A warm welcome to author Isabelle Rowan joining us today to talk about new release “Furborn”.
Welcome Isabelle 🙂

First of all I must thank Love Bytes Reviews for allowing me to visit their blog and introduce my new novel!

Earth magic has always been close to my heart, but in our suburban boxes we have to work a little harder to feel it. We need to step away from our phones and walk barefoot in the dirt. Look at the animals around us both wild and family. I try to do this as often as I can and I have two hemispheres to draw on! I was born in the North East of England and live on the southern coast of Victoria, Australia. This means that the seasons are turned on their head! The northern hemisphere is enjoying the colours of Autumn while we are in Spring – not looking forward to Summer. I hate hot weather!

Our native animals are different and introduced species are regarded as feral – I sometimes wonder if that includes me? Anyway, one of the dreaded ‘invasive’ species is the red fox which is viewed as a disaster for the Australian native fauna. I can’t deny that, although I do believe that humans do more damage than a fox ever could. Foxes have a bounty on their head (tail) and this is especially the case in sheep country. Furborn is set right in the middle of a rare and heritage sheep area near Castlemaine in Victoria where farmers are passionate about their livestock. It is also the home of a small family of fox shapeshifters called the furborn. They were brought to Australia the same time as the sheep, but they are the ones in danger of extinction.

 

 

“You are grown now Connor and might be the last male of our kind. You need to be smarter and safer.”

It was on the tip of Connor’s tongue to bite back, but she was right. Their family was diminishing and the furborn had to survive. He leaned over and touched her belly. “I will be smarter for the new.”

“Go on, go play under the bright mother.”

The furborn didn’t need the full moon to transform from skin to fur, but the joy of her light charged their souls with energy and joy. Connor didn’t need to be told twice and shed his clothes along with his human form.

He bolted across the forest floor leaping higher than necessary over fallen trees and low lying brush. The moonlight gleamed on his lush red fur and he jumped and twisted in it for no other reason than the joy it gave him. When the air finally left his lungs he sat in a small clearing and stared up at the moon. His chest heaved with panted breaths and his tongue lolled pink, but his eyes shone brightly. It was when the forest was most alive. He flicked an ear at the scurry of a bush mouse and grinned. You are safe little mouse for tonight is for play not the hunt. The same could not be said for the owl that swooped on silent wings to scoop up its prey.

Connor’s nose twitched at the symphony of smells – the fresh blood of the owl’s dinner, the fallen tree rotting back into the forest floor and the fungus it fed. He also smelled the farm –the pungent lanolin of sheep fleece, the rancid chicken coop and the horses both old and new. He had a promise to keep, but the lure of the farm was great. I can watch and remain hidden, he reasoned and trotted towards the forest edge.

 

Furborn is also the story of first love for Spencer MacKenzie. Newly arrived and coming to terms with life at his grandfather’s farm the young goth finds more than sheep on the horizon. Connor Coutts with his long red hair and surly demeanor turns Spencer’s world upside-down.

It’s made even worse when Connor is injured and is forced to stay with the MacKenzie’s!

 

Most of the ride home was in silence. The boys sat side by side in the back seat, but they could have been from different planets. Connor stared out the window while Spencer tried hard to remain still. Their legs barely touched and Spencer’s heart missed a beat when his leg began that nervous jiggle. Stop it, stop it, STOP IT! He tried looking away, but still his knee bounced. He pressed his hand on his thigh – that had never worked before, but maybe this time? It certainly didn’t help that he noticed the fair skin through Connor’s ripped jeans. It didn’t help at all because he also noticed how the hair was just a little bit thicker at the tear high on his thigh. It took all his willpower not to slide his fingers through the rip and under the worn denim. The jiggling of his leg stopped, but there was an even more dire reaction burgeoning. Think about sheep. Wet stinky sheep.

Blurb:

Early settlers transported foxes to the Australian colonies, but not all foxes are what they appear.

 

Connor Coutts fiercely guards the family secret of the Furborn in sheep country Victoria, where foxes are shot on sight and left to hang from trees as a warning to others. At seventeen he is the only male Furborn for hundreds of miles, one of the last of a rapidly dwindling legacy. His life’s path is clear—until someone new arrives at the MacKenzie sheep farm. Spencer MacKenzie, with his long black hair and gothic style, might seem out of place, but it soon becomes clear that the two boys could make a formidable team against their enemies.

 

But before they can work together, Connor owes Spencer the truth…. He’s just not sure if he should trust him.

 

Buy through:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

and many other places!

 

A slinky cat for a witch may be a cliché, but add a whole bunch of tribal tattoos and an intolerance to garlic (seriously), and you have Isabelle Rowan.

Having moved to Australia from the North East of England as a small child, Isabelle now lives in a seaside suburb of Melbourne where she taught film making and English. She is a movie addict who spends far too much money on traveling… but then again, life is to be lived.

 

She is occasionally retired from teaching and is beginning a new career in story and screenwriting!

Isabelle Rowan: http://www.isabellerowan.com/

 

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