Guest Blog: Author of Walking With Shadows, Julienne Lynch

Well, it's crazy to think that another book has been completed, published and now read by reviewer's – something that I thought would never happen.

Book two in my Shadows World Trilogy was a labour of love, and one that took over a year to complete. At one point I thought I would never actually get the manuscript completed by the deadline, but thankfully I persevered and found myself head first into Giselle's world.

I can tell you right now that book two is so very different and much rawer than the first. Sometimes (just a teeny weeny bit) I sit back and think “Holy cow, I wrote this!”

Seriously.

Why? Because somewhere along the way from In The Shadows, to the completion of Walking with Shadows I sort of lost faith in myself.  Maybe I found the challenge of completing the sequel that would make my readers sit up and take notice too frightening.  I don't know, but what I do know is that I put my everything into the book.  It was re-written several times, and the final chapters were the most challenging.

When creating my original outline, I had toyed with the idea of writing from more than one perspective, and it wasn't until my first read through that I really fell for the idea.  Writing in first person from both the perspective's of Alex and Marc, as well as Giselle was exciting. It gave me the chance to allow my readers to delve into their minds. As much as we all like to “hate” Alex, I wanted to leave him somewhat vulnerable, make my readers question his true intentions – asking themselves “Is he really that bad after all?” and of course I wanted to shock with the once innocent Marc – leaving his role in the final book of the series open and questionable.

Whilst the whole writing experience of book two differed from my first novel, I wouldn't change it for the world. Why? Because I feel that along with Giselle, the world that I have created has grown and flourished.  I love the woman that Giselle is becoming, I love how she is finally able to see her new role as something that can be for the better good, and not all is doom and gloom.

I just hope my readers are ready for the roller-coaster of a journey in book three, Fighting Shadows, when things finally reach the penultimate ending. If you thought books one and two were full of twists and turns, you're in for a shock in book three. :)