Seduced
by Blood
Sweetblood Series #4
Release date July 24, 2012
E-books released August 1, 2012
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| Indie Bound
Deep within the forests of
the Pacific Northwest, the battle for supremacy rages on between two vampire
coalitions: Guardian enforcers sworn to
protect humanity, and Darkbloods, rogues who kill like their ancient
ancestors... Hot-blooded and hard-edged, Tristan Santiago has
an uncanny ability to see beneath the surface-a power that serves him well as
the Guardians' region commander. But when a deadly plot against his fellow
vampires is uncovered, he must turn to the one woman he can't read: the
beautiful yet mysterious Roxanne Reynolds, whose sensual presence soothes his
tormented memories. Roxy had put love before duty once before, with
devastating results. But to root out a dangerous traitor in their midst, she
must put her faith in Santiago, the one man skilled enough to break through her
defenses. Posing as lovers, Santiago and Roxy work side by side-and discover a
powerful craving that threatens to consume them both.
Excerpt from SEDUCED BY
BLOOD
By Laurie London
“Hola” he said as he
approached. “Roxanne, I presume?”
She straightened her spine at the sound of his
voice and turned to face him. And for just a moment, he forgot entirely why he
was here.
Since joining the Agency over a century ago, he’d
been stationed in various parts of the world that most people only experienced
by reading books and magazines, seeing pictures online or news clips on
television. And he’d witnessed many astounding things. Tattooed
pleasure workers in Thailand, secret Incan mating rituals, French courtesans
well versed in the sexual arts. In short, he’d seen a lot,
experienced a lot. There wasn’t much that could take his breath away.
Until now.
“And you must be Santiago.”
God, he even liked the sound of her voice.
She picked at a twig nestled in her dark blond
hair, which fell past her shoulders in messy, tangled curls, but she wasn’t having much luck.
“Here, let me get that.” Without thinking, he reached over and had to use two hands to
keep from pulling her hair too much. “There, got it.”
It was only after he was done that he realized
how intimate an action it had been. He stepped away and folded his arms over
his chest as he studied her.
Despite the frigid night air, she wore a
cream-colored tank top with a surf shop logo that sported a few blood stains,
dark brown yoga pants—the kind that felt different depending on
whether you ran your hand up or down the fabric, and slip-on, once-turquoise
tennis shoes that were now covered in mud. The juxtaposition between feminine
perfection and scrappy street fighter was so utterly arresting that the world
fell away for one brief moment.
Although none of her individual features stood
out on their own—straight nose, golden eyes framed by dark lashes, and lips
that were neither thin nor generous—when they were put together, she was
striking. Her face was oval, her skin smooth and unblemished except for a
smudge on one cheek. He had the sudden urge to brush his fingertips against her
skin to see if it was dirt or blood. She wasn’t old, but the
confidence reflected in her eyes indicated that her Time of Change, when a
vampire youthling’s blood cravings began, was decades behind her.
“So what do we have here?” he asked, glancing at the charred remains. His tone was purposely
sharp and businesslike as he attempted to shake off his lingering reaction to
her. He didn’t like losing control of his thoughts like this.
She fingered her necklace. “Turned out I was
able to handle the situation on my own.”
“And the human witnesses?”
“They’ll need to be dealt
with. I didn’t have the energy to wipe their minds, only to insert a sleep suggestion.”
Very clever, he thought, noticing for the first
time the weariness in her eyes. “What about the other Darkblood? You said there
were two.”
“I took care of them both. Here—” she toed her sneaker against the pile of ash at her feet, “—and
over there about twelve to fifteen feet beyond that downed tree.”
“I don’t understand. You
said on the phone you didn’t have any weapons.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then how—?”
“I used theirs,” she said
matter-of-factly, as if disarming two Darkbloods who were probably high on Sweet
was something a teacher dealt with every day.
It still didn’t make sense. His
confusion must’ve been apparent because she continued. “I pretended I was trying to get away from the sweetblood human,
that I was concerned I might kill him, and needed their help.”
“So they knew you were a fellow vampire.”
“Yes, but they had no idea I knew they were Darkbloods.
As soon as they didn’t consider me a threat and dropped their guard,
it was a simple matter to strip their weapons and use them to my advantage.”
This woman performed under pressure as well as any Guardian he’d worked with, and yet she was just a teacher at Tracker Academy.
What happened to the adage, ‘those who can’t do, teach’?
A little about Laurie:
A
graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in Business Administration
and a former tester/programmer for a Fortune 500 company, Laurie London now
writes from her home near Seattle where she lives with her husband and two
children.
Her
debut book, BONDED
BY BLOOD, A Sweetblood Novel, came out February 2011 from HQN Books.
It was followed by HIDDEN BY BLOOD, an e-novella June 2011; EMBRACED BY BLOOD July 2011; “Enchanted By Blood,” a novella in
the anthology A
VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS Oct
2011; TEMPTED BY BLOODMarch
2012; and SEDUCED
BY BLOOD August
2012.
Her
writing has won and been a finalist in several prestigious contests including
the Beacon, the Emerald City Opener, the Marlene, and the Orange Rose.
She is
a member of Romance Writers of America®, Greater Seattle Area RWA, and the
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
When
not writing, she can be found running, reading, or riding and showing her
horse. Someday she hopes to qualify for the Quarter Horse World Show – that is,
if her horse doesn’t get hurt again.
Find Laurie here
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Good Reads
Laurie’s Christmas novella is a
finalist in the Prism contest this year.
When we have more details we will pass this on to you.
Giveaway Time!
For a chance to win a copy of Seduced by Blood and a set of Trading Cards. {Paperback & Trading Cards for a US/Canada winner. International winner would receive an E-BOOK of Seduced by Blood (Amazon or B&N only) . To enter please comment here with you email address. A winner will be picked using random.org at the end of the tour and emailed. *No email = no entry
By commenting you will also have a chance at the GRAND PRIZE of a set of the SweetBlood Series, along with a set of Trading Cards and a custom made book thong by Mandy from Shiny Stupid Designs. {US/Canada Only} Winner will be picked at the end of the tour.
Thank you for following the tour. For the other tour stops please see the right sidebar of the blog.
Thank you to everyone for posting additional resources and opening your hearts and wallets to those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. To best manage your questions moving forward. The reason we are turning of the comment feature is due to spam.
ReplyDeleteSurfaces action Agent
This sounds like my type of book... ;-)
ReplyDeletegcosta AT mufley DOT com
Sounds good!
ReplyDeletecholub1968@aol.com
I love this series and Santiago is amazing! Thanks for the great giveaway.
ReplyDeleteiqb99(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Awesome ! You Rock Laurie!
ReplyDeleteTrakoh516@comcast.net
DeleteSounds awesome to me...
ReplyDeletecmucha319@yahoo.com
This book sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it. Great excerpt.
ReplyDeletee.balinski(at)att(dot)net
The book sounds amazing and thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteluranker@hotmail.com
I love this series! Thanks for the chance.
ReplyDeletesrbagby50@gmail.com
I've enjoyed the series so far but how many books will the series have?
ReplyDeletedsadler53 at yahoo dot ca
I like vampire stories and really want to read this! Thanks for the chance :)
ReplyDeleteCambonified{at}yahoo{dot}com
Hello Laurie,
ReplyDeleteI have not read your Sweetblood Series yet, but they LQQk like Excellent Reads, I'll definiately be adding them to my "to buy" list...& Congrats on your upcoming relases, "Seduced by Blood" Book #4.
Take care,
PaParanormalFan (Renee’ S.)
paranormalromancefan at yahoo dot com
Thanks, everyone, for the excerpt love and thanks, Leagh, for having me on today!
ReplyDelete@Diane, right now there are 4 books and 2 novellas in the series. I see at least 3 more in the world, but the focus may move away from the Seattle Guardians for a while. There are few other possibilities in the Sweetblood world that are calling to me right now and who am I to ignore that siren's call? ;-)
Thanks so much for the great excerpt. I can't wait to read this book, I have loved the books I have read in this series.
ReplyDeleteJune
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Book sounds amazing! Thank you for the giveaway :)
ReplyDeletesandersknc@yahoo.com
I've loved reading the books in this series so far. Thanks for this opportunity. Look forward to reading this newest release Seduced By Blood.
ReplyDeleteCarol L.
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
So glad you're enjoying the books! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great excerpt! I want more! I love this series!
ReplyDeleteriverinaromantic AT aol DOT com
This one sounds really amazing! Please enter me in the giveaway.
ReplyDeletejustpeachy36@yahoo.com
I haven't read any of the books in this series but I loved the excerpt from "Seduced by Blood"!
ReplyDeleteSantiago and Roxanne seem like the perfect match for each other. Thank you for the giveaway!
junegirl63 at gmail dot com
I was really interested reading about Laurie's story. It's been several years since I've read this genre and I was impressed by her storyline.
ReplyDeletePreviously I had read and enjoyed books with vampires but read several with absolutely no plot line and got discouraged. On the only hand Santiago and Roxy sound like "real" thoughtfully developed characters. I even like how Santiago is described as a "Guardian" enforcer which helps set the tone of his character's personality and beliefs.
Thanks for showing me that picking up a book with Vampires should again be on my TBR list!