One of the more unique characteristics in the Svatura series (at
least in my opinion) came from two random suggestions, both from a somewhat
unexpected source – my parents.
First, a little background. The series features a group of
people – known as the Svatura – who have extraordinary powers, each one a
little different from any others and can be physical, mental, etc. Some of my
characters have the ability to manipulate other Svatura’s powers. For example,
Ellie can use another’s gifts if she’s touching them. Or Selene can turn off
powers as will. When Ellie and Selene are doing these activities they see those
powers manifested as lights glowing inside the person they’re focused on.
Each Svatura’s light is as unique as their gift. For example,
Ellie, my main character in the first book, Blue Violet, has a
glow that is a violet blue color matching her eyes. Selene, the main character
in Hyacinth, the second
book, has a fuchsia colored light. Lila the lead in book three, Crimson Dahlia, has
an ice blue light inside her. Finally, Adelaide, the heroine of Black Orchid, has a
pale yellow light.
Mom’s Suggestion
The origin of the idea for the lights themselves came from Mom.
She was a High School English teacher. When I finished the first draft of Blue
Violet I sent it to her for an opinion. One of the critiques she provided was
she wanted better descriptions of my characters when they were using their
powers. She doesn’t read paranormal romance, so she found it difficult to
visualize the supernatural sections of the book.
While applying this great suggestion, I found that describing
the physical powers like my firestarter or my shapeshifters was easy. But
trying to put these more mental gifts on paper was a bit tricky. Consequently,
I came up with the imagery of the lights to give me something more “physical”
to describe. I can show my characters seeing the lights, manipulating the
lights, extinguishing the lights, etc.
Dad’s Suggestion
Originally, my lights were going to be colorless (just a glow)
and “internal” (so visible only to the Ellie’s and Selene’s of this world).
After I’d done many rounds of edits, my dad read the book. I have to give him
some major props because paranormal romance is so far from his genre it’s
ridiculous. So it meant a lot that he’d take the time to read the book. By that
time, I’d changed the lights to be certain colors.
Dad came up with an extension of the colors concept that I
loved. In the finale of Blue Violet, Ellie shapeshifts into a rather
extraordinary creature (I won’t ruin it for you by telling you what). Dad
suggested that I have her eyes glow her violet blue color and another physical
characteristic of her power also be that color (hope that’s clear without
giving it away too much.)
I decided to run with this and came up with the concept that
violent use of a power would create a visible, external manifestation of the
glow within (in different ways). Since then, through the next two books –
Hyacinth and Crimson Dahlia – I have taken this concept to a whole new level.
One that will ultimately culminate in the fourth and final book, Black Orchid,
due out this coming February. You’ll have to read them to see what I mean. I
hope you’ll think it’s a unique take on superhuman powers and how they are
described.
You never know where the spark for an idea will come from. In
this case, two proposals that sparked a concept that will become central to my
entire series. I do have to say a huge thank you to my parents for their
support and suggestions which have lead this storyline down paths that have
been a pleasure to write and fun to see where they take me.
The Svatura Series
Abigail Owen
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Artist: Debbie Taylor
Series Description:
Meet the ladies of the Svatura series: Ellie, Selene, Lila, and Adelaide.
One will come out of hiding to protect others from the fate she suffered. One will lead her people after being released from a hellish nightmare. One will try to start a new life only to discover that her path lies where it always has. And one will experience a loss so terrible that only oblivion can stop the pain.
Individually they are strong. But together these sisters of the heart are a force before whom even their most powerful enemies will tremble. However, that may not be enough. Is the key to their salvation power…or love?
Blue Violet
The Svatura Series
Book One
Abigail Owen
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Art: Debbie Taylor
Page Count: 266
Word Count: 62050
ISBN (digital): 978-1-62830-946-1
ISBN (print): 978-1-5092-0358-1
About the Book:
When fairy tales turn into nightmares…
Ellie Aubrey has spent most of her unnaturally long life hiding her extraordinary abilities from the world. On the run from the shapeshifting wolves who murdered her family, she risks discovery in order to secretly watch over another group of similarly gifted people, determined they won’t suffer the same fate.
Alex Jenner has come home to protect his family from an unknown danger lurking in the woods. Suspicious of the new girl in town, he challenges Ellie in ways that will spark one of two possible outcomes: they’ll spontaneously combust, or she’ll lose control of the one power she’s fought so hard to contain.
In this fairy tale, the dragon the prince must slay is also the princess who holds his heart.
Excerpt #2 (555 words)
A separate part of her mind remained
grudgingly impressed with Alex’s powers of observation. Very few people paid
close enough attention to catch little nuances as he had with her. Usually they
were too self-centered. But he’d called her out on her vagueness from day one.
It had the effect of strengthening the connection she was resisting so
desperately.
“What is it that you think I’m hiding,
exactly?” Ellie asked, hands on her hips.
“You can’t be who you say you are.”
“I don’t say I’m anyone. I’m just me!”
she exclaimed. “Who else would I be?”
He flashed her a dark look. “I saw you.”
“Saw me doing what?” Ellie’s confusion
was feigned, but her exasperation was authentic.
“Standing in the woods outside my
house.”
Ellie gave him a dumfounded look. “And
when exactly was I supposed to be standing outside your house?”
“Late last night,” he snapped.
“Yeah,” she scoffed, “that makes total
sense. You really are full of yourself. You know that? You think that some
little high school girl likes you so much that she’s just going to stand around
your house in the cold, hoping for a glimpse?”
“I think you’re a damn good liar is what
I think.” Alex clenched his fists. He looked like he wanted to shake her.
Ellie fumed. Forget that he was right.
He didn’t know that for sure, and here he was calling her a liar to her face.
She narrowed her eyes, and her voice
grew cold. “And what exactly am I supposed to be lying about?”
Alex’s mouth set in a grim line. “I
can’t tell you that.”
Ellie arched an eyebrow. “So let me get
this straight…After becoming, well, friends I guess, you suddenly start
ignoring me. We barely say two words to each other in six weeks, then out of
nowhere you kiss me. But based on…” She flung her arms out all akimbo. “I don’t
know what exactly…you come over here to tell me that I’m not who I say I am.
That I’m apparently stalking you. Then you call me a liar. But you can’t tell
me what you think I’m lying about. Could you be more insulting or more weirdly
vague?”
“I guess that’s usually your role, isn’t
it? Is anything you’ve ever said to me true?”
“Ah!” Frustration engulfed Ellie until
she couldn’t speak. She just stood there, her hands on her hips, shaking her
head and blinking.
She couldn’t do this, she suddenly
realized. She didn’t want to lie to him. She didn’t want to fight with him. But
she couldn’t tell him anything. And he was in the same predicament.
And, just like that, her anger with him
turned in on herself and the situation. She started shaking. A violent
trembling that signaled a loss of control…and the horrifying possibility of
what she might become if she didn’t immediately rein it in. Anger, and now fear
for Alex’s safety, warred within her as she struggled to keep her human form.
Without another word she turned and
rushed for the back door, grabbing her keys off the kitchen counter. She had to
get away from him and force herself to calm down before something terrible
happened.
Alex grabbed her arm and whipped her
around. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Away from you.”
Hyacinth
The Svatura Series
Book Two
Abigail Owen
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Art: Debbie Taylor
About the Book:
Selene sacrificed everything when she took her brother’s place as ruler of the Vyusher—including her secret love for one-time adversary Griffin Aubrey. When nightmares that are just a little too real start, Selene fears she’s turned into a cold-blooded killer…the monster Griffin thinks she is.
Griffin and Ellie Aubrey are finally safe for the first time in over a hundred years, and Griffin doesn’t want to easily forgive the woman he blames for killing his family. But when an unknown menace drives Selene to leave her people and seek their help, Griffin must decide.
Can he move past his hatred of everything she is? Or will the bond that could bring them both the greatest joy now be the source of their deepest despair?
Excerpt #2 (506 words)
The nightmare had
started the same as all the others….
She was in her wolf
form which was always different than her human self—enhanced sight and more
sensitive hearing, attuned to the sounds of the night, and her point of view
was lower to the ground. In this dream, she’d been watching a house from the
deep shadows of the woods. It was nighttime, and with the lights on inside the
house she was watching, she had an easy view of the inhabitant—a middle-aged
woman who appeared to be alone. The urge to hurt that woman filled her,
overflowing into a barely contained snarl of aggression.
What
is happening to me? Confusion swept through Selene. Her
urge made absolutely no sense. She’d never deliberately harmed another being in
her life.
She started to move, as
though her body had a will of its own. She wasn’t in control, the need to kill
dictating her actions. Selene prowled over to a small patio that extended from
the back of the house. She stopped within feet of the structure and crouched
low in a pool of moonlight. Her white form blended in perfectly, rendering her
almost invisible.
And there she waited.
But the rational part of Selene had no idea what she was waiting for exactly.
It was as though her dream-self had been here before, stalked this woman, and
knew something was about to happen.
Selene didn’t recognize
where she was. She was sure she’d never been to this place when she was awake.
What was she doing here? Panic started to set in, she could feel it in the
thumping of her heart. Or maybe it wasn’t panic, maybe it was anticipation for
the kill. Her thoughts were all tangled up. What was wrong with her?
The fur on her back
bristled, and Selene realized that a moment of no return was fast approaching.
Her keen hearing picked up the soft tread of the woman inside the house,
followed by the click of the door handle. Her muscles coiled more tightly,
ready to pounce. The door opened, a ray of light from inside just missing the
spot where Selene was hidden, and the woman stepped out onto the patio.
Selene felt her body
spring into the air.
No!
No! No! She tried to hold herself back, make herself stop.
But she couldn’t.
Screams pierced the
night air, ringing in Selene’s ears as she slammed into the woman. Selene sank
her sharp teeth into the sweet spot at the back of the woman’s neck. Bones
crunched under the pressure of her jaws and the sharp, metallic taste of blood
surged into her mouth. The woman continued her screeching, thrashing around
hysterically under Selene’s deadly grasp. With a guttural growl, Selene clamped
down harder before she shook the woman like a rag doll. She felt the satisfying
crack when the woman’s neck snapped.
Then, as suddenly as
the nightmare had started, darkness consumed her and she jerked awake to find
she was safe in her bedroom.
Crimson Dahlia
The Svatura Series
Book Three
Abigail Owen
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Art: Debbie Taylor
About the Book:
Lila Jenner left her family to start a new life away from Ramsey Pierce. After decades of rejection, she needs the chance to discover who she is without him. Helping to rebuild relationships between tribes of Svatura is just the opportunity she needs.
Determined that the fire raging inside him will never harm Lila, Ramsey denies the magical bond that could be theirs alone. But when an old enemy resurfaces and Lila disappears, he realizes he’ll do anything to win her back and make her his.
However, Maddox, driven by a centuries-old quest for revenge, is stronger than any of them ever imagined. Friends and enemies must band together against this shared threat. Even then, they may discover too late that one dragon is not always enough…
Excerpt #2 (300 words)
With
a muttered curse, Ramsey closed his mouth over hers. His kiss was not gentle.
He was to full of pent up need and frustration for gentle. He didn’t merely
kiss. He devoured her, his need was so
great. She tasted of mint and a hint of the wine they’d had with dinner earlier
that night.
Slowly,
savoring each sensation, he moved his hands over her. Every delectable inch of
her body. He couldn’t get enough of touching her. Every luscious curve under
his hands spurred him to more intimacy. He swept one hand around her waist to
her lower back and then inched his fingers under the elastic band of her
undies.
Lila
suddenly broke off their kiss with a sharp cry. She stepped back from him,
realized that he could see all of her, and hurried over to a nearby bush to
grab her dress.
That’s
when Ramsey saw it. An ugly welt in the shape of a handprint was rising on the
back side of her hip.
“Lila,”
he choked.
She
pulled her dress over her head. “Don’t. It’s not your fault.”
“I
burned you.” The horror of what he’d done to her—and how much worse it could
have been—doused every last desire in ice water.
“It’s fine. I’m
fine,” she said. She reached out for his hand, but he jerked away from her,
stumbling in his haste.
“We
need to get Hugh. He’ll heal it for you,” he said.
“No!”
Lila shouted. She took a breath and spoke in a calmer tone. “There is no way
I’m explaining to my dad how your handprint ended up burnt on my butt. It’s
fine. It’ll heal on its own.”
“It’ll
scar.”
She
tipped up her chin. “I’ll live with that.”
Black Orchid
The Svatura Series
Book Four
Abigail Owen
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Art: Debbie Taylor
About the Book:
Only oblivion can stop her pain.
Adelaide Jenner feels nothing… she is completely numb inside. Her fated love abandoned her and joined their enemy. On that day her sister turned off all Adelaide’s emotions in order to save her from a heartbreak that could push her over the edge of sanity. But the great power she claims, wielded without compassion or love, can only lead to pain.
Nate Pierce believes Adelaide used her extraordinary powers to deceive him all these years. So he destroyed a relationship he thought to be false and hungers for revenge. Now, Nate serves Maddox, unaware that his new leader is using him as a pawn in a bid to enslave or kill all Svatura.
The only hope of finally defeating Maddox is for Adelaide and her sisters to combine their growing powers against him. But the key to a Svatura’s power is the heart, and Adelaide is still missing hers.
Excerpt #2 (325 words)
“You
can’t be here,” she said in a low, raspy voice.
“Don’t
be afraid. I won’t hurt you…. I just saved you!”
She
raised her gaze to his, and Nate was stunned to see her green eyes were now
glowing bright yellow.
“You
don’t understand,” she whispered. “I could really hurt you. You need to leave. Now.”
Nate
took a step closer to her. He could see that her slender body was quaking from
head to toe.
Adelaide
held up both her hands. “I can’t hold it in much longer. You really need to
go.” The anguish in her voice concerned him. He could tell she was terrified,
but it seemed to be for him, not
because of him. She bent over and put her hands on her knees, sucking air into
her lungs as fast as she could.
Nate
took a step closer but hesitated. She’s a
con artist, don’t forget.
But
he also wasn’t exactly sure what was happening to her. As far as he knew, none
of her powers were actually dangerous.
Suddenly
Adelaide fell to her hands and knees. He could see her chest heaving as she
struggled for control. Nate acted on pure instinct. Tapping into his speed, he
was at her side in less than a blink. He wrapped his strong arms around her
from behind, sat down on the ground, and pulled her in tightly to his body.
Leaving one armed wrapped around her midriff, he started running his other hand
through her hair in a soothing gesture.
Now
that he was touching her, Nate was amazed her shaking wasn’t rattling her very
bones. It was that violent. Definitely not faking it.
“Breathe.”
Come on.
“I…
can’t,” she choked out. He knew that if he could see her face, tears would be
streaming down her cheeks. And he didn’t like it. It reminded him way too much
of his dreams. But he couldn’t think about that right now.
About the Author:
Award-winning paranormal and contemporary romance author, Abigail Owen was born in Greeley, Colorado, and raised in Austin, Texas. She now resides in Northern California with her husband and two adorable children who are the center of her universe.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. A fourth generation graduate of Texas A&M University, she attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Website/Blog: http://abigailowen.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AOwenBooks
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbyowen/
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2 comments:
A very interesting looking series!!
This series looks intriguing!
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