Blogtour: Furborn by Isabelle Rowan

Please say hello to Isabelle Rowan and 

Furborn 

First of all I must thank My Fiction Nook for allowing me to visit their blog and introduce my new novel! So what’s it all about?

I’ve always loved reading paranormal stories and have written a few with vampires, but I’ve never tried shapeshifters. I adore them in books, movies and TV. Their incarnations are almost endless and I was stuck thinking about what animal and what world to create for them. Then it hit me – foxes! I live in Australia where foxes are an introduced species and widely regarded as a pest. They have been blamed for the extinction of several native mammals. Sadly, this has meant foxes have a bounty on them and I remember as a child seeing the fox tree where farmers would hang their carcasses or tails. It always broke my heart. 

The Furborn are part of nature but in sheep country Australia it’s not always easy to survive if you are ‘in fur’. So, this is a survival story as well as a love story. Both Connor and Spencer experience first love and quite a few life lessons in the mysteries of nature.

Early settlers transported foxes to the Australian colonies, but not all foxes are what they appear. 

Connor Coutts fiercely guards the family secret of the Furborn in sheep country Victoria, where foxes are shot on sight and left to hang from trees as a warning to others. At seventeen he is the only male Furborn for hundreds of miles, one of the last of a rapidly dwindling legacy. His life’s path is clear—until someone new arrives at the MacKenzie sheep farm. Spencer MacKenzie, with his long black hair and gothic style, might seem out of place, but it soon becomes clear that the two boys could make a formidable team against their enemies. 

But before they can work together, Connor owes Spencer the truth…. He’s just not sure if he should trust him.   

Excerpt:

Bridie’s bark wound its way into Spencer’s dream. Oddly, the black Scottie sprouted a red brush tail. She grinned from ear to ear and said, “Look closely. You haven’t seen me yet.” The fox-dog laughed and stared at its reflection in the night window.

Bridie barked again – she was a dog and nothing more than a dog.

“Quit it,” Spencer groaned, but his voice only added to her excitement. Puppy claws danced a tattoo on the wooden windowsill while her hind legs bounced her on the chair.

“Bloody hell dog – it’ll be a possum.”

He rolled over and slapped the chair, but she wouldn’t be distracted from her lookout. Spencer sighed and watched the shadow branches flick and flutter on the walls. A night bird flew across an ancient family photo growing smaller and fuzzier until it disappeared altogether.

Another drum on the sill.

“You are a total pain in the arse Bridie,” Spencer grumbled, but swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood beside her. “See, nothing there.” He picked her up and held her to the glass. Her tail thumped hard against him while she strained towards the window.

“What…?” Spencer began to say. He peered down to make out a little fox at the horse paddock. Something was wrong about the scene. Rocky was nuzzling it and it didn’t take off.

“Weird,” Spencer muttered. 

Bridie barked and leaped from his arms to race to the stairs. 

“Bridie!” he called in a stage whisper and signaled her to come back, but the pup merely glanced at him before racing downstairs. Spencer shook his head and looked back at the fox, except… Where’d you go? There was no fox laying in the grass and a pale form moved slowly and deliberately beneath the old River Gum. It stopped and looked up.

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About the author:

A slinky cat for a witch may be a cliché, but add a whole bunch of tribal tattoos and an intolerance to garlic (seriously), and you have Isabelle Rowan. Having moved to Australia from the North East of England as a small child, Isabelle now lives in a seaside suburb of Melbourne where she taught film making and English. She is a movie addict who spends far too much money on traveling… but then again, life is to be lived.

She is occasionally retired from teaching and is beginning a new career in story and screenwriting!

Find out more on her website.

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