Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Guest Spotlight: Magen McMinimy's Immortal Blood

It's time to discuss my book group's review of Magen McMinimy's Immortal Blood, an erotic paranormal romance that flips the Fae world on its head.





My Review:

Immortal Blood is the story of Bain, a Fey warrior, and Izzy, a lucky event planner, who meet under less than desirable circumstances. When her luck is stolen by the leprechaun Zander, Izzy is forced to rely on Bain’s protection. As life in the human world becomes more and more dangerous, Bain takes Izzy to the Fey world; this was the point where the story really picked up for me because of the love story and the supporting cast. I’m not going to give away spoilers, but the black moment in this story and subsequent HEA were really worth the read.

I love fairy tales and mythology, and one of my favorite parts of the book was the original way McMinimy recreated the Fey world. There’s some impressive world building started in this book, and I can only assume it will continue as the series goes on. There are more layers to this book than a simple love story; it also focuses on politics, issues of racism, and the impact of different socioeconomic levels within the Fey community. Definitely check this book out, as well as the future books in the series!


My Favorite Quote from the Book:

Bain watched as the scrawny human put his hand on Izzy; it wasn't until he dropped his head to Izzy's ear that Bain moved from their table and to the dance floor. It had bothered him to see someone with their hands on Izzy, but he bit back his growl and kept himself somehow planted in his seat, but when the guy's lips moved close to Izzy's ear, and he saw her shake her head at him, he couldn't stay put any longer...

Izzy smiled and arched her brow.

Andy's eyes narrowed as they drifted between Izzy and Bain.

"Time to scamper off," Bain growled.


Character Spotlight:
One of the most intriguing villains in this book wasn’t the lovely Zander I’ve mentioned before…it’s actually Lady Esperanza, Bain’s mother. You’ll have to read the book to understand why, but I imagined her looking a bit like Helen Mirren - beautiful, regal, and with that unnerving hint of bad assness that comes out at times. Her first meeting with Izzy shows quickly how she feels about her son's relationship with a lowly human.


“Your kind…well, they fascinate me, they always have.”

Fascinate did not sound like a compliment at all, either, in fact it sounded like a dig.





Q & A with Magen McMinimy:

1. Were there any other series of paranormal/fantasy books that you believe inspired the creation of your novel? (from Scarlett Dawn)

Not really. Although I did love Mead’s Dark Swan series and I suppose there are some very loose comparisons that could be made.

I wrote my vampire series and I wanted to do something else, this whole book really came about as I wrote the very first scene which was in fact the scene where Izzy meets Bain and Uriah and she thought they were vampires. I wanted to branch out and do something a little different. I wrote a NA book a while back that features a lot of the Fae style creatures (Fairies, Nymphs, Dragons, Elemental Magic users and Mermaids) I loved the freedom with those characters and I wanted to play a little more with the idea on an adult level, where the only limitation would be my imagination.

2. Even though there’s “good” and “bad” fey in the Middle World, a lot of the motives of different characters don’t fit into those nice categories. Did you plan for that in your story, or was it something that developed as you got to know your characters? (From M.A. Grant)

That’s a great question and the answer is: I did not plan it. I wish I could say it was all part of my master plan, but it truth the characters just sort of formed as I wrote them, I knew who Bain was and I knew what kind of character Izzy would be, but the truth of the matter is that even though this is fiction, nothing is truly that black and white in the world.

I believe that some of the light characters are great examples of how power, status and appearance can corrupt ones sense of right and wrong.

I know part of this question pertains to Zander, who is definitely Dark Fae, though he may feel light-weight evil right now, there is a reason behind it

So ultimately while it wasn’t consciously done, I think my views of life not being quite as black and white as some might think probably seeped through on to these characters.

3.Besides making the drinker immortal, does the Immortal blood have any other interesting side effects? If so does it just depend on the person, and could it happen to anyone? (From Brandy L Rivers)

Ooh sneaky sneaky Brandy lol, since you’ve read Immortal Craving you have part of the answer to this question…

For the Fae who feed from the Immortal Three or the Immortal Four, it makes them Immortal and it heightens there powers, you’ll hear Bain and Kale in Immortal Craving refer to other Fae as lesser, it isn’t derogatory, it’s just that they (Bain and Kale) are heightened and most Fae are lesser then them because of the blood, it’s what makes them elite.

As far as if a human were to get their hands on the blood… well you’ll have to keep reading

4. Lately, the Fae are becoming such a major force in paranormal fiction. What drew you to them and why do you think it took people so long to get on board? (From Sarah Daltry)

I wrote a full series about vampires and then I started a shifter series and I had been playing around with the Immortal Characters (Bain and his Brothers) I was in a new bird of prey obsession and I wanted to write about these super sexy magnificent winged men, lol. I know it sounds funky, but that was what started it and I knew that in writing these characters I would benefit from delving into the Fae world because these guys are not angels, and I knew it was likely that’s how people would read them. I think Bain answered part of this question when he said:

“You humans need to expand your horizons; I’m f**king tired of being called a God damned vampire.”

We are obsessed with vampires and shifters, I think that’s a big part of why it’s taking so long to get our readers on board with the Fae world.

Purchase Links:
Purchase Magen's books through her website - http://magenmcminimy.weebly.com/index.html

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the spotlight. I loved this book as well as all Magen's other books. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do. evamillien at gmail dot com

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I love her books too. :)

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