Wow! The three month countdown begins to the arrival of Kerrelyn Sparks’ new series, The Embraced, arrives. How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days arrives on shelves on March 7, 2016. So I am very excited to have an opportunity to ask Kerrelyn a few questions about leaving vampires behind, her world travels and what we can expect from the new series.
Good morning, Kerrelyn. Thank you for stopping by to speak with us in between all your world traveling. I have to say that there is a great big gap in my TBR list where the upcoming Kerrelyn Sparks novel should be. *sigh*
I know that you have stated that you haven’t walked away entirely from Romatech and all your Love at Stakes vamps and shifters and it is more of taking a break. Do you miss them as much as we do and does anyone whisper in your ear at night that you missed their story?
I love the Love at Stake gang! Unfortunately, after living with them for 11 years, they started to feel like family that came for a visit and never left! So I needed a break. There are a few bachelors left, like J.L. Wang and Laszlo, but luckily, age doesn’t mean a whole lot to a vamp. Even if they have to wait a few more years, they will still look the same. And when I do go back to them, I would like to do a time jump, so the children will have grown up enough to star in their own books.
I am excitedly awaiting your new series. The first book, How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days, arrives in bookstore on March 7th, 2017 (My birthday. Thank you in advance for the present. 🙂 ) You have described it as Games of Thrones meets The Princess Bride. Score! How much fun did you have coming up with this?
Happy Birthday!! I started the new series, seriously intending to write a female-oriented Game of Thrones, but it soon became apparent that I do not possess the ability to remain serious for more than a page or two at a time. Luckily, I realized that it’s okay to be a little wacky. My readers expect me to be a little wacky, and I would hate to disappoint them! So even though you can expect some danger and suspense in the new series, you will also find plenty of fun and laughs.
Can you tell us a little about the new series and what types of characters you will be introducing us to?
The series is called The Embraced, and it’s literally out-of-this-world. Another planet—one with shifters, dragons, elves, witches, sorcerers, seers, pirates, ghosts, and the Embraced. This world has two moons, and twice a year, the moons eclipse (or embrace, as they call it). Any child born on the night the moons embrace will have some sort of magical power, and they are called the Embraced. (All my vamps had the same powers, so I thought it would be fun to have a group where everyone’s power was different. Plus, they’re actually awake during the day! I can write in daylight for a change, yay!!!)
There are five kingdoms in this world, and they are constantly at war. The kings don’t want anyone around who has magical powers that they don’t have, so they try to kill all of the newly born Embraced. The series starts with five young women who are Embraced and have been raised in secret on the Isle of Moon.
The first book in the series is How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days. The heroine is the oldest of the five young women—Luciana. And then, there’s the Beast. Leo is Lord Protector of one of the kingdoms and feared by everyone on the planet. He’s Embraced, also, but he has a fearsome magical power. Lightning seeks him out and strikes him. He fills up on lightning power, like a human battery, and he can zap you to death with a lightning bolt. Anyone who touches him will die. When the king orders Luciana to marry the Beast, it is meant as a death sentence. Of course, neither Leo nor Luciana will die. But you can expect some sizzling scenes before the Beast is finally tamed!
You have been traveling all over. No, I haven’t been stalking you (that comes later), but I have read your Facebook posts. You were recently in Scotland checking out castles. Was this all part of the inspiration or did you travel there because the creativity was already working?
I do love to travel, and it seems to work hand in hand with the writing. I was fortunate to be able to travel to Scotland with writer friends Cathy Maxwell, Lorraine Heath, and Elizabeth Essex. The new series was already calling to me, so the timing was perfect. I knew for the first book I wanted a dramatic castle by the sea, and I found my inspiration in Scotland at Dunnottar. The setting was perfect—a castle set on a promontory, surrounded on three sides by a raging sea. Spooky, gothic, and beautiful! The only problem was the castle itself is in ruins. So I could use the setting, but I would have to look elsewhere for the perfect building.
I found it in Denmark. Kronborg Castle was perfect. It had the courtyard, the roof, the ballroom, and the catacombs I wanted to include in my book. My hero, Leo, can parkour, and I had great fun making him parkour across the castle. And I had great plans for the spooky catacombs! Kronborg was the castle that inspired Hamlet, so if it was good enough for Shakespeare, it was definitely good enough for me!
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. We will be impatiently waiting for March to arrive for our first look at The Embraced series.
Thank you!! Please feel free to visit me on Facebook, Twitter, or my new, redesigned website at www.kerrelynsparks.com.
Apparently, she has issues with reality. After writing 16 books about vampires and shifters, Kerrelyn has now completely gone off the deep end and wound up on another planet.
Although Kerrelyn is best known (so far) for the Love at Stake series, which has hit as high as number 5 on the New York Times list and 22 on the USA Today list, she hopes her readers will love The Embraced as much as they did her merry band of vamps and shifters.
Kerrelyn lives with her family in the Greater Houston area of Texas. You can visit with her on Goodreads or her Facebook page, where she does a monthly contest. On Twitter, she posts as @KerrelynSparks.
