Author Interview & Giveaway of "Death's Sweet Embrace" w/ Tracey O'Hara

 

Hey Everyone! Let’s welcome UF author Tracey O’Hara!

I’m loving her Dark Brethren series and can’t wait for more. Tracey has a been so cool and agreed to stop by today, she is also offering a giveaway, so don’t forget to check that out at the end of the post =)

 

When did you first start writing?

I first starting writing March 2004 and seriously about a year later.

Have you always enjoyed Fantasy?

From a very young age when my 2nd grade teacher started reading Enid Blyton’s the magic faraway tree I was hooked on fantasy.

Why writing Urban Fantasy?

It combines tropes from some of my favourite genres – mystery/thriller, horror, modern fantasy telling and a bit of romance to round it all off.

Were there any Books, Movies or Writers that have inspired you?

Stephen King was a huge influence as was Raymond E Feist. George RR Martin is my favourite story teller. As to books and movies – there are probably too many.

Favorites:

Favorite Paranormal themed Movie?
Perfect Creature – a great vampire movie filmed in New Zealand – kind of Victorian era meets the 1950s.

Favorite Paranormal themed TV Show?
It’s a tossup between Supernatural (love the car) and Being Human (UK)

Favorite Paranormal themed Book?
Dracula – Bram Stoker – my first foray into the world of vampires and other monsters :).

Favorite Author?
George R.R. Martin

Favorite Urban Fantasy Author?
Charlaine Harris

Favorite Genre that is NOT your own?
Fantasy (as in Epic Fantasy – e.g. Lord of the Rings, Song if Ice and Fire etc.)

Favorite one of your Books?
Sin’s Dark Caress

Who is your favorite of your own characters?

Viktor – he was awesome. Oberon too. But I am really loving my next hero Lancelot McManus – he is a burnt out, cynical homicide cop with a drug habit.

Which was the hardest to write?

Death’s Sweet Embrace – it was really hard to get that story out – could be second book syndrome.

What would you be if not a writer?

A computer systems analyst/programmer. That is my day job.

If you Could be a Paranormal Being, Who would you be?

I think I would be a shapeshifter – I like the idea of turning into an animal.

If you could meet any Urban Fantasy Character out there, Who would you like to meet?

Eric Northman from the Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series. Esp. if he was the one from TV.

Quickies:

Coffee or Tea? Coffee
Vampires or Werewolves? Werewolves
Reading or Writing? Writing
Print or eBook? Fast becoming eBook
Hardback or Paperback? Paperback
Pepsi or Coke? Pepsi
Mc D's or Burger King? Burger King (we call it Hungry Jack’s in Australia)
YA novels or Adult novels? Definitely Adult
Library or Bookstore? Bookstore
Summer or Winter? Winter
The Movie or The Book? The Book
PNR or UF? UF

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Editing and revising the first draft. I really love making the words come to life – adding in the detail and making the story shine.

What is your least favorite part?

That would have to be getting out that first draft.

The Dark Brethen Series in your own words?

A modern alternate earth reality where paranormal creatures co-exist in a tenuous peace with the human race. A world where the shame of the vampiric Aeternus, the death-high addicted Necrodreniacs, hunt and feed on hapless humans. Where shape-shifting Animalians feud with each other. And where corporations can be run by actual magic-wielding witches.

But there's a veiled danger that threatens them all – human and parahuman alike. Stirring behind the scenes is the pure, beautiful evil of the Dark Brethren.

Any plans for more Books in the series?

Yes – though not sure how many at this point – at least one more.

What is coming up next for you?

Book three in the Dark Brethren series – Sin’s Dark Caress

What are you working on right now?

Sin’s Dark Caress

Do you have any advice or tip to those that want to become a published Author someday?

Yes – work on your craft a lot. Learn as much as you can and don’t be in a hurry.

Anything you would like to say to your fans out there?

THANK YOU ALL for buying my books and loving my characters as much as I do.

Thank you so much for being here!

It was my pleasure – thanks so much for having me. :)

 

Find Tracey O’Hara Online:

Website | Twitter

Buy Tracey’s Books:

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

Book Depository

My Reviews of Tracey’s Books:

Night’s Cold Kiss

Death’s Sweet Embrace

 

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ARC Review: Death’s Sweet Embrace {Dark Brethen, #2} by Tracey O’Hara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After centuries of secret conflict, humans and parahumans have reached an uneasy truce. But unspeakable evil now threatens the tenuous peace.

Teenaged shapeshifters are being slaughtered by a sadistic serial killer who rips their still-beating hearts from their paralyzed bodies. A task force forms to halt the madness, including the vampiric Aeternus Antoinette Petrescu, as well as Kitt Jordan and Raven Matokwe, members of enemy Animalian tribes . . . and forbidden lovers.

A centuries-old blood feud has divided their shapeshifting peoples, and if their passion is discovered it will doom them both. But past hostilities must be put aside, for the killer they seek is but the first sign of the all-consuming nightmare of The Dark Brethren.

From Goodreads.

 

• Publisher: Eos
• Release Date: January 25th, 2010
• My Copy: eARC received from Author.
• Pages: 336
• Series: The Dark Brethren Series
• Genre: Paranormal Romance
• Author's Website
• Pre-Order This Book:

Death's Sweet Embrace: A Dark Brethren Novel

*Spoiler FREE.

After loving Night's Cold Kiss and the world Tracey has created, I was really looking forward to Death’s Sweet Embrace. I am happy to say that this second installment in Tracey’s Dark Brethren series did NOT disappoint.

This time around we get to focus on two next main characters, Kitt and Raven. They are both Animalians from feuding clans that had a love affair 20 years before. Kitt’s new job teaching at the Academy and a series of gruesome, ritualistic murders, bring these two start-crossed lovers back together.

Tracey O’Hara has created a very intricate world in the Dark Brethen series, I love a good world building and she has done it in spades. She also does an incredible job of not boring the readers with explanations. We get to learn about this incredible world piece by piece, without feeling like we are being fed a “history” lesson. It’s subtle and keep things intriguing, all at the same time. This time around we finally start leaning a bit about what/who are the Dark Brethen and I am scared for the characters I have come to feel so close to. 

One of my favorite things about this series is the perfect balance between the Romance and the Plot. Death’s Sweet Embrace is full of action and very disturbing mystery, but at the same time there is a love story being told, one very reminiscent of Romeo & Juliet, however with a much happier ending.

I was utterly shocked by the mystery’s conclusion, I did NOT see it coming at all and it has been a while since that happened. I loved being so surprised and am still in awe as to how Tracey has woven such a plot right before my eyes and I never saw it coming.

Now, the romance was just as awesome! Tracey got out a bit of the PNR comfort zone and told the story of a couple that were already together, but because of reasons bigger than they could handle have been apart for 20 years. Not only that, but they even have  children together, twin 18-year-old girls, that were just fundamental to the story as anybody else.

I loved Death’s Sweet Embrace and I really enjoyed getting a little bit of Night's Cold Kiss main characters, Antoinette and Christian. I really like the friendship that is being built between Antoinette and Kitt. However I would have rather had less POV moments from Antoinette. I feel that those moments stole a bit from Kitt and Raven’s story. That’s the only reason Death’s Sweet Embrace didn’t get full marks.

All is all, Death’s Sweet Embrace was a brilliant addition to this incredible series that has officially been added to my favorites. If you love all things Paranormal, this is definitely a series you need to check out! I am really looking forward to book 3 later on this year, Can’t wait!

Previously in The Dark Brethren Series:

Check Out My Review HERE or click on the cover above!

 

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Review: Night’s Cold Kiss {Dark Brethren, #1} by Tracey O’Hara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For centuries war raged between the humans and Aeternus vampires—until courageous efforts on both sides forged a fragile peace.

But the rogue Necrodreniacs will never be controlled—addicted as they are to the death-high . . . and bloody chaos.

Since witnessing the murder of her mother, Antoinette Petrescu has burned with fiery hatred for the vampire race—even for Christian Laroque, the noble, dangerously handsome Aeternus who rescued her. Now an elite Venator, Antoinette must reluctantly accept Christian's help to achieve her vengeance—even as he plots to use the beautiful, unsuspecting warrior as bait to draw out the bloodthirsty dreniacs.

From Goodreads.

 

• Publisher: Eos

• Release Date: August 25th, 2009

• My Copy: Paperback Copy received from Author.

• Pages: 332

• Series: The Dark Brethren Series

• Genre: Paranormal Romance

• Author's Website

• Buy This Book:

Night's Cold Kiss: A Dark Brethren Novel

 

At first look I thought this was an Urban Fantasy novel and it said so in the spine of the book as well, however it turned out to be more of a Paranormal Romance. After I got over the initial gear shift, I ended up enjoying Night’s Cold Kiss, a lot!

Antoinette is a Vanetor, a hunter of the creatures of the night who can’t control their inner beast. She has been training her whole life for this and her hatred for the Dreniacs has only fueled her determination to be the best hunter she can be.

As a six-year-old kid, Antoinette witnessed her mother’s brutal murder and had to deal with her father’s death in an accident after he hunted and killed her mother’s murderer. Over 16 years later and Antoinette hasn’t gotten over her past and starts seeing that monster from long ago again, but the only thing scarier than having those nightmares is realizing that she is awake.

Christian is a Aeternus, a vampire, and he was the one who took Antoinette and her brother as kids to a safe place, after their mother’s death. Christian has a past of his own that he has to deal with, but he is brought back to Antoinette when a series of cases start to look like The Troubles of 16 years ago and he needs her on the case.

Even though the names for the several paranormal creatures threw me for a loop sometimes, I really enjoyed getting to know Antoinette and Christian. They are very interesting and complicated characters and it was a pleasure to go on this journey with them, seeing them getting over their own ghosts and finding something special with each other.

The plot of Night’s Cold Kiss was very intricate and kept me on my toes, even though I kind of guessed the big twist, it wasn’t obvious and if I wasn’t quite used to mistrusting even the nicest character, I would never have guessed it.

Night’s Cold Kiss is full of action and I could not put it down. I would have preferred to have seen the glossary that is at the end, at the beginning, to avoid some confusion, but after I got used to the amazing world Tracey built, it didn’t bothered me much.

One of the things I really liked about Night’s Cold Kiss is that even though it is a Paranormal Romance, it doesn’t fall into the genre’s clichés and it has a bigger Urban Fantasy vibe than most. I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, Death’s Sweet Embrace. Even though it will focus on another couple’s story, I can’t wait to see Antoinette and Christian again, even on the background.   

 

Next in The Dark Brethren Series:

Coming January 2011!

 

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