Teresa D'Amario

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By Teresa D’Amario
Freya’s Bower

At long last – Dark Succession is now available. Learn about Ryland, first introduced in SheWolf! A bad boy who isn’t quite what he seems. Or is he?

Nora Hunt is the daughter of former pack leader Sean Hunt and niece to Kieran Hunt.  Emotionally and physically scarred after being held captive for weeks, she’s finally ready to move on with her life.  But when she meets Ryland, she discovers not only a world of darkness and pain, but discovers Ryland may not be any better than those who held her captive all those weeks.

When Ryland Keegan steps in as Alpha of his dead brother’s pack, he inherits a pack of savage rogue wolven, as well as a legacy of violence, lies and five women held captive within the pack’s confines.

But when Ryland’s pack members start dying one at a time, he must decide if Nora is the catalyst or the killer.  Can he trust his True Mate? Or will he be relegated to a life of leading the dregs of Wolven society?

And today is party day! I’ll be giving away prizes and having loads of fun, so come join me at Rae Lori’s Blog!  I’m so honored to be with Rae to celebrate this momentous occasion.  So let’s go have some fun!  (Rae’s blog should post later this morning).  I’m just a little early.

It’s PLAYTIME!  :)

First, Let me say I’m VERY Excited!  It’s getting so close to the release of Dark Succession, I think my hands are shaking.  I’ve been waiting so long for it to come out, and now it’s here.  Well, on Tuesday it’ll be here. :)  Don’t forget to check it out, because I know you’ll love it.

Ok, now back to the blog.  My husband did something- though he doesn’t remember what- and for the last 6 months or more, we’ve been receiving all these really strange “Men’s magazines”.  GQ, Details, and so forth.  Mostly they go in the trash (hubby is NOT a GQ kinda guy), and since we haven’t received  a bill, I must assume either he paid by credit card or these are “free subscriptions” trying to get us to buy.

Every now and then something on the cover catches my eye.  Yesterday Details arrived.  Inside these mags are sometimes hot, sexy actors, interviewed as to how they manage to keep their masculine physique, or what drew them to their career, and such and such.  Just like you see in women’s magazines.  (Odd, isn’t it? we rarely read about how women do things like that – our magazines are filled with the same stuff as the men’s, or at least the ones I read are). 

So I’m flipping through this high class magazine.  As you can tell by the link, this month’s feature is “The men of True Blood“.  Only I couldn’t find the danged article. I didn’t see it anywhere in the index, which was very frustrating.  Maybe I’m blind.  Who knows.  So I sit and flip and flip until I finally find the article.  While scanning the interviews, I was surprised by something.

Here we have a book/movie set in the backwoods of the deep south.  Each character relishes their good ol’ boy southern charm, speaking with a drawl sweet enough for maple syrup, with just enough spice to make you get shivers.  that’s normal for a Brit, right?  Or an Aussie?  What about a Norwegian?

OMG, none of these guys are American (Don’t get me wrong, they are still hot, can still act, and are still great at what they do).  But it’s funny how I never noticed the three leading men on True Blood have fake accents.  Okay, I’ll be honest, part of the reason I don’t watch it alot is the accents seem more forced than realistic.  To the true southerner, we just shake our heads and think “Yeah, right”.  I’m sure the same could be said for American actors overseas when they fake an accent.  But to be honest, I hadn’t realized these men weren’t Americans, I had just taken for granted they weren’t “Southerners”.

So who did the best “Fake” southern accent?  My absolutely favorite, end all, fake southern accent, is Bo Duke.  No, not from the cheesy movie – more from the cheesy tv show!  John Schneider made his TV debut by hiding his natural NY accent and sounding so southern I’d think he lived next door to my grandmother hidden in the smaller recesses of Georgia.   Seriously, it was awesome. :)  The producers had travelled to Atlanta to find their Bo Duke, and there he was, with his feet propped up on their desk, his worn out cowboy boots, his checked flannel shirt and his faker than all get out, but sounded great anyway, southern accent.  I gotta tell ya, he fooled me!

So who’s your favorite True Blood Character, and who’s your favorite Fake southern accent? 

Only 5 more days till Dark Succession hits the “internet waves” and you can find an awesome sneak peek with Twimom227’s “That’s what I’m talking About” blog.  What an awesome job she did!  So drop by and check it out!

DARK SUCCESSION – Avail 20 April, 2010

By Teresa D’Amario

Available from Freya’s Bower

Nora Hunt is the daughter of former pack leader Sean Hunt and niece to Kieran Hunt.  Emotionally and physically scarred after being held captive for weeks, she’s finally ready to move on with her life.  But when she meets Ryland, she discovers not only a world of darkness and pain, but discovers Ryland may not be any better than those who held her captive all those weeks.

When Ryland Keegan steps in as Alpha of his dead brother’s pack, he inherits a pack of savage rogue wolven, as well as a legacy of violence, lies and five women held captive within the pack’s confines.

But when Ryland’s pack members start dying one at a time, he must decide if Nora is the catalyst or the killer.  Can he trust his True Mate? Or will he be relegated to a life of leading the dregs of Wolven society?

“What do you want?” Nora was tall compared to most shewolves, at almost six feet, one inch, yet still he towered over her. He moved slowly, giving her every opportunity to run, his eyes watching her every move. Running almost seemed like a good idea. But then again, he might give chase, and she wouldn’t stand a chance. She tilted her head back to stare into his eyes. She lost her balance and was forced to step back.

“I want to know,” he leaned in, whispering, “why you were in the bar.”

“My car broke down.” His scent moved from her lungs to her blood. The mix of masculine power and leather worked like an aphrodisiac, striking with a force that nearly brought her to her knees. His heat burned against her flesh, though they were still inches apart. Nora longed to lean forward, hungry for more.

“Why did you run?” He cocked his head, curiosity shining in those glittering eyes.

She wasn’t about to tell him it was because she’d caught his scent and had found it shockingly attractive, something that had never happened to her before. “I didn’t want to infringe on another wolven’s territory.” Well, it was true. To a point.

His nostrils flared, he inched closer, his breath whispered against her ear. He rumbled low in his chest.

“I don’t believe you,” he murmured. His breath played across her skin and goose bumps rose. “I think you’re like all the rest.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You’re like all the other shewolves who come through town, looking for an alpha to fuck, in hopes he’ll offer to mate.”

His words splashed over her like cold water. He was wrong. And she would tell him so.

Just as soon as her breath returned.

His sharp fangs grazed the side of her neck, and she fought the urge to tilt her head in offering.

She shook her head. “I’m not like the others.” Small, powerless words.

His soft, taunting laugher rolled through her, her muscles turning to water.

“You want me, you know you do. You can’t hide it.” He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. “So what’s it to be, little rabbit? Do I fuck you and send you on your way?”

He was teasing her, pushing her, and, while she knew what he was doing, she couldn’t stop the cold flush of anger. “I’m different from the others. I don’t want you.”

“Really?” He cocked his head and met her gaze.

Her hands drew up to his massive chest. Hard, powerful muscle lay beneath his black shirt. It was almost distracting enough to make her forget her goal. Higher and higher her palms slid.

His eyes narrowed, watching. Waiting.

“Yes, really.” She gasped the words, took in a deep breath, and continued, her voice stronger. “Unlike those mangy bitches, I have a brain, and my brain says no.” With her hands on his shoulders, she slammed her knee upward. He twisted to the side, and she just missed his groin. Nora drew her arm back and let loose, the sharp crack of her palm against his cheek so gratifying.

His eyes widened, and he stepped back, the dull red imprint of her hand evident on his face.

Get your copy on April 20, 2010 here

Come check out Southern Sizzle Romance, where you can enter to win a $25 gift card, which I plan to give away at the end of the month here on my blog.   So drop by and lhave some southern fried romance! Come have some fun, and tell me about your coming summer!

Dark Succession, Available April 20, 2010

Nora Hunt is the daughter of former pack leader Sean Hunt and niece to Kieran Hunt. Emotionally and physically scarred after being held captive for weeks, she’s finally ready to move on with her life. But when she meets Ryland, she discovers not only a world of darkness and pain, but discovers Ryland may not be any better than those who held her captive all those weeks.

When Ryland Keegan steps in as Alpha of his dead brother’s pack, he inherits a pack of savage rogue wolven, as well as a legacy of violence, lies and five women held captive within the pack’s confines.

But when Ryland’s pack members start dying one at a time, he must decide if Nora is the catalyst or the killer. Can he trust his True Mate? Or will he be relegated to a life of leading the dregs of Wolven society?

Oh yes, for more than a year people have asked me when the Sequel to SheWolf would come out.  The time is drawing close!  Just fifteen more days!  The release date is scheduled for 20 April, and I expect everyone is going to find this to be a hot book with powerful emotion.  Ryland is one of my most difficult and yet favorite heroes to write.

When we first meet Ryland, he’s not being a very nice guy.  He holds Anna while his own brother fights Kieran.  The prize?  Anna, of course.  Only things don’t quite work that way, and Ryland still tries to claim her as his mate.  When I was writing SheWolf, Ryland grew from a villain to someone with a deep sadness, combined with enough aggression to make any female a bit nervous.  But at the end of SheWolf, we realize there’s something more in store for Ryland.  At long last, we finally get to find what that “something” is all about. 

So keep watching, and I’ll announce the blogs I’ll visit and the fun things I have in mind!

With so much going on – the new blog, the book releases, the marketing, the new “evil day job” and all, I missed something very important.  I don’t even know HOW I missed it.  When I had the grand opening for the blog, I promised prizes!  And a day later I announced I’d list the winners the following Monday.  Oddly enough, I DID post on Monday but never gave the list of winners! Thanks to Colleen who kept me on the straight and narrow, asking if I’d announced the winners. My first response was “sure I have.  So and so won.”  Then “oh wait, that was that other contest.  Let me go look”. LOL.  So I’m here, ready to announce the winners, and apologize on bended knee for forgetting to announce.  There were 38 responses that were not mine (I’m not eligible for my on prizes, of course.  So using randomizer I have the following inners!

Hanging Wall Calendar – TwiMom227

Desk calendar – Vicki

Copy of Lone Wolf ebook version – in pdf – INCiDeNT

So thank you so much for playing my game, and I’m SO sorry I forgot to post this!!!  I’m so glad you enjoyed the wonderful pictures of Damon.  I can’t help wondering what the model’s real name is. :)

To claim your prize, email me at desertpetiri@aol.com

No, you didn’t miss a release date yet.  But I did allow someone who loves to read and review books, sent her an ARC of Dark Succession, and she did a wonderful review, so I thought I’d share it with everyone.   Larissa does alot of reviews, and I’m so honored for her to be my first Dark Succession reviewer.

Larissa’s Life, Review of Dark Succession

Anyone who has followed me on twitter knows that I’m a big time olympics fan. I love both the summer and winter olympics and have since I was about twelve years old.  I may not be able to tell you who won what 2 years later, but most of the time I’m familiar enough with all the sports to recognize the names of the athletes and have my favorites.

One of my absolute favorite winter sports is ice skating, preferably the individual events over pairs or ice dancing.  So when the male skaters took the ice, I was very excited. I remembered Plushenko from the last olympics. I remember I didn’t like his attitude.  Well it’s four years later, and I’m an open minded fan, so when they showed a biogoraphy on Plushenko, I was prepared to like him. I Felt he was the underdog, and because people didn’t like him, I WANTED to like him.  He deserved it.  Didn’t he?

I remembered Lysacek from the 2006 Olympics as well. I remember watching his short program, wondering what had happened to him. He looked terrible.  Then we find out he had a horrid case of the stomach flu.  Then came his long program and he slam dunked it, despite having been bedridden the day before.  I admire people who can do that.  ALOT.

Enter the 2010 Olympics. 

Plushenko skated first.  His routine was technically flawless when it came to the jumps, but his arms flailed around during the footwork section to the point you wondered if he had any control at all.  And it lacked artistic talent.  It was sharp, edgy, a total “in your face” performance designed to turn people off.

I didn’t like it. 

And again, I didn’t like Plushenko.  And I didn’t think he got a score he deserved.  Compared to later skaters, it was too high.  But he skated first, and that made it hard for judges to know what the “bar” would be, so I understand that.

Lysacek did an awesome job on his short program and I was happy for him.

Then came the long program.

Lysacek skated first.  I liked his performance.  I didn’t love it, because it seemed to lack some of the emotion I’d seen in his performances in the past.  But at the same time, it was technically perfect.  No bobbles that I noticed (I think I remember one which was mentioned, but I didn’t see it).  It was artistic.  It deserved the score it received!

Plushenko’s long program came last.  I’d expected a huge shoot out by the Skaters, and while the media still hypes it as such, to the long time fan, it wasn’t even close.  Plushenko’s program was marred with multiple bobbled jumps.  Low jumps.  Slow jumps.  He was marred with a boring end to his program.  Though I have to admit, his footwork section was much better than on his short program.  All in all, it didn’t have the power he thought it did, and I have a feeling when Plushenko gets back home, deflates that ego of his and truly watches the performances, he’ll see the same things.

But now to the point of this post.  Sportsmanship.  It’s hard to lose.  It’s even harder to get so close and not win, when you know you could do better than you did.  I think Plushenko knows that.  Plushenko has been the epitome of poor sportsmanship, blaming the scoring system for his low score, when in reality it was his bobbled jumps.  Complaining skating was taking a step back because people wouldn’t do quads in competition.  If a skater can do other jumps and make up those points, what does it matter?

Ice skating is a combination sport. It’s not just about altheticism. And it’s not just about artistry.  It’s both.  It appears the Russian skater doesn’t understand that. 

I feel bad for Lysacek, who has not only earned every point and tenth of a point he received on his routines, he deserved that gold medal.  And he’s had to listen to question after question from reporters about how he feels about Plushenko’s complaints.

The man has been amazing.  He’s never once put down Plushenko, his performance or his behavior.  My hat is off to Lysacek!  Great job!  Great sportsmanship!  If they gave out medals for sportsmanship, Evan, you would stand at the top of the podium!  Great job!

Oh and one last word.  To all the Olympics winners standing on that podium listening to the National Anthem:  Thank you for putting your hand over your heart where it belongs.  Since the moment I put on twitter how the olympians were not showing proper respect, all but ONE has done so.  Kudos to you!!!!!  You’ve done your nation proud, not just in your absolutely AWESOME accomplishments, but in your respect for your nation!

wish you hadn’t? That happened to me recently. I wasn’t going to blog about this, but something in the books really bothered me.  First, let me say I’m not author bashing.  I’m not book bashing. If I were, I’d be putting the title out there for everyone to see and judge. No, I’m just discussing something I’ve seen in a few shapeshifter books that bothers me.

When ARE was having it’s sale, I picked up several titles from authors I’ve seen online who I wanted to give them a try. I was very excited to finally get my hands on one particular author’s work.  I won’t be sharing the title of the book in question.  Though the writing skill in 2 of the stories was amazing, I still did not enjoy what I read.

The book was about shapeshifters, and the world building was very original.  I won’t go into detail, because that would then give away the story, and that’s not what this post is about.

What bothered me about the stories was  the “sex” in the book.

Now I’m no prude, which you are aware of, if you’ve read my books.  And what I don’t write, I can usually read – up to a point.  (I don’t like m/m books at all, though I know alot of people do.)  But in two of the anthology stories, sex was used as a control factor. Up to the point, and including “Non consensual” sex for one character in each of the first two stories.

In the first, the hero must accept oral sex from another man, or be killed (which didn’t make a lot of sense to me in that scene). In the 2nd, the heroine must accept sex from the hero’s brother, or they’ll be kicked out of their pack.  Hey, at least they were equal opportunity rapists in that world.

While the scenes were accepted by all characters involved as just another “Method of showing subservience” in a pack like environment, I wasn’t impressed. In fact, both scenes pulled me completely out of the respective stories. Even though the writing was smooth through the sections, and the characters were okay with being “ordered” to do such things, I wasn’t. I was no longer enjoying this interesting world.  I didn’t want to see people pretend that this was okay, while the author was specifically telling the reader how uncomfortable the characters involved were.  In fact, the only reason I didn’t put the book down was I am one of those people who USUALLY finishes every book she begins, no matter how much I suffer through it.

But this is my problem with these types of books:  Knowing animals as I do, I can honestly say cats and canines do not use sex for submission. Sure, the males will “Hump” your sofa, your leg, whatever, trying to shove you into a submissive level, but they do not rape. I hear ducks do, and I hear the orangutan does, but canines and cats do not. So I couldn’t look to the animal parts of their world to find a reason for this behavior.

Every bit of it reeked of human control, rather than animal. In the stories, it’s hinted these situations occurred BECAUSE they were shifters, and BECAUSE animals did such a thing. The animals in these cases do not.

And the third story, you ask? It was good, but not my cup of tea either, but that was simply my mistake at not reading what that story was about before I started reading it.

So, despite the beautiful writing, the awesome world building, and the correlation of the three stories, I probably will be more careful the next time I chose a book by any of these three authors.  I know they are not the only authors to present animals in this light, to use sex in a more controlling manner, bordering on rape (Ok, to me those two scenes were rape).  And I know many folks do not have problems with this type of story.  What about you?  Do you think Rape is okay if it’s perceived as “okay” in the book? Or do you think this is a mistake when authors push the envelope to this point?