INTERVIEW WITH CARLIE SEXTON: TODAY

Beholden

To You



Carlie Sexton

Interview



Rad-Reader:  This may sound like a crazy question but...

As a mom you were very graphic about her being a virgin (nice) I'm glad, I don't think even in 2014 many parents have the talk with their daughters about their first sexual encounter.  So, that being said: Why did you choose to add it?

Carlie:  1) I wanted to show how special her relationship was with her mother. I personally watched my mom die of ovarian cancer, but she and I weren't that close. She didn't give me any words of wisdom and we didn't share any special moments. 2) I didn't elaborate on this, but Natalie doesn't just go to church on Christmas Eve (even though she was too sick for her and Mac to go), she goes regularly. So, her parents raised her with old-fashioned values. 3) I wanted it to be a big deal that they woke up in bed together and had been intimate. Because it is a big deal. If she had had a lot of boyfriends, then it would have downplayed what she was going through because of what happened.  

Rad-Reader:    Was Mac getting overly scary possessive at the bar to be a warning bell to her?  You know when the bought her the drink the morning of?  Or did you decided to scale back his personality as the story went on?

Carlie:  I wanted to make Mac a more complicated man. He is aggressive, jealous, nurturing, genuine, loving. I wanted the reader to feel his intensity for Natalie, even though he couldn't understand it himself. I have personally had the love at first sight experience and it a roller coaster ride. So, Mac is a little cave Manish when it comes to his woman. His strong reaction to another guy hitting on Natalie indicates to him that he is already falling in love with her because I explain through his thoughts that he hadn't had reactions like that with other girlfriends.

Rad-Reader:    They keep referring to Roger in regards to Kate.  Is he an ex-boyfriend or a stalker?

Carlie:    Roger is a stalker/serial killer from my trilogy, The Killer Next Door series. The time frame overlaps, so he had to be mentioned because Kate was going through a hard time due to Roger. I didn't want to go into too much detail about Roger because the story is about Mac and Natalie.

Rad-Reader:  What is the deal with Mitch?  I almost get the feeling at one time he had feelings for her, yes?

Carlie:    Mitch has a very protective nature. He had to protect Charlie, which will come out in Forgotten by You (Mitch and Charlie's story). He has known Natalie for a long time and knew about how hurt she had been from her previous boyfriend. He doesn't want to see her hurt again and recognizes how fragile she is. He is similar with Kate in Fallen for You, book 1 in the KND series.

Rad-Reader:  How did you come up with the whole storyline?

Carlie:  When I was writing the KND series, I began thinking that Natalie needed someone and so did Mac. So, I had them meet in book 2, Taken by You. I wasn't sure if I was going to spin them off until a few bloggers asked me when their story was coming out. They loved the interaction between Mac and Natalie when they met. So, I started getting ideas for their story and set it up at the end of Given to You, book 3 in the trilogy.

Rad-Reader:  Do you know people that resemble the characters in this story at all?

Carlie:  Funny you should ask. This all started because I decided to write about my own experience living next door to a serial killer when I was in college. That's the premise of my trilogy. I took my interactions with him as a base for the story and added in a romance. I did work at Nordstrom with a woman named Natalie a very long time ago. Mac and Neil are modeled after my husband to a degree when he was pursuing me. One of the things that drew me to him was his passion. My husband was pushy and demanding in some ways, but he knew what he wanted. He's also tender, kind, loving, very intelligent, complicated, and emotional.  Definitely not the typical man whose primary needs are food and sex. My hubby reads me and knows what is wrong before I do sometimes. Mac is that way with Natalie. They are connected in a way that cannot be broken, just like my hubby and myself.

Rad-Reader:  Give me 3 words to describe Mac and Natalie.

Carlie:  Meant to be.

Rad-Reader:  In the real world would you want the one you love to handle your life/ lives the way Mac did?  

A) Not tell her about Cassie's actions at first chance?

B) Hiring bodyguards to follow her?

C) Pressuring her to go public before she was ready?

Carlie:  When I really lived next door to a serial killer, I would have loved to have had the feeling of protection. He was the apartment building manager and had a key to my apartment. He also liked me. I eventually had to move after he told me about his girlfriend's murder with tears in his eyes. I had to play along and tell him not to worry. The police couldn't arrest because he hadn't done anything wrong~ but he was her killer. So yes, I would have loved a man looking after me, protecting me, looking out for my best interest whether I knew everything or not. 

In Natalie's case, Mac knows she will run if he reveals what Cassie is up too. She'd be freaked out to have bodyguards, and he feels like she would be safer if they were just together. He's a man who wants what he wants. They agreed to stay married, so he wants to move their relationship along.

Rad-Reader:  If your book was made into a movie who would you want to play Mac & Natalie etc...

Carlie:  Mac would have to be Justice Joslin, my muse. Natalie would be Amanda Seyfried, Kate would be Chrishell Stause, Neil would be Aiden Turner, Charlie would be Mila Kunis, but I haven't figured out Mitch yet. Still looking for a muse for him.

Mac: Justice Joslin
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/549439223262020374/

Nat: Amanda Seyfried
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/168744317262957704/

Kate: Chrishell Stause
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/754353006307438838/

Neil: Aiden Turner
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342414377898937589/

Charlie: Mila Kunis 
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/246009198366063415/

Rad-Reader:  Really enjoyed the twists toward the ending. A lot going on.  But still feel like I came in the middle somewhere.  Was there a book before this?

Carlie:  The books before this I mentioned above, but they are Fallen for You, Taken by You, and Given to You (The Killer Next Door series) When the book after this comes out? I am currently writing Charlie and Mitch's story, Forgotten by You. Their timeline is after everything has happened to Natalie and Kate, but they have a tragedy and twists and turns of their own to deal with. I will keep Natalie, Mac, Kate, and Neil alive in this story because they are all best friends. And best friends have your back! I don't have a release date, but I am hoping for an end of March/beginning of April.  CUZZZ I need to know what happens.  :)