Fantasy YA Author Susan A. Royal and Lara Visit, Giveaway

Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog. 

Looking forward to a fun day because YA author Susan Royal and I are swapping blogs. She's visiting today and  she's brought along a copy of her YA fantasy, In My Own Shadow, 

YA fantasy, In Her Own Shadow

or a copy of any of her other books for a prize. So be sure to leave a comment below to enter your name in the drawing for the giveaway! Winner will be determined after 9 pm EST on Wednesday evening. 

Be sure and pop over to Susan's blog to visit me there. I hope I can keep things under control until Susan gets back! See you at the Susan A. Royal blog  

If you haven't met Susan, or just want to learn more about her, here's what I can tell you...

     Born in west Texas and raised in south Texas, Susan makes her home in a 100-year-old farmhouse in a small east Texas town that comes complete with a ghost who has been known to harmonize with her son when he plays guitar. 

YA Author Susan A. Royal

     She is married and the mother of six (she counts her children’s spouses as her own) and five grandchildren who are all unique and very special. Her family is rich with characters, both past and present. Her grandmother shared stories of living on a farm in Oklahoma Territory with three sisters and three brothers and working as a telephone operator in the early 20^th century.  She heard about growing up in San Antonio in the depression from her father, and experienced being a teenager during WWII through her mother’s eyes.

   

     When she isn’t writing, she still has a day job working as a secretary in the public schools in east Texas. She also does her best to keep up with her grandchildren. Music and painting are two of her passions. Susan is a firm believer in getting what you want without breaking the bank. She loves to bargain shop anywhere there’s a sale and began repurposing long before it was popular. She paints, crafts and sews. Her office/craft/sewing room is littered with her latest projects.

     Susan loves to take her readers through all kinds of adventures with liberal doses of romance. So far, she’s written two books in her It’s About Time series, Not Long Ago and From Now On. They are time travel adventures with romance about two people who fall in love despite the fact they come from very different worlds. In My Own Shadow is a Fantasy adventure/romance. Look for her books at MuseItUp/Amazon/B&N. You can also find Odin’s Spear, one of her short stories featured in a Quests, Curses, and Vengeance anthology, Martinus Publishing, available on Amazon.

     Want to know more? Visit Susan at the Susan A. Royal blog  and Susan A. Royal's author site for a peek inside this writer’s mind and see what she’s up to. You never know what new worlds she’s going to visit next.

# # # #

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I just got a text that Susan is sending Lara, her main character from In My Own Shadow. What a treat to get inside the story with Lara. 

A Visit from Lara from In My Own Shadow by Susan A. Royal

     My name is Lara, and I work downtown in the Metropolitan Building. I’m not really all that good at talking about myself. Just ask my good friend, Carrie. She accuses me of being a recluse, but the sad truth is I lack her social graces. Sometimes I give in and let her drag me to some party, so she’ll get off my case for a little while. Once we get there, she flits from one group to another, laughing and having a great time, while I lurk around the edges of the crowd, looking for a dark place to hide.

     Carrie and I have been BFFs for a long time, even though we are total opposites. She’s cheerful. I’m sarcastic. She’s outgoing. I’m a loner. But she’s always been there for me, especially after losing Dad. Mom died when I was born and left the two of us trying to cope. Now there’s only me. Carrie’s been a great friend. I just wish she’d quit trying to fix me up with some guy she thinks is my Mr. Right.

     People are always telling me I should go into modeling, because I’m 5 foot ten and have the kind of red hair everyone wants these days, but honestly, being in the spotlight isn’t my thing. And, looking like a model hasn’t helped with dating at all. My height seems to intimidate a lot of men. It’s funny. One of the first things I noticed about Rhys is that it didn’t seem to bother him a bit that we stood eye to eye. Not to mention his great body and rugged good looks didn’t get my attention, along with his green eyes…

     Honestly, everything happened so fast the night we met all I remember is a blur. It wasn’t until after Rhys dragged me through a portal into another dimension that I realized he wasn’t the blind date Carrie set me up with after all. And he really was out of this world.

     Yeah, I know…you’re probably thinking this sounds like your typical ‘guy rescues girl from danger and takes her to another world, where they fall in love’ scenario, but you’re wrong. Rhys treats me like an unwanted responsibility, nothing more. Every time I tried to be nice to him, he clams and starts acting like commando man. It goes downhill from there when I open my mouth and out comes the sarcasm. I let the guy get under my skin. Why? Because even though I refuse to admit it, I have feelings for the guy. There’s something about the quiet way he takes responsibility for our little group of travelers. He takes his job seriously…even to the point of blaming himself when things go wrong, the way I felt when Dad died. If only he would open up…

     The bad thing is we’ve got to work together so we can locate the book of secrets before it falls into the wrong hands and his world falls apart, that is if we don’t kill each other during the process.

# # # #

In My Own Shadow-On an adventure to an alternate world 

with a handsome stranger, Lara finds herself living in her own shadow.

 Back of the book:

     Talk about the worst day ever! Lara lets her friend Carrie talk her into a blind date, only it turns out the handsome stranger waiting for Lara after work isn’t Carrie’s cousin after all. And, when they’re chased through a portal to another world, Lara realizes Rhys really is out of this world.

     Lyra, her alternate in another dimension, has left clues to the whereabouts of the Book of Secrets that explains the mystery of time travel in Lara’s subconscious.  Or so Rhys thinks. Power-hungry telepaths pursuing them will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means breaking Lara’s mind. To complicate matters, Lara gets tangled up in her feelings for Rhys while exploring her connection with Lyra.

     With Rhys as her guardian, a bear of a man named Azle to guide her, and the spirit of Lyra haunting her dreams, Lara must find the Book of Secrets before it falls into the hands of those who want its power.  Only then can she return to her world safely.

BUY LINKS:

 Available at MuseItUp Publishing and all major online sellers.