Guest Post and Giveaway: Home Fires by Kate Sherwood

Please help us welcome author Kate Sherwood today on the Home Fires blog tour. She’s here to talk a bit about her characters and there’s also a giveaway, so be sure to check out the details below.

Welcome, Kate!

Shades of Grey

No, not that Shades of Grey. The older meaning of it—less kinky, more complicated.

In my Common Law series, I had a lot of fun playing with moral ambiguity. Cops who may be crooked, crooks who may not be all that bad. People doing the right thing for the wrong reason, the wrong thing for the right reason… what it really comes down to, for me, is people doing the human thing for human reasons.

Jericho Crewe is a hero on paper—silver star, purple heart, police detective, tall and strong and handsome. But he’s full of doubts about himself, about what’s right, about whether he’s strong enough to do what has to be done. He’s sworn an oath he’s not sure he can continue to believe in, he’s abandoned his family, he’s broken the heart of the one person he never should have hurt; he’s a mess, and I love him for it.

Wade Granger is a criminal, a liar, hated by legitimate law enforcement and befriended by the corrupt. But he’s got some soft spots, some areas he’d consider weaknesses that others would see as strengths. And he’s still capable of love, and when under its power he’s a different man.

But my favourite morally ambiguous character in the Common Law series is probably Nikki. She’s just so… horrible. She’s abrasive, she’s aggressive, she lets her kids run wild and manipulates people and is just nasty in general. But she’s tough because she’s had to be and she doesn’t follow society’s rules because what the hell have those rules ever done for her or hers? I was tempted to soften her a little and make her more sympathetic, but I’m glad I left her alone—Nikki’s a force of nature, and nature isn’t dark or light, it just is.

There are things the characters do in this series that I know I shouldn’t agree with, but I can’t find myself thinking they were wrong in the given circumstances. And there are things the characters do that are probably right, but that I think feel really wrong. It made for interesting writing—I hope it’s interesting reading as well!

Do you have any favourite morally ambiguous characters? Anyone who does a good job of playing with the shades of grey?

About Home Fires

Trouble comes to Mosely, Montana, from the outside world. When the residents of Mosely are left on their own, they can make things work. Sure, there’s always been a militia operating up in the hills, but they were small-scale—just survivalists doing their thing—until organizers came in from out of state. Now Jericho Crewe and the rest of the sheriff’s department are facing down a heavily armed band of fanatics, and the feds are busy elsewhere.

The odds are hopeless, but Jericho swore an oath to serve and protect the citizens of Mosely. He won’t walk away from that, even if Wade Granger’s begging him to run away somewhere and finally be together the way they always should have been.

But this time, it’s Jericho who refuses to leave Mosely, even if staying kills him.

[zilla_button url=”http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/home-fires” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Now Available from Riptide Publishing [/zilla_button]

About the Common Law Series

Jericho Crewe escaped from Mosely, Montana, when he was seventeen and built a new life for himself, first as a Marine, then as an LA police officer. Fifteen years later, he’s back, and everything is just as confusing as it was before he left.

Especially Wade Granger. Wade’s still a rebel, still a criminal, and still dangerously fascinating. As Jericho digs deeper into the town’s underbelly, he has to decide whether Wade’s the worst the town has to offer, or the only part of Mosely worth saving.

Get all four books from Riptide Publishing!

Common Law series

About the Author

Kate Sherwood started writing about the same time she got back on a horse after almost twenty years away from riding. She’d like to think she was too young for it to be a midlife crisis, but apparently she was ready for some changes!

Kate grew up near Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and went to school in Montreal, then Vancouver. But for the last decade or so she’s been a country girl. Sure, she misses some of the conveniences of the city, but living close to nature makes up for those lacks. She’s living in Ontario’s “cottage country”–other people save up their time and come to spend their vacations in her neighborhood, but she gets to live there all year round!

Since her first book was published in 2010, she’s kept herself busy with novels, novellas, and short stories in almost all the sub-genres of m/m romance. Contemporary, suspense, scifi or fantasy–the settings are just the backdrop for her characters to answer the important questions. How much can they share, and what do they need to keep? Can they bring themselves to trust someone, after being disappointed so many times? Are they brave enough to take a chance on love?

Kate’s books balance drama with humor, angst with optimism. They feature strong, damaged men who fight themselves harder than they fight anyone else. And, wherever possible, there are animals: horses, dogs, cats ferrets, squirrels… sometimes it’s easier to bond with a non-human, and most of Kate’s men need all the help they can get.

After five years of writing, Kate is still learning, still stretching herself, and still enjoying what she does. She’s looking forward to sharing a lot more stories in the future.

Twitter: @kate_sherwood

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of all four books in the Common Law series, we’re giving away one four-tour-wide GRAND PRIZE of $100 in Riptide credit! Enter at each stop on each tour (once they go live) to maximize your chances to win! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 8, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the Home Fires tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!