Paint for Blood: A Review and a chance to win your copy

Title: Paint for Blood

Series: Dessa Collier, Vampire-Maker, Book 1

Author: Emily Ryan-Davis

Publisher: Self

Length: 216 pages

Genre(s) Gothic Romance, Paranormal Romance

Categories: Interracial/Multicultural, Menage (F/M/M)

Heat Level: Steamy

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BLURB:

There’s only one substance on earth that can create a new vampire--the blood of a Chalice, a rare individual with magic in her veins. Atlanta’s human-vampire Civility Laws demand that if a Chalice is found, she must be destroyed. Vampire Teijon Reyes allowed the mortal girl Dessa Collier to live despite the threat she posed to society. If he ever finds her again, he will kill her, personal desires be damned.

Heiress to a family tradition of ward-working, house painter Dessa Collier has spent the past twelve years pretending vampires don't exist. When a friend-enemy walks back into Dessa’s life after a decade-long absence, everything Dessa has been hiding from comes crashing down on top of her.

Thrown together on a mission to protect a city under seige, Dessa and Teijon can no longer hide from the powerful attraction that binds them...or the monsters out to destroy them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Emily Ryan-Davis is a lifelong East Coaster whose passion for the written word saw her through jobs writing obituaries, press releases and grants before she decided “I’m going to do this” and sat down to write a book. She made that decision in 2005 and has since published several short stories and novellas with digital publishers including Ellora’s Cave. On May 24, 2012, Emily left supervisors and payrolls behind in order to focus her efforts on writing and raising her son. Emily has been a member of the Writer’s Digest-recognized writing community Romance Divas, where she volunteers as a moderator and organizes the annual "Not Going to Conference" Virtual Conference, since 2006. 

Visit Emily at:

Website: http://www.scorchedsheets.com Blog: http://emilyryandavis.blogspot.com

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/author.emilyryandavis

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/emilyryandavis 

Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/emily_ryandavis

Email: emily@scorchedsheets.com

EXCERPT #1

She turned slowly, only gathering sensory impressions of his alleged safe zone. They faced one another across a sitting room furnished with sofas, chairs, and a writing desk. To her right, the dark shape of an open doorway suggested a more intimate area.
 Teijon lifted his shirt over his head, revealing smooth skin, dark and satiny over the pads of muscle beneath. She averted her eyes before they strayed to his waist. The tension was all wrong. She shouldn’t want him, not with his mood switch hanging in the air between them. She should have questions, should demand answers. And he should put his clothes back on. “What now?” she asked after the silence began to take on a sound of its own. “Earlier tonight…” She licked her lips. “I created vampires, didn’t I?” “You didn’t by choice.” “No. I did because Donovan wanted me to.” “Yeah. And that’s why I have to find Donovan. I need to meet with some people, so you’ll have most of the night to yourself.” He walked past her and went into the bedroom.
 Sighing, she raked a hand through her hair. He’d somehow managed to bring his tension under control, but hers continued to run wild. How would she sleep, surrounded by his scent? He returned to the living room moments later, tucking the hem of a fresh shirt into clean trousers. “I don’t have any women’s clothes around, but you can use anything of mine you’d like. Shower and get some sleep. I’ll be back… late.” “Wait. I need to know how this is possible.” “What do you mean, how? It just is.” “How is it possible that I’m more than one thing? I know I’m not normal. I never have been. But my heritage is…” she hesitated, came up with nothing better than, “good. White-light stuff. Protective. Do you have any idea how long my ancestors have been protecting people from their fears? That’s what I do. Who I am. I can’t be this too. This Chalice.” He frowned. “Why can’t you?” “It’s too many roles to fill. I have to make decisions about what I can and can’t work into my life. I have clients already, and my painting doesn’t make me feel like all of me is being sucked away in a mass of yearning. I choose that. I don’t choose you.” When a flash of something unreadable crossed his features, her chest tightened. Backpedaling, she said, “I mean your kind. Vampires. I can’t protect people from y—from vampires and other fears and serve as a support structure for the creatures I’m warding against. It doesn’t make sense.” He closed the distance between them and grasped her shoulders, pulling her onto her toes. The rough texture of his beard abraded her jaw when he tucked his face into the curve of her throat and opened his mouth over her skin. His perfectly-normal teeth closed around a tendon in her neck. At the contact, her thighs weakened and her skin tightened over her limbs, heated until her ears and cheeks burned. Teijon’s groan vibrated against her throat. One of his big hands slid into her hair. The other shifted from her shoulder and curved around her breast. He moved, walking her backward, until her spine came up against a wall and she could feel him thick and hard at her stomach. Memory zapped the strength she had left. She could smell the damp of the cave at Stone Mountain, the limo’s air freshener, the sliver of rose soap from her bathroom. Her body shivered with a backlash of the dread she’d experienced descending into the dark behind Teijon. She recalled every detail of that kiss. And every detail of what followed.  

EXCERPT #2:

Teijon rose in front of the vehicle, his fist wrapped in the fabric of a gray hoodie. The person’s face was turned away and might have belonged to a woman or an adolescent male. Unkempt hair tangled around skinny shoulders. As Teijon dragged the struggling figure to the passenger side of the SUV, she caught a glimpse of rough, sharp features and the beginnings of a beard. A boy. Teijon had apprehended a teen boy. He tapped on her window and she eased it down a fraction, uneasy with the way the stranger stared at her. He had sunken cheeks and a starved pallor. The walls of her stomach clenched, a shock of pain that made her gasp. Shaking, she lowered the window another inch. The hungry kid—vampire, with wet fangs showing behind dry, pale lips—stared at her like she was an oasis. Unthinking, she met the young vampire’s eyes. Blue and watery, with pulsing pupils that looked black when she exhaled and red when she inhaled. Her skin itched and her clothes felt too thick and hot. “Dessa.” Teijon growled her name. He forced the teen’s head down, breaking the spell stretched between them. “Look at me. At me.” Her gaze snapped to his. “He’s starving.” “It doesn’t concern you. I need you to drive. Don’t get out of the car, just climb over.” Mouth dry, she whispered, “Okay.” Worry made her clumsy as she changed seats. She unlocked one of the rear doors at Teijon’s request. He got into the vehicle first then pulled the other vampire in beside him. Their presence in the back seat made her wary, but Teijon kept himself behind her and had his hand locked around the younger man’s neck. “Where am I going?” She adjusted the rearview mirror and found the stranger staring at her. His eyes were starving, the pupils still pulsing. Closer inspection revealed saliva dotting his chin. She could see the distended points of his fangs prodding his bottom lip. He was pale and seemed very fragile, but she knew better. Even young and hungry, this creature had power over her. Her hands shook. She gripped the steering wheel tighter. Teijon’s warning came back to her, that she would meet somebody desperate and should endeavor not to surrender to her need to nourish. But the ache in her stomach persisted, as if she was too full to contain the contents of her body, and she desperately wanted to bring the starving thing’s face to her neck.   

A 3 Star Review
A very dark and uninteresting read. My imagination was not stirred in any way. The story not believable at best. Leaving you at a loss often during the read.
The main character Dessa Collier had no purpose, no direction. Her instability to make clear decisions unsettled me many times. She hated everything about her self. Even the twin girls born from her. Although she did try to find them but the urgency was not there. If it was my kids heaven and earth would have been turned to find and protect them. Dessa just give up to easily. The story just did not make sense. I must admit I am not a very big fan of this dark type of Paranormal stories. So maybe I do not understand. But it was a chore to read. There was no follow through on the scenes as they unfold leaving you in the dark.
The steamy scenes...?!
This story is meant for an acquired taste.

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