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Nobody’s Lady (Never Veil #2) by Amy McNulty
Publication Date: April 12, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books
For the first time in a thousand years, the men in Noll’s village possess the freedom to love whom they will. In order to give each man the chance to fully explore his feelings, the lord of the village decrees all marriages null and void until both spouses declare their love for one another and their desire to wed again. What many women think will be a simple matter becomes a source of village-wide tension as most men decide to leave their families and responsibilities behind.
Rejected by the lord and ashamed of her part in the village’s history, Noll withdraws from her family and lives life as an independent woodcarver. This changes when her sister accuses her of hiding her former husband Jurij from her—and when Jurij eventually does ask to move in. Determined not to make the same mistakes, Noll decides to support her male friends through their new emotional experiences, but she’s soon caught up in a darker plot than she ever dared imagine possible from the men she thought she knew so well. And the lord for whom she still has feelings may be hiding the most frightening truth of them all.
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Other books in the series:
In a village of masked men, magic compels each man to love only one woman and to follow the commands of his “goddess” without question. A woman may reject the only man who will love her if she pleases, but she will be alone forever. And a man must stay masked until his goddess returns his love—and if she can’t or won’t, he remains masked forever.
Seventeen-year-old Noll isn't in the mood to celebrate. Her childhood friends have paired off and her closest companion, Jurij, found his goddess in Noll’s own sister. Desperate to find a way to break this ancient spell, Noll instead discovers why no man has ever chosen her.
Thus begins a dangerous game between the choice of woman versus the magic of man. And the stakes are no less than freedom and happiness, life and death—and neither is willing to lose.
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When did you start writing?
I wanted to be a fiction writer since I was a kid and I fell in love with books. While I focused on academic and business writing throughout my school and early post-college years, I didn’t successfully finish a novel until 2012. I started trying to write books in 2003, but I went long periods without working on anything.
What makes you want to write?
I love stories. I immerse myself in fiction all day, every day, as much as possible, via books, TV shows, movies, comics, anime and manga. Writing is my way of flexing my creative muscles and bringing my own stories inspired by the fiction I love to life.
Do you ever get writer's block and what do you do to get over it?
I do! Sometimes taking a break for a few days is what I need, but other times, that’s the wrong thing to do because then I won’t ever feel like returning to the project. In those cases, I force myself to write at least 100 words a day. It doesn’t sound like much, but when I’m out of ideas, it’s difficult to do. Eventually, it adds up and I start writing more words. I might also skip the scene entirely and go ahead and write another scene I’m already picturing, but that’s not always possible if I’m missing the idea that connects one scene to the next.
Do you have a special way of going about writing?
It’s not particularly special, but I try to work on a draft every single day when I’m working on a project. I’m not against giving myself time off between projects (and I do all the time) because otherwise I’ll burn out, but if I’m in the middle of a draft, I want to see it through to the end before I lose momentum. Some days I only write 100 words, but I do try to aim for 1000 a day.
Do you have any works in progress?
I just finished the first draft of a YA fairy tale prequel. I still haven’t shared many details publicly, but it was fun to write, and it has a fantasy setting, which I love.
What are your hobbies?
Reading (books, comics, manga) and watching anime, TV shows and movies. I play video games as well, but not as much as I used to. I used to handwrite letters to snail mail pen pals, but I barely find the time and energy to do that anymore, and I keep in touch with most of them online anyway.
Who is your favourite character in Nobody's Lady?
The lord! (I’d say his name, which is everywhere in Nobody’s Lady, but it’s a spoiler for Book One, Nobody’s Goddess.) He’s always been my favorite character in the series, and I basically wrote it so I could write him. Byronic characters who exist in shades of gray are my favorites. I’ve been really happy to find out that so many readers like him, as I know he comes across as a jerk at times because he’s stubborn and often selfish. My main character Noll is a lot like him, actually, but more people took the lord’s side in their conflict, which I find interesting.
How did you get the idea for the Never Veil series?
I’d been working on a too-long manuscript I’d never finished for nine years that featured prototypes of the lord and Noll. Basically, I knew I wanted a strong-willed young woman to be forced to spend time with a mysterious, veiled lord man who was in love with her. It was my homage to characters and situations like you’d find in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Jane Eyre and Beauty and the Beast. One night, not too long after devouring and being inspired by The Hunger Games trilogy, I had the idea of making my fantasy setting a bit more dystopian. Why make these two characters so special? Why not make it so all the men in the village are masked, so every woman has a man who falls madly in love with her? And what if my main character isn’t happy the veiled lord loves her because she fell in love with someone else, someone who is magically compelled to love a different woman? That’s how I came up with the basic rules of the world, and it provided an excellent overall conflict for my characters. By the end of the series, readers will know how and why such a place existed.
What was your favourite part of writing Nobody's Lady?
Nobody’s Lady was actually the hardest book in the trilogy for me to write, even though it’s the shortest! I had so much fun setting up with the world in the first one and I was eager to get to the third book, where I’d explain everything at last and write scenes I’d been dreaming of for years. The second is a necessity because of the end of the first book. Before I could get to the third book, I had to show how the village was coping with the dramatic changes to their way of life. My favorite part was actually discovering that characters whom I thought I knew well were actually quite different now that they were no longer under a magic spell. Jurij in particular came to life in the second book, and he wasn’t always the kind and patient young man he was in the first book.
What are you currently reading?
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab.
What is your favourite book?
It’s going to be hard for me to pick just one favorite for all of these questions! Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Who is your favourite author?
Diana Wynne Jones.
What is your favourite film?
Labyrinth.
What is your favourite TV show?
Breaking Bad.
Quick-fire questions:
Chocolate or ice cream? Chocolate.
Paperback or ebook? Paperback.
Dogs or cats? Cats.
Go out or stay in? Stay in.
Summer or winter? Winter.
Chocolate or ice cream? Chocolate.
Paperback or ebook? Paperback.
Dogs or cats? Cats.
Go out or stay in? Stay in.
Summer or winter? Winter.
Thank you for hosting me! - Amy.
About the Author
Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor from Wisconsin with an honors degree in English. She was first published in a national scholarly journal (The Concord Review) while in high school and currently writes professionally about everything from business marketing to anime. In her down time, you can find her crafting stories with dastardly villains and antiheroes set in fantastical medieval settings.
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