Author Q&A: Dina James and review of All Wounds

I have the great pleasure of being today's stop on the All Wounds blog tour! I'm happy to welcome the author of the book Dina James to the blog today!

Welcome to Hanging With Bells Dina! Why don't you tell us a little about yourself.

All right. I'm a thirty-something unapologetic geek/gamer girl addicted to writing. I graduated from high school when I was sixteen, hold a college degree in nothing in particular in addition to multiple certifications in various things that captured my interest at the time, am an avid knitter and love Darth Vader. I live in Oregon with my husband and a menagerie of pets. I have a website at www.dinajames.com which has a far-more-comprehensive biography than this one. It mentions sushi.

Your book All Wounds is your 1st complete novel that was released on 10/11/11. What is it about?

All Wounds is the expansion of a short story found in the young adult anthology The Eternal Kiss: 12 Tales of Blood and Desire [Running Press Kids, July 2009], in which the most unpopular girl becomes the center of attention – of those beings most people consider to be monsters. Vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts, goblins, and other things thought only imaginary all need help sometime, and Rebecca was born with the unique ability to heal ethereal beings. She is about to turn seventeen, the age at which her talent will manifest in its entirety, and become a true Healer…if she lives through the event. A war between various ethereal factions is brewing, and Healers are a valuable commodity to any side. Those who wish to harness Rebecca’s manifesting healing powers for their own purposes must get to her before her seventeenth birthday, and staying alive until then isn't as easy as Rebecca thought it would be. Only two vampires and a rogue werewolf stand between Rebecca and those determined to make her serve them, and Rebecca's naiveté doesn't help matters.

You write mostly paranormal stories. Is there any other genres that you would be interested in writing?

Possibly romance of all types. I really enjoy exploring the emotional aspect of relationships and the interaction between people. Odd, given that I'm admittedly antisocial. Really, though - I love my vampires too much not to have one in my stories, so I don't know if I could be without them!

You also write Young Adult as well as adult stories. Which did you write first and what made you want to transition to the other?

I wrote for adults first. The transition happened as a challenge and I ended up writing a short story for the YA anthology above. The response to it was so positive and overwhelming that I fleshed it out and made it longer and really enjoyed the world and the people in it. I never thought I'd go there - I like blood, guts and um..."adult situations" in my writing - but here we are!

What can look forward to in the future from you?

I have two things coming up. One is a collection of short stories - reprints/revisions/expanded versions of my three previously published adult shorts and three more new ones to accompany them (tentatively scheduled for January 2012), and the second book in the Stranger Things series (of which All Wounds is the beginning), Time Heals, tentatively scheduled for a Fall 2012 release.

Thank you, Bells, for having me on your blog today!

You're very welcome Dina and remember, we can't let those pesky Power Rangers drive us nuts! ;)

Review

All Wounds
Book 1 in the Stranger Things series
Author: Dina James
Publisher: Mundania Press
Genre: Young Adult
ISBN: 9780762437177
Release date: 10/11/11
Author's website: Dina James

It's said that when opportunity knocks on your door, you have only one chance to take it.  No one said what you're supposed to do when it kicks it.

All Rebecca MacDonnell wants to do is get through high school with grades good enough to win a prestigious scholarship so that she can finally leave her miserable life behind. One evening, after a particularly bad day, she finds out that people other than her aging grandmother need her help, and desperately so.

Well, not "people," exactly. Vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts, goblins, and other things thought only imaginary all need help sometime, and Rebecca was born with the unique ability to heal ethereal beings. She is about to turn seventeen, the age at which her talent will manifest in its entirety, and become a true Healer…if she lives through the event. A war between various ethereal factions is brewing, and Healers are a valuable commodity to any side. Those who wish to harness Rebecca’s manifesting healing powers for their own purposes must get to her before her seventeenth birthday.

Only two vampires and a rogue werewolf stand between Rebecca and those determined to make her serve them, and the fact that Rebecca has no clue what she's doing doesn't exactly help matters.  Neither does being seriously attracted to more than one of those just trying to protect her.  For a soon-to-be seventeen-year-old Healer-in-training, that's a lot to handle.

Especially on top of her homework.

All Wounds is a great start to a new YA series by Dina James.  Now I don't read a lot of YA books, but once in a while something will catch my eye and I will read it.  All Wounds was one of those books and what I liked most about it is that it starts off with the reader learning about the main Rebecca MacDonnell.  She's a teen with a lot of responsibility on her shoulders as she takes care of her ailing grandmother that has dementia.  Her social life is zero and she doesn't feel as if she is special at all.  Her once boring life changes overnight as she learns the truth about her family and that her birthday is a day of importance.  Once she turns 17 she will become a powerful healer in the paranormal world and until then she is in danger.  Others come to her aid to protect her and this is when the book gets fun as we get the opportunity to meet some awesome characters. 

One of the 1st characters that Rebecca meets is Sydney, a vampire that has agreed to help her learn her powers of healing.  He is a good friend to her grandmother and a master vampire.  He and Rebecca get very close and he warns her that their relationship cannot be more than what it is.  Let's just say it's very hard for Rebecca to not fall for him and vice versa.  Heck I even fell for him as well.  My buddy Melissa and I were discussing how much we loved his character one day and I gotta hand it to Dina James for writing such a great one.  He's so great that I've added him to my Book Boyfriend list under the Cougar category.  Another character that I loved was Billy.  He is Rebecca's bodyguard and a werewolf.  He brings comedy to the story even in serious situations.  Both of these character care deeply about Rebecca and encourage her to believe in herself. She needs the support of those around her more than ever to face whatever comes next.

I'm giving All Wounds a rating of:

My favorite part of the book is when Rebecca realizes that she is special and that she has the ability to help others.  She's not just some girl that people call names at school.  She's a girl that loves her grandmother and is learning more about herself everyday.  And now she has others that are looking out for her.  I'm looking forward to reading more of book 2 in the series Time Heals to see how much Rebecca's power will grow.  There is something truly special about her that has been hinted at throughout All Wounds and I'm looking forward to finding out.

Find Dina at the links below and the rest of the stops on her blog tour!
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