Tell us about Aversion

Aversion (Book One of the Mentalist Series) is a novella about a young girl who has the ability to sense her assignee’s future acts and try to prevent them from carrying them out. Don’t worry, there are no vampires or werewolves in sight in this book, so it’s a bit different from other paranormal stories out there at the moment. Official blurb below:

For Gemma Green’s first time, things should have been straightforward. Find your subject, hold their gaze and push a thought into their head to save them from future disaster – Aversion complete. A pretty simple process given that the subject was to have no recollection of the experience. But Russ Tanner doesn’t seem to want to forget. In fact the more she tries to avoid him, the more he pushes to get to know her. Gemma knows she has a problem but is she facing the side effects of a failed Aversion or has the school’s tennis champ really fallen for her?

Tell us a bit more about Gemma Green and her ability. She can see what her assignee is planning to do in the near future and somehow change their minds without them knowing about it? Where has the ability come from, and does she live in a world where other people have this and other abilities too?
In Gemma’s world, being an Averter is genetic and there are quite a few other Averters around. The thing that makes her unique is the fact that she is the only female Averter that she knows of. As the story progresses, we learn a bit more about why she’s this way and also about why Averters do what they do but you’ll have to read the book to get the full story. 

What genre is it?
It’s a young adult paranormal romance and the first in a series.

What are your plans for the series? How much can you tell us about what is going to happen in the next book, Sentient? And how many books are you planning for the series?
I’m not sure how many more books there will be in the series but I guess it’ll be as many as I need to tell the story. Without spoiling Aversion for those who haven’t read it, all I can say is that Sentient will focus more on Gemma and Russ’s connection and how Gemma learns to deal with her ability.

What kind of readers are you hoping to attract to the series?
Well, I’m hoping that teenage readers will find it to their liking but it is common knowledge that a lot of people past their teen years love to read books targeted at that age bracket so, the possibilities are endless. I’d love for both boys and girls to read the story as it’s not your average romance story.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _____________, then you’ll love Aversion.
Young adult paranormal fiction with non-stereotypical characters and storylines. I’m not sure if I can compare it to any specific work out there because I haven’t read other books with the same ideas.

Us neither; the Averter idea is an intriguing one. How long did it all take to put together?
I got the idea for the story a little while ago and wrote an outline down but I only started writing it properly last March. It took about eight months to complete the first draft because I was working full time at my day job but I was quite pleased with the pace. Getting comments back from beta readers and having it edited took a further couple of months before I thought it was right for publication.

What was the most challenging part of the process?
I always experience a little bit of writer’s block about half way into writing any of my books but that clears up fairly quickly if I step away from the work for a bit and focus on other things.

I’d say the most challenging part of my creative process is editing. I get fairly attached to scenes and characters and struggle to cut things out even when they’re not needed, but I usually get others to read my work and I try to make sure I maintain an objective approach to what they have to say. It’s not easy though…not at all!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I live in the lovely city of London, work as an Architect during the day and spend most of my spare time writing fantasy/paranormal fiction (sometimes I dabble in contemporary romance). I’ve always wanted to write for a living and although it’s a lot of hard work melding my two career worlds together, I definitely think it’s worth it as I’m living my dream. In the last couple of years I’ve had a few YA books self-published including The Other Slipper, The Summer of Brian and The Altercation of Vira, all available as e-books.

Architecture and writing are both creative and technical professions; do you find them complementary or do they compete for your creative juices? 
It depends on how you look at it. Although both are creative and technical, they differ quite a lot in their application, but I find that I can use some skills I’ve developed in both interchangeably. I am more interested in the technical side of architecture – how things are put together and how they work, so I try to use this particular skill when I’m drafting outlines and as I develop stories. Elements of my stories need to connect with others and most things need to make sense in the end – just the way I like my buildings. I have to admit that I much prefer writing fiction to designing buildings but, shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone.

Your secret is safe with us – and our thousands of readers! Have you got a blog where we can read more of your secrets? How can we follow you on Facebook and/or Twitter?
It’s http://caeblogs.wordpress.com and readers can also follow me on twitter @kenechiudogu or on my Facebook page.

Where can we buy Aversion?
You can get Aversion as an e-book at lot’s of different retailers and hopefully more in the future, so watch this space: Amazon (US, UK), iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo.

What’s next?
I’m currently working on Sentient which will be the second book in the Mentalist Series and hopefully this will be out later on this year. Aversion has had some really lovely reviews so I’m a bit worried that I won’t be able to match it’s charm but I’m crossing my fingers and toes. Wish me luck!

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Already read Aversion? Then check out Coveted by Stephanie Nelson.