Welcome to Hooked On Romance, Shiela!

Thank you Nikki for having me on your blog today and allowing me to talk about my Darkness series.

What started out as a single book, Seducing the Darkness, has now spiraled out into an eight book series with the possibility of more. I never say I’m finished with a book when I write the final words because there is always the possibility of it coming back in some other form such as side-line characters demanding their own story. As is the case with the Darkness series.

Originally I had written the return of the sun at the end of Seducing, but when the idea for a second book came to mind, I decided to leave my characters in the dark…so to speak. So for the rest of the series, with the exception of the last two, the sun is absent due to a ritual used to release the big bad king of vampires, Avadur from his jail in the Realm of Dark Mystics. Throughout the series, my heroes and heroines fight to protect the city from the vampires now attempting to take over the city of Jacob’s Cove as well as take out the last man standing who was involved in the ritual.

The Darkness in my titles and the books have a few meanings. One is the most obvious. The sun has been blotted out and therefore the city is cast in darkness. The other is the epitome of what everyone thinks vampires stand for. Dark, dangerous blood thirsty night dwellers. The third is the darker side that is inside every human being, every creature. We all have dark thoughts sometimes, though we may not admit to them or even act on them, they are there. The characters in my books deal with some of that as they fight to save their lives and their city.

Each book looks into the lives of the hero and heroine and takes you into their world as they try to bring the sun back. Amongst the love that blossoms there is always an undercurrent of danger. In every book there is suspense that will have you gasping and wondering, “What will happen next?” It would be best to read the books in the order they were written to really grasp what the whole story is about.

I love vampires…actually, I like anything spooky. If given the choice to see a chick flick or a blood and gore edge of your seat suspense, I will always choose the latter. I’m a diehard paranormal nut and it shows in my writing. I love being scared and scaring others. Just ask my children, I’m sure they’ll gladly tell you how annoying I can be at times. What can I say, I love scaring them. Not to worry, they are all grown up.

The darkness scares us all but also, it intrigues us. What lies in the shadows? It’s the unseen factor that keeps us on our toes, and of course, has our imagination running wild. The creaking on the floor may just be the house shifting, or…an axe murderer inching his way to your bed. The cold chill in the air might very well be a draft from a window, or…a ghostly figure attempting to make its presence known. Who hasn’t walked in the dark on a cloudy night, all alone, and wonder, “Is someone following me?” You’re body tenses and you quicken your pace. What is that odd feeling you have in the pit of your belly? Fear? Excitement? It has your adrenaline pumping and makes you feel high.

This is why I love to write paranormal. The ordinary person might see a cloudy dark night as just that. Whereas I see it as, “In the darkness the shadows come out to play.” Hmmm…now there is a story waiting to be written. These are the very things I use when writing.

So take my hand now as I lead you into a world of darkness and evil, where good and bad mingle and love is the only light that shines.

I give you now, Penetrating the Darkness, book six in the Darkness series.

Summary: Felicity Hawthorne is finally waking up—literally. Everything about her sheltered life in the Land of Mystics has been a lie, including the whopper that her natural mother is evil. Determined to find the truth, she breaks free…and touches down in the middle of stark, cold Jacob’s Cove, surrounded by a pack of bloodthirsty demons.

Dusty Ryder didn’t ask to be turned into a vampire. Even now, on the brink of his unwilling initiation, he is looking for a way out. A reprieve comes in the form of a dark-haired goddess whose beauty drives him to rescue her from his new “family”. Except she’s not quite as helpless as she looks.

As they embark on a journey of self-discovery, they uncover more secrets that bring Felicity face to face with her forgotten past—and make Dusty wonder if he’s gotten in over his head. But it’s too late. Now that he’s had her in his arms, he can’t bring himself to let her go.

Until Chaos rains down on them, threatening to end it all.

Warning: Reading this book will have you reliving how you lost your virginity and damn glad you don’t have to do it again.

Excerpt:

Dusty dove behind a turned over car, covering his head. He heard shouts from the men behind him, more crackling before everything went silent. He waited a bit before taking his hands off his ears. Carefully, he inched over to peek around the car. Seeing Slasher along with the other creatures get to their feet, Dusty kept behind the car, still not sure what was happening.

“What we got here?”

“She looks real pretty.”

“Maybe she’s an angel, dropping from the heavens like she did.”

“Looks ripe to me. Smells fresh too.”

Curiosity getting the best of him, Dusty shifted from behind the car, keeping low to the ground in hopes he wasn’t noticed. He ducked behind another vehicle, peering around the edge to see who they were talking about.

He heard whimpers that sounded distinctly female.

“Aw, look, she’s scared. We should hold her and make her feel better.”

Dusty watched as Slasher moved forward and lifted someone up. He caught a glimpse of something white with feet kicking out. He moved closer, wanting to get a better look.

“Ooh, she feels real soft.”

He saw her now, a frail-looking woman dressed in some sort of white dress with hair as dark as the night that came just past her waist.

And the beasts were having fun with her.

“Leave her alone,” he bellowed, bravely standing up from behind his hiding spot. Her eyes met his, a blue so beautiful he was lost in them. What happened next left him stunned.

She began to glow—there was no other explanation for it. A white light began to shimmer off her and as if it burnt him, Slasher dropped her quickly and backed away. When she began to glow brighter, burning his eyes, Dusty ducked down behind the car. He heard the screams, all male, ricocheting off of the vacant buildings around him, bouncing off of the pavement and filling the air.

Then it all went silent.

Dusty inched his way to the edge of the car. Slowly he lifted himself into a crouched position and looked out over the hood. All he saw was a bundle of white curled in a ball on the sidewalk. No signs of any of the animals that had surrounded her.

What the hell?

She moaned.

Looking around, he didn’t see anyone else. He moved out from behind the car, slowly making his way towards her. As he got closer, he smelled burnt flesh. It stung his nose, so he pulled his arm over his mouth and nose as he inched forward.

He sidestepped around a pile of ashes on the ground. A sparkle of silver caught his attention and he recognized it as the ring Slasher had worn.

The girl whimpered, drawing his attention. “Um…are you okay?” She jumped when he spoke, startling him. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” He held his hands up as she spun around to face him. Her eyes were almost hypnotic.

“You called out to stop them,” she spoke softly.

He blinked away his daze. “Yeah. Um…are you okay?”

“They wanted to harm me.”

“Yeah. Do you know what happened to them?”

“They were going to hurt me. I didn’t mean to do it, but they frightened me and when I get frightened sometimes I have difficulty controlling myself. I didn’t mean to hurt them.”

Her voice was like a dove’s song. Soft and soothing. He felt drawn to it. He looked down at the piles of ash, then back up at her. “Did you…kill them?”

“I was frightened and then they started to scream and it frightened me even more. They all just crumbled.”

He looked down at the piles, his brow lifting “You turned them to dust.” He whipped his head up to her. “Please don’t do that to me.”

“I would never—I never meant to—they frightened me—” Her head jerked to the side at the sound of a crashing trashcan in the distance.

She ran to him, into his arms, and he was compelled to hold her as she stared with fright. “It’s okay. Probably just cats or a dog.”

“You’ll protect me? Please, don’t let me harm someone else.”

“Okay, just stay calm.” He had to get her someplace safe. Looking around, he saw one of the few buildings that wasn’t charred or broken down and decided it would do. “Come with me.” She clung to him so he started walking across the street to the building.

“What’s your name?”

“Felicity.” She quivered in his arms.

Check out the entire Darkness series at: www.shielasbooks.ca or http://www.shielasbooks.ca/TheDarknessSeries.htm

Blogs: Dark Cravings: http://darkcravings.blogspot.com/

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