Spotlight & Giveaway: My Cruel Salvation by J. Kenner

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author J. Kenner to HJ!

Hi Julie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, My Cruel Salvation!

 
Thank you so much for having me! I’m so excited about this final installment in Ellie and Devlin’s trilogy!
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

M is for mystery
Y is for your

C is for charming
R is for renewal
U is for understanding
E is for emotion
L is for Love

S is for Sensual
A is for Adore
L is for Lingering looks
V is for vendetta
A is for adoration
T is for temptation
I is for intensity
O is for Only
N is for need

(FUN!)

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“Before…
Alejandro Lopez held the gunmetal black Glock in his hand as he stood on the range beside his father, the desert sun beating down on them. He was ten years old and tall for his age, lanky and thin. He came up almost to his father’s shoulder. Soon, he’d probably be taller than the man. Stronger, too”

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Ellie is a determined reporter who is drawn back to her home town where she lost her family years ago, as well as her first love. She meets the enigmatic Devlin Saint, only to learn that he’s the first love who left her a decade before, completely remade and now a powerful philanthropist … but with dark secrets. This book, the final in their trilogy, has them battling the dangers from both their pasts that threaten to destroy them both.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Well, first of all, a certain sexy Billionaire who has the same initials as Devlin Saint makes a cameo appearance in this book!
• It’s also the first book in the trilogy where you see the bits of childhood that informed all of Devlin’s choices, and the book contains a series of flashbacks that tell the story of his past and informs the decisions that he made that are reflected in the first two books.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Both are attracted to the other’s strength … and their damage, which calls specifically to each other.

The First Kiss…

This is the first script that is in this book, not their first kiss. But I love this moment. It shows both their heat and where they are in their relationship!

“I’m not worried,” she said, moving closer and easing her arms around his waist. “You’re the guest of honor. Nothing starts without you.”
She rose up on her toes to kiss him, and though his entire body tightened with the need to throw her back on the bed, strip her bare, and work out every one of his roiling emotions in hot, wild, demanding sex, all he did was shake his head and push her gently but firmly away.
“No.”
Her brow rose. “No?”
“Not that you aren’t temptation personified,” he told her. He meant it, too. Was there ever a time he didn’t want her? Under normal circumstances, he craved her. Right now, things were definitely not normal, and that only worked to increase his need. He felt off, as if he should be shying from this award. As if he should believe himself undeserving or hypocritical because of the secrets he held.
But he didn’t.”

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

He’d tuned out the cacophony, but now voices were getting through. Shouts from the reporters, raised voices with harsh questions. At first, it was all a blur. And then he heard those two horrible words—The Wolf.
No.
His blood turned to ice as he searched for the source, but as he did, he realized the question could have come from anyone, and he tightened his grip on Ellie’s hand as an anonymous reporter shouted the question—Is your name really Alejandro Lopez?
He picked up his pace, his shoulders stiff and his expression impassive as he moved toward the doors with Ellie keeping pace beside him. He knew he should answer. Should stop and speak, and maybe he even would have if one question hadn’t burst through, louder and bolder than all the rest—
Devlin, did you kill your father?
No.
No, no, no.”
Whatever strength he had faded in that moment. He felt ten years old again, back at the compound, his father demanding that Alejandro make him proud, because one day the boy would inherit his father’s legacy.
He’d never wanted it. He’d worked his whole life to avoid it. To shed it.
And here it was, thrust upon him under the fire of questions and cameras.
Goddammit.
The curse rang through him, but he kept his expression calm. He was stone. He was ice. He’d learned a long time ago how to not show emotion. He had his father to thank for that. And right now, the lessons he’d learned at that bastard’s hand were going to get him and Ellie safely inside that building.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Saint.” A tall woman with flaming red hair rushed to usher them inside. She signaled to the doormen to hurry and get the door closed, and only when they were completely shut did Devlin let his guard down the tiniest bit. Just enough to look down at Ellie.
She looked back at him, her expression as lost as his. “Devlin,” she whispered. “You’re hurting me.”
That’s when he realized that he’d almost crushed her hand. He let go immediately, opening his mouth to apologize. For the pain, for the crowd. For being the man he was—a man whose very existence had made her endure a spectacle like that.”

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

OMG, I have no idea! I’d love to hear what readers think!

If you could have given your characters one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what – would it be and why?

Just keep holding on!

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

I’m always working on so much! But the next big project on my plate is Enchant Me, which is the seventh full-length book in the Nikki & Damien Stark series!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An electronically signed copy of My Fallen Saint, the first book in the trilogy!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite kind of hero?

 
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Excerpt from My Cruel Salvation:

He bent over and pulled the thin sheet over her bare shoulder. She smiled in her sleep, and his heart twisted a little. She was content. Despite everything that had happened last night and all the ramifications the press leak brought with it, she was sleeping peacefully, secure in the belief that no matter what, they would be just fine in the end.

He smiled, because he believed it, too. He only wished that they didn’t have to clamber over the rocks and barbed wire to get to that glorious place called Fine.

He stretched and yawned, deciding that coffee was very much on the agenda. He pushed the bookcase aside, opening up the room, then started toward the small kitchen area, only to freeze at the sight of the figure on the sofa.

It was only a split-second of terror—a flash of frustration that he had no weapon—then his body went slack, and he cursed his friend. “What the fuck, Ronan? You ever heard of knocking?”

Ronan aimed intense blue eyes at him, his golden hair gleaming in the dim lamplight. Ellie once told Devlin that Ronan looked like a Nordic god, and right then, that assessment seemed spot on. An amused god, apparently, as Ronan’s mouth curved into an almost mocking grin. “Yeah, well, I tried that, buddy. Rang the bell, called your phone. Wouldn’t have barged in, but under the circumstances I thought a wellness check was in order.”

Now his mouth outright twitched. “Almost burst into the bedroom, too, until I realized those weren’t screams of torture. Or, at least not the bad kind of torture.”

“You’re an ass,” Devlin said mildly. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t tell Ellie that. She’ll fry your balls for breakfast.” In all honestly, knowing that someone was listening probably ranked high on El’s turn-on list. But that wasn’t something Ronan needed to know.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He’ll keep her safe, no matter the price.

Investigative reporter Ellie Holmes has uncovered billionaire Devlin Saint’s dark and dangerous secrets, and he has both stripped away her protective armor and tamed the wildness within her. Bound by a shared past and the hope of a blissful future, they grow even closer, each exposing more of themselves as their love deepens.

But now that Devlin’s true identity has been publicly revealed, old enemies appear, intent on destroying Devlin. And while he vows to enlist all of his resources to protect her, Ellie soon realizes that the only way to save them both is to take the last, final step to fully join Devlin in the dark.
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Meet the Author:

J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and #1 International bestselling author of over one hundred novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.

Though known primarily for her award-winning and internationally bestselling romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and #1 internationally, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of wide variety of genres.

JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A six time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award, JK took home a RITA trophy in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me and again in 2017 for her novel, Wicked Dirty.

In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
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