Hi, everyone!
Welcome to another edition of Spotlight Saturday at Darlene's Book Nook, where we feature authors and their books!
We will be joined today by Rena Willemin.
About Rena:
Rena Willemin writes thriller, fantasy, and dystopian fiction. Her visits to the library were some of her fondest memories from childhood. She has always been fascinated with how words give us glimpses into worlds so wondrous and different from our own. Her love for words quickly grew into a passion. When not writing, Rena enjoys traveling. Her favorite destination is France, where she once lived and pondered without end over the ruins of castles, and the people who dwelled in them hundreds of years ago. She loves history, archaeology and reading over tea.
End of Faith: A Novel is her first published book. She’s currently writing a sequel, and outlining a fantasy novel exploring magic in antiquity.
CONNECT ONLINE WITH RENA:
Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Rena!
Rena has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to her!
Where the Mind Travels
by Rena Willemin
When I lived in France enjoying too much cheese and wine and the countryside, I put the finishing touches on End of Faith: A Novel. I looked up at my husband and said, “J’ai fini.” He said something to the effect of “Thank, God.” In all fairness, the final months were filled with growing pains. This wasn’t my first book, but I felt a special satisfaction with End of Faith: A Novel because so many pieces of the writing puzzle had snapped together for me.
The idea of the book started a few years before I met my husband. I was living in Chicago, on the fourth floor of a four-story walkup. On a fall afternoon, I drew back the curtains to watch the autumn leaves lazily drop from the trees. People were going about their business as usual, and a single idea struck me: what if a woman was casually looking out of her window and saw a pregnant woman crawling away from an attacker, and she was the only person willing to help. I later put a name to the protagonist: Valentina.
At the time I didn’t know this was a dystopian novel, but I knew that Valentina lived in a broken world where interfering meant certain death. Something had gone horribly wrong with the world when the next scene popped into my head: “The dying crawling among the dead expending what little energy they had left only to find a thousand more bodies to crawl over.”
Who was Valentina? If helping meant death for Valentina (and she knows this), what would possess her to interfere? Why was this pregnant woman on the run? What if the woman belonged to a dangerous cult leader? What if in helping the woman escape Valentina inadvertently sealed the woman’s fate? How did the world became lawless and desolate? Why was everyone dying? In this short space of time, my mind had traveled deep into this new world and a story was born!
A few years later and unknown amounts of wine and cheese consumed, I wrapped up End of Faith: A Novel and took a celebratory walk in the French countryside.
P.s. While in France, I ate a lot of chocolate too. See the giveaway below!
Thanks so much for joining us today, Rena!
One lucky winner will win your choice of paperback or digital copy of Rena's dystopian novel, End of Faith: A Novel, together with a yummy box of dessert truffles from Godiva!
Please note: The Godiva Chocolates will only be included if the winner has a mailing address within the USA. If the winner is from Canada, the winner will win their choice of a paperback or digital copy of Rena's book.
If the winner is from outside US/Canada, the prize will be a digital copy of the book.
Ninety-five percent of the world’s population perishes in the worst pandemic since the Black Plague and Valentina’s about to find out that surviving means enduring the wrath of a prophet determined to bend her to his will.
With a price on her head, Valentina’s on the run and grappling with feelings of guilt, isolation, and hopelessness. She’s just about given up all faith in humanity until she happens upon a girl left alone to fend for herself. The girl fulfills Valentina’s yearning to be a mother and she vows to protect her. Before she can live up to that promise, she comes face to face with the prophet who gives her a choice: carry his child, or die.
End of Faith: A Novel encompasses underlying moral issues with themes of redemption and sacrifice in an action-packed dystopian thriller.
Buy Links:
Amazon / Amazon FR / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble /
Apple iBookstore (available through the iBooks app on iPad)
To enter the giveaway, you must complete the Rafflecopter entry form below.
This giveaway is open worldwide, however, please note the giveaway parameters set out above. The contest will close at 12:01 AM EST on October 6, 2012.
I won this e-book in the Blogoversary Celebration Day 3 Giveaway hosted by Giselle at Xpresso Reads:
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