First Love
Do you remember the first book you fell in love with? The first
one to capture your heart and convince you the characters were real? Mine was Season of
Ponies by Zilpha
Keatley Snyder. I first read it in the fourth grade. At the time I
hated reading. Reading was a hard, laborious process for me. And, since I’d
never fallen in love with a book, they payout wasn’t high enough for all the
work I had to put into it. But from the moment I opened Season of Ponies until
the moment I put it down, I was captivated. I checked that book out of my
school’s library so often that the librarian started making suggestions of
other books to read. I didn’t want to read any other books, though. I was in
love with Season of Ponies.
She did eventually get me to try a couple other books. And,
eventually, I fell in love with several of those as well. But when I think back
to books I’ve loved over the years, that one is always the first title to jump
into my head. What was it that made me fall helplessly in love with this book?
It had horses. I’ll admit it. I’m a girl and I loved horses when I was growing
up. Any book with horses would’ve grabbed my attention. But it was more than
that. The horses in this book were magical. They were full-sized, real life
horses that were in the same color as those blown glass horses I loved! I so
wanted one. And the girl got to escape her mundane life for a brief period. She
got to have a grand adventure in the woods surrounding her aunts’ home.
The most important thing to me, however, was that while I
was watching her story unfold, I was escaping from my mundane life for a brief
period of time. Don’t get me wrong, my childhood wasn’t horrible. But it was
childhood. Few people survive it without some discomfort. I wasn’t the best
student. I wasn’t popular. And my family didn’t have much money. But none of
that mattered when I was reading Season of Ponies.
By the time I’d grown up and decided I wanted to write, I’d
fallen in love with so many books that I couldn’t possibly list them all. And I
loved them for different reasons. Some I loved because they challenged my
beliefs. Some I loved because they made me see things in a different light.
Some I loved because they made me laugh. And some I loved because they made me
cry. But it remained true that the ones I loved the best were the ones that
wrapped me up in their words and carried me away to some magical place for a
grand adventure. When I sat down to write my first book, it only made sense
that I try to offer an adventure to my readers. So I decided to write fantasy.
Some have been high fantasy, others have been urban fantasy, and recently I’ve
delved into sci-fi. As different as these genres may look at first glance, they
really aren’t. The reason I write fantasy and sci-fi is because there’s always
an adventure waiting for the reader between the covers.
So what grand adventure do I have in store for you today? My
first story, Ink in the Blood, was just re-released by Ellora’s cave today.
Blurb:
Prequel to Bond Betrayed
Izzy has lived between two worlds her entire life—one filled
with magic and darkness, the other populated by mundane humans. She was born
into the magical world of the Community. But sexy, forbidden DEA agent Jacob
belongs to the other. He has no idea her world even exists.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t noticed her. They’ve worked
together for the past six months, attempting to bring down her drug-dealing
half brother while driving each other crazy with pent-up desire. But now that
it’s time to say goodbye, they both find it impossible to let go.
After one passionate night together Izzy realizes her
mistake. She can’t bring him into her world. She has to end things before she
gets too attached. When he refuses to leave, she must find a way to guide him
through the darkness.
Inside Scoop: In this scorching urban fantasy, ink is
thicker than blood.
A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from
Ellora’s Cave
Publisher’s Note: This book was previously published
elsewhere and has been revised for Ellora’s Cave.
If you’d like to know more, an excerpt can be found on the
Ellora’s Cave site: http://www.ellorascave.com/ink-in-the-blood.html
Or on my website:
I can be found here-
Twitter: @ChandraRyan
1 comment:
Thanks so much for having me on your blog!
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