Recovered (Shapeshifters’ Library #3) by Amber Polo

Publisher: Wordshaping Press (November, 2016)
Category: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Shapeshifters, Dogs, Werewolves,  Humor, Pet Rescue
Tour date: Feb 1-Mar 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1539059813
Available in Print & ebook, 224 pages

From the Award Winning Author:

Bliss D. Light believes she’s an ordinary children’s librarian…until she grows a tail.

Now her life is filled with more magic than any fairy tale she reads the children at the Shipsfeather Library. Bliss’s newly discovered dog-shifting ability allows her to change into a sleek white Greyhound but leaves her yearning to dig up her heritage and track down the dog-shifters’ lost library. Her best friend Harry, disgraced werewolf/dog-shifter mix, smitten with Bliss and eager to redeem himself, insists he accompany her.

Tailed by the devilish werewolf duo of Harry’s supercilious ex-wife Sybilla and bad boy Blaze, their cross-country quest takes them up ancient mounds and into extreme danger.

Chased by federally-funded dogcatchers, sold to a racetrack, and forced to fight wolf-dogs is no walk in the park. Aided by dog rescue advocates and a bookstore cat, Bliss and Harry never lose sight of their goal—or each other.

Series Description Shapeshifters’ Library by Amber Polo

Dog-shifting librarians nose to nose with book-burning werewolves!

Light fantasy series for the dog lover who lusts for books and adores libraries. Comic villains, smart sweet heroines, and brave intelligent heroes share a world where dogs talk and librarians battle werewolves to protect knowledge.

Praise for Shapeshifters’ Library Series

“Author Polo does an excellent job organizing the details of her inviting series for new and returning readers… At its core, the narrative illustrates how… kindness can heal humans and dogs—and maybe even cats… A fanciful read that remains loyal to its noble principles.”- Kirkus Reviews

“…let the author’s imagination take you into her world of shapeshifting dogs who have taken on the responsibility of preserving books for mankind. Change into your dog form, go to Starbarks (sic), order a chai latte, and read Recovered.”- Mike Bove, author of the Bruce DelReno Mysteries

“Take a perfect hero and heroine, a mystery, secrets, evil book-burning werewolves, noble dog shifters, non-stop adventure, and the race against time and you have a fantastic book. Highly recommended for readers who love unique fantasy!”- Kari Thomas, author of Under a Shifter’s Moon

“A novel like RECOVERED elicits a happy sigh from me. This is the type of book you want to curl up to read by the fire with a cup of hot tea on a rainy day. It’s exciting, engrossing and has the sweetest of romances. I’ve really enjoyed all of the Shapeshiters’ Library books, but RECOVERED is my favorite!
RECOVERED has a National Treasure (love that movie!) vibe with mystery and adventure at its core.”- Danielle Smiley, Known To Read

Interview with Amber Polo

Which character do you love to hate and enjoy writing?

When I first started writing fiction, every story started out great. And then things just got better. Boring? Yes!

Slowly I began to enjoy writing conflict. And by the time I began The Shapeshifters’ Library series, I acknowledged I needed great fantasy villains. And might even have to make bad things happen to them. But it turned out that my bad guys also provided comic relief.

In Book 1 Sybilla Denzilbacher made the appearance as the wife of the Library Board Chairman. Self-centered (werewolf) restaurateur, Sybilla debuted as a bitch. By Retrieved (Book 2) she takes over the pack, divorces her husband, opens a law practice, and finds a young wolf to do her bidding. She glories in power and battles for territory. In Recovered (Book 3) disgraced, Sybilla plots a comeback to win her Senator father’s favor by chasing her ex and Bliss, his librarian girl friend, across the country. (No spoilers for Reprinted   Book 4, but I loved writing her second try at a comeback in the Caribbean.)

Somewhere along the way I realized I looked forward to writing Sybilla’s scenes. Smart, beautiful, and talented she surprised me with her clever plans but her huge ego led her into trouble every time. As much as I disapproved of her evil ways and wiles, writing as her became a guilty pleasure. Plus she made me work harder to help my hero and heroine thwart her.

 Tell us about your cover.

In the original edition of https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N47SEW5/, Recovered‘s cover was the first with a gorgeous dog. My cover designer (a cat devotee!) suggested I select the dog image, because I’d never like one she picked.

The perfect dog was in my head and on my pages. A pure white greyhound, both delicate and strong to portray the canine side of my heroine Bliss Light. I looked at a lot of images  -a lot of images – until I found a studio photo done to help a retired racer find her forever home. She was a Louisiana girl showing just the right mix of elegance and pluck. I wrote to the photographer and waited. Due to flooding, she’d evacuated with her photo disks and for I while I thought I’d never get permission. At last we negotiated and my designer Photoshoped away the dog’s collar and some tan spots (only greyhounds in fantasy novels are pure white) and placed her in the ancient ruins of New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon.

I loved that cover and now that I have republished the series, all four covers have dogs that reflect the shifters in the stories. For Retrieved (Book 2), I found the perfect Mastiff hero image, a black and tan hunk. In the book I’d described Cynerik as brindle. So with a little editing the book matched the new cover.

Released (Book 1) was hardest to redo, for the story’s Old English Sheepdog was modeled after Jonathan, my forever dog, who often convinced me he was a man in a dog-suit.

Reprinted (Book 4) has a Chihuahua hero. Finding a small model to portray a giant computer genius was difficult, but Pacifico Lopez now sits on the cover’s ebook pirate ship.

I love all four covers and can’t imagine my shifters any other way.

 What are you currently working on?

While writing The Shapeshifters’ Library series, I did a great amount of research. I’m a librarian, so I’m hard-wired for research. I also spend much too much time thinking about what is unknown in history. All that grew into a story that I call alternative history with touches of fantasy, romance, humor, travel, and adventure. Please tell me that is a genre?

It’s just a story of two Egyptian girls who trek to the deserts of 1st century New Mexico – one from the Yucatan and and the other from Nova Scotia.

My working title is Pharaohs in the New World. What if Cleopatra faked her death and escaped on a pirate ship? While her sister, the Librarian of the Library of Alexandria, sailed to Wales with her library’s most valuable books? And they both landed in an imagined New World filled with crypto-creatures and mythical and imagined humans? All to save the knowledge of the ancient world.

Wouldn’t we all want to read those lost books? Would it change the world we now live in? But maybe that’s a sequel. First we have to find the books.

If this sounds like fun, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter.

How do you name your characters

I love finding the right name for each of my characters. In fantasy you can let your imagination go pretty wild. Then rein it in when you get too silly.

For The Shapeshifters’ Library I used many names of historic librarians and werewolves (Wikipedia is great for lists). In addition to a baby names book, one reference fun to browse is Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Character Naming Sourcebook, 2nd edition (Writer’s Digest). It’s filled with suggestions on creating names and wonderful names arranged in lists by ethnic group.

In The Shapeshifters’ Library (Book 1) Released my first villain was named Elsie Dustbunnie, a retired librarian-werewolf who loved to burn books. And the heroine Liberty Cutter carried an honorable library name. When the children’s librarian, later Recovered ‘s heroine, first appeared with her sweet New Age ways, would a name other than Bliss D. Light been possible?

Harold Dinzelbacher was the bad guy banker and Library Board Chair. His no-nonsense name had roots in werewolf history. In later books, as he changes his ways, he becomes Harry, for this werewolf half-breed is quite a hairy guy.

Retrieved (Book 3) let me play with a family of chocolate Labrador Retrievers all named after candy. My heroine Godiva had siblings named Cadbury, Caramel, Joy, Tootsie, Dove, and of course Ruth, the baby. And her hero, the hunky Brit, a Mastiff, had to be named Cynerik, for he was handsome as sin.

Oh, and then there’s Taxi, Griswald Grunewold, Doris Eukanuba — too many to list. I love them all.

Perhaps I named a few characters after people I’ve known, but mostly deleted those in the final drafts.

 What draws you to fantasy?

Fantasy is the easiest and hardest genre to write. It offers unlimited freedom but also takes the most work to balance between fascinating believability and complete stupidity. Urban fantasy usually takes place in our world with just a few tweaks. Add too many and the reader goes off to find a new book and a new world.

If you create your own original world all details must support your strange land. A writer can’t suddenly introduce magic to “magically” make the ending work. Readers hate that! On page 300 of a nice tale of demons and angels, fairies can not appear with no reason or warning. No matter how much we love fairies, they have to fit the world.

In The Shapeshifters’ Library I added only a touch of magic. Shifters have a tough time in urban fantasy. Our world creates a lot of practical problems for humans who change into animals. Secrecy, for one. And what about clothes? Changing from werewolf or (mostly in my books) dogs into humans creates the need for shifters to not show up naked in embarrassing places. A little magic is needed. I also added a time distortion by adding the “fact” that dog-shifter years are the opposite from dog years, causing shifters to age more slowly.

 Have You Ever Read a Series Backwards?

I will never be able to read my own books for the first time. Can’t happen.

But, if I could, I’d love to read The Shapeshifters’ Library backwards. I’d start with my personal favorite Reprinted (Book 4). FIRST!

I feel a lot of readers would have fun doing just that. If that idea makes you cringe and whimper, it’s not for you. Stop reading.

But, if you’re intrigued – Here’s the challenge!

I’m looking for a fantasy reader who has not read any of the four books in my series.

• Must love dogs
• Adore libraries
• Possess a quirky imagination
• Have an open mind about werewolves

If that’s a fit, send me an email and I’ll give you Reprinted (Book 4 in my series) in the ebook format of your choice. Read it. Tell me what you think. Next, I’ll send you Book 3. Same deal. Next Book 2. And finally after you’ve read the FINAL three books, you get BOOK 1 – Released. Let me blog about your experience and together we might start a new trend.

About Amber Polo

Amber Polo’s lifelong love of libraries and dogs led to a fascination with lost ancient libraries and curiosity about why werewolves outnumbered dog-shifters in literature and inspired her urban fantasy series The Shapeshifters Library.

The mystical side of Sedona became the comic paranormal setting for Hearts in the Vortex. One day a plane flew past her office window and she turned her pen to her own airpark backyard and Heads in the Clouds was the result.

Author of award-winning fantasies and Arizona romances, Amber relaxes stressed writers and readers. Relaxing the Writer offers a catalog of suggestions and simple exercises while her calming CDs help (almost) anyone relax and find restful sleep.

After living in seven states, she’s settled in a small Arizona town.

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Recovered by Amber Polo Grand Prize Giveaway

This grand prize includes the following:

• Canvas bag for books or whatever you carry
• A collectible Taco Bell Chihuahua
• Relaxing the Writer book & the CD containing the track that put 7,500 people to sleep on Insight Timer app)
• More Books – Released (the original edition), Hearts in the Vortex (paranormal romance), and Christmas on Wherever Island (to put you in the Christmas spirit anytime)

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Book Giveaway Recovered by Amber Polo

This giveaway is for the choice of one print or ebook of ‘Recovered’ by Amber Polo.  Print is open to the U.S. only, ebook is open worldwide. This giveaway ends on March 31, 2016 at midnight, pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
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