Guest Blogger R.G. Alexander - Friends Are Benefits!

I love the Nine Naughty blog and I’m so glad I got a chance to come and chat with them today. My group blog, The Smutketeers, had so much fun with them at the last RT convention, and I know we’re going to have an even better time in 2012. Did I mention I loved the blog swapping too? *g* I am, by nature, a communal creature. As an isolated workaholic writer, I know the importance of friendship for balance as well as enjoyment’s sake.

For those who read my stories, you know I have a tendency to write series. This stems-I suppose-from my love of large casts of characters. Honest friends, overprotective family members and snarky, sassy sidekicks who are there to say what you most need to hear, when you least want to hear it.

Characters, just like people, are shaped by their experiences, yes. But also by the company they keep. I can tell a lot about my heroes and heroines by who stands by them in their darkest hour, and who puts up with them when no one else will.

I think my Bone Daddy series—Possess Me and Tempt Me (my book that just released last week)—is the perfect example of what I’m talking about. Several families, the Toussaints, Rousseaus and Adairs, are all tangled up in each other’s lives. Brought together by their family histories, their gifts, and one sexy and mischievous voodoo spirit named Bone Daddy.

In Tempt Me, those connections and friendships made and reaffirmed in Possess Me are even more important. Gabriel, our hero and Michelle Toussaint’s twin brother, is about as low as a man can be in the beginning. He’s been lied to by those he trusted, and in his mind he’s betrayed all the people who truly cared about him. He is lost in the darkness. But he is not as alone as he imagines.

Angelique, on the other hand, has always been loved and protected. Overprotected, if you ask her, by her mother and older brother Celestin Rousseau because of their father’s mistakes. She also has two friends who would do anything for her (two friends inspired by a few Smutkedettes the Naughty Nine know well-Kelly and Ive). All that love has given her a confidence that Gabriel has never known. Has put a light inside her that could, just maybe, be a counterbalance to his darkness.

Why am I talking about the importance of friendships in erotic romance? I suppose I write romance because I love love. In all its forms and guises, with all its blessings and dysfunctions. (Yes, I’m corny. It comes with the territory)

In real life, I fell in love with my best friend. And without the support of him, my reality checking and unconditionally loyal sister and my Smutketeers Eden Bradley, Crystal Jordan and Karen Erickson-as well as a handful of other amazing people that make up the large cast of my life—I would not be the person I am. I would not be a writer…and poor Gabriel would never have been given a second chance to be a hero.

Thank you 9N for letting me visit with you today. It is good to have friends.

Bio:
R.G. Alexander (aka Rachel Grace) is a bestselling author who has written over 20 books in the erotic paranormal, contemporary, sci-fi/fantasy and steampunk genres for Samhain, Ellora's Cave and Berkley Heat. She is happily married to a talented chef who is her best friend, her research assistant, and the love of her life.

If you want to find out more, go to: Website: www.rgalexander.com
Group Blog: www.smutketeers.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RachelGrace.RGAlexander
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RG_Alexander
Link to Tempt Me http://www.amazon.com/Tempt-Me-R-G-Alexander/dp/0425243338/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1320699151&sr=8-14
Link to Possess Me http://www.amazon.com/Possess-Me-R-G-Alexander/dp/B005FOFUL0/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b