He Became My Muse
Her Lover’s Face follows the widow of an abusive man who starts putting her life back together only to discover her new boss looks like her late husband. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
“I used to work the night shift and it was often very quiet, so I started reading romance novels to help quell the boredom when I was in my mid twenties. After reading one, I was like, “hey, I can do that.” Writing was always a passion of mine, but I hadn’t yet written a full-fledged novel.
It wasn’t long after that, that an idea hit me full force. What if a woman’s abusive husband died, and she ran into a man who looked exactly like him? What would she do and how would she respond? The inspiration for the idea came from my high school days where I dated someone who was a twin. He became my muse as I wrote the story.”
Laryssa and Alex both have a lot of baggage to work through in this novel. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
“For Alex, he’s a gentle honorable man. Honor drives him to do what’s right even if that puts him in harm’s way. Honor and need were what drove him to provide for Laryssa, even if that meant stepping into a hospital for the first time since he lost someone special in the past. He’s a gentle soul, even though much of his soul is tormented, and he responds to his pain in ways that could be mistaken for callousness.
Laryssa spent so many years suppressed by a cruel man and vows to never be treated that way again. So she’s learning how to make her own choices again, but ends up having to do that around a man who looks like her abusive husband. This causes her to find strength and power in her convictions to never ever be treated like she was before. But like every mother out there, sometimes you don’t learn how to grow for yourself in your mindset, until you have someone you’d give your whole life for. In an attempt to give her kids a good life, it forces her to grow in her own self-worth.”
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
“The biggest theme that I based my novel around was to never let pain define you, your life, or your decisions. That pain doesn’t have to control you and you can rise above it. People have a tendency to close themselves off to things that can make them happy when they don’t think they can handle any more pain if things don’t work out.
Some people throw themselves into their work, becoming work-a-holics, to avoid the pain of their past and never truly facing what they went through…never growing as a person, choosing rather to avoid life. So this was the concept that I decided to explore because life is wrought with pain, but it can also be full of beauty if we know how to look for it and be willing to step outside the cocoon that we sometimes build around us.”
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
“I’m currently working on a psychological thriller romance duology which follows a young woman as she experiences just how horrible the world can be at the age of 19th when she gets pulled into a nasty game in the middle of the woods. The working blurb for book one is as follows:
“In the middle of a forest, in an unknown location, is a game. A psychological game designed to play with the mind until it breaks.
The man responsible wants fresh meat. Someone who hasn’t experienced the horrors of the real world. He wants to see how long it would take to make them fall apart, to make them wish for death.
Combing the city of Surrey, he spots his next target…a young librarian named Jenna McCay.”
The cover has been created and the story is going through its last round of editing, so I’m aiming to have the first story out June 1st. Book One is called “Her Prison, His Game,” and Book two is called, “Beneath His Hands.”
I do have a number of irons in the fire, including book two of “Her Lover’s Face,” which is currently with my publisher and will hopefully be released in the near future as well. It’s called “His Sweet Addiction,” which follows the lovely Joanne from the first book.”
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Alexander Richards doesn’t expect to catch an unconscious woman in his arms on his first day of work, nor does he envision himself willingly setting foot in a hospital again, reliving his painful loss. But that’s exactly what he chooses to do when Laryssa needs his help. Why?
She has a story to tell. He has a mystery to solve. In the midst of danger, passion sizzles between them, taking them by surprise. What will happen when all is brought to light? Will they be able to overcome their traumatic pasts and find love in each other, or will their ghosts have the final say?
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/03/18/he-became-my-muse/
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