Welcome to my stop on the Aurora Sky/Northern Bites Blog tour presented by Xpresso Book Tours. Today's stop features a guest post by Nikki Jefford on what it is like living in Alaska, as well as a giveaway. I have read both books and am really excited about the third book coming out sometime in 2014!
Guest Post by Nikki Jefford
"Maybe Nikki can write about her characters life in Alaska since she is very familiar with it."
Life in Alaska
It’s a good thing I grew up in Anchorage, otherwise I’d probably have my characters wearing big winter jackets, hats, scarves, and gloves 24/7 and put them in igloos. Okay, joking about the igloo part, but what I know from my own teens and twenties is that young adults in the Far North don’t dress for the weather. You can find them waiting outside for the bus in shorts or skirts in the dead of winter or lined up outside Chilkoot Charlie’s night club in halter tops.
Driving anywhere in the winter time requires an extra five or ten minutes of defrosting if you don’t have a garage. We had heavy snowfalls during my junior and senior years of high school and every other morning I was out with the shovel, digging my car out, dreaming of a place where I could just get in and go.
Even if the car wasn’t buried, I had to let the old girl warm up or she’d die. I had a ’77 Pontiac Catalina, which I gave to Fane Donado in the book. (The Tank.) It was too cold to sit static in the vehicle, so I’d dance around outside to keep from freezing.
That’s Anchorage. In Fairbanks it’s so cold you either leave your car running in winter or plug your engine heater into the outlets available around town when you go to work, school, or run errands.
It’s important to stay active in Alaska to avoid cabin fever. There is lots to do in the way of winter sports and hiking. I downhill skied in high school then switched to cross-country as I got older. I’ve always loved hiking. I also really, really enjoy cozying up with a book, blanket, and cup of hot chocolate when it’s really cold outside!
Worse than the cold is the darkness – leaving for school or work and it’s pitch black then returning home and it’s pitch black. The shortest day in Anchorage is about five and a half hours. It gets worse the farther north you go. Barrow doesn’t see a second of light in December or January. (I should send Aurora up that way, maybe she’ll appreciate Anchorage more.)
At this stage of the series, Aurora is about to return from boot camp in the desert. As I mentioned above, I wanted to give her an appreciation for the state. It’s a harsh climate to live in, but there’s also something vibrant and otherworldly about the Last Frontier. That crisp air makes you feel alive. It’s a great place to be undead.
Book & Author details:
BOOK ONE:
Aurora Sky by Nikki Jefford
(Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter
#1)
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
Her blood is toxic to vampires.
If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it's to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn't hurt either.
Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora's life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter in Alaska. Basically she's a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type, which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis right before she has to finish the job...by hand.
Now Aurora's only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire.
(Mature YA/New Adult series. Contains mild language, violence, sexual situations . . . and blood sucking.)
If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it's to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn't hurt either.
Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora's life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter in Alaska. Basically she's a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type, which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis right before she has to finish the job...by hand.
Now Aurora's only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire.
(Mature YA/New Adult series. Contains mild language, violence, sexual situations . . . and blood sucking.)
Purchase:
BOOK TWO:
Northern Bites by Nikki Jefford
(Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter
#2)
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:
Love bites.
Probation sucks.
Thanks to Dante’s recklessness, Aurora is now partners with Valerie: the redheaded, backstabbing vixen.
Dante is in full flirt mode. Fane’s tactics are more ruthless. Something carnal has awakened in Aurora and neither boy is helping tame her cravings.
When a member of the unit’s team is found dead, Aurora and Valerie are sent after a vampire in Sitka, but Aurora suspects the killer’s much closer to home.
Probation sucks.
Thanks to Dante’s recklessness, Aurora is now partners with Valerie: the redheaded, backstabbing vixen.
Dante is in full flirt mode. Fane’s tactics are more ruthless. Something carnal has awakened in Aurora and neither boy is helping tame her cravings.
When a member of the unit’s team is found dead, Aurora and Valerie are sent after a vampire in Sitka, but Aurora suspects the killer’s much closer to home.
Purchase:
AUTHOR BIO
Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who found paradise in the
not-so-tropical San Juan Islands (Wash.) where she is once more neighbors with
Canada in a town without a single traffic light. She loves fictional bad boys
and heroines who kick butt.
When she's not reading, writing, working, or out on a nature walk, she's out riding her Suzuki DRZ400SM.
Author links:
Giveaway:
Tour wide giveaway
Open internationally
Prizes (photo attached):
-Don't Moose with my Bag Book bag
-Text Moosage notepad
-Moose Wobbly Wire writing pen
It might not be as bad here, but living in eastern Canada we get the annoying cold here, too! I can't wait to get a garage next year - no more cleaning 30cm of snow off my car every winter! WOOT! I really want o visit Alaska though I heard it was a great place to visit!
ReplyDeleteGarages are a wonderful thing! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me, Shelley. xoxo