Welcome, Karilyn! I am delighted to host you today.
What do you write?
I write paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy romance. Most of my stories are novels, but some are novellas.
When did your writing journey begin?
Ever since I was little I've loved to make up stories, especially stories that mimicked Nancy Drew (can you tell what I liked to read as a kid? J). So it was only natural that I finally wrote a book in my thirties. That book is currently hiding under the bed, never to see the light of day. But I kept writing and about ten years ago entered the Got Wolf contest from The Wild Rose Press. My story placed, which meant my novella was put into an anthology. Super cool! I've been writing ever since!
Tell us about The Shadowheart Curse.
I'd love to! The Shadowheart Curse is part of the Deadly Ten series of movies. Ten books being made into ten movies! You can livestream the making of the movies. Pretty exciting! The Shadowheart Curse is one of those books and the only one that's a gothic romance (most of the others are horror). If you go to the DeadlyTen website, you can signup to watch the movies being made. Which is a great idea!
Read on for the blurb:
Escaping New York after a client’s untimely death, medium Adrianna Sinclair flees to her family property in Italy. All she wants is to avoid ghosts, but an attractive one tempts her in ways she never knew possible. Luca Fausto has been trapped on the Romani property for over a century for a crime he didn’t commit. Adrianna may be the answer to breaking the curse that keeps him bound. Standing in their way is a demonic spirit's plan for revenge. Will they prevail or will Luca be cursed to the shadows forever?
What was the hardest part of the story to write/research?
My publisher was approached by the movie director about having me write his idea as a book that would then be turned into a movie. He had to approve my synopsis and I had to write certain scenes he had in mind. The story takes place at a remodeled Italian mill and he sent me pictures of where he would be filming. This was a totally different experience for this pantser, but I really enjoyed having a synopsis. It sped up the writing process. I also had to do a lot of online researching since I've never been to Italy and knew nothing about abandoned mills (BTW, look up abandoned Italian mills for interesting pictures and history!). It's been a fun experience to write this book!
Now an EXCERPT:
Lights drew her attention to the opposite wing of the mill, where a man stood staring at her window. At her. Breath caught in her lungs as she froze.
But only for a brief moment until she realized it wasn’t a man, at least not a living one. Her breath escaped on a whoosh of relief. Intuition whispered the man was the spirit who’d watched her last night.
The one from her dream.
Shadows clung to his body, ghostly fingers releasing as he stepped into the dim slash of moonlight. Lights flickered from behind him, like the dying gasps of sputtering candles. Dressed in a white shirt with an old-fashioned high collar, sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, and dark trousers, he reminded her of a working man in a World War I photograph. As if he had removed his coat and tie and rolled up his sleeves to get to work.
Except the men in those photos didn’t sport the wide-eyed, happy look of this man. Ghost. Whatever. Yeah, he wasn’t the only one surprised. She’d sworn never to see a ghost again, yet there stood a ghost, captured by her gaze. The man was hot, in an old-fashioned way. At least he didn’t sport a handle-bar moustache.
He gestured to her, his hand beckoning in a “come here” motion.
She squeezed the bridge of her nose. Was she actually thinking of heading his way? Judging by the way her feet pointed toward the door, she’d already decided. Dammit. She might not want to see a ghost or speak to a spirit, but past experience told her if she ignored them, they ramped up the annoying factor.
How bad could it be to talk to an attractive spirit?
