Blog Tour for Rome (Marked Men #3) by Jay Crownover; Review + Author Interview

Posted by Donna
Release Date: January 2nd, 2014
Finished Date: January 23rd, 2014

Publishers: Harper UK
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: For Review

Format: Kindle
Pages: 368

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Cora Lewis is a whole lot of fun, and she knows how to keep her tattooed bad boy friends in line. But all that flash and sass hide the fact that she’s never gotten over the way her first love broke her heart. Now she has a plan to make sure that never happens again: She’s only going to fall in love with someone perfect. 
Rome Archer is as far from perfect as a man can be. He’s stubborn and rigid, he’s bossy and has come back from his final tour of duty fundamentally broken. Rome’s used to filling a role: big brother, doting son, super soldier; and now none of these fit anymore. Now he’s just a man trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life while keeping the demons of war and loss at bay. He would have been glad to suffer it alone, until Cora comes sweeping into his life and becomes the only color on his bleak horizon. 
Perfect isn’t in the cards for these two, but imperfect might just last forever . . .

The Review: Rome, you've stolen my heart! And there I was thinking no-one could beat Rule, but I was wrong! Eek! I loved Rome and Cora's story - so much more than the other characters. Mainly because this was so damn unpredictable and so very intense. I need more! 

Cora Lewis has always been the mother of the group. She looks after her boys at the tattoo shop and she always keeps everyone together. However, no matter how together she tries to make everyone, it's Cora that needs the help. Since her ex-boyfriend cheated on her and is now marrying someone else, Cora's heart can't no more pain, so she's decided she's going to wait for Mr. Right - Mr. Perfect. But what Cora doesn't realise is that nobody is perfect and while waiting for Mr. Right, she could miss the one guy that's right in front of her - Rome. 

Awww Rome and Cora are absolutely perfect together, even despite being completely opposite on the outside. Rome is a big guy, muscled and shaved head. Cora is a tiny small women, with blonde short hair and tattoos on her arms, but even though they may not be perfect on the outside, their personalities, their hearts and their feelings for one another are. With Rome arriving home from the war, he's different - changed - and everyone is trying to let him settle in. Not Cora though. She doesn't take any of his attitude and matches up to every thing he dishes out to her and I loved every minutes of these two interacting. It was so bloody entertaining - so many laugh out loud moments, and very intense. I completely fell for both of these characters....Rome especially. I just wanted to give him a big cuddle - he's suffered so much, but seeing him open up to Cora was fantastic. 

I think I enjoyed this story so much more because Cora and Rome's relationship develops more in ways the other couples stories don't. I won't tell you how because it will spoilt it, but I loved the direction their story went - and I can't wait to see what becomes of their situation. 

In all, Rome's story was another fantastic instalment from Jay Crownover and I think it's time we had Nash's story - like today! Eek, I can't wait. 

Author Interview with Jay Crownover.

 

1)     What inspired you to write the Marked Men series?

Life; the way tattooed guys are always portrayed in books - I just wanted to see a little bit of my life, my subculture and things I like done in a book. Plus I wanted to write about a group of people who are really relatable due to the hardship they share in trying to figure out who they are instead of who they think, or who others think, they should be.

 

2)     How long did it take to write each book?

It takes me about 6 weeks but after a rough draft is done it takes about 6 months to get a final, polished product. I think I wrote Rome the fastest in about 20 days or so!

3)     Who is your favourite guy/couple from the series?

I like them all for different reasons. I don’t have a favourite! They all hold a special place in my heart and represent a different idea or ideal I hold dear.

4)     Since Rome’s story involves Cora, we are interested to know how you decided she would be his love interest?

From the first time she was introduced! Rome is big and bossy; I knew he needed someone small and feisty to go toe to toe with him. Plus I liked the David and Goliath feel to them. He’s all big and looming with all these issues and she’s just this tiny mouthy thing ready to go to battle for him and with him. Plus at the core they are the protectors and the caretakers of the group. They were the perfect match.

5)     What’s your favourite quote from Rome’s story?

Probably when Remy tells Rome, “Love isn’t perfect, but it’s those imperfections in it that make it worth the ride.”

 

6)     Could you tell us what you’re working on now? 

I just finished copyedits on Nash’s story (it’s a heartbreaker!), and also the rough draft of the 2nd book in a new series I’m releasing this summer.

 

7)     We’ve noticed you’re a fan of tattoos – if you could have 1 tattoo that relates to the marked men, what would you choose and why?

I wouldn’t. My tattoos don’t really work like that. I recently got a stack of books and an old writing quill tattooed on my arm to represent reading and writing, just my general love of the literary world. I don’t get stuff to represent a specific thing like the Marked Men. I like big sweeping concepts instead.

AUTHOR BIO from Goodreads. 

I'm supposed to share interesting details about myself so that my readers get to know me so here we go in no particular order: I'm an natural redhead even though I haven't seen my real hair color in years, I'm a big fan of tattoos and have a half sleeve on either arm and various other pieces all over the place, I've been in the bar industry since I was in college and it has always offered interesting insight into how men and women interact with each other, I have 3 dogs that are all crazy, I live in Colorado and love the snow, I love music and in all reality wish I could be a rock star not a writer or a bartender but I have zero talent so there is that. 

I love to write, love to read and all I'm interested in is a good story with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.