I recently read and loved Awakening by Natalie King
(you can find my review HERE)
and it is with great pleasure that I welcome her to My Book Chatter today!!
(you can find my review HERE)
and it is with great pleasure that I welcome her to My Book Chatter today!!
Thanks so much to Book Chatter Cath for having me here today! I’m absolutely thrilled to celebrate the release of my first young adult novel. AWAKENING is an ‘ooky-spooky’ story set on the edges of Lake Tekapo deep in the heart of the South Island of New Zealand.
I’ve always been drawn to this particular lake. It is large,
deep and very cold. The water is the most eerie milky blue colour unlike
anything you’ve seen and though there’s a rational scientific explanation for
that colour, it’s always teased my imagination, sparking so many of those fun
‘what if’ questions…
To be honest, much of the New Zealand landscape does that to
me -- especially parts of the South Island (yes, I’m a South Island stalwart,
here we call it the ‘mainland’). From the sci-fi appeal of the Moeraki
Boulders, to the blinking beauty of gloworms in the deep caves, the downright
crazy formation of the pancake rocks and the stormy power of the blowholes and
the wonderful green wilds of the West Coast and of course, the majestic
Southern Alps… yeah, there’s a reason Peter Jackson likes to film his movies
here - it’s inspirational :)
I was living in a town not far from Lake Tekapo when I got
the idea for AWAKENING. I love it when you get an idea and it takes hold of you
and just won’t let go. That’s what happened when Zelie and Tamas came knocking
in my head. They wouldn’t go away and they wouldn’t be quiet! I had to write
their story down because every time I closed my eyes, they were there. I took
several drives to Tekapo to take in the scenery - to go up to Mt John and feel
the wind and see the view over the lakes. The first draft was written in a mad
frenzy over a summer…
But now, the book has made it to the shelves and it’s so
wonderful to see it there. If you get the chance, I do hope you enjoy reading
about Tamas and Zelie and the magic around the lake.
Here’s the blurb to explain a little further…
The cold spread like anaesthetic in
her veins.
Fear resurged, driving deeper into
every cell.
‘Why would my looking in a mirror
help you see me?’
‘Because I see through your eyes.’
When Zelie Taylor pulls a lost necklace out of the icy
waters of the lake, she has no idea what the consequences will be.
At first the pendant is just freezing cold –
unnaturally so – but then she hears a voice inside her head and Zelie thinks
she must be going mad. She’s not. Seventeen-year-old Tamas’ soul has been
trapped in the silver necklace since 1918. His body is nearby, sleeping, and
Zelie must help him awaken.
At first Zelie would like nothing better than for
Tamas’ moody, enigmatic presence to be out of her life, but after a while she
isn’t so sure. And what is waiting for Tamas when he does emerge? It seems that
the sinister force that trapped him all those years ago has returned and is
growing more powerful.
A hundred-year-old mystery steeped in dark magic will
make Zelie question everything she thought she knew.
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| photo indicative of prize only |
To be in to win a
signed copy of AWAKENING, and one of the pretty pendants to match (as
pictured!), just comment and let me know which place within New Zealand you
think is the most magical!?
(Overseas entrants don’t fret - just Google images of
‘beautiful New Zealand’ and choose from there!).
With very best wishes,
Natalie
Natalie King has always had imaginary friends in her head. This proved a distraction during school and beyond, and she ultimately abandoned her various jobs as researcher, mystery shopper and recruitment specialist because she was forever imagining herself elsewhere. Fortunately she now locks herself in her little garden shed to spend her days scribbling the stories those imaginary characters entice her with.
Natalie also writes contemporary romance under another name. In this genre she’s had more than twenty-five novels published, been translated into more than twenty languages, and sold over two million books.
A USA TODAY bestseller, she’s also been a Romantic Times Award nominee and a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year). She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Follow the links for more information.
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What are you waiting for - enter now!!
