Today is my stop on the blog tour for Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin. This book tour is being hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. Stalking Shadows sound like an amazing adventure. If you want to know more about this book and read an interview with the author, keep on reading!

Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing Date: September 14, 2021

A gothic YA fantasy debut about a young woman striving to break her sister’s curse and stop the killing in her small French town

Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. She wants to make enough to save a dowry for her sister, Ama, in hopes of Ama marrying well and Marie living in the level of freedom afforded only to spinster aunts. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: A certain few are laced with death. Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast.

Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.

Book Links

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Author Interview

What has your favorite part of writing Stalking Shadows and publishing so far?

Can I say everything? Lol. Two moments really stand out though – when we got the offer from my editor and when I saw the cover for the first time. I honestly couldn’t believe they’d captured the essence of this book so well.

What does a typical writing session/day look like for you?

I have a day job and young kids, so I fit my writing around all that. I’m not a night person — I’m pretty useless to the world by the time my kids go to bed — so I do the bulk of my writing in the morning. I get up at 5, grab coffee, and write for an hour or so until my kids get up. Then, I try to write or edit (depending where I am in the process) during my lunch hour. Out of necessity, I’ve trained myself to be pretty good at getting a solid amount of words in during an hour-long session.

What books made you fall in love with reading and inspired you to write your own books?

I always go back to ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine. Reading that book, and seeing that darker side of a fairy tale, was like a revelation for me. I also have a book of Hans Christian Anderson tales growing up that I loved, but ELLA ENCHANTED was so accessible to me as a young reader. I felt everything right along with Ella. Another book that meant so much to me and made me really fall in love with, and want to write, historical settings was THE BELONGING PLACE by Jean Little.

When writing Stalking Shadows did the characters take you along for a ride or did you have your story mapped out?

I had a story mapped out, but my characters always end up taking me along for the ride anyway. I’m a plotter, with beat sheets and act structures etc., but I never fail to make changes as I go and the story kind of reveals itself to me.

What is your favorite quite from Stalking Shadows?

“Remorse is ethereal for her. It comes and goes in light, wispy waves. It doesn’t settle over her like the shroud I’ve come to wear.”

I like that one because Ama let’s things roll off her back in a way that’s enticing. I’ve never been able to do that.

What do you hope readers take away from reading Stalking Shadows?

I hope readers will take away that the struggles you may have lived through, and other people’s expectations of you because of them, don’t dictate who you are or can be.

Tour Schedule

If this interview has made you more curious about Stalking Shadows, click here to find the full tour schedule. You’ll be able to find all of the other posts made by the other amazing bloggers and bookstagrammers.

Giveaway (US Only)

One winner will receive a finished copy of Stalking Shadows. The giveaway starts on September 13th and ends on September 20th. Click here to find out how to enter!

About the Author

Cyla Panin is an MG, YA and Adult Author who prefers to look at the world through a dusting of magic.

After spending most of her childhood wanting to escape into the wonderful worlds her favourite authors created, she’s now using her own words to craft magical places. When not writing, Cyla can be found playing dinosaurs with her two young boys, watching swashbuckling and/or period TV shows with her husband, and, of course, reading.

Her YA debut, STALKING SHADOWS will be out with Amulet, Abrams Fall 2021. She is represented by Chloe Seager of the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, and Film Agency.

Author Links

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It’s always fun interviewing authors and learning more about the people that create the books we love. A big thanks to Cyla for taking time to answer my questions. I’ll definitely be reading Stalking Shadows soon!