February 19th, 2010 — Contemporary, Guest Blogger, J-L
by Robin Kaye, guest blogger
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.
Originally posted 2009-05-07 05:05:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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February 15th, 2010 — Author Interviews, J-L
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!
Originally posted 2009-05-08 05:25:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 19th, 2010 — 3.5 Stars, 4 Stars, ARC, Artist, Bastard, Contemporary, Doctor, J-L, Mistaken Identity, 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
Originally posted 2009-05-06 05:49:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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