Spoils of Victory
Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Addison Wolf & Raissa Donovan's Spoils of Victory Series!
***Synopsis***
Lucia, daughter of a notorious mafia boss, is on the run from an arranged marriage… only to land in the hands of her father’s enemies. Victor, Angelo, and Saint are dark and dangerous, but they’re Lucia’s best chance of escaping her father’s clutches — as long as Lucia can survive everything they put her through.
The books follow one RH relationship.
I have color-coded both Addison Wolf's and Raissa Donovan's responses to the interview questions.
What is the sub-genre and trope? Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
Dark, mafia reverse harem. We decided on this before the story began, but we’re drawn to dark romance in general!
Are you more character or plot driven?
Definitely more character driven.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind? Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
We have a spreadsheet with all character names, descriptions if we have them, ages, and what their role in the story is.
ADARA: I don’t have a story/vision board. It’s all in a spreadsheet where we have a semi-detailed outline. It has helped a lot in keeping us on track. Although we will re-assess if necessary.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
ADARA: Lucia definitely ended up going places we didn’t quite expect. She grew a lot throughout the series.
No spoilers, but there’s one scene near the end of Breaking Lucia that did not go how we originally envisioned and it changed the direction we decided to take Lucia’s character. I’m really happy we went there though!
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
RAISSA: No, thank f#ck.
ADARA: Nope! I don’t know any people that asshole-ish.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
ADARA: Nope. I generally make characters up wholesale.
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
ADARA: Victor is more mysterious than the other characters, and it was a bit hard to balance his desire to hide his motivations with giving his POV as much content as the others.
RAISSA: Saint got frustrating to write sometimes because of his internalized homophobia. It was like, come onnnn, just get over it! (Swords do cross in our RH books.)
What is your favorite book in the series?
ADARA: Probably Taming Lucia as a whole, although I love the final climax of Loving Lucia.
RAISSA: Loving Lucia (#3). I feel like things finally fell into line on where they were supposed to be. We hit our stride just in time to say goodbye to the characters. Sob.
Good thing we had a follow-up novella, Playing with Lucia, where we got to revisit them — and they’re going to show up in Vanessa’s trilogy!
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
ADARA: Victor. He’s exactly the kind of dominant asshole I love to write.
RAISSA: Ungh. I love them all… but probably Lucia. I really liked seeing such a strong woman put through hell and coming out on the other side…
Well, you’ll have to read and see how she ends up after the men have had their way with her over 3 books!
Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?
RAISSA: NOPE. That’s why it’s Why Choose! (Okay, maybe I’m a little biased toward Lucia and Victor, just because it’s so toxic and fucked up.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
RAISSA: That is… an excellent question. They just sort of fall into place once we get rolling. It takes a little work at the start, which is why we have to spend a lot of time writing and editing the beginnings, but things tend to work themselves out because our characters have solidified by then.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you? Why?
ADARA: The climaxes of all three books are some of my favorites. Sometimes I’ll just do a re-read of the endings.
RAISSA: There’s a scene in Loving Lucia where Lucia and Angelo are very close in a situation they shouldn’t be, and I just love the pull between them. Here’s a snippet I absolutely love.
“You betrayed us.” Angelo rubs his fingers over my lips, leaving behind the coppery taste of blood. “Fucking played me. I want to drag a knife over your skin and make you beg for forgiveness.”
“I didn’t betray you. I freed myself,” I retort.
“Yeah?” Angelo meets my eyes. “How’s that working out for you?”
I swallow hard. I don’t have an answer to that.
“Apologize,” he says again.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, even though I’m really not.
He snorts, clearly not believing me, then grips my chin and kisses me hard. His tongue traces the blood he’d left behind on my lips before demanding I open for him.
I should resist. I just witnessed what Pavone did to liars. I know what he’ll do to me, to my family, if he catches us.
But apparently I really, really like playing with fire.
I grip Angelo’s shirt and groan as I open my mouth further, allowing his tongue to slide inside.
It’s strange, kissing Angelo. I’ve done it before, but normally only when he’s already deep inside me. Saint is the one who likes kissing, who needs all the signs of affection. Victor’s the one who kisses me with fake gentleness. Angelo likes to see me scared and crying, not getting all hot and bothered for him.
When he breaks the kiss, I sigh and try to follow his lips.
“Fuck, I want to, Princess,” Angelo says, “But there’s playing with fire and there’s actively being stupid.”
He’s right. Pavone is waiting for Angelo to join them, and if he isn’t there soon, someone might get sent back to find out why. I nod, but I don’t pull away from him.
He carefully pries my fingers from his shirt and steps back, and I’m overwhelmed by the loss of his body heat against me, the familiarity of his touch.
I step away as well, putting distance between us as I try to catch my breath.
He walks over to the table and picks up one of the red-stained invitations. “I’ll just take one of these. You don’t need it, do you?”
I’m still reeling a bit from his touch. “I guess not. Those are all ruined. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Angelo opens the invite, raising his brows as he reads it. “Are these handwritten? Jesus, are you a masochist?”
“No, Pavone is just a sadist,” I mutter. Bringing him up sours the mood again, and I sigh. “You need to go.”
“Yeah.” Angelo gives the body on the floor a quick kick, then heads toward the hall. He stops at the entranceway. “Seriously though. Be fucking careful, Princess.”
I nod. “You too. I’m not the only one playing with fire, Angelo.”
I turn my back on him, not wanting to watch him go.
Series - Were any of the books harder to write than others?
ADARA: Loving Lucia presented a small difficulty because our characters were no longer in a forced proximity situation, so we had to find ways to keep their relationship progressing despite that. I think it worked out in the end!
RAISSA: Agreed. We didn’t want them to just… not have interaction the entire book, especially since their relationship needed to continue to progress for a believable HEA. But I think we handled it well! (A little biased, obviously, but hey.)
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
ADARA: Each book takes around 3 months to write — that’s the plotting, the actual writing, the editing, the beta-reading, and the final clean-up. So, I guess around 9 months for Spoils of Victory.
RAISSA: I just checked, and we started the file for Breaking Lucia in May 2021 and released Loving Lucia in April 2022. (We usually took a week or so off in between books, and some parts were easier to write than others, and so on.)
How did you come up with the title for your book and series?
Adara: Honestly? Throw ideas out and see what we like.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
ADARA: Absolutely not. I might like Saint and Angelo if we were only talking about movies or video games or something, but I would not want to run into them more than once.
Lucia would probably be all right but we’d have nothing in common and she’d look down on me.
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?
We planned it out as a series.
RAISSA: But then Vanessa demanded her own spinoff, because we had to see more of Giulio and Damien… and then we introduced Slayer… and then it’s a neverending cycle.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series? Can you share a small tease?
ADARA: We’re working on book three of the spin-off series, Breeding Contempt, which stars Lucia’s sister Vanessa!
I’m having so much fun writing these characters. Let’s just say, if you’ve been keeping up… things are going to get a lot crazier before they calm down.
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Addison Wolf & Raissa Donovan!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2023/02/author-at-glance-addison-wolf-raissa.html
Writing Duo - Addison Wolf & Raissa Donovan
Addison Wolf is the pen name of Adara Wolf, for writing dark (MM)M/f romances.
Under either name, she enjoys writing dark situations and characters finding themselves in very dubiously consensual situations. Please check her website for a full list of works and detailed content notes for them.
Raissa Donovan is the pen name for M/M writer R. Phoenix. Raissa has ventured into writing dark (MM+)M/f romances.
As R. Phoenix, she writes anything from pretty pink fluff to dark noncon twincest. She prefers to write dark — the darker, the better — but sometimes her muse takes her to some pretty strange places. Her books are primarily available on Amazon, but the especially taboo works are only at Smashwords.
Connect with Addison & Raissa:
Email:
raissa.phoenix@gmail.com
Website:
adarawolf.com
rphoenixbooks.com
wolfandphoenix.com
Amazon:
Addison Wolf
Adara Wolf
Raissa Donovan
R. Phoenix
Goodreads:
Addison Wolf & Raissa Donovan
Adara Wolf
R. Phoenix
Bookbub:
Addison Wolf
Adara Wolf
Raissa Donovan
R. Phoenix
Facebook:
Addison Wolf
Adara Wolf
Raissa Donovan/R. Phoenix
Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/darkesthearts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/turtletarts
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/rphoenix_raissa/
Joint Newsletter Sign-Up:
https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j3q3l8
We have a "Not!Patreon" or "Patreon Alternative" where we share our current works in progress as well as extras, bonus chapters, deleted scenes, and so on. It’s only $5/month for the Het tier or $9/month for the Combo (Het+MM) tier! For all the things! wolfandphoenix.com.
I refuse to be a disposable pawn in my father's underworld dealings. If that means heading out in the middle of the night to get as far away as I can from my mafia family, so be it. I have everything planned, and it’s all going perfectly… right up until the point where they catch me.
Angelo. Scary, domineering, the bruiser. If he wants me, he’s not going to stop until he gets me — any way he has to.
They promise to protect me as long as I do what I’m told, but just how far will I have to go — and how much of me will splinter in the process?
Note: This work contains extremely dark themes with triggering content. The men are irredeemable, terrible people who do terrible things and do not respect Lucia's boundaries. (As in, boundaries? What are boundaries?) Read at your own discretion. Specific warnings are available at either author's website.
Victor promised me that I'd be one of the team. That I'll stand at his side, helping him mastermind my father's demise. I'll direct Saint to finding our enemies, and I'll tell Angelo when to pull the trigger.
So why does it feel like they're humoring me? Why is every single victory only followed by another humiliation? I need to prove to them that I'm important to their operation. I need to prove that I'm not expendable.
I need them to need me, or else I might end up shattered in pieces so small, there's no way to put me back together.
Note: This work contains extremely dark themes with potentially triggering content. Read at your own discretion. Detailed trigger warnings are available on the authors' websites.
I left Angelo, Saint, and Victor, only to land squarely in the hands of Emilio Pavone, a man who makes the three of them look like playful puppies.
As much as I want to never see them again, I'll need their help if I want to avoid the wedding and free myself and my family. The only problem is I don't know if I can trust them. Angelo still manhandles me, Saint has made it clear he wants me unconscious--and Victor is playing with all of our lives.
The wedding is fast approaching, and I need to make the most important decision of my life:
Pavone and his open cruelty, or the three men who nearly destroyed me.
Note: This work contains extremely dark themes with potentially triggering content. Read at your own discretion. Detailed content notes are available on the authors' websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment