Book Tour: Silver Hollow by Jennifer Silverwood Interview & Giveaway

Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Fantasy Romance/ Chick-lit

Publisher: SilverWoodSketches

ISBN: 1481000144 

ISBN13: 9781481000147

ASIN: B00A47LGRA

Number of pages: 322

Word Count: 131, 325

Cover Artist: Najla Qamber

Paperback    Kindle   Smashwords

Book Description:

Amie Wentworth writes paranormal romances, not because she is looking for a degree in ectoplasm, but because she’s got bills to pay. Ever since her parents’ car crash, she has been led a reclusive life and trusted books more than people. Not even a letter from her long-lost uncle, begging her to visit, gives Amie incentive for anything other than ire – until she is stabbed in an alley and brought back to life by a mysterious stranger. 
After crossing the Atlantic to her father’s homeland, Amie is dragged into the very sort of tale she is used to selling. Silver Hollow is a place of ancient traditions and supernatural dangers, where everything is the opposite of what it seems and few escape sane. 
To make matters worse, the man who saved her life keeps turning up and her would-be-murderer is still at large.
But when she comes face to face with the ugly truth, will she too be sucked into her father’s madness? Or will she discover that madness is just another name for honesty?

Excerpt: 

The hour before dawn found Amie pulling her car round the back alley. Through the gloom and decades-buried waste behind Pat’s Delights was a narrow strip leading to the back staircase leading up to her flat.

The stranger’s face came unbidden to her as she gathered her things and moved her weary legs. Black eyes set deeply in a shadow-drenched face haunted her, eyes which seemed to accuse and praise, sift and wonder. Now that she knew, she realized she must have seen him before today, maybe even in the past she had tried to forget.

The faded yellowing parchment marked with heavy black ink, with words too absurd to be true, flashed in her mind. Clutching the key hidden in her jeans pockets while digging through her purse for her keys, she remembered Uncle Henry’s letter. Mulling over the words, she once again recalled how angry she had been ten years ago after reading his first note. So what the cops were uncertain how the accident had happened. So what her father had known some powerful people. Amie had been primped and pushed into the upper-class social sphere through her teens and knew how to handle that sort. She could take care of herself just like she always had. She would tear up the letters and the tickets tonight. The twins and James were her family now.

As she placed her shoe upon the first rickety metal step, two thick and powerful hands grabbed her in the same moment.

It happened so quickly she forgot to scream. Dropping her purse she struggled, kicked and bucked against the crazy person lifting her and pulling her deeper into the shadows of the alley. And the harder she struggled the tighter his choking embrace became against her chest.

She thought at last to cry out, only to feel her face being smashed against a brick wall. She gasped as the figure suddenly pushed her aside, out of his embrace. Amie stumbled back and nearly tripping over a metal pipe. She righted herself only to come face-to-face with the black-masked figure. His brilliant blue eyes blazed into hers, now filled with unmistakable purpose. Too late she realized his intentions as a sickeningly cool object was plunged into her chest and pulled quickly out again.

Her vision swam, then blurred as she slumped against the trash-littered concrete. Her mind began to fade into an ever-deepening sleep though her eyes watched on. The black-garbed man was fighting someone else. Unmasked, this guy was taller, broader in the shoulders than her murderer and wrought by fury.

Pain…she had not known the meaning of the word before now and even this too was fading into the deep sleep. The further she fell the less sense the scene before her made. Her mind didn’t believe that the tall man had really tossed her attacker five feet into the air over his shoulder and into the brick, or a strange light and energy crackled in the suddenly luminous alley.

She was too afraid to hope when a pair of warm hands cradled her in a firm embrace. He pulled her from the muck and fixed his dark eyes on her. Obsidian-cut eyes, familiar eyes, pierced through her gaze and reached deeper. His face, once so indiscernible it could be called plain, was now twisted as though in agony. Even though she was slipping, falling into a calm quiet darkness, he refused to let her go. His hand moved from her neck to her cheek with the faintest touch. He pushed past and clasped hold of something tearing deep inside of her then. The black of his irises gave way to a strange mix of blue and green flecks gleaming in their depths. She saw…

Fields of brilliant emerald grass and a sun filled with more colors than she knew to name.

Darkness and a dirty cell, where heavy fists punctuated his pain.

Time beyond counting became a lifetime lost.

A green-eyed dark-haired beauty bathed in sunlight stretched out her hand to him.

Someone was screaming. Amie frowned as the woman’s cries grew louder. Pain spiked up in her chest as her lungs constricted and her heart was ripped apart then reformed. The woman’s screams died when she took a breath and realized the voice was hers.

She blinked.

And then she was lying within the narrow strip between two brick buildings, alone.

Interview:

1.     Where did you get the idea for the novel?

I grew up writing novels with my neighbors and best friends, the twins. If you’ve read the book, then you know who I’m talking about, because they’re two of the main characters. Those first couple of chapters is some of the earliest I wrote, when coming up with the concept for Silver Hollow. It was all in good fun at first. I wrote a satire of what I thought our lives might look like in a few years, based on some of our dreams and ambitions. The twins, once they heard me read the beginning, pushed me to write more. Thus the book was born!

2.     Your title. Who came up with it? Did you ever change your title?

I did, naturally. It was a title I had come up with for an entirely different novel, one I’m working on now as a matter of fact. I even used it for a fanfiction at one point. Because I started this book by writing the epilogue, long before writing that short story for the twins, the working title was “Loss.” Then I came across an old draft of this other story and it all clicked into place. I just knew this had to be title I was searching for.

3.     Which came first, the title or the novel? 

Well, in case you couldn’t tell from my last answer, the novel. It’s how it usually goes with my stories. I don’t know any writers who know the title from the offset. If you do, I’d love to connect and learn their secret!

4.     Since becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?

Besides the moment when my first print copy came in the mail and I held it for the first time, because let me tell you I wigged out majorly in that moment, just ask my folks. I’d have to say the most exciting thing is getting to know and talk to these people all over the world who are interested in the story or my writing. It’s very humbling and overwhelming to think less than thirty years ago, this would not be happening to me.

5.     What book are you currently reading or what was the last book you read?

I’m actually reading the rough draft of another author friend at the moment. But “officially,” I’m reading “A White So Red” by K.D. Jones. She’s brilliant. You should totally check her out. I’m also reading “Dark Whispers” by Bruce Coville and “Plains of Passage” by Jean M. Aule. Can’t focus on just one, lol.

6.     What was your first book that you ever wrote (very first one you wrote, not published)?

Though I started out as a kid writing short sci-fi stories, the predecessor to my Heaven’s Edge novella series, I later wrote half a dozen original stories in Jr. High and High School without finishing them. But the first fully fledged books that I ever wrote were fanfictions, I’m not ashamed to say. Some people wouldn’t consider them novels, but they were more like offshoots than straight up fanfics, and I began them long before reading online fanfiction. I wrote them with the twins, and we each came up with our own characters. There are three books in our series currently, and a fourth one that I never finished. But, as I promised one of the twins, I’ll finish that series eventually.

7.     What is your writing process?

An idea grips me and I write out as much of the story in a loose outline form, until I can’t see any further into the story. Then I start writing. A lot of times I’ll write the first chapter or the last chapter, or some scene that I catch up to later on. I don’t do bullet outlines, though I often make attempts. It’s important to be aware of the details in your own story, but too much structure is restricting to me. I usually work on two manuscripts at the same time, in different stages. Lately I’ve made a point to work on at least one novella and a full-length novel. There’s slightly different techniques for both types of storytelling and it’s fun. Also keeps me from the impending doom of writer’s block.

8.     Who are your favorite authors of all time?

L.M Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Jean M. Aule, Francine Rivers, John Keats, Robin McKinley, Caroline B. Cooney, Charlotte Bronte and Margaret Mitchell.

9.     At a book signing, do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up with stuff to say? 

Well, since I’ve only had one official, private book signing, I can’t give too much of an account. But I always write notes in the copies I sign and give away to people, or that they buy. At this point in the early stages of my career, I’m giving most away haha. I try to think about the person I’m giving this to, because as you might guess, either I or my dad knows these people. So I write something that I feel applies to or encourages them.

10.  What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Depends on your audience. Most people I know already know about the writing thing. But for a long time I kept that part of my life a secret from most of my friends and family. It made it more fun to keep it between me and the twins during that time. Another random fact about me is I’m a soundtrack freak. I can watch any movie almost and know within the first couple of minutes who wrote the score to the film.

11.  How do you react to a bad review?

I prepared myself for that most of my young life. Growing up on Little Women and other starving-author shows, I was a firm believer that I was going to suffer to get recognized. So when I got my first bad review, I was a little bummed, true. But then I just shrugged and moved past it. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I don’t write to cater to the masses. I write a story I would love to read, something I’d wanna get sucked into. Not everyone is like me, so I can’t expect everyone to like the book.

12.  How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?

Ate chocolate lol. We didn’t celebrate majorly, just took pics with the book and jumped up and down with excitement. But by myself, in my little author world, I cheered for finally seeing a dream come true. And sometimes, the less overblown something is, the more significant it means to me in the end. That’s what this journey has been like. One step at a time.

About the Author:

Jennifer Silverwood was raised deep in the heart of Texas and has been spinning yarns a mile high since childhood. In her spare time she reads and writes and tries to sustain her wanderlust, whether it's the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, the highlands of Ecuador or a road trip to the next town.

After attending three different universities without managing to square a degree, she decided to the next logical thing; become a writer. Always on the lookout for her next adventure, in print or reality, she dreams of one day proving to the masses that everything really is better in Texas.

She is the author of the Heaven's Edge series and Silver Hollow. To stay tuned, please have a gander at her website: http://jennifersilverwood.com

Blog- http://silverwoodsketches.blogspot.com/

Website- http://jennifersilverwood.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/silverwoodj

Twitter- @JennSilverwood

Tumblr- http://jennsilverwood.tumblr.com/

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5827602.Jennifer_Silverwood

Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Silverwood/e/B0085GOKJ8/

Smashwords- https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/silverwoodj

Giveaway:

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