TWISTED (Eternal Guardians #7) by Elisabeth Naughton-Review, Blog Tour and Interview with the Author

TWISTED
Eternal Guardians #3
by Elisabeth Naughton
Genre: adult, paranormal, fantasy, romance
Release Date: October
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 1 2014

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Nick –Leader of the half-breeds and the last true hero. He’s spent his life fighting a dark pull toward the gods. A pull he now knows is linked to his father Krónos and the Titan’s plan to escape from the Underworld.

But Nick’s hidden powers are coveted by more than just his father. Imprisoned by Hades, Nick battles every form of torture imaginable as the sadistic god schemes to break him. Only one thing is keeping him sane. One woman who gives him the strength to fight the relentless darkness. She has a dangerous plan of her own, though, and as Nick’s powers grow stronger, even she might not be enough to alter his destiny.

As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, Nick’s allegiances are tested. And no one knows whether he will choose to fight for good or succumb to the sinister lure of evil. Not even him.

••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: TWISTED is the seventh installment in Elisabeth Naughton’s Eternal Guardians paranormal, romance series based in Greek mythology, prophecy and history. This is Miso (half-breed) leader Nick and Cynna’s storyline. Told from third person POV, TWISTED looks closely at Nick’s connection to the gods, his purpose with the Guardians, and his relationship with his brother Demetrius and the Queen

The storyline follows Nick as he has been imprisoned for six months by Hades, and tortured by the very woman that keeps him sane. Struggling to control the power buried deep within, Nick believes the only person that prevents him from destroying everything in his way is Cynna –a woman who will push Nick to the limits of his endurance. Cynna’s reputation precedes her encounter with Nick and it is this reputation that she must fight to overcome. While the Guardians struggle to save their Queen, Nick struggles with his allegiances to his soul mate and his people.

The relationship between Nick and Cynna is a frenemies to friends to lovers storyline of mutual attraction and sexual tension. Cynna, by way of a bad decision and a deal with Hades’ son Zagreus, finds herself not only a perpetrator but also a victim of Hades’ need for power. When Cynna is commanded to ‘break’ the Miso leader, she will defy her captor and release the man with whom she will fall in love. The sex scenes are aggressive with some questionable scenes of consent. Nick needs Cynna to center the beast and Cynna needs only the man that calls to her heart.

The secondary characters include many of the previous storyline couples as well as some of the gods of Olympus and the Underworld. The familial connections become more complicated as the series progresses with the revelation of new siblings, distant relations and the next generation of Guardians and gods. The world building continues as the reader is pulled into a modern day war between the gods and the Eternal Guardians of mankind. The hunt for the final piece of the Orb of Kronos is but a blip in the storyline as the focus of the story was on Nick and his gods-gifted predestination.

Elisabeth Naughton’s ETERNAL GUARDIANS is a provocative and passionate look at modern day Greek mythology. Elisabeth’s storylines are arousing, compelling, addicting and seductive. Thers are stories of romance, suspense, destruction and war where families are torn apart and the impossible is found. ETERNAL GUARDIANS is an imaginative twist to Greek Mythology with the breathtaking background of romance and love.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy

 

FREE ebook: Marked : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Entwined : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Tempted : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Enraptured : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Enslaved : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

Bound : Amazon.com/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

TRC: HI Elisabeth and welcome back to The Reading Cafe.

Follow Elisabeth: Facebook / Goodreads / Website / Twitter

Elisabeth: Thanks so much for having me back. I’m thrilled to be here!

TRC: TWISTED is the new release is your ETERNAL GUARDIANS series. Would you please tell us something about the premise?

Elisabeth: Absolutely. I love talking about TWISTED!

Twisted is the seventh book in the series, but don’t worry if you haven’t read the other books yet. You can read TWISTED as a stand alone. TWISTED is Nick’s story. Nick is not a guardian even though he carries the markings of the Argonauts. Instead, he’s the leader of the half breeds (half-Argolean, half human), the half-brother of the guardian Demetrius, and, in an evil twist by the gods, shares a soul mate with his brother (though the female in this twisted little love triangle chose Demetrius as her mate.)

At the beginning of TWISTED, Nick has been imprisoned by Hades for six months. Hades recently discovered that Nick is Krónos’s bastard son and that the elder god hid some of his powers within Nick in the hope of using him to break out of his prison in Tartarus. Hades wants those powers for himself, so he’s entrusted Nick to his son’s care, er…torture…with the goal of breaking Nick and claiming those powers for himself. But the woman in charge of Nick’s torture is unwittingly keeping him from breaking. Only Nick hasn’t decided if she’s good or evil and what that means for his future.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties (research, logistics, background) did you encounter writing this particular story and series?

Elisabeth: The hardest part of this book was the heroine. Cynna is very damaged. Probably one of the most damaged characters I’ve ever written, definitely the most damaged heroine. Romance readers are pretty accepting of damaged heroes…a hero can be the biggest jerk on the planet and readers will still fall in love with him…but damaged heroines are a harder sell. I walked a fine line between keeping Cynna tough and justifying her actions versus her coming off as a bitch. In the end, hopefully, readers will get a glimpse into her mind and understand why she’s done the awful things she has.

TRC: Have you considered a novella or spin off for any of the secondary characters?

Elisabeth: The next book in the series will be a novella in the 1001 Dark Nights series. The tentative title is RAVAGED and releases next summer. The series is also not over. More Eternal Guardians books are in the works!

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Elisabeth: The characters are in total control. Whenever I get stuck writing, I know it’s because I’ve tried to force the story in a direction that is not natural to the characters. For that reason—especially with this series because each book is so interconnected—I live with the main characters of a story for a long time in my head before I ever sit down to write a single word.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Elisabeth: Great writers make the reader become part of the storyline rather than their observing it from the sidelines. This is done by showing acting instead of telling it, by writing deep point of view, and by giving readers a glimpse into the characters thoughts. New writers often struggle with deep point of view. Introspection is very hard to write without it becoming boring. There’s a very delicate balance between action and introspection that takes a while to learn. It did for me. ☺

TRC: Writer’s Block is a very real phenomenon. How do you handle the pressures and anxiety of writer’s block?

Elisabeth: Writer’s block is a touchy subject for me. I’ve had true writer’s block – when you can’t get a single word on the page because there’s literally NOTHING floating in your head. Mine came after a really nasty illness when I was hospitalized with sepsis. When I got out of the hospital there was nothing creative happening upstairs. I thought my writing career was dead. My body was working so hard to heal that it was draining my creative well. Luckily, as I recovered, that creativity came back. But whenever I hear writers complaining about writer’s block and the fact they can’t move forward on a story, it’s hard for me not to say…whoa. You just have no idea.

Does that mean I don’t understand struggling with a story? No. I understand it well. I’ve written plenty of books that made me want to pull my hair out. The difference between hobby writers and profession a writers, though, is that professional writers don’t give up. We all want to throw the towel in at some point in a book. No matter how hard a story is, though, professional writers keep going. The only way to get past that kind of writer’s block is to put your butt in the chair and write.

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

Elisabeth: Thanks so much. I hope your readers fall in love with TWISTED!

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