Guest Post and Giveaway: Assassins: Nemesis by Erica Cameron

We’re so pleased to have author Erica Cameron joining us today on the Assassins: Nemesis blog tour. Erica’s sharing her writing experience with the book, and is also offering a fantastic giveaway, so be sure to check out those details below.

Welcome, Erica!

Why Nemesis Was So Hard To Write

By the time I was in middle school, I’d grown out of kids books. Young adult wasn’t a real section in the library in the mid 90s. It kind of ended at Babysitters Club and Goosebumps. I was lucky enough to find Tamora Pierce in that section, but otherwise it had nothing to carry me through my voracious middle school reading years. So I started reading my dad’s books instead, and at the time he was a fan of James Patterson. Specifically the Alex Cross series. Should I have been reading things like Kiss the Girls at the age of 12 or 13? No, probably not. However, the stories were so far from my reality that any terror they evoked in me wasn’t long lived.

Writing Nemesis wasn’t like that.

The world doesn’t look like it did when I was a kid. I’m more aware of the scary and the bad and the evil that exists—I don’t think anyone in my generation can avoid it. That awareness has only grown in the past year. 2016 has been painful for so much of the world and for countless reasons. To be writing a book about manipulation, global conspiracies, agony, and destruction while watching all those things play out on the news was a particular kind of painful.

More than once, I wanted to give up on the draft. I didn’t want to create more chaos in a world already overflowing with it. More hurt. More strife and conflict and terror. I was under contract, though, and it was the final book in a series. The arc needed to be finished, and with that ending I had the chance to do something I can’t do with the news—infuse it with hope.

I think that is one of the best aspects about fiction. Taking the awfulness of the world and making it a lesson helps us get through hard times. More so, giving the world the ability to change is powerful. I tried to infuse that kind of hope into Nemesis. All I can hope is that, however painful the writing of the story was, I at least succeeded there.

About Assassins: Nemesis

Being orphaned and almost kidnapped in the space of a week sent Blake Marks into hiding. For months, Blake tries to help the Calvers—a family of vigilante bodyguards—investigate the people behind the hit on Blake’s father, Isaac, but then the safe house is compromised. Just as hired thugs storm the house to grab Blake, Daelan Calver dives into the fight, getting them both out alive.

Hiding isn’t an option anymore, but hit squads, under-the-table deals, and international espionage? Blake has no idea how to handle any of it, not even with Daelan’s family there to play teachers. The one thing Blake knows for sure is that there are only two options: keep up with the Calvers or get out of their way.

But even with the Calvers’ help and the glimmer of a possible future with Daelan giving Blake hope, chances of survival keep shrinking. The man who ordered the hit on Isaac may be dead, but his partner is viciously cold-blooded, and her plans could change the course of history. Blake wants to finish what Isaac started, but it’s looking like someone is going to die before this is over. And that someone might be Blake.

Purchase at: Riptide

About the Author

After a lifelong obsession with books, Erica Cameron spent her college years getting credit for reading and learning how to make stories of her own. Erica graduated with a double major in psychology and creative writing from Florida State University and began pursuing a career as an author.

Erica is many things but most notably the following: writer, reader, editor, dance fan, choreographer, singer, lover of musical theater, movie obsessed, sucker for romance, ex-Florida resident, and quasi-recluse. She loves the beach but hates the heat, has equal passion for the art of Salvador Dali and Venetian Carnival masks, has a penchant for unique jewelry and sun/moon décor pieces, and a desire to travel the entire world on a cruise ship. Or a private yacht. You know, whatever works.

Connect with Erica: Website || Twitter || Tumblr || Facebook || Instagram || Email

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Assassins: Nemesis, one lucky winner will receive $30 in Riptide Publishing credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 14, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!