Hope. Dreams. Life... Love: The Shadowed Moon

THE SHADOWED MOON

Elli Morgan

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GENRE: Paranormal Romance

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BLURB:

After they took everything from him, Dave Patton dedicated his life to hunting vampires. But he can’t bring himself to destroy their newest vampire prisoner Sarah—a young woman with a tragic past, who awakens forbidden desires in him.

Sarah McAllister spent her childhood in the hands of ruthless vampires aiming to turn her into a perfect soldier. To take revenge, she hides her true strength and surrenders to a group of hunters, hoping her knowledge will help them bring all monsters to justice.

When the hunters’ compound is attacked, Sarah has to reveal her powers to protect them from certain death. How will Dave react when he learns the truth? And how much will she have to sacrifice to defeat her tormentors?

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EXCERPT

Giving in to the urge to feed, turning into the beast her kind expected her to be, and betraying the little girl she once was would be so much easier.

A light breeze carried the hunter’s heady scent to Sarah as she leaned against a majestic walnut tree on this moonless night. She clenched her fists as a shudder ran through her, and every cell inside her body ached for his sweet blood.

After years of suffering at the hands of monsters, she’d mastered the art of renouncing her cravings. Pressing her body against the tree, she concentrated on the coarse bark rubbing against her skin. She could not suppress the abominable hunger forever, but her determination combined with the sensory distraction granted her control of her urges for a little while longer. Would it last long enough to talk to him and set her plan in motion?

The hunter—a young, muscular man with short, chestnut-brown hair and light stubble on his chiseled face—browsed through his phone, painfully unaware of the vampire watching him. And not for the first time. She’d followed him and his team for five days, studying their tactics and abilities from the shadows. They showed promise, although their approach of posing as bait often put them at risk. With a little help from her, they’d rid the world of even more monsters.

She could have picked any group of hunters, but something about the leader of this team enthralled her. His dark eyes held the same sadness and longing she often glimpsed in the mirror. If only she could talk to him about her intentions, but hunters never listened.

She inhaled deeply. Would he pass her test and prove they were more than easy prey?

Her ankle boots echoed on the pavement of the quiet, suburban neighborhood as she approached him from behind. The clacking reminded her of her mother, strutting through the world like she owned it…as if the monsters in the dark didn’t exist.

A Word With the Author

1.Did you always want to be an author?

I never really considered becoming an author when I was younger. As a teenager, I enjoyed making up my own worlds and stories, but I never dared to dream of publishing them.

When I heard about a classmate of mine publishing her first book in 2017, her achievement amazed me. Then I thought if she can do it, so can I. It still took several more years and the outbreak of covid for me to really get started, though.

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.

I started writing The Waxing Moon in 2020. After a few months, I had a first draft. Back then, I thought I was done and my book was ready for publication, so I queried several agents and small publishers. One of them, The Wild Rose Press, answered. They said my idea was good, but I needed to look into editing.

So, I read about best practices, for example words to remove, and reworked my manuscript. Then, I looked for some beta readers. With their feedback, I completely reworked the book again. I repeated that step several times. After one year of rewrites and editing, I queried The Wild Rose Press again. This time, around Christmas 2021, they gave me a contract.

I still went through a few more rounds of editing with my editor before I signed off on the final version of my manuscript. Finally, The Waxing Moon was officially published in November 2022.

I also entered The Waxing Moon in a few competitions and won the bronze award in the Reader Views romance category.

3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

It’s tough to choose just one author since there are many talented paranormal romance authors. I enjoyed reading the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost as a teenager, and she is still one of my favorites.

4.What’s the best part of being an author? The worst?

There is nothing more amazing than holding your own book in your hands after months or years of work. I also enjoy the writing itself, getting lost in a scene and picturing how the characters react.

The worst part about being an author is definitely the marketing part. I’m not very comfortable in front of an audience or with all those social media platforms, so I’m having a tough time with it.

5.What are you working on now?

For now, I’m preparing for the release of The Shadowed Moon. I haven’t decided on a next writing project, but there are a few ideas. Many of the side characters from my debut, The Waxing Moon, ask for their own stories.

Since I’m currently quite busy with our new puppy, I also won’t start a new writing project right away.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links

Elli Morgan was born in 1991 in a small town in Germany. Although she only started learning English in sixth grade, she quickly fell in love with the language. To improve her skills, she spent a year working and traveling in Canada and the US.

As a teenager, she devoured countless fan fiction and vampire novels. During that time, she also developed the idea for her first two books.

Her debut, The Waxing Moon, won the Reader Views bronze award in the romance category.

Apart from being a writer, she’s also a trained mathematician, working as Business Intelligence Developer at an IT company. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and all kinds of games.

Email: elli@ellimorgan.com

Website: ellimorgan.com

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