Title: The Summer Marked
Author: Rebekah L Purdy
Series: The Winter People #2
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Summary:The sequel to the chilling Winter People returns to the world of Faerie, and is a romantic and enchanting follow-up.
Salome left humankind behind to be with her boyfriend, Gareth, in the Kingdom of Summer. But now forces of darkness are rising. Her happily-ever-after is coming apart, and the Kingdom is on the brink of war.
Newly-single Kadie Byers is on her way home for Thanksgiving, imagining a visit filled with hot chocolate, a hot guy for a little rebound action, and some girl time with her bestie, Salome. Except she receives a message from Salome with two important words: PLEASE HURRY.
When Kadie rushes to help Salome, she’s ripped from the human world and pulled into the kingdoms of Faerie, where she’s shocked to learn that Salome’s monsters are real, and that she’s now at the mercy of one extremely vengeful Winter Queen…
Now both Salome and Kadie must find a way to survive the deadly chaos…or lose themselves to Winter’s deadly, icy grasp.
Bubbles and foam rose from the river floor as if there was an eruption below. Water sprayed my left cheek. A gurgled snort sounded beside us as a great black horse rose from the depths, river-weed tangled in its mane. This was no ordinary horse. It was a Kelpie. It turned to face me, eyes blazing like hot coals. The beast’s lips peeled back to reveal blood covered teeth. Crap. If I could reach the saddlebags, then maybe I could pull out the sword Gareth had gotten for me. I leaned to the side, reaching for the buckles. Moving at this pace and bouncing around, I couldn’t get hold of it.
Come on.
Adaba jerked to the side in an attempt to get to the shore. But it was too late. In one swift movement, the Kelpie latched onto my arm.
“No!” Pain shot through me like a bullet. I fought to stay in the saddle. My horse kicked out his hind legs, catching the Kelpie in the side. Still the creature wouldn’t release me.
Instead, it tugged harder ripping me halfway off my saddle. My knees tightened around Adaba’s sides, my fingers loosened as water slickened what grip I had. The Kelpie’s teeth sunk deeper into my arm. My hands slipped; my hold lost. Horror washed over me when I plunged into the dark, icy depths of the river. The coldness stung my skin. The creature dragged me deeper, and I kicked my legs, thrashing to free myself from it. Above me, all I saw were the distorted images of the sky as it faded from sight.
I had a blast writing The Summer Marked (book two in the Winter People series), but mostly because I got to create the story from two different characters’ points of view. Kadie and Salome are SUCH different people. Kadie is more bad ass and hardcore, where Salome, who can be tough if she needs to, is a more “soft” kind of character. She kind of wears her heart on her sleeve and cares SO much about people. So it was nice being able to see how each character reacted to their environments.
But these two girls are both in very different types of places within Faerie. Kadie has been dropped right into something out of a horror flick or a fairytale gone wrong. Winter is filled with so much darkness, violence, and nightmarish stuff—a very macabre place. It was tough to write Kadie’s character, because we see how all this evilness is starting to break her down. She’s struggling to remain strong and protect her friend at all costs. But her whole situation seems helpless. It’s like every ray of hope that she has just keeps getting sucked away.
Salome, on the other hand is in Summer. When I was creating Summer all that kept popping into my head was something out of Tolkien novel, kind of like Rivendell. Summer is a HUGE contrast from Winter. It’s beautiful, with fountains, waterfalls, flowers, trees, castles etc. But underneath all the beauty there is a danger for Salome as well—and she learns quickly that not everything that’s “pretty” is nice. She has her own battles to fight, especially since not all the Fae like humans. She trying to find her place in a world where she really doesn’t totally belong or fit into. I had a different kind of fun writing her character. I liked showing her contrast from Kadie. How she had her own “horrors” and political issues she was dealing with. But also showing her grow more of a backbone and into her own so to speak.
The great thing about duo povs is being able to give the reader a bigger look at the setting and characters your writing about. To give them an idea of things outside just the main protagonist’s thoughts. I seriously love this book and hope the readers do as well.
Rebekah was born and raised in Michigan where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. She’s lived in Michigan most of her life other than the few years she spent in the U.S. Army. At which time she got a chance to experience Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, and California. Rebekah has a business degree from University of Phoenix and currently works full time for the court system. In her free time she writes YA stories, anything from YA Fantasy to YA Contemporary Romance. Rebekah also has a big family (6 kids) she likes to consider her family as the modern day Brady Bunch complete with crazy road trips and game nights. When not hiding at her computer, Rebekah enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games, traveling, and hanging out with her family and gazillion pets.
KOBO / iTUNES / GOODREADS TBR
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