Anything But Broken on August 25, 2015 Format: eARC
After five years, tragedy brings Hannah Casey back to Hurricane Creek to bury what’s left of her family. She’s flunking out of college, haunted by scandal, and the only person who cares is Sean Whitlow, an irresistible bad boy with a soft spot for her. The problem? He’s her dead sister’s ex.
Sean doesn’t bleed red, he bleeds motor oil. During the week, he struggles to turn his auto repair shop into a profitable business. But when Saturday night rolls around, he’s the reigning stock-car king of the local race track. He doesn’t know how to lose–or how to walk away and leave Hannah alone with her grief.
Between her grades and her wealthy family’s dark secrets, Hannah’s barely holding her life together. And the last thing Sean needs is to get tangled up with another Casey girl. As the attraction between them spins out of control, they’ll either find a love with no limits–or go up in flames.
Describe Anything But Broken in 5 words.
Heartbreak, healing & sexy race-car drivers
We’re dying for the summary… can you tell us a little bit more about Anything But Broken?
We finally have an official blurb!
After five years, tragedy brings Hannah Casey back to Hurricane Creek to bury what’s left of her family. She’s flunking out of college, haunted by scandal, and the only person who cares is Sean Whitlow, an irresistible bad boy with a soft spot for her. The problem? He’s her dead sister’s ex.
Sean doesn’t bleed red, he bleeds motor oil. During the week, he struggles to turn his auto repair shop into a profitable business. But when Saturday night rolls around, he’s the reigning stock-car king of the local race track. He doesn’t know how to lose–or how to walk away and leave Hannah alone with her grief.
Between her grades and her wealthy family’s dark secrets, Hannah’s barely holding her life together. And the last thing Sean needs is to get tangled up with another Casey girl. As the attraction between them spins out of control, they’ll either find a love with no limits–or go up in flames.
One of the things we love most about your books are the amazing characters you create – can you tell us a bit about the characters we’ll meet here?
We have four central characters in this book, but since it’s us, you know there’s a pretty big supporting cast, too. (We do love inventing characters!)
The hero, Sean, owns his own garage and is struggling to get his business off the ground. Fixing and restoring cars is just his day job, though–on the weekends, he likes to drive them. Fast. His best friend Gibb is his partner-in-crime–and officially Bad News. (At least if you listen to the parents in town.)
The heroine, Hannah, is a girl who’s had a rough life. She’s coming back to town for the first time since her sister died five years ago. Her family has always been a bit of a mess, but they’ve also prided themselves on keeping up appearances. That’s left her pretty tired and pretty confused about what she wants. Luckily her childhood friend Evie is there, and their rekindled friendship helps Hannah a lot.
Do you have a favorite scene you wrote and if so, can you tell us a little about it and why it was your favorite?
There’s a scene where Sean takes Hannah driving that was loads of fun. It’s all very gearhead summer in the South–windows down, driving fast, and dirt roads. There’s nothing like it.
Did any of your characters surprise you by doing something you didn’t expect?
Gibb surprised me. I knew he was going to be a bit of a jerk (at least to start!) and I knew roughly where I wanted to take him, but by the end–well, I think I’m going to cry writing his book. That’s all I can say about that. 😉
Why did you branch out into New Adult? What drew you to the genre and do you have to approach it differently than the other types of books you write?
It’s all Donna’s fault! Really! Anything but Broken is based on an idea she’s had for years. In fact, when she first had the idea, New Adult wasn’t even genre yet, and that’s part of the reason we didn’t write it right away. But letting it simmer gave it time to evolve into a town and a complete series.
Though I think the biggest change in approach was less writing New Adult and more writing contemporary romance at all! It’s definitely a big shift from everything we’ve done up to this point, with a lot more internal conflict and a lot fewer things blowing up. (Though okay, we still started at least one thing on fire?)
Since you write as a team, what does your writing process look like? Do you ladies have any strange writing habits?
We write together in google docs. Back and forth, sometimes adding a sentence or two, sometimes adding a few pages. We tend to divide the various characters between us so that every character has one person in charge of their backstory, their goals and their voice.
I think the strangest thing is probably when we’re writing black moments–sometimes we get so tied up in defending “our” character’s point-of-view that we start getting cranky with each other.
Were there any scenes that had to be cut that you wish would have stayed in?
You know, we didn’t have to cut any scenes from this book–probably because we usually cut them out mid-scene because they just weren’t working. That’s the best part of having a built-in critique partner reading every line as soon as you write it. You catch the bad stuff a lot faster!
What are you currently reading?
Bree: I’m reading True Pretenses by Rose Lerner and Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari.
Donna: The Color Purple by Alice Walker, since I just finished another Harry Potter reread.
Do you have any New Adult recommendations for everyone to read while waiting for Anything But Broken to arrive?
The Game On series by Kristen Callihan (football!) is awesome. And if you like something with soulmates, you should definitely check out Defining Destiny by Deanna Chase. And I looove M.Malone’s Blue-Collar Billionaire books. Also Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole — that’s both New Adult and post-apocalyptic.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Write the most marketable book of your heart. A lot of people tell you to do one or the other–to write what’s selling, or to write what you love. I think most writers have pretty big hearts, and lots of books dying to get out.
What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?
We’re headed back to the Sectors to work on Beyond Ruin, the next book in the Beyond Series (written as Kit Rocha). This is going to be a big book–and not just because it’s got four main characters! Something very serious is going to happen that changes the dynamic between Eden and the sectors–something so serious there’s no going back.
5 Favorites
Favorite Song (right now): Bree — Shut Up and Drive; Donna — Thanks to the Deadpool trailer, I’ve had Shoop by Salt & Pepa stuck in my head for WEEKS.
Favorite Book (right now): Bree — Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare; Donna — The Brightest Day Juneteenth anthology, especially the novellas by Alyssa Cole and Piper Huguley.
Favorite TV Show/Movie: Bree — Jane the Virgin; Donna — my new favorite TV show is Forged in Fire, where blacksmiths compete, Chopped-style, to make the best blade.
Favorite Word: Bree — Dragon Age (is that cheating? LOL); Donna — Yes, it’s cheating. Also, ditto.
Favorite Color: Bree — neon anything; Donna — purple, always.
Jaime’s Thoughts
Have I expressed the excitement I have that the writing duo of Joelle Knox is now writing New Adult? You may know and love them as Kit Rocha or Moira Rogers, but you should be dying to get your hands on this first in their new adult series.
Anything but Broken features Hannah Casey & Sean Whitlow. Hannah is back in the small town of Hurricane Creek to bury her family… what was left of it anyway. She’s spent her life having her mother tell her what to do, where to go, what to be and now that she’s gone, she isn’t sure what direction her life is headed in.
Sean Whitlow doesn’t need the kind of trouble that comes with Hannah Casey. He had enough of that dealing with her sister but for some reason he can’t keep away from her. With his auto repair shop on its way to becoming successful and the king of the stock car races he’s always had someone… family or friends who have had his back. But Hannah doesn’t have that, and he can’t just stand by and watch her fall apart even if his best friend is urging him to stay away.
I’ve always said this writing duo does relationships amazingly well and they only continue to get better at it with each and every book they release. Hannah and Sean’s relationship has an added layer of complexity simply because of their pasts in this small town, and it made it just that much more interesting and had me turning pages to see just how it was all going to go down.
If you’ve read any of this pair’s other books you also know that they can write the crap out of emotional and sexy scenes… the chemistry between Sean and Hannah was tangible on each and every page and I couldn’t wait to see how they would finally connect and how their relationship would progress.
And can I just say Sean *fans self*. I don’t even get excited about car races, but I feel like I have a bit of a mechanic / car racing fantasy streak after reading this book! He’s so solid… not just because he has a business and is making a life, but he just knows who he is, what he wants and how he’s going to make it all work. He’s there for his family and friends and he doesn’t give up on Hannah when it would definitely be the easy option.
This story does deal with some pretty heavy issues… be warned about that, but it’s not over the top or overly heavy like some New Adult tends to become which I fully appreciate. I thought the plot progressed nicely and I really loved how a certain someone stepped in at the end there even though he wasn’t quite as supportive throughout.
Overall, an amazing start to a wonderful new series by some authors that I love! I’m excited to read more! If you’re a fan of the new adult genre and love a book heavy on sexy, amazing characters and a story that has you so riveted you can’t put it down, then you’re going to want to grab this one when it comes out in August!
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