Felicity Hahn is a thief on the run in Ireland. She can’t go home and spends every day hoping Interpol doesn’t catch up with her. But when she steals a crimson-red necklace, she may have gotten more than she bargained for.
Cian Finnegan is a vampire who was turned outside the gates of Castle Tullamore over three hundred years earlier. He chases the woman who stole his necklace back to the Castle, now a hotel, both to recover his possession and because her scent makes him as hard as hell.
Can the magic of the Emerald Isles give these two a happy ending, or is it too late for them both?
Excerpt:
Just outside of Castle Tullamore, 1615
“Stop him. He’s getting away.” The panicked voices of Chichester’s guards filled the almost-dawn landscape, replacing the usual sounds of the curlew chirping, announcing the rise of the sun, the beginning of a new day.
Cian Finnegan grinned, pressing the necklace more firmly into his hand. They could search for him all they wanted—Chichester’s cronies wouldn’t find him. He’d spent enough time hiding out and running from authorities that he could virtually disappear from sight any time he wanted. No one knew the path he was walking even existed, thanks to the numerous landowners who had taken over Tullamore through the years. Thank the heavens for short memories.
And right now, given that he’d just stolen a small fortune in the form of a ruby necklace from the haughty Arthur Chichester, or to be more specific, Chichester’s wife, Cian had no intention of being caught with the pilfered jewelry. He’d sell it, buy passage on a ship heading for anywhere, and be done with the misery that was Kilmorny. Wherever he went, no one would know anything about his father or what the bastard had done to soil their name.
Somewhere where the ladies would fawn on him and the Chichester devils wouldn’t be staring down their British noses at the poor commoners too low for their haughty notice.
Cian stopped in his tracks. A shiver traveled up his spine. He turned around, scanning the area as best he could. The darkness didn’t bother him. He’d walked the dirt paths in the blackness enough that he knew every ditch, every large stone, every possible disaster. The sun would be fully up soon and the dots of light appearing over the horizon gave him more than enough brightness to navigate his surroundings.
So what had him jittery?
Nothing alarming called his attention. The air blew lightly around him. His friends would be long home from the pub, not knowing that he’d done what he always wanted to do, taken the crimson symbol of all that was wrong with his world right out from under their noses.
The guards were going the wrong way looking for him. He grinned. His nervousness had to be some kind of delayed reaction to the whole night. Nothing more. Unless the rumors proved true and monsters really did roam the countryside at night.
He turned back around. Nope. He would not—could not—let his imagination run away with him. Not when he’d got so close to acquiring everything he’d ever wanted out of life.
With his hands in his pockets, he strode down the path toward his small cottage. He’d spend one more night sleeping in poverty before he moved on to the next phase of his existence. Soon, Kilmorny would barely factor in his memory.
He rounded a sharp corner, colliding with something in the still-dark morning. Falling backward, he stumbled two steps before he caught himself. Dodging to the right, he tried to make sense of what had happened. What on earth had he run into? A tree? A wall? Had he misjudged his location?
“Easy there, Cian. You’re not going to find me swinging around like that.”
Cian jolted to the right, in the direction of the voice that had spoken to him. He hadn’t recognized it.
“Who’s there?” He tried wildly to figure out who he was talking with. Had the guards somehow found him?
“You don’t know me. But I know you. For the last three weeks you’ve traveled these paths at this hour. Planning something, were you? From the way you smell tonight, I’d say you accomplished your goal.”
4 stars
This was a nice short read that I enjoyed. I absolutely love all things Irish, so I was super excited to read Crimson Lust. I loved the little tastes of Ireland that were in the book, they just made the story even better for me (Irish vampire? Totally rocks).
Now, I’ve gotten a bit tired of all the vampire books out there, the same old, same old, so while this wasn’t a giant new interpretation of the genre, it was different and fresh enough to keep me interested.
I was also pleasantly surprised by Cian and Felicity. Usually in novellas like this, there isn’t a lot of character development, and the characters don’t really make an impression. That’s not the case here. Not only do they have amazing chemistry, they crack me up. And the irony behind their meeting is great.
All in all, this was a fun little short read that I definitely recommend. I will also be keeping my eyes out for more of Rebecca’s books.
August 16: Deal Sharing Aunt
August 19: The ParaRomance Club
August 26: Delighted Reader
September 2: Perusing Princesses
September 2: Sharing Links and Wisdom
September 9: Wicked Readings by Tawania
September 16: For the Love of Bookends
September 23: B and M Review Gazette
September 30: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
October 7: Dalene's Book Reviews
Author Bio and Links:
As a teenager, Rebecca Royce would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was well worth it.
Rebecca is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They’ve just moved to Texas where Rebecca is discovering a new love for barbecue!
She's in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She's been told she's a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you'll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. Rebecca loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.
In Rebecca Royce's world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.
Current and Upcoming Works:
The Outsiders
Love Beyond Time
Love Beyond Sanity
Love Beyond Loyalty
Love Beyond Sight
Love Beyond Expectations…coming soon
Westervelt Wolves
Her Wolf
Summer’s Wolf
Wolf Reborn
Wolf’s Valentine
Wolf’s Magic
Alpha Wolf
Angel’s Wolf
Darkest Wolf
Lone Wolf…coming soon
The Warrior
Initiation
Driven
Subversive
The Conditioned
Eye Contact
Embraced
Sexy Superheroes
Screwing the Superhero
Banging the Superhero
Other Works
Behind The Scenes
First Dimension
Yes, Captain
Return to the Sea
One Night With A Wolf
Another Chance
Light Me Up
I’ll Be Mated For Christmas
The Edge stories: Unwanted Mate, Bar Mate, Mate by the Music, Out of Place Mate
Love In One Night
Hexed and Vexed…coming soon
February Lover…coming soon
Finding Her A-Muse-Ment…coming soon
Forever
An excerpt that leaves me with a lot of unanswered questions. Well done Rebecca.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteSounds like a compelling read. I enjoyed the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteKit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks for the excerpt - I've enjoyed Rebecca's Westervelt Wolves book series and this sounds like another book of hers i would enjoy! Thanks for the giveaway too
ReplyDeletejunegirl63 at gmail dot com
Thanks for your review. Book sounds really good. I love novellas too....as long as the author takes enough time to develop both the characters and plot.
ReplyDeletekareninnc at gmail dot com
Thanks for the excerpt and the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteSounds really good!!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com