Spotlight & Giveaway: The Viking’s Captive by Ingrid Hahn

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Ingrid Hahn to HJ!

Hi Ingrid and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Viking’s Captive!

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

He thinks by taking her, he’ll end his torment…but his torment is just beginning.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

It started as many nightmares do…

Swallows fluttered and glided over the fields where the haze was no more than a whisper. The tide was low and the air redolent of brine in the quiet pockets of mists the sun had yet to burn away. It was a world on the brink of dawn.

Alodie carried a basket full of the eggs she’d been sent out to gather. Last night, a fox had destroyed the coop. Red soaked the earth and corpses were strewn everywhere.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I gave the hero the last name Longsword just so I could work in a dick joke.
• The wool cloak the hero gives the heroine is green because green is my favorite color.
• I had to strike the word “rosy” from a critical scene because roses didn’t come to that area of the world until a few centuries later when they returned with crusaders.
• My editor had Vikings on her wishlist for a while, but I was really, really, *really* nervous to broach the subject of trying to get a contract for a Viking book–which I did when I met her in person at a conference. One of those situations where I wasn’t going to let my fears and crushing anxiety keep me from something I really wanted. And here we are! Yay!
• My older son wants me to read some of my book to him. He’s four-and-a-half. I said I might read some parts to him, but I don’t know if there are ANY that would be suitable! He also has about a zillion questions about the man on the cover, all centering around what he wants to know the most: does the man know how to use the sword properly and does he have good behavior with it?

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

She thinks he’s smoking hot and vice versa–and they’re not wrong. (It builds from there.)

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

ye olde forbidden fruit
delicious

The First Kiss…

Knowing perfectly well what he was doing and at the same time hardly master of himself, he took her by the hand and they fled toward the trees. In the darkness under the fir branches, they would be safe from curious eyes.

They were not, however, safe from themselves.

He took her by the waist and put her back against the trunk of a tree, pressing his body against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head up. Only a whisper separated their lips. He was hard and eager, aroused beyond reason.

A breathy sound escaped her. “Why does it have to be you?”

Why, indeed? But now he didn’t want to fight it or understand it.

“Shh.” He stroked her hair. “Don’t think. Just feel.”

“This is madness.”

“I know.”

In the darkness, everything unnecessary fell away. They were nothing but their most basic parts. No more than two people desperately hungry for what only the other could give.

When he brought his mouth against hers, his body sung. Oh, sweet relief. Her lips welcomed his, parting to drink him in, eagerly meeting his tongue with her own. Their bodies nested together. Her breasts crushed against his chest. They were as close as they could be without being joined. Only layers of fabric separated them.

The sooner he stripped that away and pushed himself into her, the better.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

(Ingrid Hahn here: Oh, heck. There are so many favorites, I’m just going to have to pick one at random.)

“You may choose your own punishment.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Being near you is punishment enough. There. Are we finished?”

“For me as well.”

She raised her brows at him. “Pardon me?”

“It’s a punishment for me to be near you.” He stepped closer. His voice was raw and needy. “Torture. In ways you don’t even want to know about.”

Awareness stirred between them. All the things Thorvald had thought he could live without—around her, they became as vital as air.

Her voice lowered. “Nothing you can say will frighten me.”

“This would. But I think…I think you already know.” The admission was so close he could taste it.

“Sometimes things need to be said.”

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

With a good director and passionate producer, this book would make a rad movie. I hope that happens! The major set piece is the big storm, which would be critical to the film and the trailers.

The sky had turned black as night and huge drops of rain fell in sheets. There was nothing to do but beg the gods’ mercy. To plead with them to see the end of this and once again feel what it was to be dry and warm. To breathe freely. To let them live, even if they could never scrub away the scent of saltwater.

This was one battle they couldn’t fight with axes, or purge from their veins with the clash of swords and splash of blood.

The ship tipped precariously; it was almost vertical. A flash of light cut through the darkness, illuminating a form falling down the deck. A person had lost his grip and was sliding down…down…

Readers should read this book …

Huge characters arcs! Cheap and easy transportation to a different world! Spitfire heroine! Addictive plot and so, so many feels! One of those stories you don’t want to end, but can’t stop reading.

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

I am currently working on four new proposals for my editor!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One lucky winner will get three small artist trading cards snail mailed to them–original art by Ingrid Hahn–and mailed all the way from Australia.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Does pineapple belong on pizza?

 
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Excerpt from The Viking’s Captive:

Slowly and reverently, she took it and brought it to her mouth. The smell set her body alight with something not entirely holy. It touched her lips. Cool. Then her tongue. Sweet. And oh-so-welcome. The sensation of it moving down her throat was no less than a potent kind of pagan magic. A healing spell.

When she could drink no more, it was the demon leader’s turn. He drank deeply. The Adam’s apple of his throat dipped and rose. The thick pelt of his beard was not a uniform color. Some of the hairs were a light brown, almost an ashy hue. Some pure gold. Maybe it was a trick of the light. Which ones caught the sun from any given angle and which didn’t.

When he offered her another drink, she accepted, staring into his face. The storm had made him wan. The loss of his brother of the milk had stripped away a layer. He was trying to rebuild the walls around him, but she’d already glimpsed what he was trying to hide. It made him less a demon. Far less than she was comfortable with. She would have to remember that he’d stolen her.
She dropped her gaze.

He wasn’t so interesting as to merit such a detailed visual examination.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Thorvald Longsword can’t believe all he has to do is kidnap the daughter of his jarl’s enemy to get his land back. Easy. But when he finally snatches the princess up and tosses her over his shoulder, the beautiful spitfire makes him question his determination to get his land back at any cost.

Alodie gladly agrees to impersonate the princess so the bloodthirsty Northmen will take her instead. While Alodie might be ready to die for her people, she wasn’t prepared for how her pulse races for the maddeningly noble captor whom she’d just as soon hate.

But what happens when Thorvald finds out she’s not who she says she is…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Ingrid Hahn is a failed administrative assistant with a BA in art history. Her love of reading has turned her mortgage payment into a book storage fee, which makes her the friend you hope never asks you for help moving. Originally from Seattle, she is, as of this book’s publication, living temporarily in Canberra, Australia, with her ship-nerd husband and two small sons. When she’s not reading or writing, she loves knitting, theater, nature walks, travel, history, and is a hopelessly devoted fan of Jane Austen. Find her on Twitter as @Ingrid_Writer, on Instagram as ingrid_hahn, and on Facebook as Ingrid Hahn. Being a full-time stay-at-home parent to two active youngsters has significantly reduced the time she spends on these sites, but she trusts social media will be alive and active when her children regretfully do what all children do far too quickly.
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