Take it away, Naomi.
****
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Usually if I want to set a story somewhere more exotic than
Cambridge, I need to spend a lot of time on Wikipedia and looking at pictures
on Google. I got lucky when I decided to write a book set in Paris, because it
just so happened that in January 2010 my then-boyfriend (now fiance) decided to
take me there.
We were staying in a beautiful hotel in Montmartre,
practically on the doorstep of the Moulin Rouge. It's a colourful, crazy part
of Paris and I knew immediately this was where Ayla and Shannon would be
staying in BLOOD HUNT. The vibrancy and variety of the district, housing
everything from upscale bistros to gloriously tacky sex shops, was the perfect
setting for my urban wolves to take on the mysterious, deadly villain of the
book.
I wanted to really capture the spirit of the area in BLOOD
HUNT, but I also wanted to make this Ayla's experience of Paris, not mine. So
whilst I was delighted to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night and see
Paris spread out before me from a great (great) height, Ayla was less keen –
wolves and heights don't always mix! And whilst Ayla spent a lot of time
exploring the Parisian catacombs, it was somewhere I never visited (so yes, I
did have to spend some time on Wikipedia for this book).
The one experience we did share was a visit to the top of
the Arc de Triomphe, despite Ayla's fear of heights. I'll always have a very
special place in my heart for the Arc, as this is where my boyfriend took me to
propose, and a more perfect setting you can't imagine (we'll skim over the part
where I threw up, that's another story and kind of detracts from the romance).
Ayla and Shannon don't get engaged at the top of the Arc, but I tried to convey
the sense of wonder I felt staring out over Paris that night and let my characters
feel it too. Hopefully it worked and when you read the book, you'll feel just
the same way.
Now, if anyone wants to take me to New Orleans, Mexio, or
Tokyo in the name of "research," please let me know...
Blood Hunt
Ayla Hammond is taking on Paris.
Hoping for a romantic getaway in the City of Lights with her girlfriend, Shannon, she finds a city under the dark thrall of Le Monstre.
Getting caught up in mystery and murder was the last thing Ayla and Shannon expected to find in the City of Love, but as the body count grows and tension rises between Parisian werewolves and humans they find themselves stalked by an unknown terror.
What is Le Monstre and why does it make Ayla's wolf want to turn tail and run? Can it be stopped before they become its next victims?
Hoping for a romantic getaway in the City of Lights with her girlfriend, Shannon, she finds a city under the dark thrall of Le Monstre.
Getting caught up in mystery and murder was the last thing Ayla and Shannon expected to find in the City of Love, but as the body count grows and tension rises between Parisian werewolves and humans they find themselves stalked by an unknown terror.
What is Le Monstre and why does it make Ayla's wolf want to turn tail and run? Can it be stopped before they become its next victims?
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Naomi Clark
Naomi Clark lives in Cambridge and is a mild-mannered office worker by day, but a slightly crazed writer by night. She has a perfectly healthy obsession with giant sea creatures and a preference for vodka-based cocktails. When she's not writing, Naomi is probably either reading or watching 80s cartoon shows, and sometimes she manages to do all three at once.
Wow I love the look of this book!
ReplyDeleteAnd awh you were proposed to on top of the Arc!! How very sweet :)