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Why I wrote RAZE and REAP, and a look ahead to RAVAGE – by Tillie Cole

Believe it or not, I actually wrote RAZE after a dream that I had. I was in the process of writing another dark romance, when I had a dream featuring a homeless man that had lost his memory. He was sitting in an alley, in Brooklyn, New York, begging for money so that he could enter a death match competition. He also had a Russian accent.

Now, I don’t normally dream of such dark things—I promise!—so this dream wouldn’t leave my mind. I thought about it constantly. As I took a walk one morning, I began replaying the dream in my head. An hour later I had a storyline for RAZE, and three weeks later, I had completed the first draft. I had never written a book so fast before. I literally sat down for about eighteen hours a day, everyday, until it was done. To this day I haven’t had a writing experience like that. It makes this series that much more special to me.

A few weeks later, I published RAZE via Amazon, and within a week, it had made the USA Today bestsellers list. My readers seemed to love the dark, almost dystopian, underworld that I had created, and wanted more. I knew that Talia, Luka’s sister, was a stand out character, and I had a loose idea of where her story would go if I was to ever write it. At that time I wasn’t sure if I would, but when I secured a publishing deal for four books—what became The Scarred Souls Series—I knew that story would be written, and I couldn’t wait to begin.

REAP was slightly different in tone to RAZE, and I loved that. I wanted it to be different. I have always adored the forbidden love, Romeo and Juliet-type theme, so I knew I wanted to do my very own Montague and Capulet type story—only with the Russian and Georgian mafiya. With tensions high and family honor and revenge in the story, I knew it would make for a thrilling read.

In the end, I loved the contrast of RAZE and REAP. RAZE is very rough and raw, romantic yet violent at the same time. REAP is more about unlocking the past through a forbidden love, learning to forgive, but most importantly, leaving the demons of the past behind and focusing on a new beginning. At least as much as one can after a plot twist rears its head.

I feel these two novels compliment each other greatly. As will the next two installments.

RAVAGE and RIOT, books three and four, are the final two books in the Scarred Souls series. All I can say is that with each of these next two books, the underground world that shapes the Scarred Souls series, gets bigger and bigger, stretches farther and wider, and we begin to uncover the deep layers that make up this secret, yet volatile, world.

Hold onto your seats, guys, that’s all I’m saying!

Three things you need to know about RAVAGE—a tease

  • RAVAGE is by far the most brutal and dark of the Scarred Souls series so far. It features a Jekyll and Hyde theme, and it’s a hell of a dark and twisted ride, that’s for sure! The journey of our two romantic leads is not for the faint-hearted. Limits will be tested, hearts will be pushed to their breaking point. The bridge between good and evil will be blurred.
  • The male protagonist in RAVAGE is most certainly the epitome of an anti-hero. He is a trained torturer for the Georgian mafiya and is set on destroying one of our main characters, whatever the cost. As the novel progresses, we see many elements of this multi-layered man. We find there’s more than meets the eye. We find that he too may be broken, and in desperate need of help and understanding. And total disclosure time, he’s my favorite of all the men in this series. I’m a sucker for the messed up tortured souls!
  • The female lead in RAVAGE is one of my favorites too (if you’ve read REAP, you might have an idea who she is!). Her strength and family honor is put to the test in RAVAGE, and she faces one of the most horrific situations possible. But what I love most about this character is how she endures pain and heartache with such dignity and poise. She has one goal in her life, one she’s been waiting to fulfil since she was a child, and she never gives up. She never lets go of her dream. Her capacity to forgive and love with an open heart will astound you. She is truly someone to look up to. And she may just have the kind of heart that can see past the monster that tries to hurt her, and find the true man underneath.

That’s all I’m saying for now. I can’t wait for you to read it!

____

Order Scarred Souls paperback here: https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780349411491

Pre-order Ravage:

Amazon: http://goo.gl/vILohl

Apple: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9780349411088

Kobo: http://kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780349411088

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9780349411088&c=books