Giveaway &Iinterview with WINTERBLAZE's Historical Romance Author Kristen Calluhan

5 Fun Facts about WINTERBLAZE (and me) J

1.  When I was in 6^th grade, I learned how to sing “Ode to Joy” in German for chorus (I was a second soprano). In WINTERBLAZE, Poppy and Winston share a laugh while listening to “Ode to Joy.”  I love that they can laugh together, and often do.

2.  Win and I share one big dislike: mushrooms. When I wrote the scene in which Win eats something that disgusts him, I panicked. What could it be? My mind screamed out: a mushroom! Naturally.

3.  Colonel Alden is named after my brother-in-law. He is neither old nor a colonel. But he happily gave up his name for the cause.

4.  WINTERBLAZE is, in a large part, about illusions and the fragility of memories. As paintings also portray a selective, memory-slice of life frozen in time, I liked incorporating the discussion of art into the story.   There are two scenes directly inspired by Victorian era paintings.

On their way to see the Komtess Krogstaad, Win and Poppy stop to watch two girls dancing on the Chelsea Embankment. That scene was inspired by Frederick Brown’s An Impromptu Dance –A scene on the Chelsea Embankment 1883.

5.  The final fight scene in WINTERBLAZE takes place on the Victoria Embankment in London. That setting was inspired by John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Reflection on the Thames, Westminster -1880.

In February 2012, debut author Kristen Callihan burst onto the literary scene with Firelight, the first book in her Darkest London series. It was met with rave reviews and left romance lovers panting for more. Several months later, Moonglow was received with overwhelming excitement from her ever-increasing legion of fans.

WINTERBLAZE, the third entry in this intoxicating series, undoubtedly confirms that Kristen Callihan “sets the mark for a new style of paranormal historical”. (RT Book Reviews)

Poppy Lane is keeping secrets. Her powerful gift has earned her membership in the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals, but she must keep both her ability and her alliance with the Society from her husband, Winston. Yet when Winston is brutally attacked by a werewolf, Poppy's secrets are revealed, leaving Winston's trust in her as broken as his body. Eventually regaining his physical strength, Winston’s face and heart still bear the scars of the vicious attack. Drawn into the darkest depths of London, Winston must fight an evil demon that wants to take away the last hope of reconciliation with his wife. As a former police inspector, Winston has intelligence and logic on his side. But it will take the strength of Poppy's love for him to defeat the forces threatening to tear them apart.

Half Norwegian and half Irish American, Kristen Callihan is a child of the 80’s, which means she's worn neon skirts, black-lace gloves, and combat boots (although never all at once) and can quote John Hughes movies with the best of them. A life-long daydreamer, she finally realized that the characters in her head needed a proper home and thus hit the keyboard. She believes that falling in love is one of the headiest experiences a person can have, so naturally she writes romance. Her love of superheroes, action movies, and history led her to write historical paranormals. She lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and their two children.Half Norwegian and half Irish American, Kristen Callihan is a child of the 80’s, which means she's worn neon skirts, black-lace gloves, and combat boots (although never all at once) and can quote John Hughes movies with the best of them. A life-long daydreamer, she finally realized that the characters in her head needed a proper home and thus hit the keyboard. She believes that falling in love is one of the headiest experiences a person can have, so naturally she writes romance. Her love of superheroes, action movies, and history led her to write historical paranormals. She lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and their two children.

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WINTERBLAZE - Like all the other passengers, Winston and Talent stood on upper decks to see the Ignitus get underway. The ship’s horn blew, long, low, and resonating with such strength that his flesh vibrated. As if awoken by the horn, the ship shuddered to life like a great beast coming out of hibernation. Far below, blue-green water began to froth and foam as the heavy paddle on their side of the boat started to spin. Most travelers were on the port side of the ship, wanting to see Calais fade away. Not Winston. He faced the sea, and where it would take him. Home.

He almost missed the subtle change in the air. At first, he thought the cold wind a sudden sea breeze, but the air had gone oddly still. The strangeness had him pausing. He glanced at Talent. The man’s eyes narrowed as he peered out over the sea. He felt it too, then. In the next moment, distinct cold surrounded Winston. Colder and colder, until his breath came out in a puff.

Talent backed up a step. “What the bloody hell?”

Winston opened his mouth to answer when a faint crackling sounded. Before their rather shocked eyes, a lacy ribbon of frost began to race over the rail. Winston snatched his hand back as white fingers of ice spread out in rapid fire, covering everything in its path. Around them came the sound of confused murmurs.

The crackling sound grew as the temperature dropped to frigid. And then the great ship groaned and shuddered. Winston and Talent both leaned over the rail and looked on with fascinated horror as the water about the ship turned to thick, unimaginable ice, and the bloody ship began to rise, trapped as it was within the ice’s clutches.

Talent’s mouth fell open. “Bugger me.”

Winston was inclined to agree. “Come.” He plucked Talent’s sleeve to get the man’s attention. “To the port side.” Something was coming. He could feel it.

Stumbling and treading with care along the slick, icy deck, they made their way to the port side, shouldering past gawking passengers, most of who milled about in a frightened and confused state. Crewmembers called for order, stumbling along much like Winston and Talent, as they tried to figure out what was happening.

“Look,” said a young girl. “Someone is boarding the ship.”

Several people shot to the rail and craned their necks to see.

Winston and Talent followed suit. The gangplank, which had been in the process of being removed, had been frozen in place. A woman strolled, pretty as you please, up it. Winston’s heart flipped over in his chest. He drank her in, the steady clip of her legs beneath a fetching gown of black and white stripes, the determined set of her shoulders. A matching parasol obscured her face, but he’d know that walk anywhere. Christ. His body hardened painfully.

And then, as if she felt his eyes upon her, the parasol tilted back, and she lifted her head. Even though he had to be a mere dot among the throng from her vantage point, she found him immediately. Those severe red brows, that dark, knowing gaze. A bolt of pure heat and lust shot through him, strong enough to make him suck in a draught of air. Bloody. Buggering. Hell.

An old gent beside him scowled beneath white, shaggy brows. “Who the deuce is that?” he asked no one in particular.

“Trouble,” muttered Talent, his glare fixed on the young lady walking at Poppy’s side. Winston recalled her as Mary Chase, assistant to Daisy Ranulf.

Winston did not know how Poppy had found him, or what the devil she was doing here. The only thing that he knew with absolute certainty at that moment was that Talent had been correct. Here came trouble.

I hope you had a blast getting to know today’s featured author.  Kristen Callihan has wowed reviewers and romance readers with her Dark London Series.  Be sure to check out the first two books, FIRLIGHT and MOONGLOW, along with her e-book special, Ember.

In celebration of WINTERBLAZE’s release Kristen Callihan will be giving one (1) lucky reader a copy of WINTERBLAZE.

Here’s how to enter.

*Leave a comment for Kristen Callihan.

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Contest runs until March 1, 2013

Winner will be contacted directly on March 2, 2013

Happy Reading! =)

PRAISE FOR KRISTEN CALLIHAN

“The third installment in the Darkest London series is not only a gripping novel, but also one that elevates the genre with its depth of emotion, passion and mesmerizing storytelling.”

– RT Book Reviews

“Ms. Callihan's Darkest London series just gets better and better, and in WINTERBLAZE, her characterization is superb, her love relationships complex and complicated, her world-building, utterly believable, fascinating, and well-developed.”

– The Romance Readers Connection