Spotlight & Giveaway: Immortal Born 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, Immortal Born!

 
Hello Sara! Hi everyone!
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

This is Magnus and Allie’s story.
 
Magnus Bjarnesen has been around for well over a thousand years. He’s been a Viking, a warrior, a farmer, a blacksmith, a stonemason, a carpenter, and a mercenary for the king. He returned to Canada to meet the woman Marguerite suspects might be his life mate, only she’s in a bit of hot water with authorities. She was caught literally red-handed stealing from a local blood bank, and she’s mortal.
Allie Chamber’s life wasn’t going as planned. Having a baby dropped in her lap to take care of was disruptive enough, but to have a baby with an appetite for blood to take care of made motherhood a whole lot more complicated. Add that to the fact that she can’t tell anyone about her vampire baby, and a bunch of vamps have been actively hunting them down and life becomes downright untenable. She would give her life for this child but she’s beginning to understand it may not be enough…
Although Allie getting caught stealing from a blood bank was bad luck, it may actually end up being the best thing for her and her son because it caught the attention of the Argeneaus. Now she could get the advice she needs from people who know something about what her son really is… if she lets them in.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

“Did Sam make those cookies?” Magnus asked, eyeing the plate suspiciously.
“Yeah, but she’s stopped making things with weird stuff,” Tybo assured him with amusement as he took several cookies. “They’re safe to eat. Good too.”
“Mortimer’s wife, Sam, was on a health food kick for a while,” Katricia explained to Allie with a grin.

Tybo snorted at the words. “You mean she was on a mission to torture us all. The woman was making wheat germ shakes and chocolate chip cookies with tahini and coconut sugar or some damned thing. Made us all wonder what Mortimer had done to piss her off.”

“Made me wonder too,” the man she assumed was Mortimer said glumly.
“The worst part was, while she was forcing that garbage on us, she was slipping out for burgers and shakes,” Tybo said with disgust, and when a surprised laugh slipped from Allie, he smiled slightly and said, “Sure, laugh at our pain.”

What inspired this book?

I thought it would be fascinating to write about a character who, due to circumstances beyond her control, was attempting to care for a “vampire” child. Someone who has no knowledge of what immortals are, and truly believes she’s caring for a vampire child so only has vampire mythology as a reference to go by. In order for her to successfully do this on her own and avoid discovery for so long, she needed to have a strength of character unlike most. I also wanted the child to be old enough that she’d be forced to look for an alternative blood source other than herself.
I’ve wanted to do Magnus’s story ever since he was first introduced in Immortally Yours. I figured he’d be a good match for a woman determined and smart enough to care for an immortal child in secret all this time and he proved me right, TG. LOL
Also, it was perfect because Allie and Liam needed a community and what better place than Port Henry? I’ve been wanting to revisit Port Henry and catch up with its residents for quite some time. This story gave me the opportunity to do that.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

As for how I got to know my characters…
We found out a bit about Magnus from his first few appearances in the series, in Immortally Yours as Scotty’s colleague and friend and then again in Twice Bitten, so I already had a good idea of Magnus’s personality and his story really brought out his strengths. He’s incredibly patient and understands people much more than he lets on. Being observant, he takes his time, sees much more than most and doesn’t jump to conclusions.
Allie’s motherly instincts for her son, Liam, and the lengths she’d go to protect him were immediately obvious. The mere fact she refused to cower under Lucian’s glacial stare and pointed criticisms revealed an inner strength that most immortals don’t even have. She’s an impressive character but she had to be to get this far bringing up an immortal child on her own when she knew absolutely nothing about them.
And Liam is your average four-year-old… curious, amazingly well-adjusted considering the restrictions placed on him for so long, polite, and charming.

And my characters did surprise me…
I was surprised to hear how Magnus became an immortal and what he’d been doing at the time he was turned. He’s lived a long time, seen a lot, made many mistakes, and has obviously learned a lot over his long lifetime.
The fact Magnus was smitten with Allie the moment he laid eyes on her wasn’t a surprise but the way he went practically weak-kneed when he witnessed her push back against Lucian’s authority was priceless.
Having had no experience with babies whatsoever, Allie’s dropping everything to care for a child that wasn’t even her own was a surprise. Or maybe it wasn’t once you knew her history.

What was your favorite scene to write?

The scene when Allie first meets Lucian in the enforcer house is one of my faves. Allie doesn’t back down or cower in the face of Lucian’s authority even after discovering she was wrong about a lot of her assumptions concerning Liam. Having raised a “vampire” child on her own while evading the rogue vampires hunting them showed she was smart, resourceful and strong willed and she’d never allow anyone to come between her and her son, not even Lucian.

But she’d done the best she could, Allie argued with her guilt. She’d fed him, clothed him, protected him. And how could she allow him to play? She’d lived with the constant fear of his being taken. Besides, vampires couldn’t go out in the sun. The thought made her frown and she asked, “How can he be outside?”

Magnus peered down at her blankly when she turned on him with the question. After a moment, he shrugged helplessly. “It is what children do. They play outside.”

“Yes, but it’s daytime. The sun is up,” she pointed out, and peered worriedly back to Liam, searching his face for any hint that he might be about to burst into flames. That was what happened to vampires in all the movies when they were touched by sunlight. But other than a nose gone a bit red from the cold, Liam seemed fine.

“He will not burst into flames under the sun. The boy is an immortal, not one of your mythical vampires.”

Those words came from behind them and Allie turned to peer at the man who had spoken. Standing in the doorway of the room was a tall stranger with hair so fair it was almost white, and ice-blue eyes as cold as she imagined the snow outside must be.

While Magnus still appeared relaxed at her side, the other two men in the room were now sitting up as if at attention. She supposed that meant the newcomer was someone important. Not that he seemed to notice their reactions. His attention was focused wholly on her. In fact, he was peering at her with a concentration that irritated her, and a displeasure that seemed to suggest she’d said something to offend him. She didn’t particularly care. There were more important issues here than this stranger’s feelings.

“But he’s a vampire,” she said now. “I thought the sun hurt vampires.” Much to her surprise, that made irritation flicker across the man’s face.

“The sun can harm an immortal,” he said grudgingly, and then added, “But only as much as it harms a mortal. The difference is that while your skin will carry that damage and simply tan and age, our bodies will work to repair our bodies . . . and use extra blood to do so.”

That last comment made Allie go cold. To her what he said suggested Liam would need to be fed when he came inside and she just didn’t think she had it in her to feed him at the moment.

“You have been feeding that boy with your own blood?”

Allie stiffened at his sharp words. He made it sound as if she’d been doing something perverted, or at least wrong. Lifting her chin, she snapped, “That boy is my son, Liam, and since my conscience wouldn’t allow me to run around kidnapping people for him to feed off of, yes, I have been feeding him myself.”

“He’s not your son,” the man said in a distracted tone, his expression concentrated again as he peered at her.

“The hell he’s not,” Allie snapped, anger roaring through her at the very suggestion that Liam wasn’t hers.

“A mortal cannot give birth to an immortal. He is not your biological child and you obviously have no idea how to raise him if you’ve been allowing him to feed off of you.” The man’s voice was still distracted, as if the subject was of no importance whatsoever, and that just infuriated her. It also terrified her. Liam was the most important thing in her life. He was her life. Keeping him safe, healthy, and happy was her whole purpose now, yet this man seemed to be suggesting she had no business doing it. As if Liam would be better off with one of his own kind.
Would they try to take him from her? She worried suddenly, and then lifted her chin and thought grimly, Over my dead body.

Voice cold, Allie said, “I may not have given birth to Liam, but he is my son. I’ve raised him, fed him, loved him, and kept him safe since he was a month old. I’m the only mother he knows, and if you try to take him away from me, you’ll have a fight on your hands.”
She had slid her right hand into her pocket to retrieve the lighter she’d tucked there as she spoke. Now she let the can of aerosol hairspray slip out from her left sleeve and raised both. With the lighter in front of the can and her finger on the spray nozzle, she glared at the arrogant ass in the doorway and said, “Now, I may have been wrong about sunlight, but I know fire kills you people, so unless you want me to roast your ass, I suggest one of you bring me my son. We’re leaving.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

The most difficult scene had to do with Magnus and Allie’s first time together. It was tricky getting them alone long enough to get them together with everything that was happening… Their being on alert because they were being hunted by rogues, her anxiety over all the new people in their lives now helping them out and learning to trust them, her overall lack of experience with men in general, and the conundrum they end up in when they finally do get together. Funny but also complicated.

“Allie, we cannot remain like this indefinitely. And I cannot answer your question about the healing. Do you wish me to go fetch Katricia or Drina so that you may ask one of them?”
“God, no!” she gasped at once, and then bit her lip briefly before saying, “Maybe if we just stay like this for a little bit the nanos will heal me around you and not completely rebuild my hymen.”
He thought that was a ridiculous idea, and was becoming uncomfortable lying there, chatting as if at tea, so teased, “Or maybe they will heal you to my member.”
“What?” she squawked with horror.
Magnus was immediately sorry he’d said that and tried to reassure her. “I am sure that will not happen. I was just—”
“Oh!”
Both of them turned their heads to stare at Katricia, who had opened the door and started in, but was now backing out of the room.
“Sorry. I didn’t know. I was just checking— I’ll go—”
“No! Wait!” Allie cried, her fingers tightening around Magnus’s arms.
Katricia paused midturn away from them, but kept her eyes pointed at the door and the side of her face to them as she waited.
Allie hesitated, but then sighed and asked, “Will the nanos heal my hymen?”
In her surprise, Katricia started to turn toward them, but caught herself at the last moment and asked carefully, “Allie, are you saying you were a virgin before . . . ?”
“Yes,” she admitted with disgust. “And now I need to know if it’s going to heal and I’m going to have this pain every time, or if there is something I can do to prevent that?”
Katricia blew her breath out on a sigh, and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even consider . . . I should have talked to you first.”
“Talked to me about what?” Allie asked, staring at the woman.
“The nanos won’t repair a hymen on a mortal who is turned after it’s been ruptured and healed. But I’m afraid that, yes, they will repair it if it is ruptured while you are immortal unless the man remains inside you for an extended time. Then they will heal around him and not close the gap.”
They were all silent for a moment, and then Allie asked, “Why do they not heal it on a mortal during the turn if it was ruptured before she turned?”
“Good question,” Katricia said wryly. “We think that the original programming didn’t include the hymen. Or possibly labeled it as optional because some would have it but some would not, so the nanos only repair it when it originally exists in their host and is ruptured. They immediately set out to repair what they see as a wound. But that’s not necessary on a mortal who was turned after losing her hymen and it has already healed.”
“But they won’t heal me to Magnus, will they?”
That startled a laugh out of Katricia. “No, of course not. Oh, God, wouldn’t that be a fix?”
Allie turned to scowl at Magnus, and it was he who asked, “How long must we remain joined to ensure she heals around me?”
“No one’s really sure,” Katricia admitted slowly. “I mean, it’s different for different women. We all have varying healing speeds depending on how much blood we have available in our system and what’s going on.” She paused briefly and then added, “I have heard of women who waited only ten minutes and were fine, and others who waited twenty and yet the healing wasn’t done and it grew back.” Smiling wryly, she confessed, “Breaching mine was so painful I waited half an hour my first time just to be sure I didn’t have to go through it again.”
“I waited half an hour too,” Drina announced from somewhere beyond Katricia. “And I’d suggest that for you, Allie. The nanos will heal it right away because it is a bleeding wound, but might be slow about it because they are spread out so thin taking care of the other repairs they’re still tending.”
Magnus felt Allie stiffen at the sound of Drina’s voice and wasn’t surprised. Neither of them had realized the other woman was in the hall as well.
“I thought I was done turning?” she whispered now to him.
Magnus shook his head. “The majority of it is done, the more painful stuff. But the nanos will be working to finish off less crucial fixes or changes for the next while, perhaps weeks. You’ll need to take in extra blood while that’s happening.”
“Oh,” she said unhappily.
“I agree with Drina,” Katricia said, reminding them of their presence. “I’d go with half an hour to be safe.”.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

Well, my writing style remains the same between stories and across genres…. so, there’s a fair amount of action, mystery, humour, a little horror and some romance all wrapped up in it. The main difference about this book compared to others in the series (other than the main characters of course) would be the sheer number of secondary characters that pop up, characters we haven’t heard from in quite a while.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I want them to have fun and get lost in the book so that any stress, worry, or annoyances they have fade away in the suspense, drama, cringe worthy moments, and humour of the story.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

As for what I’m working on…

I just handed in the next story in the Argeneau series and it’s about two characters readers have been asking after ever since they first appeared in the series! This one’s about G.G., from Vampire Interrupted and Twice Bitten, and Ildaria, from Vampires Like It Hot. <WG>
And I just handed in the proofs for Geordie Buchanan’s story called Hunting For The Highlander.
And I’m about to start working on the next story in the Highland Brides series. And before anyone asks, I’m not quite certain who it’ll be about yet. Sorry! LOL

As for my upcoming releases…

The next story in the Highland Brides series, Hunting For The Highlander, will be coming out on January 28th. It’s about Geordie and Lady Dwyn Innis. As I mentioned before, Geordie’s story is H-O-T so his is a much sexier story than usual, but with the humor and chaos that the Buchanans tend to bring wherever they go. (By the way, we just got a peak of a mockup of the cover and I’ll just say this…it definitely suits his story! <WG>)

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Two signed paperback editions of Immortal Born by Lynsay Sands

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Excerpt from Immortal Born:

“Dani, love.” The newcomer enfolded Dani in a warm and welcoming embrace, rocking her slightly from side to side. “It’s been too long, dear.”
“Only since last summer, Elvi,” Dani protested as she hugged her back.
“As I said, too long.” The woman Magnus now knew must be Elvi Argeneau smiled at him over Dani’s shoulder, and then pulled back to tell Dani, “Steph should be down in a minute. She has been excited ever since she heard you were coming.”
“Oh, I—” Dani began, and then paused as a squeal drew their attention to a young woman bounding down the stairs at speed. She was almost a carbon copy of Dani except that her blond hair was up in a ponytail. Dani’s sister, Stephanie, was Magnus’s guess, and he watched with interest as she rushed to them and threw her arms around the doctor with another happy squeal.
“Dani, Dani, Dani! I was so happy when they said you were coming too.” Stephanie pulled back to eye her in question as she added, “But I can’t believe you were willing to take time off work to do it. You never do that.”
“Well, Allie needed help, and it meant getting to spend some time with you, so . . .” Dani shrugged and then kissed the young woman on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, sis.”
“Good to see you too,” Stephanie chirped, and then glanced around, her expression becoming concerned as it landed on Allie. Releasing Dani, she crossed to peer down at her, murmuring, “This is her?”
“Allison Chambers,” Dani said quietly before Magnus could respond. Moving to join them, she added, “She’s had a rough time of it the last couple of days and needs a blood transfusion.”
“She’s had a rough time of it for most of her life,” Stephanie said, her voice somewhat distracted and her eyes pulsing with a glow that brightened and then darkened before brightening again. “But she’s given up everything for . . . ” Pausing, she turned and stared past Magnus and then smiled and breathed, “Liam.”
Magnus turned to see the boy standing a couple of steps back with Teddy, watching them with interest, and then Teddy nudged Liam and said, “That’s Stephy. She’s weird sometimes, but cool. You’ll like her.”
“Yep, that’s me. Weird but cool Stephy,” Stephanie chuckled, the glow fading from her eyes as she stepped forward and offered her hand to Allie’s son. “A pleasure to meet you, Liam. Your mom is going to be fine. My sister will make her well, Magnus will make her like us, and you’ll never again have to worry about losing her. The two of you won’t have to run anymore either. It’s all going to work out.”
“Promise?” Liam asked, his expression serious.
“Cross my heart,” Stephanie assured him. “I may be weird, but I’m never wrong.”
“Weird’s okay,” he assured her, accepting her hand and shaking it. “Mom says she’s weird too. I like weird.”
“Well, now that that’s settled,” Elvi said lightly. “Magnus, Liam, I’m Elvi Argeneau. Welcome to my home.”
Liam stepped forward and offered his hand, saying politely, “Hello, ma’am. Thank you for having us.”
“You’re more than welcome,” Elvi assured him, and then asked, “Would you like to see the room where you and your mom will be staying? That way we could tuck her in and let her rest.”
“Yes, please, ma’am,” Liam said softly. “Mrs. Tricia says Mom needs her rest.”
“That she does,” Elvi said solemnly, and took his hand, then smiled at Magnus and gestured for him to follow before turning to lead Liam to the stairs, saying, “Your mom’s done a fine job with you, young man. You’re very polite.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Elvi.”
“You’re welcome,” Elvi said, and then called out, “Teddy, are you coming too? The girls are watching movies in the upper porch and you can take Liam there after he sees where he’s going to sleep and where his mom will be.”
“Can I, Mom?” Teddy asked, and Magnus paused at the bottom of the steps to wait.
“Yes. But be good and not too much noise while Liam’s mom is sleeping,” Tricia said firmly.
“Okay,” Teddy called, barely waiting for her words to finish before rushing past Magnus to latch on to Elvi’s free hand as she walked up the stairs. It was exactly what Magnus had expected and why he’d paused. So the boy could get past him on the stairs. As he now followed the trio, Elvi announced, “Liam, you and your mother are going to be staying in the tower bedroom.”
“You have a tower?” Liam asked with interest.
“Yes, and that’s where you’re staying.”
“Where am I staying?” Teddy asked.
“In the blue room next door to Liam’s so you can find each other easy in the morning,” Elvi answered promptly.
Magnus smiled faintly as the boys began to chatter excitedly, and then glanced to the side. The stairs curved around on themselves and he was now parallel to the archway, though above it. His gaze landed on Stephanie, who stood in the arch watching him as Dani followed him upstairs. Her eyes were pulsing with that glow again, and he stared at them silently and then turned his face forward again, aware that she wasn’t really seeing him at all. She was seeing into him. He’d encountered an Edentate like Stephanie before. A no-fanger who hadn’t come out of the turn insane, but one with a special gift like Stephanie’s, and it had been a gift . . . and a curse. He hoped Stephanie did better under its burden.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Nothing compares to the physical chemistry between an immortal and his life mate—or to the spellbinding thrills in a new Argeneau novel by New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands…
A simple promise to protect her friend’s infant son has turned Allie Chambers’ existence upside down. Caring for—and feeding—an orphaned vampire baby has been tricky enough. But as little Liam grows, so does his appetite. He needs more blood than she can personally supply. And when her attempts to steal from a blood bank go awry, Allie wakes up surrounded by doctors, cops…and the gorgeous, mesmerizing Magnus, who she can neither trust nor resist.
Magnus never expected to find his life mate breaking into a blood bank. Clearly, Allie is already entwined with his world—in deeper, more dangerous ways than she realizes. A band of vicious rogue immortals is in pursuit, and Magnus’ first task is to keep her safe. His second: to awaken her to mind-blowing pleasure, and hope she’ll accept the life, and the passion, that only he can offer.

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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 over fifty 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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