Spotlight & Giveaway: ROARING by Lindsey Duga

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lindsey Duga to HJ!

Hi Lindsey and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Roaring!

 
What’s up, booknerdigans?!
 

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

What happens when monsters run with mobsters? Her simple, quiet life is gone in the drop of a mic when a handsome young monster hunter walks into her bar.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Under this single spotlight, I am an angel.

The song flows out of me, free and beautiful and haunting. Rich and smooth as a glass of whiskey. Not that I know what whiskey tastes like. But that’s what more than a few patrons have said before.

“Eris, babe, you’s got a voice as rich and smooth as a glass o’ whiskey.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Set in the ROARING 20’s (ha, get it?) this book is full of 1920’s and Prohibition slang along with specific historical facts like mayoral candidates and architecture of the time.
• Any references to religion and the archangels came about because I was watching the TV show, LUCIFER, at the time.
• An important song from that era I use several times is “Am I Blue?” I chose it in large part because of its appearance in The Justice League cartoon where Batman sings it in a club.
• Eris’ speakeasy, The Blind Dragon, is a callback to the term “blind pig” which was a nickname for lower-class establishments that sold alcohol during prohibition.
• Colt’s fighting moves come from the Krav Maga self defense classes I took.

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

Colt’s life has been full of darkness, and suddenly Eris appears like a single spotlight. In just a few short, (rather one-sided) conversations, he’s ensnared by her goodness and kindness.

Eris is a very sheltered girl, so when Colt walks into her speakeasy, reeking of adventure, she’s instantly drawn to him. He’s thrilling and enigmatic–so different from the same drunkards she deals with every night.
 

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

Monster. Angel. Saints to sinners.
 

The First Kiss…

…happens at a very vulnerable moment for our hero. Colt has just admitted his dark, bloody past. But instead of running in the other direction, Eris gives him the redemption he deserves.

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

The big turning point for our hero was very fun to write. He makes the decision to follow his heart. To follow Eris!

Before the door could close on her, I caught the edge with my left hand.

“Clemmons?” Foster’s voice came from far, far away.

Eris stared up at me, the handkerchief still between her lips and her brow furrowed in confusion. Her eyes searched mine, and I could see her trying to understand who I was. I’d tricked her before, then showed her my real self. And now…now what was I doing?

“Clemmons, what’s wrong? Speak up, man.” O’Connor’s strong hand came down on my shoulder.

My grip tightened on the briefcase I still held.

Behind me, I heard O’Connor thread his other hand into his jacket. I knew he was reaching for his BOI-issued Savage.

I closed my eyes and took one long, cool breath. The heat in my chest…gone.

I’d made my choice.

Then I twisted, the briefcase following, its gold-plated corner smashing into the cheek of my fellow BOI agent.

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

Eris and Colt enter a speakeasy specifically for monsters. It’s one of the most vivid, exciting, and detailed scenes in the book. It really shows off the world. It HAS to be included. Check out this snippet below!

“Password?” the man grunted in a thick Scottish brogue.

“The Fall of Bellerophon,” Colt answered.

The large man stepped to the side, and we were granted entrance. Colt pushed the door open, and we entered the Cerberus Club.

It really was like walking into Lucifer’s kingdom. Immediately I wanted to shed my fur coat as the heat of bodies pressing against the dark cement walls of the speakeasy threatened to strangle me. We stood on a balcony looking out over a dance floor littered with oliver twists, swinging their hearts out to the jazz band that played on the extravagant stage directly opposite to us. Dim electric lightbulbs hung from the ceiling, shaking and trembling with the blasts of clarinets and saxes and the pounding keys of the pianist—playing like The Lion himself. A long bar ran the length of the speakeasy, packed with patrons all hanging on the edge, shouting their drink order and waving mazuma in the air for the harried bartenders.

At first glance, it looked like any other city nightclub, extravagant and bigger than most, but normal.

But then I picked up on flashes of abnormal.

A woman in a red flapper dress had dark emerald locks of hair, writhing and twisting around her shoulders. It took me a second too long to realize what they were—live serpents. A man with bull horns protruding from his temples sat on a lone barstool, nursing his sixth glass in front of him. Another man danced with a dame whose whole arms and legs were covered in bluish-green scales reflecting the yellowish electric light. The singer up on the stage crooned into his mic and swayed with the beat of his jazz ballad, feathers falling to the floor from his arms like he was a cat shedding hair.

I pressed my hands to my mouth as sweat broke out on the back of my neck.

Monsters. Here, there, everywhere.

Readers should read this book …

Think “The Great Gatsby” meets “This Savage Song” by Victoria Schwab. ROARING entwines fantasy, paranormal, and mythology elements with the Jazz Age and ruthless mobster scene.

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

I’m currently working on another YA paranormal! This one is a contemporary setting with a hero who can control thunder and lightning. That’s right–it’s gonna be a STORMY romance!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: – A signed print copy of ROARING – artwork prints of featured scenes from the book

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: My heroine chooses to be mute for most of her life in order to protect others from the magic in her voice, and it made me think about how that made her daily life difficult. What do you think would be the most difficult thing about not being able to speak?

 
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Excerpt from Roaring:

After counting the change, I dropped it off at the table of a couple wrapped up in each other. They were a little zozzled, but more drunk on love than anything else.

I returned to the bar where the stranger sat. My heart pounded wildly.

“So…” he began in his low timbre as I took up my spot from before, my attention fixed on the tray of dirty glasses I’d just picked up. “Your name is Eris.”

Reflexively, my gaze lifted to find him watching me with that same half grin. I swallowed and looked down at the glass with the lipstick smudged across the rim.

There was part of me that was disappointed that our game had been ruined. How silly.

“It’s a beautiful name,” he said quietly. Gently. “Suits you.”

Tingles ran down my spine, and I struggled to keep my expression neutral. If I wasn’t mistaken, this stranger had just called me beautiful. Something I’d been called before, but by drunken and often enchanted men.

“Do you know where it comes from?”

The question caught me off guard and I almost asked, “where?” but just in time I pursed my lips and shook my head.

“It’s the name of a Greek goddess.”

Until then, I’d been dumping the drinks into the small sink, running hot water over the empty glasses. Now I couldn’t help but look up, too fascinated to pretend to be anything but.

I never knew my name had been derived from anything. Not surprising considering I never knew my real parents. It was just the name I’d had at the orphanage.

The stranger’s eyes fixed on mine, his dark irises nearly swallowing his pupils so I seemed to be staring into shining plates of obsidian. “You didn’t know?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Then you probably don’t know the origin of the word itself.”

Again, I shook my head.

“Some linguists believe it comes from the Greek verb orinein. It means ‘to stir, to invoke action.’” He paused and looked away. “That’s swell, ain’t it? To know your name means something so powerful?” His gaze jumped back to me.

A shock went through my system—like a low bulb had just buzzed with an electric current while I’d been trying to unscrew it.

A shock went through my system—like a low bulb had just buzzed with an electric current while I’d been trying to unscrew it. My hands slipped on the soapy glass I’d been washing.

“Careful.” Quick like an alley cat, the stranger leaned over, catching the glass before it fell and shattered in the sink.

We both looked up, and our faces were mere inches away from each other. He had the same scent as two nights ago—fire and smoke. A little sweet, too, like burning wood.

His mouth hooked into a smirk, and he took my hands, gently placing the glass securely into my palms. He didn’t let go. “It’s not fair, is it?”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Colt Clemmons is an agent in a specialized division within the Bureau of Investigation—one that hunts down not just mobsters, but also monsters.

For reasons that are kept top secret, Colt is the only person who can resist a siren’s voice. But he’s never had a chance to test this ability. The last siren left in the world mysteriously disappeared years ago.

Then one night, with a single word, she reveals herself. It seems too good to be true.

And it is. Because nothing about this siren—her past, her powers, or her purpose—is what it seems…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Lindsey Duga is a young adult and middle grade author from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her fantasy novels with Entangled Teen include KISS OF THE ROYAL, GLOW OF THE FIREFLIES, and ROARING. She also writes Middle Grade horror for Scholastic Book Fairs, including THE HAUNTING and GHOST IN THE HEADLIGHTS. In her free time, she serves on the board of New South Story Lab, a local grassroots non-profit that helps teach at-risk youths the art of storytelling, providing them the opportunity for more creativity in their lives.
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