Illumination
Penton Legacy, Book 5
Susannah Sandlin
Genre: PNR/UF
Date of Publication: July 11, 2017
Number of pages: Approx. 330
Word Count: 90,000
Cover Artist: Kim Killion
Tagline: Nik wants to escape his family curse. Shay wants to change the world. Together, they are the only hope to save the vampires of Penton.
Book Description:
He came to Penton seeking peace. Nik Dimitrou joined the Army to escape his family legacy, only to have his psychic abilities exploited as a weapon. Now, as a civilian, he turns to the bottle to veil the images that haunt his mind whenever he touches anyone—except vampires. With them, he has finally found a home. But as Penton, Alabama, moves into open warfare with the Vampire Tribunal, Nik finds himself a linchpin in the deepening conflict, not to mention facing a transformation in his own body more frightening than anything he’s encountered before.
She wanted to change the world. Shay Underwood watched her Peace Corps parents move from one third world country to another—until both died following an outbreak of fever. Driven to her own career in tropical medicine, Shay works in New Orleans to cure the disease that killed her parents—until a careless weekend outing draws her into a world far more dangerous than the diseases she studies: a vampire society engaged in human trafficking and on the verge of all-out war.
Two cities, two strangers, one world. With Penton rebellion leader Aidan Murphy making risky choices and chief vampire lieutenant Mirren Kincaid forced to take a leadership role in Penton, it will fall to two outsiders, Nik and Shay, to find a way for the town—and themselves—to survive in this much-anticipated conclusion to the multiple award-winning Penton Legacy series.
Goodreads
Excerpt
“Right then. We
have an obscenely large vehicle on the other side of that brick wall,” Cage
said. “Archer or Nik should be able to help you over. Once I’m sure you’re in
the car and locked up tight, I’ll collect Robin and Glory from the cemetery
entrance and we’ll all be on our way back to Penton.”
She nodded, dried
her hands on her jeans as much as she could, and reached up toward Nik. He
leaned over, wrapped strong fingers around both of her wrists, and lifted her
to the top of the wall with what seemed like little effort, setting her down
beside him.
“Right then. We
have an obscenely large vehicle on the other side of that brick wall,” Cage
said. “Archer or Nik should be able to help you over. Once I’m sure you’re in
the car and locked up tight, I’ll collect Robin and Glory from the cemetery
entrance and we’ll all be on our way back to Penton.”
Shay bit her lip.
She had absolutely no reason to go to Penton, wherever the hell it was. Her
home and life and work were here in New Orleans. She knew she’d have to be
careful, but now that the breeding house was broken up and Jonathan was dead,
the vampires and their minions had no reason to come after her. Whatever
feelings Shay had nursed for Nik Dimitrou in high school, they were long dead.
Gorgeous only took a person so far. Besides, he was a vampire.
She’d wait until
they got her out of this cemetery, though, to decline her visit to Vampire
Central. Maybe the handsome cat boy would drop her off somewhere. But where?
She had no money or identification with her. She didn’t even have the keys to
her own apartment or lab.
Maybe a police
station. They could come up with a plausible story for her disappearance. Maybe
even name Simon as her kidnapper, and the warehouse location. Let the
authorities make of it what they would.
Shay was
distracted by the sight of Archer leaping to the top of the brick wall behind
the Le Boeuf crypt, followed closely by Nik. Her old classmate might be injured
and hungry, but that wall had given him no challenge. Shay wasn’t sure she
could climb over it without a sturdy ladder on a good day. Today had not been a
good day except that she hadn’t died.
Nik reached down
and motioned to Shay. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
Shay looked at the
wall, at Nik, and back at the wall. “I don’t think you can lift me. You’re
hurt.”
“Trust me.” Nik
grinned, giving Shay a glimpse of an older, even more handsome version of the
boy she’d known so many years ago. She’d thought she loved that boy; this man,
though….was a vampire. Don’t forget that, idiot.
She nodded, dried
her hands on her jeans as much as she could, and reached up toward Nik. He
leaned over, wrapped strong fingers around both of her wrists, and lifted her
to the top of the wall with what seemed like little effort, setting her down
beside him.
“Swing your legs
over, and I’ll lower you down the other side. Or I can leap down with you in my
arms.” His grin widened, and her heart beat double-time when their gazes
locked. Vampire. He’s a freaking vampire. He’s a freaking vampire involved in a
war with other freaking vampires. You cannot trust him. Lust, yes. Trust, no.
“Whatever you do,
would you please move your arses?” Cage stood beneath them. “I’m getting soaked
and—”
A loud pop sounded
from the Washington Avenue end of the cemetery, followed by a splintering noise
and another pop pop. Shay had lived in New Orleans long enough to recognize the
sound of gunfire.
Author Bio
Susannah Sandlin writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake. Writing as Suzanne Johnson, she writes the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series for Tor Books. Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author who does copy editing on the side through Reedsy.com.
Twitter: @SusannahSandlin, @Suzanne_Johnson
Love the cover, gorgeous!
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