Author Q&A with Eileen Sheehan! Eileen Sheehan writes fantasy and paranormal fiction while her alternate persona, Lena Sheehan, authors self-help and spiritual works. A prolific writer and fan of the written word, when she is not creating something for herself you can find her assisting other authors by editing their work or simply enjoying a good read. 1) What inspired you to write The Vampire, The Handler and Me?
ES : I wanted to write a romance and s I sat down with the intentiom of doing just that. It wasn't intended to be a vampire romance but as I wrote my fingers just seemed to take over and the story developed. The more I wrote, the more involved with the characters I got and the story blossomed from there. 2) If you hadn't succeeded in being an author, what other career would you have chosen? ES : I still haven't succeeded in supporting myself solely by my writing so I operate a holistic/psychic business for that. Since I enjoy it and it allows me the time required to write and create, I don't mind. 3) Do you like reading as well as writing? If yes, who are some of your favourite authors? ES : Yes, I like to read. I don't read at the same time that I write, but when I'm taking a break from writing I'll read something. I read a variety of genre from fiction to self-help. I enjoy the works of Charlene Harris and Joanna Lindsey the best. 4) Describe The Vampire, The Handler and Me in 5 words. ES : A suspenseful romantic triangle. 5) If you had to pick a song to go along with The Vampire, The Handler and Me, which song would you pick and why? ES : That's an excellent question. The first song that flew into my head when I read this was Brian Adam's song "Look Into My Eyes" and I think that's fitting since Lizzy fought hard and stepped out of her comfort zone for her love. 6) Are there any aspect of your own personality in any of your characters/ ES : Oh yes. It's hard not to slip a little bit of me into them; either what I'm like or wish what I was like. I also slip a few things that happened to me in there but make them turn out better or differently. In fact, the scene where Lizzy goes to a New Years party alone and then shares the scratch off tickets with Nevi in the convenience store is based on something similar that happened to me. 7) If you could live in any world from any book, which would you pick? ES : Most of my books deal with the world today, of which I do live in. They include aspects of the supernatural and since I'm a professional psychic and healer by day I guess I'm on the fringe of that already too. 8) What is your best advice for aspiring authors? ES : Never, never, never give up. I've been writing for years and am only now seeing the rewards come forth. Remember that you can't please everyone. Write what you think and feel needs expressing without worrying about whether you're going to please or displease. If you aren't already in touch with those who appreciate your work, they'll find you as long as you keep yourself out there for them to find. Writing is only part of the game. You MUST get the word out as well if you want people to know and appreciate what you've created Eileen's Website - http://www.sheehan-author.info/ The Vampire, The Handler and Me GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28119771-the-vampire-the-handler-and-me BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Vampire-the-Handler-and-Me-Dawne-Dominique-Kier-Smith-Eileen-Sheehan/9781629293110
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Anticipated January Releases! HAPPY NEW YEAR! There's lots of great books coming out this month and throughout the year. Let me talk you through some of my most anticipated releases of the month! Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken - January 5th! Alexandra Bracken if you don't know is the author of The Darkest Minds series, a series which I personally haven't read but that many people have read and loved. She's coming out with a new book this month, which apparently has something to do with pirates and a journey that takes place across the ocean. Alexandra has came out and said that it is very different to the The Darkest Minds series, so no one really knows what to expect from this, but it sounds awesome and unique. This book features both pirates and time travelling thrown together. From what I gather the main character Etta accidentally discovers this secret society of time travellers and has been thrown into a dangerous hunt for a very powerful object. This object could change the entire world if it gets into the wrong hands. This hunt takes place in many different countries across different time periods and just sounds freakin' awesome. I don't think I've done this justice, but I'm really excited to find out more about this world as many people, who received an early copy, have loved it! GR : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20983362-passenger BDhttp://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=Passenger+by+Alexandra+Bracken&search=Find+book Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard - January 5th! This is one of the most talked about January releases of this year. Lots of people throughout the book community have been anticipating this since it was announced. If you don't know what it's about then carry on reading. From what I gather the world it's set on is a continent ruled by three empires. Some people are born with 'witchery', a magical skill that makes them different from everyone else. Throughout The Witchlands, there are many different types of 'witchery'. Two girl know this all two well. Safiya is a Truthwitch, allowing her to separate truths from lies. It's a powerful skill that all the empires want on their side, they would do anything for it. Therefore Safiya kepps her skill a secret to avoid being used as a pawn in the struggle between the three empires. Then there is Iseult, a Threadwitch, allowing her to see 'invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her'. She lived her life as an outcast, until her unlikely friendship with Safiya formed. Her life is now a reckless adventure. The pair just want to live their lives free of everything, but war is coming to The Witchlands. They must fight people, who would do anything to get their hands on a Truthwitch. GR : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21414439-truthwitch BD :http://www.bookdepository.com/Truthwitch/9780765379283 This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp - January 5th! As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I wanted to read this. I think this is an important book and one that many people should read. If you haven't heard of this book, it features a school shooting. It takes place in an assembly hall where the Principal is making a speech. She finishes and order the kids out of the hall through the assembly hall doors. The doors don't open and everyone is trapped. Then someone starts shooting... It sounds really interesting, but also an important read and one, which I imagine will be close to a lot of people's hearts after previous similar events in places like America. GR : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24529123-this-is-where-it-ends BD : http://www.bookdepository.com/This-Is-Where-It-Ends/9781492622468 Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira - January 12th! Is it just me who loves this cover?! Anyway, I hadn't heard anything about this till I was browsing through the January releases list on Goodreads. The cover and the title were what drew me to it and then I read the synopsis and it sounded very different to anything I've ever read before. I copy and paste the synopsis down below as I don't think I'll do it justice. In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing? GR : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21018154-bookishly-ever-after BD : http://www.bookdepository.com/Bookishly-Ever-After-Isabel-Bandeir/9781633920583 Anyway that was four new book releases that I'm really looking forward to this month. Let me know your most anticipated releases down below!
BYE! Spoiler-Free Review : The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell Feodora and her mother live in the snowbound woods of Russia, in a house full of food and fireplaces. Ten minutes away, in a ruined chapel, lives a pack of wolves. Feodora's mother is a wolf wilder, and Feo is a wolf wilder in training. A wolf wilder is the opposite of an animal tamer: it is a person who teaches tamed animals to fend for themselves, and to fight and to run, and to be wary of humans. When the murderous hostility of the Russian Army threatens her very existence, Feo is left with no option but to go on the run. What follows is a story of revolution and adventure, about standing up for the things you love and fighting back. And, of course, wolves. I won this book through a giveway by Bloomsbury through another site (either World Book Day or Caboodle). It was quite a few months back, so I can't really remember. Anyway, thanks to Bloomsbury and the site for hosting the giveaway. The book came with a set of postcards decorated with one of the beautiful illustrations from throughout the book. Though I got the book quite a few months ago, I wanted to save it to read in the snowy weather, however that weather didn't come but I still read the book. Through the months, which I was saving the book the postcards made me really want to read it as the illustrations were just so detailed and just awesome. I may insert some pictures if I can remember to. The illustrator is Gelrev Ongbico and I think he did a really awesome job and it definitely added more to the story. Anyway, enough off me blabbing on, let's get into the review! *insert cool swoosh sound* WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT?
The book follows a young girl called Feo, who lives in a snowy and large area of Russia with her mother, Marina. Feo doesn't really interact with other humans, she doesn't see many often and honestly she doesn't need them. She's got her mother and her best friends, the wolves. That's all she wants from the world. Feo as long as she can remember has grown up with the wolves, they are her family and this her mother's job.Her mother, Marina, is a wolf wilder. Many of the rich people in Russia keep wolves as pets. When the rich people no longer want the wolves, they are sent to the wolf wilder, which just happens to be Feo and her mother. Feo (and her mother) then teach the wolves how to be wolves as they once used to be. They learn how to hunt, to run and how to defend themselves against other wolves. When the wolves are fully untamed back to normal wolves, they are then released into the surrounding areas to live the rest of their lives as wolves. One day there is a knock at their door and Feo opens it to see an older vile man along with two younger men holding a dead elk. They storm into the house while threatening Feo and her mother. They trash their house. The vile man is General Rakov and he is second in command (I guess) to the Tsar, the leader of the country. He demands that Feo and her mother must kill the wolves after they have untamed them. Obviously the mother and daughter refuse as it is unlucky and they love the wolves. This angers the man more and he still holds the dead elk in his hands, which one of the recently released wolves had killed. He tells them they have to kill the wolves or he will be back and he will kill the mother and daughter. Feo and Marina continue with their lives, untaming wolves and then releasing them - they just do it as secretly as possible to avoid the eyes of Rakov's soldiers. the soldiers see and they come back one night and burn the house down, Marian is taken away to jail and Feo has run away with three of her wolves - Black, Grey and White along with Ilya a soldier on her side. The group take on the journey of travelling to the prison to rescue Feo's mother, but along the way they bump into more trouble and meet with some memorable characters. MY VIEW ON THE PLOT I found this story to be full of surprises and despite the fact that it's a children's book it was full of some really deep and beautiful quotes. The story brought across a deep and beautiful message, which will without doubt capture the reader's heart like it did mine. Some parts were easily guessable though I think that may be down to the fact that it's a children's book, however for the most part there was a lot of surprises. There were a few events along the way that really frustrated me due to decisions Feo made, but I'm able to look past that and overall I really enjoyed the plot. SPEED I found the speed of this book to be slow at times and that was my one downside to this book. However, for the most part I did like the speed and I did find myself whizzing through the pages, but there were the slower parts that took a bit longer to get through. CHARACTERS I felt like all of the characters deserved a place in the book and each of them did play a part in the story, however my favourite has to be Feo. Despite her frustrating decisions, I did care for her and towards the end that came more and more clearer. I found myself wishing for her to be alright in moments of trouble and most of the time she was. My least favourite character was Rakov as he was just vile and disgusting, however I am intrigued to find out why he's the way he is and if Katherine Rundell were to write a book following that, I would definitely purchase it. Other than that, there were some really strong and different characters hidden throughout this book and one of these was Ilya. I felt so sorry for Ilya as he was just someone he didn't want to be. He wanted to be a dancer not a soldier and you could feel that affected his personality. I loved his character and hope he gets to do what he wants if there were to be a novella to this book. RATE Following all of this my final rating for this book is 4.25/5 I recommend this book to every child as I think it's one of those books that every child should read. Though I think YA and some Adult readers would also like it. BYE! The Wolf Wilder GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23257157-the-wolf-wilder?from_search=true&search_version=service BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Wolf-Wilder-Katherine-Rundell/9781481419420 (Other cover is currently out of stock, so I found this one.) The Martian by Andy Weir : Favourite Quotes As a lot of you will know, I recently read and fell in love with The Martian by Andy Weir. In my review I was talking about writing a post including some of my favourite quotes from The Martian. Well, here's that post! All this will be is a list of the quotes and at the end I will leave a link to my review if you want to check it out. Let's get into it! "Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped." “He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.” LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.” “Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.” “I started the day with some nothin’ tea. Nothin’ tea is easy to make. First, get some hot water, then add nothin’.” “I guess you could call it a "failure", but I prefer the term "learning experience".” “Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be “in command” if I were the only remaining person.” What do you know? I’m in command” “Me: “This is obviously a clog. How about I take it apart and check the internal tubing?” NASA: (after five hours of deliberation) “No. You’ll fuck it up and die.” So I took it apart.” “Also, please watch your language. Everything you type is being broadcast live all over the world. [12:15] WATNEY: Look! A pair of boobs! -> (.Y.)” “They say once you grow crops somewhere, you have officially ‘colonised’ it. So technically, I colonised Mars. In your face, Neil Armstrong!” “My asshole is doing as much to keep me alive as my brain.” “I admit it’s fatally dangerous,” Watney said. “But consider this: I’d get to fly around like Iron Man.” “We’ll keep working on ideas,” Lewis said. “Iron Man, Commander. Iron Man.” “I tested the brackets by hitting them with rocks. This kind of sophistication is what we interplanetary scientists are known for.” “I'm even going to electrolyze my urine. That'll make for a pleasant smell in the trailer. If I survive this, I'll tell people I was pissing rocket fuel.” “Oh,” Lewis said, “well if you won’t let us then— Wait…wait a minute.… I’m looking at my shoulder patch and it turns out I’m the commander. Sit tight. We’re coming to get you.” “Smart-ass.” “I told NASA what I did. Our (paraphrased) conversation was: Me: “I took it apart, found the problem, and fixed it.” NASA: “Dick.”
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AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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