Interview + Giveaway: Rachael Wade

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi Kelsey, thanks for having me. I’m a novelist by night, freelance writer by day, and a voracious reader in between. :) I live in Orlando with 2 cats, a feisty black lab, and a witty husband. I watch too many movies, am a big Tim Burton fan, and in general am just a huge geek.

 

Can you tell us about your book Amaranth?

Amaranth is the first book in a three-part paranormal fantasy romance series with Hoodoo and Voodoo magic thrown in. It’s about love, loss, friendship, and all that good stuff. 

 

What was your favorite part of the writing process of Amaranth?

Listening to music for inspiration. I do that with everything I write—my iPod is pretty much attached to my hip—but something about writing the settings with the music that inspired them was my favorite part. Each scene was fueled by what I was listening to at the time and that part of the process really brought things to life.

 

Where did the idea of Amaranth come from?

It was inspired by a weekend trip I took to Southern Louisiana. I went to the actual areas that the characters live in the book and just fell in love. The bayous and the towns were so mysterious. I didn’t want to leave. I’d been wanting to write an epic vampire romance for a while. When I visited, I already had a feeling it was going to set the backdrop for the series, and it ended up inspiring the entire trilogy. 

 

Who was the hardest character to write? 

I’d say Gavin was the toughest. In the first book, he’s very self-contained and yet he reveals a lot with what he doesn’t say. He really is contradictory in many ways and that made writing him difficult, but it’s who he is and he’s that way for a reason. Thankfully, he’s much more accessible in the second book and I felt like writing him was much easier as the story progressed.

 

What is the most interesting comment you have received so far concerning Amaranth?

I’ve been getting a lot of interesting feedback about Joel’s character—readers saying that he really “made” the book or that he was a favorite of theirs. I love Joel too and he was really fun to write, but those comments surprise me because he’s not a huge character. He’s influential in the storyline, though, so I can understand. It’s fun to hear that people connect to him in some way. I’ve also been told that the story is very quirky and I’m a big fan of quirky, so that’s really nice to hear.

 

What has been the best advice you have ever been given?

When thinking about the past, know that you did what you thought was best at that given time. Do what you can, when you can, and learn to let everything else go—ever forward. Life’s short.

 

If you could ask yourself any interview question, what would you ask, and how would you answer it?

Wow! That’s a tough question. I guess I’d ask about my favorite reads and why I love them. As far as classics go, I love The Bell Jar, and my favorite recent reads are contemporary romances: Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard and the Fifty Shades trilogy by E.L. James. The Bell Jar is just poetically brilliant and Gabriel’s Inferno and Fifty Shades are my favorite kind of romance—full of tortured heroes and extreme, intense, difficult relationships.

 

When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?

I’m a voracious reader and usually read a few books a week. I also love to go to concerts, get outdoors, and watch a lot of indie movies. Music, films, and nature are pretty much my lifeblood.

 

What is coming up next for you?

The Gates, the sequel to Amaranth, will be released in early 2012, and I’m getting ready to work on book number 3 in the series. I also have another paranormal romance and a literary fiction novel in the works, so quite a few new releases in the near future. :)

ABOUT RACHAEL

Residing in Orlando, Florida, Rachael Wade is the author of Amaranth, the first installment of the epic fantasy romance series, The Resistance Trilogy. She is a member of the FF&P (Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal) Special Interest Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, and her work has been published in The Storyteller magazine and A Hudson View International Poetry Digest. When she’s not writing, she’s busy learning French, watching too many movies, and learning how to help fight animal cruelty.

 

FIND RACHAEL

Website  /  Twitter  /  Facebook  /  GoodReads

 

ABOUT AMARANTH

Knowledge changes everything…

 

Hoodoo-influenced Southern Louisiana seems like the perfect place for Camille to escape her abusive past and dysfunctional family. She doesn’t expect to fall in love with the handsome Gavin Devereaux and plummet into the world of Amaranth, a place of exile for reformed vampires.

 

Wrestling to escape a deadly ex-boyfriend while giving Gavin a chance, Camille is confronted with decisions that threaten not only her life, but the lives of her inhuman friends she has come to love. Entangled in her friends’ quest for freedom, she dives into their realm and faces the threats of Amaranth’s ruler—the mother of all vampires—and her own inner demons.

 

Now Camille must decide whether she will derail her life and make the ultimate sacrifice for the monsters that interrupted her bumpy path back to sanity—what she still wants so desperately—or escape with Gavin before it’s too late for both of them.

 

PURCHASE AMARANTH

Amazon  /  Book Depository  /  Barnes and Noble

GIVEAWAY

Rachael is giving two lucky winners an e-copy of Amaranth. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below (NOTE! Please look at the title of the form. Make sure it says Amaranth giveaway. If it does NOT say that, click the title of this post and it should become the correct form) Contest is International and winner will receive a Smashword coupon to download book in any format they need.