Update:  Thank you for all the wonderful comments!! I randomly picked the gift card winner and that commenter is…Patty C.! Congrats, Patty!

Thanks so much for coming to my ANGEL OF DARKNESS release party. Lots of great guests will be checking in today with fun posts, excerpt, and, of course, giveaways. To get things started…

I’ve got a $20 Amazon.com gift card up for grabs. I’ll email this card directly to the winner, so the lucky commenter can get started spending on Amazon right away. To enter this giveaway, just tell me…why do you think bad boy heroes are so appealing?

Because the her of my new novel, ANGEL OF DARKNESS, definitely falls into that bad boy category. Sure, he’s an angel, but he’s an angel with one very dark side (um, yeah, there’s a reason he’s called the ANGEL OF DARKNESS–the guy isn’t full of goodness and light). He’s not about guarding and protecting people. He’s about death. Destruction. Or at least he was about those things…

Until the day Keenan fell for a vampire.

EXCERPT FROM ANGEL OF DARKNESS

Darkness.

Keenan blinked and found himself on his knees. He’d been tossed onto a gleaming marble floor. Keenan knew who would stand before him even before he allowed his gaze to lift.

Azrael. The leader of the angels of death.

“What have you done?” Azrael—Az— demanded.

Keenan closed his eyes and saw a woman bleeding out in an empty alley. Shivering with cold. “She still lives.” He rose to his feet, letting his wings spread behind his back.

Az shook his head. “No.”

Fear gripped him. “What? I didn’t touch her, I didn’t—”

“You confess to disobeying your orders.” Az’s face tensed. “You disobey—”

She was dead? Determined to get back to Nicole, Keenan spun away from Az. No one else would take her over, not after what he’d risked.

“You knew the penalty for such an act.” Az’s words froze him.

Yes, he knew he had to answer for taking the vampire’s soul, but—

“I’m sorry, Keenan. You… you were a good angel.”

Were. Keenan whirled back around to face the blond angel. “I didn’t—”

“No, you did not. That’s the problem.” And there was sadness cloaking the words, when there was never any emotion in the angel’s voice. Never much emotion in any of them.

No love. No fear. No hate. Only duty. That was the way it should have been.

Except when I looked at her, I …felt.

“Temptation can destroy us all.” Az’s all- seeing bright blue gaze raked him. “You had the chance to obey. You knew when the moment of her death was at hand, but you killed one not on your list.”

“He was a vampire!” The rage was new—something that had developed only when he saw the pain Nicole suffered. “He was torturing, killing, he deserved—”

“We all get what we deserve.” Az’s chin lifted. “Beware, my friend, this will hurt.”

What?

“I’ve heard it’s the fire that makes you scream the loudest.”

There was no fire—

The wind hit Keenan again, wrapping around him, but this time, its grasp felt like the edge of a hundred blades.

Az watched him with a hard stare. No more emotion. Maybe it had never been there. “Did you think we did not know the lust you held in your heart?”

What would angels know of lust? What would they know of anything but following orders, protecting the weak, living in that vast, blank world of nothing?

“Why do you think she was given to you?” Az asked.

And he finally understood. A test. One he’d failed because he hadn’t been able to watch Nicole slip away.

“You broke our rules. You took a life not yours to extinguish.” Az’s cold voice floated to him. “And you failed in your duty.”

To take Nicole’s life. But, no, Az had told him that she didn’t live; he’d said—“Where is she?” He’d had to shout to be heard over the fury of the wind.

But there was no answer. Nothing but the wind howling. And then the fire came.

The fire ripped through his body, starting at his feet, burning up, up, even as Keenan fell, plummeting from the sky.

Expelled from my home.

He flapped his wings as he tried to fight that controlling wind, but—

He cried out in agony as the fire spread to his wings. This was no phantom fire—real flames ate at his skin and burned his flesh. Burned his wings, his wings— No!

He’d never known pain, but after this day, he would never forget it.

The wind stopped. His body hovered in the air, his shoulders hunched and his wings burning. He tried to move his wings, tried—

He dropped, falling straight for the earth below, and he burned as he fell. Burned and burned.

Az had been right. The fire made him scream the loudest as he became the one thing he’d always dreaded.

A Fallen.

Thanks so much for coming by and joining the ANGEL OF DARKNESS release party!  Just scroll below to see the new posts and giveaways. All giveaways will remain open until noon (Central time) on 11/30/11.  I hope you enjoy the party!

Tomorrow is the release day for ANGEL OF DARKNESS! Yay! I am so excited–and I sure hope readers enjoy Keenan’s story.

As an addition to the story, I’ve put up an interactive map of New Orleans. By clicking on the blue circles that are located on the map, you can see some of the spots that Keenan and Nicole visit in ANGEL OF DARKNESS.

And, of course, I have to talk party fun. Tomorrow at 7 am (Central time) my release party will begin. Every hour after that (until 11 PM that night), I’ll have a new guest author coming by to join the fun. There will be Amazon gift card giveaways, book giveaways, and maybe even a few surprise giveaways, too. All of the giveaways will stay open until noon on 11/30/11–that way, people who are working or who are in the different time zones will all have a chance to enter the contests. I hope you can come by!

See you then.

Update: Thanks so much for participating in the Blog Hop! Cassandra Carr picked our big winner and that lucky person is geminicalli@yahoo.com. Congrats!!! And if you didn’t win…please, come back here on 11/29/11. I’ll be hosting an all-day release party for ANGEL OF DARKNESS then, and there will be tons of goodies up for grabs. Thank you!

Thanks for coming by for some Black Friday Blog Hopping fun!  Here are the details for the hop (provided by Cassandra Carr):

One random commenter (can be on any of the blogs) will win a Kindle Fire, along with all the prizes below! That’s the easiest kind of shopping I can think of…

Prizes:

– Cassandra Carr: copy of either of my two current releases, Talk to Me or Head Games
– Kristabel Reed: back list copy of one of her stories and then on her own blog a $10 GC plus a copy of her newest release, Risque, a Regency Menage Tale
– Lucy Felthouse: back list copy of any of her single-title books
– Cari Quinn: back list copy of one of her books
– Leigh Elwood: two back list copies of her books
– Natasha Blackthorne: copies of her two Regency era novellas: Grey’s Lady and Waltz of Seduction
– Amber Kallyn: e-copy of Dragos 1
– Camryn Rhys: Kindle copies of The Barn Dance and Off the Record – Foodie Erotic Romances
– Lissa Matthews: two of her back list books
– Misa Buckley: an e-copy of Ironhaven and To Reach the Dawn
– Lacey Wolfe: a copy of Ambers Muse
– Courtney Sheets: a $25 GC to Ravenous Romance and a copy of Kona Warrior – PDF
– Sara Brookes: an e-copy of one of my back list books
– Cynthia Arsuaga: a copy of an e-book, and on her own blog five book charm book tethers
– Louisa Bacio: .pdf copy of my first book in The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf series, and on her own blog a $10 certificate to Ravenous Romance, and each commenter will also be entered to win a Goody Bag of new Orleans treats
– Malia Mallory: one copy each of The ABC’s of Erotica and Santa’s Back Door Baby
– Cynthia Eden: a copy of Angel of Darkness (either print or digital)
– Carrie Ann Ryan: an e-copy of The Alpha’s Path
– Jacquie Rogers: a Smashwords coupon for Faery Merry Christmas, plus on her own blog, a free copy of Much Ado About Marshals

So what are the rules? Simple: visit as many of the blogs as you can and leave a comment for the blog owner. For every comment, you’ll get one entry into the grand-prize drawing. Be sure to leave your e-mail address with every comment so we can find you if you win! And don’t forget that several blog owners are giving away prizes specific to their blog, too!

One winner will be chosen on Saturday morning using random.org. I will contact that person about the Kindle Fire and then each blog owner with a prize will contact the winner themselves to arrange delivery of said prize. Questions? Contact me at AuthorCassandraCarr AT gmail DOT com.

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Sweet! Now…on to my post for Black Friday…

I’M A COWARD

There. I’ve confessed. When it comes to Black Friday crowds, I get stresses. Too many people. Too few presents. Too much drama that you see aired later on your local news broadcast.

So how do I handle Black Friday?  Here are some of my survival tips:

1. Whenever possible, shop online. So many places are offering free shipping. Get those goodies online. Save yourself the drama of endlessly searching the parking lot.  Sit in your comfy chair at home, and click quickly for your order.

2. If you have to head out on Black Friday, never shop alone! Take a buddy–a friend can be the perfect aid you need when it comes to finding those perfect bargains.

3. The shoes. Oh, the shoes, baby! Don’t go for fashionable when it comes to Black Friday. Go for comfort. Pull out those comfy sneakers because you are about to walk like a mad woman. (Unless, of course, you follow my first survival tip–and shop from home!)

4. Hide your prizes.  When you get to your car to dump out your goods, don’t leave them in plain sight. Sadly, there will also be folks out looking to steal on Black Friday. The chaos is the perfect cover for them. So please don’t leave your new purchases out where folks can see them. Hide them in your trunk.  Deposit them at your house and then go shopping again.  Just be careful and be alert.

5. Don’t let the stress get to you. Long lines make you frustrated? Screaming toddler have you seeing red? (And I’m not talking about Santa’s suit!) Then just take a deep breath. Hum a Christmas tune, and remember…you’re going through this drama because you want presents for the people that you care about–this is for them.

Happy shopping!!

Cynthia Eden

I am so thankful to all of the fantastic readers who have picked up my books and given my angels, my demons, my vampires, my shifters, my FBI agents (and even my serial killers!) a read. Thank you all so much for the awesome support.  Thank you!!!  Thank you for the emails and the reviews and for spreading such great word of mouth about my stories.  I appreciate you all more than words can say.

So this Thanksgiving, please just know how very thankful I am for each and every one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those celebrating!!!

(And…psst…to continue my thankfulness–I’m giving away ANGEL OF DARKNESS at the Brava blog. There, I’m listing all the great things I appreciate–readers are at the top of my list!–and asking what you are thankful to have this year. If you get a chance–between traveling, shopping, and holiday craziness–please come by and share.)