Blog Tour – Interview & Giveaway:
Never Forgotten by Stacey Nash

The race is on! We are so excited to bring you the final stop on the blog tour for Never Forgotten by Stacey Nash, Never Forgotten is the third and final novel in the Collective series! In today’s post we bring you an interview I hosted with Stacey Nash as well as all an excerpt and a tour-wide giveaway!

 

Never Forgotten by Stacey Nash

Series: Collective #3
Category: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publication: September 1st, 2015; HarperCollins AUS
Purchase: Amazon

The race is on! Continuing on from FORGET ME NOT and REMEMBER ME, this is the thrilling third and final novel in Stacey Nash’s unforgettable YA series.

Since the strike on Collective territory during Anamae’s rescue, things have taken a turn for the worse. Unprovoked attacks on innocent people have Anamae and her friends fighting day and night to minimise the damage. With hundreds of lives lost, morale amongst the resistance fighters has plummeted. But that’s the least of her worries.

Manvyke still has Anamae’s mom, Annie, secreted away somewhere and after the way they parted, Anamae worries it’s not at her mother’s bidding. Maybe Annie’s disappearance all those years ago wasn’t her choice. But with Manvyke scouring the world, there’s something far more pressing than the need to find Anamae’s mother …

It’s a fight against time to find the other keys before Manvyke. In his hands, the three relics could unlock enough power to reek a much worse havoc than the current issues at hand. If the councillor gets his hands on those keys, civilization will bow down.

 

Excerpt:

Long strides take me out the door. The halls in this place wrap around like a meerkat’s burrow, twisting and turning, and just as thin and narrow. But I know it like I do the farm so it doesn’t take long to catch her jogging up the stairs, her short legs pumping fast accentuate the way her jeans hug her rear. I take the steps two at a time to catch up, but she reaches the top before I’m halfway. Her palm connects with the fire exit and she stops, her forehead dropping onto the smooth metal door. She can’t blame herself like this; it’s not her fault. I snag the hand hanging at her side.

Mae spins around fast, like I shocked her, her face twisted with anger, her eyes stony. If only I could make it all okay. Wrap her up and take the hurt, pain, and anger away. Hell knows, I want to. Instead, I pull her in, closing my arms around her and fitting her head under my chin. The flowery scent that’s her shampoo or some other girly crap fills my senses. Love that smell.

She presses herself into me, her arms snaking around my waist to hold on tight. Neither of us says anything for a long time until finally she sighs. “We have to stop this.”

“I’m not sure how.”

If only it were that easy. I slide my cheek along her hair, my stubble catching in the waves until my mouth hovers over the crown of her auburn head. Pressing my lips to her hair, I take in a deep breath. She sighs and leans against my chest, her cheek pressed just over my heart. Damn, I’ve missed holding her.

“You’re swooning again.”

She’s suddenly a statue in my arms, but not for long because she steps back, her eyes cold. “I told you I need space, Jax. What about that don’t you get? Your father’s out to make my life miserable. He’s going after anyone I care are about and you’re flirting? Please, just give me some darn space. I can’t think about Will, about me, about us, with your dad staging attacks left, right and center to send me a message.”

She slams her hand into the door and shoves through it.

Idiot. Me, not her.

My insides feel like they shrivel. Maybe she isn’t fighting feelings for me after all. Maybe she hates me now she knows him. Knows his filthy blood runs through my veins. I follow her onto the rooftop and she spins around. My eyes search hers, but she doesn’t give. Just stands there, chest rising and falling a little too quickly.

“Mae?”

“I want to be alone, Jax.”

Shriveled insides try to pool in my toes while she glares at me, her chin tilted up imperceptibly. I take a step back.

Right.

Space.

I knew it was there—the tension in the air between the three of us—but I didn’t realize it affected her so much. The tension between me and her, her and Will, him and me, always there and as thick as the air that now hangs around us. I shouldn’t have pushed her, be pushing her still.

Space.

She continues staring at me with an expression worthy of the way Cynnie’s always looked at me: pity.

Got it.

I turn, my right boot squealing on the smooth concrete. Then walk down the stairs without looking back. Even though the heat of her stare burns right between my shoulder blades making me want to peer over my shoulder, I don’t.

I can’t keep pushing her or I’ll push her away. I’ll give her the space she wants. Time to find herself after we both lost our minds—scratch that—had them stolen. Time to figure out who she is and what she wants. Besides, I should be focusing on this war.

She’s right, it is my father.

Father.

FATHER.

I have to stop these attacks. Even if he’s not the one behind them, his fingerprints are all over the attempt on her school. I’ll stop this mess.

For her.

 

Trailer:

 

Interview:

1. What made you decide to start writing?

My husband. I’ve always loved writing and dabbled in poetry and story ideas a great deal over the years, but writing an actual novel was something I’d always dreamed of but never had the courage to do due to fear. What if I sucked? What if I couldn’t finish it? What if … what if … what if?!

Eventually my hubby gave me the gentle shove I needed and told me to forget everything else and just write for the fun of it. The story I wrote is now published and is the first book in the Collective Series, Forget Me Not.

2. We know that you are a big fan of superheroes; if you were stranded on a desert island with one superhero, who would it be?

Oliver Queen without a doubt. Who can resist his bad boy charm or that delicious Green Arrow costume? Although, the Green Arrow isn’t a true superhero, but rather a vigilante, so I’m taking that as an excuse to take two heroes to my island. The other one isn’t so easy a choice … let’s see … I’m going to go with the Flash. I’ve always had a soft spot for speedsters and I just love the geek culture and lightheartedness that comes with Flash.

3. Besides this series, you have a New Adult contemporary series. Which series was harder for you to write, and why?

The contemporary was much harder. I think sci-fi is in my blood. I’ve been a huge fan of light sci-fi forever, so the story structure is almost second nature. Contemporary, however was something completely new for me and learning how to keep the story fast paced with the action of hand to hand combat was difficult.

4. Which of your own characters is your favorite, and why?

Gee, that’s like asking me to choose a favourite book. Impossible! Since we’re talking about the Collective series today, I’m going to go with Cynnie. New to the Collective series in book 2 (Remember Me) I feel that she really comes into herself in book 3 (Never Forgotten). She’s a strong character who stands up for what she believes even though it puts her not only in danger, but pitted against her own people.

5. Do you have a routine that you follow for writing? For example, do you write at the same time every day? Or is it a “write when you can” situation?

Having kids means that routine is kind of difficult. It’s more a when I can situation, leaving my laptop permanently one and jumping on it in all the free moments I can whittle out of my day.

6. What advice would you offer to those who would like to write a book but don’t know where to begin?

Start at the beginning and don’t look back until you’ve written the end. So many people get hung up on making the words perfect that they never get beyond the first few chapters, but you know what? It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. It’s just a first draft. ☺

 

Series:

Forget Me Not (Collective #1)  Amazon * Goodreads

Remember Me (Collective #2) Amazon * Goodreads

Never Forgotten (Collective #3) Amazon * Goodreads

 

Author Bio: Stacey Nash

Stacey Nash is a writer, mother, wife, but not always in that order. Stacey went to the University of New England to study history where she fell in love and married her college sweetheart. Now, they live in the gorgeous Hunter Valley, Australia. Stacey has a passion for writing stories set in speculative worlds, from science fiction to fantasy and anything in between. She also loves to blog is a co-founder and a contributor at Aussie Owned and Read, a blog designed for readers and writers of young adult and new adult fiction, as well as World of YA, a blog designed for lovers of young adult fiction.

Author Links:

Twitter   **   Facebook   **  Website   **  Goodreads

 

Giveaway:

Stacey will be awarding an eCopy of Never Forgotten to 3 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway