Author Interview: The Kingdom Come Series by Cecelia Earl
Today I am sharing an awesome young adult series and an interview with the author!
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About the Books
Title: Kingdom Come Author: Cecelia Earl Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
When Ash Rains Down, Book 1
Angels are real. So are demons.
Shady Creek gets a whole lot scarier after Julia learns she’s part angel, especially since the only person she can trust is an angel who’s as infuriating as he is attractive.
Julia received a necklace containing the songs of the angels from her dad when she was four. When she was eleven, he abandoned her family and the necklace went silent. At seventeen, Julia’s doing everything she can to maintain security for her family, but now her necklace seems to have come to life once again. And that’s not all that’s changing.
When a robber attempts to steal from their diner, the necklace blazes and burns her chest. Pain in her back is nearly unbearable as the thief transforms before her eyes… into something demonic.
Demon after demon threaten Julia’s home, family, and friends, and she realizes there may have been something more behind her dad’s disappearance. And now there may be something–or someone–dangerous after her.
Julia has to accept that she is not quite human. Will her infuriating but attractive Guardian Angel be able to prepare her for the battle to come?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | BAM!
When Smoke Rains Down, Book 2
If only humans knew the invisible danger lurking around them…
In the aftermath of an explosion and Homecoming battle, Julia tries to form some semblance of a routine: work, study, and visit her brother who remains hospitalized. Unable to confide in anyone about her double life of being both human and angel, and fearful she’ll bring more death and destruction to those she loves, she pulls away from her family and best friend.
When demons once again start to show up at every turn, seemingly bringing about her brother’s deepening depression, she demands her sword from Nicholas. Ever the stern Guardian Angel, he forbids her from using it. Isolated, she takes protecting her brother into her own hands. But when demons show they have evils hidden within their weapons in addition to their ability to siphon souls from the living, Julia’s not sure she knows the best way to handle saving him any longer. Especially when ash-colored lines begin to appear on humans, lines of demonic poison that travel through their veins toward their hearts and alter their moods.
Thrust into a dark world of conspiring demons, Julia is in more danger than she ever imagined possible. To stop evil from spreading and overtaking those she loves, she’ll have to seek out the one person she mistrusts most–especially when a line appears on her own arm, and her apathy toward doing much of anything, including saving anyone, grows.
Enter a complex world where humans, demons, and angels collide, all battling to rule the Earth.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | BAM!
When Fire Rains Down, Book 3
Hell is nothing like Julia imagined and beyond everything she feared.
The little town of Shady Creek is under attack by Lucifer and his demons. To save the people she loves, human-angel Hybrid Julia must rescue their kidnapped Guardian Angels, even when it means defying her father.
Trouble is, he knows only too much about Hell’s perils. When a demon sucks Julia into a cosmic vacuum, the experience leaves an indelible blight she dares not mention for fear of losing her place on the angelic rescue team.
As a growing demon army surrounds Shady Creek, Julia’s feelings for her own Guardian become all too real and dangerous. But the cosmic imbalance fueled by Hybrid Angels, Rogue Guardians and Warriors is already depleting the strength of the rescue team. And there’s no room for distraction when the mission is to get into Hell—and out again.
For the sake of the mission, Julia must face the truth of the Hybrids’ existence. Because nobody will be safe unless she can trust the gift of free will—for others and for herself—in this end-of-the-world finale to The Legend of Shady Creek Trilogy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cecelia Earl graduated with a degree in education and has been teaching ever since. She’s a wife, a mom of three boys, and an owner of a magical laundry pile that never stops growing. She lives near enough to Green Bay, WI that her refrigerator is always stocked with cheese, and the first colors her children learned were green and gold.
She’s a first grade teacher in a Catholic school by day, a mom always, and a writer in her sleep, but that’s okay because being an author is a dream come true. She writes angel fantasy books for young and youngish adults. If you feel young, she writes for you–whether or not you feel particularly angelic.
TO CONNECT WITH CECELIA: website, facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, goodreads
Author Interview
Thanks so much for interviewing me!
1. What type of research did you do to write the Kingdom Come series?
The largest portion of research I did surrounded the types of angels in the series. I spent a bit of time learning about the choirs of angels, what they look like, what roles they play, what's believed about angels, etc.
2. Where did the idea for a human-angel hybrid originate?
I'll be honest, I'm not sure. I'd been reading several angel books the year before I began writing the series, so I suppose I borrowed the idea from the Unearthly series, The Mortal Instruments series, and the Hush Hush series. Though, I think Julia's special circumstances, her Hybridity, definitely took a turn that's quite unique and was something that happened as part of the storytelling process. It took shape over time as I wrote her story.
3. How much of yourself do you put into your characters?
Ha, probably too much. I'm a bit of an introvert and I think too many of my protagonists are also. I find readers are not fans of my anti-social main characters and after this series will have to write outside of myself more! As for the secondary characters, I think they're all pretty strong-willed and stubborn, both strengths and flaws that I hold as well.
4. Of all the books in the series do you have one that is your favorite?
Yes, I particularly like Mila's story, After the Ashes. I like her personality and the conflict she faced. I liked writing her story. It brought everything together for me, the future, the setting, all the characters and their motivations.
I also liked When Smoke Rains Down better than book one, and I think readers agree. Book one gets started a little slowly, showing Julia's ordinary world, making the series very grounded in realism with a splash of fantasy as it gets going. I think book two gets into the thick of things a little quicker. Julia's also made some growth, so she's already a little less materialistic and obsesses over things other than money, which I know annoyed readers. Her materialism is a flaw important to her character arc, so I hope readers will stick with her and be overjoyed by her personality and choices in the end.
5. What are some great books you’ve read recently?
I finally read the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer and fell in love with the genre. I'd never thought I'd enjoy reading about robots and cyborgs, but I did. Oh, I did. It opened doors to a new genre for me. Fairtytale retellings and reimagined myths are stories I'd like to delve into more this upcoming year,too, when my publishing schedule slows down some.
6.What is something you want readers to take away with them after reading your books?
What I wanted readers to come away with after reading my series is this: Angels are real, and so are demons. When writing the series, I wanted readers to consider, for at least a moment, that while they are sitting reading my stories, there are angels around them fighting for the safety of their souls that very moment. And I wanted readers to consider that death isn't the end. Souls are eternal. I wanted readers to consider living their earthly life for their eternal one, in a way that would ensure a happily ever after for an eternity.
7. When you’re not writing how do you spend your time?
I have three kids ages 12, 10 and 6, so I cart them around to soccer and baseball and friends' houses and what not. I teach first grade. I run, read, clean, do laundry, make beds, pick up toys, and cook.
8. What is your favorite beverage to have with you while you write?
Coffee in the morning, water in the afternoon, a glass of dry red wine in the evening.
9. If you could give your younger self any writing or publishing advice, what would it be?
I wish I'd started writing more seriously when I was younger and didn't yet have a family. I had so much more free time then! I didn't start writing until 2010, the year before my third son was born, while I was teaching full time and going to school to earn a Master's Degree.
10. How did you choose the names for your characters?
Sometimes I take the first name that pops into my head. I trust my initial instinct that grasps the "feel" I have for the character as I develop them. For others, I research names that have symbolic meaning. Azarius, Raif, Raze, Michael, Mr. Star, and Legion are biblical names or version of them, for the character they portray.
GIVEAWAY
The author has graciously offered a lovely prize pack for (1) winner!
Click the image below!
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