Guarded by Carmen Fox
The Silverton Chronicles Book 1
Genre: Urban
Fantasy/Romance/Suspense
Publisher: Smart Heart
Publishing
Date of Publication: July
31, 2015
epub: 978-0-9931992-0-2
paperback:
978-0-9931992-1-9
hardcover:
978-0-9931992-2-6
Number of pages: 276 print
pages
Word Count: 104k
Cover Artist: Ana Grigoriu
When everyone's existence
depends on the lies they tell, trust doesn't come easy
Ivy’s neighbors have a
secret. They aren’t human. But Ivy has a secret, too. She knows. As
long as everyone keeps quiet, she’s happy working as a P.I. by day
and chillaxing with her BFF Florian, a vampire, by night. When a
routine pickup drops her in the middle of a murder, her two worlds
collide. While Florian knows how to throw a punch, deep down he's a
softie. His idea of scary? Running out of hair product. It’s time
Ivy faced facts. Even with a vampire on stand-by, one gal can only
kick so many asses.
For help, she must put her
faith in others. A human, who might just be the one. A demon, who
will, for a price, open the doors to her heritage. And a werewolf,
who wants to protect her from herself.
Torn between these men,
Ivy must tread carefully, because one wants her heart, one wants her
body, and one wants her dead.
Excerpt
A
growl from behind made my skin crawl. I whipped around. Florian’s
face was grim, his posture unnatural and stiff.
The
hairs on my arms stood on end, and I suppressed a shudder. “Are you
all right?”
“Can’t.”
He propped his hand against the wall. “Not feeling well.”
My
gaze followed the direction of his stare. Large crimson stains pooled
on the immaculate living room carpet. Oh crap. Blood.
I
turned back. Florian’s pupils dilated to form two black marbles,
trained on me. His canines lengthened, coming to sharp and lethal
points. The pounding of my heart overrode my motor skills, and for a
second, I stood rooted to the spot.
This
wasn’t how I’d envisioned his secret being revealed to me. I’d
pictured cupcakes, and maybe tissues at the relief of finally being
straight with each other, not a full-out blood frenzy.
Finally,
the switch labeled “common sense” flipped and triggered me into
action. I fingered the guards in my pockets. The small plates were my
only chance.
About the Author:
Carmen lives in the south
of England with her beloved tea maker and a stuffed sheep called
Fergus. An avid reader since childhood, she caught the writing bug
when her Nana asked her to write a story. She also has a law degree,
studied physics for a few years, dabbled in marketing and human
resources, and speaks native-level German and fluent Geek. Her
preferred niches of geekdom are tabletop games, comics, sci-fi and
fantasy.
She writes about smart
women with sassitude, about pretty cool guys too, and will chase that
plot twist, no matter how elusive.
Expect to be kept
guessing.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER,
Carmen’s first urban fantasy novel, was published in March 2015. To
find out more, visit her at www.carmen-fox.com.
Twitter:
@authorcarmenfox
Tour
giveaway
1 copy of the Guarded
e-book (for Kindle)
1copy of the Guarded
paperback
1
copy of the Guarded hardback
2 $15 Amazon giftcards
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Author
Interview
Tell
us about the role of women in your writing.
They’re
strong. And I’m not talking about a token ‘feistiness’ to
balance out an inherent need to find refuge in a man’s arms, but
about an inner strength that allows them to weather any situation
alone. If they choose to be with a man, it’s because they want to
be, perhaps driven by passion or love, but never by a need for
safety.
Who
is Ivy?
Ivy,
GUARDED’s main character, doesn’t let her past define her. Or so
she thinks. In truth, her experiences have left her with emotional
pressure points she doesn’t want anyone to poke. She deals with
most situations with her special brand of humor, and although she’d
do anything for her friends, she’s far from perfect. When people
vie for your attention, perhaps it’s natural to take their support
for granted. Worse, her curiosity often gets the better of her. It’s
not that she deliberately walks into danger, but rather her idea of
what is safe is a little skewed. Most of all she’s self-reliant.
Not too proud to accept help, but she will act alone if she has to.
In many respects she is who I want to be.
Why
does Ivy have such a hard time deciding between the men in her life?
Ivy
dithers between her sexual urges and her desire to be loved. Each of
the three men offers her something different. One promises a normal
future, the one she’s always wanted. Guy number two is incredibly
hot and satisfies an itch the first man might not be able to scratch.
And the third might be the most passionate, but also the most
possessive of them. Sometimes, heart, body and mind simply cannot
agree.
Tell
us about Ivy’s relationship with Florian.
Florian
is Ivy’s best friend. I imagine he’s every woman’s ideal best
friend. No matter the situation, he has her back. Plus, he’s funny,
and a little goofy. The two of them just click. He’s quickly become
the most memorable character, and I’ve had women tell me he’s
their ideal book BFF.
Do
you have a Florian in your life?
I
used to have a Florian in my life, the kind of person I spent every
free minute with without ever being bored. We’d do the craziest
things. And the total absence of sexual tension made it easy for us
to laze in front of the TV in our sweat pants, greasy hair or not.
Sure, our closeness wasn’t always straightforward, especially for
my boyfriends or his girlfriends, but we made it work.
Would
you categorize GUARDED as urban fantasy or paranormal romance?
I
wish I didn’t have to categorize it. An agent informed me that
GUARDED is a romance, since it has a HEA, a happily ever after, which
is the payoff readers of that genre expect. But some romance readers
have struggled with the fact that they can’t immediately tell who
Ivy is going to end up with. She experiences different chemistries
with different men. It’s part of the fun. Also, there’s a strong
non-romance plot, which shifts the book closer into the urban fantasy
or suspense genres. To me, it’s an urban fantasy romance.
