Get Sweet: Day TwowithLaurie London!!

Day two of the
Simply Ali
Get Sweet Event
is here!!

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Today we explore
EMBRACED BY BLOOD
&
ENCHANTED BY BLOOD!

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Embraced by Blood
by
Laurie London

Sweetblood, Book 2

HQN

Blurb

Is she a deadly temptation...or the one woman who can quench his eternal thirst?

Alfonso Serrano is a hunted man. For months he’s managed to elude the Darkbloods, vengeful foes who won’t rest until he’s dead. But he still craves one dangerous temptation: Lily DeGraff, the sexy Guardian agent he’ll risk anything to protect.

Lily is a wanted woman. Her talent for tracking Sweet-a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires-makes her a prime target for enemy capture. Her only hope is the stealthy vampire operative who stole into her bed...then left her in despair. Danger aside-Lily won’t let Alfonso near her heart again-until an irresistible hunger draws them back together...and into an assassin’s snare.

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EMBRACED BY BLOOD stars Alfonso and Lily. I swear I think the name Alfonso and I still get chills. These characters really burn up the pages of this book!

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"Who'd Play Who"
by
Laurie London
For Alfonso, I’d cast Josh Holloway wearing this beanie. Perfect!

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Lily’s inspiration came from a fitness ad of a woman hitting a punching bag. But for an actress, I’d cast Laurie Holden with straight hair.

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Excerpt
Lily pushed open the steel door at the far end of the parking garage with a bang, her heart thumping madly in her chest. She was angry, she told herself. Angry and pissed off, and not at all excited.

There he was. Just where she figured he’d be.

Alfonso leaned against the hood of her red Porsche, his long legs stretched out in front of him, one large boot crossed over the other, looking like he owned the whole damn place. The warm smell of leather and pine filled her nostrils as she marched toward him, her heels pounding on the pavement with every crushing beat of her heart.

An hour ago, while she assembled her weapons bag, the little hairs on the back of her neck had begun to tingle and thoughts of Alfonso kept filling her mind, despite her attempts to shut it down. And now, of course, she knew why. Her sensory abilities had detected him, knew he was nearby, whether her conscious self was completely aware of it or not. At least her scent memory wasn’t totally fried.

Shoving the duffel bag behind her, she stopped in front of him, feet squared, hands on her hips. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Calm as always, he shifted his weight to the other foot and examined his fingernails for a moment before he lazily lifted his gaze to meet hers. The clear blue of his eyes used to remind her of the color of truth, but all she saw now was icy deception. What a fool she’d been to trust her heart with someone like him.

A hint of a smile sat on his lips, his dimple appearing on one cheek. “What’s it look like I’m doing?”

“Listen, Alfonso. Don’t play games with me. My intelligence quota has increased exponentially since you last saw me and I’m not nearly as gullible. Why are you here? And I want the truth.”

His brow furrowed and he studied her face as if she were a science experiment that needed to be weighed, measured and cataloged. Then his gaze traveled slowly down her body, tickling every traitorous nerve ending. “You miss the latest Agency directive? Until further notice, all Trackers shall be accompanied by another Guardian while out in the field.”

“I’d have heard if the rules had changed.” Jackson hadn’t said anything about it a few minutes ago.

“It was just faxed to all the field offices in the region.”

How the hell would he know? He was obviously trying to trip her up, make her think it was official so she’d agree. “And last I knew, you’re not a Guardian. How’d you even get in here? The place is cloaked. Did Mackenzie tell you what was going on? She did, didn’t she? Or wait, Jackson!”

During the lame-ass emergency briefing that cut into the precious time she should’ve been out (deleted mini-spoiler), he hadn’t made eye contact with her. Not once. It totally was him. Next time she saw the guy, she was going to fry his ass.

“Nope.” He looked down, flicking something off his thigh. As he picked at the frayed edges of a small hole in his jeans, his thick lashes rested against his cheeks.

His nonchalance fanned her anger and every muscle in her body went rigid. How could he be so calm and act so totally uninterested? They hadn’t seen each other in over a year. The least he could do was shake her hand or give her a hug. Tell her she looked good or something. Like normal people would do. Normal people who’d once shared something special. God, she was so stupid for thinking he’d ever cared about her.

A tiny voice inside told her she wasn’t exactly welcoming to him either, but she shut that down instantly. She needed to keep her exterior shell as hard and rigid as possible in order to protect her too fragile heart. Love was a candy-coated fairy tale whose sugar-high didn’t last long in the real world.

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EMBRACED BY BLOOD was a Joyfully Recommended Read!! You can read the review...HERE

Grab your copy of EMBRACED BY BLOOD here...
Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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Next we are going to take a look at
ENCHANTED BY BLOOD
A Sweetblood Novella
that appeared in the
A Vampire for Christmas
Anthology

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A Vampire for Christmas: Enchanted By Blood
by
Laurie London

Sweetblood, Book 2.5

HQN

Blurb

All they want for Christmas is you...

It’s the time of year for twinkling lights on trees and kisses under the mistletoe. Yet the passing of another year means nothing to the stunning immortals who lurk in the shadows of the new-fallen snow.

And they don’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice.

Let four fanged lovers open your eyes to a passion you never dared to imagine. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays–and these dazzling vampires can’t wait for an invitation.

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"Who'd Play Who?"
by
Laurie London
For Trace, it’s a little harder. I’m not finding anyone really perfect, but Scott Adkins is fairly close.

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For Charlotte, I’d cast Alisen Down.

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You can read the ENCHANTED BY BLOOD review at Joyfully Reviewed

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A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS includes stories from the lovely Laurie London, Michelle Hauf, Caridad Pineiro, and Alexis Morgan. All of the stories in this anthology are excellent. A nice blend of hot vampires and the holidays! :)
Grab Your Copy of A Vampire for Christmas: ENCHANTED BY BLOOD here...
Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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Q & A with Laurie London

How did you get your foot in the publishing door, so to speak?

At the urging of my sister, I entered a few writing contests and ended up finaling and/or winning. Up until this point, I didn’t have any faith in my writing ability. This gave me the courage to query a few agents, one of whom referred my work to another agent who loved it. The series sold a few months later.

Any advice for aspiring authors out there?

Read a lot, taking the time to study what works for you as a reader and what doesn’t. Write every day, even if it’s only 100 words. You’ll develop good habits this way. Surround yourself with positive energy. For me, negative people suck out my creativity, so I avoid them if I can.

Write the story that you, the reader, would love to read. Do you love secret baby plots? Then write one. Tortured, damaged heroes? Then write about one. A single mom who runs a daycare by day and fights crime at night as soon as the babysitter arrives? (What if she knows the villain is planning something dastardly, but her babysitter cancels at the last minute?) Then write it.

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Thank you once again to Laurie London for helping
Simply Ali
celebrate the release of
SEDUCED BY BLOOD
with our Get Sweet event!

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Leave a comment today or question and
you will be entered to win all four prints
in the Sweetblood series signed, swag including
Romance Trading Cards and this super cool Sweetblood Mug!!
Contest ends at midnight Sunday! :)
Stay tuned to Simply Ali for more Sweetblood Fun!

Come back tomorrow and Get Sweet