Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
Sharing with you this cool widget for A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS from the Mills & Boon site! Fun to see the different cover that they’ve put on the book in the United Kingdom. You can click on the widget to browse through the first few pages and chapter of the book.
Please don’t forget to join me on THE LOST blog tour! Today I am at Getting Naughty Between the Stacks where if you leave a comment you may win a LOST T-shirt and a copy of my e-book, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.
I may be taking Tuesdays off at the blog as I’m busy editing ROOKIE OF THE YEAR as well as developing the concept for BORN TO DIE which will be the next book in THE CALLING. I am so excited because this story will focus on Diana and Ryder and a momentous change that is about to happen in their lives. I plan to release BORN TO DIE in March 2012. Even more exciting, with BORN TO DIE I plan on relaunching THE CALLING series in a new direction. Think X-FILES meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Each story will revolve around Diana and Ryder and the many characters you’ve come to know and love from THE CALLING. Each story will be a new and unique paranormal suspense and I hope you’ll like this new direction in the series.
For today, I leave you with a reminder about THE LOST blog tour! Today’s stop is at YzhaBella’s BookShelf and you can leave a comment there for a chance to win a copy of the ROOKIE OF THE YEAR e-book.
Today we’re lucky to have with us today Laurie London who is sharing with us her latest release, EMBRACED BY BLOOD, the second book in the Sweetbloods series.
Laurie grew up near Seattle, Washington, and graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Business Administration. After working as a programmer/tester and as an underwriter for a Fortune 500 company, Laurie now writes from her home in the Puget Sound area where she lives with her husband, two children, her faithful dog, and her horse.
Deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest, two vampire coalitions battle for supremacy—Guardian enforcers who safeguard humanity and Darkblood rogues who kill like their ancient ancestors.
Alfonso Serrano is a hunted man. For months he’s managed to elude the Darkbloods, vengeful foes who won’t rest until he’s dead. But he still craves one dangerous temptation: Lily DeGraff, the sexy Guardian agent he’ll risk anything to protect.
Lily is a wanted woman. Her talent for tracking Sweet-a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires-makes her a prime target for enemy capture. Her only hope is the stealthy vampire operative who stole into her bed…then left her in despair. Danger aside-Lily won’t let Alfonso near her heart again-until an irresistible hunger draws them back together…and into an assassin’s snare.
I had the pleasure of reading this book recently. Just to keep all in order with Big Brother FTC, I was provided an e-copy of the book by the publisher via Netgalley and also, Laurie and I will be appearing together in the upcoming A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS.
I had not read the first book in the series, BONDED BY BLOOD, mainly because I do not usually read books in the genre I write. But I was intrigued by the blurb I read and I was not disappointed. Although I had to catch up a little on the mythology, it was not difficult to understand the conflict between the good and bad vamps (Darkbloods) and I liked exploring this new world.
Alfonso struck me as a reluctant hero at first, but as his past became clear, I understood that this dark hero had a tortured past and I was rooting for him to find happiness.
Lily was strong, determined and kick-ass. All things that I love in a heroine. Together, Lily and Alfonso had wonderful chemistry and it was well-balanced by the doubt they have and the passion.
Laurie is offering up a giveaway today to anyone who comments on the blog. Share your thoughts on EMBRACED BY BLOOD or vampires in general by leaving a comment. One lucky winner will receive an autographed copy of EMBRACED BY BLOOD and one set of Sweetblood Trading Cards (U.S. Shipping only).
I’m so lucky to share with you a very special extra Tuesday visit from Theresa Meyers. Theresa is the progeny of a slightly mad (NASA) scientist and a tea-drinking bibliophile, Theresa learned early the value of a questioning mind, books and a good china teapot. A former journalist and public relations officer, she found far more enjoyment using her writing skills to pen paranormal novels in the turret office of her Victorian home. She’s spent nearly a quarter of a century married to her Prom date, drinks tea with milk and sugar, is an adamant fan of the television show Supernatural, and has an indecent love of hats. Find her online at www.twitter.com/Theresa_Meyers or at www.theresameyers.com.
Theresa was kind enough to answer some questions about her writing and her latest release, THE VAMPIRE WHO LOVED ME which is part of the Harlequin Nocturne line.
And now without further ado, here’s Theresa!
At what age did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I don’t know that I wanted to become an author so much as I was just born that way. I always told stories. I’m dyslexic and so when I was younger I couldn’t read, but I adored being read to. My mom gave me a tape recorder and let me ramble on for hours telling the stories in my head.
I got into journalism in school and found I really enjoyed writing and started writing my first novel at age 17. At one point (after writing for 20 years and NOT being published in fiction yet) I was in the American Title II contest (the American Idol of books) as one of 11 finalists in the nation up for a publishing contract. When I got kicked off in about round three or four I decided I was going to give it up. After all, I had a thriving PR agency, what did I need to beat my head against my keyboard for?
Yeah. That lasted about half an hour.
I realized no matter what, I was still going to have these ideas and characters mulling around in my head and have to find a constructive way to deal with that constant barrage of stuff. I figured I could A) tell it to my friends, and potentially lose them all after hogging all the conversations over the years; B) take a second job so I could afford to tell a therapist all my stories and get them out of my head or C) keep writing. I like my friends. I don’t need another job. Writing seemed the best option to staying semi normal and if I was going to keep writing, why not keep sending it out?
What genre is your current release and what made you decide to write in this genre?
It’s a paranormal romance. Most everything I write tends to have a paranormal edge to it in one way or another. I mostly blame my mother for that. As children she always encouraged us to see beyond the mundane and look at the world as a very magical place. I guess that’s created a world where the paranormal is kind of my normal.
Tell us a little something about the hero.
I adore Achilles, the hero of The Vampire Who Loved Me. He was actually a secondary character in The Truth About Vampires who demanded his own story from the moment he stepped on to the page. I had to promise him his own book to shut him up long enough to finish writing The Truth About Vampires.
He’s a Spartan warrior who became a vampire through the original ancient cult in the ancient world. The problem is while he’s a warrior and a vampire, he’s also a Halfling. He bonded with his mentor, which in my vampire world means more than an emotional attachment. A bonded pair share not only each other’s powers, but each other’s pain and a love that lasts past death and can be reborn again. But his mentor, Ione, was killed during the Inquisition, which left him tortured and unable to truly feel emotions. Without the clan, he’d go insane. He tries so hard to joke around and tease feelings out of other people because he can’t experience those emotions himself.
He’s the ultimate tortured hero, who sees his past repeating itself as is terrified of it. I found the song “Wake Me Up Inside†from Evanescence perfectly described him and I ended up playing it over and over again as I wrote scenes in Achilles’ point of view.
Did you do a substantial amount of research for your novels and if so, are there any tricks you do to keep all that information readily available?
Well, for this book in particular I had a lot of research on bio-engineering, DNA replication and how vaccines are manufactured as part of Beck’s background on creating the vampire vaccine, Vanquish. Obviously a lot more is in my notes than the actual book because Nocturne’s are fairly short! For each book I try to keep a file (both on my computer and in physical form) that has my notes, websites, interviews and other information I’ve used in creating the story. In addition, because this is a mini-series, I have an ongoing series folder that holds things like the rules of my world, what emotions correlate with which scents for my vampires, names of characters, etc. so that I can keep it all straight from book to book. I’d love to say I can keep it all in my head, but there’s just too much!
Do you have any rituals that you do before starting to write?
Yes! I usually start off by “running the numbers†on my character names until I find a spelling that fits the character traits I’m looking for. By running the numbers I mean using numerology to figure out who my characters are, or, if it’s a really common name, I can shortcut by using You Are Your First Name by Ellin Dodge. From there I do a brainstorming session on the different scenes, a plotting board to kind of organize it all and then create a sound track for my book that I only play while writing that book. Often I’ll also get a specific scent of candle and only burn it while writing on that book. (Involving as many senses as possible helps stimulate the subconscious, creative part of the brain.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop in, Theresa! It sounds like a great book.
Our Danger Women Writing Guest Blogs and Contests continue today with my wonderful editor, Stacy Boyd! Stacy will be chatting about the Harlequin Desire line and one lucky commenter will win copies of some of the books in THE CALLING VAMPIRE novels that Stacy and I have worked on together, namely, DANGER CALLS, TEMPTATION CALLS and FURY CALLS!
Please stop by and say hello to Stacy, but before you go, here’s a little known piece of trivia about the cover for TEMPTATION CALLS. A decision was made for the heroine to have a tattoo on the cover even though I made no mention of it in the book. When asked what would be the most likely tattoo she would have, it occurred to me that since the heroine – Samantha Turner – runs a home for abused women called the Artemis Shelter, the tattoo should be a representation of the goddess Artemis (Diana in Roman mythology – yes like Diana Reyes). Artemis was the Goddess of the Hunt and often depicted with a bow and arrow and so voila – the tattoo on the heroine’s leg is that of a female archer.
We’ve got a very special guest with us today! Please welcome Amy Corwin who is going to offer up some tips on writing my favorites – Paranormals!
Plot-driven writers create a plot and their characters weave their way through it. Character-driven writers let a character’s strengths, weakness, and goals drive the plot. For example, in a character-driven plot, the main character may be a kleptomaniac and that trait causes the character to get into a series of escalating problems. In a plot-driven novel, the plot may be that someone wakes up to find a dead body in bed next to him and has to figure out what happened before he is arrested for murder.
Ideally, you want the characters to drive the plot, while keeping them in line so that the plot doesn’t just drift off randomly like a blind man lost in a swamp. For example, if the guy does wake up in bed to find a dead body, it may be that his character led him to that place to begin with (he’s a party guy and notoriously drunk and someone used that to decide to frame him) and his character may drive the rest of the plot as he tries to prove his innocence. Most books aren’t purely one or the other.
A paranormal novel adds an additional dimension to the plot: the paranormal. What is interesting, however, is how this changes the basic plotting. In a way, you could think of a paranormal as being paranormal-driven. Whatever element makes the story a paranormal, be it a supernatural creature or some super-psychic ability, is what needs to drive the plot. If your story is about a woman who can see dead people, then the plot needs to revolve around her ability to see the dead. Perhaps she sees her dead son and learns he didn’t really commit suicide, but was murdered. She’s then driven to resolve the case, but runs into other difficulties due to her psychic abilities. That ability is the “character†trait that must drive the plot. Kay Hooper does this very, very effectively in her Noah Bishop, Special Crimes Unit novels. Each character in that series has a different psychic trait and that trait forces the character into the story and propels him or her forward.
Haunted house stories are another familiar breed and in contrast to Kay Hooper’s Special Crimes Unit, haunted house stories tend to be more plot-driven, but the plot is in essence the paranormal element: the haunted house. But since it’s rare to have successful books solely plot or character driven, and a classic example is Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. While it is a haunted house story and driven by that paranormal element, the haunting works on the main character’s weaknesses. It was Eleanor’s personality and sad history that intensified the paranormal elements and created a compelling story. Without Eleanor’s specific emotional makeup, the story would have been just another blah-blah ghost story. Instead, it became a classic that few other books have ever matched.
It’s never easy to blend all the elements and it’s perhaps a wee bit more difficult when you add the paranormal. It’s like a juggler picking up that third axe: two axes seem dangerous enough, the third just seems crazy. But it’s thrilling to be crazy.
Vampire Protector
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Memories may help her survive, but will they help her resist her vampire protector?Exploring Gwen’s long abandoned childhood home in the company of her attractive neighbor, John, sounds like an intriguing evening. However, she soon realizes her mistake. John is a vampire and her house is not exactly empty. Secrets—and the dead—don’t always stay buried, and John’s extraordinary strength and determination may be all that can withstand what awaits them in the darkness.
In the following excerpt, Gwen has asked her neighbor, John Wright, to accompany her to her abandoned family home. She knows he’s a vampire, but despite this, she’s attracted to him and wants his company on this adventure.
But when the two of them get to the house, she’s not so sure it’s a good idea to enter…
Excerpt from Vampire Protector
John stopped and waited on the stoop. He glanced over his shoulder. When she didn’t move, he held out his hand in a peremptory gesture. She stared at it, thinking how human his hand looked with a sprinkling of dark hairs on the back of his wrists and strong, blunt-tipped fingers.
He must have been working outdoors the day he died, for there was still a tinge of sunburned red deepening the tan. The sun-kissed color reinforced the false sensation of heat radiating from him. He felt warm and alive to all her senses, despite the knowledge that he was not.
Her heart twisted with loneliness. It had been so long since she had felt arms around her. But she hadn’t met a man she felt she could trust, and a vampire was out of the question.
She had lost her way and did not know how to find the path back to a real life.
“Hold my hand if you’re afraid of ghosts,†he offered with a twisted smile. A flicker of sympathy grew in the depths of his eyes, revealing a sad recognition of the gulf between them: vampire and human.
With a sense of surprise, she felt his warm gaze tug her even closer to him. As if his awareness of the differences between them meant they shared similar core beliefs and that she could trust him because of that.
She shivered and thrust her thoughts away.
“Hanging onto your cold, dead fingers is not going to make me feel any better.â€
“I’ll warm them for you.†His dark eyes flickered. The corners crinkled with silent laughter.
“You can make me think they’re warm. But they’ll still be cold, dead fingers.†The hairs rose along her neck and arms. She glanced over her shoulder toward the graveyard across the street.
“The remnants of the dead—those tatters—have probably drifted over from the graveyard. They’ll collect here. It’s not that I’m afraid of them. It’s not like they’d consciously attack me or anything, but they’ll be attracted to the body heat of anything living. Like me.â€
She gestured toward one of the drifts of leaves in the farthest corner of the porch.
A few pitiful gray, black, and white feathers lay amidst the debris. At some point in the past, a mockingbird had tried to nest in the shelter of the porch. The bird had been sucked dry of energy and warmth before it realized what was happening and flew away. All that remained was a dry handful of feathers and bones.
The sight did not bode well for anything alive that entered the house.
About Amy: Amy Corwin is a charter member of the Romance Writers of America and has been writing for the last ten years and managing a career as an enterprise systems administrator in the computer industry. She writes Regencies/historicals, mysteries, and contemporary paranormals. To be truthful, most of her books include a bit of murder and mayhem since she discovered that killing off at least one character is a highly effective way to make the remaining ones toe the plot line.
Amy’s books include the two Regency romances, SMUGGLED ROSE, and LOVE, THE CRITIC; three Regency romantic mysteries, I BID ONE AMERICAN, THE BRICKLAYER’S HELPER, and THE NECKLACE; and her first paranormal, VAMPIRE PROTECTOR.
Join her and discover that every good romance has a touch of mystery.
Website: http://www.amycorwin.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/amycorwin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmyCorwinAuthor
Blog: http://amycorwin.blogspot.comThank you for having me here today, I enjoyed it and hope you’ll leave comments about the kinds of paranormal stories you love the best!
I hope you’ve seen the news in the last week or so that I’ll be doing some more Nocturne Bites in 2011. Very excited about that, especially since one of them will be a very special short story with Diana Reyes and Ryder Latimer, two of my all time favorite characters. I’m also excited because in January and February 2012, THE CALLING vampire novels return with two new stories, tentatively titled ARDOR CALLS and VENGEANCE CALLS.
ARDOR CALLS features another favorite of mine, Stacia, a two thousand year old Roman vampire who is growing disgruntled with so many things in her seemingly endless existence. You may remember Stacia’s first appearance in DEATH CALLS when Stacia sets her sights on a romance with either Ryder or Diana. But Stacia also had her dalliance with Blake from FURY CALLS in a short novella that I did for Harlequin – DESIRE CALLS.
Will Stacia find true love in ARDOR CALLS? I think she’ll meet her match in sexy Alex Garcia, who you almost met in DEATH CALLS. Diana Reyes’s ex-lover is caring, honorable and way too loving not to convince Stacia that an existence without love isn’t much of a life.
In the meantime, here is a little excerpt for you to whet your appetite for a little more of Stacia. You can also click here to read the entire novella for free – yes, that’s for free! — at eharlequin.com.
Chapter One
The piazza always provided a fine selection for dining, Stacia thought as she sat on the railing along the edge of the Bernini fountain in Rome’s Piazza Navona. She gazed at the choices available in various spots around the square. French. German. Italian, of course.
Her stomach rumbled with hunger. It had been a day since she had eaten. Placing a hand over her belly, she rose and sashayed toward her first pick, but as she neared the Frenchman, she realized he was beyond loaded. The stench of cheap wine clung to his shirt and oozed from his pores.
Shaking her head, she thought of the oft repeated adage all those television chefs used: If it’s not good enough to drink, it’s not good enough for cooking. Or in her case, for eating. That cheap stuff just left a bad aftertaste in her mouth along with a wickedly nasty buzz.
She preferred something cleaner on her palate tonight.
Which definitely had her bypassing the Aryan god she had noticed just a short distance away from the Frenchman. Germans were always a trifle heavy in her belly. However, the broad set of his shoulders and well muscled chest made her reconsider. She loved her men big and strong and so she lingered by the front of the outdoor café where he was seated. Even made eye contact with him for a moment.
Amazing crystal–blue eyes twinkled with interest. That much was clear.
Stacia smiled back, thinking that maybe he might be worth a nibble after all. Maybe they might actually even click, finally providing her with true pleasure after nearly two thousand years of undead life.
Mr. Tall, Blond and Brawny rose from his chair, seemingly intent on making a move in her direction, but suddenly an equally tall, blonde and muscled woman joined him. Seeing that his attention was on Stacia, his companion began a harangue loud enough to make heads turn. The man plopped down into his chair, looking like a dog with its tail tucked between his legs.
No spirit. That was so not good, Stacia thought and moved onward, still in search of something to satisfy her hunger.
She needed a man who could not only take a lickin’, but gave as good as he got. And not just when he was in a fight. It had been a good long while since any man had really satisfied her in bed, one of the downsides of having lived so long. Of being a vampire elder.
Even her own kind avoided her at times, aware that with her age came not just vast power but also vast hunger. For blood. For sex. For control over lesser vamps. She didn’t want to admit that, in her case, she still hungered for love. For real passion and desire.
Things she hadn’t felt in way too long.
Some of the other elders said she was foolish to yearn for such things. That she should let go of the last little bit of humanity within her that prompted such desires. Then, and only then, could she truly relish the immense vampire power that her age provided.
Stubbornly, though, Stacia refused to relinquish that lingering trace of humanity. For want of something more than an eternal existence filled with only…
A fine–looking American caught her eye as he laughed at the antics of his rowdy friends in front of one bar.
He was as big and blonde as the whipped Aryan she had bypassed earlier, but as his gaze met hers, she saw steel there. Luscious grey eyes were framed by a sheath of shaggy, sun–bleached hair.
Stacia circled Mr. Surfer Dude, making eye contact and clearly letting the young man know that this might just be his lucky night.
It worked without her using even a bit of her vampire power. A flirtatious smile and her feminine wiles had been enough.
He approached, leaned down from his greater height and, in awfully accented Italian, asked, “Parla inglese?”
“Do we need to talk?” she said with a sexy wink, and inclined her head in the direction of a nearby alley.
The young man smiled broadly and after a quick glance back at his friends, who hooted and carried on at his “score,” he took hold of her hand and followed her.
Stacia led him farther back into the narrow alley, although not so far that he would think anything was amiss. Just far enough that he would believe a strong shout could still be heard out in the piazza. Not that she would give him the opportunity to call out.
Toward the middle of the alley, the night closed in around them, with only the dimmest light from the full moon above. Clothed in darkness, the young man surprised her by becoming the aggressor, grabbing her forcefully and pinning her to the jagged brick wall.
“Like it rough, do you?” she said, but he didn’t answer since, with quick hands, he had already undone the laces on her leather vest and was gazing down at her breasts as they spilled free.
When he bent to suck at them, she moaned, thinking that he was exceptionally gifted with his mouth. Between her legs, the throb of human desire rose up, aching for fulfillment.
She quickly undid his jeans, reached past the loose folds of denim to the boxer shorts below.
How she loved this new fashion that made it so easy to free him. To stroke the rather magnificent length of him.
He bit down on one nipple as she caressed him, dragging a gasp from her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he lifted the almost nonexistent hem of her black leather miniskirt, cupped her bare buttocks and urged her upward.
With a surge, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him, then drove down, crying out as the long, thick length of him penetrated her. He was deliciously big, much like the rest of him.
His own groan was from the gut as she leaned back against the brick wall and he pounded into her, all finesse forgotten as he strove for release. He looked down and watched the play of his hips against hers as if fascinated by the sight. Of his blonde curls brushing the naked skin between her legs.
Stacia considered the emotions flitting across his face. Passion rose, dilating his eyes into shards of slate grey. Almost charcoal grey, she realized as he met her gaze before dipping his head down again to suck on her breasts.
Inside her, heat built. Desire awakened the demon that hungered for so much. She threw her head back, allowed the beast to emerge slowly so that it could experience it all. The dark of the night enveloped them in its secrecy. The strength of his youth brought her closer and closer to completion. The musky smells of their lovemaking pushed her over the edge.
She called out her physical completion and laid her face against his. Bent her head and kissed the crook of his neck. His skin was damp. Salty. His blood surged, singing through his veins as his pulse quickened while he worked for his own release.
Sweet, sweet blood. Pulsing beneath her lips.
In a heartbeat, she finally loosed her restraints on the beast. Her fangs burst forth and pierced the fragile skin of his neck.
He called out then in a strangled cry laced with pain, but also with the acknowledgment of passion like no other he had ever experienced—the passion borne from a vampire’s kiss.
Blood spilled onto her lips from her fangs as she drank, experiencing the surge of strength and lust that came from feeding. His sweet, young blood brought the rush of life to her undead body.
He tasted like the ocean and sun. Salty. So tasty that Stacia could have kept on going until she drained him dry, only he had done well by her tonight, satisfying one hunger while leaving another unfulfilled.
The young man’s knees weakened from the loss of blood, and Stacia hopped off him. With her greater vampire strength, she gently eased him down to the uneven pavement.
He was rather handsome, she thought, gazing down at him as he stared up at her, disoriented. The bite mark at his neck was already healing and come morning, he would remember nothing. Feel no worse off than if he had a bad hangover, she thought as she quickly closed up her vest.
And she would feel—
Still alone, she thought, hurrying from the alley as if by doing so, she could escape the bleakness of her existence.
Once out in the piazza, she realized that it was time to move on. She would not find satisfaction here.
As she strolled through the square, it occurred to her New York would be good this time of year. Lots of fine dining there and the wannabes at the Blood Bank were always good for a laugh.
Imagine, wanting to be human again, she thought. What good was that? she asked herself, ignoring the little voice in her head which reminded her that with humanity came…
Love.