Friday, October 27, 2017

Damned by Alexandrea Weis Excerpt, Giveaway & Interview


Damned
Blackwell Series
Book One
Alexandrea Weis

Release Date October 3, 2017

Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Supernatural Thriller

Word Count: 108,000

Publisher: Vesuvian Books

Book Description:

Over a hundred years after the death of Magnus Blackwell, Altmover Manor sits abandoned.

Lexie Arden and her fiancé, Will Bennet, are determined to rescue the neglected Mount Desert Island landmark. They want to make Altmover Manor their home. But Magnus has other plans.

A spirit bound to his former residence, Magnus finds himself inexplicably drawn to the young woman. She has a supernatural gift; a gift Magnus wants to exploit.
As Lexie and Will settle in, secrets from Magnus’s past begin to surface.

Compelled to learn all she can about the former owner, Lexie becomes immersed in a world of voodoo, curses, and the whereabouts of a mysterious dragon cane.

Magnus’s crimes won’t be so easily forgotten, and what Lexie unearths is going to change the future … for everyone.

Bound to a spirit with a sinister history, a woman with a dark power will battle to rule the realm of the dead…

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Excerpt:

Lexie awoke with a start from a sound sleep. Gaping into the blackness of the strange bedroom, she discovered the storm had abated and she detected the creaks and groans of the old house. Then a crack from the floorboards made her flinch.
It came from Will’s side of the bed. She reached out to shake him, but he didn’t move.
“Will?”
She received a muffled grunt.
Another crack in the floor, but this time it happened right next to her side of the bed. An odor lingered in the air.
Is that coffee?
A column of light glittering to her left made Lexie’s mouth go dry. The oddity soon took on the shape of a man.
His strong frame, long arms, and tapered hands came into view. Good-looking, despite the cruel curl of his lips, his chiseled features, and engaging eyes, made her insides tingle. But when the cut of his old-fashioned red vest, long black coat, and white ascot tie took shape, Lexie understood this wasn’t some hazy fantasy. She didn’t fantasize about men from another century.
Lexie clutched her bedsheet as a fearful scream rose in her throat.
“Please, my dear, don’t bore me with your petty shrieks,” the figure said, his tone condescending.
Like a lightbulb getting enough electricity to reach its wattage, his image brightened, bringing out his details. Lexie scrutinized the buttons on his coat, the fine craftsmanship of his high black boots, and grasped the identity of her visitor.
Then a loud pop rang out, and he was gone. It happened so fast, Lexie questioned if it had happened at all.
“Welcome to Altmover Manor, Ms. Arden.” She recognized the voice of the apparition. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”

This time, Lexie did not hold back her scream, and as she opened her mouth …

About the Author:

From New Orleans, Alexandrea Weis was raised in the motion picture industry and began writing stories at the age of eight. In college, she studied nursing. After finishing her PhD, she decided to pick up the pen once again and begin her first novel. Since that time, she has published many novels and won several national writing awards for fiction. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her bestselling books, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story memorable.

Alexandrea Weis is also a certified/permitted wildlife rehabber with the La. Wildlife and Fisheries. When she is not writing, she rescues orphaned and injured wildlife. She is married; they live in New Orleans...



Interview:

1.    What literary pilgrimages have you gone on? Probably through some of the Dickens books in London. Love London and have retraced the steps of several books set there. And also through my hometown of New Orleans, but since I know the city so well when I read about places mentioned in a book, I’ve usually been there.
2.    What is the first book that made you cry? Probably the Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. The part where he cut his webbed feet so he could play the trumpet killed me.
3.    Does writing energize or exhaust you? It always energizes me. Especially when I have got a scene, or a character stuck in my head.
4.    What is your writing Kryptonite? Life. Anything that takes me out of a story pulls me away is Kryptonite. Grocery shopping is a big one.
5.    Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? No. From the day I started the process of publishing my first book ten years ago, I swore I was going to use my real name. 
6.    What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I am very close with Mary Ting. We support each other, vent when something isn’t going well, share story ideas, and have each other’s back. Her encouragement has kept me going through thick and thin.
7.    Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? It depends on the series. I have had one series, Cover to Covers, where some of the characters carried over to The Corde Noire Series. And a character from my Nicci Beauvoir series shows up in the Corde Noire. I think it depends on what I am going for with a series.     
8.    What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I don’t have any authors I have disliked and then grew into. I have learned to appreciate the different voices I read and gain something from each. You can’t dislike anyone who shows you a new way of viewing the world.
9.    What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault. Her entire series on Alexander The Great is underappreciated.
10.    As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? My raccoon named Rodney. Play with your food, love your fat, and don’t let anything bother you. That’s his motto.
11.    How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have written about 50 books. Damned is my 25th published novel. So there are 25 still to publish, and I am writing more every year.
12.    What did you edit out of this book? Most of Damned is as I wrote it. Only some scenes were trimmed in editing.
13.    If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? I am a certified and permitted wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. We don’t; get paid to care for animals, but I would probably take in more orphaned and injured animals than I do.
14.    Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? No. Perhaps in my earlier books, friends recognized a few of the characters I wrote about. Not so much anymore.

15.    What is your favorite childhood book? The Trumpeter Swan by EB White. Loved that book.






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