Character Interview and Review of A Celtic Tapestry: Shadows in the Dark by Miranda Stork!!

Moon Rose Publishing has just released their newest book, A CELTIC TAPESTRY! An anthology between eight authors, each one has taken their own twist on one of the Celtic festivals of the year. From sunny spring to chilly winter, everyone’s favourite season is given a fresh and enticing take in this wonderful collection. To celebrate, Moon Rose Publishing is also hosting a fabulous giveaway as part of the release!

Blurb

The wheel of the year turns, bringing the joy of spring, the warmth of summer, the richness of autumn, and the merriment of winter. But eight Celtic festivals link these seasons together, bringing with them romance, lust, danger, and even magic. From a city under threat from night-time creatures at Ostara, to a selkie caught by the light of the Lughnasadh moon, to a writer caught in the flames of a fiery goddess at Imbolc.

Eight authors have come together to give their own twist on these festivals, weaving each story with a blend of myth, magic, and contemporary telling…to create A Celtic Tapestry.

THE INTERVIEW!!

I have Rebecca from the story Shadows In The Dark from A Celtic Tapestry visiting the blog today!  Welcome Rebecca!! 

What is your name?

Now that’s a tricky question! In this life I’m called Rebecca, but in my past life I was called Sigrior…so I guess I have two names!

How old are you?

A lady never reveals her true age, but I’m in my twenties. Then again, I also existed as a Viking, so I guess that makes me a few centuries old.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a writer—what else would I do with all the mad ideas floating around in my head? Give me coffee and a laptop, and I’m a happy woman. Mind you, I’ve been having trouble writing lately, as my house is currently haunted by a shadowy figure. Puts you off writing a bit.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Usually I’m hanging around with my best friend, Louise. She’s into all this ‘new age spiritual’ stuff. That’s how the shadowy figure showed up, from one of her past life regressions. Mind you, that’s also how I found out about my own past life as a Viking.

Do you have any hobbies?

I do, but I’m mainly stuck between trying to write and trying to get rid of the ghosts in my house right now. So I guess my current hobby is ‘ghost-ridding’. Hmm, that has a ring to it. Maybe I’m like a ghost-buster. But way better-looking.

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Well…that’s a tricky one. I don’t have one now, but my past self did. And…I kind of got murdered before I found out who it was. I’ve seen his ghost though. Wait, that didn’t sound right, I mean…er, I mean…er..no. *wrings hands*

What type of personality do you have?

I’m pretty bossy. I like things done my way, and I can be stubborn. But…I do have a soft side. Although the only one who sees that is Louise. She’s more like family to me now. But you tell anyone that, and I’ll have to hunt you down. *peers around furtively*

How do you think your friends would describe you?

A pain in the ass? *laughs merrily* No, no, I’m kidding. Well, sort of. I CAN be a pain in the ass. But I hope they would say I was a pretty happy person too, and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’d also hope they’d say I was kind, thoughtful, generous, and fabulous. I HOPE so, but who knows what they’ll say?

How would you describe yourself?

Myself? I guess I’m pretty average, really. I don’t…I don’t really give a lot of myself away. *fidgets nervously* I guess I’m okay. I can be pretty feisty, but I hope I’m a good friend to Louise. And secretly, I’m a hopeless romantic.

Do you believe in love?  

*face becomes serious* Yes. Absolutely. I’m a die-hard romantic. I think that there is someone out there for everyone, and I know someone is waiting for me. I feel it, you know? I hope it’s not just my romantic writer’s brain working overtime. *grins*

Are you in love right now?

No…but I feel like…like someone is very close. When I saw that man in my past life regression, I felt as though I loved him. It’s silly to fixate on someone from the past though, isn’t it? But I just can’t shake him off. It’s stuck in my brain somewhere. And here. *presses hand to chest* I’m sorry, you probably don’t want all this gush for your interview! Just, er…not at the moment. *smiles  sweetly*

MY REVIEW!!

This story starts when Rebecca's best friend Lousia, who is a Wiccan, attempt to have Rebecca experience her past life.  Rebecca is a skeptic, but goes along for the sake of her friend.

What she doesn't realize is the dream she saw of two men loving her in a small Viking village is truly her past life.  Also, one of those men succeeds in killing her.  She doesn't see who, but in time she's finds out.  Once she wakes from the vision, Rebecca realizes that the spirits of both men come through from the vision.  When she sees the shadow figure with red eyes coming towards her, she's scared and calls Louisa to banish whatever it is.  

It is when they are almost banished from her house, one of them speaks to her.  He is golden and beautiful, and Rebecca assumes he is good.  He doesn't tell her his name, but makes it clear that this has happened before in her past lives, and with him being the light, he can protect her.

Believing this beautiful man, Rebecca decides to allow him to stay.  Soon she will realize what a mistake that was.  While drinking her morning coffee, she is confronted by the Shadow figure.  It is when she wakes up in the vision of her wedding night with Hafgrimir, her husband, she finds out the truth of what happened to both of them.  She remembers her life with him and of the love she had for him.  Most importantly, she remembers who killed them.  

After sharing an amazing moment with her husband, Rebecca is brought back to reality with him.  It is then she is faced with Radormr, the other man from her original vision.  He's not too happy about her and Hafgrimir reuniting, and makes it known of his intentions for Hafgrimir.  A fight between the two spirits starts, and forces Hafgrimir to make a decision that devastates Rebecca. He is her soulmate and she believes by him making this choice, she will never seen him again.  She is in for quite the surprise while she and Louisa are preparing for Sanhaim the next year!!  

I loved this book, and do wish I had a man like Hafgrimir!  His love for Rebecca is solid and true, and he stops and nothing to protect her.  I felt sad for her when she was faced with the loss of him after finding her love for him again.  I really wanted her to be happy, and hated that she felt so alone.

I also loved the friendship between Louisa and Rebecca.  Even though Rebecca didn't believe in ghosts, she still supposed Louisa's love of them!  Also, when Rebecca is faced with a life changing decision, Louisa is the one who pushes her to make it.  It was an extremely hard decision, but one that will determine her happiness.  

~~~~~~~~

Excerpt (Shadows In The Dark, Miranda Stork)

The light buzzed and flickered about her head before returning to its static glow. Rebecca gave it a disdainful look, tapping it with one finger. Shaking her head, she returned to brushing her teeth, her tired face reflected in the bathroom mirror. She really needed to rent a new house—the landlord did nothing to fix the faulty electrics. At least it was cheap though.

Laughter floated through from the TV in the bedroom, making her brush faster. She hated missing this program. Rebecca spat out into the sink, running the water to clean off her brush. As she placed it back into its holder carefully, she glanced back up at her face. Her fingers traced the sides of her eyes, where crow’s feet were starting to emerge. Ugh. Rebecca had always been one of the first ones to say that you should grow old gracefully, but she didn’t mean at the young age of twenty-eight. She peered in for a closer look-

What the hell?

Blinking, Rebecca spun around in shock. She had seen a shadow blur past in the landing behind. The blood drained from her body, her limbs going icy with fear. Someone is in my house! With the bathroom door wide open, she had a full view of it. Her head darted from side to side as she tried to look for anything that might be a useful weapon, if she needed it. The bathroom was not the best place to find it. If only I’d had a machete installed along with the bath suite. Finally settling on her straighteners, she padded out into the landing carpet. They wouldn’t have been her first choice, but she was ready to give a good smack with them if she could.

The light in the bathroom buzzed again, flittering on and off as if a moth was caught in its beam. The sound made Rebecca flinch, but she ignored it and slowly tip-toed across the dark landing. She knew better than to shout out, “Who’s there?” She had seen enough horror films to know that you never got an answer, and that was usually how you gave away where you were. There was no noise from the spare room where she had seen the shadowy figure run into. The light in the bathroom finally came on full again, but then the landing light came into life.

The hair on the back of Rebecca’s neck stood on end as she dared a glance at it. She knew full well it wasn’t switched on. It flickered on and off, before finally giving up the ghost and returning to the darkness. A trickle of cold sweat ran down her forehead, making her grip the straighteners even tighter, everything in her body willing her to scream and run away. For a second, Rebecca did think about darting down the stairs, grabbing her mobile to ring the police, and running outside. Really, it shouldn’t even be a thought. She should be doing it.

A noise from the spare room made her look up in panic. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with the silent breaths that were rushing from her lips. Taking a nervous swallow, Rebecca leaned her arm out to switch the landing light back on, and advanced towards the room. The landing light flickered yet again, but stayed on, bathing the landing in artificial yellow glow. Her lips had never felt so dry. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage so fervently she was sure it would give her away before anything else, the blood from it rushing through her ears louder than the laughter from the TV.

Rebecca’s hand trembled as she reached out to push the spare room door open. It slowly swung on its hinges, protesting loudly with a creak. Great. So much for not letting them know I’m here. Moving fast so she didn’t get surprised herself, Rebecca lurched across for the light switch in the spare room. She snapped it on, bracing herself in the doorway, and turned to find—

Nothing.

No-one was there. With the room fully lit, all she could see were the cardboard boxes from when she had moved in. A layer of dust. The carpet. Nothing else. Even the curtains at the window were still. She nudged the door back on itself, to be sure no-one was hiding behind it. Another scan. No, the room was definitely empty. Rebecca let out a deep breath and lowered the straighteners. She gave a nervous laugh, echoing off the walls.

“See, this is why you shouldn’t live alone…silly girl,” she muttered to herself. A ‘ping’ of noise made her look up sharply at the ceiling light. It was swaying. A moment ago it had stood still. A breeze, perhaps? The windows really need that insulation putting around them. It continued swinging, and began to flash on and off, as the other lights had done. As if in response, the bathroom light and the landing light began to do the same. Rebecca refused to be worried by it this time. Damn electrics. But she couldn’t ignore it when she suddenly realised the laughter had stopped coming through from the TV—instead just channelling static.  

*Copyright of Miranda Stork*

Author Bio

I was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire in 1987 and have lived in various places around Britain, including Newcastle and Glasgow.



My writing is inspired by various writers, including the vivid characters of Charles Dickens, the imagination of Stephen King, and the gothic imagery of Anne Rice.

My love of horror began at an early age, when I was only three or four. I could read proficiently at the age of three, and devoured fairy-stories, but I always had a bent towards the darker stories, such as the Brother's Grimm's tales...Red Riding Hood was always a firm favourite, although I always felt sorry for the wolf, despite him having tried to eat everyone!



I write a mixture of paranormal romance, fantasy, and thriller, all finished off with a healthy dose of erotica! ;)

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THE GIVEAWAY!!! 

And now for the giveaway! Well, what IS the free stuff? Moon Rose Publishing, as part of the A CELTIC TAPESTRY tour, is giving away a ton of good stuff. You could win a print copy of A CELTIC TAPESTRY, a sticker pack, bookmarks, a beautiful necklace and jewelled bookmark from Tara S Wood, or an e-book of the anthology!

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