Epic Force Blog Tour & Giveaway: Guest post with Alexi Raymond

Contemporary Romance

Available Now: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords 

Synopsis:
Trinity has given up everything to reach her dreams as a professional wrestler in the national spotlight; even though it's breaking her heart to stay away from her trainer, Derek.

Derek knows the road Trinity is walking and wants to be there for her to see her succeed, but he wants so much more than that for them.

After having a wrestler break her heart once, Trinity isn't willing to jump back into another wrestling-relationship. That doesn't stop her heart from pounding at the sight of Derek or her hands from trembling with their touch.

Convinced she has to focus on her dreams, Trinity leaves the safety of home and wrestling federation,(Epic Force Wrestling), and heads out for the chance of a lifetime. The things she sees don't make her more sure of her goals, but they do make her sure of something else - she can't outrun her old wrestling school or the trainer that holds her heart in his hands. Sometimes true love is an epic force all its own.

Guest Post by Alexi Raymond: How I came up with the idea for writing a book about professional wrestling.

It all started because of my real-life (mis)adventures in professional wrestling. It’s a tough sport! Especially if you’re a female! Especially when you really believe you are as tough as the guys you work out with! Getting in the ring brings me to life; the feel of the ropes across my back, the way the steel shakes under my feet as I run across the ring - all of it is like a religious experience…that hurts a lot. But it also brings out a side of people that sometimes they don’t know they have. Being around the boys, watching them learn and succeed, eating with them even after you’ve beaten the tar out of each other. Those are all real moments I wish people could see. It’s a passionate sport, which is what makes it so dangerous.

All of that passion can get into your head and lead you to make decisions that are just plain dumb. After having made a dumb decision or two, I found myself lost and hurting. The advice I was given was to write about it in a journal, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to remind myself of mistakes - I wanted to fix them…and I was scared someone would find the journal…. So as I started writing a half fictional/half autobiographical novel, I started letting Trinity make up her own mind and found she was a lot better at it than I was! By the time I had written two complete novels (Epic Force was originally slated as a three book series with book one being titled Meeting The Boys and detailing her relationship with Nate), I realized I didn’t need to write for myself anymore and I actually really liked where Trinity’s story was headed, so I scrapped it! Almost all of Meeting The Boys was trashed and Epic Force was born!

Although revolving around professional wrestling, Epic Force is truly a romance at heart. It’s strange. I didn’t set out to write a romance, I just wanted to get some of my bad feelings about wrestling and what it had done to me/I had done to it off my chest and then BAM the romance was there! But I guess that’s not a surprise, it is a passionate sport!

Excerpt:
From chapter 1 with Trinity and Derek.

      "Don't go." His whispers were lost in her hair. He remained so silent, so nervous, and yet his arms snaked around her. Trinity’s heart soaked in the familiar security that came with his embrace. "Please, Trinity, please don't leave me." He squeezed, no longer hugging her. They clung to each other as tears rolled down her face, or maybe they were his, there was no way to tell.

     He had always been there for her; from the first time she walked through the doors of the warehouse into the poster filled walls of Epic Force Wrestling, to the first time one of the boys refused to hit her like a real wrestler and even now, as she stood there breaking his heart. She would never find another man like Derek; but the truth was that regardless of how she felt for him, she couldn’t let herself. Nate had broken her heart. She’d never let another wrestler get that close to her again.

     "I'm going to be late." She sniffled and wiped her face with the back of her hand, still wrapped around Derek's neck.

     "Be late. Be late forever, just stay."

      "Derek."

     With a kiss on the cheek, Derek relinquished his hold. The chocolate swirls in his eyes were moist, his lips pursed together. Trinity trailed her hands down his arms and squeezed his huge warm hands. Her palms fit inside of them, tucked neatly away from the harm of the world. She wanted to face the world, regardless of the risk, she felt she needed to. She squeezed one last time, took a longing look into where they both knew she belonged and left him standing alone under the singular light on the pier.


Author Bio:
Alexi lives in Indiana with her husband and kittens! You can find her throwing the boys around the ring, shooting sports highlights or curled up on the couch with Castle and her "writing kitten" working on a never ending supply of ideas for all of the books she wants to write!

Find Alexi: Twitter | Goodreads


Follow Epic Force blog tour:

November 12 -- Fictitious Delicious  Interview with Trinity

November 13 -- Living Fictitiously  Review/Interview with Alexi

November 14 -- Adriana Ryan: Captivating Fiction  Guest Post: What's your publishing story? Why did you decide to take the route you took?

November 15 -- For What It's Worth  Guest Post: Where you came up with the idea for writing a book about professional wrestling

November 16 -- Blog - O - Rama  Interview with Dave

November 17 -- What's On the Bookshelf  Interview with Derek

November 18 -- The Reviews News  Guest Post: Balancing Writing and Personal Life

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