New
enemies are made.
New
allies must be forged.
Kali is beginning to regain her
memories. In doing so, she discovers old secrets and betrayals that threaten to
unravel her present and shake the foundation for Rhane’s belief in her
innocence. While her maturing abilities present unique challenges, a bigger
problem arises when Kali learns her ex-boyfriend has made a misguided deal with
the enemy in order to win her back—a decision that may ultimately cost him his
humanity.
Keeping Kali safe has become a
full time job for Rhane. And struggling to gain control of the immortal
Banewolf isn’t making that task any easier. The power to eliminate the growing
threat against Kali lies at Rhane’s fingertips, but using it means risking his
friends to the insatiable blood lust of a monster. So Rhane is forced to forge
a shaky alliance with creatures he has sworn to destroy. Despite these new
allies, the danger pressing on their borders intensifies, culminating in a
heartbreaking and shocking finale.
The strength of the bond between
young and ancient lovers will be tested…and if Kali and Rhane are to survive,
they must find a way to be unbreakable.
Dark Siren Series, Book Two
Eden Ashley
Genre: paranormal romance, young
adult
ISBN: 9780989963237
ASIN: B00GTT3RDI
Number of pages: 395
Word Count: 90,000
Cover Artist: Nathalia Suellen
Excerpt from Banewolf
I Want You to
Remember…
After seeing the
Cal who wasn’t Cal, Kali’s mind was far too harried to focus on class. Skipping
the last block of the day, she went to the swimming pool and sat at the bottom
for a long time. Her eyes were closed. Her body was motionless. The pressure of
the water became a loving caress, helping to relax everything except her mind.
Those anxious thoughts just wouldn’t let go. Even with all Rhane had revealed,
the past remained hidden like it had never existed.
But you didn’t forget.
That was right.
An entire lifetime…taken. And it wasn’t just her life with Rhane. Kali had
lived well over a dozen lives in stolen human bodies. Yet she couldn’t remember
a single one of them. Each of those little girls had been stripped from the
arms of a family who loved them, only to be replaced by a soul-sucking,
fire-setting siren. And for what reason? If Rhane knew, he wasn’t telling. Why
won’t he talk to me? I’ve proven my trust.
Well, she
amended the thought. I did push him away at first, but only for like fifteen
minutes. Then Gabriel showed up and started ripping more of my life to pieces.
Kali took a
breath and then another, but not with her lungs. Her skin absorbed oxygen from
the water and exchanged it for carbon dioxide waste in her blood. The process
didn’t come automatically. It took a lot of focus to make underwater breathing
happen. In her two weeks on the lam, she’d discovered this new talent. And it
had proven very useful, practically allowing her to live in the water. Holding
her breath was certainly easier, but that came with time limits. After twenty
minutes, she had to surface.
She was
determined to master underwater breathing. Concentrating on the task left her
brain severely limited in the number of other things it could worry about. And
that was a plus.
Feeling the
faintest tremble in the water, she opened her eyes. The lights were flickering.
After a few cycles of an ebbing and surging glow, they went out completely. She
tried not to panic in the darkness, expecting the underwater lighting to
illuminate soon. But instead, there came a muted thud. All of the lights
suddenly flooded the pool arena. And Kali screamed.
Bodies were
everywhere. Hundreds of them littered the swimming pool floor. Parts of their
skin were burned. Charred chunks broke apart from decaying flesh. Tentacles of
black liquid snaked into the water. The body of a child rose up, a bloated mass
set adrift in a nonexistent current. Kali stared into the film of the corpse’s
dead eyes with absolute horror. Black hair floated around his head in a dark
halo of death. Even with blanched, greying and puckered skin, Kali saw in the
child a startling resemblance to Rhane. Bubbles spurted from her mouth as she
screamed again.
She kicked hard,
trying to get as far away from the corpse as fast as she could. When her back
slammed into solid concrete, she turned to scramble up the pool wall. Fingers
slipping on the wet ledge, she finally managed to pull herself out and flop
onto her stomach. Trembling with a dozen more screams welled up inside, Kali
shook with the effort of not releasing them.
Pushing to her
feet, she looked down into the water, needing desperately to believe she was
not going crazy. There were no dead people. There was no dead boy. The pool was
empty.
#
Icy water
pounded from the showerhead, streaming into her eyes as it washed the chlorine
from her body. All Kali could see was the boy. His lifeless face floating
before hers, dark and grey and distorted in death. It took both hands to
smother her sobs. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Was it possible
that the vision was a real memory like the nightmares of the horseman had been
real memories?
The lights in
the shower room flickered and went out just as they had in the pool auditorium.
Her breath caught in her chest as she waited for what would happen next. She
didn’t have to wait long.
“Kalista,” a
male voice sighed into the darkness.
She backed away.
She was naked and blind. And in the shower was a stranger who probably meant
her harm. The vulnerable state made Kali’s movements very clumsy.
“Darkesong.”
This time the
voice was closer. So close, she could feel the whisper against her skin. She
knew it was the thing pretending to be Cal. Kali bit her lip. She was too
frightened to scream. But screaming wouldn’t have helped anyway.
At first, his
touch was light. Kali reacted, flinching away violently. Then “Cal” grabbed
her. He was an irresistible force shoving her against the wet shower wall. His
hard body pressed against hers. The heat from him completely dispelled the cold
that fell around them.
Kali felt his
face against her skin. His hot breath steamed next to her cheek.
“Don’t,” she
whispered.
Strong fingers
slipped around her throat, but their hold was gentle. The lights partially
returned, and she could see him. Physically, everything was the same…except for
the eyes. Gone was the shocking blue of Cal’s stormy stare. In its place were
two red orbs that reflected abnormally in the dim light. She would have
recognized those eyes anywhere.
“Gabriel.”
He nodded. His
body still had her pinned. His right hand grasped her throat, while the other
rested idly against the wall. She waited for him to say or do something, but he
didn’t. Nothing happened. Open malice and rage emanated from Gabriel’s still
form, but Kali wasn’t entirely sure those emotions were aimed at her.
She inhaled a
shaky breath. The action squashed her breasts against his chest. “What did you
do to Cal?”
Another
unnerving smile slashed his face. “He’s still here.”
“What do you
want?”
Pressing his
nose into the curve of her neck, Gabriel inhaled a dramatic whiff of her scent.
Trembling, Kali tried to push away, wedging her body painfully into the wall.
When Gabriel’s left hand moved, she went rigid. But the hand never touched her.
It hovered next to her head, holding a tiny yellow stone.
“I want to help
you remember.”
The events that
followed would remain a blur of varying shades of grey darkness for some time.
When Kali came to, she was standing in the rain, completely drenched. Rhane
stood in front of her, lips moving soundlessly as he shouted, the words swept
away by an unforgiving wind. She had never seen his eyes so black or so deadly
focused as he leveled a gun directly over her heart.
Purchase Links:
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Cynic, realist, and hopeless
romantic all rolled into one, Eden was born and raised in a small, sunny town
in South Carolina, but thunderstorms have inspired her best ideas. There are
few things she loves more than curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee
on a rainy day, (except maybe chocolate cake. She loves cake.) often reading
into the wee hours of morning when something really grabs her attention. She
pretty much loves anything with supernatural elements, so writing paranormal
romance and fantasy romance seems to be a natural fit.
My Thoughts:
I was blown away by the intrigue, action, suspense, and complete originality of this series. I would suggest reading the books in order.
If the blurbs sound even remotely good to you, then you must read them. You will be more than happy that you did!
I don't want to give specifics away to those of you who haven't read the first book. I will just say that the characters were strong, and charismatic and there is a great mixture of supes.
I can Not wait to see what will happen next!
I received an ecopy in exchange for my honest opinion. Mostly, I find myself incapable of finding the words. I'll just say WOW!
Don't forget to enter the Comment Incentive Giveaway. It is a great chance to win a book you'd like to have! The link can be found at the top of the page.
