The Gauntlet
The Soppranaturale Series, #1
by Ashley Pagano
Date of Publication: June 20th, 2019
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Cover Artist: Najla Qamber
Genre: YA Fiction, YA Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy
Tagline: Vampires exist. Werewolves exist. Witches exist. Shape Shifters exist. And now . . . Faeries exist.
Book Description:
Hidden in plain sight, is a mysterious hotel that doubles as a supernatural refugee: The Soppronaturale.
Each supernatural inhabitant has a specific purpose, job, and destiny.
All to keep the hotel running and its secrets safe.
Vampires exist. Werewolves exist. Witches exist. Shape Shifters exist. And now Faeries exist.
The last two Faeries, once unified, could be the most powerful forces on Earth.
Ommily, newcomer to the Soppronaturale, offensively controls and manipulates the four elements; Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. While Link defensively uses their energy to shield Ommily and himself from even the darkest magic.
They could protect all others. But first, they have to defeat the Gauntlet.
Excerpt:
When she walks into the hotel lobby, my world stands still. As if the earth suddenly stops rotating for a brief, suffocating second. Not just for me, but other men and women seem to pause just to stare at her, too. Huddled businessmen stumble over their words as they cut off their conversations in order to gawk at her. Their gazes follow her curves, from her forehead down to her heels. Their mouths hang open with no regard to impending drool. Wide-eyed women follow her path also, turning their heads just enough to hide their judgmental expressions. Even the teenage bellboy nearly trips over his luggage cart as he catches sight of her. For me, I have to grip the counter to stop myself from swaying and my knees from buckling, fighting the breath that’s caught in my windpipe.
Her hair, like fire, consumes her shoulders in perfect, flowing ringlets. Her eyes are like protuberant green emeralds that capture your soul, if ever your gaze aligns with hers. Her skin is as if it were painted on her face, pulling in the bronze summer highlights from outside. Her smile is one luminous hue of ivory, matching the sagging tissues directly in front of me. Her body is thin yet slightly muscular, bulging or pinching inward in all the right places. Her clothes even look as though they were made specifically for her, hugging her body seamlessly.
Author Info
Ashley Pagano has always dreamed of being an artist both figuratively and literally. Her love of art was instilled by her mother who always inspired her to be creative either with a paintbrush or with a pen and paper. As far back as she can remember her life was always centered around introspection, storytelling, and imagination.
Because she is so artistic, she took to the idea of creative writing very passionately. Her ability to describe a scene, person, or place, she compares to painting a picture, where she can describe every detail vividly in order to make the reader feel like they’re truly living in the story. Her works of writing usually center around a powerhouse female protagonist (which reflect her own personality), who progresses through many wild and extreme obstacles. Ashley loves to write stories that end with a cliffhanger, that have the reader begging for more and questioning what happens next.
Her most recent novel sets the stage for the paranormal romance of the century and includes ghosts, poltergeists, and demons who just love to get in the way of true love. Ashley has won awards for her design, art, and writing.
Ashley doesn’t believe in down time whatsoever and actually loves having a full “To-Do”list. Ashley is a wife to her wonderful husband, Eric and a mother to a beautiful baby girl named Dakota. She is also a Graphic Designer and a health and fitness coach. Her husband and daughter inspire her to be the best person she can be and encourage her to pursue any of her dreams (no matter how extravagant they may be).
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Ashley Pagano . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work? I’d say, very descriptive (like painting a picture), fast-paced, and leaving off on a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)? I set aside at least an hour every weekday for writing. No matter how much gets done within that hour, something is always better than nothing.
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 take character prep very seriously. Usually, I model them after people/interesting personalities in my own life and then build off that. For instance, if the protagonist is a powerhouse female than she’s most likely got a piece of me in her (see what I did there). If another protagonist is a funny, quick-witted male then he’s most likely modelled after my husband. But I believe most authors put pieces of themselves into their main characters too. For me, I give the reader minor details about each character in the beginning of the story, leaving some mystery. And as the story goes on and on, I give them more and more, building up the anticipation as I go.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character? If so which one(s)? My favorite character so far is Ommily, from The Gauntlet. She is such a well-rounded character with equal parts of sassiness, intrigue, naivety, and vulnerability (which is so ironic because she is such a powerful being). Her personality makes her human, but her abilities make her so much more. I love the depth of her, that Link has to chisel away bit by bit to discover. And the more he discovers, the more he loves. Their dynamic is fire!
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper? I just sent the second book in The Soppranaturale series to my publisher (Inkspell Publishing). So, I’m very focused on building on the characters that I already have. On a side note, there are two characters in The Gauntlet that appeared in Never Fear the Reaper (my first trilogy) that I just had to carry over because I liked them so much. Their personalities and abilities fit in perfectly into the mystery of The Soppranaturale.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced? My biggest problem is that my imagination takes off sometimes, on such a rampage, that I will never be able to put it all to paper. I have so many ideas that go in different directions, that there’s no way I can turn them all into stories. Not a bad problem to have, right?
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