Favorite Quote Friday #92

Happy Friday!  I hope you're staying cool in the summer heat.  I've been drinking in the AC while I work on Darkness Rises promotion.  Only a little more than two months until its release!  Woohoo!

I also started sending out ARCs to reviewers and sent a big box of the new swag to my street team managers.  Yay!  

And, of course, I've been working on Immortal Guardians Book 5.  I had to do some research for the scene I wrote last night.  I can't tell you the subject, though, because it's a spoiler.  I love that so much information is at writers' fingertips via the internet.  It really makes research easier.  And comes in handy when I'm not sure if certain slang or swear words are supposed to be hyphenated.  I've looked up some of the oddest things while writing.  :-)

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  Last week I posted a mini-excerpt from Darkness Dawns, the first book in my Immortal Guaradians series.  So this week I thought I would post a mini-excerpt from  Phantom Shadows, Book 3.  This excerpt, too, will feature Sebastien Newcombe, villain of Book 1 and hero of Book 3\.  What can I say?  I can't stop thinking about him  :-)  So, here is today's selection, a narrative quote told from Bastien's POV:

[Linda] strode toward Bastien.  “Here.  This should help.”  She held out a couple of large hand towels, both damp.

He took them, wondering why she was smiling at him.  “Thank you.”  

Lisette snatched one of the towels from him, gripped his chin in one deadly feminine hand, and began to wipe his face clean.  And she wasn’t rough.

Sarah took the other towel and tossed it over his head.  Rising onto her toes, she rubbed it over his hair, luring some of the blood and dust and other debris onto the towel and out of his thick locks.

Bastien stood there, feet rooted to the floor.  

Yeah, this was really strange.  

Everyone in this room scorned him.  And yet they were doing their damnedest to make him presentable for Melanie.  He knew it was for her, not him, but . . .

Was this what it felt like?

Sarah turned to Roland.  “Sweetie, do you have a comb?”

Was this what it felt like to be one of them?  To have friends who always had your back and were always there to help you with anything you needed?  To be part of the immortal family in truth, not just in name?

Bastien may always buck the system (as much as the system — a.k.a. Seth — will allow him to, that is), but I suspect he may collect a few friends along the way.  :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #91

Hi, all!  Can you believe it's already Friday again?  Wow, this week passed quickly!  I hope you had a good one.  :-)  I'm very excited about the progress I'm making on Book 5.  Lots of intensity in this one.  ;-)  And I'm even more excited that I'm one week closer to the upcoming release of Darkness Rises on October 1st!  I can't wait!

Guess what finally arrived:  My Immortal Guardians swag!  Woohoo!  I'm about to get a big box together to send to my Street Team managers.  Here's what the trading cards and new bookmarks look like:

These bookmarks are bigger than the last batch.  :-)  These are 2" x 8".  Here's a comparison:

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  I'm having so much fun writing Book 5.  Bastien plays a rather interesting role in it and has become one of my favorite characters.  If you aren't familiar with my Immortal Guardians series, Bastien leapt onto the pages as the villain in Darkness Dawns, Book 1, then later became the hero of Phantom Shadows, Book 3.  :-)  Since he has been on my mind so often of late, I thought I would give you an excerpt of Darkness Dawns.  This is taken from a scene in which the heroine, Sarah, encounters Bastien for the first time:

Trees whipped by, dark unfocused giants.  Fireflies blinked and sparkled as she passed.  The only sounds that met her ears were the humming of the engine, those weird North Carolina bugs, and her rasping, gasping breaths.

In the rearview mirror, her tiny house, its porch light, and the macabre battle taking place in front of it shrank, then disappeared from view as the road curved, rose and dipped.

Sarah’s whole body was trembling.  Her thoughts were scattered.  Her actions driven solely by the need to get away.  Fast.  Too fast to navigate the bends and curves of the road safely, but she couldn’t bring herself to slow down.  She turned on the high beams, hoping it would compensate for the lack of streetlights and let her see any deer that may have ambled onto the road in time to avoid hitting them.  

Vampires, she thought hysterically.  

Vampires were real.

And Roland was one of them.

The hood of the car abruptly buckled when a man seemingly dropped out of the sky and landed on it in a crouch.

Sarah screamed as the front of the car nosedived into the pavement.  The air bag exploded into her face, slamming her head back into the head rest.  The rear end of the car kept moving forward, tires squealing as the car spun around and came to a jarring halt facing the trees on the side of the road.  

Not wearing a seat belt, Sarah was hurled like a rag doll into the driver’s side door.  Glass shattered, showered her, cut her as pain shot through her head and the left side of her face and body.

The engine sputtered, then faltered into silence.

Dazed, she grabbed the armrest to lever herself upright.  Shards of glass sliced into her forearm and through the gauze bandages on her palm.  Wincing, she yanked her hand back and sluggishly straightened in her seat.

The air bag wilted as it deflated, allowing her to peer blearily through the front windshield.

The dark figure crouched on the hood slowly rose to his full height.

 Ah, Bastien.  Such an entertaining character to write, both as a villain and as a hero.  :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #90

Happy Friday!  Whew!  What a busy week!

Look what I received!  Woohoo!  Darkness Rises ARCs!  And I've already begun sending them out to reviewers.  If you would like one yourself, I'll be giving some away in contests on Facebook, Goodreads, and in my Street Team between now and its release on October 1st, so keep an eye out for them.  The Goodreads contests I'll announce here on my blog.  But my Facebook contests tend to be spontaneous and only last for a day or two, so I may not have a chance to announce those here. 

I also received my author copies of Dunkler Zorn, the German translation of Night Reigns, Immortal Guardians Book 2.  

The German books are like a cool paperback/hardback combination.  They're paperback, but they're larger than the paperbacks here in the U.S. and the front and back covers both open out to show an expanded front cover image. 

The German books are also the first books to include my picture inside the back cover.  :-)

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  To celebrate the goodies that came in the mail, I thought I would give you another quote from Darkness Rises.  Today's selection is a narrative quote that reveals Krysta's (the heroine's) first impression of Roland (the hero of Darkness Dawns, Book 1):

He just seemed menacing.  Like he could slit your throat, then sit down, prop his feet on your corpse, and eat a sandwich.

Poor Roland.  :-)  Sometimes I think he's as misunderstood as Bastien.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #89

Hi, all!  I hope those of you who celebrated the 4th yesterday had a wonderful day!  We enjoyed a tiny break from the sweltering heat here thanks to a drizzle that muted the sun for a brief time.  Everyone is crossing their fingers now, hoping more will follow.  :-)

I had a fantastic writing day yesterday.  I believe Book 5 in my Immortal Guardians series is turning out to be a bit darker than the previous books.  Book 4 — Darkness Rises — on the other hand, is the opposite.  I think I laughed more writing Darkness Rises than I did any of the others and hope readers will laugh, too.

I finally ordered my new swag — larger bookmarks and more trading cards.  Yay!  I can't wait to see it and will post pictures as soon as it arrives!  Promotional deadlines for Darkness Rises are already looming, so I'll be diving into those this weekend.  As swiftly as the summer seems to be passing, October 1st will be here in a heartbeat!  :-)

I also sent a big box of goodies to my Street Team managers.  If you haven't heard, I have a wonderful street team.  I'm still new to the paranormal romance scene, so the lovely ladies on my team are helping me get the word out about my series.  I hold a monthly contest just for street team members, offering books and swag.  I also offer sneak peeks and the like.  If you're interested in joining or learning more, you can do so HERE.

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  :-)  Seth, the leader of the Immortal Guardians, plays a large role in Book 5.  Since he has been on my mind so much recently, I thought I would give you a quote from Night Reigns — Immortal Guardians Book 2 —spoken by Seth to the hero, Marcus:

You're welcome.  I assume my check is in the  mail.

Seth has a lot on his plate in Book 5.  I can't wait to see what happens next!

Have a great weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #88

Happy Friday!  This week fairly flew past, didn't it?  I can't believe it's already time for Favorite Quote Friday again!

I admit most of my favorite quotes from my Immortal Guardians series are the humorous ones.  What can I say?  I like to laugh and always hope readers will laugh at them, too.  And those tend to be the kinds of quotes I post here.  But today I thought I'd go with something darker, taken from Phantom Shadows, Immortal Guardians Book 3.   If you aren't familiar with my series, Bastien (the hero of Phantom Shadows) is the immortal black sheep and is untrusted, if not hated, by an overwhelming majority of the other Immortal Guardians.  In this scene, Richart (the hero of "In Still Darkness," Predatory, Book 3.5) has asked his twin brother Étienne (the hero of Darkness Rises, Book 4) to help him reign Bastien in after Bastien . . . loses it . . . just a little bit.  ;-)

The narrative quote, told from Étienne's POV, opens with the two brothers teleporting:

They appeared in the shadows of  UNC Chapel Hill’s Peabody Hall.


Étienne — and all of the other immortals who were stationed in the area — was well-acquainted with the quiet campus.  


The stench of blood and death and fear that traveled on the wind tonight staggered him.


Holy hell.  What had happened here?


A quick examination of his brother’s thoughts revealed that Richart had only aided in killing a party of vampires.


But eight destroyed vampires wouldn’t create this stench.


Something moved behind them.


Étienne and Richart both swung around, ready to attack.


Bastien stepped from the deeper darkness, eyes glowing, hair loose and disheveled and sticky with blood.  Nearly every inch of him was coated with the liquid.  His face was crimson with it.  His expression . . .

His expression was as feral as the most insane vampire Étienne had ever fought. 

I loved writing this series of scenes.  Bastien is such a ferocious fighter.  But then, he would have to be, having spent a majority of his existence surrounded by psychotic vampires.  :-)  Don't let the violence fool you, however.  As Melanie (the heroine) once said in a character interview, Bastien has a heart of gold.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #87

Happy Friday!  Thank you, everyone who joined me on the Bad Boys of Romance Giveaway Hop!  What a fun week and a half!

The winner of my contest for the hop is . . .

Stephanie Frederick

Congratulations!!!  I've emailed Stephanie and will soon be sending her a signed copy of Phantom Shadows + Immortal Guardians swag, including one of my new Darkness Rises postcards.  :-)

I guest posted at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs this week.  Drop by, learn more about my Immortal Guardians family (Who is the grumpy uncle?  Who is the weird cousin?  Who is the heartbreaker?), check out quotes and micro-excerpts from the series, and enter to WIN a signed copy of Predatory + Immortal Guardians swag.  You can find my post HERE.

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  For today's selection, I've chosen a quote from "In Still Darkness", my novella in the Predatory anthology that was released in May.  It's spoken by Jenna (the heroine) to Richart (the hero):

“It’s kind of hard to be afraid of a vampire who apologizes for using harsh language in front of a lady.”

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dianne

Favorite Quote Friday #86

Happy Friday!  What a busy, busy week!  Among other things, I put together and mailed packages to blog tour contest winners.  I did some updating on my website.  I bought a new software to use to design more Immortal Guardians swag.  (Don't you hate having to take the time to learn a new way of doing things when you change softwares?)  I held a contest on my facebook page when I passed the 4,500 Likes mark and will soon hold another when I pass 4,750.  And I got some good writing time in on Immortal Guardians Book 5.  :-)

Have I mentioned that the Darkness Rises Audiobook is now available for pre-order?  It is scheduled to be released by Tantor Audio on October 1, 2013 and will be narrated by Kirsten Potter, who also narrated the first three audiobooks in my series.  Yay!

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In case you missed it, the Bad Boys of Romance Hop is well underway!  It will last through June 17th, so there's still time to enter both the individual contests participating authors and bloggers are holding as well as the grand prize contest.  You have two chances of winning Immortal Guardians goodies.  You can enter to win a signed copy of Phantom Shadows, which features the leading bad boy in my series — Bastien, plus Immortal Guardians swag.  And you can enter the grand prize drawing, which will award one lucky winner a kindle and lots of great ebooks, including a kindle copy of Darkness Dawns.  You can learn more and/or enter both HERE.

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I also wanted to mention that I'll be visiting Tote Bags 'n' Blogs on June 19th.  Stop by to learn more about my Immortal Guardians family — the father figures, the grumpy uncle, the heartbreaker, the black sheep — and enter to win a signed copy of Predatory + Immortal Guardians swag.  :-)

It's time once more for Favorite Quote Friday!  For today's selection, I thought I would choose a quote from my latest release, Predatory, an anthology that contains my Immortal Guardians novella In Still Darkness.  Those of you who are familiar with my series know that the vampires readers will find in it range from totally psychotic monsters who will snap at the drop of a hat to a handful of good guys who —infected with the vampiric virus — are clinging tooth and nail to every last ounce of sanity they possess.  So you just never know what a vampire might say.  In my novella In Still Darkness, a certain vampire says something that inspires the following thought in Jenna, the heroine:

Well, damn.  He made it sound like he was afraid she'd give him the clap or something.

:-)  Have a wonderful weekend!

Dianne