Friday, August 3, 2012

Wild Point Island Blog Tour, Guest Post and Book Review!


Wild Point Island  
By Kate Lutter

Banished from Wild Point Island as a child, Ella Pattenson, a half human-half revenant, has managed to hide her true identity as a descendent of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.  Thought to have perished, the settlers survived but were transformed into revenants--immortal beings who live forever as long as they remain on the island.

Now, Ella must return to the place of her birth to rescue her father from imprisonment and a soon to be unspeakable death.  Her only hope is to trust a seductive revenant who seems to have ties to the corrupt High Council.  Simon Viccars is sexy and like no man she’s ever met. But he’s been trapped on the island for 400 years and is willing to do almost anything for his freedom.

With the forces of the island conspiring against her, Ella  must risk her father, her heart, and her life on love.  




About the Author

Kate Lutter believes she was born to write. She wrote her first novel when she was in eighth grade, but then almost burned her house down when she tried to incinerate her story in the garbage can because she couldn’t get the plot to turn out right. Now, many years later, she lives in NJ with her husband and five cats (no matches in sight) and spends her days writing contemporary paranormal romances, traveling the world, and hanging out with her four wild sisters. She is happy to report that her debut novel, Wild Point Island, the first in a series, has just been published by Crescent Moon Press. She is busy writing the sequel and her weekly travel blog entitled Hot Blogging with Chuck, which features her very snarky and rascally almost famous cat.
Guest Post:
Breaking the Rules: How I Got Published

    I was never one for breaking the rules.  I was the kid in school who always did her homework.  Who always arrived on time for school.
Who took notes.  Studied for tests.  I was that kind of person.
    When I became a writer, I still followed the rules.  Why wouldn’t I? I believed that rules prevent chaos, make the world a better place.  One of the most important rules was—never pitch a book that you’re writing until you are finished writing it.  NEVER.
    But after writing four novels and not selling them, I began to grow suspicious that maybe the ideas I was writing about were not marketable. 
And then one day . . . last year . . . I decided to do the unthinkable.
    I was at a conference and for the first time in my life, I had signed up for an appointment with a top New York editor of a publishing house I respected even though I was only100 pages into writing my current novel.
    Now this isn’t a good idea on many levels.
    But I convinced myself that I needed to know whether the idea I was writing about was marketable. 
    I had the title: Wild Point Island.
    I had the genre: paranormal romance
    And I had the germ of the idea down on paper—a love story where two people want to be together but they can’t because it’s physically impossible. 
    Yes, I’ll admit it—I was addicted to True Blood—HBO’s hot new drama and was a Sookie and Bill fan.  I loved the idea of Bill (a vampire) falling for Sookie (a half human, half fairy).  It was a relationship doomed from the start.  Bittersweet.  And I’d drafted a romance modeled on a similar concept. 
    My hero, a revenant, who was once human, was now a different life form.  He’d returned from the dead.  He was 420 years old and was condemned to live his very long life on Wild Point Island.  My heroine was half human/half revenant.  She lived on the mainland, in North Carolina.   
They were both descendants of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, an original English colony that was settled in 1592, but then disappeared when the mother ship returned to England for supplies. This was my hook, and I wanted to see if it was hook enough to sell a book. 
I figured that if the editor were interested, she would request at most a partial—the first three chapters—if she requested anything at all--and that would give me time to finish the book, and then I would know that I had a marketable idea. 
So I marched into my appointment to do a very wrong thing.  I pitched the story I hadn’t really finished and waited with bated breath for her reaction.
Now, if you’ve ever been to a pitch session with an editor at a conference, you know you have ten minutes to sell your story.  The pressure is on.  Some writers crack under the pressure.  They become tongue-tied.  They stare down at their notes and the words swim before their eyes. 
In truth, I believed in my story, and to my shock and amazement, the editor responded to me immediately.  She knew all about the Lost Colony of Roanoke.  She’d vacationed down in North Carolina as a child.  She loved the idea.  
And then she lowered the boom.
The good news. 
What every writer who pitches wants to hear.
Could I send her the entire manuscript?
She was, of course, referring to the story I hadn’t yet finished.
    I smiled and said, “Of course.  No problem.”  But I was doomed.
    Back home, my husband said, “Just finish it then.”
    Honestly, I hadn’t even considered that possibility.  Two hundred pages in a month?  That would mean with time to edit . . . I would have to write ten pages a day straight for twenty days which would give me roughly two hundred pages and then take ten days to edit . . . I was sweating profusely.
    The next day I signed up online for Book In A Month.  I set myself a schedule.  I grew determined to do this thing.  Finish the book. 
    It was ugly and beautiful at the same time.  I learned two things from the experience.  One—I learned that I could write incredibly fast when I wanted to.  For the first time in my life, I entered into what writers call “the zone.”  When you write intently everyday for long periods of time, you know your story so well, you do enter into the special world of your story, and it does get easier.  Two—I learned never to do it again.  Break the rule. 
I finished.  I edited.  And I submitted.  And it was rejected. 
    It wasn’t until months later when I had a chance to rewrite the story that I was able to sell it. 
    So maybe I needed to have more faith in myself and my story ideas. 
    Wild Point Island was published by Crescent Moon Press on June 15, 2012.  It’s available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com in paperback and ebook formats.
            And so who am I, this rule breaker?
      Log onto my website.  Check out my facebook page.  Go on, I dare you.


Wild Point Island Contest
                                          Sponsored by Kate Lutter


As a newly published author, I’m looking to expand my Email list.  (This list is never given or sold to anyone else. I use it only to announce release information of my books.)  So, if you’re willing to share your name and email address and answer the contest question, you could win a free copy
of Wild Point Island!


First /Last Name _____________________________________

Email Address _______________________________________


Contest Question:  What’s the name of your favorite novel?   Explain why in 25 words or less.  

________________________________________________________________________






________________________________________________________________________


(For me, Wuthering Heights.  I love the hauntingly intense aspect of the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine.)    




My Thoughts and Review:

The synopsis of this one completely piqued my interest. It sounded completely unique and one of a kind that I knew I just needed to try it.

And this was just that. Unique, unusual, and completely different. This one kept me wondering from the very first chapter.

At times I found myself slightly confused though about what exactly was going on, I am not sure if that is because the story and what being a Revenant meant unfolded as the story went or if it was because all through the story you just never knew who to trust. It was never clear who the good guys were and who the bad guys were and who just walked that very fine line between them both.

This was an unusual story that kept me guessing and I have to love it for that alone because truly, a story that isn't predictable and will keep you on your toes is sometimes few and far between in the novel world.

And even though I had to scratch my head and go “huh” at times and reread passages to make sure I didn't miss anything, this story was compelling and it kelp me turning the pages trying to guess what was going to happen next.

The mystery behind the people and the good guys versus the bad guys really was cleverly done. And while I never felt that connection to any of the characters that I like to have, I did find myself caring about them and wanting to know more about them.

Overall I would say this was a fun read that will keep you guessing and give you something new and interesting to read in the paranormal genre that hasn't really been done before.

I give this one 3.5 Stars!
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