Halloween Event: Angels - Felicity Heaton (Guest Post & Giveaway)

  Hello again lovely readers, it's time for the second half of our Angel feature for 'Creatures that go Bump In the Night!' I'm very happy to welcome author Felicity Heaton over!

Thank you for having me here today to talk about my angels and my angel romance series, Her Angel.

Before I start talking about the series and the angels, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Felicity Heaton and I write paranormal romances under that name and also as F E Heaton. I’ve been writing since 2005 and have been an indie author since 2006. During that time, I have written all of the main species covered in paranormal romance books. I have explored vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters, even witches and demons. Sometimes a writer needs a new challenge. Angels were that challenge for me and since writing the first book in the Her Angel series in summer 2010, I have added another three to the series, the most recent being my new release, Her Guardian Angel, which is also the first novel-length book in the series.

What makes an author decide to venture into the world of angels?

For me, it was more than just the challenge of writing a new species. It was the chance to take on a whole new world and see what I could do with it. I love to write species my way, with my own take on things that gives readers something a little different. I had heard that people were writing angels but that they were focusing mostly on fallen angels. I didn’t want that angle for my series. I found it far more interesting to explore what angels who were still in the service of a higher power would be like. That way I could create angels with incredible powers, a world where there is no clear cut good and evil, and could write about my favourite type of love—the forbidden dangerous sort.

Here was my chance to see if feathers could be just as sexy as fangs, and I decided to take it.

Most of the angels involved in my Her Angel series aren’t fallen. While I love the idea of the lost-soul angel who has fallen and then falls in a different way for a mortal, it isn’t complicated enough for me. I like my love to be really forbidden, and there’s nothing more forbidden than a fully-fledged angel falling for a mortal. Unless you count an angel falling in love with a demon and I even wrote that angle in Her Warrior Angel.

I had a great time exploring angels and the world that I was creating. I researched and dreamt up different divisions of angels, giving them different responsibilities and a different look to distinguish them from each other. I thought about what my angels would be like and loved the idea of some of them being fun and frivolous, but having to deal with all mortals believing they were saintly and asexual, which they’re very definitely not. Of course, their lives aren’t all about fun. They have serious duties to perform and sometimes that proves dangerous for all involved. After I had considered the heroes in the series, I thought about how the heroines would react to them. All of the heroines are very different. Two already know that angels exist. The others are mortal and get the shock of their lives when their hero reveals that he’s an angel. All of them share common doubts though. Surely the hero can’t fall for them? Surely it’s a sin to be with an angel? I wanted the hero to have to work to prove that a relationship with them isn’t forbidden or a sin, except in the case of Her Warrior Angel where it really is very forbidden! In that book, the hero has to work to prove that he doesn’t care what the rules say, because he’s crazy about the heroine.

I also thought about the worlds of Heaven and Hell. Like I said earlier, there is no clear cut good and evil in the series and that really begins to show in Her Guardian Angel, which is the first novel in the series, but the fourth book. There are things I revealed in that story that really change the whole series and give readers a deeper understanding about the power struggle between the two major players and the lengths they’ll go to in order to be the victor, and gives them a taste of what is to come in the series.

The last thing I considered was their loyalty to their world and their duties. In all of the stories, I have explored how that loyalty can cause conflict within them, leaving them torn between it and the heroine. There is only one true way for them to be with the heroine, without asking her to go to Hell and back, which is by surrendering their wings and immortality. That’s a tough decision for an angel to make, especially when they love flying so much. The series focuses on the sacrifice that the hero might have to make in order to win the heroine’s heart and love, as well as the great trials that the heroine might face to save her hero the pain of having to sacrifice his wings.

It’s one of the ultimate forbidden loves in my eyes. Angels and mortals (or demons!). Two very separate worlds with very different rules. Love has a way of overlooking such things though and teaching us to look beyond what people tell us to see, to what we feel in our hearts, and that’s what the Her Angel series is all about.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief introduction to my Her Angel series and that it has intrigued you enough that you want to find out more about the series and the books.

Here’s a little more about the latest book in the series. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the others. This story can be read out of order with them without any problem at all.

Stories in the Her Angel series are: Her Dark Angel, Her Fallen Angel, Her Warrior Angel, and Her Guardian Angel. Excerpts from the stories and links to where they are available in e-book and paperback can be found at my website.

Her Guardian Angel

A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series. A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia’s trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth. Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn’t turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there’s more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she’s falling in love with. On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus’s angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever. A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.

Read the official excerpt on my website

Her Guardian Angel is currently available in e-book direct from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Sony. It’s also available as a paperback from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Barnes & Noble, and will soon be available from other sites.

~*GIVEAWAY*~

Want a chance to read Felicity's newest release in Her Angel series, Her Guardian Angel?

Well, she is kindly giving away one digital copy! Open Internationally. To enter, just leave a comment on this post answering this question: Do you think feathers are just as sexy as fangs?

Then fill out the rafflecopter below! You can check out Shadow's 5 wine glass review of this novel *here*!