Bloodborn by Sydney Winward - Book Tour + Giveaway
Bloodborn
Bloodborn Series Book 1
by Sydney Winward
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Adam Degore's personal need to find a cure for vampirism drives him to ensnare a vampire, but the creature he captures is Dracula's daughter. Worse yet, he's drawn to her—a monster he's vowed to kill.
Despite her father's wishes, Willow chooses to live among humans instead of the vampire conclave where she would be safe. She wants a life filled with more than shadows. Being captured by a human, not to mention falling in love with one, is not part of her plan.
With vampires and blood hunters closing in on their chosen prey, Adam and Willow need to trust one another. But will that trust come in time for them to survive and find a future together?
Book Trailer
What are you currently
reading?
I’ve been devouring the
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas. I just finished the fourth in the
series, and I am in love with the characters, the writing style, and the plot.
Chaol is my absolute favorite character. He had a few annoying moments in Queen
of Shadows, but by the end, I loved him again. I definitely recommend this
series to anyone who hasn’t read it, and I also recommend her other series, A
Court of Thorns and Roses.
Do you have any “side
stories” about the characters?
Each book in the Bloodborn
series can be considered a side story, just about different characters. The
order goes as follows (and yes, all paranormal romance!):
1. Bloodborn: The first
in the series about Willow Ardelean and Adam Degore.
2. Bloodbond: The second
in the series about Zachariah Degore and Laurel Covaci.
3. Bloodbane: The third
in the series about Oriel Covaci (Laurel’s brother) and Cosette Dragomir).
4. Still untitled, can’t
for the life of me figure out what to call it: The fourth in the series about
Luca Dragomir (Cosette’s youngest brother and Laurel’s old flame) and Kirsa
Frey (daughter of the dwarven chieftain).
5. Bloodscourge: The
fifth in the series. This book takes place a thousand years before Bloodborn,
and it’s about Dracula and Elisabeta.
6. Blood Heir: The sixth
in the series, and the one I’m currently working on, about Jesper (Dracula’s
grandson) and Alavara (a dark elf princess).
Do you have a favorite
movie?
I have several that I
consider 10s on a scale from 1-10.
Little Women (the old
one as well as the one that just came out in 2019)
Stardust (I’ve never
laughed so hard at a movie in my life!)
How to Train Your Dragon
(all three movies)
Mission Impossible:
Fallout
Cinderella Live Action
Spiderman: Far From Home
How do you find time to
write as a parent?
Time to write? What’s
that? Haha, but seriously. I have a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old, and there
doesn’t seem to be a spare moment in the day. My toddler suddenly decided to
stop taking naps, and we’re in the midst of sleep training the baby. When the
baby naps, I stick my toddler in front of the tv. Did I ever think I would be
one of those parents? Heck no! But you gotta do what you gotta do to maintain a
little bit of sanity. I think my soul would die if I never had any time to
write, so I somehow manage to squish it into my schedule throughout the day.
What are some of your
pet peeves?
1. Losing something. I
will tear my entire house apart to find it. I will go to Valhalla and back just
to locate it again. What if I’m late for something? Doesn’t matter. I must find
it or I will go absolutely berserk.
2. Getting my hair
pulled. It doesn’t matter if it gets caught in a tent zipper, pulled by a
toddler, or anything else. If you pull my hair, you will die.
3. A messy house. This one doesn’t make sense because I am a super messy person.
3. A messy house. This one doesn’t make sense because I am a super messy person.
4. The sun in my eyes. I
can be in a happy mood one moment, and then the next I will want to strangle
someone if the sun is in my eyes, whether while driving, in the reflection of
my abnormally shiny kitchen floor, or glaring back at me in the snow.
What are your top 10
favorite books/authors?
1. The Way of Kings by
Brandon Sanderson
2. Mistborn by Brandon
Sanderson
3. A Court of Thorns and
Roses by Sarah J. Maas
4. A Court of Mist and
Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5. Throne of Glass
Series by Sarah J. Maas
6. Miss Kane’s Christmas
by Caroline Mickelson
7. Edenbrooke by
Julianne Donaldson
8. Hope Springs Series
by Sarah Eden
9. Friends and Foes by
Sarah Eden
10. To be determined
Do you read yourself and
if so what is your favorite genre?
I love reading. I’m not
a very fast reader, but I do set a Goodreads yearly reading goal. This year’s
goal is at 25 books. Hopefully I will be able to reach my goal, as I didn’t
reach last year’s goal :( But I was closeish! 20/25 last year and I’m hoping to
do better this year.
Some of my favorite
books to read are in the fantasy/paranormal categories. Vampires. Witches.
Shapeshifters. Dragons. Oh, and ROMANCE! It’s not an absolute requirement for
the books I read to be romantic, but I do live for the cute.
Are your characters
based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
They come straight from
my imagination. So don’t worry, Mom! Any likeness to any of my characters if
purely coincidental.
Advice they would give
new authors?
Make each chapter count.
If it doesn’t further the story, if it just adds more unnecessary words to your
story, then take it out! The common pitfalls I see with new writers are as
follows:
1. Adding scenes to
their stories that don’t make sense or don’t need to be there.
2. Switching back and
forth between past tense and present tense.
3. Adding too many
dialogue tags.
4. Writing with passive
voice.
Do you believe in
writer’s block?
Not at all. If the story
or the scene or even the sentence isn’t coming, then SKIP IT! You can always
come back to it. Either that, or trudge through it. I love the quote “You can
always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
Tell us something really
interesting that's happened to you!
I used to ride TRAX to
my college every day, and one morning, I saw this man standing up with a large
soda in his hand, the plastic kind you get from Del Taco. I thought to myself,
“That guy is going to drop his soda.” I forgot about him and turned back to my
book. A couple minutes later, I heard a giant splash and looked up to
see soda all over the ground.
What is something
unique/quirky about you?
I have a “rollerblading
gang”. When we were teenagers, the four of us would go on rollerblading trips
across the city. Sometimes to the wetlands, other times to the library, and
plenty of times we’d go out late at night when most of the city was asleep. We
all still rollerblade ten years later.
What did you edit out of
this book?
There was a part where
Adam Degore was trying to woo Willow in order to get something he wanted, but I
decided that it was completely against his character to even attempt to woo. I
tore out the whole scene and rewrote it from scratch.
What does your writing
process look like?
I am what they call a
plotster (somewhere in between a pantser and a plotter). I have a basic outline
in my head, though I never write it down. And then I write. And then it all
comes together nicely in the end. Hey, if it works, it works, right?
What are you currently
working on?
So I had five books
written in the Bloodborn Series, the first of which is published and the second
is coming out soon. I was in the process of writing a story about a princess
and a druid with magic and dragons, but then the idea for #6 in the Bloodborn
Series hit me like a brick. I tried my HARDEST to ignore the call of the book
because I needed to finish my druid story. But the pressure built and built
until I couldn’t handle it anymore. I opened a new document, and the story just
exploded. I’m two weeks into the explosion and I’ve already written 25,000
words. The story was desperate to get out, and I’m absolutely in LOVE.
What is it about?
In the very first
chapter, Dracula (the king of vampires) is killed in battle, and his grandson,
Jesper, inherits the throne. Within the first month of his rule, he finds five
armies on his doorstep, and after the battle when Dracula had fallen, the city
wasn’t ready for another war. He is forced into a treaty to take the daughter
of the elven king as his mate, but little does he know that she has deadly plans
of her own. There is more at stake than just his heart… Or is there? An iron
dagger can do a lot of damage after all.
Who are the characters?
Jesper Degore: He’s a vampire. He’s frightening and can be ruthless. He’s driven by his duties as the new vampire king, and thinks of little else except his work. He’s convinced he’s not able to fall in love, that his heart is only filled with cobwebs and echoes.
Alavara Elroris:
Daughter of the elven king. He has honed her since birth to be a deadly
assassin. Stealthy as shadows. Quick with her knives. She can take down eight
male vampires without any weapons using her knowledge of the body’s weak
points.
What is your most
favorite character to write in Bloodborn?
I had a lot of fun
writing Adam Degore because he’s so serious and his knowledge of herbs and how
they can hurt or kill someone is entertaining.
I also loved writing
Zachariah Degore (Adam’s younger brother). He’s been a feral vampire for half
of his life, and he has to relearn what it means to actually live his life
rather than waste away in a dark cellar. The second book in the Bloodborn
Series is about Zachariah and his journey of self-discovery. Oh, and don’t
forget the romance! He’s determined that his first love be his only love.
5 Things Adam Degore
Can’t Live Without
1. A weapon. Doesn’t
matter what kind. Sword, dagger, nails. Heck, he could probably even kill
someone with a twig if he was determined enough.
2. A second weapon. In
case the first weapon doesn’t work. But of course, he’d need to conceal this
one. In his boot. Beneath his armor. Maybe even inside his glove. You can never
be too careful.
3. His horse. Doesn’t
have a name. Doesn’t need one. The blood hunter brand on the creature’s
shoulder speaks for itself. If you steal his horse, he will hunt you down.
4. Several reliable
herbs. Violet brittlebrush to knock a man out. Wolfsbane to stop lycanthropy
just in case. Perhaps even a few healing herbs. Being a blood hunter is
dangerous work after all.
5. His brother.
Everything he has done up until this point has been for his brother. Becoming a
blood hunter. Dedicating his life to hunting dark creatures. If only saving him
was within his own reach.
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1 Comments
I like the girls red hair on the cover. Congrats on the release.
ReplyDeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.