I have known Jaime McDougall for … wow. Forever, in Internet terms. She offered me my first-ever guest blog post, so long ago now that I don’t even have a dead link to it in my archives, let alone a live one.

Yeah, that’s some history.

So I’m super glad to host Jaime today. It always feels like paying her back for taking a chance on someone new to the blogging community. And besides, I like the way this girl thinks. I’m pretty confident you will, too.

So, Jaime, what song makes you think of your book?

In many ways, Dark Echoes was my most difficult novel to write. The problem? My main character didn’t want to talk to me.

I knew from the start that Lily Peterson was stubborn and cranky – quite unlike her sister Charlotte and ‘aunt’ Phoebe (the main characters from the first two books). She wanted to do things her own way throughout the book. That certainly made for an interesting character, but it made it slow going for the author trying to get to know her.

In an attempt to ‘unlock’ her from a different angle, I went YouTube \\\’urfing’. I clicked on a music video and then continued to \\\’urf’ from video to video via the recommended videos in the sidebar. Though it took me a while, I finally found ‘Stand in the Rain’ by Superchick and thus found Lily’s anthem.

From then on, I could always listen to ‘Stand in the Rain’ when I felt like I wasn’t quite doing Lily justice. It’s not always easy to write a character who is stronger than you, so listening to this song helped me to find Lily when I was feeling lost.

 

I especially love this last paragraph. The romantic life of an author… yes, I see that as a romantic statement! Not romantic love. Sheesh. More like the romance and the beauty of writing.

Let’s just move on to the book description, shall we?

 

Lily Peterson is a wolf who hunts alone. Haunted by the attack that left her best friend permanently human, she will do whatever it takes to catch her prey.

FATE

Jason North is one of the Neuri, a pack of werewolves with special abilities. He knows he’s never met Lily before, but his instincts tell him he has. He’ll keep her close until he figures out why.

EVERYBODY LIES

A war that has played out across lifetimes threatens to consume Echo Falls. Friends become enemies, and old enemies become allies. Lily fights against memories that aren’t hers, forced toward a fate she doesn’t believe in.

Fate is about to learn that Lily doesn’t like being told what to do.

 

Proof that weres aren’t dead in today’s fiction. Jaime’s got it covered.

Pick up your copy at Amazon (only, unfortunately for those of us who don’t shop there).

 

Get to know Jaime. You’ll be glad you did.

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I’ve known Jaime McDougall almost since I began blogging. I know she was one of the first folk to ask me to write a guest blog post for her, and I’ve written HOW many since then? (over 50 is the answer, and no, that original blog post isn’t linked to. If you find it, holler, and I’ll link to it.)

So… It’s my pleasure to host Jaime today with her new book, Fading Echoes.

I’ll admit it; I thought way too much about what song reflects my recent release Fading Echoes. I tried to think about what reflects the themes of secrets and lies, what song reflects being haunted by your past… But when I cleared my mind and thought of my main character, Charlotte, the song came to me instantly.

Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional

Why Vindicated? Why would I pick a song attached to one of the Spiderman movies? Well, not because of Spiderman. Rather, the lyrics…

Vindicated, I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right
I swear I’m right, swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed but I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore, you saw yourself

When Fading Echoes begins, Charlotte has been trying so hard for so long to be what people want her to be. But as the book progresses, she discovers that being flawed is okay. She struggles to take control of her own life – and to discover what being a pure bred werewolf is all about.

The lines ‘I am right, I swear I’m right, swear I knew it all along’ are especially relevant because Charlotte faces another predicament: she is a werewolf crying wolf. Intensely focused on her past, Charlotte knows that the pack is under threat. But, knowing her obsession, no one is willing to listen. Even her best friend, Tom, is beginning to think she should just let it go.

She still has hope that she will find a way to prove that they are in danger, but is she putting her hope – and trust – into the right people?

Slight hope dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption

Ooh, yum, right??? Damn, I like this song. I’m putting it on my iTunes wishlist as I type. (am I really out of it that I’m still iTunes and not Spotify?)

Ready for the blurb?

In a town full of werewolves and legends, Charlotte Peterson is unique. As the first ‘pure-bred’ werewolf in Echo Falls, she struggles to fit in even amongst her pack.

When Dr. Adam Baker arrives in town, Charlotte is forced to balance their growing friendship with her need to keep the pack’s secrets – and her own. But she is not the only one keeping secrets and Adam’s past could threaten them all.

That is not the only danger. Compass, the genetic research company intent on isolating the ‘werewolf gene’, will do whatever it takes to gain the final advantage over all werewolves. Compass CEO Calvin Stephens has a very special plan in mind for Charlotte…

Time is running out for Charlotte and the pack as Calvin’s plans near completion. In a town where secrecy is the key to survival, can Charlotte trust Adam to help her? Or has she revealed the deadliest secret of them all?

Go pick up a copy or three!
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