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JESSICA SORENSEN-Interview with the Author

Last week THE READING CAFE featured a couple of reviews from Jessica Sorensen’s DARKNESS FALLS series. Her new release THE LOST SOUL -a spin off from her Fallen Star series was released June 2012 and this week we would like to present the author JESSICA SORENSEN.

TRC: Hi Jessica and welcome to The Reading Cafe. Let’s get started. Many writers start their love of writing as a child. When did your interest in writing start? Was there a catalyst that sparked your interest in writing?

Jessica: My love for writing began at a very young age. Writing and reading were ways to channel my over active imagination. I would write short stories just for fun and fill up my extra time with reading.

TRC: What challenges and difficulties have you faced as a writer?

Jessica: There are many challenges I’ve faced as a writer. One is that I’ve had to learn how to work through writer’s block. Learning how to take criticism was another challenging obstacle. And as an Indie Author, one of the biggest challenges I faced was finally pressing the publish button.

TRC: DARKNESS FALLS is one of your many YA series. Would you please tell usabout the premise of the series?

Jessica: Darkness Falls takes place in a world where a virus has turned most of the human population into vampires. They’re not pretty vampires, though, but fleshless, gross vampires that like to eat humans and their bite is contagious.

LINKS TO PURCHASE:
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paper Books
KOBO
B&N Nook and Paper Books

Kayla, the heroine, lives underground in The Colony. The Colony is a place of perfection and strict rules that all Colony members must follow. Some of the rules include:

Rule #1—Never go out after dark.

Rule #2—Always carry a weapon.

Rule #3—No matter what, never EVER get bitten.

But Kayla’s a kind of a rule breaker and ends up being thrown out of The Colony. While Kayla tries to survive the outside world and the vampires, she discovers that The Colony’s strict way of life isn’t the only way to live, and that the Highers, the leaders of The Colony, have been keeping secrets about vampires, the virus, and who Kayla really is.

TRC: The premise and its’ terminology are very unique. What was your inspiration for this series?

Jessica: When I decided to write Darkness Falls, it was because I wanted to try and write a dystopian type book where people where obsessed with perfection. I made the vampires hideous instead of beautiful to try a new approach. One of the biggest things I wanted for this series was to make it so the main heroine became a person who could kick some butt.

TRC: DARKNESS BREAKS (June 2012 release) is the second storyline in the series. Would you please tell us about the premise of this book?

Jessica: Darkness Breaks starts out with Kayla living in the city with the Day Takers, trying to get her memories back. Eventually, Kayla learns that to get her memories, she may have to return to Aiden.

Throughout the book, she faces a lot of difficult choices and struggles with her humanity. She also has conflicting feelings between Sylas and Aiden.

ORDER LINKS:
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Nook and Paper Books
The Book Depository

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Jessica: There will be four books in the series.

TRC: DARKNESS FADES (October 2012 release) is the third storyline. Would you please tell us about the premise?

Jessica: Darkness Fades starts up right where Darkness Breaks left off—Kayla trapped in Cell 7 and Sylas is missing and infected. While Kayla is there, she learns a lot about the Highers and the virus. She’ll begin to get more of her memories back. And she’ll discover what happened to Sylas.

TRC: What message (if any) are you trying to convey in the Darkness Falls series?

Jessica: If there is a message, I guess it would be that I wanted to show what happens when perfection is pushed one step too far.

TRC: THE LOST SOUL is the first novel in your new FALLEN SOULS series. A spin-off from your Fallen Star series–Would you please tell us about the premise?

LINKS TO PURCHASE
The Book Depository
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Nook and Paper Books

Jessica: The Lost Soul stars Gemma, Alex, Laylen, Aislin, and Nicholas. However, there is no fallen star or Stephan in this series.

The book starts out with Gemma looking for a way to free her dad from the Room of Forbidden. But a Lost Soul possesses someone close to her, and she has to change her focus to saving them.

The villain in The Lost Soul is Helena, The Queen of The Afterlife. There are also two other villains that aren’t revealed until halfway through the book, but I don’t want to say who they are or it will ruin the book.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas with other authors, or between family and friends. With whom do you bounce ideas?

Jessica: I bounce a lot of ideas off my husband. But a lot of times he just listens and lets me know if something doesn’t make sense to him.

TRC: Writer’s Block is a real phenomenon for many authors. How do you handle the stress and anxiety of writer’s block?

Jessica: It depends. If I have time to take a break, I’ll get up and focus on something else, like reading or going for a walk. However, if I’m nearing a deadline, I force myself to stay at the computer and keep typing.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Jessica: I’m currently working on finishing up Ember, the first book in my new Series, Death Collectors. It will be released at the end of August.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food
Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich

Favorite Dessert
Cheesecake

Favorite TV Show
It’s a tie between Modern Family and The Vampire Diaries

Favorite Movie
I don’t have a favorite movie, but I love comedies like The Hangover, Bad Teacher, and Anchorman.

Last Movie you saw
21 Jump Street

Dark or Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate filled with caramel

Favorite Flower
Probably a Lilac

Do you have any pets?
Yep. A dog, Bowser

TRC: Thank you Jessica for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on all of your success.

Darkness Breaks by Jessica Sorensen-a review

DARKNESS BREAKS (Darkness Falls #2) by Jessica Sorensen

DARKNESS BREAKS is the second novel (June 2012 release) in Jessica Sorensen’s Darkness Falls YA series. Continuing immediately after Darkness Falls, Kayla continues to struggle with her new ‘humanity’. Once a powerful Bellator, Kayla is barely able to hold her own against the zombie-like vampires roaming the ash-laden and fire-ravaged city. Without the daily injections that make her stronger and faster, Kayla must consider whether to become a Day-Taker like Sylas or risk losing everyone she once loved to the mutant strain of vampire virus. As the ONE who will be humanity’s savior, Kayla knows that there is only one option. And the once feared Highers will reveal themselves to be a bigger threat than anyone had thought possible.

Sylas and Kayla continue their nightly hunts, and only Kayla remains impervious to the vampire virus. But years of captivity and experiments have left Kayla without her memories and no one is willing to help her regain them back. Imprisoned against their will as children, Kayla, Sylas and his brother Aiden, as well as numerous other children, were subjected to daily injections and training in order to determine who was capable of saving the world. Without their special abilities,the children were eventually eradicated and their whereabouts unknown. And to complicate matters, many do not know if their special abilities and affinities were manufactured by the doctors at the Colony, or part of their own DNA. And once outside the Colony, the lies will continue to perpetuate the cycle of abuse.

Outside of the Colony, Kayla must face those who were once her friends and are now considered the enemy, but many of these former captives, hold the secrets to Kayla’s memories. Ryder holds the ‘key’ to Kayla’s past, but Aiden holds the memories that the key will unlock: young Emmy can help bring forward the past, but Maci sees a future that continues to change. Sylas has the ability to manipulate emotions, but in truth he says he can never lie. And where does that leave Kayla? These people must survive if Kayla is ever able to regain her past. The memories that come unbidden will show that there was something behind the Red Door and Cell 7 was the place where everything began.

As a Day Taker, Sylas is a hybrid of sorts-half human/half vampire with the ability to stay awake during the daylight hours, and this will ensure Kayla has someone to keep watch while she battles the unknown. But Sylas and Kayla will encounter a new-hybrid that will threaten their safety once again. Only this time, the experiment has gone totally wrong. And for Kayla to survive she must become the very thing she was programmed to destroy.

There is a love triangle between Kayla, Sylas and Aiden, and Kayla’s memories will slowly reveal that she was close to both young men throughout most of her life and now Kayla’s humanity remains in question when Sylas and Aiden are a different ends of the spectrum. One wants her to remain human while the other demands she take the next step. Tristan returns but his intentions towards Kayla add to an otherwise tense situation
and it is revealed, that Tristan is not the same boy that Kayla once loved at the Colony. But where Kayla is concerned, nothing will ever be simple and in the end, there will be another form of hybrid, that is impervious to the vampire virus and is able to walk in the sun. And the virus? What will be revealed behind Cell7 and the Red Door is a struggle for perfection that went horribly wrong.

DARKNESS BREAKS is a vampire tale with a twist. These are not your beautiful, sexy vampires, but are the rotting, life-destroying creatures of your worst nightmare. The small group of friends will lose a member while another’s fate is unknown. Lies and betrayal will build walls that will be difficult to tear down but there is still the hope that one young girl will be the savior that either saves the world or tears it completely down. Darkness Breaks is fast paced, well written and finishes with a cliff hanger, that like the characters will keep you wondering what was a lie and what was the truth.

Copy supplied by author.

Reviewed by Sandy

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Tag Archives: Darkness Breaks

JESSICA SORENSEN-Interview with the Author

DARKNESS BREAKS (Darkness Falls #2) by Jessica Sorensen-a review

Darkness Breaks by Jessica Sorensen-a review