Guest Post and Giveaway! Into a Million Pieces by Angela V. Cook

Release Date: 01/2015

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Allison McKready is a succubus. So is her twin sister. But while Allison spends her summer break hiding in the library behind her Goth makeup, Jade fools around as often as she can. Allison can’t believe Jade would ignore their mother’s fatal example so recklessly, but concealing a cursed bloodline and its dangerous effects is far from Allison’s only problem. Mean girl Julie’s snob mob is determined to ruin her summer, and Aunt Sarah’s Bible thumping is getting louder. Only her new friend, Ren Fisher, offers safe haven from the chaos of her life.

When one of Jade’s risky dates leads to humiliation and sudden tragedy, Allison reels, and Ren catches her. But as her feelings for him grow, so does her fear that she’ll hurt him—or worse—in an unguarded moment. The choice is coming—love him or save him—but Allison might not live to make it. One way or another, the curse will have its due.

GUEST POST

Where the Heck Did You Get That Idea?

When I tell people about my book, that is usually the second question I get asked. The first one is: A suc-u-what? So first, let me explain what a succubus is (truth be told, I didn’t know either when I first heard the term).

Source: Wikipedia:

A succubus is a female demon or supernatural entity in folklore (traced back to medieval legend) that appears in dreams and takes the form of a woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. The male counterpart is the incubus. Religious traditions hold that repeated sexual activity with a succubus may result in the deterioration of health or even death.

Of course, my book is for the young adult audience, so I had to get creative with the folklore and turn it into something a little more PG13.

I got the idea for my story during the summer of 2010. That particular summer, there was a short-lived TV show called The Gates. It was about a gated community where the residents were of the supernatural persuasion (werewolves, vampires, witches, etc.).  One of the residents was a teenage succubus. Every time this girl kissed her boyfriend, she absorbed some of his life energy, which in turn weakened him. I had never heard of a succubus, but I loved the idea of a teenage girl who was in love, but couldn’t so much as kiss her boyfriend without harming him. It was then the wheels of creativity started turning. 

Now, I have a secret to share: I’m usually a contemporary girl. I have a very difficult time reading fantasy, and honestly, I probably couldn’t write that genre if my life depended on it. Any story I write has to take place in the “real world,” and I have to believe (and make the reader believe) that it could happen. I think that’s why I like the paranormal genre. It involves real people, living every-day lives, with real problems. The only difference is, there’s something a little… unnatural going on. And that’s really what I strived for while writing INTO A MILLION PIECES (IaMP). It was important to me that the characters in IaMP felt real, and that the relationships with the people around them came off genuine. I wanted their problems and conflicts to be about more than just the paranormal aspect. Yes, the succubus curse is the underlying antagonist, but the problems, insecurities, and fears it causes are real.

I’ve actually been told by several people that while INTO A MILLION PIECES falls into the paranormal category, it has a strong contemporary feel to it, and for me that is a great compliment. In my opinion, that’s how a good paranormal book should read. So many popular books (and even TV shows) in that genre start off as believable, but then slowly lose it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but with IAMP, believability is key from the first chapter all the way to the end. I want the reader to believe in the impossible.

Angela V. Cook lives a very unexciting, but never boring, life with her husband and two children just outside of Detroit. Like most writers, she’s been making up stories for as long as she can remember and can’t imagine a life that doesn’t involve creating worlds.

Angela loves to write novels for teens because it’s the best outlet for her sarcastic personality, immature sense of humor, and love of romantic firsts. Her idea of the perfect day involves a quiet house, a good book, and a piece of cheesecake. Or two.

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