New Release Today Winging It by Deborah Cooke

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Winging It

Hi Deb and thanks for once again speaking with the B&N.com Fiction forum.

Hi Deb. Thanks for inviting me again! It’s always fun to drop by here - you’re a good hostess and offer good company too. :-)

Winging it is your second novel in your YA series, the Dragon Diaries.

Do you have to prepare yourself in anyway to write your YA series, or does it just come natural?

I think that any books (or series of books) fall more quickly from my fingertips once I can hear the character’s voice clearly. In this case, the entire trilogy is Zoë’s story, so I chose to write in first person. Zoë has a strong voice (what else would we expect from a teenage dragon girl?) so I find that I can move into her world and her thoughts quite easily.

When I started the second book, I read the first book again, which put me right in the moment with her. The same strategy worked for book #3. Zoë has been very easy to work with - although I’m not sure she’s been so easy to live with!

That’s partly because Zoë has a very large character arc over these three books - the trilogy is a coming of age story, and Zoë has more territory to cover than most 15 or 16 year old girls. She not only is a dragon shape shifter coming into her powers, but she’s the only female dragon shifter, which makes her the Wyvern of her kind. The Wyvern has additional powers (Zoë calls it the Wyvern Bonus Pack) which she has to discover within herself and master, all while leading the fight against a new threat to dragons everywhere. she has to prove herself on every front, more or less simultaneously. That gave me a lot of story and angst to work with. I suspect it gave her parents (Eileen and Erik) a special kind of torment.

Do you base these characters on anyone you know?

Not specifically. I do know a lot of teenagers and I remember being one. I think there’s a lot of universality in that experience and its intensity, which might be why so many people like to read coming of age stories. Even long after we’ve survived those years, we remember the awkwardness and uncertainty, the powerful emotions and newfound confidence. Everything is over the top, which is kind of fun to write.

Do you have a set number of novels for this series?

There are three books in the Dragon Diaries trilogy: FLYING BLIND, WINGING IT and BLAZING THE TRAIL, which will be out next June. Together they tell Zoë’s story.

When is your next adult Dragon Shape Shifter novel out, and who is having his Firestorm?

My next release in the Dragonfire series of paranormal romances is FLASHFIRE and it will be out in January. (It has a fabulous cover.) It is the seventh Dragonfire novel and this one stars Lorenzo. I really like Lorenzo. He’s a stage illusionist, a very flashy and confident guy. He’s a dragon shifter but doesn’t want to be. He’s deliberately chosen to stay away from his fellow shifters, and in fact, he has a plan to ditch his dragon nature forever and start over again as a plain old human. This disappearing act will be the culminating moment of his current career.

But Lorenzo isn’t counting on his firestorm, much less on the persistence and allure of Cassie Redmond. She’s a celebrity photographer with a passion for documenting the truth, and she knows there’s more to Lorenzo than meets the eye. Lorenzo really finds his match with her and I enjoyed watching this passionate pair sort out the possibilities for the future - and decide how much each of them will risk. Of course, all the other dragons, good and bad, arrive to meddle in Lorenzo’s firestorm and push their respective agendas. There’s lots of action in this one and a bunch of dragon fights. I’m really happy with this book and hope readers enjoy it too.

Will you be having any B&N signings, I’m sure some of the readers here would love to meet you.

I love to meet readers, too, Deb! Unfortunately, we don’t have any B&N stores in Canada --- even though I want one. :-( (You could make a suggestion to the Powers That Be!)

I’m teaching a workshop in Toronto for the RWA group there (Toronto Romance Writers - January 14) and will sign any Dragonfire and Dragon Diaries books that people bring to that. Otherwise, I sign at conferences, but haven’t decided which ones to book for 2012 just yet.

Deb, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us again. Good luck with Zoe’s new release and Flashfire in January 2012

And if you missed it here's my review of Winging It

Winging It-Book Two of the Dragon Diaries

Deborah Cooke

NAL- Publish Date 12-6-2011

ISBN13:9780451234896

352 pages

Zoe Sorenson has the problems of any other almost 16yr old girl, her friends, her parents, boys, but there’s much more to her than just that. Zoe is one of the elusive dragon shape-shifters known as the PYR, she’s also the rare Wyvern to her race, the prophetess the one who has all the answers for her kind. But she doesn’t, and that causes more problems almost then she can handle, caught in the middle of both PYR and human situations. Especially now that the Mages have surfaced again and knowing that what they want is the eradication of all shape-shifting species her concern is valid, it’s not knowing how to fix it that is the problem, that and the fact that the adult PYR one being her father don’t think the Mages will break their treaty with the PYR, but Zoe knows different. And therein lies the problem, how to go about proving this without breaking the “Covenant” that says that PYR should never reveal themselves in their dragon forms to humans and also because Zoe’s best friend Meagan, just happens to be human and the lies are getting to be a bitter barrier between them especially when the Mages seem to be targeting Meagan, it gives a whole new meaning to conflict.

Deborah Cooke is the brilliant author of the Adult paranormal romance Dragonfire series, which happen to star the parents of the stars of this series. The most amazing thing I find between the two, both of which I’m fans of, is the seamless way she narrates them. In this series she has me totally convinced she’s a 16 year old by her actions, her dialogue and her antics and most importantly the innocence I feel from these characters who are far less worldly then their older counterparts from the adult series. Her plots are unbelievably believable as she convinces her readers of all kinds of fantasy come to life. Her characters are enigmatic (as dragons should be) with a healthy dose of enchanting vs enraging (which normal red blooded teens will do). Her main protagonist Zoe is a mix herself as we watch her try to fit into both her worlds, interact with all the species that we’ll meet and do the right things by her parents and her friends. Along with this she shows us her romantic teen side as well, bewitched, bothered and bewildered by a male. But this is not just for female readers as there is a good dose of dragon fights and bloodshed that will appeal to teen and adult male readers as well.

So if you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, action, adventure and danger you can definitely find it between the pages of these novels. If you like the family drama or teenaged angst, this too can be found here. If you like me are always on the lookout for a read that will enrapture and keep your interest throughout the whole read, this is also true here.

Thank you Ms. Cooke for another enjoyable dose of the fantasy fiction I’ve come to expect from you, you never disappoint me.

If this is your first read by this author, please try her other novels and her other pseudonyms of Claire Delacroix or Claire Cross and be sure to visit her Dragon Diaries webpage.

The novel is part of a series but makes a good stand-a-lone. Buy the book here