Lake of sins by L.S. O'dea @lsodea cc @GoddessFish

                       INTERVIEW

What is the sweetest thing someone has done for you?

Probably the nicest thing that anyone has done for me is when my sisters spent a day cleaning my bathroom.  I am not a neat housekeeper and I've gotten more lax since I started writing (there are only so many hours in the day).  Ever since I'd moved into my house about ten years ago, I'd been using the master bathroom as a storage area.  Living alone, one bathroom was fine.  However, this past summer my great niece and nephew moved in with me.  So, my sister, the kids' grandmother, spent a day while I was at work, cleaning the master bathroom.  She recruited two of my other sisters who were visiting on vacation.  I was so touched and surprised when I came home that I almost cried (I don't cry easy).

How would you spend ten thousand bucks?

The honest answer to this question is I would use most of it to pay off bills.  I would use some, maybe ten percent to buy something for me.  I would probably buy a good camera.  Then I could go out on weekends and photograph the animals and the area around where I live.  There is a large wetlands section near my home and it is beautiful.  The flowers at the different times of the year are amazing and so are the colors with the St. John's River flowing and the browns and greens of the wetlands.  I often see artists set up in this area.
Now, if I had more money, I'd start an animal rescue like Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Where do you get your best ideas?

My best ideas come from questioning everything.  I have always questioned what others take for granted.  I believe it stems from the fact that I was raised Catholic and my mom is Lutheran.  According to my Catholic school lessons, anyone who is not baptized a Catholic will not go to heaven.  They will go to purgatory.  Now, purgatory is described in two ways (or at least was at my school).  Sometimes, it is described as a place just like heaven but without God (that didn't seem too bad to a eight year old).  The other description is that it is just like hell except you can get out one day.  That definition did not sit well with me.  I'm pretty sure that was when I started to question everything that I was told, taught and observed.
Once you start to question why things are like they are or why people believes what they do (religion, politics, etc), then the next step (at least for me) is to say "What if it were different?".

What comes first, the plot or characters?

That depends on the story.  For the series, the plot came first.  I knew how I wanted it to start (that changed) and I knew how I wanted it to end (that also changed, but the end is still there, it is just not the "end").  The characters came to follow the plot.
However, in my novella, the character came first.  The River-Man, Christian, was created in the first book of the series.  The novella (no name yet) tells his story.

What does your main character do that makes him/her special?

For me, the specialness of Trinity is that above everything else she is kind.  She can't help it.  It is a part of her like her golden eyes (although in later books she does fight that kindness).  Family is also very important to her.  That becomes clearer as the series progresses.  I've noticed that in many YA dystopian novels that I have read, the family and parents in particular play a very minor role, almost non-existent.  I understand that for teenagers (the main audience of YA novels) it is preferable to have friends play a more important role, but one thing that most teenagers will discover is that friends come and go, but family is there with them through thick and thin, good and bad.  At least, I hope they all have families like that.

Lake of Sins
by L. S. O'Dea

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GENRE:  YA, paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy

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BLURB: 

In a world where class distinction means the difference between imprisonment and freedom and even life and death, being chosen to stay in the encampment and breed is the only way to guarantee survival for a teenage Producer. 

Every year after harvest, the finest examples of teenage Producers are assigned mates; the rest are loaded onto carts and hauled away, never to be seen or heard from again. Trinity, a sixteen-year-old Producer, knows that she has no chance of being chosen to stay. She isn't even full-blooded Producer. Her father is a House Servant and she's spent her entire life hiding her differences, especially her claws and fangs.

She has one week to sneak into the forest and discover what happens to those who are taken. Her plan is simple, but she doesn't count on being hunted and captured by predators long believed to be extinct. Can she elude her captors to uncover the fate of her kind and return to camp before her escape is discovered?

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EXCERPT 

"Something's following us," he whispered as he unsheathed his knife. 

The quiet rustle of vegetation behind them signaled that night was not the only thing approaching.  He pointed to a large tree.  She scurried up it and stopped on a limb high off the ground.  He signaled for her to wait and then walked several yards farther before climbing another tree.  He crouched on a low branch, knife in hand.

The woods were gray, the shadows growing wider as time passed.  She waited, scanning the forest below, her heart pounding in her ears.  What was hunting them, besides Guards?  She pulled her knife out of the sheath and adjusted her position.  Gaar always said that predators had to have patience, so the smart prey would too.  She was still working on that.  She shifted around again for a different angle.  So far, she hadn't seen anything dangerous in the forest, but she had traveled mostly with Mirra.  She tried to relax her breathing, but it was coming in short pants.  She had to calm down.  Fear could be smelled.  Fear attracted predators. 

There was a soft whisper in the vegetation and a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the brush.  A few feet away were two more eyes and then another set.  There were at least ten pairs, shining in the darkness.


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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

L. S. O'Dea grew up the youngest of seven. She always wanted to do what her older siblings were doing, especially reading stories.

Ill at a young age, she immersed herself in books. Her life changed when she read a short story written by her older brother and realized that normal (somewhat anyway, since her brother was a bit weird in her opinion) people created these amazing stories. From that day forward, she wanted to write.

However, as with all good stories, obstacles rose in her path (mostly self-created obstacles) and it took her many years to put finger to keyboard and type her first book.

Goodreads, Facebook

Twitter, Website:

Blog:, Amazon Author Central


The first book of the series is on sale for $0.99 until the end of the tour.

Amazon Buy Link

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE


Prizes for the tour are as follows:
• One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
• One randomly chosen host will receive a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Please use this rafflecopter code on your post:

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