Today’s featured book is Deceit and Devotion by Faye Hall. 

Murder, lies, deception, and love set in the outback under the Australian sun.
These are the stories of Faye Hall.
Her passion driven, mystery filled books are set in North Queensland, Australia during the development of the townships at the end of the 19th century.
Each of her novels bring something symbolically Australian to her readers, from Aboriginal herbal remedies, to certain gemstones naturally only found in this part of the world.
Each of her books tell of a passionate connection between the hero and heroine, surrounded and threatened by deceit, scandal, theft and sometimes even murder.
These romances swerve from the traditional romances as Faye aims to give her readers so much more intrigue, whilst also revealing the hidden histories of rural townships of North Queensland.
Faye finds her inspiration from the histories of not only the township she grew up in, but the many surrounding it. She also bases most of her characters on her own ancestors and their adventures when first migrating to Australia.
Faye was able to live her own passion driven romance, marrying the love of her life after a whirlwind romance in 2013. Together they are raising their 9 children in a remote country town in northern Queensland, Australia.

Title Deceit and Devotion

Genre Historical romance / Interracial romance

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

“I will pay you to sleep with my wife.”

Jarrah Miyan, a young half-caste aboriginal man, is supposed to seduce a white woman into an affair so her greed-driven husband can gain full control of her inheritance, including the rare collection of black opals she keeps under lock and key. When he walks into the study to meet the poor chit he’s to take advantage of, he expects to find an aging woman who smells of stale perfume and gin. Who he finds though is the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on—the same woman whose pale thighs had been wrapped around him just a few hours earlier as she’d begged him to give her pleasure.

After their night of passion together, Emily Holtz doubted she would ever see Jarrah again. To have him standing before her now, asking for employment at her cattle station, was not a situation she had prepared herself for. She agrees to hire him on one condition. He has to spy on her husband and get her the incriminating evidence she needs to apply for a divorce. She’s spent years in a miserable arranged marriage, and she’s desperate to escape. But her husband is a dangerous man, and he will stop at nothing, including murder, to get what he wants.

As they begin to develop feelings for each other, Jarrah worries about what will happen when Emily discovers that he’s been working for both her and her husband. Not that they could ever really be together, as society would never accept that.

Content Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence.

Stressing The Hero

Every hero has a story. He has a background, a history, and a past. This interview allows us to meet a hero and get to know him better, by focusing on how he handles being relaxed, as well as how he handles stress.

This hero is at a party. Considering his story, describe the party.

Jarrah would be being paid to attend and serve the wealthy guests alcohol.  He would also be required to ensure no fights broke out amongst the drinking guests.

How does the hero feel about being this particular party, and what body language is he displaying that gives it away?

Jarrah would be constantly on guard, knowing that he needed to remember his place as a worker.  He keeps his eyes lowered, knowing better than to try and look any guest in the eye.  His answers to any questions would be short and soft.

Is he more likely to mingle or remain aloof? 

Jarrah would be forced to mingle but would take any opportunity to escape.

If he drinks, what is his drink of choice at this party? 

Jarrah isn’t allowed to drink.

How much drink is his usual?

Jarrah isn’t allowed to drink.

The hero figures out where the hiding places are and then goes there. Is it to hide, to avoid someone, or to go drag a friend back to the party?

Jarrah would be more inclined to want to hide, however he would welcome the chance to avoid his employer.

Is he likely to latch onto a friend and stay with him/her and ignore others, or is he the friend that others latch onto?

If Emily Holtz was at the party then Jarrah would stay as close to her side as was possible, ignoring any others that were there.

If someone picked a fight at this party, how is the hero going to handle it?

It would be Jarrah’s job to break up the fight, but he wouldn’t willingly get involved.

Is the hero the one most likely to get tossed out of the party, or the one who does the tossing?

As a half-caste aboriginal man, Jarrah wouldn’t be allowed to lay his hands on any wealthy white guest.  If he did then he would be tossed out on his ear or worse.

Will he know when to leave, or stay late and make a nuisance of himself?

Jarrah would know when to leave.

How does the hero handle it if the cops or some other authority figure pulls him aside when he was blameless in a situation?

Jarrah automatically tenses, knowing that he made an easy scapegoat for anyone making trouble.

How does the hero react to hearing a scream?

It fills him with dread, and Jarrah would automatically go and investigate.

If he sees someone being assaulted, what is the FIRST thing that crosses his mind?

If it were men fighting, Jarrah would instantly think they were fighting over a woman and he shouldn’t interfere.

If he sees someone being assaulted, what is the FIRST thing he does?

Jarrah would try to rescue them, though he would have to be mindful not to become involved.

This hero attempts to rescue someone and realizes that he is in over his head. The odds are against him and there is no way out. He is going to get his butt handed to him. What does he do?

Jarrah would struggle to get the better of his opponent until he could make some kind of escape.

The hero runs into the one person from his past he wanted to avoid. He can’t get out of the situation and must interact with him/her in some way. What does he do?

He keeps his answers short and cold.  He doesn’t want to get involved.

Someone younger than the hero is in charge of the situation, and they are handling it badly, perhaps bungling things. How does the hero deal with it?

Carefully make suggestions to make the other person think they were his idea until the matter improves.

The hero is in physical pain but must bear up under it and keep going. What does he tell himself in order to get through the situation?

Jarrah would remind himself that he was doing this for Emily, the lady he loves, and that he must survive and return to her to ensure her safety incase her husband tried to find her.

What mentor’s words come to mind in a bad situation? When Emily left her husband for Jarrah, she told him that she never saw his color; only him.  He remembered this in hoped that there were others who could look at him the same.

What lesson from his past gets him through a stressful situation?

Jarrah learnt from an early age to depend on no one other than himself.  In a stressful situation he would fall back on his wits and independence until the situation improved.

Publisher http://beachwalkpress.com/faye-hall/

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DPIMSMW

Website http://www.faye-hall.com

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Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6882637.Faye_Hall

Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DPIMSMW