Back blurb for Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen:
Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other -- something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn't beautiful. And if there wasn't something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame, damn near impossible to resist.
Karen has always felt an inexplicable attraction to Tristan. More than just the fact he's strikingly handsome, it's as if being with him is something natural, comfortable and right. But soon a brash choice on his part leaves her heartbroken and confused, and a sadistic new enemy will put their newfound love -- and their lives -- to the ultimate test.
Learn all about the Brethren series here: http://sarareinkeauthor.blogspot.com/p/contact-feedback.html
A little about Sara Reinke:
"Definitely an author to watch." That's how Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine describes Sara Reinke. New York Times best-selling author Karen Robards calls Reinke "a new paranormal star" and Love Romances and More hails her as "a fresh new voice to a genre that has grown stale." Find out more about Reinke and her books at www.sarareinke.com.
Links:
Website: www.sarareinke.com
Blog: www.sarareinke.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Sara-Reinke
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarareinke
Interview:
Hello Sara. Welcome to Leilani Loves Books. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m probably pretty boring to meet in real life—I live out my adventures vicariously through my characters and stories, lol. I’ve been writing since I was very young. It’s always been a passion of mine, and I like to say that even if no one else ever bought one of my books or read my stories, I’d still be penning them.
I work full-time, go to nursing school at night, have two wonderful kids, an amazing husband, two cats, a dog and a hamster. When I’m not writing, I’m probably up to my neck with housework, motherhood, laundry, grocery shopping or homework. Although my life is busy, I also feel like it’s incredibly full, enriched and rewarding—I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Can you tell us about your view on vampires?
One of my all-time favorite television show is The X-Files. When I was a kid, I used to love the paranormal. I always had my nose stuck in a book—and usually it was one about ghosts, monsters, aliens or other supernatural phenomena. If the show had been around back then, my teachers probably would have told you I’d grow up to be like Fox Mulder.
I’m older now, a little more skeptical, in many ways more like Dana Scully, Mulder’s practical-minded partner on the show. I love researching the history, science, technology and logic behind things; considering ideas or theories that might explain the seemingly unexplainable.
Since I like to write paranormal romance, these dual components of my nature are often in conflict with each other. Take my Brethren Series, for example. The Brethren are an ancient sect of vampires who live isolated from most of human society on hidden estates in the heart of Kentucky. I came up with the original concept for the series years ago, back in my more Mulder-inspired youth, but between that time and the actual act of crafting a story, the Sully side of me has put its own unique, somewhat scientifically grounded spin on it.
Let me explain. I love the idea of vampires—dark, sensuous, blood-thirsty, predatory, with superhuman mental and physical capabilities. But the standard mythology behind them—they can’t be exposed to sunlight, see their reflection in a mirror, touch or be touched by holy water or other sanctified objects—doesn’t make much logical sense to me. In order to make the Brethren work logically enough to write about them, I had to come up with my own mythos; in essence, I had to reinvent the vampire.
For me, that was part of the fun, the perfect complement of both Mulder’s “I want to believe” philosophy and Scully’s “I want to explain.” It’s taking the supernatural and hypothesizing about how it might be possible; trying to put some normalcy into the paranormal.
What inspired you with the Brethrens?
I live in Kentucky, in the heart of horseracing Bluegrass country. During my childhood, we would often drive past Thoroughbred horse farms. If you can picture nothing but rolling, open fields of lush, green grass, bordered by white fences, and horses set out to graze, you’ll have a good idea of how beautiful and peaceful they are. I often wondered about the people who lived on these farms, and it occurred to me that pretty much an entire community could live tucked away on one or more of them, with the outside world completely oblivious to their existence. From there, the idea of the Brethren eventually grew.
Which brother was the most difficult to write? The funnest? The saddest? Why?
The heroes from each book aren’t brothers, but they know one another, interact and are often friends. For me, Rene Morin, the hero in Dark Hunger, was the most difficult—and most sad—to write. He’s a man who is very haunted by his past and his own self-doubts. A former police officer, he’s had his leg amputated following a gunshot wound, and his life since then has pretty much unraveled. He abuses alcohol and drugs, all while struggling to accept and understand the Brethren components of his nature. Rene is also faced with an extremely difficult choice at the end of his story, and his decision has pissed a lot of readers off. It was a hard moment for me to write, but one which I firmly believe best expressed Rene’s personality, his emotions, where his head was at in that particular moment in time. I had to tap into some pretty dark, desolate places inside myself to relate to him, in order to best write him.
The most fun would have to be Tristan Morin, Rene’s half-brother, the hero in Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen. He’s young, brash, headstrong and stubborn—his life is a constant struggle to prove himself, accept himself, and escape what he feels are suffocating circumstances. I love that he’s so bull-headed and fierce, nearly to a fault, and yet on the other hand, capable of expression an amazing amount of warmth and affection for those for whom he most deeply and truly cares.
But of course, I love all of my heroes. I don’t think I could write a book unless I lost myself completely in the world of my characters, and especially my heroes. Elías Velasco, the hero from my latest release, Dark Passages 2: Pilar and Elías is, in my opinion, the sexiest hero I’ve ever written. And Brandon Noble, who’s introduced in Dark Thirst and continues on through just about every other book in the series in some capacity, is one of the most interesting to me. Brandon has evolved over the series from an uncertain, rather ingenuous boy into a confident, capable, ass-kicking young man and it’s been fun watching him grow, mature and learn. I can’t wait to see where he takes me—and readers—next.
You recently re-did the cover for DARK THIRST. What inspired the new cover?
I wanted to offer a special limited edition exclusively for my enewsletter subscribers. I know just enough Photoshop to be considered armed and dangerous (lol), so when I decided to offer a free download of the book, I felt giving it a revamped cover would work well. I love the photo I found for it—the models are both beautiful, and similar to what I had physically in mind for both Brandon and Lina, the book’s central characters. There was a tremendous passion in the shot—I fell in love with it at first sight. And the rest, as they say, is history, lol.
Can you tell us a little about your next project?
I’m currently working on Dark Vengeance, Book 6 in The Brethren Series. For the first time since Dark Thirst, the book that started it all, Brandon and Lina are again taking center stage. Readers have been clamoring to see them again, and it’s been wonderful revisiting their relationship. As the series has progressed, they’ve moved past the “honeymoon” phase and are definitely facing some obstacles in their love. Dark Vengeance is about how they each have to struggle against their natures if they hope to stay together—and to survive a ruthless new enemy discovered in the least likely of places.
If you could take any of your characters out for a day, what would you do and why that one?
I’d have to say I’d take Elías Velasco from Dark Passages 2: Pilar and Elías. He would be seriously hot in real life. He’s very passionate; I would love to spend the day with him. If he was real, I imagine he’d be as good in bed as he is on paper, lol, so I suspect that’s where you’d find us. (Don’t tell my husband, ha ha!)
Coffee or Tea? Depends on my mood. Usually coffee. But some mornings, tea just hits the spot.
Pink or Black? Black
Reading or Writing? Writing
Vampires or Werewolves? Vampires
Up or Down? Up
Left or Right? Left
Cups half full or half empty? Half-full
Thank you for stopping by! Expect my review soon!
