Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Release date: March 16, 2015
Synopsis:
Morrie Brandon is the best horse trainer in Oklahoma, able to tame the wildest of beasts. She's also the Celtic goddess of War and Sex, The Morrigan, abandoning her supernatural life for a simpler, more human one. When Morrie is hired by a secretive Scottish family to capture a killer horse ravaging their Highlands manor, the past she has spent thousands of years running from calls her back. Will Morrie learn from her past mistakes and embrace the bold goddess she truly is, or is it too late?
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Author Bio:
Kennan Reid traveled from the vast, open spaces of Texas to the vast, open ocean of California where she enjoys sitting outside in the sun, tossing a frisbee to her dog, Barnabas, and on occasion, writing a few words hoping one day they behave and become a book. When she's not pretending to be a romance author, she is writing young adult novels about elves, witches and reincarnation. The Morrigan is her first adult romance novel and after falling in love with the fiesty goddess and her crazy sisters, will not be her last.
Interview
1.
When did you
first realize you wanted to be a writer?
2.
How long does it
take you to write a book?
It takes me about a year, at
least. I take my time with my books and
they aren’t my main job, but what I do in my free time so it’s a matter of getting
in a hour here and there of writing when inspiration strikes. And then I really try to read and reread the
story as many times as I can to ensure that it’s the best story it can be. That the characters are fully-dimensional and
sympathetic and real, even if they sport wings or horns and that the story
moves at a pace that’s engaging to a place that makes sense.
3.
What would you
say is your interesting writing quirk?
4.
How do books get
published?
By the sheer will of the
author. Traditionally it’s either a lottery or
through someone you know. But thanks to
Smashwords and Amazon KDP, anyone who has a little bit of time and technical
savvy can publish their books. Obviously
those that look like they’ve had some work put into them, those that have an
intriguing premise garner the attention of readers, but today’s world of
self-publishing is the American Dream of Opportunity for the every man author.
5. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
All around me! I write a lot of fantasy and paranormal so I
go to mythology, sometimes science books, sometimes the Bible, for
information. I’ll scour the internet
to find any kind of research. The ideas
just pop out of anything – dreams, a scene in a movie or a moment in life. I’ll watch a show and it’ll make me think of something else and that leads to
an idea. My elf YA fantasy series came
about from my love of the movie Ladyhawke
and The Lord of the Rings. It’s all very random.
6.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned
in creating your books?
How much I grew to care for the
characters. How much a part of my life
they became and how very hard it was to let them go to move on to other
stories. You get attached, they become your
friends, your children, even while you’re putting them through some awful situations. And then I was surprised at how, once the
characters started to form personalities, they would take over the story and
the direction I wanted it to go would change.
They sort of became real.
7.
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I
have written six books; five Young Adult (under my real name, Kelly Riad) and
one adult romance. While that’s kinda like asking which child
is your favorite, my family has always been kinda mean and played favorites and
so I don’t really have a problem
saying that Return to
Arethane is my favorite simply because it was my first; it was the one
that pulled me into this world of writing and the characters have stayed with
me a very long time.
8.
Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are
they?
Read! READ ALL THE THINGS! Good books, bad books (though sometimes bad
books are better because they show you want NOT to do.) Read your writing. Sometimes that sparks other writing or better
writing. Read everything you can from
the writers you want to write like. You’ll find that you will
end up developing your own style. Don’t be afraid to
rewrite. Kills your darlings! Edit and cut and rewrite and read! I know it sounds elementary and obvious, but
it really is the best way to improve.
9.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds
of things do they say?
Not nearly as much as I would like
to – I would
love to hear from my readers. What I do
hear it usually praise – I don’t think I’ve ever had a reader contact me to tell me I suck (so
far!) But I would love to hear from
readers, their thoughts on the books, the characters. I’ve had twitter conversations with readers before and I
love knowing someone has been that engaged by my stories and characters.
10.
Do you like to create books for adults?
I do! I really loved writing The
Morrigan – there’s a lot less angst and self-discovery when writing for
adults. There’s a lot more unabashed
shamelessness – “This is me!
Accept me or don’t!” There’s something to be said
in the confidence of adulthood.
11.
What do you think makes a good story?
Any story that makes me forget
life for a while. Any story that stops
time because you existed in that
world while those pages turned. Any
story that has involved characters that were real and flawed and
sympathetic. Those stories that stay in
your head and make you question if they weren’t actually real.
12.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be Indiana Jones. I wanted to be an adventurous archaeologist.
But then I learned that I had to be good at math and know other languages and
so that dream was toast L
13. What Would you like my readers to know?
If you read The Morrigan and enjoy her story, let me
know! You can reach me at @KennenReid on
Twitter and at https://www.facebook.com/KennanReidWrites.
Author Links:
Excerpt:
“Did no one tell ye it’s rude tae give a man the best night of his life and then run away?” a voice rumbled low and soft and managed to be as seductive as it was menacing.
“Kade,” Morrie sighed, hoping he couldn’t hear the desire and relief laced in the sound.
She shouldn’t be this excited over knowing he had raced home after her, but inside she nearly bounced like a giddy school girl.
And what did he say? The best night of his life…Morrie would have to admit, she felt the same.
She spun around on the stool to face him, leaning back when she found him standing too near.
He closed the small space, towering over her as he dipped his head to be eye level with her, forcing her back against the bar.
“Ye will no’ leave like that again,” he growled.
Morrie frowned at his order and opened her mouth to respond, but the words caught in the back of her throat.
Emotion flickered in his eyes, eyes that had grown black with what could have been either desire or fury, she wasn’t sure. But also something else…
Morrie tilted her head to the side. “Did I scare you?”
Kade huffed with quick offense and straightened up, leaning back from her. But his expression changed to one of wonder.
“Like ye would no’ believe,” he admitted on an exhaled breath as though surprised by his own revelation.
“I told you I was here for business.” And that business was quickly becoming an obsession of hers.
A challenge that would determine just how far down the mortal hole she had fallen and whether she could find her true nature as a goddess once again.
This job tested her mettle because it should have been done by now. She knew she could find the horse if she used her powers, but she needed to know she could find him on her own.
Though why she needed that, she couldn’t say.
Kade turned his angry eyes on her. “Do ye really expect tae succeed in this daft quest?”
Morrie blinked, surprised by the…well, vehemence of his question and the turn of his questioning.
Of everyone in the home, he had seemed the least concerned about her reasons for being there.
“If I didn’t think I could catch him, I wouldn’t stay.” And she had thought he wanted her to stay, but his question had elicited an unwanted response—one of insecurity. “If you think I’m wasting my time, then I should just leave.”
For emphasis, she moved to slip off the stool, to really get away from him before he could see just how his doubts had touched her, but he stopped her by placing his hand on her hip.
“Wait, that’s no’ what I want.” Morrie paused but crossed her arms over her chest, pressing her lips together and waiting for him to continue. Kade sighed. “O’ course I think ye can catch him. If anyone can, it’s you. I doona doubt ye.” He blinked, like a discovery had been made. “Maybe ye’re supposed tae. In fact, I’ll help ye do so.”
Morrie gave Kade a sidelong glance. He was up to something, she just wasn’t sure what.
“You’ll come with me to the loch?”
There it was again!
A passing cloud of fear across his face, but this time it was different. It seemed spurned on by a different place.
But it came and went so quickly, Morrie soon questioned seeing it at all.
“I’ll follow ye anywhere,” he answered her and there was a deep truth behind his statement. “Just doona leave again like ye did this morn.”
Morrie studied him like a suspicious package wrapped in a thin veil of desperate relief. He seemed changed from the night before—this emotion even different than the cloud that settled over him after the encounter with his mother.
Kade either wore many masks or his true nature was too complex to determine.
Like the horse, Kade was a challenge.
And Morrie was a sucker for challenges.
And his dark eyes turned her into a puddle and it seemed there was nothing she could do about it. Her shoulders slumped before she muttered, “Stop making me melt.”
Kade frowned. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” Morrie stood up, placing her body much too close to Kade’s, but she couldn’t appear weak. She pulled out some money and slapped it down on the bar to well cover her tab.
“Alright, you can help. But what happened last night cannot happen again. I am your brother’s employee, I am your employee. And for us to entangle ourselves…” Kade’s responding grin caused Morrie to roll her eyes and regret her word choice, but she continued on, hands on her hips, “would only result in an unnecessary distraction.”
She hoped to glower that smirk right off his beautiful lips.
At the fire in her eyes, Kade threw up is hands in surrender.
“Aye, lass, as ye wish. If ye insist on lying tae yerself and pretending, then I will no’ impose my will on ye.”
Giveaway
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