A Chip on Her Shoulder(Magical Romantic Comedies, #11)
by R.J. Blain
Publication date: September 1st, 2020
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
After a deal with loan sharks sours, Darlene’s brother is permanently transformed into a chipmunk. Not one to accept impossibility as a good excuse for failure, she’s determined to rescue her brother and secure revenge against those who’d poisoned him with grade-a transformatives.
If she wants to perform a miracle, she’ll need to join forces with a divine, but the man upstairs and his angels refuse to help.
None of the other so-called benevolent divines are willing to help her, either.
Running out of time and options, Darlene prepares to storm the gates of hell for her brother.
She never expected to fall in love with the Devil.
Warning: this novel contains a woman with a chip on her shoulder, humor, and one hell of a hero. Proceed with caution.
~ AUTHOR INTERVIEW with R.J. Blain ~
1) What gave you
the inspiration for the storyline?
The Devil and
Darlene are reoccurring characters in the Mag Rom Com series, and I’ve always
wanted to write their story, and as it’s one of my most frequent requests, I
decided to hit two birds with one stone. I’m so glad I wrote their book.
It was so, so much fun.
At its heart, A
Chip on Her Shoulder is really about a young woman who will do anything for the
sake of her family, even storm the gates of hell. Well, the Devil definitely
has something to say about that… and so the fun begins.
2) Are there any hidden (or not so hidden) themes in the book that you hope readers will discover?
Yep! There are.
This book is tricky. There are also a lot of little Easter eggs for readers of
the series. Those new to the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series
absolutely can start with this novel as their first, and the clever and
observant will be able to identify how certain events in previous books came to
be. I love including little things like that.
It makes rereading
the books more entertaining.
3) Are any of the characters based on real people you know?
No. I work hard to
avoid doing that, as I want my characters to be their own people, and basing
them off real people I know removes my ability to make them truly unique.
Sometimes, character traits are shared, but I try to make sure the characters
have their own personalities based on their specific life circumstances.
Now, that said, I
definitely have a preference for the types of characters I write, as I enjoy
telling stories about go-getters who are spunky and enjoy grabbing life by the
horns and going for a wild ride.
4) Who has influenced you most as a writer?
I have a few
authors I particularly look up towards, including Ilona Andrews and Faith
Hunter, who have written some of my absolute favorite books and remain classy,
wonderful individuals despite their glowing success in my field of fiction.
Basically, I want
to be them if I ever grow up.
5) If you could have any three literary characters over to your place for game night, who would you invite, what would you play, what would you serve, and why?
The Devil, Darlene,
and Bailey, the main character from Playing with Fire.
I’d probably make
us play some evil game like Pandemic and watch them start a fight, light the
board on fire, and otherwise have a good time enjoying the generalized
destruction as all three of them have vastly different approaches to how to
handle generalized disaster.
I’d definitely
serve tacos, because tacos are life to me.
6) Do you feel that you can ever have too many books?
Yes, because I only
have 685 square feet in my apartment to work with, but no… because I got a
kindle and now I can catch them all because digital books weigh so much less
than paper ones. And they’re both books. The same exact book, to be precise.
The formatting doesn’t change the text, and so… gotta catch them all!
Thank you so much
for having me.
Author Bio:
RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.
In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until satisfied.
Thanks for hosting today, Jen! :)
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