Posts Tagged ‘Tammy’

Wild Blood /Giveaway/Review/Character Interview

Posted: September 25, 2012 in character interview, Creatures, fiction, giveaways, Interview, Paranormal or fantasy, reviews, Series, Vampires, werewolves
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44

Wild Blood: Vampire in the City, Book Two by Donna Ansari

I am a woman of my word. I said I would be reviewing Wild Blood: Vampire in the City–Book 2 and here I am. And I have something else fun going on. I am going to be doing an interview with not one , but two ladies today. Plus, I have 5 e-book copies of Wild Blood to giveaway! Details can be found at the bottom of the post. First I want to show you the book.

Wild Blood (Vampire in the City #2)


Another stunner. Another great choice Donna. And I love that you kept the same font for the title and your name.

Okay, on to my review! Just so you know, this is the second book in this series. So I guess I am giving you a spoiler alert, in case you haven’t read New Blood, Book One.

The story starts with Emma still adjusting to being a vampire. It doesn’t happen overnight, but since she’s undead, she has plenty of time, which she finds difficult to keep track of.

She comes downstairs to find her roommate Tammy  dressed up as a witch and her tenant David wearing a button that says I’m a werewolf – ask me how! She plumb forgot it’s Halloween. They are staying in to pass out candy. Boy. if the trick-or-treaters only knew the significance of their costumes.

David has to spend the night in the cemetery. He can turn when he wants to,  but when the moon is full he has to turn and tonight the moon is full. It’s best if he keeps his distance until sunrise.

Emma has a date. She’s going to meet James, a vampire she met the other night. He’s new to New York City and she agreed to show him around. He is a vampire that doesn’t kill humans, like her, and not too shabby in the looks department either. This could be fun.

Donna knows how to make me laugh. Check out this scene.

I went back to the kitchen and hung up the phone to find Tammy sitting at the table and reading a magazine.

“Where’s David?” I asked.

“Out in the graveyard preparing to wolf out.” She looked up. “So what club are you guys going to?”

“Some goth club, I muttered. Tammy had never been much of a fan of my goth phase.

She laughed. “Two vampires going out to a goth club on Halloween” Can you possibly be any more of a  living stereotype” Oh, I’m sorry, undead stereotype.”

I love these two roomies and I can’t wait for you to meet them!

It seems like dating is something different now too.  This from Emma:

“I was actually just wondering if I’m supposed to eat before meeting a date.” I had learned in my short time as a vampire, that eating was not quite the social occasion that it was for humans.

Tammy: “What, you mean like….”

She bared her teeth.

If I were a vampire and had to have a roomie, there’s no one I would rather have than Tammy. She’d keep me in stitches.

As James and Emma are walking to the club they get to talking. Emma is curious about why he came to New York. David’s story is he knows that werewolves exist and he is searching for one in particular. He tells Emma that there are packs of them in San Francisco, where he came from, but none in New York yet. He and his maker, Abby,  took out half of the pack but the leader escaped and later tracked down Abby during the day and killed her. James is in New York because the werewolf he seeks is here.

When James mentions that this werewolf is a certain type, a gay type, Emma knows to keep her mouth shut about David, her tenant. The description definitely fits him. Small world.

Going to The Vault wasn’t the best idea. Emma had never gotten around to eating and all she wants to do is bite. To save some poor drunk from being drained, James pushes his arm in Emma’s mouth. At least for now she doesn’t feel like drinking someone dry. But that isn’t the only problem. This is a known vampire hangout and Emma has been trying to avoid her sire and the others responsible for her condition. It’s best to avoid the politics thing. As luck would have it, they’re here, so James and Emma make a quick exit to avoid being spotted.

The night isn’t a total bust. David was turned into a vampire fifty years ago right here in New York City. He filled in a lot of holes for Emma, giving her the history of the top vampires, including the Prince, Michael. Useful information.

Calling it an early night, Emma arrives home and who is waiting for her? None other than her sire Alex. Her ex-lover and big fat liar. He doesn’t like it that she was at the club with James, warning her that he is unstable and dangerous, and if the Prince saw her with James, he’d kill both of them. There is a history between the prince and James and Emma should avoid getting caught up in it. Too late for that.

From here on the fangs start flashing and the fur flies. It appears there are werewolves in New York and they want to make the city their hunting grounds. It looks like war is coming between the vampires and the werewolves and Emma, Tammy, and David are smack dab in the middle of it.

Donna has many surprises for you In Wild Blood. She still has Emma slowly bumbling with being a new vampire, and that is my favorite part. Don’t get me wrong, the action is fast and the fighting is fierce, but I can’t help but love the humor laced throughout the story. It just makes me fall in love with the characters all over again. You will too.

I would say the writing is even better, and many questions are answered. I liked learning about the lives of some of the vampires before they were turned. It made them more real, but didn’t necessarily make me like them. There are some truly bad ones in this book that you love to hate. I think that is also important. It gives balance to the story.  I still haven’t made my mind up about a couple  of the characters. Maybe when I read the third book, which I hear is coming soon, I can decide.

Donna has met all of my expectations with Wild Blood. It was everything I hoped for and more. If you haven’t read the first book, New Blood, do so now and get to know the Vampires in the City! They will keep you entertained!

  Loved it! Howling for more!

Witch Blood: Vampire in the City, Book Three is coming soon!

I have Emma and Tammy from The Vampire in the City series here to answer a few questions. Enjoy the show.

Here we go ladies!

1) How’s your love life going?

Emma: Pass.

Tammy: You can’t pass,
Em.

E: Then you go first.

T: Oh geez. Well, I’ve just started
dating this witch….

E: Don’t you mean warlock?

T: No, actually a
male witch is still called a witch. But anyway, it’s going pretty well so far,
although it may be a conflict of interest that we’re in the same
coven.

E: Ugh, my turn? I guess you could just say I’m not very serious
about anyone at the moment.

2) Would either of you date
outside of your, er, species?

T: Possibly, but it would really depend on
the person, and whether or not that person was worth dealing with all that.

E: Maybe, I mean, I guess I sort of am, but who knows where it might go.
I mean, if things were reversed I would probably not like a long-term
relationship with someone who doesn’t age. Not to mention that you can never see
them in the daytime, ever.

3) Do you share the household chores?

E: Sure, for the most part. I mean, I’m not going to do any of the
cooking or washing dishes, but beyond that, it’s pretty equal.

T: Yeah,
no one really has any romantic visions of a vampire doing their own vacuuming.
Luckily, the one I live with has no qualms about that!

4) What
is one thing that drives you crazy about the other?

E: (looks at Tammy
and shrugs)

T: (laughs) Hmmmm….that’s kind of hard to answer. Em and I
have been friends for so long, and sometimes it seems like after you know
someone for so long that things don’t really drive you crazy about them anymore.
You just learn to accept certain characteristics and say, “Well, that’s just how
she is,” and then they no longer drive you crazy. Still, if I had to pick one
thing, I guess I’d say when she keeps things from me-on the rare occasions that
that happens. I know there’s still a lot she needs to figure out for herself,
and maybe she doesn’t want to freak me out, but we’ve never kept secrets from
each other. But at this point what could she possibly have to tell me that could
shock me?

E: Along those lines, I guess the only time I’ve really been
annoyed at Tammy is when she pries a little too hard–some things are not worth
being examined and are best left alone.

5) What do you think of
the show TRUE BLOOD?

T: Hmmm, we don’t have HBO, so believe it or not,
I’ve never seen it. But Em is a closet Buffy fan.

E: I don’t even know if
I’m in the closet on that one.

6) Who do you think is the
sexiest actor?

E: I’ve always been a fan of Johnny Depp ever since I saw
Edward scissorshands!

T: My personal fave is Edward Norton–he’s as
talented as he is sexy. Keanu Reeves is still pretty hot too–and I did not pick
him just because he was in that Dracula movie either!

7) If you
could go back in time to before any of this happened, would you change it?

E: I don’t know. I’ve actually thought about this a good deal. When I
was human, I had no idea that any of this world, vampires, werewolves, witches,
existed. I was happily oblivious. But other things in my life, like my
relationship with my long-term boyfriend and my home life, where pretty
unfulfilling. And now I’m probably better off where those things are concerned.
And as to the other thing, even if I felt content in my safe existence, is
ignorance ever better than knowledge? I don’t know. Now I not only know what’s
out there in the dark, but I have the power to deal with it.

T: Would I
change having my best friend being turned into one of the living dead and having
to face adversities that go above and beyond what any person, creature,
whatever, should have to? What do you think? At the same time, if it was the
only way to save her life…well, I’d rather have her here than not here. That’s a
complicated question, and there’s no easy answer to that one. Still, I love Emma
like a sister, so again, I’d much rather have her here in any form, than not
here at all. Wow…that one was heavy…

Five Fun
Favorites

1) Favorite supernatural being?

E: I suppose
vampires.

T: Zombies!

2) Favorite color?

E:
Probably blue, but it depends on my mood.

T: Is it sometimes
red?

E: What? Why? Oh, right.

T: For me it’s purple. I’m more of a
jewel-tine gal.

3) Favorite holiday?

E: Probably
Halloween. Not because I’m a vampire, but because it doesn’t have any
family-oriented connotations.

T: Probably Thanksgiving–I love to cook
and eat!

4) Favorite book boyfriend?

E: I know it’s a
kid’s book, but I really liked Sirius Black from the Harry Potter series. He
seemed like he would be a lot of fun to date.

T: Was Hunger Games an
adult book? Whatever. I liked Cinna a lot – the guy who does Katniss’s makeup
and costumes. They never said he was gay, so I can hope!

5) Favorite
season of the year?

E: It used to be summer, because when I was human I
hated the cold. Now I would have to say winter, so I don’t have to be asleep 15
hours a day!

T: Spring. The cooler weather always brings me down!

Thanks ladies. That was fun. And thank you Donna for arranging to have Emma and Tammy appear today.

For my review of New Blood : Book One and interview with Donna go here .

And now for the giveaway!

I have 5 e-book copies of Wild Blood for this giveaway.

To enter just leave your email along with a nice comment for any of these ladies.

Contest ends October 2nd.

Not required, but would make me happy if your followed my blog and twitter.

About the author and where to find her
Donna Ansari was born in New York City and has lived there for most of her life. Donna graduated from Pace University with a BA in Literature and Communications. Since then, she has been working as an editor, primarily in the field of medical education.
Donna lives in Queens with her husband, son, and large black cat. She is not currently aware of any vampires in her neighborhood.
Tp purchase New Blood or Wild Blood just click on the images on the left hand sidebar.
Related articles

New Blood comes to town! Meet Donna Ansari’s Vampires

Posted: September 1, 2012 in fiction, Interview, Paranormal or fantasy, reviews, Series, Vampires
Tags: , , , , ,
22

I was so excited when I finished reading New Blood: Vampire in the City–Book One! I just had to ask the author, Donna Ansari,  if she would do an interview with me. And she said yes!

Even better! Each week this month, I will have something new about this series! So stay tuned.

First I want to tell you about the story.

cNew Blood



Great job with the cover art Donna. This face is now Emma for me. And the graveyard looks familiar. I recall a certain something that happened there:)

Now for my thoughts and ramblins.

Her night starts normally enough. Emma spends the evening at work. Her job at the advertising agency is not like they portray on TV. Most of the work is tedious and time-consuming. Then along comes the night supervisor, dropping on her desk a rush job which keeps her late.

Staying late to finish it is why Emma winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time, or is it? Well, that is for later.

Exiting the subway, Emma is only a block away from her house when she sees them. Two young men are assaulting another man.Before she can stop it,  her scream slips out and their attention turns to her.

She can see one is holding what looks like a knife and the other a stick. Huh?  As they rush her, she realizes she is mistaken, the knife is actually a metal cross. Screaming still seems like a good idea, but just seems to spur them on.

She manages to get her can of Mace out and let’s go into the eyes of one of her attackers, while the other one just places the cross on her skin. What’s up with that? She keeps screaming and they run off. A quick glance at the victim reveals he is none the worse for wear. She takes a long look, thinking “He’s beautiful.”  He assures her he is fine and after she accepts his thanks, Emma scoots towards the safety of  home, ready for this night to be over.

The whole encounter leaves her feeling strange. What did the boy with the stick mean when he yelled”Looks like we’re going to dust two blood suckers tonight!?” And why was it so hard to walk away from the stranger afterwards?

What Emma doesn’t realize is, that night  set something in motion. Her next encounter with the stranger is not by chance. And when Emma wakes up at his place, feeling great, wearing someone elses pajamas, with no idea how she got there, she is none to happy.

“You had better tell me exactly what happened, bub, because the last thing I remember, I was crossing Queens Boulevard…”

Emma’s life is changed in an instant and it will take all of the courage and take-charge attitude she has to get her through the rough times ahead.

And I do mean rough. Emma gets out of one situation and ends up in another and another…. It is amazing she is still walking around.

She has some new friends, strange friends, and gets a roommate, which really complicates things. How do you hide the fact you are now a vampire from your roommate and best friend? This leads to some sticky and funny situations.

Check out this scene where Emma and Alex are looking up how to kill a vampire on the computer.

I turned back to the computer, where I did a search for :”anatomical position of the heart.” A few minutes of searching and we found out that the heart is two inches to the left of the sternum, between the fourth and fifth ribs.

“Great,” I said. “Now how are we supposed to practice this?”

Alex started unbuttoning his shirt and I reflexively turned away…

“What are you doing?” 

“I thought you could practice on me using the blunt end of the stake, and it’s easier to see where the ribs are without my shirt on.”

Still flustered, I said, “I guess you should lie down for this.” I stood up and went back into the living room, where I had left the stake. While I was doing that, Alex completely removed his shirt and laid down on the couch.

I hadn’t really gotten a good look at his naked chest in adequate lighting before. Now that I had the chance, and was technically supposed to be studying it anyway, I gave it a good long look. His muscles had good definition without being beefy. You could see the indentations where his ribs were, but just barely. His chest was mostly hairless, except for a small tuft between his nipples. Looking farther down, I saw that he also had a slim, vertical strip of hair from his navel to the top of his pants.

“If you’re confused, count,” he said, unexpectedly.

Alex must have seen the confused expression on my face, because he looked highly amused and said, “I mean, you should count my ribs.”

“Right,” I said, desperately trying to concentrate on the task at hand. I held the stake in my left hand and used my right index finger to trace down from his collarbone, feeling for ribs. “One…two…three…four…here.”

“That’s too far over. Remember the website we looked at? Go a little more towards the center.”

I slowly moved my finger over a few inches. “How hard do I have to push it in?”

“As long as you aim between the ribs, you shouldn’t have to push that hard. But the main thing is that you will want to do it very quickly, so you don’t give them the chance to wake up before you finish.”

I definitely did not want that to happen.

“Also, I think sitting on his crotch may wake him up,” Alex added.

Did I forget to mention there is some fun, sexual situations in New Blood. They are more hints than explicit, but still sexy.

Lots and lots of surprises, plenty of schtick, and,yes, some romance and sexual encounters, New Blood delivers.

I had a great time following Emma, reading about how she juggles all of the new complications in her life, or is it un-life? You will too.

Like the supernatural? Vamps and other such characters? You’ll enjoy New Blood. Plenty of strange for everyone.

  I loved this book and highly recommend it!

And now I want you to meet Donna.

 Hi Donna. It is so nice of you to stop by and talk for a while.
 
 My readers are anxious for this interview to get rolling, so why don’t you start by telling us about yourself.
 
I live in New York City with my husband and two-year-old son. I’ve lived here most of my life and love it, which is why I wanted to write a series based here. When I was a child, the two things I’ve always wanted to be when I grew up were a writer and a mother, so I consider myself pretty fortunate that I’ve been able to accomplish both of those goals.
 
 I loved how the story started. It felt like it could’ve been me on any given night at work. Did you draw on past experiences when you wrote about Emma’s job and her boss?
 
You’ve discovered my horrible secret–yes, I work in an advertising agency, just like Emma. Although I work in the editorial department, which is probably more boring than working in the art department. Any job where you get excited over the misuse of a semicolon is probably boring by definition. And as for the demanding and annoying co-workers, no comment!
 
 I am always curious about how a story gets started. Where did your idea for Emma and New Blood come from?
 
I’m a long-time Buffy fan, and I love a strong female lead character who learns to overcome adversity. So I wanted to write a story where the protagonist became a vampire and had to deal with all the different dramatic lifestyle changes that it entails. 
 
When you started New Blood, did you already plan on writing it as a series, or did it just grow into one?
 
It’s a little hard to remember at this point. The truth is I wrote New Blood about six years ago. Then I didn’t touch it for a number of years, during which time I went through some major life changes. Then, when finally I read it again, I realized both that I wanted to publish it and that the story had to continue.
 
 Is there a part of the story you really liked but had to remove, and if so, could you tell us why? I know you can’t relate the scene in detail as it would be a spoiler.
 
Technically no, but I did at one point consider writing slightly more explicit romantic scenes. I may have even tried writing a sentence or two, but only ended up embarrassing myself.
 
 Another thing I keep forgetting to ask is, do new characters just pop into your head while writing or do you build them first and then add them in?
 

I am a big believer in outlines, so it’s rare for me to write anything at the spur of the moment, although it does occasionally happen as the story is coming to a conclusion. But part of my writing process is to come up with backgrounds for all the characters, even ancillary ones. 

 
 Now that we have the serious questions done, let’s have some fun shall we?
 
Okay!
 
 Who was the first boy you kissed?
 
My first “boyfriend” was a kid named Thomas in my first-grade class. We insisted on being partners when walking to and from the lunchroom and kissed each other hello and goodbye every day.
 
 What is your favorite reptile?
 
My favorite reptile is a leopard gecko named Spot. Once when I was in an unhealthy relationship, my boyfriend said he would break up with me if I bought a reptile for a pet. The very next day I went out and bought Spot. 
 
If you could have any automobile, which would you have?

The DeLorean from Back to the Future so I could time travel! Seriously, I live in NYC, so driving is the least effective means of going from place to place.
 
 
 What would you like to be called if you had to change your name?
 
My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, she was approached in a dream by a being who said she would have a daughter and she should name her Donna Marie. I find it hard to argue with that. For awhile, I was thinking about changing my last name to Lancaster (my mother’s maiden name), but then I got married and changed it to Ansari instead.
 
 Say you are locked in a room by yourself. What book would you like to have with you?
 
Can I just have a Kindle and internet service? I know it’s strange but I don’t read that many books in my genre. Right now I’m reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. It’s about 1,500 pages. I’d be fine in the locked room for days!
 
 
 Thanks for answering all of my questions Donna. I can’t help myself sometimes. Curiosity gets the better of me and I forget how busy you must be.
 
Thanks! It was fun!
 
 
Hey Donna.  Should we tell them about the upcoming giveaway? I really want to tell them!
 
To celebrate the upcoming release of book three in the Vampire in the City series, I am giving away five free copies of the book that started it all, New Blood!
 
You heard it folks. Next week I will be having a giveaway. Five chances to win New Blood: Vampire in the City – Book One. And there’s more. After that I’ll be…….oops, can’t tell you yet!
 
About the author:
 
Donna Ansari was born in New York City and has lived there for most of her life. Donna graduated from Pace University with a BA in Literature and Communications. Since then, she has been working as an editor, primarily in the field of medical education.
Donna lives in Queens with her husband, son, and large black cat. She is not currently aware of any vampires in her neighborhood.
 
 
You can find Donna here:
 
 
 
 
 
To purchase your own copy, just click on the cover image below.