Title: The Soulweaver
Author: Heidi Catherine
Series: The Soulweaver #1
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: January 19, 2018
She’s loved and lost him a hundred times across a thousand years. She can’t bear to lose him again.
Lin’s dreams are haunted by faces of people she’s never met. Unable to shake the feeling she’s lived before, she’s drawn to Reinier—a stranger whose soul is heartbreakingly familiar from a time gone by.
Reinier helps Lin unravel the mystery of her past life as Hannah, a girl who sacrificed herself for her true love, Matthew. As Lin falls hopelessly in love with Reinier, her memories of her life as Hannah sharpen and she finds herself unable to let go of Matthew.
With her heart torn in two, Lin must decide whether she should stand by Reinier’s side or track down Matthew and fight for his love. What she doesn’t know is that her decision will ripple across our troubled planet, affecting far more lives than just her own.
Winner of Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Pro award, The Soulweaver is a story that will change the way you see the world.
I began writing The Soulweaver the moment I finished reading The Hunger Games. The stories aren’t very alike, other than having a heroine torn between two heroes, but I was inspired to create my own world where I could put my characters in impossible situations and see how they react. The Hunger Games explores love in many forms, not just romantic. We see a girl risk her life for her sister, a mother who loves her daughters yet is unable to look after them, and a man driven to alcohol after the death of his family. These are the kinds of relationships that fascinate me. And who wouldn’t want to be as successful as Suzanne Collins!
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process (outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
It would have to be the actual writing part. I like to loosely plot a book, then start writing and see where my characters take me. Occasionally they’ve twisted the plot in a direction that I didn’t see coming and I’ve gasped out loud in total shock (before digging out my outline and adjusting it to fit in this new development). This would have to be one of the best and most addictive feelings in the world. It gives me goosebumps and when I re-read those scenes later I still get the same feeling of excitement rushing through me.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I tend to jump around genres. If a book sounds interesting, then I’ll read it. I love reading thrillers, but I also love reading romance novels and women’s fiction. If I find an author I like, I’ll buy every book they’ve written and work my way through them. I’ll read anything Gillian Flynn writes, but I’ll also devour books by Lisa Genova, Jodi Picoult or Stephenie Meyer. It’s more about the story than the genre.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
Liane Moriarty. She’s an incredible storyteller and another author whose books I’ve made my way through and loved them all. I’ve found her very inspiring. I don’t think having her name on my cover would hurt my sales either!
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
I wrote my first novel when I was in my twenties. It was a middle grade novel, which I mistakenly thought would be easy. Several rejections from publishers soon told me that it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Feeling discouraged, I abandoned writing until my thirties. This time I tried my hand at writing romance novels, again naively thinking it would be easy (I’m a slow learner!). After several more rejections from publishers, I finally decided to write the kind of book that I’d love to read. That was when I really fell in love with writing. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed doing anything as much as I enjoyed writing The Soulweaver. I’m in my forties now and actually glad it took me this long to get published. I really needed the life experience (and the writing experience!) to put together a story like this.
Heidi’s debut novel, The Soulweaver, won Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Pro award and will be released by Crooked Cat Books on 19 Jan 2018.
Not being able to decide if she prefers living in Melbourne or the Mornington Peninsula, Heidi shares her time between both places. She is similarly pulled in opposing directions by her two sons and two dogs, remaining thankful she only has one husband.
