Book Spotlight + Giveaway: Gifted (The Hayven Series) by J.A. George
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Today, the spotlight is on J.A. George and her novel, Gifted from The Hayven Series.
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I’m a sucker for Fantasy. Better still, a book that has a gifted, or extra special, main character always catches my eye!
Want to learn more? Scroll on down! J.A. George was kind enough to write up a guest post, and there’s even a giveaway at the bottom just for you! Enjoy, and don’t forget to add Gifted to your reading list!
Hello!
My name is J.A. George and I am the author of Gifted – The Hayven Series. It took me a while to decide on what I would write for this guest blog post and I had many different ideas until I settled on perhaps the most obvious: writing.
Once I had decided to write Gifted and I had the basic plot written out, I couldn’t stop. It was like one idea followed another and then another followed that one and so on. I’ve always loved writing, I think every author says that, (or they should!) but before I decided to become an author, I didn’t see it as something I could do as a future career. Until one day, I sat on my bed, opened up a blank Word document and typed out a few lines. It was after those few lines that I brought myself a black leather journal and properly yet briefly planned out the storyline of all four books in the series. Since then, I’ve found it better to write before I type and Gifted has seen me go through five different notebooks.
My favourite thing about the entire writing process has to be the building of my characters because, despite how weird this may make me sound, when I write about a character, build their life, give them a family and friends, describe their features and explain their personalities, their likes and dislikes, it honestly is as if they come alive.
Hmmm, I feel like this is a good time to pop in an excerpt; I’ll go with the blurb:
“Why do birds fly? Why do lions hunt deer? Why does the sun shine and the moon glow? Because it must. I wish I could tell you why, I truly do. It mustn’t be easy, such pressure weighted on such young shoulders, but we do not always choose the lives we must lead.”
Avery Gray had no choice but to be different. She was not born that way; she was chosen.
After having met a special, silver-haired woman, and the handsome and enigmatic Theodore-James Connors, Ava finds herself in Hayven, a city separated from the rest of the world, where only gifters – ordinary people with extra-ordinary gifts – can go. With Theo, his friends, Hayven, her gift, and the ability to ‘travel’ in different colours, Ava must now accept that she can no longer classify herself as normal. As friendships develop, and Theo and Ava become closer than she anticipated, it turns out her new gifted life comes with a catch. With no choice or say on the matter, Ava must save a city she is starting to fall in love with; a city that has almost begun to feel like home.
As you could probably tell from the blurb, Ava is my main character, and possibly my favourite (honestly, it changes everyday). I wouldn’t say Ava is me, as I know some authors like to base their characters on themselves at times but I can safely say that isn’t the case with Ava and I. However, one thing I did with Ava that makes her similar to me is her reactions. I try to make my characters as realistic as possible so readers can imagine seeing these people walking down their streets on a regular Wednesday afternoon, so when it came to revealing life-changing news, I had the characters react in a way I believe I would. That’s my main aim for Gifted, for people like you (book lovers) to read it and think that what happens to Ava could happen to you (hopefully only the good bits concerning Ava’s life happen to you!) because if you think about it, nothing’s impossible, right?
I immensely enjoyed writing Gifted and I hope readers can sense that when reading the book. I loved building my characters and making up names for cities, but most of all, I Ioved bringing my little idea to life in the form of a book.
J.A. George
