Monday, June 9, 2014

Hunger Blog Tour presented by Felicity Heaton


We are so excited to have Felicity on the blog to share with us her latest Vampire Realm story, Hunger. Sit back and enjoy my review, a sneak peak of Hunger from Felicity and a little giveaway to enter at the end!
It’s great to be here at Sassy Book Lovers today as part of the Hunger Virtual Book Tour celebrating the release of the latest book in my Vampires Realm series of paranormal romance novels. 

Today, I’m going to be sharing an excerpt from the book. 

But before we get to the main event, I want to introduce myself. I’m a British paranormal romance author and a New York Times and USA Today best-seller. I have been writing since 2005, and went indie in 2006. I love to write big worlds, populated by vampires, shifters, demons, fae and angels, and I have several series. This tour is about the Vampires Realm series, which focuses on the world of the seven pureblood vampire families of Europe, the werewolves fighting for their freedom, the weakling vampires, and the vampire hunters determined to destroy them all.

Now, on with the show…

Betrayed by one of her own and turned into a vampire, hunter Eve is consumed by her hunger for vengeance and has spent five years surviving hell, driven to take the life of the man she once loved. But just as she is about to close in on the hunter-turned-vampire, an event is set in motion that threatens to see him slip beyond her grasp forever—the leader of her bloodline has sent an escort to bring her to the family’s mansion. To a nest of the very creatures she once hunted and loathes.

A vampire assassin hardened by centuries of service, Tor is a man of discipline and loyalty, never straying from his mission or the rules set out for him, and has purged all his weaknesses, including his emotions.

But the moment he meets the broken, fiery female he is to escort to Oslo, something dangerous awakens in him, something possessive and powerful, and when he is pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who betrayed her, Tor discovers he will do anything to protect the woman slowly claiming his heart and give her the vengeance she desires—even break all the rules.

Can Eve embrace her new vampire nature in order to have her revenge and find a reason to live again in Tor? Can Tor and Eve stop the man who betrayed her and the deaths of thousands of innocents? Or will he succeed in creating a new army of hybrid vampires who will rise up against the purebloods?

Excerpt


Eve cast him a pained look and turned her back on him. She wrapped her arms around herself again

and shook her head. She looked smaller like that. More vulnerable.

It was strange for him, but Tor found himself drawn to stepping closer to her and gently asking,

“Don’t you want to see your sister?”

“I do,” she said and sighed. “I do want to see her… but I don’t know how she’ll react to seeing me

again. She thought I was dead. It’s been five years, Tor.”

The sound of his name rolling softly off her tongue shocked him almost as much as the news that she

had turned five years ago and hadn’t seen her sister in that time. He hadn’t known, but now that he

did, he understood her reluctance to jump on a plane and meet her sister again.

It wasn’t the only reason behind her reluctance though.

He could see the cold hunger in her again as she turned to face him and her dark eyes locked with

his. She hid it well, but it was there, layered with purpose and determination, and a drive that

seemed familiar to him.

On top of that burning need that drove her ever onwards was one that held her back.

The need to avoid accepting what she had become at all costs. At the Vehemens mansion, she

wouldn’t be able to hide from it any longer. The hunter would have to face the truth. She had

become a vampire. She had become the very creature she once hunted and loathed.

Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to the front of the hangar. The stewardess

and co-pilot placed their long dark coats over their heads to shield them from the downpour and

rushed across the small strip of tarmac to the plane.

The jet’s staff made it on board.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Not the distance.

Not thunder.

His senses focused and everything slowed to a crawl.

A violent growl filled the silence, beginning in the belly of the jet, and grew in volume to a deadly

roar. Brilliant blinding light drove the darkness back, orange and white flares stinging his eyes.

Tor reacted on instinct to the split-second warning, turning away from the coming blast.

Eve stood immobile, her eyes widening in horror as the eruption tore the Cessna apart, the inferno

illuminating her face and warming her pale skin.

Tor lunged for her as the heat of the blast rolled over him and pulled her into his arms, pinning her

close to his body and taking the brunt of the explosion on his back. Shards of metal sliced into his

skin and flames licked at him, only his damp sweatshirt stopping them from burning him. He lifted

Eve in his arms and bolted into the dark hangar, not slowing until he was close to the other end,

shrouded in the shadows.

He set her down behind a stack of crates to conceal her, dropped their bags, and began checking her

over, working methodically from her head downwards. His back stung, every laceration burning, but

he ignored his own pain, shutting it out as he focused on Eve.

“What happened?” she whispered, her eyes glazed as she stared ahead into the darkness behind

him. “What happened?”

She asked that question ten times over before he had even reached her wrists in his visual check of

her.

A shudder went through her and she shook her head. She trembled beneath his fingers, her bare

skin clammy and freezing to the touch. Shock, and it was hitting her hard.

“We could’ve been killed… we could’ve been killed… and I never would have had my revenge.”

Tor’s head snapped up and he stared into her wide dark eyes as she looked beyond him. Suddenly,

the emotions he felt in her and that showed in her eyes made sense and he knew why they felt

familiar.

He understood how powerful a need for vengeance could be. He knew how it could drive a person

to great lengths, make them do things they would have found objectionable in the past, and make

them live with something that would have normally torn them apart.

Eve wanted to bathe her hands in cold blood and annihilate someone. Who?

Tor took hold of her shoulders and shook her, trying to get her to shift her focus to him and come

out of her trance.

“Who do you want revenge on, Eve? Could they have done this?” It had to have something to do

with her. None of his enemies knew that he was here. The attack at the club had to be about her

too. Someone wanted her dead. The same someone she wanted dead. “Could they have done this,

Eve?”

She jerked her head up, her eyes shooting to meet his, and stared blankly at him for long seconds,

shaking beneath his grasp.

She swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“Yes, they could have?” He needed to be sure.

She nodded. “I think… they sent the vampires who attacked me at One too. They want me dead.” A

mirthless bark of laughter escaped her soft lips. “Feeling’s mutual. Got to make them pay.”

She began rocking and he held her tighter, tried to keep her focus on him so she didn’t slip back into

shock. He looked past her, to the burning wreckage of the plane. Someone really wanted her dead.

Tor cursed.

“Why do you want them to pay?” he whispered and smoothed her tangled hair from her face,

accidentally smudging soot across her cheek. “Tell me, Eve.”

Her eyes met his again and a flicker of red ringed her irises. “He betrayed me.”

Cold stole through Tor’s veins in response to the anguish in her eyes and the hurt in her voice. He

clenched his teeth and suppressed his desire to growl.

He knew a little about betrayal.

Tor slung their two bags over his shoulder and lifted her back into his arms, settling one around

her back and one under her knees. She sank against him, her head on his shoulder. The feel of her

weakly clutching his black sweatshirt, tugging it into her fist, only served to darken his mood.

He hoofed it out of the back entrance of the hangar, pausing only long enough to scan his

surroundings and ensure no one was watching them. Rain lashed down on him, soaking him in an

instant, and Eve began chanting things about betrayal, revenge and the explosion, muddled things

that warned she was slipping away from him again.

He held her closer to him, trying to shield her from the worst of the weather as he sprinted across

the quiet airport, heading back towards the city. He slowed when he reached the perimeter fence

and Eve trembled against him.

Tor looked down at her and something in the region of his heart melted a little at the sight of her

soaked to the skin and clutching at him, muttering incoherent things to herself.

He needed to keep her focused and he only knew one way to do that, and it went against his nature.

He needed to talk to her and let her know that he was here, with her, and knew intimately what she

was going through.

Tor swept his gaze over his surroundings, got his bearings, and began walking towards an area of

Paris he had stayed in before and knew to be safe.

He drew in a deep breath, his lungs burning at the sudden invasion of oxygen after so long without

him using them. He had long ago given up the pretence of breathing, but he needed air now, so he

could do something else he hadn’t done in a very long time.

He exhaled hard to give himself the strength to go against his nature and do what was necessary to

keep the beautiful woman in his arms with him.

“I know a little about betrayal.” The words came out quiet, a soft admission that part of him hoped

she didn’t hear.

No luck there.

She lifted her head, that dark gaze landing on his face and not moving from it. It burned into him,

making him intensely aware of her and every spot where she pressed against him and where his

hands clutched her. He wasn’t sure when he had begun holding her so tightly, so close to him, his

fingers pressing into her ribs near to her breast and into her soft supple thigh.

He cleared his throat, derailed his dangerous train of thought, and focused on their destination.

“I was betrayed by a fellow vampire once. He left me to die at the hands of a hunter.” Tor almost

smiled when Eve tensed in his arms, a glimmer of fear going through her. “I almost lost my arm and

came close to losing my head.”

“What happened to him?” she whispered.

“The hunter?” He frowned down at her and she shook her head, the edge to her eyes saying she

knew what had happened to the man who had been foolish enough to try to kill him. She wanted to

know what he had done to the one who had betrayed him. “I hunted him down, and I did what he

failed to do to me. I took his life. I killed him with my bare hands. Justice was served.”

“Justice.” She drew the word out and her expression softened, her dark eyes brightening, as if she

liked the sound of that.

He liked it too. He liked the thought of dishing out justice to the man who had betrayed her trust and

the vampire who had done this to her, shaking her world, turning her into something she despised,

even though it wasn’t his place.

The thought was sweet though and too tempting to ignore. Things that had bothered him about her

fell into place like puzzle pieces and spelled out the reason behind many of the emotions he had felt

in her and her behaviour.

She had agreed to come with him because she had seen him kill, had seen what kind of man he was,

and had viewed him as an opportunity to seek out the vengeance she needed.

Under normal circumstances, he would have disappointed her and told her that his mission came

first, but as he stared down at her, he began running through everything that had happened tonight

and everything he knew about her, and normal went out of the window.

He couldn’t take her back to Oslo when she had vampires on her trail. A small voice, a tiny sliver of

his heart that wasn’t dead to the world and all feeling, whispered that his concern about the safety

of his bloodline wasn’t the real reason he was going to do something he had never done in three

centuries of life as a hunter—bend the rules.

Tor told himself he wasn’t bending the rules. He was simply taking a different meaning from his

mission parameters. He had been charged with her safety and Lincoln had warned she might need

protecting from herself.

If he could help her mete out her own brand of justice, it might help her come to terms with what

she was now and might help her say goodbye to what she had been in her human life.

He might be able to convince her that life as a vampire was worth living, that her new life could be

something good and there was reason for her to go on.

The ferocity with which he wanted that astounded him.

Something about the determined yet delicate woman in his arms had him going against everything,

every rule and every instinct.

Her dark eyes locked with his, focused and sharp, making his heart kick in his chest.

He looked away and ignored the strange feeling and reaction, shutting it down. She was beautiful,

but she was a mission. Nothing more. She could never be more and he was a fool if he thought

she could be. He wasn’t going to delude himself. This reaction was purely physical, a need born

of a solitary life, and one he refused to act on with her. He would deal with it later. Right now, his

mission was top priority.

She wanted revenge and he was just a tool she would use to achieve it. He would be that for her and

nothing more. The moment she was safe from her betrayer, he was handing her over to her family

and that would be that. She would become their Chosen Daughter. He would move on to the next

mission and bed the first woman he came across.

“What happens now?” she whispered softly, her voice curling around him, stroking his ears and

threatening to undo the work he had done to harden his heart.

Tor refused to look at her.

His eyes betrayed him and fell back to her face, taking in the luscious curves of her lips and the soft

sweeping line of her jaw. He dragged his gaze away and locked it on the distance, determined not to

let her bewitch him anymore.

She was a mission.

He had a feeling this was going to be the hardest mission in his long life.

It was going to push him to his limit and might just be the death of him.

“Tor?” she said in a low, cautious voice, and he pretended not to notice the way the cold abyss in

his chest warmed whenever she spoke his name, unsettling him and tipping him off balance. “What

happens now?”

Tor narrowed his eyes on the distance and set his jaw, dark thoughts of what was to come swirling

through his mind and destroying all of his soft feelings as it painted a delicious picture, a tempting

and satisfying portrayal of death.

“You get your revenge.”

I hope you enjoyed this peek into Hunger!

Review

5 Sassy Books!

Felicity is one author who never lets her readers down. Each and every story unique, getting better and better and Hunger is no exception. The Vampire Realm series has been one of my favourite series to read!

Hunger follows Eve, a hunter turned vampire, and the sexy vampire assassin Tor, brought together by a mission, to return Eve to her sister. That mission is compromised by someone from Eve's past. What establishes in their relationship during that time is something they never thought would ever happen to them. Both come from a background of being mistreated. Never believing they would find love and passion. They were wrong.

And what passion there is! Felicity has such a tasteful way of writing the most erotic scenes that have so much raw and intense emotion allowing the reader to really grasp every feeling the characters are feeling. She allows time to get to know the characters, creating a depth in them which almost makes them seem real. She creates the characters pasts that coincide with how the characters personalities are.

The storyline is just as good! It's  excitingly fast-paced and flows without a hiccup. One minute you're on the edge of your seat and the next you are curling your toes in anticipation.You just can't fault it.

Hunger can be read out of order with the rest of the series and is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. Find the links to your preferred retailer and a downloadable 6 chapter excerpt at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/hunger-vampire-romance-novel.php

About Felicity
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times, USA Today and international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons!

If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too. If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places: Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Mailing List

GIVEAWAY!

Here is your chance to win your choice of ebook from the Vampire Realm series.
You can choose from the following:

Book 1: Prophecy: Child of Light
Book 2: Prophecy: Caelestis and Aurorea
Book 3: Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising
Book 3.1: Spellbound
Book 3.5: Reunion
Book 4: Seventh Circle
Book 5: Winter’s Kiss
Book 6: Hunter’s Moon
Book 7: Masquerade

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Happy Reading! 

3 comments:

  1. Amazing excerpt and review !!
    Thank you for hosting !!
    <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brilliant excerpt, loved this book and all the previous VR books too, you Rock Felicity! great post.

    ReplyDelete

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