Illusions: Ravens of Darkness
Ravens of Darkness, #1
by Elle Preston
Date of Publication: November 14th 2020
Publisher: Lark Publishing Crew
Cover Artist: Lark Publishing Crew
Genre: Young Adult; Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 978-0578661230
ASIN: B08NGC23MS
Number of pages: 269
Word Count: 84,000
Tagline: Nothing is what it seems. Not even love.
BLURB
An ancient cult. A supernatural addiction. A forbidden love. Sixteen year old Evie Willow is terrified of drowning but she's even more afraid of her own feelings.
When the charismatic and telepathic lifeguard, Talon Renwyck, suddenly turns his affections toward her, Evie’s ability to rein in her feelings is threatened. Talon knows a secret which plunges Evie into the deep waters of her hidden emotions. As she drifts away from the life she knows into Talon’s beckoning arms, Evie learns that Talon is much more than just the handsome guy she’s falling in love with. Caught in a dark and supernatural addiction and tied to a secret cult, Talon is crying out for help. Can Evie save him from himself?
Is their love the real deal or is it an illusion?
Nothing is what it seems.
Illusions is the first book in the Ravens of Darkness Series.
If you like character driven, paranormal romance sagas with supernatural elements, darkly dynamic love relationships, and a hint of magic and mystery, then you'll love the Ravens of Darkness Series.
Book Two, Reflections, to be released November 2021
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/EpJdxBUs4Ac
Excerpt
It's freezing here at the top of the sand dune in the dark with the wind off the lake. Alex pulls a hoodie out of his backpack and tosses it to me. I put it on and get a sudden shiver through my body. I tighten my arms around my knees to keep warm. He leans closer to me,
"What are you thinking?" Alex says for the second time tonight. I laugh at that.
“You’re a telepath. Don't you know what I’m thinking all the time?”
"You wonder why Talon chose you?” he says.
“Maybe.”
“My guess is he’s hung up on you because you’re wound so tight."
"Are you insulting me?"
"No. Just making an observation. Your repressed feelings; not crying for ten years. That’s a lot of tension. You’re a whole bunch of canned heat. You’re probably an amazing rush."
That sounds vaguely obscene like something scratched into the wall of the men’s room at the Cosmic Bowl. For a good rush call, Evie. I shudder to think. “Rush. Why do you call it that?"
"It’s the feeling you get as the energy sweeps through you. There’s nothing like it." Alex looks me in the eyes. I was addicted. I was a morphi, He thinks to me.
Was. Alex said he was an addict, but doesn't that mean he’ll always be one? I ask him how it works. How does a person take another person’s energy? What are the mechanics of it?
What’s the procedure? He says that the human body has energy vortices just like the Earth does. There are seven of them, basically starting in the pelvis and going up the spine to the crown. Morphi (energy addicts) access energy through the vortex at the neck. The throat is the easiest portal to access.
That sounds a lot like vampires to me.
"You girls and your vampire fetish,” he rolls his eyes. “I think it’s where vampire mythology started,” Alex says. “Morphi are the real vampires. Psi vamps. Cultures evolved the myth over time into bloodsuckers, but it all started with energy.”
“Describe it. What happens?"
He tells me to imagine what it’s like to be gasping for air and just when you think you can’t hang on anymore someone gives you oxygen. "It’s insanely satisfying, but hard to explain." He rubs his hands together.
"C’mon, I want to know," I pester him.
He takes my hand and rolls back the sleeve of his sweatshirt I’m wearing. He gently turns my palm face up. “Here.” He rubs his thumb in a circular motion on my inner wrist. "You put your pulse point on the base of the throat near the thyroid gland. It’s one of seven energy pools on your body." He touches his own throat, guides my wrist toward it, holds it against his skin for a moment. His skin is soft against the inside of my wrist.
"After a few seconds your wrist gets warm, your pulse quickens, your nerve endings start to tingle, your blood feels hot." He stretches my arm across his lap and squeezes my wrist. His grasp is strong. "The tingling feeling starts to move, slowly at first, all the way up, getting stronger and faster as it travels."
He slides his finger up my arm, holding me with his eyes and rests his hand on my shoulder. "It overwhelms you as it shoots through your heart and lungs. You gasp for breath and for a moment it feels like drowning. Scary, blurry, helpless. Then you stop gasping and you breathe deep."
Alex closes his eyes and I notice the corners of his mouth turn up as he remembers. "Electric energy floods your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your spine. It rushes through your mind, stimulates the pleasure center of your brain and suddenly you have unbounded energy to do whatever it is you will: manipulate water, control fire, levitate." His hand is still palm to palm with mine and he looks at me with those strange grey eyes. "When it’s over, you can’t think of anything else except how much you want it. Do you know what it’s like to want something so bad?” “Oh...um...I don't know," I lie.
I slide my hand away and wrap my arms back around my knees, but I’m no longer cold.
Author Info
Elle Preston is the author of the Ravens of Darkness series, a young adult, paranormal romance saga. Illusions, Book One, is her debut novel. Book Two, Reflections, is set to be released November 2021. She is currently working on the third book in the series. Elle lives with her husband, five kids and several fur babies near the shores of Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes where she sets her novels.
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . Elle Preston . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
My writing style is fairly casual with lots of dialogue because I like to let the characters speak for themselves as much as possible. I like to explore the dark side of human nature but in a way that shows hope for growth in my characters. I love snarky humor. I like to leave easter eggs and reference other writers, songs, and even previous scenes within my book series.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
I definitely take character prep to heart. For me, character is everything. If readers can connect with my characters and love them or even hate them, then I feel like I’ve done my job. I tend to do a lot of character prep in the pre-writing phase, filling out profile questions, creating moodboards, and using The Sims 4 to create digital versions of them.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so which one(s)?
Yes! Talon is a bit of a villain in Illusions, but his personal story develops a lot in book three which I’m currently working on. He’s very complex as a character and it has been fun digging into his past and his motivations.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
I do. Branwen is the central character to a novella I’m planning that will be a prequel to the Ravens of Darkness series. The story will explore a very intricate and unusual relationship between The Renwyck twins' mother and the leader of the Ravens.
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
Book Two in the Ravens of Darkness Series, Reflections, is set to be released in a few months -- November 2021. I am just finishing up drafting Book Three and would like to have it ready by next year. Books four and five are in the planning stage at the moment. I think Ravens of Darkness will be a five book series with the possibility of a spin-off series with side characters taking on main character roles and cameos of characters from earlier books.
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