Spotlight & Giveaway: A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lynsay Sands to HJ!

Hi Lynsay and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Quick Bite!

 
Hello everyone… I hope you’re all staying safe and sane, and maybe even finding new and creative ways to have a little fun over the next few weeks!
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

A is for Argeneau, the family name of our heroine Lissianna Argeneau.

Q is for quirky, which I think this story is
U is for unfortunate. Our heroine has a phobia to blood which is most unfortunate when you are an immortal and need blood to survive.
I is for inability. Lissianna has the inability to feed herself bagged blood and has to depend on others to feed her like a baby bird. Which means that at two hundred years old, she is still living at home and dependent on others.
C is for consciousness which Lissianna loses at the sight of blood whether bagged or not.
K is for Keen. Our heroine is keen to become less dependent on others for her survival.

B is for Birthday. Our heroine’s mother, Marguerite, has a special birthday gift she hopes will help Lissianna with her issues.
I is for Independence. Both Lissianna and her mother hope this birthday gift can give Lissianna her independence.
T is for Therapist. The gift is our hero Dr. Gregory Hewitt a therapist who specializes in dealing with phobias.
E is for Eager, which both our hero and heroine are when it comes to her therapy.

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“Mmm. Your hair smells good.”
“Umm, gee, thanks, Bob.” Lissianna Argeneau peered around the dark parking lot they were crossing, relieved to see they were alone. “But do you think you could get your hand off my ass?”

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Lissianna Argeneau has a big problem… she faints at the sight of blood. Not exactly the ideal phobia considering she needs it to survive. To get around her hemophobia Marguerite had to feed her intravenously, but after her father died the fear of being completely dependent on someone else to survive drove Lissianna to fend for herself via mortal donors. However, finding and feeding off donors is far more dangerous than feeding off bagged blood, and her friends and family are concerned she’s putting herself at undue risk. But Marguerite has come up with a plan to solve this problem for her daughter, one that involves enlisting the aid of a psychologist who specializes in phobias. This plan ends up with Dr. Gregory Hewitt finding himself staked out and tied to Lissianna’s bed slave.

Until recently, Greg Hewitt had always considered himself to be a rational person. He’d never walk up to a stranger’s car, climb in and pull the trunk door closed on himself, right? That would be pretty dumb. But then to calmly get out of said trunk and follow the driver into their house, up to this room, climb onto the bed and splay himself out to facilitate their tying him down was downright crazy. The mere fact that he had momentarily lost his faculties was bad, but things get worse when his kidnapper reveals he’s going to be a “birthday gift” for her daughter. His immediate thought is she intends him to be some kind of kinky sex slave, which is a very distressing possibility . . . right up until the moment he meets the birthday girl. Then he finds he doesn’t mind as much as he first thought he would.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This is the book that started the series! This was the first book written, but the third to be published, in the Argeneau series.
• It’s about an immortal who’s been struck with the worst phobia a vampire could have, the fear of blood!
• This is where the Spiderman PJs become infamous when Thomas wears them at his cousin Lissianna’s sleepover.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

For Greg it’s pure and simple lust at first, but he soon finds himself drawn to Lissianna’s open, attentive and thoughtful nature. He admires her determination to overcome her phobia, and the courage it took for her to defy both her mother and Lucian in order to keep Greg safe.

Lissianna is instantly attracted to Greg as well, but quickly comes to admire his kindness, generosity and the incredible patience he shows in the face of basically being kidnapped. Even though he was tied up and restrained for hours on a few occasions, Greg never lost his temper.

The First Kiss…

Over two hundred years old, and I never realized the finger could be an erogenous zone, Lissianna thought faintly, as the fire smoldering in his eyes now began to grow inside her, but much farther south.
Gregory Hewitt was a dangerously distracting man, and she decided it might be best to regain control of the situation. With that intention, Lissianna slowly withdrew her finger from his mouth, then leaned forward to rub her cheek briefly against his so that she could inhale the smell of him. The action had been an instinctive one, a predator testing her prey’s scent. His was a spicy, dusky aroma that she quite liked. Lissianna smiled faintly then brushed her lips against his cheek before trailing them across to his lips. She pressed them there a little more firmly and rubbed them gently back and forth.
Gregory Hewitt’s lips appeared firm and hard, but they felt soft. Lissianna continued simply to rub her lips gently over his, enjoying the erotic caress, until he raised his own head in an effort to deepen the kiss. When she felt his tongue slip out to run lightly along the crease where her lips met, she let them slip open. Her eyes widened with surprise at the sensations that assailed her as he slipped inside.
Lissianna had certainly been kissed over the last two hundred years — many times, countless times even if she were to be honest. Some kisses had been welcomed and some stolen, some enjoyed and some not, but this kiss…
His tongue was warm, wet, and firm as it rasped across hers. He tasted of mint and coffee and something else she couldn’t immediately identify, then Lissianna simply couldn’t be bothered to. She let her eyes drift closed and lost herself in the sensations overwhelming her.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

The scene where Lissianna is caught red-handed… or I guess “red-fanged” in this case. She’s surprised to find an agitated man tied to her bed with a bow around his neck. Obviously intended as a birthday gift, she decides to sooth Dr. Gregory Hewitt when he begins to get agitated. Her soothing leads to kissing, which leads to biting, at which point they’re caught by Marguerite and Thomas.
This scene shows the chemistry between Lissianna and Greg, and reveals some pretty funny family dynamics between Marguerite, Lissianna and Thomas, not to mention some incredulity on Greg’s part as he witnesses their weird interaction.

Teeth retracting, Lissianna pulled free of Greg Hewitt’s neck and glanced guiltily over her shoulder. The sight of Thomas and her mother staring at her wide-eyed from the doorway was enough to make her stand quickly, her hands moving to straighten her clothes and hair.
“I cannot believe this!” Marguerite stomped into the room. “Sneaking around and unwrapping your gifts before your birthday like you’re twelve instead of two hundred! What were you thinking?”
“Well, technically, it is her birthday, Aunt Marguerite,” Thomas pointed out as he closed the door.
Lissianna tossed her cousin a grateful smile, but said, “I wasn’t sneaking around. I came up to get fresh stockings.” She scooped them up off the bed, and added, “And I didn’t unwrap him.”
Marguerite stared pointedly at the floor.
After glancing down to see the untied bow lying forgotten there, Lissianna grimaced, and admitted, “Okay, I did unwrap him, but only because he was upset, and I hated to leave him distressed.” She paused, then tilted her head, and said, “I take it Bastien’s arrival interrupted you before you could put the full whammy on him? He was upset about being kidnapped and wanted to be untied when I got here.”
“I didn’t kidnap him,” Marguerite said with affront, then peered past Lissianna to Dr. Gregory Hewitt to say, “I didn’t kidnap you. I borrowed you.” She turned her attention back to Lissianna to add, “And I did put the full whammy on him.”
“Really?” Her eyebrows rose in surprise, and Lissianna glanced from her mother to the man in the bed with confusion. “It doesn’t appear to have taken.”
Marguerite sighed, some of her tension leaving. “Yes, well he appears to have a strong mind.”

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

• “Hands to Myself” by Selena Gomez
• “Hold” by Vera
• “Forever” by Justin Beiber
• “Yummy” by Justin Beiber
• “Everything I wanted” by Billie Eillish
• “Adore You” by Harry Styles

If you could have given your characters one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what – would it be and why?

I’d tell them both the same thing…their lives would be a lot easier if they opened themselves up to new possibilities and understood that no matter how much they try, they cannot control everything.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

I just handed in the next Highland Brides story. Many of you have asked for it and it’s finally here…Rory Buchanan got his story. And I think this story contains the largest subset of secondary characters yet, it involves an entire town!
I’m currently working on the next Argeneau after Immortal Angel. I won’t go into any details on who it’s about yet (no jinxes!) but I will say it has a kick ass heroine.

As for new and upcoming releases…

Love Is Blind, one of my older hysterical historicals, will be reissued on June 30th.

The next chapter in the Argeneau series, Immortal Angel, will be released in September. This book’s about everyone’s favorite mortal, G.G., and Vasco’s boldest and angriest crew member from Vampires Like It Hot, Ildaria.

The next Highland Brides story, tentatively called Highland Treasure, does not have an official release date as of yet.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Two signed copies of A Quick Bite.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If your next birthday present shows up in a very sexy human form, wrapped up and tied down, would you take advantage of him?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from A Quick Bite:

“Oh Lordy, Lordy. I’ve stepped into baby doll heaven.”
Lissianna chuckled at Thomas’s comical expression as he entered the living room, where they were having their impromptu post-birthday party “pajama party.” Not one to drive after drinking, Thomas had decided to sleep here, which meant Lissianna, Jeanne Louise, and Mirabeau were staying as well. With the bedrooms taken up by various older relatives staying the day, they had been relegated to the couches in the bigger living room…along with cousin Elspeth and her twin sisters Victoria and Julianna. The three girls had flown over from England with their mother Martine to attend the party and planned to visit for a couple weeks.
“Thomas!” Jeanne gasped suddenly. “What on earth are you wearing?”
“What? This?” Thomas held out his arms and did a slow turn. He was covered from neck to ankles in a pair of formfitting Spider Man pajamas. “Bastien was good enough to supply this most cool sleepwear for me,” he drawled. “Don’t you like it? The guy has radical taste in sleepwear for a grumpy old dude”
“They’re not Bastien’s.” Lissianna chuckled. “They were a joke gift for Etienne when he was helping to program a video game based on some comic book or other.”
“I didn’t know that, did I?” Thomas said with a grin. “Bastien was most embarrassed at my effusive compliments on his most ‘cool choice’ of sleepwear.”
Lissianna shared a grin with him, imagining how Bastien must have reacted when he realized how his little attempt to embarrass Thomas had backfired. He’d be mortified to think that anyone might believe he wore pajamas like these to bed.
“Anyway, I don’t mind. They are comfortable,” Thomas commented, then perched his hands on his hips to eye the rest of them, and said gallantly, “As for you ladies, you’re like a rainbow of lovely flowers.”
Lissianna glanced down at herself, then at the other women in their nighties. While Jeanne Louise and Mirabeau didn’t have any clothes at Lissianna’s mother’s house, Lissianna did, just not pajamas. She tended to sleep in the nude. The three of them were wearing sleepwear borrowed from Elspeth and the twins. The trio apparently had a thing for baby dolls, it was all they’d had to loan them.
Still, Thomas’s description was apt. She was wearing a light pink lace baby doll, Elspeth was in red, Victoria in peach, Mirabeau in mint green, Julianna in baby blue, and Jeanne Louise wore lavender. Put them together and they did nearly make a rainbow.
“So?” Thomas launched himself onto the cot that had been rolled in for him. Scrunching his pillow into a solid ball he could lean on, he eyed them all with interest. “What happens at pajama parties?”
The girls all laughed at his eager expression as they began to stake out their own spots, two girls to each of the three pull-out couches in the room. Within moments they were settled and peering at each other.
“Don’t look at me,” Mirabeau said when Thomas glanced her way. “I’m over four hundred years old; they didn’t even have pajama parties when I was a girl. I’m not sure they even had pajamas. I don’t know what happens.”
Lissianna chuckled, and said with disgust, “Over two hundred years old and still considered a child.”
“We always will be to Mother and Aunt Marguerite,” Elspeth said calmly. “I guess it’s relative. We are children compared to them.”
“But ancient compared to mortals,” Lissianna pointed out unhappily. She was feeling her two hundred and two years. Birthdays could be such a bummer when you were older than the country you lived in. Canada became a country in 1867, by that time, Lissianna was already sixty-nine years old; old for a mortal, but not for a vampire as most mortals would call them. It wasn’t a term her kind cared for. Vampires were thought to be soulless creatures with an aversion to garlic, holy water, and sunlight. As far as she knew, her people were no more soulless than the average person. As for the three supposed weapons used to fight off vampires, neither garlic nor holy water would hurt them. Sunlight was another matter, they wouldn’t burst into flames if they stepped out into it, but it did make life easier to avoid it. Really, the only thing society had right about vampires was their longevity, strength, and the ability to read and control minds…oh, and they did need to feed off blood.
“You guys may be old, but we aren’t,” Julianna piped up, and her twin sister Victoria nodded. “Yeah.”
Lissianna forced a smile for the twins. They were only seventeen years old, making them the babies in the group, she thought, then realized that Elspeth was right. Everything was relative.
“So,” she said, determined to stay cheerful. “You two are young enough to know. What happens at pajama parties?”
“Fun stuff,” Victoria grinned widely. “You eat lots of good bad stuff like pizza and chocolate and chips.”
Lissianna smiled indulgently. The twins were young enough that food still held more attraction for them than it did for her and the others.
“And you tell scary stories and talk about boys,” Julianna informed them.
“Hmmm,” Thomas sounded dubious. “You can skip the talking about boys stuff, unless it’s me you want to talk about. And I’m stuffed to the gills, no need for pizza.”
Lissianna didn’t doubt him. Her mother had ordered in a ton of bagged blood, as well as normal food for the party, and she’d watched in amazement as the mountains of food and drink had been laid waste. From what she’d heard, the amount of bagged blood they’d gone through was just as staggering. Apparently, the supply had nearly been wiped out. Lissianna had actually heard her mother ask Bastien to have more blood sent to the house for breakfast the next day.
“So that leaves scary stories,” Mirabeau commented. She paused for a moment, during which no one offered to tell the first tale, then glanced at Lissianna, and asked curiously, “What was it your mother drove into Toronto to get you for your birthday? I missed seeing you open her gift.”
“Yes, what was it?” Jeanne Louise asked curiously. “I didn’t see it either.”
“Yes, you did see him, Jeanne Louise,” Thomas countered with amusement, bringing a confused frown to his sister’s face.
“No, I didn’t,” she insisted. “I-” She paused as his words sank in. “Him? You mean she gave Lissi a person? A man?” Her eyes widened suddenly, and her mouth made an “O”, then she exclaimed, “That guy in her bedroom? He was her gift?”
“What guy?” Mirabeau looked startled. “Marguerite gave you a guy?”
Lissianna gave Thomas a dirty look as the women began exclaiming in amazement. Their reaction was exactly what he’d hoped for, of course.
“It isn’t how it sounds,” she said in calming tones. “He’s a doctor. She brought him to treat my hemaphobia.”
“Yeah,” Thomas assured them. “And the fact that Lissianna was rolling all over him on the bed was just an accident. She didn’t know he was her therapist then.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau’s bed? He’s not dessert—he’s the main course!

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there’s another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood . . . an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger’s bedroom pretty quickly—once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That’s a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into . . . if he can just get Lissianna to bite.
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Meet the Author:

My name is Lynsay Sands and I’m the author of the Argeneau series and many hysterical historicals (as my readers tend to call them). I have written sixty books and twelve anthologies, which probably tells you I really enjoy writing. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to make a career out of it.
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