Guest Blog: Shadows Deep

Happy Monday! I'm hosting , the author of Shadows Deep today. There is supposed to be a review posted alongside this, but I haven't quite finished the book yet and I feel it unfair to try and review it without completion. I'll post that this week, and my apologies to the author for running behind.

Enjoy!

My Fantasy Casting Call

One of my favorite questions I’ve been asked in an interview was who I would cast to play the characters in my novel if it was made into a movie. It’s a fascinating question, and one I thought about a lot as I was writing Shadows Deep (Shadows #2) when I was daydreaming instead of writing. I was getting to know a few of my characters a whole lot better since it was the second book, and so that added to my conundrum of which actor I thought could do them justice.

The Shadows series centers around a woman named Ellie Coulter. Ellie’s in her early thirties, and although she’s petite and pretty, she’s got this haunted quality about her because of her past. She’s always been a loner. What was interesting for me in writing about Ellie is that although I gravitate toward strong female protagonists, Ellie’s character isn’t quite there yet. In the first book, Edge of Shadows, she’s broken and vulnerable. In Shadows Deep, she’s starting to figure out who she is and that she’s much stronger than she thinks and seeing her evolve is really gratifying.

So I’d need an actress with a frailty and guardedness about her, but who also has the range to show how Ellie blossoms over the course of the movies (of course the first one would be such a wild success that all the books would be optioned, right?) For some reason Natalie Portman comes to mind, although she is just a tad young. Other contenders would be Katherine Heigl (although she’d have to dye her hair) or maybe even Kate Beckinsale.

Ellie fell in love with David Mitchell in Edge of Shadows, and throughout the course of Shadows Deep, that new love is tested in a big way. David was Ellie’s dream guy, but we find out at the end of Edge of Shadows that he’s got some big skeletons in the closet to deal with in the second book.

David’s a few years younger than Ellie, tall, and devastating handsome. He and Ellie had immediate chemistry that is sweet but smoldering at the same time. I initially thought Paul Wesley would be perfect, but now I’m leaning more toward Chris Pine.

We meet a new character, Mikel, in Shadows Deep, and oh is he a bad boy. Mikel is the guy we want to hate, but at the same time we can’t quite stay away from. He’s mysterious, confident, charming, and utterly bad. I have Wes Bentley all lined up for that role.

Ellie makes a new friend in Lucy, who is a witch tasked with helping Ellie deal with the more unsavory parts of her new destiny. Ellie isn’t sure that she can trust Lucy, but finds herself liking her anyways because Lucy is feisty, confident, and fun.  I think Zoe Saldana would portray her perfectly, although the costume makers would have to find her the perfect pixie cut wig.

Last, but not the least, rounding out our cast of core characters, is Jeffrey the butler who takes on the role of Ellie’s guide in her new life. Jeffrey is an older, distinguished gentleman who has a grandfatherly way about him. But like most of the people she encounters in Shadows Deep, Ellie has no idea if he’s an ally or an enemy. She is reliant on him nonetheless. I could see Liam Neeson being a great fit and he’s got the accent to boot.

There is something very cool about having your own imaginary casting call. Once you see your characters moving around “in the flesh” in your mind, they start coming alive in ways that you previously had not been able to imagine. And as the author, that means you can write them even better!

Blurb:

Ellie Coulter made a deal with the devil, and now it’s time to pay the price. Little did she know, the shadows that have swirled around her life since her parents’ death were not a coincidence. As Ellie's destiny is revealed, it comes with the knowledge that her fate is the lynchpin in a far larger, and more dangerous game. And the one who found her has no intention of ever letting her go.

Ellie walks a fine line between keeping up the appearance of acceptance while gathering the information she needs to escape. Along the way, she has to decide who to trust and that includes the man she loves.  As facts give way to lies, Ellie begins to question everything.

With her true intentions on the verge of being discovered, Ellie must find a way to defeat her captor before she becomes a shadow herself.

Excerpt:

 

Letting go was one of the hardest things a person could ever do. Ellie knew that. What happened when she let go of the idea that reality as she knew it was merely a cover on a rabbit hole? She had willingly taken the cover off and fallen down into the unknown darkness. She’d surrendered. Somehow it felt easier that way. But the Voice kept picking at her even though she was deep in her hidey hole. It wouldn’t leave her alone.

“What was it like for you when your parents died?”

Ellie had answered some variation of that question what seemed like a million times over the years, but her response always paled in comparison to the effect of that one event on the rest of her life. How could she explain the depth of pain she felt when the two people who she loved most were ripped out of her life? Or the excruciating, almost debilitating sense of loneliness that followed when she finally comprehended that she was completely alone in the world?

“I was eight,” Ellie replied. “I had no other family. One minute I was surrounded by love. In the blink of an eye I was an orphan. What do you think it was like?” No one could understand what she had been through, and eventually she gave up trying to explain. Her parents’ death was just something that happened to her a long time ago. Ellie preferred to leave that buried there.

“I am sure it was difficult. But you obviously learned to cope, even thrive.”

“Thrive isn’t the word I’d choose,” Ellie said. “I learned how to survive. Eventually I learned ways to be happy again, but I did that on my own. I never felt like I belonged anywhere again.”

The Voice was silent for a while and Ellie was relieved. When it wasn’t poking at her, the darkness was peaceful. Ellie was used to being alone.

“Tell me about your ability. You’ve linked that to your parents’ death.”

Ellie was tired of the questions. They had covered the same ground over and over again. But it was like the Voice was missing some nuance, and so it all started again. Combing through her life. Looking for clues. “I noticed it the first time at the funeral. I was standing there in the cemetery, looking at their caskets, with the social worker beside me. I kept looking around for more people, but it was just the three of us: me, the social worker, and the minister. And then I noticed that the longer the minister spoke, the more these colors seemed to grow out of him. It didn’t make any sense at the time. The colors were deep purple and blue and they got more vivid every time he made eye contact with me. It scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know what to do.”

A familiar cloud of sadness fell over her thoughts as she remembered that lost little girl. “When the service was over, I wanted to kick and scream and lash out. I wanted to push over those caskets because I convinced myself they were empty and it was some elaborate hoax. Any minute they would appear to take me home. But it wasn’t a hoax. My parents raised me to think that showing emotion in public wasn’t ladylike, so as desperately as I wanted to throw a tantrum, I knew they wouldn’t approve. I looked at the social worker and she had a glow of white tinged with yellow around her. Even though I didn’t know what it meant, the colors were soothing. I had to accept that I was left with nothing but this woman to take care of me. I was naive and automatically assumed that she was kind and that she’d be good to me.”

“She wasn’t?”

Ellie sighed. “After twenty-five years of reading auras, I know now that she was indifferent. She probably saw a dozen kids just like me every week. Her aura meant that she was at peace and even slightly happy, but it had nothing to do with me. I was part of her job, and while I was watching my parents be buried, she was probably thinking about getting a manicure or going home and having a glass of wine. Me, I had no home left.”

“You went into foster care.”

“Yes, and in foster care I stayed until I applied for emancipation when I was sixteen.” She remembered the day that the court approved her request. It had been bittersweet.

“Your ability must have been advantageous in that kind of hostile environment.”

“If you mean it helped keep me out of trouble, then probably it did. But I was always a good kid. I studied hard, got decent grades, and generally stayed out of everyone’s way.  I never gave my foster families any reason to really concern themselves with me. I wanted to be invisible. I was pretty good at it,” Ellie said. She had closed herself off from anyone who tried to reach her. It was a defense mechanism that worked well. Perhaps too well.

“Until you met Veronica.”

A face flashed in Ellie’s mind. A pretty blond with infectious laughter. Whereas her parents’ faces had faded over time, Roni’s was vivid and seemed so real that Ellie almost thought her friend was there with her in the darkness.

“Roni just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Ellie said. “She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. And for some reason she wanted to be my friend. I owe her a lot.” It was strange talking about Veronica. Those memories were under strict lock and key for a reason.

About the Author:

Cege Smith is a Minnesota based writer who is addicted to lattes and B-rated horror films. She had been crafting spooky stories since she was twelve years old. She lives with her husband, two adorable stepsons, and mini long-hair dachshund, Juliet in the suburbs of Minneapolis.

Blog: http://www.cegesmith.com

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