Author Spotlight!! Annabel Joseph!!

Release Day interview—TORMENT ME by Annabel Joseph

It’s been a while since Annabel has given us something dark and edgy! Torment Me comes with the tagline NOT A NICE GUY. Hmm…interesting. Annabel’s agreed to visit and answer a few questions about her new release.

Sunshine Reads: So, why is your hero “not a nice guy?”

Annabel: Earlier in my career, I wrote some “mean Doms” like Matthew in Mercy and Jeremy in Comfort Object, and I found a lot of readers who enjoy that kind of Dom, otherwise known as an “alphahole.” They’ve been asking me forever to write another hardass Dom, so I finally did it, even though it’s kind of challenging.

Sunshine Reads: Why is it challenging?

Annabel: It’s just kind of tricky to get the balance right. The hero in this book (only known as “W”) has to be hardcore enough to turn readers on, but not so hardcore that readers can’t love him. I want readers to love him! I love him, even if he makes me nervous and angsty sometimes. This is not a book for pearl-clutchers. There’s rough sex, breath play, face slapping, and other really intense kinks, which is why the series is called Rough Love.

Sunshine Reads: Torment Me is “Part One” in the series. Is it a cliffhanger?

Annabel: Not a cliffhanger in the sense that it stops in the middle of the action. Their story builds in stages over time, so I split it into parts. Taunt Me is Part Two and it’s coming out next month, and the final book will be called Trust Me. This is one of those
couples that just needs more than one book to figure their shit out!

Sunshine Reads: We’ve learned about W, that he’s a hardass. What can you tell us
about Chere, the heroine?

Annabel: Chere’s been working in the sex trade all her life. She’s very cynical in some ways, but super vulnerable and fragile in other ways. At first it seems like she’s a horrible match for W, but over time they both start to change each other in these subtle and unexpected ways. I wanted to play around with the idea of how we present ourselves versus the emotions we hide inside us, and Chere and W definitely bring out emotions in each other.