Interview with Cindy Borgne, author of Native Shifter

Summary:

Native Shifter is a paranormal romance set in the mid 1770’s. It’s the first book in the Freedom Shifters Trilogy.

Leotie values her freedom and peaceful life with her tribe more than anything. However, the outlanders want more and more of their land. They are given the ultimatum to leave their home or die. Soon the Mahasi are going to war with an unpredictable enemy. Leotie wasn’t born to stay home and string beads. She’s a hunter and a warrior who gets a chance to defend her people, but what she doesn’t know is that a powerful shifter is watching her. He’s about to turn her world upside down.
Keme is a native young man who believes he’s a coward. He’s nothing like his father the Great War Chief. Everyone knows him as the one who ran from battle. Secretly, he trains to be a healer. He tries to warn his people that going to war with the outlanders will end in many deaths, but only a few will listen. He wants to make Leotie his life-bond, but with his reputation how can he ask her?

1. What inspired you to write Native Shifter?

Most of the time my inspiration for novels comes from a combination of ideas. Native Shifter evolved from a novelette I wrote called “TransShifter.” However, that was about an alien shifter, while Native Shifter is about werewolf shifters. I had also wanted to write a story about Native Americans. So, the two ideas combined to became “Native Shifter.”

2. Tell us a little about your main character, Leotie.

Leotie is a Native American tomboy. She doesn’t like domestic duties, and would rather be hunting. Leotie insists she should be a warrior in their next battle. She doesn’t want anything in her world to change, but unfortunately there are many forces that will make that impossible for her.

Keme (Leotie’s love interest) is also a main character. He once ran away from a battle when he was twelve and has considered himself a coward ever since. His father wants him to be a warrior, but he wants to be a healer.

3. What was unique about the setting of the book, and how did it enhance or take away from the story?

The story takes place in the mid-1770s, and most of the setting is either in the woods or at a Native American camp site. Since so many shifter books take place in modern times, it makes me wonder if readers will give it a chance. However, I think the setting enhances the story because it lets the reader visit a different world.

4. What research did you have to perform to back up your story?

There was a lot of research involving Native Americans and that time period. To help with description, I collected a lot of pictures on Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/cindersann0341/native-shifter/

5. Why did you choose to write Native Shifter in third person point-of-view?

I have written two novels in first person, but this time I wanted to have the view point from both Leotie and Keme. Also, I wanted to have the viewpoint of the antagonist, Markus, for the purpose of adding suspense. Hopefully it worked. 

6. Which is your favorite scene from your book?

The very last scene, which I can’t tell you about or that would be a spoiler. However, there is a scene where Leotie struggles to act like a human, even though she’s stuck in wolf form. She believes that if she rejects wolf traits, it will help find a way to be human again. It comes across as some comic relief. I always smile when I read it.

7. What do you have planned for Leotie in book 2 “Rebel Shifter?”

I’m hoping to publish Rebel Shifter about 1 or 2 months after the release of Native Shifter. Leotie starts out in the first book as a person who only knows a life with her tribe. Throughout the series, she’s pushed to go places and do things she never thought she would do.

Interview with Cindy Borgne, author of Native Shifter

Summary:

Native Shifter is a paranormal romance set in the mid 1770’s. It’s the first book in the Freedom Shifters Trilogy. 

Leotie values her freedom and peaceful life with her tribe more than anything. However, the outlanders want more and more of their land. They are given the ultimatum to leave their home or die. Soon the Mahasi are going to war with an unpredictable enemy. Leotie wasn’t born to stay home and string beads. She’s a hunter and a warrior who gets a chance to defend her people, but what she doesn’t know is that a powerful shifter is watching her. He’s about to turn her world upside down.

Keme is a native young man who believes he’s a coward. He’s nothing like his father the Great War Chief. Everyone knows him as the one who ran from battle. Secretly, he trains to be a healer. He tries to warn his people that going to war with the outlanders will end in many deaths, but only a few will listen. He wants to make Leotie his life-bond, but with his reputation how can he ask her?

1. What inspired you to write Native Shifter?

Most of the time my inspiration for novels comes from a combination of ideas. Native Shifter evolved from a novelette I wrote called “TransShifter.” However, that was about an alien shifter, while Native Shifter is about werewolf shifters. I had also wanted to write a story about Native Americans. So, the two ideas combined to became “Native Shifter.”

3. Tell us a little about your main character, Leotie.

Leotie is a Native American tomboy. She doesn’t like domestic duties, and would rather be hunting. Leotie insists she should be a warrior in their next battle. She doesn’t want anything in her world to change, but unfortunately there are many forces that will make that impossible for her.

Keme (Leotie’s love interest) is also a main character. He once ran away from a battle when he was twelve and has considered himself a coward ever since. His father wants him to be a warrior, but he wants to be a healer.  

4. What was unique about the setting of the book, and how did it enhance or take away from the story?

The story takes place in the mid-1770s, and most of the setting is either in the woods or at a Native American camp site. Since so many shifter books take place in modern times, it makes me wonder if readers will give it a chance. However, I think the setting enhances the story because it lets the reader visit a different world.

5. What research did you have to perform to back up your story?

There was a lot of research involving Native Americans and that time period. To help with description, I collected a lot of pictures on Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/cindersann0341/native-shifter/

6. Why did you choose to write Native Shifter in third person point-of-view?

I have written two novels in first person, but this time I wanted to have the view point from both Leotie and Keme. Also, I wanted to have the viewpoint of the antagonist, Markus, for the purpose of adding suspense. Hopefully it worked. 

 
7. Which is your favorite scene from your book?

The very last scene, which I can’t tell you about or that would be a spoiler. However, there is a scene where Leotie struggles to act like a human, even though she’s stuck in wolf form. She believes that if she rejects wolf traits, it will help find a way to be human again. It comes across as some comic relief. I always smile when I read it.

8. What do you have planned for Leotie in book 2 “Rebel Shifter?”

I’m hoping to publish Rebel Shifter about 1 or 2 months after the release of Native Shifter. Leotie starts out in the first book as a person who only knows a life with her tribe. Throughout the series, she’s pushed to go places and do things she never thought she would do.

5 Stars for Native Shifter by Cindy Borgne

Native Shifter by Cindy Borgne

Native Shifter is Cindy Borgne’s best novel. I enjoyed her Vallar series, and her shorter novelette TransShifter, but Native Shifter brought it all together for me. Not only does Native Shifter have a great protagonist with complete three-dimensional characterization worth rooting for; it has a concise plot structure building to a climatic ending with small fiery details in-between.

The protagonist in the story, Leotie is a warrior at heart, who wants to do anything but string beads for her tribe. She is in love with a boy named Keme, her life-bond and someone who understands her dilemma, because he wants to be anything but what life has offered him. He wants to be a healer not a warrior.

Together they are perfectly matched; however, due to an increased war between the Natives and the white man they are pulled apart, and their dreams are seemingly shattered. As the plot progresses, and Borgne throws us obstacle after obstacle, death being the largest one; it seems these two are not going to be together.

Packed with interesting alternatives that lead to a twisted ending for them both, this story will keep you guessing right up until the last page. Despite continuous spell-binding plot, the pacing of this book moved like a roller coaster of small hills and a big climatic mountain at the end. The pacing would slow in the places it needed, allowing the reader to absorb the disappointments in the same way Leotie would respond to them.

You felt her sadness in a grand way and you experienced her strength with the difficult choices she had to make. She ended up being a warrior, not just because she could fight the battles outside of herself, but because she could also fight the ones inside of herself. Her inner conflicts and wins over them made her a stronger person in the end. I read Native Shifter in four days, and cannot wait to read the next book to see where Leotie’s journey will take her. Cindy Borgne’s book Native Shifter is a must read for those of us who like great characters, and a plot that keeps you guessing.