Today I am so pleased to welcome Selina Kray to Joyfully Jay. Selina has come to talk to us about her latest release, Like Stars. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Selina a big welcome!

The Mysterious Stranger

Hi, everybody! I’m Selina Kray, and this is stop #3 on the Like Stars blog tour! A huge thank you to the fabulous Jay for hosting me today, and to all of you for reading!

A stranger rides into town. At first, the tide of public opinion is against him. But there’s always one person who senses the truth, no matter what chaos the stranger causes. In the end, for better or worse, secrets will be revealed. Wrongs righted. Foes vanquished. The winds of change will howl in the stranger’s wake.

Whether it’s someone stoic and broody like Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, overly chipper like Henry Hill in The Music Man, or buffed-up like the Matthew Crawley clone in the recent film The Guest, stories about mysterious strangers are as old as stories themselves. The Greeks have Zeus, who changes shape to seduce women. The Norse have Loki, the ultimate trickster god. In the Bible, both God and Satan repeatedly take turns disguising themselves. Wherever this mysterious stranger leads, drama is sure to follow.

High drama is what makes this trope one of the most exciting in the history of literature. It has everything a writer could ask for: built-in suspense, intrigue, confusion, provocation, the ability to upset the status quo, the opportunity to reveal things about other characters that would otherwise remain hidden. As the excellent web site TVTropes.org explains:

Withholding information in this fashion piques the audience’s curiosity. Without it, the audience can’t form solid expectations about the character. Part of the plot development may also be in doubt, or else solving the mystery of this character becomes the plot. Or one of several. The audience and the other characters may be let in on the secret in tandem, or the audience may learn the truth first and the characters only find out later. Then again, some secrets are never revealed. [source: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MysteriousStranger]

In my novel Like Stars, a hooded man invades the bucolic town of Haversham, Derbyshire. He claims to be Nathaniel Thredgold, the firstborn son and heir to the Earl of Ravensworth’s title and fortune. So far as the family knows, Nathaniel died in the Boer War five years earlier. Conveniently, the hooded man is disfigured, so not even his boyhood lover, Wesley Douglas, can be sure of his identity. And the only way to know for certain whether this man is Wesley’s long-lost lover or an imposter is to reveal the secret of their forbidden love affair. A secret that would lead them straight to the gallows.

Is Nathaniel Thredgold returned from the war? Most importantly, can this mysterious stranger, whoever he may be, win Wesley’s heart? The only thing anyone knows for sure is, by the time the hooded man is done with them, nothing will ever be the same again.

Join me for the rest of the Like Stars Blog Tour!


Blurb

Like Stars by Selina KrayWhat if your true love walked back into your life five years after his death?

Nathaniel Thredgold has finally returned from the war. Or has he? His lover, Wesley Douglas, isn’t sure. Wesley must put aside his engagement, his disbelief, and his anger to give his professional opinion. The truth about their relationship isn’t an option. But is this stranger really the Ravensworth heir and Wesley’s long-lost love? When your heart’s at stake, there’s no room for doubt.

Set in the Edwardian era, Like Stars is a tale of mysterious identities, scandalous family secrets, and lovers in a dangerous time.


Bio

Selina Kray is the nom de plume of an author and English editor. Professionally, she has covered all the artsy-fartsy bases, having worked in a book store, at a cinema, in children’s television and in television distribution, up to her latest incarnation as a subtitle editor and grammar nerd (though she may have always been a grammar nerd). A self-proclaimed geek and pop culture junkie who sometimes manages to pry herself away from the review sites and gossip blogs to write fiction of her own, she is a voracious consumer of art with both a capital and a lowercase “A”.

Having long ago realized that she was the Salieri to the lit world’s Mozarts, she has embraced her love of erotica with intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of heart. Whether she has achieved this goal is for you, gentle readers, to decide. At present, she is hard at work at home in Montreal, Quebec, with her wee corgi serving as both foot-warmer and in-house critic.


Giveaway

Selina has brought a copy of Like Stars to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on November 15th at 11:59 pm EST.

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win.  The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
  • Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
  • Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Readers may only enter once for each contest.  Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
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