Destiny Redeemed Book Tour Begins

While I write vampires and love them, I also write other paranormal series, including my Destined Ones series.  In fact, that series has the first character I ever truly fell in love with. Amon Kalins was the villain in the first book, Stolen Destiny, but in Destiny Redeemed, he comes back as the hero, albeit a bad boy hero. 

This week I'm showing my love for Destiny Redeemed with a book tour.  Each day I'll be at a different blog talking about the book, the characters, and the concept of my paranormal creations in the Destined Ones series, the Aeveren. 

The Aeveren are beings I created after having a dream one night (it's always dreams, isn't it?).  They live fifty lives through reincarnation, meaning that my characters can span centuries.  They are descended from humans, given the gift of reincarnation by the Archangel Raziel long ago.  He also gave them the gift of special powers, such as telepathy, the ability to manipulate time (a power Amon possesses), healing, and even mind control. Some Aeveren have impressive powers, while others only have simpler powers, such as heightened intuition. Finally, Raziel gave his people the gift of destined ones. But having a soul mate is complicated by reincarnation and one can go lifetimes without finding the one meant for them, knowing he or she exists but unable to finally connect until both are in the same lifetime. 

In Destiny Redeemed, two of the most powerful Aeveren are the hero and heroine. Amon is in his 47th lifetime and possesses the power to change time. He can move it up, stop it, reverse it...you get the idea. He's not a man to play with.  He's been a bad man for many lifetimes, but fate has given him something that may change him. Thea.  A healer for the Aeveren people, Thea is in her 45th lifetime.  As a healer, her power is a good one, unlike her destined one's.  Here's the blurb:

Sentenced to spend the rest of his three remaining lifetimes in Nil, Amon Kalins is freed with the help of his Sidhe servant, Gethen, but now he must accept his life is never to be his again as the Council won't rest until he's safely back imprisoned within Nil's cold walls. Broken and nearly dead from his time in prison, Amon is saved by an Aeveren healer named Althea Forester. As a healer, Thea has served her people for forty-five lifetimes, never having a destined one and always knowing each lifetime would ultimately end with her alone. But destiny hasn't forgotten her.

Drawn to the seductive Amon, Thea quickly becomes a pawn the Council uses to trap him. Taken prisoner by the sadistic leader of the rebel group, the Soren, Thea must survive the vicious world of the people hellbent on taking her destined one away forever, and Amon must risk everything dear to him to free her from those who would sacrifice her to claim the bigger prize and return him to Nil.

To find out more about Destiny Redeemed, visit its page on my blog and join me on the tour this week. Hope to see you there!

Destiny Redeemed Tour

March 26: Butterfly-O-Meter Books
March 27: Words In Sync
March 28: All Things Books
March 29:  Road To Hell Series
March 30: Salacious Reads

What A Difference A Year Can Make

Today is an important day for me.  One year ago, I woke up as I always did, but I had dreamed the most fantastic dreams all night.  I was perplexed by them because while they were vivid, they weren't terribly coherent.  I began writing down what I could remember, only bits and pieces really.  But these bits and pieces were nothing like my usual dreams.  A few days later, I had to go to see my son at Family Night at his Boy Scout camp and on the way there, I told his father (my ex, but still a nice guy) all about what I'd dreamed.  He was intrigued (he was also a captive audience), and as I explained about the people I'd dreamed about, I realized that they were something entirely new that I'd never heard about. 

On the way home from Family Night, I scribbled names down on an envelope I'd stuck in my purse days earlier when someone had given me a birthday card.  I needed a name for my people, and after numerous versions, I decided on the name Aeveren.  When I got home, I began writing like a mad person, finishing over 200 pages within the next month. 

Then, right after Labor Day, I was in the shower one morning and an idea came to me.  From that idea came Stolen Destiny. Then around Thanksgiving the idea for the next book came to me.  Well, to be honest, my character whose book Destiny Redeemed is wasn't going to let me go without writing his book. 

Now, a year later, that first novel I began back in July 2010 still sits as the beginning of the Destined Ones journey.  Stolen Destiny is published, and Destiny Redeemed will be published in the fall.  And I've written my novellas too in that year.  Vampire Dreams is selling wonderfully in its 6th week of release, and Love's Master continues to stun me every morning as I check the numbers in just its first week of release.  The third novella, Masquerade, is complete and in the typing/first edits stage.  Finally, Vasilije's story has been calling me, and I'm making good progress on that book, which is looking to be a novel length story. 

I hear people all the time say they don't have the time or they'll get to it later.  I was one of those people before last July 18.  I tell people that they shouldn't wait if they want to attend college when they complain it will take four long years.  My answer is always, "Well, that time will pass whether you go back to school or not. Wouldn't it be great if you had something special to show for it?"  I'm glad I finally took my own terrific advice.  One year later, I have so many special things to show for it. 

I'm at Katie Salidas's blog today talking about the necessity of promotion, so click on over and check it out.  I hope you have a wonderful day and begin something special in your life too. 

Finished

I finished writing Destiny Renewed earlier today and have to admit it was with mixed emotions that I ended the story.  When I introduced the character of Amon into Stolen Destiny, he was the bad guy.  But I loved his character so much, I wanted to take him further than I had in the first book, so despite planning to wait to write his as the third or fourth book, his story came out in the early ideas for Destiny Renewed and I ran with it.  Months later, the bad guy has gotten his story and since it's a romance, he's gotten his happily ever after.

The heroine I gave Amon is Thea, who is the closest I've ever gotten to writing a female virgin.  She wasn't a sexual virgin, but she hadn't anywhere as much experience, sexually or otherwise, as her hero.  However, they fit together well, allowed him to be more Alpha than he might have been with a more experienced partner, and I enjoyed writing her as much as him.

Also back in this second book is Amon's servant, Gethen, a dark Sidhe who gets a much fuller role in Destiny Renewed.  Writing Gethen's part in this book was far more emotionally draining than any other character I've ever written before as he doesn't make it through the book. 

I've enjoyed my time with these characters, just as I enjoyed my time with the hero and heroine from the first book, Varek and Callia.  I'll be spending more time with Destiny Renewed's  characters as I type the story, editing and adding along the way, but until then, it's time to take a little break and relax for a few days.

Gabrielle

Aeveren

Someone asked me where I got the name Aeveren for my Destined Ones books.  The truth is I made it up.  I couldn't find a name to describe exactly what I wanted--to reflect that these people lived many lives through reincarnation--so I decided that I needed to make a new word that would work. 

I still have the envelope I used to experiment with ideas as I rode on my way to my son's Boy Scout camp.  All over it are written words that I tried, including Aevere and Aevera, in addition to Evere.  I didn't like any of those, so I continued to scribble as my friend drove and eventually, in the little space that was left at the bottom, came Aeveren. 

The name reflects both the reincarnation theme of the characters' lives and the idea of the destined one, one person fate has chosen for another.  It's been suggested that I trademark the name, but so far, I haven't done anything about that.  I'm not sure it's necessary.  How's it look?  Aeveren™

Maybe someday.  Right now, I'm more about writing romance and love scenes than claiming a name.  :)

Gabrielle