Blog with Bite Presents Vampire Week Part 1

"The strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him." - Garrett Fort

The most famous of all the paranormal creatures, the vampire has haunted our nightmares since the dawn of written history. And now...the vampire has taken up residence in a new part of our existence, our fantasies. Blog with Bite is proud to launch it's biggest Feature Week ever. So, big that it will have to be split into two features. We begin Week 1 with three GREAT authors that we are thrilled to welcome to our humble blog. You will have a chance to win 3 Prizes this week. Stay posted!

First though, we want to know, what was the first book that you ever read/loved that had a vampire in it?

Featured Authors (Alphabetical)

J.K. Beck

J.K. Beck is the new pen name for bestselling author Julie Kenner. Her series is called THE SHADOW KEEPERS. 

BOOKS:
When Blood Calls
When Pleasure Rules
When Wicked Craves


Synopsis, When Blood Calls:

Sara Constantine is one of the country’s most tenacious prosecuting attorneys—and she’s just secured a well-earned promotion. At first she’s thrilled. Then she finds out her new job involves prosecuting vampires and werewolves. And nothing prepares Sara for the shock she receives when she meets the first defendant she’ll be trying to put away: Lucius Dragos, the sexy stranger with whom she recently shared an explosive night of ecstasy.

When Lucius Dragos kisses the beautiful woman sitting next to him at the bar, he’s only hoping to blend into the crowd and avoid the perceptive gaze of the man he’s following…and planning to kill. But what starts as a simple kiss to secure his cover ignites into a fierce hunger that leads to an all-consuming passion. Charged with murder, Luke knows Sara will do whatever it takes to see him locked away—unless he can convince her that he’s not the monster she thinks he is. And that might mean making the greatest sacrifice a vampire can make.


Prize up for grabs:

$15 Amazon.com Gift Card
Bound Galleys of When Pleasure Rules & When Wicked Craves
{This prize pack is open for international entries!}

Madelyn Ford

In 2006, a dear friend gave Madelyn a copy of Laurel Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures and she was stunned that books about vampires were actually being published. Where had she been all these years....? Lost somewhere in the land of the Little Mermaid, most likely. Suddenly insanity hit and she thought, "I can do this!"

 Synopsis, Faith Revisted

Once one of the most powerful of Angels, Bale, along with his fellow Grigori brethren, were punished due to Lucifer's trickery, and the only hope for redemption is to protect those Earthbound souls from the rising of Lucifer's Demon children. It is a duty they gladly accept. But when Bale finds himself fascinated with the vampire, Faith, he fights it. Not only does the longing for her go against a vow he'd made centuries before, he is pretty certain someone is targeting him and his brothers-one of their own-so to protect her, he tries to resist the pull.
For Faith Magee, meeting Bale was like stepping out of the pan and into the fire. An injury due to a Demon hunt sends her into Transfiguration, the process by which a child born of a Vampire father turns, one year early and instead of getting out from under her domineering father's thumb, finds that by taking Bale's blood, she is bonded to a male who doesn't seem to want her. And to make matters worse, blood from any other makes her violently ill. With her only options starving to death or giving into an alpha warrior, what's a vampire to do?

Prize up for grabs:

Digital download of FAITH REVISITED
{This prize pack is open for international entries!}

D. B. Reynolds

D.B. Reynolds is the author of the fabulous Vampires in America series, along with other books in the paranormal romance realm.



 Synopsis, Raphael

Malibu, California—home to rock-and-roll gods and movie stars, the beautiful, the rich . . . and vampires.

Powerful and charismatic, Raphael is a Vampire Lord, one of the few who hold the power of life and death over every vampire in existence. Thousands call him Master and have pledged absolute loyalty on their very lives. But when, in a brazen and deadly daylight attack, a gang of human killers kidnaps the one female vampire he’d give his life for, Raphael turns to a human investigator to find his enemies before it’s too late.

Cynthia Leighton is smart, tough and sexy, a private investigator and former cop who’s tired of spying on cheating spouses and digging out old bank accounts. When Raphael asks for her help in tracking down the kidnappers, Cyn’s happy to accept. But she soon realizes her greatest danger comes not from the humans, but from Raphael himself.

Battling Russian mobsters and treacherous vampires, and betrayed by those they trusted, Cyn and Raphael find themselves fighting for their lives while caught up in a passion of blood and violence that is destined to destroy them both.


Prize up for grabs:

Winners Choice! Raphael Jabril or Rajmund (books #1, 2 or 3 in the Vampires in America series)
{This prize pack is open for international entries!}

Contest Deets:

• There will be three winners, each will win an Author Prize pack, listed above.
• Contest ends Aug 31st 11:59 am CST
• You have to be a BWB Follower
• To enter comment on this post
• This contest is INTERNATIONAL
• Books are provided by the author and not Blog with Bite. 
• Winner will be chosen randomly with random.org based on those numbers in the comments section
• Winner will be notified by post
• If a winner does not respond with 48 hours another winner is chosen, if the 2nd winner does not respond, quickie twitter giveaways are fun

Extra Entries (if you feel so obliged) - leave a comment for each extra entry you submit 

• Anyway you spread the word, twitter, facebook, blog post...etc. {leave the link}
• Like BWB on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blog-With-Bite/153648770674 
• Leave a comment on a post with the Vampire week banner {featured above} (1 entry per comment, per post)

Time to Vote! September YA Book Picks

You know the drill- vote for the book that YOU PERSONALLY want to read and review. Summaries are from Goodreads and the picture takes you right to Amazon. Happy voting!

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel- Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen- Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.

Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown-
A ghost will find his way home.
Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiancé falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past.
When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?
Against the brutal, vivid backdrop of the American Civil War, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown have created a spellbinding mystery where the living cannot always be trusted and death is not always the end.

Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner-  After her mother mysteriously disappears, sixteen-year-old Haley convinces her father to take her to Iceland, where her mother was last seen. There, a ...more After her mother mysteriously disappears, sixteen-year-old Haley convinces her father to take her to Iceland, where her mother was last seen. There, amidst the ancient fissures and crevices of that volcanic island, Haley meets gorgeous Ari, a boy with a dangerous side who appoints himself her protector.

When Haley picks up a silver coin that entangles her in a spell cast by her ancestor Hallgerd, she discovers that Hallgerd's spell and her mother's disappearance are connected to a chain of events that could unleash terrifying powers and consume the world. Haley must find a way to contain the growing fires of the spell—and her growing attraction to Ari.

Janni Lee Simner brings the fierce romance and violent passions of Iceland's medieval sagas into this twenty-first-century novel, with spellbinding results.

Arson by Estevan Vega- Before now, three things were true: he both loved and despised his grandmother; his life was going nowhere; and he was alone. But when a strange girl-who feels more normal behind a mask than inside her own skin-moves in next door, Arson hopes to find something he's never had: purpose. Using what he fears the most about himself, Arson must face his consuming past and confront the nightmare that is present as he walks the fine line between boy and monster. Dark, moody, and breathtakingly relevant, Arson, the chilling chronicle of an isolated boy with unimaginable ability, is sure to ignite the hearts and minds of a new generation. 

Time to Vote! September Adult Book Picks

New month, new picks! Below are the choices for September's group review.  Remember to vote for the book that you personally want to read. Summaries are from Goodreads. Enjoy!

Red Hot Fury by Kasey Mackenzie- As a Fury, Marissa Holloway belongs to an Arcane race that has avenged wrongdoing since time immemorial. As Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator for the past five years, she’s doing what she was born to: solving supernatural crimes.

It’s far from business as usual when the body of one of Riss’s sister Furies washes up in Boston harbor. Riss discovers that the corpse’s identity has been magically altered, but as soon as she reports her findings, she’s immediately—and inexplicably—suspended from the her job. Then a human assassin makes an attempt on her life, and Riss starts to realize that someone may be trying to stir up strife between mortals and Arcanes.

When a Fury gets mad, she gets even, and Riss is determined to untangle this case. Without the support of the mortal PD, Riss turns to the one man she can trust to watch her back—shapeshifting Warhound Scott Murphy. But since Scott is also Riss’s ex, she’ll have to keep a tight leash on more than just the supernatural rage that feeds her power as they try to solve a murder—and stop a war…

Dark and Stormy Knights by Jim Butcher, Ilona Andres, Carrie Vaughn, Vicki Pettersson AND MORE- They’re the last defenders of humanity, the lone wolf bad boys— and girls—who do dark deeds for the right reasons. Modern day knights who are sexy, funny, mad, bad and dangerous to know because they do what most of us only dream about…and get away with it. In this all-star collection, nine of today’s hottest urban fantasy authors bring us original stories of supernatural, modern day knights that will have readers clamoring for more!



The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay- Divorced mother of one, Charlie Madigan, lives in a world where the beings of heaven and hell exist among us, and they aren't the things of Sunday school lessons and Hallmark figurines. In the years since the Revelation, they've become our co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens.

Charlie works for ITF (Integration Task Force). It's her job to see that the continued integration of our new "friends" goes smoothly and everyone obeys the law, but when a new off-world drug is released in Underground Atlanta, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there's nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won't do to set things right.

Masked by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon- ALL SHE WANTS IS REVENGE.

New Orleans homicide detective Charlotte Caissie is dedicated to bringing down the crime boss responsible for her father’s murder. Using Jimmy Legere’s mysterious and irresistible right-hand man is a dangerous gamble, and not only due to his reputation as more monster than man. Because her feelings for Max Savoie are . . . complicated.

THEN HE RISKS HIS LIFE TO SAVE HERS.

Rescued from the swamps as a child, Max exists silently in Legere’s shadow, heeding only his voice—until Charlotte Caissie awakens his emotions and tests his loyalties. Stepping outside his cautious rules threatens more than just his heart. He could expose his darkest secret.

NOW THEY’RE BOTH IN OVER THEIR HEADS.

Testing boundaries they weren’t meant to cross means facing the truth about who and what they are—and what they need from each other. If Max is the murderer she seeks, Charlotte could be his next victim. She can’t afford to trust any man. Good thing Max isn’t one.

The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu-  Demon hunter Maxine Kiss wears her armor as tattoos, which unwind from her body to take on forms of their own at night. They stand between her and her ...more Demon hunter Maxine Kiss wears her armor as tattoos, which unwind from her body to take on forms of their own at night. They stand between her and her enemies, just as Maxine stands between humanity and the demons breaking out from behind the prison veils. It is a life lacking in love, reveling in death, until one moment—and one man—changes everything.

Winners of the Paranormal Romance Week!

Yeah...better late than never right???

Winner of #PNR Week books!

 

Winner of Monica Burns Assassin's Heart is...

67. Tori [Book Faery]

Winner of Erin Kellison's series...

12. Melissa {@BooksThings}

Email me at parajunkee at gmail.com within 48 hours.  If you didn't win, check back tomorrow. Vamp Week starts!

eBites - Dark of kNight

Blog with Bite would like to introduce you to eBites

Join the eCraze and showcase your "Can't Wait For" eBooks with this weekly meme. BlogwithBite.com presents eBites a showcase for your digital reading addiction.  What eBook are you dying to take a bite of?

This meme will run every Wednesday. Combine it with your WOW or do a stand alone post...just bring it on. 

For Light BGs	For Dark BGs
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This weeks eBite is:

Dark of kNight  - T.L. Mitchell

Dark of kNight  - T.L. Mitchell

Publisher: kNight Romance Publishing {Click Here}

Genre: Paranormal

Julie Knight never really knew how much her life would change after the death of her father.

Danger awaits…

She returns home to find the town of Spring Place, GA is in a uproar over the horrific animal attacks. 

Daniel Maxwell, the handsome, dark and mysterious scientist and longtime family friend returns home for the funeral.  He’s not the same person Julie once knew.  He’s changed, but the love he has always had for Julie remains the same.  She is what he has always wanted and needed.  He would die and even kill for her. 

as a secret is revealed…

The romance begins between the two and passions flare which opens a door for a secret to be revealed.  It is here that Julie finds her new life in the arms of Daniel.  

and a new destiny awaits.

The last of a thousand year old bloodline of Lycans (wolf shape-shifters) guard the mysterious wall at Ft Mountain against an evil and hideous group of werewolves.   After an unsuspecting kidnapping of Daniel’s sister, Julie finds herself immersed in a battle against these deadly creatures.  A battle which might cost her the one she has grown to love.

********

Link up your eBites!

HBIC Review- Blood Law by Jeannie Holmes

Blood Law by Jeannie Holmes

July 6th 2010 by Dell (first published June 2010)

Mass Market Paperback, 371 pages

Purchased 

http://www.jeannieholmes.com/

Review Posted by Tina at Tinasbookreviews

Book Synopsis

A provocative and savvy vampire, Alexandra Sabian moves to the sleepy hamlet of Jefferson, Mississippi—population 6,000, half vampires—to escape the demons lurking in her past. As an enforcer for the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigations (FBPI), Alex must maintain the uneasy peace between her kind and humans, including Jefferson’s bigoted sheriff, who’d be happy to see all vampires banished from town. Then really dead vamps start turning up—beheaded, crucified, and defanged, the same gruesome manner in which Alex’s father was murdered decades ago. For Alex, the professional has become way too personal.Things get even more complicated when the FBPI sends in some unnervingly sexy backup: Alex’s onetime mentor, lover, and fiancé, Varik Baudelaire..........(Goodreads)

Review


Alex spends her time working as an Enforcer for the FBPI (Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigations) in small but vampire loved Mississippi town. Alex deals with vampire laws and being one herself shes accustomed to the stereotyping and prejudice from most of the humans in the community,especially from Harvey, the towns local sheriff. Regardless of the frustration of bigotries and noncooperation from local police, making sure vampires stay under control and humans remain safe are her top priority's.

Currently Alex is under a lot of pressure from the human law enforcement and from the vampire law enforcement to solve a case dealing with a serial killer beheading vampires. When Alex starts to wear thin from the stress and become physically and emotionally attached to the case, the director of FBPI sends in a new lead investigator. Things would great if that investigator wasn't her mentor and long ago lover Varik..........Oh Varik how I loved to hate you. Sexy, smoldering and mysterious encompass the man of Alex's past and when these two get going the pages fly by like lightning. The world building Holmes created was fantastic and highly believable. The dialog and sexual tension keep the reader so involved in the story that you cant help but absorb every word off the page. Alex can only take so much, between Varik, her mother coming to town and her dead father haunting her dreams...lies will come out, betrayals will be revealed and someone will pay.

Blood Law was a huge surprise for me...thinking I was going to read yet again another PNR of the snarky tough chic who doesn't need a man in her life....Ms. Holmes for sure knocked my socks off with this one. I absolutely loved it and enjoyed visiting Alex and her twisty world. I cant wait for the sequel!!!

Rating

Blood Law is recommended to adults only. Content includes: graphic violence with scenes of murder, gore and blood. Serial killers, graphic language, explicit sexuality, prejudice and racial commentary's. Messed up romances and dark betrayals.

4/4- PNR/Urban- Vampires

BWB Discussion Questions

1. What are your thoughts on the relationship between Alex and Varik? Should she give him another chance? What do you think the future might hold for them?
I think the couple has some twisted major issues to work out....but I think they belong together. They have a bond to deep to ignore and deep down Alex wants Varik. I think the future will hold some obstacles but the sexual tension with these two is irresistable.


2. Lets talk about Harvey......did you understand why Harvey thought and acted the way he did? In any circumstance do you agree with prejudice thinking or profiling? Have you experienced discrimination whether it be racial, political, religious or class?
I think Harvey was first motivated by power and status...but more importantly I think he was controlled by fear. When people are scared of the unknown or change sometimes prejudice thinking can consume them. I think stereotyping and prejudice behavior is wrong in all circumstances....profiling however is used by police and FBI today, I agree in some cases like murder, serial killing, terrorists that profiling is an effective tool. Haven't we all experienced some type of discrimination, my worst- one incident of religious affiliation.

3. What was your favorite scene in the book and why?
After the "event" between Varik and Alex, Ms. Alex winds up in the hospital...in walks her brother Stephen and sees Varik there. After putting two and two together Stephen spaz's and attacks Varik, they fight.....Alex wakes up figures things out and then she joins the fight chasing Varik around the room throwing medical equipment at him........ (of course not the best scene but my favorite due to the visuals)

Blood Law Discussion Questions

What are your thoughts on the relationship between Alex and Varik? Should she give him another chance? What do you think the future might hold for them? Lets talk about Harvey......did you understand why Harvey thought and acted the way he did? In any circumstance do you agree with prejudice thinking or profiling? Have you experienced discrimination whether it be racial, political, religious or class? What was your favorite scene in the book and why?

Blood Law HBIC Review by Emily @ What Book is That?

Title: Blood Law
Author: Jeannie Holmes
Page Count: 400 pages
Publisher: Dell
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Copy for review compliments of the public library

50 words or less: Alex Sabian has enough on her plate as a vampire and an FBPI (Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigation) agent trying to catch what appears to be a serial killer in a small Mississippi town without her ex showing up on the scene with directions to take over her investigation if it looks like she can't handle it. It's alllll happy joygerms from there.

Let me say at the onset that Blood Law is an awesome book. The pace is awesome, the characters are interesting, the story is exciting and involved, and there are lots of questions posed throughout the book about a variety of subjects including race, prejudice, forgiveness, and what role, if any, the past should play in the present and the future.

Alex is a heroine that I couldn't help but like.  She's good at her job and cares about the people in her life, which means that she takes things very, very personally and tends to bottle stuff up inside.  Still waters definitely run deep.

In a way it's not a mystery that she ended up with Varik Beaudelaire and ended up getting her heart trampled on by him.  He was her mentor, her lover, he asked her to marry him, and then, he accidentally almost killed her.  Because they're vampires, and he was hungry.  He wants another chance to make things right with Alex and maybe have another chance; Alex isn't interested (at first anyway...)

Alex runs away from the relationship and that would have been the end of that, except someone is seriously taking aim at the vampires who live and work in Jefferson, Mississippi, and who should appear on the scene to "help" but Mr. Blast from the Past himself.  What happens from there is a deep, well-paced story with lots of nuance and mystery (and blood and guts) and the underlying theme is that although vampires are out and about in society, not everything is coming up roses and there are plenty of people who aren't sorry at all when bad things happen to vampires.  Class and social divisions play a big role in this book for sure.

As a debut novel, this story does a great job of laying down a bunch of tracks for the narration train to roll down in future books.  The tension between Alex and Varik was very well done- he admitted he made mistakes (which he did) but proceeded to make new ones that are going to be issues down the road (memo to Varik: keeping secrets from your lady is a BAD IDEA.)  Likewise, Alex has a lot of issues of her own that need to be dealt with and were not; her feelings for Varik are confusing, her place in her world order is threatened, and plenty of people who should be supporting her are basically patting her on the head and telling her to sit to the side and let the men talk.  Gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes, and class divisions are all heavily in play in how Alex interacts with the townsfolk of Jefferson. Her position is precarious to say the least and Varik kind of blowing her out of the water (even though he didn't want to and didn't do it with malice) did not help in the slightest.

There are a lot of questions left unanswered at the end of the book, which definitely lay out a good foundation for the next one (a preview was included at the end of the book and all I can say is that Varik, eventually, is going to have some serious splainin' to do. Oh man, is he.)  I'll have to wait until the next installment drops to get some questions answered, but, all sources indicate, it'll be worth the wait.

Overall Grade: A