Blog Tour: Interview with Rebecca Royce {Love Beyond Time}, Excerpt & Giveaway Entry Stop

I'm happy to have Rebecca Royce here today to talk about her erotic, paranormal/fantasy romance!

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Please tell readers a little bit about yourself.

As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I hope, these days, that my parents think it was worth it.

I am the mother of three adorable boys and I am fortunate to be married to my best friend. We live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.

I am in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and try to use all of these elements in my writing. I've been told I'm a little bloodthirsty so I hope that when you read my work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. I love to write series because I love to see characters develop over time and it always makes me happy to see my favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

In my world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When I sold Her Wolf: The Westervelt Wolves Book 1. Signing that contract made me feel like a writer!

Please tell us about your latest release.

Love Beyond Time:

Born one half of a perfect pair, Kal has spent his life believing his other half is gone. But when fate thrusts Isabelle into his arms, he will have no choice but to become the man he was destined to be. That is, if he can battle his own demons first.


Not willing to accept her heritage as an Outsider, Isabelle tries to hide from the truth. But when Kal’s life is on the line, she will have to step forward and embrace her powers or watch everything she has come to love disappear.

What inspired you to write this book?

I'm not really sure. I was pregnant with my second son when the idea for this series presented itself. I remember that I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I had needed to get these stories down. Maybe we should blame the pregnancy hormones...LOL

Can you tell readers who are not familiar with the series what the premise of the stories are about?

Love Beyond Time is the first book in a series called The Outsiders. The Outsiders have always existed, helping to keep the balance of good and evil in the universe. But a prophecy forecasting the birth of eighteen children--all within hours of each other--will change everything. With no choice but to hide the children for their safety, the eighteen kids are separated. With the Outsiders nearly destroyed, the eighteen who are left are all that stand between humanity and total destruction. The problem? Most of them have no idea that they are Outsiders or that there is even a prophecy to fulfill.

Can eighteen magical people come together, find their soul mates, and live as a group to bring down the ultimate evil? Or is it too much for the universe to ask?

Were any of the characters a challenge to write?

My characters are always a challenge to write. Consistently, they try to take over the books and leave me and my opinion out of the process. But, having said, Kal was particularly difficult to write because he had been so emotionally abused even before the book began. He had a lot to overcome.

Was there a character you enjoyed writing the most?

The nice thing about this series is that although each book focuses on one couple coming together and how their story progresses the battle (or sets things back) the characters all make appearances in each book. It really allows me to get to get know them very well. I did love writing Kal and Isabelle in the first book just because their story felt so unique to me. But each book seems like my favorite set of characters because of the anticipation of each grouping and getting to know them so well even before I write them.

We usually never talk about villains of books during interviews. Share with us who or what is the antagonist of your story.

Oh!

Well, our villain, Sebastian, gets his own chapters in each of the books so I know him quite well. He is one of my favorite characters to write. He is actually a demon, who we learn in Love Beyond Time, was born into the body of a human baby boy and his appearance begins the prophecy. (In later books, we find out exactly how that happened and its more complicated than his just being born) But, in Love Beyond Time all we know is that he was born.

Sebastian is devious, difficult, and determined to take over our universe. There is every reason to think he can. Manipulative and dangerous, each book draws him out even further into his evilness. He's downright scary and very open about it.

Without giving away spoilers, can you share your favorite scene from the book?

There is a scene that takes place in a shared dream between Kal and Isabelle. I love that scene.

With the book being part of a series, are there any character or story arcs that readers jumping in somewhere other than the beginning need to be aware of?

No, i think each book could work as the first book for a new reader. There is a lot of discussion, where appropriate, of what has happened, why, and what has to happen next. It would certainly be easier to start with Love Beyond Time but readers could certainly start anywhere.

What was one of the most interesting things you learned in researching your book?

Fishing rules and the types of fish found in Upstate New York. I spent hours reading about it. I am not outdoorsy. This was all new information to me.

Paranormal and Urban Fantasy genre worlds use different rules and aspects. Can you share how you approached either the characters or the world building in your story?

As this story takes place in our world, it wasn't that difficult for me. The Outsiders are hidden. Humans don't know they are around. So, the rules, so to speak, fit into our rules. If they need to go some place, they have to get on an airplane. (Until book 3). They have to have money to buy food, shelter. I tried to make them have to fit into our world. How could it happen, how could it work, if they had to live here?

What can readers expect next from you?

Love Beyond Sanity, the next book in the series, releases October 1st.

Can you leave readers with a little teaser or excerpt from the book/new release?

Abraxas Moore stared one more time at the unforgiving clouds forming above him. The weather would soon become perilous, and he knew he had very little time until they caught him. Even the Green Hills, the place that had sheltered him and his kind for centuries--their home--was no longer safe.


The rain that he was sure would start at any moment would not be life renewing. It was not a sign of rebirth, and he knew with a near perfect certainty it was not even natural in its origins. Rather, it had been conjured by those who sought to kill him as a means to draw him out into the open. They hoped he would make a mistake and fail at his task. Then they would be able to trap and kill him.

Most disturbing, however, was he knew they would succeed in their task.

His role as leader of his people, not one he ever truly sought, weighed heavily on him that night, and he knew not even the love of his wife, Niki, would sustain him through what was to come. The prophecy was no longer something that would eventually happen, but was actually occurring in front of his eyes.

Time had finally caught up with them.

After centuries of very little change, his people were facing almost immediate destruction, and it had fallen to him to somehow find a way to help them survive what would be certain annihilation.

Ironically, the storm that had come out of nowhere this evening had been the final sign he needed to indicate their impending doom. When an Outsider stopped being able to predict the weather then it really was the end of the world.

How would humanity last even another decade without them around to silently keep the balance of lightness and darkness in order? His people had thrived, for centuries by walking the lines of grey that fell between the two extremes of Good and Evil. They kept order and balance in their little space in the universe.

They always had and he had hoped they always would.

Oh sure, they may have slightly pushed things towards the side of Good whenever possible. They were, after all, not Gods or Deities who could see the fabric of time and know the outcome of decisions they made before they made them. They were humans--of a sort--with another power, another layer, to their minds that allowed them to see what most humans could not--all things were connected.

Time, energy, life, and even death all flowed on the same strings of current, like a sound wave or an electrical wire, and they had been used or manipulated by his people since the dawn of time to keep things in order. This had been their sacred duty since creation, and it was the obligation they would all be forfeiting with their deaths in no short amount of time.

Without them, it was likely there would be chaos. Humanity would fall in this dimension. Chaos. Enslavement. Famine. Death. Evil would finally win its battle to control all things. Good would stand no chance of prevailing because they wouldn't see the 'bad guys' coming until it was too late to stop them.

His people had forgotten they were not Gods. He was to blame for this, as he was to blame for so many other mistakes over his short reign. If there was a way to fix things, he would gladly do whatever it took to complete the task. But alas, the chanting had stopped for him, and he knew he was out of the precious currency known as time.

Even transporting backwards into the past seemed to be out of the question. It was as if a wall had been erected to keep his kind from reaching back to that moment when all things had gone awry.

He should have been paying better attention.

Clenching his fists at his side, Abraxas stomped across the grass from his small cottage home towards the top of Windfelt Hill. What would the local population think when the barriers fell and they suddenly realized they had been living side by side with unknown people for generations?

The wind blew, pushing his blond hair into his face and since he couldn't see, it made it exceptionally hard to proceed to his destination.

It was absolutely essential he get up the hill before the sun went down and he was plunged into darkness. He needed to place his ritual staff upon the hill and call to the heavens for help. That is if they hadn't abandoned him and could still hear his pleas for his people. Was anyone up there still listening to the Outsiders or was it too late?

The grass chomped below his feet. It was still winter, and spring hadn't made its first pushes to thaw out his part of the world. Ice sat atop the grass, changing its color from its natural green to a more transparent blue. It crunched below his well-worn boots. Niki had started mending them, begging him to actually acquire a new pair, before she had taken off with their daughter to hide with the others.

Perhaps he should have stopped her, but it had seemed futile. Let them go. Let them all go and see if we can hide the children was what he had ultimately decided.

Finally reaching his destination, Abraxas stopped to look around him. He had known the top of this hill intimately since he was a child.

Windfelt Hill was the outer ring of their boundary. To cross over the top of the barrier and over to the other side was to cross into the land of humanity. No amount of power, his or anyone else's, could shield his people for very long from the humans if they crossed this hill, which was why in the past only a select few were chosen to make the trek.

Last month, all of his people, with the exception of him, had opted to cross. His job wasn't done. He didn't have the luxury of leaving. Not until he had exhausted every option. If the Darkness knew where they were, then it was time to be somewhere else. They had decided their strength no longer held in numbers but in small hidden groups that were far from each other, far from the hills and woods that had hidden them and nourished them. It was their last desperate attempt to keep this annihilation of their people at bay and it made him crazier than he cared to dwell on that the whole of their society had opted to run away than stay and fight. Why was he the only one who could see it was better to stay and fight than turn and run?

He wondered how they were all faring out there in the world and once again he felt the pull to Niki and the unrelenting desire to throw away all of his responsibilities and join her in her hiding place. So maybe he wasn't that different from the others when it came down to it. He wanted the family life too. Their daughter was a month older and she aged without him there to watch her do it. A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed it away. He had thought they would never have children. They should have been too old. One lone tear slipped from his left eye and he brushed it away. She was growing up without him and it truly made his insides burn.

Complete Work List:

The Outsiders
Love Beyond Time
Love Beyond Sanity…coming October 1
Love Beyond Loyalty (TBA)

Westervelt Wolves
Her Wolf
Summer’s Wolf
Wolf Reborn
Wolf’s Valentine
Wolf’s Magic
Alpha Wolf
Angel’s Wolf

The Warrior
Initiation
Driven

The Conditioned
Eye Contact
Embraced…(TBA)

Sexy Superheroes
Screwing the Superhero
Banging the Superhero

Other Works:
Behind The Scenes (TBA)
First Dimension
Yes, Captain
Return to the Sea
One Night With A Wolf
Another Chance
Light Me Up

Where can readers find you on the web?

www.rebeccaroyce.com
www.rebeccaroyce.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/#!/rebeccaroyce
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebecca-Royce/172551376131638?sk=wall
https://plus.google.com/108786974175570506922/posts

Giveaway Details:

• Rebecca will be giving away a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. 
  

• Leave a comment along with your email addy.

• Follow the tour!! The more places you stop and comment the greater your chances of winning! :)

• Contest will run the duration of the tour.

Tour Stops:

September 5: Taryn Kincaid
September 6: Wake Up Your Wild Side
September 7: Carrie Ann Ryan's Blog
September 8: Ashlynn Monroe
September 9: Reading Romances
September 12: Theresa Stillwagon
September 13: Rachel Leigh - Erotic Romance
September 14: Liia Anne White
September 15: Zee Monodee
September 16: Heather Thurmeier
September 19: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
September 20: Fang-tastic Books
September 21: Mark of the Stars
September 22: Among the Muses
September 23: Riverina Romantics
September 26: Realmantic Moments
September 27: Ramblings From This Chick
September 28: Erotica For All
September 29: Night Owl Reviews
September 30: Ciar Cullen