I am super excited today to be a part of the Pretty When She Kills Bog tour. I just recently read Pretty When She Dies and loved it!! You can see my review for that
here. My fabulous friend Giselle @
Xpresso Reads has turned me into a major Rhiannon Frater
stalker fan girl and I knew I had to take part in this tour!! For the full tour schedule click on the banner above. (How pretty is that?! Giselle made that! She now does designs so check out her design page
here.)
- Publisher: Rhiannon Frater
- Publication date: 9/5/2012
- Source: eARC provided by the author for review/ tour
Purchase:
Amazon |
B&N
*This is the second book of a series. My review will not have spoilers for this book, but will contain spoilers for the first book if you haven't read it. The overview is a bit spoilery if you haven't read the first book also.
Overview
Amaliya Vezorak never believed in happy endings…
When
Amaliya harnessed her necromancer powers to defeat her greatest enemy,
she believed she had finally found a happy ending with Cian, her lover
and the master of Austin. That happiness is short-lived when the
vampire ruling over San Antonio attempts a takeover of Austin in order
to capture Amaliya and use her power for his own devices.
To
make matters worse, Samantha, Cian’s ex-fiancée, is seeing ghosts, the
untested vampire hunters of Austin are running scared as a supernatural
war looms, a mysterious man is hunting Amaliya with the help of her one
time lover, Pete, and Rachoń, the Summoner’s favorite progeny, appears
to be out for revenge.
When Amaliya’s grandmother, a powerful
medium, experiences terrible visions that reveal there is another
necromancer vampire and she is crying out for help, Amaliya realizes
happy endings do not come easily…
My Thoughts
I want to start off by doing some crazy fan girl dance or something. For real, this book was amazeballs!! I thought I loved the first one, but this one was just overflowing with awesome!! Rhiannon turned up the heat, the action, and the creepy factor in this one and I loved every second of it!! The character development is really great too. I love getting to know the different characters better.
Amaliya is still one kick ass chick and things get a lot more crazy for her. She of course still has the spunky personality that I loved in the first one, but I love seeing the softer side of her too. It comes out a lot more in this book than it did in the first one now that she is more adjusted to the fact she is a vampire/necromancer. Her relationship with Sam is still quite intense and I love their interactions. Amaliya is a seriously funny, tough as nails chick and I can't get enough of her.
We meet some pretty dangerous characters too. Rachon for one is an old vampire that is not one to be messed with, but it seems that she is now a big thing to worry about. She is coming to Austin and Amaliya knows that it's a very bad thing. There is also another Necromancer/Vampire they have to worry about. Innocente has been seeing her. On top of that Sam is even more pissed than before because now she is seeing dead people thanks to Amaliya's blood. Forget the fact that Amaliya saved her life, she is livid about it!! Pete is on a mission to help Amaliya. It's very sweet and sad at the same time. He loves her so much, but of course we know that she is happy being a vampire and she loves Cian.
This book is just full of action and suspense. It gets very intense as they realize there is more to it than just Rachon wanting revenge and a necro-vamp calling out for help. This book had hooked! There is so much going on and we learn a lot of new things, but it's never to the point where it's too much at a time. It's like an adrenaline rush that you can't get enough of. And lets not forget the steamy, sexy scenes. We still get some of those too, though not as much since they are fighting for their lives. (or un-lives I guess) I can't really say much more except you are in for one hell of a ride reading this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
Interview
What gave you the idea to make The Summoner a Necromancer too? It's a totally awesome idea!!
I
honestly don’t remember how that came about. I suspect it was born out
of the dream that initially gave birth to that universe. I just remember
that it felt really perfect to have this ancient vampire have much more
to him than just the usual traditional vampire lore. His background
was a lot of fun to explore and I think it makes him that much more
terrifying because he can control the dead.
When
you initially wrote Pretty When She Dies was it planned as a trilogy?
It could totally be a stand alone, though I am glad that it wasn't. ;)
This
is a weird one to answer. In some ways, it was written to be a
standalone. When I started writing the book, I thought of it as a
standalone. By the end of the book, I had little bits in the story that
were ready to become much more. I did try to wrap up the first book to a
certain extent so that if I didn’t continue in that world the readers
would have a resolution. But if you read the first book then immediate
start on the second you can see all the threads form the first book
weaving into the sequel.
A
lot of what happens in the first book lays the foundation for the
second, though I felt the overall story arc of the first book does
reach a conclusion.
Amaliya is a total bad ass!! Did you write her character based on anyone?
I
don’t base my characters on real people. My characters just appear in
my head and I have a process where I get to know them better. A lot of
times they surprise me. Amaliya was very difficult for me to write
because she is incredibly different from me. We’re polar opposites in
many ways. Her inclination to run away from problems while putting
herself in dangerous situations is just something I don’t really get.
It’s through Cian’s eyes that I was finally able to “get” the character.
I really do enjoy writing her and feel she grows a lot in the sequel.
Are any of the characters based on real people? You know, like their personalities or certain traits?
I
don’t base characters on real people. They’re just born in my head. I
have consciously given only two characters traits of people I know
because it fit the personality of the fictional person. Rune from AS THE
WORLD DIES (THE FIRST DAYS, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE, SIEGE) and one of the
moms in my upcoming YA Paranormal novel, THE MIDNIGHT SPELL, have
aspects of two people I know, but they’re not carbon copies of them in
any way.
You are a master at writing the creepiness!! Do you ever have crazy nightmares about some of the things you put in your books?
All
my books are based on dreams except for AS THE WORLD DIES (THE FIRST
DAYS, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE, SIEGE), which was technically based on a
vivid image that popped into my head at work. My nightmares are pretty
epic and I always wake up with the thought “Can I use this?” PRETTY
WHEN SHE DIES was born out of an incredibly vivid dream that utterly
terrified me. I dreamed it from Amaliya’s perspective,
so it was very scary. When I woke up, I was relieved it was a dream.
The opening scene from PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS is also from a dream.
I
really loved the names of the characters in the book. How did you come
up with them? I especially loved Innocente, was that intentional due to
her religious nature?
Naming
characters can be a weird process. Sometimes I just toss out names
until something sticks. I know Jenni and Katie from AS THE WORLD DIES
underwent several name changes, but I don’t remember what those were
now. I kept writing out names and if it didn’t click, I’d erase it. I
kept doing that until it felt “right.”
Amaliya
was very hard to name. I was virtually screaming in my head at her
“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” Nothing fit. Then one day at work someone called
and introduced herself by that name and I internally knew that was her
name. I had to find the spelling of the name, etc, but it fits her
perfectly.
Innocente
just fit. I really liked her having an old school religious name. Cian
was a quick fit. I just can’t imagine him by any other name.
I
am always thinking about food and I can't help but ask, does Fenton
really have the best peach cobbler in Texas? I love peach cobbler!!
Fenton
is a made up town! The best beach cobbler I’ve had, outside church
socials growing up, was in a café in Fredericksburg, Texas that is now
closed. I miss that peach cobbler. It was amazing.
Randomness:
Mountains or ocean?
Mountains. Oceans have sharks.
Coffee or Tea?
Tea. I hate the aftertaste of coffee. Unless its cappuccino in a café in Italy.
Heels or sneakers?
Heels…Betsey Johnson or Jeffery Campbell, please! Unless zombies show up…then sneakers!
Vampires or zombies?
Vampires. I have lots of crosses in my house.
Soup or salad?
Salad!
Crayons or markers?
Crayons. You can do better shading!
Okay
enough of the silliness! Thanks so much for stopping by Rhiannon. You
rock!! I am looking forward to see how the whole series wraps up in
Pretty When She Destroys!!
The first book in the series, Pretty When She Kills is available now as an audiobook too. I have put the links below for you. Pretty When She Kills will also be available in audiobook form, but isn't at this time!
I have a giveaway for an ebook copy of both Pretty When She Dies and Pretty When She Kills. Just fill out the rafflecopter form at the end of this post to enter. These books are not YA and have very mature content so if you are under 18 please get a parent or guardians permission. Neither me or Rhiannon want angry parents coming after us.
There is also a fantastic tour giveaway going on that you should definitely enter. You can find it over at The Bookish Brunette by clicking
here.
THE BLOG TOUR GIVEAWAY
Ashley at The Bookish Brunette will be hosting the blog tour giveaway. This is the grand prize for the entire tour.
- An autographed
paperback of PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS and the first book, PRETTY
WHEN SHE DIES
- 6 bookmarks (2
autographed)
- Vampire fangs necklace
and matching earrings
Rhiannon
Frater is the award-winning author of the AS THE WORLD DIES zombie
trilogy and the author of several other horror novels. She was born and
raised a Texan and presently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband
and furry children (a.k.a pets). She loves scary movies, sci-fi shows,
playing video games, cooking, dying her hair weird colors, and shopping
for Betsey Johnson purses and shoes.
You can find her online at:
Website: rhiannonfrater.com & astheworlddies.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/astheworlddies
Twitter: twitter.com/rhiannonfrater
Blog: rhianonfrater.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rhiannonfrater/
Email: rhiannonfrater at gmail.com
a Rafflecopter giveaway
.jpg)
jpg.jpg)
