Author Stop: Wynne Channing and What Kills Me + giveaway

Reader Girls welcomes debut author Wynne Channing to our blog today. Wow, look at that gorgeous cover! Wynne's book, What Kills Me, is a YA paranormal which features heart pounding action and a new twist on vampires. The author has written a guest post for us on her vampire world. Our review will be posted soon.

Title: What Kills Me

Author: Wynne Channing
Genre: YA paranormal romance
Publisher: Jet & Jack Press (June 6, 2012) 
Format: ebook, 219 pages

An ancient prophecy warns of a girl destined to cause the extinction of the vampire race.

So when 17-year-old Axelia falls into a sacred well filled with blood and emerges a vampire, the immortal empire believes she is this legendary destroyer. Hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, Axelia and her reluctant ally, the vampire bladesmith Lucas, must battle to survive.

How will she convince the empire that she is just an innocent teenager-turned bloodsucker and not a creature of destruction? And if she cannot, can a vampire who is afraid of bugs summon the courage to fight a nation of immortals?

Buy What Kills Me: Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | Kobo | iTunes 

GUEST POST
Thank you so much to the ReaderGirls for lending me this spot of their fabulous blog. They asked me to tell everyone a little about the world I created in What Kills Me.

The story begins with a vampire prophecy. It warns that a girl will be reborn as a vampire and she will cause the extinction of the vampire race.

This is obviously bad news for vamps. So when our heroine, Zee, falls into their most sacred well and emerges as the newest member of their blood-lusting clan, they’re understandably freaked out. (Though no one is more freaked out than Zee.)

The empress who rules the immortal empire orders her death and Zee goes on the run.

I’d run too. The undead monarchy is a scary place — not only because vampires eat people — but because the empress rules with an iron fist.

Her control is total. Loyalty is unquestionable. Everyone is bound by ritual and duty. Every vampire is addressed by how they serve the monarchy: bladesmith, cleric, soldier, etc. If they disobey, they are punished with a deadly dose of sunlight. (My vampires burn.)

It’s interesting to think that Zee is such a loyal person and her dedication to her friends is seen as a wonderful thing. But every vampire who swears allegiance to the monarchy is cast as a villain. Sometimes there are no such things as bad guys (well, that psycho vampire that Zee meets in the beginning is pretty bad); it’s just that sometimes people (or monsters) find themselves on opposing sides.

I know they’re my characters and it’s easier for me to sympathize with them but I feel for the empress. Her duty is to protect the empire. At all costs.

So when some 17-year-old girl becomes a vampire — no vampire before her has ever been created without being bitten — and threatens the lives of an entire species, the order is simple: seek and destroy.

The tagline on the book is “the fight for survival begins.” Everyone always assumes that we’re talking about Zee. But from another point of view, maybe the vampires are fighting to survive as well. It just seems kind of unfair: a nation of vampires versus one girl. But maybe not — you’ll have to check out the book to find out!

What Kills Me Links : Goodreads | Wynne Channing’s Website

About the author: Wynne Channing is an award-winning national newspaper reporter and young adult novelist.

She started writing horror/fantasy tales as a girl. She still has the first novel that she wrote when she was 10. It’s (unintentionally) hilarious.

Wynne loves telling stories and as a journalist, she has interviewed everyone from Daniel Radcliffe and Hugh Jackman to the president of the Maldives and Duchess Sarah Ferguson. The closest she has come to interviewing a vampire is sitting down with True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard (he didn’t bite).

She briefly considered calling her debut novel “Well” so then everyone would say: “Well written by Wynne Channing.”

Author links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads


Giveaway: 
The author will give away three ebook copies of What Kills Me. Enter using the form below. This contest is open internationally and will end on midnight, August 1.

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