Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews: Interview with YA paranormal author L.A. Starkey

Today’s guest is YA author L.A. Starkey with the spotlight on her novel, Deceived.

During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Laurie will be awarding one randomly chosen winner a $50 Amazon or BN.com gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Laurie Starkey is the author of the upcoming Soul Keeper Series, a supernatural young adult series, and The Liarus Detective Series, a supernatural middle grade series. She lives in Houston, Texas with her husband, Jacob and three beautiful kiddos.

She is a CPA by trade, a church planter and entrepreneur at heart; however, writing and reading are passions she just can't help but indulge in. With more ideas that one person should be allowed, she is blessed to have a muse that doesn't seem to take a vacation and more energy that one might consider healthy.

About Deceived:

They say a soul is the immaterial essence, the animating principal, the actuating cause of an individual life.

But what if you had to share yours with the one person you hated the most?

The soul mate principal states that for every one soul there is another that will recognize its match, hence creating the perfect union.

But what if you had two soul mates, which would you choose?

What if your choices had eternal ramification?

Deceived, the debut novel in the Soul Keeper Series, is a modern day love story about the implications of having more than one soul mate, and having to choose between the two of them. The decisions of the gods has left the next generation, their heirs, torn between fate and reality, and the balance of the future hangs in anticipation of what's to come.

Excerpt from Deceived:

He stopped just before her, his gaze locked on hers, and try though she may words escaped her cry for assistance. His piercing jade eyes bore into her, dark orange rays stretching lazily from the iris, his skin seeming to glitter as if kissed by the sun.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“For me?” Sam blinked in surprise, taking a hesitant step back.

“Ah, Samantha,” he breathed out, his brow creasing ever so slightly. “Same questions every time, my love. Shall I give you the same answers?”

“W-what a-answers?” She shook her head, attempting to draw in a breath that wasn’t filled with the smell of pure male.

There would be no relaxing in front of him for something was so very familiar and yet alarming to all of her protective senses. Brick by brick, her heart constructed a thick wall that would promise protection. He took a step forward and reached for her hand, but was a bit too late to infiltrate her senses as the wall was up and impenetrable.

She exhaled softly as their skin connected and instinctively let her fingers wrap around his as a sign of friendship. The warmth of his touch sent tingles racing along the corridors of her body and yet still the cold loneliness remained because she demanded it so. No one would ever penetrate her defenses again. Self-preservation had become her lifelong companion simply because life required such company.

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

No, but I want one. I have a humorous personality, so I can usually keep myself occupied and laughing for longer than I care to share. I’m thinking the various characters running around in my skull most times of the day might be considered imaginary, but it’d be rude to call them that.

Do you have any phobias?

I dislike spider and snakes, but I would say my phobia would be fear of the unknown. I wrote a poem on it a few years back because I wrestle a lot with my future. I could go several different ways and figuring it all out seemingly wears me out. I finally realized it’s the fear of not controlling it or not knowing where it will go that scares me most.

Any weird things you do when you’re alone?

I talk to myself quite a bit and answer myself as well. I laugh often and it’s usually at myself. When I’m alone I honestly prefer to have a book in front of me… not too weird, unless you’re holding Twilight at a stop sign and praying no one will pull up behind you, making you put the book down and drive.

What is your favorite quote and why?

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” (Michelangelo) I believe completely in what it says to each and every one of us. We can do anything we can put our minds to – no matter how ridiculous it may seem. Most people have been beat down by criticism or mediocrity and have officially given up on moving forward and reaching for the stars, but I believe with all my heart that each of us has the ability to do and be anything we can imagine.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Coffee ice cream, all the way. However… there is a cream cheese flavored ice cream that Baskin Robbins 31 will have sometimes, but they are stingy with it. So we’ll go with the readily available coffee flavor. I lack patience like nobody’s business.

Thanks, Laurie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Special note: The next book in the series is being released November 15, 2014.

Destroyed, Soul Keeper Series II

Blurb:

From the second book in the Soul Keeper Series…

Now I lay me down to sleep,

Whom shall I trust my soul to keep?

If I should die before I wake,

I leave to fate my soul to take.

The seal has been broken and the Soul Keeper Prophecy set in motion. Marcus and Nicolas are battling for the heart of one woman, Pandora’s only daughter; however, not everyone is playing by the rules. With interference from both sides of the lines and too many deities with hidden agendas, the trio must take matters into their own hands and look for another ending, one that removes control from fate.

Can they find the missing page from the prophecy that has the ability to change everything?

Will the new stranger they’ve been given as a guide assist or mislead them?

Will Samantha make a decision on who it is that she truly loves, saving one and destroying the other?

What if her choice is no choice at all?