DARKNESS
AWAKENED
Order of the Blade
Series, Book One
The Calydons are a race of ancient immortals cursed with a dark side.
Each Calydon is destined to meet his soul mate, to be so drawn to her that he is
unable to resist bonding with her through the rituals of his
race…
…but their destiny is to destroy each other and all they care
about the moment their bond is complete.
Quinn Masters will stop at nothing to rescue his rogue
teammate. To save his blood brother and ensure his brand of justice triumphs,
Quinn will break every rule of his kind and partner with the sensuous,
courageous woman destined to be his ultimate destruction.
Haunted by a brutal past, Illusionist Grace Matthews will
risk everything to save her kidnapped sister, including putting her life in the
sinfully capable hands of an immortal warrior whose ravaging kisses and intense
passion propel her ruthlessly toward a fateful destiny she can't afford to
believe in.
Available
Now!
DARKNESS
SEDUCED
Order of the Blade
Series, Book Two
Immortal warrior Gideon Roarke made an oath five hundred years ago to the woman who died
for him. The ancient Calydon is ruthless in his quest to honor that promise,
even if it means risking everything by teaming up with the one woman who will
either destroy him, or finally bring redemption to his blackened, hardened
soul.
After escaping from a two-year imprisonment at the hands of a
madman, the only thing Lily Davenport wants is to go home and reclaim her life.
Unfortunately for Lily, standing between her and that goal is a sensual,
demanding protector whose dangerous seduction threatens to claim her life…and
her soul.
The Calydons Destiny: The Calydons are a race of ancient immortals cursed with a dark side.
Each Calydon is destined to meet his soul mate, to be so drawn to her that he is
unable to resist bonding with her through the rituals of his
race…
…but their destiny is to destroy each other and all they care
about the moment their bond is complete.
Available
Now!
DARKNESS
SURRENDERED
Order of the Blade
Series, Book Two
Six hundred years ago, Elijah Ross was tortured into insanity
and thrust into a mental hell that no living creature has ever survived…except
him.
Now, that same evil is back, and Elijah is all that stands
between it and the destruction of all of humanity, but each step he takes drags
him further back into the nightmare that once consumed him.
Elijah's only chance is Ana Matthews, whose sensual kisses
and passionate fire thrust hope and light into hisblackened heart and fragmented mind, but her
deadly past could be the final trigger for his descent into irretrievable
madness and the destruction of his soul…and humanity.
Available
Now!
FOREVER IN
DARKNESS
Order of the Blade
Series, Book Four
Cursed to die for a choice his ancestor made, Ian Fitzgerald
has spent six hundred years fighting the curse and trying to restore honor to
his family's name. But his time to die has finally come, and his doom is in the
guise of the one woman he cannot walk away from: his soul mate. Or is she really
who she seems?
Light and darkness, shadows and death, reality and illusions
swirl around Ian as the curse hauls him relentlessly toward his own demise.
Desperate to survive, Ian fights ruthlessly to uncover the truth about the
sensual, desperate female who has died in his arms already…twice. Can she save
him, or will she be the final key to the destruction of everything he has fought
to protect?
Available
Now!
DARKNESS
REBORN
Order of the Blade
Series, Book Five
Talismans carved into his body. A lethal darkness amassing
inside him. A woman who calls to his spirit on levels so intimate and so
passionate that his deadened soul screams in agony. Calydon warrior Kane
Santiago has a past he can't remember, and a deadly legacy closing in on him.
His only chance is Sarah Burns, a sensual, courageous woman fighting to save
herself and her family from an ancient, brutal evil.
Sarah is on the verge of losing everything, but she can't
afford to trust Kane, who is either the key to her final destruction…or her only
chance of survival. Bound together by a connection so deep that it has the power
to bring the past and all its nightmares back to life, Kane and Sarah must tap
into the hearts they closed down so long ago or lose everything, including their
souls.
Available
Now!
DARKNESS
ARISEN
The Order of the Blade
Series, Book Six
Available March 25, 2013
Darkness Hunts Him.
Calydon warrior Ian Fitzgerald refuses to die. Cursed by
black magic, he has stayed alive through sheer force of will and unyielding
commitment to a mission he is sworn to complete. There is only one thing that
can defeat him…and she has just found him.
Desire Torments Her.
Ravaged by her own passions, tarnished angel Alice Shaw is
fighting desperately for salvation before all she cares about is lost forever.
Her sensual allure, and the forbidden power buried inside her, are outshone only
by the burning need she awakens in Ian.
Fierce Passion Ignites.
Raging desire explodes between Ian and Alice, pushing them to
the brink of destruction. They cannot afford to succumb, but the cord that binds
them will never let them go…not until their most dreaded nightmares come true.
Together, they are destined to fail. Together, they will fight to survive the
impossible.
********* INTERVIEW *********
United By Books is
pleased to have Stephanie Rowe on the blog today so we can learn more about her
amazing books........
1 ~ Can you please
share with us a little about yourself?
I am a single mom of an amazing seven year old, and I adopted
a wonderful rescue dog in the summer. Between the two of them, my writing and
trying to fit in some exercise, my time is pretty well filled up! I wrote more
than 25 books for traditional publishers (HarperCollins, Warner/GCP, Harlequin
etc) before taking all my experience over to indie publishing a year ago. Indie
publishing has been unbelievable for me, allowing me to write the books the way
they should be written, instead of having to fit them into the traditional NY
mold. I have a fantastic dark paranormal series doing really well right now, and
I’m loving my foray into contemporary romance.
2 ~ Can you please
tell us a little about your new release DARKNESS ARISEN?
Darkness Arisen (Order of the Blade, Book Six) is the story of Ian
Fitzgerald, a warrior we met in the first book. His story was introduced in more
depth in his novella, FOREVER IN DARKNESS, and we finally get his full story
in DARKNESS ARISEN. It's sexy, passionate, dangerous and
wickedly intense. Readers will meet new characters and explore an entirely new
world from what they've seen in previous Order of the Blade books, but will
still get plenty of their hot, tormented warriors. Here is the official blurb
for the book:
Darkness Hunts
Him.
Calydon warrior Ian Fitzgerald refuses to
die. Cursed by black magic, he has stayed alive through sheer force of will and
unyielding commitment to a mission he is sworn to complete. There is only one
thing that can defeat him…and she has just found him.
Desire Torments Her.
Ravaged by her
own passions, tarnished angel Alice Shaw is fighting desperately for salvation
before all she cares about is lost forever. Her sensual allure, and the
forbidden power buried inside her, are outshone only by the burning need she
awakens in Ian.
Fierce Passion
Ignites.
Raging desire explodes between Ian and
Alice, pushing them to the brink of destruction. They cannot afford to succumb,
but the cord that binds them will never let them go...not until their most
dreaded nightmares come true. Together, they are destined to fail. Together,
they will fight to survive the impossible.
3~ Would
you like to share an excerpt with us today?
Alice's
heart began to race as she saw Ian dive through the waves in pursuit of her, his
powerful body breaking through the white caps with minimal effort. Just like
before, the mere anticipation of his nearness sent waves of awareness and desire
rushing through her...along with a pulsing sense of danger.
He was too
determined, and the look on his teammate's face too arrogant as he followed Ian
through the waves. She didn't know what they wanted from her, but she knew she
couldn't afford it.
She quickly
turned her back on them and moved to the edge of the rock, scanning the surface
of the ocean for the bumps that were too sleek and too misty to be natural. The
pearl was still cold in her hand, clenched there despite all that had happened
since she'd thrown herself into the water.
The Mageaan
had known she was in the ocean. They'd tried to kill her, which meant they were
nearby, or they had been at least. Were they still around? Trying to ignore the
sound of Ian getting closer to her, Alice inched toward the edge of the rock.
She opened her hand and looked at the pearl. Glittering streaks of red, orange,
crimson and silver sliced across its surface, like the clouds at sunset on the
eve of a hurricane. "Please let this work," she whispered. It was such a risk to
reveal that she had the pearl. To give it away was to surrender the one
safeguard she had against an eternity of hell, against the future that Ian
seemed to be pushing her towards
.But without
the help of the creatures in the water below, she had no chance to find
Catherine. The Mageaan owned the oceans. They knew everything and everyone that
passed through their waters. They would know where Catherine was, but they would
never reveal it. Not to an outsider. Not to someone who represented all they had
lost…unless she had something to offer them that was more than they could
resist.
The pearl
was that item. She might be able to convince the Mageaan to trade information
for the jewel. Of course, once she reached Catherine… A cold chill rippled
through her. How would she manage that without Flynn? She couldn't do that on
her own.
No. She
couldn’t worry about that now. None of it mattered if she couldn't find
Catherine in the first place, and the Mageaan were the only ones who would know
how to find the lair that was hidden, obscured by magic and tricks so that no
one could find it. No one but the man who had created it... and those who
haunted the ocean.
She
carefully held the pearl up between her thumb and index finger so that the
moon's blue-green rays seemed to refract through it, bringing it to life. She
glanced over her shoulder and saw Ian was almost to the rock, his muscled
shoulders churning powerfully through the whitecaps as he neared.
Crap! He was almost to the rock! Alice quickly extended her hand out
over the ocean. It was risky, exposing it like that, but she was over a hundred
feet above the water. The Mageaan were ocean bound, and they would not be able
to steal it from her up here. "I have one of the Pearls of Lycath," she shouted. "I will trade it for your
help!" The wind seemed to strip the words from her mouth and thrust them out
across the water, reverberating again and again. "You can have it," she yelled,
even as fear rippled through her at the idea of giving it up. "I will offer it
freely!"
A haunted
call sounded across the ocean, making the hairs on her arms stand up. Alice
searched the water, and she saw a faint drift of mist forming on the horizon.
Excitement shot through her. Was that the Mageaan? "I have the pearl," she
yelled again, holding it out for them to see. "It's genuine. I will trade it for
your help!"
The mist
swirled closer and thicker, and the water churned more violently as the wind
began to howl. Her hair slashed her cheeks, her clothes snapped in the gusts. On
the edges of the wind, Alice thought she heard the sound of a woman screaming.
Dozens of women screaming, the kind of screams that heralded a brutal death
coming for them. Their torment was horrific, the pain of souls being ripped
apart for an eternity of suffering.
She froze,
horrified by the sound. Oh, God. What was that? Was that the Mageaan? If it was,
it was so much worse than she'd expected. She'd heard the stories. She'd been
warned a thousand times. But there had been no way to comprehend the depths of
such suffering. The edge to their screams was like a blade shredding the night.
Was that her future? Was that what she would become without the pearl to protect
her?
Real terror
rippled through her. I can't do this. Her hand faltered, and she started to
lower it—
A violent
gust of wind slammed into her shoulders from behind, thrusting her forward off
the edge of the rock. She screamed as she was thrust into the air, and then the
wind tore the pearl from her grasp. "No!"
Anguish
tore through her as she lunged for it, but her hand closed on empty air as the
pearl plummeted down toward the water, the wind howling in triumph, as if the
Mageaan themselves had compelled it to help them. Beneath her swelled the mist,
but it was no longer white. It was a seething, frothing purple and black pool of
poison—
"Hey!" A
hand clamped around her wrist, jerking her backwards.
Alice
gasped as she ricocheted back against the side of the rock, her body slamming
into hard granite, suspended above the tumultuous ocean by one arm. She looked
up, and her heart stuttered when she saw Ian down on one knee on the top of the
rock, his fingers locked around her wrist. "No, no!" She tugged at her arm. "Let
me go! I have to get the pearl! I dropped it in the water!" Frantic, she kicked
at the rock, trying to tear herself out of his grasp.
"Hey!" He
tightened his grip, ocean water streaming down his arm over his hand. "A pearl?
You're serious? You'll never find a pearl down there. That ocean is trying to
kill you."
"I don't
care! Let me go!" Without the pearl, she had nothing: no future for herself and
no way to find Catherine. "I have to get it!" Frantic, she twisted around to
search the frothing depths, but her heart sank when she saw the ocean churning
beneath her. Hate-filled green and purple swells fighting to get to her, to
reclaim the victim they'd lost once, and deadly mist swirled over the surface of
the water.
She
couldn't survive that. There was no way she could reclaim her pearl from that.
Despair coursed through her, utter despair. It was gone. Without it, Catherine
was lost to her. One moment of fear and hesitation for her own stupid life, and
she'd lost her chance. Frustration and guilt burned through Alice, and all the
fight drained from her body. She hung limply from Ian's grasp, the cold wet rock
pressing against her as she dangled over her death. This couldn't happen again.
She couldn't fail again.
"Alice."
Ian's voice was low. Impatient. "Look at me."
She pulled
her gaze off the ocean and looked up, compelled by the urgency in his voice. The
moment she met his intense gaze, awareness coursed through her. Awareness of the
man, of herself, of something more personal than it should have been. Fear
rippled through her, fear of the warrior who held her wrist.
"I've never
met someone more likely to die than I am," he said conversationally, as if he
wasn't the only thing standing between her and a nightmare. "It's damned
inconvenient."
She met his
gaze, her jaw jutting out. "I'm not afraid of death."
"No, I can see that." One eyebrow was raised, but his eyes were cool
and calculating. Water was streaming down his arm over hers, but his grip was
tight and secure. "What is it that you are afraid of, Alice
Shaw?"
What was
she afraid of? Unbidden, the memory flashed into her mind. Her mother, blood
pouring from a wound in her chest, laboring to breathe. Her mother's blond hair
matted with blood and dirt, her bright blue eyes glazed over with the onset of
death, her lips parted as she fought to share those last words while Alice sat
there, inches away, unable to do the one simple thing that would have saved her
life—
Ian's gaze sharpened. Who is that in your mind, sheva? Who died like that? His voice was soft and gentle, reaching
deep into her soul, tearing away at the protective shields that enabled her to
get through her life every day.
She quickly
stiffened, and shook her head. "Leave me alone."
Ian's eyes
narrowed. "Maybe you should save that request for after I pull you back
up."
Alice
grimaced, and glanced down, the sea was still churning beneath her. Waves
splashed up, reaching for her ankles. Instinctively, she pulled her feet up,
bracing them against the rock. "You have a point."
"As I
thought." Ian grinned then, and braced himself on the rock. "Ready?"
She met his
gaze, fighting not to be swallowed up by his piercing stare. "Ready." She dug
her toes into the rock.
"On three."
He cocked an eyebrow. "One." He held his other hand out to her.
After a
split second of hesitation, she reached up and took his hand. His grip was
strong around her wrists again. Damn, the man was powerful. How was that fair?
He could probably take down the world, and she, the angel of life, couldn't save
even a single person, no matter how simple a task it would be to help
them.
He nodded.
"Two."
She wrapped
her fingers around his wrist, and electricity jumped between them. Dammit. Why
hadn't things lessened between them? Why was he still affecting her like
this?
"Three." He
gave a curt nod and pulled.
She pushed
off the rock as he shifted his body, easily swinging her to the top of the rock.
Her bare feet landed silently on the rock, her toes tiny and pale next to the
heavy boots he was still wearing. "Swimming's easier without boots," she said,
trying desperately to put distance between them.
He
shrugged. "I was in a rush. You were getting away."
There was
that sense of being hunted by him again. Alice instinctively pulled out of his
grasp. "What do you want from me?"
Ian went
still for a moment, and his gaze bore down on her. She felt pressure in her mind
as he tried to break past her barriers, connecting with her too intimately. She
stiffened immediately and folded her arms over her chest, raising her chin as
she faced him, fighting against the swirl of emotion he aroused in her. "You're
not stalking me because of the soul mate thing, are you? Because I'm not
yours—"
"Yes, you
are." His response was instant and unyielding, and she felt her pulse quicken in
response.
She
couldn't afford to belong to him. She didn't want to crave him so badly that she
felt like her own soul would burst into violent flames if he walked away from
her…but she did. It was like he'd ignited a raging fire within her, one that he
stoked ever higher with each touch, with each word, with each kiss.
And as a
smug grin spread over his face, she knew that he was well aware of exactly how
he affected her.
"Damn you,
Ian," she snapped.
He grinned
more broadly, and she suddenly realized that she'd just laid down a challenge
that he was delighted to accept.
4~ What's in store
next for your readers?
Today I'm actually
doing my taxes, but once I get that done, I will be working on three
projects:
1)
PRINCE CHARMING CAN
WAIT, which is the next EVER AFTER book,
2)
GUARDIAN OF THE HIDDEN, which
is the launch book for my new dark paranormal
series, THE RUINED LORDS, and
3)
DARKNESS UNLEASED,
which is Ryland's book, the seventh in the Order of the Blade
series.
Also, in a very
strange turn of events, I was just taking a nap (completely exhausted from the
push of getting Darkness Arisen to market!) and I had a dream that my daughter
and I found a DVD on the grass. We started to watch it (no DVD player, just
watching it in our hands) and it was this most intense, incredible movie. It
played out scene by scene and I was so into it, and then it ended right in the
middle. We were both like, "WHAT?" and then, in my dream, I realized that the
movie hadn't been written yet, and that I was supposed to write that story. It
was so incredible vivid that, after I finish this interview, I am going to go
write down what happened, and I think I might take a couple days and write up
the part of the movie that played out in my dream. Totally bizarre, but I think
I'm going to go with it…
5~ What's the weirdest
thing you've ever done in the name of research?
I walked up to a
police officer I didn’t know and said, without preamble, “If I wanted to shoot a
guy so that he went down, but he could eventually get up and walk away, would
it be better to use a rifle or a shotgun?” The cop’s eyes widened and his hand
went straight to his gun before I quickly (and belatedly) explained that I was
an author and I needed the information for a book. He ended up opening his trunk
and pulling out assorted guns and showing them to me, including casings and
bullets and everything else. We ended up best of buddies, which was good because
I think I almost got arrested initially.
6~ What are some of
your favorite kinds of stories to read?
I love stories of the
triumph of the human spirit. Life is hard, and sometimes it feels like there is
no change that things will get better. Reading about people who are in those
dark, despairing places, and yet somehow find the strength and courage and
beauty in life to move forward and get to a better, redemptive place is so
healing and beautiful. I am a total romantic, and I think there is nothing more
beautiful than sharing that journal with the person who touches your
soul.
7~ What is something
people would be surprised to know about you?
My favorite dessert in
the entire world is raw cookie dough, and I am happy to report I have passed
that on to my daughter.
8~ Do
you sing and dance around the house while picking up?
Pick up? Pick up what? If you are referring
to cleaning the house, then no, I don’t, but that’s because who has time to
clean up when there are thousands of words to be written??? I do, however, sing
and dance around the house, parking lots, grocery stores and anywhere else the
mood strikes me. You gotta embrace life,
right?
9~ Describe yourself
in three words?
Sadly, a chocoholic. Mushball. Mom.
10~ What is the most
embarrassing thing you got caught doing?
Hands down, it was when I was at a writer’s
conference as anunpubbed newbie. During a break, I raced into the
restroom, rounded the corner and then stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a
well-known male agent standing at the urinal doing his business. We stared at
each other in shock for a moment while my brain slowly processed the fact that
I’d raced into the MENS room not the LADIES room. I gasped an apology, then
frantically backed up and bolted. The rest of the morning, I assured myself
that he wouldn’t recognize me and my faux pas would be quietly mine forever.
Then at lunch, the agent walked up to my table, slammed a hand down on my
shoulder and said, in a booming voice for all to hear, “I’m going to the rest
room. Do you want to come?” Yeah, that is a GREAT way to start making contacts
in the writing biz…
11~ How did you
celebrate the sale of your first book?
Balloons, tears and a
rubber tree, because I had “bounced back” so many times during the L-O-N-G
journey to getting published (18 full manuscripts and over 130
rejections…)
12~ What are the
scenes that are the hardest for you to write?
The hardest scene for
me to write is the first scene of the book. That scene may take me weeks to get
right. For Darkness Arisen, the book coming out this month, I wrote 13 first
scenes during the course of a month before I finally found the right one. The
rest of the book took me 5 weeks. The problem is that you have to start the book
in just the right place, with enough action and enough at stake, but not be so
far into the action that the reader can’t get emotionally committed to the
character.
13~ Is there anything
special you would like to say to your readers while we have you here
today?
Thank you so much for
joining me here today! I love connecting with readers, and I’m happy to answer
any questions you may have. Fire away!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Four-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Heart® Award winner
Stephanie Rowe is the nationally bestselling author of more than twenty
published novels with major New York publishers, including Warner/Grand Central,
HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dorchester & Sourcebooks. Stephanie has received
starred reviews from Booklist and high praise from Publisher's Weekly. Stephanie
writes romance (paranormal, contemporary and suspense), teen fiction, middle
grade fiction and motivational nonfiction, including her bestselling dark
paranormal Order of the Blade series.
Connect with
Stephanie:
DARKNESS ARISEN
Blog Tour Schedule
********* GIVEAWAY *********
Stephanie is giving away winners choice of eBook from either the ORDER OF THE BLADE,
EVER AFTER or ALASKA HEAT series to ONE winner at EVERY Tour Stop. The more times you enter the better your chance is. Just fill out the rafflecopter below to be entered.
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