Everything your mother didn't have time to tell you because she was too busy struggling!
by:
Taige Crenshaw
Characters and the impressions they make to the reader are pivotal to a book. Establishing a connection that makes the characters resonate with readers is an important factor to any story. When I sit down to figure out my heroine and hero I think of many things. I get deep into the head of the characters so I can know each and every one of their quirks and idiosyncrasies. I know each and every moment of their lives. Their triumphs and pains as well as everything there is to know about them. I basically walk in their shoes so I can know them as well as I know myself. When I know each character individually, then I think of how to bring them together or how they came together in the case of a character who has been previously involved.
The first time my characters meet or reconnect drives the book. It sets the tone and drives their interaction. It can range from flirty, sexy fun to fiery animosity that has sparks flying. No matter which way they meet, it’s that all important connection that will bring the characters to life on a page. In the interracial and multicultural romances I write, I meld the personality of my characters and how the other person views them. Sometimes, what their personality is like might not match their outer appearance. It’s fun to be in the head of the character watching the other to see how they react. To see if it is a visceral reaction or something more slow.
When I lay out my characters in the book, I let who they are shine through. I describe them in terms of who they are at the core. The characters do see the beauty of them as a whole. Their sexy sashay and witty comments or those broad shoulders you want to touch while kissing that devil may care smile. They see the uniqueness of that person who makes their pulse race. Taking in from head to toe all that is them from the way they dress, speak, and move.
The ethnicity of the characters isn’t a driving factor. So when I describe the skin tone it is portrayed through the eyes of the other and how they feel when they look at them. The character first sees the person who invokes an emotion and the skin tone is just part of them. It really isn’t a factor to the character they just want that person. Yes they do note the touchable softness of the honey colored skin or that sun-kissed face that makes their breath catch. But the more prevalent thing they see is that something which makes them want to get to know the person better even in those cases when they think they hate the others guts. LOL.
There are so many skin tones, hair types and eye colors for any race. For many of my African American characters I think of my own family and use them as an example to write my characters. I remember the first time I realized my uncle’s eye color wasn’t dark brown as I always thought ,but grey. It was eye opening {no pun intended. LOL). There are so many tones of skin, hair and eye color in my family and I’m so used to it.
In Perfect Fit (Singleton, Book #2) my heroine Regina Jacobs is estranged from her husband Spencer. They have known each other from the time they were young—they are childhood sweethearts. On the outside, they seem like they would not fit as a couple. Regina is a sassy woman who goes after what she wants, while Spencer is laid-back and nothing seems to faze him. They are apart due to a tragedy but they still fit each other. Their families know that they do. Spencer and Regina might know it too but time and circumstance makes it difficult for them. Regina and Spencer love each other but…is love enough? This is the question that is at the heart of the book. Even if you love someone sometimes, you have to make hard choices and be willing to let them go or lay it all on the line and lay yourself bare to keep them. This is they have to face. In the Singleton series there are, and will be, a mixture of interracial and multicultural books. Each book explores love that goes to the depth of the person’s soul.
Finding a connection that makes you willing to risk finding your Perfect Fit just as Regina and Spencer have, is in my opinion, priceless.
– Taige Crenshaw
…increasing the sizzle factor
Blurb for Perfect Fit (Singleton, Book #2).
When your love for someone is tested, how do you get beyond the silence and pain to get back to what made you become an us…?
After a busy day, Regina Jacobs gets home to the empty house she used to share with her husband. The sight of the divorce papers waiting for her devastates her. She loves her husband and although they have not lived together for a while or even really talked, she’d thought they could work it out. She pushes off the hurt and embraces the fury. She won’t give up her ‘us’ without a fight. Determined to reclaim the man who she has known was hers from the time she was a teenager, Regina seeks out her husband—the man who knows her heart, soul and body, and sets each aflame.
Spencer Jacobs knows he is doing the right thing in filing for divorce. It is painful but he knows it is necessary. He loves Regina but sometimes love is not enough. When Regina comes to him after receiving the papers, Spencer doesn’t know what to make of her words that he was giving up so easily on them. He’d already fought for them, and is bruised and battered from the loss of the woman who makes him forget all else but being hers. It will take everything he has to return, and this time he know failure means the end.
Can two people who have let the silence between them linger too long find each other again? It will take opening the wounds that led to the silence and getting back to the basic belief to rebuild what has been broken. For these two there is no one else that matches them. Together they are the other half of a…Perfect Fit.
Perfect Fit (Singleton, Book #2) Excerpt:
Regina put down her cup and stood. She strolled towards him, moving with an innate rhythm he’d always found so intoxicating. She stepped into him, pressing close. Automatically, he placed his hands on her hips.
“Had a nice sleep, Spencer.”
Although it wasn’t a question, he answered. “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “It was very restful.”
“I bet.” She studied him, then smiled. “After the show you had.”
Spencer flushed with need. “You knew I was there,” he accused.
“Yes.” Regina straightened his tie. “You said no sex, but nothing about seduction.” She patted his chest. “I like that. I’m good at it.” She rocked against him.
Spencer groaned as she moved on his erection. “Behave, Reggie.”
“You forgot ‘mis’. I’m going to behave, all right. Misbehave. I want you back in my life all the way. Not this partial way with all these rules.” Regina moved her hips again and placed her face close to his, whispering almost on his lips, “Holding out for some belief of being comfortable together is a moot point. I’ve been comfortable with you from the time we met. And even if you deny it, so have you.” She placed her palm flat on his chest, over his heart. “I know your heart and soul. And most assuredly, your body. I know what makes you shiver.”
Spencer shivered.
“What makes you groan just so.” She widened her legs and rotated.
Spencer groaned, shaking.
“And that you belong to me.” Regina grabbed his hair holding him still, her green gaze fierce. “Mine, Spence.”
She slid her hand into his hair, held him firmly and kissed him. Spencer opened wide, moaning. Regina pushed her tongue into his mouth, moving along his, stroking. Spencer gripped her hips, cupping her ass and pulling her against him. He returned her kiss with equal hunger, grunting as she rocked against him. Spencer shuddered, about ready to come in his pants. Regina wrenched away, pulling out of his hold and he stepped forward to get her back.
“Whoa, there.” She put her hand on his chest. “I made my first move. Now it’s your turn to decide what you truly want.” She stepped back, grabbed her purse and briefcase off the stool from by the kitchen island then headed past him. She touched his ass as she did, then said by his ear, “I’m looking forward to our pillow buying excursion.”
Regina chuckled as she left the room. In moments, he heard the front door close. Spencer went to the island and sat, putting his hand on the counter, then under his chin. He slumped forward.
“Damn. I really am screwed.” Spencer rubbed his hands over his eyes then lowered it as he thought of her parting words. The pillow shopping was going to be hell. Not the buying, but what came with it after.
“So screwed.” Spencer rose and went to the door to go to work.
Taige Crenshaw has been enthralled with the written word from time she picked up her first book. It wasn’t long before she started to make up her own tales of romance. With interracial and multicultural novels set in today, in alternate dimensions, or in the future she writes with adventure, fun sassy heroine’s, and sexy hero’s. Always hard at work creating new and exciting places Taige can be found curled up with a hot novel with exciting characters when she is not creating her own. Join her in the fun, frolic, interesting people and far reaches of the world in her novels.
You can find out more about Taige at her website:
https://www.taigecrenshaw.com or blog: https://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog.
Also find her on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taige-Crenshaw/110652119026620. Or twitter: @TaigeCrenshaw.
Where to Buy: https://www.totallybound.com/perfect-fit
Also by Taige Crenshaw:
Also available on Amazon
“Author of Swirling. Advocate for black women finding love across color lines. Creator of The Pink Pill.”
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