Edge of Hope by Alina Popescu: Guest Post & Giveaway

Title: The Edge of Hope 

Series: Bad Blood, Book 1
Genre: paranormal, supernatural, urban fantasy, romance, vampires
Length: novel

Everyone she loved betrayed her. She felt lost and broken. Getting away from the pain and embracing a new path, Alexa decided to leave her old life behind and chase a long forgotten dream in Malta. There she met a gorgeous man, bearing the scent of fresh love. He led her to a new city to explore, Amsterdam. Is the tall, dark, and delicious man a dream come true or just a risky gamble?

Alexa chose hope and new beginnings over fear and warning signs only to be brutally dragged into a world she never really thought existed. Vampires, their feuds, and her future held tightly in their hands.

Trapped in a mysterious world, Alexa gives love chance after chance. Following her quest of self-discovery in a blood bound world, will she survive the journey?

Find out more: http://alina-popescu.com/badblood

Excerpt

“Hello, I am Hesrah. Nice to meet you.”

Polite and stiff, no facial expression, no smile, no unnecessary movement, only her dark brown eyes showed some life, some slow fire that kept her going.

“Hello, I am Louis and this is Alexa. We will be your hosts during your stay on earth.” Louis smiled and extended his hand, which she shook after a few awkward moments.

“I look forward to it. May I be shown to my room now?” she said with no inflexion in her tone.

It took me a second to react as I was analyzing her outfit…jeans and a plain t-shirt, sport shoes and denim jacket. It seemed completely wrong for her attitude and behavior.

“Sure, I’ll take you to your room,” I eventually said. “It’s right next to mine.”

“Lovely.”

She did not sound like she meant it. She sounded more like cyborgs from a sci-fi movie. She wasn’t as captivating as Anukh or Louis, or even Anthony. She was just formal and…uptight. Oh, brother, I said to myself. This will definitely be tons of fun.

When she entered the room, I finally noticed her backpack. She took some more clothes out of it, all plain and simple. She asked where she could put them and I pointed to the closet.

“What is it?” she asked. “Why are you frowning like that?”

I hadn’t realized I was. I had been warned before that my face and eyes give away what I was struggling to keep from saying but, apparently, I never learned.

“Umm, dunno, you are just not what I expected,” I confessed.

“And what did you expect?” She cocked her head and waited.

“I guess someone similar to Anukh, but more impressive and graceful?”

“Are you asking me?”

“No, just turning it into a question till I figure out how offensive my statement is.” I shrugged.

“You are very blunt, aren’t you?”

It did not sound like a compliment.

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I can atone for that by kindly inviting you to use any of my makeup and raid my closet whenever you feel like wearing something less…”

“Less what?” she demanded, raising an eyebrow.

“Less plain.”

“I am on a mission and I have comfortable clothes for it,” she answered, quickly. She was just staring at me and I thought I should put an end to kicking the hornet’s nest.

“I should go now. Catch you later.”

I finally allowed myself to enjoy a refreshing sigh the moment I got on the other side of the door. I also added yet another note to self. Whenever I find myself talking to a deadly creature who can kill me in under five seconds, maybe, just maybe, watching my tongue would be smart. 

Book trailer

Buy links

Ebook
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JEBJXDQ
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JEBJXDQ
Amazon AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00JEBJXDQ
***Free with Kindle Unlimited

***Celebrate a year of The Edge of Hope with the Amazon Countdown Deal – March 29 – April 5. Discounted price starts at 99c.

Paperback
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Edge-Hope-Blood-Volume/dp/1497436303/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Edge-Hope-Blood-Volume/dp/1497436303/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-edge-of-hope-alina-popescu/1119064391
CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4729236

Coming Soon: The Breaking of Bonds, Bad Blood #2

The Breaking of Bonds, book 2 of the Bad Blood Trilogy will be released on May 28^th, 2015

A human sacrifice has forced vampires, trueborn and baseborn alike, into an escalating conflict with one side pushing for revenge, the other for freedom. The hunt for Anthony and Louis is the trueborns’ main objective, driven by Hesrah’s desire to get even with the two baseborns and avenge her best friend, Alexa. The baseborns are rattled and divided between rallying around the rebels and obeying the rules imposed by Ankhsis.
What emerges from the portal from Earth to Ankhsis in the middle of the turmoil rocking both worlds is more dead than alive. Not human and not baseborn. Certainly not trueborn. This new being will either damn them all or be their race’s most powerful weapon. Will they trust it not to destroy them, or will Ankhsis decide putting it down is the only solution?
In the end, who is guilty? Who will pay? Will anyone survive its wrath?

Giveaway

Prizes: 1 signed copy of The Edge of Hope and 3 Ebooks
Prizes: 1 signed copy of The Edge of Hope and 3 Ebooks

About the author

Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.

Social Links
Site & Blog: http://alina-popescu.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/authoralinapopescu
Twitter: http://twitter.com/alina_popescu
Instagram: http://instagram.com/alinapopescuwriter
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/alina-popescu
Google+:  https://www.google.com/+AlinaPopescu
Amazon:  http://amazon.com/author/alinapopescu

Guest Post

Please welcome Edge of Hope author Alina Popescu to Diane's Book Blog.

Vampires and I, a lifelong love story

Contrary to popular belief, vampire myths are not that common in Romania. We have our strigoi, who are very similar to zombies, and we have the iele. Vampires, not so much, even though one of the oldest written mentions (12^th or 13^th century if I remember correctly) is from Russia. Garlic is used to keep strigoi away, especially on St. Andrew’s Night, the local version of Halloween, minus the costumes and the candy.

It’s no surprise I was a teenager when vampires entered my life. First by way of movies – Bram Stoker’s Dracula and, of course, Interview with the Vampire – then by way of books. It happens like that sometimes, the movies make it here before the books are translated. As there was no Amazon at the time, well, there was no way around it.

Needless to say, I got hooked from the start and then devoured every book and movie I could get my hands on. I even used vampires (fictional and those claiming to be real life blood suckers) as research subject at Uni. It was one of the most entertaining assignments ever!

I only started to write fiction in English about 6 or 7 years ago and, you guessed it, I started with a vampire story. The main female character was called Alexa, but her story was very different. It’s safe to say her story changed as mine did, but that tends to happen when you create a character that is so close to who you are. Needless to say, I’ve never done that with another character, although we always put a little piece of ourselves in the personas we create.

If you think writing a trilogy dedicated to vampires has made my passion dwindle, then you are not giving me enough credit. :D I have since started numerous vampire series, I role play a vampire character and write stories with his writing partner, and yes, I still swoon over all vampire themed movies. Did I tell you I’ve already watched Dracula Untold four times?

Granted, vampires are not my only love when it comes to worlds and types of characters. It’s not even my oldest interest, as I’ve read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov sometime in primary school and sci-fi is the longest lasting. Yet my love for vampires is probably the most powerful of them all. I honestly don’t know what I will do when book three of the trilogy is released. It’s hard to say goodbye to a world you adore so much.  Then again, there are so many untold stories!