Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to welcome back author Susan Mac Nicol to the blog. Susan is here to talk to us more about her new release, Double Alchemy: Climax.  She has brought an exclusive excerpt and a great giveaway. So please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Excerpt

“My mother was a witch. She fell madly in love with my father when they met at some convention when she was eighteen and it was love at first sight. They had me quite young. My dad was twenty-one, my mum a year younger.”

He sipped his Irish coffee as Cade drank his coffee. Quinn’s fondness for his parents reflected on his face as he talked about them.

“It was obviously a strange childhood. Where other kids were attending play dates with their pals and going to birthday parties, I was learning about magyck and spells and learning how to be physically strong. When you take on your Withinner at age seven, it’s a really intense and physical ritual and they wanted me to ready for it. So I learned how to fight, how to deal with pain, how to be strong.”

Cade squeezed his hands and Quinn smiled.

“It was a tough existence but it was rewarding and my parents did what they could to prepare me for what came later. I couldn’t have had a better grounding. Of course, from birth I was being groomed to be the next Grand Master. But we didn’t expect it would be so soon, that they would die so early.”

His voice trailed off slightly.

“I didn’t want to dredge up your parent’s death,” Cade said quickly. “I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable. Tell me what happened when you were a teenager.”
Quinn shook his head firmly. “You need to know everything I want to tell you. You can’t take part of my life out because you don’t want to hear it.”

Cade stayed silent, watching him, knowing he was getting what he’d asked for. His lover’s eyes were distant.

“We had a house in St. James, a large penthouse. I remember sitting in the lounge, playing with an aeroplane I’d been given for my birthday, when it got really cold. I thought the door had opened; it was the middle of winter and the hallway outside could get quite chilly. I remember getting up to go see what was going on and then…nothing. It’s as if it just all got blanked out.”

Quinn’s face was tight. “The next thing I remember was seeing both of my parents on the floor.” His voice was grim and he held onto Cade’s hands tightly. “They were both dead already, I could see that. Their bodies were contorted and my father had been sick on the floor.”

“Please don’t carry on.” Cade’s voice was agonised. “This isn’t what I wanted.” He wished he’d never started this conversation.

Quinn smiled, his mouth twisted in pain. “I told you before, I don’t have many happy-ever-after stories. Let me finish. It might be good for me to talk about this to you as well. That can be my anniversary present from you.” He heaved a shuddering sigh. “The next thing I knew, someone picked me up and barrelled out of there so fast it was a bit like a dream. A Warlock friend of my father’s had come over to see my folks, seen what had happened and got me out of there. His name was Edward Mistral.”

Quinn’s eyes closed briefly and an expression of pain crossed his face. Cade wondered what darker connection this Warlock had to him.

“Edward saved my life. Apparently I would have been next if he hadn’t gotten to me when he did. He said there were Witchhunters in the apartment. I don’t know how they got in or how no one sensed them. Edward destroyed them both and got me out of there. He called Daniel and his wife Moira, who as you know was my aunt and they came to fetch me. From that time on, I lived with them. Daniel was my surrogate father and Moira was, to all intents and purposes, my mother.”

His voice went quiet. “Moira was killed four years ago by the Witchhunters Alliance. Daniel was devastated as was I. We both threw ourselves into work and fighting the Alliance and until I met you, that was basically all I did.”

He caressed Cade’s fingers gently with his. “Now I have you, and despite everything that’s happened, I’m happy. It is our anniversary, Cade, so enough tales now of people dying.”


Blurb

Double alchemy climaxPowerful modern warlock Quinn Fairmont found ecstasy with the silver-eyed and not-quite-human Cade Mairston, but to know true happiness the pair must best both the shadow of a long-ago lover and an ancient enemy who seeks to destroy love, light and all they hold dear.

A BLINDING LIGHT
It begins with a Book of Shadows discovered by a London coven. The grimoire is as dangerous as it is rare, which is why it evokes modern-day warlock Quinn Fairmont’s desire. He collects objects of great power and beauty—like his lover, Cade Mairston.

Against all odds he and Cade found each other, but their perils have just begun. First is the ex-lover who once held Quinn in thrall. And, someone has been killing warlocks. Could it be one of his own kind? There are those too who would challenge Quinn’s power in their quest to overthrow him as Grand Master. Or is the danger something darker, something invoked inadvertently, rising from the shadows, building from the very inside of a man until it brings an end with a quick flash of light? Of the truth, the surface has only been scratched. Now Quinn and Cade must go deeper and find both answers and an end. They must learn what lurks in the hearts of men…and whether it seeks to love or destroy.


Bio

susan macnichol bioSusan Mac Nicol was born in Leeds, UK, and left for South Africa when she was eight. She returned to the UK thirty years later and now lives in Essex. Her debut novel Cassandra by Starlight, the first in a trilogy, was published last year by Boroughs Publishing Group in the US. Sue’s latest story, Double Alchemy: Climax is her sixth m/m romance.

Sue has written since she was very young, and never thought she would see herself becoming a Romance writer, being a horror/psychological thriller reader all her life. But the Romance genre is now something very close to her heart and she intends continuing the trend.

Sue is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Romantic Novelists Association here in the UK.

Susan Mac Nicol is also author of The Magick of ChristmasConfounding Cupid, Cassandra by StarlightTogether in StarlightStripped BareSaving AlexanderWorth Keeping, Waiting for Rain and Double Alchemy.

Social Links: Website Blog Twitter | Facebook Goodreads |Pinterest


Giveaway

Susan is hosting a great giveaway. Follow the Rafflecopter link for your chance to enter.  

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