Interview With Amanda Stevens and Giveaway!

Welcome to my Birthday Bash!

This is day #5!

Today we are visited by author Amanda Stevens, who writes the wonderfully eerie Graveyard Queen series!

(Click picture to be taken to Goodreads)

    

Amanda's series is about graveyard restorer Amelia, who possesses the ability to see ghosts. In this series, if you acknowledge the dead they will haunt you, slowly and constantly sucking the life out of you. Amelia's entire existence and all her 'rules' are turned upside down when a murder takes place at the cemetery she is currently restoring and she meets, and totally falls for, police detective John Devlin - who is being haunted by the ghost of his dead wife and daughter. 

Check out my reviews of the first two books in the series here:

The Restorer     The Kingdom

Now read on to learn some more about Amanda, how she became inspired to write such an original series, and how she compares love interests Devlin and Thane!

Then enter to win a copy of any of the first three Graveyard Queen book below!

Goldilox: Hello Amanda! Thank you for being here with me today! 

Amanda: My pleasure!  Thank you for having me. :)

Goldilox: First, tell us a little about what inspired The Graveyard Queen series.

Amanda: I’d been reading a lot of mysteries with a paranormal element, particularly Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly series.  I wanted to do a continuing character series of my own with a protagonist that had a unique occupation and/or secret power.  So I Googled strange jobs and up popped cemetery restorer.  I immediately fell in love with the notion of using cemeteries as settings in a sort of modern Southern Gothic series.

Goldilox: Ghosts have been portrayed many different ways. How did you come to create your ghosts?

Amanda: I didn’t want to do a version of Ghost Whisperer or Medium so I decided to make my ghosts almost vampire-like in their hunger for human warmth and energy.  In other words, entities to be avoided at all costs.  Of course, this then set up a doomed love scenario with Devlin, a haunted man.

Goldilox: How does the southern setting of the series contribute to the stories?

Amanda: Amelia is a Southern woman through and through.  She and Devlin both are products of their environment and upbringing.  I can’t really visualize them in any other setting.  It probably helps that I’m from the South, too.   

Goldilox: In book two, The Kingdom, Amelia finds herself in a completely different setting. What made you decide to switch it up?

Amanda: In an ongoing series, the goal is to keep the characters fresh, keep challenging them in different ways so as not to tell the same story over and over.  To this end, I decided to take Amelia out of Charleston and away from Devlin to give both characters a chance to grow.  Plus, I didn’t want to trivialize the issues that had torn them apart in The Restorer by having them immediately get back together in The Kingdom.

Goldilox: Throughout the series we see Amelia with two different love interests. Can you compare Devlin and Thane for us?

Amanda: Amelia probably says it best:  They were nothing alike, in looks or personality.  Devlin still owned my heart.  He always would.  But I couldn’t deny I was drawn to Thane, maybe because I sensed something in him that I recognized in myself—that feeling of not belonging.  Devlin had turned his back on the privileges accorded to him by his birthright.  Thane was still trying to prove himself, still trying to eke out a position for himself that his uncle—and Devlin—would have taken for granted.

Goldilox: Can we expect more books in The Graveyard Queen series? Are you working on any other projects?

Amanda: I just recently signed on for three more books.  I’m working on the fourth one now, tentatively called The Keeper, which picks up where The Prophet left off.  Also, I’m super excited about my new young adult series.  I’ll be alternating writing those stories with The Graveyard Queen books.

Fast Five:

Best book you've read lately

The Hunger Games

Yummiest munchie

Popcorn

Scariest scary movie

Event Horizon

Favorite guilty pleasure

Dance Moms

Most awesome place to visit

Key West

Amanda Stevens was born and raised in the foothills of the Ozarks, an area known for its folklore and superstition. She learned from an early age to fear black cats, ladders, and broken mirrors. A risk taker, she now resides with all three. She is also the mother of twins, a wannabe taphophile, and a collector of all things Alfred Hitchcock. When she’s not writing from her home in Houston, she likes taking road trips to Austin. And to Marfa. And to old cemeteries.

Thank you SO much to Amanda for taking the time to visit! 

And now for a chance to win! 

Enter on the Rafflecoptor form below to win a copy of any one of the first three books in the Graveyard Queen series (pictured above).

You must be 13 or older to enter. Amanda will be sending the winner the book if U.S. or Canada, otherwise the book will be coming from the Book Depository - so this is international baby!

(As long as TBD ships to you)

Enter on the Rafflecoptor form below!

Missed any of the other features this week for my Birthday Bash?

Day #1: Giveaway of Elemental and Partials

Day #2: Character Interview with Jupe from Arcadia Bell series and Giveaway of a signed copy of one of the series' books!

Day #3: Giveaway of all three Mythos Academy Books!

Day #4: Guest post by Bethany Griffin and giveaway of Masque of the Red Death!

a Rafflecopter giveaway