Shattered Innocence (Shattered Innocence Trilogy – Volume 1)

Shattered Innocence Trilogy  by Denise Coleman https://www.smore.com/sdqhf

The Shattered Innocence Trilogy chronicles the lives of the Kyle family. The twins, Angel and Teek, and their cousins Troi and Keisha. They are four vibrant, bright, talented and dynamic young women with a wonderful future in the music industry ahead of them. However, their lives take a dramatic turn when they are forced to defend themselves against a group of bullies, which subsequently leads to the Kyles being sent away from their home.     Moving to a strange city with family they barely know, begins to alter the girls’ characters and personalities.  The absence of stability, familiarity and support manifests itself in the worse way.     Throughout the series, the Kyles face lies, secrets and betrayal which threatens to destroy the close-knit family bond they once shared.     Trying to maintain that bond while attempting to recapture their personal happiness and desires for their adult lives, proves to be more difficult than any one of them could imagine.  Shattered Innocence Trilogy by Denise Coleman  Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction * Shattered Innocence (Shattered Innocence Trilogy Volume 1)   * Shattered Innocence 2: The Drama Continues (Shattered Innocence Trilogy)  * Shattered Innocence 3: Keisha’s Betrayal (Shattered Innocence Trilogy)  Purchase Denise Coleman Books  https://www.amazon.com/-Coleman/e/B003QJJLNE

Shattered Innocence (Shattered Innocence Trilogy – Volume 1) Teek and Angel Kyle and their cousins, Troi and Keisha are beautiful and talented girls on the verge of living exciting lives. However, they find out early in life that the beauty and talent they possess is more of a curse than a blessing. Faced with being harassed and bullied by a group of haters, the girls defend themselves viciously and are forced to leave their home and family. They find themselves living in a strange city with family they barely know. They each try to make the best of the situation amid homesickness, uncertainty and a secret one cousin feels she needs to keep to herself. Just when each believes she will finally live a life that will make her happy, everything changes. Having not had the proper guidance, each girl is ill equipped to deal with the broken hearts, stalkers and unforeseen nemesis that enter their lives. In the midst of the chaos and turmoil of their young adulthood, each tries desperately to find out who they are and who they’re meant to be before they lose everything. Excerpt: Shattered Innocence Trilogy – Volume 1 The first half of the school year went by pretty quickly for the girls. Keisha spent every waking moment preparing herself for basketball tryouts. She ate, slept and breathed basketball. Without it she didn’t exist. Without being a basketball player, there was not one other thing she knew about her own self to be true. Troi spent her time doing cheerleading activities and trying to convince Angel, who focused on her studies, to join. Eventually Angel gave in and tried out for the squad. Teek on the other hand, didn’t seem to be interested in anything at all, in or outside of school. She just went through the motions, trying to rush the time. Jackie and her cohorts seemed to pull back after that first incident. They reduced their drama to minor bumping in the halls, name calling and eye rolling whenever they ran into one or more of the cousins. This all changed during home coming week however. Although the girls weren’t allowed to run for home coming queen or her court, they were allowed to take part in the talent show. The aunties had the girls rehearsing for weeks for the show. That was their thing! As their Aunt Hillie would say, “These girls can blow!” As much as the girls didn’t like working as hard as their mothers made them, they did enjoy performing, and they each knew how happy it made their parents to see them shine. The night of the talent show, the school’s auditorium was packed. The girls had to sit through an hour of other kids singing, dancing, reciting poetry and playing violins and such, before it would be their turn. They used their grand parents’ sir name – Marchon- as their stage name. When announced, they stepped out onto the stage ready to tear the house down. The girls looked like seasoned professionals. Their Aunt Hillie had designed their dresses; Two gold and two silver sequined halters which stopped at mid-thigh. The dresses were paired with matching stilettos and they wore their hair flowing straight down their backs. The look was completed with faux diamond jewelry and their makeup, while subtle, enhanced the cousin’s young beauty. The DJ cued the music and when the first cords of Teena Marie’s Square Biz filled the auditorium, the cousins broke out singing and dancing like stars. Angel sang the lead and together with her family, they sang the hell out of that song. By the time they’d gotten to the rap portion of the song, the crowd was going wild. When they were done, the audience erupted in thunderous applause. Hands down, the girls were the best in the bunch. They received the only standing ovation of the evening. While the cousins were winning over the crowd, Jackie and her cronies were sitting in the front row, shooting daggers with their eyes. The girls had no idea that the next few months would completely change the course of their futures. ( Continued… )  © 2016  All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Denise Coleman.  Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.  Purchase Denise Coleman Books  https://www.amazon.com/-Coleman/e/B003QJJLNE

Shattered Innocence 3: Keisha’s Betrayal by Denise Coleman  Shattered Innocence is the saga of the Kyle family. Four strong, talented, beautiful women who face betrayal, secrets, destruction and murder. Happiness is always elusive for them, yet they continue to push through with the desire to finally find peace, love and joy, no matter how painful the journey. Purchase Denise Coleman Books https://www.amazon.com/-Coleman/e/B003QJJLNE

Intimate Conversation with Denise Coleman  Denise Coleman was born and raised in Camden, NJ where she still resides. As an avid reader, her love of the written word has grown into a passionate desire to share her stories with the world. Although she has penned four novels to date,  continues to work tirelessly at her craft, as she wants to grow as much as possible into a better writer and story teller with each work she creates. As a former student of Woodrow Wilson High School, and the parent of four, it is her hope that the young people of Camden believe enough in themselves to dream big… And, in doing so, go after the best that this life has to offer. Her first novel, Drama with A Capital D, is doing very well. Also, her most recent release, Keisha’s Betrayal, is the finale of her Shattered Innocence trilogy. She looks forward to putting out many more books in the near future. BPM:  Give us some insight into your main characters or speakers. What makes each one so special? The main characters, twins Angel and Teek Kyle, and their cousins Troi and Keisha, who early in the series are forced to eave home to live wit relatives they hardly know. Each girl has her own distinct personality. We have Angel, who is the nurturing leader of the group. Teek is the perpetually confused, yet supportive twin. Then there’s Troi, who is sneaky, selfish and almost always up to no good. Keisha, the baby of the group, is unsure of herself, and oftentimes, finds herself trying to figure out where she fits in. BPM:  Is there a specific place/space/state that you find inspiration in? I actually find my inspiration in people. A look, a conversation, a mood, a feeling. other human beings seem to spark something in me at any given moment. BPM:  Tell us a little about your creative process. What brought about the title “Shattered Innocence”? My creative process is always fa more difficult for me tan I intend. Whenever I have an idea, I start with an outline. However, every story I’ve ever written develops organically. I allow the characters to take over. The title Shattered Innocence literally comes from the circumstantial effects of the main characters’ displacement. BPM:  Where do your book ideas come from? Are your books plot-drive or character-driven? The idea from this particular series came from witnessing some of the issues our young clients have at my place of business. I work in child protection services. Although I am more interested in the plot, I do allow the character’s personality to take over. They seem to always drive the story forward. BPM:  Is writing easy for you? Do you feel lonely being a writer? I find that writing sometimes difficult for me because, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I want to be considered a great writer. I am continually pushing myself to do better and be better. Yes, I always feel that being a writer is a lonely business. The creation process is a singular experience for each writer. BPM:  What did you enjoy mot about writing this book? The most enjoyable part bout this series was seeing where each character went, and how they evolved more with each installment. BPM:  How much planning goes into writing a book? How long does it take to complete one of your books? The only planning I do is, taking notes about the situations I want to place the characters in, and how I want to resolve the issues created. It can take me anywhere from a few months to a year to complete a book. it depends on so many external factors. BPM:  What advice would you give aspiring writers that would help them finish a project? Well, because I feel that writers ae dreamers to a degree, I would say never give up on your dreams! Write, write, and write some more. we all get discouraged, but the end result is pure joy. BPM:  What period of life or topics do you find you write about most often? I am focused on young adults in this particular series. I simply wanted to understand how adults get to be who they are, how they are, and here it all began. BPM:  How do you feel when someone disagrees with something you have written? I actually use different opinions to gain a different perspective into the human condition. If I do find myself offended, I try to turn that around to be useful for my growth as a writer. BPM:  Are there under-represented groups or ideas featured in your book? If so, discuss them. If I had to say there was an under represented group in my series, it would have to be the LGBT community I felt that it was important to have at least one character who was the extreme opposite of the rest of the family. I wanted to explore her emotional perspective on being gay. BPM:  Share one specific point in your book that resonated with your present situation or journey. The one point that resonated most with me was learning how to accept myself as I am. In doing so, I learned how to recognize when changes in my own behaviors need to be made. BPM: Did you learn anything personal from writing your book? Writing “Shattered” actually taught me how much I’ve grown over the years. As well as, how much I am still very much that girl I once was. BPM:  Can you share some stories bout people you met while researching this book? Because the business I work in is strictly confidential, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to share specific stories. I will say that I’ve witnessed and had conversations with clients which inspired the thoughts behind how very specific events can change the trajectory of one’s life. BPM:  How has writing impacted your life? Writing has opened me up to a whole new world.  Where I was once shy, I am now outgoing and more personable. Meeting people and engaging with them brings me joy. BPM:  What does literary success look like to you? For me, literary success would be to create works that make people think, feel, talk and want more. BPM:  What are the 3 most effective tools for sharing our book with the world? Social media, word of mouth and participation in literary events whenever possible. BPM:  What projects are you working on at the preset? Right now I’m working on a piece about the loss of a child to gun violence. Being from a city like Camden, so many of us have loss someone in this manner. I feel I have to write about it. BPM: How can readers discover more about you and your work? Contact and comments can be sent to my website: DeniseColemanBooks.com Website: http://www.denisecolemanbooks.com FB: @booksbydenise IG: authordrcoleman Twitter: @AuthorDColeman

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