GUEST POST: Ten Random Facts About The Starlight Saga by Sherry Soule

Ten Random Facts about the Starlight Saga ~ #StarlightSaga

Today bestselling author Sherry Soule has some exciting news to share with us. She has recently published the next book in her popular Starlight Saga series, a humorous paranormal romance. Sherry is doing this fun guest post to share the book love with fellow readers.

Be warned, these books have scorching-hot romance!

1.) I believe in the paranormal genre that aliens and science fiction type stories are going to be the next big thing. Add a little romance…even better. Vampires had their time, werewolves are overworked, and even though zombies are still going strong, I think extraterrestrials need some love now, too.

2.) In my first novel, LOST IN STARLIGHT, the storyline revolves around the two main characters trying to overcome major obstacles to be together. It’s like an intergalactic version of Romeo and Juliet, with scorching-hot character chemistry right from the beginning. Hayden and Sloane share a strong attraction and mutual interest in one another and become best friends, which make the best kind of love stories in my humble opinion.

3.) From the very first draft, I wanted to add something a little unique and special to Sloane’s quirky character. Thus, FRIGHT NIGHT BABBLE, her online newspaper column was born. (*Link to posts below) I think the short, humorous posts every few chapters adds a fun element to the narrative. My last few books were so angst-ridden and dark that I wanted to write something lighter, but still thrilling and romantic.

4.) The island that the characters live on is actually a real place within the San Francisco Bay Area. Although the name Winter Haven is fictional, the actual island is named Alameda, and it’s a lovely city to visit. I would love to live there! “Winter Haven” (Alameda) is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to west of Oakland and within the East Bay.

5.) LOST IN STARLIGHT is the fastest book that I’ve ever written. It took me only about four months to write and do revisions. I had the idea in the back of my mind for about a year now, but it wasn’t until a short-lived TV show called “Star-Crossed” convinced me that alien love stories were super hot right now. And I was extremely lucky and blessed to have worked with some very talented writers (my CPs) that really helped me to shape the book into the thrilling storyline it is now.

6.) The Starlight Saga will be a trilogy; unless of course, it goes viral and readers clamor for more Sloane and Hayden adventures. Then I’ll happily keep writing more novels featuring this quirky and lovable cast of characters. (I know readers will fall in love with Hayden along with Sloane.)

7.) Sloane is by far my favorite character. She is just snarky and quirky and fun to write. Most authors admit that a little bit of themselves goes into each protagonist, but Sloane is near and dear to my heart. If a headstrong, gutsy, and imperfect heroine with an eccentric fashion sense appeals to you, then I think you'll love Sloane, too. 

8.) In LOST IN STARLIGHT, there isn’t the insta-love or love triangle that is popular in so many YA books nowadays. This is the real deal. The book is meant for older YA readers and does contain some mild language. The characters are all eighteen years old, except for Sloane who is only seventeen in this first book.

9.) The names of the two main characters came to me instantly. They just seemed to fit perfectly. Some of the secondary characters had a few name changes during rewrites, but Sloane and Hayden’s never varied.

10.) One day, I was browsing images on a stock photo site and as soon as I saw the image of that purpled-haired girl (the female image featured on the book cover), I just knew that I’d found my “Sloane.” This photo completely inspired me to write her story and make Sloane different from most YA heroines. Hayden’s image, featured on the front cover beside his darker haired younger brother, seemed to perfectly fit the character I had envisioned, too.

So there you have it! Ten random facts about the Starlight Saga!

STARLIGHT SAGA

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Sherry-Soule/e/B0104Y33KK 

Amazon Starlight Saga books: https://www.amazon.com/Starlight-Saga-2-Book-Series/dp/B01IVV4VS6/

Series blog: http://frightnightbabble.blogspot.com 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/129295-starlight-saga

Places you can cyberstalk Sherry Soule:

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Sherry-Soule/e/B0104Y33KK 

Official Author Blog:  http://sherrysoule.blogspot.com/

Twitter - @SherrySoule:  http://twitter.com/sherrysoule

Goodreads:  http://goodreads.com/author/show/4925996.Sherry_Soule

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSherrySoule

Review for Under Sunless Skies by Sherry Soule

Blurb:

True love is hard. And a doomed relationship with epic trust issues and shady secrets?Even harder.

For Sloane Masterson, her forbidden love with Hayden Lancaster has been a series of highs and lows that is overly complicated by those annoying interstellar dating laws.

But once Sloane discovers a shocking family secret, she won’t let those lame rules get in her way—she’s on a mission to win back her hybrid!

Too bad convincing her stubborn ex that they belong together isn’t Sloane’s only problem…

After receiving creeptastic blackmail messages, Sloane’s life becomes a real-life horror movie. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Hayden slimes her with smelly ectoplasm and freaky mutants start tracking her every move. Insert one more major disaster…the unexpected arrival of Sector Thirteen.

If she hopes to survive all the crazy with Hayden at her side, Sloane needs to expose the blackmailer and get that potent residue off her skin—fast. Because with Sector Thirteen’s monsters hunting her, Sloane’s not going down without a fight, even if that means trusting the one boy who broke her heart.

Review:

Can we say epic cliffhanger? Yes, I said it. Just finished reading this one and although I really liked the book, I was thinking more along the lines of "You can't be serious that this is the end of this book! No! I need more!" Hayden and Sloane's "non-relationship" gives me whip lash. He pushes her away in the name of protecting her and she can't stay mad at him. Two things I do understand the reasoning behind. And I do love Sloane's Fright Night Babble. It's ironic how it follows the story line and you have to wonder just how closely the bad guys are keeping tabs on her or if they're reading it. Saxton is a mystery throughout the book and even his motives are still somewhat unclear in the end. As for Viola, she's quite the moody, love struck teen, possibly more than Sloane. There are quite a few shockers in the book and I was constantly wondering what would happen next. 

4 out of 5 stars!

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Sunless-Skies-Starlight-Saga-ebook/dp/B01IIW6Y5G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470096277&sr=8-2&keywords=sherry+soule#nav-subnav

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31134826-under-sunless-skies

Author Website:

http://sherrysoule.blogspot.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SherrySoule

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/SherrySouleWriter/?fref=ts

Whispers of a Faded Dreamer by Celesta Thiessen

A little social experiment by Kingcade Worldcorp changes the life of young Cara Pierce.  The big corporation put out a projection of alien spaceships with inky black aliens coming out of them.  The thing is that not everyone can see them.  Those that are are invited to start working for them.  All they have to do is sleep and dream.  The catch?  Other people will be able to see them.  But Cara's father is very sick and in the hospital.  Her family needs money.  By working here and making a lot of money, she gets on better terms with her abusive mother.  Cara was adopted and has not been treating her the same as her little brother since their dad has been in the hospital.  Cara also feels that she can help people with her dreams.  She has many exciting adventures in her dreams and meets Bryce, a guy from her school, and the High King quite often in them.  The High King is always a guide to them on where to go and what to do.  The only problem is that Cara starts spending more and more time at the sleep clinic.  She has no friends anymore and almost never interacts with her family.  She starts to think that maybe she should get out more.  But there are unforeseen consequences to all of her work at Kingcade Worldcorp.  Even though it's tough, the High King always has a plan for everything.

I very much enjoyed the adventures Cara was involved in with her dream life.  It was interesting how much of her life became her work, her dreams.  It was basically all she did and eventually it started wearing on her.  She wasn't living real life.  It was a fantasy land.  And she was always dreaming of Bryce although she kept saying she didn't like him and for a small part of the book (in the beginning) she had a boyfriend.  But he wasn't a good guy.  It was a good read!  A very clean read.  This is a Christian book too!


Here is her author page:
http://celestathiessen.com/

Lost in Starlight by Sherry Soule (available June 26th)

    Sloane is a high school student who works for the school paper as a reporter, has purple hair, wears dark clothes a lot, and loves watching horror movies.  But she isn't into mindless slasher movies.  Sloane is looking for a good story and Hayden, one of the guys at school, is looking like it.  He has the dark, sexy look to him that could get him any girl in school.  He is also a nice guy.  He sticks up for other students and saves animals.  Too bad his brother, Zach, isn't the same way.  He knows Sloane is chasing after Hayden to get a story and tells her to back off.  The thing is that she can't.  Hayden seems to have some weird supernatural powers and Sloane inevitably finds herself more than just drawn to him.  She really likes him, and she thinks he likes her too.  There's just one little thing about Hayden: he's part alien.  And because of who he is as well as his relationship with Sloane, she is in danger.  Their relationship must remain a secret.



    I wasn't so sure about this book at first.  I am not really big into teenage drama, probably because it's been some time since I was a teen, but the story really picks up and becomes one about ill-fated lovers.  Sloane is now constantly in danger from someone or another.  She is just a human while those out to get her are not so much.  I do have to say that the teenage drama does seem pretty realistic.
   As for the ending, it was very unexpected!  Total twist!  Never saw it coming!  Now all I want to do is read the next one because I need to know what happens next and how this will affect everything.  Does it mean even more trouble or maybe a way to a solution for Sloane?

Here (Here Trilogy Book 1) by Ella James

 

 Milo Mitchell lost her dad almost two years ago.  Now it was just her and her mom.  Her mom was always working.  Milo, still in high school, just had to worry about homework and keeping track of the mule deer her dad had been researching before he died.  She had decided to take up his work, unknown to her mom.  While out in the woods looking for a deer that needed tagged, she accidentally tranquilizes a guy instead.  He looks to be right around her age and very handsome.  However, he doesn't remember anything about who he is.  When this guy showed up out of nowhere he was wearing a tux.  Who wears a tux in the middle of the woods?  So she names him Nick for the time being and brings him home, feeling extremely guilty for hitting him with her tranquilizer gun.  Milo decides to help him figure out who he is and in the process some strange things start happening.  He has massive headaches that come and go and seems to know literally everything.  Pretty much anything fact based Nick has the answer to.  They eventually find out he looks just like a boy missing from a crash near the area Milo had been in when she saw Nick for the first time.  He tells Milo that he is pretty sure he is not this boy though.  And when they go to a party together, Nick ends up melting a statue and possibly killing a girl, then bringing her back.  After that he is afraid he will end up hurting Milo, whom he cares for much more than he admits.  So he leaves to find this family he is supposedly a part of, only to run into trouble and come running back to Milo.  What's worse is now the "Men in Black" are chasing the both of them!

   Here is a good read for any alien/extraterrestrial fans out there.  It is an interesting story about a being coming from somewhere out there in the universe, looking for something that Earth can give his people.  But along the way he becomes very close to a human girl and what the alien is there for is now somewhat compromised.  But this alien has no idea he is an alien for quite some time during the book because he completely loses his memory.  The only thing is that the end cuts off just when you start to wonder what will happen next!  The next book in the series will be coming out March 19th!

Check out my post on Ender's Game

For those of you interested in the movie Ender's Game, check out a few of my thoughts on it in this post from my other blog!  Loved the movie so much more than I thought!

http://suburbanhousewifeperspective.blogspot.com/2014/02/enders-game-thoughts.html

Reclamation (Book 3 of The Ravening Series) by Erica Stevens TEASER

   The saga continues...Bethany and Cade are still running for their lives, but things are changing.  The death and destruction left from the aliens have reached an all time high and the group can barely stomach what they are seeing.  As lives are continually in jeopardy, so are Cade and Bethany's secrets about who they both really are.  And the secret does come out that Cade is one of the aliens.  Fortunately because of his love and dedication to Bethany, they don't try to kill him.  But the group remains very distrusting of him.  Who would blame them after what they had seen and been through?  Then there is Bethany's little secret about the changes Cade's blood made within her.  Everyone finds out about that too and suddenly she is on the bad list as well.  She lied to everyone about that and Cade.  But Cade will do anything for Bethany to make sure she survives and has the life she deserves.  And that includes a very daring move to try and rid Earth of the aliens that continue to stalk it.  It's the only move they have.  With the help from a very unusual source, they have to at least try to save the world.  If they don't succeed, all will be lost.

"There's something about certain humans that entangles us.  There's something about them that we react to, and it is only one of them for each of us."

   This book made me want to laugh and cry.  It makes you feel like you are living it.  You can feel yourself wading through the emotional turmoil of the characters.  It is an amazing ending to an amazing series!  Make sure you check it out!  The book comes out January 28th!

Quotes from The Ravening Series

Been reading The Ravening Series again by Erica Stevens.  Cannot wait for the third book to come out!  Be looking for it!!

"The girls at school had called him the black devil due to his cold demeanor, midnight hair and onyx eyes.  I had never given much thought to the nickname, I'd thought it was silly and that they were absurd for saying it.  Standing in his presence now though I completely understood it, and couldn't shake it from my mind." 
-Ravenous (Book 1)

"There was no way to become used to this.  To become accustomed to the lack of noise in a world that had once been alive and thriving with it.  To do so would mean that I was ok with the reason behind the quiet.  And I was not, nor would I ever be, ok with the death and mayhem that the aliens had unleashed upon us.  Never be ok with the horror, terror, and loss that had unfolded because of them."                -Taken Over (Book 2)

Surprise Interview....and the author is.....

And the surprise email interview is with.....Erica Stevens!  Here is what she had to say!

How long have you been writing?

  

  -I wrote my first book when I was nine but I was always writing stories before then. I even wrote plays for my friends and I to act out. I loved it, they probably hated me for it, but they were good sports.

 Do you feel like your personal experiences in the past (childhood and adulthood) have had an impact on your writing?

 -Absolutely. I loved my childhood, you couldn't keep me inside. My friends and I were always coming up with new ways to keep ourselves entertained whether it was imaginary worlds, sports, games or building forts and exploring the woods. It gave me an opportunity to let imagination run free. I've moved around since my teens and have had some really interesting and not so common jobs. I've been fortunate enough to make some really good friends and meet some really interesting people. Some of them share traits with more than a few of my characters!

 What was your main reason behind becoming an Indie author?

  -I tried the traditional publishing route for years. I kept querying agents and getting rejected. My husband urged me to try self-publishing and one day I finally listened. I took books from three series I had been working on and put them on Amazon before I could chicken out. Looking back, I wish I hadn't done all three at once, but I was just hoping someone would read it and like something. I didn't have an editor at the time, but thankfully Leslie has found me since! She's edited everything new I've released and is working on editing the stories I had first put out. I'm hoping to have them all edited and re-released eventually.  

 Do you feel like you have achieved your childhood dream of being a writer?

  

  -Yes. Writing was the only thing I ever I wanted to do. It's a part of me and I love it so much. I bounced through college majors because everything interested me, but I always knew I just wanted to find something that would give me the opportunity to write.

What/who is your biggest inspiration?

  -That is a good question. For writers it would have to be Dean Koontz, J.K. Rowling, James Rollins and Stephen King. I love the way they can keep me on the edge of my seat throughout most of the story. In my life, it would have to be my parents. They're both unbelievably strong people and have worked incredibly hard their entire lives. They never let anyone, or anything, hold them back.

The books that I have read so far (the captive series and the ravening series) both have a continuing theme in them that two people/beings who should hate each other end up falling in love.  Is there a particular message that you are trying to relay to your readers?

  -I really just like to put people into already difficult situations and then give them something even more

difficult to have to deal with. However, I do believe that love isn't a choice and that it is worth fighting for.

 As a writer, what do you do to keep from “burning out”?

  

  -I work on a different book. If I get stuck somewhere I don't stress about it, I start a new book or go to a different book I was already having trouble with. I find it gives me a new perspective and I'm able to figure out what was bothering me. It also helps to keep me from getting frustrated, and gives me an opportunity to start one of the many stories I have running through my head or written in my notebook. I also allow my husband to drag me away once in awhile, though sometimes I'm still clutching my laptop!

What advice would you give to aspiring authors out there?

  

  -Don't ever give up and don't be afraid to try something new even if it might scare you.

                                               Don't forget to check out Erica's blog:

                                                http://ericasteven.blogspot.com/

The Ravening Series (Book 1 Ravenous and Book 2 Taken Over) by Erica Stevens

Was there anyone else like me?  Was I the only one?  And why was I still able to move while they couldn't?  What the hell had happened to them, would it happen to me?


   It was on this day that the world had changed for Bethany.  While she had been doing some shopping for her mother, everyone in town had suddenly frozen where they were.  Everyone except for her.  It was creepy, to say the least.  She felt like the eyes of the frozen were on her every move that she made, even though she knew better.  While getting out of the shop she runs into Cade, a former friend to her brother, Aiden.  They have a difficult time escaping town as they are being hunted by awful creatures: aliens.  They had came to Earth a year ago saying they wanted peace.  Bethany had never believed them and now she knew she was right not to.  Some of  the aliens "pets" were going through the streets clearing them of the bodies of the frozen and sucking the blood right out of them.
   Somehow Cade and Bethany escape back to her house to see if any of her family has not been frozen.  When she gets home, she finds her mother frozen, but not her sister, Abby.  As they are being attacked again, her brother Aiden and boyfriend, Bret, come to the rescue.  They all manage to escape into the forest with a girl from school, Jenna.
   Their lives are constantly in danger as they try to find a way to wake up those that are frozen, and realize that they cannot.  This small group of survivors fights tooth and nail to survive these monsters invading Earth.  And the real aliens have not been seen, that they know of.  They had only heard rumors of what they looked like.  And as if life is not hard enough for Bethany, she betrays Bret with Cade, who she had started having some very serious feelings and emotions about.  She felt very much like she belonged with him.
   In the end, they had to get off of the island of Manhattan and away from the beasts hunting them.  The only way was for them to scuba dive across the water and hope they were not seen.  These aliens could do terrible things to a person....and Cade gets taken...alive.

   Normally I don't do more than one book in one review, but the second was so good I decided to do them both.  I was hooked to the end.
 
   Book two begins with a very broken and hardened Bethany, trying to keep it together.  She cannot allow
herself to break down in front of anyone besides Cade, and he's gone.  But every time she sleeps, she dreams of him, longs for him.  No one around her understands the depths of her feelings for him.  As he was being taken, he had told her he loved her, and she loved him too, but had not had the time to tell him.  Now, she only wanted blood, and revenge.  But she still had hope that he just might be alive.
   Training keeps Bethany's mind off of the pain.  And Dr. Bishop, who thinks that her blood might have answers that no one else's might.  After all, she was the only one who's blood was not type O that had not been frozen.
   Now that Cade was gone, Bret was still hoping that at some point Bethany would come back to him.  He was a great guy, but Bethany just didn't love him that way.  She never had, no matter how hard she had tried.  Then there was Jenna, who, in the first book, had been at odds with Bethany.  But now they were beginning to become friends.
   The aliens have begun to really show the survivors what they can do, as they are trapped again and almost do not make it out alive.  Their bloodshed is relentless, and Bethany is wounded.  They were out on a mission to go to a hospital for supplies for the doctor, and out looking for Jenna's relatives at the same time, when they were attacked.  The aliens have adapted and could take on the form of humans, especially innocent children, to lure in the survivors.  The hospital is a disaster when they reach it.  They have to dig through blood, dirt and debris to find the things they need.  And Bethany has to see something that will haunt her for a long time to come.
   Out of the blue, Cade shows back up in the middle of the woods while Bethany is out alone.  She can't believe her eyes, but it's him, unharmed.  He won't talk to her about what happened when he was taken and she senses a darkness in him that she doesn't understand.  It's not until she is attacked by a straggler that joins the group, that she understands where the darkness is coming from.  The straggler was one of the aliens that no one had seen.  At least they thought they had never seen one, until Bethany finds out that Cade is one of them too.  Can she still love him, and forgive him for what he is about to tell her about her own self?

"Ever since the moment I saw you Bethany, I knew.  I'd never had emotions before then, never experienced feelings; my kind doesn't have those things.  It's not supposed to happen to us.  Ever.  I was supposed to be too young to have felt the hunger, The Calling, when we first met.  It wasn't supposed to happen for another ten years.  The Calling is what we call the desire we acquire to touch and taste a soul.  When it happens, we feel as if the soul is calling to us, beckoning us to feed from it, to savor it, and gain strength from what it has to offer."

"You made me this way Bethany, you created me.  You turned me into something that I was never supposed to be."

   Like I said, I was hooked on these two books!  You never know if the second book will be as good as the first one,  but this one was its equal, if not better.  So many things are explained in this book about Bethany and definitely about Cade.  Their relationship takes a right turn into the beyond when he reveals things about himself and things about her that she didn't even know (and definitely didn't want to hear).  After hating these monsters so very much for taking her mother and making her life hell, it turns out she has fallen in love with one.  How messed up is that?  Not only is that messed up, but these aliens traveling around destroying worlds sound a whole lot like vampires to me.  They are crazy fast, strong, and like blood.  It's like a new and different form of vampire.  And it makes things even more exciting!  I am wondering if there will be another book, because this is definitely not the end of the war for Earth.  It's true what they say:  It's never over until it's over.

"They've known all along humans would be their biggest fight." 
 


*images via Erica Stevens
*quotes via Erica Stevens