Words from the author

The Soul Series

In 1983 at the age of 16, my best friend, Tricia, and I stayed with friends of my family, the Godfrey’s in Leicester; Peter was a poet, Audrey was a teacher.  As a game, we would make up stories about people we saw on the street.  It was great fun!

 

One day in London we rode the Underground to Soho.  A very handsome “punk” was sitting near us.  He was dressed in black leather and had shoulder length black hair with a stark with stripe like a skunk.  I was so taken by his appearance I forgot about the camera in my lap.  Our glances had not gone unnoticed and the fellow said something to us when he left the train.  He repeated himself three times, but neither of us understood what he said.  He simply gave us a jaunty salute and disappeared into the shadows.  Later that night, my Tricia and I developed a wonderful storyline and I recorded our thoughts in a journal.  With the Godfrey’s help, we spent several days gathering information and names for our story to record in my journal.  Unfortunately, our little bit of fun was packed away with memories.

                 

In 1999, my husband bought some 1980’s music for me I was reminded me that trip to England.  I opened up my memory box from that trip and found the original journal with the story I wrote about an American girl falling in love with a British punk in London.  That night I reworked the little story into a big idea and eventually into a 122,000 word manuscript that became “Painted Soul”. 

 

My husband and I even traveled to England, stayed with the Godfrey’s, and explored the country so I could do research for my novel.  Several scenes were actually writing on location!

 

During the writing process of Painted Soul, I developed “relationships” with my characters.  Puzzola has an uncanny way of painting one’s portrait in such a manner he captures not only one’s soul but also a glimpse in to the person’s future.    Eventually, he painted portraits of various characters and these secondary characters insisted on having their stories told, thus my single manuscript quickly became a series.

 

I’m glad I kept that old journal; otherwise the Soul Series would have never come to life. 

Painted Soul by Mary Quast

Painted Soul is the debut novel of the ‘Soul’ series...

A contemporary romance with a twist, Painted Soul is a story that takes the reader on a wonderful ride in an artist’s life, through the streets of London, and into the shadows of the underground.

Elizabeth McAlister was only eighteen when she met the art student, Puzzola in a London nightclub and gave him her heart. Ten years later, they meet again when a summer of intense passion and dark secrets begins.

As Elizabeth falls deeper in love with Puzzola, she tries to rescue him from tortured memories he refuses to discuss. Eventually, his double life and erotic past are exposed in a local newspaper just as he is involved in a life-threatening accident.

“Quast’s emotionally charged and intensely romantic novel is so well researched and so exquisitely told,” says Karen Mayes, contemporary romance reviewer, “I will be looking for more of Mary’s work, that is for sure!”

 The author says, “At the age of sixteen, I had the opportunity to visit the Soho district of London and was inspired by the atmosphere. This inspiration continued to build in me over the years until I completed Painted Soul, and was so completely entranced by all the characters, I just had to write more novels to tell their individual stories. I couldn’t stop writing.”

Quast currently has two more of the series completed in addition to Painted Soul Tormented Soul and Lonely Soul, and is working on the fourth ‘Soul’ novel. “Every novel reveals more characters and plot twists to delve into, and more people’s lives and loves to write about,” says Quast. “I may never stop writing the stories inside my head,” she promises.

To learn more about Mary Quast and her Soul Series, visit http://www.maryquast.com.

Erick McAlister is known as London’s Most Dangerous Bachelor; he enjoys scotch, women, and spending time in the London underground club, The Skunk’s Den. 

He’s never had a real relationship; women only want him for one thing- he desires more. When the one he vowed he would never toy with, Lynn Westmore, gives him an unexpected proposition, his life takes an enjoyable turn.  Just as he is beginning to find happiness, tabloids headline him, a woman from his past announces she’s expecting his child, someone is trying to kill him, and he finds himself questioning his relationship with the young courier he’s hired to teach him to ride his new motorcycle.  Even though his life is in torment, he begins to believe in love, something he never thought he’d feel. 

Unfortunately, Lynn doesn’t think Erick could ever be faithful to one woman, let alone be in love with her, so when she finds herself in love with him she runs.  Erick falls into a spiral of depression, and it takes his brother and closest friends to bring him to his senses.  When he finds out a magazine has rated him as the World’s Most Dangerous Bachelor, he agrees to do the interview only if Lynn is the photographer and he uses the opportunity to let Lynn know how he feels; he offers his heart to her one more time...

Tormented Soul by Mary Quast

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Tormented Soul by Mary Quast
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