CYBER LAUNCH PARTY: Celebrating MY RUTHLESS PRINCE By New York Times Bestselling Author Gaelen Foley

You are cordially invited 

to the Celebration

CYBER LAUNCH PARTY

For the

Fabulous

Gaelen Foley

 Today is a special day not only for RCJR but it is the cyber launch party for New York Times bestselling author Galen Foley.  Its getting hot in here!!  this is the fourth installment in her phenomenal The Inferno Club series, MY RUTHLESS PRINCE; and it hits your favorite bookshelves today. I am excited beyond belief and flying high over the moon that this wonderful author picked RCJR to spend her magical release day. 


 Wow, let's get this party started.  It is bound to be one rockin' celebration.   Grab your favorite cocktail and one of Ms. Foley’s decadently delicious hors d'ouvres and tuck in.  Oh, psssst,  I heard that some of our favorite Foley fictional heroes might swing by and give us all a breath taking little strip tease… phew…it is getting hot up in here.  Please feel free to swoon, sigh and get lost in these sensual gripping stories as we are treated to more of Ms. Foley’s fascinating men from her The Inferno Club series.  

I am having a brain freeze, so bear with me for a moment. I have so many questions to ask New York Times bestselling author Gaelen Foley and find myself stumped where to start.  I have been told that starting at the beginning is the best place, so readers wish me luck and here I go.

Gaelen, as always I am so psyched that you are here today, sharing with RCJR eZine readers about your latest in the Inferno Club series, MY RUTHLESS PRINCE.  I would love for you to share with RCJR’s reader more about this book.

Christine, I am seriously thrilled and delighted to be here on my official release day for MY RUTHLESS PRINCE. Thanks for inviting me. Your blog is one of my favorite romance places on the web. I am happy to celebrate my cyber-launch party with you all!

What is the first thing that struck you in writing MY RUTHLESS PRINCE?

Well, let’s see. One of the first things was that I have not written as tortured a hero as Drake in a long time. I think he’s right up there with Darius Santiago from PRINCESS. It’s also got a very unusual heroine, Emily, as you mentioned below. Another challenge was a new-to-me and different setting, a castle in the Bavarian Alps.

I have been waiting (Waiting For A Girl Like You by legendary rock band Foreigner playing repeatedly in my head) for Drake, the Earl of Westwood and childhood best friend, Miss Emily Harper’s story from the very first Drake popped up in MY WICKED MARQUESS. I am over the moon that it is finally here.  Did you ever think your readers would be this devoted to Drake when you began to create this character?

I know that I was, and that’s usually a good sign. I definitely did not expect Drake to start stealing every scene he appears in through the series, lol. I’ve always had a soft spot for the really tortured heroes, though, and he certainly fits the bill.

I love the relationship between Drake and Emily. For readers, yet to have read MY RUTHLESS PRINCE would tell us more about their unique relationship?

With these two, it’s like they have their own little world together that’s separate from the rest of the world at large. He is really the only man in the world to her, and for him, she is the embodiment of everything pure and good that he is fighting to protect. As his deadly missions for the Order lead him to into increasingly dark places, he relies on their relationship to keep him tethered to the light. Otherwise, he could be in danger, himself, of going into the darkness and never coming back. She’s the one who keeps him sane—and good. Otherwise, he could easily turn evil.

As the son of an earl and the daughter of a woodsman how did these two end up being friends?  It would seem an unlikely pairing. 

He was an only child growing up on his aristocratic parents’ estate, and she was the tomboy daughter of the gamekeeper. So, at first, their friendship was a matter of it being the only other kid available for them to play with. Soon they were running around the woods on the estate together like wild Indians, challenging each other in little feats of derring-do, just being kids together, before either of them had any ideas about their class or gender differences (or sexuality). It gives their relationship a very pure, innocent quality and makes it a very big thing for them to eventually become lovers during the course of the novel.

I really appreciated learning how Drake and Emily were childhood friends that always looked out for one another.  Emily is spunky-innocence.  Emily is unlike any other heroine of yours that I have read.  Emily will sacrifice anything for Drake.  Follow him to the ends of the earth.  Comfort her ‘dear lunatic’ and put her life on the line to prove the man she has always loved is not a traitor.  I have one simple question.  Where did she come from?  I’m not so sure that I could ever be that sacrificial but Emily is so endearing that her innocent acceptance is a surcharge of MY RUTHLESS PRINCE’s poignant prose.

Thanks, Christine. I agree, Emily is a unique heroine with an almost otherworldly essence. I would describe her a person of few words—deeply feeling, intuitive, instinctive. She’s a doer and a nonconformist who shrugs off convention. She’s an animal person and a healer, too. But all of that is why it never even entered her head to see herself as Drake’s future countess, even though she has a soul-bond with him. I don’t think she’d even know what to say to a Society lady. But then again, she would never be intimidated by the Patroness of Almack’s type grand dames, either.

Without giving too much away, Lord Drake asks Emily the ultimate sacrifice.  Drake is prepared to sacrifice himself and the love of his best friend for the greater good.  Was this scene difficult to write?

No, it really wrote itself, but I tell you what--it gave me chills when I thought of it. I don’t know how to say more without giving away major spoilers, but one day a question popped into my head: What could be worse than seeing the man you love die? Well, there actually is one thing worse, and that’s what Drake asks of Emily.

He’s counting on her, and if she says no to something that no one in their right mind would want to do, she’s going to let him down in the worst way. So she’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. But…these kinds of rock-and-a-hard place situations are what makes for good stories. And thankfully, it’s a romance, so we can all rest assured everything will turn out right in the end. J

In the scene where Emily has promised Drake that when the time comes she will take aim, let her arrow fly and hit the mark was heartbreakingly beautiful.   After realizing what she has just done Emily cannot bear the pain or the loss of Drake.  You had me crying; Gaelen and I thank you for that. 

YAYYYY!!! *grin* Thanks, that’s a huge compliment!!

I am curious to find out if creating and writing this scene where Emily is about to take her life was as difficult to write as it was to read.  I actually had to close the book, set it aside and waited until I stopped crying. 

Oh my gosh, now I feel bad! (sort of, lol).

After wiping the tears from my face with the back of my hand I opened the book and plundered through, emotionally wrecked, but very happy.

I know you have told reader countless times but bear with me.  How many books—total- will there be in the Inferno Club series?

If all goes according to plan, there will be seven books.

I ask because in MY RUTHLESS PRINCE’S epilogue the reader gets a taste of Beau, Lord Beauchamp and the red headed minx that he has lusted after since meeting her in MY WICKED MARQUESS and is the best friend of Daphne, Lady Rotherstone, Miss Carissa Portland.  Is their story up next?  When?  Please give us; your devoted desperate fanatic fans a sneak-peak.

That’s right, Beau and Carissa’s story, MY SCANDALOUS VISCOUNT, will be coming out in Autumn 2012 (maybe October, but they’re still tweaking the schedule so it could change). I’m finishing up the revisions on it now!

Oh, before I let you go I am in awe of your brand spanking redo of your website? I have been re-designing the blogs and creating the new official website for Romantic Crush Junkies Reviews eZine, which goes live on January 1, 2012.  I’m curious to know what changes you made.  What new things will readers find when they stop by?  What is your favorite feature to your beautiful new site?

Actually, my new website is a DIY project that I made on Weebly.com, and if anyone out there needs a website, I totally recommend them. I am not tech savvy at all, so if I can make a nice website on their system, anyone can. It’s very easy to use and there’s nothing to download or anything like that. Plus, you can make your own website for free on there, if you don’t need your own domain name. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but since it was free, I thought I’d just try experimenting with it at first, then I realized I could actually do this! So, I worked on it little by little for several months, and finally, voila, it was ready to go live. It’s not as fancy as the professionally built ones I’ve had in the past, but because I can do all the updates myself, I can keep in better touch with my readers.

Hmm, my favorite feature at the moment is my Xtranormal video, entitled, “And Now, A Word From Her Majesty.” I had a ball making that little 3D cartoon! (Ok, so I’m easily amused.) You can watch my video at www.gaelenfoley.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. I have my first little blog now, and I can run polls. What can I say, LOL, I finally came up with the times!! Thanks, Christine, I’m glad you like it, and I would also compliment you on how beautiful the new RCJR is! It was pretty before, but now I think it looks even more gorgeous. You did a great job, too.

I have started liking doing the website building stuff. Once you figure out how it works, it’s a nice change of pace from creative writing. One of these days, I will have to finish my Regency Glossary. I still have a few letters of the alphabet to finish off. That thing has been a major project!

Gaelen, I could chat with you all day about the ins and outs of writing; the Regency era and what is your favorite thing about writing historical romance; oh, and what do you think about your loyal fans and did you ever think that readers would become so involved in your characters, series and books when you first started out. (I’ll beg.  I have no shame. Feel free to answer any question that strikes your internal fancy.  Seriously, I am down on bended knee with hands in prayer position asking the fates to intervene.) But we would be here all day. As a devoted reader; and having finished MY RUTHLESS PRINCE I am itching for another Gaelen Foley book stat, (it’s for my emotional well being and mental stability =) 

Christine, you crack me up. I feel more lucky than I can say to have readers who join in on my fictional worlds with me. It would be so lonely to have these whole Inferno Club and Knight Family and Ascension worlds written and no one to share it with! I am grateful every day of my life for my readers, and really just delighted that there are people out there who get me—like you!

I will let you get to what you do best, writing emotional gripping stories that grab readers by the heart with delightfully engaging characters that readers hate to see go when they come to the last page.

Many thanks for having me. It’s always a joy to come and visit with you and the readers at RCJR.  

Title: MY RUTHLESS PRINCE
Series: 4th in The Inferno Club series
By Gaelen Foley
Genre: Regency, Historical, Fiction,Romance, Adult
Publisher: Harper Collins
Imprint: Avon Romance
Reviewed by ChristineRCJR
Format: eBook & Print
On Shelves:  December 27, 2011
Pages: 384


Book Heat: HOT
Read an Excerpt
Order: Amazon and B&N 

 The Inferno Club: In public they’re a society notorious for pursuing pleasure. In private, these warriors would risk their lives for king and country.

Their forbidden love can no longer be denied.



His brother warriors fear the Earl of Westwood has turned traitor, but Emily Harper knows this is impossible for the man she has loved since childhood—as impossible as a marriage between them could ever be—she, the gamekeeper’s daughter and he, a bold and adventurous nobleman. 



Driven by hatred and revenge, Westwood is playing a deadly game of deception, bent on destroying the enemy’s dark conspiracy from the inside, and he’s furious when Emily plunges herself into danger for his sake. Forced into close quarters, their long-suppressed desire explodes into all-consuming passion.  



Emily knows her love can save him…but Drake is a man who doesn’t want to be saved.

 ~CONTEST~

RCJR is so excited Gaelen Foley is here on release day to launch her latest Regency historical romance in The Inferno Club series, MY RUTHLESS PRINCE. In celebration Ms. Foley will be giving one lucky reader autographed copies of the first three books in the series: MY WICKED MARQUESS, MY DANGEROUS DUKE and MY IRRESISTIBLE EARL.

One runner-up will receive an autographed MY RUTHLESS PRINCE book cover

Here's how to enter:

* Leave a comment for Gaelen Foley.  

*What do you look for in a Regency Romance?

Favorite Cocktail? Favorite hors d'ouvres 

at a Rockin' party? 

*Connect with RCJR eZine at:

***

Contest is open to ALL readers.

Contest runs until January 1, 2011.

I will contact winners directly on January 2, 2011.