Love bytes is happy to welcome back to their blog authors Liv Rancourt and Irene Preston. Liv talks about Nocturne, shares an exclusive excerpt and there is a wonderful blog tour giveaway you can participate in!
Welcome Liv ( & Irene )

Thanks so much, Dani, for having us back on Love Bytes! And I say “us”, because this time Irene is with me. We’re celebrating the upcoming release of Nocturne, Book 2 in the Hours of the Night, which, yay! It took us longer than we expected, but release day is almost here!

Just over a year ago, Irene and I had our first post on Love Bytes. We were celebrating the release of Vespers, the first book in the Hours of the Night. When we finished Vespers, we had a pretty sturdy plan: release a holiday novella (which we did – Bonfire) and have the second book in the series ready to go by late spring/early summer.

Yeah. Ran into a problem with that one.

I don’t want to get into the gory details, but Life apparently had a different agenda for us last winter. Every time we’d catch a groove, something would interfere. It turned into kind of a lesson in persistence and flexibility, you know? For both of us, last winter was a great example of how hard it can be to balance life + day job + writing.

When things were moving their slowest, we could have easily said, “hey, people liked Vespers pretty well. Let’s call it good.” Sure, that would have been easy, but I don’t think either of us even thought it. We certainly never said it out loud. (Or, you know, typed it into FB messenger, because that’s our primary mode of communication.)

I asked Irene if she’d ever thought about giving up, and here’s what she said…

Ha! This was the year I started calling Liv “Saint Liv” and me “Co-Writer From Hell.” But Liv’s right. I never once entertained the idea of ending the series. I’m still having a great time. Sara (and I) are still in love with Thaddeus Dupont. Liv’s still surprising me with her plot twists. And I blew something up. What more could I ask for? (Er.. IN THE BOOK. I blew something up IN THE BOOK.)

Come on, now. Irene is anything but the co-writer from hell! And I’m for reals not a saint. (lol!) We managed to stay on the same page, even though the process went on longer than we anticipated. We took this as an opportunity to practice skills like determination and patience.

Always useful, right?

We also had a less-concrete plan for how the story would roll out, which might have slowed us down a little. There were some plot threads from Vespers we needed to move forward on, and we knew we had to take Thaddeus and Sara to a different place, but for most of it, we were writing by the seat of our pants.

Or I was, anyway, and it was not something I’m used to, but damn but it was fun. I’d read Irene’s pages, sit down at my laptop, and write the only thing that could possibly happen next – even if I had no idea where I was going when I started typing.

Yee haw!

So yeah, it took us longer to write Nocturne than we expected, but we’re both tremendously pleased with how it came out, explosions and all. I don’t want to give too much away, but Thaddeus and Sara have some interesting times ahead. Happy reading!!

Now keep scrolling, because you’ll find an excerpt from Nocturne, along with a rafflecopter widget. Be sure and enter, because we’re giving away a $25 gift card in celebration of our release. Thanks very much!

 

Nocturne Blurb

 

It’s Mardi Gras, cher, but this year le bon temps kick off with murder…

 

For generations, the White Monks have treated the vampire Thaddeus Dupont as a weapon in their battle against demons. However, when a prominent matron drops dead at a party, Thaddeus and his lover Sarasija are asked to find her killer. Their investigation leads them to an old southern family with connections everywhere: Louisiana politics, big business, the Church, and an organization just as secret as the White Monks.

 

Meanwhile, an esoteric text containing spells for demon-summoning has disappeared, Thaddeus is losing control of le monstre, and Sara is troubled by disturbing dreams. These nightmares could be a side-effect of dating a vampire, or they could be a remnant of his brush with evil. As the nights wear on, Sara fears they are a manifestation of something darker – a secret that could destroy his relationship with Thaddeus.

 

Nocturne is only $2.99 (40% off) through Oct. 12.

Don’t miss Vespers and Bonfire (Hours of the Night 1 and 1.5) at the special price of $0.99 for the same period!

Buy Links:

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | More Stores

 

Join Liv & Irene in their private reader group, After Hours!

I strode the grounds of Michael’s family home, making ever-expanding circles. The farther out I moved, the less likely I’d find something, and the more frequently my thoughts turned to Sara. What had happened in there? Something, of that I was sure, but the harder I poked at my memory, the slipperier it became, till I was left with the mournful sense that he’d left me in a way I couldn’t understand. I gave up the search as fruitless and turned my steps toward my First Street house. And with that turn, my mood shifted from one of sadness to anger. If he wanted to leave, he should have just gone. I would never hold him. Maybe I would not, but the contract would. The contract would keep him by my side for the next seven months, at least. Mon dieu, I should have known better. By accepting the position as my assistant, Sarasija Mishra had inadvertently agreed to be my only source of food for a year; more foolish me to allow him to become my only source of light. There were no lights on at the First Street house. I circled around to the kitchen door, reaching out for any other presence. There. At least one heartbeat. But not two. I slipped inside, pausing in the kitchen to get my bearings. Anger still percolated, like lava flowing just below the surface of my mind. I inhaled, testing the air for scent. Sara. I had asked them to stay together, but Nohea was not here. Annoyance pricked me, a spark that set off a conflagration. My tendency to suppress emotions left me with plenty of fuel for the blaze. Uncertainty. Regret. Jealousy. Oh yes, jealousy whipped those flames like gasoline. Heaving with the intensity of my fury, I stormed through the house. He waited in the dining room, back to the door, hands on his laptop. “Sara?” My voice cracked on the word. He slowly glanced over his shoulder, his brown eyes flat with pain. My body went rigid. I fought to maintain control. I lost. “Tu es à moi pour toujours.” Forever. The monster in me crossed the room in a step, reached for him, jerked him to his feet. “Toujours.” I claimed him with a kiss so fierce, I drew blood. Mine? His? Peu importe. I crushed his body against mine, thrust my tongue in his mouth. I was distantly aware of his arms encircling me, his tongue dueling with mine, but those facts were subsumed in the overwhelming sense of mine. I left his mouth and planted kisses over his eyes, along the scar that I hated and that burned my lips. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he murmured, his lips brushing my skin.

 

About Irene Preston

Irene Preston has to write romances, after all she is living one. As a starving college student, she met her dream man who whisked her away on a romantic honeymoon across Europe. Today they live in the beautiful hill country outside of Austin, Texas where Dream Man is still working hard to make sure she never has to take off her rose-colored glasses.

 

Where to find Irene

IrenePreston.com

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours

 

About Liv Rancourt I write romance: m/f, m/m, and v/h, where the h is for human and the v is for vampire … or sometimes demon … I lean more towards funny than angst. When I’m not writing I take care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether I’m at work or at home. My husband is a soul of patience, my dog’s cuteness is legendary, and we share the homestead with three ferrets. Who steal things. Because they’re brats.

 

Where to find Liv

LivRancourt.com

Facebook | Twitter | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway