The Sea Archer by Jeny Heckman 💕 Behind the Scenes, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Paranormal Romance)

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Raven Hunter, a musical prodigy, flees to the Hawaiian Islands to pick up the pieces after her marriage to her manager collapses. Instead, she experiences extraordinary and unsettling events that are beyond her understanding.

Living in paradise, marine biologist, Finn Taylor has the unconscious but effortless ability to understand the needs of the animals he cares for. His playboy lifestyle is most men’s fantasy. That is, until the night he meets the shy and elusive new island resident. Suddenly his life no longer feels like his own.

The attraction is undeniable. However, vastly contrasting lives, peculiar dreams, and an unbelievable proclamation that they could be the direct descendants of Poseidon and Apollo threaten to divide them forever. Will they accept their destiny and begin the quest of a lifetime or will they remain in their comfortable yet separate existence?

The stories and connections of the Greek gods can be very confusing. It’s hard to keep track of who’s who and how they came about. In my original prologue, I had these connections outlined, but it was quite a lengthy beginning and my publisher wanted it significantly reduced. To see the genealogy chart of the main players you can go on my website at www.jenyheckman.com and look under the Greek gods tab.

People have asked me why I chose Apollo and Poseidon to be the first two gods represented. The story behind that is Hera, Zeus’s wife, was extremely angry with him and jealous of all his extra-marital affairs. She decided to get back at him and recruited many gods to overthrow him. After Titanomachy, the ten-year battle between the Olympians and the Titans was won, brothers Poseidon, Hades and Zeus drew lots to determine who would rule where. Hades received the underworld, Poseidon the seas and of course Zeus got the top spot of earth and sky. Poseidon, who always felt he would be a better ruler than Zeus, gladly joined Hera’s crusade and Apollo soon followed suit.

Zeus discovered the plot against him and as a punishment sent Poseidon and Apollo to earth to do their penance. They were to be subjects of the fifth king of Troy named, Laomedon, who was also proud. He loved the idea of these gods having to yield to his will, so made them build the walls and foundation of Troy.

I liked that idea very much and thought, I’m building this new series and the story needs a foundation. I thought about the prophecy which also needed a foundation and who better to create that foundation but the original builders.

Once that was decided, I needed the descendants of Poseidon and Apollo to have jobs that would be believable today. There was only ever one job I wanted the sea god’s descendant to do, and that was marine biology. He would’ve been interested in the sea creatures and the watery world. Apollo was a different story. He is the god of music, but also the sun god, god of medicine, prophecy and a few others. He created plagues but also healing. So, there was a variety of occupations to choose from. I chose music, because Poseidon would appreciate Apollo’s music, and Ravens’ character could then move anywhere, where it would’ve been harder to move Finn.

I also incorporated water and the sun together and of course in the USA there’s no better place for that but in Hawaii. An island represented seclusion. Kauai is the Garden Island, an Eden of sorts, which also seemed to be appropriate for the story and series beginning, as that’s part of what they’re trying to save.

In the story, there are many forms of symbolism, that the characters would pick up on if they only knew about Greek mythology. Of course, they don’t, so this makes it harder. Maybe you will be able to pick up on some of it as The Sea Archer progresses. This first story is also supposed to be light on the Greek mythology. You should be enlightened more and more as the story goes on, just like the characters both in the Greek world and the modern one. Everyone is learning what they’re capable of and what’s at stake.

Thank you to Romance Novel Giveaways for having me here today. I had a great time and thank you to the readers as well. I truly appreciate the time you took out to be with me today and I hope you enjoy The Sea Archer!

"Where's the one place you've never been?" Que asked, trying to keep her on track.

“Someplace you've always wanted to go to?" Wyatt asked. Enjoying herself, Raven turned pink.

"You'll think it's stupid."

"No, I won't," both said in unison.

"I've never been to Hawai‘i."

"Hawai‘i?" Que's brow furrowed. "That's here. Don't you wanna go to, like, the Bahamas or something? How have you not been to Hawai‘i?"

"Donovan always wanted to play the massive arenas and big cities, and for some unfathomable reason that didn't include the islands."

"You should do it then. Take some time, figure it out."

"What about my tour dates?"

"You'll get ‘em from, whoever, then call and cancel them. Hell, you can even interview new people to run the works while you're there. You're in the position to do that now, Rave. People would fall all over themselves to come to you. The point is to go away and figure it all out."
She bit her bottom lip and thought about all the problems this idea would bring until her brother spoke the next words.

"What're you afraid of Rave? What do you have lose?"

Jeny Heckman, loves romance. She especially loves romance with a paranormal and/or historical twist. When not ignoring her family and friends by writing you will find her time exclusively on them and photography. Jeny lives in Stanwood, Washington.