Blog Tour ~ ENTANGLED (Spellbound #1) by Nikki Jefford

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the ENTANGLED Blog Tour. My stop on the tour includes a guest post from the lovely Nikki Jefford, all the information you need to find her books, and a giveaway! But first, take a look at ENTANGLED.

Twin witches Graylee and Charlene Perez agree on one rule: No dating warlocks. Not so easy when a certain rogue warlock is convinced he and Graylee belong together and will use anything, including magic, to try and impress Gray. When Charlene’s boyfriend dumps her, she threatens to kill either herself or the girl who stole Blake. Somehow, Gray ends up dead. A Resurrection Spell Gone Wrong: Two months after dying, Gray wakes up in Charlene’s body. As a witch, can anyone blame her mother for attempting to bring her daughter back to life? Only now Gray’s stuck sharing her sister’s body 50/50 in twenty-four hour shifts. The race is on for Gray to find a way back inside her own body before Charlene purges her from existence. Raj McKenna is rumored to meddle in the black arts, not to mention he’s after Gray’s invisibility spell and worse – her heart. But Raj might be the only one powerful enough to save Gray from fading away forever.~From GoodReads

The Making of a Series

Three Times a Charm

I’m very touched by the requests to expand the Spellbound trilogy, but I’ve seen what happens when series are dragged out for the sake of continuation. Many of my favorite TV shows have gone noticeably downhill after season three. This isn’t always the case, of course. (Friends and Buffy improved each season.)

 Entangled was initially a standalone title. Let me back up. It began as a novella for a group project. As I outlined the story, it became obvious real quick that I had a full length novel on my hands. I actually wrote the book first then chopped it up to get it into novella length. (No easy feat let me tell you.)

And Then There Were Two

 I “stole” the above line from a review of Duplicity at The Coffee Pot because I love it so much. (http://freshcoffeespot.blogspot.com/2012/05/duplicity-spellbound-2.html)

 It didn’t make sense to invest so much time and money in Entangled without a follow-up so last fall I wracked my brain for ideas. I really had to stretch my imagination. I mean, what’s wilder than twins stuck in the same body? Try duplicate Grays!

 This also gave me a chance to deal with all the unfinished business from book one.

 I love new challenges. Writing from the POV of “Gray” and “Lee” was definitely unusual. Some chapter rearranging occurred in the editing stages to cut back on confusion, but beyond that there wasn’t much else that could be done short of removing one Gray altogether.

Third and Final

I had to pull Enchantment out of a hat. I felt obligated to make Spellbound a trilogy. Whoever heard of a two book “series”?

Outlining really helped. Before writing one word of Duplicity, I saw that once more I was left with loose ends that needed tying up.

 And speaking of tying up, check out a steamy scene from Enchantment over at Lili Lost in a Book. I know most people don’t like spoilers (unless you’re me and you have A.D.D.), but I think this is just a fun scene that doesn’t give anything particular away. A glimpse if you will.

 http://lili-lost-in-a-book.blogspot.com/)

 The new challenge with Enchantment is not to let the romance writer in me get too carried away (YA alert!), but also not to water the story down so much the flame fizzles out.

 That and work Charlene back into the story for one final showdown between the twins.

 What’s Next?

 I don’t want the Spellbound series to end, either. *sniff* Then again, Spellbound turned into a very long break from a vampire slayer series I started last spring. The first book was finished over a year ago and edited several times. Then a beta reader compared the training scenes to Divergent (which I hadn’t heard of at the time).

 I bought a copy of Divergent last fall, read it, and was like, ‘How the heck can I possibly publish my novel when this thing is so freakin’ awesome?’ So, I set it aside.

 I had to remind myself that my book is a completely different type of story (vampires in Alaska!) and my writing a different style. I refuse to let Veronica Roth intimidate me, even if she is a genius.

**Thanks to Nikki for this very cool, entertaining post.**

Giveaway

Enter to win the SPELLBOUND SWAG PACK (International)

· Evil Eye Amulet and Bracelet: In Duplicity, Gray wears an evil eye pendant, also known as a nazar, to protect herself from a spell that’s causing havoc over the witches and warlocks in her coven. The evil eye (a Turkish amulet) is used for both luck and protection against envy.

· Two Headed Quarter: Two Grays are better than none and two heads are better than one, especially when flipping over who gets to choose which movie to watch with a trick coin. Adrian returns in Duplicity and opens a magic shop.

· Entangled bookmark

Don’t miss the Cover Reveal of book three, Enchantment, at designer Najla Qamber’s review site: Unputdownable Books on June 7^th.

http://unputdownablebookies.blogspot.com/

Extras:

Entangled book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZnDgYFCVVw

Duplicity book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCwY_Mj_Syk

Buy links:

You can purchase ENTANGLED at Amazon

(Entangled is available for ebook at amazon. It will return to Barnes & Noble and Smashwords once KDP select ends July 15, 2012.)

You can purchase DUPLICITY at:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

About:

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands where she is, once more, neighbors with Canada. She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Alaska Anchorage and was a reporter before returning to her first love: fiction.

After a whirlwind romance in France, Nikki married Sébastien in March 2000. They reside with Cosmo the wonder Westie.

Find her at:

her website  |  Twitter  |  GoodReads