Welcome to the book tour for Gaia by Karen Ann Hopkins. Below, she answers my interview questions and keep reading - there's a giveaway!
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Amazon
As the Demons grow bolder and the
walls between the planes of existence weaken, Ember is forced to develop her
powers as quickly as possible, and she seeks out a powerful earth Watcher to
continue her supernatural lessons. Her glimpse of the future demands she fight
the dark forces spreading across the earth.
But her new mentor has his own agenda,
making her question everyone and everything she ever trusted.
When Ember is thrust into the world of
the Watchers, she learns of their plans—ones that defy the scripture and make
them enemies of the Celestial Host. Ridding the world of evil gets complicated
when it becomes impossible to take sides.
As Ember struggles with morality, she
soon discovers that there’s something more frightening than anything she’s faced
before.
About Embers:
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Amazon
There are descendants of angels walking among us. Ember is one
of them. And she may be the only hope mankind has as the rapture approaches and
evil rises.
Embers
is an epic paranormal adventure about an eighteen year old girl who discovers
that she's immune to fire and any other injury when she’s in a horrific car
crash that kills her parents. Following a violent episode with her aunt's
boyfriend, Ember flees Ohio to live with an old relative in the Smoky Mountains
of Tennessee. Ember's exuberance at escaping a bad home life soon turns to
trepidation when she finds out that she's a Watcher, a descendant of angels.
While Ember learns about her heritage and the powers that go along with it, she
strikes up friendships with two young men who live in a frightening walled
compound in the forest. Inexplicitly drawn to one of the men in particular, an
impossible romance develops. But it is cut short when Ember discovers that her
new friends are fighting on the opposite side of a war—one that’s been raging
between two factions of Watchers for thousands of years. When the compound’s
inhabitants threaten the townspeople, Ember takes action, sealing her fate in
the ancient battle of good versus evil—and the grayness in between. Ember is up
to the challenge, until she realizes that she isn’t only fighting for the lives
of the locals and the souls of her new friends. She also might be one of the
few champions who will make a stand for all of mankind as the rapture
approaches and the end of days begin.
Embers
is a dark and gritty YA novel that’s the first book in the series, The Wings of
War.
I hope you enjoy Karen's answers to my interview questions!
- Where/how did you come up
with the idea for your story? Did it suddenly pop into your head or were
you brainstorming?
Embers was a daydream of mine for many years before I wrote
the story. It wasn’t until after I published the Temptation series was
published with Harlequin Teen that I felt confident enough to make it real.
- Did you start with the
main character, the world or the overarching concept?
I envisioned creatures and people with unusual powers living
in the secluded mountains of eastern Tennessee. The forest, rugged terrain and
mountain people set the stage for the rest of the story.
- Panster or Plotter? Or in between?
I’m more in between. It’s important to think a story out
thoroughly before diving in and I do that by picturing the scenes running
through my mind as if they were on a movie screen. I take notes and set up a
basic timeline before I begin writing. The process of preparation might take a
month or many months of having the story floating around in my mind before I’m
ready to commit to it to the page. Once I get started, I don’t stop to edit or
revise. I continue writing with a stream of consciousness until the book is
finished. Then I go back and fix the mistakes and any issues that popped up
along the way. Too many writers get stuck on a certain page, trying for
perfection early on. I’ve found that once you get further into the story, it
begins to tell itself and the flow is smoother and steadier.
- Are you a fan of writing contests?
I’ve never entered one, so I guess not. ;)
- How did you find your agent? How many query letters did you send?
My first novel, Temptation, was rejected about thirty times
before I was finally offered representation by Christina Hogrebe of the Jane
Rotrosen Agency in New York. But to be fair to the first agents I submitted the
story to, the manuscript evolved through the process, getting much better along
the way. It was eventually worthy of representation by the time it reached
Christina. Many of the agents who rejected it offered me sound advice, which I
took. I incorporated their suggestions into the story, making changes and
revising until it was in great shape. I always had a unique story. It just
needed work to make it marketable.
- What's the best marketing
tool you've found so far?
Bookbub. Definitely. I’ve been lucky enough to land two
promotions with the company, one for Lamb to the Slaughter and the other for
Embers. These sales resulted in tens of thousands of purchases and downloads of
my books. My fan base grew, as did my online review numbers, and my placement
in the rankings rose. No other promotion or marketing strategy I’ve done has
come close to a Bookbub promotion.
- What do you like best about your mc?
Ember is a strong young woman who is kind, loyal and loves
animals. These are all traits that I admire.
[MM - me too, glad to see a fellow horse lover on my blog!]
[MM - me too, glad to see a fellow horse lover on my blog!]
- What do you like best about your main antagonist?
In Embers, the antagonists were Garrett and his demon
followers. They were pretty scary characters and I was satisfied that they were
great representatives for the evil rising up in the world. In Gaia, I like that
it’s more a question of WHO are the antagonists in the story.
- Anything else you like to share about your journey or your upcoming launch, including links to giveaways or ways people can help spread the word?
The Wings of War is an epic young adult fantasy/paranormal
that I believe readers of all ages will enjoy. I ask that fans let their
friends know about it, and it greatly helps the cause when you post your honest
ratings/reviews on Amazon. This is the most important place to give a shout out
for your favorite stories and authors.
Thank you for being a part of Gaia’s blog tour! I love to
connect with readers on my Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram or at
www.karenannhopkins.com. Please be on the lookout for the release of SECRETS IN
THE GRAVE, the third installment in my mystery series, Serenity’s Plain
Secrets, in early September! Thanks for reading!
Karen Ann Hopkins
Karen Ann Hopkins
About
Karen Ann Hopkins:
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Website
Karen Ann Hopkins resides in northern Kentucky with her family on
a farm that boasts a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks,
rabbits, dogs and cats. Karen's main job is home schooling the kids, but she
finds time to give riding lessons, coach a youth equestrian drill team, and of
course, write. She was inspired to create her first book, Temptation, by the Amish
community she lived in. The experiential knowledge she gained through her
interactions with her neighbors drove her to create the story of the
star-crossed lovers, Rose and Noah.
Karen grew up about a mile from Lake Ontario in Upstate New York.
She was bitten by the horse bug at the age of five, and after diligently taking
riding lessons for several years, was rewarded with her first horse when she
turned eleven. The feisty horse's name was Lady, a Quarter Horse-Thoroughbred
cross, who became Karen's steadfast companion. Through the years, the constant
force in her life was horses. Eventually, she found her place as a riding
instructor herself. Before accepting her fate in the barnyard, she worked a
short stint as a paralegal, traveled abroad, and guided tourists on horseback
riding tours in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
Karen is currently working on her Amish mystery series, Serenity's
Plain Secrets, along with the YA paranormal/fantasy series, The Wings of War.
Karen is also excited to announce the Temptation series has been optioned
for TV by Pilgrim Studios and is available on Audible. More books in the
Temptation series are in the works.
Monday,
September 7th
Tuesday,
September 8th
Wednesday,September
9th
Thursday,
September 10th
Friday,
September 11th
Tour Giveaway Info:
One lucky winner will receive a $50
gift card (Amazon, B&N, iTunes), as well as a complete set of Karen’s YA
books, including Embers, Gaia, Temptation, Belonging, Forever, and Rachel’s
Deception! Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open
internationally.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Great post! Thank you for sharing, I am really excited about reading this series :)
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