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Saturday, July 19, 2014

Susan Stephens: The End Of A Series


Coming to the end of a four book series leaves me with mixed feelings. I am happy for the characters I've nurtured and cared about, laughed with, and been anxious for, to leave the nest, but I will miss them. After all, Britt, Eva, Leila and Tyr, have been a big part of my life for over a year now.


I have to confess that Tyr holds a special place in my heart. As each of the Skavanga sisters' stories unfurled on my screen, I knew I was coming closer to writing Tyr's story, and I knew it would be exciting for me to write, because I had seen Tyr through his sisters' eyes, and of course, I finally saw Tyr through the eyes of his childhood friend, Jazz.

We all change as we go through life, some more than others, and when a carefree youth goes through war as a serving soldier, he's likely to change more than most. This was Tyr's fate, and we soon discover that in the years Tyr and Princess Jasmina of Kareshi have been apart, things have changed radically for both of them. Jasmina is no longer the tomboy Jazz, Tyr remembers from his youth, but a highly protected princess who believes her duty lies in serving her country, and that her own happiness counts for nothing. And as for Tyr... Tyr has grown dark and distant, and, on the surface at least, he appears to be practically unrecognisable from the youth he once was.


I love it when a heroine is big enough to accept she might have been wrong, as Jazz discovers when she reviews her life to date. But she doesn't sit back and do nothing about it. Oh, no. Jazz regroups and starts to fight back. There's no chance Jazz is going to wait for a hero to ride to her rescue - though in this book, it could be argued that Tyr is the character most in need of rescuing, so I hope you find this strong heroine equal to the task. I certainly did. I love Jazz, and firmly believe that I found my damaged hero the perfect soulmate to help him heal and go forward.

If you would like to read a little extra about my Skavanga Diamond series and how I came up with the idea to combine the elements of ice and fire, you can visit the special dedicated pages on my web site at http://www.susanstephens.com/skavanga/index.html where you can find the images I have chosen to represent my characters, plus their bios and background information, as well as lots of personal photographs.
Happy hunting!

And because it wouldn't be a Susan Stephens blog without a giveaway, I would love you to share some special friendship you have experienced with us. Make us laugh, make us cry, the essence is in sharing, and there will be a signed copy of one of my books, together with some other small gifts, for one contributor selected at random.

As always, it is a real pleasure for me to be able to connect with my readers, so GOOD LUCK everyone!

With my warmest good wishes to you all,

Susan

***Susan's winner is Penney!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!***

6 comments:

Laney4 said...

Books: Am looking forward to reading Susan's latest. Read The Flaw in His Diamond and loved it, loved it, loved it! Loved the pace, the passion, the sex, and how they completed each other. Read The Purest of Diamonds? and also loved it. Teared up often and felt it was a beautiful love story.
Special friendships: My husband is a far better friend to me now (after 33 years) than he was many moons ago. Two girlfriends from high school share their lives with me daily via emails, but we each make the effort to see each other at our homes (2.5 hours apart) every year. I keep in touch with one girlfriend from Kindergarten too(so now it's just over 50 years of friendship). I have hundreds of other friends too, but these are my closest. I am truly blessed.

penney said...

I love this site, I love the book reviews they do everything about them here you can find. I have brought a lot of books here on Amazon that I read reviews here. This is the best site to find out what books are coming out. Thank you
Penney

Alina P said...

I enjoy reading any romance book and this website has helped me find some great authors I didn't know about :) I, unfortunately, haven't read Ms. Stephens' books so I can't say a thing about them. Having looked through her back list I'd love to try the 1st book in the Dimond series, Diamond in the Desert :)

erin said...

congrats to Susan on her newest release!! I was part of a terrible threesome since high school ;) We recently lost our base to cancer in March. He was only 33. Now, me and the other side of the triangle are trying to get used to being a twosome. We all thought that even despite us all finding our own spouses and loved ones, we would still end up all together in a nursing home together raising hell. It's hard to let that dream go.

Mary Preston said...

We moved around a LOT when I was a child, so new friendships were being formed all the time. I am blessed with 5 sisters and the one brother. No matter where we moved to, I always had them. Still do!!

Laurie G said...

I grew up with a wonderful neighbor, Winnie, who was my babysitter, HS English teacher, mentor and friend. She was always there for me to listen to and counsel me. She also shared her wonderful collie dog with me

She passed away 2 years ago at the age of 96. I miss her, her beautiful smiles and her common sense advise. I hope I touch someone's life as deeply as she touched mine .I was blessed to have her in my life.