Category Archives: EMBRACE THE DARKNESS

Release Day!

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by in Alpha males, Amazon, author, Black Rose. Lilly Gayle, ebooks, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, paranormal romance, paranormal romantic suspense, paranormal vampire romance, romance novel

≈ 22 Comments

Lines from Folks I KnowToday is the official release day of Embrace the Darkness, book Two in the Darkness Series. You can now find ETD om print and digital formats from The Wild Rose Press and Amazon.  It should soon be available in digital format from other retailers like Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Soni. Book One, Out of the Darkness is also still available and on sale at most retailers.

A Secret Revealed

Embrace the Darkness~

An experimental vaccine gives vampire Gerard Delaroche hope for the first time in two centuries–until two people are brutally murdered, and he suspects a conspiracy between vampires and mortals. To solve the crime, he must put his trust in a beautiful detective. But is former soldier and MP turned detective, Amber Buckley, a threat to his existence? Or the answer to his prayers?

Amber Buckley and her partner are assigned to do follow up interviews in the Lifeblood of America slayings. Amber believes she and Reid are just new eyes on a cold case. That is, until she meets Gerard Delaroche. Something about him teases long-buried memories Amber would rather not chase. However, the two join together, falling into more than resolution of a murder case. It seems Amber has some dark secrets of her own.

To find their way into the light, Amber and Gerard must first EMBRACE THE DARKNESS.

I hope those who’ve read Out of the Darkness liked it enough to read Embrace the Darkness. The books are a series but they don’t have to be read in order to make sense. You don’t even have to read the first book to read and understand the second book. But I hope you will.

So, come celebrate with me! I’ll be giving away a $7.00 gift certificate to The Wild Rose Press on Saturday. For your chance to win, leave a comment. and you’ll automatically be entered in a random drawing. No purchase necessary and your chances of winning depend on number of comments posted.

 

ETD is on sale until June!

04 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Amazon, e-books, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, Kindle books, Lilly Gayle, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, The Darkness Series, The Wild Rose Press

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If you missed your chance to get a free copy of Embrace the Darkness from Amazon, it’s not too late to get it at a discount. From now until its official release on June 21, 2013 Amazon is selling Embrace the Darkness
for only $2.99. After June 21, the price goes up to $5.99.


And while you’re checking out ETD, why not pick up a copy of the first book in my Darkness Series? Out of the Darkness is on sale now for $2.99 as well. So check it out on Amazon and own the two book set. Hoping there’s a third or even a fourth book in the future. 🙂

Snippet Sunday

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Black Rose. Lilly Gayle, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, Lilly Gayle, paranormal romance, Snippet Sunday, The Wild Rose Press, tweets, TWRP, vampires

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Snippet Sunday

Well, don’t know how long I’ll stick to this, lol! But I’m participating in a Facebook/Twitter project. Snippet Sunday. Writer’s post an eight sentence snippet from a book or WIP on his/her blog, add the blog link to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474/ and then Tweet the link and/or post it on his/her author Facebook page.

Got the idea?

If you’re in the market for a new author or exciting book and mine doesn’t appeal to you, go to the Facebook link above, check out the other author’s pages, and see if you can find a snippet that sounds like a book you’d like to read.

The snippet below is from my paranormal romance, Embrace the Darkness, the second book in my Darkness Series.

Blurb: An experimental vaccine gives vampire Gerard Delaroche hope for the first time in two centuries–until two people are brutally murdered, and he suspects a conspiracy between vampires and mortals. To solve the crime, he must put his trust in a beautiful detective. But is former soldier and MP turned detective, Amber Buckley, a threat to his existence? Or the answer to his prayers?

Amber Buckley and her partner are assigned to do follow up interviews in the Lifeblood of America slayings. Amber believes she and Reid are just new eyes on a cold case. That is, until she meets Gerard Delaroche. Something about him teases long-buried memories Amber would rather not chase. However, the two join together, falling into more than resolution of a murder case. It seems Amber has some dark secrets of her own.

To find their way into the light, Amber and Gerard must first EMBRACE THE DARKNESS.
Setup: Gerard is about to confess he’s a vampire.

“Go home, Delaroche. Let the police handle this. If
you have information you’d like to share, Detective
Sheridan and I will talk to you tomorrow.”

“But I need to talk to you now. Alone. Tonight.”
He stepped forward.

She slipped her hand back inside her jacket. Her
fingers never touched her Glock. Fear—or something
else—held her immobile.

Lines from Folks I Know

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Amazon, ebooks, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, Lilly Gayle, paranormal romantic suspense, paranormal vampire romance, The Wild Rose Press

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As part of my short promo posts for Embrace the Darkness, I’d like to add another line used by one of my characters taken directly from someone I know in “real” life.

Set up: Amber Buckley and her partner, Reid are investigating the Lifeblood of America murders. Reid thinks he has a lead, but Amber fears there’s something darker and more sinister behind the brutal murders.

 Reid was on a roll. She could see the
excitement in his eyes—hear the exhilaration in his
voice. He was vibrating with it. If she didn’t say or do
something to slow him down, he’d leap before seeing
where the evidence led.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not going to espouse
my theories to Captain Stratford or anyone else. I don’t
want this case going to the Feds or to narcotics. This is
our baby and we’re going to rock it.”
The knot in her stomach tightened. This case was
going to end badly. She sensed it as surely as she’d
sensed impending disaster in Iraq.

I hope you enjoyed this brief excerpt from Embrace the Darkness, my paranormal romantic suspense available now on Amazon.  This line was brought to you by GMC imaging co-worker and friend, Selena. Thanks, Selena!

Sequel Secrets

08 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Black Rose. Lilly Gayle, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, paranormal romace, The Wild Rose Press, vampires

≈ 14 Comments

When I first began writing the sequel to Out of the Darkness, I thought it would be easy. I already had my hero and heroine. Gerard and Tina were great secondary characters in the first book. They even had a budding romance. What could be better? It took about ten chapters for me to realize their story wasn’t going to work. Tina had a daughter. And Gerard was a vampire.

Why did that bother me so much? Because as the mother of two daughters, I realized a good mother would never put romance ahead of her children. No matter how much Tina was attracted to Gerard, he was a vampire living in a dangerous world between worlds. Would a good mother risk falling in love with a man who’s very existence could put her child at risk? Maybe. But would readers respect or even like a woman who did that? I had a hard time respecting her as I wrote their story. In my opinion, if Tina really cared more for her daughter than herself (which is how I feel about my own children) I figured she’d avoid getting involved with Gerard and she’d be upfront with her reasons. And if Gerard was as honorable as I wanted him to be, he’d respect that. So, I had to find another love interest for Gerard. And that’s when I came up with what I hope is a gripping opening to the sequel, Embrace the Darkness.

The prologue practically wrote itself. I was on fire. I thought I could just keep typing away until the book was finished. But as soon as I sent a rough draft of the first few chapters to my critique partners, authors Andris Bear and Amy Corwin, I realized writing a sequel wasn’t just a matter of picking up where the first story left off. As Amy pointed out, Embrace the Darkness wasn’t Vincent and Megan’s story. It was Gerard and Amber’s story and Vincent and Megan had to take a back seat. And Andris informed me that although I needed to give readers enough information from the first book so the second book would make sense, I couldn’t just dump it all in the first few chapters because it would still be backstory dump, which is a big no-no. So, I had to filter in the elements of the first book that would be crucial in the second book the same way I’d filtered backstory into the first book–a little at a time.

Easier said than done!

A lot happened in the first book. There were good vampires, villains, military operatives, a questionably bad vampire, a potential cure…How did I filter the information in without backstory dump? I figured I had to tell the first of the story from Amber’s point of view. Amber is a new character. She knew nothing about vampires. So after the prologue, I began writing book two in her POV, and things seemed to click…for awhile. Then my characters took over and changed my plot, which left a lot of holes that needed to be filled.

To fill those plot holes, I had to do more research. And I found the answers I was seeking by researching some little known vampire myths. I finally finished the book in July and submitted it in August. And now I’m happy to report, Embrace the Darkness will be released on June 21, 2013.

For those who haven’t read Out of the Darkness, here’s what happened:

And for those interested in Embrace the Darkness, this is what you can expect:

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

04 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in Brenda Gayle, EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, Jenna Black, Jessica Biel, John Cena, Lilly Gayle, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, romance authors, The Next Big Thing Blog Tour, The Wild Rose Press

≈ 10 Comments

Thanks to my adorable but snarky critique partner, Andris Bear, I’ve been “tagged” in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. And this thing is BIG. Big as the moon big! I’m not sure how long it’s been going on, but you can back track through the blogs and see what all your favorite authors have been up to lately. And maybe even meet some new authors.

But be warned, this thing is exponential. Because whoever started it, tagged more than one author, who in turn, tagged several others.

Each author answers ten questions about their latest project, whether it’s a new release, a work in progress, or in my case, a soon-to-be released paranormal romance from The Black Rose line of The Wild Rose Press.

Simple. Huh? And loads of fun. So here goes!

1. What is the working title of your book? Embrace the Darkness. It’s more than a “working” title. The book just went to galley, which means a proof copy is being created to send to review sites. It means, I’ll soon have a release date. It means, I already have a fabulous cover by the wonderful and talented Angela Anderson.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Embrace the Darkness is the sequel to my 2010 paranormal vampire romance, Out of the Darkness. As soon as I introduced Gerard Delaroche in OTD, I knew he’d have to have his own book. So, this is his story. There also some new characters as well as several “appearances” from old characters.

3. What is the genre of the book?

Both ETD and OTD are paranormal romances.

4.Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Easy. Wrestler/actor, John Cena would be perfect for Gerard Delaroche. I even mention his name in my book. And Jessica Biel could play former MP turned detective Amber Buckley. Yea, having even one of my books turned into a movie would definitely be a dream come true!

5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

 To find their way into the light, Amber and Gerard must first EMBRACE THE DARKNESS.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?

It’s being published by The Wild Rose Press.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

 It took a little over three years from start to finish. I received the offer to publish Out of The Darkness on Mother’s Day 2009. The book came out almost exactly a year to the date in May 2010. I started writing Embrace the Darkness (which was originally called Into the Light–thanks Andris Bear for suggesting the new title!) as soon as I completed the galleys for OTD. It was the first book in which I used a plot chart. But, when I got to chapter 10, I realized the story wasn’t going to work. There were major plot holes and I had a problem with the heroine. So, I gave Gerard a different love interest and started over. From scratch. But I couldn’t give the manuscript the attention it needed because between OTD and ETD, I published 3 other books. So, it’s taken a bit longer than I’d planned.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’d like to think I have an original voice and there’s no comparison. lol! To be honest, the last vampire series I read was Jenna Black‘s Guardians of the Night series. Jenna was my critique partner for Out of the Darkness, but we have different styles/voices. But being compared to her would totally make my day.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I thought about doing a sequel to Out of the Darkness while writing it. But family, friends, and my co-workers at Granville Medical Center kept after me to “just do it.” So, I did. And while researching ancient vampire legends, I came up with a working plot for Embrace the Darkness.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Vampirsm is a virus–a possibly curable virus. But will a cure for the condition lead to a war between mortals and immortals? I guess I’ll have to write book three in the series to find out. lol!

Next author up? None other than Brenda Gayle. And no, we’re not related, but don’t you just love her last name? lol! Check back to see when Brenda’s blog goes live and follow the tour!

One Step Closer!

06 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in EMBRACE THE DARKNESS, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, paranormal vampire romance, The Wild Rose Press. Black Rose. Lilly Gayle, TWRP, vampires vampire romance. paranormal romance

≈ 5 Comments

Embrace the Darkness the sequel to my 2010 paranormal/vampire release is one step close to publication. Tonight, I got approval on my blurb:

An experimental vaccine gives vampire Gerard Delaroache hope for the first time in two centuries–until two people are brutally murdered, and he suspects a conspiracy between vampires and mortals. To solve the crime, he must put his trust in a beautiful detective. But is former soldier and MP turned detective, Amber Buckley, a threat to his existence? Or the answer to his prayers?

Amber Buckley and her partner are assigned to do follow up interviews in the Lifeblood of America slayings. Amber believes she and Reid are just new eyes on a cold case.  That is until she meets Gerard Delaroache. Something about him teases long-buried memories Amber would rather not chase. However, the two join together, falling into more than resolution of a murder case. It seems Amber has some dark secrets of her own.

 To find their way into the light, Amber and Gerard must first EMBRACE THE DARKNESS.

Hope the blurb will tempt you all to buy the book when it comes out in 2013!