My guest “muser” this week is a fellow Liquid Silver Books’ author, Rosanna Leo.

A Love Letter to Kathy Love

I would like to thank Monette Michaels for allowing me to visit with her today to express my appreciation for the work of Kathy Love. Specifically, Ms. Love’s paranormal romance Truth or Demon.

I love this novel, and my love stems right from her very first words of the work –“Killian knew his screams.”

Was there ever a more evocative beginning to a novel? Even with the first few syllables, Kathy Love manages to hook the reader and draw her in. Now, if you hadn’t bothered to read the blurb on this insanely gorgeous book, you would begin to wonder. Whose screams? Why are these people screaming anyway? And why does this Killian seem to have a vivid understanding of what makes an effective scream?

The fact is Killian is a demon from the First Circle of Hell. Right away, the reader begins to envision fire and brimstone. One might even wonder if Killian is the bad guy in the piece. Read on, and discover that Killian has been summoned from Hell by a delirious trio of silly teenaged girls…thus the screams. You see, they’ve summoned him using an old spell, never dreaming it would work. And in doing so, the three girls have compelled him to do their bidding. As it happens, their goal is peculiar. One of them has an older sister named Poppy, and they feel Poppy needs a boyfriend. It is now the job of Killian, the fierce demon from the underworld, to find Poppy that boyfriend.

This is the simple and delightful premise of Truth or Demon. Kathy Love is an expert at comedic romance with a sexy flair. I love her juxtaposition of the sinister and the slapstick. In my opinion, this work is a comedic tour de force. I love how she thrusts her poor hero, who is doing his best to appear intimidating, into a world that throws him for a loop.

Think dark Alpha hero meets Lucille Ball.

The tension between Killian and Poppy begins on page one. As soon as the protective older sister discovers this strange man with the three younger girls, she brains him with a candlestick holder. Killian is forced to think on his feet, with little warning and little explanation on how he arrived on the scene. One of the girls calls him Killian O’Brien, her Swedish cousin, leading Poppy to wonder about the handsome stranger. Swedish?

Despite her reservations, Poppy agrees to show Killian around town. Using a very simple technique, Ms. Love forces her hero and heroine to spend time together and learn about each other. The laughs ensue on almost every page. There are references to Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA fame (a woman with the same name apparently left Killian at the altar, only to run off with the minister, according to the girls). And every time Killian tries to sympathize with the orphaned Poppy about her plight, he manages to say the wrong things, leading the girls to call him “a tool.”

Comedic genius.

However, I don’t just admire Ms. Love’s work because of the humorous elements. This book is dead sexy, too! I’ve read a lot of romance novels, but there is one scene that has remained with me for a couple of years now, haunting me with its stunning, sexual imagery. Poppy and Killian have gone to an art exhibit together. They’ve kissed a couple of times, and their attraction to each other is growing hard to fight. Feeling impulsive, Killian pulls Poppy by the hand and leads her to the roof of the building. There, with no one watching, he kneels before her and runs his hands up her legs, under her skirt and teases her panties down.

“Pull up your skirt for me, baby,” he said, his voice low, raspy with need.

Right there, Killian takes her in his mouth in a scene that still leaves me panting.

“She strained against his mouth, her body begging for release. But he didn’t give that to her. Not right away. He wanted to relish this. To taste her, to feel every quiver and shake of her body. To memorize her texture and heat against his tongue.”

Whew, is it getting hot in here?

Throw in ex-boyfriends and a more sinister demon, and you have a plot made in Heaven. Before long, Killian and Poppy know they are meant for one another. But how will they end? They are different types of people from highly different worlds. One of them is a sweet, awkward young mortal woman, and the other has Satan for a boss.

I won’t spoil the ending for you here. You’ll just have to read it for yourself. Rest assured, this is a story that will remain with you, as it has with me. I congratulate Kathy Love on her excellent novel and look forward to many, many more from this author.

Bio:

Rosanna Leo is a multi-published author with Liquid Silver Books. Her favorite things are her family, dusty libraries and Nutella. She loves it when the geeky girl gets the hot guy and has made it her mission to see this happen in as many of her books as possible. Rosanna is the author of For the Love of a God, Up In Flames, Sweet Hell, The Selkie and the upcoming Sunburn.