Title: The Edge of Hope
Series: Bad Blood I
Author: Alina Popescu
Release Date: April 3, 2014
Genre: Fantasy romance
Book Description:
When tall, dark, and gorgeous shows up on your self-prescribed emotional recovery vacation, some would call it fate smiling down on you. If he also happens to be interested in your work and ready to make all the room you need in his life, it starts to sound too good to be true. Alexa skips the doubts and jumps right in, only to be thrown into the mysterious world of vampires.
The secrets of their origin and their very existence are far more important than her life to some of her new acquaintances. They are ancient, they are powerful, they have unlimited resources, and they are keen on controlling what the world knows of their kind. As Alexa discovers their complicated, blood feud bound world, she tries to better understand herself, heal old wounds and give love chance after chance. Will she survive the journey?
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Author Bio:
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict; Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.
Author Links:
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Amazon
Interview with Alina
Popescu
Hello,
Alina. Please introduce yourself.
Hi everyone!
*waves* I’m Alina, writer, coffee and Internet addict, dog owner, voracious
reader. I’ve been writing all my life, probably part of my life-long passion
for books.
How
does it feel to have your first novel out?
Oh, wow! It feels…
scary as hell, exciting, a bit dreamy still. It’s a unique feeling, I don’t
think I can describe it properly. But getting to see your book out there,
getting to touch it when you get your first copy, that’s a high nothing can
ever top.
Why
did you choose self-publishing?
I actually was
offered a publishing deal by a UK publisher and almost went that way. After
analyzing everything, I felt self-publishing was the best option for me. I like
the freedom and the madness it gives me, I like deciding the pricing and the
timing for everything related to my writing. I did use an editor, the issue was
never my not being open to suggestions or criticism. Going the full indie way
just felt right.
What
was the most challenging part of getting your novel published?
Making my inner editor/critic
shut up for a second. That was definitely the hardest part. Everything else was
difficult and time consuming, but manageable.
How
does your professional background help your writing career?
I studied
journalism and worked in PR and Marketing most of my adult life. That helped
both my writing and my ability to promote my book. I don’t find it hard to
promote my writing, I know how to take ideas and adapt them and I am
comfortable being online a lot, I was already doing that long before
publishing.
After
Oliviu Craznic, Stefana Czeller, and Ioana Visan, you’re another Romanian
writer who writes about vampires. What novelty does your book bring to the
vampire lore?
If we count the
writers in other countries, the numbers are pretty high! I was always
fascinated with vampires and how they were portrayed, sometimes feeling their
individuality got lost in the vampire part of their character. I did not reinvent
the vampire lore, but I did give them a new point of origin, a different
history, and put my own spin on how the vampire society is organized.
Why
did you set the action abroad and not on the familiar Romanian ground?
I didn’t really
choose unfamiliar places. I either did a lot of research on the places I wrote
about or traveled there before even starting to write the book. I wanted a
Romanian MC but, frankly, there is nothing familiar about vampires in Romania.
Our folklore is dominated by our version of zombies, strigoi, vampires aren’t
really that big here, not in a natural way. Vampires and Romania were
associated by other writers, starting with Bram Stocker’s Dracula and ending
with the vampires of the sparkling kind.
From
the first page, we find out not only that this is the first book in the Bad
Blood trilogy, but that it also ends in a cliffhanger. Why did you make this
controversial editorial decision?
I did not think of
it as an editorial decision. When I started writing this story, a trilogy made
sense to me. I knew what separate parts of the story would fit into each book.
I wanted book one to stop where it began, it felt right to end it there. I
considered changing it because it seemed a lot of people decided to hate books
and series because of their cliffhangers. I know I want to throw my kindle away
when that happens, especially if I have to wait to find out what’s next. But if
I love the story, I will buy the next book. In the end, I decided to go with
the story I wanted to tell. I also thought it better to warn people about the
cliffy.
Will
the second book end in a cliffhanger too?
No, this is the
only cliffhanger in the trilogy. Book two won’t have one.
What
drives Alexa? Give us a reason to root for her.
Hope is what drives
Alexa, along with her love of life. No matter how badly she’s hurt, she’ll
always find a way to hope it will get better. She picks herself up and grows
stronger every time she does.
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