Interview, Excerpt and Giveaway: Briksanna's Sacrifice: A Novel of Four Realms: Book One by Sabrina Rawson

Description: 16+

Princess Briksanna has always known The Prophesy would catch up to her no matter how far she ran. Spending two thousand years hiding in the Earth Realm haunted by memories of heartache and pain in constant fear of capture by Lord Drakkoon, she finds herself unsure if she has the courage to be the person everyone needs her to be in order to stay one step ahead in a chase for her survival and of those she loves. So, when she discovers experiencing the feeling to freely love, she is pulled into a quest that will not only test the boundaries of her heart, but the life of her unborn son for the sake of saving the universe from total destruction.

Nathanial knows who he is on the Earth Realm and what kind of man he is for Princess Briksanna. But, what kind of man will she need him to be in order to fulfill The Prophesy she has spent the last two thousand years eluding? Tragedy has everyone travelling from the Earth Realm to the Second Realm of Skaldanna pushing his comfort zone knowing he has no knowledge of court expectations, but together with Briksanna and their family he believes he can succeed where all others have failed in dissolving the reign of Lord Drakkoon.

Can Briksanna and Nathanial find the undisputable faith in themselves to accomplish what needs to be done despite the sacrifices made to save their friends and family while establishing peace within the Second Realm?

MB's INTERVIEW

I saw a teaser with the “My love for you consumes me.” What kind of a love is such a love? How hard is for a writer to convey a “true love”? 

A consuming love is a love where a person believes their person of interest is not only the other half of them, but what completes them. It is a moment realized sharing their life with the other person will fulfill the missing pieces they did not know was missing. Being held, talking together, sharing thoughts and dreams or creating new life brings fulfillment to one another. To not have that other person beside them is an absence of their own beating heart. When you wake up thinking of the other person, walk throughout your day thinking of the other person and can’t wait until the next moment when you can see them again, you have a consuming kind of love. It isn’t hard to convey, true love. Painting the picture for the reader to visualize true love, now that is the true challenge. 

Is there a sacrifice too big to be made? What Briksanna thinks? 

For this book, the realization of said sacrifice is the biggest obstacle my main characters to overcome. It takes both Nathanial and Briksanna the length of the book to come to terms with that. Briksanna, in the end, believes there is hope for her to rise up from the fire of her sacrifice and hold onto what she is most afraid of losing. 

The story takes place both on Earth Realm and in the Second Realm. What it takes to create a believable parallel world? Why the Second Realm is the “second” one? 

This is where her best friend lives and a key player in book two. I really picked a realm and built the world around that. It took and entire weekend to come up with the dynamics of the different realms. I had to draw a chart that outlined the trade for each realm, what it was I wanted the head of each kingdom to be like. I wanted to make the people of the different realms believable, more importantly, I wanted them to appear human, inadequacies and all. Creating this world took a lot of imagination and patience. I found myself researching medieval clothing, weaponry and castles. I looked up historical mythology, Greek name meanings, and spent many weekends dreaming up how I wanted the Second Realm to be; mannerisms of the people, the working life and how it would look if I were standing inside or outside. I asked myself a million questions and changed it many times, but not too many. I still wanted to give my muse the freedom to build their world based on the four senses. I am very happy with what I have created. 

Why did you use multiple POVs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the multiple POVs for the reader? 

I wanted the readers to have a sense of the big picture. With this book being the foundation for the book series there was so much I wanted to set in motion for characters in future books. Doing this helped me to dive deeper into the characters. The disadvantage is I could, very easily, become carried away with my characters branching off into their stories ahead of schedule. Ha Ha. There were multiple times I went back and deleted a lot or cut out a lot of POV that just didn’t advance the story along. 

How important is to transmit a message through your books? 

Very important. Each story touches upon multiple issues that are important to me. Things I discussed with my children growing up or talk about to this day. In Briksanna’s Sacrifice the main theme for me was unconditional faith in each other. This was something that each character personally doubted, yet longed to obtain. While editing I picked up on other things relative to the dynamics of the characters in the book. They believed in a united family first and foremost, trust, love, hope, obsession, beliefs. Each book will convey some of these concepts and much, much more.

EXCERPT

TOUR SCHEDULE

“I mean it, Bri, I’m going to take care of you first then you and I can talk, deal? That is the best I can offer after all we have been through tonight.” Sounding very serious he was putting all his mental effort to block her from his thoughts so she was unable to ascertain if he was lying or not. He wanted her to trust him.

Looking at her mate her grin managed to reach her eyes for the first time in many years, “Deal Mate.” Two can play at that game.

He stilled his body, eyes turning a molten green, like an animal ready to pounce before shaking it off knowing he needed to put her needs before his allowing the cool Nate to come to the forefront. Smiling he picked her up, “Mrs. Angelo, you have made me a very proud man. I swear I will do all that I can to keep my promise to both you and the Goddess. Now let’s get you showered, some food in you and a clean change of clothes. With the way I am feeling right now not necessarily in that order.”

“Warm or hot?” he asked walking into the large bathroom.

“What?” Licking her lips he wondered what it would feel like to have his arms wrapped around her all night long. She seemed distracted by his touch before, but now she couldn’t keep her thoughts in the present tense. She kept projecting her own fantasies of them together under the running water, he was afraid he would lose his cool and jump her. If she didn’t get her head out of the gutter soon he was going to combust from his own desires boiling inside of him.

He smiled at her knowing she was distracted with her own private thoughts and this touched his heart knowing he excited her with just a thought. They were the same reasons he was struggling with by putting her basic needs first. He did not need her attacking him like an animal clearly as her mind was demanding her to do because if she did he wouldn’t last a second.

“Water, warm or hot?” He repeated poised by the head of the shower stall.

“Warm, please.” Shaking her head slightly trying to clear her thoughts he figured she should try deep breathing if focusing on the present moment continued to fail her. Goodness sakes, she was acting like a crazed teenager around him and he liked it.

Suddenly feeling doubtful of her worth to him sobered up her libido real quick. She stole a quick glance at him hoping to reassure herself of his commitment towards her but he saw her looking at him from the corner of his eyes anyway.

I have got to let go of this self-doubt. Those thoughts have no place between us in this moment. If I say that enough times maybe I will believe it?

Setting her down carefully on the bathroom counter, holding her around the waist with one arm he leaned into the shower stall to turn on the water. She was too quiet for his liking, because after turning the water on he turned back and stared at her. After a couple of debatable seconds he went with his gut pulling her into a hug wrapping his massive arms around her filling his senses with her scent. She had endured so much. He wanted to give her so much and not frighten her with his presence in her life in the process. He knew he was the man for her and she was the woman for him but she still had a hard time with trusting despite what her heart and mind were saying. There was still a piece of her she kept hidden. Some things were just hard for her to let go of. That he could defiantly understand.

Will she ever trust him enough so they could endure The Prophesy and defeat Lord Drakkoon? More importantly could he trust her to endure the upcoming battle for the sake for the universe? What a complete mess this was. When he dreamed of confronting Bri with the truth of his feelings for her he didn’t count on all of this drama to go with it. Frowning he thought about where his thoughts were heading. He would lay down his life for her no matter what, so what the hell was he worried about? For him there was no one else in the world he would rather spend his days with. She was the one for him and there was nothing anyone could do or say that would cause him to betray her trust.

He let go of her, turned around and adjusted the water temperature. She heard a stray thought from him float by her like a breeze in the bathroom.

I don’t know if I can trust her not to forget me. She has been alive longer than I can imagine. I don’t even know if there is someone else on Skaldanna waiting for her to come back to. She could have someone who’s been waiting for her all this time and I show up. She deserves someone who has more knowledge in all of this prophesy stuff than me. What can I bring to the table that I have gained in my whopping thirty six years of life?

He was frightened he would not measure up to the man she needed him to be in order for her to succeed with her role in The Prophesy. She understood, in that moment, he had always been in the present tense with her. What was going on in that very moment, between the both of them, was the most important thing in his world and he knew it. He had not been keeping the truth of his commitment to her hidden, she had chosen not to look into his heart seeing what was right in front of her. This man was her chosen mate and she believed she had chosen well. Her father would be proud of her choice.

“You are my purpose now, Nathanial.” she said quietly from behind, placing her hand on the small of his back to reassure him of her presence. “I will do the will of the Gods for the sake of the universe but never lose sight that I do this for the sake of the life of our future son.”

Turning around slowly, Nate looked at her for just a few moments, and then gave a clipped nod. “Let me help you get out of these clothes.” Keeping his eyes trained on her beautiful lips he pulled her t-shirt over her head. He looked like a man who was staring at the world’s greatest problem and she was the answer.

He reached around her and unclasped her bra careful not to frighten her with his actions. “You are beautiful to me.” Pulling the bra away slowly gazing at her making her feel like the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. “You are so beautiful to me.” Bringing his eyes up to her face she recognized the aroused expression on his face mirrored hers.

“Baby, I want you more than I want to breathe, right now, but what kind of husband would I be to you if I start this relationship off being selfish?” His voice sounded deeper, gravely like he was straining to get the words out. His voice sent chills up her spine despite her warmth and she was getting hotter by the second.

Knowing how exhausted she was, he bent on one knee to unlace her boots. Lifting her right leg he pulled off one boot repeating the action with her other foot. Still in a kneeling he reached up to unbutton her pants and pulled the zipper down holding his breath until the zipper went as far as it could go. Chancing a look at her face before he continued with pulling her pants down, he wanted to make sure she was ok with him helping her undress. She stopped him mid motion with a slight touch of her hands.

“I can hear your thoughts as if they are my own. I want you to know before we go any further, I have never laid with a man.” Not waiting for his response, she straightened her shoulders hoping down from the counter pulling her pants down in front of him while he remained kneeling in front of her.

What was he going to say? Here I am old enough to be his grandmother, more than several times removed, and I am just a plain virgin.

Grabbing her hand before she could step into the shower, he said “There is nothing plain about you. I am both humbled and honored that you have chosen me to share your love, no don’t look away, that’s right, I said love. Bri, I will not turn away from this thing we have to go through. I love you more than I want to breathe. I may have doubts now and then, but in the end I will always do the right thing. Now get in there and wash up. The sooner you do that the sooner we can eat.”

Eyes glistening listening to his declaration of love for her, she felt another crack in the armor she had built around her soul. “I love you. I have wanted to say that for a long time. I did not know how or if you felt the same way. I was afraid to tell you before, but am no longer.” Sounding more confidant she pleaded with her eyes for him to believe her. “Thank you for being here with me. I do not know what I would have done if you were not here with me. Truly, I do love you.”

Not hesitating when he spoke next, “I love you forever”

Appearing as if it was the hardest thing in the world to do, he closed his eyes, kissed her lightly on the forehead then turned around and walked right out the bathroom, closing the door, allowing her the privacy of a warm shower.

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About the author:

Although Sabrina has been physically writing for two years the ideas that conceived her first novel have been percolating in her mind for many years. In many ways she found life experiences influencing her story although written in fantasy format. 

Nelson Mandela’s words inspired her: “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” 

No truer words could have been said. After her first cancer battle four years ago, she was in the frame of mind of surviving, trying to get back to her swing of things. Problem was she couldn’t get past the feeling of disconnect. She realized she was no longer the same person pre-cancer and relapsed by the end of her first year since her initial diagnosis. She exited that experience exhausted and has had multiple tumors pop up ever since the initial year. Her health was a mental and physical challenge, but the hard part was realizing she had left her passion in the operating room back in 2010. Cancer did not take her passion away, she put it away along with her drive and ambition. Her creative muse happily skipped outside her consciousness with the rest of them. She had to discover herself from scratch and it was a challenge she learned to work with and continues to this day. One thing she found uplifting was creating stories on paper and it didn’t take long for her to turn to her computer to bring the lives of her creation to fruition. Today she is four years post her first surgery and even if she had to do it again in a few months, it wouldn’t matter. She refuses to settle for a life less than what she can create for herself. 

Sabrina lives in Sonoma County, heart of the wine country of California, enjoying life in the rural land happily married to a wonderful supportive husband. You can always find her reading a book, cooking a meal for her multitude of children or playing with her dog, Taylor.

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