#Giveaway, Review, Interview Gut Deep by Donna Augustine

Today I'm hopping around on one leg (the other leg needs a new knee) I'm so excited to be presenting Donna Augustine's newest novel is out. It's book #1 in her brand new Torn Worlds series and it's something special for a lot of reasons so check out our interview and my review to find out why. And if that's not enough Donna is generously sponsoring a #Giveaway. Details Below
Enjoy!!

ISBN-13:
 978-1945946097

Publisher: Strong Hold Publishing


Release Date: 11-1-2019


Length:
 304pp

Source:
 Author for review

Buy It: Amazon/B&N/IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

PenelopeThey steal our world, destroy our lives and view us as worthless chattel. I never thought I’d be desperate enough to ask one of them for help, and worse, one of their leaders. But with a vampire stalking me, a werewolf might be my only salvation. I’m still not sure which is worse, him or death.DonovanShe’s nothing to me but an inconvenience, a burden, another complaining human singing the song of the wronged. She strolls into danger as if she’s begging for death, taking risk after risk. I should let the monsters she tempts have her. I would if I didn’t want her for myself.

Giveaway is for Gut Deep
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International 1-ebook
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My Review:

Gut Deep: Torn Worlds book #1

Donna Augustine’s Gut Deep, book one in her fantastic new paranormal romance series has it all, forbidden love, a post apocalyptic America run by Werewolves and Vampires, a company of unforgettable costars and a couple who are as different as night and day, Penelope’s (Pen) life is in shambles yet she’s determined to keep on keeping on for herself and her sister and then there’s Donovan who’s an alpha in every way except for his unexpected obsession with Pen. Donna takes readers on a wild wide through a Washington D.C. where humans are chattel and cattle and a government that’s overrun with monsters from nightmares even scarier than the ones who run the U.S. now. With a decidedly noir feel this fast paced novel will leave her audience breathless, thunderstruck and anxiously awaiting book 2! 

Series set up: Three years ago after years of being considered “less than human” Vampire and Werewolves have successfully infiltrated all levels of government and taken over the U.S. putting themselves at the top of the pecking order and making humans second class citizens where even owning a smartphone or laptop could get them executed. But the pact between the Vamps and Weres is anything but secure and there is trouble on the horizon.

Penelope Abbot’s dream of becoming a doctor died three years ago when the “scourge” took over every aspect of rule in the U.S. left her motherless, with a father coping by drinking himself into a coma and a sister sick from a Vamp’s bite. Luckily she’s still working or else they wouldn’t be able to eat, unluckily she seems to have caught the eye of a very dangerous, very handsome predator.

Donovan has enough on his plate being the shifter alpha of DC and doesn’t know why he can’t seem to stop coming to the rescue of this haughty slip of a human woman who apparently doesn’t know her place and is a catastrophe magnet. Darned if he doesn’t find that incredibly sexy, God he needs his head examined.

My Interview with Donna:

Donna hi!! Welcome back to the blog my friend. Wow what a trip Gut Deep was.
Tell us how this came to be.

Thanks for having me back! I love being here with you.

As to Gut Deep, I’ve been itching to be more romance centric for a while. When I write urban fantasy, I always hold back a bit on the love and mush. Finally, I’m letting the romance and relationship take front and center. 

So this is a bit different from your usual writing method, instead of a trilogy or short series staring just one couple this series features one novel per couple.
Is this a first for you?

I did have a single spinoff of the Karma series that was a romance with different leads. For the most part, this is a new direction for me. I’ve never started a series with the intention of doing one couple per book. I’m pretty excited about it.

What made you choose this path?

I don’t know if I so much choose it as much as had to write it. Like I mentioned, I’ve been itching to get deeper into romance. Doing a different couple each book, but with an over-arching world, gives me the romance I’m craving while keeping the world building I enjoy so much.

The world you create in Gut Deep is familiar yet not.
How did you come up with Vampires and Werewolves running the show?

And why did you keep it only in the U.S.?

I have no idea where the idea came from, but I can explain the U.S. portion. The reason they only took over the U.S. was because I was trying to think about it logically. If they took over a country without nuclear capabilities, all the countries around them would destroy them out of fear. It had to be a country that was strong enough to fend off a lot of pressure from the outside. Being from the U.S., it was the easiest to go with what I knew. As to why they didn’t take over the world, I figured it would be hard enough to take over one country. It made sense to me that they’d get a foothold and then try to stabilize. 

Okay let’s talk about Pen for a minute she’s a little more restrained than your usual female star. She manages to be rebellious yet she mostly plays by the rules.
So how hard was it for you to keep her in line because she just seems like the type of character that would give the author a real headache during the creative process?

As a character, Pen acted a little more thought out than some of my other leads have been. She was very logical and analytical. She took risks but they were calculated. She was very aware of her disadvantages and weighed all her actions based off of that. But she really wasn’t hard to write because everything she did made sense to me.

As a whole, characters don’t tend to be the thing that gives me the headaches. They are who they are and I let them act true to their personalities. My headaches tend to come from making the logic of a story work. I hate when I’m trying to get from A to Z but there’s a problem over by E. And the only way to get past E seems to be a stupid idea. That’s what always holds me up, trying to get past E in a logical way without having to paste in some stupid illogical BS.

The other thing that causes me stress is the last quarter of the book. I never feel they’re right until I’ve gone over them ten times. Ends kill me, and not in a quick death kind of way. They’re slow and agonizing torture, mostly self-inflicted. 

You mentioned in an earlier conversation that readers seem to be taking sides either really liking Pen or Donovan. (I’m camp Donovan, although by the end I loved Pen too)
Did this surprise you?

It was really more the beta readers when I first gave them the book. I’d get messages where they’d be mad at either Donovan or Pen. There wasn’t much agreement on whose side should be taken, either. Considering I’m a big fan of gray areas, no one is ever going to be all wrong or all right in one of my stories so I guess I should’ve expected it. Thing is, I’m so used to writing one point of view that I forgot that there would be another option, lol.

Okay now Donovan you know I liked him from the get go he was pretty transparent as a guy character to me, no BS yet no pretentions either.
I know just because he’s such a Teddywere doesn’t mean he behaved during the writing process so between Pen and him who was the easier character to write?

The characters flowed pretty well for me, but Donovan was definitely the easier of the two. I had a lot of fun with him. He was good to Pen in a lot of ways but he was also a bit of a d*ck at times. I always have more fun writing characters with a bit of an edge. 

I know book 2 will feature Pen’s sister Sassy.
When will it be out and can you please give us just a small peak into the future?

Sassy’s book will be out by next summer. As for a sneak peek, Donovan will be stepping down as Alpha and a new character you haven’t met yet will be stepping in. He’s going to be an emotional train wreck and pretty dark. Huge spoiler: He’ll be Sassy’s love interest. The conflict with the werewolf/vampire pact is going to be rising and we’ll also find out some interesting tidbits about the Sucking Sickness.

Do you already know how many books this series will have or is that still up in the air?

It’s totally up in the air. I might stick with this for a few more books or until something else grabs me. I’m a strong believer in following the passion. If I love what I’m writing, it’ll be a better book.

Thanks Donna for taking time out to chat with us. Good luck with the new book/series. I think it’s FAB!!!

Thanks for having me!!

Some of Donna's previous works
Not necessarily in order

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

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