Marked or Cursed? That is the question.

Hi everyone.

Cursed has been out over a month now so I thought I’d reprise a blog I did for Jo Fletcher Books on the run up to the launch. It was posted at a rather busy time on their website as they had two other books coming out so you may have missed it.

Enjoy.

When I started writing the novel that was to become Marked and the first book in the Soulseer Chronicles series the last thing I was thinking of was romance. For one thing Lucky de Salle the main character has more or less given up on love. As she explains towards the beginning of the story it is rather difficult to have any sort of real relationship with a man when your best friend is a ghost and liable to come barging in at an inopportune moment.

However it soon became apparent that two of the other main characters thought differently and before I knew it they were flexing their muscles and jostling for position in Lucky’s affections and suddenly I had a potential love triangle evolving.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

When Lucky first arrives in the daemon world she’s too concerned with staying alive to worry about romance. Also she has a few trust issues with her self-appointed protector Jamie, who tricked his way into her life. She’s well aware that right from the word go he told her lies and manipulated her. Unknown to Lucky he also mesmerised her and this is something Jamie is definitely best keeping to himself because if Lucky ever finds out fireworks will definitely fly!

Then the enigmatic and sexy Jinx arrives on the scene and there’s an immediate tension between the two men when they both “mark” Lucky, under the pretext of giving her protection from other daemons. As one might imagine she isn’t exactly thrilled by this development particularly when pressed for an explanation of what it means Jamie reluctantly tells her it’s like them being engaged. Jinx is more forthright and admits that now she is theirs to do with as they please and should they so desire be their servant, slave or even sex toy. This is one explanation too far and Lucky makes it quite clear that she is no one’s possession, mark or no mark.

Although naive when it comes to men Lucky is tough, she’s had to be, but her circumstances in the Underlands make her vulnerable and scared for her life. This of course leaves her susceptible to the charms of the handsome Jamie and the charismatic Jinx and more than once it crosses her mind that she is in danger of losing more than her life while in the Underlands.

So this is the beginning of a strange and perhaps pre-ordained, three way relationship between Jamie, the Guardian of the world of humans and the Underlands, Jinx the Deathbringer to the Overlands and Lucky, who over the duration of her stay in the daemon world learns that she isn’t just a girl who is cursed with the ability to see dead people. Her developing talents potentially make her a danger to some, but to others a possible aid to achieving their cruel and sick ambitions and another reason she needs protection.

This brings us back to the characters who are rapidly becoming the most important men in Lucky’s life; Jamie and Jinx and how they couldn’t be more different.

Although Jamie had been less than honest with Lucky when they first met it was with the best of intentions; he was trying to protect her. Physically he is not at all daemonic and despite him telling Lucky that daemons and angels are just names humans give to creatures they don’t understand to Lucky he will always be her “angel” with his huge, snow white wings, deep blue eyes and short, blond curls.

Jinx on the other hand is the archetype daemon. Muscular like Jamie, he has a dazzling smile, glowing green and gold eyes, horns, an arrow point tail and his skin is a rather fetching glossy maroon as is his long, almost black hair, worn in a braid falling to his hips.

Jamie is for the most part serious although he does have a lighter side, whereas Jinx doesn’t appear to take anything seriously at all, although Lucky gradually discovers this is mainly a front. Despite his sexy, bad boy persona his role as Deathbringer to the human world weighs heavy on his heart and his pledge to protect Lucky could be seen as him in some way trying to atone for his past. That he marks Lucky within moments of their meeting is also more significant than any of them at first realise and through the course of their being together Jinx remarks more than once that at times he thinks it is he and Jamie who have been marked by Lucky as she certainly has a hold over both of them.

Despite being in constant danger throughout Marked and then forced to fight for her survival and that of her friends during the course of Cursed Lucky grows to love both men and this is the problem. She is marked by Jamie and Jinx and neither is prepared to give her up. Lucky on the other hand can’t bear to choose between them.

So have the marks upon her become more of a curse? She can’t endure losing one of them by asking either to release her and she knows she can’t have both – or can she? The world of daemons maybe a strange and frightening place, but it could be in this world that Lucky’s dreams can finally come true.

Cursed the second of the Soulseer Chronicles is out now.

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