Long and Short Reviews welcomes A.M. Kusi, who is visiting with us to celebrate the recent release of Luna and Sol: a Forbidden Love Story. Leave a comment or ask the author a question for a chance to win one of two digital copies of the book, or you can buy the book for only $0.99. A.M. Kusi is a husband-wife team who has agreed to answer a few questions.
What inspired you to start writing?
Ash: When I was little, my Nana inspired me to write down the stories I made up in my head, this helped me through the more troubling times in my life. When life got too stressful, I could create another world to escape to.
Marcus: It started with sharing our own story of our marriage struggles in our blog, to help other couples. We wrote several non-fiction books to help couples like us. I knew my wife had an interest in writing fiction, and she came to me with this story idea and characters. I liked it and thought the story was good. I was pleasantly surprised with her fiction writing skills after I saw her first draft of chapter one. We decided this story needed to be told.
What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
Learn from the successful authors, editors, and best selling classics in your genre. Read as many books as you can in the genre you plan to write and ask yourself what you like about them and what is missing, or what you don’t like. The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne is an amazing place to start.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
A little bit of both. We imagine the characters and how they meet, talk about their flaws, and how we will keep them apart. Then we play around with plot ideas until it fits.
Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
An interaction between Luna’s father and Sol gets physical, a fight not to be missed.
What are you reading now?
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang and Reckless by Lex Martin.
What is the hardest part about writing for you?
Not getting distracted by our four and six year old. We work from home and are not always able to go to a cafe to get work done.
We also homeschool our children, so they are always here to ask questions and interrupt the “zone” of writing.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Marcus: A professional soccer player.
Ashley: A writer.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?
We usually start with their eyes; they are the window into someone’s soul after all.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Plotters. We plot all our books before we start writing. However, as the story flows, we change some of the ideas around.
Where are you from and what do you love best about your hometown?
Marcus: Accra, Ghana. I love the peace and calm.
Ashley: Vermont, US. I love the woods, the foliage and the access to fresh grown food and medicine.
How do you keep your writing different from all the others that write in this particular genre?
Our novels are inspired by our own experiences as an interracial couple. The things we see and face every day as a society also plays a role. We focus on the emotional experience as writers and try to make the story realistic. We write about healthy relationships that involve a partnership rather than a traditional patriarchal outlook towards the couple.
What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?
This is the first fiction book that Marcus has read from beginning to end. Besides the classics of what was needed in school, Marcus has never read another work of fiction.
Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?
Yes. We decided to use the initials of our first names and our last name.
Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
Yes. It depends on the scene.
For Luna and Sol, Ash listened to celtic music, music from all over Africa, and of course some love songs.
Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your genre?
Yes. We also write non-fiction books for couples using our real names, Ashley and Marcus Kusi. So far, we have over 5 titles published.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your writing career next year?
We would love to receive emails about how our romance novels has positively impacted at least one reader’s life. Also, we want to write and publish 3 standalone romance novels.
Favorite color?
Marcus: Blue
Ashley: I don’t have a favorite color.
She’s fallen in love with the one person she can’t have… her father’s enemy.
After the sudden death of her mother, Luna battles with a secret that she knows would kill her father. Luna is sure she is destined to a life of disappointment trying to live up to his expectations of her. She knows the time is coming when she will be joined in an arranged marriage, as is the duty of the chief’s daughter.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river that divides the Net lands from the Barden, Sol blames himself for his father’s death. As a result, he has vowed to strictly follow the laws.
However, the rules that had always been black and white dissolved into grey the moment their eyes met for the first time. Luna crosses boundaries with the mysterious man she can’t stay away from. Sol is drawn to the bold beauty he knows he can’t have.
Even though their union could bring peace, their love may also incite a brutal war. Luna is now faced with choosing between her soul-mate, or loyalty to a father she can never seem to please.
Will love be enough to conquer hate?
Will Luna have her happily-ever-after with the man she loves — or will she fulfill her father’s desire?
If you love romance novels about strong women, then you won’t want to miss this full stand-alone novel.
About the Author:
A. M. Kusi is the pen name of a husband-and-wife team, Ashley and Marcus Kusi, authors of Our Bucket List Adventures and Questions for Couples.
We enjoy writing interracial love stories that have a strong female protagonist, are emotionally satisfying, and have a happy ending.
Great post! What is the most intriguing thing you have done for research?
The important scenes in the book are written based off real places. We went to a waterfall and took a trip to the ocean. I (Ash) spent time making notes of how being in the environment affected my 5 senses. I wanted to help the reader feel like they were in the book with the characters, seeing what they were seeing, feeling what they were feeling, hearing, tasting, etc. Sometimes sentences would just come to me, or words to describe the environment. Other times I drew off of my memory, or imagination. We even jumped into the pool of the icy waterfall.
Debra, as one of the winners for the giveaway, could you please email as so we can send you the private link to download the book on Amazon?
Our email is amkusinovels@gmail.com. Thank you for your question.