Guest Post: Sherry Soule, Author of Beautifully Broken (Blog Tour)

Haunted Houses and Wraiths

By: Young Adult author, Sherry Soule

You hear footsteps upstairs when you know no one is up there. Doors slam unaccountably. Lights flicker. Unexplained shadows. The feeling of being watched…

These may be indications that your house is haunted. Ghosts are considered to be the life force that remains after a person or an animal loses its physical existence. The ability to perceive this disembodied soul is considered by some to be a gift (or curse) of Sight or other sense. Like being a Ghost Whisperer.

I’ve always had a morbid fascination with haunted houses. I love all things supernatural, and I knew the fiction market was flooded with vampires, fairies, and werewolves, so I decided to make the heroine of my debut novel a sassy witch who works in a haunted house filled with lost souls.

The story ARC of my paranormal novel took a different twist once I decided to add a vengeful wraith to the plot.

The word WRAITH, marked by the Oxford English Dictionary as being of obscure origin, is first attested in 1513, with the meaning of ghost or specter (that is, an apparition of a living or once-living being, possibly as a portent of death). In 18th century Scotland, it was applied to water spirits, and in England, it became used in a metaphoric sense to refer to wraith-like things, and to portents in general. It is thought that by seeing a wraith it is an omen of another person's imminent death.

In my novel, BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN, Ravenhurst Manor is a Gothic mansion overflowing with lost souls. Vengeance is a powerful motive for a wraith to hang around after death.

The premise of the series involves an adolescent girl named Shiloh Ravenwolf who is chosen by an ancient prophecy to have magickal powers to defeat wraiths and other evils in the cursed town of Whispering Pines. During the series, Shiloh discovers that, not only does she possess supernatural powers, she comes from a long line of heritage witches. The first in the line, Anabelle Brossard, prophesized that one day the Thirteenth Daughter would be produced from her lineage. A force of good, she would be gifted with magick to battle the forces of evil.

The central theme throughout the series is Shiloh’s struggle to balance a normal teenage life with her supernatural responsibilities. The burden of keeping her destiny a secret from the outside world causes repeated tensions in her friendships, school, and romantic relationships. Not to mention when the wraith starts stalking her in dangerous ways…

Title: Beautifully Broke (Spellbound, #1)
Author: Sherry Soule
Publisher: Moonlight Publishing, 328 Pages (June 30th 2011)

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a heritage witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. When she takes a summer job at Ravenhurst Manor, she discovers a ghost with an agenda. That’s where she meets the new town hottie, Trent Donovan, and immediately becomes spellbound by his charms.

Finally, Shiloh's met someone who is supercute and totally into her, but Trent may be the next victim on the supernatural hit list. And Shiloh is the only person with the power to save him. Complicated much?

It sucks to have a destiny, especially since Shiloh would rather spend her summer being a normal girl who worries about clothes and boys, not the supernatural. But she’s never been normal, and the stranger things become the more her own magical senses awaken.

With cryptic messages from a pesky wraith, she will begin to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist and decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the other teenagers in town.

Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance.

Where you can find author, Sherry Soule online:

Official website: http://sherrysoule.com/

Blog: http://www.sherrysoule.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/WriterSherry

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Sherry-Soule/100001711927128

goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11634793-beautifully-broken

Book Trailer:

Thanks so much for stopping in today Sherry, loved the guest post! I'm really looking forward to reading Beautifully Broken!

Be sure to check back in tomorrow for more of the Beautifully Broken Blog Tour and a chance to win a copy of the book!