The Essence of Bliss Blog Tour

The next few moments occurred in painful slow motion. As I tugged my arm sharply out of Donna’s grasp, I was jostled by a stranger on the other side. I felt myself falling off balance and reached out to grab onto something, anything, to keep me upright. The something that I grabbed onto was a jacket slung over an arm and the owner of the jacket pulled back on it hard, tipping me further off balance and sending me sprawling to the floor on my knees. I let out a pained cry as my still bruised knee struck the hard floor.

I ended up on my knees in front of a strong, long set of masculine legs in blue denim. I didn’t know for certain to whom the legs belonged, but I could make an educated guess from the pitch of the gasp and giggle from Donna and the murmuring of the onlookers. I really didn’t want to look up, but I knew that it was inevitable. I couldn’t stay on the floor forever. My knee was painful, and I wasn’t even certain that I could get up by myself. Slowly, grudgingly, I raised my eyes to find Daniel Callahan looking down at me with distasteful recognition and an unpleasant, disdainful smile. I looked him in the eye with as much dignity as I could muster. He continued to stare rudely. He didn’t utter a word.

“Sorry,” I muttered, and my hand flew to my mouth in instant regret. Had I seriously just apologised to him, again, for falling over, again? I was a total idiot, and I was more embarrassed than ever. What was it about this man that made me fall at his feet and behave like a stuttering moron with an apology tic?

“It seems like you’re making a habit of falling on your knees in front of my brother. Here, let me help you.” 

In an instant, everything changed. My whole life turned upside down. Something inside me roared to life and I suddenly felt different, stronger, more alive. It came from the source of the humming, that place deep inside of me. Those simple words, that simple offer of a hand to my feet, the smooth, velvety voice. It was the sort of voice that could make a person weak at the knees with its deep resonance and gentle tone, but it was so much more than that. I didn’t just like the sound of his voice. Something about the owner of that voice had just changed something fundamental about me, and somehow I knew, in that fraction of a second, that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

I wasn’t sure if I could move or if I wanted to look into the face that belonged to those words, that voice. I was frightened about what I might find and what it might do to me, what I might become. However, I was still on the floor on my knees, so I put my hand out, took his and let him pull me to my feet. 

Our eyes met, and without warning, a multitude of sensations overwhelmed me. I saw him, I felt him, I sensed him. I experienced things that I couldn’t understand or explain, but it was like a fire had been lit in my soul, like fireworks exploding in the deepest recess of my mind. I couldn’t just feel his emotions in the way that I normally do. This experience went further, deeper. It felt like in that single second, he was actually inside my mind, or I was inside his. I wasn’t sure whether it was one or the other or if it were both. I couldn’t process what was happening to me. It was happening too fast and exercising too many of my senses. 

He looked at me with bewitching eyes that reached into my very core. Eyes a deep, rich brown, like swirling chocolate, shimmering with a layer of warmth. They glistened with a flame that matched the fire that had ignited inside me, as if his eyes understood and reflected the very essence of me. We saw each other in a way that I had never known before, a way that I had never even dreamed of, and as we looked into each other’s eyes, the flames in his eyes grew larger, hotter. I took everything in, every minute detail. The dark hair swept back from his face, the healthy tan to his skin, the perfect line of his nose leading to full, rich lips surrounded by laughter lines, indicating a happy man: a joyful, confident, beautiful, magical creature.

The intensity of the moment wasn’t limited to the visual. The way that he looked wasn’t what captivated and thrilled my senses. When I sensed a person through their emotions, I usually felt that they were happy or sad, angry or hurt, but this was something new. This was a cacophony of feelings so loud that I felt as if my head might burst with the joy of it. Emotions that lifted me into the sky, swirling around me and through me — through my mind, through my heart, through my body — until I felt dizzy with the power of it. All that I could see were those eyes, those lips. All that I could hear was that voice, and yet I could feel and see and hear everything all at once, like I was awake for the first time in my life, like I had found the answer to a question that I hadn’t known I’d been asking.

– Excerpted from The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry, Blossom Spring Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

Author Interview

What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

I have so many ideas floating around in my head, it’s hard to keep track. They wake me up from dreams and jump out at me on dog walks or on the road. It would be impossible to work on them all at once but I’m always afraid that I’ll miss an amazing opportunity if I don’t do something with the ideas so I have notes pages on my phone and my laptop and an old fashioned notepad and pen that follows me everywhere. I scribble down my visions and ideas in a haphazard fashion, hoping that one day I’ll have the time to sit down and work out what on earth it all means and which idea has the most potential for a future project.

Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding or your attention and detail as a writer?

Isabel Bliss is the main character in The Essence of Bliss and I set out thinking that she would be my favourite and that other characters would take second place in my heart. However, I soon discovered that once I began to write other characters, they came to life and I ended up getting to know them much better than I expected and much more intimately than the story necessarily dictates. Beth Bliss, Isabel’s mum, is one such character. She is flawed and she is complicated and she is a lot of fun to write. As her character developed through the book, her history and some of the background to her questionable behaviours developed in my mind and I felt a deeper empathy for her than I had expected. I hope, one day, to get the opportunity to go back in time and tell Beth’s story, which will be another emotional rollercoaster and, I hope, satisfying to my own imagination and to that of my readers.

Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in [jobs/education] in your writing?

I am lucky to be able to say that I have been an RSPCA Inspector, one of the most rewarding jobs in the world, for 20 years. I spend my days investigating animal neglect and cruelty and, although I meet some of the worst people and see some truly harrowing and traumatic things, I get to make a hugely positive difference in the lives of countless animals and remove them from the nightmares that they have been living. In my career, I meet unbelievable people every day, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way! I have heard, seen and experienced things that most people wouldn’t believe, and my eyes are open to the best and the worst of humanity. This exposure has given me an incredible amount of inspiration for situations and characters, some of which has made it into The Essence of Bliss, and much of which is waiting to come forth in exciting future projects.

Describe the book in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Secrets, power and passion come together in emotional, supernatural romance.

Do you have any odd (writing) habits?

I love to write outside. I just feel more alive and creative in the fresh air. I have a double camping chair, which is really comfortable. I sit at one side and Bonnie, my faithful canine writing companion, sits at the other. She has endless patience (unless it’s dinner time) and will sit with me all day long. In the summer we sit in the shade of the apple tree and in the winter we cuddle up with a blanket and a hat. If it rains, we retreat to the relative safety of the conservatory and carry on writing there.

What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author?

Rejection is always tough. I submitted my manuscript to A LOT of literary agents and the standard dismissals or complete lack of response to my submission stung every single time. I’m still looking for an agent and will struggle to feel as if I’ve made it in the industry until someone sees that something special in me and my work and wants to take me on.

What has been the best compliment?

An early reader of The Essence of Bliss told me that he had found his new favourite author. It doesn’t get much better than that!

What is your favorite line from your book?

A warmth had settled into my being, ignited by that kiss and something had begun that could never be undone. A pledge unspoken and yet no less consequential in its silence. A promise of hearts and minds: The Essence of Bliss.

To date, what is the most difficult chapter you have ever written?

The chapters around the reveal of Josh’s traumatic emotional burden (5-6 of The Essence of Bliss) were tough. I had the situation clear in my head but committing those images to the page took some doing. I tend to write passages in rough first, and then go over and over and over them, refining the writing, editing my own work, carefully choosing my words until I am satisfied (not that I am ever truly content). Those scenes were harrowing and due to my process, I wrote, re-wrote, read and re-read them more times than I can count, meaning that I essentially relived the trauma of that little boy many, many times, making them some of the most difficult chapters to write.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I am a mum of 5, keeper of a menagerie of rescued pets and resident and caretaker of our 250 year old cottage in rural Norfolk. My life is incredibly busy. When I’m not writing, trying to keep our house from falling down and looking after my brood, I love spending time with my chaotic family, being outside in the garden, hosting friends for dinner and playing board games. When we get away we usually head to the mountains. We walk up them in the summer, ski down them in the winter and pitch a tent and sleep under canvas wherever and whenever possible.