What Lies Beneath: A Dark Stalker Romance
Amber Faye & K. A. Pryde
(Game of Obsession Duet, #1)
Publication date: May 31st 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Three men who’d burn the world down for me.
But now one of them wants me to burn with it.My grandmama used to tell me the women in our family were all cursed. They attracted danger. Not in bits and pieces, but in droves. She was struck by lightning—twice. Mom died in a plane crash. She was crossing the street at the time.
Me?
I attract obsession.
***
The first, in my teenage years, wrote me letters that started as love poems and progressed quickly to bloodstained all-caps rants.
He drove me into the arms of the second: a sociopathic organized crime boss here in sunny LA.
He drove me into the arms of the third. Greyson Cain, who told me the truth about being an undercover cop, but might just be lying about everything else.
It’s time for me to stop running. Patterns don’t end on their own, and luck doesn’t change.
If I want to win this game of obsession, it’s finally time I learned the rules.
Interview with K. A. Pryde & Amber Faye
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
I got this idea in my head about a cop chasing a stalker, and as he tries to get into the other man’s head, he ends up also becoming just as obsessed with the stalkee. I loved the thought of slowly pushing a good man closer and closer to the unthinkable—eventually he would find himself having to do some truly awful things in order to keep this woman safe.
So “What Lies Beneath” was born, and outlined very quickly. Viola, the FMC, has some idea of the danger she is in, but nowhere near as much knowledge of it as our MMC, Agent Cain. He must protect her, while also slowly becoming exactly the thing he is supposed to be protecting her from.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
This book was incredibly hard to write! It ended up having so many threads, so many little tiny subplots and things I wanted to convey subtly as well as overtly. My main goal was a slow and steady journey from “good man” to stalker for the MMC. I wanted to show him lying and manipulating in order to get closer to her, to keep her safe, and yet blatantly at the time bulldozing over all of her boundaries. I also wanted to prove that these two people get a happy ending! As for how well I achieved that, I don’t know. I had an amazing time exploring the tortured mind of Greyson Cain and the incredibly bad luck of Viola West.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The hardest part of a romance for me is always having to keep these people apart. I have created them to be soulmates, after all! They just need to go through a lot of horrible events and a lot of personal growth in order to deserve each other, and to be able to learn from each other. If they were to run into each other’s arms before they’re ready, I don’t know that their relationship would work out. But having to wait for that happily ever after is equally frustrating and satisfying.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I loved getting to write about Viola’s world as a writing intern for a poorly received network TV show. There was a time when I was desperate to be a television writer, and I would listen to podcasts about that writing process for hours every day. That same process, creating people and watching them hurt each other, engulfs Viola’s life every minute of every day (a lot like me with my writing) and it’s difficult for her not to see the frightening things in her own life through the lens of story. In a way, it’s a comfort to Viola to be able to break down reality into story beats—it gives everything a sense of inevitability. Writing about writing and about writers is always so much fun for me.
Where there alternate endings you considered?
Yes, so many! The first book in this duet ends on a dramatic cliffhanger. I had two other options for where exactly to end this novel, and both were also very dramatic, but neither could beat this part of the story. I couldn’t resist ending it on the most cliffhangery cliffhanger possible. Sorry!
What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
I am a huge horror and thriller fan. The darker, gorier, more visceral and bone-chilling, the better. I’m not a huge fan of the paranormal, though; I prefer stories where people are the villains. Stories where people want something, and it drives them to do terrible things. Add in some steamy scenes, and in my humble opinion, that’s the most fun a book could possibly contain…!
Author Bio:
K. A. Pryde has been writing ever since she first started forming memories. Her favorite genre is horror/thriller, but her favorite tropes are all romantic or steamy. Imagine her excitement when she realized she could combine the two.
Amber writes romance featuring flawed characters with sizzling connections.
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1 comments:
Sounds like a great book.
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