Mick
Wheland, Ivory Tower's bad-boy guitarist, has recently realized two
important things about himself. He prefers sex with men over women, and
the idea of a committed relationship doesn't scare him as much as it
once did. He's seen the positive effects of love from watching his
band-mates find life partners, and now he's thinking he might be ready
for the same himself. The problem is knowing where to look for Mr.
Right, and living out of a suitcase while touring with a band is not
exactly conducive to finding real love.
Sonny (Rooster) Roostarelli leaves the seclusion of his Vancouver cabin, where he went to lick his wounds after a contentious divorce, and moves back to Los Angeles. He claims relocating to L.A. is for business purposes, but now that the dust has settled on his failed marriage, Rooster feels he might finally be ready to settle down – with a man.
A chance encounter for Wheland and Rooster on a busy L.A. street rekindles an old friendship between the two professional musicians. Rooster needs a short-term place to stay and Wheland has plenty of extra space at his hillside estate and that lands Rooster in Wheland's guest room. What starts out as a music collaboration opportunity quickly turns personal when the chemistry they have becomes too strong to ignore and soon the music they're making spills from the studio and into the bedroom.
The road is a grueling bitch musicians love to hate. Being on stage under the hot lights can sometimes be the only place they feel comfortable and alive. Can two high-profile rock stars make a life together in such an artificial world – on and off the stage... or will past mistakes and family secrets keep them from finding their forever?
Sonny (Rooster) Roostarelli leaves the seclusion of his Vancouver cabin, where he went to lick his wounds after a contentious divorce, and moves back to Los Angeles. He claims relocating to L.A. is for business purposes, but now that the dust has settled on his failed marriage, Rooster feels he might finally be ready to settle down – with a man.
A chance encounter for Wheland and Rooster on a busy L.A. street rekindles an old friendship between the two professional musicians. Rooster needs a short-term place to stay and Wheland has plenty of extra space at his hillside estate and that lands Rooster in Wheland's guest room. What starts out as a music collaboration opportunity quickly turns personal when the chemistry they have becomes too strong to ignore and soon the music they're making spills from the studio and into the bedroom.
The road is a grueling bitch musicians love to hate. Being on stage under the hot lights can sometimes be the only place they feel comfortable and alive. Can two high-profile rock stars make a life together in such an artificial world – on and off the stage... or will past mistakes and family secrets keep them from finding their forever?
I love the Rock God series, from book one to book 4, Ann
Lister has opened my heart a bit more each time. The story of Wheland and
Rooster melted my heart and made me believe in finding that one who fills the
void in your life and mends your fragmented heart. We have watched
Wheland as he has been witness to all of his friends find their mate and start
building a life together. I am so happy Ann let him have his time and
even though there was some drama in the process, I feel this was the closest to
a fairy tale feel she had produced to this date.
Rooster came back to the city after taking a break playing
Grizzly Adams in his cabin. Wheland was looking for an escape to forget
the anniversary of a painful memory. He was used to having his friends
around to distract him without him having to talk about it, but not this
year. When Wheland “bumps” into Rooster they recognize each other and go
to catch up over drinks.
When Wheland offers Rooster a place to stay he accepts but
with the terms only for a few days. Instantly they were both fighting
their attraction to each other. Wheland had never felt what a committed
long term relationship was, he was just now realizing that he was more comfortable
being a top. Rooster had come out with his sexual preference after
divorces and worrying about how his mom would take this news. Watching as
they both deal with their insecurities and the obstacles along the way was
refreshing as they build their friendship first.
As with all relationships they had their struggles but it
was intensified by their jobs being in bands. They enjoyed writing music
together, their bands took to the road again and once again they were
apart. Faced with the other band members enjoying their on the road
relationships, Wheland and Rooster were forced to connect with calls and
text.
I won’t go into more of the story for fear of spoiling it
but I want to say at this point, I felt this book was written with different
emotions from the author than the other ones in the series. For me there
was a longing on the characters part to connect to each other. Their
stories came across like a homesick feel, a type of love that can only be
filled by each other, never replaced by other people or their love of
music. I would say that this was a story that truly gave the reader the
visual of two halves of a heart finally finding each other and beginning to
beat again. I could feel the moment they fell in love, the attraction was
intense, and the passion was like a fine chemistry flowing through each of
them. The spark was only ignited by each other. That is rare for a
band book, when the people are tempted and can fall out of love quickly.
Wheland and Rooster were clearly meant to be. The level of emotion was
deep with this one, more so than I feel she displayed in the other Rock
God books.
I can only hope that Ann will take on the characters we have
not yet learned about in her future books. I don’t know when or if I will
ever be ready to let go of the Rock Gods. If you want a true love story
between two men, you have found a winner with this book.
Good continuation of the series 4 rainbows
Wheland is out of sorts with his love life, seeing all of
his band mates pairing off and or getting married. He leaves Alex’s wedding and
wondering when it will be his turn. On an anniversary day Wheland gets into an
accident that happens to be long time friend Rooster. Rooster has been out of
town for the last several years and is now back and looking for a place to
live. Wheland invites him back to his place after several drinks. After a week
or so of circling around they finally figure out that not only both of them
like men, they both are into each other. This starts an affair that lasts until
Wheland has to go on the road again, and Rooster stays behind. Even though they
stay together we get the drama of a strained relationship of two people being
apart. Intermixed is other drama’s going on with band mates and outside
sources.
This is book four in the series, Wheland and Rooster story.
Book starts off by revisiting the past book’s ending. And unlike the others you
really need to read the past books because all the characters play a role in
this one. I didn’t find that necessary with the first three. However, I did
read in order. But felt like I wouldn’t have been lost if I hadn’t. This one
you defiantly need to read the others first. This one is a lot more sexually
edgy, giving us some bondage scenes. And a lot more drama filled, with all the
different storylines going on at once. I actually found that a turn off. Not
that I got lost, but I felt like we lost a connection between the two main MC
Wheland and Rooster. It was almost like we were wrapping up the series in this
book and had to get it all in at once. But one of the dramas clearly is setting
us up for another book, maybe 5?
Who in your personal life was the biggest supporter of your
writing?
That is a difficult question to
answer. The support I've received has
come from some very unlikely sources, but still appreciated nonetheless. I've had a few friends over the years who
have enjoyed my storytelling. They were
the ones who really pushed me in the beginning to get my stories on to
paper. They were either being supportive
by doing that or maybe they were just sick of hearing my stories. LOL.
Either way, I'm happy for the nudge they gave me.
Do you prefer quiet or background noise when writing? If
background noise, what?
I write rock star romance and
need rock music to work. I try to match
the voice inside my head I imagine my main characters to have to the music I'm
listening to. I have a huge catalog of
CD's I can listen to while writing. Some
of my favorites are: Staind, Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, Chris Daughtry, 3
Doors Down, Shinedown, Theory of a Dead Man, Pearl Jam, Buckcherry, Aerosmith,
and so on.
What is one thing you wish your readers could understand
about the writing process?
The writing process itself is
hard for a non-writer to understand, but I do have a couple of points I'd like
to make. Head-space is important. I can't write a story until the characters
voices are clear in my head. Writing
before that happens makes the writing come off as forced and I think the
readers can feel that. The other thing
that is important to me is, my mind can't be clogged with crap unrelated to the
story or it will hinder the creative flow.
It can take months for me to flesh out the characters and plot in my
head long before I start working at my laptop.
Once I'm at my laptop, the story typically comes quickly. If I'm left alone with a good head-space and
not bogged down from outside sources, I can have the first draft to a story
written in a few months time.
If your characters could come to life and be a real human,
which one do you think you would get along with best and which one would drive
you crazy first?
I think I'm a combination of all
my characters. I put a little bit of
myself in each one of them. I have a
sense of humor like Cooper (Make You Mine, Book 3 Rock Gods), but he would
probably drive me nuts after a while because he is so full of energy all the
time and a total goofball. When it comes
to sex, I think I'm probably more like Alex (Take What You Want, Book 2 Rock
Gods). Alex won't settle for less. He wants it all, makes no apologies for his
needs, and he could care less about public opinion.
When did you start writing and what was your inspiration?
I started writing short stories
in high school, but moved away from it when I went to art school. From then on my focus was on art, but I
always loved reading romance novels. In
the 90's I started writing again. My
genre back then was M/M. I wrote a bunch
of erotic M/M short stories and sold them to a variety of men's magazines. The money was incredible at the time. This was before the age of the internet where
this stuff is available for free now. I
did this for a few years, but my daughters were getting older and required more
of my time. I put the writing on the
back-burner and concentrated on them and also my video production company for
nearly 18 years. Then one night I had an
erotic dream involving a very famous musician.
My dreams have always been very vivid, so I took that dream and wrote my
first full-length M/F erotic romance (Sheet Music: A Rock 'n' Roll Love
Story). This rekindled my passion for
writing and by combining my two favorite things in life: music and romance, I
found my own personal nirvana. In 2012
the story line for an M/M romance hit me like a lightning bolt (Fall For Me,
Book 1 Rock Gods). The characters were
so clear to me it felt like I was channeling real people through my words and
the story took very little time for me to write. That book launched The Rock Gods series.
Is there a genre or type of book that you love to read but
could never write and if so why?
Simply put, I write what I love
to read. I am seriously obsessed with a
well written erotic M/M love story. If I
got a great story idea for another M/F story, I'd write it, but for now I am
happy in the M/M genre.
Since you've been writing how much has the genre changed?
Good, bad?
In the last couple of years the
M/M genre has exploded with new authors writing in it. The market for this genre is gaining strength
every week and that is exciting to see!
There are many amazing M/M authors now and a great many are women. That is also exciting. What does sadden me is the negative backlash
the female authors in this genre sometimes take from gay men and that has left
many of us to use our initials for our first names to keep the author's
identity 'gender neutral'. Some feel a
woman can't write a If the story is
well-written, it really shouldn't matter the gender of the author. The other negative I see is the mindset of
some thinking M/F authors are merely switching to the M/M genre as a money
making career move because the M/M market is popular right now, much in the way
vampires were popular a few years back.
Again, I don't think the motivation behind their genre change should matter. I started writing in M/M and have come back
to it after writing five M/F stories.
For me, that doesn't feel like 'switching genres'. It feels like coming home. It's comfortable and familiar. Putting all that aside, the only thing that
should matter is if the story is well-written and enjoyed by the reader.
Seeing more and more authors going the "self-pub' route.
Thoughts?
Oooh, that's a hot topic. For me, the choice was simple. I'm a control freak in the sense that I want
to release the book when I want and have full control over cover content, and I
like keeping all the royalties for myself.
Self-publishing allows for all of that and then some. I still don't see the big plus of signing
with a publishing house. It seems beyond
being able to say you're with a particular publishing house, the rest appears
to be negative. The cut they want does
not justify the work the author is still required to do. If I have to do all that work myself, I might
as well self-publish. I've known many
authors that have been with publishing houses and have left to self-publish
once their contract expires. I also know
other authors that are fighting with publishing houses to get paid for what
they are owed. I'd rather not go through
any of that.
How much thought do you as an author put into your cover,
cover models etc. And has that changed since you started writing. If so, have
you or will you go back and re-do covers you’re no longer pleased with?
As my books have grown in
popularity, so has my production budget.
When I first started, I had friends pose for my book covers. I now hire professional models and pay for
custom shoots. Since the Rock Gods is a
series, I want all the covers to have a certain feel or signature about them
without duplicating the pose. The cover
artist I use (Cover to Cover Designs, http://www.covertocoverdesigns.com/
)has been able to create covers for me that not only capture the feel of the
story, but hold to the concept of keeping the books looking like they are part
of a series.
What is the most intense scene you have ever written? Did you
find it difficult writing that scene?
Death scenes are intense for me
and it has been especially difficult for me recently because of all the death I
have dealt with over the last four years.
However, writing those scenes proved to be a great way to deal with and
process the grief. Death of a loved one
or the death of a relationship translates well emotionally with the
readers. Most readers have had to deal
with death on some level in their lives, so it is easy for a reader to relate
to the emotion of loss. They can feel
the pain in the words and that makes the story very real for them.
If you could write in any genre that you've never tried, what
would it be and why?
I might try writing a F/F romance
one day, but I won't write any story until it is completely fleshed out in my
head and the characters are talking to me.
So far, I have the basic bone structure of that F/F story but the
characters aren't talking to me yet.
When thinking about writing any specific genre, what triggers
your fears and insecurities the most?
As an author, I always worry
about the readers enjoying my stories, but I'm not so fearful of that not to
write the story. I write the story that
is in my head and in my heart and I pour myself into it. All I can do is hope that emotion translates
well with the readers.
When writing, what comes first? The characters or the plot?
Sometimes I start with the
character and sometimes it is the plot – or just a certain aspect of the plot,
that grabs me and I drop the characters in to fit the plot. It depends on what hits me first.
Do you find that you write what you love to read? Or a
different genre?
I have always written what I love
to read; which is erotic romance. I have
written M/F erotic romance and also M/M erotic romance. Love is love.
To me, it doesn't matter the gender of the lovers as long as there is
love.
Do you ever write your own personal fantasies into your
books?
I write from my real life
experiences, as well as personal fantasies.
I have also taken pieces of experiences my friends have had and told me
about and added elements of that into my stories. The object is to blur those lines enough so
the reader can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. What we write has to be believable.
How much if any of your story line comes from real life
people or events
Quite a bit, actually. I recently suffered several great losses in
my life. Dealing with the grief that
comes along with that helped me to write similar scenes in my books. I think most authors draw from their own life
experiences and pour that emotion into their stories. The purpose of the story is to make your
reader feel what you felt when you wrote it.
If an author can accomplish that, they've done their job. Also, having worked in video production for
18 years, I witnessed a lot of behind the scenes stuff in the music industry
and knew others that had experienced these events first-hand. I have used many of those details in my rock
star romance novels, lacing fact along with pure fiction.
How many times do you read what you wrote and think
"where the hell did that come from?!"
All the time!!! I just saw a graphic teaser for my new book
(Looking At Forever, Book 4 Rock Gods) and the graphic had song lyrics on
it. I was reading the lyrics and had
that very thought: who wrote that song?
Yes, that would be me that wrote it.
Sometimes the characters voices are so strong to me that I feel as if it
is them that is writing the words – not me.
Do you have to look at the keys when you type?
I don't need to see the keys to
type. I can actually type faster than I
can speak. It annoys my husband when
he's talking to me and I'm making eye contact with him, but I continue to type
away on my laptop. Then I'll look at
what I typed and say, “Oh, look! No
mistakes!” He's from the one-finger
typing tribe.
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could
chuck wood?
Can there ever be too much
wood? Besides, chucking wood is just
good clean fun.
What are you two favorite 80’s movies?
When were the 80's?
Why are man-hole covers round?
Because you can't fit a square
peg into a round hole.
#1 Fall for Me
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
#2 Take What You Want
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Book 3 - Make You Mine
Amazon Bestselling Author, Ann Lister is a native New Englander currently living on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Her nearly two decades working in video production gave her the behind-the-scenes inspiration for many of her rock star romance novels.
In 2013 Ann released Fall For Me, Book One in a new series, The Rock Gods. Fall For Me was her first full-length gay romance and it was a Finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards. Book Two in the Rock Gods series, Take What You Want, released in Fall of 2013. Book Three in this series, Make You Mine, released in May of 2014.
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