Welcome to EskieMama Sunday Spotlight!
Today we are spotlighting L. J. Shen's
Blood To Dust!
Enter to win 1 of 5 copies of Blood To Dust from L.J. Shen
A Dark Romance
Blood To Dust
His name is Beat, and I should hate him.
Bound, blindfolded and bruised, I'm tied in his basement, waiting for the men who stripped me from clothes and humanity to collect his debt to them. Me.
His name is Nate and I should hate him, but I don't.
I'm not supposed to know his real name, even worse, I'm not supposed to care. He is nothing to me but means to an end. The plan is simple: break free, collect the pieces of my broken soul, kill the bastards and run away.
His name is Nathaniel Thomas Vela, and I've never seen his face, though I hear that it's beautiful.
Behind the rugged and handsome exterior, there's a quiet murderer, a killer who thinks guns are for pussies and ends people with his bare hands.
His name doesn't matter, neither does his face, but what does matter is my heart. And right now, sadly, it's his.
Blood to Dust is a standalone, full-length novel. It contains graphic violence and adult situations some may find offensive.
Bound, blindfolded and bruised, I'm tied in his basement, waiting for the men who stripped me from clothes and humanity to collect his debt to them. Me.
His name is Nate and I should hate him, but I don't.
I'm not supposed to know his real name, even worse, I'm not supposed to care. He is nothing to me but means to an end. The plan is simple: break free, collect the pieces of my broken soul, kill the bastards and run away.
His name is Nathaniel Thomas Vela, and I've never seen his face, though I hear that it's beautiful.
Behind the rugged and handsome exterior, there's a quiet murderer, a killer who thinks guns are for pussies and ends people with his bare hands.
His name doesn't matter, neither does his face, but what does matter is my heart. And right now, sadly, it's his.
Blood to Dust is a standalone, full-length novel. It contains graphic violence and adult situations some may find offensive.
Grab YOUR copy TODAY!
Q & A with L.J. Shen about Blood Lust
Tell us about Blood to Dust.
Blood to Dust is a twisted, dark-ish love story between a man and a woman who shouldn’t have met, but when they did, it was under the worst circumstances for both of them. It’s a story not only about love, but also about revenge and about learning to live with yourself and build a future after you’ve lost everything you had.
What initially inspired you to write Blood to Dust?
I wanted to write something fresh and interesting, a road trip a-la Bonnie and Clyde. I wanted it to be sexy and gritty, and I knew that after Sparrow, a lot of people expected me to go the usual route of another dark read. I didn’t want to repeat myself with the story, and I’m glad I didn’t. Blood to Dust is different in so many ways.
Tell us little about the characters Blood to Dust.
We have Prescott (who is a girl). She’s used to the good life, but one bad decision turns her life upside down and makes her face the harsh reality of people who were born on the other side of tracks. She is sassy, tough but most of all - she is a good person. I loved writing and spending time with her and if you read the reviews for the book, a lot of bloggers found it very easy to relate to her, because I think we all have a little Prescott inside us.
Nate...oh, man, Nate. When I wrote him, I wrote the man of my dreams. Alpha and bad ass to a point where everything tingles just from hearing his name, but then he can say the sweetest thing or show you his sensitive side. He’s a felon, a bad man with a good heart. His complexity had me re-reading the scenes I wrote with him over and over again. He is definitely one of the more intense characters I’ve ever written.
What was the hardest part of writing Blood to Dust?
I’d say the research. It is difficult to research prisons, because no one let’s you get into one to see what’s happening there. I watched a ton of documentaries but I still had my doubts when I wrote the prison scenes.
Also, it was emotionally challenging to recap everything Prescott has been through.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
Definitely the epilogue, and for obvious reasons :)
What are your future project(s)?
I am so pumped about my future projects! I have another release coming in December, another darkish read. It’s very mildly dark but extremely intense, and the characters are seriously intense.
And I’m writing a romantic comedy. I’m shooting for an early 2017 but no specific date yet. I come from the rom-com world, so this is something that’s really close to my heart.
Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers about this book/series?
It’s different and gritty and it’s a wild ride. Read it :)
Now an exciting excerpt from Blood To Dust!
“Where will you go after this is all over, Pea?” His mask touches my lips.
“Iowa,” I answer. “I want to go somewhere peaceful.”
“Cabo for me,” he replies, his thumb stabing his chest. “I wanna go somewhere wild.”
“Send me a postcard.” I muster a weak grin, but it feels wrong on my lips.
We don’t actually know if we’ll get out of this alive, and even if we do, I’ll dump him and move on with my life as soon as we kill the bastards.
We’re polar opposites. He’s peace looking for color, and I’m a storm looking for serenity. And somewhere between my chaos and his peace, we found each other. Even crazier—we want to save one another.
“Pea.” He rubs my chin with his thumb, staring at my lips with burning eyes. “I’ll fight your war while I’m winning mine, but you have to be honest with me. When I took you like an animal the night of the party. . .did it remind you of them?” “It was different,” I answer. “Intense, yes. Wild. But it reminded me that I could still enjoy how another body feels against mine. I didn’t think I could anymore.”
His jaw tenses and he looks down at his palms as he speaks.
“I’d like to be the person who reminds you of that again,” he says, his usually cutting tone sounds softer now. Maybe it’s just what I want to hear. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be. Wild, gentle, good, bad, rough, delicate. Your pick.”
I swallow and look down to his chest, blinking away my embarrassment. “I’d like that too.”
“Would you like that now by any chance?” he growls, his forehead dropping onto mine. “Ink’s out of town. Some family shit. I need inside you.”
You’re already inside me, I think. You crawled in the minute you showed me mercy, the minute you decided to switch teams. But I know what he wants. He wants what all men want.
He wants sex. My flesh, my warmth and what’s between my thighs. Because after all, before he became a killer, a captor, an avid reader and even my savior, he was the one thing I hate—a man.
The only difference between Nate and the others is. . .well, I want his body, too.
“Are you going to take off your mask?” I ask, staring at his army boots.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.”
No.
My eyes are still trained on his feet as his mask floats to the floor, landing next to his shoes. This is it. The mystery man who has been occupying my thoughts all this time is standing in front of me, exposed and open, offering me everything I’ve ever asked him for.
I drag my eyes up, lingering on his groin, his hips, moving on to his flat stomach, memorizing his triangular upper-body, tan, inked throat, and once I get to his face. . .
I lose it. Completely lose it.
L.J. Shen is a former entertainment and music journalist, a recovering hipster, a hopeless romantic and a reformed Riot grrrl. She speaks three languages - four, if you include sarcasm. She writes everything from dark to comedy, as long as there's enough love and romance involved. Shen lives in Northern California with her son, husband, cat and collection of designer shoes.
L.J. wants to be Tina Fey when she grows up. Keep your fingers crossed for her.
L.J. wants to be Tina Fey when she grows up. Keep your fingers crossed for her.
Social Links
Blood To Dust Giveaway
The book sounds interesting, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe author's answer to the first question ("Tell us about 'Blood to Dust'") rings a distant but clear bell for me.
ReplyDeleteI scrolled through parts of the book (paperback version) on Amazon and while pieces were difficult for me, I feel as though I need this book in some strange way. It seems... real, and a far cry from the formulaic "XX has a buried secret; XY has a dark past." (Somehow I gather that This is not That!)
-A.