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Writer's pictureAbbie Smith
Jun 2, 20214 min read

Guns & Smoke Blog Tour: Viviana MacKade (Interview)

Please be sure to check out the original post here!

I discovered this genre with Kat Ross, and I look forward to keeping reading in the genre with this book.

Guns & Smoke (The Fool’s Adventure Series Book 1) by by Lauren Sevier and A. Smith will release on July 1 in the Dystopian/Western Romance genre.https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?preview=inline&linkCode=kpd&ref_=k4w_oembed_JO4coRlxtDjdy8&asin=B08RW6JNGG&tag=kpembed-20

In a world where safety is a luxury and honor is found only among outlaws, two people attempt to outrun danger lurking around each corner and the tragedies that define them.

Bonnie is an outlaw on the run. Beautiful but dangerous; her dark past stalks her like the crater beasts that roam the desert. As the notoriously cruel outlaw Jones sends his henchmen to track her down and retrieve the gun she stole from him, Bonnie hopes she can stay one step ahead. Because if he catches her, a fate worse than death awaits.

Jesse always dreamed of leaving the farm to explore the ruins of the big cities. He just never imagined he’d be forced to flee after strange men burned down his rural mountain town and murdered everyone he loved. Responsible for his kid brother and searching for an uncle he’s never met before, he isn’t sure he can navigate the perils of life among con artists and thieves long enough to find him.

Their two paths collide as they find themselves thrown together on the adventure of a lifetime. Together, they may just discover that life is about more than just surviving.

“I didn’t mean what I said earlier, about turning you over to Sixgun. I was just…” He struggled for the words.

“Hurt?” I offered, and he nodded. “I know. I have a talent for pushing people away.”

“I still shouldn’t have said it,” he muttered near my ear, his arm tightening around my shoulders to hold me closer.

“Do you really think I’m stupid?” I asked.

“No, I think you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met,” he said, with all the conviction with which he said everything else. I smiled against his shirt. “Did you really climb into my bed because you thought I was upset about the train?”

“No,” I croaked, hiding my face as best I could. “I don’t have nightmares when you hold me.”

“I don’t have nightmares when I hold you either,” he admitted.

So I let him. I let him hold me all night. We didn’t speak, we just leaned against each other until the sky began to lighten and the shadows of our pasts seemed to fade into the distance.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lauren Sevier & A. Smith are long time friends and co-authors from southern Louisiana. Guns & Smoke, their first joint publication, began as a “short” story after having too much wine on girl’s night. Nine years later it is now the first novel in a Dystopian/Western Romance series. The duo has plans to publish several series together in the future. A. Smith spends her time with her two rescue dogs and rescue cat surrounding herself with books and Labyrinth paraphernalia. Lauren Sevier collects antique tea cups and tries to stay sane, though as the mother of a toddler she fails brilliantly most days. She also has a growing collection of crowns and tiaras and likes to act silly on TikTok. Look for more thrilling novels from The Fools Adventure series in the future!

What is the inspiration behind the characters?

As co-authors, we have specific characters that we each write. Lauren: Bonnie is such an absolute joy to write. She’s wholly the product of her environment and through the years the more I discovered of her, the more we discovered about the world at large. As for inspiration, I think she comes from a place rooted in my experience as a woman. The frustration of feeling like I have to soften my words so that people will hear them. The irrational anger that I have for being constantly dismissed in professional settings. The way I feel as if I constantly need to prove myself simply because I occupy spaces in leadership roles being a woman. Bonnie doesn’t soften any of her unlikeable edges. She doesn’t flinch away from the hard topics. She takes what she wants and she doesn’t ask for permission. This makes her flawed in different ways than I am, which is always something interesting to write. But it’s also what I love the most about her character. That it’s her unflinching honesty and strength that makes Jesse fall in love with her. I love perpetuating the theme of strong, independent, sexually empowered women who don’t have to compromise who they are to find someone who will love them and not try to change them. Abbie: For Jesse, inspiration really comes from what I’d like to see in a male character. One of my concerns when it comes to the romance genre is problematic men. I get that dangerous men are sexy and interesting, but there’s also something really great about a strong, male character who isn’t afraid to show his feelings, who loves fiercely, and who believes in the ties that bind us–whether they’re familial or chosen bonds. When we started developing the world, I really liked Jesse’s perspective. Because he grew up in a pretty isolated place, he could see the post-Culling world through fresh eyes. This is a good way to help readers get acclimated to the world as well. Jesse is as much a part of me as I am. I first started developing him back in 2012, and he’s only grown more into the man I always hoped he would become. Jesse only continues to grow as time goes on, and he becomes the man that he needs to be by the end of Guns & Smoke.

Lauren Sevier:

Smith:

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