When Kin Ambassador Mehfawni Ruh visits the capitol planet of the Tarthian Empire, she meets the human Khyff Antonello, a master of pleasure who satisfies her every craving for illicit and taboo sex. She expected a fling, but found love. Upon discovering her own people devastated his family, she longs to restore all they destroyed, but some tragedies can never be reversed. Her family demands she cast out the human, for if she keeps Khyff, she must deny her heritage and abdicate her future as ruler of her world. Mehfawni searches for an alternative, and stumbles upon Khyff's darkest secret. Now, she must decide -- is his fragile trust the response of love and a healing heart -- or a ruse for revenge?
Reviews for For Women Only
J.T. at Romance Junkies, 4.5 Blue Ribbons
"With interplanetary intrigue and political espionage thrown into the churning plot, as well as extra spicy servings of sizzling sensuous scenes, Kayelle Allen effortlessly heats up the passion and keeps the interest intensity on high." http://tinyurl.com/2gy7l7c
Kayelle Allen is a multipublished, award winning romance author whose worldbuilding skills include ten-thousand years of future history, a feline language, and tradestandard laws for the empire where her books take place. Her writing lures you inside each hero's head and seduces you with what he feels and thinks. She thrusts you into the hero's heart and mind, teases and satisfies you with his sexuality and sensual joys, and drags you onto the roller coaster with him when it plunges into the darkness of things-gone-wrong. When you and the hero get off the ride at the end, it's Kayelle's hope you'll be back in line when the next ride starts.
Also by Kayelle Allen
An Interview with Kayelle Allen
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Kayelle, thank you for talking with us at TRS BLUE!
KA: Thank you! I'm always happy to spend time with the staff and readers at TRS.
HH: Please tell us about your featured book, For Women Only.
KA: The official title is Antonello Brothers 2: For Women Only (a Tarthian Empire Book). Here are the tag and blurb:
Khyff is a master of pleasure with a tortured soul. Can Mehfawni redeem the man her people destroyed, or will he destroy her for trying?
When Kin Ambassador Mehfawni Ruh visits the capitol planet of the Tarthian Empire, she meets the human Khyff Antonello, a master of pleasure who satisfies her every craving for illicit and taboo sex. She expects a fling, but finds love. Upon discovering her own people devastated Khyff's family, she longs to restore all they destroyed, but some tragedies can never be reversed. Her family demands she cast out the human, for if she keeps Khyff, she must deny her heritage and abdicate her future as ruler of her world. Mehfawni searches for an alternative, and stumbles upon Khyff's darkest secret. Now, she must decide -- is his fragile trust the response of love and a healing heart -- or a ruse for revenge?
HH: is the second in your Antonello Brothers series. Where did the idea for the series come from?
KA: Years ago, I had an idea for a brother/sister team of thieves who lived by their wits and skill. When I decided to write for publication, I pulled out one of the scenes and changed it to two brothers. This became the opening of At the Mercy of Her Pleasure. Senth is watching Khyff's back while he "services" a client in an alley. Khyff is a pleasure slave forced into prostitution. At the Mercy of Her Pleasure was about the younger brother helping free the older one, and For Women Only developed from twists and turns in that. Khyff was too yummy not to have his own book, and because he detested the feline-humanoid Kin so much, I knew I had to give him a Kin heroine. The entire structure of For Women Only was about learning to overcome prejudice and becoming able to trust. Khyff had a baptism by fire. To save his brother's life he had no choice but to embrace the very culture and people he feared most. It was no easy task. It took him back to a past he'd forced himself to forget, and forced him to face his demons. The book is a story of redemption.
HH: Your heroine is in a difficult situation. She's fallen for a man whose family hers destroyed. What did you like best about this particular story?
KA: Both hero and heroine are fish-out-of-water. Neither is in a familiar culture, and the hero has deep-seated resentment and even hatred for the heroine's people. Watching his trust and love for her unfurl like a flag was delightful. For Mehfawni, whose life was structured, filled with duty, and who was one of the elite warrior class, it was shocking to her to discover her world's customs were perpetuating myths and destroying any hope of freedom for far more than two-thirds of its citizens. Her relationship with Khyff forced her to rethink privileges that she'd accepted as her right. Both characters came away with a broader view of the world, when they'd entered the relationship each sure their ways were the best, with no room for opposing views.
HH: What do you like best about Mehfawni and how do you relate to her?
KA: Mehfawni showed us the true spirit of the Kin, especially the warrior class. Duty and honor meant everything to her, until she realized that to fulfill them, she'd have to send away the man she loved. One of the things I admire about Mehfawni is her strength and compassion. She has the ability to see the big picture. Like Peter the Great, who swore he would drag his country into the modern world kicking and screaming if necessary, Mehfawni wants to modernize her homeworld. Her vision of the future is the reason she is targeted by the empress, who wants to control their world. When Mehfawni steps up to do the right thing, both her family and the empress try to tear her down. She does not stop fighting no matter what, and once she knows the truth, she is undaunted in pursuing justice. Mehfawni is one of the strongest and most noble characters I've ever written.
HH: How does this series tie to your Tarthian Empire world?
KA: The Antonello Brothers series takes place in the empire, and overlaps other stories in the same time period and setting. All the books set in the Tarthian Empire include the immortal Luc Saint-Cyr, who is the adoptive father of Senth, the youngest Antonello brother. In For Women Only, Luc treats Khyff as his son as well. Luc is fond of him, and appears to have plans for his future. Neither of the boys knows Luc is immortal, and he's happy keeping it that way, at least for now. We'll see whether the boys learn the truth in upcoming books. The current books set in the empire are For Women Only, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Surrender Love, and the Tales of the Chosen trilogy: Wulf, Alitus, and Jawk.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers?
KA: I'm writing a third Antonello Brothers book. Because it's incomplete, I can't give much detail about it, but I will say that Khyff and Senth will learn that they are not the only Antonello boys. I'm currently completing Surrender Trust, the sequel to Surrender Love, and am not certain yet whether I'll write the Antonello book next, or work on Surrender Will. Both are high on the agenda of things to do. I'm also planning a new series, and working on anthologies. I'm creating an online character journal that will launch when Surrender Trust comes out, hopefully, early next year. It will include pictures from the empire and provide details and inside stories that don't appear in the Surrender trilogy.
HH: As an author, has eBook piracy had an impact on you?
KA: Yes. I'm sad to say that it has. Tracking down unlawful copies of my books posted on the Internet takes time that I'd rather spend writing. However, when one person uploads a book to a "free site" for others to download at no cost, my income is being stolen. I will take action to stop it. Piracy isn't clever. It's dirty, nasty, and it's stealing, plain, and simple. It's no different from a hacker tapping into a payroll account and siphoning off some of it, then sharing the pass code with others so they can take some too. As an author, I work hard, and it's disheartening to discover that someone has essentially pilfered a few cases worth of my books and handed them out to all comers. It's stealing from me, the publisher, the cover artist, the editors, and even the bookstores. I'm proud of TRS for taking a stand against eBook piracy. Thank you for doing that.
HH: What made you want to become an author in the first place?
KA: Being able to affect people, to make them see, hear, feel, taste, and even smell a new world by reading what I'd written. That hasn't changed for me. It's exciting to hear how people feel when they read a book. That reaction is why I want to write. I knew going into it that there were few authors who truly "made it big" but that didn't matter. I wanted two things: to write, and make a living. To do both through the same avenue would be perfect.
HH: What is your happiest moment as an author to this point?
KA: Hands down, it happened in Atlanta this year. I was a guest speaker at Outlantacon, a wonderful science fiction and gaming convention with a GLBT slant. This was the con's second year, and my second time appearing. I had an absolute blast, but the moment that made it my happiest was on the last night. There were several authors doing readings, including Kiernan Kelly, Cecilia Tan, Andrew Greenberg, and myself. I introduced myself and held up the book I would be reading from, Wulf. A young man in the audience asked, "You wrote Wulf?" When I said yes, he declared, "I have to give you a hug!" He stood up, came to the front, wrapped his arms around me, and thanked me. That had to be one of the greatest moments of my life.
HH: Any big plans for the fall?
KA: Writing, doing a blog tour, working on my website, and collaborating with my son Jamin on a new project. He's launching Nimajination Studios, which up to now has been more of a hobby than a job. He created nearly all the artwork (other than covers) on my website, and has worked for a few others doing various types of graphic design. I'm the silent partner in the background, and I'm enjoying watching him grow. He'll be creating a website to showcase his work, but in the meantime, he's on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/fb-nimajination and Twitter http://twitter.com/Nimajination. The two of us are having great fun with this. He'll now be able to do more sophisticated work for my website, as well as be available to work with other authors, publishers, and so on.
This fall, one other thing I'd like to do is find a good TV show to watch. I was a huge fan of 24, and never missed a first run broadcast in the entire eight years it played. Nothing can ever take its place, and I'm not sure I would want it to. I swear I needed tranquilizers just to get through each episode. I would yell "Noooo!" at the clock at the end of each hour. But it introduced me to actor Dennis Haysbert, who became the model for my character, Luc Saint-Cyr. Because I enjoy a good drama, I'm looking forward to finding another one. Although all my books have a healthy serving of humor, I'm not a fan of comedies. I watch one now and then, because that's my husband's favorite kind of program and I enjoy sharing laughter with him. He especially enjoys romantic comedy movies. But when it's my turn to pick a video, it's going to be a wham-bam kick-ass action flick. We are not the usual couple.
