Author Interview - Illusions: Ravens of Darkness by Elle Preston #YoungAdult #PNR #paranormalromance
- What is your “day” job if you are not a full-time author?
My day job is a 24/7 position called “mom to five kids between the ages of five and fifteen.” My family comes first unless I’m trying to edit, then the kids have to fend for themselves. Editing is hard.
- If you wrote a book about your life what would the title be?
Grateful. I've been very blessed.
- What is the hardest thing about being an author?
For me, the hardest thing about being an author is finding time to write. I wish there was a quicker way to get ideas from my head onto the computer. So I have to get creative, writing on my phone when I’m waiting for kids to get out of their activities, dictating scenes into my phone while making dinner, doing my research while I sit with them doing their school work.
- What is the best thing about being an author?
Working in my pajamas.
- Have you ever been star struck by meeting one of your favorite authors? If so who was it?
Star struck, no. But I did get to meet my favorite lyricist at a concert once. It was a quick “Hi. Love your words. Thank you.” It was unexpected. It would have been great to have more time, but I’m not sure what I would have said.
- What book changed your life?
There isn't one book. But many. I think when we love something we’ve read, it sticks with us in profound ways and changes us.
- What were some of your favorite books growing up?
I loved the Little House on the Prairie series, Judy Blume books, Beverly Cleary. I always liked the Choose Your Own Adventure books because I got to control the direction of the story a little. I loved Edgar Allen Poe at a young age because my dad was an English teacher and would read it aloud.
What books are currently in your to be read pile?
Before Versailles, by Karleen Koen and The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham
- Which do you prefer ebooks, print, or audio books?
I'm old school. I love print books -- the weight of them in my hand, the way they smell. Old books are the best. I do appreciate audiobooks as well. They are great for road trips.
- If you could live inside the world of a book or series which world would it be and why?
There’s not a single book I would choose to live in, but rather specific scenes from various books, for example: Chapter Three of The Great Gatsby, Or Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. I read a lot of historical fiction and while fascinating, I wouldn't necessarily want to jump into Henry the Eighth’s world. And when it comes to dystopian novels, reading the books is enough.
A fictional place I would love to live in that is not from a book is Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. How fun would that be? Everyone is witty, troubadours abound, and literally the worst thing that could happen is Taylor raises the price of grapefruits to pay for some revolutionary war reenactment.
Illusions: Ravens of Darkness
Ravens of Darkness
Book One
Elle Preston
Genre: Young Adult; Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Lark Publishing Crew
Date of Publication: November 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0578661230
ASIN: B08NGC23MS
Number of pages: 269
Word Count: 84,000
Cover Artist: Lark Publishing Crew
Tagline: Nothing is what it seems. Not even love.
Book Description:
An ancient cult. A supernatural addiction. A forbidden love. Sixteen year old Evie Willow is terrified of drowning but she's even more afraid of her own feelings.
When the charismatic and telepathic lifeguard, Talon Renwyck, suddenly turns his affections toward her, Evie’s ability to rein in her feelings is threatened. Talon knows a secret which plunges Evie into the deep waters of her hidden emotions. As she drifts away from the life she knows into Talon’s beckoning arms, Evie learns that Talon is much more than just the handsome guy she’s falling in love with. Caught in a dark and supernatural addiction and tied to a secret cult, Talon is crying out for help. Can Evie save him from himself?
Is their love the real deal or is it an illusion?
Nothing is what it seems.
Illusions is the first book in the Ravens of Darkness Series.
If you like character driven, paranormal romance sagas with supernatural elements, darkly dynamic love relationships, and a hint of magic and mystery, then you'll love the Ravens of Darkness Series.
Book Two, Reflections, to be released November 2021
It's freezing here at the top of the sand
dune in the dark with the wind off the lake. Alex pulls a hoodie out of his
backpack and tosses it to me. I put it on and get a sudden shiver through my
body. I tighten my arms around my knees to keep warm. He leans closer to me,
"What are you thinking?" Alex
says for the second time tonight. I laugh at that.
“You’re a telepath. Don't you know what
I’m thinking all the time?”
"You wonder why Talon chose you?” he
says.
“Maybe.”
“My guess is he’s hung up on you because
you’re wound so tight."
"Are you insulting me?"
"No. Just making an observation. Your
repressed feelings; not crying for ten years. That’s a lot of tension. You’re a
whole bunch of canned heat. You’re probably an amazing rush."
That sounds vaguely obscene like something
scratched into the wall of the men’s room at the Cosmic Bowl. For a good rush
call, Evie. I shudder to think. “Rush. Why do you call it that?"
"It’s the feeling you get as the
energy sweeps through you. There’s nothing like it." Alex looks me in the
eyes. I was addicted. I was a morphi, He thinks to me.
Was. Alex said he was an addict, but
doesn't that mean he’ll always be one? I ask him how it works. How does a
person take another person’s energy? What are the mechanics of it?
What’s the procedure? He says that the
human body has energy vortices just like the Earth does. There are seven of
them, basically starting in the pelvis and going up the spine to the crown.
Morphi (energy addicts) access energy through the vortex at the neck. The
throat is the easiest portal to access.
That sounds a lot like vampires to me.
"You girls and your vampire fetish,”
he rolls his eyes. “I think it’s where vampire mythology started,” Alex says.
“Morphi are the real vampires. Psi vamps. Cultures evolved the myth over time
into bloodsuckers, but it all started with energy.”
“Describe it. What happens?"
He tells me to imagine what it’s like to be
gasping for air and just when you think you can’t hang on anymore someone gives
you oxygen. "It’s insanely satisfying, but hard to explain." He rubs
his hands together.
"C’mon, I want to know," I pester
him.
He takes my hand and rolls back the sleeve
of his sweatshirt I’m wearing. He gently turns my palm face up. “Here.” He rubs
his thumb in a circular motion on my inner wrist. "You put your pulse
point on the base of the throat near the thyroid gland. It’s one of seven
energy pools on your body." He touches his own throat, guides my wrist toward
it, holds it against his skin for a moment. His skin is soft against the inside
of my wrist.
"After a few seconds your wrist gets
warm, your pulse quickens, your nerve endings start to tingle, your blood feels
hot." He stretches my arm across his lap and squeezes my wrist. His grasp
is strong. "The tingling feeling starts to move, slowly at first, all the
way up, getting stronger and faster as it travels."
He slides his finger up my arm, holding me
with his eyes and rests his hand on my shoulder. "It overwhelms you as it
shoots through your heart and lungs. You gasp for breath and for a moment it
feels like drowning. Scary, blurry, helpless. Then you stop gasping and you
breathe deep."
Alex closes his eyes and I notice the
corners of his mouth turn up as he remembers. "Electric energy floods your
body from the top of your head to the bottom of your spine. It rushes through
your mind, stimulates the pleasure center of your brain and suddenly you have
unbounded energy to do whatever it is you will: manipulate water, control fire,
levitate." His hand is still palm to palm with mine and he looks at me
with those strange grey eyes. "When it’s over, you can’t think of anything
else except how much you want it. Do you know what it’s like to want something
so bad?” “Oh...um...I don't know," I lie.
I slide my hand away and wrap my arms back
around my knees, but I’m no longer cold.
About the Author:
Elle Preston is the author of the Ravens of Darkness series, a young adult,
paranormal romance saga. Illusions, Book One, is her debut novel. Book Two,
Reflections, is set to be released November 2021. She is currently working on
the third book in the series. Elle lives with her husband, five kids and
several fur babies near the shores of Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes where
she sets her novels.
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