This Blackened Night - The Order: Book 3

Happy Thursday! Today we are honored with a special guest post from author L.K. Below. She's going to give us the scoop on her upcoming release. Read on!

46 Days until the release of This Blackened Night, The Order: Book 3!

Every author has a set of characters more dear to their hearts than any others. In most cases, this stems from these characters being among the first ever created. I won't claim Lori and Terrence were my very first, but they did come close. Their first book, Stalking Shade, which released in 2011, was originally written in 2007. And rewritten. And rewritten.

And now it feels like a dear friend is moving away. With the release of This Blackened Night on September 24th, 2012, the trilogy will come to an end. Lori might be a prickly character, not easy for anyone but Terrence to love, but I had a lot of fun with her. When I wrote this third book late last year, I dragged my feet to see it finished for the same reason. I didn't want to let the pair of them go. A not-so-secret part of me is hoping for an overwhelming response from readers asking me to continue so I have an excuse to revisit my favorite characters.

For now, I'm counting down the days until the third book releases. Maybe you'll fall in love with Lori and Terrence every bit as fiercely as I have. Lori might be stubborn in pushing people away, but Terrence is the most persistent character I've ever written. Good thing, too.

Join me in celebrating the release of the third book a bit early with this short, sweet teaser excerpt:

This Blackened Night by L.K. Below

With murders cropping up all around, who should she trust?

After months of searching, Lori finally scrounges up a clue as to the whereabouts of the missing leader of her secret organization. But her vision isn't encouraging--it points to her vampire companion Terrence as the culprit.

Terrence is adamant that he isn't at fault. Even though she knows she might be walking into a trap, she follows his lead to a shabby island port. When her informants start turning up dead with puncture wounds in their necks, Lori wonders just how well she knows Terrence. And why does he act different during the search than in their hotel room?

Lori doesn't know who to trust anymore. She only hopes that she won't be the next victim.

Seven Sweet Sentences from the book:

“Nothing this week,” Heaven whispered. Like last week. And the week before.

“The book?” Lori asked. Six months ago, she’d fished a small golden notebook from the Spenta Michos’s house. Touching it had earned her a single vision, which had told her only that their leader had been taken by force.

“Useless information,” the teenager replied.

Learn more about the series as a whole on the Lyrical Press, Inc. website: http://bit.ly/TheOrderSeries.

Read a longer excerpt from This Blackened Night at http://bit.ly/ThisBlackenedNight.

Bio: If L.K. Below gets far too attached to her characters, well, that's because they're interesting people. Read two of her favorites in her urban fantasy series, The Order. Join her online at www.lbelow.net to learn more. Want to keep up to date with her tour stops? Follow her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/LBelowtheauthor) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LK-BelowLindsay-Below/355586159614)

Thank you for being with us today, L.K. We're going to keep counting down the days!

Hot Authors to Help You Stay Cool

Haven’t posted all week and I apologize for that. It’s just that I feel like I should post something charming, witty, brilliant, or perhaps an expose on how to write the next bestseller. And nada. I got nothing.

Working in the heat makes my brain empty. So, in lieu of my own banter, if you’re looking for a summer read to take your mind off of this infernal weather we’re having, check out some of my favorite authors. I highly recommend them because by turns they’re charming, witty, and brilliant.

 

Buy It Here

 

She never imagined love could happen twice—until her husband returned from the dead.

Cassidy thinks she’s getting on with her life just fine after her husband’s fall to cancer. Life is quiet, which is just the way she likes it, half a continent away from her overbearing Irish family.

Niall doesn’t want to scare the fragile Irish rose, but her husband, supposedly two years in the grave, has been caught on security tapes at a secret government laboratory.

Together, they unearth evidence of industrial espionage and identity theft...and frightening connections to the Irish Mob that will put more than just their own lives at risk.

Sex, bullets, more sex, intimate body piercings and a few red roses. What more could a girl want?

Buy It Here

Madison Lee thought she'd put her European vacation behind her, until the full moon turned her into a hairy beast. A year later she has come to grip with her new life, now her whole world is blown apart. The man who gave her a night of incredible passion and an uncontrollable urge to howl at the moon shows up in town with his sights on taking over her family's business.

Hot on his heels a stranger comes to town with more than the rustic scenery on his mind. He's a monster hunter out for Nicholi's blood and just maybe hers if he finds out her not so little secret. How is a Southern Deb supposed to deal with lovers, killers and the biggest Cotillion of the year all at the same time? Madison soon learns Where there's a Were, there's a way and it leads straight to love.

Buy It Here

 

Has this frog finally found her prince?

 

From the moment Colleen confesses her deepest desire -- to experience the same passion she's read about in books -- she is swept away on the most daring escapade she’s ever experienced. Dressed in nothing but green paint, she attends a Halloween party searching for the man of her dreams. She finds him, but then fears she won’t be able to give him up.

Since the death of his wife five years ago, Dan's life has been on auto-pilot. But from the moment he meets Colleen, he starts to feel alive again. And he knows he can’t let this would-be princess stride out of his life…

Hope you'll check out these awesome reads. That's all for this week. Stay safe out there in the heat. Until next time...

Stone Cold Kiss

By L.K. Below

Who knew kissing a stone would thaw Kelsey’s heart?

 

One Kiss…

Dangling over the parapet of a castle, Kelsey Donovan doubts her decisions as she battles with her fear of heights. How will kissing the Blarney Stone change her life? But as the arms of a sexy Irishman close around her, she begins to change her mind.

Can it lead to a lifetime?

When Seamus McKinley rescues a tourist gripping the Blarney Castle for dear life, he never expected her to grab hold of his heart just as tightly. But the question is: can he convince her to meet him halfway?

Buy It Here

This story epitomizes everything I love about reading romance. Kelsey Donovan is a heroine worthy of the term. In true romantic form, she’s doing something totally outrageous in an effort to get what she wants. At the same time, she discovers something she didn’t expect.

Seamus McKinley is a wonderfully drawn man. He’s sexy, sensitive, and yet strong enough to be the perfect hero. In true Irish form, once he finds his woman, he makes things happen. Who wouldn’t want a man like that?

This story is pure entertainment. Ms. Below has done a fabulous job of crafting true to life characters in a totally believable setting, who doggedly pursue what they want, while struggling to understand what it is they need. And in the realizing of that need, Ms. Below penned a delightful tale.

Awesome Short Stories Week

Usually, I’m not much of a short story person. I used to say it was kind of like reading a commercial.

Until I began to write. Now, I have the utmost appreciation for people who write short stories. Because I understand just how much work goes into crafting a story with vivid characters, a gripping setting, a fast paced plot, and doing it in a few short pages.

With a short story you don’t have time to drone on and on about everything down to the last detail. You have to grab the reader’s attention and hold it, immediately.

With that being said, I was fortunate enough to come across a great collection of short stories recently.

You can find them bundled here.

Sexy Irish Stories Collection

Each one is unique in its storyline, and so well done, in fact, I’ll be featuring all four the rest of this week. So if you’re a short story lover, these are must buys. If you’re thinking, ahh, not so much, I say, give these a try. You won’t be disappointed.

New Release - Collective Shivers: Can You Spare a Dollar for Japan?

Without further adieu, I'd like to introduce fellow author L.K. Below.

The entire world has been affected in some way by the terrifying events caused by the Sendai earthquake this past March. News stories continue to add more about these devastating events and the tenuous circumstances in Japan.

Upon being bombarded by these news stories, romance and speculative fiction writer L.K. Below could not bear to stand idle. Rather than indulge her feeling of helplessness, she did the only thing she knew how to do: she wrote. Two weeks after the Sendai disaster, the product is a short fantasy story called Collective Shivers.

Hailed by beta readers as an “out-of-world experience,” Collective Shivers contains an earthquake, a mysterious and resilient people, and one man who suddenly doesn’t feel up to scratch. Who knew that a people so outwardly unfeeling could have touched Gunnarr in such an emotional way?

More information about this story can be found at the author’s website, www.lbelow.net/japan . All proceeds from this book will be donated to the Red Cross foundation to help with relief efforts in Sendai and elsewhere as new tragedies unfold.

So the real question is: Can you spare a dollar for Japan?

Here's the blurb:

A disaster falls.

While Gunnarr of Maiores has never understood the Navuclur, he nonetheless is tasked with the duty of asking them for help. But no sooner does he start negotiations for a trade agreement than an earthquake hits the Navuclur capital.

Followed by another.

Gunnarr is astounded by the brisk acceptance with which the Navuclur assess the situation and start to work repairing it. Despite their habit of shielding their emotions, Gunnarr soon realizes that they are not the unfeeling people they pretend to be.

Who knew such a stoic people could have touched Gunnarr in such an emotional way?


Buy link: Collective Shivers
 
This is an awesome idea. I've already got my copy.
 
When people pull together, great things happen.