Spotlight & Giveaway: Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones

Posted January 15th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 63 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Darynda Jones to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Darynda and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Summoned to Thirteenth Grave!

Thank you for having me!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Summoned to Thirteenth Grave is the last in the Charley Davidson series. In the last book, our feisty heroine got herself kicked off the earthly plane. In this book, she is back but she has no idea why. Her exile was supposed to be for all eternity. But she quickly discovers that she, along with the dangerous and elusive Reyes Farrow (aka, her scorchingly hot husband), accidentally opened a hell dimension inside the earthly one and it is wreaking all kinds of havoc. It will soon take over the world, and destroy humanity in the process, and they must figure out how to close it before that happens.
 

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

Note to self: Do not open a hell dimension within another existing dimension and expect them to get along.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • This is the first book I’ve written where I got to ALMOST have an apocalypse. I was very excited.
  • Part of the story is set in Los Ranchos, NM, a gorgeous village that skirts the northwest corner of Albuquerque where we lived a couple of years. I highly recommend driving through it and then hitting Old Town for shopping and food.
  • I try to put at least one real restaurant from Albuquerque in every book. And, odds are, if it’s in the book, it’s fantastic.
  • I hear Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper every time Charley walks onto the page.

 

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

Their mutual attraction began eons ago, but we don’t learn that until several books in. In the very first Charley book, First Grave on the Right, they meet as teens when she tries to save Reyes from an abusive situation. It doesn’t go well, but as we now know, that was only the beginning.

 

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

I would definitely want the chemistry between the male and female leads to be tested, so perhaps this one.

He kept walking, his gait so casual one would think he was out for a morning stroll. And yet purpose filled every step he took.

I had no choice but to retreat. I’d been exiled to a hell dimension for a hundred years. I wasn’t eager to visit another here on Earth. And an angry Reyes was a . . . a what? A panty-melting Reyes? A ravishing Reyes? A god?

I stumbled backwards then righted myself and stood up straight to face him. I would not cower in the face of my enemy—a.k.a. my husband.

Five feet away.

“Now, listen up, Mister Man.”

Four.

“I’ll have you know—”

Three.

“—that I did not come back here—”

Two.

“—to be accosted by an angry—”

Wait. A veil of sheer white flowed in my periphery, picked up by a soft breeze, and I looked down, wondering what the fuck was I wearing. “What the fuck am I—”

One.

An arm wrapped around my waist, and Reyes pulled me against him, his hard body molding to mine. There was nothing gentle about his hold as he studied me.

I studied him back. I reached up and pulled the scarf down to reveal his perfect nose, full mouth, darkened jaw. His irises, eclipsed by the shadow of his own lashes, shimmered a deep, rich brown sprinkled with green and gold flecks, and I sank into him. It had been so long. So very, very long.

 

Readers should read this book….

…only if they like laughter, suspense, and blistering heat.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am currently working on a brand new trilogy about a sheriff named Sunshine who finds her sleepy NM town the center of a missing persons case and a statewide manhunt all in one fell swoop.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $25 Amazon Gift Card

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What reads are YOU most looking forward to in 2019?

 
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Excerpt from Summoned to Thirteenth Grave:

Chapter One

What, pray tell, the fuck?
—T-shirt

It wasn’t until I felt the sun on my face that I knew, really knew, I’d made it back. The bright orb drifted over the horizon like a hot air balloon, blinding me, yet I couldn’t stop looking at it. Or, well, trying to look at it. After giving it my all through squinted lids, I gave up and closed them. Let the warmth wash over me. Let it sink into my skin. Flood every molecule in my body.

God knew I needed it. I hadn’t had a drop of vitamin D in over a hundred years. My bones were probably brittle and shriveled and splintery. Much like the current state of my psyche.

But that’s what happens when you defy a god.

Not just any god, mind you. No siree Bob. To get booted off the big blue marble, one had to defy the God. The very One a particular set of children’s books called Jehovahn.

The Man had some serious control issues. I bring one person back from the dead and bam. Banished for all eternity. Exiled to a hell with no light, no hair products, and no coffee.

Mostly no coffee.

And, just to throw salt onto a gaping, throbbing flesh wound, no tribe.

In this dimension, the one with the yellow sun and champagne-colored sand on which I now walked, I had a husband and a daughter and more friends than I could shake a stick at. But in the lightless realm I’d been banished to, I’d had nothing. I floated in darkness for over one hundred agonizing years, tormented by dreams of a husband I could no longer touch and a daughter I could no longer protect.

She would be gone by now. Our daughter. I will have missed her entire life. The thought alone shattered me. Left me feeling like splintered shards of glass cut into me every time I breathed.
But I’d missed more than her life. It had been prophesied that she would face Lucifer in a great battle for humanity. That she would have an army at her back and, fingers crossed, a warrior at her side. And that she would stand against evil when no one else could.

I’d wondered for dozens of years if she’d won, the pain of not knowing, of not being able to help, driving me to the brink of insanity. Then I realized something and a peculiar kind of peace came over me. Of course she’d won. She was the daughter of two gods. More to the point, she was her father’s daughter, the god Rey’azikeen’s only child. She would’ve been wily and cunning and strong. Of course she won.

That’s what I’d told myself over and over for the last thirty-odd years of my exile. But now I was back. An exile that was supposed to be for all eternity stopped just short, in my humble opinion, of its goal.

Unfortunately, I had no idea why I was back. I’d felt myself being drawn forward, pulled through space and time until the darkness that surrounded me gave way to the unforgiving brightness of Earth’s yellow sun. That big, beautiful ball of fire I’d so often complained about as a resident of New Mexico, where sunshine was damned near a daily occurrence.

The horror!

And here it was, bathing me in its brilliance as my feet sank into dew-covered sand with every step I took. I walked toward it. The sun. Craving more. Begging for more.

“I will never complain about you again,” I said, tilting my face toward the heavens, because the thought of my daughter growing up without me wasn’t the only thing that had driven me to the edge of sanity. Nor the heartbreak of missing my husband. His hands on my body. His full mouth at my ear. His sparkling eyes hooded by impossibly thick lashes.

No, it was the perpetual darkness that pushed me so far inside myself I could hardly stay conscious.

I’d tried to escape. To find my way back to my family and friends. Boy, had I tried. But it seemed like the harder I struggled, the deeper I sank. The realm in which I’d been cast was like an inky, ethereal form of quicksand. If not for the wraiths . . .

I stopped and bent my head to listen. Someone was following me, and for the first time since materializing on the earthly plane, I tried to take in my surroundings. With my vision adjusting, I could just make out the sea of peaches and golds that stretched out before me. Sand as far as the eye could see.

Then it hit me. The Sahara. I’d been here before. With him.

I started walking again, slowly, making him come to me as I used every ounce of strength I had to tamp down the elation coursing through my veins.

I’d dreamed about this moment for so long, a part of me wondered if it were real. Or if I were hallucinating. But I felt the warmth radiating from his body and I knew. Heat—his heat—pulsated over me in rich, fervent waves, stirring parts of me that hadn’t been stirred in decades. Or churned. Or even whisked, for that matter.

I dared a glance over my shoulder. My knees weakened and my stomach clenched at the sight. Dressed as a desert nomad in traditional, sky-blue garb, he followed at a leisurely pace. A light breeze pressed his robe against his body, outlining his wide shoulders, long arms, and lean waist.
A turban of the same sky blue had been wrapped around his head and face until only his eyes shone through.

Dark. Shimmering. Intent.

Like that could fool me. Like I wouldn’t know my husband from a thousand miles away. His essence. His aura. His scent.

Of course, the ever-present fire that licked over his skin, the lightning that arced around him, didn’t hurt.

He moved like an animal. A predator. Powerful and full of confidence and grace. Every step calculated. Every move a conscious act.

And he was closing in.

I turned back to the horizon, my heart bursting with the knowledge that my husband was still here. Still on Earth. Still sexy as fuck.

And yet, there was something not quite . . .

I whirled around to face him when I realized part of what I was feeling, part of the tangle of tightly packed emotions that made Reyes Reyes, was anger.

No. Not anger precisely. Anger would be far too tame a word. He was livid. Furious. Enraged. And it was all directed at me.

I’d stopped, but he continued his advance. The stealth with which he moved was born of an instinct millions of years old. He was a predator through and through. A hunter. He knew how to stalk and kill his prey before that prey could detect even the slightest hint of danger. But dangerous he was. On a thousand different levels.

Still . . .

“Are you kidding me?” I asked, holding up a finger to both stop him and give attitude. Two birds, one stone, baby.

Unfortunately, he didn’t stop. He only tilted his head, the scarf making it impossible to see the expression underneath, and continued his trek toward me. But I could still feel it. The anger simmering just below the surface.

I didn’t know if my ability to read the emotions of others was a part of my grim reaper status or my godly one. Either way, I’d had the ability to feel emotion pouring out of people since I was a kid. But Reyes was usually much harder to read.

Usually.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plane for all eternity – which is exactly the amount of time it takes to make a person stark, raving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.

She’s missed her daughter. She’s missed Reyes. She’s missed Cookie and Garrett and Uncle Bob. But now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest a few burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work including a prestigious RITA®, a Golden Heart®, and a Daphne du Maurier, and her books have been translated into over 17 languages. As a born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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63 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones”

  2. HEATHER SCULLY

    Other than more of this series? Lol I’m dying to read the rest of Nora Roberts newest series! Year One was amazing, the second book is high on my TBR, and I’m very much anticipating more already. She never disappoints. ❤

  3. Didi

    The new book(s) of Paige Tyler’s SWAT series and Asa Maria Bradley’s Viking Warriors series.

  4. Mary Preston

    I’m looking forward to THE WINDS OF WINTER by George RR Martin. It’s been a long wait, but worth it.

  5. Diana Tidlund

    Mills and Boons Medical romances
    Joanne Rocks , Robin Gianna , Jane Porter

  6. Eva Millien

    That’s a really tough question, I will have to go with all books by Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Lora Leigh, Shayla Black, Nalini Singh, DB Reynolds, JR Ward, Jeaniene Frost, Lynsay Sands, NJ Walters….I’m gonna quit there before I take up your whole website.

  9. Debra Guyette

    I used to follow and see what was coming but I got so frustrated. Now I just sit back and am surprised and delighted when a book comes out I want.

  15. Heidi

    Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas, 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne, Wild Country by Anne Bishop, and Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet, which I’ve already read.

  16. Amy Friedentag

    The Kiss Thief by LJ Shen, When Ashes Fall by Marni Mann, Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones, The Savior by JR Ward… the list can go on!

  17. wickster72

    I have a long list. Some are, of course, Summoned to Thirteen Grave, Beard Necessities by Penny Reid, & Up in the Air by LH Cosway

  21. John Smith

    “What reads are YOU most looking forward to in 2019?” I will read the “Prosper Redding” sequel, as well as more sci-fi adventures by Nicholas Sansbury Smith!

  26. Joye I

    I am looking forward to reading more of Shanna Galen, C J Box and Brad Thor

  30. Amy R

    This book and releases by Kristen Ashley, Penny Reid, Kylie Scott, Melissa F Olson, Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs.

  34. isisthe12th

    I’m looking forward to reading Holly Black’s The Wicked King. Thank you

  35. Joanne B

    Other than Summoned to Thirteenth Grave, anything by Jill Shalvis, Kristen Ashley, and Susan Mallery.

  37. Joy Tetterton Avery

    The Kiss Thief by LJ Shen
    Social Sinners: A Heart Divided by TL Travis

  39. Summer

    I got some great books for Christmas like Gone With The Wind, and a book about Serena and Venus Williams’ dad, so I’m looking forward to digging into those.

  40. diannekc

    I’m looking forward to reading “Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave” and more Nora Roberts and Karen White.

  41. Marcy Meyer

    I am looking forward to Kristen Ashley’s book Free, which is the last book in the Chaos series. So excited.

  45. Banana cake

    The summer of sunshine and Margot and California girls by Susan Mallery.

  46. Lynne T

    I’m looking forward to any new books from my favorite authors Elin Hildebrand, Kristen Hannah and Nicholas Sparks.

  47. Hayley F.

    Patricia Briggs and Anne Bishop have new books coming out in the next few months. I enjoy their series

  48. Jana Leah

    This one! Also Patricia Briggs’ & Anne Bishop’s upcoming releases.

  49. Rosie

    I’m looking forward to the NYT best sellers to be on the list this year, esp memoirs!!!

  51. Marisela Zuniga

    anything by LJ Shen and Tijan. I’m also planning to read books by new authors, I always see a lot of great recommendations

  52. BookLady

    I am looking forward to Summoned to Thirteenth Grave and new releases by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, and J.R. Ward.

  53. Janie McGaugh

    I’m most looking forward to Summoned to Thirteenth Grave, Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs, Wolf Rain by Nalini Singh, Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost, and Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews.

  54. Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz

    I’m looking forward to Birthday Suit by Lauren Blakely
    Thanks for the chance!

  55. Chelsea B.

    I’m looking forward to catching up on the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas!

  58. Patricia B.

    I have been so busy, there has been little time to look at what is coming out.I have favorite authors writing in most genre and they should all have books coming out. I have read several books in the Charley Davidson series and look forward to this addition.

  59. Anita H.

    Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas and Playing For Keeps by Jill Shalvis are two I’m really looking forward to reading