Summary of See:
Forgetting who you are, your ambitions, your passions is crippling….but remembering – embracing your purpose with a new sense of determination is more than empowering….it's life altering. Charlie Myers is on a life altering path that will cause the dammed to humble in silence.
One night…just a few friends, how could it go so wrong? That was the question seventeen year old Charlie Myers was asking when she found herself in the ER. Outwardly nothing was wrong with Charlie, she was a vision of perfect heath, internally she was battling a raging headache…one the doctor told her she would overcome shortly, but Charlie knew something else was wrong …very wrong.
Part of her had been stolen…she was missing memories. Those memories were sacred. They held the key to her sanity. They told her that the sinister whispers, the shadows that came to life before her were not as ominous as she felt they were. They held the bond with her late father, a famed musician. They caused her to forget the one talent that allowed her to face the darkness that haunted her every waking hour. They also masked a much deeper bond, the face of the one that had stolen her heart, long before the age of seventeen.
Sitting in the ER with her angry mother she couldn’t figure out what she was missing, or even how. Her thoughts told her that she needed to protect Britain, a friend of hers, but that didn’t make any sense – Britain didn’t need to be protected from anyone, he was strong, young, and absurdly wealthy. Charlie also knew that even though her friend Bianca called Charlie her best friend, she didn’t trust her …she was almost sure she despised her, but she couldn’t figure out why, or understand how random thoughts were telling her that she adored both Britain and Bianca – that they were her saviors – that they brought silence to the unstoppable whispers, but the silence scared Charlie. In her mind anyone or anything that could bring silence to something that dark could not be good.
Charlie wanted to stay in NY, figure out what she was missing, why, and who was behind it all, but her mother had other plans. Against her will, Charlie was sent to Salem to live with her sister, within that small town Charlie found her memories and so much more.
Her story begins now.
Summary of Witness:
Forgetting who you are is hard, but not as hard as remembering. Remembering that you have no idea how to face your demons, how to save the lost.
Charlie is at a sacred threshold.The ‘glass box’, as she calls it, is slowly falling. Her childhood has ended. The moment she has yearned for, the moment where she can go and do anything, anything at all without seeking permission is now. She’d dreamed of this time, all of her friends had, but now that it’s here, she doesn't know which way to run, or if she should even run at all.
Charlie knew that running would be a goodbye forever, and she didn’t want that, she wanted to freeze the time she was in, to stay in the calm before the storm, the illusion that she could out wit the ones who seek her, hold the one she loves, and play the music that gives her passion. She’ll soon discover no one can hide from their fate, that time does not stop in place, and that whether she chooses to perceive it or not, the darkness has come.
What Charlie feared most, losing him, is a threat now more than ever. A realm, a dark and twisted dream world has called him, and now she must fight to save him, and others like him. Standing in her way is a soul from another life, a boy that promises that he will destroy her world, to save her life. With this threat in hand, with the dark path that her friends are on, Charlie must fight to find a way to leave, to trust that beyond her dimension there are souls that can help her, help all of them. The only question is, will she find them before it's to late, and if she can't, how is she going to use her gift, the gifts they all share to save them.
Links:
Author Interview:
1) Who or what first inspired you to be a writer or did you always want to be a writer?
I can't really pinpoint an author or a moment that I decided to become a writer. Unlike most writers I did not grow up lost in a book or writing short stories. Before I wrote my debut novel Insight I’d never written anything I was not instructed to.
On a different note I did grow up lost in a daydream. I daydreamed so often that I literally spent no time in the real world. I would wake with a daydream, play it out in my mind all day, then as I closed my eyes at night I would escort that daydream into my dream world. I honestly thought everyone had that habit, that daydreaming on the level that I did was not only ordinary, but in no way suggested that I should become an author.
One day a daydream struck me at my core, it was deeper and more complicated than anything I’d ever hashed out in my thoughts, simply because it was not based on real life events, a book I’d read, a movie I’d seen, or even a song I'd heard. It was it’s own life force and I had to know where it was leading me. So, I opened a word document on a borrowed laptop, and inevitably began my career.
2) If you weren’t a writer what else could you see yourself doing?
Before becoming a writer I had the all American life, married, children, and a intense career in business. All of those aspects are still in play along with the added career as an author. I can honestly say that there is not another career or life I would wish for. Every day I strive for the moment when I will have more time to write the endless daydreams out that dance in my thoughts constantly. I look forward to exploring this earth with my family, to discovering more people and places that will inspire me beyond my imagination.
3) Who/what are some of your favorite authors/books?
Favorite is such a strong word, especially considering the insane amount of genres in both fiction and non fiction. The time of the year and what I’m going through in my life is usually mirrored in the novels on my nook.
I just spent the last week devouring The Night Huntress Series by Jeanine Frost, before that I re-read the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, and before that I read everything that Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell had ever written ( I'm obsessed with their philosophy.)
As you can see my range of taste is widely varied. I will read almost anything to satisfy my unsatisfiable curiosity.
4) Which series did you find the hardest to write, Insight or See?
They both had their challenging moments, the first and fourth of both series have proven to be the hardest. The first is a challenge because its uncharted waters, the characters have to be introduced, developed, the entire story has to build a base point, one that can grow into a new story. The fourth for me has been challenging simply because by that point, the first major conflicts have been resolved, and now new ones, a new base must be established, with those novels the challenge is not developing the characters, it’s taking them to the next level, the desire to top your last novels intensity yet hold on to the realism that caused the characters to be so likable in the first place.
I love to be challenged though, so even though the first and the fourth of both series gave me a run for my money, I had the most fun writing them.
5) Who is your favorite character from your books?
That would be like choosing a favorite child, absolutely impossible. All of them bring something to the story that would be irreplaceable. There are moments when even as I write their words out I find myself furious with them, but I have come to realize that this is their story and I’m just the vessel they chose to use.
I adore and hate them all equally :)
6) Where do you get your ideas for your books?
They literally come from everywhere. One of the hooks to the Insight series is the ‘String’ the way those characters travel to different dimensions. The idea to use that came while talking to a business associate about what they watched on T.V the night before, turns out she was a science geek in hiding and was all to happy to explain the ‘string theory’ to me.
Music has been a huge catalyst for me as well, and its not always, actually rarely, the lyrics, but more so the emotions behind the sound. When that sound is incorporated with my daydream new ideas blossom and pave the road I must walk down.
7) Music plays a very central role in See and it shows us how the power of music can help us through the hardest times. What sort of music do you listen to when you are feeling down and need a pick me up?
I LOVE alternative music, it is such a broad range of sounds that almost every emotion can be felt when playing it loud and proud. On the other hand I will listen to almost anything that has a guitar or heavy beat laced within the lyrics.
I LOVE alternative music, it is such a broad range of sounds that almost every emotion can be felt when playing it loud and proud. On the other hand I will listen to almost anything that has a guitar or heavy beat laced within the lyrics.
8) What to you is the best thing about being an author?
Beyond the story it is definitely the readers! I can not explain how amazing it feels when you open your inbox and see a message from someone who took the time to read your daydream and liked it. It’s mind blowing for me to consider that someone I may never meet has shared something very special with me.
9) Have you any book ideas lined up for when you finish your current series’?
As these series collide, on the horizon, I can see that another story, at least a novella must be written for two of the characters that appear in both stories. When I entertain that thought more ideas for spin off series or entirely new ones start to invade my thoughts, right now I’m just taking it one story at a time and writing down the ideas that come to me in a journal for when their time comes.
10) What advice would you give to people who want to be writers?
Write! If you are truly meant to be a writer a story is already inside you. Write it down, and when you do, no matter what, do not let any negative thoughts come to you. Do not worry if no other soul will ever read it, or love it as much as you. All that matters is that you love it, that you wrote the story that was inside you, and you did so without allowing anyone to influence your own personal style or world you have created. There is only one soul on this planet that can write that story, and it’s you.
Giveaway:
Jamie is giving away 1 ebook each of SEE and Witness to one lucky commenter. Witness is not released until the 19th of this month so you will also get to read it early! Jamie also has some awesome swag, bookmarks and guitar picks to giveaway along with the ebooks.
To be in with a chance of winning ebooks of See and Witness here on our blog all you have to do is just leave us a comment. Simple right? :) Just leave us your email in the comment and we will choose a winner on July 11th. (And yes it is International)
But wait there's more! Jamie will be choosing a winner from all the commenters on the entire tour to win printed copies of both SEE and Witness, along with a $25 gift card to Amazon (swag bookmarks and picks too) and this is also international. So you can see the list of participants below and make sure to visit and comment on their blogs for more chance to win.
Thanks for stopping by and good luck! :)
Tour Stops:
July 6th Seduced By Books - http://seducedbybooks.
July 6th Seduced By Books - http://seducedbybooks.
July 7th The Shadow Realm - http://xtheshadowrealmx.
July 8th The Cozy Reader - http://thecozyreader.com/
July 11th MoonStars Fantasy World - http://moonstarsfantasyworld.
July 12th The Reading Geek - http://thereadinggeek.
July 13th Lovey Dovey Books - http://www.loveydoveybooks.
July 14th The Lovely Books - http://jessicaslovelybooks.
July 15th Sassy Book Lovers - http://sassybooklovers.
July 15th Delphina Reads Too Much - http://www.
July 16th Page Flipperz - http://pageflipperz.
July 16th Between the Lines - http://www.
July 18th Paranormal Reads - http://
July 19th WITNESS RELEASE DATE
July 19th Better Read Than Dead - http://www.
July 20th Book Reader Addicts - http://
July 20th Parnormal Books Fan http://paranormalbookfan.
July 21 Taking it One Book at a Time - http://
July 23rd Insane About Books - http://insaneaboutbooks.
July 24th Lovey Dovey Books - http://www.loveydoveybooks.
July 25th D's Bookworld - http://ds-bookworld.
Thank you do much for the stop ;)!
ReplyDeleteI somehow lost my contact with this tour while I was re-organizing everything, but good I saw this so I can correct: the last tour stop is me, but I have a new blog at http://the-book-rogue.de/ -- so the stop will be there, not at D's Bookworld.
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful interview! I love your questions.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the giveaway,
Artemis
artgiote at gmail dot com