah (Gavin’s best friend, former partner, and sister-in-law) away
from him, and the questions I asked myself—Why would someone kidnap Myah?
What’s in her past that made her a target? If their motive was two-fold (shut
her up as well as use her to further their own ends), where were they keeping
her? What were the conditions like?—the answers to those questions took me into
international human trafficking. From there, the story just went darker.
There’s no way to write a lighthearted story about a human trafficking ring. If
I was going to tell that story, I couldn’t pull punches. If I tried, it would
ring hollow. Following each question to its logical answer meant some tough
scenes for Myah, but even as I was thinking, “This might be too dark and
brutal,” Myah’s voice in my head said, “Keep going. This is my story. Keep
telling it.”
I know it’s a tough
read. For some people, it’s an automatic nope. I don’t blame them. There’s a
reason for the big gap between books 3 and 4. It kind of broke me, too. But I
also kept that in mind while writing Restraint, that a lot of people skipped
Consent, so any references to Myah’s ordeal and Ben and Gavin’s role in her
rescue are pretty clear. People don’t have to have read Consent to read
Restraint. It’s perfectly fine to have that gap in the middle. You won’t get
lost if you carry on reading the series.
Every time you’re asked this question you answer the same
but I’m going to ask again; is this the last book in this series?
I don’t know. I always
think, “That’s it. I’m done. I have no more ideas here. I can’t possibly deepen
their relationship further. They’re as close as they can get.” And then
something comes along months (or years) later and whispers its insidious little
devil voice in my head. “AJ. AAAAAJJJJJJJ. You miss us. You want to write us
again. You could write about thisssssss.” Then I find myself outlining another
Power Exchange book. After the first two, I was more public about saying no,
there wouldn’t be more. But I’ve learned my lesson. Never say never. If Ben or
Gavin or Myah or Cole or any other characters need their story told, it’ll hit
me one day.
What inspired you to write Restraint?
Ben. His voice in my
head was clear as a bell one morning. “Write my story. You haven’t told my
story yet. I’m wrong about how my parents died.” So after Kate, my wife, and I
did the school dropoff routine, I floated an idea to her, and she got the most
evil, satisfied, Cheshire cat smile and said, “Dooooo eeeeeet.” The more
details I gave her, the more excited she seemed, so I knew the idea had merit.
Kate doesn’t blow sunshine up my ass. If a plot doesn’t hold together, she’ll
say so. The more I told her, the more it solidified in my mind, and even the
setting was crystal clear.
I’m a very visual
person, so when an idea takes hold, I see it like I’m watching a movie, and in
this movie clip, I saw Ben and Gavin on a supposedly relaxing trip in territory
familiar to Ben. He was standing at a bank of windows in a vacation home,
looking at a body of water without seeing it, and the expression he wore…. It
was so haunted. If he’d not been so heartbroken, so stunned, and so completely
furious, he’d have been able to cry. Ben doesn’t cry, and for him to be so
upset he’d choose to cry instead of feeling how he did in that helpless,
horrified moment, I knew I had it. I had the book’s mood, and the book’s hope
all rolled into one.
Can you tell us what you’re currently working on or future
projects?
Recently, we’ve been
to visit my parents quite frequently to help my mother while my father’s been
sick. My grandmother lives with them, and one of her favorite things is the
Hallmark Channel. Every time we go, I end up getting sucked in by the storylines,
most of which are pure cheese, feel-good romance, or cozy mysteries. There’s
not really a lot of action in these stories, but they have an uncanny knack for
grabbing my attention. It’s not just me either! Both Kate and my sister were
just as pulled in as I’ve been.
I made the comment to
Kate that we should write a series like some of those Hallmark shows, centered
around a small town where everyone’s lives are entangled in one way or another,
and make it more diverse. And our Flaming, MO series was born. On the 6 hour
drive home, we came up with basic plots for between 8-10 stories we could
reasonable tell, which fall into classic tropes we all know and love, and are
set in a fictional town we’ve dubbed Flaming, Missouri. It’s set in the Lake of
the Ozarks and we’re having a lot of fun plotting the finer details. Kate and I
will write the books together and hopefully capture the feel-good magic similar
to that of the Hallmark Channel (but with more swearing and sex, because we’re
also honest with ourselves).
For me, it’ll be a
challenge. I don’t see myself as a straight-up romance writer. I like action,
explosions, and chase scenes. To write something completely character driven,
where behaviors move the story forward rather than action is becoming a more important
goal for me to stretch my writing chops. I love psychology, and people do the
craziest things, but it doesn’t need to revolve around murder and mayhem. I’m
really looking forward to it.
I’ve had several
people ask about the Long Fall of Night Series, and while I have plans to
continue that tale, it’s on hiatus because the research at the moment is too
politically charged. My wife’s green card restrictions are being scrutinized
before they can be lifted, and I can’t justify doing the research for that book
while we’re both under observation for her residency status. There are still
stories full of murder and mayhem on my future WIP list, for sure, but none of
them are ready for me yet, so the Flaming MO series is getting the nod right
now.
How can your readers follow your work and upcoming projects:
Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc…?
I’ve just revamped my
website, and the new address is https://ajrosefiction.com (I finally grew up and got my own domain).
You can find all the information there about my books, Kate’s and my shared
Patreon, sign up for my newsletter, and more. I’m not on social media as much
as I once was, but I still lurk around Facebook and Twitter, and I do keep track of my messages. Or you
can email me at ajrosefiction@gmail.com.
FAST FIRE QUESTIONS
Love or trust? Both.
Can’t have one without the other.
Favorite color? Purple.
Coffee or tea? Coffee
mostly, but I do love a specific British tea.
Favorite nonalcoholic beverage? Coke.
Day or night? Night.
Place you’d love to visit? Scotland.
Cats or dogs? I’m more
of a dog person, but we have a cat, and I do love him even if I rarely admit
it. Cats are growing on me. We even talked about getting another one. Then we
came to our senses. But my dog is the reason I get out of bed in the morning.
Seriously. If I don’t, she pees on the floor.
Okay, AJ, thank you SO much for being here! Everyone is so
excited for this book I wish you all the luck!
AJ Rose will give away 1 digital copy of the whole series to someone who hasn't read
any of them, and 3 digital copies of Restraint to people who have read
the first ones.
