Blood Reunited
Blood Vine Series #3
Amber Belldene
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Date of Publication: January 28,
2014
ISBN:9781623420956
Book
Description:
Book Three in the Blood Vine
Series.
Brooding vampire halfling and
biologist Bel Maras is determined to create a cure for the wasting disease that
plagues his vampire family. His work becomes essential as the Hunters intensify
their global and bloody campaign. When Bel's cure fails, only his ancient and
estranged godmother Uta Ilirije can help. But seeing the ice-cold Uta reveals
something shocking--she is his bonded mate.
She may be a dangerous warrior,
but Uta feels her failures acutely. She has been unable to protect her kind
from Hunters, and vampires are dying out. Worse, she tied Bel to her long ago
in an accident of blood, then abandoned him for his own good--a choice he has
never forgiven. Many days, she is convinced Bel and the vampires would be
better off if she just walked into the sun.
Biology has fated them to be
mates. Now these old enemies must overcome their past to save the vampires and
come to peace with the bond they never chose.
Excerpt:
“You young ones are thinking you can know everything.” Uta
shook her head in an infuriating display of pity.
“I’ll begin clinical trials right away.”
“Why you are bothering? I am saying it not work.”
Bel fingers twitched with the need to wring her neck and he
shot out of his chair.
Andre pushed him back. “Don’t listen to her. You are the
scientist. I trust you.”
Bel tipped his head in a bow to Andre before turning back to
her. “Well, this has been fun. Let’s do it again in another hundred and seventy
years. And in the meantime, have a nice life.”
Uta clicked her tongue. “If I am helping it, we are not
seeing each other ever again.”
He exhaled with relief, but a hollow pit opened up in his
gut and goose bumps rose up on every millimeter of his body, like even his skin
strained toward her.
She blurred to him vampire-fast, narrowing her eyes and
running one shiny red fingernail up the length of his hard-on. “Are you longing
for me, Bel?” She spoke in a false whisper, loud enough even Lena could hear.
He refused to reply, but it didn’t matter. Her answer
pressed through his jeans.
“Good. Now you are knowing how I feel. Ten years since your
Lexi is long time. I am having no relief since you are born. Welcome to my nightmare.”
“I should have protected the secret better.” She walked up
to the television screen, staring into the empty eye-sockets of a tiny,
blackened skull. “I should have scoured their artifacts and made certain no one
ever discovered the secret.”
“And exterminated every one of them? We would be no better
than them.”
“We are no better. These are revenge killings, Loki. There
is no justice to these deaths, and if the secret I guard is correct, no logic
in killing the source of precious blood.”
“Perhaps they also took hostages. With everyone in the
compounds dead, there is no way to confirm the existence of survivors.”
Uta could not look away from the television. “It is all my
fault.”
Loki flipped off the screen and took her hand. “Child, I
grow tired of your self-recriminations. You are not Atlas.”
She yanked away her hand. “Atlas was a self-important
prick.”
“Pot. Kettle.”
His patronizing smile baited her, but she couldn’t muster up
the energy to be annoyed.
“You must tell me everything, Uta.”
“The cost of breaking my vow is high. I will only do so
once, in front of the entire Justicia.” She pressed her fingers to her lips,
closed tight, and tried not to think of the consequences.
“All right. I already have plans to convene them. Pack your
bags. We are going to the Kaštel Estate.”
Kaštel. Where she would be forced to break her vow. And to
see Bel—her greatest failure ever.
Blood
Entangled
Blood Vine Series #2
Amber Belldene
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
ISBN: 9781623420437
ASIN:B00E3ER9KI
Number of pages: 318
Book
Description:
KOS MARAS’s orderly life is in
shambles—he must distribute Blood Vine to a population of ailing vampires, but
Hunters block him at every turn. To make matters worse, each night he watches
over a temptingly beautiful woman sleeping in his bed. He is convinced love
cannot last a vampire-long lifetime and an entanglement will only cause them
grief, but he doesn’t have the heart to send her away.
From a long line of blood
servants, LENA ISAAKSON is destined to serve a vampire, but a string of humiliating
rejections thwarts her pleasure. When Kos shows her kindness, she hopes he will
claim her. Instead he proves himself a coward in the face of love and sends her
to serve another.
Will the dark seduction of a
rakish new vampire finally bring Lena the pleasure she desires or deliver her
into the hands of Hunters who want to destroy everything the Maras family has
worked for?
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/qoPMUDZFyI8
Excerpt:
He lowered her feet to the ground and
dropped down in front of her. His fingers grazed her supple legs as he slipped
her panties down to her ankles. Taking a moment to get under control, he folded
them and set them next to her feet.
She gripped her skirt in both her fists
so that she was almost entirely bared to him below her waist, but her legs were
only slightly parted—like she wasn't expecting his mouth on her.
Under a tiny triangle of golden curls,
her silky skin was lovely. But he wanted to see more, wanted to see her folds,
wanted to see right inside her. He could have gazed all day, as if he'd never
seen a woman's sex before. Her skin was softer, her scent sweeter, everything
about her was different from other women.
She wriggled under his gaze and he looked
up at her. Her brow crinkled with worry. It was so cute.
"Kos, what are you doing?"
She had to know he was going to taste
her. It had been ages since he was with a woman who feigned innocence. The
nineteen seventies seemed to put an end to that nonsense. He didn't want an
inexperienced woman. It was a huge burden—one wanted to make things special for
them. Too much work.
Lena obviously wasn't an innocent, but
she also wasn't pretending. Maybe years of unmet needs and shame had made her
forget this pleasure. He would remind her, lavish her with attention, make her
scream and beg.
When he ran his tongue along her seam,
she gasped. "Oh my God."
Her knees bent and he placed her thigh
over his shoulder. Finally, she was open to him. He was too close for a proper
view, but still he noticed the rosiness, the slickness of her most private
skin. Then he licked her everywhere, inside and out. He wished his tongue were
longer so he could lick her womb. Yes, that's where he wanted to be—all the way
inside her. He needed more. He began to tease her open with his fingers.
"No!" Her pulse was too fast,
her fists clenched.
"What's the matter?"
"Not yet. Don't put your
fingers—"
"Sweetheart, I just want to make
sure you're ready."
"Kos, I want all of you. Don't get
me ready."
Okay. So, she liked it hard and fast. Not
what he would have chosen for her first time in years, but she should have what
she wanted.
More pleasure would help. He already knew
where she liked his tongue—he delivered long slow strokes and then fast short ones.
Her mewls, her breath, the blood pounding in her veins—everything told him how
much pressure she liked. Her thighs tensed on either side of his head; she was
getting close. He sucked her into his mouth, and just like that, she was coming
on his tongue. He held her as her trembles slowly subsided.
"Wow." Her voice was husky.
With a wriggle, she pulled away. He held
her hips, lapping at her. "You taste just like honey."
All flushed and disheveled, she was
gorgeous. And she was still skeptical, like she thought he was sweet-talking
her. He stood up to kiss her, knowing she would taste her salt on his lips, but
probably not the honey that was already tempting him back between her legs.
Blood Vine
Blood Vine Series#1
Amber Belldene
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Date of Publication: January 6,
2013
ISBN:9781623420048
ASIN: B00AXREPM4
Number of pages: 206
Book
Description:
In Blood Vine, bites are an
inconvenient bliss, exiled vampires are wasting away, and the fate of their
kind depends on the perfect PR campaign.
When public relations pro Zoey
Porter arrives at an enchanting California winery, she discovers her sexy new
client is the almost one-night stand she can't forget. After her husband's
suicide, Zoey has vowed never to risk her heart again. But can she walk away
from the intriguing winemaker a second time?
Driven from Croatia by his
ancient foes, vampire Andre Maras has finally made a blood-like wine to cure
his fellow refugees. Now he needs Zoey's PR expertise to reach them. After his
wife's death, Andre has a vow of his own—never to risk another painful blood
bond. And one taste of the tempting Zoey would bind him to her eternally.
His secrets stall her PR plans.
Her jealousy is stoked by the blissed-out beauties leaving his bedroom. At
every turn, he utterly fails to resist her. When she discovers he is a vampire,
will she be lost to the golden-eyed Hunters, or lose herself to the emptiness
in her heart, before she can help him save his kind?
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/Is-mvrLlheo
Excerpt:
Zoey studied him for a
few moments before she said, “You told me you’d fantasized about us together.
The quick…way.” For some reason she didn’t want to say fuck now that she was
really going to do it.
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“Are you sure?”
She was. She nodded.
“Come here.” He didn’t
hesitate; in fact, he sounded relieved.
She had worried he
would send her away, but she had made the decision for them and he seemed
grateful. She came to the side of his desk. He gripped her shoulders and
steered her to stand facing the desk. He stood behind her and stepped closer to
her body, fitting his thighs against the curve of her ass. Hard already, his
erection pressed into the small of her back.
Movement across the
room caught her eye. A large mirror hung on the wall opposite the desk, rimmed
by a thick gilt frame—another of Andre’s antiques. Even though he was behind
her, it afforded her a view of his hands reaching for her breasts and the top
of his head as he bent down to put his face next to her hair.
He bit the tendon between
her neck and shoulder gently and she gasped, pushing her hips back into him.
The feel of his teeth latched onto her neck was the most erotic thing she had
ever experienced, and she wanted more.
About the Author:
Amber Belldene grew up on the
Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for
scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels
inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is
not lost on her when she preaches these days.
Amber is an Episcopal Priest and
student of religion. She believes
stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it is strange for a
minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the
human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made
people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San
Francisco.
twitter: @amberbelldene
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amber.belldene
goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Amber_Belldene
Interview:
I would like to thank author Amber Belldene for stopping by today to tell us a little about herself and The Blood Vine Series.
Thanks for having me on your blog today to talk about my new release, the final installation in the Blood Vine series: Blood Reunited!
What is your favorite part of the story, Blood Reunited or the whole Blood Vine series?
My favorite part of this series is the relationships between all the characters—the father and son relationships, and how they evolve as each of the guys meets his mate. There’s a lot of shit talking and ribbing that goes on, but also a very deep loyalty to one another, and it was so much fun to write.
In this latest release, I think my favorite part is the very first chapter, when Bel realizes he is bonded to his godmother Uta, whom he has hated ever since she abandoned him as a boy. All the conflicts and misperceptions that have motivated him for his whole life shift in that single intense scene and I feel very sorry for him even though I delight in knowing how interesting his life is about to become!
How long did it take you to write Blood Reunited?
I think it took me about six months to write this book start to finish, with breaks in between to write and revise some other projects. It was the hardest of the Blood Vine series to write, because I had let my imagination run rampant and I had literally hundreds of threads to weave in to fully complete the plot and resolve everyone’s stories. Then I had several rounds of beta readers, to make sure I did justice to all the characters at the end of this series.
If you could be best friends with one of your characters, who would it be?
What do you mean “If”? I am best friends with Andre Maras, the hero of Blood Vine and patriarch over the whole series of books. Ever since I began writing, he has taken up residence in my mind and become a constant companion to me. He’s a great father, protector, and lover, as well as very easy to tease :-)
But since writing Blood Reunited, I am also very friendly with Uta. She has both a brashness and a vulnerability that I admire. We don’t have much in common, but I’d like to think if I were two thousand and three hundred years old, I would be a lot like her.
Who or what inspired you to be a writer?
I’ve always loved to read. I had to write a lot for graduate school, but my last attempt at fiction was some pretty lame short stories when I was in college. Then I went on a romance binge when I was pregnant and began to wonder “could I write one of these?”
I began outline a very simple premise—vampires on a winery, and I had the bug for good!
Shortly after I got started, my mom reminded me that I had declared at the age of eight that I was going to be a novelist and use my grandmother Belle Dean’s name as my pen name. That’s where my nom de plume Amber Belldene comes from.
What is your typical day like?
I wake up at five a.m. And write while on my fit desk stationary bike (or sometimes I’m lazy and just sit on the couch). Then I get the kids up, get myself ready for work, and focus on the day job, with occasional forays into social media. After work I grab as much time as I can to write while still being present with my family. It’s very hard to find time to read, which is why I’m a huge fan of audiobooks. That way, I can “read” while I’m driving, cooking, putting on my make-up.
What book are you reading now?
I’m reading Alexis Hall’s awesome lesbian paranormal noir Iron and Velvet. The main character’s words drip with his snarky voice and it’s hilarious and hot!
What do you prefer: paperback, hardcover, or ebooks?
I prefer ebooks because I can carry so many with me. Seriously, I find the idea of finishing a book and not having another one to read frightening, and I used to carry so many with me when I traveled, even just across the Bay for a day of grad school. When I spent months backpacking through Europe, I opted for books over extra underwear and socks. Stories are my security blanket, and you can never run out with an e-reader.
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