Today, I’m one of the tour stop for an amazing paranormal romance book by Amy Lignor, Until Next Time hosted by Tribute Books.
I got the privilege to have an awesome chat with the lead character of Until Next Time and she’s a real angel too. Let us welcome Emily!
Welcome to Mr. Book Wonder’s blog, Emily! Please take a seat on our wooden stool. If you aren’t comfortable, please will yourself to conjure a seat for yourself.
With a wave of Emily’s hand the stool is now a comfy red lounge chair—St. John’s personal favorite.
Tell us about yourself Emily, from your favorites to your deepest secrets.
Hmm…you probably should’ve asked Matt to do this. I mean, he really loves talking about himself.
How do you deal with your struggles as both a human and an angel?
I know this sounds bad, but I really like the angel world more. I have to tell you that our rules, how everything is set up, run, and falls into place up here…it’s just easier, you know? I like the fact that I understand how to protect and care for others, and know what my duties are and what I have to accomplish to make things right. But when I’m a human, that’s when all the confusions starts. Matt has tried to teach me to lighten up. I know that’s a funny term when it comes to a person who already has wings, but St. Francis thought it up and he really hoped it would catch on.
Humans are really tough to understand. To have a head and a soul that can feel so angry, so depressed, so in love—and all in the same week, sometimes—it just makes my soul wonder about it all. Dreams are great, but humans have the capability to dream big and still have such hideous nightmares all at the same time. This really makes me question the whole human thing and why they were made like that.
We know that Heaven is the happiest place a good soul could find. Still, it is quite a mysterious place for us humans. Tell us what kind of place is Heaven so we know what we shall expect of it once our time has come.
Although there are a lot of things that Matt and I have to spend time working on, for humans Heaven is seriously cool (another word St. Francis is fond of). You’ll love the library. It’s extraordinary. For anyone who reads, or loves books—this stunning place is never-ending and packed with all the titles that have ever been written. There are millions of shelves. Even some that, unfortunately, have our own stories written down, so everything Matt and I have done can be read about. I, personally, like that lady, Jane Austen, even though she reminds me of a person I really should forget about.
There are huge hallways in Heaven with glass ceilings, which are nice because you can see all the flights take off. Also the saints are always running around and meeting people. They love to be guides and they like to wear the costumes of the time period they’re currently working in down below, so Mark can actually lead you around Heaven dressed like a pirate, which people like.
There are doors down each and every hallway. If you open one, you can walk into a jungle and meet the animals. Then, in the next one, you can walk into a castle, or even a lawyer’s office if that’s your thing. I just escorted a wonderful girl to a room that had a huge house filled with her family. That room smelled so good because her grandmother really cooks well. I watched them as they all caught up, and she got to play with her favorite dog who came up to Heaven about ten years before her—so it was a really good time. I guess you could say that Earth is what you make of it, and Heaven is what you want it to be.
Among your teachers in Heaven, who do you find the most attractive, bravest, funniest, most serious and smartest?
I have to say ick on the attractiveness, although Gabriel has a very quiet way about him. Lots of the un-betrothed women who come up here like to hang out with him—especially the ladies that hold quilting parties—whatever that is. Gabriel sits, laughs, drinks coffee, and creates these big blankets. He loves it.
The funniest is definitely Francis. His hair sticks up all over the place (Michael says he looks like Einstein). He’s always running down the halls with an animal in his arms, and he’s always laughing. He’s so cool, and lets us experiment with the animal world. He was really encouraging when we made the albatross.
The most serious is my own teacher. Michael is a bit scary sometimes, even though I know he loves me more than anything and wants to see me succeed. But he’s a definite worrier, and always wants to make sure that Matt and I take our job very seriously. I would have to say that he’s also the bravest, for me. Gabriel is brave because he stands in front of all the bad things down in the world and defeats them. But Michael’s brave because he keeps trying. Michael refuses to give up—even when sometimes there isn’t much left to fight for as far as I’m concerned. He’s also smart enough to know that he doesn’t know everything, and tries so hard to make things right. (Of course, don’t tell him I said all this because he’ll be impossible in class tomorrow.)
How is your relationship with Matt doing?
Matt and I are always good…we’re just growing up, I guess, because we keep meeting up as humans and things keep happening. He’s still the only one I would ever rely on to back me up, even when we’re angry at each other. We just got back from a place that you call the Gilded Age in your history books. A lot happened there, so we’re just kind of trying to figure out what the next step is going to be.
Do you think he truly is the one for you?
I watch those shows you have down there so I know I can plead the fifth. Only time will tell.
Was it love or duty that made you decide what you have to do during the time when you were on Earth?
Duty is what I’m called upon to accomplish by my teachers, but my soul does feel love and I do want the bad guys to lose. I don’t want the people I care about and protect to be harmed. I suppose I do what I do for both reasons. And I know that our teachers will continue to send Matt and I down in order to bring them back the answers. They want to know how the world can be righted again. They want to know how humans face those things you call the seven deadly sins, and how to beat them. Duty calls…but love does end up getting in the way sometimes.
What will you miss the most on Earth?
I never really thought that Earth had anything I would miss, seeing as that Matt and I were born and raised in what everyone calls perfection. But Matt was right in the end (don’t tell him I said that, please, or he’ll be impossible in class tomorrow too). On Earth I don’t know what’s coming around the next corner and sometimes what arrives is really great—like Faith and Charles and…anyway, I guess the thrill of not knowing is what I miss the most.
We humans have a different perspective of love. What is your own understanding of love?
There’s a lot of Happily Ever After dreams on Earth, which I think is really nice. They want to love someone with their whole heart. For us, we know that the soul is the only thing that’s not made out of blood, cartilage and other stuff; it’s the only part that’s really alive. So if you don’t love someone with your whole soul, then they’re not your soulmate.
Any other message you want to tell us?
I guess you should know that we’re always around. I’ve sat with a lot of you who were scared or upset, and you need to know that we’re always around. It may not be me and Matt who are in your house, but you’ll know if it is us pretty quickly because Matt likes to cook things in people’s kitchens and ends up making a real mess. He also likes to rearrange furniture. He read something about Feng Shui in the library and believes in all the Heaven & Earth balance stuff. So if your kitchen is a disaster in the morning, or your couch has been moved into the bathroom, we’re definitely the team that’s assigned to help you (I know…lucky, right?) But no matter how you feel, and no matter what or who you believe in, you aren’t alone. I can promise you that.
I think the Heavens are calling you now Emily. I shall say goodbye to you and thank you for giving me a chance to talk to a beautiful angel like you!
It was nice to meet you too. Did you want the stool back, or just keep the chair? It’s way more comfortable and I’m sure John can conjure a new one.
Until next time, Emily!
I’ll look forward to it.
ABOUT THE BOOK
RELEASE DATE. February 1, 2012
PUBLISHER. Tribute Books
SYNOPSIS. How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?
Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the ‘life’ they’ve been assigned. What they don’t realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.
When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz’s establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel’s path and a warrior’s plans.
From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that’s ripping them apart.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.
Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical THE HEART OF THE LEGEND; the thriller, MIND MADE; and the adventure novel, TALLENT AND LOWERY 13.
