Today I am so pleased to welcome Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt to Joyfully Jay. Irene & Liv have come to talk to us about latest release, Nocturne, Book 2 in The Hours of the Night series. They have also brought along a great tour wide giveaway. Please join me in giving them a big welcome!

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Thanks so much for having us back on the blog, Jay! Irene and I always have fun here, and this time we’re promoting our newest release, Nocturne, book 2 in The Hours of the Night.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with our series, it’s about Thaddeus Dupont, whose goal of becoming a monk was thwarted when he was attacked by a vampire. That was in 1925, and now he works for a secret order of the Catholic church, fighting demons in return for an “assistant” to meet his “unique” nutritional needs. By the way, his assistant is always a woman, so as not to trigger his unnatural desires.

Except the monks make a small error, and hire Sara – Sarasija Mishra – an out-and-proud gay man.

Trouble (heh) ensues.

As Irene and I set out to write the second book in our series, we knew the relationship between Thaddeus and Sara would be one of the main focuses of the story. We also knew we didn’t want to make things easy for them. Here’s what Irene had to say about our goals for Nocturne

I think we wanted to evolve. In Vespers, Thaddeus is very locked into a world view and Sara is confronted with evidence of the supernatural for the first time. They’re both challenged by the beliefs of the other.

And in Nocturne, they’re challenged by more than beliefs. In the very first chapter, Irene introduced two new characters, the twins Josephine and Josef Valcour. Jo and Sef are young, pretty, and powerful, and they cause Sara and Thad all kinds of trouble.

But not of the twincest variety! The subject came up in a thread over on After Hours with Liv & Irene, our new Facebook group page. (Jump here to join.) Jo and Sef may not share everything, but they’re not averse to a little tag team flirtation with a certain vampire’s assistant.

Turns out, though, flirting is enough to prove that age-old bit of wisdom, “never tease a vampire”.

Before Sara came into his life, Thaddeus had no trouble keeping his baser needs under control. Then Sara showed him he was capable of affection. And the twins? At the age of 115, they taught him he could be a jealous bastard.

The challenge presented by Jo and Sef is a warm-up act compared to the real test of Thaddeus and Sara’s connection. No spoilers, but I’m fairly confident saying that in this one, they earn their happy ending.

You’ll have to read it to see what I mean. (lol!)

For this post, I chose a special excerpt from Nocturne, with one of my favorite Sara-lines in the whole book! There’s also a rafflecopter widget; make sure and enter, because we’ll be giving away a $25 gift card at the end of the month. And if you’ve got a favorite “twins” novel, leave a comment. It’s always fun to add to my TBR pile…


Excerpt

“Sara.”

Sara started violently and sat straight up in bed. Immediately, Thad’s arms came around him, soothing him.

Shhh. You’re okay. You were dreaming.”

Sara shook him off, scrambling among the clutter on his nightstand for his phone. His hand shook as he scrolled through his contacts, looking for the number. On the other end of the connection, the phone rang once, twice—his heart pounded harder with each ring, then: “This is Dev Mishra. I’m not available right now, but please leave a message, and I’ll return your call.”

Dev’s recorded voice did nothing to stop the frantic pace of his heart.

He hung up and started a text, but the phone rang before he could send.

“Sara?” Dev sounded tense. “What’s wrong?”

Sara collapsed back into Thad’s arms. The relief of hearing his brother’s voice was followed immediately by embarrassment. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

“Why would you assume something’s wrong?”

“The last time you called instead of texting was when you wrecked your car and were afraid to call Dad to come get you.”

“Pretty sure I’ve called other times.” Maybe. “Uh, I was just thinking we hadn’t talked in a while.” Silly to panic over a bad dream, but his heart rate still hadn’t settled back to normal. He tried to sound casual as he probed for more reassurances. “What have you and Jenna been up to?”

“Sara.” Now Dev sounded exasperated. “Time zones. It’s four o’clock here. I’m in a meeting. Can we talk later?”

“Yeah. Sure thing.” Then, because he could still see Dream Dev’s terrifying too-wide grin, “I love you, Dev. Take care, okay?”

He hung up before Dev could react.

“You dreamed of your brother.”

“Yes.” And no, he did not want to discuss having a childish nightmare with Thad, who already started too many sentences with you are young.

“Not a good dream.” Not a question.

“No.”

“Would you like to…”

“It was just a dream, Thad. I’m sorry to cause a commotion.” He wriggled around until his head rested in the vampire’s lap. “I guess Miss Berta’s death made me miss my family more than usual. That’s all.”

He felt Thad’s fingers threading through his hair and leaned into the caress. Weird that a vampire’s touch could soothe so readily. Or not so weird when the vampire happened to be Thaddeus. His eyes started to drift close again when he remembered something Dev had said.

“It’s six o’clock?” And Thaddeus was already up. Sara could count on the fingers of one hand the times Thaddeus had woken before he had. “Thaddeus, don’t let me sleep in like that. We’ve got stuff to do.”

“You never oversleep. I thought you must have stayed up and need the rest.”

But he hadn’t. “No, I went to bed at my normal time. I got plenty of sleep.”

The fingers in his hair stilled. “You were…” Thad hesitated.

“What? I snore?” He grinned. “Did I snore so loud, I woke you up?”

“You were dreaming for some time. I could not wake you until I…”

Oh. Well. Thad had used his powers. “It’s okay. I needed to get up.”

“I do not mind if you are asleep when I wake up. I am concerned about why you didn’t wake when I first called you.” Thad didn’t sound willing to let it go.

“Maybe it’s a seasonal thing. Short days or something,” Sara offered hopefully.

“Or maybe you are not meant to be surrounded by death and evil influences. Maybe you should return to your family.”

Exactly where he didn’t want this conversation to wind up.

“I’m not surrounded by death,” he said firmly. “I’m with you, and I’m more alive than I ever was without you.”

He turned toward Thad, wrapped his arms around the hard body, and burrowed under Thad’s T-shirt. He pressed his lips into soft skin and nuzzled the sprinkle of hairs that dusted a path south. “Maybe”—he pushed elastic aside so he could slide his cheek along the side of Thad’s cock as he kissed lower—“I just like waking up with you.”


Blurb

NocturneIt’s Mardi Gras, cher, but this year le bon temps kick off with murder…

For generations, the White Monks have treated the vampire Thaddeus Dupont as a weapon in their battle against demons. However, when a prominent matron drops dead at a party, Thaddeus and his lover Sarasija are asked to find her killer. Their investigation leads them to an old southern family with connections everywhere: Louisiana politics, big business, the Church, and an organization just as secret as the White Monks.

Meanwhile, an esoteric text containing spells for demon-summoning has disappeared, Thaddeus is losing control of le monstre, and Sara is troubled by disturbing dreams. These nightmares could be a side-effect of dating a vampire, or they could be a remnant of his brush with evil. As the nights wear on, Sara fears they are a manifestation of something darker – a secret that could destroy his relationship with Thaddeus.


Bios

Irene PrestonIrene Preston has to write romances, after all she is living one.  As a starving college student, she met her dream man who whisked her away on a romantic honeymoon across Europe.  Today they live in the beautiful hill country outside of Austin, Texas where Dream Man is still working hard to make sure she never has to take off her rose-colored glasses.

Where to find Irene:

IrenePreston.com

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours

 

Liv RancourtLiv Rancourt: I write romance: m/f, m/m, and v/h, where the h is for human and the v is for vampire … or sometimes demon … I lean more towards funny than angst. When I’m not writing I take care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether I’m at work or at home. My husband is a soul of patience, my dog’s cuteness is legendary, and we share the homestead with three ferrets. Who steal things. Because they’re brats.

Where to find Liv:

LivRancourt.com

Facebook | Twitter | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours


Giveaway

Liv and Irene have brought a $25 gift card to Amazon or B&N to give away along their tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. The contest ends on October 31, 2017. 

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