HAPPY WEDNESDAY and welcome to another round of What to Read Wednesday. I’m shaking things up a bit again today.
I’d love it if you’d help me welcome KARY RADER who is going to give us a behind the scenes look into her release Queen of Jastain Book One in the Reign of Light Series by interviewing two of her characters. So stay tuned for a sit on your edge interview because these two are interesting and fun!
Thanks for joining us Kary and take it away when you’re ready…
Abby and Avant from Queen of Jastain
Thank you for having us here today. We’ve chosen to answer a few questions.
What are your favorite scenes in your book: the action, the dialog or the romance?
Abby: I know what Avant’s favorite scene is.
Avant (narrows his eyes and frowns skeptically): Indeed? And which one might that be?
Abby (snickers): The one where you get to drive my BMW.
Avant (laughs): That’s not precisely what I thought you were going to say. You do have a habit of embarrassing me, but yes, I did enjoy driving in your world. You see, in Jastain, there are no horseless carriages or motorized vehicles…well, except for Abigail’s Xterra which the blacksmith was able to modify for the battle with the dark king.
Abby (rolls her eyes): Modify? Don’t you mean he turned it into a giant penis?
Avant (smirks): It was modified into a battering ram, Abigail. The changes were necessary to breech the castle gate. Nothing else was intended.
Abby: Right. It looks like a big dick and you know it!
Avant: So what you’re saying is that I would know what a ‘big dick’ looks like because—
Abby: NEXT QUESTION!
Did you have a hard time convincing your author to write any particular scenes for you?
Abby: Not really. Although she did change the love scene several times. Not that I minded living the different scenes, but I think the final version is the right version for the story. In several of the versions we went to a Country Western Bar to dance.
Avant: Ahh, yes. I did enjoy salsa dancing with you in one of the cut scenes.
Abby: I know you enjoyed it. I could feel how much you enjoyed it, remember?
Avant: I remember. Perhaps we can convince our lovely author to bring out those deleted scene.
Are you happy with the genre your writer has placed you in?
Abby: I am happy with the genre now. But I wasn’t at first. I mean, how would you like to be inexplicable transported to an unknown medieval fantasy land? Not that I had much here to leave behind, but still, it was home. In the beginning, I would’ve rather been in some NYT Contemporary Bestseller.
Avant (takes Abby’s hand): But you would’ve never met me.
Abby: And that made it worth the trip.
Avant: And you’re a queen now.
Abby: That too.
What is your least favorite characteristic your writer has attributed to you?
Avant: For me that would be vengeful and unforgiving. It’s true. I was those things, but it’s hard to look back at them now and admit to. Sometimes people hurt us. Especially those people we love the most, because they will always have the most power in our lives, but I learned to forgive and so can anyone. What I realized was that my anger hurt only me and kept me bound to those who most wounded me. Fortunately, through the story I was able to let go of those things and move forward in a new life, with my wife, my queen.
Abby: Avant is the bravest, most loyal man I’ve ever met, and his internal battle during the story was nearly as fierce as the external. Things don’t always happen as you expect and there are just some things in life that you have no control over. Let it go. Live for today with those that do love you. You’ll be happier.
What is your most prized possession?
Avant: My belief in a power greater than myself
Abby: Oh crap. That was a good answer, honey. I was going to say my jeweled crown, which is very nice, but now it sounds too materialistic.
What is something no one knows about you? Why do you keep it a secret? And what would happen if everyone found out about it?
Avant: This is an interesting question and deals heavily with the themes of the book. I am, by nature, a man closed off. Not unfeeling, but unwilling to show those feelings. The betrayal by my Best Friend and my first wife solidified that isolation and for twenty years I lived in secret, allowing no one to truly know the man I am. Until Abigail. The Light showed me I much transfer my knowledge to her through my supernatural Gifting. Similar to a computer download. But to give her the knowledge she needed to accomplish her destiny, I had to give her everything. Every thought, feeling, experience. And for a man who revealed nothing, that requirement was nothing short of ultimate sacrifice.
However, what I found was what most people find when they sacrifice for some noble purpose, the act helped me far more than it harmed me. And because of it, The Light reigns again in the land.
Both Abby and Avant: Thank you for having us on your blog. We hope you read our story, Queen of Jastain.
For twenty years, Avant plotted revenge against the dark king, but when a mysterious woman suddenly appears, everything changes. Although his prophetic Gift reveals she’s the Seed of Light chosen to restore the Crown, his overwhelming attraction to the women threatens his long-held plan for revenge and two decades of fidelity.
Abby Randall is inexplicably transported from Dallas to the medieval land of Jastain. There she meets Avant, who claims she’s the foretold champion of his people. While the hot guy has her hormones pumping, his crazy talk of defeating an evil king leaves questions to his sanity. Through his supernatural Gift, Avant transplants his memories into her, but neither are prepared for how their hearts intertwine.
Together they embark on their quest, but when Abby and Avant come face to face with destiny, will they sacrifice what matters most to provide a happily-ever-after for the people of Jastain?
Authors Bio:
Kary Rader is a stay-at-home mother of three, avid reader and slave to the characters and worlds inside her head.
Always creative, she’s drawn to stories with fantastical worlds and creatures. With a little bit of magic and divine guidance, there isn’t anything that can’t be accomplished with words. It’s the power of words that creates and destroys.
Vanquishing evil and injustice while finding eternal love in the process is all in a day’s work. And with the help of her critique partners and master cartographer imaginary places come to life.
Excerpt:
When Avant climbed back to the cave, his hair was wet. He’d slicked it back from his face and tied it into a little ponytail with a leather string. The sexy shadow of a light beard softened his angular jaw, and the thick waves of his hair shined with chestnut highlights in the morning sun. It was a good look for him, but then again, what wasn’t? Abby ran her fingers through her own tangled tresses and pulled her hair back. What she wouldn’t give for a hairclip.
“Would you like a thong for your hair?”
She giggled at the word thong, certain that what she pictured was not what he referenced. “Do you have an extra one? I’d like to get it out of my face, and I don’t have anything.” Actually she had her own thong, but she sure as hell wasn’t putting it in her hair.
He immediately unlaced the tie at the neck of his shirt and handed it to her.
She gasped and put a hand to her face to hide the heat in her cheeks as his shirt fell open below his breast bone. “You don’t have to do that.”
Her blood coursed wildly at the sight of the smooth muscles of his chest. A soft sprinkling of dark hair beckoned her fingers. She swallowed hard.
“It’s all right. Please use it. It will be a hard day’s journey with hair in your face.” His words rang in her mind so sincerely she forgot her embarrassment, but her eyes kept flitting to his heavenly chest.
“Thank you, Avant, and not only for the lace but for everything you’re doing to help me.”
Holding her gaze, he nodded once, and her heart fluttered. Was it getting warm in the cave? She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
“It is time to be off if we are to make it to the next shelter before nightfall.” He picked up his pack and walked to the mouth of the cave. She grabbed her bag and followed.
Climbing down proved to be more difficult than going up. The muscles required to lower herself from one level to the next worked her thighs and butt like no gym equipment she’d ever experienced. It was like doing hours of squats. She trudged down the mountain with the previous day’s tumult weighting her down like the “freshman ten.” Avant helped her along on the steeper steps, but, for the most part, she made them on her own, clippity-clopping in those damned Docinis all the way.
When he reached the bottom, he disappeared around an outcropping. Abby took the last little step to the base and hurried after him. As she turned the corner, Avant grabbed her arm and spun her around. Driving her back against the rock, he pressed the length of his rigid body against her. His face, barely three inches from hers, clenched in thin lines of stress. Her heart raced…with fear.
She was pretty sure it was fear.
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ChristineWarner
