L.K. Below Guest Post

3 Days until the release of This Blackened Night, The Order: Book 3!

Every author has a set of characters more dear to their hearts than any others. In most cases, this stems from these characters being among the first ever created. I won't claim Lori and Terrence were my very first, but they did come close. Their first book, Stalking Shade, which released in 2011, was originally written in 2007. And rewritten. And rewritten.

And now it feels like a dear friend is moving away. With the release of This Blackened Night on September 24th, 2012, the trilogy will come to an end. Lori might be a prickly character, not easy for anyone but Terrence to love, but I had a lot of fun with her. When I wrote this third book late last year, I dragged my feet to see it finished for the same reason. I didn't want to let the pair of them go. A not-so-secret part of me is hoping for an overwhelming response from readers asking me to continue so I have an excuse to revisit my favorite characters.

For now, I'm counting down the days until the third book releases. Maybe you'll fall in love with Lori and Terrence every bit as fiercely as I have. Lori might be stubborn in pushing people away, but Terrence is the most persistent character I've ever written. Good thing, too.

Join me in celebrating the release of the third book a bit early with this short, sweet teaser excerpt:

This Blackened Night by L.K. Below

With murders cropping up all around, who should she trust?

After months of searching, Lori finally scrounges up a clue as to the whereabouts of the missing leader of her secret organization. But her vision isn't encouraging--it points to her vampire companion Terrence as the culprit.

Terrence is adamant that he isn't at fault. Even though she knows she might be walking into a trap, she follows his lead to a shabby island port. When her informants start turning up dead with puncture wounds in their necks, Lori wonders just how well she knows Terrence. And why does he act different during the search than in their hotel room?

Lori doesn't know who to trust anymore. She only hopes that she won't be the next victim.

Six Sweet Sentences from the book:

Was this the same man she’d just dreamed of? The two were night and day. One harsh, demanding, and sure to get his way. The other considerate. And maybe a touch too persistent. Maybe her dream had been just that after all--and not a vision.

Learn more about the series as a whole on the Lyrical Press, Inc. website: http://bit.ly/TheOrderSeries.

Read a longer excerpt from This Blackened Night at http://bit.ly/ThisBlackenedNight.

Bio: If L.K. Below gets far too attached to her characters, well, that's because they're interesting people. Read two of her favorites in her urban fantasy series, The Order. Join her online at www.lbelow.net to learn more. Want to keep up to date with her tour stops? Follow her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/LBelowtheauthor) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LK-BelowLindsay-Below/355586159614)

Stalking Shade by L.K. Below

Synopsis:

When the leader of Lori's secret organization goes missing, her life starts to fall apart. 

Lori is a member of the Order, a secret organization with an invincible leader, or so she believes--until he disappears. Their mission is all about protecting him, the Spenta Michos, and the Order Degenerates into chaos once he's gone. 

Lori is determined to find him, with or without the support of the other members. But a madman shadows her every move, and she can barely keep herself out of the growing pile of victims. To make matters worse, she has to deal with a persistent faux-vampire who seems to think she's meant for him. 

How can she save the leader of her religion when she can barely protect herself?

Review:

The concept of this book actually kind of interesting to me. When you think about it every religion has a person that is living that is super important to people who follow the religion, but normally that person is aware of the important role that they play. But in Lori's religion/organization, the Spenta Michos is completely unaware of the people protecting and serving him. It's a little bit unorthodox and kind of a cool concept so I went with it. 

This is definitely a book that doesn't have a slow beginning. It starts off right as the action is about to pick up. The Spenta Michos is missing, and Lori is shocked, and more importantly highly motivated to get him back. Only when she attends the first meeting to discuss his new missing status it seems like not a whole lot is being done to organize the search to find him, so of course she does what any self-respecting girl does and looks to find him on her own. 

There are some interesting characters along the way that Lori has to deal with. The first one you really get introduced to is Heaven, who I could totally picture from the bits and pieces the author gives you as she pops up along the way. She's kind of that annoying girl with a ridiculous name, who kind of things the sun rises and falls with her and her alone. I love characters I'm suppose to hate, and I didn't like her right off the bat. It actually made me identify with Lori, because listening to Lori's inner monologue made me think to myself, wow I would be thinking the exact same thing if I were her. 

From the beginning of the book you get the feeling that Lori is special, like she is different from everyone else. It turns out she is, she gets visions. Only unfortunately someone else seems to think Lori is special, and seems to be after her, and not in the good way. More like the I can't wait until I kill you kind of way. I liked the story from Lori's point of view. She is easy to identify with, easy to like, and easy to follow. 

If I had one complaint about the book it would be that it felt a bit to rushed. I think that the author could do a lot more with the material if it wasn't so rushed. The bones of the book are solid, I wish the author would have just taken some more time to flesh everything out more. Other than that I think it was a really solid book, and one I enjoyed reading. It's a quick read, and I think anyone who likes Urban Fantasy will enjoy it.