Blog Tour: Guest Post by Marie Treanor and Giveaway **CLOSED**

Today I'm joined by Marie Treanor as part of the blog tour for Blood Eternal, the 3rd and final book in the Awakened By Blood Trology.

Marie has stopped by to guest post and I will be giving away ONE copy of Blood Eternal to one US resident.
Lets see what Marie has to say......

The Written and the Unwritten by Marie Treanor

Being a writer is a dangerous business. Seriously! Not because our villains are likely to leap out of the computer and hurt us, but because the job can delude us into the belief that we’re God. After all we control the lives of our characters (up to a point, at least!). We can endow our heroes and heroines with fantastic beauties and virtues and strengths, pepper them with vulnerabilities to overcome, bring them safely through danger and suffering and present them, by way of a reward, with true love and happiness ever after.

How much fun is that? If someone’s made a bad decision in the past, we can give them the opportunity of putting it right. It’s absolutely fine for the heroine to stomp off in an impetuous rage through misunderstanding, because we all know it will all get sorted out in the end.

But once writers start to behave like their heroines, we’re in trouble. In our books, we can arrange matters, for the heroine to save the hero’s life, perhaps, or for the couple to at least meet again and admit their mistakes along with their enduring love for each other.

In real life, after such a performance, if you went to apologise to your beloved, you’re as likely to find that he’s so disgusted with your tantrum that rather than falling at your feet in gratitude, he is in fact made uncomfortable by your presence because he’s already moved on!

We’ve all wanted to rewrite our own histories at some point, and of course, some things we can make right either very easily or with a little bit of effort. But we’re not God and real life characters won’t always behave the way we want them to. I mean, have you ever tried matchmaking among friends clearly destined for each other? Has it ever worked?

Then, take my teenage kids (please, take my teenage kids! No. no, just joking =D). I can see what’s good for them. I know what they should do. But trying to make them do it is incredibly frustrating! If only they were characters in my latest book, I could ensure that they went to sleep at a reasonable time, did their homework when they should, and came home at a sensible hour! There just wouldn’t be distractions like Facebook, obstacles like cancelled trains, or a too-laid-back attitude!

Don’t even get me started on my husband, who, over twenty years of marriage, has perfected the art of agreeing with me and my sage advice, and then doing the opposite.

Sigh. But hey, they’re the guys who make sure I don’t develop a god complex from bossing my characters around. And in a weird way, while driving me nuts, they keep me sane. Without them, there wouldn’t be much point in anything else I do – like writing about those other amazing people who will do what I tell them at least some of the time.

Which brings me to BLOOD ETERNAL, releasing next week! It’s the finale of my vampire romance/urban fantasy trilogy, Awakened by Blood, and I confess I did have a little trouble with disobedient characters (who’d clearly been chatting to my husband and kids). I’d made them too strong and they wouldn’t fit neatly into the ending I’d planned for them. For my vampire hero, Saloman and my mortal heroine Elizabeth, happiness was only going to be possible if one of them gave in: if Saloman agreed he didn’t need to rule humans as well as vampires, or if Elizabeth agreed to let him and seek immortality herself. I thought I knew the way it had to go, but when I came to do it, I discovered it just – didn’t. I had to let Elizabeth and Saloman and their friends fight it out on paper and make their own ending. Fortunately, it turned out to be acceptable to me. Maybe there’s a lesson there for real life =)

Anyhow, the trilogy has ended - I hope it’s as satisfying for readers as it was for the writer – but the story hasn’t. Although unwritten, it goes on in my head, just like real life. Only with slightly more obedient characters.

Discover the books!


Blood Eternal
By Marie Treanor

Awakened by Blood, Book 3
Signet Eclipse
Mass Market Paperback
4th October 2011

Secrets don't disappear after seduction...

Elizabeth Silk is struggling to reconcile her passion for the vampire overlord Saloman and her allegiance to the vampire hunters. When a shocking vampire revolt calls Saloman away from her, she refuses to follow him.

To make matters worse, Saloman’s beloved cousin Luk has been found and awakened by one of his greatest enemies. Frenzied with bloodlust, Luk embarks on a killing spree and prepares to expose Saloman’s biggest vulnerability: Elizabeth.

But under Saloman’s regime, vampires have become less concerned with secrecy, no longer willing to hide their power. Rumors are swirling about attacks on humans. After Saloman joins forces with the vampire hunters to consolidate his power, Elizabeth begins to understand her role in the inevitable collision of the two worlds. She could bring resolution between vampires and humans—if she can manage to stay alive long enough to play both sides….


Read an excerpt from Blood Eternal!

Set up: An Ancient vampire, believed to be Saloman’s newly awakened cousin Luk, has gone on the rampage in the Turkish hills. Elizabeth Silk is helping the hunters to track Luk and his allies…

Luk began to run, and as his limbs stretched out, he remembered their strength and what they could do. A surge of excitement urged him to speed up, to run around the entire world and never stop. But her scent was close and sweet, and as he leapt down the final fifty feet to land right in front of her, he grew dizzy.

Startled, the woman fell back, her dark hazel eyes huge in her beautiful face. Hair the color of a long-forgotten sunrise whipped against her soft cheeks in the breeze. Blood pumped through her delicate veins. The sound and smell of it drove him to new hunger, but this was one human he’d never kill.

“Tsigana,” he whispered.


The name held Elizabeth frozen. She’d had an instant’s warning from the Ancient detector, which suddenly, after indicating his slow plod away from her, went nuts, the readings obviously failing to keep up with the speed of the vampire who leapt out in front of her a bare instant after she’d known he would.

She’d had time to press her buzzer, at the same moment it had gone off in warning. The others knew. So she backed off, giving them time to get here, holding the stake poised for the vampire’s attack that didn’t come. He stood unmoving, staring at her.

The ordinary vampire detector in her pocket was still and silent. So the Ancient was alone. She prepared to attack, targeting the spot in his chest that she needed, but before she could fly at him, he said, “Tsigana.”

If he’d said her own name, if he’d called her Jane or Esmeralda or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she wouldn’t have hesitated in the slightest. But he said Tsigana, as if he’d seen straight to her one weakness, a jealousy that amounted almost to fear of the long-dead human woman who had once held Saloman’s heart.

Her fingers curled convulsively on the stake, altering its aim by accident, and she had to readjust it. The Ancient who was Saloman’s cousin, his onetime friend and his betrayer, one of Tsigana’s three vampire lovers, continued to stare at her. She had the impression that if he breathed he’d have been panting, but weirdly, she sensed no threat from him. He lifted his arms slowly, reaching out to her with intense, weirdly unfocused longing. Understanding slammed into her like a blow.

“I’m not Tsigana,” she said between her teeth. “I’m Elizabeth, the Awakener.” And she flew at him, aware her aim was true. She summoned every ounce of strength, every ounce of power she believed in. Because she didn’t know how long the hunters would take to get here, she had to try to do it alone, as she’d once tried to kill Saloman alone. She still believed she could have slain him, using her power as his Awakener, but she’d never found out for sure, because her heart, not her body, had prevented it. There was no such prevention here; Luk was the cause of most of the unbearable pain that had haunted Saloman for centuries. He was as good as dead, and she couldn’t even regret her lack of compassion.
But he didn’t wait for her. He leapt back so fast she didn’t even see him move. Her stake sliced through air, almost overbalancing her.

“Not Tsigana,” Luk repeated. He sniffed the air.

“Tsigana is dead.” Again she leapt, this time before she finished speaking, but again he evaded her. A howl rent the air, like a dog or a wolf in agony. It had to be coming from Luk, as his distant figure leapt back up the hillside at impossible speed, the bloodcurdling wail fading with him into the night. Not because he’d stopped crying, but because he was too far away to be heard.

“Shit,” Elizabeth whispered. With shaking hand she retrieved the Ancient detector from her pocket. The pointer indicated the hill up which Luk had vanished, the display counting madly as the distance increased. Then it went dead. Elizabeth delved for her phone, just as the needle swung rapidly several degrees to the west, and the display galloped forward.

Oh, hell, he’s doubling back. He’s gotten over Tsigana and now I’m dinner.




Blood Sin by Marie Treanor
Awakened by Blood, Book 2

Even if you walk in the light, you can dwell in the dark.

Months after her dangerous encounter with vampire overlord Saloman, Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is still trying to cope with both the demands of her ancestral bloodline—which marks her as a vampire hunter — and the overpowering desire she feels for the immortal she brought back from the grave. But she is not alone in her fascination with Saloman.

When Elizabeth tracks down a distant cousin from America, she learns he possesses an antique sword that has caught the interest of the Grand Master of the American hunters. It is the ancient and mystical sword of Saloman — a treasure of vast occult powers and a prize beyond measure to both vampires and humans. Now the race is on for possession of the sword.

Even as her enemies and allies shift their allegiances and battle for supremacy, Elizabeth must decide which will rule her own perilous fate: unwanted loyalty or unholy love.

Reviews:
"An action-packed sensual read, filled with danger, romance, vampires, humor and seduction, BLOOD SIN is an unforgettable story... a delightful read and a welcome addition to the keeper shelf... this amazing series..." - 4.5 Blue Ribbons, Dottie, Romance Junkies
"Beautifully worded... Unique plot twists... Steamy chemistry and passion-filled romance... an altogether spicy read." - 4 cups. Virginia, Coffee Time Romance
"The fantastic sequel to Blood on Silk... delicious... I truly cannot get enough of...Saloman... a fascinating character, free from cliche... truly an amazing series..." - 5 Tombstones, Jennifer, Bitten by Books.




Blood on Silk by Marie Treanor
Awakened by Blood, Book 1

The debut of a seductive new series of vampires, lust, and revenge.

Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is spending the summer in Romania researching historical superstitions for her PhD. While she is tracing local folktales, one subject in particular sparks her imagination. His name is Saloman, legend's most powerful vampire, a seductive prince staked centuries ago. Now, in the ruins of a castle crypt, Elizabeth discovers the legends are real. Her blood has awakened him. Her innocence has aroused him. But Elizabeth unleashes more than Saloman's hunger.

An army of vampire hunters has amassed to send Saloman back to hell. Sworn to help - yet fearing Saloman's deadly blood lust - Elizabeth seeks to entrap him, offering her body as bait. But something stronger than dread, more powerful than revenge, is uniting Elizabeth to her prey. Caught between desire and rage, Elizabeth must decide where her loyalties lie...and what the limits are to a yearning she can no longer control.

Reviews:
"BLOOD ON SILK is sensual and thrilling, a wonderful combination of vampire myths old and new. Saloman and Elizabeth's relationship is both amazingly hot and terrifyingly complicated. Readers will fall instantly in love with the world that Marie Treanor has created. You cannot miss this novel!" --Michele Bardsley, national bestselling author of the Broken Heart series.

"A provocative read... witty, sensual and, sometimes, dark... Brimming with complex and compelling characters, sexual tension, danger, betrayal, emotional turmoil, witty banter, a thrilling plot, an enigmatic hero who is at times an anti-hero, a captivating heroine and plenty of vampires, this erotic, gothic story grabs your attention and holds it right up to the very last page." ~Dottie, Romance Junkies, 4.5 Blue Ribbons

"Praises for Marie Treanor; this book has found a permanent place alongside the likes of Anne Rice and Laurell K Hamilton." - Rating 5, Jillean, Once Upon a Romance.


Author Bio:

Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy.

Marie Treanor has published more than twenty ebooks with small presses, (Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Changeling Press and The Wild Rose Press), including a former Kindle bestseller, Killing Joe. Blood on Silk: an Awakened by Blood novel, was her New York debut with NAL.

In the Awakened by Blood series, Marie is delighted to be able to bring together her long-standing loves of vampire stories and Gothic romance.

Visit Marie Treanor:
~Website
~Facebook
~Newsletter
~Blog: Marie Treanor's Romantic Theme Party




Giveaway!
As I mentioned I have ONE paperback copy of Blood Eternal to give away to a US resident (sorry internationals!) as part of the tour. The giveaway will run from the 25th of September (today) until the 5th of October, after which I'll pick a winner. Simply comment below with a way to contact you for the chance to win!

Thanks for stopping by as part of the Blood Eternal tour hosted by Bewitching Book Tours!