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A Lot of Burning Questions
Misty Hayes Author Interview
Tree of Souls is the thrilling conclusion to your Blood Dagger series. What were some things you wanted to make sure you wrapped up before the end?
Without giving too many spoilers away (I hope not), I had to make sure I wrapped up Corinth’s (my eighteen-year-old reluctant hero and The Chosen One) journey, first and foremost. He had a lot going on in this last book—Tree of Souls—and he also had a lot of burning questions. Questions about his lineage, the blade he carries, and The Watchers, a group of elite warrior angels. I also had to make sure I gave Larna (my eighteen-year-old protagonist) her day too. It was important to show the extent of her growth at the very end. There were a lot of characters to finish fleshing out, especially Gabriel Stanton (the vampiric bad guy).
I always enjoy the next book more than the last. What were some challenges you set for yourself as a writer with this book?
Thank you very much! I loved writing all of the books, but the last one is my favorite. The one and only challenge was to just finish it. Tree of Souls is a whopping 640 pages! It was a lot of work.
The emotional turmoil is palpable in this novel. What were some themes you drew on while writing?
Man, there was a lot of emotion running through the entire novel. I felt every bit of it. I guess you could say I drew a lot on life experiences, and how I would really react in certain situations. A good old-fashioned meltdown is never out of the question. It was important to make each scene as believable and fleshed out as possible. Smells and sounds and body language all help pull those together for the reader.
What is the next book or series do you plan to start next?
I just started a spin-off series to The Blood Dagger. It is not titled yet, but I am super excited to see where this new series takes me.
I am also plotting out a seven book series, a mix of Ready Player One meets Warcross. You might have a lot more reading to do in the future.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Instagram
![Tree of Souls (The Blood Dagger Book 3) by [Hayes, Misty]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51nBnuchBKL.jpg)
The first vampire.
The last Nephilim.
The end of a saga.
The epic battle between angel and vampire begins in this third installment in the Blood Dagger series. Ever since his meeting with a group of all-powerful angels calling themselves the Grigori went awry, things aren’t looking up for Corinth Taylor or for his best friend, Larna Collins. After Corinth was almost stabbed to death, Alastair Iszler, Corinth’s brother-in-arms, heroically stepped in to save Corinth’s life—thereby sacrificing his own in the process.
Larna, still reeling after losing the love of her life, has only one mission in mind: kill the vampire who tortured Corinth. Sarah. But things aren’t so cut and dry anymore when friends turn into enemies and enemies turn into friends. Trusting Gabriel Stanton, the leader of one of the most powerful vampire clans in the world, might just be enough to cause his downfall by her hands. Especially since she has the worst kind of history with him—the killing-your-father kind.
Will Corinth make it through his transition to become a vampire? Will the Grigori’s plan at world domination come into fruition? Can they pull together in time to stop the threat?
Find out in the last and most action-packed novel in the Blood Dagger series. It will not disappoint. A must-read from start to finish.
Tree of Souls
Larna has endured more than most people and has done so at a young age. She has reached some pretty amazing conclusions about herself and her family. Her life, both figuratively and literally, has been transformed. There is nothing she wants more right now than to find the one person responsible for all the hurt in her life–Sarah. While Larna is fighting the battle to find and punish Sarah, her best friend is waging his own war. Corinth’s war is one most will never see. He is conflicted between his two new worlds–angel and vampire.
Tree of Souls is the third book in The Blood Dagger series by author Misty Hayes. This is the most fascinating of the three books focusing on Larna and her sidekick and best friend, Corinth. Different from every other series with a vampire theme, Hayes’s books provide readers with a more intimate look into the mind of the characters.
Hayes gives readers the best of both worlds as she moves from chapter to chapter, alternating first-person points of view. We are able to clearly experience Larna’s thoughts, her anguish, and her love for her friends in each of the chapters bearing her name. In addition, Corinth has his own chapters in which we are given the opportunity to hear his thoughts and watch all the ways he is slowly evolving. While most of Hayes’s chapters pull readers into the minds of the main characters, Larna and Corinth, she does include chapters that hand readers the inner thoughts of secondary characters like Vinson whose motives are integral to the plot.
Larna is complicated, and I love her. I loved the way Hayes chooses to write this character since her debut in The Outcasts, Book 1 in The Blood Dagger series. Larna, in Tree of Souls, is no less green than she was in the first book of the series. Though she is now experienced in the ways of the vampire, she is still a young girl who is learning, loving, and trying to find her way. She is relatable on many levels and is a huge draw for readers across age groups and genres.
There is some gore, although Hayes handles it in as tasteful a fashion as possible. I am not a fan of the bloody, vulgar, or explicit. Hayes writes any scene dealing with the bloodier end of the vampire world with caution and just enough vivid detail to give readers a solid mental image. Her focus remains on her characters, their reactions, their personal battles, and the secrets they hold. Any reader shying away from books of this genre will be pleasantly surprised by the manner in which Hayes deals with this subject matter.
I highly recommend Tree of Souls to anyone who has read the first two books and has been looking forward to this third installment. It was definitely worth the wait!
Pages: 642 | ASIN: B081QLXMB2
The Blood Dagger
Misty Hayes Author Interview
The Watchers follows Larna and her friend Corinth on a mission to destroy the most vile of vampires, Gabriel. What were some ideas you brought from book 1 in the series and what were some new ideas you wanted to explore in this book?
I wanted Gabriel Stanton to be more than just a one-dimensional villain. In Volume two, it was important that I show his motivations on why he does what he does, but I also wanted to make people hate him, and then by the end of the book make him a little less vile. In Volume three I will definitely play on this more.
With any vampire book today you can’t help but compare it to Twilight, which I think your book far exceeds. What were some sources of inspiration for you while writing?
It’s funny you should mention Twilight. I mean, I get it, Twilight is one of the most popular stories out there. I started writing The Blood Dagger series in 2012 – at the height of Twilight’s popularity. Twilight was in part, one of the reasons I started my own vampire series. But it was really important for me to create a more relatable female protagonist. Someone far from perfect; who had a lot of growing to do in order to find her strength. It was also extremely important to me that my story more about the plot and less about pining over the love interest. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the ‘chosen one love triangle’ scenario, but I didn’t want to make it the main focus. My sources of inspiration are Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments, and Alexandra Bracken’s Darkest Mind series.
If Hollywood came knocking, what actresses/actors would you cast as the main characters?
Oh man! Don’t tease me . . . I would absolutely LOVE for this to happen! And I unashamedly admit that I might have thought about it:
- Larna – She’s always existed solely in my head, but I saw Dumplin’ the other day and I loved Maddie Baillio’s performance in it. She played Willowdean’s friend, Millie, in the Netflix original movie.
- Corinth – He’s a mix between Zach Levi, Andrew Garfield, and Jay Baruchel – I’ve actually never publically told anyone this until now.
- Alastair – I don’t have anyone set to play Alastair – I haven’t found his Hollywood Doppelgänger yet.
- Gabriel Stanton – Justin Baldoni from Jane the Virgin.
Where will book three in The Blood Dagger series pick up and when will it be available?
Volume three will pick up right where I left off from The Watchers. It will be just as action-packed and full of suspense. There will be plenty more surprises and plot twists included. Volume three: Tree of Souls is planned for a release date set in December 2019.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![The Watchers: The Blood Dagger Series by [Hayes, Misty]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51HXB0Tv5KL.jpg)
Eighteen-year-old Corinth Taylor didn’t sign up to become a Watcher—an elite warrior destined to restore balance to the human race—he was chosen. Corinth can barely control his own hormones … much less the deadly blade. And to make matters worse, his best friend, Larna, just so happens to be the very thing he’s supposed to eliminate.
But when vampires and slayer find a common enemy, Corinth knows it’s his innate calling to hunt evil down. And evil has a name: Gabriel Stanton. The enigmatic vampire who escaped their capture, has plans for Corinth, Larna, and Alastair … and it’s a threat they’ll never see coming.
When the line between good and evil gets crossed, devastating consequences start to happen. As Watcher and vampire worlds collide, Corinth must decide where to place his trust: with his old allies or his killer instincts.
An upstart slayer. A clan of vampires. What could go wrong?
It’s only the end of the world.
The Watchers is the second book in The Blood Dagger series, a high-octane paranormal YA thriller. If you like witty heroines, unconventional relationships, and friendships that can withstand the grave, then you’ll love Misty Hayes’ high-stakes story.
Sink your teeth into a fun, fierce vampire series today.
The Watchers: The Blood Dagger: Volume 2
![The Watchers: The Blood Dagger Series by [Hayes, Misty]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51HXB0Tv5KL._SY346_.jpg)
Corinth is not the man he used to be, and Larna is certainly not the woman she once was. Together, the two lifelong friends make a pair of opposites like no other. When Corinth finds himself with the dagger that inexplicably seems to grant him Sight, Larna begins to notice changes in Corinth that she isn’t sure she understands or likes. Larna, a newly-turned vampire and her best friend, Corinth, a Watcher, both feel an overwhelming sense of foreboding that has nothing to do with their mission to find and destroy Gabriel, the most vile of vampires. As they make their way through one life-threatening situation after another, Corinth and Larna tiptoe around more than one unspoken question in their relationship.
There are plenty of readers who will pick up The Watchers: The Blood Dagger #2 by Misty Hayes and proclaim it, at first glance, to be nothing more than a take on the story told in the Twilight series. Do NOT be fooled. Misty Hayes has taken the age-old vampire tale to a whole new level! She goes far beyond the Twilight-type plot and leaves it in the dust helplessly spinning its wheels. Once upon a time, I thought that entire series was the be-all end-all of vampire tales, but Misty Hayes’s Blood Dagger series is quickly bumping it from the coveted spot.
I had the pleasure of reading The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger #1 and was enamored from the get-go. Hayes is a master at character development, and nowhere is that more apparent than in her descriptions of Corinth and Larna and their self-talk. The second guessing and self-examination the two do throughout the text allow readers a firsthand look at their fears and their apprehension as well as their own amazement at their growing powers. Reading The Outcasts prior to reading The Watchers is not a must, but it is most certainly a plus when examining the growth the two main characters exhibit. Hayes does a phenomenal job of making this a stand-alone novel that serves to fire up readers’ desire to hear the full backstory of Corinth, Larna, and the feared Gabriel.
Hayes’s books are filled with humor. For as breathtakingly full of action as they are, they are equally as humorous. Hayes peppers her work with quips and one-liners, giving a fantastic depth to each of her characters. Readers will fall in love with Corinth and Larna if for nothing else than their ability to find humor in the most dire of circumstances.
Not to be overshadowed by the light hearted and whimsical, the dark and brooding element is definitely present in Hayes’s characters. In The Watchers, Corinth undergoes quite the transformation and is in the midst of examining his lineage, both of which are giving him pause. As Larna struggles to understand her friend’s trials, she cannot fully delve into his issues due to her own intense physical training and the division she feels between her love interest, Alastair, and Corinth himself.
Hayes writes romantic scenarios in the most tasteful and thoughtful ways. The Watchers: The Blood Dagger #2, though billed more as young adult fiction, appeals to fans of vampire tales as well as fantasies. Hayes’s work fits neatly into a variety of age ranges and genres beginning, but certainly not limited to, young adult.
Hayes’s work is, hands down, some of the most striking to hit shelves in the last decade. There are no characters out there like Corinth and Larna, and Hayes’s style of writing in alternating perspectives helps give rise to the inevitable success of The Blood Dagger series. I’m waiting with bated breath for book 3!
Pages: 515 | ASIN: B07KRHLT26
The Outcasts Book Trailer
Mystical relics.
Powerful vampires.
Strange allies.
It’s hell being a teenager.
Larna Collins has never understood why her dad skipped out on her and her mother when she was twelve years old. Until then, he was a devoted and loving father.
But six years later, during a renovation of her childhood home, she unearths her father’s journal from under a dusty floorboard. According to his final entry before he left, he had recently visited a small parish in England.
The entries draw her to this seemingly quaint village, which Larna discovers isn’t as charming as its blood-craving inhabitants want her to believe, and she learns that she isn’t the only one trying to track her father down.
Could this explain her father’s disappearance? Or was placing her in the center of danger her dad’s master plan all along?
In The End, None Of Us Are Perfect
Misty Hayes Author Interview
The Outcasts has a unique take on the vampire story and follows Larna as she relates a tale woven in history, family secrets, and bloodlust. What was your inspiration for this novel and the overarching history behind Larna?
When I first started writing The Outcasts, it was during the Twilight vampire craze. Even though I still enjoy Stephanie Meyers’s series (I own every copy) – at the time, I still felt that we, as a society, could do better with female protags. I wanted a story that had a plot and didn’t just rely on the ‘girl’ getting the ‘boy’. I wanted a protagonist who wasn’t physically perfect and popular and had a long way to go to find her strength. It was extremely important for me to have a character that people could relate to… because in the end, none of us are perfect, we’re all outcasts and that’s okay.
What I liked most about Larna is that her character felt both fresh and relatable. Were you able to relate to your characters while writing them?
Oh my gosh, in every tortuous way possible… writing Larna was excruciatingly painful, but also freeing in the sense that I wanted her to be more than just a pretty face. It was important she be funny and witty and have an inner strength that she needed to find and tap into. I think her vulnerability was the hardest thing for me to get right.
I find that, while writing, you sometimes ask questions and have the characters answer them. Do you find that to be true? What questions did you ask yourself while writing this story?
This list could be irritatingly long! Ha! I still have questions I’m asking myself about this series, like: Is Larna relatable and not just annoying? Would people buy Corinth coming into the picture and then slowly fading away? Would people believe Alastair liked Larna? Did Alastair’s character shine through the way I wanted it to? Is Gabriel too cliché?
The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger is volume 1 in your series. When will volume 2 be available and what can fans expect in that novel?
Volume 2 is expected to be released December of this year! The book is already written, I am just working on polishing now. People can expect ACTION. The character development has been completed, now we find out what Larna, Corinth, and even Alastair are really capable of. Prepare yourselves for MORE of everything!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger: Volume 1 by [Hayes, Misty, Hayes, Misty]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q6KJ8ZssL.jpg)
Larna Collins has never understood why her dad skipped out on her and her mother when she was twelve years old. Until then, he was a devoted and loving father.
But six years later, during a renovation of her childhood home, she unearths her father’s journal from under a dusty floorboard. According to his final entry before he left, he had recently visited a small parish in England.
The entries draw her to this seemingly quaint village, which Larna discovers isn’t as charming as its blood-craving inhabitants want her to believe, and she learns that she isn’t the only one trying to track her father down.
Could this explain her father’s disappearance? Or was placing her in the center of danger her dad’s master plan all along?
The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger
Misty Hayes, author of The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger Volume: 1, is handing readers a unique take on the vampire stories of late. Her main character and narrator, Larna Collins, relates a tale deeply woven in history, family secrets, and bloodlust. Larna, quite the social outcast in her high school, graduates and embarks immediately on a mission to find her estranged father in England. Using her father’s journals and her own burning desire to find answers to her endless string of questions about his sudden disappearance, she leaves Texas just as her lifelong friend, Corinth, reveals his desire to be more than a tried-and-true confidante.
The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger Volume: 1 is written to appeal to young adult readers, but is so exceptionally written and full of wit and wisdom it easily resonates with a much larger audience. The idea of the socially downtrodden heroine is not a new one, but Hayes manages, quite successfully, to fashion Larna Collins into character unlike any readers will encounter within other books in the same genre. Larna is thoughtful, and the reader is privy to all of her emotions, anxiety, and, ultimately, her pride and power.
Character development appears to be Hayes’s forte. Dropping little hints throughout the plot, the author draws robust images of each character from Paul the Volkswagen/taxicab-driving vampiric sidekick to Gabriel–the devil incarnate. Each of Hayes’s characters adds a rich element to the story, and she masters the plot twist with the best of the action/adventure writers out there.
Hayes provides a captivating mixture of budding romance and action sequences. In addition, she takes literary risks with her characters’ fates. She, by no means, sticks with what the reader expects. At every turn, Hayes delivers something new and unexpected, but more than appreciated. The tension between Corinth and Larna and the ever-present question of romance between Larna and Alastair keep the reader guessing from beginning to end.
Hayes offers an originality with her presentation of the vampire tale. She successfully juxtaposes the deteriorating architecture of old England with present-day Texas and tosses in a healthy amount of technology and modern references–all easily within the schema of the young adult audience. Those expecting to find the vampires of the Twilight series will be pleasantly surprised to find a quite different vamp sketched before them as Hayes offers up a down-to-earth creature with far-reaching abilities and deep-rooted emotions.
I am giving The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger Volume: 1 a solid 5 out of 5 stars. Hayes offers a well-written, smooth read which mesmerizes readers from the first paragraphs. The relatable struggles of its main character, Larna, take an unexpected turn early on and pull readers in for a ride like no other. Hayes will soon find herself with a growing fan base yearning for more from Larna and her crew. By giving her audience the story they want with a cast of characters far-removed from those of the typical vampire tales, Hayes has succeeded in paving the way for her band of outcasts.
Pages: 356 | ASIN: B077XL9WHH
LITERARY TITAN 