Hello, Therians!
The gorgeous Teal Haviland is here today for an interview :)
We chat about her debut, award winning novel, Inception, the first book in The Reaping Chronicles!!
We chat about her debut, award winning novel, Inception, the first book in The Reaping Chronicles!!
Hi, Teal!
I'm really so excited to have you on my blog today.
Thanks for joining us.
1. Tell
us a bit more about yourself.
Hmm . . . well, I am a
mother, an “always look on the bright side of life” southern gal, a
photographer, a pretty darn good cook, lover of music and the beach and the
mountains, and a momma bear with my friends and family. Oh, and I also started
my own publishing company and am now designing book covers.
2. Have
you always wanted to be an author?
Absolutely. I have
always wanted to be one. However, I never imagined I would make that dream come
true. It seemed too out of reach.
3. What
genre do you love to read? Who are some of your favourite authors?
My favourite genre by
far is fantasy, or maybe it would be more accurate is to say speculative
fiction. Some of my favourite authors are J. R. R. Tolkein, Kristin Cashore, Neil
Gaiman, Shannon Hale, Marion Zimmer Bradley, J. R. Ward, Kaitlin Kittridge,
Leigh Bardugo, and Maggie Stiefvater.
4. If
you could be a character from any of your books, who would you be?
Ha! Hands-down,
Gabrielle. I would LOVE to be the Angel of Karma. That’s why I created her.
5. What
obstacles did you encounter on the road to being published? How did you
overcome them?
My biggest obstacle was
shutting up that voice in my head that kept telling me I couldn’t write a book.
I overcame it by telling it to shut the “bleep” up every time. Every. Single.
Time. Eventually, it became a bit less insistent. It still pops in and makes
itself known—probably always will. And I will keep telling it where to go.
6. What
is the best advice you could give other writers about writing or publishing?
To never, ever give up.
7. How
did you come up with the idea for The
Reaping Chronicles?
I have always been a strong believer in you reap what you sow
and am very spiritual. During the year prior to coming up with the story of The
Reaping Chronicles I went through some horrible circumstances, and there was a
person who was getting away with heinous things, who had gotten away with many
others over the years that I also knew about. I found myself questioning my
beliefs. It tested my spirituality to an extreme, and I began to grow angry and
bitter. During this internal struggle, I found myself wishing I was in charge
of giving out karma—good and bad—so I could make sure this person got exactly
what they deserved. That made me wonder why karma couldn't be the charge of one
individual, which led to me thinking about whom, in my mind, should be in
charge of it. Which all led to me deciding it should be an angel that was given
the task, the Angel of Karma. A specific job assigned to a specific angel.
8. If
you had to describe The Reaping
Chronicles in one word, what would it be?
Deep.
9. Did
you learn anything from writing this book? What?
Definitely! I learned
many things. The most important thing I learned, however, was that there is nothing
I would rather be doing to make a living. I found my passion. Well, I already
knew it was a passion, but I set it free. Now, it can’t be contained.
10. Are
you working on your next book? What can you tell us about it?
I am working on a
novella for The Reaping Chronicles that will be released in October. I had many
people tell me that they really wanted to see Gabrielle enforcing karma,
herself. While I understand that, and honestly I wanted to see it, too, the
book was already a beast. If I wrote in that part of the story I would have
added a lot more words. Doing it in a novella allows me to really expand on why
she chooses a particular person, what she goes through, and even why she
chooses to get a particular fantastical being involved to help her. It’s going
to be a better experience for the reader this way, I believe, and is definitely
more fun for me.
Of course, I am also
working on book two for The Reaping Chronicles, as well as a couple of other
series projects and one stand-alone novel.
I kinda need minions.
11. Is
there any exciting news you’d like to share with us?
The most exciting thing
that’s happened lately is that Inception won UtopYAcon’s award for Best Debut
Novel of the Year! I was completely stunned . . . thrilled, but stunned.
That is fantastic! Congratulations!! You are most deserving :)
The world is in danger. Mankind is sinking deeper into darkness it cannot understand.
Demons are easily capturing souls as they lead men and women down dangerous paths from which there is no return, while Javan, one of the Fallen, seeks a mythical book and the power it promises. If he succeeds, humans— and the world as they know it—will be destroyed.
There is someone who is capable of stopping Javan . . .
If she discovers him in time.
If she discovers him in time.
Gabrielle is one of the most powerful angels ever created, her job one of the most important. She has come to Earth to learn more about humans and what influences them, and to fight evil she sees growing at an alarming rate. She soon finds herself carelessly distracted with one human in particular, however. Lucas Watkins holds a promise of peace and love for Gabrielle that she never believed she could have again.
As feelings between her and Lucas become more than she can deny, so do the dangers mounting against him. After discovering who Lucas is, and the choice he faces, she realizes Darkness will come for him through demons and fantastical beings he thought only existed in his imaginings—forcing fairytales to become his reality.
Caught between her new mortal ties and ancient immortal responsibilities, Gabrielle must race against what seems to be an ever-quickening clock to learn what she needs to know, protect Lucas, uncover Javan’s plan, and find a way to stop him and all who live in Shadows.
Things become more complex than she ever anticipated, her decisions more critical, and what begins as a quest for information rapidly places her in an even more crucial position within the longest and most important war ever waged.
Join Gabrielle and her allies in a story of love–past and present–fantastical beings, hidden realms, magic, fate, loss, and the fight of good versus evil.
Follow The Reaping Chronicles on Facebook.
Grab a copy today!
REVIEW
I have to
start off by saying how beautiful the cover for this book is. It drew me in the
second I saw it and I knew, without even reading the blurb, that I wanted to
read this book.
Haviland has created an amazing story, taking
mythical and magical beings that we see in so many other books and breathing
new life into them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well-paced, a little
slow at times but never to the point of being boring, in fact, I loved that
Haviland didn’t rush through certain mundane bits of the story just to get to
the exciting, plots twists. She put so much thought into every aspect of her
story and it showed in her fantastic writing. Her characters were all well
developed, well-rounded individuals, even the secondary ones, and they each
found a place in my heart. I even felt myself warming to a few of the unsavory
characters.
Gabrielle was exciting and strong. I mean, she’s the
Angel of Karma, it just doesn’t get better than that! She had to endure many struggles throughout the book, and it was exciting to see how she handled
herself. Nothing really ever came easy to her, no matter how awesome and
powerful she was. She had some major adjusting to do, being in human form – the
biggest obstacle was trying to deal with her conflicting human emotions while
living by Yahuwah’s rules and then of course the fact that her human form
subdued her powers. She also had to deal with the constant change to her state
of mind every time she dished out karma. As the story developed, many problems
arose, from a dangerous book that could bring about a war between good and
evil, to the interference of the Qalal. I was enthralled and couldn’t put this
book down, not even for a second. It literally, went with me everywhere I went!
I didn’t entirely warm to Lucas when he first
appeared. He was a little immature at times, but then again he was a teenage guy.
I knew there had to be more to his story otherwise I couldn’t see why Gabrielle
would have fallen for him. However, the more I read, the more I started to like
him. His relationship with Gabrielle had an ease about it. Their interactions
felt effortless, except for when either was brooding over where their
relationship was headed. Lucas was sweet and had a boyish charm, but I have to
admit that I kind of really liked the “new” Lucas. I tend to have a thing for
bad boys :)
He just seemed to really come alive, and I cannot wait for the second book, to
see what becomes of him.
There was a plethora of great characters in this
book, both good and evil. I really cannot wait to see more of them. I have to
give special mention to Phalen though. Aside from Gabrielle, she was awesome.
She had this amazing carefree attitude and she loved my favorite flavor of
bubblegum, too.
I really enjoyed the fantasy element of this book
but there was also a beautiful, spiritual message that spoke to me on a much
deeper level. I was entertained but at the same time enlightened and reminded
of all the things we take for granted. All the ways in which the human race
defiles and desecrates the beautiful life each and every one of us has been
blessed with. This story will stay with me for a long time and I can only hope
that when Gabrielle looks down on me, my daily dose of karma helps shift her
mood to the light and happy side.
This book deserves nothing less than…
** P.S. If you're the type of reader who, at the end of the book, ignores the author's acknowledgements etc., keep reading until you cannot go any further. There's a fun interview between Teal Haviland and Gabrielle that you don't want to miss!! :)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Teal Haviland grew up with a love for anything fantastical or outrageous. As a teen she spent much of her time writing poetry and children’s stories, but set it aside for two decades before allowing her passion for it to take root (or, as she describes, take over her life). After years of dreaming of worlds where fairies, angels, demons, and shape shifters (to name a few) exist, she finally decided to begin writing her stories down. Inception, book one in her series The Reaping Chronicles, is her first published novel.
Nowadays she happily spends her writing time penning urban fantasy novels and is testing out her horror/suspense writing abilities. In addition to completing her debut series, Teal is also working on the first book in her second series, The Silver Rift, her first horror/suspense, Whispers of Stacey Glen, and several other works-in-progress.
Connect with Teal online:
Residing in Tennessee with her daughter and her four-legged friends, Teal enjoys photography, travel, reading, music, cooking, daydreaming, writing (of course), and above all spending time with her family and friends.
Connect with Teal online:
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