Hey there, Dixie Darlings!

So, Zane’s book, In the Black, will be out May 21st. I hope you enjoy it. Like all of the books in this series, this one was personal.  Ready? We’re about to get deep again.

So, domestic violence is a hot button issue with me. This book has abuse overtones, but we don’t spend much time with Ellie and her bastard of a boyfriend. Mostly, because it rattles my nerves. My grandmother, the one who came from Tennessee had a hard life. She grew up poor, lost her dad when she was a young teenager, had to leave school to take care of her siblings, and then ended up in an abusive relationship with my grandfather.

My grandfather was a real piece of work.

He was both physically and mentally abusive to my mom and my aunt, as well as my grandmother. And yet, he was kind to me. Loving even. I grew up hearing horror stories of the things he did.  One night, my grandfather beat my aunt so bad she had to go to the hospital. And then he came after my grandmother, but my mother stopped him by threatening him with a knife. It was an ugly, horrific episode that my mom still has nightmares about.

Their marriage effectively ended that night. Although, the legal proceedings took time.

As an aside, my mom is a badass. Some people get afraid when they’re pushed. She gets angry. And then she gets even. I love her to pieces.

After my grandmother left, things weren’t easy. She didn’t have a high school diploma and she’d never worked outside of the home, but she escaped. I’ll never understand why my mom continued to have a relationship with him, or why she fostered a bond between my granddad and me.

I both love and hate him, which is confusing to say the least. He took me to my grandmother’s wake. Everyone else had gone ahead. I was in kindergarten and didn’t really grasp what was going on. By the time we got there, people had expressed their grief and I was coming unglued. It’s the first death I experienced and I was really close to my grandma. I just didn’t understand. And my grandpa explained it to me. He let me cry and told me he missed her, too. If it weren’t for him, I never would’ve gotten through that day.

See? That’s confusing as hell, isn’t it? I’m convinced most people are a mixture of both good and bad.

Anyway, I infused some of this tension into In the Black. Zane reminds me of my mother in many ways. Like her, he has a deep well of rage for the injustices he suffered as a child, and hasn’t quite come to terms with it.

Next month, Black as Night will be coming out. I hope you’re ready for Nox’s book. He’s one of my favorite characters in this series.  This one will have angst but it should be sexy, too.

And I already have 3 scenes written, because he basically wouldn’t shut up while I was trying to write Zane’s book. I’m not complaining. That’s a good problem to have.

Until next month…

The post May’s Post appeared first on Cynthia Rayne.