Interview with D.M. Davis, author of Until You Set Me Free

by grant

in Author Interviews, News, Romance

09 May 2018

What can you tell us about your new release, Until You Set Me Free?

Until You Set Me Free is my debut novel and also the first in my Until You Series, which is about seven men. Some are related by blood, but all of them are brothers, bound to each other by friendship, circumstance, and a love and respect that goes beyond family. The series chronicles the challenges and joys of finding their true love through the eyes of each of the seven men and the ladies lucky enough to draw their attention and possibly their hearts.

The series begins with Joseph McIntyre, the youngest McIntyre brother and one of the heirs to his family’s tech empire, McIntyre Corporate Industries. Joseph is focused on finishing college and beginning his career at MCI. He’s not interested in romantic entanglements of any kind until the fateful day he meets Samantha Cavanagh, his roommate’s sister.

Sexy girl-next-door, Samantha, buries herself in her high school studies, focusing on graduating early from college and heading into a successful tech career. She’s sassy and confident in all things, except when it comes to men, particularly a man named Joseph McIntyre.

Until You Set Me Free is an emotionally charged romance, intertwined with tragedy, that force Joseph and Samantha to choose between their careers, their hearts, and the safety of the ones they love. This is book one in their three-part epic love story that continues in Until You Are Mine and Until You Say I Do.

Which books would we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Tons and tons of religious and educational books that are crazy old and most likely completely useless. I’ve always loved books. Holding them. Smelling them. Considering the impact they may have had on the previous owner’s life. I’ve dreamt of having a library, the kinds you see in movies. Wall to wall books, where you have to use a ladder to access the second story. Can you image—a second story? My grandmother and an aunt were both teachers and descended from ministerial backgrounds. They were book hounds and I was lucky enough to inherit their books. I even have an 1808 copy of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. From the hardcover volumes of Reader’s Digest, to the religious books, to the Longfellow, most are completely useless but they are priceless to me for their sentimentality of who they belong to and the fact that they simply exist. My family gave me the love of books, and I cherish each and every one of them.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

The voices in my head? It makes me sound crazy. I know. This is a second career for me, and I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that this is what I was meant to be doing. I’ve always had stories in my head, even as a little girl. But I never once wrote them down or dreamt of giving them life outside of my imagination. Then a few years ago, after returning to reading after a long absence, I woke up one day with a complete story in my head and decided to write a book. I wrote that book in two and a half months and it was 380,000 words. Then I wrote the sequel, and the third in the series, and still the stories just kept coming, each of them as large as the first. But I was new to writing and the idea of getting a book published was rather daunting and intimidating. So I put that series on hold and started a new series, more standard in length for what the romance market desires. That series is Until You.

My first series that is of epic length, is my Finding Grace series. I plan to revisit it soon in hopes of publishing book one later this year.

Who is your favorite couple from literature?

I’m going to go against the grain here. Anything I could say about the classics has already been said and probably much better than I could say it. So, I’m going to go with a current day couple, one who touched me deeply and stays present in my mind. And let me just say that choosing is not easy. I have three favorite couples and choosing one is like picking my favorite child—it’s wrong and shouldn’t be done (or at least said out loud. 😊). So I’m going to cheat a little, I’ll pick one but share the other two couples with you, as well. It eases my guilt a bit.

Jericho (Barons) and MacKayla (Mac) from the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning are my favorite couple. I’ve never had characters stay with me like these two. This isn’t even a typical romance series, it’s fantasy with bouts of romance. And I crave every single second of interaction between these two. Barons’ background is tragic with devastating consequences. He is dark and broody. His presence demands attention and his confidence and aloofness pull at me like a bee to honey. Mac is Barons-light. She is dark in her own way, but she shines like a beacon, pure of heart and full of good intentions. Her background is only recently tragic. That brings her to Barons, and thus begins their epic romance fraught with peril, death, and mayhem, yet also full of hope and love. These two belong together. I laughed and cried my way through book after book to see that they found their happiness—Barons and Mac style happiness—with lives that are as epic as their love.

Runner Up Favorite Couples:

Hudson and Alayna from The Fixed Trilogy by Laurelin Paige

Gideon and Eva from The Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

My favorite thing about writing is getting lost in the lives of my characters, forgetting that they are simply a figment of my imagination and only live on the page. For me, they are friends and family that I get to experience from the inside out. I laugh and cry as I write their journey and pray, just as readers do, that they find the happily-ever-after they deserve. That we all deserve.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

If I’m not on deadline, and if I’m alone, I’ll spend it reading a book, getting lost in the world of the characters. If my family is home, then we’ll spend it watching a movie, cuddling on the couch, and sharing in the experience of getting lost in that visual world on the screen. Then I’ll cook, and we’ll watch another movie or have game night (board games, no electronics).

What scene in Until You Set Me Free was your favorite to write?

Honestly, any scene where Joseph and Samantha interact. As a reader, I crave that intimate (I don’t mean sexual) connection between characters. The yin and yang, pull and take of dialogue between them. I can’t pick just one scene, but I really enjoyed writing the Thanksgiving week where they first met and try to wrangle in their attraction for each other. It’s steamy and full of angst, and we get to know the two of them as individuals and what they could be like as a couple.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

My two primary beliefs are: it’s never too late, and if you don’t try it’s a no anyway.

I’ve posted a few things on it on social media over the past year or so around these ideals and thought I’d share as I’m a visual person and maybe your readers are too.

It’s never too late.

It’s never too late to ask for more. To expect more. To strive for more. It’s never too late.