Book Tour – Aoife Sheridan and the Saskia Trilogy

I’m pleased to be hosting a stop on the book tour for Aoife Sheridan and her Saskia trilogy.

Here’s Aoife…

 

Aoife Marie Sheridan has loved reading from a very young age, starting off with mills and boon’s books, given to by her grandmother her love for romances grew, by the age of 14 she had read hundreds of them.

Aoife had a passion for writing poetry or in her eyes her journal entries. It was something she did throughout her teens and into her twenties. Aoife won first place for two of her poems and had them published at a young age of just nineteen. Realising she needed to get a real job (What writing isn’t) she studied accountancy and qualified working in that field for many years, until her passion for reading returned and she found Maria V Snyder. Poison study one of her favourite books has been read and re-read countless times.

Aoife’s first book Eden Forest (Part one of the Saskia Trilogy) came to be after a dream of a man and woman on a black horse jumping through a wall of fire and the idea of Saskia was born. Now with her first novel published and taking first place for Eden Forest with Writers Got Talent 2013, Aoife continues to write tales of fantasy and is currently working on her third book for the Saskia Trilogy amongst other new works.

To contact Aoife you can email her at aoifesheridan101@gmail.com

You can follow her at her website, her blog, on Facebook, on Twitter and on Goodreads.

The first book in her Saskia Trilogy, out now, is Eden Forest:

 

Four banished Angels,

A world created by the hands of God,

A Kingdom on its knees,

A secret protected for centuries,

And one mortal can save them all.

 

Step into Saskia.

You can buy it at Amazon, Amazon UK, Easons and Synerge Books.

I’ve read it, and here’s my review:

Aoife Sheridan’s Eden Forest was a very compelling and exciting read. It’s the story of Sarajane Anderson, a young woman from “our” world who’s recently lost her mother and isn’t quite able to accept that she’s really dead.

Sarajane’s life takes a turn when she’s kidnapped and brought to an alternate, “fantasy” world called Saskia, a world of elemental magic, immortals, and court politics and intrigue.

As Sarajane struggles to understand this new world, she slowly discovers that she might have a destiny there, and that Saskia holds answers to questions she never even knew she had.

Sarajane is a likeable and relatable heroine; her journey from Earth to Saskia is believable – she comes to accept this new world and its differences, but not quickly, and not without reservations. Many authors have trouble with this kind of story, but Sheridan makes Sarajane’s transition seem natural and logical.

Besides Sarajane, all the supporting characters are well-drawn and interesting, especially Sarajane’s mother Marta, and her servant Alana. The worldbuilding is consistent and very interesting, and there are surprises all through the book (and, I imagine, in the subsequent books of this trilogy).

The prose is clear and readable, and it worked especially well for me as I’m a fan of first-person narration (the book is all in first-person, and we get a few scenes from the viewpoint of other characters besides Sarajane). There’s a fair amountof action, quite a bit of intrigue, some very dark moments, and a good bit of romance as well.

I’d highly recommend this book, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy!

And here’s an excerpt…

It’s so dark I can barely see two feet in front of me. Tristan walks behind me, and Legis leads the way. I don’t know where they’re taking me. Or what they want. Neither of them has said anything since taking me.

Legis stops abruptly, causing me to smack into his back.

He swings around, grabbing my arm to steady me. These guys move unnaturally fast.

“Legis, what’s wrong?” Tristan asks from behind me.

“Sir, I need some light.” He looks back at Tristan as he speaks.

“I shall lead and you stay behind her.” Tristan pauses as he walks past me. “Don’t try to run. I am in no mood to chase you.” He takes his position in front of me. Tristan does not move straight away. Instead, he holds out his hand in front of him and whispers, “Lux.” I can see a light radiate in front of him. I jump back, slightly startled.

“Let’s move,” he commands. Legis nudges me on. We start walking again. I’m trying to peer over Tristan’s shoulder to see where the light is coming from, but he’s too tall, so I just stare at his back.

After a few moments, Tristan makes a hand motion for us to stop. Then the light goes out. He swings around and places his hand over my mouth, startling me, while pulling me back into his chest. Legis stands as still as stone, not even blinking. We wait. I can’t hear or see anything, only Tristan’s heart beating fast. I’m too close to him for comfort. I can feel his muscles tense in his chest and stomach.

He makes a hand motion to Legis to get down. Then slowly he lowers himself and me to the ground, never taking his hand off my mouth. He lies down on his side right against me and pulls my hands to his chest, holding them with his other hand.

The heat radiates off his body against mine, making my back feel cold. I can now hear the shuffling in the distance. Maybe it’s Josh.

I try to scream, but my sounds are muffled. Tristan whispers in my ear. “Stop or we all die, you stupid girl.” I try to scream again and pull my hands free, but I can’t get them out of his iron grasp. So I bite his hand until I taste blood. He doesn’t even flinch. I know it’s hopeless.

The second book in the trilogy, City of Secrets, will be coming soon…

 

A war awaits her arrival,

A warrant for her arrest.

She must rise as a princess,

And Darkness shall fall.

But will their love survive this battle?

For Tristan and Sarajane?

 

Step back into Saskia.

Finally, I’ve got an interview with Aoife…

Question: How, and when, did you decide to become a writer?

Answer: I have always written but mostly poetry, it’s always been my way to deal with my emotions, no matter how big or small. Two years ago I lost two people I was close too. I had never lost anyone before, so I didn’t deal very well with it. One night I had a dream of a man and women on a horse, passing through a wall of fire. The dream lingered with me, as did my grief. So instead of writing poetry I started my story. My starting point was my dream and I worked my way from there. Eden Forest helped me once again deal with death, and all that comes with it. So in a way I am very grateful for this story.

I always wondered why God created us and what was our purpose, but those questions are unanswered. So in my story I give you the answers for this world called Saskia. In the story God creates a world parallel to ours, for four fallen angels.

Death is something that I also question now, like why do we die, is 60 to 90yrs of life enough, imagine having immortality what would one do to gain it? And that’s where a lot of my plot lies. The greed for immortality, for power’s that only God should wield, drives Saskia into war.

God decides to give one person all the powers that anyone could possess to banish evil, before it destroys Saskia and Earth. This one person happens to be a young lady called Sarajane Anderson who lives in the mortal world (Earth) but is actually from Saskia.

 

 

Question: Where can we find your published writing? 

Answer: I have my own website www.aoifemariesheridan.com

It displays my work, any links to where you can purchase my books, listen to my interviews, watch my book trailers and more.

 

Question: What is a typical day like for you as a writer? 

Answer: I work full time so, I write when I can, but always with pen and paper, never typing at first. I carry a pen and paper where ever I go and when an Idea comes to mind I jot it down. Also If I had any weird dreams (the ones that linger) I will keep them maybe for a different story. At present there are seven books I want to write. Since I started I just can’t stop.

 

Question: What types of writing do you do?

Answer: My writing I would consider fantasy. I write about the impossible, of different worlds that have magic in them. I always feel this can’t be it. All us on this little planet, floating in the galaxy, there has to be so much more. We just haven’t discovered it yet. Maybe in a couple of hundred years people will look back and say “They know all along that there was more”. Well that’s what I like to think.

 

Question: What are your favorite characters that you have created? Tell us about them 

Answer: My favourite characters in Eden Forest would have to be,

Queen Bellona, she was the most interesting to write about. Bellona is all that is bad in the world she is a combination of people that I have crossed paths with in my life. But she does not represent one person alone. Through her I could vent the injustice of people’s ways, and display it.

Secondly would have to be Sarajane she plays the main Character. She is relatable as in she isn’t perfect. I created Sarajane with flaw, as we all have them. Mine can be that I am selfish so that’s the flaw I gave Sarajane.

I am surrounded by very strong women in my life, and I am grateful for this. I take a lot of their personalities and place them in my characters, or something they might do, or even a facial expression. I love to watch people’s reactions as they talk to me, if they stumble on a line, they may chew their lip, in an endearing way. I note it and file it way for later.

 

Question: do you find you “mentally edit” other writers’ works as you read them? Does doing this help you or bother you?

Answer: Yes which I absolutely hate. I am so much more aware now. It drives me spare. But in another way it makes me feel better that I am not the only one who makes mistakes. LOL.

 

Question: What music do you listen to, while writing? 

Answer: My Music:

My favourite Musician would have to be David Guetta; Titanium and She wolf. I wrote nearly the whole two books too these songs, I find the words empowering and a story is told even in the beats.

 

Question: What do you eat while writing?

O God I am really bad, have a serious sweet tooth. I do try and control it, sometimes I do but other times I fail. So I love sour cream pringles. Yum. Cadbury’s cream egg. Love the centre.  After that I love sprite. These are my 3 enemies yet my favourite things ever. (apart from writing and reading, of course).

 

Five for Fun:

What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink?  Sprite I can’t get enough of it.

What is your favourite cartoon character? I would have to say Dora the explorer. My niece is a huge fan, and I think she is so cute.

What is your favourite movie of all time? Troy, I would watch it at least once a week. Brad Pitt is easy on the eyes.

What TV shows do you like to watch? I am not a fan of TV. I love movies or reading.

What do you like to do for fun or just to relax? Reading is my way of relaxing. Give me a book a glass of wine and I am a very content person.

 

Question: Where can we find you on the web?

Here are some places:

My website www.aoifemariesheridan.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Aoifemariesheri

Goodreads: Aoife Marie Sheridan

Twitter: aoifesheri

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