Vacation with a Vampire Event

Vacation with A Vampire Event

Hello everyone!  LITERAL ADDICTION and Book Monster Reviews have a special treat for you all today.  We have all 3 of the amazing authors for the new Harlequin Anthology - “Vacation with a Vampire” - with us for a group Author Ambush, giveaway, and Live Chat. 


For those of you not yet familiar with the Anthology (just released June 19, 2012), here is the official blurb:

“Vacation with a Vampire”

Everyone needs a break sometimes, especially during the summer. After all, what’s more relaxing, and more romantic, than a midnight stroll through Paris? Or the way the moon reflects off the ocean? And if your mesmerizing, sexy date happens to be ready to nibble your neck, who would want to say no?

Vacations are a perfect time to indulge, so why not spend a little quality time with these immortal hunks in three luscious tales of hot getaways. Treat yourself to a little bit of summer moonlight with these tales brought to you by Michele Hauf, Kendra Leigh Castle and Lisa Childs.

The three stories in the Anthology are:  “Stay” (Michele Hauf), “Vivi and the Vampire” (Kendra Leigh Castle), and “Island Vacation”  (Lisa Childs).


To give you a little more information on each of our V.I.Ps, here is each authors’ bio and a little bit about each of their bookshelves…




Michele Hauf has been writing romance, action-adventure and fantasy stories for over nineteen years.  Her first published novel was “Dark Rapture”. 

France, musketeers, vampires, and faeries populate her stories.  And if she followed the adage ‘write what ou know’, all her stories would have snow in them.  Fortunately she steps beyond her comfort zone and writes about countries she has never visited and creatures she has never seen.


The proud creator of the BEWITCHING THE DARK, WICKED GAMES, OF ANGELS AND DEMONS, CHANGELINGS, THE NETWORK, THE SAINT-SYLVESTRES, and THIS WITCHERY series, Michele continues to amaze release after release.


You can find her online at her Website, on Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Kendra Leigh Castle was born and raised in the far and frozen reaches of northern New York, and then ran away with a handsome young Navy fighter pilot, which means that she’s spent the last thirteen years moving all over the country. She began her writing career in the high desert of Nevada, but now lives in Maryland with her husband, their three children, a Pekingese, two Newfs, and an obnoxious Siberian cat. Kendra can usually be found curled up with her laptop and yet another cup of coffee, and loves to hear from her readers! A 2011 RITA finalist for her book RENEGADE ANGEL, she is currently hard at work on the next in her DARK DYNASTIES series.

Kendra is also the proud creator of the MACINNES WEREWOLVES series.

You can find her online at her Website, on Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Lisa Childs  wanted to be a romance writer ever since she read her first romance novel (a Harlequin of course) at the age of 11.  The youngest of seven siblings, she holds family very dear in real life and her fiction, often infusing her books with compelling family dynamics. With over thirty novels published with Harlequin Books, Lisa is living her dream.   She is an award-winning, best-selling romance author and loves to hear from readers.  She lives in west Michigan with her husband, two daughters, a twenty-pound Siamese cat and a five-pound Chihuahua.

Lisa is the proud creator of the WITCH HUNT, WEDDING PARTY and CITIZEN’S POLICE ACADEMY series as well as numerous single titles.

You can find her online at her Website, on Facebook and GoodReads.

Now that we’ve introduced you to our guests, how about we get to the meat of the Event and see what each of them had to tell us when we let them ambush our sites.  

WITH 
MICHELE HAUF, KENDRA LEIGH CASTLE 
AND LISA CHILDS FOR 
VACATION WITH A VAMPIRE:

Vacations, fantasies and Pinterest

By:  Michele Hauf

Everyone has vacations on the brain lately.  I did mine in April, so I'm sitting here in the office with the AC cranked against the 106 degree temps we're having here in MN.  It's a far cry from the setting of my latest story, "Stay", which is in Paris.  I think I could endure 106 degrees if it was in Paris.  Yes?  You're still shaking your head no?  What if I toss in a sexy vampire?  And what if he speaks French, and likes to whisper sweet French nothings in your ear.  You can't understand a word he says, but WHO CARES?  I mean, seriously, is that a vacation you could pass up?  I didn't think so.

I admit, this story is probably closest to one of my personal fantasies I've ever written.  There's a bit about a haunting in there that I'd probably leave out of the vacation itinerary, but everything else can stay.  So if you're not planning to get away from the real world this summer, then why not pick up a story and escape that way?  Sounds like a perfect vacation to me.

I've recently started 'pinning' on Pinterest, and have a board for each of my hero/heroine couples.  So if you'd like to view some pictures that inspired the characters, settings and scenes of "Stay" stop by!  

http://pinterest.com/toastfaery/lucian-magen/ There's even a pic of the gorgeous cover model, David Taylor.  You decide whether you prefer him as my vampire hero Lucian, or instead the other man who inspired his looks, Aidan Turner. 

Summer Lovin'...and Vampires

By Kendra Leigh Castle

So. Much. Fun.

That's how I would describe my experience with my story in the Vacation with a Vampire anthology, Vivi and the Vampire.  See, I don't normally get to write things that are light and, well, fluffy.  And fun without a fairly large body count.  My stories are generally a little darker.  Not, like, unrelenting darkness perpetuated by angry supernatural men wearing black leather—I do try to keep a sense of humor—but dark in that my heroes are often ancient, dangerous and damaged, operating in situations where the lines between the good guys and the bad guys is hazy at best.  So when I was offered the chance to write a story for this anthology and told to keep it light and fun, I jumped at the chance.  A vacation-themed vampire story?  Yes, please.  And I knew exactly who the hero would be.

Vivi and the Vampire is set in the same world as my Sept. 2010 Harlequin Nocturne, Renegade Angel.  It had to happen.  That book, which (shameless pimping ahead) finaled for a prestigious RITA award last year, remains one of the books I've most enjoyed writing, and I've spent a fair amount of time looking for a way to slip back into my world of underground nocturnal kingdoms and fallen angels.  The anthology turned out to be the perfect opportunity to play with a character a lot of readers have asked about despite his rather limited role in the original book: Justin, the workaholic vampire king of the magically protected city of Terra Noctem.

Yes, a workaholic vampire king.  Sent on a beach vacation by his bossy, well-meaning vampire sister, even.  And who does he meet on the sand by moonlight?  An off-duty vampire slayer, of course, who's more than a little chagrined to find herself owing a vampire a date after he saves her from a bad situation.  Oh, and did I mention that Justin hasn't been on a date in a few hundred years?  "Charmingly awkward" doesn't even begin to cover it.  Fortunately, Vivi is more than up to the task of introducing a sexy, staid vampire to twenty-first century fun.  Neither of them expects more than a week away from their responsibilities...but they quickly discover that they've each discovered exactly what they never knew they were looking for.

I'll stop now, since I don't want to spoil the story, but I hope some of you will pick up Vivi and the Vampire and see why even bloodsuckers love the beach!  There are obstacles to overcome.  There are heated moonlit kisses.  There is karaoke.  Ah, the karaoke...so. much. fun.

So what do you think...if you had to take a hot, immortal homebody of a vampire out on his first date in centuries, where would you take him?  Before the logical endpoint of "MY HOUSE, DUH!", that is.

Happy summer, and happy reading!!

Island Vacation Excerpt and thoughts

By:  Lisa Childs

          I’m thrilled to be participating in this blog with my fellow anthology authors Michele Hauf and Kendra Leigh Castle.  I am so fortunate to be included in the VACATION WITH A VAMPIRE anthology with these talented writers! My novella is ISLAND VACATION. And here’s a brief excerpt:

Panic widened her eyes and she glanced behind herself, as if searching for an escape route.

          “It’s an island,” Roarke reminded her. “You can run all you want, but you won’t get very far. You’ll only get hurt. There are creatures in the forest that you don’t want to meet in the daylight, let alone the dark.”

“You—you’re mistaken,” she said.

“No, I’m quite familiar with this island.” Because he hated being forced to hide what he really was when he was around humans, he had rarely left the island until four years ago. Then he’d no choice; he’d had to leave to track down a killer.

 A human.

As you can see from this brief excerpt, Roarke is a man – well, vampire - on a mission of revenge – not romance.  And Piper Reynolds will not be relaxing during the vacation she won in the office lottery.

Maybe I was a little jealous of my characters having an exotic island all to themselves, so I threw quite a bit of conflict at them, putting them at odds with each other and themselves.  You’ll have to read to see if either survives this “vacation”!

LIVE CHAT, DON’T FORGET:  Michele, Kendra and Lisa will be available to chat Live with members, followers fans and guests in LITERAL ADDICTION’ s Author Chatroom from 8:00 – 9:30pm EST/7:00 – 8:30pm CDT/6:00 – 7:30pm MDT/5:00 – 6:30pm PDT Thursday. 

 We have copies of “Vacation with a Vampire” for 2 winners from Book Monster Reviews and another 2 winners over at the 

LITERAL ADDICTION website.

Fill out the Rafflecopter widget below for the Event, follow the directions, take action, and mark as ‘Done’.

a Rafflecopter giveaway