February 24, 2016

Author Interview, Excerpt & Giveaway! Trainwreck, Trainwreck #1 by Michele Micheal Rakes


Detective Sergeant Vincent Sweetwater hates dead bodies. That’s why he’s an undercover narc and not a homicide dick. So why is he standing on a sandy beach in California staring at a lifeless body—oh yeah, the suicide attempt. Lieutenant Hanson is making a statement. Something about life worth living. Shows what he knows.

As Vince examines the tortured body, he feels an empathy and déjà vu for the victim, her wounds are similar to scars he has only a vague memory receiving. An intense desire to find her killer fills his queasy belly as a dark game of cat and mouse begins. 

The young woman’s death forces Vince back into a secret life dominated by sex, perversion, and sadomasochism. Estranged from his wife he still loves and longing for the man who possessed him once, Vince buries his torment deep inside meaningless sex.

*Warning: This book contains adult content and situations. NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.




Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Michele Micheal “Mikey” Rakes, author of Trainwreck the series.

Hi Mikey, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Like my character in Trainwreck, I ride a Harley, have a thing for big, tall, powerful men like my husband. And again like my character, Vincent Sweetwater, I have a thing for headstrong women, like my wife who recently lost her battle with cancer. The three of us rode all over the Pacific Northwest, but we never made it to our cross-country trip. This book is about a poly, a triad, and about the dark secrets that plague the main character, Vincent Sweetwater.

Vince is a narcotics cop with a sex addiction. A sex addiction that might kill him, but from disease. No, his sex addiction is violent. He’s so desperate to feel the things his dominant, Greg used to make him feel that he’ll go to a woman with no conscience and let her beat him without mercy. No safewords. Just pure mind fucks and pain.

Do you buy a book because of the cover, the blurb, or something else?

I’d be lying if I said covers don’t catch my eye, but ultimately what makes me buy the book is the blurb. If it has a premise that intrigues me, I’ll buy.

What does ‘romance’ mean to you?

I’m not a typical romance writer, so I’m not sure what it means to others, but for me it means struggle. Nothing comes easy for my characters, so as a reward for their trials and tribulations, I give them someone to love them along the way.

What are your current projects?

Right now, I’m working on polishing up the other four parts of Trainwreck for release, cover art, formatting, and the like. I’m also 80% done with the follow-up to Fourth and Long published by Loose Id. It’s called After Party and will be followed up by the last installment of the series, Maddox and Frank.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

Finding the time. I work twelve to fifteen hours a day at a tasking job. Sometimes I have a hard time pulling out the lap top at the end of the day.

Tell us something about yourself that would surprise people.

I have gender issues. I’m addicted to sex. I’m ADHD. I have a dick in my pants. I’m not sure what would surprise people. I’m really not shocked by anything. I like whips and chains. My husband, on my request, got me a big chain for my birthday. He can chain me to the bed and its long enough to reach the bathroom and the refrigerator in the kitchen. I like to rattle my chains at him for fun. He just stands out of my reach and laughs. I love it!


The room fell silent and he turned back to the freezer. His hand hovered lovingly over the lid before he lifted it. “Hey, pretty. I know what to do with you now. You’re going to meet the son of an old friend.”

The girl had dead-fish eyes. Half-lidded, green once upon a time, they stared unseeing from a frost glittered corpse. Hair like sunburnt grass pricked her high cheekbones and full lips. He smoothed it back stiffly. The realization this would be the last time he felt her youthful body rushed through him like a phantom out of the dark. He was almost surprised at her lack of life.

On a shelf across the room was a black tarp, which he spread on the floor. With singular effort he struggled to get the partially frozen corpse from the freezer. She landed with a sick thud. The man apologized to her as though she were still living, stroking her stiff hair soothingly. He started to roll her in the black plastic, cocooning her in a final darkness, to be reborn from the chrysalis in the morning sunlight. Only then would Vincent Sweetwater come to know her and whom she represented.



Michele Micheal Rakes lives in a small town in the shadow of a big mountain and works as a surgical technologist assisting in the removal of tonsils and testicles. Three grown children, a one year old granddaughter named Thrasher, two psychotic Egyptian Mau’s, a husband with hair down to his knees, an Amazon for a wife, two Harley’s, and a ferret named Teeny Tiny Ferret Feet (husband insists her name Little Feet, we all know he’s wrong) life is gets pretty wild.
Note: Wife recently passed away from cancer and this book is dedicated in loving memory of Mary Louise Castleman. Love you babe!



1 comment:

Ally Swanson said...

Michele ~ Congrats on the new book and good luck on the book tour!!