Spotlight & Giveaway: Neon Gods by Katee Robert

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Katee Robert to HJ!

Hi Katee and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Neon Gods!

 
Thank you so much for having me!
 

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

N is for naked
E is for electrifying
O is for Olympus
N is for nab

G is for greedy for more time
O is for orgasms
D is for dangerous
S is for sexy

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“I really hate these parties.”
“Don’t let Mother hear you say that.”
I glance over my shoulder at Psyche.

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

Hades is the ruler of the lower city in Olympus and considers himself a monster of sorts. He doesn’t let anyone close, and he lets his reputation as the boogeyman of Olympus do a lot of the heavy lifting for him. But he’s got an ooey-gooey center!

Persephone is the sunshine-y socialite. She’s got her eye on the horizon and a plan to escape Olympus. She also uses her sunshine exterior as a mask to make people underestimate her.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The “gods” are really titles, rather than supernatural beings.
• It occurs in the same world as my Wicked Villains series, but it’s a different Hades.
• I pretty much played the Hadestown soundtrack through most of my drafting of this book.

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

Persephone is attracted to Hades because although he’s supposed to be a monster, he’s much softer than the other people she regularly interacts with in Olympus.

Hades is attracted to Persephone because she’s completely unexpected and he can’t help wanting to protect her and understand her at the same time.

The First Kiss…

“I suppose we should seal our bargain with a kiss. That’s the traditional way of things.”
“Is it.” His inflection makes the words less question and more mocking absolute. He’s so cold, he might freeze me down to my very core. It should scare me. Every partner I’ve had to date has been the very opposite of Hades—people willing to take what I give and ask no questions, require no further commitments from me. My mother’s reputation ensured that their desire for me didn’t outweigh their fear of her, so they all went out of their way to keep our relationship a secret. At first sneaking around was fun. Later, it became exhausting. But it was safe; as safe as someone can be as Demeter’s daughter while living in Olympus.
Hades is not safe. He’s so far from safe, I should be rethinking this bargain before it’s even begun. I can tell myself I have no choice, but it’s not the truth. I want this with every shadowy part of my soul that I work so hard to keep locked down. There’s no room in the public narrative of the sweet, sunny, biddable woman for the things I find myself craving in the dark of night. Things I’m suddenly sure Hades is capable of giving me.
And then his mouth is on mine and I’m not sure of anything at all.
***
She tastes like summer. I don’t know how it’s possible, not when she was just sleeping in a bathtub, not when it’s the dead of winter outside, but it’s the truth. I dig my hands into her mass of hair and tilt her head back, angling for better access. Sealing a bargain is the flimsiest of excuses to kiss her; I have no excuse to keep the contact, to deepen it. No excuse beyond wanting her. Persephone moves to close the fraction of distance between us and then she’s fully in my arms, warm and soft and, fuck, she nips my bottom lip as if she actually wants this.
As if I’m not taking advantage.
The thought slams me out of my haze and I force myself to take a step back and then another. There have always been lines I refused to cross, boundaries sketched out that are just as flimsy as the ones that keep Zeus from the lower city. That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never crossed them before.
Persephone blinks up at me, and for the first time since I met her last night, she looks completely real. Not the personification of a sunbeam. Not the scarily calm woman in over her head. Not even the perfect daughter of Demeter she plays for the public. Just a woman who enjoyed that kiss as much as I did.

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

It would be what is essentially the first conversation Hades and Persephone have…while she’s slung over his shoulder.

“Put. Me. Down.”
“No,” I repeat. I’m not about to waste my breath explaining that she’s running on sheer adrenaline right now, which means she’s not feeling any pain. And she will be feeling pain once those endorphins wear off. Her feet are fucked up. I don’t think she has hypothermia, but I have no idea how long she was exposed to the winter night in that sad excuse of a dress.
“Do you often kidnap people?”
I pick up my pace. Gone is the spiky fury, replaced by a calm that has concern rising. She might be going into shock, which will be damned inconvenient. I have a doctor on call, but the fewer people that know Persephone Dimitriou is in my possession right now, the better. At least until I figure out a plan to use this unexpected gift.
“Did you hear me?” She shifts a little. “I asked if you often kidnap people?”
“Be quiet. We’re almost there.”
“That’s not really an answer.” I get a few seconds of blessed silence before she keeps talking. “Then again, I’ve never been kidnapped before, so I suppose expecting an answer about your kidnapper’s prior experience is just silly.”
She sounds downright chipper. She’s definitely in shock. Continuing this line of conversation is a mistake, but I find myself saying, “You ran to me. That’s hardly kidnapping.”
“Did I? I was just running to get away from the two men pursuing me. Your being there or not is immaterial.”
She can say that all she likes, but I saw the way she zeroed in on me. She wanted my help. Needed it. And I had been unable to deny her. “You practically threw yourself into my arms.”
“I was being chased. You seemed the lesser of two evils.” The tiniest of pauses. “I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

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

Hades would probably have some kind of classical playlist, but my sexy-times playlist for him includes Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love (from the 50 Shades playlist), The Devil is a Gentleman by Merci Raines, and Bang by Moda Spira.

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

It would be for both of them to have a little more faith in themselves.

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

I’m currently working on the third Dark Olympus book, which will feature Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus. Up next is Cohen (Sabine Valley #3) and the final Bloodline Vampire book, Queen.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

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Excerpt from Neon Gods:

I push open the door and stop short. “What are you two doing here?”
Hermes freezes, two bottles of my best wine in her small hands. She gives me a winning grin that isn’t the least bit sober. “There was a snore-fest of a party in Dodona Tower. We cut out early.”
Dionysus has his head in my fridge, which is enough to tell me that he’s already drunk or high—or some combination of both. “You have the best snacks,” he says without pausing in his raiding of my food.
“Now’s not a good time.”
Hermes blinks behind her oversized yellow-framed glasses. “Uh, Hades.”
The woman over my shoulder jolts as if struck by a live wire. “Hades?”
Hermes blinks again and shoves back her cloud of black curls with one forearm. “Am I really, really drunk or is that Persephone Dimitriou thrown over your shoulder like you’re about to roleplay some sexy pillaging?”
“That’s impossible.” Dionysus finally appears with the pie my housekeeper left in the fridge earlier today. He’s eating it directly from the container. At least he’s using a fork this time. He also has some crumbles in his beard and only one side of his mustache is curled; the other is only a little crimped, as if he’s scrubbed a hand over his face recently. He frowns at me. “Okay, maybe not impossible. Either that, or the weed I smoked with Helen in the courtyard before leaving was laced with something.”
Even if they hadn’t told me they’d come directly from a party, their clothing says it all. Hermes is wearing a short dress that would double as a disco ball, reflecting little sparkles against her dark brown skin. Dionysus probably started the night with a suit, but he’s down to a white V-neck and there is a ball of wadded up cloth on my kitchen island that’s no doubt his jacket and shirt.
Over my shoulder, Persephone has gone stock still. I’m not even sure she’s breathing. The temptation arises to turn around and walk away, but I know from past experience that these two will just follow along and pepper me with questions until I give into frustration and snap at them.
Better to rip off the Band-Aid now.
I set Persephone on the counter and keep a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from taking a nose-dive. She blinks big hazel eyes up at me, little shivers wracking her body. “She called you Hades.”
“It’s my name.” I pause. “Persephone.”
Hermes laughs and sets the wine bottles on the counter with a clink. She points at herself. “Hermes.” She points at him. “Dionysus.” Another laugh. “Though you already knew that.” She leans against my shoulder and whisper-yells, “She’s going to marry Zeus.”
I turn slowly to look at Hermes. “What?” I knew she had to be important to Zeus in order for him to send his men after her, but marriage? That means I have my hands on the shoulders of the next Hera.
“Yep.” Hermes works the cork out of one of the bottles and takes a long drink directly from it. “They announced it tonight. You just stole the fiancée of the most powerful man in Olympus. It’s a good thing they aren’t married yet, or you would have kidnapped one of the Thirteen.” She giggles. “That is positively devious, Hades. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I knew he did.” Dionysus tries to eat another bite of pie, but has a bit of trouble finding his mouth, getting it tangled in his beard instead. He blinks down at the fork as if it’s the one to blame. “He’s the boogeyman, after all. You don’t get that kind of reputation without being a tiny bit devious.”
“That’s about enough of that.” I dig my phone out of my pocket. I need to see to Persephone, but I can’t do that while fielding dozens of questions from these two.
“Hades!” Hermes whines. “Don’t kick us out. We just got here.”
“I didn’t invite you.” Not that that’s stopped them from crossing the river whenever they feel like it. Part of that is Hermes—she can go where she pleases, when she pleases by virtue of her position. Dionysus technically has a standing invitation, but it was only ever meant to be for business purposes.
“You never invite us.” She pouts red lips that she’s somehow managed not to smudge. “It’s enough to make a person think you don’t like us.”
I give her the look that statement deserves and dial Charon. He should be back by now. Sure enough, he answers quickly. “Yeah?”
“Hermes and Dionysus are here. Send someone to take them to their rooms.” I could toss them in a car and send them home, but with these two, there’s no guarantee that they won’t get a wild hare and come right back—or make even more questionable decisions. Last time I sent them home like this, they ended up ditching my driver and trying to take a drunken swim in the River Styx. At least if they’re under my roof, I can keep an eye on them until they sober up.
I am aware of Persephone staring at me like I’ve sprouted horns, but getting this pair of idiots taken care of is the first priority. Two of my people arrive and usher them out, but only after a strained negotiation that has them taking the pie and wine with them.
I sigh the moment the door closes behind them. “Those are thousand dollar bottles of wine. She’s drunk enough, she’s not even going to taste it.”
Persephone makes a strange hiccupping sound, which is my only warning before she shoves my coat off—having unzipped it while I was distracted—and makes a run for it. I’m surprised enough that I stand there and watch her try to hobble for the door. And she is hobbling.
A glimpse of red streaking the floor in her wake is enough to snap me out of it. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“You can’t keep me here!”
I snag her around the waist and carry her back to the kitchen island to drop her on it. “You’re acting like a fool.”
Big hazel eyes glare at me. “You kidnapped me. Trying to escape you is the smart thing to do.”
I grab her ankle and lift her foot to get a good look at it. It’s only when Persephone scrambles to hold her dress in place that I realize I probably could have gone about this in a different way. Oh well. I carefully touch her sole and show her my finger. “You’re bleeding.” There are several large gashes, but I can’t tell if they’re deep enough to need stitches.
“Then let me go to the hospital and I’ll get it taken care of.”
She’s nothing if not persistent. I tighten my grip on her ankle. She’s still shivering. Damn it, I don’t have time for this argument. “Let’s say I do that.”
“Then do it.”
“Do you think you’ll get ten feet inside a hospital without the staff calling your mother?” I hold her gaze. “Without them calling your…fiancé?”
She flinches. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Like I said—you’re being foolish.” I shake my head. “Now hold still while I check for glass.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth…a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…
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Meet the Author:

Katee Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Entertainment Weekly calls her writing “unspeakably hot.” Her books have sold over a million copies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.
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