Lucy Monroe's Blog, page 28

Children of the Moon Pinterest Contest Winner

Pin It to Win It Contest Winner!  Thank you to everyone who participated in the Pinterest contest.  It was a lot of fun to see the books from Children of the Moon all over Pinterest.

Our lucky winner of the entire Children of the Moon series is: Lori Sang
Please email me your address and I will get  your books in the mail ~ Happy Reading!
If you didn't win, don't be sad.  I'm giving away a book a day from the series this week on my blog.  

Children of the Moon Blog Contest

Day 1 Enter to win your copy of Moon Awakening

Moon AwakeningBerkley Sensation (mass market paperback)ISBN: 0425214265February 2007
When Emily Hamilton's family is ordered to send a woman to the Scottish highlands for marriage to the laird of the Sinclair, Emily volunteers in order to save her younger sister from such a fate. But at her new home, the only friend she finds is the laird's sister-especially after Emily's stubborn streak causes the laird to cancel the marriage. And though her plans have gone awry, she refuses to return home...
Lachlan Balmoral is laird of his clan-and leader of his pack. One of the most feared werewolves prowling the Highlands, he is on the march against the hated Sinclair, who have abducted a Balmoral woman. He kidnaps the sister of the Sinclair laird, planning to marry her off in revenge-but the woman he takes along with her proves to be the greater prize... For Emily feeds a desire he has never known existed. And though Lachlan would not think of touching his enemy's betrothed, he must know how a mere woman could tame his heart so easily...

Enter the contest!
It is easy to enter the contest.  Just leave a comment about any of the Children of the Moon books.  What do you like about this series?  Are you looking forward to the Warrior Moon (releases on July 2)?

He's the One - Excerpt

Pre Order Today!HE’S THE ONE 
by Linda Lael Miller et. al.
with Seducing Tabby by Lucy Monroe
Originally published June 2005 in BEACH BLANKET BAD BOYS
Kensington Brava Mass Market - July 2013
ISBN-10: 0758210957 ~ ISBN-13: 978-0758210951


Excerpt
Seducing Tabby

CHAPTER ONE
“Secret Service?  Really?”

“Jane said her dad said he heard it from Tom Crane, the realtor.”

“Well, Patty Lane said her mother heard from her hair dresser that he’s nobility, like an earl or something.”

“Maybe he’s both.”

Tabby’s friends spoke in low undertones laced with breathless curiosity.  Wearing identical expressions of titillated speculation, the only two women in Port Diamond shyer than she was turned to face Tabby.

“Do you know anything?” asked one.

“He’s got a boat docked here at the marina,” the other added.  “A luxury cruiser.”

“My dad runs the marina, not me,” Tabby reminded them.

“But you’ve got to have heard something.”

Tabby had spent most of her adult life being pumped for information about her gorgeous, thin sister, Helene.  So, this was nothing new.  She was adept at sidestepping answers she did not want to give, but at least when it came to Helene, she could answer the inquiries when she wanted to.

However, Tabby knew nothing more than the other women about the mysterious Englishman who had so recently moved to Port Diamond.

Nothing except that despite the fact she’d never said more than ten words to Calder Maxwell, he sparked a desire in her that fried her nerve endings and froze her vocal chords.  She’d woken up pulsing from a dream induced climax for the first time in her life the night she’d met him.

“I can tell you he’s not Secret Service.  He’s from England , not Washington .”

“Well, you know what I mean.   He looks like he could give James Bond a run for his money.”

Tabby looked across the room at the gorgeous man standing with her dad and Helene and had to agree.  A cross between Timothy Dalton and Carry Grant, he was every fantasy she’d ever had rolled into one perfect package - the only flaw being, his obvious interest in Helene.

Just like every other male who came into contact with the Payton sisters, he found Helene’s sweet nature and gorgeous looks irresistible.  Tabby had seen them talking on the pier near his boat house a couple of times, but hadn’t been able to nerve herself up enough to join them.  Helene wouldn’t have minded.  She was always happy to see her sister.

Tabby doubted Calder would have been as appreciative, which is why she’d stayed away...no matter how much she’d longed to simply stand close enough to hear his voice.

Noticing her gaze still fixed on Calder, Tabby’s friend gave a theatrical sigh.  “He’s yummy, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

At that moment, the object of their speculation turned and caught the trio of women gawking at him.  One corner of his mouth tilted, but it couldn’t quite be called a smile and his dark gaze assessed them with cool regard.

“Oh, my gosh, he’s looking this way.  Quick, turn around and pretend to be getting food at the buffet.”

Tabby rolled her eyes.  “He’s already seen us.  I don’t think he’ll be fooled.”  And she didn’t particularly want him thinking she was interested in the buffet.

A throwback to her paternal great-grandmother, she didn’t have the willowy figure of her mom and sister, or anything approaching her dad’s athletic build.  Nope, she was a little too round, a lot too curved, and slightly too short for that.

“He’s headed this way!”

And suddenly she was alone, deserted by her gossiping friends.

He stopped in front of her, his tall frame towering over her own five-feet-five-inches.  He would fit in with the rest of her family just fine.  In fact, he and Helene made a striking couple, she thought with an inner twinge.

“Good evening, Miss Payton.”

Her heart fluttered at the smooth English accent and her lungs refused to issue forth enough air to power words of greeting.  It had felt like this the first time they met in her bookstore too.  He’d come in looking for a book on home improvement of all things and she’d barely said six words to him between recommending a title and ringing up his purchase.

Feeling crowded by his proximity though he wasn’t standing all that close, she took an involuntary step backward and ran into one of the buffet tables.  She grabbed for the edge to steady herself and got a handful of crab salad instead.

Turning to look, she stared in horrified stupefaction at the mess covering her hand.  Mom was going to have a hissy fit.  The salad required a two-day prep and was her most recent culinary pride and joy.  Now an entire buffet size bowl of it was good only for the garbage disposal.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she muttered.

“Can I help you?”

She looked up at him then, too upset by her predicament to be her usual tongue-tied self around him.  “Do you have any suggestions for hiding the evidence?”

“Perhaps, we could take the bowl to the kitchen?”

“And leave a gap on the table?”

He took hold of her wrist and lifted her hand away from the bowl, careful not to let the crab salad anywhere near his dinner suit or her dress.  “Go clean up and I will take care of our small disaster.”

In spite of her embarrassed chagrin, the feel of his fingers curled around her wrist was surprisingly nice.

“It’s not your disaster.”  She sighed self-deprecatingly.  “It’s mine and I can’t leave it to you.”  Even if she wished she could.

“Of course, I’m at fault.  I startled you.”  She opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head.  “Don’t let it concern you.  I have some experience in this sort of thing.”

“Rescuing women from the wrath of their temperamental chef mothers?”

He smiled, even white teeth flashing all too briefly.  “Hiding the evidence.”

Her eyes widened in mock horror.  “Oh, my gosh, you’re a member of the British mafia and here everyone was thinking you were some sort of displaced nobleman or spy, or something.”

That made him laugh and she felt the sound all the way to her toes.

“You have a nice laugh.”  She couldn’t believe she’d said that.  Trust her to go from mute to uttering inanities.  What an improvement.

“And you have a charming sense of humor, but you also have a hand that is about drip crab salad on your lovely dress.”

She extended her arm further from her body, having no desire to ruin the dress it had taken four hours of shopping in San Diego to find.  “I’ll just go wash this off.”

She took as long as she could in the ladies room, washing her hands, tidying her appearance and wishing she could fall through a hole in the floor rather than go back out and face Calder Maxwell.

She got a moment alone with the focus of her fantasies and what did she do?

Go diving in a buffet bowl.

She never had been all that handy in the kitchen.

Click here to read more about the book and reviews. 

Enthralled 3 Day Contest - Winner!

ENTHRALLED by Lora Leigh et. al.with Ecstasy Under the Moon by Lucy MonroeA Children of the Moon NovellaTrade PaperbackBerkley Trade - July 2013ISBN-10: 0425253317 ~ ISBN-13: 9780425253311

And the winner is.....
Ashley Fasolo
Please email me your address and I will get your ARC copy of enthralled in the mail.  
Didn't win....don't be sad.  I'm giving away one book from the series all this week in a count down to Entralled's release.  Check back daily. 

Enthralled - 3 Day Contest (Day 3)

ENTHRALLED by Lora Leigh et. al.with Ecstasy Under the Moon by Lucy MonroeA Children of the Moon Novella
Trade PaperbackBerkley Trade - July 2013ISBN-10: 0425253317 ~ ISBN-13: 9780425253311

Ecstasy Under the Moon excerpt
from the Enthralled anthology
Berkley July 2013 - ISBN-13: 978-0425253311
© 2013 Lucy Monroe

No portion of this excerpt may be quoted or used in any manner without the express written permission of either Lucy Monroe or the publisher Berkley/Jove (subsidiary of Penguin Putnam).

 The Forests of the Éan, Highlands of Scotland
1144, Reign of Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim, King of Scots
and the Reign of Prince Eirik Taran Gra Gealach, Ruler of the Éan

Chapter One
Una stood in shock, terror coursing through her like fire in her veins, burning away reason, destroying the façade of peace she had worked so hard to foster for the past five years.

Her eagle screamed to be released.  She wanted to take to the skies and fly as far as her wings could carry her until the sun sank over the waters and the moon rose and set again in the sky.

The high priestess, Anya Gra, smiled on the assembled Éan like she had not just made a pronouncement that could well spell their doom.

Faol were coming here?  To the forest of the Éan?  To their homeland kept secret for generations.  For very good reason.

Reason Una had learned to appreciate to the very marrow of her bones five years before.

"No," she whispered into air laden with smoke from the feast's cooking fires.  "This cannot be."

Other noises of dissent sounded around her, but her mind could not take them in.  It was too busy replaying images she'd tried to bury under years of proper and obedient behavior.  Years of not taking chances and staying far away from the human clans that had once intrigued her so.

She'd even avoided Lais, one of the few other eagle shifters among her people.  Because he'd come from the outside.  From the clan of the Donegal, the clan that spawned devils who called themselves men.

She'd not spoken to him once in the three years he'd lived among their people.

The grumbling around Una grew to such a level, even her own tormented thoughts could not keep it out.
For the first time in her memory, the Éan of their tribe looked on their high priestess with disfavor.  Many outright glared at the woman whose face might be lined with age, but maintained a translucent beauty that proclaimed her both princess and spiritual leader.

Others were yelling their displeasure toward the prince of the people, but their monarch let no emotion show on his handsome though young features.  He merely looked on, his expression stoic, his thoughts hidden behind his amber gaze.

The dissension grew more heated.  This was unheard of.  In any other circumstance, Una would have been appalled by the behavior of her fellow Chrechte, but not this day.

She hoped beyond hope that the anger and dissent would sway their leaders toward reason.

"Enough!" The prince's bellow was loud and commanding despite the fact he was only a few summers older than Una.

Silence fell like the blacksmith's anvil.

Emotion showed now, his amber eyes glowing like the sacred stone during a ceremony.  "We have had the Faol among us on many occasions these past three years."

Those wolves had only come to visit.  Una, and many like her – justifiably frightened by the race that had done so much to eradicate their own, had stayed away from the visitors.  She'd avoided all contact and had not even stolen so much as a peek at any of them.

Not like when she was younger and let her curiosity rule her common sense.

But Anya Gra said these ones, these emissaries from the Sinclair, Balmoral and Donegal clans, would live among the Éan for the foreseeable future.

Live.  Among.  Them.  With no end in sight.

Una's breath grew shorter as panic clawed at her insides with the sharpness of her eagle's talons.

"It is time the Chrechte brethren are reunited."  Prince Eirik's tone brooked no argument.  "It has been foretold this is the only chance for our people to survive as a race.  Do you suddenly doubt the visions of your high priestess?"

Many shook their head, but not Una.  Because for the first time in her life, she did doubt the wisdom of the woman who had led their people spiritually since before Una was born.

"Emissaries are coming to live among us, to learn our ways and teach us the way of the Faol."  This time it was another of the royal family who spoke, the head healer.  "We will all benefit."

"We know the way of the Faol," one brave soul shouted out.  "They kill, maim and destroy the Éan.  That is the way of the Faol."

"Not these wolves.  The Balmoral, the Sinclair, and the Donegal lairds are as committed to keeping our people safe as I am."  The prince's tone rang with sincerity.

The man believed his own words.  That was clear.

But Una couldn't bring herself to do so.  No wolf would ever care for the Éan as a true brother.  It was not in their violent, often sadistic and deceitful natures.

"It is only a few among the Faol today who would harm our people.  Far more would see us joined with the clans for our safety and all our advantage."

Join with the clans?  Who had conceived of that horrific notion?  First they were talking about having wolves come to live among them and now their leaders were mentioning leaving the forest so the Éan could join the clans?

Una's eagle fought for control, the desperate need to get away growing with each of her rapid heart beats.
"In the future, we will have no choice," Anya Gra said, as if reading Una's mind.  "But for this moment in time, we must only make these few trustworthy wolves welcome among us."

Only?  There was no only about it.  This thing the royal family asked, it was monumental.  Beyond terrifying.
It was impossible.

"You ask too much."  The sound of Una's father's voice brought a mixture of emotions, as it always did.
Guilt.  Grief.  Relief.  Safety.

Stooped from the grievous wound he had received at the hands of the Faol when rescuing Una from their clutches, he nevertheless made an imposing figure as he pushed his way toward the prince and priestess.
The leather patch covering the eye he'd lost in the same battle gave her father a sinister air she knew to be false.  He was the best of men.

And forever marred by wounds that would never allow him to take to the skies again...because of her.
"You ask us to make welcome those who did this," he gestured toward himself in a way he would never usually do.

He ignored his disfigurements and expected others to do the same.

"Nay."  The prince's arrogant stance was far beyond his years, but entirely fitting his station as the leader of their people.  "I demand you make welcome wolves who would die to protect you from anything like that happening again."

"Die, for the likes of me?" her father scoffed.  "That would be a fine day, indeed, would it not?  When a wolf would die to protect a bird."

"Do you doubt my desire to protect you and all of my people?" the prince demanded, a flicker of vulnerability quickly gone from his amber eyes.

"Nay.  My prince, you love us as your father did before you, but this?  This risk you would take with all our safety, it is foolishness."

Suddenly Anya Gra was standing right in front of Una's father, her expression livid, no desire for conciliation in evidence at all.  "Fionn, son of Micael, You dare call me foolish?"

Oh, the woman was beyond angry.  Even more furious than Una's father had a wont to get.

"Nay, Priestess.  Your wisdom has guided our people for many long years."

"Then, it is my visions you doubt," the celi di accused with no less fury in her tone.

Una's father shook his head vigorously.  "Your visions have always been right and true."

"Then you, and all those who stand before me today," she said including everyone at the feast with her sharp raven's stare.  "All of my people will give these wolves a chance to prove that not every Faol would murder us in our sleep."

"And if you are wrong?  If they turn on us?" her father dared to question.

Una's respect for her parent grew.  It took great strength to stand up to Anya Gra, spiritual leader and one of the oldest among them.

"Then I will cast my fire and destroy their clans without mercy," the prince promised in a tone no one, even her stalwart father, could deny.

Her father nodded, though he looked no happier by the assurance.  "Aye, that's the right of it then."

Prince Eirik let his gaze encompass the whole of their community, his expression one of unequivocal certainty.  "I will always protect my people to the best of my ability.  Welcoming these honorable men is part of that."

Una noted how he continued to push forth the message that these wolves were good men, trustworthy and honorable.

He was her prince and she should believe him.

But she couldn't.

She knew the truth.  Not that she hated all wolves.  That would make her like the Faol who had taken her and done the horrible things they had done with every intention of killing her in the end, as they would kill any Éan they came across.

No, she would not share the unreasoning prejudices of her enemy and hate an entire race, making no distinctions between individuals.

But she could not trust them either.
To enter the contest, leave a comment. Tell us about your favorite Children of the Moon book. Comments from all three posts will be combined and a winner will be  randomly chosen and posted on 6/23. 

Enthralled - 3 Day Contest (Day 2)

ENTHRALLED by Lora Leigh et. al.with Ecstasy Under the Moon by Lucy MonroeA Children of the Moon Novella
Trade PaperbackBerkley Trade - July 2013ISBN-10: 0425253317 ~ ISBN-13: 9780425253311

“An award-winning quartet of authors flexes their paranormal skills in this marvelous anthology featuring stories connected to their ongoing series. Fans of all of these authors should snatch this up quick, as it is well worth the time and money! A really outstanding anthology!”
—4 1/2 Stars, Jill at RT Book Reviews

To enter the contest, leave a comment. Tell us about your favorite Children of the Moon book. Comments from all three posts will be combined and a winner will be  randomly chosen and posted on 6/23. 

Enthralled - A 3 Day contest! (Day 1)

ENTHRALLED by Lora Leigh et. al.with Ecstasy Under the Moon by Lucy MonroeA Children of the Moon Novella
Trade PaperbackBerkley Trade - July 2013ISBN-10: 0425253317 ~ ISBN-13: 9780425253311
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh returns to her sensual world of the Breeds...as one stubborn Breed meets her match, and can no longer deny her mate—or the fierce desires of her own heart.
New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Day introduces the League of the Black Swan...and the dangerous game one woman plays when her family’s curse dooms her to kill the man she loves.
New York Times bestselling author Meljean Brook delivers a new story in her steampunk world of the Iron Seas...as a man who’s lost everything returns home to find that not only is his marriage in jeopardy, but he must now fight air pirates who intend to steal his one remaining treasure—his wife.
And Lucy Monroe, national bestselling author of the Children of the Moon novels...unleashes the feral passions of a werewolf on the body, mind, and soul of his prey, his lover, his lifemate.
To enter the contest, leave a comment. Tell us about your favorite Children of the Moon book. Comments from all three posts will be combined and a winner will be  randomly chosen and posted on 6/23. 

Children of the Moon Contest on Pinterest!

Help celebrate the release of Warrior's Moon (book #6 in series) on July 2nd with this Pinterest contest! You can win the ENTIRE series. Good luck and happy pinning!
Contest ends June 23, 2013BE SURE TO PUT #cotm IN THE CAPTION TO BE ENTERED IN THE CONTEST.

Throwback Thursday - Moon Burning

MOON BURNINGby Lucy MonroeISBN-10: 0425239802ISBN-13: 978-0425239803A Children of the Moon Novel #3Paranormal Historical WerewolfBerkley Sensation - February 2011
Bestselling author Lucy Monroe returns to her hugely popular paranormal world where a woman falls under the spell of the beast who is her one true enemy... 
Barr never asked to be made laird over the struggling Donegal clan, or leader of its werewolf pack. But he'll do his duty and although he hasn’t yet found his mate, he hopes she will be among his people. He expects his new role to be difficult; he doesn't expect to discover a naked woman in the forest whose memory is as fragile as her human body—her delectable, all too appealing body. Could this woman be his true mate?                                                                                                             On a mission to save her people from extinction, Sabrine pretends she has no memory in order to gain access to her enemy: the Donegal clan. A raven shifter, she is determined to retrieve the sacred stone that rightfully belongs to her people. But soon she’ll be engulfed in her burning desire and growing love for Barr—and the dangerous and inescapable secrets destined to keep them apart...
Read an excerpt ~ Buy the book

Save the Date!
Warrior's Moon (Book 6 in the series) is out July 2!

Humpday Hottie

Chillin by the pool.