Review: Tragic by J.A. Huss + Giveaway & Author Interview

Welcome to my stop on the Tragic tour!  Click HERE to see the tour schedule and see what other bloggers thought of this title!

Tour Hosted by: Xpresso Book Tours

Tragic by J.A. Huss

Publication date:  May 20th 2013 

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Book Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Book Description:

Rook Walsh is TRAGIC

Because life so far – just sucks.  Some girls get parents.  Rook got the foster care system.  Some girls get Prince Charming.  Rook got an abusive frog.  Some girls get lucky…

Rook got a second chance.

And she took it.  Because when fate throws you a bone – you grab it with both hands and run.

Antoine Chaput knows the minute he spies Rook in his photography studio that she’s got The Look.  The dark and desperate look he must have to land the exclusive TRAGIC media contract.

Rook is paired up with top model, Ronin, and he’s everything her abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Patient, gentle, happy, attentive, and sexy!  He knows exactly what to do to make Rook blush for Antoine’s portfolio. 

Rook’s luck changes in an instant and suddenly she’s the darling of the modeling world.  It’s a dream job to go with a dream guy and all she has to do is look pretty and follow directions. But there’s always a price to pay – and Rook is about to get the bill.

TRAGIC is a new adult contemporary romance.

My Review:

I love this cover. I think it’s really cool with the glittery lips. I mean the author made it herself! That is some skill! The only thing is though…Tragic is a contemporary romance novel. The cover looks more fitting for a fantasy novel than a romance! But nevertheless, good cover. Just doesn’t fit the book that well.

Rook, a nineteen year old girl, lives in a homeless shelter. She frequently has things stolen from her and has to work for a shower. One day she decides to spend her last $10 on a Starbucks. (I think it was a Starbucks. At least, some pretty darn good coffee!) Fate strikes and Rook finds an invitation to a model agency and goes along to try her luck at modelling!

It’s at this photo-shoot that she meets Ronin. There is a connection between them but Rook doesn’t really want a relationship seeing as she just got out of an abusive one.

Ronin is a complete alpha male…which –I won’t lie – I kinda liked. He did sometimes order Rook around but ultimately, he was looking out for her.

Some of the love scenes in Tragic were…shall we say…steamy? VERY STEAMY INDEED! There was so much chemistry between Rook and Ronin it was bound to happen at some point!

Rook was a very sweet girl that had been sucked into some bad times, but wanted to get away from her old life whatever it took. (As you will read about when you read the book!)

Overall, the connection between Rook and Ronin was very strong and if they have any other books out I would gladly pick them up! Oh and I loved the acknowledgments at the end!

Giveaway:

Prizes listed on the Rafflecopter – All open internationally

Includes Custom Blue Beaded Cherry Necklace

a Rafflecoptor Giveaway

My interview with J. A 🙂

What inspired Tragic?

TRAGIC was a fluke.  I was looking at stock art, trying to find a smexy picture of lovers to use as a cover for another book, and I started wondering if the passion in some of these images was real or whether or not they were faking it.  I thought I could tell the difference, you know? Like the passionate ones weren’t faking it, but really feeling it and that’s what made those pictures stand out from the others.  So I decided to write a story based off that premise.

 

Have you always enjoyed writing?

Yes, writing is easy for me.  I went to school to be a scientist because that was hard, but there were lots of times when I asked myself why I didn’t just major in English and be done with it.  I’m glad I stuck it out in science.

 

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what?

Yes, I can’t write without the earbuds.  My playlist right now has a lot of Pink, Mayday Parade, Paramore, Plumb, Brand New, Go Radio, and Imagine Dragons.

 

What kind of books do you like to read? Has this affected the type of books you like to write?

I like to read science fiction the most, but I’m also super picky about which ones I will bother finishing.  I like the SF to be dark and violent and the characters complex, so that takes effort to read and I don’t hand that effort out easily.  I also like NA contemporary romances because they are the exact opposite – easy and fun. 

 I write books I want to read, so my SF is dark, violent, and complicated and my NACR’s are easy and fun. 🙂

 

If Tragic was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?

I’d cast Megan Fox as Rook and Liam Hemsworth as Ronin.

 

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors out there?

Write a lot of books, write what you like to read, don’t take bad reviews personal, and team up with other authors and work together for promotion and support.

If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Richard K. Morgan, because he wrote my favorite book and I think we’d have very little in common outside that book.  We’d probably spend the entire day arguing.  Sounds like fun.

Would you like to say anything to your readers?

Thank you!  I hope you enjoy the characters and their stories.

And lastly, do you have any other exciting projects coming up?

Yes, LOSING FRANCESCA, a mature young/new adult contemporary romance will be released on July 1, 2013.

 Rook and Ronin, #2 (MANIC) will be released on August 1, 2013.

 The final I Am Just Junco book (RETURN) will be released on December 2, 2013.

 I’ll probably have the final Rook and Ronin book out by December 15^th.

 In 2014 I’m releasing another dark SF trilogy, but as a YA/NA crossover and another NA contemporary romance trilogy.

 

Thank you for having me on your blog today and I hope you enjoyed the book!  🙂

About Author:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.