Hey all, welcome to our stop on the Forbidden bog tour. I cannot wait till I'm able to buy this beauty in Australia, was so upset knowing it's not available over here but, I'll be a patient little bookworm lol.
Before you proceed to the author interview, excerpt and giveaway lets just stop for a minute to appreciate such a gorgeous cover.......................
Okay, now you may continue your scroll. ^_^
Enjoy! ^_^
Forbidden
by Kimberley Griffiths Little
In the unforgiving Mesopotamian desert where Jayden’s tribe lives, betrothal celebrations abound, and tonight it is Jayden’s turn to be honored. But while this union with Horeb, the son of her tribe’s leader, will bring a life of riches and restore her family’s position within the tribe, it will come at the price of Jayden’s heart.
Then a shadowy boy from the Southern Lands appears. Handsome and mysterious, Kadesh fills Jayden’s heart with a passion she never knew possible. But with Horeb’s increasingly violent threats haunting Jayden’s every move, she knows she must find a way to escape—or die trying.
With a forbidden romance blossoming in her heart and her family’s survival on the line, Jayden must embark on a deadly journey to save the ones she loves—and find a true love for herself.
Set against the brilliant backdrop of the sprawling desert, the story of Jayden and Kadesh will leave readers absolutely breathless as they defy the odds and risk it all to be together.
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BOOK TRAILER
Praise for Forbidden
*STARRED* Review, ALA BOOKLIST
". . . At its core, this is a romance, with all the push and pull that goes along with impossible love, and Little elevates the story by creating a perilous landscape, both outward and inward, as Jayden must deal with the hardship of desert life as well as her own desires."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
"This is a fast-paced, entertaining choice which will appeal to fans of historical fiction and romance."
"Lush, lyrical, romantic. Forbidden transports readers into a vividly imagined place and time."
--Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author
"The harsh beauty of the deserts of ancient Mesopotamia come to life in Forbidden, with beautiful descriptions that will make you crave water and check for sand in your clothes. Your heart will break as you root for Jayden to triumph over the many struggles that threaten to tear her world apart, and the ending will leave you thirsting for more!"
--Sara B. Larson, author of Defy
Interview with Kimberly Little
What or who inspired you to become a writer?
Even as old as I am, I still vividly remember learning how to read. When all those black marks on the page turned into words and sentences, I was off and running! Books were like magic to me; they opened up the world; other places, other time periods, the magic of getting inside someone else’s head and living their life, thinking their thoughts, experiencing their adventures and heartaches and triumphs. Laughing, crying as I swept away inside the story. Books truly became my best friends.
Which means I got bit with the bug to write—to try to create that magic—very early in life. I scribbled (very bad) stories in elementary school, and very dramatic gothic romances in junior high that I shared with my girlfriends. :-)
Who is your favourite Author & what is it that really strikes you about their work?
This is an impossible question! I have so many favorites and admire different things about their work. I’ll mention my new favorite Australian author: Liane Moriarty. I recently read BIG LITTLE SECRETS. Liane has an enormous talent for creating vivid and realistic characters. You swear they live next door to you—that they really exist. The dialogue and internal monologue is just SO REAL.
What was the hardest part about writing your book?
Oh, practically everything! LOL! Getting the characters right, the romance, the setting, the research—it all takes an enormous amount of time. But it was a true labor of love. I adore this time period and setting and fell in love with my characters and their hurts and pains and triumphs. Even when a lot of bad things happened to my main character, Jayden.
That’s why we must write the books we’re *called* to write. The stories that WE are passionate about and interested. Because we’re going to spend an awful lot of time in that world and trying to “get it right”.
What was your favourite chapter to write and why?
Jayden and Kadesh’s first kiss! Actually, all of their encounters were special and emotionally moving—and they got revised and tweaked to death!
What was the most surprising things you’ve learned in writing your book?
Writing is hard. Writing is fulfilling. Writing is a way to learn more about yourself; your beliefs, values, and passions. Family and faith are extremely important to me and it has taken several published books to realize that those themes crop up in my stories; not just FORBIDDEN, but my middle-grade novels with Scholastic, too. The MG are magical realism with mystery, suspense, ghosts, but the *heart* of the story is about a family in crisis and how they pull together and love each other despite their tragedies and troubles.
Do you ever experience writer’s block?
I have a lot of ideas so that’s not usually a big problem. Writer’s block for me is when I still have pieces of the character or plot holes to fill or fix within a story I’m already writing. Sometimes it can take days or weeks to figure out. But a good brainstorming session with my best writing partner, Carolee Dean, can work wonders!
What is the last book you read?
DROWNED by Nichola Reilly, YA
MORTAL HEARTS by Robin LaFevers
THE SECRET ROOMS by Catherine Bailey, Adult
On my nightstand:
THE INFINITE SEA by Rick Yancy, YA
THE MAP TO EVERYWHERE by Carrie Ryan, MG
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
READ. Play the piano. Sing in choirs. Bake massive amount of goodies; cookies, brownies, cinnamon roll—which puts on a massive amount of pounds, unfortunately! Lunches with writer friends keep me sane.
Q10. Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Since I’m a belly dancer, too, I could draw on my experiences and feelings while writing the dancing scenes. It was the springboard for writing the book, actually. I’d always been fascinated by the ancient dance and wanted to bring it to life in a book, although I didn’t start taking classes myself until I was forty years old! It is SO MUCH FUN. And beautiful. And sensuous. And lovely. And emotional.
I don’t think that I set out to draw upon real life when I write, but writers certainly draw on their emotions while bringing characters and the story to life.
If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
Meryl Streep. She’s simply brilliant.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Read a lot, write a lot, research topics and places that fascinate you, and find other writers and friends to buoy each other up during the journey.
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Neurotic, but Kind and Thoughtful
What’s one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?
I’ve stayed in a haunted tower room at a castle in Scotland. And I can turn my eyelids inside out. Used to do it as a kid all the time. Who knows why?!
What Scares you the most and why?
Drowning.
When was the last time you cried over a book?
Hmm, nothing is coming to mind recently, although lots of books will tug at my heart or make my eyes burn a little. Probably the most heart-wrenching book of the past year or two was THE HUSBAND’S SECRET. Simply tore my heart into pieces for so many of the characters.
And then there’s Book 2 of BANISHED of my FORBIDDEN trilogy . . . I cried near the end while drafting last spring. I usually do at some point while working on a book—and I think that’s a good sign because it tells me that I’ve included emotion and *heart*--even if I’m pulling my hair out while trying to get the story down on my computer screen.
Tell us about your first kiss?
Ohmygosh, do I have to think about that?! It was nerve-racking and sloppy. Not what I expected, actually . . . But later, something compelled me to go back for more . . .
Some quick questions..
Light or Dark chocolate?
Light! With caramel and pecans . . .
Sunrise or Sunset?
Sunset
Dogs or Cats?
Cats. My little calico is in my lap even now . . .
Tea or Coffee?
Neither. Dr Pepper. :-)
Favorite Colour?
PURPLE! I’m such a huge purple girl.
Favourite Disney movie?
Cinderella
Name 5 of your fictional crushes as of right now?
Aragorn. Aragorn. Aragorn. Aragorn. Aragorn. Well, okay, you can add Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. Oh, and Rhett Butler. Um, and Gerard Butler as the Phantom.
I’m more into Classic heroes rather than fictional characters like Edward or Peeta. :-)
EXCERPT
The night was starkly beautiful under a canopy of jeweled stars. I savored my moments of freedom, which were marred by the realization that it was dripping away day by day.
The sizzle of coffee beans roasting in the skillet floated across the still air. Cups clinked on a tray as my father passed them around the circle. The aroma of roasted brew spiced with cardamom seeped into the night.
As I tried to slip past, Horeb’s eyes caught mine. Firelight flickered over his face, outlining his jaw and wind-tangled black hair. He was devastatingly handsome just as all the girls said, but his lips curled into a smile that sent shudders down my spine.
Horeb’s glance lingered on my body, settling not on my face, but lower, as if he was undressing me right there on the dirt path.
His eyes locking onto mine, Horeb rose from the circle of men. I jerked around, breaking off his stare. Walking faster, I turned the corner of the tent just as his arm reached out to stop me.
“So, little cousin,” Horeb said. “Have you been enjoying the betrothal ceremony? Tell me, are the women telling stories of marital relations?”
My breath caught like a thorn in my throat. The women’s ceremonies were not discussed with any male—only inside the privacy of a marriage bed.
“You shouldn’t be saying these things to me,” I said.
Running his fingers down my arm, Horeb continued to study me. “There are many things I’d like to say to you, Jayden. Do to you.”
There used to be a time when my throat pounded every time Horeb turned my direction. A time when he was growing into those big, dark eyes and that hard, muscular body. Moments when I wanted to touch his thick, black hair, or run my finger along his jaw to discover what a boy’s skin felt like with a newly growing beard. But now that I was sixteen, and he twenty, his stares made me uneasy. My heart still pounded, but not from love. And I wasn’t sure what it was or what to call it.
Author Kimberley Griffiths Little
Award-winning author Kimberley Griffiths Little was born in San Francisco, but now lives in New Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande with her husband and their three sons. Her middle-grade novels, When the Butterflies Came, The Last Snake Runner, The Healing Spell, and Circle of Secrets, have been praised as “fast-paced and dramatic,” with “beautifully realized settings.” Kimberley adores anything old and musty with a secret story to tell. She’s stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland; sailed the Seine in Paris; ridden a camel in Petra, Jordan; shopped the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul; and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.
Author Links
Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 1/4/15
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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