Blazing the Trail by Deborah Cooke + give away
DRAGON DIARIES Series By Deborah Cooke
Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal – well, as normal as a girl with an obsession with drawing dragons can be. The thing is that she’s always been told she’s special and destined for great things. It’s not just because of her good grades, either. Zoë’s the Wyvern, the one female dragon shapeshifter with special powers. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL. Worse, there’s no reference book to consult and the last Wyvern is dead…
Everything changes when Zoë’s best friend is bullied and Zoë reacts. Before she can blink twice, her inner dragon is loose, she’s suspended from school and headed to a boot camp for the Pyr guys she’s known all her life. But soon she’s doubting her powers—and even some of her friendships.
Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday - the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line—unless Zoë and her friends can solve the riddle, work together and save their own kind…
Buy Links: Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Zoë Sorensson yearns to come into her powers as the only female dragon shifter. But being part of two worlds is more complicated than she expected. It’s bad enough that she’s the target of the Mages’ plan to eliminate all shifters—she also has to hide her true nature from her best friend Megan, a human. For her sixteenth birthday, all Zoë wants is one normal day, including a tattoo and a chance to see hot rocker Jared.
Instead, the Pyr throw her a birthday party but ban Megan from attendance, putting Zoë in a tight spot. Things get even worse when Zoe is invited to the popular kids’ Halloween party and Megan’s left out. Zoë knows the party is a trap laid by the host, an apprentice Mage. When Megan gets a last-minute invite, Zoë must save the day—and her best friend—without revealing her fire-breathing secrets…
Buy Links: Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and Zoë Sorensson’s love life is heating up. Cute, loyal, and understanding, wolf shifter Derek is pretty much the perfect guy. He likes Zoë, and he knows what it’s like to have to keep a secret. Yet, Zoë can’t help but wish it was rebel rocker Jared asking her to the Valentine’s dance instead. But Jared’s too busy playing hot and cold with her heart, calling Zoë his dragon girl one minute and then taking special interest in her best friend the next.
Zoë is just about ready to breathe fire, especially once she uncovers a new threat that targets her friends. Although Zoë thought the Mages were defeated, they’re back and have invoked an old spell to give them new power – they plan to eliminate all shape shifters on the night of the big dance. Now, Zoë must lead an alliance of young shifters to battle the Mages and figure out exactly what – and who – she wants, before it all goes up in smoke…
Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Deborah Cooke has always been fascinated with dragons, although she has never understood why they have to be the bad guys. She has an honours degree in history, with a focus on medieval studies. She is an avid reader of medieval vernacular literature, fairy tales and fantasy novels, and has written over forty romance novels and novellas. She has also been published under the names Claire Cross andClaire Delacroix.
Deborah makes her home in Canada with her husband. When she isn't writing, she can be found knitting, sewing or hunting for vintage patterns.
INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH.
Where do you live ?
I live in an old house, which
always needs something fixed, with my family and far too much knitting wool.
What inspired you to write
this series, and how long has it taken you to write the three books ?
The Dragon Diaries is a paranormal
YA trilogy, which is a spin-off from my Dragonfire paranormal romance series.
In the Dragonfire world, all of the dragon shape shifters are guys, and there’s
only one female dragon shifter at a time. She’s called the Wyvern and has
special powers. The Dragon Diaries developed when the current Wyvern in the
Dragonfire series died, and instead of having a son, that dragon shifter and
his partner had a daughter. They believed that Zoë must be the new Wyvern. The
male dragon shifters come into their powers at puberty in the Dragonfire world,
so I started to wonder what it would be like to be Zoë coming into her powers
as Wyvern. Since the previous Wyvern is dead and was pretty mysterious, there’s
no one to give Zoë any tips or advice - or even to explain to her everything
she should be able to do. At the same time, the other dragon shifters have high
expectations of the Wyvern, especially when they’re confronted with a new
enemy. Zoë needs to master her powers, save the dragon shifters and pass math,
all while keeping her other life secret from her best friend. As Zoë says “no
pressure”.
Do you have a muse ?
I think everybody has a muse. The
thing is that muses don’t always show up at the desk on time, so writers need
to write even if the muse is otherwise occupied.
Your favorite place to write .
I have an office in my house,
which is where I write everything.
How does it feel to be writing the
last book in the spin off series. ?
I always have a mix of feelings
when finishing up a series. On one hand, it’s exciting to see the story come
together and reach its conclusion. Often there are elements I didn’t anticipate
before writing the series, and that’s fun. On the other hand, I’ve gotten to
know the characters quite well so it’s sad to say goodbye to them.
Do you have pla!ns for a new series
? If so any hints !!
I’m finishing up a few things
right now - including Dragonfire - and I still have to decide what to write
next.
The hardest part in the path of
this series ? Did you find you had writers block ? Any thing that stood in your
way ?
I don’t have writers’ block,
because I refuse to have it. Writing is a habit and I write every day, at the
same time. Writing is my job and my joy, so I give it my attention. I don’t
always write the same amount every day, because I might be editing or revising
or simply writing new work, but each day, I make steady progress on whatever
book I’m writing. What I do find difficult to manage is promotional demands. It
would be easy to spend all day using social media or writing blog posts or
chatting online - and it’s fun to do those things. I have to make sure that I
do my writing first and that I limit the amount of time I spend on promotion.
The idea behind your dragon men
??
My dragon shifters are called the
Pyr and they can change into dragons at will. In the Dragonfire world, the good
dragons are in the midst of a final battle against the bad dragons (the
Slayers) for control of the treasure of the earth. The Pyr consider humans to
be among the earth’s treasures to defend, while the Slayers think that humans
and Pyr should be eliminated. When a Pyr meets the human woman who can bear his
child, he experiences a firestorm - sparks literally fly between the dragon
dude and his partner-to-be. Each book in the Dragonfire series focuses on the
firestorm of one of the Pyr. The heat of the firestorm can be felt by all of
the other dragons, so Slayers tend to attack during a firestorm. The dragon in
question needs to defend his mate, while trying to convince her to sleep with
him and bear his child. Invariably, the woman takes some persuasion (!) and the
pair fall in love. I have a lot of fun writing these books.
Where do you see yourself in 2
years ?
I’ll be writing stories in my
office. That’s what I do!
What is your favorite genre to
write ? I noticed that your first dragon series is adult and the second YA
? What did enjoy most about both genres ?
I tend to write romance or
mainstream fiction with romantic elements. There is always some romance in my
books because I’m interested in relationships and how people make them work. I
enjoyed writing the YA series because it had more in common with the mainstream
fiction I’d written - it was focused on Zoë and her emotional journey, which
also meant that I could use first person POV, one of my favourite tools. I
found that Zoë had a strong voice and stronger opinions which made it
entertaining to tell her story. I felt as if I was just writing it down.
Some fun
questions:
* Summer or winter
Winter
* Dark or light
Moonlight
*Vampire, Dragon, wolf,
Dragon!
*Fav color
Purple
* Fav flavor ice-cream
black cherry
* Run with wolves, or fly in the
night .
Fly!
* Favorite thing you like to do ?
Write - or talk to interesting
people, or knit
* Pretzels or chips.
Chips
* Chocolate or lollies.
Chocolate
* Cake or biscuits.
Cake
* Fire or ice
Fire
Website: http://deborahcooke.com/
Be sure to check out all the other blog tour stops and increase you chance of winning!
May 30 - United By Books (Guest Post & Giveaway)
June 1 - Pimpin' Reads YA (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 2 - Book Monster Reviews (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 3 - Delicate Simplicity (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 5 - Paranormal Haven (Q&A Interview & Giveaway)
June 6 - I Smell Sheep (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 7 - All Things Books (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 8 - Page Flipperz (Interview & Giveaway)
June 9 - Writerspace (Guest Post & Giveaway)
June 11 - Paranormal Cravings (Guest Post & Giveaway)
June 14 - Books N Kisses - (Series Spotlight & Giveaway)
June 15 - One A Day YA - (Interview & Giveaway)
GIVEAWAY TIME. DEBORAH HAS DONATED ONE PAPERBACK COPY OF BLAZING THE TRAIL - INTERNATIONAL TO ONE LUCKY WINNER. TELL ME WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT DRAGONS. RANDOM ORG WILL PICK A WINNER AT TH END OF THE TOUR. LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDY SO I CAN CONTACT YOU.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY KAT ;)
