Destined review, Interview with Jessie Harrell & Giveaway!!

Today we welcome Jesse Harrell author of Destined to the blog!! Below is Dark Readers review, an interview with Jessie, and a GIVEAWAY!

Title: Destined

Author: Jessie Harrell

Publisher: Mae Day Publishing

Date Published: Nov 17, 2011

Synopsis: 

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.

 DR interviews Jessie Harrell- Destined Author

1. How did you get into writing... Was publishing a book something you've always dreamed of doing?

No, although I had a 6th grade teacher who thought I would grow up to be an author.  Guess she was right about that. Who knew?  I wasn't one of those students who was good at grammar (DON'T even talk to be about diagramming sentences), but I guess I can string words together well enough.  My writing really started to take off in law school and I basically write every day for my job, so I'm always practicing!

2. Were you influenced by any authors growing up?

This is going to sound terrible, I never really started paying attention to authors until I became one.  I've always enjoyed reading, and might have followed a particular author's stories if I liked them (Dean Koontz, Stephen King, etc.), but since I didn't aspire to be a novelist, the author's writing styles didn't really influence me. 

The only author that particularly comes to mind is Robert Heinlein, who wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and was popular in the 1960s.  My first boyfriend gave me that book and others, which influenced me to have a more open world view (you can imagine the "freeing" type messages you get coming out of the 1960s).

3. What do you enjoy doing in spare time- apart from work and writing?

What spare time?  J/K.  No really, what spare time?  TV (aside from Trueblood) is completely out because I want to read the books written by so many other YA authors.  Apart from being a wife, mom, lawyer, author and once-a-month scrapbooker, I read or mess around online (twitter, FB and blogs).  That's pretty much my life.  I love to travel, but don't get to do it as often as I'd like since time and money ARE objects for me.

4. Explain a little about your characters- are they based on anyone in your life personally?

The characters are the gods, nymphs and nobility of ancient Greece.  The main character, Psyche, has traces of me in her - mostly her nervous habits like chewing the inside of her cheek or picking at her nails.  But she's much stronger (or at least more head strong) than I am.  The goddess, Ceres, has traces of my mom's artistic abilities and carefree spirit.  But other than that, the characters have personalities that suited them for their roles and so I couldn't base them off any one person.

5.  From what I understand, you are a fan of Greek mythology- is there a certain Greek myth that ties into Destined?

I loved Greek mythology so much that I majored in Classical Studies in undergrad.  Most of my schooling revolved around ancient Greek & Roman history and culture. I even got to take a class called Magic, Witchcraft & the Occult in ancient Greece and Rome.  But I disgress.

Destined is based off the myth of Cupid & Psyche, which I fell in love with in college.  I wanted everyone to be able to connect to an ancient story in a very modern way, so I wrote Destined.  Viola!

6. If you could be 1 character from any book of your choice- who would it be and why?

Wow - tough question! Since I just finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I think it'd be pretty cool to be Karou.  The world she grew up in is pretty amazing and fantastical.  And it'd be cool to be able to fly, and make wishes, and know all those languages without working at it, and be a gifted artist who's traveled the world  Yep - being her (for a little while anyway) would be pretty cool.

7. Destined is  a stand alone book- are there other projects that you are currently working on?

I have co-written a novel called Beneath the Surface with Nikki Katz and it is looking for a home.  Tag line: "A timeless love. An endless curse.  Which one will survive the summer?"   

Once I get Destined fully launched this month, I will start working in earnest on my next novel, for which I have a lot of ideas just waiting for me to have time to get to.

Thanks for having me by on your blog today!
- Jessie

E-Book GIVEAWAY! 

 

If you leave your e-mail address in your comment, you'll be automatically entered to win an e-copy of Destined. The contest will stay open for 48 hours after the post goes live, and then Jessie will use random.org to select a winner. Available formats include .mobu, .epub and .pdf. And please be sure to visit the other stops on Destined's official blog tour for chances to win copies of Destined and other goodies"

Check out these other Destined Blog stops!! Lots of fun posts and giveaways!!

1-Nov Once Upon A Twilght - 
2-Nov Books With Bite -
3-Nov Living in Literary La La Land
4-Nov I am a Reader, Not a Writer
5-Nov Paper Hangover
6-Nov Nikki Katz
6-Nov Fictional Distraction
7-Nov Daisy Chain Book Review
8-Nov MundieMoms
9-Nov Safari Poet
10-Nov Good Choice Reading
11-Nov LM Preston
12-Nov An Avid Readers Musings
13-Nov Skyla11377
14-Nov Dark Readers
15-Nov Shortie Says...
16-Nov A Cozy Reader's Corner Reviews 
17-Nov Stuck In Books
18-Nov From A to Z
19-Nov Turning Pages
20-Nov A Tale of Many Reviews
21-Nov Read My Mind
22-Nov S.A.Larson
23-Nov Starry Sky Books
23-Nov Angels and Demons and Portals. Oh My!