Lost
Wages of Sin
Sinners
and Saints
Book
1
Rosalie
Stanton
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Totally Bound
Publishing
Date of Publication: June 13,
2014
ISBN: 9781784300487
ASIN: Not yet available
Number of pages: 260
Word Count: 91k
Book Description:
Working for Lucifer is the best
job in the universe, until the day it’s not. Then you’re on your own, with Hell
at your heels.
Ava, Sin of Greed, has had a
rough week. The angel she planned to make a life with left her with nothing but
a Dear Jane letter. Even worse, Lucifer believes she spilled Hell’s secrets to
her ex, and her boss’s temper is notoriously apocalyptic.
For centuries, Dante kept his
feelings for Ava under lock-and-key. The one time he pursued something more, he
nearly lost her for good. Lesson learned. However, when he hears of her planned
elopement, all bets are off. Not having Ava was a reality he could accept.
Losing her to an angel is something else entirely.
Now, Ava, once Hell’s golden
child, is fleeing for her life. When her old friend Dante shows up, her first
instinct is to send him packing. But Dante is more than a friend—he’s the only
other man who tempted her, and his fierce loyalty challenges everything she
thought she knew about him. As Ava prepares to battle the devil himself, she
can’t keep from getting closer to Dante…though she doubts her heart can survive
another break.
Excerpt:
Someone thumped her on the
shoulder and sent her spiraling out of her thoughts. A jolt rushed through her
body and everything went on autopilot. Ava jumped to her feet, formed a fist,
and landed a blind punch in less than three seconds. It took another ten
seconds for her scattered mind to piece together what had just occurred, and by
then she was staring into an all-too familiar pair of crystal blue eyes.
Ava blinked. Hard. “Dante?”
“F**king hell,” he cursed,
cradling his nose and scowling at her. “What’d you do that for?”
“What the hell were you sneaking
up on me for?”
“I didn’t sneak!”
Ava looked around, then waved a
hand. “This is a graveyard, Dante. In the middle of the night in Nowheresville.
You don’t just…I dunno, touch someone. You let someone know you’re there.”
“And here I thought getting your
attention would do that just fine.”
“Not like that!”
“Next time I’ll read the f**king
rule book.” Dante dropped his hands and sniffed. A small fleck of blood colored
the space between his nose and lips, but other than looking a little swollen,
he seemed otherwise undamaged. “If this is the way you greet your friends, it’s
no small wonder the whole of Hades is after your sorry a*s.”
Ava’s shoulders dropped and she rolled her
head back, a long groan riding off her lips. “You know about that?”
“What other reason would I have
to be… Where the f**k are we?”
“Mississippi.”
Dante offered a dramatic sigh,
though something in his eyes told her he’d only asked for show. Even at his
drunkest, he wasn’t the sort to forget what state he was in.
“Mississippi,” he muttered. “So
that’s what that smell is.”
On the other hand… Ava
straightened her spine and arched an eyebrow at him. “So…what? You come out
here to make fun of the locals?”
“No,” he replied coolly, wiping
the stray speck of blood off his otherwise pale, pristine skin. “I came here
for you.”
Everything in her stilled. Though
she’d heard him the first time, the words had a way of really sinking in upon
repetition. As though it took a time delay for her to realize there was no
reason aside from her current problem that Dante should be out here with her—or
here at all. He wasn’t the sort of guy to crash in antebellum tourist traps.
“You came here for me,” she
echoed. “Why?”
He shrugged a shoulder, his face
blanking the way it did when he wanted to appear blasé. “Why not?”
“Come on.”
“Thought you could use a friend.”
Ava stared at him a moment
longer, then sighed heavily and tore her gaze to the ground. Yeah, she supposed
she could use a friend. Or a whole army of them. And though Dante wasn’t the
first person she would have called, she couldn’t deny she was happy to see him.
Not that his presence answered
her questions. If anything, he added to the pile.
“I take it Merle gave you the
message,” she murmured. “About…”
“The angel?” One perfect eyebrow
arched. Actually, there wasn’t much about Dante that wasn’t perfect.
Physically, at least. One of his most annoying qualities also happened to be
his most prized. There was nothing worse than a man who knew just how damn good
he looked.
Truly, Dante had always seemed a
bit too perfect when it came to the male form. He was only a few inches taller
than she and had a body built for debauchery, complete with strong arms and a
marble-carved chest. Tonight, he was wrapped in a snug pair of jeans and a
form-fitting long-sleeved navy tee, which made his pale skin seem paler. His
hair was coal black and his eyes sparkled blue. Ava had always loved his eyes.
And thinking about his perfect
eyes right now on the cusp of a broken heart while all of Hell nipped her heels
was probably the last in a very long line of bad ideas. At once she felt
overtly vulnerable, exposed. Standing in a strange town under strange
circumstances with him, her oldest friend, seeming one part savior and one
part…pissed.
Nothing in her world made sense
right now. Dante had just muddied things up even more.
“Yeah,” she said when she remembered
to speak. “The angel. Merle told you.”
Dante nodded solemnly. “That was
the plan, right?”
Ava released a shaky breath, her
mind spinning so fast it was a small wonder she remained standing. Looking at
Dante now with everything that had happened in the past week still heavy on her
heart, with the uncertainty of her future, took her suddenly oddly-shaped world
and turned it on its head. She felt like she was living in the funhouse mirror
version of her reality. Sebastian, then the Binsfeld Six, and now her vampire.
At some point she had to wake up.
“What are you doing here?” she
asked again. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“Not much,” he admitted, stepping
forward.
There was something guarded in
his gaze, and so help her if she started analyzing every little look from
Dante, she would lose her mind. Trying to figure out what he was doing here was
work enough.
“Not much.”
He nodded. “Just that you were
out here. And you could use a friend.”
This admission did little to
answer her questions. Her friendship with Dante was not a secret, by any means,
yet she couldn’t speculate as to why anyone right now would decide to throw her
a lifeline. Being alone certainly hadn’t done much for her…yet there was a good
reason she hadn’t gone to Dante in the first place.
Dante was the kind of friend who
was there for the good times and gone for the bad. At least in her experience.
If he had any idea what was really going on, he’d make tracks. The large,
cartoonish kind.
But Dante didn’t know. Hell, he
didn’t even know what she was. His knowledge beyond his own kind was rather
limited, and while his experience with others of Lilith’s children left him
with a relatively grounded understanding of how the world worked, certain
things—like Hell and all its residents—remained more or less relegated to the
realm of other. He was aware Hell existed, sure, and had figured her for a
demon early in their relationship, but otherwise boasted little knowledge of
Lucifer or the pit beyond what was assumed through myth.
Seven centuries and he had no
idea she was part of that myth. She’d never mentioned it, and he likely hadn’t
thought to ask. His perception of her role had been established on the legs of
their meeting, which, as it was, had been entirely accidental. It just so
happened she didn’t like watching anyone, demon or otherwise, suffer at the
hands of holy men, and in saving Dante’s life all those years ago, she’d earned
a permanent ally.
Well, until now. Her own brand of
permanence was about to run out, and of course Dante wouldn’t know why. If she
explained the significance of what had occurred with Sebastian, and how limited
her future was, he would be gone. She wouldn’t know to miss him.
Still, she owed him explanations.
Dante was the one loose end she had—the only one who wouldn’t know why she was
gone when Lucifer finally came to collect her life. Her siblings knew what was
coming. Dante was the last person to whom to pay her regards.
Perhaps that was why someone had
sent him to her. So she could do right by her one earthly friend and say
goodbye.
“I could,” Ava admitted softly.
“Use a friend. I’m glad you’re here.”
A shadow crossed Dante’s face.
“That’s not good.”
She frowned. “What? That I’m glad
you’re here?”
“Yeah. You’re never glad I’m near
these days.” He laughed shortly. “You must really be into some deep shit.”
“You have no idea.”
“All this over an angel.”
The corner of Ava’s mouth pulled
into a grin, and for a moment she felt somewhat like her old self. “More or
less.”
About
the Author:
Rosalie Stanton is a
multi-published erotic romance author, with emphasis in paranormal and urban
fantasy. A lifelong enthusiast of larger than life characters, Rosalie enjoys
building worlds filled with strong heroes and heroines of all backgrounds.
Rosalie lives in Missouri with
her husband. At an early age, she discovered a talent for creating worlds,
which evolved into a love of words and storytelling. Rosalie graduated with a
degree in English. As the granddaughter of an evangelical minister, Rosalie
applied herself equally in school in the creative writing and religious studies
departments, which had an interesting impact on her writing. When her attention
is not engaged by writing or editing, she enjoys spending time with close
friends and family.
Rosalie is represented by Tish
Beaty at the L. Perkins Agency
Tour
giveaway
5 e-copy giveaways of Lost Wages
of Sin and
1 $50 Amazon Gift Card
I love paranomal books and i love series so this fits the bill perfect, thanks for the giveaway too, your book looks great and the excerpt has me ready to read it!!!:)
ReplyDeleteYou had me after the first few lines of the book description, this one is right up my ally , looking forward to reading it
ReplyDeleteI also lived in Missouri for a time, at Evangel University in Springfield, Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteGreat cover! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDelete-Rafflecopter name is Jamie J******
The cover is just great, and i really love anything paranomal, so this looks great and i look forward to reading it. thank you
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the excerpt. Thanks for the chance!
ReplyDeletesounds like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleterounder9834 @yahoo.com