Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The Companion Book Bundle 2 by Susan Squires Interview

The Companion Bundle Two - Banner

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – The Companion Book Bundle 2 SERIES – The Companion Series AUTHOR – Susan Squires GENRE – Paranormal Romance PUBLICATION DATE – December 8th, 2015 LENGTH (Pages/# Words) - 892 PUBLISHER – Susan Squires COVER ARTIST – Dreams2Media

The Companion Bundle Two - Cover

BOOK SYNOPSIS

ONE WITH THE NIGHT
Far from the glittering lights and shallow bustle of 1822 London lies another world—a realm of shadows and secrets, where desire holds dominion and passion know no limits…
Jane Blundell’s keen intellect and wit have always set her apart from her marriage-minded peers. But such differences are nothing compared to the change that comes upon her when she is infected by a blood sample in her father’s laboratory. Suddenly her veins resonate with a terrifying, exhilarating power. Dr. Blundell takes Jane to the Scottish highlands to research a cure, where she collides with the only man who can understand her hunger—and slake her unending desire…
Callan Kilkenny has returned to England from Marrakech, still filled with self-loathing at the deeds he committed in the name of a beautiful, depraved vampire. Now that he has tracked down Dr. Blundell in hopes of a cure, he has also found a kindred spirit in Jane. Her passion and her blood call to Callan, fueling a carnal need that shocks them both with its intensity. But others have come in search of the cure too…for reasons that are deadly. And to save Jane and the rest of their kind, Callan must risk everything—even his last chance at redemption…
“When it comes to combining extreme sensuality with dangerous drama, no one does it better than Squires.” —Romantic Times BOOKreviews
ONE WITH THE SHADOWS
Kate Malone makes her living reading Tarot cards and fleecing society’s elite. With no prospect of independence, her own fate looks bleak. But Kate’s fortunes change when she steals a magnificent emerald—and is confronted by a mysterious stranger. Kate is sure the striking gentleman’s attention is a ruse to retrieve the gem. But his presence awakens her to a passion she never dreamed of… and to powers she never knew she possessed.
Gian Urbano is bound by honor to retrieve the mystical stone that can drain a vampire’s power—and drive them to madness. The willful, stunning Kate has no idea of the emerald’s dark magic, or the lengths Gian’s enemies will go to possess it. But soon Gian discovers for Kate a desire more compelling than duty—one that could save them both or lead them to their downfall…
Full of colorful characters, romantic locales and vivid details of 1820’s life [One with the Shadows] has a delicious pace and plenty of thrills, and her vampire myths is both mannered—almost Victorian—and intriguingly offbeat. Bound to net a wide audience of paranormal fans, this one may even convert devotees of traditional historical.” —Publisher’s Weekly (A Best Book of the Year)
ONE WITH THE DARKNESS
Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano has power, beauty, and—as a vampire—eternal life. Her overwhelming regret is a mistake she made centuries ago when she chose not to transform her one true love, Jergan, into a vampire too. Donnatella’s choice has deprived her of the only true love she’s ever known. But just as all seems lost, the discovery of a 300-year-old note leads her to a gift left by her old friend, Leonardo da Vinci: a machine to take her back in time to rewrite the history of her heart…
Once back in time, Donnatella’s memory of the intervening years is lost. Yet when she sees the breathtaking barbarian slave, Jergan, from afar, she feels like she has always known him. The instant attraction she feels draws them together. For Donnatella, the romance is tantalizing, awakening a passion that feels both old and new. But as the two fall in love again, a new danger threatens to tear them apart. Now Jergan’s love for Donnatella will be tested in a most perilous way—and if he fails, the two lovers will be separated again…for eternity.

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One With The Shadow - Author Photo

AUTHOR BIO

Susan Squires is a New York Times bestselling author known for breaking the rules of romance writing. Whatever her time period, or subject, some element of the paranormal always creeps in. She has won multiple contests for published novels and reviewer's choice awards. Publisher's Weekly named Body Electric one of the most influential mass market books of 2003 and One with the Shadows, the fifth in her vampire Companion Series, a Best book of 2007. Time for Eternity, the first in the DaVinci time travel series, received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly.
Susan has a Masters in English literature from UCLA and once toiled as an executive for a Fortune 500 company. Now she lives at the beach in Southern California with her husband, Harry, a writer of supernatural thrillers, and three very active Belgian Sheepdogs, who like to help her write by putting their chins on the keyboarddddddddddddddddddddddd.

Interview:

Where are you from?   I was born in Vacaville in Northern California and have lived in beautiful places all over the state like San Luis Obispo on the coast and Garbervilled in the Redwoods and Susanville in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These days I am lucky enough to live at the beach in Southern California. We are four blocks from the sand, so we go down there quite a bit.
Tell us your latest news? I’m just finishing the last book in my Magic series, about the contemporary Tremaine family who have DNA from Merlin of Camelot. Merlin’s magic was dispersed and lost. But now the magic wants to come together, and when the Tremaine siblings meet someone else with the magic gene, they are instantly attracted, and the magic in their genes is activated. True love and a magic power—sounds great, doesn’t it? Of course the path of true love does not run smoothly and there are those who inherited their magic from Morgan Le Fay who have very different ideas than the Tremaines about what to do with it. This Magic Moment should be out in early summer.

When and why did you begin writing? I began writing when I was twelve years old. I started a book told from the point of view of my dog! I think I got thirty-five pages typed before I figured out that this was going to be hard! It’s something I always wanted to do because I enjoyed being carried away by the stories my mother told me, the ones I made up to entertain myself, and the ones I read in books. And writing was just an extension of telling myself storyies. Of course, I didn’t think writing was a practical way to make a living, so I did other things after college. But I came back to it in one of my many mid-life crises.

When did you first consider yourself a writer? Actually, I think it was when I started writing a second book after the first one didn’t sell. When you keep going, and want to get better at the craft, and start investing time and effort into learning how to do it, I think that’s when you’re a writer. However, I think I didn’t really FEEL like a writer until I sold my first book to a New York press. There’s nothing as exciting as getting the call from an editor saying he wants to buy your book.

What inspired you to write your first book? The first book where I was seriously trying to complete a novel with the idea of perhaps selling, was called Sacrament. It was the precursor to my vampire series, The Companion series. This was back when everyone was blaming the victims for having AIDS. And a thought just popped into my head. What if other things/people we villify were just victims of a disease? Like…vampires, for instance. The concept that vampires have a parasite in their blood that gives them great powers and long life at the cost of drinking blood to feed it became the basis of a vampire mythos that was so powerful for me that I returned to it again and again in The Companion series. Around the time I got this idea, I was reading a book (to be nameless) that I thought had a great premise. But I didn’t think it delivered on that premise. When I got to the end I tossed it in the trash, and I remember thinking clearly, “I may not be Jane Austen, but I can do better than THAT!” That experience freed me from my English major background and my inner critic, and I started writing that vampire story.

Do you have a specific writing style? People have told me that they would recognize a Susan Squires book even if my name wasn’t on it. I ask them what they mean and I ususally get some version of these comments: “It was so intense. “ “You really care about the language.” “I felt like I was really there.” Or, “I just couldn’t put it down—it really moved.” I love it when I get emails that say, “I really hate you….” Because often they go on to say that they stayed up most of the night, or had to cook dinner with my book in their hand so they could continue reading. That’s what I want—to give people a good ride.

How did you come up with the title? The bundle I’m promoting is called “The Companion” after the series itself, and the first book in the series. The Companion is the name I gave the parasite that is in the vampire’s blood and give him or her incredible power, and the curse of a long life, and having to feed it. It cannot be resisted, and it loves life, so it doesn’t let the vampire die. They can’t even commit suicide. The three books in this bundle are books 4, 5, and 6 of the series. They all stand alone of course. They are One With the Night, One with the Shadows and One with the Darkness. My editor at MacMillan came up with those after we were talking about the message in the books (see the next question!)

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? In these books the message is probably that you must embrace what you fear in order to be fully alive. They are about pushing your personal boundries to find love and fulfillment.

How much of the book is realistic? There aren’t really vampires, of course. But these books take place in Regency England and Italy and One With the Darkness takes place primarily in Caligula’s Rome. The details of the period, daily life, how rich people lived, the sociatal rules, etc., are very accurate. And I tried very hard to portray what it would really be like to be a vampire who has lived a very long time, or a charlatan who lives by her wits on the Continent, or the daughter of a famous researcher of blood in Scotland. So I like to think that they are VERY realistic in some ways, and that just helps the reader accept the paranormal parts.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? Well, I don’t know any vampires, but all characters come out of your own experience with people and how they would react, and what they would feel. They’re a composite of people I know, and myself into the bargain. (I’m both the heroine and the villain by the way.) I have been to Scotland, and to Italy, so that helped me with setting books there, even if they were in different time periods.

What books have most influenced your life most? Well, Pride and Prejudice, of course. And I loved Georgette Heyer books. My husband started me out by reading aloud These Old Shades when we were younger, and I thought those books were pretty perfect (except no sex, and no paranormal elements!) And I loved Robinson Crusoe when I was little. It was the first book I read all the way through when I was young. It gave me an appreciation for figuring out how things would really work to write a convincing story.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? I have known many wonderful writers, and count many as friends. Christine Feehan helped me a lot when I first started out, and I will never forget her generosity. She mentored me, not about writing itself, but about the business of writing, and that is often a shock to new writers. It was to me.

What would you like my readers to know? I love these three books. All are among my favorites. One with the Night is set in Scotland, and incorporates not only my vampire mythos but some of the myths of Scotland as well. Jane and Callan Kilkenny both make unthinkable sacrifices for love. I think is book also includes some of my most intensely emotional sex scenes. One with the Shadows was named a Best Book of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly Magazine, which was an honor. I loved the scarred heroine, Kate, who dupes people with her tarot readings and believes in nothing she can’t see, and Gian Urbano, the beautiful man who is the embodiment of the mystery she rejects. These two are opposites in so many ways. She is jaded, but he, who has lived two thousand years, still strives to change the world for the better. That book also contained a side character who practically stole every scene she was in. Gian’s mother, the Contessa, is a vampire who pushed Europe into the Renaissance. She has lived with regret ever since she didn’t make her one true love, a barbarian slave in Caligula’s Rome, vampire. She watched him die as a mortal, since making vampires is forbidden by the vampire council. I decided to give her a chance to correct her mistake in One with the Darkness. She finds a time machine left to her by her friend Leonardo Da Vinci, and goes back to Rome to find Jergan and make him vampire. Of course, it’s never as easy as that, is it? I love writing the Contessa, and Jergan and I loved the chance to research ancient Rome.



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