Guest Blog & Giveaway with Hailey Edwards

Dream Bigger
      I have been writing for a few years now and a lot has changed during that time. I write faster and cleaner drafts, I have a better handle on plot before jumping into a project with both feet, and I have a stronger sense of self now than I did back then. But through it all, one truth still remains.
      I dream big.
      I used to joke that my ideas were bigger than I was. Honestly, when I sit down to start a new project and see a blinking cursor taunt me from a blank page I still get the same butterfly feeling.
      In the end, I fall back on my favorite Nora Roberts quote: “You can't edit a blank page.”
      Thus fortified, I set out to write the best book I can at that exact moment in time.
      My new release, Soul Weaver, is a book I wrote a few years ago, right after Everlong. It was a big dream of mine to see that book published because it represents, to me, a turning point in the way I think about plotting and how I write books.
      For that novel, I needed a functioning society in place in Heaven, in Hell, and on Earth. Worldbuilding is my favorite part of any new project, so I was excited to bring my version of Hell to life. Before I started, I knew the hero would make or break this book because this series centers around a group of fallen angels turned soul harvesters. Their job is collecting souls marked for execution and depositing them into soul pits in Hell’s outlands.
      The hero in Soul Weaver, Nathaniel Berwyn, is not a soul harvester like his fallen brethren. He is the Weaver of Souls. What that means is he takes fresh souls the harvesters have collected, and uses his spinning wheel and loom to weave soul cloth. Think black silk with a greasy sheen.
      Soul cloth is what Nathaniel uses to upholster the wings of the soul harvesters, who lost their feathers, and their ability to fly, when they fell from Heaven. The black wings give the harvesters a demonic appearance, which terrifies the heroine, Chloe, when she meets one for the first time.
      Chloe is agoraphobic and suffers from panic attacks. I have never read a heroine quite like her, which might explain why her side of the story fascinated me. Watching her open up and learn to trust Nathaniel with her heart (and soul) was bittersweet.
      Though I have said Nathaniel’s role was the more critical one, it’s because angelic society is all male, and it is his world that collides with Chloe’s, and his responsibilities that cause chaos in her orderly life. But Chloe’s transition from living alone with her fear to inviting Nathaniel in her life and learning how to stand up for herself made her half of the story just as compelling to write as Nathaniel’s, if in a different way. That’s the beauty of their relationship—opposites attracting.
      So while I nibbled my fingernails and wondered how these two would end up with a happily ever after, I think the answer must be that while I was dreaming big, they were dreaming bigger.

SOUL WEAVER

By Hailey Edwards

Out Now!


 Since the accident that nearly took her life, Chloe suffers from acute agoraphobia. Living alone above her family’s bookstore, she spends restless nights terrified by strange visions . . . until a mysterious stranger appears and offers her salvation. Chloe is drawn to the ethereal, gorgeous Nathaniel—but her haunted soul warns her there is more to him than meets the eye.

An archangel who roams Earth collecting souls of the newly departed, Nathanial is the sole witness to the accident that should have taken Chloe’s life. Seduced by the purity of her soul, he defies Providence by saving her life. But his attempt at kindness marks Chloe for damnation, and makes her an unwitting pawn in a game of unholy ambition. Now together they must fight the demons of Hell itself—for a love that defies the boundaries of Heaven and Earth.

Author Links:

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Soul Weaver can be purchased at these retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

GIVEAWAY 

Share a dream of yours with me and you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card plus your choice of any Samhain title from my backlist.  Make sure to leave your email address in your comment. Open to everyone. The winner will be announced on August 15th. Good Luck!