Ivy by Dahlia Donovan (Guest Post)

Please welcome Dahlia Donovan joining us with her recent paranormal romance, IVY!

Want in on a little known author secret?

We make a lot of shit up.

So when I started getting into the nitty gritty of including a paranormal element to Ivy, I did what any good author does and researched the pack behaviour of wolves.  It wasn’t until I was well into the writing of the first version of Ivy that the idea of a group of shifters that were of misfits who wouldn’t normally go together came to me.   They insinuated themselves into my brain and wouldn’t shut up.

I did what any good writer would do, I wrote about them.

The Blackbird pack currently consists of wolves, panthers, cougars and foxes.

Ivy somehow managed to stumble her way into the only security firm in London that consisted of former military officers who occasionally turn into furry creatures with four legs.  She has a knack for finding trouble and it makes her an incredibly fun character to write, and, I hope, read about.

So here’s a little bit of the mythos I built, at least in my own head, for the Blackbird pack:

• It’s genetically inherited no random bite or strange test tube illness. 
• To Gareth’s chagrin, they aren’t completely super human.  They heal a little faster and are a little stronger than average, but nothing like in the movies.  He really wanted me to make them super human.
• The full moon doesn’t make them any more insane than they already were.
• They age like everyone else, and can die just like everyone else.
• It’s a fifty-fifty shot for whether their children will suddenly turn into wolf pups while in the crib. 
• The mate bond is for life.  It’s a deep connection that allows for insight into each other’s minds and emotions.  Steve insists it’s a good thing.  Gareth reminds him of that whenever they’re in the dog house for something they felt. 
• Each pack has its own doctor.  It’s hard to convince a regular pediatrician than the two year old he just gave a shot to is the same as the tiny fox currently sitting on the chair.
• There are packs all over the world.  The Blackbird pack is unique as it contains a mixture of shifters.

These are just a few little tidbits from the world in general.   I hope they piqued your interest into Ivy’s world and the sexy wolves that turn her life upside down.

Ivy
(Blackbird Series #1)
by Dahlia Donovan
ebook
Published May 19th 2014 by Dahlia Donovan
ISBN139781311586865
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Widowed photographer Ivy Langdon avoids people in general after her husband’s death. She ventures out days before Christmas for last minute gifts and stumbles into the middle of a terrorist attack in London. Will her luck ever change?
Steven Samuels and his partner Gareth Richardson are called in with their company, Blackbird Security Firm, to rescue the hostages. They never expected to find their perfect mate while saving the world. The more the two wolves learn about Ivy, the more that they want to make her theirs.
Love is never simple or straight-forward and life is often stranger than fiction.
Ivy finds herself drawn into a strange world of shifters and human traffickers.
Can love’s true bite find her before trouble does?

Excerpt:

She glanced around the room with an assessing eye.  If the terrorist bastards decided to come inside, there was nowhere to hide effectively from them.

Back to the cupboard.

Definitely.

Retracing her route across the floor seemed somehow more daunting as Ivy started to make her move.  She was halfway to her cupboard when a strong hand grabbed the back of her coat and lifted her off the ground.  His other hand clamped around her mouth to muffle the scream she’d been about to utter.  He dragged her backwards into what appeared to be a staff locker room.

Bugger.

Oh, bloody hell.

The second he had her backed into the staff room, Ivy went from passive captive to violently struggling to escape.  She had no intention of going without some sort of a fight.  His hands pinned her arms to her side and crushed her back against his body.

She closed her eyes and waited for the knife or gunshot she knew was bound to come;  the irony of dying two days before Christmas was not lost on her.  She tried desperately not to fidget.  She realized after a moment that she hadn’t actually felt a weapon at any point. In fact, the hands holding her while firm were also very gentle.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Ivy was surprised at how good the man smelled; he reminded her of dark chocolate and something exotically spicy.  She told her mind and body to behave themselves.   She would not lust over a perfect stranger who was probably about to murder her.

Why the hell hasn’t he done something yet?

About the Author:

Dahlia is a bit of a hermit.  She’s happiest with a large mug of coffee or tea (two sugars and drop or two of milk) and a good book.  She lives for comfortable jeans and over-sized sweaters.  Ivy is her first novel and it started life as an attempt to complete National Novel Writing Month.  

Find Dahlia online at:  http://dahliadonovan.wordpress.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DahliaDonovanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dahliadonovan.