Love Bytes says hello and welcome to author Shira Anthony who is joining us today to talk about her new release “Finder’s Keeper”, part of Dreamspinners Dreamspun Beyond series.

Welcome Shira 🙂

Thank you Dani and company, for hosting this stop on the Finder’s Keeper blog tour! Be sure to read to the bottom of the post for a chance to win a unisex red agate fox pendant I’ll be giving away at the end of the tour.

Finder’s Keeper is my first novel in the brand new Dreamspun Beyond line of contemporary paranormal stories that are romance-forward in the tradition of the old category romances from Harlequin and Mills & Boon. Finder’s Keeper is the sweet story of a half-human, half-fox spirit named Kit who guards a gate between the human and spirit worlds and Zane Mayer, an engineer who inherits the old gothic brownstone where the Gate is hidden.

It was a lot of fun, writing a fantasy novel with a sweet, Harlequin kind of feel. It was also a challenge for someone like me who loves to write multi-book fantasy series like the Mermen of Ea to build a new universe (the spirit realm) in a shorter novel format of less than 60K words. The key for me, at least, was keeping the world building focused on Kit and his connection to that spirit world. We explore that world through Zane’s eyes as Kit takes him on a tour, of sorts. And Zane falls in love with that world and soon finds himself falling in love with Kit.

Will Kit and Zane be able to bridge the gap between their respective worlds and find common ground? You’ll find out if you read Finder’s Keeper!

To enter for a chance to win the beautiful fox pendant? 1) at each stop on the Finder’s Keeper blog tour answer a question in the comments, and 2) claim your entry on the Rafflecopter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s the question you need to answer before you claim your Rafflecopter entry for this blog post: What is your spirit animal? I’m going out on a limb with my answer: dragon! I have a thing for them (and have a story planned for a certain dragon who appears in my mermen books). Put your own answer in the comments below, then go to Rafflecopter and enter yourself! Good luck! -Shira

Blurb: The truth might ruin his dreams—or make them come true.

When Zane moves into an old gothic brownstone, he discovers the house comes equipped with a caretaker—Kit, who lives in the basement. Zane is immediately drawn to the charming and attractive Kit. But Kit is much more than he seems. He is a two-hundred-year-old half-human, half–red-fox spirit who guards a Gate between the mortal and spirit worlds—a fact Zane should recognize, but doesn’t.

Orphaned at a young age, Zane never learned he comes from a long line of mystical Keepers. Kit needs Zane’s help to protect the Gate, but how can he tell Zane of his legacy when that will crush Zane’s dreams of traveling the world? If he takes up the mantle, Zane will be bound to the Gate, unable to leave it. But when Zane realizes Kit’s true nature, and his own, he’ll have to make a choice—fight to protect Kit and the Gate, or deny his destiny and any chance of a future with Kit.

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

About Shira:

Shira Anthony was a professional opera singer in her last incarnation, performing roles in such operas as Tosca, i Pagliacci, and La Traviata, among others. She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle. You can hear Shira singing “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s Tosca by clicking here: Shira’s Singing

Shira loves a great happily-ever-after and never writes a story without one. She’s happy to write what her muse tells her, whether it’s fantasy, sci fi, paranormal, or contemporary romance. She particularly loves writing series, because she thinks of her characters as old friends and she wants to visit them even after their stories are told.

In real life, Shira sang professionally for 14 years, and she currently works as a public sector attorney advocating for children. She’s happy to have made writing her second full-time job, even if it means she rarely has time to watch TV or go to the movies. Shira writes about the things she knows and loves, whether it’s music and musicians, the ocean, or the places she’s lived or traveled to. She spent her middle school years living in France, and tries to visit as often as she can.

Shira and her husband spend as many weekends as they can aboard their 35′ catamaran sailboat, Land’s Zen, at the Carolina Coast. Not only has sailing inspired her to write about pirates and mermen, her sailboat is her favorite place to write. And although the only mermen she’s found to date are in her own imagination, she keeps a sharp lookout for them when she’s on the water.