Welcome to the first stop on the blog tour for White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig! I am so thrilled to be kicking off this tour. I loved Caleb’s debut, Last Seen Leaving. Like, a lot. I also think Caleb is pretty great. Like, really great. So of course I couldn’t wait to read this book and of course I wanted to be on the blog tour! Today I have a guest post from the author. As a bonus, because I think Caleb and this book are so great, I’m giving away a SIGNED copy of the book! Read on to learn more…
Rufus Holt is having the worst night of his life. It begins with the reappearance of his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian—the guy who stomped his heart out like a spent cigarette. Just as Rufus is getting ready to move on, Sebastian turns up out of the blue, saying they need to “talk.” Things couldn’t get much worse, right?
But then Rufus gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. And then he and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife, beside the dead body of her boyfriend, Fox Whitney.
April swears she didn’t kill Fox—but Rufus knows her too well to believe she’s telling him the whole truth. April has something he needs, though, and her price is his help. Now, with no one to trust but the boy he wants to hate yet can’t stop loving, Rufus has one night to prove his sister’s innocence…or die trying.
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For this guest post I asked Caleb the following question:
One of the things I really love about your books is that, while they are thrillers, the romantic aspect is also really strong. How do you balance the two?
He, of course, wrote a stellar response…
Guest Post:
Murder & Make-outs: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together
If you want my strongest writing tip, here it is: Nothing builds a compelling A-plot like a compelling B-plot. I’ve got a thing for danger, so my books usually center around an adventure or mystery—but my secondary themes are almost always something more intimate, with more personal stakes. A love story is great for this, not only because it shows a more vulnerable side to the characters, but because it provides a sort of escape from the life-and-death action unfolding on the main stage.
It can be tricky to balance murder and make-outs. Unexpected corpses do not generally put people in The Mood, and it can be hard to find time for declarations of love (or like, or lust,) while on the run for your life. But I cut my teeth reading romantic suspense titles I’d nicked from my mom, and it seems to me that love/like/lust is a great counterpoint to life-threatening mayhem. After all, what makes you wish you would have taken a chance—asked that girl out, flirted with the cute barista, swiped left on the boy you feared was out of your league—than facing the possibility that your chances to do so are up?
I should also add that, because I write books about queer teenagers, it’s vital to me that they get to explore their feelings fully within the scope of the story. When I was a teenager, I had no access to novels that accurately and respectfully showed the kind of relationships I desired; and mystery/suspense fiction in particular was needlessly cruel to its gay characters. I write what I wish I’d had then: thrillers where the protagonist gets the boy and saves the day, because both outcomes are equally important for an audience that’s been without them for too long.
But to return to the issue of balance, I’ll say this: it’s the push and pull that makes any story work—be it the structural shift between your A- and B-plots, or even the subtle changes in perspective that emerge from an argument in a single scene on a single page. It’s imperative to pull away from the rising action sometimes, in order to keep the reader wanting more; but the reader also deserves to be satisfied, and sometimes that means turning the camera away from a murder and zooming in on a few heart-pounding kisses.
Thank you so much to Caleb for taking the time to write a guest post. I highly suggest you check out his books!
Tour Schedule:
| YA Bibliophile | 4-17 | Guest Post |
| YA Wednesdays | 4-18 | Moodboard |
| Bookloving Nut | 4-20 | Playlist |
| Read Sleep Repeat | 4-21 | Guest Post |
| Evie Bookish | 4-23 | Interview |
| Ex Libris Kate | 4-24 | Playlist |
Giveaway:
Because I am SO EXCITED for you to read this book I bought an extra copy from Anderson’s Bookshop! Caleb has a tour stop there so the book will be signed! Use the rafflecopter to enter. US only. Must be 13 or older to win.
GIVEAWAY ENDED
Spark
I can’t wait to read this I loved Last Seen Leaving so I’m looking forward to reading this! Thanks for the giveaway.