Nuttin' But Books: #FridayGuest / The Dawsons by Lydia and Santina Casablanca #blogtour #VBT @tdawsons

THE DAWSONS by Lydia & Santina Casablanca, Fantasy Romance, 432 pp., $.99 (kindle)

Title: THE DAWSONS
Author: Lydia and Santina Casablanca
Publisher: Xlibris
Pages: 432
Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Witnessing the horrific demise of everyone he knew and loved has made Derrick Dawson strong, but it has also made him cold and broken. Tormented by his past and fears for the future, Derrick drowns himself in alcohol and drugs to dull the pain he can’t seem to escape. When Rose, the granddaughter of his sworn enemy, suddenly appears in his life, his world turns upside down. The wall he has built to protect his heart is crumbling. Will Derrick ignore what he feels or will he let the wall fall?

Francesco has felt alone and miserable all his life. The loss of his family and the harshness he receives from his constantly intoxicated older brother has left a void inside him that he thought he would never fill. Until a young princess named Rosa stumbles into him and changes his life forever. There’s only one thing that stands in his way—King Antonio has forbidden Rosa to have anything to do with a Dawson.

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INTRODUCTION
There is a world like no other, a world where anything is possible, where no mortal walks—or lives. This world is on a planet called Magika, a place like Earth with the same identities, the same personalities, and the same countries. The only difference is the people on Earth are mortal, and the people on Magika are witches, which makes things very different. All kinds of beings and creatures—any supernatural thing you can think of—live on this bizarre planet. Mortals aren’t allowed to visit Magika; nor do they even know that the planet exists. Though it’s located close to earth, Magika is barely possible to find in space, given that it’s invisible to the mortal eye. If somehow a human were to miraculously figure it out and enter the magical land, the rulers of Magika would make sure he or she never returned. Mortals can never know Magika exists; their knowing would change everything, and drastic measures would have to be taken.
The only way in or out of Magika is through several portals around the world, and they open only once a year at twilight. Witches in books and movies on Earth are nothing like witches in the witch world. On this planet, witches fly without broomsticks and heal quickly. They are given a gift from an angel on the day of their birth, but they also receive a curse by a demon on the same day. The only way to get rid of the curse is to kill the demon who gave it. However, if you do get rid of the curse, you will gain another. Witches senses are heightened. Their eyes and hair can grow any colour. They will never age and can never die, unless they are given the curse of mortality. Child witches usually grow faster than do mortal children. You can never tell how old a witch may be, and it would be better not to guess, if you know what we mean.
And so our story begins one night on the shores of Casa Palace.

Lydia and Santina Casablanca are twin sisters who were born in Brisbane, Queensland Australia. They grew up mostly in New South Wales, moving around all the time and never staying in one place for more than three years. Growing up, Lydia and Santina were left at home a lot with nothing to do while their mother worked to provide for them. The twins had wild imaginations and would often play make believe where they lived in this world where only the supernatural inhabited it. They made up all kinds of characters and story lines, and in doing so they did not realize that they were creating magic.

When Lydia and Santina were 14 years old they noticed they were starting to forget the stories, the characters and the families they had made up and they didn’t want to forget, they wanted to always remember the adventures they went on when they played, pretending they were witches who lived in a magical place. The twins decided to put down all their adventures they had had, all the characters and the families they had made up on paper so they would always remember them.

While writing their book they were suddenly aware that they had a passion for it, and realized they didn’t want their stories to be hidden, to just be shared between themselves. They wanted to share the families they had created, the adventures, the characters with the world. The twins wanted to share their love of writing, their magic and write for a living.

Lydia and Santina worked on their first novel (The Dawsons) for ten years, adding to the story, maturing and professionalizing it, editing it and trying their best to make it as perfect as a manuscript can be before they approached the self-publishing company Xlibris in October 2016. The twins knew that self-publishing a book is not cheap so they saved up for years, working at Gloss Cosmetics, Coles, etc. to earn the money that would help them to publish their first novel.

Lydia and Santina’s book “The Dawsons” was finally self-published with Xlibris Publishing in April 2017. The twins went through a crazy, exhilarating ride making their book a reality, and haven’t regretted taking all the nerve-racking risks in the hopes of being successful. They have been trying to get as many people as possible to know about their book, contacting radio and television stations, bookstores, newspapers and social media in the hopes that their dreams will come true.
The twins are now 24 years old and are living on the Central Coast, New South Wales. Lydia is currently working on the second installment to The Dawsons. She is also working on the first novel by contacting anyone she can to popularize their book. Santina helps Lydia with the marketing of The Dawsons whenever she can.