Guest Post & Giveaway: Alexia Reed

UFI welcomes Alexia Reed Author of Hunting the Shadows. Thanks for Joining us!!

What it Means to be Strong

   There are many breeds of heroines—those created strong and kick-ass from page one and then the others who grow as the story progresses. While I do enjoy a heroine who is kick-ass and can handle herself from the first moment we catch a glimpse of her, I love the ones who are grow to be strong.

   I don’t mean the kind who won’t fight for what she believes in or feels sorry for herself when things get rough for the entire book. I mean someone who isn’t highly trained in fighting or completely secure in standing up for herself but learns to be. Someone who isn’t fine with taking the life of another, even when threatened.

   Characters who grow into themselves, who learn who they are. These are the stories that I love the most.

   With Amy, I went back and forth in the various versions I’d written. In the earlier ones, she was a lot more worldly. She lived a normal life then was dragged into the chaos of the Centre. She knew who she was in those old versions. This didn’t resonate with me. She was fine, but there wasn’t anything that made me connect. So I rewrote her to have been part of the Centre the whole time and at the same time, an outsider.

   I knew Amy wouldn’t have the training the others had. It’s just not realistic. A telepathic-empath with no natural mental shields is never going to be able to walk outside and keep her sanity. I wanted her to be an outcast, to learn as the story progressed with the reader.

   I wanted Amy to keep growing, not just in Hunting the Shadows, but every future book. It could be easy to have her know everything, but I didn’t feel that would be effective.  Being a telepath, she could have easily gone into the head of J.C. and simply ‘known’ everything. I wanted to give her barriers and a reason to grow.

   And when things get rocky, she doesn’t give up. Even when no one will believe her about the killer and she’s sedated, she keeps trying to get through to someone, anyone, psychically. She doesn’t stop fighting, despite her situation.

Do you look for a certain kind of heroine when you read? Who do you feel you connect more to…or want to?

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Blurb: Amy has spent her life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she longs for a normal life. A life where being around people doesn't overload her sensitive telepathic mind. A life where she can't see through the eyes of a murderer as he hunts down his next victim...

J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, but when his conscience got the better of him, he tried to destroy his work and free his subjects—and was imprisoned as a traitor. To save himself and prevent more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls of the facility. But his only leads come from a woman whose thoughts have invaded his mind...

Finally out of the psych ward, Amy joins forces with J.C. to find the killer before he closes in on them. Can their growing attraction withstand the truths they uncover?

You can purchase Hunting the Shadows through the Carina Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

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While in reality Alexia Reed resides in Ontario, she likes to say that she lives in her own little world. A lover of all things scientific and the paranormal, Alexia uses her books as a way to straddle the realms of fact and fiction—and always with a healthy dose of romance thrown in.

When not writing and reading, Alexia paints, and  is the caretaker to two neurotic cats.

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Find Alexia and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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Hunting the Shadows
Shadow Ops Project #1
May 7 2012

 Amy has spent her life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she longs for a normal life. A life where being around people doesn't overload her sensitive telepathic mind. A life where she can't see through the eyes of a murderer as he hunts down his next victim...

J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, but when his conscience got the better of him, he tried to destroy his work and free his subjects—and was imprisoned as a traitor. To save himself and prevent more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls of the facility. But his only leads come from a woman whose thoughts have invaded his mind...

Finally out of the psych ward, Amy joins forces with J.C. to find the killer before he closes in on them. Can their growing attraction withstand the truths they uncover?

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