The Viper Tour Stop!

 Marcos Rivera is a fighter. A gang member. Someone who has seen the dark side of humankind and survived. He has lost family and gained enemies. He has stolen cars and destroyed hearts, stripping one for money and the other for pleasure. His past is haunted and his future is bleak.

Until her.

Katie Foster is a high school history teacher. Smart, strong, and sexy. She is a woman Marcos shouldn’t want. Shouldn’t touch. Shouldn’t love. He met her in Garnet, a backwards, hick town that’s the last place in the world he wants to be, but he finds himself going back for a taste of the forbidden.

Katie represents all that is good in the world, and Marcos knows he’s nothing but trouble for her perfect life. He fights and he screws. He commits crimes and he breaks the rules. He will never change and he will never escape his gang lifestyle.

Or can he?

What happens when two different people from two very different walks of life risk it all by giving into the passion that threatens to consume both of them? Can a woman who only knows how to play it safe give her heart to a man who lives hard and loves harder?

Will she survive The Viper?

My reaction when I heard Kele Moon was coming out with a new series that is a spin-off of the Battered Hearts series?  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I think perhaps my ovaries exploded.  I was that excited.  I won’t mention what happened the day it showed up on my kindle.  We just got new carpet.

This is the story of Marcos and Katie.  They meet by accident, literally, when Marcos is run off the road by another car and hits Katie on New Year’s Eve.  But it’s not the worst thing that could have happened to either of them, because it set into motion events that ended up enriching both of their lives.  Katie is a High School teacher, and she’s smart and strong, but it took meeting Marcos for her to really understand her inner strength.  Marcos has had a very different life.  A life where he has lost those closest to him to gang violence; gang violence that he felt responsible for.  Very simply, Marcos is a criminal, and feels he is unworthy of what Katie is offering him.  But, the pull is too strong for either to deny, and they agree to be with each other for one week.  One week for them both to live out their fantasies with each other before they go back to the lives they were living before.  But once they both taste something so sweet and so real, can they go on like it never happened?

Oh. Em. Gee.  This book was AWESOME.  It was a lot different than the other Garnet books because it doesn’t really center on the fighting aspect as much as it does the criminal connections of the main characters.  Knowing who else will be featured in the other books in this series and I’m liking this common theme a lot.  The characters are still wonderful and relatable, and their stories feel worth telling, in true Kele Moon style.

I also have to say that Kele manages to write some of the best sex scenes EVER in the history of sex scenes.  She knows how to strike a balance in the story between the sex and the actual story, but the sex always knocks me out.  It’s realistic but still really steamy and hot.  She is the queen of the sex scene, ya’ll!!! My husband thanks you!

I loved Marcos and Katie together, but what I really loved was how their influence in each other’s lives lead to them each changing their lives for the better.  Not so they could be together, but just because they each knew that they had to in order to be the people that they knew they could be (does that make sense?). I thought the series of love letters that Katie wrote to Marcos through Craigslist was absolutely adorable, just like Katie was.  I also loved how Katie was not a pushover.  Kele manages to write female characters that are strong, but still gentle and caring.  Marcos is also such a good guy.  He’s lead a tough life, which really makes you feel for him.  He’s obviously a product of his environment and of poverty, and I think that’s a story that deserves to be put out there.  He’s a great hero for this story.

Overall, I just freakin’ loved this book.  It was so good and such a heartfelt story, which I really wasn’t expecting.  I can’t wait to see where this series takes us.  Bring on the next!  5 stars!

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1.     Where did you get the inspiration for your first book?

Isn’t it strange. . .I can never pin point an inspiration for a book. It’s more like an idea that forms and then blossoms and then there’s countless influences. So many different little elements that come together to create a story in ways I never imagined. . .

Beyond Eden was my first book. . . And honestly, as unexciting as it is, I simply decided I really wanted to write a ménage erotic romance about three life long friends and then the story grew from there. :D

2.    What writer has been your biggest inspiration/influence?

Oh, so many. . . I am a huge fan of Pat Conroy. I love how he writes male friendships and I love including strong male friendships in my stories. . . So most certainly him probably more than most!

3.    What book are your reading right now?

I’m not reading any books right now. Usually, when I’m writing, I don’t read. It’s always one or the other. . . But, I guess if you include the 5000 times I’ve read and re-read what I’ve written for The Slayer (Book 2 in the Untamed Hearts Series) you could count that one :D

4.    Who is your favorite characters from one of your books?

Probably Nova from the Untamed Hearts/Battered Hearts books. . . He gets lots of fan mail. It’s hard not to like Nova. He makes bad look good :D

5.    How does it feel to be such a badass who writes awesome books?

LOL! Um, depends on when you ask me. . . I have days where I say, wow. . . This is really good! I love this! I love this book I’m writing. . .But, most days I’m saying I suck and I should quit being a writer and become a circus performer instead (for the record I’d be a terrible circus performer).

There’s a lot of ups and downs in the publishing industry. .  One day you can feel on top of the world, the next you feel completely worthless. . . It’s certainly not as easy as it seems.

But most of all. . .I’m just very grateful that there are people out there who enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them. It’s a huge gift to be allowed to do this and I am so thankful to the readers who buy my books. Some of whom don’t only buy them, read them and enjoy them (which makes it all worth while) they also take time out of their busy days to review them. . . which of course helps me sell more books and feed my family and all that stuff. . . HUGE BONUS!

At the end of the day I’m just grateful. . . That’s what I am. . . Even on the days when I feel worthless, I’m still grateful I get to do this.

6.    Why are manhole covers round?

Um. . . I have no idea. I’ve never really thought about it. Maybe because it’s easier to dig round holes than square ones. . . You really don’t see too many square holes in ground. . .

A freckle faced, redhead born and raised in Hawaii, Kele Moon has always been a bit of a sore thumb and has come to enjoy the novelty of it. She thrives off pushing the envelope and finding ways to make the impossible work in her story telling. With a mad passion for romance, she adores the art of falling in love. The only rules she believes in is that, in love there are no rules and true love knows no bounds.

So obsessed is she with the beauty of romance and the novelty of creating it she’s lost in her own wonder world most of the time. Thankfully she married her own dark, handsome, brooding hero who had infinite patience for her airy ways and attempts to keep her grounded. When she leaves her keys in the refrigerator or her cell phone in the oven he’s usually there to save her from herself. The two of them now reside in Florida with their three beautiful children who make their lives both fun and challenging in equal parts–They wouldn’t have it any other way.

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