Tag Archives: Anya Bast

Teaser Tuesday: Embrace of the Damned by Anya Bast

Hello friends! Today we have the very lovely and incredibly sweet Anya Bast sharing an exclusive excerpt of her upcoming book, Embrace of the Damned. It will be out on May 1, 2012 from Berkley Sensation! Whee!

A damned Viking warrior.

Centuries ago Broder Calderson committed murder. As punishment, he was given over to the dominion of Loki, the Trickster God, made part of the Brotherhood of the Damned and condemned to an immortal life of battle against the Blight, blood-drinkers from Hel.

A mysterious woman he can’t resist.

One thousand years to the day he was damned, Loki allows him a woman as reward for his good service and repentance of his crimes. Once Broder sees Jessamine Hamilton, he is overcome with need. But Jessa is no ordinary woman, and the truth of who—and what—she is could have dangerous consequences.

A tormented man she can’t deny.

Though a future together is impossible, the warrior’s touch ignites an irresistible passion in Jessa. But every heated kiss pushes them closer to destruction. Forced to return to the brutality of his Viking past to protect her, will Broder surrender forever to his darkest impulses?

He stared at her, the curve of her hip, the press of her breasts against her sweater. Her brown eyes flashed with temper and that only made them more beautiful. He’d developed superhuman control where women were concerned over the centuries, but Jessa was shredding it like tissue paper in a tornado. She didn’t understand the danger, had never met a man like him.
“Back away, Jessa,” he growled.
She shifted and leaned in toward him. “No.”
The slim tether he had on his control snapped. He lunged at her, sweeping her up in his arms. She yelped and dropped the bag of ice, but he barely noticed it.

He wanted her. On the bed. Naked. Not in that order.

He pulled at the hem of her shirt. “I warned you to get away from me.”
“What are you doing?” There was a note of alarm in her voice, but the note of musk in her scent said she wasn’t exactly scared—not totally. That note of musk only made him need her more.
He cupped her face in his hands, forcing himself to stop tearing at her clothes. “It’s been a very long time since I was with a woman and I want you. You, above all others. If you don’t want me touching you, get the fuck out of this room and away from me right now.”
She went very still, staring up into his face with wide eyes.
“Last chance,” he gritted out.
The scent of her was strong now, though he could clearly see the conflict on her face. She wanted him, but knew she shouldn’t. If he was a gentleman, he’d back away right now. Except he wasn’t a gentleman; he was an immortal Viking who hadn’t touched a woman in a thousand years.
“Are you sure?” he managed to force out.
She gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

* * * * *

What was she doing? She’d wanted so badly to not give in to him and here she was, giving in to him. Worse, her body was humming with need. There was no way she could say no. Not now. Not with his hands on her and that look in his eyes—like she was every Christmas he’d never had, like he would die if he didn’t get to touch her. Her libido had trumped her mind.

All that mattered right now was his hands on her body. Everything else was going to have to wait until later.

With a growl of pure lust, he yanked her around and dragged her to the bed. His fingers worked to free her clothes the moment he tossed her down. “I want you bare,” he breathed against her mouth. “I want your skin on mine.”

She wanted that too, wanted more than that. She wanted her hands sliding over the warm, hard muscle of his chest and arms, desired his body flush up against hers, hot and intimate.

Her fingers caught in his shirt, finding the hem and yanking upward, as desperate to find bare flesh as he. Her hands slid over his muscled stomach and he groaned at the touch of her fingers. Her breath caught at the white crisscross of ancient scars, her fingers tracing a couple of them. It made sense he had them, but they were still jarring—so deep, so brutal, such blatant evidence of his violent existence.

“You’re making me crazy,” he murmured. “I’m trying to hold myself back from you, but you’re making it hard. A taste. That’s what I need. Just a taste.”

“You can take more,” she breathed against his lips. Please.

She pushed her sweater over her head and he tossed it to the floor. Next came her jeans, off and discarded. Now she was clad only in her black bra and underwear. Pausing, he leaned back and seemed to soak in the sight of her, as though memorizing the lines of her body. A moment later and his ferocity returned. He came down over her, forcing her thighs to spread and slipping his hand between them. She let out a shuddering breath of surprise mixed with arousal as his fingers found all the places where she was hot and excited through the thin panel of her underwear.

A little whimper escaped her throat as her need built. His touch excited her in ways no other man’s ever had. It had to do with his masterfulness, his aggressiveness, or maybe it was simply his sexual appetite—so great and so obvious.

“I remember this,” he rasped. “How a woman feels. I want to make you moan with pleasure, Jessa.”

She gasped as a powerful wave of sensation radiated through her. “I’m already there.”

Broder shuddered against her. “No. I want more from you. More.” He lowered his mouth to hers, almost kissing her.  “You feel so good, so hot and sweet. I could get drunk on you.”

So what’d you think? Have you read anything by Anya Bast before? (If you haven’t you really should!) Isn’t that cover great too?! Very fitting. And you can read another excerpt here.

Guest Review: Jeweled by Anya Bast

Hi all! I’m Cathie, a reader who met Limecello in chats over the last couple of years and always enjoyed getting recommendations from her as well as giving her recommendations books to read. We’d have some in common and then some we’d be on the opposite ends of. Its all about us being our own reader with our own likes and dislikes as well as what works for one, might not work for another. So this made it fun with Limecello. I had told her I was reading a book to review and was thrilled she asked me to post on her blog. One thing I love to do is to try to tell other readers, as many as I can, what they are missing reading. So thanks Limecello.

book cover Jeweled by Anya Bast
Historical Fantasy released by Berkley Heat Nov 2, 2010

A new series of erotic magic and fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author.

In the Court of Edaeii, magic-imbued Evangeline is rewarded for her gift in manipulating emotion with a sapphire stone set into the perfect curve of her lower back. Her greatest rival in the royal court is the enigmatic Anatol, instilled with the power of illusion. He may best her in magic, but he is her absolute equal in passion.

They share something else—they’re both targets of low-born revolutionaries. Rescued by Gregorio, the brilliant revolutionary mastermind, they’re given sanctuary. But in this warm refuge, Evangeline soon finds herself torn between the magic of one man she has always desired, and the excitingly new and radical moves of another. For her, there is only one choice: indulge in pleasure without limits.

I had the opportunity to review JEWELED by Anya Bast and grabbed that chance! I’ve read various books of Ms. Bast’s but never have read a erotic historical fantasy. I have read very little of fantasy romance, and pretty much none of straight fantasy, so I then worried I wouldn’t do so well with a review of this genre. I started out with taking notes and it was taking away time from the book, but also, being able to enjoy the book. So I put all the notes away and just sat and read this book from beginning to end in enjoyment, and so glad I did!

JEWELED is an oh so fascinating read! And so passionate! I firmly got caught up in this world and still haven’t left it. Its set in no certain time period that was indicated, thus, an ‘alternative historical’. There’s some indications with one of the themes of the heroine being fascinated with the inventions that were happening (sewing machine, printing press). But as you read, its just ‘the time it is’ in the story and works! Set in a unique and creative world, I could feel that Ms. Bast really had a world planned out and everything flowed smoothly into it. Its set in a country called ‘Rylisk’ and they are in the city called ‘Milzyr’. The heroine, Evangeline has been in a palace called ‘Belai’ where all those with Magick in their blood reside . Evangeline was taken from her family at age 4. She is isolated within the Palace with others who work on their Magick over the years. The Magicks started with the family of ‘Edaeii’ but with very little family left, they relied on finding those with any Magick and building on it through the years by isolating them. This family of the Edaeii also took over the city with their wealth and power, leaving the poor not taken care of.

Evangeline’s Magick is consisted of feeling both physically and emotionally cold, but no other emotions are with her. She instead draws emotions from those around her and weaves those feelings back to those around her to manipulate what feeling they have. In other words, she can control and change the emotions around her. Anatol’s Magick consists of illusion and light.

As Evangeline comes of age, she becomes jeweled by performing her Magick skills in front of the Edaeii family. Once she is chosen to be part of their Magick family, she is jeweled with a sapphire stone placed in her back. In the men, its placed on the back of their neck. Its here we meet one of the hero’s, Anatol, who goes through the ceremony to be jeweled but wants nothing to do with the Edaeii family as he has heard the rumors of a possible revolution happening to take out this family and palace. When this does happen, Evangeline is totally unprepared to live outside of the palace while Anatol plans to survive through this. Anatol has falling in love with Evangeline from afar for many years. As the city takes over the palace, there’s violence that occurs which I do tend to skip over. But its necessary to the story in the power of how this city took over.

As Evangeline and Anatol survive trying to blend in as well as hide at other times, Evangeline has a difficult time dealing with not using her Magick but also learning to be herself, to feel herself for basically the first time in her life. As their relationship grows strong, Evangeline has strong feelings for Anatol but its not complete. Its here we meet Gregorio who is helping the city take back their home and life and make their government for everyone. Gregorio may be the missing part that makes Evangeline complete. Evangeline struggles with her own self esteem and feeling emotions again, especially determining what love is, and mostly wondering if she’s good enough for both Anatol and Gregorio.

As a reader I was enchanted by Anya Bast’s JEWELED. Evangeline goes through so much within this story that I felt I could see her grow from the beginning of the book to the very end. I could feel empathy for her feelings of her being worthy. Both Anatol and Gregorio are so different but with the same goals. I did look up to both Anatol and Gregorio for their protectiveness of her. She had her own strengths and other times her strengths were with them and I didn’t find this as a weakness of her. I found it made her stronger knowing she could depend on others in her life but also that she could include them as part of her life as well. The passion that was shared through this story grew from two to three and it worked. I realized that it couldn’t be any other way but the way it was told. I found this book not only a gripping adventure with an exciting fantasy to read, but also breathtaking in the love that grew between them all to become one in love. Ms. Bast has created an erotic historical fantasy that I’m already waiting for the next book. Its been awhile since I read the book and I can still visualize as well as see the scenes still within me as a reader. This one’s a keeper, an A for me!