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Today Lexy Delorme is back with another book from her Limerent series, Caio. Because of the unique design of her series you can read Caio as a standalone and a great way to enter into to Limerent world. In today's interview Lexy talks about writing craft but you can enjoy her first interview and information about Bright Midnights HERE.
About the Book
Sarah Baker is a paralegal in a law firm in modern-day Brooklyn. Her life is bouncing between her abusive lawyer boyfriend, the voices she hears in her head and her soul-sucking work at the law firm. On a New York spring day, she meets Caio as he plays basketball on a street court.
He is alluring, intriguing and young. Yet that’s the least of his mystery, for Caio was beaten, thrown into a hole and left to die. In 1905.
Publisher: Limerent Publishing
ISBN-13: 979-8987488096
ASIN: B0DVQ6VX3R
Publication Date: Feb. 11, 2023
Print length: 307 pages
We're also inviting readers to participate in our Reader Review event. You can sign up by emailing: jodiwebb9@gmail.com and she will get you a copy of the book! You don't need to be a blogger to join in on this event; anyone who can leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon can participate and receive a copy of Caio - both print and ebooks are available. By leaving a review, you'll also be entered in a drawing to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
Caio, a book in the Limerent series, is available in print and as an ebook at LS Delorme, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Add it to your Goodreads list.
About the Author
Author Lexy Shaw Delorme, writing as LS Delorme, is the award-winning author of The Limerent Series, a genre-defying collection of emotionally resonant novels that blend supernatural mystery, psychological thriller, historical fiction, and romantic suspense. With a background as a lawyer, pop musician, and science writer, Lexy brings intellectual depth and lyrical prose to every story she tells. Now based in Paris, she lives with her French husband and two very cool sons. Her work explores themes of limerence, memory, identity, and the echoes of past lives—and she’s not afraid to push boundaries along the way.
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--Interview by Jodi M. Webb
WOW: Welcome back, Lexy. Earlier this year we featured Bright Midnights from your Limerent series and this time we’re featuring Caio. Although your books are all in the same series each has a different feel. What types of readers do you think will enjoy Caio?
Lexy: Each of my books explores a different theme. Bright Midnights looked at the different forms of attraction. The good the bad and the ugly, if you will. Caio explores the theme of appearance versus reality. I want to explore the full spectrum of people situations and concepts within this thing. Ouch, that sounded way too “final examine a literature class”. In short, I think the sort of people who will like Caio, will be the sort of person who likes or will like most of my books.
They are perfect for somebody who doesn’t mind something different, isn’t afraid of looking at things from different angles, isn’t afraid of introspection, and likes a story that will make you feel something. I mean really feel something. Caio will make you feel a lot of things.
I have triggered warnings for all my books. It’s absolutely for a reason. Part of that reason is because of what it will make you feel but another part is because I push the envelope. I don’t do that to shock. I do that to point out things that are really happening but that we often look away from. In Caio, I’m looking at appearance versus reality in terms of appearance of age versus real age, appearance of kindness versus real kindness, appearance of honour versus real honour and a lot of others One issue that people have had with this book and with Bright Midnights is that my bad guys are BAD. And a lot of times they are in positions of power in which we would want people to be paragons of virtue.
WOW: Talking about bad guys...actors often say it’s more challenging to play villians than nice guys. Your book has characters with a villain streak. Would you rather write for the villians or the nice guys?
Lexy: I write morally grey character. That’s because I don’t believe in “good guys “and “bad guys”. Mostly I see characters and people as being narrow spectrum or broad spectrum. So how they’re perceived depends on where they are on that spectrum. People who have a narrow spectrum will usually be viewed about the same. If we think of the spectrum being like a pendulum that swings between creating and destroying, broad spectrum people are those who can swing between being a monster and being an angel. The broadest spectrum sort of entity would be a god, capable of miracles and horrific atrocities. I used to use this analogy all the time saying that if someone is behaving like Mother Teresa then they are also capable of being a monster. Then I read a little bit about Mother Teresa and realised I was closer than I thought. As someone who has acted, I love playing villains. I love playing villains because I find the other part of the spectrum and find a way to weave it in.
WOW: I find it illuminating that you look at your characters as what they are capable of doing - both positive and negative. You’ve been upfront about the fact that Caio has trigger warnings. Although those aspects are key to the plot, have you had any blowback from readers who feel your writing is too dark?
Lexy: Oh yes, of course. My writing is not for people who can’t deal with that. The main reason is I do write about things that actually happened in the world. If you look around there is a lot of dark. But there is also a lot of light. So if people are either unafraid or uncomfortable with that, they definitely should not read my books. That being said, I find that people who are “survivors” tend to like my books. But if you’re looking for something cozy, be warned that there is nothing cozy about anything that I write.
WOW: Consider us warned. We've talked about characters now let's move on to pacing. What’s the secret to maintaining the excitement and fast pace in Caio?
Lexy: It’s interesting that you ask that. Because the beginning of Caio is very much a woman who is not in a good place in life, I’ve had very different responses in terms of pacing. Most people have given really positive comments about pacing, but occasionally I’ve had people have trouble with the fact that I lean into the difficulties of Sarah’s life in the beginning of the book. I knew that would be something that could be difficult so I did a few things to keep the pacing tighter. For example, I used a date at the beginning of each chapter. That helps people feel grounded. The chapters are fairly short. Also, I pepper set ups throughout the beginning help you get a sense of what’s coming. In all my books I aim to make the last third of the book as engaging as possible. One of my readers said “Unputdownable”.
WOW: I can sense the focus you put on the third part of the book. It is like going up the hills of a rollercoaster and ending with the huge descent. The Limerent world feels so addictive for readers, what about as the writer. Did you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Lexy: For me because I am neurodivergent, it could be very easy to lose focus. But I found a way to harness that. What I do is that I always have two or three projects that I’m working on at the same time. That sounds counterintuitive but that means when I block on one, I can just go to the other. Right now, I’m working on a new trilogy, and I’m writing them basically at the same time. This means I never get bored.
WOW: Can you tell us a little about your editing process. Do you have beta readers, professional editors, or is it just you and endless rounds of writing and re-writing?
Lexy: This is a really good question. I think you can only edit yourself through two or maybe three rounds. After that, you either stop seeing it or you start picking at it in a way that hurts more than it helps. So for me, I’m very lucky in that my family is very involved. My youngest son is my developmental editor. After I get about a third of the way through writing a book, I start reading him the chapters. He helps me with structure and that core spine of a story. Once I’m finished, I will do a first round edit of myself. I then turn it over to him to do a second round edit. And then I give it to my husband and oldest son to read. My husband is the one who tells me if I’m getting too wordy. My oldest son helps me with my themes and set ups. He also writes my blurbs. And then it will go back to me to make changes. After that, I sent it to my wonderful Editor and she and I have usually around three back-and-forth rounds of editing. I am a strong believer in having an editor. I really lucked out because my Editor is also a reader. She likes my books. I would tell people if you can spend money on anything spend it on your cover and editing. You want to be able to draw people in and then you want to be able to keep them once they start.
WOW: What led you to shift gears well into writing one very long book and divide that manuscript into several novels? I can only imagine it was an overwhelming decision process.
Lexy: I have a very logical side of myself, as well as a very emotional one. I think the logical side of myself stepped in and told me that it was unreasonable to expect anyone to read through 1 million word book. And what I want at the end of the day is for people to read my books and love my characters as much as I do. That’s what success looks like for me. But forcing people to read through a gigantic novel feels a bit like putting a burden on people. It also means I’ll lose them. In today’s world, people are very busy. And when they’re not actively doing things there is that lure of the phone. So I want to do the best that I can to keep people engaged, which I’ve discovered means shorter books, but more of them.
Mind you, I didn’t just immediately come to this idea. There was a Deep internal fight with my ego about this, but it ended in a good place.
WOW: Any words of advice for those who dream of their byline on a novel?
Lexy: Yes, I think people get crushed or overwhelmed when they think about the big picture. So I’ve learned that if you take the art of writing a novel down to its components, it’s easier to focus on the next component. If you told me 10 years ago that I had to write 10 books within 10 years that would’ve been really overwhelming. But if I tell myself, I need to write down the key events for a book, then the next step into outlining is much more natural and not as overwhelming. That makes things much easier.
WOW: What authors or teachers have influenced your writing?
Lexy: Flonnie Anderson, my 11th grade AP English teacher. This woman made us write a five paragraph essay every Friday in class. When I started doing that, I sucked. But by the end of the year, I was becoming quite good at it. And once you grasp the basic concept of the five paragraph essay, you just want to build on it for everything else I’ve actually tried to track her down, but I haven’t been able to. So thank you for Flonnie Anderson.
WOW: Yes, thank you Flonnie Anderson. Without you, we might never have had the opportunity to travel to the Limerent universe.
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