Blog Tour: Interview with Shea Berkley, author of The Marked Son

Today, as part of the Meet Dylan Kennedy blog tour I have an interview with Shea Berkley, author of The Marked Son (the first in a series!). So without a further ado..

1) What are the top three reasons in your opinion that people should check out The Marked Son the next time they see it online or in stores? 

A challenge right off the bat. Wow, you don’t mess around! Love it!

One. The Marked Son isn’t like any other story out there. It’s the familiar-yet-different story everyone is looking for.

Two. It’s an adventure like none other. If you like your stories filled with danger, great characters and a gorgeous hero who saves the day and a girl who saves him right back, then The Marked Son is a good choice.

Three. Seriously, if reasons one and two don’t convince you then nothing more I say will. So go ahead, take a chance and check out The Marked Son.

2) The Marked Son tells the story of Dylan Kennedy, so would you share a little about him with us? Also if you could give him any advice, what would you say?

Dylan is a guy with a huge problem. His mother doesn’t love him, in fact, she totally abandons him at his grandparents, people he’d never even met, because she can’t stand to be near him one second longer. As he struggles to understand why she would leave him, amazing things start to happen, the most surprising is his love for a Kera. Everything seems perfect, until he follows Kera and inadvertently steps into an adventure that promises to kill him.

My advice to Dylan? That’s easy. Get it together, dude! Stop and think. Breathe. This is a once in a lifetime moment. Take it all in, appreciate the things that make you unique and learn to be that guy who takes a chance and saves the day.

3) The Marked Son takes place in Oregon, so what inspired you to choose that as a setting?

Have you ever been to Oregon? It’s gorgeous. I love the coastal area, the forests and the mountains. There’s something about fog that makes me smile. I actually used to race my car along back roads in the fog. To be honest, it’s a miracle I didn’t die. I’m just thankful I didn’t and that my mom never found out. She would have colored my butt blue for being such an idiot.

(My youthful antics are in no way to be imitated. And I’m serious about that. Please, drive responsibly.)

4) How did the title The Marked Son come to be; was it always the title, or did it come later on in the game?

The Marked Son isn’t the original title. It used to be called Shattered. I named it that because that’s how I viewed Dylan. At every turn someone is chipping away at him until he finally shatters, thinking he’s going crazy and then the craziness turns out to be real and he’s got to pull himself together, piece-by-piece, in order to survive.

5) What is one of your favorite scenes or lines from the book? No spoilers please!

Wow, pick a character and I could give you their favorite line, but to say one line in the whole book is my favorite of all favorites is crazy hard. Let me think.

Okay, here’s one.

Lucinda stopped only a few feet from Kera and leaned close. “Messy business being killed. I don’t recommend it.”

This line sums up Lucinda’s way of thinking. She taunts instead of helps. Her sole reason for living is to cause trouble, even when it looks as if she’s helping. She’s the queen of hidden agendas.

My favorite scene is where Grandma and Grandpa are trying to figure out who Dylan’s dad is, and by the end, Dylan confronts his mom about his dad. You might think that’s an odd choice, but it shows the reader how messed up Dylan’s mom really is and how hard his life really has been living with her all these years. He has a lot of inner strength, which I love about him.

6) The Marked Son is the first in a series, so what is your favorite part about writing a series? Least?

My favorite part about a series is that as a writer, I really get to dig into who my characters are. The least favorite part about a series is that there are days I want to write, “And they all died. The End,” because my characters have the amazing knack of being able to piss me off more than nearly anything else. And then there are days I want to write, “And they lived happily ever after. The End,” because it looks like they will never find that awesome ending they all deserve. Here’s the thing. Writing well is hard. No, I take that back. It’s torturous. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional, or they just don’t care what they put on the page. Yet, when you write “The End” after months or sometimes even years of writing a book, it’s the best feeling ever.

7) Name three things your readers would be surprised to know about you.

Hummm. I’m pretty open about who I am... Okay, how about this, I’ve had more concussions than I’d care to admit. I’m clumsy and I take risks, which makes for a bad combination. I’ve been known to keep my mother up at night worrying.

Here’s another one. When I was little, I hated piano lessons so much, I put my pet white rat on my shoulder to scare away my teacher. She was a sweet little old lady who I was sure would hightail it out of there once she saw my rat’s long, scaly tail, large pink eyes and twitchy pink nose over big white teeth. Didn’t work. All I got was heat from my mom and patience from my teacher. Showed them. I still can’t play the piano. That’s right, I was a tenacious little brat.

Okay, last one. I’m a baker. I love my sweets. Okay, maybe that’s not so shocking if you know me, but most people don’t realize how much I bake since I’m not that big of a person. I give a lot of what I bake away, and then the horde that makes up my offspring and their friends tend to decimate what’s left. I make a bomb-diggity, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake. Ooo, I think I’m gonna go make it now.

8) What is up next for Dylan in The Fallen Prince? Can you give us any hints?

It’s hard to say what’s coming up next without giving stuff away, but I’ll try.

Dylan has become a danger to himself and everyone around him. He needs to control his newly acquired powers in order to live a normal life. To do that, he gets thrown into a cast of characters who either want to help him or kill him. Kera, being Kera, sacrifices herself to save the human realm, forcing Dylan to figure out who’s behind the terror that’s invaded Teag even as he risks his life to save Kera.

There are more creatures and adventure in this book than the first, and just like the first installment, it’s Dylan’s and Kera’s love for each other that holds the whole story together. There are a lot of “aww” moments as well as “Oh, heck no, that did not just happen!” moments.

I’d like to thank Lauren for inviting me here today. I love geeking out when it comes to writing. You can find me at: Facebook / SheaBerkley.com / Goodreads / RubySlipperedSisterhood.com / Twitter

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Thanks so much for stopping by, Shea! It was fun to learn more about you and your book!

More about The Marked Son:

Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he's never met, he had no idea what.

When Dylan sees a girl in white in the woods behind his grandparents' farm, he knows he's seen her before...in his dreams. He's felt her fear. Heard her insistence that only he can save her world from an evil lord who uses magic and fear to feed his greed for power.Unable to shake the unearthly pull to Kera, Dylan takes her hand. Either he's completely insane or he's about to have the adventure of his life, because where they're going is full of creatures he's only read about in horror stories. Worse, the human blood in his veins has Dylan marked for death...

Be sure to check back this Friday for my review of the book! ALSO Entangled Teen is hosting a giveaway for the book HERE!