Zara West, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your book.
Within the Skin is a sexy-hot twisted Cinderella tale of betrayal, love and redemption set in Williamsburg Brooklyn. It is the third book in the Skin Quartet series and, like the first two books in the series, Beneath the Skin and Close to the Skin, stars graffiti and tattoo artists hoping to make better lives for themselves, but being thwarted at every turn by the criminal life around them.

Within the Skin by Zara West

Genre Romantic Suspense
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R Sexy-hot
Known as El Toro, street artist Alba Vargas is on the cusp of fame and fortune. Winner of a prestigious award, she is the toast of the New York City art scene. Or at least she will be, once she figures out how to act like a woman after living disguised as a boy for six years. If she is lucky, she might even attract the attention of the tattoo artist she has long loved from afar.
Tattoo artist Fernando Pharaoh has betrayed everyone who ever cared about him, including El Toro, the street-wise graffiti artist who saved his life when all looked bleak. Depressed, he turns from his friends and becomes ensnared in a criminal enterprise run by a former enemy.
Then the crime boss kidnaps Toro’s younger brother, Hanger. Blaming himself, Pharaoh sets out to rescue him, resolving to do one good thing in his life. But Toro has her own desperate plan to save her brother—one that will not only break Pharaoh’s heart—but will also destroy every hope and dream she has ever had.
Why did you write this book?
The hero and heroine of Within the Skin were secondary characters in Books 1 and 2 of the Skin Quartet. But my readers loved them so much that they asked if they could have their own love story. So in book 3, Toro and Pharaoh are now all grown up and going their separate ways until Toro’s younger brother is kidnapped and they have to work together to save him. Book 4 which is in press will be the younger brother’s love story.
What is your favorite genre to read?
I am an eclectic reader. I read every kind of book there is. However, my favorite books are page-turners with lots of action or mystery or secrets and hopefully, a happy or satisfying ending. That means I read a lot of romantic suspense. If anyone is curious about my reading, I regularly post book reviews on Goodreads and on my blog.
Who is your favorite character from fiction (not including your own)?
This is very hard for me to answer because if I don’t fall in love with at least one character in a book, I have a hard time reading it. I guess my current favorite is the hero of Jaima Fixen’s Incognito, Alistair who despite a missing leg and a wry sense of humor, is a true hero. I especially like that he admits fear, but then does the brave thing.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a Christmas story from my newsletter subscribers. My Facebook Fan Club suggested that the main heroine and hero in the story be a carpenter and a shepherd which made writing it a bit of a challenge. But I think they will love the resulting love story.
What books will we see from you in coming months?
Book 4 in the Skin Quartet series is under contract and in the editing stage. I am hoping to see in in print early next year. Then I have a series of contemporary eco-romances I am working on set in Nova Scotia. Although that might be far away from the Brooklyn setting of the Skin Quartet series, it’s really not. In each book, one of the main characters comes from Brooklyn.

Where to buy Within the Skin

Publisher https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/6011-within-the-skin.html
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Within-Skin-Quartet-Zara-West-ebook/dp/B07G6TZS4V
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/within-the-skin-zara-west/1129103540
Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Zara_West_Within_the_Skin?id=P8NtDwAAQBAJ
iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/within-the-skin/id1425353156?m
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/within-the-skin

Zara West Social Media

Award-winning author Zara West loves all things mysterious, adventurous, and heart-stopping as long as they lead to true love. Swept off her feet by her own Indiana Jones, Zara has followed sheep and goats up and down mountainsides in Greece, Crete, and Italy, been stranded on the banks of the Rhine with no money and one chocolate bar, and while she has never been kidnapped, she has been abandoned on an island in the middle of the wilderness for longer than she wants to remember. Now she writes books for the romantic adventurer in us all.
Website https://zarawestbooks.com
Blog https://www.zarawestsuspense.com/blog
Twitter https://www.twitter.com/zarawestauthor
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/zarawestsuspense.com
Facebook Zara’s Super Fan Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052136861552338/
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/zarawest0221
Goodreads http://bit.ly/zara-west-gr
Amazon Author Page http://bit.ly/Zara-West-Author-Page
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/zara-west
Newsletter https://www.zarawestsuspense.com/connect-2/sign-up/
Instagram http://bit.ly/zara-on-insta
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_NzWuKXv7JzwwrSbgUO0Q