13 Day's of Halloween Madness: Giveaway of The Taker by Alma Katsu

Welcome to Book Flame's 13 Day's of Halloween Madness !
Today I will be giving away a copy of The Taker  thanks to the author Alma Katsu.

                                                                    :::Synopsis:::

True love can last an eternity . . . but immortality comes at a price. . . .

On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her . . . despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption.

If you can't wait to read The Taker you can 

Purchase a copy @

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

About the Author

Fairy tales

Many writers have certain genes in their DNA. We're the kids who always have their nose in a book, who live in the library (my first paying job was as a page—yes, a page in the library), are loners, and inordinately fond of fairy tales. I grew up reading my oldest sister's gigantic Golden Book of Fairy Tales until it fell apart. I loved the book because it had fairy tales that I'd never read before, like "Bright, Deardeer and Kit" and Japanese fairy tales (growing up half-Japanese without seeing any references to Japanese stories, this seemed very enlightened to me). I also loved the slightly horrible things kept in those translations, like how frogs and snakes would fall from a villain's lips whenever she (the main characters were often female, another plus) told a lie. Once we'd all grown up, my oldest sister decided she wanted it back. I pined for it and thought I'd never find it again, but to my delight my husband had a copy from his childhood—in pristine condition! It's one of my prized possessions.

Colonial American influence

Although I was born in Alaska, I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts very near the famously historic town of Concord. I didn't think I was particularly susceptible to the colonial influence or was a history buff in general, but apparently it seeped into my subconscious. Everywhere you turn in that part of Massachusetts, there are historical landmarks (the Old Manse, the Old North Bridge, battlefields, cemeteries) and just plain old houses that people live in. It was part of our everyday; you couldn't get away from it. It also probably didn't hurt that I'm a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne, either.

Is that your real name?

When I was growing up, no one had the name "Alma." Maybe Civil War widows. The only other Alma I'd heard of was someone's grandfather (it's the name of a Mormon elder, I've been told). I was named after an aunt that everyone loved but who died young. It was not the kind of name a girl wants, at least not at the time I was a little girl. It was ugly and peculiar and too easy to make fun of. I wanted a pretty, feminine name. I'm still not crazy about it, even if it is less uncommon (thanks Anne Proulx, who put two Almas in "Brokeback Mountain," and Nicole Krauss, two Almas also in The History of Love.) Nonetheless, I don't think Alma will make it on the list of top baby names any time soon. Or ever.

Katsu is Japanese. It's my husband's family name; he's half-Japanese. So am I, but on my mother's side. Because I don't look particularly Asian, I always felt that side of me was hidden, so it's nice to have my husband's name to point to, like having a card that shows I'm part of the club.

Things that, impossibly, go together

As I mentioned, my mother is Japanese and was raised Buddhist. She didn't raise us to be Buddhist, but we absorbed notions about her beliefs; it would've been impossible not to. The thing is, I went to a Catholic school. As a child, I wasn't one to question inconsistencies; I didn't even see the inconsistencies between Catholicism and Buddhism and, to their credit, the priests and nuns never tried to "correct" my thinking about, say, reincarnation (though they were probably mightily confused.)

So, while it might annoy some people that I've conflated alchemy, religion and magic, to me it seems perfectly natural. To draw hard distinctions between notional things is folly, in my mind; well, you can draw distinctions for yourself but it would be futile to try to get everyone else to adhere to your beliefs. One person's religion is another person's magical delusion. One person's science is another person's magic. And, of course, some people treat religion as a science as opposed to philosophy or, say, fiction. While I'm a fan of fantasy, I've never been a believer in delusion. (Which, by the way, is why you won't find specific details of the spells and elixirs in the novel. I don't want anyone ingesting newt's eye or mandrake root on my say so.)

Connect with Alma Katsu

• Website:http://www.almakatsu.com/
• Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/login.php#!/pages/Alma-Katsu-author/152469558105584
• Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3387293.Alma_Katsu
• Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/almakatsu

Giveaway of One Copy of The Taker by Alma Katsu

US/Canada ONLY

No P.O. Box 

To Enter

Only requirement is you must be a GFC follower of my blog (if your not you can join on the right hand side)

Optional Entries

Each entry will be counted as +1 

So if you desperately want more chances to win you can 

1. Tweet this giveaway

2. Follow my blog via twitter, email, and/or facebook

3. Follow Alma Katsu via twitter, facebook, and/or Goodreads

So that's a total of 8 chances you can have to win !

Please leave separate comments for each entry

Contest/ Giveaway Policy 

Ends Midnight on October 31st

Also don't forget to leave your email in your comment so I can contact you if you win. You don't have to leave your email in all your entries just one.