Paranormal, Fantasy Romance
Date Published: November 8, 2017 (paperback); May 4, 2012 (kindle)
Enter the world of Pure Ones, a race of immortal, supernaturally powerful beings who protect humankind, where sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s Eternal Mate leads to a slow, painful death within thirty days.
The Healer of the race, Rain, is the only exception to this rule. She must take a Consort once every ten years and draw strength from his blood and body. Valerius, Protector of the race, is the strongest candidate.
Despite their instant attraction, Valerius has staunchly avoided applying to be the Healer’s Consort. The brutality and violence he suffered as a Roman sex slave in his human life ate away at his soul, leaving a dark abyss of torment and self-doubt.
Now, as Rain’s strength drains with every healing act, Valerius cannot escape the fact that he may be the only one who can save her, and in so doing, afford his people greater hope for the future as battles intensify.
Interview
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to
Grasp?
True Love conquers all.
We are who we choose to be.
There is always more than one side
to every story.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your
writing?
Finding the time!
With two boys under the age of 5, a full-time job in Corporate America that
requires frequent travel across multiple projects, it’s hard to stay on top of
everything.
The second challenge
is my writing approach. I love the writing process because it’s about 50%
planned, 50% unplanned for me, and it organically evolves as I write. It’s
extremely enjoyable in that sense because I—as the writer—am also breathless
with anticipation what happens next—the characters and plot sometimes take a
life of their own. On the other hand, when there are many threads to weave
together into a coherent, well-designed tapestry, wrangling all the pieces
together can take some extra creativity at times.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written 9 books if you count the
earlier efforts in my teens. More recently, I’ve completed 5 books in the
Pure/Dark series and starting on Book 6. It’s so hard to pick a favorite! I’m
tempted to say whichever one I’m currently working on.
I like parts about all the books.
I’m completely in love with Valerius from Book 1, Pure Healing. I
love the “True Love conquers all for star-crossed lovers” in Book 2, Dark Longing and Book 5, Pure Rapture. The “Great Act of Love”
part in Book 4, Dark Pleasures, was
especially fun to write, and the Hero is very different from my other books.
But maybe my favorite thus far is
Book 3, Dark Desires, at least from a
writer’s POV. It’s set in a completely different country, with a very exotic
background—fans of Japanese manga and anime ought to like it a lot :P And the
story just came out of me like it begged to be told, and I was just the conduit
of its will. So that was a very brisk and exciting ride!
If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
This is a tough one! For Pure Healing, I have the female lead
cast (though not for her acting skills, more for her looks), and the best
person for the male lead has unfortunately passed away from cancer (Andy Whitfield from Spartacus
Blood and Sand).
For Dark Longing, the female lead, Inanna,
is modeled after a young Natalia Vodianova,
but I’m hard pressed to find a corollary in terms of acting skills. The male
lead, Gabriel, might be played by a young, leaner Eric Bana. What he looks like
in my head, is this:
When did you begin writing?
Writing as a lifetime passion and love probably started
when I learned how to write. My father made me write a story in my journal
every day from the age of six, which he would come home to grade at the end of
each week. I’ve won every writing contest my teachers entered me in all through
primary, secondary education and college, but my family is extremely
“practical” and forbade me to pursue any type of creative or artistic career
(art is my other passion). To feed the writing demon inside, I just wrote for
the pleasure of it. My first novel was written by age thirteen; I finished 5
novels within the next 5 years. I can’t say now that they were any good, but one
literary agent told me there was a lot of potential.
I didn’t get much
sleep as a teenager. It would take many years after that to pick it up again,
as I built a safety net of “practicality.”
How long did it take to complete your first book?
About 6-9 months. Back then,
research for books was much harder. You had to go physically to the library and
search through books, archives, primary and secondary reference material, etc.
It was the research that took the most amount of time. That and writing hand-written
lines in notebooks, then having to go back and edit everything and type it up!
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
I would say the romance
authors I read as a teenager probably inspired this path. Romance has always been
my first pick for leisure reading since I discovered it at age eleven or twelve.
My favorite authors from back then were Julie Garwood and Jude Devereux. My
favorite book was Knight in Shining
Armor. It’s probably why I don’t see myself writing any other type of books
(or at least enjoying the writing process) besides romance.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
The organic development of the
characters, their interactions, and the story.
Each story is always inspired by
something specific in my life or imagination. The scene forms in my head and I
start writing. And then it just flows naturally from there as if the story has
a life of its own. I have a general sense of where things are headed, what the
characters are like, their personalities, etc., but I’m always surprised along
the way by how the story unfolds as I write it. I love the unpredictability of
the process. I feel like I’m just a narrator in a movie who tells a story
that’s burning to be told by characters who are worth knowing. At the same
time, I’m also like an invested movie watcher who’s rooting for her favorite
characters and who just wants to find out how things end.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Heart-wrenching. Intriguing. Tantalizing.
Hot.
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is
in the future for your writing?
I
just finished book 5 in the Pure/Dark series,
titled Pure Rapture. For the readers
who will follow me through the journey, they will finally get a very good look
at some of the events that started it all—this epic struggle between Pure and
Dark Ones. As a bonus, the Prologue and Epilogue, which is always narrated by
one of the key characters in the series (though never the main character in the
story being told), will be narrated by (one of) the bad guys!
I
think the Pure/Dark series has a very long runway, as long as there are readers
out there who enjoy it. Just when you think something is solved or resolved,
two other loose ends or questions appear. I can go many different directions
with this series—it combines multicultural, historical and contemporary,
fantasy and paranormal…there is no limit. So, I expect to be building this
world out and telling tales of True Love for many years to come!
About the Author
Aja has been writing stories since the age of six, and novels since the age of thirteen. While she'd be the first to admit that those early efforts weren't particularly good, she sure loved putting them down on paper!
The best part of writing, according to Aja, is that it’s completely organic, the way the stories develop. When the inspiration hits, she writes just so she herself can learn where the characters are headed because oftentimes, they take her by surprise! It is her ultimate dream to share her stories with as many readers as she possibly can.
Her other loves include art, cooking, old movies (anything with Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Clark Gable, and all the song and dance numbers because she can’t watch them and not be happy!)
She adores taking long walks with her husband and running after her two rambunctious kids. She has traveled extensively (all seven continents except Antarctica) and has a multi-cultural upbringing. She speaks two and a half languages and binge watch TV shows when the mood strikes.
Aja has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Comparative Literature and Economics and two Master’s degrees, one of which is in East Asian Studies.
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