Blog Tour/Giveaway: Affinity- Bird in a Gilded Cage by Mary E. Merrell

We are so excited to be kicking off the Affinity-Bird in a Gilded Cage Blog Tour! Joining us today is Mary E. Merrell, and she has been good enough to share a little about herself and her books. Her newest and first Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy, Affinity-Bird in a Gilded Cage is expected to be released October 24. Be sure to enter the giveaway for your chance to win a copy of Affinity-Bird in a Gilded Cage, provided by Mary E. Merrell. Good luck!

About the Author:

Mary E. Merrell lives in the Central Valley of California with her husband, two dogs and four cats. She has two grown sons, Everette Merrell and Richard Mickelson who is married to a great girl, Brooke. Mary has worked at various jobs, selling furniture, a meat company and a manufacturing company. It wasn’t until she started selling real estate that her Real Estate Paranormal Mystery Series came to life in that old, vacant home. She enjoys reading all types of genres and writes Paranormal Mysteries and YA Urban Fantasies. When she’s not writing, she’s working on her decorative planter business www.LivingCreations.org with her husband, gardening and playing soccer. Please visit her website to see what she’s working on next. www.maryemerrell.com, or contact her through Facebook and Twitter. 

Guest Post

What Makes a Story Great?

I’m a reader as well as a writer. In fact, and this may come as no surprise, I was an avid reader long before I became a serious writer. There are certain elements in a book
or movie that can make a story stand out for me. What I didn’t realize was that these intangibles were in my stories also. When I first started writing, I took a bunch of on-
line classes through Writer’s Digest. I found an awesome instructor named Bonnie Hearn Hill. In one of our sessions, she asked me what the life theme to my book was. Light bulb
moment. I’d never even thought about that, but sure enough weaved into my story was one of my life themes.

The life theme for The Real Estate Paranormal Mystery Series is that no one, no matter how small or inconsequential they may feel, have the power to change things for themselves and other people. I love exploring this with my character, Rosemary Fernandes. In Book 1, House Haunting, she is timid and scared but determined to make a living as a real estate agent while helping the spirits who call her. Not because someone’s making her do it, but because she has a strong sense of responsibility. She feels she must use her ability to help people. Dead or alive.

In Curve Appeal, Book 2 of The Paranormal Real Estate Mystery Series, our newbie real estate agent must not only deal with difficult clients and a stripper ghost, but she’s being stalked by a weirdo who thinks he’s a vampire. I love watching her grow from a timid mouse-like person to a strong individual willing to take on ghosts, serial killers, and stalkers. Or maybe he really is a vampire. Naw, they don’t exist, or do they? You’d have to read Curve Appeal to find out.

Coming out on October 24th is the first book in my Young Adult Urban Fantasy series, Affinity-Bird in a Gilded Cage. Our young hero Talon must learn how to use his ability with the crows to stop a rash of robberies in his uncle’s neighborhood. My life theme for Affinity, and it’s one of my favorites, is when two characters who really don’t like each other must come together for the greater good. The GREATER GOOD. Cue dramatic music, please. Corny, I know, but they set aside their differences and work together. Love that kind of story.

I enjoy putting the stories from my head to the written page or e-page as the case may be, using the same elements of story telling that make up my favorite books and movies. Please check out my website, www.maryemerrell.com or find me on twitter and facebook. I hope my stories resonate with your life themes as well. Thank you.

Mary Merrell

The crows followed Talon around everywhere. When he graduated from high school, Talon moved to Sacramento to work with his uncle, and the birds followed. He recognized the same straggly-tailed old crow that had followed him around since junior high. Iris Yorita lived in his old neighborhood in Modesto. Snakes were drawn to her as the big, black birds were drawn to him. She called their ability an AFFINITY and claimed it was a gift from God, and they should use it to help people. Talon thought she was out of her mind. How could a bunch of mangy crows or slimy snakes help anyone? 

When a thief targeted the people in his uncle's neighborhood, all fingers pointed at the new kid, Talon. He decided it was time to put this strange ability to the test. Find out who was robbing their neighbors and clear his name. As Talon learned to communicate with his crows, the thievery heated up. Something more sinister than mere robbery was going on, and it would take Talon, Iris, and their new found friends, to discover what really was going on in this up-scale neighborhood.

Follow the tour schedule:

October 18th @Page Turners
October 20th @The Ramblings of a Toddler's Mom
October 21st @Book Love 101
October 25th @Have Book Will Read
October 26th @A Book So Fathomless
October 27th @Reader Girls
October 29th @my name is: Sage
October 31st @Book Fidelity

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