BLOG TOUR: The Beckoning of Broken Things by Calinda B INTERVIEW+GIVEAWAY

The Beckoning of Broken Things
The Beckoning Series Book 2

By Calinda B

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Sumner McKenzie, Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-9839126-8-2

Number of pages: 342

Word Count: 92k

Cover Artist: Calinda B

Blurb:

Is Marissa Engles crazy? Or is she a paranormal Light Rebel who can shape form from the electricity buzzing through her veins. Her aunt and sister think “Crazy.” The locked mental facility they’ve put her in thinks “Delusional.”

She’s so drugged up, she can’t tell if they’re right. Only her new pal, Rafe Caldwell, another mental patient “inmate”, thinks she is what she says she is. And he intends to find out more – lots more.

The only problem is her missing soul bound lover, Daniel Navid, who commands the darkest of the dark. But as they say, if the cat’s away…

“So tell me how you feel.”

I must be pretty heavily sedated because when the therapist asks me that question, the word “feel” comes out sounding like it’s a slide. I’ll just bet if I could climb on top of that slide, I’d be able to slip from the room and not have to answer that stupid question. I shake my head. What does she mean, how do I feel? I feel like been given something like heroin or Clonazepam or Secobarbital or some other mind-numbing agent. I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds, and I’m looking at her through thick glass walls and she’s talking to me through some kind of filter made of seven layers of dense foam. I feel like…wait, I know. I’m in here because I’m different. I’m sitting here with what feels like two hundred pounds of cotton between my ears because they don’t “get” who and what I am. They think there’s something wrong with me. They all think I’m broken.

She pushes up her glasses on her nose and taps her pen on the arm of the brown leather chair in which she sits, like a prim, porcelain doll. “I’m waiting.”

“Are you talking to me?”

Her face is wrinkled, like an Amish Apple Doll. Her dyed brown hair needs a touch-up. White and gray roots serve as a flag to her age. She smiles, a crisp, stiff smile like peanut brittle. “I don’t see anyone else sitting across from me, do you?”

I picture taking her smug smile in my fingers and snapping it in two, resulting in my own satisfied smile. “Where’s Daniel?”

“Who?”

“Daniel Navid. My soul bound lover.”

She frowns and scribbles a few notes in the black binder sitting on top of her lap. She smoothes her blue tweed skirt. Clears her throat. Tries again. “How do you feel right now, Ms. Engles? Your sisters were pretty concerned about you when they brought you in here.”

“Where, exactly, is here?”

“You don’t know?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t ask the question.”

The therapist nods, as if I’ve just said something profound. She gestures to the room with her certificates of accomplishment and education lining the beige walls like little soldiers. “Well, you’re at the Brookstone Center for Healing, in Bellevue, Washington. Do you know where Bellevue is?”

“Are you kidding me? I’ve lived in this area all my life. I live over in West Seattle, two bridges away from Bellevue. Of course I know where Bellevue is.” I reach up and rub my eyes, trying to clear the spider webs, mud puddles, and sludge clouding my mind.

“Do you know what day it is?” The peanut brittle smile appears again.

I want to smash that smile with a hammer. “Yeah, it’s today. And yesterday was yesterday. And tomorrow’s going to be tomorrow.”

She taps her pen. Scribbles. Frowns. Scribbles some more. “So you don’t actually know what day it is.” She says that as a statement, not a question.

“Let’s see, two days ago I was in Brazil, and it was Thursday. That must make today Saturday. What do I win?”

“What were you doing in Brazil?”

I pause and squint at her. This is a trick question. “I was visiting a friend.” I was kidnapped by a demented sorcerer. I stabbed his dead, but not really dead, girlfriend’s chest, and she exploded and her crystal dagger pierced the old man’s heart.

“I see.”

“And how did you get back from Brazil?”

“I flew.” On a beautiful winged creature known as a Coati-lumina. Her name is Chiara, and she allowed me to claim her a few nights ago. She’s huge and brilliant, and she shines like diamonds. “Where’s Daniel?”

“There was no one at your home but you when your sisters stopped by. They were very worried about you. Said you were having a completely delusional conversation with them. Do you remember what you said?”

I incline my head and study her. Another trick question. “Maybe.”

“Can you tell me what you said to them?”

“Will you let me go if I do?”

“I’m afraid not. I’m afraid we need to keep you here for a while. Your sisters were very worried.”

“You already said that.”

“And they decided that a good psych evaluation was in order.”

“Oh, they did, did they?” I’m going to murder them. I’m going to strangle the daylights out of them. In my mind, I pick up a pricey sable paintbrush and paint them as tiny fragments of skin and bone, being blown to smithereens. “What gives them the right to have me evaluated?”

“Your aunt still holds guardianship. She was the one who ordered this.”

Aunt Topaz. “I’m 26 for God’s sake. I’ve lived on my own since I was 18. I think I get to be my own guardian, don’t you?”

“In this case, no. When someone is…when someone is ill…” She pauses, frowning.

She was going to say mentally deranged. They all think I’m delusional because electricity flows through my veins, and I can burst into brilliant light and paint things with my mind and will them into…

“When someone is ill it falls to the guardian or parent.”

I don’t think that’s true but can’t argue it right now. My head is so heavy I need a crane to keep it upright. I purse my lips trying to remember something about my aunt. This goddamn drug is making it hard to think. My mouth is dry. I want to leap into a lake and suck it into my throat in one long swallow. Think, Engles, think. And then it all came back to me, like someone shot a memory cannon through my head, blasting open my brain. My dear Aunt Topaz hid my abilities away from me when I was 15. She and Daniel’s father, Armando, cast a spell over me and wiped my memories clean. And now she put me here? Armando and Aunt Topaz are definitely on my to-do list. I just don’t know what to do - yet. My hands squeeze tight, capturing my anger. I restored my Light Rebel skills with Tom the sorcerer’s help. He taught me how to hunt like a predator before taking me on an ether trip to discover what happened. When I showed Daniel my newly restored light, he…I swallow my arousal and blink back tears.

Daniel. He’s a Night Numen and commands the darkest of the dark. He can wave his hand, rip the atmosphere in two, and draw foul creatures from wherever the hell they live. Thinking of his handsome tan face, stubble-covered jaw, eyes that are hypnotically blue, 6’1” muscular body, dark hair that falls in his face when he’s on top, his bronze skin, his hips, his legs, his hands…thinking of him makes me seriously horny, even with this drug-filled, muzzy-headed haze between my ears. And then I get a little mad. I mean, a couple of weeks ago he did bind my soul until the end of time to his without asking me, but it might have been for my own good. Might have. Not sure. Still a little miffed. We’ll sort it out by and by. I really need to see him. I need to get out of here - now. “I want to go home. I want to talk to Daniel. I need to see Daniel. I need to take care of my dog, Sober Dober.” I nod, satisfied with this statement, certain that it will yield results.

“I don’t know who Daniel is. Your dog is being well-cared for by your aunt.”

I lunge to my feet, or at least I want to lunge. It turns into more of a lurching wobble. “Aunt Topaz has my dog? That’s just wrong. Aunt Topaz hates things that are messy. She detests mess and color and light and…” And Sober has brand new sparkly wings. They’re training wings. He’s not very good with them yet. He got his wings when I restored my light. But I don’t say that. I dare not say that. I’ll be in this place for a million years if I tell her my dog has wings.

Can you please share with us a little about yourself?

I’m super smart, curious, introspective. I love to laugh and find humor in the world around me. I love the natural world. I’m a risk taker. I’ve taught fire-walking, dance, aerobics. I’ve rock climbed. I’m a kayaker and a scuba diver. I’m passionate about life and love. I’m in an awesome committed relationship, have two towering grown kids, two cats and constantly strive to grow inside. I’ve endured a fair bit of trauma in life but always strive to heal and not let it define me - it may have shaped me but it’s not who I am.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

No. My high school advanced placement English teacher told me I would be a writer. I thought that was a stupid idea. I wanted to explore, grow, heal, change, move. I wanted to love a lot. I wanted to do everything a little different from the norm. I wanted to act out and make some really dumb mistakes, as well as a few brilliant moves. In the end, though, my teacher was apparently right - all that exploration gave me something to write about!

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

I get up early, when the house is quiet (all save the cats who want to be fed. They’ve been on purr patrol on the bed, watching me to see if I’ve awakened.) Cats fed. Check. Jasmine green tea by my side. Check. Shades open to reveal the beautiful world outside. Check. I’ll write for a few hours until I have to work at my day job which just so happens to be in the same room (we own our own business). And then, at days end, I’ll write some more.

What would you say is the most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

The process of crafting a story is truly rewarding. I love shaping the characters, fleshing out the worlds they live in and the circumstances they encounter. When I’m really immersed in a story, I think about the characters all day long. If I get stuck, I stop writing but the process continues. I’ll muse about the stuck part. Shove it out of my head. Let it bubble back into me. And then - voila! Insight occurs and I’m back on the trail. There’s something extremely delicious about the whole process. Very fulfilling.

Can you please tell us about your latest book?

I love The Beckoning of Broken Things. Each time I release a book it becomes my favorite book (grins).

It starts off in a mental hospital. Marissa Engles has been put in there by her aunt. Her family thinks she’s delusional because she claims to be able to shape the electricity flowing through her veins into form and substance. The hospital is certain that she’s nuts - all these crazy ideas that she has. There’s another patient in the locked ward - Rafe Caldwell - who suspects that she just might be telling the truth. Turns out, Rafe is a Stealth Numen and a “gun for hire” trained assassin. And, he’s got some very unique abilities when it comes to sex.

The pair forms a friendship and alliance that carries through the story. Rafe wants more from Marissa - much more. But there’s that teensy, weensy, little problem - his name is Daniel Navid, he’s a Night Numen, he commands the darkness and wields more power than anyone, and he’s Marissa’s soul bound lover. But no one knows where the guy is.

Marissa’s determined to find him and sort out this soul bound business. In the process, she’ll have to face a host of demons, inside and out, including her growing feelings for the trained assassin and Stealth Numen known as Rafe Caldwell.

How did you come up with the idea for this story?

The Beckoning of Broken Things is part of a series - the Beckoning Series. A friend read the first one, The Beckoning of Beautiful Things, and had a few suggestions for the heroine (actually his suggestions pissed me off and I took up the challenge to show him how she was evolving). He also joked that some of my characters needed therapy. I took up that challenge, too, plunking Marissa in a mental hospital right off the bat. She’s only recently discovered her abilities - who wouldn’t feel a little bit nuts over that? As for the conflict between her feelings for Rafe and Daniel, I’m always curious about who we choose to love and why. Who says we can’t love more than one?

I also had a painful, painful “lesson” when a dear friend stopped being my dear friend with no explanation whatsoever. We went from “isn’t it great to be such good friends?” to nothing - absolutely nothing. It broke my heart. I poured a lot of my anger and hurt into the character, Marissa.

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

It’s a departure from my two series, the Beckoning Series and the Wicked Series. It’s a standalone book called Headspace. It’s set about 50 years in the future. The heroine, Vienna Pierson, has these crazy abilities - she can get inside someone’s head and mess with that person’s mind.

It’s a strange world - a lot of planetary destruction has occurred, and the world is in a state of restoration. There’ve been amazing technological advancements, like the pulse-com system people use to communicate. No phone is needed - users are linked through chips inserted into their head.

Using her skills combined with technology, Vienna runs a business where subscribers pay her big bucks and she accesses their fantasies and dreams and enacts them in her Headspace environment. Subscribers are convinced that they’ve actually had sex with her. It’s all done virtually, so none of her subscribers know who she is. Meanwhile, in her real world, she’s just confessed to her best friend Jonas that she’s never had an orgasm. He wants to give her that pleasure, even though he’s in a long term relationship.

It’s fun to write and feels a little bit risky as being “anorgasmic” is a sensitive topic. I think writing about things that I’m scared to write is a good path to follow. I hope my readers enjoy the ride.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Books by JR Ward, Karen Marie Moning, and Tahereh Mafi come to mind. I am completely captivated with a new author - Damon Suede. And I enjoy Sasha Campbell’s writing. Those are just a few off the top of my head.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style?

All of my favorite authors inspire me. I mull over the phrases that they use…the way I feel when reading a passage…their use of language and metaphor. It all serves to shape me into becoming a better writer. I’m always open to growth and exploration. The Damon Suede book I just read - Hot Head - was so hot, so sexy, it got me to wondering if I could push myself into some new territory. Hmmm.

Open your book to a random page and please reads us a few lines.

Okay…here goes…I closed my eyes, scrolled, and here’s the passage that was in front of my face when I opened my eyes:

“Rafe! Is he still here?”

“He’s somewhere. They kept him in isolation for a while, but he managed to get out. He’s a lucky guy.” All Smiles grins and shakes his head like Rafe’s a frisky boy.

Lucky - right. It’s called self-care…or maybe it’s self-flagellation. I shake my head, unwilling to believe I’m back in this place.

“So you’re telling me I never left? I didn’t escape?”

All Smiles’ face furrows. “Escape? How could you escape? This is a locked facility.”

I throw back my head and groan again. “Oh, God! You saw me! You saw what I can do! Don’t you remember the burnt sheets?”

His face furrows as if he just might remember something. He stares at me, deep in thought. The grin returns. “You’re a creative one, I’ll give you that. Now get yourself out of bed. It’s time for dinner.” He strolls from the room, whistling.

I push back these goddamned, scratchy white sheets and drop to the floor. How am I going to get out of here - again? Why am I here again? I’m wearing the exact same thing I had on when I left. Did I ever leave? Am I crazier than I thought?

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

Anything by Tahereh Mafi - I was completely captivated by her first two books, Shatter Me and Unravel Me. The book I’m reading now, Hot Head, by Damon Suede, is so richly provocative I’d be curious to read more from this author to see if he can produce another book of this caliber.

Have you ever used anyone from your real life encounters in any of your books?

You’re kidding, right (laughs)? While it’s creepy to actually design a character around a real person, I tell my friends, “Don’t piss me off or you might find a place in my next book!” Seriously, though, all kinds of people find their way onto the pages of my books. I’ll never tell who they are. My lips are sealed.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself while you were writing?

How deeply satisfying it is to be a writer. How much I can grow and learn from putting pixels to screen.

An award-winning web designer and certified SEO specialist, Calinda B has worked in the Internet industry as a web page designer/developer since the early 1990's. She has also taught web site design and computer graphics at community colleges in Northern California. In addition to writing, Calinda B creates fine art and music, and enjoys scuba diving, kayaking, and bike riding. Calinda B makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with the love of her life and her two cats. She is currently working on the fourth book in The Wicked Series, tentatively entitled A Wicked Ending, or the third book in The Beckoning Series or maybe those are done and she's working on.... She loves to write and does it daily.

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