I have the wonderful and talented Caris Roane at my blog today to share a glimpse into the world of her winged vampires in the Guardians of Ascension paranormal romance series she writes. I’ll hand the post over to Caris now…

Hi, everyone!  I want to thank Felicity for having me today as part of my WARM-UP-YOUR-WINTER BLOG TOUR.  On most of the blogs on this tour, I’ll be revealing excerpts from the sixth book in my vampire series called, GATES OF RAPTURE (12/24). I created the tour with the hope that you might get to know my Guardians of Ascension, who are my most beloved winged vampire warriors.  I know the covers have wings on them, but the books aren’t about angels AT ALL… just vampires… with wings.  I also have goodies for you to win, details to follow!

 
GATES OF RAPTURE is the sixth installment of Guardians of Ascension and features Warrior Leto, a famous, ancient Warrior of the Blood, six-six, long straight black hair, piercing blue eyes, and built to battle death vampires for centuries and drive the ladies crazy!  Major yummy!  Romantic Times Magazine gave GATES OF RAPTURE a 4 ½ Star, TOP PICK review!  I couldn’t be happier!

For the excerpt today, I chose a scene in which Leto reviews how his recent return to Endelle’s service happened.  He’s stunned at the all the changes in his life, including Grace’s presence.  After a long night battling, Endelle, the ruler of Second Earth, sent Leto and Grace to Warrior Antony’s villa, with armed guards patrolling the estate.  Grace is exhausted.  Here’s how the scene unfolds…

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 11:

Once at the villa, Leto stared at the couch in Medichi’s formal living room and the memories flooded back.

Five months ago, Luken had supported him, half-carrying him to the sofa where Leto had thought he would breathe his last. Though Grace had fed him twice from her vein, it hadn’t been enough, and Leto had been near death. He’d been taking dying blood a long time, a hundred years, but he’d made the decision: No more. If he had stayed the course, he would have died, probably that very night.

But his brother warriors and their brehs, had stepped in and changed everything. Havily donated her powerful, unusual blood and he had been permanently healed from his addiction. He never again experienced the severe cramping that occurred at the withdrawal of dying blood. He owed his life to Havily, and to her breh, Marcus, who had allowed him to take her blood, and to their small group for providing all the extra support he’d needed.

Seeing the couch now brought it all back, how his life had changed forever in that moment. Glancing at Grace and giving her hand a squeeze, he was grateful.

She met his gaze and smiled. He just wished that he could see the future more clearly especially the why of his beast-state and just what role he was meant to play in Grace’s life, even in his world. And what would happen if he really was in his ascension to Third Earth?

Grace had spoken more than once about how she had gone through life as a ghost and the truth was he could relate. Even though they’d completed the breh-hedden and even though they had amazing sex together, he didn’t feel a complete connection to her.

But he didn’t blame her. He blamed himself. He was as much a ghost as she was. In all his long life, he’d never truly given his heart to another ascender for safekeeping, not once. Maybe the death of his mother had ruined him in that way, but he kept an invisible emotional barrier all around his heart, always protecting himself, always working hard to be the best warrior, perhaps unwilling to love until the last death vampire was slain.

It was in this way that neither he nor Grace had been ready to complete the breh-hedden. It felt strange to be able to feel the pressure of his palm against hers, to know what his skin and the squeeze of his hand felt like from her point of view. They were so close and yet still so far apart. He wondered if he could ever truly let go with her, truly give his heart completely, truly yield to all that the breh-hedden could be.

Parisa appeared from a side hall at the southern end of the villa. She carried several black towels folded over her arms. “I found some extras in the second suite. I’m putting you in the room closer to the library.” When she reached a rectangular table in the center of the hall, she waved them forward then gestured to her left.

Leto put his arm loosely around Grace’s waist as he walked beside her down the hall.

Parisa was another beauty, Antony’s breh. She wasn’t as tall as Grace, perhaps an inch or so shorter. Her hair was long, dark brown, and layered. She had extraordinary violet eyes.

She led them to a room on the left and as she pushed the door open, she said, “Antony won’t be home until dawn. He’s out battling at the New River Borderland. Of course, as soon as he gets back, I’ll be putting him to bed.” A faint blush climbed her cheeks as she held the door wide.

Grace passed into the room and Leto followed her. The bed was a massive carved mahogany and looked bigger than a king, which was a real plus, especially if Leto went beast. Grace moved to stand near the doorway leading to the bathroom, her arms folded across her chest.

“I know this has been a long night,” Parisa said, her voice quiet.  “But please make the villa your home, especially the kitchen. Have anything you like.” She glanced from one to the other. “Sleep well.”

She closed the door.

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I hope you enjoyed the excerpt!  I’ve had an extraordinary time creating and writing this series!  Let Guardians of Ascension be a new journey for you.  GATES OF RAPTURE released on December 24^th.

To Learn More about Gates of Rapture and to read the opening chapter:  CLICK HERE!!!

To Order GATES OF RAPTURE   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   iTunes    

 

Here are the giveaway details (all international with appropriate compensatory prizes as needed) :  On each stop of the tour, I’ll be giving away the same awesome collection of prizes as listed on the Rafflecopter form, so be sure to stop by each blog on the tour for a chance to win at each blog.  Be careful to follow the directions on the Rafflecopter form at each site.  And be very careful of the dates! The contest at each site will last 3 days only, and those dates will be listed on the Rafflecopter form as well!!! 

For links to all the other blogs on the tour:  CLICK HERE!!!

The Grand Prize Drawing – VERY IMPORTANT:  to be eligible for the Grand Prize drawing of the Nook with Glowlight, you must leave a comment at the bottom of this blog!  (And for more chances to win the Nook, you can go to every site on the tour and enter that many times—totally up to you!  But comments must be left!)  The grand prize drawing will be selected by random.org in the following manner.  On January 18^th, three days after the tour ends, I will enter the number of blogsites into the random number generator, which will deliver up the winning site.  I will then go to the winning site, count up the comments one by one, and enter that number into random.org.  Random.org will then provide the Grand Prize winning number matched to the comments on the winning blogsite.  This means, that if you travel to all the blogs on this tour, you can enter the GRAND PRIZE contest on every single blog you visit by leaving a comment at each blogsite!  Good luck to all!

The Goodies as listed on the Rafflecopter form are :  a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble (or similar for International),  a replica, antique typewriter key bracelet that spells ‘dream’,  a signed copy of ASCENSION (the first novel in the Guardians of Ascension series), Romance Trading Cards and bookmarks.  

The Grand Prize drawing for a Nook with Glowlight, will take place on January 18^th, three days after the tour officially ends!  Good luck!

For links to all the other blogs on the tour:  CLICK HERE!!!

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MORE ABOUT CARIS ROANE…

Caris Roane has published over fifty Regency romance novels and novellas under the pen name, Valerie King.  In 2005, Romantic Times gave her a Career Achievement award in Regency Romance.  Having had a long-time love affair with vampires, Caris tackled the paranormal genre and built a unique vampire world based on ascending dimensional earths.  Her series is called Guardians of Ascension.

Her most recent self-published project, The Blood Rose Novella Series, launched in May of 2012 with the first title:  Embrace the Dark. 

Currently, Caris is working on a new vampire series set to launch in the Fall of 2013:   WARRIORS IN CHAINS with the first novel, BORN IN CHAINS.

Caris lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her two cats, Sebastien and Gizzy.

TO FIND CARIS ROANE ON THE WEB…

Website Home Page:  www.carisroane.com

Twitter handle:  @carisroane

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/caris.roane

Email:  carisroane@gmail.com

Again,  to be eligible for the Nook with Glowlight, leave a comment below like this:  carisroane at gmail dot com!  Good luck to all!

Enter the Giveaway below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway