When Brennan returns . . .

ONE WEEK TILL ATLANTIS REDEEMED!!!! WHEE!!! Here's a special sneak peek at the first time Brennan encounters Tiernan:

The fog coalesced into a sparkling, shimmering shape—a large and broad shape—the shape of a man. The golden light from the lamps reflected off of tiny particles in the water, projecting a cascade of mini-rainbows across every flat surface in a brilliant light show. Then the cloud of mist exploded outward as if triumphantly hailing the man who stepped from it.

The man. The man who, mere seconds before, had been nothing but a cloud. A fog. The man who now stood in the center of her hotel room, breathing hard, staring at her with his ice-green eyes.

Except they weren’t as icy as she remembered. No, this man’s eyes were pure green fire, and every inch of her skin burned as the heat of his gaze swept her from head to toe and then back, lingering on her neck.

“Brennan?” His name came out in a whisper, but he snapped his head up and stared straight into her eyes when she spoke. A brief whisper of danger sent a chill down her spine, and her senses translated the deadly stillness in his pose as that of a feral animal crouching to leap.

Feral and primitive. Wild and beautiful. His silky black hair fell in waves around a face that would cause the highest paid TV anchor to weep with jealousy. Pure masculine beauty, with dark brows over those amazing green eyes. The cheekbones and bone structure all the Atlanteans she’d met had shared, as if they alone had posed for the most magnificent of the ancient Greek statues. And his mouth . . . oh, his mouth. How could a simple combination of lips and teeth make her wonder what it would be like to taste him?

As reality crumpled around her, some vestige of control snapped into place and Tiernan managed to force words from her suddenly dust-dry throat. “I’m guessing I missed a pretty spectacular entrance back in Boston when I was hiding behind that couch? I had wondered how you guys busted through that window so high off the ground, but I was more thinking ropes coming down from the roof.”

“You are Tiernan?” he demanded, ignoring her nervous chatter. “Tell me. Now.”

“Yes, I’m Tiernan. You know me. We--"

She gasped a little and stopped talking as he took a single step toward her, then another, his large, muscled body leaning forward as if he were stalking her. “He dared to touch you,” he growled, the words nearly unintelligible. “He put his mouth on you. I will kill him.”

She backed away but the motion seemed to infuriate him even further, because he dove across the several feet separating them as if he really were that wild animal leaping for its prey.

“Brennan, stop! I don’t know what this is about, but you need to calm down so we can--" Memories of his crazed wildness the first time he’d seen her flashed into her mind, shutting down her powers of speech as he took the final step and slammed his hands flat against the wall on either side of her head, caging her against his body.

He wasn’t going to listen to her. She was in danger. Rick had been right, she should have listened, but no, she had to be tough and now for the second time in an hour she was facing a predator.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to be prey for a vampire or anybody else,” she shouted, shoving at his chest as he leaned further toward her. It was like shoving a brick wall. A hot, hard, brick wall, that smelled like salt and sea and man.

He froze in place, then tilted his head to one side, pinning her with a long, considering stare. “Not his prey,” he finally said, his deep voice sizzling across her nerve endings.

She caught her breath, but before she could speak he lifted one hand from the wall to touch the side of her face.

“Not his prey,” he repeated, bending his face down to hers. “Mine.”

ATLANTIS REDEEMED, copyright Alesia Holliday, releasing March 2, 2010

Prepare for book giveaway extravaganza!!

Beginning March 1st, in celebration of ATLANTIS REDEEMED, I'm going to be giving away TWO BOOKS A DAY!!!! But hold on - this gets even more exciting - they'll be books written by my friends!! Stay tuned for the deets.

Also, just because I can't resist, with all credit to the spectacular Onion.com:

Lots of book release wonderfabulousness!

ONLY TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY FOR ATLANTIS REDEEMED!! (Can you tell I'm excited? LOL)

For the first time ever, I'm a FEATURED SELECTION in the Rhapsody Book Club!! And that comes with a lovely 2-page spread in the catalog:



And Fresh Fiction just gave Atlantis Redeemed a wonderful review:

"THE SEXY WARRIORS OF POSEIDON ARE BACK FOR ANOTHER STEAMY STORY IN THIS EXEMPLARY SERIES."

I'm so excited for this release. Also very excited about going to Sacramento next week, so I need to get cracking and finish these revisions so you can all meet Christophe's heroine in September as planned! She is maybe my most fun heroine yet -definitely daring and outrageous! She gives that often-surly warrior a run for his money, let me tell you!!

Having used up her daily quota of exclamation points, the author is now going to make some hot tea and get back to the book . . . LOL.

But first a quick THANK YOU!! For reading my books and sharing the enthusiasm with others. I receive so many emails that begin "my friend said I MUST read your books . . . " and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Forget TV commercials or newspaper ads; the only REAL thing that helps an author succeed is word-of-mouth from happy readers. So thank you thank you thank you!!

hugs,
Alyssa

The last 12 years of my life, in cartoon

So my son had to do an autobiographical assignment and chose to do the comic strip. He storyboarded it, and in a feat of near-unbelievable sibling cooperation, his little sister made the art happen. So it's from Connor's POV, with Lauren's magic touches, and--considering she just turned 10 on 1/25, I think it's freaking amazing. I could never do it. (She did it on her Bamboo drawing pad, with MS Paint software). I'm particularly fond of: 1) how perky & lovely I am both times after giving birth (!!); 2) the black mourning baby blanket she put on her baby self; and 3) the terrifyingly toothy smile of "Shamoo" the whale. Yes, having a proud Mommy moment today:

New website! Excerpts & More!

Dashing in quickly to let you all know I have a Brand! New! Website! Filled with excerpts and fun stuff like video interviews of me talking about how I create the world of the Warriors of Poseidon and more. Also a FREE SHORT STORY!! Available to read on-screen or download to your e-reader of choice.

Random notes:

1. I'm not much for men in skirts, necessarily, but I make an exception for kilts and for Sam Worthington in warrior gear: Picture & article HERE.

2. AND I'm proud to announce I resisted the urge to put purple streaks in my hair and simply went with more coppery lowlights. (I know everybody totally cares about this news, LOL.)

3. A Nashville music producer contacted me -- he is creating original theme music for my books! Deets and a sample soon!

4. The Sacramento RWA chapter is touring me around in style in a limo on a winery jaunt when I arrive the end of this month - yay Sacramento! Yay wine! Yay RWA! I'm SO looking forward to it.

5. Pre-orders: For those of you who asked, yes, please do go ahead and pre-order Atlantis Redeemed! Healthy pre-orders cue the publisher and stores in to be sure and have plenty of stock on hand. Counting down!! which brings us to:

5.

WOOHOO!!! Please check out the new website and read the excerpts and sign up for my newsletter (newsletters only go out a few times a year and often include exclusive early excerpts and more!). Thanks!!

hugs,
Alyssa