Paranormal Week In Review:
Day 5 of Paranormal Week features a series of YA Paranormal books I read before I started blogging. I came across it on my own on Amazon and was first intrigued by the archery piece first. After reading the synopsis, I just had to read it and I consumed the books pretty quickly! I fell in love with the brothers… intense, tortured all-consuming Tristan and sweet, caring but secretive Gabriel Archer. Together with Scarlet Jacobs, the three of them vow to find a solution to the curse that has plagued them for so long… before it’s too late.
This is the synopsis of book 1, Anew.
Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery…until she met a boy with a familiar voice.
Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet’s determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he’s kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer.
Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet’s world becomes even more muddled. While she’s instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she’s impossibly drawn to Tristan–and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past…might just be the death of her.
Read the prologue of Anew here.
Forbidden love. Twin brothers. Love triangle. Amnesia. A curse. Fountain of youth. This is such an original, well-written paranormal series with emotional, heartfelt moments and unexpected plot twists that kept me completely hooked! It’s an instantly absorbing series with interesting characters and a strong heroine in Scarlet. It’s a fabulous series to pick up!
Contemporary Romances have been quite popular for
a while now and have been very successful for many authors.
It’s also been said that perhaps the time for paranormal has passed. What are your thoughts on this and why do you enjoy
writing about the supernatural?
I don’t think there will ever be a time when paranormal has passed because fairy tales and mythology are what has rooted mankind throughout history. Stories that are not based on reality (fairy tales, legends, etc.) have sort of driven the morals and expectations of most societies throughout the world. So, I don’t think we’ll ever come to a point where paranormal or supernatural is a thing of the past. We will always need those fictitious elements to weave stories that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to tell so delicately.
Tell us about the Archers of Avalon series!
And it features a heck of a love triangle too!
It’s essentially a story of the Fountain of Youth and how it got my three characters in trouble. There was some greed involved and they were all cursed because of this magical water that infiltrated their lives a very long time ago.We have two brothers who love the same girl, but not exactly in the same way. One brother truly loves her and they’re soul mates, while the other one loves her in a more protective, brotherly way. And then you have a girl who doesn’t remember either of them. That’s the drama: there is this amnesia problem that gets in the way of everything for a while. So, it’s a love triangle about these three characters who are looking for the Fountain of Youth so they can reverse this curse that has plagued them for centuries.
When writing a paranormal story, you have to develop the foundational elements for that supernatural world and keep them consistent with each book. How difficult is this process for you? How do you approach that part of the writing process?
That is a fantastic question! Fortunately, I actually got to base most of my story in the modern world, so I didn’t have to do a lot of world building. I did have to build the curse and the mythology around the Fountain of Youth, but there weren’t a ton of different threads that I had to keep track of as some other people do. I did, however, have to build a world 500 years ago where the curse first happened and that required a lot of research and patience because I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes with the backstory. Everything else was really just a matter of lots of yellow post-it notes all over my office and lots of marking up my own manuscripts so I would remember to close the loop on all my loose ends. And my editor, Cameron Dodd, was pretty much my saving grace throughout because she had this hawk eye when she would go through each draft. She was great at remembering all the things I needed weave in throughout the book so that my readers wouldn’t be lost.
I think release timing can be especially important (and tricky) in paranormal reads as these types of books typically have pretty involved plot lines with clues and specifics a reader must recall when reading the next book in the series. What is your philosophy on release timing? Do you recommend people re-read the previous books before jumping into the next book in the series?
Personally, as a reader, I hate re-reading books in a series. I love to re-read books in general, but I don’t want to have to re-read the books. So, as a writer, I think ideally it would be great to have every book in a series come out every two or three months because I think that’s enough time to still really want the story but not so long that you’ve forgotten everything. I wasn’t able to write that quickly–my books were about six months apart–which is why you’ll find a lot of reminders about who the characters are or what happened previously in my books. I know that it’s annoying to some readers, but it’s critical for others.
You write both New Adult romance and paranormal.
You recently shared some exciting news about a brand new series!
Can you tell us a little about those books?
Yeah, it’s a New Adult contemporary series, so you won’t find any magical elements in it–other than the magic of true love (wink wink). It’s a series because I have overlapping characters, but each book will be a stand alone novel. And essentially, every book is a love story with a central theme. So, the first book is called Best Kind of Broken and the primary idea is forgiveness.It’s about two childhood friends who grow up caring about each other and being completely immersed in each other’s lives, until a tragedy changes their relationship. The story is about how they learn how to re-love one another despite the sad things that they have in their history. And how they realize how much they need one another to feel whole.
What are some of your favorite paranormal books?
Oh, that’s a good question, too! I love the Vampire Academy books, Veronica Rossi’s Under the Never Sky books, Jennifer Armentrout’sLux series. Oh, and Frankie Rose! The Sovereign Hope books. 🙂
Thank you so much for having me! I loved these great interview questions and appreciate you taking the time to talk to me!
Chelsea lives in Phoenix, AZ where she spends most of her time writing young adult fiction, painting murals, and avoiding housework at all costs. Her obsessions include: superheroes, coffee, sleeping-in, and crazy socks. She lives with her husband and two children, who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and her complete lack of skill in the kitchen.
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