Magic Thursday - Poison Kissed

Welcome to Magic Thursday, which today is all about me :) Hi, I'm Erica. Some of you may be familiar with my Shadowfae Chronicles urban fantasy/romance series. POISON KISSED is my latest release, and it's book 3 in the series.

It's sort of funny to be here talking about this book, actually, because I've done so much since I finished it.

I've written two more novels and started a third. I've finished two short stories. So when you say, 'tell me about POISON KISSED!" I'm here thinking: hmm, which one was that again?


But I'll never truly forget this book. Mina the killer gangster banshee and her snaky boss, Joey, arrived with a bang and a whiff of sadistic co-dependency in the previous book, SHADOWGLASS, where they're the villains, fighting a pack of thieving fairies cleverly disguised as the hero and heroine of that book :)

Joey and Mina were Cool and Kick-ass respectively. They were angry and driven. They were stubborn and stand-offish. They were totally made for each other. Their story demanded to be told.

Who betrays whom? Why does Joey, a rich, powerful, deadly gang boss, keep this lithe banshee protegee of his around, when all evidence suggests she's a traitor? And what draws Mina to him, when she offers everything she's got, over and over, and he only pushes her away?

The way these two carry on is... tense. Here's a snippet:

Joey took my hand and kissed it.

Just a light brush of ice-cooled lips, his fingers warm under my palm. And a tiny flicker of his tongue, hot and exciting on the back of my hand like a flashburn.

My gaze dragged to the place where his lips touched me, and my blood-drunk optic nerves set off a sizzle that stabbed all the way down to my breasts. I wanted to touch his cheek, hear my fingertips brushing his skin, slide my finger past his tempting lips into his mouth. I remembered how that mouth sprang alive on mine, that night a few weeks ago when he kissed me, wired and feverish from a fight. So fresh and dangerous, his forking tongue demanding, the hot snaky shift of his flesh and the urgency of his lips on mine showing me how much he wanted . . . something.

Maybe not me.

But he was alone. I was alone. We’re both old enough. Even if he just wanted to forget all this macho gang bullshit for a few hours and make himself feel good, I’d do it if it meant he believed me.

He leaned closer and inhaled. His lips inched apart, and my breath caught. I knew he examined me with those enhanced reptile senses, tasted my sweat, smelled my blood. Did he like it?

He cupped my bruised cheek and raked his thumb over my lips, only a few inches from kissing me. "You’d have killed him to night, wouldn’t you? Sonny Valenti, I mean."

"Yeah." My voice withered to a whisper, and my body ached with helpless longing. So much for toughness. He’d disarmed me with a glance and a rough caress. If he slipped his thumb into my mouth, I’d suck it.

"Because I asked?" He grazed his teeth over my chin, possessive. Bit me softly.

Oh, god. I shivered, terrified. 'Uh-huh.'

"Would it feel good, do you think? Would you like it?"

Uh huh. Joey, dude, I'm pretty sure that's a yes.

So. Giveaway time. I'f you'd like yourself a brand new paperback copy of POISON KISSED -- and of course you would! -- leave a comment in this post. I'll randomly choose a winner from the comments.

Open worldwide -- if the winner lives close enough to me, they'll even get a signed copy! Giveaway closes 22 December, and I'll announce the winner on this blog.

Thanks for visiting!

Kisses,
Erica.

You can check out my books at my website, or visit my blog. And come chat with me on Twitter!