On Tour With Nadège Richards’ Burning Bridges

I’m delighted to be a part of author Nadège Richards’ Juniper Grove Book Solutions virtual book tour for the first installment in her Bleeding

Heart Trilogy, BURNING BRIDGES.

Listed in the YA Dystopia genre, BURNING BRIDGES is recommended for ages 16 and up. Here’s a brief synopsis of it:
Do or Die...

In a world that has been divided amongst the Hunter race and the Warrior, prisoners who have fallen prey to King Cyrus' decrees are forced into the arena to fight until death. Winner is granted mercy and privilege to see another sunrise. Death unto the weak. In an attempt to get back at everyone who has ever shut her out, seventeen year-old Princess Echo becomes another victim, dragging Ayden, her forbidden love, along in a race to freedom, to find out who she really is, and to put a world that has been swallowed by lies back together again.

In the first installment of The Bleeding Heart Trilogy, life becomes a dangerous game of kill or be killed, love or let go. When death threatens the forbidden love of an unlikely couple and they are forced to do the unthinkable, to what extent will they go to be together?

Born in New York City and raised in Pennsylvania, Nadège has traveled to five other states and two countries, but aspires to travel the world some day. Her name is of French origin, though she’s never been to France. Forever a lover of art and all things pertaining to Literature, she hopes to obtain knowledge from her writing career, rather than popularity or fame. 

She wrote her first story about aliens and goats in the 8th grade and has had a passion for story-telling ever since. Her friends and family are her biggest inspiration, and the occasional cup of coffee. She enjoys being part of the Indie community and sharing her stories with the world.

Nadège joins us today and has graciously answered some questions for me about her writing.

Mason - How did you go about doing research for your book? Is research a process you enjoy or just find it necessary?

Nadège - I research for anything and everything. I didn’t have to do too much when writing BURNING BRIDGES, though. The most I had to do was read a lot of historical romance novels in order to learn how they talked back then and what was/ wasn’t expected from people in high standing. Researching is a love of mine. I like the fact that I seek one answer and find many.
 
Mason - How would you encourage someone who has never read your genre to give it a try?

Nadège - Tough question. I’d tell them that the genre is not only insightful but it is where true imagination comes alive in a writer’s soul. It’s one thing to take a world you’re used to—the one you live in—and build on it, but it’s another when you create a world from the bottom up only to destroy it again. That alone takes courage.

Mason - In what order does your characters come to life - name, physical description, personality?

Nadège - Name first. That’s an always for me. Personally I think someone’s name says everything, despite whatever meaning it may or may not have. Of course we are not our name, but it is what embodies us, what stays long after we are gone. A character is introduced in a book by name first, and eventually the rest will follow.

Mason - Of these three elements (name, physical description, personality), which is the easiest to develop and which is the hardest?

Nadège - Physical description. Before I put pen to paper a story must first play out like a movie for me. Usually envisioning your character and what they look like comes naturally. With personality I have to have a name set. So it’s really like an equation: Name + Personality + Physical description = Main character.

Mason - Do you just jump right into a story or do you plan and outline?

Nadège - I outline everything down to what happens in every chapter. Of course I usually end up adlibbing, but it’s something I can work with and it helps prevent writer’s block a lot.

Mason - What can readers look forward to next from you?

Nadège - My second novel, DECEIVING DESTINY, comes out soon (yay!) and in April 2013 the last volume in the trilogy, FLEETING FIRES, will be out. From there I will still be working in the dystopia genre as I start The Bionics Saga, my take on a robot/zombie apocalypse! A novella is also in the works as a prologue to The Ryn Chronicles, my break away from fantasy and into something much more real, yet very sexy and badass.  

Nadège, thanks so much for joining us today and answering these questions. I like your take on encouraging others to read in your genre. For more on Nadège and her writing, check out her website and her Amazon Author Page, and find her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. For additional stops on her virtual book tour, visit her Author Tour Page at Juniper Grove Book Solutions.

Now here’s a brief excerpt from BURNING BRIDGES:
I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, I was going to die tonight. There was no escaping it or any way around it. I couldn’t run from my destiny this time; I couldn’t hide. No, tonight I faced my fate in the chambers of death. The screams of the crowd in the arena filled my ears, the shouts of excitement and laughter boiling my heart down to nothing but untainted sorrow. I refused to open my eyes, but I could sense where I was by that rusty smell of metal and dried blood Father brought home with him every day. The shackles that bound my ankles and wrists to the wall confirmed it. I was a prisoner in my own home, my own Haven. I couldn’t fathom how in forty-eight hours my life had taken a complete three-sixty spin, but here I was, locked in the dungeon of my father’s kingdom, hidden from the world until it was my time to surface.

Nadège mentioned the second installment in her series, DECEIVING DESTINY, that is slated to be released this week. Here’s a brief synopsis of it:

When your destiny lies in the hands of your enemy, there’s only one thing you won’t do to save the ones you love...
Now free from the walls that confine New Haven, the place she had once believed to be her home, Echo must find a way to put an end to a war only she has the power to stop. She has yet to discover her true abilities as a hybrid leader, but what happens when the dreams that plague her become something more? Someone more? In the midst of exploring her love for Ayden and venturing through forbidden lands for a key that will explain everything, Echo finds Kahl -- the boy that haunts her in her sleep, yet has the hidden answers she seeks. And Echo will do just about anything to get them.

In the second installment of The Bleeding Heart Trilogy, relationships are put to the test, dreams become desires, and ultimately one girl will discover her purpose in a promised legend written in stone. 

With the first installment in her series out and the second about to be released, Nadège is offering a tour wide giveaway, open worldwide, with the following prizes up for grabs:
5 signed print copies of BURNING BRIDGES
2 eBook copies of BURNING BRIDGES
1 signed ARC of DEVEIVING DESTINY
1 BURNING BRIDGES T-Shirt
2 BURNING BRIDGES Book Charms

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the awesome giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks everyone for stopping by today. Hope you’re ready for the fast approaching holidays. Have you read any books from the YA Dystopia genre? Do you read only by genres or more by how the book interests you?

Here’s a book trailer featuring BURNING BRIDGES for your enjoyment: