The first
stop on the BLOOD YELLOW Tour!
I’m so
thrilled to be writing this guest blog. This is the first stop of my third book
tour and I just can’t believe I’ve come so far in such a short time. Over the
last five months it feels like my whole world has flipped upside down and now
I’ve captured an audience and published works of fiction and have fans.
BLOOD YELLOW
is the second full length novel that I have written and I am very pleased with
it. I’ve taken the characters that were introduced in BLOOD PURPLE and
expounded on their current situations. You will find the book takes place three
months later and everything has changed. Which is understandable, three months
is a long time. This time around though you will see that Nasir starts to take
a bigger focus of the book, more of a voice. That father role really jumps out
onto the pages and he, a time or two, has to put Zayn and Nikole in their
place. Part of being a God-Father is doing the hard stuff even when you don’t
want too.
I did things
a little different this time around, I wrote some of the words in Arabic. Part
of what I want to establish in this world is the culture. While yes they live
in Colorado Springs, they very much are Lebanese Vampires. Middle Eastern
decent. Middle Eastern culture. That means words like mother father brother
sister etc would naturally be in their native language. My publisher was very
kind and let me go back through BLOOD PURPLE and add the Arabic phrases so the
series match but I think it helps add some authenticity to the culture. Even
though the drastic nature of some of the things they do in no way representing
what their culture is in the actual country of Lebanon.
Something
else that I start exploring in this book (and I do more of in BLOOD GREEN) is
their past culture as an Algula race and what life was like back home in
Lebanon. The traditions the Algula practiced and some of the ways of life that
they gave up when they moved to America. I really wanted this book to be juicy
with detail and help the reader learn more about the race and the world I
created. My dilemma is this, there are a limited number of books. BLOOD GREEN
is book 3, then BLOOD BLACK is book 4, BLOOD WHITE will be an extra’s book with
a couple short stories and some deleted scenes I couldn’t fit in anywhere but
wanted to happen so I won’t have a lot of time to get everything out there that
I want too.
On the plus
side however – the overall reaction from my beta readers and early reviewers is
unanimously this, “they loved BLOOD PURPLE but after reading BLOOD YELLOW they
can’t remember why because it was just so good.” Which completely makes me
smile because as a writer, I want to improve with each book and each story I
tell and I want my readers to be invested with me along the path so I want you
all to grow with the characters too.
One thing
about my writing is I leave out the fluff, it’s very short when you compare it
to others of the PNR genre, about 1/3 of the size of a BDB book, however- that
doesn’t mean the content isn’t just as good.
So take a
weekend and sit down and explore the world of the Algula. It’s an amazing
place, full of adventure and wonder. I promise you will finish the book and
will know one thing if nothing else, you will never meet a vampire like mine.
They don’t sparkle, they don’t cower to humans with stakes, they don’t fry in
the sun. They feel, they bleed, they love and they fight.
About the
author:
Ashley is married and lives in Houston with her husband
Tony. They have two dogs named Toto and Doogie. They have been together for
almost 8 years and he brings her more joy than she could ever imagine as a child.
She loves to read and has been hooked on the romance genre ever since her
lifelong best friend Laura gave her "Ashes to Ashes' by Tami Hoag to read
when they were younger.
Ashley finds her strength through her family, especially her
parents. They always support her in life and they push her to strive for
greatness. There once was a motto that Ashley heard in her youth through her
Taekwondo life 'Reach for the Stars' and that is what Ashley has always done.
It was through her upbringing that the values Ashley has and display's came
from. With her Parents always cheering her on in life she was able to grow up
having faith in herself and her ability to conquer the world.
