Oh my goodness, I’m so excited to be a part of this blog tour!

This book snatched my interest right away, and I immediately bought it.

I cannot wait to share it with you.

But first! An interview with the lovely author herself:

Hello, Pam! I’m so excited to have you on my blog today. Let’s dive right in!

1. Where did you get your idea for your story?

I’ve always loved Beauty and the Beast-type stories. I like the diamond-in-the-rough heart-of-gold underneath a scary exterior. Just that little extra thrill of danger, the lure of the forbidden, the realization that you can see through to someone most other people can’t reach.

Being the “Beauty” is exciting and powerful, because she’s basically his only hope. In many ways the “Beast” is powerless–he can hold her there, but he can’t force her to love him, which is what he really needs. So then I thought, what if he didn’t even have that much control? What if she could walk away? And if she can, why wouldn’t she?

I like a challenge, and wanted to make people believe that a girl could fall for a monster. My readers do–I think half of them are in love with him, too–the word ‘adorable’ keeps coming up!

On a more serious note, it’s about judging someone for their actions, not their appearance or their social skills. That’s personal for me, because my son has autism. He’s incredibly sweet but it’s going to be challenging for him to find love, so I want to encourage people to see past the surface.

That sounds wonderful! Thank you for encouraging others to look beneath the surface.

2. Do you like zombie lore or do you watch any zombie shows? (Such as Walking Dead, I am Legend, World War Z, Resident Evil…okay, I think those are the only ones I’ve heard of!)

Honestly I’m not a zombie fan at all–I don’t like violence or horror or gore. I mean, I was familiar with the lore just in a general way. But then someone recommended the movie Warm Bodies, and the trailer completely hooked me. Awkward, introverted, funny guy…who also happens to be a corpse. He falls in love with a girl, rescues/kidnaps her, confuses the heck out of her, and learns to be human again. Because of the aforementioned Beauty & the Beast thing, this was something I had to see. I found the movie during a really stressful time in my life, and it was my happy place for a while. Great humor, great music. It’s based on a book which is also amazing, but the book is darker so I prefer the movie. Gradually I started wondering what if…? A little later on, I was also reconnecting with God, so I wanted to make this Christian-friendly, which obviously required changes!

One of my early readers was also a huge fan of the movie, but she said she actually preferred my book, which was awesome.

So glad to know I’m not the only one who finds zombies horrid! (Yet still wrote a zombie book. Hmm…)

3. Zombies scare the living daylights out of me, but I find the story wrapped around them fascinating. What scares you yet oddly intrigues you?

Scary yet intriguing? Hmm… good question! I’d have to go with the ocean. Seriously, I love being on the beach and watching the waves, for hours, but there’s so much power in the water. I live in the Carolinas, so hurricanes are a thing. A very destructive thing. Maybe I’ve seen one too many tsunami videos, but water can destroy whole towns. Not to mention the possibility of sharks. I’ll watch from a safe distance, thanks very much.

Also, I pay attention to politics, which is way scarier than fiction sometimes.

Lol! Yes, they are!

4. Who did your fabulous cover art? He’s a genius!

I know, right? I am so blessed with that cover. Found a guy on a Facebook group–I asked about recommendations for cover artists, and told a little bit about the book. Venkatesh volunteered and said he’d be excited to work on what he called an epic project. His website is called killerbookcovers.com and man, did he deliver. He asked what I was thinking, and I told him the basics. He blew me away with the result. I still sometimes just look at it and sigh happily. He’s got very reasonable rates and was always responsive to my concerns, so I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Hmm…I shall keep him in mind… ;)

5. Is this a series? If so, how many more do you have planned?

Nope, not a series–a guaranteed happily ever after. I might do more in that universe, but I probably won’t. I have a sci-fi/romance/adventure series I’m working on next–four books and counting in that one, but they need a lot of revisions.

Oh, good! I love happily ever afters more than anything! And more books in the works? Yes, please!

Thanks for having me! I appreciate it!

Thank you so much for coming on my blog today! I absolutely loved having you!

And now you, dear reader, need to go check out this book ASAP. Just sayin’.

I hope you love it!

In Him,

Michele

She’s a preschool teacher. He’s kind of a zombie. It would never work.

Karen teaches post-apocalypse preschool, safe inside city walls. She never intended to get caught outside.

Leo is technically alive, but perpetually zoned out: Mindless. He can see emotions as colors now, though, so at least there’s that. Like the other Mindless, he feeds on the emotional energy of humans. Then he meets Karen–her unique energy jolts him partly awake, and he’s hooked. He protects her but when she’s rescued, he lands in a cage.

Karen wants to go home, but until then, she also wants to spy on her sketchy host, which brings her into contact with Leo.  He’s recovering, and surprisingly sweet, and he’ll protect her in any way he can.  She returns the favor, but this alliance can’t last; she’s leaving, and he’ll be killed for science.

Leo doesn’t expect her to even talk to him, much less help him. But she does–and that emotion she has when she looks at him?  He doesn’t know what to call it, but it’s not fear.

Karen can go back to her life–if she abandons Leo. She can’t stay with him, she can’t take him home…but without her, he’s dead.

He saved her. Can she save him?

 Winner: Fool for Love contest, VA Romance Writers, Dark Paranormal category (2015)

Finalist: First Impressions contest, American Christian Fiction Writers, Speculative category (2015)

Purchase Links:

• Amazon
• Goodreads

About the Author:

Pam Jernigan started writing in elementary school and never quite got over it. Invisible friends are some of her favorite people. She was born a Yankee but realized the error of her ways in her early twenties and moved to North Carolina, where she now lives with one husband, two almost-grown children, and two almost-grown kittens. The cats may move out before the children do; time will tell.

She’s always been a sucker for variations of Beauty & the Beast and is partial to romance stories that feature a hero who falls for the heroine on sight and has to hustle to get her attention and prove himself worthy. Snappy dialog is always a plus. She’s a firm believer that people have enough angst and drama in their real lives, so she writes to entertain and let readers escape to fun worlds which are not entirely constrained by reality.

Pam has written and shared weird stories for thirty years, and in 2017 she finally got up the courage to self-publish. Whispers in the Dark is not the first novel she’s written, but it was the first to get up to publishable quality. Self-publishing has been an adventure. She looks forward to doing it again, as soon as those other novels are whipped into shape.

She religiously avoids talking politics in public (which is to say, she tries to avoid it but sometimes fails) but will cheerfully confess to being a Christian. She loves to sing anything from Handel’s Messiah to modern country to Christian rock.

Social Media Links:

Website / Facebook / Twitter

And a Giveaway!