Joanne Efendi Debuts with ILLUMINATED DARKNESS

By: Christina Mancuso Jul. 14, 2014

BRISBANE, Australia, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ Joanne's novel is written towards the Young Adult market, in particular 15-18 year old teenage girls and is a YA Paranormal Romance centered around the main character 17 year old Ashlyn Pierce.

Ashlyn is a typical teenager struggling to find her place in life as she nears adulthood. She craves balance and stability in her life following a traumatic upbringing and aims to please everyone, always steering away from confrontation. Five days away from her 18th birthday, waiting for the return of her college boyfriend from Europe, he suddenly texts her and breaks up with her. Since then, Ashlyn's life changed from the vision she had planned for her future. She meets Wren on a night out with her sister to take her mind off her break-up. She finds herself falling in love with Wren and is stunned when he eventually reveals himself to be her vampire protector. He tells her she is a descendent from the loogaroo, a Haitian vampire that has Voodoo dark magic powers. She finds herself struggling to deal with her feelings for Wren whilst battling with the change in herself all the while being hunted down by voodoo priests for her voodoo power.

"Throughout the book Ashlyn develops as a person from someone who aims to please everyone around her into a strong woman. I see her emergence of her voodoo power and her ability to control it as really just a metaphor for growing up and realizing her true self-worth," Joanne said.

"I've always loved vampires and vampire novels, but wanted to explore different vampire myths," said Joanne. "I also have a fascination with voodoo and dark magic, so I had an idea in my head of merging the two together and did some research and found the perfect vampire myth in Haiti of the loogaroo that fit perfectly with my vision of my characters."

Joanne is a former journalist and radio announcer, having worked in Bali in her chosen field for close to two years. Currently, she lives on the Sunshine Coast with her family and returns frequently to Bali where she one day plans to retire and become a full time author.

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SOURCE Joanne Efendi