NEW AND NOTABLE: RIVER'S EDGE by BA Tortuga

Hey y’all! I’m BA Tortuga, resident redneck and lover of all things cowboy.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at home (just like all of us, right?) and staying close. Now I live in the high desert, near the Sandia mountain range in New Mexico, and I started writing a series about werewolves who live up north of me. I love the desert, how it morphs and changes, how the colors bloom when the light changes. I also love that we have a wolf sanctuary up above us, and it was a huge inspiration. One of the arctic wolves from our New Mexico sanctuary was featured in Game of Thrones, in fact. 

The Banished series (which started with In Wulf’s Clothing) grew very quickly from a fun romp to a discussion about outcasts and how we treat them, how we can change, and how being an outcast disturbs everyone in society and how (and if) we can heal that. There’s a cultural reference for all of those phenomenon in the fictional Lobo Canyon, both in wolf society and human, and I had a lot more fun exploring the ideas banishment, otherness, and a Brigadoon sort of wolf society that’s moving kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century than I probably should have. 

Interestingly enough, in River’s Edge, I also spent way more time exploring familial bonds from different New Mexico culture and how I could translate them into wolf pack structure. The merging of cultures in New Mexico go back for centuries, and weave a folklore and tradition that’s as beautiful as a Navajo rug. For instance, Miguel not only has to explore and mend his mate bond to River, he also has to accept that he’s been chosen to be a very special person in the Lobo Canyon Alpaha’s new baby’s life.

Grins.

Still, at the base of the series are three honest, real love stories. That’s really what I do, after all, especially with In Wulf’s Clothing, River’s Edge, and Aspen’s Song (which will release in spring 2021). 

River and Miguel are star-crossed lovers, both tied to their own packs, neither willing to leave home for their mate. Thank goodness that moon brings them together so that they can have a second chance.

Much love, y’all.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Miguel is convinced he and River weren’t the fated mates he thought they were, so when his best friend asks him to go back to Lobo Canyon, New Mexico, he knows it’s a really bad idea. Why set himself up to see River again, and to go through all that pain and weirdness again? Wulf is desperate not to be the only banished one at his niece’s christening, though, and Miguel finally, grudgingly, goes along.

River knows how bad he screwed up with Miguel, but he’s been able to tell himself it was meant to be. At least until Miguel shows up. All of his fine plans to stay away from the man go out the window then, and River decides he has to figure out how to win Miguel back. Even if the pack doesn’t seem particularly helpful, between the constant interruptions and the visiting family making his job harder.

What’s worse is that Miguel seems to be accident prone now. Until River realizes what’s going on is no accident. Someone is targeting Miguel with violence, and they have to figure out who it is, and how their love can possibly work out, all at the same time.

(Genre: PNR, Shifters; Series Name: Banished Series #2)

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