Guest Post & Review: Betrayal's Shadow by KH LeMoyne

Presenting... Betrayal's Shadow by KH LeMoyne!

Betrayal’s Shadow (The Guardians of Eden, Book #1) is an adult urban fantasy romance novel.

Betrayal’s Shadow is the first in the Guardians of Eden Series. Book 2, Warrior Reborn, is also available and book 3, Destiny’s Mark is due for release in late spring 2012.

Betrayal's Shadow was a great read for me! I really enjoyed it and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to host the author of this great book, KH LeMoyne on my blog today. She'll be joining us with a guest post!

Check out my review of Betrayal's Shadow here!

Betrayal's Shadow

by KH LeMoyne

What would you do to save your people from extinction?
What if your race held the key to mankind’s future?
One Guardian will risk hell to change the future.

Descended from the race of Guardians, Turen’s people have survived the last two hundred years, quarantined and isolated. Living in secrecy with no mates and no offspring, they fail to deliver on their ability to replenish and heal human souls through the birth of their Guardian children. Risking his life, Turen chooses capture at the hands of a comrade-turned-enemy to seek answers to change the future.

Mia Bowman has no knowledge of the secret Guardian race. Yet, her uncontrollable, nocturnal summons to Turen’s prison cell and her strong sense of justice leave her with little choice but to help him. She can heed his warning and stay clear of his people’s problems or she can ferret out the lies and unravel an ancient tale of murder and deceit. It will take an ultimate sacrifice to stop the unexpected evil and reverse a fatal ending to the Guardian line.

THE GUARDIANS OF EDEN:
A race of beings created in a Sanctum at the far edge of Eden. Co-existing with mankind, they safeguarded human souls and the promise of eternity—until a virus killed all over the age of eighteen. The surviving children fled to the Sanctum for protection, children raising children without the full legacy of their history and knowledge. Two hundred years of solitude have produced a race of semi-immortals fortified with powers and intellect but lacking the mates who will make them whole and allow them to fulfill their covenant with mankind.

Find this book on Goodreads!

About KH LeMoyne

A former technology specialist, KH LeMoyne now writes romance fulltime with series in urban fantasy, high fantasy, and scifi/futuristic. She lives in Maryland with her wonderful husband and corgi. Much to her dismay, she rarely encounters supernatural beings other than on paper. Visit her website or blog.

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Twitter: @khlemoyne
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Check out the first chapter here! (I would post it, but its extremely long, and would really slow down loading time! And can I say I really loved the first chapter? It really hooked me.)

And now, we have Mrs. LeMoyne joining us with a guest post!

Which Comes First: Series Plot vs. Characters or Chicken vs. Egg

Flame, thank you for the opportunity to guest post for your readers and also for your wonderful review of Betrayal’s Shadow. (You're welcome! It was a great book:D)

Since Shadows is the first in a series, I thought I would explain my approach for creating it and whether the series or characters come first. When my work on the Guardians of Eden series started, over four years ago, I had a rough outline for Betrayal’s Shadow and a framework for the mysteries that now plague the Guardian race.

However, for the series to resolve the overall Guardian mystery, bits of the Guardian background and past need to weave throughout each book. Unique characters with appropriate strengths and weaknesses need to carry their own story and also move along the overall series arc. So the answer to chicken vs. egg question, for me, is option three—both.

The mystery behind the Guardian plague, the evolution of the villain from book one, and the details lost to the orphaned Guardian children are plotted through the end of the series loosely enough to allow for a little flexibility. I mapped the series plot, including the necessary character types required, and worked through geographic and historical background details, character traits, superpowers, and major scene descriptions. This determined how many books the resolution would take. It also targeted the specific characters who would follow the mysteries, while tacking unique conflicts in their book. Then I started on the characters for book one and decided how to twist their lives for a common goal of releasing the Guardians from their bonds.

Mapping the series was fun. Working with the characters, Mia and Turen, and determining how they would grow from two people with nothing in common to trusting partners was exciting.

Is this approach for a series time consuming? Yes. Is it necessary? For me, yes. This process is also why so many of the characters in my later books already have 13,000 to 30,000 words sitting in their own files, waiting for their books to be written.

The process requires a little patience and a love for the story. JR Ward’s Brotherhood series, Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalker series, and many other series and individual books are on my reread shelf for a reason. I know what makes me go back to those stories. I know that satisfied feeling is the same one I want my books to leave after people have read them.

If the planning seems obsessive, I’m not the only author who approaches a series this way. I read an interview with Jim Butcher several years ago. He said he’d mapped out the whole Harry Dresden series from the beginning to the end-some twelve to fifteen books-with an apocalyptic trilogy finish (his words – truly). Granted, his scale is much larger than mine, but the concept is similar.

I hope that readers can enjoy the challenge in my books without having to read each one. For those who do read every story, I hope they will finish a later book and realize that I laid the seeds for future twists all the way back in book one. Either way, my goal is for a reader to have fun reading, enjoy the characters, and for a few hours escape for intrigue, a little magic, and a happy ending!

~Kate
KH LeMoyne website – www.khlemoyne.com
KH LeMoyne blog – www.fantasypoweredbylove.com

Now that makes me want to read the entire series even more! :D

Does the synopsis make you want to read the book? I know the moment I saw the synopsis, I wanted to read the book!

Buy this great book at the websites listed below! You won't regret it:)

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
All Romance Ebooks

And I wanted to say thanks to Ms. LeMoyne for visiting my blog today and Enchanted Book Promotions for putting everything together! You guys rock! :D