Blog Tour: Mending the Rift by Chris T. Kat

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Mending the Rift by Chris T. Kat
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Amazon Kindle: Mending the Rift

Blurb: In a future where man’s ability to reproduce is severely compromised, humanity has adapted to survive. Breeders—male and female—have become precious commodities, and they are strictly guarded and subject to limitations.
Luca Walker is a breeder. Though he knows what’s expected of him as the youngest son of the Northern Confederacy’s Vice President, he’s held out against the pressures of an arranged marriage because he longs to marry for love, not duty. But he’s been promised to Colonel Liam Smith and there’s little he can do about it, no matter that Luca is secretly in love with his bodyguard, Marcus Gray.
When Luca finds himself pregnant with Marcus’s baby, Smith is furious and vows to take what is his—by force, if necessary. Now Luca must fight for his life and the life of his unborn child… as well as the love of Marcus and the happily ever after he’s always dreamed of.

Excerpt from Chapter Two:

Marcus rappelled off and stepped onto the ground with a crunch of his boots. Pointing at the opening with the askew ladder, he asked, “Don’t tell me you seriously considered climbing down this way.”
Luca shrugged. “I’d have preferred spontaneous levitation, but it didn’t happen.”
He yelped when Marcus put an arm around his torso and lifted him to his feet, as if he weighed nothing. “Hey!”
Marcus silenced him with a glare, and Luca gritted his teeth while Marcus thumped dust off his clothes. “Your father is livid.”
Luca swallowed. He’d expected worried, maybe a bit mad, but livid? His father never got furious at him. Not for long, anyway. Being the baby of the family had its perks. “Why?”
“Why? Seriously, Luca, you have to ask why?” Marcus patted Luca’s behind more firmly than was strictly necessary.
Luca shifted, trying to get away from Marcus’s arm. When that didn’t help, he slapped Marcus’s hands away and stepped aside. He couldn’t think when he was so close to Marcus—when the man touched him, he sent shivers up and down his spine. He ignored the glower Marcus directed at him. “Yes, seriously. He knows I don’t want to marry Smith. I don’t want anything to do with all that shit. I want to decide what I’m going to do with my life.”
Marcus shook his head. “Smith is a good man. My brother Kyle worked for him. He said he always treated his people well. If you want I could try to get Kyle on the phone so you can talk to him. That is, if I can get a hold on him. Trust me, you’ll be in good hands.”
“You don’t get it! I don’t want to be in good hands!”
“No?” Marcus raised an eyebrow.
Luca huffed, a small smile forming on his lips. “Well, yes, of course I want to be in good hands. But I want someone to love me, and not just for my ability to become pregnant. I want… you.”
Luca’s heart thundered in his rib cage. There, he’d said it. The ball was in Marcus’s court. Sure, it had only been one night, and Marcus’s reaction afterward hadn’t been promising, but maybe he’d just been scared? Maybe he feared to lose his job? Nonetheless, there was more going on between them, and they both knew it. That one night had just been the last logical step. Luca regretted nothing.
For a moment Marcus seemed startled, and there was a softness in his eyes that was solely reserved for Luca. The softness vanished too quickly for Luca’s liking.
Instead, Luca was greeted with Marcus’s usual, scrutinizing gaze. “You don’t want me, and you better never mention this again. It was a mistake. Now get it out of your head and be a good boy.”



Meet the author: Chris T. Kat lives in the middle of Europe, where she shares a house with her husband of many years and their two children. She stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between work, her family—which includes chasing after escaping horses and lugging around huge instruments such as a harp—and writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as mystery/suspense, paranormal, and romance. If there's any spare time, she happily reads for hours, listens to audiobooks or does cross stitch.

1) How do you develop your plots and characters?
Most of the time the story simply pops up in my head, or a certain character wants to be heard. Only when I’ve gotten the gist of the story, or what the main character wants to tell me, I sit down and jot down major points of the story. Then I run through ideas how to develop the story further and see that all the puzzle pieces fit together.

2) Who doesn’t love a good hero? Tell us about your protagonist. Was there a real life inspiration behind him?
I’m not sure I’d say Luca is a hero, at least not in the classical sense. He’s held out against an arranged marriage because he wants to live his own life without the regulation the government has for breeders. Is that heroic?
Luca isn’t based on a single person, but on all those people who stand up for their beliefs and have brought changes to the world by insisting the current politics aren’t up-to-date anymore.

3) What real-life inspirations do you use when world building?
In Mending the Rift, which is set in the future and after a Third World War, the story takes place in what was formerly known as Germany. I took the liberty of using places I’ve lived or visited frequently, so I could describe the areas properly (though most of the places are in ruins in the story).
I draw inspiration from people I know in real life, from their fights for freedom or independence, but also from the way people love each other.

4) Did you learn anything from this book and what was it?
I refreshed my memory about pregnancies and the various complications that can arise. 

5) It’s your last meal on earth. What do you choose?
Probably some sort of casserole with noodles and lots of cheese plus a big dessert.

Where to find the author:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/christi_kat
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/ChrisTKat
Blog: http://christikat.blogspot.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Chris-T.-Kat/e/B008FQQH2Q
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5767496.Chris_T_Kat



Tour Dates & Stops:
14-Mar The Novel Approach, Alpha Book Club, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Book Lovers 4Ever, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Caraway Carter, Gay Media Reviews
15-Mar Nephy Hart, Joyfully Jay, Carly’s Book Reviews, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, A.M. Leibowitz
16-Mar Love Bytes, TTC Books and More, Havan Fellows, Jessie G. Books, Unquietly Me, MM Good Book Reviews
17-Mar Prism Book Alliance, The Blogger Girls, V's Reads, Divine Magazine
18-Mar Molly Lolly, KathyMac Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Man2ManTastic, My Fiction Nook, 3 Chicks After Dark, Bayou Book Junkie, Hearts on Fire, Inked Rainbow Reads

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: A book from Chris’s backlist or an audiobook copy of ‘Despite the Odds’
Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for hosting me today!