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Showing posts with label LM DeWalt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LM DeWalt. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Author Interview + eBook Giveaway with LM DeWalt

LM DeWaltLM DeWalt
Author of Lily & Datura (The Quest for Reasons) 
See Melanie's Reviews: Lily  / Datura 
Follow LM: Website / Goodreads
LM DeWalt is a Peruvian American who has been living in the US for 30 years. She works as a teacher of ESL, Spanish, French, and accent reduction and is also an interpreter and translator and runs creative writing groups. She is currently attending teacher's college. She has written for several Spanish language newspapers but her dream was always to write novels. Her love of vampires started when she was seven years old and saw Bella Lugosi's Dracula.

1.       How did you come up with the idea for the book?
The main character, Lily, popped into my head first. It was late one night when I was just falling asleep. She stayed in my head even while I slept. I guess you could say I built the story around her after that.

2.       Why vampires?
I saw my first vampire movie when I was seven years old. It was the only “monster” that did not scare me half to death but fascinated me instead. I saw every movie and read every book I could get my hands on after that. It was the most logical creature to start off my writing career.

3.       How long did it take to write each book?
Each book took about a year, including translating (which I do), edits, and rewrites.

4.       What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was finding the time. Between a full-time job, teaching private classes, full-time college, and my family, that was the biggest challenge. My family was very cooperative though and did not mind when I locked myself up in a room for hours at a time.

5.       How many books do you plan on having in this series?
I planned to write three books and a prequel, but now, I have to rethink that. There could be so many more adventures with these characters.

**Book related questions that may contain spoilers**
6.       Why did you decide to give each vampire separate powers?
I gave them each separate powers because they are all so different from each other. They are individuals, even though they are vampires, and their powers should somewhat match their personalities.

7.       Practically all of the vampires can communicate mentally, why is it that some can’t – e.g. Aaron, will there be a reason for this or is it just one of those things?
There is a reason that Aaron cannot hear anyone else’s thoughts. We’ll just have to wait until book three for that one—sorry.

8.       Will we get the other main characters back stories? Either in a spinoff or through this series? I’m particularly interested in the coven – Kalia & Aaron’s, Pierce & Aloysius.
The other characters’ backstories will be revealed in book three. We already know something about Kalia and how she ended up with Aaron, but Aaron is a bit more reserved. We will have to coax him to open up. As for Aloysius, he has big secrets he has been guarding. We will have to break down his wall as well.

9.       With the introduction of the new super-naturals it has opened up a lot of possibilities for future storylines and a larger threat to all not just Lily, is that where you plan on taking the series?
I would definitely like to take the story as far as possible in book three. It was my intention to end it there, but there are definitely new possibilities… hmm.

10.   I have loved reading of Lily blossoming throughout the 2 books, is there still more to come from her? Will we see her gain power and control the ones she has better?
We will definitely see Lily gain more control, not only of her powers and abilities, but also of herself and her life. She just needs to be a little more confident in herself and she could accomplish great things.

11.   The ending to Datura was heart-breaking, will things ever be resolved? 
The ending to Datura was very hard for me to write. I admit I cried as I typed even though I know what is going to happen. When I was attending a workshop at the Write Stuff Conference, the speaker said to take everything away from our main character and see how it felt. I hated it, but I wrote it down anyway. It ended up being the end of Datura. Don’t worry; things will be resolved though they can never be the same again. The resolution will bring new opportunities for Lily and Christian, along with some new family members.

12.   Who would you cast in the movie of your books?
This is a tough question. For Lily I would go with Lily Laura Breckenridge. For Ian I would go with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. As for the other characters, I honestly have no idea.

13. Can you give us a teaser for book 3?
I can tell you that Lily will have some additions to her family. I can also say that she will figure out that “normal” is not all it’s cracked up to be and that she will learn to accept and embrace her new version of the word.
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Thank you for joining us today LM!
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Want more details about LM's books? Check out the blurbs below: 
Lily

Lily is a tragic and lonely vampire, unwittingly brought into her existence by Ian, a selfish but beautiful maker who has captured her heart for decades, even though he left her with no compass on how to navigate her strange new world. When she meets a coven of vampires that takes her in and treats her like family, all she thought she knew is brought into question. Things are further complicated when she finally finds love – Christian, a human man. Just when she's finally found happiness, Ian reappears, threatening to destroy everything Lily holds dear. When he once again removes all her choices, Lily is thrown into a world where Ian's ongoing sins are unstoppable and her family and newfound love seem lost forever.

Datura


After nearly a century of wandering the globe alone, Lily finally has everything she never knew she wanted, family, friends, and most of all, their love. As Lily attempts to start her new life, in the lively streets of Lima, Peru, she feels she is constantly being followed. With Ian, her first love and maker, now gone, who is left to destroy the happiness she has finally found? Someone still longs for Lily’s destruction. Vengeance or jealousy threaten to destroy her, and Lily must summon all the strength she can find to protect everything she cherishes against vampires, hunters, and witches.

Giveaway!
Central Avenue Publishing have kindly offered two lucky winner will win signed eBook editions of either Lily or Datura. 
If you'd like to be in with a chance to win, fill out the rafflecopter form below and of course
Extra entries are available too. 
Giveaway ends June 26th, 2012 
And it's international. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, 6 April 2012

A Review for Datura (The Quest for Reasons #2) by LM DeWalt


DaturaPosted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Published Date: March 15th, 2012
Finished Date: March 20th, 2012
Publishers: Central Avenue Publishing
Source: ARC, For Review
Format: Kindle
Pages: 258

The Blurb from Goodread: After nearly a century of wandering the globe alone, Lily finally has everything she never knew she wanted, family, friends, and most of all, their love. As Lily attempts to start her new life, in the lively streets of Lima, Peru, she feels she is constantly being followed. With Ian, her first love and maker, now gone, who is left to destroy the happiness she has finally found? Someone still longs for Lily’s destruction. Vengeance or jealousy threaten to destroy her, and Lily must summon all the strength she can find to protect everything she cherishes against vampires, hunters, and witches.

The review: **Spoiler Alert for those who haven’t read book one**

We start this second book right where we left off book one with Lily wounded and her world threatening to collapse around her. Ian is dead and has taken Christian with him – or has he? Because in the midst of the despair, there is hope and that hope blossoms into a reality – giving Lily a chance at her happy ever after. She soon heads off to Peru only to have her happiness shattered as she comes to realise that by killing her maker she has caused quite a bit of resentment from his followers and they are out for revenge, deadly revenge. . . . . . Only this time she isn’t only up against the Vampires.

This is another really good read in the series. Lily is again a really likable character and we see her open up and blossom a bit more from book one. It’s kind of hard for her to open up and let people in because of her past but she’s trying and that’s nice to see. It was lovely to see her happy for a while and also good to see her question herself, on many occasions and we must remember that she has changed so much in such a short time, that she isn’t used to the emotions she’s having to deal with and that she has others feelings and lives to take into consideration now. Most of the characters are interesting and a couple of new ones in this need exploring but I still wanted to know more about the others from book one too. I suppose we could get their stories eventually and that would be nice. I want to see Lily explore what she might be capable of as others powers come to light. I still like that they all have different abilities and I still want to see them used more. I liked how all of the new super-naturals where introduced and it opens up a lot of possibilities for future books and where things could go especially now there is more than one threat, it definitely left me curious that’s for sure. I also liked that we start to delve into just how naïve Ian had kept Lily all of those years. She knows nothing about what is truly out there so as Lily finds out new things, we do too and that’s good as a reader to share the discoveries with a main character because usually they are ‘in the know’

The plot again was a good continuation from book one, fast moving and mixed with new knowledge against the backdrop of Peru. We get to see there are consequences for her actions in book one and others want revenge, the lengths to which some will go to get what they want and the lies and betrayals that are being flung around are unbelievable – but oh so good as the twists and turns keep on coming. I truly didn’t see where the plot was going apart from one tiny bit but it all came together really well. I would say this book was quite bi polar as it went from one extreme emotion to the other but it certainly left me wanting more again because I NEED for everything to be ok, Lily’s character has gotten to me and wormed her way into my heart and I really feel for her because what has she done to deserve her fate? She is a victim of circumstance and by loving a charismatic manipulator with an unhealthy interest in her, she has opened herself up to a lot of danger from sources she had no idea about – so come on Lily! I’m routing for your happy ever after, go kick some butt and show them what’s what!

Saturday, 3 March 2012

A Review for Lily (The Quest For Reason #1) by LM DeWalt

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Published Date: February 1st, 2012
Finished Date: February 27th, 2012
Publishers: Central Avenue Publishing
Source: For Review 
Format: Kindle
Pages: 302
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The Blurb from Goodreads: Lily is a tragic and lonely vampire, unwittingly brought into her existence by Ian, a selfish but beautiful maker who has captured her heart for decades, even though he left her with no compass on how to navigate her strange new world. When she meets a coven of vampires that takes her in and treats her like family, all she thought she knew is brought into question. Things are further complicated when she finally finds love – Christian, a human man. Just when she's finally found happiness, Ian reappears, threatening to destroy everything Lily holds dear. When he once again removes all her choices, Lily is thrown into a world where Ian's ongoing sins are unstoppable and her family and new found love seem lost forever.

The Review: This was a really nice read; it tells the tale of a lonely vampire Lily who is detached from the world around her, leading a very solitary life. She has been alone since her maker – Ian – left her many years before, leaving her heartbroken and having to learn how to exist as vampire on her own. Even after all the years that have gone by she is still bitter about the abandonment and has never let herself get close to anyone again for fear of being hurt and rejected again. That is until she makes a hasty exit from her current home and finds herself on the doorstep of a coven of vampires who are more than willing to accept her into their family and stranger still, her acceptance of that. Then she meets a man by chance and even though he’s human and everything about the coupling would be wrong, she is drawn to him and begins to feel something she didn’t know existed anymore within herself but that happiness is short lived when her maker turns up and threatens everyone she cares about, causing Lily to make some drastic decisions in the effort to keep everyone safe.

As I mentioned, this was a really nice read and so easy to get into. At first I wasn’t really impressed with Lily’s character; she came across as cold and unfeeling because she had detached herself from society and spent a lot of time alone. Thankfully she came to the realisation that she did indeed need some interaction with people, even if they were humans and that’s what set her off on her journey but she was unprepared for what she would find. She blossomed as an individual throughout the book, it was nice to share her personal discoveries with her and my fondness of her character grew as she became more aware of herself. Her relationship with Christian was sweet as well; they were inexplicably drawn to each other with Christian not believing his luck and Lily, struggling with her emotional awakening through him and afraid that with every touch or date that he would be running for the hills. The coven was a nice touch and gave her somewhere to call home and others to call family, helping to bring out a different side to her. I’m curious about most of the coven members and although we get snippets of whom they are and what they can do, I hope in time we get some of their back stories in following books. I also liked how all of the vamps have powers but that they vary for the individual - that could make for some interesting discoveries further down the line also. Although the book wasn’t really fast paced it held all of my interest and I found it hard to put down, there is something about it that makes you want to keep reading.  You feel the threat to Lily throughout the book as she tries to work out what is going on & who to trust whilst coming to terms with her changing self emotionally and finding out just what she is capable of in the name of love. Whilst the book isn’t really unique and you will probably have read similar plots, it is really enjoyable and a nice straight forward, easy read which has you routing for their happy ending and wanting to know what’s next for Lily and I will definitely look out for book 2.
 
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