Spectral by Shannon Duffy - Guest Post

Spectral by Shannon Duffy
Published: April 2012
by Tribute Books

Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe—the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.

As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.

Guest Post by Shannon Duffy:

In writing SPECTRAL, and in specifically focusing on the world building and the magic, I wanted to stage the setting in the real world. A lot of the story is written in Jewel’s new home town of Pomona Park, Florida. So, it’s a small school, homey, mostly friendly people sort of community. Then by weaving in the magic that comes into play, I feel it is more shocking, and maybe a bit of, if that sort of thing could happen there, then wow that could happen anywhere. So in order to do this, I wrote about Jewel and her world as she knows it, laid a small hint of maybe something magical in the beginning…just enough to make you go hmmm. SPECTRAL is written in first person, so the reader discovers everything right along with Jewel. I painted the magic in a bit at a time, with strange occurrences and Jewel’s discoveries, until a bigger shocking moment, where there’s no question that there’s something paranormal going on right in small town USA. The more the story goes along, the more magic and powers come into play. Abracadabra!

About the author:

Shannon Duffy writes young adult and middle grade fiction. She grew up on the beautiful east coast of Canada and now lives in Ontario, Canada. She is the mom of one boy, Gabriel, her angel. She loves writing, reading, working out, soccer, and the sport of champions-shopping. She is the author of the young adult paranormal romance, SPECTRAL. Her upcoming middle grade fantasy novel, GABRIEL STONE AND THE DIVINITY OF VALTA is scheduled for a January 2013 release.

Find out more about Shannon Duffy and Spectral.