Bad Dogs and Drag Queens (Rose and Thorne #1) by Julie Lynn Hayes

Bad Dogs and Drag Queens (Rose and Thorne #1) by Julie Lynn Hayes
Release Date: May 25, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

Today Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is very lucky to be interviewing Julie Lynn Hayes, author of Bad Dogs and Drag Queens. Hi Julie, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Do you have pictures that you use for your characters? Can you share them with us?

I do have a picture I used for Vinnie. I’d be happy to share it, this is one great looking guy.

What kind of book would you like to write that people would see as a huge departure for you?

I tend to be all over the place, so I’m not sure what would be a huge departure. Maybe something to do with sports? Which I don’t see happening. Lol Or a political book, since my knowledge of politics is really sparse. Just ask my daughter, Sarah. She can tell some real embarrassing stories about that lol

Have you ever killed a character? Was it traumatic for you? If you haven’t killed one, would you ever consider it?

Yes, more than once. Some were more traumatic than others. The most traumatic was in When Will I See You Again. That one was very upsetting to me, but also necessary.

Favorite location you’ve ever written about?

I have a story set in New Orleans. Although I’ve never been, I just love the city, and would love to go someday.

What’s your favorite season and favorite activity for that season?

Any season that’s warm, doesn’t involve snow, and lets me write as much as I like. My work in progress is the third book in my series, so same characters lol

Thanks for having me here today!

Blurb

Vinnie Delarosa and Ethan Thorne are partners—on and off the clock. Federal undercover detectives, they’re part of a covert task force designed to promote goodwill between the feds and local authorities. They lend an unobtrusive helping hand wherever it’s needed. No credit required.

Vinnie and Ethan work primarily in the Southeast region of the United States and live together in Richmond, Virginia. A mugger problem brings them to Roanoke, where Vinnie is thrown out as bait to catch the man who’s been snatching purses in a city park, but they end up with more than they bargained for. Why is Vinnie always the one who has to wear the dress? Ethan says it’s because Vinnie looks much prettier in a skirt. How can he argue with that?

Expecting to return to Richmond afterward, Vinnie and Ethan find themselves assigned a new case instead. They are to go undercover at The Stroll, one of the biggest gay nightclubs in Roanoke. Someone is terrorizing both the customers and the performers. Could they be dealing with a hate crime? Someone has to protect the drag queens of Roanoke, so it’s Vinnie and Ethan to the rescue!

The author is donating 10% of the royalties from this book to No Kid Hungry. Visit nokidhungry.org for more information about this organization.

Pages or Words: 50,000 words
Categories: Crime Fiction, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Humor, Romance

Excerpt

“Remind me again whose stupid idea this lipstick was,” I huffed under my breath. Without thinking, I licked my lips. They felt greasy, and tasted even worse. I forced myself not to grimace, afraid it might crack the foundation I’d slathered on my face.

“Mine, you sexy beast,” came the smart-ass reply in my ear. “I think you got purty lips, mmhmmm.”

“Fuck you,” I growled. “You should be doing this, not me, and you know it. I did it last time.”

And the time before that. And the time before that. Wait, did I detect a pattern here?

“What I know is you look better in a skirt than I do. And you look damn good out of it too.”

My cheeks filled with heat at Ethan’s words. Luckily the darkness hid a multitude of sins, my embarrassment being the least of them. Hopefully, no one else was listening—I knew I’d never hear the end of it. Just what I needed—to be the object of ridicule of the Roanoke PD.

Buy the book: Dreamspinner Press | ARe

Meet the Author

Julie Lynn Hayes first began publishing short stories and poetry in the 1990’s, when it was a different ballgame altogether, and Ebooks hadn’t been dreamed of yet. That changed in 2010 with the acceptance of her first romance novel. She’s come a long way since that first book appeared, and is finding the journey a very educational one.

She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and her cat Ramesses. She often writes of two men finding true love and happiness in one another’s arms, and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She likes to write in different genres, to stretch herself in order to see what is possible. Her great challenge is to be told something can’t be done—she feels compelled to do it.

When she isn’t writing, she enjoys crafts, such as crocheting and cross stitch, needlepoint and knitting, and she loves to cook, spending time watching the Food Network. Her favorite chef is Geoffrey Zakarian. Her family thinks she’s a bit off, but she doesn’t mind. Marching to the beat of one’s own drummer is a good thing, after all. Her published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, eXtasy Books, and Wayward Ink Press.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julie.l.hayes.7
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authorjulielhayes
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ShelleyRunyon
Blog: http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com

Tour Dates & Stops:

23-May: Open Skye Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, Multitasking Mommas

24-May: Velvet Panic, Nephy Hart, Louise Lyons

25-May: Happily Ever Chapter, Books A to Z, The Novel Approach

26-May: Parker Williams, Man2ManTastic, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

27-May: Divine Magazine, A.M. Leibowitz

30-May: Jessie G. Books, Inked Rainbow Reads, Wake Up Your Wild Side

31-May: Outrageous Heroes, Bayou Book Junkie

1-Jun: Hearts on Fire, Nautical Star Books, Prism Book Alliance

2-Jun: Rednecks and Romance, MM Book Escape

3-Jun: Emotion In Motion, Bonkers About Books

6-Jun: Anna Butler Fiction

7-Jun: MM Good Book Reviews

8-Jun: The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat

9-Jun: Unquietly Me

10-Jun: BFD Book Blog

13-Jun: Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

14-Jun: Molly Lolly

15-Jun: Love Bytes

16-Jun: Havan Fellows

17-Jun: Alpha Book Club, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

Giveaway

Enter to win a gift card, courtesy of Julie Lynn Hayes. Must be 18 years of age or older.

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Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Detectives Vincent Delarosa and Ethan Thorne are federal undercover cops designed to give local cops the extra push without actual FBI involvement.

Vinnie and Ethan are partners in every sense of the word and they find themselves in Roanoke to deal with a pesky mugger situation, only to have their stay extended. As Vinnie and Ethan go undercover in a bar they need to find out who is harming the customers and the drag queens of The Stroll, one of the biggest gay nightclubs in Roanoke.

This book is an established couple romance when it is not trying to be a mystery and vice versa.

The MCs Ethan and Vinnie have been together for five years. There are some unresolved issues in their relationship but the author chooses not to explore those in this book. At the same time the author also doesn’t give us any details on how they met except the fact that it was during a drag show and Vinnie was the drag queen. This approach left the book hanging a little on one hand I love an established couple romance where the couple resolve their issues and come out on the other side victorious and in love but this book doesn’t give us that.

On the other hand this book could have been about a crime fighting duo but both the crimes in Roanoke don’t seem to add anything to the overall story which still seems to revolve around how much Vinnie and Ethan love each other. Also both the crimes are quite petty in nature, definitely not at the level of a murder mystery and get resolved very quickly.

I guess the problem that this book faces is one of labels it’s not a mystery and it is not an established couple romance either. It is kind of doing a tight walk rope between these two genres. It is definitely a cute romance but almost nothing more.

The book’s title does say Bad Dogs and Drag Queens and we do get one bad dog and lots of Drag Queens. The dog in question, Benny, has a pesky problem which just makes him more adorable. It would have been nice to see Vinnie and Ethan training him to not go around running away with ladies’ handbags.

This book is a fun read with lots of love and it is interesting but it is just a story. I never got the feeling that we were delving deep into these characters or that these missions were actually important. This story was just skimming the surface, it doesn’t offer much conflict and also doesn’t give us any details on the love story between our two MCs or on their appearances for that matter. In my opinion this book would have been better if the focus was on one aspect of this book instead of trying to drag both along and doing justice to neither.

But despite everything I didn’t find the book awful, personally because of the lovely moments shared between Ethan and Vinnie. These two characters are very much in love and there love is really sweet.

Cover Art by Paul Richmond. I don’t like the colour combination of blue with yellow but the cover works for the title of the book “Bad Dogs and Drag Queens”.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 138 pages
Expected publication: May 25th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634772846
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesRose and Thorne #1

Tag: Bad Dogs and Drag Queens (Rose and Thorne #1) by Julie Lynn Hayes

Jump into the Romance and Fun with Julie Lynn Hayes ‘Bad Dogs and Drag Queens’ (interview, excerpt, and giveaway)