November 2017
On Sale: November 7, 2017
352 pages ISBN: 1492658510 EAN: 9781492658511 Kindle: B01MZ9RY6U Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
You can't control them. You can't guide them. They simply birth their way
onto the pages, pulling you in so many directions that you wind up going grey
and gaining fifteen pounds by the time you're done writing the book.
(TRUE STORY, by the way.)
BUT, every once in a while, these characters do something so freaking
fantastic, so swoony, soooo hilarious, that you remember exactly why you wanted
to write about them in the first place.
This, to me, was my relationship with Maxwell Martinez—the hero in The
Right Kind of Reckless.
Let me start by saying that in Reckless Hearts, book one, Max was
labeled (AND WORE THAT LABEL WELL) as a certifiable douchebag. He was a little
chauvinistic, a whole lot degrading, and kind of annoying and immature, if I do
say so myself.
He's flawed, bottom line. And I have no regrets writing him the way I did in
that book.
To me, though, Max is more than just those things I mentioned above. He's a
guy with a broken past. A guy with a whole lot of love to give for a woman he's
wanted for years, but can't have. He's goofy and playful and pretty aloof about
life on the outside, but on the inside, he's striving for the approval of his
best friends and family, trying to figure out his place in the world after
serving as a Marine.
I loved writing about Max, more than any other character in this series,
because he's exactly the kind of hero I love to read about. And though he might
not have been the most wonderful guy in Reckless Hearts, I am
more than positive that you will fall head over heels with him now in THE RIGHT KIND OF RECKLESS.
Excerpt:
O'Paddy's was our bar, the one we visited nearly every weekend during rugby
season—w hich was less than two weeks away, now that I thought about it. But
last night, I'd overheard Lia's boss tell her that she and a couple of friends
were going to drive to Macomb to check this new place out. Something about
Patricia's latest man toy agreeing to watch the bar for her so a couple of the
ladies could have the night off. At first I thought she'd say no, because Lia
didn't normally do the hang-with-girlfriends thing or the dance club scene. But
to my surprise, she'd agreed, which had stirred my guys' night out plan into
play.
Gav grabbed his keys off the table, a frown on his face. "I don't do people. And
I sure as hell don't do music."
"Yeah, well, you do beer and near-naked women, right?"
He smirked at that. "Is Colly still going?" "We're picking him up along the
way."
Gavin put on his shoes, not bothering to lace them. "Then let's go."
We pulled up in front of the business where Collin worked security a little
while later. The building was tall, with red bricks dominating the front. It
looked like a place for suits and hooker heels.
Colly never talked much about his job, probably because he hated it. But now
that he was in the academy training to be a cop, he'd grown less broody about
going to work. Or it could've been the fact that he had a warm body to come home
to every night.
The building wasn't holding my undivided attention though. What was next door
had caught my eye. A small shop with ground-to-ceiling windows and a black
overhang. It looked out of place in the downtown area, which I liked. Oddness
was my weakness.
"What are you looking at?" Gavin asked, propping his feet on my dash.
"You ever think about what you'd be doing right now if you hadn't enlisted?"
He laughed once. "No doubt I'd be rotting away at some desk job."
I frowned but didn't tear my eyes away from the For Rent sign hanging on the
front door of the abandoned storefront. "You really think so?"
"What's up with the heavy?" Gavin leaned forward to turn down the music.
I drummed my fingers along the steering wheel. "Just thinking is all." 'Bout
life and love, finding something to make me happy that wasn't necessarily sex
and beer. Making something of myself along the way too. Kinda like Lia was
doing.
Ever since she'd called me out on my lack of motivation and job, I'd been trying
to figure out how to get my shit together and face the world like a grown man,
especially since I didn't want to live off my dad's estate any longer than I had
to. If only I knew where to start and what made me happiest.
Chloe made me happy. So did my friends. And Lia? Yeah, she made me happier than
anything else. I loved to sing but would never pursue that. I also loved to
cook— was decent at making pancakes and Mexican food, according to my family and
the guys.
That sign, that building called to me for some weird-ass reason.
"If I hadn't enlisted, I wouldn't have met my only family." Gavin's face was
pointed toward the window, so I almost didn't hear his words. Normally he didn't
get deep like that, but for some reason lately, he'd been more emotionally
fucked up than usual. I'd never call him out on his sensitive thoughts. It
wasn't something we did as brothers.
"Yeah. Same here, man."
A minute later, we turned to each other, both of us shuddering. "I feel like a
chick," Gavin said
"That's because you are." I grinned and lifted my arms to protect my face, only
for him to wail me in the chest instead.
Heather Van Fleet is stay-at-home-mom turned book boyfriend connoisseur.
She’s a wife to her high school sweetheart, a mom to three little girls, and in
her spare time you can find her with her head buried in her Kindle, guzzling
down copious amounts of coffee.
I love meeting new characters each time in their stories, but all time fav characters for me are Eve and Roarke from JD Robb's In Death series! (Colleen Conklin 6:37pm November 15, 2017)
Hi. love your book cover. (Emily Stemp 2:20pm November 16, 2017)
I love the way characters take over and grow. I understand what you mean. Thanks. (Kathleen Bylsma 9:22pm November 16, 2017)
happy holidays friends (Emily Stemp 8:00pm November 17, 2017)
I usually get very invested in the characters of a book, but I don't often remember their names unless they are in a long series (like Eve & Roarke in JD Robb's In Death series and Stephanie Plum in Janet Evanovich's series). Others I remember are Jennifer Ashley's Ian Mackenzie and Stephanie Laurens Devil Cynster. (Diane Sallans 9:21pm November 18, 2017)
There is Stephanie Plum and Ranger from the Janet Evanovich series that I've followed for years, but my all-time favorite has to be Mary Tolliver and Percy Warwick from the book Roses by Leila Meacham, which has to be the best book I've ever read!! It's a long book, but I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it. No other characters come to mind at the moment, although the question was sort of dropped on us. I'm looking forward to reading your latest book, since I've seen it on other sites as well, and tend to gravitate toward it. I'm sure I'll love it!! Congratulations on your book!! (Peggy Roberson 9:32am November 20, 2017)
I really like your writingstyle and especially your characters. Seeing them evolve is so important for me now! Greetings from Germany (Sarah Felmer 4:15pm November 20, 2017)