Guest Post: Ice Age Shifters Series by Carol Van Natta ~ #BookTour

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Top 5 Reasons to Try the Ice Age Shifters Series

by Carol Van Natta

1. You Love Hot Heroes with Secrets

The idea for my Ice Age Shifters series sparked from reading about South American paleontologists unearthing the bones of an extinct Ice Age bear. What if, said my muse, certain rare shifters were born as throwbacks to a much earlier species? How would modern shifters react, and how could the Ice Age shifters find their happily ever-afters?

The sexy heroes in the Ice Age Shifters series have secrets. Trevor (Shifter Mate Magic) isn’t just your average shifter, he’s an Ice Age bear called an Arctotherium that towers above today’s largest grizzlies and Kodiaks. His regular bear-shifter parents rejected him early because he jeopardized their chance for career advancement in their clan.

Chance (Shift of Destiny) shares his soul with a Panthera atrox, better known as an American lion, an apex predator of the Ice Age. His animal side makes modern shifters uneasy, so he hides who he is and keeps on the move.

Nic (Heart of a Dire Wolf), a Siberian tiger shifter, hides a dark past that he’s still trying to make up for. He’s a born protector at heart.

Arvik (Dire Wolf Wanted) is a mythical shifter who is also a covert agent on a mission to take down evil wizards by pretending to be one. As you might imagine, he has secrets galore.

2. You Love Heroines Who Can Hold Their Own

Wilting damsels in distress aren’t in any of my books. The heroines of the Ice Age Shifter series are a feisty lot, and not inclined to give up easily.

Magic-wielding Jackie (Shifter Mate Magic) was an accountant before she got kidnapped and sold to a corrupt feline pride who want to use her as a breeder. She engineers an escape on a stolen motorcycle, only to run into more shifters in Southern Wyoming. Can she overcome her prejudice to accept help from the biggest, sexiest bear shifter she’s ever met?

To Moira (Shift of Destiny), there’s no such thing as magic. A crazy billionaire has been chasing her all over the country for her supposed psychic powers. Is it misfortune that lands her in a quirky tourist town and into the arms of a man who thinks he’s a shifter, or has her luck finally changed?

Skyla (Heart of a Dire Wolf) is a magic student and an Ice Age Shifter. She’s just about to graduate when she’s kidnapped to be sold at an illegal auction. If that wasn’t bad enough, her inner dire wolf scents her mate somewhere in the cages. Figuring out how to escape with him is just the start. In a fairy portal mishap, she has to figure out why, instead of landing in bed with her would-be mate, she lands all alone in a ghost town.

Rayne (Dire Wolf Wanted), dire wolf shifter and agent for the Shifter Tribunal, meets her mate while undercover at the illegal auction house she’s determined to bring down. Unfortunately, she’ll probably have to kill him, because he’s one of the enemy wizards running the place. When he unexpectedly saves the captive shifters, and her from traitors in her own organization, she’s intrigued. But they both have more secrets, and not all true mates are destined to be together, especially with the threat of a magical war looming.

3. You Love the Idea of Magical Sanctuary Towns

As you might imagine, with so many magical species in the world, there are differing opinions on, well, everything. The one thing they do agree on is keeping the secret of their existence. Humans vastly outnumber the combined magical population, and tend to kill (or experiment on) things they don’t understand.

In the Ice Age Shifters series, sanctuary towns are enclaves that protect their magical community from the outside world, and sometimes from their own kind. Most such towns are hidden with powerful magic, but Kotoyeesinay, Wyoming is the exception. It hides in plain sight as a tourist town. Their claim to fame is a magical theme—sort of like Roswell, New Mexico’s aliens—but for fairies, elves, and psychics. They’re even home to an exclusive, high-roller casino. Streets are named Glade, Wizard, Dragontail, Spellcaster, and the like. Businesses include I Knew You Were Coming Prognostication Services, Fairy Frocks (Made by Real Fairies!), and the Not Dead Yet Motel (complete with a graveyard-style sign).

Not everyone is suited to peaceable life in a small town, but for those that are, Kotoyeesinay is a wonderful place that lives up to the motto on its tourist T-shirts, Come for the Magic.

4. You Love Villains Getting Justice

Antagonists lose in most stories, but I find it especially satisfying when evil-doers get fitting justice. Shifter Mate Magic’s villain is the leader of the corrupt feline pride that bought Jackie, intending to use her as breeding stock. He uses his alpha lion’s strength to violently subjugate his pride. His mistakes? Assuming Jackie is scared stupid, and that Trevor is just your average bear.

In Shift of Destiny, an obsessed billionaire uses any means necessary to get ahead, and thinks he has a handle on the magical world. When he discovers Kotoyeesinay, home to dozens of psychics, he’s convinced he’s hit the motherlode. Be careful what you wish for…

The villains in Heart of a Dire Wolf are the wizards that run the illegal auction. Their arrogance and greed know no bounds, which ultimately becomes their downfall. The villains in Dire Wolf Wanted are the fabled scourge of the north and the pre-contact First Peoples tribes. It will take the combined might of the magical world—and two special covert agents—to stop them.

5. You Love Immersing Yourself in New Worlds

I love creating places so enticing that I wish I could go there on vacation. Such as to Kotoyeesinay.

In the Ice Age Shifters series, the creatures of myth, legend, and nightmare are living in this world, but hidden in the margins, off the beaten track, in the remote wilderness. Kotoyeesinay and Fort LeBlanc (another sanctuary town) are elven glades, a magical binding and mutual protection pact between elves and the surrounding land.

Powerful fairies can create demesnes, which are bubbles of magic (think of them as pocket universes), and anchor them to the real world. Various magic users, such as witches, wizards, and sorcerers, can create portals, but fairies are the best at it.

One of my favorite things to do in this series is give secret magical causes to events in human history. For example, humans think the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia resulted from a meteor air burst. The magical world knows it was actually caused by the most recent war between the polar fairies and the arctic elves.

Bonus Reason: You Love Fun and Adventure

You may blame my quirky sense of humor for the names of the businesses in Kotoyeesinay. Also for the way the town bands together to foil the billionaire who wants to steal Moira away forever in Shift of Destiny, or the sentient sedan named Mauk in Heart of a Dire Wolf.

Personally, I’m thrilled not to be living in “interesting times.” I like my quiet home with the resident mad scientist and equally mad resident cats. But I love stories where big things happen, so that’s what I write. Nothing like a thrilling chase on treacherous mountain roads (Shifter Mate Magic), an alien invasion (Shift of Destiny), a mysterious new-old ghost town (Heart of a Dire Wolf), or even the threat of war (Dire Wolf Wanted) to keep my characters entertained.

Last of all, you may blame my cats for the fact that I write about shifters. They are convinced that all stories are improved by the presence of cats. Half the four Ice Age Shifters series out so far have felines as heroes: Chance, the Ice Age lion in Shift of Destiny, and Nic, the Siberian tiger in Heart of a Dire Wolf. The next books in the series, slated for late summer, will undoubtedly have more felines. Who am I to argue with my cats?

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Carol Van Natta is a USA TODAY bestselling science fiction and fantasy author. Works include the award-winning Central Galactic Concordance space opera series and the Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series. She shares her Fort Collins, CO home with a sometime mad scientist and various equally eccentric cats. If she ever gets to explore the stars or find a magical sanctuary town, she’s taking them all with her. Find her on the web at Author.CarolVanNatta.com or Facebook.com/CarolVanNattaAuthor. Sign up for her author newsletter to find out about new releases and more at bit.ly/CVN-news.

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Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters #1): Lonely bear shifter Trevor meets his mate. Jackie is running for her life and doesn’t have time for romance. Can she trust the sexy bear shifter to get them both to a magical sanctuary town in time?

Amazon

Shift of Destiny (Ice Age Shifters #2): Moira doesn’t believe in magic, despite being chased by a crazy billionaire for her supposed “gifts.” Chance, prehistoric lion shifter, believes in Moira, his true mate. He’s determined to protect her and help her find the magic in her blood. But even a top predator can’t guess the lengths to which a desperate billionaire will go to get what he wants.

Amazon

Heart of a Dire Wolf (Ice Age Shifters #3): Skyla, dire wolf shifter, and Nic, sexy tiger shifter, recognize their true mate in each other. Problem is, they’re prisoners of an underground auction. To stay together, they must escape captivity, avoid ruthless hunters, and solve the mystery of a hidden sanctuary town before greedy wizards take everything—including them.

Amazon

Dire Wolf Wanted (Ice Age Shifters #4): The magical world stands on the brink of war, unless two extraordinary shifters can bridge the gulf between them. Dire wolf shifter Rayne Chekal works to take down an illegal auction house that trafficks in shifters. Arvik Inuktan, secret mythic shifter, infiltrated the auction staff with the same mission. The attraction is instant… and impossible. War is coming. When Rayne and Arvik meet on the battlefield, can they overcome their differences and work together to stop the evil, or will this war engulf the magical world?

Amazon

 

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I'm an outdoor sun loving reader living near San Fransisco. I’m a mother, wife, animal & book lover. I'm the owner, reviewer & mind behind Angel’s Guilty Pleasures. My favorite animals are horses & dogs. As for reading I love all things paranormal & urban fantasy & my favorite shifters are dragons.

4 comments on “Guest Post: Ice Age Shifters Series by Carol Van Natta ~ #BookTour

  1. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series I read. I need to keep going. Fun post!

    • Thank’s for visiting. Glad to know you enjoyed. The books do sound nice!

  2. Sometimes shifters can be the same ol’ same ol’. These sounds great! There was a series with dinosaur shifters that I really enjoyed. I think this would be perfect for me.

    • I can agree that shifters can become same ol’ same ol’. It’s nice to find a shifter series thats different and unique to change things up. The dinosaur shifter sounds interesting, not one I’ve read before. Thank’s for stopping by!