#GIVEAWAY Review-Savage One Interview - Donna Augustine

Today I'm reviewing Savage One, book 2 and finale to The Born Wild mini-series by favorite author Donna Augustine, she's also agreed to let me pick her brain about the series and she's also sponsoring a blog #Giveaway.  Details below
Enjoy!

AISN: B07V2BDDGN

Publisher: Amazon


Release Date: 7-14-2019


Length:
 281pp

Source:
 Author for review

Buy It: Amazon

Overview:

Death isn’t as black and white as they say, at least not for me. I can tell you when you’ll die and pull you back from the brink of death. In a world ravaged by plague, where survival might come down to the smallest misstep, I can help you cheat fate. If only I could save myself…

I’ve been abused and abandoned, bartered and paid for. The only reason I’m alive right now is a man named Callon, who I managed to trick into sticking by me. But things are looking up when my last purchaser calls for a truce, and I land a nice comfy place to live.

Except when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. There is a larger threat lurking that no one sees, and it’s about to wipe out the lodge in order to get to me. In a world torn apart by wars and sickness, a safe place to lay your head is hard to find, and I won’t go down without a fight.

Giveaway is for e-copies of
both Wild One and Savage One
Open International

Interview with Donna:

Donna Hi Welcome back to The Reading Frenzy.
I just finished book two the finale in your Born Wild mini-series a spin-off from The Wilds series and it was fantastic filled with quite a few OMG jaw-droppers.

Tell my readers just a bit about Savage One.

Savage One is the continuation of Born Wild, and also The Wilds to a certain degree. It follows Teddy, who grew up in a very abusive situation in one of the villages that formed after the plague and the breakdown of society. In this book, she really starts to find herself, her place in the world and begins to open up enough to find love.

What made you want to revisit The Wilds?

I love post-apocalyptic worlds and shifters, so that was one large draw to return. There were also a couple of threads that had nagged at me, and I felt needed to be tied up from The Wilds.

When readers first meet Teddy in Wild One she’s got physical and mental scars from being abused. In your previous stories your heroine’s scars are mostly on the inside.

Why was it important for her to bare such scars?

(Slight spoiler ahead.) After living through that situation, I thought it would be unrealistic for her to not have some visible scars. After she is healed physically, she still sees herself as that scarred girl. I wanted readers to experience her struggle moving past the abuse emotionally, and how she almost resented appearing well because it didn’t sync with what she’d lived through.

In spite of her abuse you’ve kept Teddy humble and given her a fair amount of spunk.

Was she that way in your mind when you first imagined her or do your characters have a mind or their own?

No matter how they are when they initially pop into my brain, they always evolve as I write them. I don’t try to force anything. I let them become whom ever they want to be. It’s probably why I always start with a very loose outline. I work best when I let all the ideas and characters flow and morph how they want.

I know that you often are working on multiple stories.

How do you keep everything straight?

I’ll switch back and forth between series, but I never write two different books at the same time. I like to completely immerse myself in one book as much as I can. Unfortunately, other characters will try to pop in and steal my attention, but I try to ignore them. If they’re really insistent, I might jot down a chapter or two to shut them up, but that’s only when they really won’t stop talking. (Swear I’m not as crazy as that last sentence might portray me.)

Thanks Donna for taking the time to answer my questions.
Good luck with the new novel.

What’s next?

I’ve been writing urban fantasy for a long time, but I’m switching things up slightly with a paranormal romance. This new book is a dystopian and heavy on the world building, which I really enjoy writing. But, I wanted to be able to delve deeper into the love and angst. When I’m writing UF, I always feel like I have to hold back on that aspect a bit, so it’s refreshing to throw off the shackles for a while.

Oh I’m intrigued and anxiously awaiting it! J

My Review:

Savage One
Born Wild #2
Donna Augustine

Donna Augustine returns to The Wilds with Savage One and ends her Born Wild mini-series with a bang.

Okay wow this is a fabulous ending to Donna Augustine’s Born Wild mini-series including a few jaw dropping, OMG’s and a visit from her dynamic duo from The Wilds series.

There are a lot of stand-outs in Savage One, one-Donna’s knack of showing readers Teddy’s innocence, spunk, vulnerability and her soft side, then there’s her fantastic storytelling skill that will keep readers mesmerized as she entertains them in The Wilds. But I think the biggest stand out is her innate ability to take the reader into the story by intimating them to her unforgettable characters. Oh and the several times she blindsides her audience with shockers doesn’t hurt either. All in all this is one heck of a tale and must be read after book one, Wild One.

Series recap:
Teddy, the daughter of a plaguer, was born with death sight, she may not know when you die but she knows how. The only thing she knows about her plaguer mother is that she sold her to monsters when she was a child. So when a beast kills the man who’s tortured her for her entire life she owes him her life.

With yet another madman after her Teddy isn’t ashamed in the least (okay maybe a little) for tricking Callon, the man/beast who saved her and her best friend Tuesday from a life of constant torture into keeping her tied to him. She figures the best chance she and Tuesday have for survival is staying close to Callon and his band of beasts. But just when she thinks she’s got a foolproof plan to wipe out this latest threat another and seemingly more deadly advisory shows its ugly head.

About the author:

Donna Augustine is the USA Today bestselling author of the Wilds, Karma, and Ollie Wit series, among other books.

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