Talk About My Favorite Authors: Adrianne Brennan tell's all about "Blood of the Dark Moon"

Today I have paranormal romance author Adrianne Brennan guest blogging and I've also had the pleasure of interviewing on here for a written interview this past Tuesday. I will be having the pleasure of chatting live with Adrianne on my TAMFA—Phoebe Jordan podcast on Friday, January 29th at 6PM to 7:30PM EST (5PM to 6PM CST / 3PM to 4:30PM PST) if you all want to stop by and listen in. Also I will be reviewing her currently released novel, Blood of the Dark Moon, the first book of her Dark Moon series so keep a look out for the review. Now onto Adrianne's guest blog:

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Blood of the Dark Moon began as a series of recurring dreams about a decade or so ago. Initially I wrote shorts based on them, including a lengthy sex scene involving two vampires having an argument then engaging in a hot, intense lovemaking session. That short was expanded to cover two chapters of what would become Blood of the Dark Moon. As a plot bunny, this one was the most intense. I actually scaled it down significantly for the book. I didn’t want to branch off into realms that would be considered to be more BDSM and less erotic romance. Additionally I wanted the main character to handle her transformation with difficulty at first, but find strength and personal growth at the end. It’s not so much a coming of age story as much as it is a finding yourself story. Too many people search for themselves in their partner and wonder why later they wind up being lost and unhappy. If Amanda, the main character of Blood of the Dark Moon wants a chance with her lover and sire, she’ll need to be happy with herself first. The entire book took me a year to write. I visited the West Village in NYC to get a feel for the backdrop, based the blues club on a local one I attended while I was there, and even included a scene in the book which was based on an incident that happened to me in a bar/restaurant in real life while I was there celebrating the completion of my manuscript. It’s been a labor of love, and I’ve been thrilled to see it released in eBook, ecstatic to find it now on Amazon.com in paperback, and happy to be working on future developments in the series. I hope to keep Amanda and the characters evolving as the plot grows and when I end the series at a comfortable point, it’s my desire to do so with the feeling that I’ve explored the people in depth and I’m leaving them all on good terms. Blurb:

Blood of the Dark Moon by Adrianne Brennan

Amanda, graduate student and devoted follower of the Greek god Apollo, is intrigued when she meets Jesse, a handsome young scholar who shares her love of both the classics and the occult. He quickly sparks her interest—and ignites a dark flame of passion between them. Together, they embark on a shadowy path that leads Amanda straight into Jesse’s scintillating underworld of vampires, magick, and secret societies. Little does Amanda know she is about to fulfill a legacy that began over thirty years ago and ended in tragedy. Can she learn the truth about her identity in time to help those whom she has grown to care about and find happiness in her new life with Jesse? Blood of the Dark Moon combines the classic eroticism of vampires with a touch of modern sensual romance and occult intrigue.

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Excerpt: Sometime after they had left the diner, Amanda could only guess that they were venturing further into Queens and would soon, perhaps, be in Long Island. She kept scrutinizing the roads and the signs, looking for places she recognized. Unfortunately, she hadn’t traveled very much out of Manhattan during her stay at NYU and so nothing looked familiar to her. She settled for chatting with Jesse and enjoying the view from her window. It was almost midnight when Jesse finally pulled off a major road and stopped at a nearby rest stop. He parked the car off to the side and gestured towards the sky. “You can’t see this in Manhattan. Damn, it’s beautiful.” She stared up at the sky and saw all of the individual stars that had been obscured by the pollution from the city. Amanda leaned back against the car, finding herself awed by the majesty of the sky combined with the gentle, clean breezes that swept through her hair. Away from the highway and the noises of the city to distract her, she experienced the outdoors at its fullest. She was spinning away in the galaxy towards the stars. With a flourish, Jesse opened up the back door of the car. “Here, sit down with me.” He sat on the seat and pulled her onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, they gazed up together at the night sky. “Gods, it’s beautiful,” she breathed. As he brushed her hair away from her face he merely commented, “And so are you.” She turned to smile at him before resting her head onto his chest. They stayed that way for a few moments until Amanda began to feel that something was odd. She racked her brain to figure it out, still bedazzled by the night sky and the feeling of being in his arms, but couldn’t think of it. Then at last she realized what it was: her ear was up against his chest, but she couldn’t feel nor hear a heartbeat. Puzzled, Amanda wondered if it was just because his leather jacket muffled the sound, but that couldn’t have been it. At their close proximity, she should still be able to hear or feel something. Figuring that the late hour and the fatigue were doing strange things to her mind, she dismissed it as her imagination. But in the silence between them, away from the city and the noise, the only breathing she heard was her own. I must be losing it. But as she stared up into the sky, too many things fell into her mind, persistent in their logic. Amanda had never seen Jesse during the daylight, had never seen him more than perhaps taste food, didn’t know what he did for a living other than “freelance computer work”, and now she couldn’t hear a heartbeat nor him breathing. “Jesse?” she queried, her hesitancy showing in her voice. Feeling him freeze behind her, she wondered if he knew what was on her mind, and thought to phrase her next words with caution. “You’re not a normal guy, are you? I mean,” she continued, trying not to rush through her words, let alone sound nervous, “not that I’m…all that normal myself, and all, but….” Her voice trailed off. Amanda did not know what to say, or how to say it. Many moments passed without a response. With great deliberateness he ran his hands through her hair, and she delighted in the feel of his fingertips as they coursed through the strands, brushing against her neck as soft as silk. In that moment she remembered their first dinner outing, when Jesse showed her the Latin magickal text which referred to strange allegories, symbols and various arcana. She recalled that the text kept referencing “blood” in some mystical context. “Jesse?” Her voice was quieter, and she was no longer so certain that she was crazy. YOUR TIME HAS COME.

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