Club Alpha and a Nano Update

It's a beautiful afternoon and it's time for another post. One of favorite authors, Marata Eros is releasing her newest novel Club Alpha on November 19th, but I was able to score an ARC of the book while I was on vacation. It took me longer than I wanted to read it because vacation. I wasn't able to hole up on a chair or couch with my coffee (caffeine is a must) and read through it quickly. When I did read it, I was turning the pages quickly.

I mean with a tag line, "Would you pay fifty million for your soul mate?" how could it not be good. It's a combination of mystery, suspense, and just a bit of romance. Marata Eros's blurb is amazing as well:

Francisco “Paco” Castillo is a bilingual billionaire with unconventional ideas about love, sex and possession. He believes there is no other half to make him whole. Paco dreams of experimenting with a dangerous reality not of his own making. Club Alpha owner, Zaire Sebastian, can make Paco's vision a reality—for a price.

Greta Dahlem is an extreme sports executive whose ambition masks a terrible secret. When her mentor Gia Township, sponsors her as a player in Club Alpha, Greta's unsure she can survive the inherent risk of the game Zaire weaves. But in her heart, Greta yearns for a man who will complete her, and erase the brutal tragedy of two years ago.

As the fantasy progresses, Greta comes to realize she is the loose string in a plot of murder and deception that begins to unravel. Without knowing who to trust, Greta must decide between two men. When the three are thrown together, the lines of reality and fantasy blur.

Is there any way for her to know what is real?

 This book is on the darker side of the spectrum just because of some of the material is graphic and isn't suitable for all readers. As always, she has posted disclaimers about the violence. Having read her work, I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. Nothing could prepare me for the intensity of this story however. Everything is the book builds on itself and the violence isn't there just to be there, it is an integral part of the story line and of the character of Greta.

Paco is a wonderful alpha male and his friend/ bodyguard, Tallinn throws in the comic relief that's needed for such an intense story. It's gritty and real in a way that brings the story to life. I was on the edge of my seat with a pounding pulse as I flipped the virtual pages on my Kindle.

Something that Ms. Eros is able to do is create complex characters with different cultures attached to them. It brings rounded characters to the forefront. Paco and Greta don't stay on the page in a one or two dimensional way but they pop off the page and make you care about their journeys.

In the writing world that is NaNoWriMo, I'm slow and steady and behind. Does that mean I won't be able to finish? Not at all, it just means that the 1667 a day word count is more like 2200 words a day for me. It's still something that I can manage. It's not like its day 25 and I've written nothing. 10K a day might be a bit a of hurdle. I mean I guess it's possible. Speech to text would make it super easy I think, but the stress would be crazy.

I've been writing various things for a long time and it never fails to amaze me that once I start a story and I think I know where it's going to go, it goes onto a path I never even thought about. I swear the characters take over and I'm helpless to do anything about it. I'm also a writer that sits down and writes. No outline, with just a vague this is what I want.

That's the quick update on my nano novel halfway through the month. I's at least in the 15-16K range and my fingers are itching to keep writing.

May the new week start out bright and good.