Rome And Jules
by Tara Lain
Blurb:
Two werewolf households, both alike in dignity….
Rome Siracusa, youngest son of the alpha of the nouveau-riche Siracusa pack, wants to be a faithful son and pack member, but he’s got two big secrets. One, he’s blessed with enhanced hearing, vision, strength, and the ability to shift at will. Second, he’s gay, a fact he can’t admit to his deadly homophobic father.
Rome crashes a party at the mansion of his pack’s greatest enemy, the ancient, pure-blooded Havillands. Jules, the gay son of the drunkard alpha, is being married off to a rich entrepreneur. Smitten and moved by the beautiful male’s plight, Rome tries to find a way to save Jules—while digging himself deeper into pack politics and navigating his own arranged marriage. Secrets climb out of the caves as the werewolf gods speak through the mouths of their children, and the two great families clash, suffocating the hopes of star-crossed lovers.
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Excerpt
Holy shit! Rome controlled his face and swooped Yolanda into a big twirl to cover his surprise. As he came out of the spin, he leaned in and sang, “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? The big bad wolf.”
Yolanda gave him a gutsy laugh. “Whoever you are, cutie, you’ve got balls. Not many guys want to take on my brother.”
“Surely he can’t object to you dancing?”
She shrugged. “I guess the problem is that no one knows what Ty will object to.”
“Must limit your social life.”
A crease popped between her arched brows. “Tell me about it.”
“Uh, where is your brother?”
She shrugged. “I guess he got kind of beat up on the tennis courts today and decided to go drown his sorrows with some of his cronies rather than attending this command performance.”
“But then that means he’s not performing on command.”
She spoke softly. “Ty doesn’t give a fuck. Not like old man Havilland can do much, or at least will do anything. Too busy with his friends Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.”
Rome quirked a half smile. The music stopped, and he hid his sigh of relief. He gave Yolanda a small bow. “Thank you for the dance.”
“Thank you for the courage.” She chuckled again. Shame she was a blatant enemy. He kind of liked her.
A tapping against a glass brought the whole crowd around to face the center of the dance floor.
All the guests who were sitting stood and placed a hand over their heart. Rome didn’t even have to ask. He turned to find Gerard Havilland weaving drunkenly between his sister, a pale, delicate-for-a-wolf female, and some male named Alphonse who Rome had heard was Havilland’s second. Nobody spoke about Havilland’s wife, who’d apparently walked out on him years before. Rome sighed quietly and crossed his heart. Yeah, and his fingers.
Someone started the pledge.
“I pledge my life to the alpha, who is the conduit to the wolfgods and giver of wolfen energy. Hail the alpha, source of strength and unity. Praise the alpha, defender of the pack and wellspring of all that is good. I lay myself at the alpha’s feet without need for request, cause, or reason. The alpha rules us all.”
As the voices died down, Rome felt all his hair standing on end. Regardless of how unworthy the alpha, the pledge rang with the truth of ages and united every were.
Havilland waved his hand impatiently toward the crowd. Rome turned his head—felt his mouth fall open—and let his body follow the turn.
Oh my god of wolves.
From the side of the big room walked a young male who could only be the much-heralded son. What was his name? Who cares? The guy was tall—taller even than Rome—reed slender, with dark blond hair that likely fell to his shoulders if released from the queue gathered at his neck in a ribbon. But the face. Like someone translated poetry into a person. Large eyes, so blue Rome could see their color from where he stood, dominated his face above high cheekbones that would have been gaunt if they weren’t a soft, glowing pink. His neck was long, his hands graceful. Gods, what is he? Wolf males might be tall like Rome, but they were nearly always powerfully built. This guy looked very little like Gerard Havilland.
Rome’s whole body vibrated with electricity and shook as if the male were a magnet and Rome was iron filings trying to organize around him.
Romeo and Juliet and Werewolves
I’m so delighted to be here at Bayou Book Junkie to help launch my new paranormal romance, Rome and Jules. Bayou Book Junkie asked me to tell you what sets my homage to Romeo and Juliet apart from others that have been done. I chuckled when I saw the question because the number 1 answer is – werewolves! In fact, when Dreamspinner Press asked me to do a new paranormal story, I was casting around for inspiration and what inspired me was the first line of Romeo and Juliet –Two great houses both alike in dignity. I thought the line just cried out for the word ‘werewolf’. So with that decision, the framework of my story was set. But of course, my story is contemporary, another point of difference, and most significantly, it’s a gay romance, so both my lovers are male.
Since my inspirational line places great emphasis on the warring werewolf houses, that inspired me to create a brand new werewolf world in Dark Harbor, Rhode Island, a closed, very private community outside of upscale Newport. I needed to devise two clans of werewolves in intense rivalry and decided it would be fun if one of the houses was an old and respected pack currently run into the ground by a drunken alpha, and the other was a very wealthy and powerful pack that was barely a generation from the streets and shady beginnings. That makes my lovers extremely different in background. And of course, we might assume that the old, genteel pack would be more tolerant of homosexuality than the street-tough pack.
I’ve also added more strength to the secondary female character, who in Romeo and Juliet is just a reason to get Romeo to the masked party where he first sees Juliet. In my story, she becomes a major part of the on-going plot.
I think Romeo and Juliet lends itself perfectly to gay romance. Since my Rome is in the closet, it makes for even greater conflict in their relationship. But of course, while the story demands fights and battles, I write romance, so I got to craft a happy ending. That’s a pretty big difference all by itself!
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 32. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
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Thanks so much for the excerpt and giveaway as well. Sounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Tara, and thanks for sharing your inspiration. I agree, that line speaks to werewolves. It sounds like a real West Side Story, lol. I like the twists you've applied, but I'd be evilly curious to see what would have happened if you turned the m/m romance trope on its head and actually ended it like Shakespeare. Now that would be some gay drama, indeed. - Purple Reader,
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
Congratulations on your new release Tara I enjoyed the excerpt and have the book on my wish list.
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