Author Interview and Giveaway: Joann I. Martin Sowles

Today I'm excited have author Joann I. Martin Sowles on the blog answering a few interview questions about her debut book Laney. I read and reviewed Laney in August. You can see my review here. Before we get to the interview, here's a bit more information about the book:

Synopsis:
In a small college town in Northern California, Laney Alexander leads a regular, uneventful life-that is, until the charming and alluring Oliver Knight enters her world. Who is this gorgeous and mysterious stranger? Or, rather, what is he? As Laney's sophomore year of college begins, so does an unbelievable adventure-including a love she didn't know she longed for. She soon learns that Oliver is not ordinary, nor is the rest of his family, including a sister who openly hates her and a brother who will stop at nothing for revenge. As she fights for her life, and Oliver's love, Laney discovers that the fictional world of vampires isn't so fictional after all. Nobody is safe, especially Laney, Oliver's most important priority, and he will stop at nothing to protect her. With her mortality at risk, and a commitment revealed that she, without a doubt, knows she wants, Laney's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn...

From Goodreads

Interview

Describe your book in five words.
Romantic, suspenseful, intriguing, paranormal, Vampires

What made you want to write a story about vampires?
That’s simple, I have an obsession. LOL! I’ve always been fascinated with vampires so it was just natural for me to write about them.

Where did you pull inspiration from for the main character, Laney?
Laney didn’t come from any one place. She developed over time, and after reading and ton of vampire stories. It seemed the more I read the stronger her character got, and at some point I felt that I needed to get her out of my head and into her own world.

How many books will be in the series? What can you tell us about the next book in the series, Darkness?
I do not have a set amount of books for the series to tell Laney’s story, but I do know there will be at least 4. In Darkness secrets will be revealed, hearts will be broken, and lives will be lost.

This or That?
Early bird or night owl? I’m a major night owl.
Coffee or tea? Tea.
Beach vacation or camping? Beach vacation!
Harry Potter or Twilight? Ooh, this is a tough one…I love the Twilight series but I’m going to have to choose Harry Potter.
Paper books or eBooks? Paper books for sure! eBooks are great but there’s just something about an actual book that makes me very, very happy.

Thank you for the interview and to all who have taken the time to stop by and read it. I invite all of you to visit my website where you can view the first 3 chapters of both Laney & Darkness.
~ Joann I. Martin Sowles, www.brookehavenvampires.com

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Thanks for being with us today, Joann!

Giveaway!
Joann is also offering up two ebook copies of LANEY for me to giveaway!

Giveaway Details:
Fill out the form below
Open to anyone 13 years of age or older
Open internationally
No need to be a follower or spread the word, however both are appreciated!
Giveaway ends Monday, October 10, 2011 at 11:59PM EST

The winners will be chosen by random.org and emailed. They will have 48 hours to respond to my emails or I will chose another winner(s). I will announce the winners on my blog on October 11.

Review: Laney by Joann I. Martin Sowles

Title: Laney - The Brookehaven Vampires
Author: Joann I. Martin Sowles
Publisher: self published
Publish Date: October 30, 2010
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 260 (ebook)
Source: From author for review
Series: The Brookehaven Vampires
1. Laney
2. Darkness

Synopsis:
In a small college town in Northern California, Laney Alexander leads a regular, uneventful life-that is, until the charming and alluring Oliver Knight enters her world. Who is this gorgeous and mysterious stranger? Or, rather, what is he? As Laney's sophomore year of college begins, so does an unbelievable adventure-including a love she didn't know she longed for. She soon learns that Oliver is not ordinary, nor is the rest of his family, including a sister who openly hates her and a brother who will stop at nothing for revenge. As she fights for her life, and Oliver's love, Laney discovers that the fictional world of vampires isn't so fictional after all. Nobody is safe, especially Laney, Oliver's most important priority, and he will stop at nothing to protect her. With her mortality at risk, and a commitment revealed that she, without a doubt, knows she wants, Laney's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn...

From Goodreads

When it comes to reading paranormal YA (which, lets face it, is pretty much 99% of what I read), I tend to veer more towards werewolves and angels rather than anything else. So, when Joann contacted me to read the first book in her vampire series, I figured I should give them vamps a chance.

Something that we don’t see too much in YA is more of a college setting. The majority of “young adult” novels are really just “teen” novels, with respect to setting and characters, so I liked that LANEY included a bit of an older demographic and was actually set after high school.

The story itself was really good, regardless of the love-at-first-sight factor which was a bit too quick in this one. One thing that I love about reading paranormal stories is the different takes that authors have on the various mythological creatures. Joann’s vampires are much more based in science. There’s one line in the story where being a vampire is compared to being a diabetic, they just need blood instead of insulin. At one point Oliver says, “We’re still people, just different.” I love that.

Although the love-at-first-sight was pretty quick out of the gate, the truth about the vampires was kind of drawn out. There were hints everywhere that were sometimes so obvious, I had to roll my eyes at Laney. I was hoping she’d catch on faster, especially when earlier in the story she blatantly said vampires, leprechauns, and unicorns could exist since no one has proven otherwise. I think that got me thinking she had an open mind, but there was no other evidence of it. My expectations were raised and not met in that sense. However, I think I may be biased because I knew there were going to be vampires, and so I was able to see the clues... But I still think I was led to believe she was open minded and then let down.

There was one big thing I didn’t like about this novel... the writing. It kind of seemed juvenile to me. There was lots of giggling and Laney was way too love struck considering she’d only known the guy for two days. There are a lot of instances where we got glimpses of Laney’s thoughts which were often highly exaggerated and, again, juvenile seeming (they were typically referring to the cuteness of Oliver and how much she wanted to jump his bones). When she stared reacting to her thoughts through things like giggling... I was irritated.

Regardless of the issues I had with the writing, I was able to make it through this book and enjoy it, too. It is an interesting take on vampires and I like that it’s set at a college with college-age characters. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to read DARKNESS, the second book in the series, when it comes out. I am interested to see where the story will take Laney and Oliver, but I have to decide if I can get over the writing style first. Overall, I think that LANEY is a good story with interesting take on vampires. I’d recommend it if you are ok with writing that’s not perfect.

Visit Joann's site here to grab yourself a copy, ebook or print!

Teaser Tuesday (26)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

This week, I'm reading Laney by Joann I. Martin Sowles, the first book in a series about vampires. Check out my teaser:

Suddenly, I had a terrible feeling - like I was being watched, like there was someone there I couldn't see. My body tensed and I felt a scream on the verge of escaping. It was so stupid that I had stayed so late alone.





I hope that little bit of suspense has you interested in this book! The story is good so far, although I'm having a couple issues with the writing. I think it's just different and so that's hard for me to get used to. Either way, I'm interested to see where the story will go next!

Feel free to share your teasers! I'd love to see what you're reading.