Book Tour: Kellen’s Awakening by Bellora Quinn & Angel Martinez

Author: Bellora Quinn and Angel Martinez

Title: Kellen’s Awakening

Series: AURA

Book: Three (Series should be read in order)

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Pages or Words: 69,000 words

Categories: Alternate Universe, Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29245467-kellen-s-awakening

Publisher: Pride Publishing

Cover Artist: Emmy Ellis

The staff at AURA has had a busy summer. Between chronic understaffing, dealing with warring goblin factions and an unusual number of hazardous Events, everyone is overworked. Sinistrus the incubus, newly hired as an AURA medic, actually enjoys his busy new life of responsible employee and faithful lover to his gorgeous police sergeant, Ness the centaur. Life would be perfect, except for a niggling suspicion about a colleague. Everyone else seems to disagree, but Sin’s certain something’s not right with that pixie.

Kellen, a pixie crossover, loves his job working in AURA medical, even if he is something of an outsider. His job and the friends he manages to make are happy spots in an otherwise dark and secretive life. As the rest of AURA tries to discover the root of the inexplicable rise in violence and large scale Events, Kellen fights to preserve his own life and what dignity he has left.

These two unlikely heroes must put their differences aside and navigate tragedy and ever-escalating disaster together in order to stop the sinister forces that hold Kellen in thrall.

Buy the book: https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/kellens-awakening

“Before Kai gets lost in regaling you with wedding details…” Tenzin settled, then grunted as several flower fairies immediately popped into view around his head to land on his shoulders. “Our lovely Sin, now that we’re among friends and not at work, can you tell me why you insist on tormenting Kellen so terribly?”

“Oh, I dunno.” Sin picked up a spicy fried mushroom with his claws and popped it in his mouth. “I think I’m pretty good at tormenting him.”

Ness nudged him. “Be serious, love. Why do you pick on him? Even I’ve seen it.”

“Look, I just don’t like everyone, okay?” Sin spread his hands when everyone gave him side eyes. “Took me a bit to warm up to Val, right?”

“You had good reason to be angry with Val,” Ness said as he reached for an oat muffin. “I don’t think Kellen ever actually caused you harm.”

Sin heaved a dramatic sigh. “Fine. He’s absolutely useless as a paramedic.”

“Not everyone is suited for emergency field medicine,” Tenzin said gently.

Ness leaned over to kiss the top of Sin’s head. “You are because you’re brave and don’t stop to think.”

“Hey!” Sin swatted at an equine flank.

“Oh, dear. I didn’t mean it that way.” Ness flushed darkly while the others laughed. “You don’t overthink. When someone needs help, you just do instead of overanalyzing. Not everyone can be that sort of heroic.”

“Good recovery.” Sin grinned up at his flustered lover. “Yeah, I get it. He’s not the first responder kind. But the little guy’s just sneaky. He doesn’t look people in the eye. He flinches at the weirdest times. I don’t trust him.”

Tenzin frowned as he ladled vegetable panang onto a plate and set it in front of Kai. “Eat, beloved, before you waste away. About Kellen. I believe it’s deep-seated trauma, something so terrible that he doesn’t want to have to talk about it, since that would mean acknowledging it.”

“Tenzi’s so often right about these sorts of things.” Kai took up his fork, toying with his food rather than eating yet. “But this time, I have to disagree. There is something uneasy about him. Something beyond old fears.”

“You hardly see him thirty seconds out of any week,” Tenzin protested. “What could you possibly base this on?”

“Ah, love. A drow knows deception. There’s something not quite right about that pixie.”

Angel Martinez

The unlikely black sheep of an ivory tower intellectual family, Angel Martinez has managed to make her way through life reasonably unscathed. Despite a wildly misspent youth, she snagged a degree in English Lit, married once and did it right the first time, (same husband for almost twenty-four years) gave birth to one amazing son, (now in college) and realized at some point that she could get paid for writing.

Published since 2006, Angel’s cynical heart cloaks a desperate romantic. You’ll find drama and humor given equal weight in her writing and don’t expect sad endings. Life is sad enough.

She currently lives in Delaware in a drinking town with a college problem and writes Science Fiction and Fantasy centered around gay heroes.

Bellora Quinn

Originally hailing from Detroit Michigan, Bellora now resides on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida where a herd of Dachshunds keeps her entertained. She got her start in writing at the dawn of the internet when she discovered PbEMs (Play by email) and found a passion for collaborative writing and steamy hot erotica. Soap Opera like blogs soon followed and eventually full novels.

The majority of her stories are in the M/M genre with urban fantasy or paranormal settings and many with a strong BDSM flavour.

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/amartinez2

https://www.facebook.com/groups/angelmartinez/

https://www.facebook.com/bellora.quinn

Facebook Author Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Angel.Martinez.author

Twitter:

@BelloraQ

@AngelMartinezrr

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/angelwritesmm

Today I’m welcoming Bellora Quinn to chat about writing, life, and their current project. Welcome! Let’s talk a little about Kellen’s Awakening.

What inspired you to write this story?

When Angel Martinez and I wrote the first book in the AURA series we didn’t have a series in mind, but by the time we got to the end, we were already seeing possibilities. One of those possibilities was Sinistrus. I wanted to know more about him and what made him tick, and he had to have his own story. While we were thinking about what Sin had to say, I stumbled across Kellen, our Pixie crossover.

Is there a character you feel especially connected to? Why?

I suppose saying all of them is a cop out. I do love how Kellen grows throughout this book. At the start he’s just doing what he has to do to survive, and by the end he’s decided he needs to do the right thing, and I think that’s when we really start to see who he is.

What was the hardest part of writing this?

I can’t say too much here without getting into spoilers, but this story is very much about grief and loss and how we see the characters overcome those tragedies. Writing a big action sequence where not everything turns out happy was challenging.

Choose a favorite line or short passage. What do you like about it?

There’s a part where Kellen is talking to Flax, who’s shocked that a troll lives in Kellen’s building. Kellen tells him that Tok is a reformed troll, he likes to fix things rather than be destructive, and the only thing he won’t do is put WiFi in the building. I love this little play on Internet trolls and real trolls.

Tell us a little about any upcoming projects.

Right now Angel and I are working on ideas for book 4 in the AURA series and I also have a book coming out written with another Co-Author, Sadie Rose Bermingham. It’s a detective series based in London and the main characters have certain psychic abilities. The first book in the Elemental Evidence series is called Breathing Betrayal and comes out June 7^th 2016.

Are there any types of scene you find hard to write (action, love, death, etc.)?

I find fight scenes difficult sometimes. I get caught up in the outcome and rush to get there, so I have to slow down and make sure I’ve remembered to write who’s doing what and where. I find it kind of stressful.

What do you do when you feel stuck (writer’s block)?

Eat cheese puffs and berate myself while promising my co-writers not to be such a slacker.

How do you handle a story that doesn’t go as you planned?

I don’t think I’ve ever written one that went ‘as planned’. They all sort of do their own thing. I start with a general idea, sometimes even an outline and plans for certain scenes but half the fun of writing is going down little unexpected paths. I don’t force myself to adhere to anything too rigid while I’m writing or I think my creativity would go on vacation without me.

Word Sprints!

Coffee or tea? Tea – Chai Latte
What’s your favorite ice cream? Chunky Monkey
What’s your favorite movie? Aliens
What genre (other than your own) do you like to read? Horror
Do you have any pets? 2 goofy Dachshunds, an elderly Cocker Spaniel, and a kitty