Spotlight & Giveaway: Echoes from the Veil by Colleen Halverson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Colleen Halverson to HJ!

Hi Colleen and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Echoes from the Veil!

 
Thank you for stopping by HJ to talk about Echoes from the Veil!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Half-Fae Elizabeth Tanner is the leader of the Fae Resistance, but in order to win the rebellion, she must face her ultimate fears to confront an evil Celtic Goddess hell-bent on destroying her, her boyfriend—and the universe.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The hardest part about running a Fae rebellion was that there was never a Starbucks around when I needed one. And of course, lucky for me, all our raids began at dawn. I rubbed my throbbing temples, scanning the horizon, silently cursing the lack of coffee beans in the Faerie Realm. Maybe our Fae foes the Fir Bolgs had an espresso maker in their convoy. Hell, at this point, I would have settled for instant.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I wrote most of this book holed up in my friend’s cabin for three days.
• It’s based on some of my research when I was studying at the Celtic Studies at UW-Milwaukee.
• I often would listen to Halsey’s “Castle” over and over and OVER again while writing several of the battle scenes.
• I’m a huge Star Wars fan so I sprinkled a few references in the book.
• I dedicated this book to two of my favorite professors.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

I think my hero Finn is attracted to Elizabeth’s courage. When they first meet in Book 1, she calls out his bossiness and controlling nature. He’s not used to having someone stand up to him, and he secretly loves it. Elizabeth herself is pretty much pure chaos, so she is deeply attracted to Finn’s stability and solid strength.

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

• Hot
• Tumultuous
• Epic
• Romantic
• Sexy

The First Kiss…

Because this is a series, the first kiss occurs in Book 1, right after a terrible battle where Elizabeth believes she may be responsible for the death of several of Finn’s friends (she wasn’t!). Here Finn sort of…accidentally…ends up comforting her.

I swallowed my tears. “I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
Finn drew me into his arms. “I know you didn’t, lass” he said. “I know you didn’t.”
I cried hard into his chest, and his hands brushed my long hair away from my face. The tension in my shoulders relaxed, my breath releasing in long, hiccupping gasps. He shushed me lightly in my ear and brushed his lips against my cheek. Then his lips were on mine, warm and soft. My eyes widened, but I kissed him back, leaning in to him. His tongue flickered in my mouth, and my heart pounded, the blood rushing in my ears. Finn moaned low at the back of his throat, and then abruptly pushed me away.
I covered my face, breathing hard. “I’m sorry, I—” “We shouldn’t—” We spoke over each other.
Finn jumped off the bed as if I had burned him. “Right. Then.”

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

I have so many favorite scenes, but I think my favorite is when Elizabeth finally learns how to use the full weight of her powers. She’s training with a Celtic warrior demi-goddess, and she finally learns how to use her abilities without fear or hesitation. It’s a big moment for her character growth.

Something burned against my chest, and blood thundered in my ears as time began to slow down by clicks. One click. Two clicks. Three clicks. The blade growing slower and slower until it hovered just a hairsbreadth from my abdomen. I had never wielded power like that, controlled time, bent it to my will. With a sharp grunt, I parried the attack, and time sped up again. But my abrupt attack sent Scáthach spinning, staggering across the clearing and tripping over her own feet. She stumbled to the ground, and without a second thought, I slammed the butt of my spear toward her solar plexus. Her arm blurred and she grabbed my staff, her wrist straining, the muscles so tight I thought they might pop through her skin.
I let out a long exhale, and she met my dark stare with an even deeper frown.
“When you fight, you are just mirroring the moves, the things people have told you,” she said. “Now it is time to fight as yourself, with all the gifts the gods have given you.”
I shook my head, glancing down at my hands. How had I stopped time? Slowed down the world? A cold chill swept through my veins, and I flexed my shoulders, wondering if I could repeat that power. I glanced up at Scáthach, clutching my spear against my body as if I could hide behind it.
“But isn’t that a crutch?” I said. “Like cheating?”
She let out a barking laugh. “Oh, you think this is fair? Is it fair the gods made women small and men like Cuchulainn into giants?” She pounded her chest. “What I lack in strength, I have made up with skill and precision. But you…you have a gift. Embrace it. Do not fear what you are and what you can do. That is what will ultimately defeat you. The fear.”
She marched back toward the camp, the burning mist swirling around her knees.
“I believe you can win, sorceress,” she called over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have trained you if I didn’t.”

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

Toward the end of the book, there’s a great battle to finish the civil war in the Faerie realm, and in this scene, we see Elizabeth finally finding the courage to lead. Here’s a little snippet:

I let the power race through me like a cyclone. The force of it made me levitate in the air an inch off the ground, my hair whipping around me. I held my hands a foot apart, inviting the power to build in the space between my palms. It grew. A great white ball of flame. Of light and energy. My hands burned, the ache spreading through my body, hot and endless. I let out a scream at the same time I turned my hands out. The flame coursed through the field like sheet lightning, and it pierced the howitzer. A great shockwave threw me five feet backward as twisted metal and shrapnel flew up into the sky. A strange silence rushed across the battlefield, right before a great cheer sounded from the rebels. A stampede rumbled behind me, and Finn grabbed my arm, flinging me behind a tree before the army could trample me.
He kissed me, hands tangled in my hair. “Jaysus, that was brilliant.”
I laughed, grabbing my spear from his hands. “You ready to win this, Finn O’Connell?”
He smiled, wincing in pain, and I reached out a tentative hand to his shoulder. “You’re hurt.”
“I haven’t practiced with my left hand for a while.” He shrugged and then immediately grunted, his eyes watering. “I was due,” he said in a strained voice.
I slipped my hand down his chest, lingering at his belt. “When this is over, we’ll make sure that left hand gets a good workout.”
He growled, lacing his fingers with mine. “Let’s finish this, my lady.”

Readers should read this book …

Readers should read this book because it’s about finding one’s own power in the face of overwhelming odds. If you find yourself lost in the chaos of the world, maybe this book will help remind you about what is worth fighting for.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m currently working on a couple of projects. I have a project that’s based on a fictional Frank Lloyd Wright kind of figure and the magical powers his great granddaughter inherited through this family. As an architect, she has the ability to build portals, and while that sounds fun and all, she can’t always control what comes over from the other side. I’m also working on a fun PNR book with vampires, but that’s super secrett! I’m told vampires are so over, so this is more of a side project. I will have an upcoming novella to be released with Entangled this year, and t will be a bit of a prologue to the Aisling Chronicles.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed copies of Aisling Chronicles Series.

 
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Excerpt from Echoes from the Veil:

Finn turned on his heel and he practically tackled me against the bed, showering me with hard kisses on my lips, my neck, my chest. I dug my fingernails into his back, willing him to stay pinned to me. I lifted my hips, taking in his strength, his heat. I would have defied a thousand goddesses to keep Finn there, his body a shield against the cold creeping into the cave as night fell.
His arm slipped behind my neck as he shifted above me, nestling me in the hollow of his shoulder. “Let’s not think about it.”
I let out a long exhale, burying my nose in his chest. “I know. I can’t help it.”
“If the Morrígan comes for me, we shall deal with it then,” he said. “One battle at a time.”
I nodded.
He stretched and pulled me up from the bed. “You smell like Fir Bolgs.”
“I do not!” I made to punch him in the arm, but his quick reflexes had me spinning. He pinned my hands and pulled me against him.
“Fir Bolgs and horse,” he whispered in my ear. “Mmmm…so sexy…”
I elbowed him in the gut, and he grunted.
I marched away from him, my arms crossed against my naked chest. “And speaking of battles, don’t lecture in me in the middle of one again. I’m not your Padawan.”
Finn’s mocking grin turned to a grimace. “A what?”
“Star Wars?” I raised my eyebrows. “Jedi Apprentice?”
He blinked.
I rolled my eyes. “Just hand me the damn sponge so I can clean myself up.”
Finn frowned and walked over to the small tub we kept handy for bathing. He lifted the sponge out from the bath and squeezed it, his knuckles flexing as all the water ringed from it. His eyes lowered to the ground, and he walked over to me, clasping my hand in his.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For mansplaining, or whatever it is you call it.” He ran the sponge across my wrist, tiny rivulets of water and dirt falling down my arm. “You are not my Pad— Pa—”
“Padawan.”
“Right.” He ran the sponge across my shoulders, and a small moan escaped my lips as he applied slight pressure to my sore muscles. “I’m used to giving orders, not receiving them. And I…” He hesitated, his hand lingering on my waist.
“What?” I said in a soft voice.
“It’s hard for me to see you put yourself at risk. Like today with the wagon, and how you—”
“Finn,” I said in a warning tone.
“I know.” He ran the sponge down my back, my body trembling at the seductive motion.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.” He planted a kiss between my shoulder blades.
I didn’t know if I would get used to it, either. The killing, the fighting. The first time I killed a Fir Bolg during a raid, I couldn’t eat for a week. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I still remembered the way my spear pierced his skin, how the blood had poured from the wound in his side. I’ve killed since then, but I would never stop thinking of that first one. Who was he? What was his name? Would someone mourn for him? But it had been either that Fir Bolg or me, and in this war, that was a fundamental truth I could not escape.
I turned to face Finn. He stood half naked, the edges and planes of his incredible body as chiseled and fine as a marble statue. I reached out to brush my hand against the small hairs on his pecs, tracing a line down to his emerging erection. He was insatiable lately, as if fucking me silly could somehow win this war. It was a constant undercurrent of our lovemaking. He accepted me as leader, but I knew he struggled with the risk, our mortality always one breath away from a stray bullet. Finn had one setting—protection. It didn’t matter if it was the Fianna soldiers he once led or me, his lover. Even then, I knew the unspoken truth of his heart, how he secretly wanted me safe in a tower, alone and waiting for him. But the rebellion would never wait, nor would liberty from the Fir Bolgs’ extremism. No one else could lead us to a real and equitable peace. As heir to Tír na nÓg, I was it. He had to get on the Xena-Warrior-Princess party wagon or find another girlfriend.
He reached for me, his eyes darkening. “I don’t know if I want to get used to it.”
I lifted my gaze to meet his smoldering stare. “I don’t think I can get used to your righteous BO, but I’m trying to make it work.”
“BO?”
“Body odor?” I waved my hand beneath my nose. “I’ll have to pick up some deodorant next time I’m mortal side.”
He cracked a wide smile and pulled me close to him. Before I could wrestle away, he lifted his armpit and put me in a headlock. “BO? That’s the smell of a fighter, princess!”
I squealed, falling in a fit of laughter as I tried to wrench myself away. I loved his smell. Sweaty, leathery, strong, and pure man.
“I can’t breathe!” I made pretend gagging noises. “Oh, god, get some soap, for the love of—”
He wrapped his arm around my waist and, seemingly defying the law of physics, flipped me into his arms, cradling me like a child. He rubbed his thumb down the side of my cheek, lingering on my bottom lip.
“I love you,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow. “Even though I stink?”
He nodded. “Especially because you stink. I love the smell of you. All of you. All of it.” He pressed his lips to mine, and I clutched his face with both hands, moaning as his tongue flicked against mine.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Aisling Elizabeth Tanner is now the leader of the Faerie rebellion. Facing the end of the world, she will have to find the strength to lead the Fae to victory against the threat they face, or risk losing everything, including Finn, whom she’s come to love more than life.

Warrior Finn O’Connell wants nothing more than to fight by Elizabeth’s side. But an ancient Celtic goddess threatens to take charge of his soul, and he will have to wage a war within himself to save the rebellion from disintegrating into chaos.

Betrayal leads them into the Fae Underworld, where Finn discovers his greatest sacrifice might be letting Elizabeth go—forever.
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Meet the Author:

As a child, Colleen Halverson used to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting college freshmen. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her husband and two children. She also writes as C.B. Halverson.
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