Craves The Angst: BLOG TOUR with GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY - THROUGH THE VEIL (The Aisling Chronicles #1) by Colleen Halverson:

TITLE: Through The Veil
SERIES: The Aisling Chronicles
SERIES PLACEMENT: #1
AUTHOR: Colleen Halverson
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
RELEASE DATE: February 22, 2016
PUBLISHER: Entangled
PAGES: Approx. 400
TOUR COORDINATED BY:
Between the Sheets Promotions

BOOK BLURB:
Elizabeth Tanner is no Tinkerbell, and her life is no fairy tale. Broke and drowning in student loans, the one thing she wants more than anything is a scholarship from the Trinity Foundation. But after the ancient Irish text she's studying turns out to be more than just a book, she becomes their prisoner instead. And when Trinity reveals Elizabeth is half-Fae, she finds herself at the center of a plot to save the magical races of Ireland from a brutal civil war.

As Commander of Trinity's elite warriors, Finn O'Connell isn't used to having his authority challenged. He doesn't know whether to punish or protect the infuriating young woman in his custody. When he discovers the Dark Fae want to use Elizabeth's abilities to control the source of all power in the universe, he'll risk everything to help her.

At the mercy of Trinity and enslaved to the Dark Fae, Elizabeth finds herself alone on the wrong side of an Irish myth thousands of years in the making. Refusing to be a pawn in their game, Elizabeth has to fight her way back to the man she loves, but to do so, she must wage her own war against the magic that binds her.

THROUGH THE VEIL will be available February 22nd 2016 through Entangled Publishing.

Book 1 of the Aisling Chronicles Series

Purchase your copy today!

TEASER IMAGES

EXCERPT and PLAY LIST GUEST POST

EXCERPT

It happened so fast, I barely had time to breathe. One moment I was standing in front of Finn and the next moment his hands gripped my shoulders, his lips pressed against mine. The blood rushed in my ears, and my heart pounded as he deepened the kiss. Every nerve in my body fired with desire as he drew me closer. I sank in to him for a brief second, letting the heat of his skin draw me in, but then I remembered who he was, his oaths, his allegiances.
With a cry of protest, I wrenched myself free, panting and heaving, trying to ignore the hot ache settling in my abdomen. God, I wanted him. Stupid Elizabeth. Stupid.
He stared at me in shock, his fingers on his lips, as if he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened.
I took that moment of confusion to swing my hand around and slap!
His head jerked back, and a palm print bloomed bright on his cheek.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He took a deep breath and paced the room. “I-I’m sorry,” Finn stammered, straightening his jacket and retreating to the door. “I don’t know what came over me, I—”
“You should really ask first, you know?” I bit my bottom lip. In spite of the stinging sensation in my hand, a part of me felt drawn to Finn, a hot, spellbinding gravity luring me to him. I took a step forward.
“I’m sorry.” Finn fumbled with the doorknob. “I’ve made a horrible error in judgment. Please forgive me.”
I snorted. “You know, if kissing me is so terrible, why do you keep doing it?”
Finn whirled around. “That’s not what I mean, Elizabeth. Your kiss is…perfect. You’re beautiful, you’re…”
Beautiful?
I took two steps forward, caging him in. “Then what is it?”
Finn’s warm breath brushed my cheek. “I can’t…I can’t control myself around you,” he said in a strained voice.
“Is that what you want?” I raised my eyes to meet his dark gaze. “Control?” I traced my fingers against the back of his neck, my hands seeking his scalp. Finn’s body relaxed, his invisible armor crumbling beneath my touch. Heat emanated from his body as I moved in closer.
“Elizabeth,” he said. “We shouldn’t.” But his voice was soft, and his lips brushed my ear, and I tangled my hands in his hair, silky strands running through my fingers.
“Kiss me,” I whispered against his jaw.
“Elizabeth—!”
I pushed my hips against him, and he groaned low in his throat.
“Do it.”
“No!”
“Ye—” But I didn’t even finish the word as his mouth covered mine, hot, wet, and hungry. His arms slid down, and he grabbed my waist, his fingers traveling down the whispering green silk until he pulled my hips against him. His tongue darted between my teeth, shifting his weight so I could feel his desire through his trousers.
“Oh, God, you’re not…you’re not dead inside…” I said, my fingers grasping onto his suit jacket.
“Do you feel that?” He thrust again. I gasped, my knees growing weak until I thought I would collapse to the floor.
“Yes…”

PLAY LIST GUEST POST

Through the Veil Playlist
Music is a huge part of my writing process. I have two little ones, and I do most of my writing on our dining room table in the middle of our chaotic household. To escape into the world of Through the Veil, I put on my headphones to block out the noise while still making sure my kids don’t burn down the house. Music helps me relax, but it also helps me set the tone of a scene or access the more emotive part of my brain. I love so many types of music, and for my Through the Veil playlist, listeners will find a mix of traditional Irish music, classic rock, and contemporary folk and rock.

I open up the playlist with the song “An Innis Aigh” (“The Happy Isle”) which for me sets the tone of the novel. The harmonies have a haunting quality to them, and it speaks to my character’s longing to see Ireland. In my novel, I feature the bard Carolan, an actual living person who was celebrated as one of the greatest harpists of all time, and his song “The Fairy Queen” becomes a sort of “theme song” for the Fianna. “Óró, é do bheatha 'bhaile” is a great song about the female Irish pirate Grace O’Malley upon whom my character Grainne is based.

My main character Elizabeth bonded with her dad over classic rock, so I sprinkled a few samples of that into the playlist. We open with her jamming out to “Back in Black,” and I listened to Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” as I wrote some of the final scenes of Through the Veil so it seemed fitting to include that song. At one point in the novel, one of my characters has a vision, and I felt some of the lyrics from The Police’s “King of Pain” perfectly fit the images flashing through his head.

Two groups I listened to a lot during the creation of this novel were The Civil Wars and Florence + the Machine. I listened to the Civil Wars’s cover of “Disarm” constantly whenever I had to write a scene between Elizabeth and her love interest Finn. To me this song speaks to the desperate desire to connect with another human being. I listened to Florence + the Machine’s “Cosmic Love” over and over again when I was writing the sexy times in the book. In this song, the woman speaks of creating a map and finding her way back to her lover. There’s something so raw and powerful about the way she sings these lyrics, and I wanted to bring that epic love into my characters’ relationship.

I could go on forever about the songs listed here, but I hope you will enjoy them. If you have any questions, please comment below. I love sharing music!

Listen Here with the Link to the Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/1220829197/playlist/7cEDDLvgHX6V65dclajzQ5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

As a child, Colleen Halverson used to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting college freshman. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her husband and two children.

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