Giveaway (US/Int): Mel Schroeder chats about vampires, ladies, thieves, and the Ton
Please help me welcome Mel Schroeder, author of Desire By Blood!
Hello, everyone! My name is Melissa Schroeder, known to many as Mel, and I am best known for my Harmless BDSM Series set mostly in Hawaii. I am a military wife with a Monty Python sense of humor with an intense hatred for bugs.
Since I am known mostly for contemporary, I’m contrary enough to want to do something different. I suffer from ADD so it feeds that and keeps me happy. I came up with my By Blood series a few years ago when Nicodemus Blackburn came to mind.
Nico is a commoner, a very rich one, who is several hundred years old and a vampire. He is the kind of man who skirts the edge of the ends justifies the means kind of mentality, but he errs on the side of good because he is a decent man. But, he is set in his ways, and I throw Cordelia in his path to mess with that. What unfolded was the love story for the plot of Desire by Blood.
Then, I needed the bigger story. The one that would operate outise and within the love story.
I knew from the start that Nico was a historical hero. I’m a lover of history and I wanted to do something different from what was being done with vampires. Also, I wanted to make sure that it was a well-built world and not just a historical with vampires thrown in. So, after I had Nico in mind, I had to come up with the world in which they would live. Being mainly a contemporary author, I have only written light paranormal before this book and The Cursed Clan, my contemporary paranormal series. I wanted to make sure the rules were thought out. What emerged was a world within the Victorian ton, one that operated on another level than that of regular humans.
In my By Blood World, there are Born vampires and Made vampires. Borns are considered the rulers, the normal of the group. Mades are lower class most of the time and not trusted. Women are not vampires, they are Carriers. And they all carry the gene to produce vampires and carriers. In this world, one thing I knew was that the male part of it would be more evolved. Meaning, the men of their world understood that Carriers were to be treated with respect not only because they were the producers of their kind, but also because they were smart.
I truly enjoyed coming up with the rules of the world. Of course, it plays into my need to control everything, lol. It also really got my creative juices going and I liked the respite from writing contemporary. I believe that building the world made me a better writer even for my contemporary erotics.
If you would like to read more about the world of By Blood, you can check it out on my website.
So, how about a 25 dollar GC at your choice of online bookstore (ARe, Amazon, Kobo or Barnes and Noble) to one lucky commenter. Tell me this: what is your favorite kind of paranormal romance hero? Are shifters your favorite, or do you like a man with a bite? Or possible an immortal sent to save the world?
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A man with a secret. Nicodemus Blackburn has seen the best and worst of mankind. Five hundred years of dealing with them teaches the vampire to be very wary of the creatures. Unfortunately, alarming events leave him no choice but to enter the world of the ton to hunt a rogue vampire—one who is making his own army of blood thirsty vampires. Searching for the villain is not the worst of his troubles. That can be laid at the feet of bluestocking Lady Cordelia Collingsworth. A woman on a mission. |
| A passion that consumes them both. Thrust into a world she knows nothing of, Cordelia finds herself falling in love with a man who claims to be a vampire. As their passion grows, so does the danger around them and Nico will have to call on all of his powers to protect the one thing he has realized he cannot live without: his opinionated, infuriating, and thoroughly delectable wife. |
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About the authorMelissa spends a lot of time making up stories and fantasizing. Then, she sometimes she writes. If you would like to interact with her, she is all over the place: |
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Giveaway (US/Int)
Mel is giving away a $25 gift certificate (winners choice of store, see above) to one commenter on today’s post! To win, leave a comment answering Mel’s questions then fill out the Rafflecopter widget.
Note: If you are viewing this from our main Feed page, click the title of the post, then scroll to the bottom to view the Comments area. You must leave your comment there, not in the Rafflecopter widget, in order to qualify for the giveaway. Good luck!
My absolute favorite hero has got to be a tall dark and sexy vampire. Something about those bad boys turning all hero gets me every time. But I can also appreciate a sexy shifter coming to my rescue if I had too. 😉 lol
Melanie,
I love those too. I love when they are reluctant to do the right thing but still do it!
My favorite is the stubborn, protective, and loyal. Vamp or Shifter doesn’t really factor in. Its all about attitude. Mel really nailed it with Nico. He is awesome!
awww thanks! If you think he was good, get ready for Malik. That man has such a tortured past, it is going to fun to watch him fall in love:)
These days I tend to be a shifter groupie. I like the warmth, the loyalty, and the soft cuddly fur 😛 Often there’s the mating instinct that goes along with it so that it’s a one and only deal and there’s even sometimes a bite to go along with 😉
BK
buffykennedy[at]gmail[dot]com
That was one thing I really like about writing my Kiera West books. I did not expect to get all gooey about that but there is something about their warmth that does it for me.
I love a little of them all. Fallen Angels have that memory of the good boy and then the bad boy makes it all work. 🙂 I definitely have to read Desire By Blood. I can’t wait to read more about Nico.
Carol L
Carol,
Oh, fallen angels are fun. You know at one time they were good and but that bad part of them is delicious too:)
Thanks for the fun post and giveaway! I’m gonna weeny out and say that I love them all! 🙂
Erin,
It is hard to resist a sexy man with some paranormal powers, huh?
My favorite is the tortured alpha male. He can be any kind of paranormal but lately demons are my choice.
GFC Victoria Sloboda
vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com
O M G I love to read demons because I love to see that bad boy reformed…but not too much, ya know?
My favorite is vampires. Thanks for the chance to win!
You’re welcome and thanks for stopping by!
I like all of them I think: vampires, werewolves, fairies…
Thanks for the giveaway!
It is really hard to choose one fav, huh?
I don’t really have a favorite type of paranormal hero. I tend to like them all.
I love them all, but shifters/werewolves are my favorite. They’re passionate and loyal.
I like Shifters the best, it doesn’t bother me what type of shifter they are, as long as they are all alpha 😉
I’m for the shifters.
It depends on my mood. Sometimes I want the growling shifter. Sometimes I want the biting vampire. I love them all.
mel
bournmelissa at hotmail dot com
Shifters! Preferably a dragon shifters
I hope Angels count, because there is something rather amazing about them.
My favorite was…..all of them!! But the hero must tall, a little dangerous and handsome. LOL!!
I am greedy and want them all especially the neanderthal over protective ones
Ive read about a few wolf shifters (but want to read about other kinds of shifters), love the vampires, but haven’t read about immortals (they sound intriguing) – need to read more paranormals!
I love, love, love shifter stories, but that doesn’t mean I won’t read other types of paranormal too 🙂
Not sure I have one favorite, Mel, but I have enjoyed many shifters–there’s something about so obviously hiding something under one’s skin that’s intriguing 🙂 And vamps have all that power, which is a different kind of secret to hide…
Thanks for coming up with hot stories for us to enjoy!
I love shifters and vampires too!
I love paranormal romance. Vamps and shifters. My favorites are wolf and dragon shifters.
Melissa when I found out that you’d wrote a paranormal and it was a historical I was thrilled so I bought it right away. I can’t wait to read it. I love vampires as well
Lorimeehan1@aol.com
I love an Alpha male with some bite! Vampires make me HOT!
I LOVED this book Mel!!
I love me some Alpha Wolf Shifters.
Can’t I have them all? I can choose shifters, because who wouldn’t want to cuddle up with a big furry wolf who turns into smokin hot man. But then I would think of my favorite undead and want to pull him into bed too..oh wait. Getting kinda kinky. =)
I am a vamp tramp all the way! sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com
I love reading werewolves and vampire books. I love reading any shifter book too.
I love vampires followed by immortals, shifters , witches .. I could go on and on basically you can say I love pretty much all paranormal creatures.
I’m very partial to Immortal Warriors. Shifters are hot too and Ms. Schroeder made me love vamps again with this book. 🙂
Vampires are my favorite, though I’m pretty happy with any well-written hero.
Ever since I read LKH’s Anita Blake series, I’ve been partial to noble vamps. Somehow the fact that they’ve seen and done everything… yeah, that’s kind of hot!
A tortured(wounded) Alpha male wolf shifter. They’re protective, loyal, sexy, possessive. Then again, the same could be said for the sexy vampires. Guess I just can’t choose.
Shifters is more my speed.. Vamp books are good too..
Anything is possible…
the immortal sent to save the world is always a fun scenario
I don’t have one favorite, it depends on my mood. Lately it’s been demons or gods since they seem less prevalent than vampires and shifters.
I like them al shifters, demons, angels, godsl, but I love vampires the most. My favorite is Wrath the Blind King from the Black Dagger brotherhood. I love the entire brotherhood, but Wrath is my favorite hero.
Mine changes with my mood and the time of year. I love shifters of all varieties and I love vampires. I have books with ancient gods, demons, and other immortal types. Then there is magic users. I have favorite stories or series from each of these types of paranormal. I just love a well written story.
I’m not so crazy about vampires but I love shifters (especially dragons).
rmwyer at shaw dot ca
Love an Alpha Male in any form, to pick just one is really impossible. Vampire, shifter, fallen angel… yes please 🙂
My favorite changes constantly depending on what I am reading. I like to say I am an equal opportunity lover and love all equally.
My favorite is a hot hard marble body with a bite!! I can’t seem to get enought of them. I love the way they pack an mean punch and get real mean, but I also love the other side of them when they fall in love and can be the most passionate man on earth!! I love me some VAMPIRES!!!
I love the growling alpha shifter!
I like them all especially dragon shifter. They are magnificent when they shift. Thanks.
Congratulations to DeeDee G. on winning the gift certificate and thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat with Ms. Schroeder!
A huge thanks to Melissa Schroeder for being our guest and hanging out to talk about everybody’s favorite kind of hero. <3