Leilani Loves Books: Review:Fallen by Traci L. Slatton
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Leilani Loves Books: Review:Fallen by Traci L. Slatton

Leilani Loves Books
Leilani Loves Books: Review:Fallen by Traci L. Slatton: Title: Fallen
Author: Traci L. Slatton
Pages:242
Publisher:Telemachus Press, LLC (July 27, 2011)
Source:Received for review
Readli…

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

I’m not going to lie, I hesitated to pick up Fallen but once I did, I was immediately drawn into its pages. Within Fallen you will find what is the end of the world, what caused the disaster, and those who were able to survive. Emma is with a band of chidden, fighting off what is the the mist. The mist will destroy everything in its path, killing everything in its path. When the mist gets to you, it is a very painful death.

The book opens up with Mandy, Emma’s five year old daughter, about to get killed from the mist. Instead of allowing Mandy to be taken from the mist, Emma carries around a gun to end the persons misery. Right before Emma had to put a bullet in her own daughters head, comes a group of men to save the day. With the mist gone, the men are about to go their own way but Emma knows that if that happens, the group doesn’t have much of a chance at surviving. So Emma does the only thing she can think of. She agrees to stay with the leader of the group, Arthur….

I adored both Emma’s personality; the way she knew exactly what had to be done and did whatever needed to be done to save not only her and her daughters life but the lives of the people she’s grown to love. With Arthur, he is your adverse manly man that wan’t have any one defying him but has a soft spot for Emma. Even when it comes to her ridiculous demands for toothpaste and showers.

I can not wait for the next book in this series. If you have yet to read Fallen, it is a book that you must put on your to read list. While younger readers may not enjoy it as much, I know that older readers will find it as inspiring as I did.

Review of Dystopian Romance Book Fallen by Traci Slatton
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Review of Dystopian Romance Book Fallen by Traci Slatton

Review of Dystopian Romance Book Fallen by Traci Slatton

This book in three words: Amazing, Haunting, Suspenseful

Fallen is a book about survival, betrayal, love, secrets, danger and hope. It will instantly transport you to a post-apocalyptic world that is being terrorized by deadly mists and is filled with danger at every turn.

What would you do to save your family and ensure survival following the nearly completeannihilation of the world as you know it? Emma is faced with that question when she finds herself in charge of not only her daughter, but a number of abandoned children who have lost their families to the mists. When they are saved from near death by a mysterious stranger, Arthur  and a few of his friends, Emma offers her body to him in exchange for protection and a place in his safe house. He agrees, but neither of them realized that this one exchange will cost them the one thing they cannot protect, the one thing they cannothide from..their heart.

The ending will leave your head spinning and FALLEN will haunt you long after you finish it. FALLEN is one of the best books I have read this year and encourage everyone to read it!
Evie on Paromantasy Blog

Great new review of FALLEN!!

Q&A with Paranormal and Dystopian Romance Author of Fallen and The Botticelli Affair, Traci Slatton
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Q&A with Paranormal and Dystopian Romance Author of Fallen and The Botticelli Affair, Traci Slatton

Q&A with Paranormal and Dystopian Romance Author of Fallen and The Botticelli Affair, Traci Slatton

Today we are shining the spotlight on an author Traci Slatton who’s dystopian romance book Fallen made me an instant fan! Fallen is a story filled with love, betrayal, mystery, romance, hope, and survival – which is the perfect recipe for a dynamically entertaining whirl-wind of a book that sent me spiraling on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. I could not pull myself away. We follow Emma on her mission both herself and her family after surviving the Apocalypse. Now she is left alone to care for her daughter and a few abandoned children while trying to keep safe from deadly mists that surface from the earth, killing everyone in its path. When she meets Arthur, a man with a safe camp, she offers herself in order to secure the safety of her family. Little did she know that he would soon capture her heart. When the world ends, will you be able to rebuild, to love again, to be the person you once were? Or will you lose all hope and yourself in order to survive? This book will have you laughing, crying, your heart-pumping and will leave you wanting more. Traci’s other book, The Botticelli Affair, will capture the hearts of paranormal romance lovers and art enthusiasts. Here we have a mix of Interview with the Vampire meets The Da Vinci code. It has action, murder, mystery, and romance that will have you racing through the pages.

Traci is here to talk about her books, her life and her life with an “Obsessed Classical Artist!”

Let’s give a warm welcome to Traci Slatton!

Tell us about yourself.
I have a yoga practice that gives me both anxiety and peace. I love to travel and to ride horses and I live with stories roiling around in my brain. When I stand in line at the supermarket, I either read tabloids, to catch up on the gossip, or I daydream in character. I have four daughters, three and a step, who range in age from 21 to 6; when people ask me if I am Mormon or traditionalist, I say, “No, I’m just an idiot who doesn’t understand birth control.” I love writing fiction but my most recent book is a non-fiction coffee table art book written with my husband classical figurative sculptor Sabin Howard, THE ART OF LIFE. It tells the story of figurative sculpture from the earliest times to now, and shows Sabin’s philosophy and process as the finest living figurative sculptor.

Did you always know that you wanted to become a writer?
Yes. When I was six years old, I read my first “big book,” a novel. It was about a child who had died and was watching his family from heaven. I was very moved. I was struck as if with lightning—the best thing in the whole world had to be telling stories that moved people! In my mind, writing and publishing novels is the home run.

Where do you get your amazing ideas from?
I wish I knew! Thank you, by the way. Ideas just show up, like apples and pecans rolling along the floor into a room. I guess I’m always people watching, and especially people listening. I respectfully eavesdrop on everyone because I am eternally on the quest for good dialogue. I get fascinated, with conversations and with images, and then a context of obstacle and conflict occurs to me, and then I’m off….

Fallen is one of my favorite books of the year. I was instantly drawn into the post-apocalyptic world and love all the characters: Arthur’s hope, Emma’s strength, the kids’ ability to still have fun. Which character is your absolute favorite and why?
Ooo, good question. I guess I really enjoy Alexei, the leader of the Russian camp and former drug/guns runner and human trafficker, because he’s a sociopath, and it’s fun to write someone like that. You just don’t know what he’s going to do next. Even I don’t. He’s capable of kindness, but there’s always a tint of pure evil in him. I am fascinated by him. He will be in all 3 books of the AFTER Trilogy.

Art seems to be a connecting factor in both The Botticelli Affair and Fallen. How did you learn so much about art and art history?
I have a PhD in “Living with An Obsessed Classical Artist.” It’s from the School of Daily Marriage. Seriously, Sabin my husband is obsessed with the Renaissance and with art. I always joke that some people pick up smoking because their mate smokes, but I picked up the Renaissance because that’s Sabin’s addiction. You can see what I mean if you look at his website, www.sabinhoward.com And he lives it, too. Michelangelo and Bernini are topics of conversation at our dinner table every day. I’m really glad we wrote the book because he has an opportunity to publicly rant about the devolution of art and how art can be so much more—how it can uplift and inspire people. I think we, as a culture, have forgotten how art is a doorway into a magical realm.

The Botticelli Affair was a paranormal romance while Fallen is a dystopian romance. Which did you have more fun writing?
Another good question. They were both fun in different ways. Laila came to me as a voice: snappy, feisty, funny, irreverent, frisky. It was so compelling for me. I had that voice in my head and I wrote and then rewrote the novel a few times to find the best way to showcase it. Originally, I wanted to do a vampire-time-travel book with her, but people told me that it was mixing mythologies and wouldn’t work. I pictured her as a tall blond, but the brilliant freelance editor Lori Handelman who edits my writing said to me, “I keep picturing LailaLaila could only be a red-head.

FALLEN was fun to write because I was consumed by Emma and Arthur’s relationship, its tenderness and fierceness, their struggle with it and with the devastated world they live in. In fact, that novel first came to me as the relationship, which is frankly sexual but also loving and despairing, in a world that requires all their strength to survive. The butterflies—you know what I mean—were an image of love and loss and hope that came out of my unconscious creativity as I wrote the story. I am very intent right now on COLD LIGHT, the sequel. There is a process of discovery, in writing a novel, that is fascinating and raptly absorbing for me.

I love the relationship between best friends Laila and Fern in The Botticelli Affair. Do you have a friend you can always count on?
I have many acquaintances, but just a few close, dear friends whom I love. My friend Gerda is very special to me. She has a free-pass for life from me. She thinks the best of me, but she will also look me in the eye and tell me something about myself that I don’t really want to hear. She’s so loving and honest and non-judgmental that I sigh and take it in and try to be a better person. My friend Debra Jaliman is someone I’ve known for twenty years and I’ve gotten close to her over the last few; she’s amazing, warm-hearted and interesting, inspirational. She has a book coming out in the spring, SKIN RULES: TRADE SECRETS FROM A TOP NEW YORK DERMATOLOGIST. Her book is fantastic, useful for a skin-care-junkie like me. I’ve been doing what she tells me to for 20 years and people often compliment me on my complexion. Then there’s Geoffrey and Paul and Stu and Rachel. Of late, I’ve become closer to Lane, who is the film producer for my historical novel IMMORTAL. Also Sarah, a young actress who is as beautiful on the inside as on the outside.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
Richard Powell, Daniel Silva, Sue Grafton whose prose is ravishing, EF Benson whose Lucia is mesmerizing, sometimes Richard North Patterson, always Elaine Pagels, Brian Weiss, Rumi.

What books are you currently reading?
I just finished Grisham’s THE LITIGATORS, which I enjoyed. Grisham can tell a rousing, juicy story! I’m reading a non-fiction book about reincarnation right now. I’m about to start UNBREAKABLE.

Was writing and publishing your book how you imagined?
Every book is a journey. In writing a novel, there’s the constant interplay between creative inspiration and structure. Every page is agony. The publishing part has a lot of details and is business-oriented, and there’s the inevitable trek into PR. People can’t buy your books if they don’t know the books exist.

Are you working on any other projects we should watch out for?
Yes, I am working on COLD LIGHT, the sequel to FALLEN. It’s the pivotal book in the After Trilogy. I am also working on the sequel to IMMORTAL, the historical novel set in Renaissance Florence. There’s also a sequel to THE BOTTICELLI AFFAIR called THE CODEX CAPER. And I’ve been taking notes on a novel set during WW2. It’s working title is RECLAMATION, and it will probably take me another few years to write. I have to know the history inside my gut almost perfectly in set a story organically within a particular epoch, and living with Dachau in my gut is almost impossible.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your books or publishing experience?
If I were to do it all over again, I would write my books better! The prose would be cleaner, the story sharper and more intense. I am on a journey of self-improvement. My friend Lynn tells me that I am an exacting and critical person, even with my generosity, but I am far more exacting than generous toward my own work.

What was the hardest part of writing your books?
Middles are hard for me. There’s a burst of creative inspiration at both beginning and end, and then the middle is much trickier for me, and I need a lot more discipline and structure. I am constantly asking myself: What are the stakes? How can I tweak the dramatic intensity? What conflicts and obstacles would organically arise now? Right now, my working definition of story is: how the protagonist does NOT get what she or he wants.

What do you do when you are not writing?
I am raising children, taking care of our home, doing research, reading, walking the dogs, going to yoga, grocery shopping.

What can readers expect when picking up a Traci Slatton book to read?
They can expect to be entertained, delighted, spellbound, and intrigued. It is my ardent desire as a novelist to give readers a story which will stay with them and uplift and enrich them long after they have put down my book.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading my books! Email me with questions and observations. And much joy and many blessings to you and yours.

XO

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Beautiful review of FALLEN!

Just One More Page review spot said: “I really, really liked this book…. Read this book. I can’t wait for the next novel in the series. I can’t wait to see what happens for Emma, and Arthur, and everyone else. Can the mists be stopped? Can Emma find happiness?”


Right from the very beginning of this book I was transported from the modern world into Slatton’s post-apocalyptic vision of the future. A future that could happen, you just never know. Right from the beginning, you also can’t help but connect with the main character, Emma, as she watches a situation unfold which, one way or the other, looks like it will lead to the death of her youngest daughter.

Thankfully, Arthur arrives and saves Emma’s daughter, but that doesn’t mean that danger has passed – this new world is rife with risk, and Emma, like everyone else, is doing her best to navigate her way through it with the least amount of trauma possible. There is so much emotional impact in this story, with many characters drawing you in and forcing you to see the world through their eyes. There is action, violence, romance. It’s raw, beautiful and compelling reading.

I loved the way that Emma developed over the story, but most of all, I think I enjoyed the way she lied to herself throughout. And I loved the way that Arthur called her on that, until the point she knew he was right when he called her a liar. Emma refuses to believe the truths in front of her, as she clings dearly to the beliefs and goals that have kept her safe so far. I think Slatton did a wonderful job of portraying this, as it could have been easy to mess up – frequently in books where the truth is evident to the reader, the reader can get frustrated with the main character for their stupidity in not seeing what’s before their eyes. That was not the case in this book.

I don’t know what else to say without giving too much away, other than – read this book. I can’t wait for the next novel in the series. I can’t wait to see what happens next for Emma, and Arthur, and everyone else. Can the mists be stopped? Can Emma find happiness?

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Just One More Page

And catch me tomorrow at noon on blogtalkradio on Time Tamer talk.

Two Great Reviews of FALLEN and a teaser….
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Two Great Reviews of FALLEN and a teaser….

Fallen has received two great reviews recently, and was featured on TEASER TUESDAY on this vibrant review site.
First review: Noted reviewer Harriet Klausner gave FALLEN five stars, and commented: “Fallen is an exhilarating post apocalyptic thriller that contains superb twists and spins, which keep the audience wondering what next. The fast-paced story grips the reader early on with the vivid description of a world gone mad and never slows down….”
Review I discovered this morning: Gimme the Scoop Reviews posted a 5 star review, raving: “Oh my God! This book was sooo good! The first few sentences draw you in and take you on an emotional roller coaster ride and just when you think it’s okay to uncover your eyes or quit screaming it takes off again!”
I have to confess: both of these reviews thrill me. Harriet Klausner reads everything, as far as I can tell, everything. A 5 star review from such a noted, experienced reader is gratifying. Some internet bloggers wonder how she can read so much, but I read a lot, too, so I grok that. If I want to, I can read 200 or 250 pages an hour–while watching TV. The mind is plastic and wants to oblige, if you ask it to stretch. Besides, Klausner only gave my first novel IMMORTAL 4 stars, so it’s great to see 5 stars for FALLEN.
Then there’s Gimme the Scoop Reviews, who posts the kind of review that every storyteller loves. There’s a difference between writing well and telling a story well, and both are skills I cultivate every single day of my life. When I’m folding the laundry or walking to the bus stop to pick up my little one at the end of the school day, I am thinking about…. Well, it could be a story that’s unfolding in my mind’s eye, or it’s the difference between the craft of prose and the craft of storytelling. If it’s the latter, then the tacit subtext is: how do I improve? It is a novelist’s duty to entertain and intrigue.
So when a review like Gimme the Scoop’s comes along, the reader’s emotional excitement means that I am doing my job as a novelist.
And it’s great to see a quote from FALLEN put up as a teaser, and then to see dozens of comments…