Blog Tour and Giveaway: SHADOW EYES by Dusty Crabtree

Thanks for stopping by today! We have a fabulous guest post by Dusty Crabtree, author of SHADOW EYES! Check it out and don't forget to enter the big giveaway too! Oh, and leave some love for Dusty in the comments and thank her for stopping by!

Personal Experience in Shadow Eyes
Shadow Eyes Blog Tour and Kindle Fire Giveaway

Thank you for hosting me, Britney!

Everyone, don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win a print copy of Shadow Eyes, your full name in the sequel, and a KINDLE FIRE!

One question that everyone always asks authors is, “Did you include any personal experience in your book?”  This varies a great deal from author to author and book to book, but a lot probably depends on the genre (science fiction would be harder to include personal experience than contemporary fiction) and how many books the author has written (we only have so much we can pull from and use before it gets redundant).  

Before we delve into how much of my personal life is actually in Shadow Eyes…let’s check out the synopsis:

Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil.  But she is the only one who can see them.  She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier.  

Although she’s learned to cope, the view of her world begins to shift upon the arrival of three mysterious characters.  First, a handsome new teacher whose presence scares away shadows; second, a new friend with an awe-inspiring aura; and third, a mysterious and alluring new student whom Iris has a hard time resisting despite already having a boyfriend.

As the shadows invade and terrorize her own life and family, she must ultimately revisit the most horrific event of her life in order to learn her true identity and become the hero she was meant to be.


Let me start by saying this…the crazy, traumatic thing that happened to Iris (sorry, no spoilers) did not happen to me.  Also, nothing remotely interesting that happens to her with guys (whether good or bad) happened to me either.  Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the few things that do relate to me.

First, although Iris’s character is not completely like me by any means, we do share a few of the same quirks.  We are both perfectionists and organizational freaks who prefer to have control over their lives (Iris is obviously much less successful at that last part than I am).  I’m a little sarcastic like her too, but her sometimes introverted, anxiety-ridden self?  That’s not me.  She also has a thing for penguins, which totally came from my obsession with the cute little animal.

Second, a few of Iris’s family members and friends have similar traits, quirks, or experiences to my own family and friends, but none are an exact replica.  Iris’s sister, Hannah, waking up and showering in the middle of the night actually came from one of my sisters who used to do the same thing!  It always cracked me up, so I thought it would be fun to mention it.  On a more serious note, my parents were divorced when I was about ten, and my oldest sister and mother went through horrible things similar to what Iris’s sister and mother go through (again, sorry, no spoilers).

Lastly, since Shadow Eyes is an urban fantasy and, therefore, takes place in an essentially normal world, I was able to draw on my own experiences for a few of Iris’s outings.  For the Halloween party, the angel and flapper costumes were both former costumes of mine, and many of the Halloween decorations came from my own house (I’m kind of crazy about Halloween).  I also went on a spelunking trip with my Advanced Earth Science class just like Iris does, and my goofy teacher didn’t know what the heck he was doing either.  However, the thing with the boy in the cave…that didn’t happen to me. 

I’m sure there are many more subtle things that have crept through my fingers into my writing without my knowledge, but…I’m pretty sure that’s just inevitable.  We are what we write, and we write what we are.  

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Iris thought she could ignore the shadows...until they went after everyone she loved.

Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil. But she is the only one who can see them. She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier.

Although she’s learned to cope, the view of her world begins to shift upon the arrival of three mysterious characters. First, a handsome new teacher whose presence scares away shadows; second, a new friend with an awe-inspiring aura; and third, a mysterious and alluring new student whom Iris has a hard time resisting despite already having a boyfriend.

As the shadows invade and terrorize her own life and family, she must ultimately revisit the most horrific event of her life in order to learn her true identity and become the hero she was meant to be.

Check out Dusty’s blog at http://dustycrabtree.wordpress.com/
Find her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dusty.crabtree.1
Follow her on twitter at https://twitter.com/dustycrabtree

Buy Shadow Eyes at http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=176
(also available at all major online bookstores)
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