#GIVEAWAY Review: Living in the Shadow of Death Interview with author Donna Augustine

Regulars know that I love the urban fantasy/paranormal genre and one of my go-to fave authors in the genre is Donna Augustine who has just released, Living in the Shadow of Death, a post apocalyptic novel and the first book in her new, Life After Death Day, series. Donna sat down and let me interview her and she's offering one of my readers a kindle copy of the book. Details below
Enjoy!

Giveaway is for one e-copy of

Living in the Shadow of Death

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ASIN:  B0CK9HSFTY
Release Date: 10-06-2023
Length: 280pp
Source: Author for Review
Buy It at Amazon

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Overview:

Ninety percent of the world died in the span of a few seconds. No warning. No explanation. Few survivors. Now we’re all trying to get by as society collapses around us.

Survival is a battle and it’s getting worse every day. Food is scarce and the shelves are all bare. Finding medication for my little brother is impossible, and my desperation is growing as my options narrow.

When the world is falling to pieces, and all the people you know are vying to become the baddest villains around, maybe finding the meanest monster on the block is exactly what’s needed. A dangerous man I would’ve run from a month ago might be my only salvation.

My Interview with Donna:

Donna hi! Thanks for coming back to visit The Reading Frenzy.

Thanks for having me! I’m excited to see the questions you have lined up. You always make me think!

Your new release, Living in the Shadow of Death, is absolutely fantastic, I could not put it down.
Tell my readers just a little about it please.

It’s a post-apocalyptic fantasy that follows Piper’s story. She’s a twenty-year-old-woman who recently lost her mother. She’s still not on her feet emotionally when the world ends and the responsibility of her brother is thrust upon her. To make the situation worse, he’s got medical needs, which are difficult to manage when society breaks down. This leads her to join up with a pack of shady people who aren’t what they seem.
 

You’ve written some Paranormal/fantasy romance but your go to genre seems to be Urban Fantasy this one like The Wilds includes an apocalypse.
Do your novels come to you in dreams and what is it about UF that calls to you?

I’ve tried to analyze why I’m drawn to apocalyptic settings. I think it’s because I like to mentally explore how different people might react to society collapsing. It the ultimate test of someone’s moral fiber.

Speaking of an apocalypse, readers get to experience this one firsthand and to me that made the story and the characters more relatable, more real.
Why in this one did you have the world end in front of our noses?

Whenever I read or watch a post-apocalyptic story that starts after the initial collapse, I always wish I’d seen how it first fell apart. I’ve written stories that way myself and I was like why am I doing that? I want to see the collapse happen.

Donna you feature mostly NA girl stars in your novels, like Piper, in fact I only think Karma was older.
Why?

I believe it’s because so much emotional growth happens in that age. You’re discovering who you are. It’s not to say that people don’t change later on in life but it never feels as dramatic.
 

Speaking of Piper’s age, she seems much older than 20 maybe because she already faced so much grief even before Death Day. In fact, if I hadn’t known she was 20 I would have guessed her in her mid to late 20s.
Did you mean for her to come off older?

She’d really suffered a lot. Before her mother died, she’d had to step up and become her caretaker, and then also dealt with the feelings of inadequacy when she couldn’t save her. Those are experiences that age a person fast. It didn’t seem accurate for her to have the same optimism someone might have at that age.

In this novel you let the readers in on the fact that Duncan and his group are shifters right away.
Did it just work better for this series then to just hint at the fact like in The Wilds?

That was one of those scenes that hit me out of the blue and stuck with me. I always keep those even if I have to rework other aspects. I feel if they hit me, they have a better chance of hitting the reader.
 

This novel would have been very dark if not for Charlie. His childhood exuberance, guilelessness and wonderment were so refreshing.
Why don’t you feature more children in your novels?

I like romance in my novels and it’s a pain to worry about who’s watching the fictional child. Even in a book, sometimes getting babysitters isn’t convenient! On the other hand, when I’m reading and there is a child that’s never present I’m always wondering where is the kid? Don’t you want to be with your kid? Why do you keep dumping your kid? Then I start to not like the parent as much, who is usually the MC. It might sound crazy but that’s one of the main reasons.
 

Okay so I didn’t see the end coming and it was a whopper.
Do you pretty much know beginning to end when you start writing or does it change a lot during the creative process?

My writing method is a mess but it’s what works the best for me. I always start with a vague idea of the plot and I used to think I was more of a pantser when it came to writing. Recently I’ve realized what I was truly doing was a very detailed and elaborate plotting process. I’ll sketch out fifty of sixty rough scenes and snippets, and never in order. When it gets to the point that I’m about to go crazy with the chaos I’ve created, I start putting them in order. It’s not very efficient and I can easily lose ten thousand words per book. At the same time, I’m never writing a scene I don’t like just to get me from one point to another.
 

Donna Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions.
I cannot wait to read book 2.
Will this be a 3-book series, or do you know yet?

Definitely at least three. Three or four tends to be my happy place. Thank you so much for having me! It was a lot of fun!

 

My Review:

Living in the Shadow of Death
Life After Death Day book 1
Donna Augustine

 

OMG, Wow, Unputdownable those are the best descriptions I can come up with for Donna Augustine’s, Living in The Shadow of Death, first in her new fantasy series. The concept, the characters and the writing are excellent and believe me you will be engaged and entranced from the OMG start until the I-didn’t-see-this-coming end.  Let’s talk about Piper, readers don’t get to know too much about her before the world ends but post-apocalyptic is when her star really shines. She’s older than her years, equal parts strong and vulnerable, she becomes a momma bear to her little brother and takes on the care of their elderly neighbor too, plus she goes above and beyond keeping them safe even braving a partnership with some scary, go bump in the night characters. Charlie is another character that will really touch the hearts of readers and his enthusiasm at their new adventure is endearing and catching. Duncan is a conundrum, dark, scary, and honorable too and readers will appreciate his sacrifices by the end. The other guys in Duncan’s gang are just wonderful and how they all fill in as big brothers to Charlie is great. The non-stop surprises, the one-minute heartbreak and next minute laugh out loud, the characters who stand out and those who turn villainous will keep the pages flying and make this one of those reads you just can’t put down. I cannot WAIT until book 2. Lovers of post-apocalyptic, dystopian or Urban-fantasy fiction will love this.

Piper is just trying to survive her job at the roller rink and having to live with her dad, stepmom and little half brother after her mom dies of cancer when 90% of the population falls dead without warning including her stepmom. Soon after the world dies it starts falling apart, her father goes back to using and suddenly thugs are running the town which is making it harder and harder for Piper to find food and especially the insulin Charlie needs to stay alive. So she turns to the only person she thinks can help them and begs him to take her in. The only trouble is that Duncan and his crew turn out to be not exactly human and she wonders if she’s leapt from the frying pan into the fire.

 About the author:
Donna Augustine is the USA Today Bestselling author of The Wilds, Karma and Ollie Wit. She enjoys writing new worlds, with unique twists and romance. She enjoys complicated characters who are rarely perfect and sidekicks that are quirky. Her writing is fueled by liberal amounts of coffee and chai lattes. When she's not writing, she's either reading, caring for homeless cats or trying her hand at a home improvement project, which doesn't always turn out so well.

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