Deadly Days Guest: Ann Aguirre Back to Blog
Update: The winner of a SKIN TIGHT copy is…Raelena!! Congrats!! I will email you with prize claim details. Thanks for all the comments!
First, thanks to Cindy for having me today! Today is the release of SKIN TIGHT, which features one of my favorite heroes of fall time. Why? Because he’s an antagonist in the first book, and I love a redemption. He also does something fairly despicable in SKIN GAME, which made for a fun setup for his romance with his heroine. She’s pretty freakin’ mad at him when their book starts. In fact, she’s pretty devoted to the idea of taking him down. How does that change? Well, you need to read the book.
But villain to hero is one of my favorite tropes in general because I love a redemption story. When an author can sell me on the reformation of this character, it blows my mind. That takes true skill, especially if that person aroused your antipathy in a prior volume. Kimberly Cates does this brilliantly in Briar Rose; Lionel was a wonderful villain, and then he gets his own book.
How do you guys feel about redemption arcs and the villain getting his own story? What are some of your favorites? A random commenter will receive a copy of SKIN TIGHT.
I cannot wait to read Skin Tight. Now that that’s out of the way, I love the idea of redemption and that the villain from one book would become the hero of another. Come to think of it, I can’t bring a single instance to mind where it involves a true villain. I’ll be checking back to see what everyone else has to say. I love finding new things to read.
Thanks for coming by, Ann! I loved Skin Tight and I know readers will be thrilled with this book!
Oh, Skin Tight looks like my kind of read. I enjoy stories where the villain redeems himself and has to do a lot of grovelling, especially where the heroine is concerned…hehe!!!
I’m also looking forward to hear about other books that are recommended.
from Germany
I love a good redemption story, you just can’t beat them! A true villain turning to hero is my type of book! Thanks for the chance to read Skin Tight, sounds like an awesome read!
Skin Tight sounds fantastic- and I do enjoy a good redemption story. As for one that I enjoy… gosh – for tv it’s easier. Maybe The Pretender or Burn Notice? Granted it’s because they were misguided… Human Target too. Does that count since it was a graphic novel first?
Otherwise… female villain. Shannon McKenna’s Tamara, who gets her own story in Ultimate Weapon. love Tam.
@limecello I loved watching The Pretender.
I think redemption stories are the hardest to carry off since it would depend on the villian. How bad is he, and can the reader put aside what he has done that makes him “evil/bad”? Recent books I enjoyed in which villains get their own stories/redemption are Midnight’s Master, A Duke of Her Own (Eloisa James), and The Shattered Sylph (L.J. McDonald).
Interesting post! Right now I can’t remember a story where a real villain redeems himself, but I would be very curious to read one. SKIN TIGHT sounds really interesting!
I love villains almost as much as I love the hero! But I can’t think of a good redemption book right now. Although, one of my favorite books, Dark Desires by Eve Silver, you don’t know until the very end if the hero is actually good or bad.
Skin Tight sounds like a really good book!
Whether or not I like a redemption story depends on how it’s done. For some reason, it seems to me that television shows do the worst job of this, because they tend to redeem characters based on audience popularity rather than because it makes sense for the villain him- or herself. That said, I do believe a villain can be successfully redeemed in fiction, and I even embrace it, if the course of redemption isn’t made too easy for him or her and it makes sense for him or her character. Anyway, I look forward to reading Skin Tight. Thanks to Ann for stopping by, and thanks for the terrific giveaway!
Happy Release Day! Love the cover… I enjoy redemption stories… Why not let a character change his ways or learn from mistakes… nobody is perfect… give them a chance to have a better life and a chance at love!
Kimberly, are you thinking about Sylar on Heroes? *g*
I too enjoy a good redemption stories. One book that comes to mind is Devil In Winter; Sebastian was an asss in It Happened One Autumn but he gets redeemed in DIW
Hi Ann & Cynthia! I love redemption arcs. I love it when the bad boy or villian gets a chance to find love or to change. That doesn’t mean he/she can’t be bad every once in a while still, right? I have really been looking forward to reading the Skin series. I have them on my TBB list. Thanks for the contest.
Happy release day! I love redemption stories too. I think it shows that you had a multi-faceted bad guy in the first place to be able to transform him into the hero. Besides, bad guys are interesting. They have an edge.
Skin Tight sounds like a very good read!! I like the idea of the villain getting his own book. We seem to go for some of your villains, as long as they don’t go to far in left field 🙂 I am going to have to read this. I know I have read a redemption book, but can’t come up with one off the top of my head 🙁
Thanks for the chance to win Skin Tight.I like redemption stories.I usually like the villain anyways,so I like it when we read about him redeeming himself.
It’s amazing to watch a character evolve in any story but most especially with a redemption theme is included. You never know how his/her experiences are going to not only his future actions but also of those around him.
Love the cover of your story and can’t wait to get more aquainted with your writing! Thanks for stopping in today.
DragonStar1974@aol.com
Hi Ann 😀 congrats on the release!! hope you have a wonderful day!
I like redemption stories, that means the villain has a good side and I love to read his story. The first book that came to my mind was The Vampire’s Bride by Gena Showalter – he was kind of a villain in the first books of the series…
wish you all the best, Ina
Hi Ann, Skin Tight sounds great. I’m all for redemption. The first Character I can think of is Larissa Ione’s Lore.
Enjoyed reading the comments. I can’t recall reading many stories where the villian turns into a good-guy. Would like to read one and this one sounds really interesting.
Happy Release Day, Ann. I love redemption stories and one of my favorites is Lisa Kleypas’ “Worthy Any Price.” Nick was somewhat of a villain in the previous book “Lady Sophia’s Lover.”
Interesting sounding book…would like to read it sometime.
I so want to read this Ann Aguirre is an awesome writer with books that I love to dive into.
bbricke AT yahoo DOT com
Sorry hit the button before I meant to. I love stories where the villain gets his/her say. Maybe they aren’t villains after all but just misunderstood.
I think where the villian in one books turns into a hero in another book can be very interesting especially if you get to see how the character changed and what lead to the change.
i love it when a villain gets his own story. i like reading redemption stories and reading the change in the character to make him a hero. it’s not often i read a good anti-hero. my favorite would have to be sebastian from lisa kleypas’s devil in winter (who the the “villain” in it happened one autumn).
Redemption stories can be all sorts of awesome! IF done right! If the character does a 180 in the first 3 pages….well there had better be a damn good reason!
I am really looking forward to reading this Ann!!
I love redemption stories, especially when a dark hero is a borderline villan who we get to watch become a better man. Anne Stuart’s romances are classic for these kind of heroes.
Hello, All.
I like th villians getting their own stories. Many times, we find out why he was a “villian” and maybe he’s an ok guy, after all!
I love the villian to hero because he reminds me so much of my other favorite – the tortured hero!! Villians to heroes usually have the same tortured dark past that makes you want to save them. Congrats on the release
Kinda of like a storyline that has the villian turning to a hero 🙂 Favorite of mine is MIDNIGHT’S MASTER, Niol was AWESOME 😀
Congratulations on your release today Ann!!!
Hi, Ann!!!! I’m SO excited about Skin Tight’s release–I’m happily reading away, and now I can’t wait until January. *sigh*
As for redemption arcs, I love it when the author can pull such a transformation off–like Raonaid, one keeper is Kleypas’s Devil in Winter, where the villain of the previous book is brought to his knees in a lovely way 🙂
I always look forward to reading a new series! This one looks like it will be an amazing read. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
funny on Skin Tight release day is today…. I noticed that a certain bookstore around here had it on its shelves Saturday along with Red Demon by Deidre Knight(only one copy left of RD though, so I picked that one up)when I went out for Chinese with mom..
Redemption books are good if there is something to redeem.. 🙂
I LOVE redemption arcs. There are always 2 sides to a story so it is interesting to see the villain in a different light.
Redemptions stories are always interesting, I love seeing the other side of the “bad guy”.
I agree with you. Seeing a villain from a previous book turned into the hero of another is incredibly appealing. I suppose part of the reason is that I truly love characters who are not perfect as well as heroes who are “bad boys”. But aside from that, it seems that the author needs to delve deeper into such a character to show reader’s reasonable explanations behind previous actions and current ones. It takes talent to make that believable.
Now it will depend on the the villian. some as far as I am concerned are unredeemable. If they rape or beat up on kids or woman or old folks they would be unredeemable in my eyes. But if they are just bad boy villians then go ahead redeem away. As long as I can buy it I will like it lol.
I like a good redemption hero. I see some favorites already mentioned here – Niol in Midnight Master, Nick in Worth Any Price; also another Kleypas hero, Hardy Cates turns hero in Blue-Eyed Devil. Another – Reggie Davenport was the drunken wastrel villain in Putney’s The Diabolical Baron, turned hero in one of my alltime favorites, The Rake aka The Rake and the Reformer.
I think it totally depends on the extent of the character’s deeds. If he was a total douche-bag…well needless to say it would it would require major convincing for me to overcome his errors. However, saying that I still love a redeemable character so I would definitely be up for a hard to love character getting their own story.
Congratulations on your new release. I love when an antagonist is redeemed. I just finished one from Katie MacAlister, Love in the Time of Dragons and Baltic as the previous baddie. And of course our own Cynthia’s Niol.
I do enjoy a redeemed villain, it’s so much fun to see how the author comes up with a way to make this formerly unlikeable character the focus of their own book – and a hero. I’m looking forward to starting on this series, since I’ve loved everything else I’ve read by Ann.
I agree this book sounds interesting yet awesome deff will be checking it out sounds well awesome
I read the first book in this series, and I loved it! Defferent from what I was used to, which was a cool mix up! And I can’t wait to read this one;I’ve really been looking forward to it!
My favorite would have to be Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas 🙂
I think if an author can take a villian and put him in a believeable story of redemption, I’d totally want to read it. I don’t recall any instances of this happening with any villians in the romances I’ve read.
The only villian who got his own book that I can think of was Hannibal Lecter who ends up with the heroine in the last novel, HANNIBAL, but he doesn’t really find redemption.
I love redemption stories. Skin Tight sounds great. Love the cover.
I think redemption stories are great…but it does depend on what they are being redeemed from. I look forward to reading this series!!!
I agree, redemptiopn stories can be amazing if done well. I simply love that idea that even villains have something good even if deep inside, and it’s even better if a woman helps them overcome their badness and make them a better man. But it is harder for an author to make a redemption story believable and good, it is quite a challenge compared to the initial setting of having a good, noble, kind hearted hero enter the scene.
One of the best redemption arcs that comes to my mind right now is the story of Angel (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), how he tried to atone for all his evil deeds.
Happy Release Day. I do enjoy redemption stories. That’s what JR Ward’s Fallen Angels series is about.