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Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Judith Sterling and her book The Stone Awakened:

What is your greatest temptation:

            In men:  intelligence

            In food:  cheesy fries

            In clothes:  comfy pajamas

What is your greatest weakness (example: buying shoes)?  Ordering out for food instead of cooking.

If you could have any kind of car, what would it be?

Your dream home – mountains or ocean?  Mountains or rolling hills in the Irish, English, Scottish, or Welsh countryside.

What inspired you to become a writer?  A compulsion I’ve always felt and fed, even before kindergarten.  (My mom taught me to read and write before I ever started school.)

Do you have a daily writing routine?  If so, please share.

What is your favorite book?  That’s a tough choice, but it just might be Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine.

What is your favorite movie?  Another tough one!  Maybe The Uninvited (1944).

Who is your favorite historical figure?  There are so many, but I can narrow it down to four women with whom I’d love to have a good long chat:  Cleopatra, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth I of England, and Elizabeth Corwin, in whose 17th-century home I’m a tour guide here in Salem, Massachusetts.

In your books, who is your favorite hero and please introduce him?

Who is your favorite heroine and please introduce her?

What do you have out now?  Excerpt, blurb, book trailers  I write two different series:  The Novels of Ravenwood (medieval romance) and Guardians of Erin (young adult paranormal fantasy).  My most recent release is the second in the YA series, The Stone Awakened.

Blurb for The Stone Awakened:

Since moving to Ireland, Ashling Donoghue has tackled one challenge after another.  Now the mystery of her parents’ disappearance seems unsolvable.  Are they dead or only missing?  No one—not even the godlike Breasals—has a clue.  Hope and fear war inside her, but she’s determined to find answers and stay strong for her siblings.  Even as she hones newfound powers, her banshee-in-training sister Deirdre needs her support.

Ashling could use a little help herself.  She’s struggling to navigate her first romance, and while Aengus Breasal stirs her body, mind, and soul, his nemesis Lorcan does too.  Both men harbor secrets about her past life as Caer.  One has ties to Aoife, the scheming wind demon whose influence is on the rise.

As the Stone of Destiny awakens, so does the conflict within.

Excerpt:

            Thunder shook the night as the Dullahan’s black stallion reared beneath him on the sweeping lawn below. The horseman thrust his severed head toward the sky and called out the names of those he hunted.

            “Dylan Donoghue! Maeve Donoghue!”

            Powerless to stop him, I watched from the bedroom window. The glass panes infused my palms with the chill of death itself. Out of sight, my parents screamed, then fell silent. The sound of laughter followed.

            Exultant. Spiteful. Malignant.

            Aoife! The wind demon whose foul plot shattered my family with a single blow.

            Hate and despair welled inside me. “No!”

“Ashling, wake up!” My sister shook me awake.

She switched on the lamp between our beds, and I scanned the room. The same sash windows as in the dream. The same luxurious décor in shades of periwinkle, white, and gray. Even my slippers beside the bed were the same. But the night was quiet, and there was no immediate danger.

Deirdre tucked her long, blonde hair behind her ears and gave me a knowing look. “Another nightmare about the Dullahan?”

Nodding, I wiped the sweat from my brow. “And Aoife.”

“Sounds almost as bad as my dream the night he took Mom and Dad.”

“We don’t know he took them.”

“We don’t know he didn’t.”

“They’re not dead!” Dread clutched my heart, and I pushed out a long breath to calm myself. “They can’t be.”

New releases anytime soon?

My next release will be Night of the Owl, the fourth of The Novels of Ravenwood.  No release date yet, but I’ll keep everyone posted!

 Where can eager fans find you?

Website – https://judithmarshallauthor.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/judithsterlingfiction/

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16291161.Judith_Sterling

BookBub –  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/judith-sterling

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01MT3KB7L

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