Monday, February 25, 2013

Excerpt - The Last Keeper's Daughter

Krieger sat in the oversized chair, letting his arms hang down almost to the floor, and inhaled deeply of her scent, now richer, more complex than it had been before. He’d never encountered anyone who smelled so enticing. Her blood beguiled him, like a flower lures the bee to its sweet nectar. He wished to sink his fangs into her soft skin, to feel the first spurt of blood hit his tongue. He groaned with anticipation. To a vampire, blood and sex were intertwined. When he’d healed her with his blood it had taken a great deal of restraint not to seek his own physical fulfillment. He was ill prepared to deal with an innocent. His fingers wrapped around the legs of the chair, and the sound of wood snapping under pressure made him release his grip.
Her eyelids fluttered. It took a few attempts before she turned her head and stared at him. He remained motionless.
“You had a bad fall at the party, remember?” He raised his hands, palms facing towards her. “You’re safe, at my home.”
Her face, already flushed, became a deep shade of red. He could hear her heart beating hard and strong. He fought the urge to taste her.
“You came for me.” Lily spoke softly. “I was afraid you wouldn’t.”
He remembered what the doctor had said, and knew the volume was not important, but that she was speaking meant a great deal.
“How do you feel?”
She took stock of her body. She raised the once injured shoulder, and then looked down, amazed.
“I healed you.”
She slid up, clutching the sheet to her neck, and rested her back against the headboard. The rose tones of the coverlet highlighted the perfection of her skin. He pondered going to sit on the bed next to her, but decided she needed to feel comfortable and safe in his presence, not hunted into a corner.
She spoke out the word, “How,” on a long breath. 
He liked how she didn’t ask ridiculous questions. She cut straight to the point.
“With my blood.”
Lily glanced into his eyes, maybe gauging the truth of his words. She nodded and looked down at her hands. He had anticipated some sort of feminine theatrics, but she showed no emotion that he could decipher.
“I don’t remember that.”
“When did you remember me?”
“On the mountain,” she said, staccato quick.
He kept his face impassive.
“I’m not–” She ran her hand over her shoulder again. “Am I?”
“Vampire,” he finished her question. “No.”
The sigh of relief made her thoughts clear. He wondered if she would be more receptive to the idea after the years had ravaged her beautiful face.
“Did Walter leave this for you?” He laid the small watercolor painting on the bed.
She nodded.
Standing up, careful to move at human speed, he motioned towards the hallway leading to the bathroom and dressing area. “Everything you need will be provided. For now, you should rest.”
Lily shook her head. “I feel fine.” She started to get up, looked down, and tightened her hold on the coverlet. 
“Clothes are in the dressing area. Do you need assistance?”
Her expression said she did not.
“Can you walk?” Krieger asked.
She nodded.
He went to the French doors and turned his back to her. “Go on. Call out if you feel weak.” Modesty was something foreign to Others. They did not feel shamed or embarrassed by nudity. He hadn’t thought about this and wished the doctor had clothed her. He heard the lock mechanism on the connecting door click into place. If it made her feel safe then what harm could it do?
Krieger heard her walk back into the room. He stayed where he was, waiting to see what she would do. When she came to stand next to him, he was pleased.
“Stoke Castle sits atop the Blue Ridge mountains. Waverly is within view below us.”
Lily stepped closer to the French doors, her hand reaching for the door knob.
“Dawn is upon us. It would be best if you refrained from going outside until I exit the room, or until the sun has set.”
Lily went completely still again, much like a rabbit will hide in tall grass.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.
“You’ve been unconscious for a day.” He let her take a moment to process the information. “Look at me.”
She turned, which pleased him, but did not raise her eyes to his. 
Placing his forefinger under her chin, he lifted her face upwards. “Look at me,” he said with a kind firmness. “I have lost the ability to trance you now that you carry my blood.”
“Trance?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
He ran his fingers lightly over her cheek bones and rested his hand against her face. “Your father told me that you hate to be touched, and yet you do not flinch away from me. It is good.” He bent down to place his lips next to her ear. “You have no need to fear me.”

Review and Giveaway - The Last Keeper's Daughter



The Last Keeper’s Daughter
Book 1 in The Last Keeper’s Daughter Series
Rebecca Trogner

Genre:  Paranormal Romance Mystery

Publisher: Crescent Moon Press

Word Count: 86,360

Book Description: 

Born into old money, Lily Ayres lives at Waverly, her family’s estate situated at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Paris, Virginia.  She is a strange, small, almost mute, young woman who has no idea that her father has given her to the Vampire King Krieger.  Walter Ayres is the King’s Keeper and part of a secret society of historians who unearth, preserve, and attempt to understand relics of long forgotten civilizations.

Lily has never felt comfortable in the human world, but after she suspiciously falls down a flight of stone steps, and is healed and claimed by Krieger, she realizes there is another world.  In this Other Realm she feels a sense of belonging, and begins to untwine the mysterious event which left her mentally and psychologically damaged.  When Walter disappears in England, Lily works with human and supernatural beings to uncover his whereabouts.  With each new discovery, she is pulled deeper into the vortex of magic, intrigue, and dark desires that permeates the supernatural world.  The revelations revealed unfold a story of deception and betrayal that threaten to tear the thin veil between the supernatural and human world asunder.

Amazon
 
About the Author: 
Rebecca Trogner lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and frequently crosses the Blue Ridge Mountains that were the inspiration for Krieger’s home. She always dreamed of being a writer, but got sidetracked by the day-to-day adventures of life. With the encouragement of her family, she has finished her first novel and is currently writing the next book in The Last Keeper’s Daughter series. Rebecca lives with her husband and son, and a rescue dog named Giblet. To find out more about the author visit www.rebeccatrogner.com.



Twitter: @RTrogner 


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My review:

I was really interested in reading this story.  I always enjoy the concept of the secret paranormal world coexisting with our own.  And in this story the author has built a very interesting one.

The main characters of Lily and Krieger were interesting and well developed.  Lily has learned to copy with her world and how to exist but not really live within it.  When she is forced into Kreiger's world after her father disappears is when she really begins to come alive.

Kreiger is a king in his world and it is a very ordered rule abiding society where if you stray or break the rules the punishments can be severe.  He is respected and in all his years has never had someone like Lily under his protection.  This adds a new level to his character and even some of his reactions to events that take place.

The story about Keepers and the secrets they hold and the history they protect is interesting and I am hoping we find out more about their roles in the stories to come.  That way we can get a history of the paranormals beings that exist in this world in a way that we might not see other wise.

I really enjoyed the story.  The ending wasnt what I was expecting but it leads very well to the next book without it being a cliffhanger type ending.  There were parts of the story where time would start to get confused and it seemed like the story was going to be set in the past and moved to more of a time in the present for the story.  It was only a couple of instances early on so didnt cause many issues with the story.

I am really looking forward to the next in the series and hope we do not have to wait too long for it to become available.  Fans of mystery and the paranormal should definitely pick this up.  

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Friday, February 22, 2013

Series Spotlight - Penton Legacy



REDEMPTION

Book One Penton Legacy series
By Susannah Sandlin

Following a worldwide pandemic whose vaccine left human blood deadly to vampires, the vampire community is on the verge of starvation and panic. Some have fanned into rural areas, where the vaccine was less prevalent, and are taking unsuspecting humans as blood slaves. Others are simply starving, which for a vampire is worse than death—a raging hunger in a creature too weak to feed.

Immune to these struggles—at first—is Penton, a tiny community in rural Chambers County, Alabama, an abandoned cotton mill town that has been repopulated by charismatic vampire Aidan Murphy, his scathe of 50 vampires, and their willingly bonded humans. Aidan has recruited his people carefully, believing in a peaceful community where the humans are respected and the vampires retain a bit of their humanity.

But an unresolved family feud and the paranoia of the Vampire Tribunal descend on Penton in the form of Aidan’s brother, Owen Murphy. Owen has been issued a death warrant that can only be commuted if he destroys Penton—and Aidan, against whom he’s held a grudge since both were turned vampire in 17th-century Ireland.  Owen begins a systematic attack on the town, first killing its doctor, then attacking one of Aidan’s own human familiars

To protect his people, Aidan is forced to go against his principles and kidnap an unvaccinated human doctor—and finds himself falling in love for the first time since the death of his wife in Ireland centuries ago. 

Dr. Krystal Harris, forced into a world she never knew existed, must face up to her own abusive past to learn if the feelings she’s developing for her kidnapper are real—or just a warped, supernatural kind of Stockholm Syndrome in which she’s allowing herself to become a victim yet again.

Susannah Sandlin’s REDEMPTION is the first in the Penton Legacy series.




ABSOLUTION
The Penton Legacy, Book 2
By Susannah Sandlin

Release date: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Montlake Romance

Book Description:

With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.

A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.

To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?

It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.



Omega
Penton Vampire Legacy, Book 3
Susannah Sandlin

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Date of Publication: February 5, 2013

ISBN: 978-1612183596
ASIN: B0073XV3L2

Number of pages: 328
Word Count: approx. 88,000

Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Book Depository

Book Description:

The bloody war between the Vampire Tribunal and the defiant scathe of Penton, Alabama, rages on, forcing its residents and their bonded humans to retreat into the underground fortress of last resort: Omega. There, Will Ludlam is charged with the care of Penton's humans, though he longs to fight alongside his vampire brethren. He knows the risks: as the renegade son of the Tribunal's vicious leader, Will's capture could doom the resistance.

Yet he is determined to prove his worth to his adopted scathe, to his vengeful father and to former US Army officer Randa Thomas, his beautiful, reluctant partner. Randa has little faith that a former member of the vampire elite has what it takes to fight a war. But as their enemies descend upon Omega, Will's polished charm and Randa's guarded heart finally give way to the warrior within.

Fans of Susannah Sandlin's Penton Legacy are sure to devour this long-awaited third installment of the steamy paranormal series.       
 

About the Author:

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.