Interview with Evan and RileyBy Shae Connor
For my penultimate Unfortunate Son blog tour post (I just wanted an excuse to use the word “penultimate”), J.P. Barnaby suggested that I throw a few questions at my main characters and see what they come up with. No rules. Just weirdness.
Me: Let’s start off simple. What’s your favorite color?Evan: Blue. Riley’s is pink. And sparkly.Riley: Blue, really? So predictable, honey. And yes, I do like pink, and sometimes sparkly, but you don’t have to make it sound like I live in a Barbie Dream House.Evan: No, but you have at least four bottles of pink and sparkly nail polish in your bathroom.Riley: Awww, I didn’t know you’d counted. Evan: Well, after we knocked them all off the shelf last week…Riley: I tried to tell you to watch out for that, but you were too busy tearing off my clothes.Evan: Yeah, well… next question??
Me: I could’ve done with hearing more, but okay. Favorite food?Evan: Easy. Pizza.Riley: *sigh* I swear, he’d order it every night if I didn’t cook. Not that I have anything against pizza, but most of the time, I’d rather have seafood or roasted veggies.Evan: Well, really, my favorite food is whatever Riley cooks. Except peas. I hate peas.Riley: Now he’s just trying to butter me up.Evan: Is it working?Riley: … maybe.
Me: What’s the favorite place you’ve ever visited?Riley: Now that’s easy. Paris. There’s just something about the City of Lights.Evan: I didn’t know you’d been to Paris.Riley: Just once, but I’d love to go back.Evan: Maybe we’ll honeymoon there.Riley: … is there something you haven’t told me?Evan: *smile* Nope. Not a thing. Anyway, my favorite place is New York City, but I’ve never been to Paris, so that could always change.
Me: All right, then… do you want to get married? In general I mean.Evan: I never really thought about it until recently. I mean, it wasn’t like I could anyway. But things are changing so fast, so yeah. Yeah, I think I’d like that. Someday.Riley: When I was younger—I mean, a little kid—I was ringbearer in my cousin’s wedding. I wore a tiny little white tuxedo and everything. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to be wearing a real tuxedo, all grown up and standing in front of the preacher with the person I loved next to me.Evan: *reaches out to squeeze Riley’s hand* You romantic.Riley: *grins* Fair warning, though. I might want the colors to be blush and bashful.
Me: What is it with all the Steel Magnolias quotes anyway?Evan: That’s Cory’s fault.Riley: It isn’t like we hadn’t all seen the film. But Cory does particularly seem to enjoy quoting from it, and after their being friends so long, Evan picked up on that. Now we all seem to be doing it.Evan: There are worse things to quote.
Me: Very true. So here’s something a little more personal. Riley, have you watched any of Evan’s films?Riley: No. And no, I don’t plan to.
Me: Do you mind if I ask why not?Riley: It’s nothing against them, you understand. I don’t have a problem with any of it. But I have the real thing in my bed every night. Why would I need a digital reproduction?
Me: Excellent point. Before we go, anything else you’d like your readers to know?Evan: My favorite color isn’t really blue.Riley: Why did you say it is?Evan: I don’t know.Riley: Well, then what is your favorite color?Evan: Your hair in the sunlight.Riley: Jesus. And you called me a romantic.Evan: What can I say? You bring it out in me.Riley: … excuse us. I think we need a little time alone to… discuss this topic in more… depth.
Me: Don’t let me stop you, boys!

Five years ago, Evan Day lost his lover in the Afghan sand, and in the fallout, he lost his military career and his family. With help from friends, he reinvented himself as porn star Trevor Hardball, but his scars are hidden, not healed. When Riley Yeats falls into Evan’s lap in a bar, he awakens a part of Evan he’d thought was dead and gone. Evan’s fascinated by the blond and twinky Riley, even though he’s the opposite of Evan’s usual type.
Then Evan’s family reappears his life, and Evan soon learns Riley has his own family-inflicted wounds—ones that make it hard for him to be there for Evan. A disastrous confrontation between Evan and his parents leaves Evan’s mother injured and Evan overcome by anger and fear. Losing his tenuous hold on his emotional control, Evan makes one bad decision after another, but maybe his final fall will be the wake-up call Evan needs to set things right—with his parents, and with Riley.​
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Shae Connor lives in Atlanta, where she’s a lackadaisical government worker for a living and writes sweet-hot romance under the cover of night. She’s been making things up for as long as she can remember, but it took her a long time to figure out that maybe she should try writing them down. She’s conned several companies into publishing her work and adds a new notch on her bedpost each time another story is unleashed onto an unsuspecting universe.
A member of the Romance Writers of America and the Rainbow Writers chapter, Shae was first published in 2010 and has a lineup of short stories, novellas, and novels available from Dreamspinner Press, Wilde City Press, MLR Press, and Amber Allure.
Shae is part Jersey, part Irish, and all Southern, which explains why she never shuts up. When she’s not chained to her laptop, she enjoys cooking, traveling, watching baseball, and reading voraciously, and she’s an annual volunteer for the Dragon Con on-site publication, the Daily Dragon. You can find her hanging out on Twitter most any time @shaeconnor, but for the more direct route, you can email her at [email protected] or visit her website at shaeconnorwrites.com.




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