Entries Tagged 'Robin Kaye' ↓
May 8th, 2009 — Author Interviews, Robin Kaye
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Hi Robin and welcome back! I’m so excited to talk to you again. As with before, you’ve wowed me. I am really enjoying your Domestic Gods series. Loved Mike Flynn, who doesn’t? He cooks, cleans, and diagnoses!
Robin: Thanks for having me back to your wonderful blog. I love it here.
How tough was it for you to take side characters from a previous novel and flush them out to be main characters?
Robin: Not hard at all. Even my secondary characters are so real to me. They tend to try to take over the book, so taking a character and giving him or her their own book is somewhat of a relief. I can let go of the tight reign I’ve always had to use to keep my secondary characters from running away with the story.
What was some of the medical research you had to do?
Robin: I have an incredible doctor on speed dial. I schedule my appointments just before noon, and then I take him out to lunch and grill him. We had great discussions about partnerships, fellowships, and how much debt a person incurs becoming a doctor. He told me horror stories about some of the people he knew in nightmare partnerships and from our conversations; I came up with Mike’s conflict. When I’d write a scene like the interview for instance, I’d run it by him. I think that was actually during an appointment. LOL He seemed impressed that I understood both the business and the medical side on the interview.
He’s a wonderful asset and has been really great about it. He doesn’t even seem to mind that all his nurses suspect I’ve used him as the blueprint for Dr. Mike in my book. I haven’t, there’s way too much of an ick factor to do that, but I think he enjoys telling his wife I have. The only time he has a problem with helping me out is when I forget to tell him the person in need of medical care is a fictional character.
This story features some heavy emotional issues. How difficult was that to balance?
Robin: The emotional issues were a challenge. In Romeo, Romeo Annabelle wasn’t a very sympathetic character. At the time, I had no idea she’d be the heroine in the second book or I probably wouldn’t have made her so…difficult. I knew going in I had an uphill battle but even when Annabelle came to me in Romeo, Romeo I knew she had a lot of baggage. The trick was getting it out there in the very beginning without an info dump. I hope I succeeded. After that, everything seemed to flow.
What are some of the themes in your book you feel readers should know about before they start reading?
Robin: Wow, that’s a hard one. I’d love for people to open the book not knowing the theme and discover it as they read, but since I have to give you an answer, I guess the thing I discovered while writing Too Hot to Handle
, is that when people grow, their definition of love changes. Annabelle loved her first fiancé, Chip, but looking back, they were both young and their love was immature. It probably would have died a natural death if Chip’s illness hadn’t made their relationship problems seem inconsequential. Two years later, when Annabelle falls in love with Mike, she’s a mature woman who lived through loss and overcame it. The love she shares with Mike is a mature love, one that will last.
In your opinion does love redeem or does it absolve and how does that idea play in Too Hot to Handle?
Robin: You really make my work sound so deep! I love it. LOL
I think love does both. It redeems and absolves. When you truly love someone you accept them, warts and all. Everyone comes into a relationship with baggage and the one thing I’ve learned is that if you love someone, you are able to see their true essence even when no one else can. From the get-go, Mike knows there’s more to Annabelle than meets the eye. He might not be exactly sure of what it is, but he sees it.
In every loving relationship each person has to learn to forgive and accept his or her lover throughout the relationship. That’s something both Mike and Annabelle learn by looking at the situation from the others point of view. I hope that answers the question. I don’t know a way to explain it better without giving the conflict away.
What do you think are Mike’s and Annabelle’s biggest flaws are as characters/people?
Robin: Mike’s biggest flaw is trying to control everything. He’s always been very responsible and tends to take responsibility for everything and everyone. In some respects it’s a quality, but every quality taken to the extreme is a flaw.
Annabelle is very closed and repressed. In a way she’s taken the easy way out, she’s just refused to deal with the hard stuff, the hurt and the loss. She’s really good at avoiding her feeling until she’s forced to when she meets Mike. She’s spent the last two years sleep-walking through life, allowing her family to push her into situations she would never have accepted if she were more in touch with her feelings.
Meeting Mike forces her to overcome the loss of her first love—two years too late. She grows up a lot during the course of the book. She learns to experience both the pleasure and the pain that love brings to a life. She also learns to stand up for herself.
In Too Hot to Handle, you’re really building the world around the characters. There are several who’ve come back to make a reappearance. Will they be in future books?
Robin: Yes, I love my secondary characters. In Too Hot to Handle, we get to see Nick and Rosalie (the hero and heroine of Romeo, Romeo
) Vinny, Aunt Rose and the rest of the Ronaldi clan. They also play a part in Breakfast In Bed, my next book in the Domestic Gods series.
Speaking of future books, who’s next? Rich, Becca, Ben? Tell me Benjamin Walsh is getting his own book! I do love a marriage of convenience romance, especially when it blindsides the guy!
Robin: Breakfast in Bed
is Rich Ronaldi’s book. And rest assured, Ben will get his own book too. I’m going to start working on the fourth book of the series just as soon as I finish the revisions of Breakfast in Bed. I can’t wait!
You’re telling me! Don’t forget to swing by and check out Robin Kaye’s post on the Top Ten Reasons Women Love Domestic Gods for a chance to win a copy of Too Hot to Handle!
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May 7th, 2009 — Contemporary, Guest Blogger, Robin Kaye
Welcome to the blog today, author Robin Kaye. She’s here to share with us the top ten reasons why women love Domestic Gods. Let’s see if you agree or can add any…. Special prize to be detailed below!
10. Domestic Gods know how to separate laundry, and are man enough to buy and care for fine washables.
9. Domestic Gods like more power…in their women, their cars, their vacuums, and their household cleaners.
8. Domestic Gods do manly things, like lift the couch with one hand to vacuum under it.
7. Domestic Gods don’t question their sexuality: being a good cook and knowing how to clean doesn’t make them effeminate. It makes them independent.
6. A Domestic God knows the way to a woman’s heart is to show he’s capable of killing bugs, scrubbing toilets, washing windows, keeping her well fed and well satisfied in bed.
5. A Domestic God knows there’s nothing sexier than a man cleaning the bathtub for the woman in his life and then joining her in it.
4. Domestic Gods don’t expect their women to be maids unless said women are into playing dress-up. Then, they prefer the French variety–feather duster included.
3. Domestic Gods can fix your car and fix you a five-course meal.
2. Domestic Gods not only respect women, they care for and about them.
And the number one reason women love Domestic Gods is…
Domestic Gods are as good in the kitchen as they are in the bedroom.
Most women I know ask me if Domestic Gods are a figment of my imagination or if they are real. I am here to attest to the fact that yes, Domestic Gods do exist. I know this because I’m lucky enough to be awakened every morning to my very own DG’s kiss and a really good cup of coffee.
Let me tell you ladies, a lot can be forgiven when you awake to a good cup of coffee in bed and a kiss every day of the week. And since we live in the real world, it’s a good thing because no matter how wonderful a real Domestic God is, he’s still a man.
Dr. Mike Flynn, the Domestic God in Too Hot to Handle is nearly perfect. Of course, he’s also fictional. Mike is the type of guy who cleans out the refrigerator in the doctor’s lounge at the hospital, giving everything questionable the sniff test, washing the coffee cups left lying around, and wiping down the counters. Of course, everyone teases him about it, but Mike takes it all in stride.
In Too Hot to Handle, when Annabelle falls and rips a few ligaments in her ankle, he not only carries her to X-ray and diagnoses it, but he takes her home, cleans her apartment, cooks a hot meal and gives her plenty of TLC. When Mike and Annabelle go away for a long weekend on Westhampton Beach; Mike’s the one who plans the meals, fills the cooler and barbecues-among other things.
The thing I love most about Domestic Gods is that no matter how great they are, they’re men who are continuously stumped by the women in their lives. Still, they clean to relieve the stress that the rocky road to loves causes. I find chocolate to be the perfect stress reliever, but I’m glad it’s not my DG’s stress reliever of choice. I don’t know about you, but a gorgeous Domestic God cleaning his way through the stresses of everyday life totally works for me.
This giveaway is for 1 copy of Too Hot to Handle and is open to US and Canadian readers. If you would like to be entered for a chance to win please leave a comment below. You’ll receive two entries if you leave a comment detailing a special Domestic God moment that was performed by your honey or provide another reason to love Domestic Gods. The winner will be announced Sunday, May 10, 2009.
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May 6th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, 4 Stars, ARC, Artist, Bastard, Contemporary, Doctor, Mistaken Identity, Robin Kaye, United States of America
Robin Kaye’s second book, Too Hot to Handle is witty and enchanting. Too Hot to Handle is the sequel to Romeo, Romeo. It follows Rosalie Ronaldi’s sister, Annabelle, on her tumultuous journey into love. Luckily for her, she has a sturdy cast of lively friends and a dog there to help her figure it all out. Her journey starts with this humorous first line: Ghosts don’t have sex, do they?
Of course the answer is no, but the distressingly dashing Doctor Mike Flynn looks almost exactly like her late boyfriend Chip Larsen. They could have been twins. Sure, his mouth is a little different, his nose broken and healed could have once been Chip’s nose, his eyes the same shape if different colors and his package is certainly better equipped… but other than that the similarities are shocking.
Annabelle’s past with Chip was rocky at best. Chip was not a very good boyfriend, even his sister thought so, but Annabelle never got the chance to really figure that out on her own. When the cancer came back, Chip refused to go through chemo again despite Annabelle’s and his family’s begging. Despite the heaviness of the emotional issues, this is still a romantic comedy.
Mike Flynn is working at a dead-end practice. His research though thorough wasn’t enough to prepare him for the realities. He’s going to be blackballed for bringing notice to a sloppy ill-informed partner. His only shot is to get out before it becomes common knowledge about his disagreements. Meanwhile his love life is pitiful, he’s tired of seeing the girls that Nick has let go, he wants a girl of his own and believes he struck gold with Annabelle who he met at her sister’s/his best friend’s wedding.
Mike’s background and Annabelle’s history will do their best to keep them apart. Life is messy, but with the help of a domestic god and busybody friends, family, and neighbors can it be cleaned up?
Rating: 3.5 - 4 Stars
Buy: Too Hot to Handle
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March 5th, 2009 — Author Interviews, Robin Kaye
I was lucky enough to get an interview with Robin Kaye so soon after her debut. What follows is our transcript! Enjoy and happy reading!
LRP: I just finished reading Romeo, Romeo and it was in two words: simply phenomenal. No wonder you won the Golden Heart in your category. Can you tell me about the process you went through for RWA? How did you feel?
Robin: The process you go through to enter the Golden Heart is pretty easy–the hardest part is making the decision to enter. It was definitely the best $50 I ever spent.
My goal was to score in the top 50%. I never thought I’d final. I sent my entry off and promptly forgot about it. I didn’t pay attention to the date they were to announce the finalist because in my mind, finaling wasn’t a possibility. I thought I’d get my scores when they hit my mailbox. When I got the call telling me I had finaled, I was shocked.
After I arrived at Nationals, Deb Werksman from Sourcebooks, one of the final judges, emailed me and asked if I would meet with her to talk about Romeo, Romeo. Four days before the awards ceremony, she told me an offer would be forthcoming. After I sold Romeo, Romeo, I thought the conference couldn’t get any better. Boy was I wrong. I was just as shocked to win as I’d been to final. It was an amazing conference for me, and it’s going to be a hard one to beat.
LRP: When did the idea for Romeo, Romeo first come to you? How did you get started?
Robin: I was taking an on-line writing class on point of view and the first assignment was to write a scene in first person.
I had just made a 20-quart pot of spaghetti sauce, dumped my meatballs in, and had ten minutes until I could stir the pot. I hate waiting those ten minutes. They always seem to last an eternity, so wearing my “The trouble with eating Italian food is 3 days later, you’re hungry again” apron, I ran into my office and wrote a scene with an Italian family around the Sunday dinner table. It was the scene in which my heroine, Rosalie Ronaldi, realized that there was an expiration date on uncommitted relationships. The scene was cut from the final manuscript, but I fell in love with Rosalie and her family, and I knew I had to write her story. It almost killed me to cut that scene, because it was so funny, but it wasn’t wasted. I used it in my blog. That made me feel much better.
LRP: Were you ever afraid or stuck in the writing process?
Robin: I don’t remember getting stuck with Romeo, Romeo. I believe writing books is like giving birth. We tend to forget the pain shortly after it’s over. If we didn’t, we’d probably never go through it again.
I do remember getting stuck when I wrote the second of the Domestic Gods books, Too Hot To Handle, and I remember very vividly being scared to death that I’d never be able to finish it. I was also afraid that Romeo, Romeo was a fluke and everyone would discover I can’t write. Hold on, I’m still afraid of that!
LRP: How did you decide on the characters’ names? Did they come to you at the same time as the novel idea did or did that take some effort?
Robin: I’m terrible with names. I named Aunt Rose first, after my great Aunt, who was one of the strongest women I ever knew. She was loved and feared by all. Then I thought, in the Italian tradition, I’d name the eldest niece after Rose, but not the same name. So I came up with Rosalie. Annabelle was easy—she was tall and beautiful. In Italian, Annabelle means beautiful Anna. It fit. I spent a little more time naming Nick. I knew I wanted him to have a name that could be shortened, so I picked Dominick. In the first chapter or two, I was calling him Dom, but Judi Fennel, my good friend and chapter mate, insisted I change it to Nick. Then I got the idea about a mistaken identity storyline, so the Dominick/Nick name worked well. Thank you, Judi.
I have a hard time remembering names, so when I needed a doctor, I named him after my doctor, Mike (just the first name). I had no idea that Mike would be so much fun to write, that he’d end up being the hero of Too Hot To Handle. Now, when I go into my doctor’s office, all the nurses ask if I really wrote the book with Dr. Mike as the hero. The answer to that is NO! That would be way too icky! Although I do think he gets a kick out of telling his wife he’s a hero in one of my books. LOL He’s a great sport and my go-to guy whenever I need to cure one of my characters. He doesn’t even get too mad at me when I forget to tell him the person I need to cure is fictional.
LRP: I just love your writing style – do you plan to use the same witty style and narrative in future books or do you expect to have to curb or tailor your writing to fit new characters and situations?
Robin: Wow, thanks for the compliment! I don’t think my writing style has changed, but in Too Hot To Handle I dealt with some deeper emotional issues. One of the funniest scenes I ever wrote is in Too Hot To Handle, but it also has a more serious side to it. I still have a snarky best friend, Becca, who I absolutely adore. Ben, my heroine’s boss, was a blast to write, and the family members and Dave the dog are there to lighten things up too.
LRP: What are some challenges you’ve faced while writing romance?
Robin: Other than the blank page? Juggling a busy family along with deadlines is a huge challenge. Too Hot To Handle was the first book I wrote on contract, and I found that to cause a lot of stress. Also, my kids are getting older and more active. One of the three is a pre-professional dancer who is home schooled and dances 25 to 30 hours a week at a school and hour and a half away. There’s never a free minute. However, I get a lot of help from my husband, who’s a true domestic god, and my children are amazing. We’re a team and we all support each other. I’m really proud of my family. It’s not always pretty, but it’s working, for the most part.
LRP: Here’s an easy question: what do you like most about writing romance?
Robin: I love escaping into my characters’ lives and playing God. I love that I get paid to do what I would always do for free. I love the industry and the amazing people I’ve met since I joined RWA. I love that I found people who actually ‘get’ me. All my life I was always in trouble for daydreaming. It was on every report card growing up. I love that with the help of RWA and the fabulous writers in it, I turned my bad habit into a career. When you’re unpublished, people call it daydreaming; when you’re published, people call it plotting. I love that my teachers were wrong. I wasn’t a daydreamer, I was a plotter.
LRP: Okay now comes a tough question: in your own words, what is love?
Robin: Love is a decision. It’s a verb. It’s what you do. Love isn’t a feeling – that’s lust. Love means loving someone even when you don’t feel like it, because believe me, there are times in every relationship when you’re not going to be ‘feeling’ the love.
LRP: And another toughie: what do you think makes a great bedroom scene?
Robin: Chemistry between the hero and heroine, a build-up of sexual tension, humor, and I really believe a love scene has to move the plot forward. The characters have to change or be changed by it in order for it to work.
LRP: Could you provide a picture of your workspace? I would love to see how and where you work!
Robin: First of all, I have to say how much I love my office. My husband and I are remodeling our 100 year-old Victorian and my office was the first room we finished. My husband actually raised the roof on this part of the house (don’t ask me how, since he did it all himself) so I have a vaulted ceiling that goes up 13 feet at its peak. He even ragged the walls so it has the look of parchment that I love. The rest of the house might be falling apart, but my office and both bathrooms are beautiful. Here are a few pics:
LRP: Fill in the blank. If you aren’t writing you’re ________.
Robin: Driving, cooking, eating, or sleeping.
LRP: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Love Romance Passion?
Robin: I’d like to thank you all for having me here. I hope you enjoy Romeo, Romeo. I’m always amazed at how generous readers are. My book has been out less than a week and I’ve already gotten several lovely notes from people telling me how much they enjoyed my book. You can’t imagine how much that means to me. Writing is such a solitary activity. Having someone tell me they like what I’ve written is a wonderful and humbling experience. So I thank you all.
LRP: Thanks for joining us Robin!
If you have a question for Robin, drop us a comment and we’ll forward them to Robin.
Robin is also part of a collective blog for Casablanca Sourcebooks Authors.
Originally posted 2008-11-04 14:57:29. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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February 20th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Contemporary, Entrepreneur, Executive, Mistaken Identity, Robin Kaye, United States of America
I picked up Romeo, Romeo by Robin Kaye on Monday. This was a mistake because as soon as I started reading I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t want to and I literally tried to multitask while reading and that didn’t work out so well so I just went back to reading. I took breaks for food, sleep, and unavoidable errands. Reading Romeo, Romeo was like finding a new best friend.
Kaye’s writing style is so engaging you are hooked before you finish the first page. I guarantee you will be as engrossed as I was. Kaye writes romance like Janet Evanovich writes serial mystery comedies. I haven’t been so pleased with a contemporary romance as I was with Romeo, Romeo in a good long while. I can see why this book won the Golden Heart Award for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance Manuscript in 2007 at RWA. A Golden Heart Award as you know is given out to unpublished authors and manuscripts.
The cast of characters Kaye created are as fabulous and as endearing as any of the Stephanie Plum characters. Rosalie, the heroine can cuss in four languages, but three don’t count in her mind and will give her bonus points with God. Rosalie’s a turn around CFO with a tough as nails assistant named Gina who can also add loyal and kindhearted to her resume. Rosalie is as Italian in her looks as Gina is Latino. The two women are best friends.
Dominick Romeo is the owner of a string of car dealerships. He was a bad boy Morelli type of character in his youth and got into a spot of trouble that turned his life around. He’s now the Italian version of Donald Trump in New York and has surrounded himself with shallow Barbie doll type girls until he got tired of them and of the game.
The meet cute: Dominick has had a terrible weekend. Everything that could go bad in his opinion has. He thinks he’s gotten a double dose of the saying ‘trouble always comes in threes.’ Throwing the towel in on figuring out the mess that was his Viper, Nick grabs the keys to the wrecker and hauls himself home. On the way home he spots number six by the road kicking and cussing at her car.
Rosalie is livid. Her stupid brother took her money and her car and never once put the money to good use. Now she’s stranded without a donut-sized spare let alone the full one she paid her brother to get. Seeing Nick pull over to help, she wonders if the bonus points she’d been earning over the last little while were about to be cashed in for the help she needed. Of course something is weird about Nick. Since when has a wrecker just happened by and pull over– especially after she’s called around and nobody was open or available? And since when has a lowly mechanic had an expensive haircut and dress shoes?
Dominick convinces her to get in the wrecker after proving he’s not some whacked-out psychopath and drives her home. He finds himself incredibly attracted to her and wonders how to get a date. There are only two things wrong with the situation in his mind. One she’s got a boyfriend and he doesn’t poach, even though he thinks the guy is an idiot. Two, Rosalie turned out to be the younger sister of the boy he got in trouble with in his youth which was sure to cause bad blood. What’s a guy to do? Wait for her to dump the first boyfriend that’s what, and to speed her along to that end he tantalizes her with almost kisses.
Rating: 5 Stars for Hot, Steamy, and Hilarious!
I am definitely keeping an eye out for Kaye’s next novel!
Originally posted 2008-10-22 09:40:22. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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