Near Death Blog Tour

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Today, the virtual book tour for Near Death by M. B. Mulhall stops by Bittersweet Enchantment for a guest post on: The authors favorite books and how they inspire her. Thank you for being with us today M. B. and for sharing with my readers more about you and your new book. 

I am also very excited to announce that M.B will be giving away one free e-book copy of her book. WHOOT! So at keep reading until the end of this post for a chance to win. ^__^

Favorite books and how they inspire me.

When people ask what my favorite things are; books, movies, musical groups, it kind of puts me into a panic. How can I pick just one when there are so many amazing things out there? How can I possible narrow it down? *sigh* You people ask so much of me sometimes!

But since you’ve already asked (is that a gun pointed at the screen?!)I guess I can be cajoled into mentioning a few.

As a child I adored Nancy Drew books. My mom started me out with some old hardcover books she had as a kid and I moved on to the more up to date paperback ones. I would read two or three in a week, always begging to buy more.  They really left a strong impression on me about how to keep my readers reading. I was inspired by the cliff hangers in every book, every chapter. While I don’t add them to everything, I do definitely work them in at the end of many of my chapters in many of my stories. I want my readers to want to keep on going, to not be able to put the book down until they get to the end. Thankfully, I’ve had several people tell me they had to read Near Death in one sitting to find out what happened. I think I may have successfully mastered the cliff hangers!

Some other favorites of mine are the Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy and A Song of Ice and Fire series, both amazing and beautifully written sweeping fantasy series. They inspire me to make my characters as real as possible, to tell the story from more than one point of view, to bring in the fantastical, the magical, the unbelievable and make it seem real.

To name all the books I love would take quite the long time, so rather than keep listing them, I’ll list some qualities I love and how they inspire me.  I love books with strong yet realistic female characters. I love to write a girl who can stand up for herself, maybe kick some ass, but might still cry over someone kicking a puppy. Strong doesn’t have to mean emotionless. I love books that surprise me. If I can guess the ending within the first chapter, it gets a bit boring and predictable. It inspires me to switch it up and try to keep people guessing. I love books that take a classic story or idea and make it their own. I think it really takes a great author to make them something worth reading. It inspires me not to shy away from an “old” idea and to shine it up and make it mine.
I love so many stories and they inspire me in so many ways, it’s hard to mention it all here, but at least you have somewhat of an idea of my likes and what they do for me. Someday I’ll have to compose a real list but I can’t imagine it’ll stay the same for very long. There’s just too much great stuff out there!

So far the count is: Aya 2 - Death 0, but that’s a record that may be broken in the very near future. The shy 16-year-old loner and her little brother narrowly escape being flattened by a bus when Gabriel, a classmate, is warned by a mysterious green-eyed boy of Aya’s impending demise. He races to her aid, not only saving her life but bringing with him new friends, his twin Marisol and best bud, Jackson. 

The green-eyed boy, Christoph, is actually an Angel of Death banished back to earth. They don’t quite know what to make of him. Christoph saved Aya because she reminded him of a long lost love, but when he finds it hard to assimilate to modern time will he want to finish the job of crossing her over in an attempt to get back to where he came from? 

Danger escalates when Gabriel's jealous ex, Sara, tries to win him back, her antics turning from annoying to potentially deadly; another Angel of Death appears spouting ominous and cryptic messages and secrets both Jackson and Marisol harbor threaten to tear the friends apart. They must put differences behind them and come clean because Aya may be running on borrowed time. If so, Death may win the game.

So far the count is: Aya 2 - Death 0, but that’s a record that may be broken in the very near future. The shy 16-year-old loner and her little brother narrowly escape being flattened by a bus when Gabriel, a classmate, is warned by a mysterious green-eyed boy of Aya’s impending demise. He races to her aid, not only saving her life but bringing with him new friends, his twin Marisol and best bud, Jackson.  The green-eyed boy, Christoph, is actually an Angel of Death banished back to earth. They don’t quite know what to make of him. Christoph saved Aya because she reminded him of a long lost love, but when he finds it hard to assimilate to modern time will he want to finish the job of crossing her over in an attempt to get back to where he came from? Danger escalates when Gabriel's jealous ex, Sara, tries to win him back, her antics turning from annoying to potentially deadly; another Angel of Death appears spouting ominous and cryptic messages and secrets both Jackson and Marisol harbor threaten to tear the friends apart. They must put differences behind them and come clean because Aya may be running on borrowed time. If so, Death may win the game.

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