Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good horror novel. So this month, I thought I'd share a few with you. First up is Kelly Abell's new book, Haunted Destiny. <--- buy link. The book cover creeped me out right away. Shades of Chucky. And for some reason, the pic on the cover reminds me of Stephen King's Cemetery. Then there's the fact that Haunted Destiny is written for teens. Perfect for this time of year. Blurb: Destiny Dove is the only survivor of a tragic car crash that killed her parents and baby brother. A teen uprooted from her home, she is forced to live with her New Age Grandmother whom she’s been taught her entire life to fear. If that’s not enough Destiny soon discovers she has developed the family gift of being able to see and talk to ghosts, The Shade Sight, her grandmother calls it, and Grams Rose will be the one person who can help her understand her haunted destiny. When Destiny meets hot hunk Jake Turner along with his jealous girlfriend Amy, sparks immediately fly. Jakes sees Destiny as a new kindred spirit, while Amy sees her as a threat and is determined to ruin Destiny’s life at Blake High. But when Amy’s mother, an antiques dealer, buys Amy some old furniture, it comes with a lot more than anyone bargained for. Only Destiny stands between Amy and an ancient ghostly evil so strong it might just take the entire town of Arcadia down with it. When called upon can Destiny forgive and draw upon her new gift to save Amy and a group of local teens from certain destruction? This is an appealing blurb which is why I asked Kelly to answer my author interview questions below. There is nothing more fun than getting a teenager to read and since kids love the paranormal, and haunted spooky stuff, this just might be the book to get them started. Biography Kelly is the author of five novels with three different publishers. She writes young adult thrillers as well as adult romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Her aim is to write about gripping characters in tense situations that keep a reader turning the pages. She also spends a great deal of time helping other writers through her Writing Tips on her website and as a board member of the Paranormal Romance guild and a member of the Florida Writer’s Association. When not writing, Kelly enjoys spending time with her husband of 30 years and her two college age children, when they find the time. She lives in Florida and enjoys all that living in the sunshine state brings, boating, fishing, beaches, theme parks, and more. Her favorite pass time is reading (what a surprise!) She likes Thrillers, Romantic Suspense, and Romantic Comedy. Interview Hi, Kelly! I'm so glad you joined me Don’t give away any secrets, but what’s your book about? My book is a young adult ghost story about a teen who discovers she has the gift of the Shade Sight. She can see and talk to ghosts. When she’s forced to move in with her grandmother after her family’s death, Destiny discovers that sometimes you have to use your gift to help those who have been less than kind to you. What inspired you to write Haunted Destiny? I wanted to write a story for my teenage daughter that she would enjoy reading. When I asked she said she wanted a teenage clique ghost story. So that’s what we wound up with. :0) How did you come up with the title? This will be a series and it’s a play on words. The main character’s name is Destiny and she lives quite a haunted life Is there a message in your novel you want readers to grasp? It’s okay to be different and sometimes we have to help those who haven’t been kind to us. Do you have plans for a new book? Is your book part of a series? I have four or five books planned so far in this series. How long does it take you to write a novel? Anywhere from 6 months to a year. It depends on how much time I can devote to full time writing. I once wrote a book in 4 days, but that’s really rare! LOL What do you think makes a good story? You need a strong plot and even stronger characters. Your reader needs to connect with your characters. Whether they love them or hate them, at least they connect and want to know what happens to them. The plot is what’s happening to and around your characters. Make sure you fill in all the holes and connect all the dots. What do you do when you are not writing? I have a graphic arts business dedicated to authors and publishers and I work as a consultant for an insurance company. Do you have a day job as well? That’s the one with the insurance company! Wouldn’t be my first choice of career but it sure does pay the bills. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? I normally write 1500 words a day when I can. That’s about an hour a day and I usually write early in the morning before anyone’s day gets started. What does your family think of your writing? My family is so unbelievably supportive. My husband and my son are my sounding boards for ideas, and my daughter is quick to tell me when my characters aren’t ringing true. Especially in my YA stories. Do you work with an outline, or just write? I’ve found its best to at least do a simple outline before I start writing. It makes your work more polished and makes it ten times easier to clean up the initial word vomit. :0) I usually do character sketches on all my characters and get to know them all the way down to the color of their eyes. You wouldn’t believe how many times I refer back to those sketches. I then do a few sentence outline of each chapter. For me it makes the writing go much faster and I can always change course if the muse decides to hijack the bus. Fun Stuff! If they made a movie about your life, who would you like to play the lead role as you? LOL Oh this is really funny. I would say Lucille Ball but she’s dead, so maybe Tina Fey would be a good choice, because my life is hilarious. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be? I’d want to be Storm from the X-Men and control the elements. Although me having control of fire might not be such a great idea. If you won $20 million in the lottery, what would you do with the money? I’d give a great deal to charity, some to my children and use the rest to situate my life so I could write full time. If you were a car, what kind would you be? A Ferrari Baby. Bright Red! White wine or red? I’m allergic to wine. Talk about a bummer! Coffee or tea? Coffee all the way Vanilla or chocolate? Are you kidding? Chocolate! Dogs or cats? Definitely a dog person Sleep in or get up early? Get up early Dark or milk chocolate? Milk Chocolate Rocks or flowers? Huh? Favorite color? Green Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! I really appreciate it. Contact Information: Website Goodreads Amazon Twitter @kellyabellbooks
Becca
10/5/2012 05:19:47 am
Hi Louann and Kelly,
Alicia J.
10/6/2012 06:59:20 am
Sounds like a great book, Kelly. How have you been Louann?
Louann
10/6/2012 07:03:46 am
Hi, Alica! I'm great. Drop me an e-mail. Thanks for stopping by Becca. Nice to see you again. I'm sitting her watching Ghost Hunters wishing I had Kelly's book to read! Comments are closed.
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