Happy Birthday to me! In order to celebrate and to say thank you to my readers for another great year, the follow birthday promotions are scheduled.
Beneath the Shadows of Evil: Taken, Book One in the trilogy, is only .99 on Sept. 22nd, 1.99 on Sept. 23rd, and only 2.99 on September 24th. Read three chapters free in our Library.
Beneath the Shadows of Evil: Torn, Book Two in the trilogy will be only .99 on sept 24th, 1.99 on September 25th, and 2.99 on Sept. 26th. Read three chapters free in our Library.
Beneath the Shadows of Evil Treasured: Book Three in the trilogy will be .99 on Sept. 26th. 1.99 0n Sept. 27th. and 2.99 on September 28th. Read three chapters free in our Library.
All promotions run on Central time, beginning and ending at 12:00 midnight, and all books return to 3.95 by Sept. 29th.
In honor of my birthday, which means being one year closer to retirement and one year closer to being able to write full time, I have scheduled deals on my dark paranormal historical series. Now some of you may be saying, “She writes stuff that isn’t kinky?” The answer is yes. I have a very dark trilogy called Beneath the Shadows of Evil. It is a story set in the 1500’s of Hungary. It features a very cruel, twisted, and non-sparkly vampire, his crazy sister, and a young woman named Alliana who is a Gypsy, stolen from her family and taken to his castle to sire a child through magic.
Alliana will attain great magical powers when she turns eighteen, and Mikhal the Merciless wishes to conceive a child with her that will be the most powerful creature on Earth, capable of ruling the world as he and his father live out their lives of eternity, one that doesn’t include Alliana. That scenario does not take into account Mikhal’s attraction to Alliana. She is an enticing morsel he cannot quite toss away.
This tale is dark. My vampire are soulless and cruel. Instead of sparkles, they drip the blood red color of their ruthless existence. Alliana’s life is a living hell, which she cannot escape. You will hate Mikhal long before you cheer this couple on to love. Their path to happiness is as twisted as Mikhal’s dark mind, but the things in life worth fighting for rarely come easy.
If you like HEAs, this is not the series for you. If you like bright and shiny heroes, this is not the series for you. If you enjoy your romance served up with a side of sweet, these are not the books for you. That said if you like a tale that captures the true evil of one’s soul and somehow manages to turn it into something redeemable, you just might fall in love with this series. There are no rainbows and kittens. There is no instant love. There is no guarantee of happiness, but there is heart wrenching emotion.
History was cruel to women and Mikhal is vicious. His heart is cold and dead, and his soul has fled, the void filled by malevolent joy. Alliana is helpless to change her situation. He can make her body feel, but at the same time, he shatters her heart. Mikhal is an anti-hero and this book is an anti-romance. So why read this series? Why suffer the agony? Why open yourself up to something so dark? What I offer you is a wild rollercoaster ride of emotions that will make you scream with fury, twist you around, and make your heart ache. These books will make you feel.
Begin your dark journey with Taken: Beneath the Shadows of Evil Book One, and if this book gets its teeth into you, come along for the ride, but be sure to buckle yourself in.
Reviews for Taken
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark yet so very compelling! September 25, 2013
By Sotia Lazu
This book is outside my usual comfort zone. I don’t go for really dark romances, but I know and love Ms. Raymond’s writing and her brilliantly twisted mind, so I gave it a try. I’m glad I did. Alliana and Mikhal became real to me page by page, and I found myself talking to the screen, urging one on or yelling at the other.
To me, this is as dark as romances go, and still Ms. Raymond manages to give us something shiny through the darkness. Something I can’t wait to explore in the following books.
5 stars WOW,
By Charlene B. Crowe on September 8, 2014
I am surprised at this story. I didn’t think I would like it but it is really a good read. It’s so original for another Vampire story. Great chemistry, and detail, that inky an experienced writer can achieve. It is consistent, and mesmerizing. I’m already into the 2nd book of this series. Yes, there are some horrid things that happen in this story, but considering what it is about, one would expect it. And while you hate Mikhal, you also learn to care for him, and the transformation he goes through. Worth reading.