Tour: Seduced by the Vampire King by Laura Kaye (Guest Post/Giveaway)

I am always happy to welcome best-selling author, Laura Kaye, to RBtWBC and today she is joining us with not one, but two new releases of hers!

Ingredients for a Kick-Ass Heroine

Thanks so much for hosting me here at Reading Between the Wines Book Club! I’m always psyched to get to come spend some time here! I’m also very excited to be celebrating two releases right now: 1) my contemporary romance Her Forbidden Hero and 2) my dark paranormal romance Seduced by the Vampire King. One of the things these two books have in common is kick-ass heroes. I’m not talking about caricatures of Amazon-like warrior princesses (although, Xena totally rocked!). Alyssa Scott (from HFH) and Katherine Bordessa (from Seduced) are both real women, but had these ingredients that I think qualify them as kick-ass!:

Can Stand Up For Themselves: Neither Alyssa nor Katherine are easily intimidated by the strong, hot alpha males they encounter. Alyssa doesn’t let former Army Special Forces Sergeant Marco Vieri get away with any of his usual bullshit and isn’t afraid to call him on it. Katherine refuses to be intimidated by the powerful vampire warriors who keep her imprisoned. This is a key ingredient to a kick-ass heroine.

Can Fight When They Have To: When Alyssa gets attacked, she refuses to play the victim. She refuses to wait around to be saved. Instead, she forces herself to think and remain calm, then waits for just the moment to make her move. With a training in firearms, Katherine isn’t afraid to wield one to defend herself and those she cares about, even if she is outnumbered and in a near hopeless situation. This willingness to act is another key ingredient to a kick-ass heroine.

Can Save Their Man: More than just taking care of themselves, both Alyssa and Katherine are willing to put blood, sweat and tears into saving their man. Alyssa knows something is wrong with her long-time crush Marco, and determines to figure out what it is and how she can help. When she finally finds a way to ease some of his war-borne trauma, she’s not hesitant to sacrifice her own well-being if it will help him. Despite her rejection of all things vampire, Katherine allows the dying vampire she finds on the streets of Moscow to feed from her, then engages in a fight with a group of vampires intent on taking Nikolai away from her. First her blood saves him, and then her compassion and love. This might be the softer side of kick-ass, but it’s kick-ass all the same!

Can Hold Themselves Together in the Midst of a Bad Situation: Remain level-headed in a life-and-death situation? Check. Rein in emotions when hurt and scared? Check. Exhibit grace under fire. Check and check. Alyssa and Katherine are real women, but their ability to handle themselves and hold it together when it counts makes them…say it with me! Kick-Ass!

Need more proof? How about a short excerpt from both Her Forbidden Hero and Seduced by the Vampire King?

About Her Forbidden Hero:

You always want what you can't have...
She's always been off-limits...
Former Army Special Forces Sgt. Marco Vieri has never thought of Alyssa Scott as more than his best friend's little sister, but her return home changes that...and challenges him to keep his war-borne demons at bay. Marco's not the same person he was back when he protected Alyssa from her abusive father, and he's not about to let her see the mess he's become.
...but now she's all grown up.
When Alyssa takes a job at the bar where Marco works, her carefree smiles wreak havoc on his resolve to bury his feelings. How can he protect her when he can't stop thinking about her in his bed? But Alyssa's not looking for protection--not anymore. Now that she's back in his life, she's determined to heal her forbidden hero, one touch at a time...

Excerpt: Keeping this one short, just know Alyssa is being hassled by a guy in a parking lot who has grabbed her wrists…

Annoyance and alarm morphed into rage. She was not helpless. And she was not going to be this asshole’s victim. Three years of self-defense classes kicked in. He was too close to get in a knee lift, so she relaxed her arms and felt his grip loosen. She linked her fingers together and leaned slightly into him.

“Yeah,” he moaned, taking a half step back to get a better shot at her lips.

Seizing her moment, Alyssa screamed and stomped down on his foot as hard as she could.

He jolted back. “Ow! You bitch.”

Using his surprise, she leaned away and yanked her arms out of his hands. She stumbled backward against the car, but she was free.

Kick-ass!

About Seduced by the Vampire King:

Book 2: Vampire Warrior Kings Series

American exchange student Kate Bordessa has fled to Russia to escape her family's hopes that she'll become one of the Proffered, human women who feed and mate with elite vampire warriors. But when she stumbles upon a wounded vampire in the streets of Moscow, she's instinctively driven to protect him--and feels an undeniable spark of desire.
Grieving over the deaths of his brothers, Vampire Warrior King Nikolai Vasilyev has thrown himself into battling his enemies, focused only on vengeance. Until the attack that brought him to Kate. Their sexual attraction explodes into a night of uncontrolled passion--a night that marks them as mates. Is their connection strong enough to convince them to embrace a destiny neither of them was expecting?

Excerpt: Katherine finds a dying vampire in a dark alley. He bites her, and ultimately she gives in to helping him…

Warmth flooded over her thigh. The vampire’s blood. His neck seemed to leak as fast as he drank. Icy fear snaked down her spine. “You’re bleeding really badly.”

Her gloves and his cap were long gone. Kate only had one thing left: she unzipped her parka and shrugged it off her free arm. Frigid air flooded into the bubble of warmth she’d imagined surrounded them and made it hard to breathe.

A scuff, from the far end of the alley.

Kate froze and tilted her head, listening.

It sounded like… Her ears strained. Footsteps?

Fear erupted in her gut. Couldn’t be the ambulance. There had been no sirens. No vehicle noise. And why would the paramedics be so purposely quiet?

Brilliant red rage displaced the fear and set her senses on high alert.

All her calm disappeared and morphed into stone-cold protectiveness and fierce possessiveness. He is mine. And no one will take him.

Operating on instinct, Kate’s hand found and removed the SIG from her jeans, a dark satisfaction flooding her as she returned the decocking lever to its live position. She was so damn glad he’d gone for her left wrist, leaving her dominant hand free to shoot. If necessary.

Holding the gun out over his body, she aimed for the darkness of the driveway. Her heart lodged in her throat, but her hand held steady.

Three hulking shapes stepped into the dim light behind the building.

“Jesus, we found him,” one of them said.

“Fuck. The human’s armed,” another called.

Before she’d even blinked, they’d disappeared. “Drop your weapon,” a deep male voice barked.

As if. She whispered, “You have to wake up now, vampire. There are others here. And I don’t know if they’re friend or foe. Please. Wake up.”

“Drop your weapon,” the unseen man barked again. “Last chance.”

“No way. Leave us alone. We are not your business,” she said with more bravado than she felt.

Kick-ass!

LOL! So, I hope you enjoyed my ingredients for kick-ass heroines! Do you have a favorite from the list? Comment and be entered for my GIVEAWAY! – one commenter who leaves their email address will win an ebook of Her Forbidden Hero, and another commenter will win an ebook of Seduced by the Vampire King! Good luck! And thanks for reading! ~Laura Kaye

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About Laura Kaye:

Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of over a half-dozen books in paranormal, contemporary and erotic romance. Hearts in Darkness is the EPIC eBook Award Winner for Best Novella and HOLT Medallion Award of Merit Winner for Best Romance Novella, Forever Freed is the NJRW Golden Leaf Winner for Best Paranormal of 2011 and is a finalist for two GDRWA Booksellers’ Best Awards, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, is a finalist for a FF&P PRISM award, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

~*GIVEAWAY*~

Laura is giving away one eBook of Seduced by the Vampire King to one reader and one eBook of Her Forbidden Hero to another reader! To enter, just leave a comment on this post and then fill out the rafflecopter below. Additional entries are available but not required. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway