Book Blitz and Giveaway: Messenger by Laury Falter

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. It is incredibly fulfilling when readers get excited about any one of my books. To put it simply, I write for them.

Beyond that, I started writing my first book in January 2009, after Joyce Durham lost her battle to colon cancer. I am good friends with her daughter, Erika, who was then faced with the very difficult task of learning how to deal with the loss of her mother. Witnessing her struggle and that of the Durham family, I wished there was someone who could visit with those who had passed over to the other side and bring back messages to the living, reassuring them that all was fine with their loved one. And from it, Magdalene Tanner was born. I went on to write FALLEN in just under two months, releasing it in March 2009.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

A.  Bringing a couple’s love to life on the pages so that they can rouse the reader’s emotions. Along those same lines, knowing I’m taking my readers away from the onslaught of daily life for a brief vacation is incredibly rewarding.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

A.  Deadlines! I try to turn around a book every few months and that can be a grueling schedule. Ugh!

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

A. I was a full-time marketing professional until I lost my job last summer. To pay the bills, I wrote the second book of the Guardian Trilogy. Thankfully, people liked it! If they didn’t, I’d still be putting together marketing plans.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A.  The Bridge to Terabithia. It was the first book I read as a child that made me cry, and it still makes me tear up when I think about it now. An absolutely wonderful read!

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A.  Margaret Simon, from Judy Blume’s book “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”. Like her, I have great inner dialogue that is constantly rambling through my head.

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. Magdalene “Maggie” Tanner. I completely connect with her unwavering dedication to protect others.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Fall. I LOVE Halloween. What other day of the year can you dress up like a zombie and no one will think you’re crazy, or run screaming from you?

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. The online versions of the Guardian Trilogy have a lot of white space in the background because I sold Fallen first on my personal website and didn’t want to waste anyone’s printer ink when printing the book.  The remaining novels followed suit. This worked out, thankfully, because the colors (or lack of) represent a great contrast between good and evil.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  If you enjoy being taken away for a little while by a romantic story set in a paranormal world, check out Laury Falter’s books at www.lauryfalter.com.

EXCERPT 1

He strode to me and crouched at my hip. His shirt was already off and the nearness of his well-built chest made it a challenge to stop myself from glancing at it. To my astonishment, he seemed not to notice my internal plight, not even the tremble that shook me when he tenderly took my chin and turned it toward him.

"You're healing nicely," he observed, concentrating on my forehead.

"Mm-hmm." It was all I could muster.

This was the closest we had ever been. His lips were no more than a few inches from me and drew my attention.

"I don't think you'll even scar."

When I didn't answer, I felt a shift in his presence and my eyes darted up to find him staring back with his striking blue-green eyes.

We froze in place.

Only our chests rose and fell, and they did it more rapidly the longer we stared at each other.

As his eyes lowered to my lips, his fingers tightened gently around my chin.

The flare of his nostrils and the intensity of his stare mesmerized me, made me want him closer. And it told me that he was struggling too and was in profound debate over what we were doing. No ward should be this close to their guardian, even if the ward didn't recognize them as one. It was taboo, unheard of, an abject insult to the role the guardian had been given. Yet, here he was, looking at me, at my lips, tensing at the sight of them.

And he wasn't alone in the struggle. For the first time, I forgot my urge to throw him off balance, my need to establish my independence. I was the one quickly losing my poise and forgetting who was dominant. The charm I fought so hard to deny, the very one that drew all others to him, took hold of me. And I gave into it out of my own free will.

EXCERPT 2

Without thinking about it, I rolled my shoulders backwards into his palms. The heat from him was soaking into my tight muscles and it was an unavoidable relief.

"Was that a moan?" he asked.

"Did I make a sound?"

"I think you did."

I released a half-laugh, too tired to offer anything more.

"It was a good sound," Eran whispered and I felt his fingers stiffen at his candid acknowledgement. It was the first time he moved them since he laid them on me, but I got the distinct feeling he didn't want to stop there and yearned to curl his fingers around my shoulders and feel me more fully.

A constrained sigh escaped him, followed by a deep, forced inhale.

His thumbs moved, sliding down the dip between my shoulder and neck. They were tender, barely a whisper against my skin. And I knew he was exploring me, just that small and subtle part but taking his time not to miss an inch. When his hands reached the base of my neck, they paused and I thought he was done, would now pull back and step away. But his thumbs moved up over the top of my palms, embracing my hands.

I was acutely aware of his scent, the quickened pulse in his thumbs, his restrained breathing.

He opened his mouth to speak but the tent flap opened, bringing him to a sudden halt.

EXCERPT 3

I twisted around in search of Eran.

He stood over a small body lying in an odd position. Its head was facing me and I could see Cedric's face, dirtied with his eyes closed. His back was exposed and the grey appendages were in the midst of sinking into his body.

I looked up to find Eran staring over his shoulder at me, his handsome face contracting into dread.

He spun on his heel and sprinted for me, the fear in him deepening with each step.

As I waited for him, something flowed into my left eye, blinding me. I brought my hand to it and wiped. It was warm and stuck to me. When I pulled away to study whatever it was, a deep crimson color was swathed across my fingers. It collected at the bottom of my hand and dripped, splattering the same color on the dirt at my feet.

Blood…

Lots of it…

I suddenly felt dizzy, weak. I reached for Eran.

He was closer now, having taken to flight, the mist clearing in his wake. Down that narrow grey tunnel he created, at the end of it, something stirred. It left hollowness in my heart.

Cedric wasn't dead.

He was knocked out and beginning to revive.

With Eran facing me, he had no idea.

I searched for my rapier, the one Oleg's brother had given me. Somehow it had made it down the hill, landing a few feet away. The silver in its handle contrasted with the yellow grass, peeking at me from between the dead blades.

I went for it, picking it up, stumbling under its weight.

Then the ground came at me as I fell toward it. But before we could meet, I used the thrust of my fall and sent the rapier through the air.

My toes twisted with the force and my body rotated until I could no longer see Eran or Cedric or the rapier. I was facing the hillside by the time my shoulder and hip slammed into the dirt. But I was smiling because the aim was good. 

The rapier would hit its target. Eran would be safe.

I was smiling for all these reasons, and because I didn't have the slightest notion how much danger I was actually in.

EXCERPT 4

As Eran's feet left the ground, he found me in the crowd and gave me one final burning look. There was something in his eyes now, not pride at having subdued Jacob or to impress upon me the importance of the lesson he'd just demonstrated. All that seemed to have been forgotten. No, what I saw was intense curiosity. And just before he broke our gaze to adjust his sight on the route they were taking, I was certain that he felt the same way I did…that he wished he understood what had just happened between us.

As the rest of us watched in awed silence, I couldn't help but notice that, in a way similar to the messengers on their arrival, Eran's group departed with the same close-knit familiarity.

"Who are they?" I asked, my head still tilted back.

"Part of a legion," Daniel replied.

Despite my seclusion, I'd heard of legions. There were several of them, each with a primary purpose. "Which one?"

"The one that oversees castigated entities."

"Those who have wronged humankind?"

"Yes, the Fallen Ones," confirmed Daniel.

I'd heard of them, too. In passing.

"And Eran's a part of that legion?"

"No," Daniel said with a subdued chuckle. "Not a part of, the leader of. He's their colonel."

"Colonel?" I said, finally lowering my head.

Eran had been out of sight for a while, but this was the first time I'd felt enough conviction to look away.

"You really have no idea who he is, do you?" Daniel was astonished.

"No."

He didn't reply for what felt like a very long time. "Eran has been credited with keeping the most dangerous entities from committing further atrocious acts while they are sentenced to an eternity on earth."

"You mean his legion has," I corrected him.

"No, I mean Eran. There is a reason why he is renowned. When the most vicious of the Fallen Ones are too much for others in the legion to handle, they request Eran, which is to say that he pursues and restrains those who all others cannot handle."

"That takes skill," Jacob muttered, stretching a kink from his neck.

Daniel chuckled at the understatement. "Some of which you just witnessed…personally," he added.

I didn't share Daniel's humor, being too preoccupied by who I'd just met, and how his attention had been so finely tuned to me. "Do you think he'll be back?"

"Eran?" Daniel said. "It's possible. I've heard every action he makes is deliberate…calculated. He was here with a reason today. If he returns, he'll have a reason then too."

Jacob groaned, evidently not anticipating Eran's return. "Next time you can spar with him."

Daniel chuckled. "I'd think our time would be better spent training the messengers, which is something we should probably return to…," he hinted.

Jacob nodded, rubbing the side of his neck where I remember a vine had hit him. Daniel pitied his friend through a quiet, suppressed laugh, wrapping a friendly arm across Jacob's shoulders and walking him toward the waiting group. But my attention drifted back to the sky where Eran had disappeared.

The anticipation of seeing him again proved too much and my insides were ignited in a way I'd never felt before. That searing pleasure worked its way through my belly, and as much as I wanted to dwell in that sensation, I had to force myself to ignore it. There was work to be done and that feeling was a distraction.

Resigned to concentrate on my task at hand, I joined the messengers shortly after, but not before peering back for one more lingering glance at the sky.

Messenger by Laury Falter 

(Guardian Trilogy Prequel)
Publication date: May 8th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Maggie does not know she is a Messenger. She has never met her eternal lover. She has never survived a Fallen One. All this changes when a Messenger awakens in the Hall of Records only to die moments later, never to return.

As Maggie sets out to determine why the Messengers are suddenly beginning to die, she crosses paths with the infuriatingly appealing Eran and their story begins.

In this riveting account of Maggie’s first life on earth with Eran, the star-crossed lovers’ romance transpires amidst treacherous enemies, their friends’ resistance, and their own opposing wills. With the odds against her, can Maggie survive long enough to admit the feelings she has so carefully denied?

Messenger is the first prequel to the bestselling Guardian Trilogy – the breathtaking romantic saga about a love that has lasted centuries between a Messenger and her Guardian.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20647055-messenger

Purchase:

Will be found here come release day: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=messenger%20Laury%20Falter

----

AUTHOR BIO

Laury Falter is a bestselling author of young adult romantic suspense and urban fantasy. She has three series out: the Guardian Trilogy, the Residue Series, and the Apocalypse Chronicles.

To learn more about Laury and her novels, visit her at:
Website: lauryfalter.com
Twitter page: twitter.com/LauryFalter
Facebook page: facebook.com/pages/Laury-Falter/196033543803745
Goodreads page: goodreads.com/author/show/4061922.Laury_Falter

GIVEAWAYS

Blitz-wide giveaway

Open INTL - Ends May 20th

--The full Guardian Trilogy series in eBook

a Rafflecopter giveaway