Character Interview with Eve from Dark by Erin M. Leaf + #Giveaway

~ Today we've had the opportunity to interview Eve from Dark by Erin M. Leaf ~

With just one word, how do you best describes true love?

Trust.

Finish this sentence: 

Then I think of love, I think of _______ 

Greyson. His steadfast loyalty. His courage. His dedication.

What’s the perfect Valentine’s Day gift? 

Dinner out, maybe a walk under the stars. Definitely chocolate! Chocolate covered cherries. Chocolate covered cherries with salted caramel on top. See? I’m easy.

Did you ever think you’d found that perfect love? What happened? 

No, never! I wasn’t even looking for love. What happened? Greyson kept telling me to go home. I’m a bit contrary. No way was I going to listen to some cranky guy tell me what to do.

What song title best describes your relationship track record: 

“Nothing but a Good Time,” “Turn Me Loose,” “Shot Through the Heart (You Give Love a Bad Name)”, “Money Talks/Material Girl”, “Looking for Love in All The Wrong Places”? 

What do you find the most appealing about a committed relationship? 

I can have a bad day, and be cranky, and he will still love me. I can be myself.

What’s an absolute deal breaker in a relationship? 

Cheating. Of course, Greyson couldn’t cheat on me if he wanted to, because he knows I’d cut his… Um, can I say that here? Okay, let’s just say that he wouldn’t enjoy the experience of me catching him cheating.

What was your first opinion of each other? 

I thought he was a jerk. He thought I was a silly girl. True love!

What first attracted you to each other? 

Greyson has the most amazing eyes. I have no idea what he saw in me. I still don’t quite get it.

Who made the first move and what was it? 

Greyson kissed me. I nearly passed out in shock, and then I went away to college, thinking I’d never see him again. I still can’t believe he kissed me, all those years ago.

What could stand in your way of a happily-ever-after?

The alien Spiders. If they overwhelm the planet, there will be no such thing as a happily-ever-after, for anyone. I hope that doesn’t happen.

Eve thank you so much for spending a little time with us today.  Now let's check out DARK !!

*****

DARK

STRONGHOLD

ERIN M. LEAF

Greyson Dark doesn’t like strangers in his territory.

Eva Waverley doesn’t like being told to keep out.

After her father's suicide, hiking is the only thing that makes the bullying in Eva's new school bearable. When Greyson rescues her from a tumble, she falls for him despite his autocratic demeanor. 

She's leaving for college soon—what does it matter if she crushes on a man everyone else fears?

Greyson suspects Eva is his true mate, but duty demands he remain aloof. She doesn’t know he's a long-lived Sentry, sworn to protect Earth from an ancient alien menace. When she leaves for college, he's relieved, but four years later she comes back, all grown up and more gorgeous than ever.

Greyson can't afford to care for a mortal woman, no matter how compelling. Hackers are attacking Stronghold, the Sentries' net, and Spiders are swarming beyond the moon, but when Eva is attacked, he discovers he can't just let her die…

Buy Links:     Evernight – Amazon - BookStrand - ARe – Smashwords

Excerpt:

“Eva, don’t,” Greyson said gently. His fingers touched her temple.

She refused to take his comfort. “I’ll do it,” she said, turning her face away from his hand. Anger rushed through her. Damn John. And damn Greyson, for being a Sentry.

“I already told my brothers no.” He pulled her close.

Eva didn’t have the strength to fight him off again. Her lips hit his damp shirt and she let her head fall into his shoulder. He tasted like rain and dust.

“I would never use you as bait,” he murmured.

She bit her lip, hard. If she let herself think about it too much, she’d lose it. “You have to. It’s the only way.” At least he believed she was innocent. Small favors, she told herself grimly.

“I’ll find another way,” he murmured, kissing her hair.

He was being so gentle. The strangeness of it undermined her best intentions. Dammit. I can’t do this alone anymore. Eva blinked back tears, and hurriedly wiped them away. Screw it. I’ll do what I have to, but I want to live a little first. She grabbed onto him, twining her fingers in his shirt. “I don’t want to die, Greyson.”

“God,” he muttered harshly.

The next thing she knew, he’d lifted her up in his arms. “Greyson, stop,” she cried, hanging on for dear life.

“Shh,” he admonished her, heading for the stairs.

She shoved her face in his chest. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“I do,” he said, kicking open the door to his room with his foot. The bed was lit with red and gold light as the sun set over the valley.

Eva trembled as he lowered her down. “I thought you couldn’t get close to anyone. You said you had to remain aloof, as a Sentry.”

He growled as he took off his shirt, tossing the wet fabric to the floor. “I changed my mind.”

She stared at his chest. Muscles played over his torso as he popped the buttons on his jeans. She knew he was strong. He’d picked her up like she weighed nothing at all, but she hadn’t realized until right now just how much his clothing hid. He unlatched the metal clasps of his boots and kicked them off, padding barefoot to the bed. Her eyes went to a rip in his jeans as her whole body went hot. Whoa, she thought, overwhelmed. Is this really happening? She’d been dreaming about this moment for years and had all but given up on being with Greyson intimately.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, tugging at the arms she’d self-consciously wrapped around her chest.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice cracking. “I’m not perfect and thin and strong—”

“Shh.” He cut her off. “You don’t see yourself the way I do.”

She frowned at him, but he picked up her hands and put them on his shoulders. His skin is so hot. She kneaded the warm muscles beneath her palms, trying to convince herself she wasn’t dreaming.

When he closed his eyes and shuddered, she bit her lip. “I’m sorry,” she said again, unable to help herself, but then he moved in and kissed her. The shock of his lips moving against hers destroyed her ability to think. All she could do was hang on and trust him.

**** 

Greyson released the control he held over his empathic power and let himself sink into her emotions. He didn’t understand why she thought she was so unattractive—Eva was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever known, not just in body, but in strength of character. She’d been through so much and come out the other side a survivor. She eroded his self-control until he couldn’t fight himself any more. He hadn’t let a woman get close to him in two hundred years, but this slip of a girl destroyed all his good intentions. He nibbled on her delectable lower lip. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, hands on her hips. No way was he going to stop now. He’d committed to this, Bruno and his suspicions be damned.

She gasped, opening to him perfectly. He kissed her again, savoring her taste. Her hands clutched at his arms and he kissed down her jaw, reveling in the softness of her skin. “You’re strong,” he said, unbuttoning her blouse and pushing it over her shoulders. His breath caught when he saw his ring nestled between her breasts.

“I’m not,” she argued, but he kissed her a third time, cutting off her protests.

“Gorgeous,” he whispered when he let her up for air. He peeled the fabric from her body. Her generous breasts strained against the black satin of her bra and he wasted no time in nuzzling against them. She slid her hands into his hair as he tugged at the cup, popping a nipple out over the top. He sucked it in, playing at it with his tongue until it pebbled.

“Oh God, Greyson,” she gasped, fisting his hair.

He grinned against her skin and undid the clasps, sliding the bra away. He licked at her other nipple, plying the first one with his thumb. His senses were wide open and he could feel just how much she liked this. When he bit down, she arched her back. The tiny bit of pain shot her arousal higher. Greyson groaned as the echo of it funneled through him. His dick hurt where it was trapped in his jeans. He bit down again, then undid her pants. He paused and looked up her body. Her fair skin flushed under his gaze.

“There’s no going back from this,” he said, wanting her to be certain. He reached up and snagged a lock of her gorgeous hair between his fingers. “Be sure.”

Author Details:

Erin M. Leaf is a romance novel devotee, the steamier the better, with a specialty in edgy erotic tension. She also writes romance as Marie E. Blossom.

Website   Facebook   Twitter   Goodreads   Evernight Author Page

Giveaway :   $25 Amazon Gift Card!

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Book Blitz: HARD TO KILL by Wendy Byrne + #giveaway

 Hard to Kill

A Hard Targets Novel

Wendy Byrne

Gemma Halliday Publishing

Romantic Suspense ,@72k words

Trained as children to become assassins by the infamous Goren Petrovich, Sabrina Shaw and her two brothers have had a less-than-normal upbringing.  After escaping his clutches, Sabrina and her brothers have tried to make a normal life for themselves.

Now Sabrina works for an organization called The Alliance, specializing in the kind of jobs that no one else can or wants to do.  Her current assignment:  find the daughter of a prominent politician who has disappeared, categorized as a runaway by the authorities.

It seems simple enough, until Sabrina uncovers the girl may have been the victim of a kidnapping that goes far beyond ransom requests.  Now Sabrina must put her training to the test as she infiltrates a sex trafficking ring operating in Europe in order to find the girl...all while dodging a mysterious FBI agent and the demons from her own past.

Buy Links:   Amazon   B&N   iBooks   Kobo   Smashwords

Excerpt:

“Get the hell out of there. Now.” Jenning’s voice crackled to life in Sabrina’s earpiece.

She ignored his command even while her skin itched, foretelling her sixth sense was kicking in. Yep, she was close.

“Now, Shaw. His friends are heading your way. You—"  

She clicked off the receiver to stop the tirade that no doubt would follow.  A few minutes. That’s all she needed.

Tip-toeing up the metal staircase in her black combat-style boots, she inched her way to apartment 203. Eddie Ramer might be able to fool the cops but not her. The bottom feeder had been enticing Caitlyn for weeks with his promise of high paying modeling gigs. And then she’d disappeared.

Coincidence? Yeah, right.

A heavy smell of weed permeated the air, despite the open balconies outside the apartment doors. The metal railing and no-tell-motel-appearance of the building didn’t shock her. In fact it worked in her favor. The thin walls made her privy to the conversations along the journey to her prize.

201. 202. Finally, 203.

Peeking inside was made impossible by the closed drapes. Instead, she crawled under the window, then slid along the wall stopping outside the apartment door. A cacophony of motorcycle engines in the distance signaled Eddie’s friends were getting closer.

Her heart beat heavily while her fingers tingled. Everything inside her longed to grab the gun strapped to her thigh, but she resisted the urge. Only if necessary. She held her breath, keying into the conversation on the other side of the door.

“Let me see what you’ve got, baby.” The voice came from inside.

Sabrina closed her eyes, dispelling the vile thoughts racing around her head. Focus remained the key to her success.

“I thought—" The girl’s shaky voice signaled her fear.

 “You have a smokin’ bod, but I gotta know you can sell the goods. That’s the way this works. Only then can I open doors for you.”

Enough.

With one strategically placed kick, her boot separated the lock from the flimsy door. Seconds later, she charged inside, tackling Eddie to the ground. He tried to reverse her dominant position, but she was one step ahead of him, bringing the tip of her blade to his throat, a mere flick away from his carotid artery.

She slid off his chest and eased them both to a standing position, never wavering on the location of the blade. “Now Caitlyn and I are going to leave without any trouble from you or your ragtag group of merry men. Got that?”

His eyebrows furrowed while his lips curled into a smirk. “Caitlyn? She’s ancient history.”

A sinking sensation settled in her gut as Sabrina turned toward the girl. Hovering close to the bed, a young Hispanic girl with striking looks and long dark hair stood, her blouse partially unbuttoned. Definitely not Caitlyn Collins.

Not good.

That half second of non-focus on her part was all Eddie needed to grab her forearm, dislodging the knife and sending it flying across the room into the wall. Despite his bulk, the alcohol reeking from his pores slowed his reflexes.  She easily ducked the clumsy punch he sent her way. When he grasped her bicep and pulled up, that left him open for her counter strike to the round part of his shoulder, followed by a punch to his liver through the intercostal nerve, robbing him of breath, then a chop to the side of his neck, hitting his vagus nerve with enough force to stun.

Sabrina grabbed the girl and ran.

Dread chilled her bones as she bounded down the steps, yanking the frightened girl along with her. For the first time in her life she’d failed her mission. She’d given the Collins family hope when she’d promised to rescue their daughter. Now she was coming back empty handed. There had to be another way.  

Author bio:  Wendy has a Masters in Social Work and worked in the child welfare field for twelve years before she decided to pursue her dream of writing.  Her first two books, Fractured and Mama Said were published in 2011 and 2012.  Mama Said was a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence Contest. She self published The Christmas Curse in 2012.

Between teaching college classes, trying to get her morbidly obese cat to slim down, and tempering the will of her five-year-old granddaughter, who's determined to become a witch when she turns six so she can fly on her broom to see the Eiffel Tower and put hexes on people --not necessarily in that order--somehow Wendy still manages to fit in writing.  She spends the remainder of her days inflicting mayhem on her hero and heroine until they beg for mercy.

contact link:  http://www.wendybyrne.net/contact/

or FB: https://www.facebook.com/WendyByrneAuthor

Giveaway:  $30 Amazon Gift Card

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