So...what can you tell me about your series?
It's about a 17-year-old girl who's waited her whole life to stop getting tossed from foster family to foster family and be adopted. When the story opens, she has been adopted by a wonderful couple, and after sneaking out at night to help a neighbor with some late-night homework, she returns to her new parents' house to find it burning. Julia, the girl, is being hunted... You find out more about that in the book. She decides not to go back to the foster system and instead just to disappear in Memphis, and she's hiding out in an old warehouse when a guy, Cayne, crashes through the roof. He's pretty mysterious, but he's fighting the same creature that burned down her adoptive parents' house - the same creature that wants Julia dead - so they unite in their quest to kill this creature. The series is about Julia and Cayne as they navigate a celestial conflict that is intruding in their lives. It's a love story, and it's obviously fantasy, but there's also a strong adventure element and lots of surprises.
Could you start things off by telling us a little about the fourth book, which will be released sometime soon?
Exalted is the final Stained Series book - book four. By the time we get to that book, Julia and Cayne have a small group of friends/accomplices who are Stained/'Chosen' like Julia. Something big and bad is supposed to happen in book four...and it does, actually. ;) It's basically a suspenseful fantasy romance that I can't tell you anything about unless you've read books one through three.
What's your favourite scene/line from Stained, the first book?
I'm really fond of the scenes on the train... If you read the book, you'll know those scenes when you see them. They're where the romantic conflict plays out.
What would you do if you could rewind time?
I would find my self-confidence earlier and not worry so much about how things will work out. Self-assurance was something that I didn't really find until my 20s, and I wish I'd had the nerve to be really earlier, like when I was in college.
Who is your favorite character in this book, and why?
I really like Julia. I think she learns a lot and a few times she takes big risks and really puts herself out there, which I admire.
What books/genres do you read when you have the chance? Any must read authors or series?
I read YA romance, or romance. I read an early copy of Ember by Jessica Sorensen that I really liked, and I'm also really digging the Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It's a little like my Here Trilogy, only I can enjoy it since I didn't write it. :)
Can you tell us a little about the main characters?
You already know a good bit about Julia, but to add to that, she is a very 'real' person - straightforward and pretty easy to read (except when she's not). She's loyal and logical, and during the series she's dealing with a lot. She also has some semi issues from her past, which she is working through. Cayne has kind of a whoa backstory - and not really a good whoa - but his life changed after what happened to him in the first Stained (or rather, before the first Stained). He's a different person than he once was.
Tell us something about your research process and the choices you make when creating the story.
I write the story the way I think it 'is' and I try to let the characters lead me. Sometimes the story takes me somewhere I don't like. I think someone is going to die in book four, and I hate it. :(*
Tell us five interesting things about this book/series.
1). I like all my characters, even the ones who do bad things, and I try to write the story so you will like them, too - at least a little bit.
2). It has a lot of surprises and keeps you guessing.
3). Stained was my first book ever, written in 2006. I put it for sale in the Amazon store just for fun last fall, and the only reason I wrote a book two, three, or four was because people wanted me to. :) Sometimes I'm still surprised by that.
4). I write ebooks exclusively, and I have gone from thinking I might never make any good money off my writing to doing this fulltime in less than a year - mostly because of the Stained Series. The people who like it, really like it.
5). I re-write parts of the books all the time. Every time I get bored, I go back and tinker with the books, trying to make them better.
Everything I love gets canceled! Some of my darlings are Arrested Development (AMAZING SHOW!), Rubicon (AMC show, canceled last year), Community (only one more season), and
Firefly. ;) If I like a show, I start getting worried. *sadface*
Songs you're in love with?
My song crush for the last few months has been Holocene by Bon Iver. It's just beautiful, and the video is in Iceland, which is super beautiful. I'm putting out book soundtracks soon, and they will feature a lot of my favorite music.
Rapid Fire
Twilight
Edward
Black
Witch
Harry Potter
Hermione
Hot
Dog ;)
Wings
Nephilim!
Coffee
I.Want.
Indie Publishing
Me.
Exalted
Almost finished!
ABOUT ELLA:
Ella James lives in Alabama with her amazing husband, energetic baby, and mopey dog. Her books have been nominated best debut novel and best sci-fi/fantasy at utopYA Convention 2012, received a Flamingnet Top Choice Award, and been featured on numerous Amazon bestseller lists. She is the author of the popular Stained Series, the Here Trilogy, and Before You Go—all YA romance—and has four more titles forthcoming in 2012.
GET IN TOUCH:
To find out more about Ella’s projects and get exact dates on her upcoming releases, friend her on Facebook at facebook.com/ellajamesbooks and follow her blog, ellajamesbooks.blogspot.com. Questions or comments? Tweet her at author_ellaj or e-mail her at ella_f_james@ymail.com
GIVEAWAY
I'm giving away an ecopy of Book #1 and Book #2 in the series .
You can win an ecopy of Stained and Stolen .
STAINED (YA paranormal romance)
After a fire destroys seventeen-year-old Julia's home and kills her foster parents, she chases the half-demon responsible across the country and back, determined to avenge her family and discover why a host of celestial baddies want her dead. With Julia is enigmatic hottie Cayne, who has his own score to settle with the half-demon, and who might be just as dangerous as the creature he and Julia hunt.
*Nominated best debut novel at UtopYAcon 2012.*
STOLEN (Stained Series Book Two)
With Cayne's fate in the hands of his enemies and Julia spirited away to the covert Stained compound, the two are separated by impenetrable walls and a gulf of unanswered questions. Soon Julia learns the truth about the Stained and the plans they have for her, the compound is attacked, and a new group is running from an unwanted destiny, searching the globe in pursuit of the knowledge that just might save them all.
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OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES..
CHOSEN (Stained Series Book Three):
Julia has been chosen. While at the Stained compound, she was tapped as The One to win the war against the Nephilim and leashed with an illness that worsens each day she is away from The Three. Determined not to return to the frightening Chosen leaders and desperate to escape her fate, Julia and her friends journey to the Swiss Alps, home of a rogue Chosen clan. In this snowy haven, all hell breaks loose. Someone is traitor. Someone changes sides. Someone is dragged to Hades. A new romance blossoms. An old romance is damned. And The Three will stop at nothing to recover the weapon that will help them regain power.
EXALTED (Stained Series Book Four):
Ripped apart by the betrayals of two friends and ensnared by their respective celestial captors, Julia and Cayne are poised to fulfill their fatal role in The Three’s return to power. Their Chosen friends will move Hell and Earth to win their freedom, but how will they fight fate when more sinister forces take control? The net will come down. Someone will be sacrificed. A dear friend will die. And a mighty celestial battle will play out on Earth, with everything—and everyone—at stake.
