Leanna Ellis Plain Fear Forgiven Blog Tour with a Giveaway and Q/A

I am so excited to have Leanna Ellis here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a  Giveaway and Q/A.

Thanks Leanna and Danielle at Sourcebooks for allowing me to join your Plain Fear: Forgiven blog tour!

Please take it away, Leanna!

1. What's a typical day like for you?

Leanna: Hi! Thanks for having me here! That’s a difficult question. Every day seems to be different at my house. Maybe it’s because summer is here. Maybe it’s because I have two teenagers. I’m looking forward to school starting, so we can get back in a rhythm. I like routine. Right now, we don’t seem to have one. But my usual day goes something like this: the dog wakes me up (early) , the dog wants to go out, in, out, in, I attempt to have a quiet time, dog interrupts by stealing something, quiet time attempted again, dog steals something else, then I have to feed the kids and pets (two dogs and two cats), finally I settle down to work, kid needs something, work again, kid has to go somewhere and I’m required to drive, and I work in the car or at Starbucks while waiting for kid activity to be over, etc… Obviously I’m a juggler of time and activities. Some days I manage okay and some days I drop a few balls. But then I pick them up and try again the next day.

2. What are some of your favorite authors?

Leanna: Oh my! I have so many, and I read across the genres. I love to read from YA to literary to biographies and self-help. I’m also often reading a classic with one of the kids. Often I have four or five books going at the same time. For instance, I’m reading Medea because my daughter is reading it for her class. I’m also reading a great book about worship — I Can Only Imagine. I’m reading a time-slip novel

by Susannah Kearsley. I really love her work. I’m reading a biography about D.L. Moody. I also have a couple of writer books that I pick up now and again. I also have a book that I’m usually reading on my iPad, and today that happens to be a Pat Conroy novel. Love him! And I usually have an audio book going, sometimes just something I want to listen to or sometimes it’s something the kids and I are listening to during our drives to and from activities. We listen to a wide range of books, from Alas, Babylon to Watership Down. A few of our favorites are: Hunger Games, The Crucible, The Giver ,The Book Thief, and Dragon Rider. We love listening to stories or reading them together. One of our favorite memories was not being able to put down the last Harry Potter book. My husband came home that night and we were upstairs reading. “Hello?” he called. “We’re upstairs reading!” “What’s for dinner?” he asked. “Can you call for pizza?” I kept reading aloud, taking a bite every now and then, until we’d finished the book. I could talk books for hours. We love, love, love books at our house!

3. What hobbies do you enjoy?

Leanna: Besides obviously reading, I enjoy cooking. My daughter and I love to find new recipes and try them out. I really love traveling, and we try to travel as often as possible together as a family. This summer we traveled to France, and I fell in love! Oh how I loved it. The light truly is different somehow, and it was mesmerizing. This past year, I was able to travel a lot with my son for fencing tournaments. Watching fencing is really exciting, so that has become an interest as well. I’ve even taken a class on fencing. Fun but hard work. This past year, we went to St. Louis, Louisville, Baltimore, L.A., and Columbus for some tournaments. Sometimes our kids interests become our own and sometimes not (construction books, which regularly put me to sleep when my son was little). I also enjoy the theater. Thankfully, my daughter is a theater kid, so she really enjoys going to see shows with me. Recently we saw Fiddler on the Roof, and next up is Miss Saigon.

4. Why did you decide to write about vampires?

Leanna: I’ve always been fascinated and frightened by vampires. I remember as a little girl going to a friend’s house and watching Dark Shadows. Oh boy! I was petrified! Every night, I’d sleep with my covers pulled up around my neck. As I grew up, my fear lessened and became more of an interest. Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire was remarkable as was The Historian and Steven King’s Salem’s Lot. For me, the interest was always in the spiritual side of things, not necessarily the gore. When I conceived the idea for the Plain Fear series, I was thinking a lot about Phantom of the Opera, not a vampire obviously, and yet it’s a story of darkness and light, of the allure of evil. I wanted to explore that element, and so Plain Fear: Forsaken was born. The story came together for me organically, and yet when I analyzed the story, dismantling it as one must do in writing the novel it made such sense to combine vampires and Amish. I needed a seemingly innocent place in the world, one not tainted by the culture or world, and an Amish district provided the perfect setting.

5. Which character(s) are your favorite?

Leanna: That’s like asking which of my children is my favorite. The first character in Plain Fear that I fell in love with was Jacob, otherwise known as Akiva. He is my villain (throughout the series), and yet not. He was so fascinating to me, and a lot of fun to write because he also loves words. Another favorite character was Roc Girouard, from book #2 Forbidden (although he’s in all three of the novels). He has quite an edge to him, and that was fun to explore. At first, it was difficult to get into my Amish characters, until I got rid of the Amish garb and just saw them as people. They’re just like you and me, with the same hopes and dreams and faults. Then they became some of my favorite characters. I really loved Levi, in Forsaken. He has such depth and strength. He had such a strong moral compass, yet he had to make tough decisions. Samuel, the hero from book #3 Forgiven, and the youngest, was fascinating to me because he was pulled between two worlds and like many young people trying to sort out the world. I related the most to Hannah, the heroine from book #1 Forsaken. My absolute favorite character, because she surprised me the most, was Naomi, from book #3. She had such strength and determination.

6. What do you have in the works?

Leanna: As with everything in my life, I’m juggling a few projects. I am re-releasing three of my early books as e-books. I’m writing a sweet romance series and I’m working on a gothic.

Thanks for having me here today!

PLAIN FEAR: FORGIVEN BY LEANNA ELLIS – IN STORES AUGUST 2013

What Must We Sacrifice to be Forgiven?

Samuel Fisher has committed a sin of biblical proportions — he killed his own brother, Jacob. Haunted by guilt and talked by a vampire out for his soul, Samuel starts down the same dark path of destruction that led to his brother's death.

A captivating coming-of-age story unlike any other, Plain Fear: Forgiven pits redemption against temptation, love against fear, and simple faith against the intricacies of sin and salvation. In the gripping final battle between hunters and vampires, Samuel must choose where his loyalties lie. The lives of those he loves — as well as his own ultimate forgiveness — hangs in the balance.

Praise for Plain Fear: Forgiven:

“A richly detailed and atmospheric tale of suspense.” —Library Journal

“An unlikely, yet fresh idea that completely works, thanks to [Ellis’s] ability to blend the genres in a tasteful manner.” —RT Book Reviews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deep in the heart not only describes where Leanna Ellis lives in Texas but also the way she writes. Her books, whether romance, inspirational, women’s fiction, or paranormal, are infused with heartfelt emotion. Having written twenty published novels, Ellis has won many awards including the National Readers Choice Award and the Maggie Award.

When not chasing vampires through the darkened recesses of her mind or roping and riding along with her characters through sun-drenched plains, she stays busy driving her children to their multitude of activities, figuring out what to make for dinner (or where to order takeout), chasing her menagerie of crazy pets around the house, and researching the next idea. For more information, please visit http://leannaellis.com/.

To Purchase Plain Fear: Forgiven

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Books-a-Million

Chapters/Indigo

IndieBound

Sourcebooks

Giveaway Rules:

Thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks I'm able to give away a prize pack consisting of Plain Fear: Forsaken, Plain Fear: Forbidden and Plain Fear: Forgiven.

Please be a follower or else come back to see if you the winner, thanks!

Please enter by filling in this form, thanks: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


3. Giveaway ends August 14th

4. US/Canada only

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You will have 2 days to get back to me or else I will have to pick new winner, thanks!