Hi, Laurie! Thanks so much inviting me to join you today. I’ve enjoyed the chance to share the Brethren Series with Dee for review, and appreciate this opportunity to meet your readers.
I live in Kentucky, in the heart of Bluegrass country. During my childhood, we would often drive past Thoroughbred horse farms. If you can picture nothing but rolling, open fields of lush, green grass, bordered by white fences, and horses set out to graze, you’ll have a good idea of how beautiful they are. I often wondered about the people who lived on these farms, and it occurred to me that pretty much an entire community could live tucked away on one or more of them, with the outside world completely oblivious to their existence. From there, the idea of the Brethren eventually grew.
Dark Thirst, Book One in The Brethren Series is out of print in paperback through Kensington/Zebra, but is available in Kindle ebook format. In it, Brandon Noble is one of the Brethren, an ancient clan of ruthless vampires. Horrified by his birthright, Brandon shuns the ritual of the first kill, earning his family's lasting wrath. When he finds love with a human woman named Angelina -- forbidden among the Brethren -- his fate is sealed. Can Brandon protect Angelina from his enemies -- and his own dark thirsts?
Dark Hunger, Book Two, is available from Kensington/Zebra in mass market paperback and multiple electronic formats, including for Kindle and the Nook. In it, Tessa Noble-Davenant will do anything to protect her brother, Brandon, even if that means traveling across the country with Rene Morin. A cynical, brooding, yet startling sexy vampire, Rene seems to take pleasure in finding fault with Tessa's every move. Despite this, a sensual attraction begins to develop between the two, one to which neither can afford to succumb. Rene and Tessa are being followed -- and a single misstep will put them at the mercy of forces more dark and powerful than they can even imagine...
Dark Passion, Book Three, is available in trade paperback and multiple e-formats through Double Dragon Publishing. In it, Augustus Noble is a man with secrets. His entire life has been built on half-truths, betrayals and lies—desperate measures to keep the woman he loves, Eleanor Trevilian-Noble, as his own. The patriarch of the Brethren, he has struggled for centuries to create an empire of wealth and prestige for her. Now all that he has fought for is in jeopardy—his grandson Brandon has risked it all in a desperate bid for independence and freedom. And just as Augustus can’t allow Brandon to escape the ages-old traditions of the Brethren race, he also can’t let the Brethren—and especially his longtime nemesis—discover a truth that, if revealed, would see them all killed.
In the upcoming fourth installment, Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen, (out on Valentine’s Day, 2011), Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other -- something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn't beautiful. And if there wasn't something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame, damn near impossible to resist.
Karen has always felt an inexplicable attraction to Tristan. More than just the fact he's strikingly handsome, it's as if being with him is something natural, comfortable and right. But soon a brash choice on his part leaves her heartbroken and confused, and a sadistic new enemy will put their tentative love -- and their lives -- to the ultimate test.
Tristan and Karen were introduced in the preceding installment of The Brethren Series, Dark Passion. As I wrote them, I really felt a connection to them and wanted to explore their backgrounds and relationship further. The idea that they were in love with each other and had been for a long time—but both of them were too stubborn to admit or act on it—appealed to my muse. The rest, as they say, is history.
Here’s an excerpt from Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen — I hope you enjoy!
“Tell me to stop,” he whispered, because it was all he could do not to wrench her head back by the hair and sink his teeth into the hot, pulsating length of her carotid artery. His canines had extended, dropping from recessed grooves in his gum line. His pupils had enlarged, an ancient, primitive reflex that left them dilating wide enough to nearly swallow the visible portions of his irises and corneas. In this sudden, extremely light-sensitive field of vision, Karen’s pale skin seemed to glow, miniscule droplets of perspiration glistening against her face like diamonds.
“No.” She shook her head defiantly, her cheeks flushed, her blonde hair askew, her blue eyes glossy and round with eager anticipation.
He reached between them, ripping open her blouse with a single, forceful yank. Buttons popped loose, scattering against the floor. She wore no bra beneath; he drew back long enough to shrug his way out of his own shirt, then pushed himself into her, feeling the incredible heat of her body, the bullet points of her nipples against his chest.
“Tell me to stop,” he pleaded again, because if he didn’t, he was going to feed from her. And I can’t do that. God help me, I can’t.
Karen locked eyes with him. “No.”
Readers can check out the promotional video for Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen at my website: www.sarareinke.com. At the Flash version, you’ll also find an exclusive “About the Brethren” page that fills readers in on the series to date, and the different characters introduced so far.
Plus, for a limited time, readers can subscribe to my e-Newsletter and receive a FREE ebook copy of Dark Thirst, Book One in The Brethren Series. You can also visit the Contest page at the Source Immortal blog (www.sourceimmortal.com) and sign up for your chance to win a signed paperback copy of Dark Thirst as part of three fantastic prize packages we’re giving away for Valentine’s Day. There’s no better way to be introduced to the world of the Brethren vampires than with the book that started it all!
Places to find Sara Reinke
Authors website
