Guest Host: Wendy Knight

I’m at the end stage of the editing process for Along the Way Home…galleys. This means I’m fretting over every single word on every single page, and don’t have a lot of spare time.

Good thing fellow Astraea Press author Wendy Knight has graciously agreed to host my blog. She recently released her debut novel, Feudlings, which has the most spectacular pair of boots on the cover I’ve ever seen!

So, without further ado, here’s Wendy 🙂

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The most exciting day ever!

(also known as the day my book released)

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was teeny tiny, but I didn’t start seriously chasing that dream until about three years ago. I spent two years writing a story that I loved nearly as much as I love my children (nearly. I said nearly!). And then I spent a year querying. The week I received the contract with Astraea Press, I also received an offer from an agent and two other small publishing companies, but Astraea just felt right.

Fast forward six months, after all the edits and cover options and planning and dreaming. It was the night before my book came out, almost midnight, and I wrote my publisher to ask her if I could post my cover at midnight. She wrote back right away and told me if I gave her just a sec, the book would be live.

I fell off my chair.

It happens to me a lot. I really need to get a chair with arms or a safety belt or something. So it went live right before midnight my time, and despite the fact that so many people should have been sleeping, many of my amazing friends and family were awake and bought it right away, and then posted and shared the link and I thought I was surely in heaven. But even in heaven, one must sleep. So I went to bed, but bounced out of bed the next day and raced to my computer (which is saying a lot. I am NOT a morning person). I had friends who had watched Amazon for me and had already posted the buy links. So many friends, even acquaintances, shared my cover, my links, my status updates…it was incredible the outpouring of support I received. AND there were several people that I had spoken with briefly on Facebook who were so mega-supportive and now they’re some of my best friends. I would be lost without them.

It was a roller coaster, definitely. But my very favorite part of the day, even more than the dream coming true and all that, was how much my friends and family were willing to help me celebrate that dream.

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Author Bio

Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, etcetera, etcetera). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.

You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heels for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.

Links:

Twitter: @wjk8099

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorWendyKnight

Blog: http://www.writethroughthenoise.blogspot.com

Fuedlings Back Cover Blurb

Nothing makes a new school suck worse than discovering the guy you’re in love with is your prophesied nemesis.

Ari is the most powerful flame-throwing sorceress ever, and her people’s last hope in an ancient war. But she’s also a seventeen-year-old girl, and in her free, not-hunting-nemesis times, she jumps from school to school, trying to figure out regular people her own age and pretending she’ll get the chance to graduate.

Shane lives a double life. He goes to school and masters the art of popularity, hiding the fact that he has a fate with a slim chance of his survival. He’s destined to end a 300 year-old war by killing or being killed. He knows he’s hunted by a powerful enemy who’s not afraid to die. Only problem? He has no idea who that enemy is.

When Ari shows up at Shane’s school, angry and sullen and determined to keep him at arm’s reach, neither of them realize they are supposed to be killing each other, not falling in love. Until Ari does realize it, and she almost dies – by Shane’s hand.

Buy Links:

Amazon

Astraea Press

Barnes and Noble

And here’s an excerpt from Feudlings…

“Shane, I’m tougher than I look. I can handle it,” she said, although she wasn’t sure she wanted to know any more about his magic than she already did. It could get him in trouble. But she couldn’t just leave it alone. Part of her wanted to know. Maybe the monster-killer part of her.

She squashed that thought.

Shane stopped, studied her. Under his intense blue gaze her heart started to pound and she thought giddily that her favorite color just happened to be the exact color of his eyes. What were the odds? “I’m serious, Ari. There’s this war going on, and knowing anything about it could get you killed.”

“Killed?” Ari tried to look dubious.

Shane glanced around and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him out the front doors. The air was crisp and cool; Ari could see traces of her breath. If Shane was aware that half the student population was watching them speed-walk into the woods, he didn’t show it, and after a final glance back Ari ignored them too.

When the school was out of sight, she stopped and pulled her hand away. “Okay Shane. Spill,” she commanded. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look cold. Normals would be cold right now, but because of the flames flowing through their blood, neither she nor Shane could feel it.

Shane sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Where to start? Even the short version is long. We’re sorcerers, and there are two sides to this war… of course, because that’s what makes a war, right?” he rambled. Ari raised an eyebrow at him as she tried to shiver. “I’m a Carules. I have magic that stems from these blue flames that, well, they’re in my blood. Hunter, too. And all other Carules. The other side is Edren, and their magic comes from red flames. Basically, we spend all our time trying to kill each other. It’s a lot of fun,” he said with a bitter frown at the ground.

“So you hide your magic because if an Edren found you…”

“They’d kill me. Or try to, anyway,” Shane finished for her.

Ari flinched at his words, and she knew right then that if she had seen him on that battle field in Adlington, she wouldn’t have been able to kill him. Her eyes widened in shock, her mouth opened into a silent “Oh”, and her heart started to pound. This was a very, very dangerous revelation she’d just made to herself.

She had a weakness. And it was Shane.