Tour: Under the Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder (Interview)

I’d like to welcome author, Natalie J. Damschroder, to Reading Between the Wines! Natalie, please tell us about yourself.

Thanks so much, Crystal, for having me! I apologize for getting this back to you kind of late. I got caught up in all the yummy you’ve posted… *wicked grin*

 

In addition to writing high-stakes romantic adventure and paranormal romance, I work as a freelance editor and proofreader, and in a part-time day job as a chiropractic assistant. (As I get older, I appreciate daily the value of free adjustments! LOL) I’m also a married (for 19 fantastic years) mother of two girls, ages 16 and nearly 13. I call them the Anti-Teenagers because there’s no drama, no attitude, none of the clichés of teenagerdom. I don’t know what I did to get so lucky.

You have a new paranormal romance that just released, Under the Moon, can you please tell us about it?

Quinn Caldwell is one of those take-charge kind of women who won’t sit back and let things happen. In her youth, she used her powers to help women get out of abusive situations, something that tended to put her in danger, especially when it wasn’t a full moon and she couldn’t access her power source. The risks she took earned her a monthly protector, Nick Jarrett, whose dedication to his job means neither one of them will push for the real relationship they want. Now that a leech is attacking goddesses and stealing their power, she’s not going to sit around waiting for him to get to her. She’s going to stop him, and Nick, of course, will be there to help her.

What inspired you to write about Goddesses?

I love writing paranormal because…well, because I hate doing research. LOL I love reading paranormals, too, and I’ve read some that featured Greek gods and goddesses in modern times. It made me play the “what if” game—what if those gods and goddesses no longer existed, but their descendants did? Plus, it was something new. I didn’t want to venture into areas that other authors had made their own.

How many books are planned for the Goddess Rising series?

Goddesses Rising will be a trilogy. Heavy Metal, book 2, features a heroine who never knew she was a goddess, and Quinn’s assistant, Sam. Sunroper is the third book in the trilogy, and I’m working on that one now.

Will they all follow core group of characters from Under the Moon or will they each feature different characters and stories?

Quinn and Nick feature prominently in Heavy Metal, which deals with some issues that were set up in Under the Moon, but the core story is Sam and Riley’s. I’m not sure yet how much those four will be featured in Sunroper, but it’s a close-knit world, so they’ll be around. :)

There is a bit of a love triangle in Under the Moon between Quinn, Sam and Nick; was this love triangle difficult to write and do you enjoy reading about them yourself?

Originally, the love triangle was a joy to write, and the whole book flowed for me like water. The most fun I’ve ever had writing. :) That triangle changed a lot during revisions, but the core relationships are the same, and they’re my favorite part of the trilogy. I had two inspirations for the guys: the relationship between the Winchester brothers on the TV show Supernatural, and books that have triangles where one guy is an obvious jerk, or at least very wrong for the heroine. Again, playing what if: What if there were two guys in the heroine’s life, and they were BOTH awesome? When I was writing the first draft, I honestly didn’t know which guy she should wind up with, because I love them both so much.

When did your interest in writing start?

I guess as soon as I could form letters. I have a book titled “My Very Own Reading Book” with stories I wrote when I was 5 or 6. You can see a progression in my penmanship and story sophistication. :) In high school, I was praised for my writing ability, but I HATED writing. Well, who’d like it when you had to write about colonial food and systemic lupus erythematosus? But in college, I won an award and started to think maybe working with words was my thing. I was always a more-than-avid reader, so writing fiction came naturally. Once we bought a computer. I wasn’t doing it longhand! LOL

Was there anyone in particular who inspired you?

My mother, first and foremost. She’d tried her hand at fiction, and made a career out of writing nonfiction. She was nominated for Copyeditor of the Year in our region, and after years of concentrating on writing commercials for local businesses and stuff like that, she told me she regretted not pursuing the fiction, especially when she realized the letter Silhouette had sent her decades before had been a revise and resubmit, not a rejection.

Over all the years I’ve been a writer, she supported me unconditionally (even though she did tell me she didn’t like my sex scenes LOL). She’s a main reason I kept going when it was tough to do so.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I hate this question, because there are so many! LOL Jim Butcher, Suzanne Brockmann, JD Robb, Megan Hart, Misty Simon, Jody Wallace, MJ Fredrick, Julie James, Roxanne St. Clair, Kristan Higgins, Louisa Edwards, Darynda Jones…I can keep going indefinitely.

Can you tell us a bit about your other works?

I started out writing contemporary romance and dabbled in short erotic romance before I found my niche in romantic adventure. Right now I’m publishing in two areas. Entangled Publishing has my Goddesses Rising series, of course, and I’m also publishing non-paranormal romantic adventure with Carina Press. So far I have two books out with them. Fight or Flight (mother on the run to keep her daughter safe from an unknown enemy) is a finalist in the EPIC Awards, Romantic Suspense category, and Behind the Scenes (bodyguard falling for her movie star protectee, putting him in the line of fire) just came out this fall. The next book, Acceptable Risks, features a security expert falling in love with his boss’s daughter while they search for her kidnapped father. 

Thanks so much for stopping by Natalie! Here's a little bit more about Under the Moon...

Their power gives them strength…and makes them targets. Quinn Caldwell is the epitome of a modern goddess. Her power source is the moon, her abilities restricted only by physical resources and lunar phase. She runs a consulting business and her father’s bar, serves on the board of the ancient Society for Goddess Education and Defense, and yearns for Nick Jarrett, professional goddess protector and the soul mate she can never have. But someone has developed the rare and difficult ability to drain a goddess of her powers, and Quinn is a target. With the world thinking Nick has gone rogue (whatever that means) and that Quinn is influenced by “family ties” she didn’t know she had, keeping themselves safe while working to find the enemy proves harder each day. But not as hard as denying their hearts…

 Available at Amazon Paperback, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble

Read the First Chapter!

Learn more about Natalie at her website, www.nataliedamschroder.com, follow her on Twitter @NJDamschroder, or friend her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nataliedamschroder