Rapture's Edge Blog Tour: Interview with J.T. Geissinger + International Giveaway

Today I'm really excited to be taking part in the blog tour for Rapture's Edge the third book in J.T. Geissinger's fabulous paranormal romance series. This is such a fantastic series and Rapture's Edge was my favourite book yet! I love the mix of Egyptian mythology, fast paced action scenes, sexy heroes and powerful heroines who know how to stand up for themselves. If you're a fan of paranormal romance and you've not discovered the Ikati yet then I can't recommend the books highly enough! I was lucky enough to get to interview J.T. Geissinger about her plans for the series (the interview doesn't contain spoilers so you can read it even if you're new to the series) but before I get to that I want to give you a bit more information about the Rapture's Edge.

SECRETS . . . In the hidden world that exists beside our own, a mirror world of ancient magic and elegant deceptions, a world of people who are so much more than they first appear, a war is brewing. Most of these Gifted people—the Ikati, a savage, sensual race of lethal predators—are content to hide behind human smiles, disguising their splendor in order to survive. But others are discontent. And they will hide no longer.

BETRAYALS . . . Eliana lives for two things only: vengeance on the man who killed her father, and seeing his dream of living in the open with humans come to pass. But that dream is far too dangerous for The Hunt, a group of elite Ikati assassins with one objective: eliminate her before she can expose their secrets to the world.

SEDUCTION . . . Demetrius is haunted by the memory of the woman he once loved. He will risk everything to save her from the killers on her tail…and convince her, before the ancient walls between two worlds crumble, that only together can they defeat their real enemy, a brilliant, cunning traitor far more deadly than either of them can guess.

Night Prowler Series:
Shadow's Edge
Edge of Oblivion
Rapture's Edge
Edge of Darkness (Fall 2013)
Further titles and release dates for this series are to be confirmed

You can also watch the book trailer below:

Author Bio:
J.T. Geissinger’s debut novel, Shadow’s Edge, was published in 2012 and was a #1 Amazon US and UK bestseller in fantasy romance and romance series. She has been nominated for the prestigious RITA® award from the Romance Writers of America for best paranormal romance for her second book in the Night Prowler series, Edge of Oblivion.

A life-long lover of reading and a self-professed “book addict,” she didn’t realize her dream of writing a novel until a milestone birthday forced her to take stock of her goals in life. Always believing the right time to commit to putting pen to paper would magically announce itself, it took waking up one cold January morning with a shiny new zero as the second number in her age to kick start her determination.

Starting on that very day, she wrote what would become Shadow’s Edge in a little over four months and submitted it to several literary agents. Nothing happened. Thinking that was the end of that but by no means willing to give up on her dreams of being published, she began work on a second manuscript.

Then, during a trip to Italy in honor of their 10th wedding anniversary and the honeymoon she and her husband never took, she received an email that would change her life. It was from an agent, Marlene Stringer of Stringer Literary, and it contained the three words every aspiring author longs to hear: “I loved it.”

Marlene sold the manuscript to Montlake Romance who published it six months later. Hitting the #1 Amazon bestseller lists within weeks of publication, Shadow’s Edge was book one of the Night Prowler novels. Book two, Edge of Oblivion, was published in October 2012 and will be followed by Rapture’s Edge in June 2013, and Edge of Darkness in fall 2013. There are six books total planned for the series.

Now I'd like to give a very warm welcome to J.T. and thank her for taking the time to answer my questions!

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1. Can you give us a brief outline of the Night Prowler series for anyone who hasn't come across the books before?

The Night Prowler series is a lavish, brutal fantasy romance mixing the tone of True Blood, royal intrigue of Twilight’s Volturi, and Christian conspiracies of The Da Vinci Code. It revolves around the Ikati, a race of beautiful, savage shape-shifters who live in seclusion in isolated colonies around the world. Bound by primeval bloodlines and a code of law that values secrecy and allegiance above all else, they have been hunted since the Inquisition by the Expurgari, an ancient order of assassins aligned with the Catholic Church.

2. I love reading about all different kinds of shifters but big cats are always particularly appealing, how did you come up with the idea for the Ikati?

It all started with a stray cat. One day an incredibly sleek, beautiful female cat appeared out of the blue, demanding a meal. She looks like a miniature panther, all black with bright yellow/green eyes. I fell in love.

This cat has an uncanny ability to disappear. One minute she’s there, looking at you as if she’s just about to say something, the next she’s gone—poof!—as if she was never there at all. It must be a feral cat trick, but it got me to thinking.

Two things occurred to me immediately: one, there are a lot of people who hate cats. Two: the Egyptians revered them. Put those two things together and mix in a big bowl, and you’ve got a race of cat shifters worshipped as gods by the ancient Egyptians who’ve had to hide because they’ve since been hunted by humanity. I spiced it up with some historical nuggets about Egypt, the Inquisition, witch hunts, religion, Rome…it goes on, but you get the idea.

3. How long did it take you to come up with the mythology for the Ikati and did you have to do a lot of research for your world?

There was extensive research into the cat worship cultures of ancient Egypt to set the stage for the first book in the series, Shadow’s Edge. I also do research on each location as I write every book because each one is set in a different locale that I typically haven’t visited. There was language research on Latin, French & Portugese, research on the Vatican and the history of the Catholic Church and how the pope lives his daily life, research on the Inquisition, Cleopatra, ancient Rome…yes, there was and still is a lot of research! Just today I did internet searches on available positions within the New York Times, how congress enacts laws, the Red Sox, ancient Aramaic (a dead language), the United Nations, and World War II prison camps.

4. Have you always known how the whole series will play out or do you prefer to see where the story takes you?

I know exactly where and how the series will end because there is an overall story arc that I’ve envisioned from the very beginning that I’ve threaded through each book. Within each novel there is room to play so the characters have freedom to breathe, but the overall arc was defined in advance, with all the themes I’m focusing on. I like a bit of chaos within my structure, if that makes sense.

5. Can you tell us how many books you have planned for the series? Any hints on who future couples might be or which other characters will get their own stories?

There will be a total of six books in the Night Prowler series. The final two will focus more on the ensemble cast of the first four books, but will still carry through the theme of a main couple and their HEA. Gregor MacGregor, an anti-hero from Rapture’s Edge, has proven to be a really popular character with readers, so I will be bringing him back, along with a few other main characters that I love.

I have a very specific message that I’m trying to convey with this series, (actually multiple messages), and hopefully by the time it’s finished you will be able to look back on the entirety and say, “Oh, wow! I see what she was doing!” That’s my hope, at least!

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Thanks so much for answering my questions J.T. I'm so excited to learn that I have another 3 books to look forward to! You can really tell how much research you've put into each of the books and I'm very curious to see how WWII prison camps, Aramaic and the UN tie into the next book!

Giveaway Details:

As part of the blog tour J.T. Geissinger is giving away a Kindle Fire HD (open to US residents only) and 3 signed copies of Rapture's Edge (open internationally). You can enter the giveaway using the rafflecopter widget below. Winners will be announced via rafflecopter and contacted directly by J.T. for her to arrange sending out the prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway