Guest Post with Author KevaD and Giveaway

Today I would like to welcome author KevaD to the blog. KevaD is currently on tour for his book Kantu's Heart and has stopped by today to chat. Before I give the floor over to KevaD, lets get to know him a bit.

KevaD is David "DA" Kentner, prolific author of romance, suspense, horror, fantasy, and winner of American Mensa, Ltd’s Calliope magazine 18th annual fiction competition. His weekly column "The Readers' Writers" in which he interviews famous and soon-to-be-famous authors appears in newspapers across the country.

When not writing, shoveling snow, or mowing their 5 acres outside Freeport, IL, he's trying to explain to his wife the TV has more than SOAP and GAME channels, and pizza really is a necessary and required food group.

Places to find KevaD:

| Site | Blog | Facebook |

I love my job. After all, I get to tell a believable lie, and my wife doesn’t even get mad at me for it. But, truth be told, what I love most is exploring love. Yep. I am that hopeless romantic who will always be searching for one more person willing to sit and listen to my tales of love and the not so smooth paths traveled to find it. Those rocky roads can involve murder, suspense, backdoor deals made and broken, comedies of errors, or just one person’s need for fulfillment and the extremes we’re willing to negotiate to find love. Because life and people are so varied, I write in a variety of genres and styles, and my characters aren’t always typical or the kind of people you’d invite to dinner. Much of the time they straddle the line between good and bad, right and wrong, average and heroic.

Bottom line – I’m a storyteller.

Had I lived centuries ago, I would be that itinerate traveler wandering into your village and taking up residence for a few hours at the community well, bending your ear with tales and dreams of places and people in exchange for a bit of sustenance to get me to the next village.

Which is kind of where my latest novel Kantu’s Heart came from.

Kantu’s Heart is a mix of historical, contemporary, Native American mythology, and two people so in love they are willing to sacrifice all they are for the other.

In their own prehistoric time, the warrior Kantu and his heart Sanda are murdered by a roving band of cannibals. Kantu awakens in modern day, confused and saddened by what the world has become. He doesn’t belong here and he believes he’s being punished for failing to protect his heart.

Sandra Harn is raised by a man who took her in as an abandoned infant. She’s never found her place in the world, and can’t figure out why. In Freewill, Wyoming, she discovers physical, yet mentally intangible, links to a past that surfaces in visions of a time before cities existed, and an odd familiarity with a range of mountains she’s never visited.

Local real estate agent Paul Carson provides Sandra with a comforting shoulder and companionship, and stirs a need to be loved. But while a part of her yearns to bed the man, another part of her wants to claw his eyes out. Obviously, she begins to question her sanity.

Then, while Sandra and Paul are attending a Native American Heritage Days event, an exotic man with raven hair and three scars traversing his torso from shoulder to hip, enters the bullring, challenging the entire Crow nation to defeat him in a fight to the death in order to spare the life of…a bull. Sandra can’t decide if the self-proclaimed warrior is a nut job or the most regal and heroic man she’s ever lusted over. All she knows for certain is, her body and heart crave him, and she’d give her life to protect him.

Kantu remains one of the most challenging characters I’ve created. He needed to be not just a skilled and proud warrior in his own time, but that same proud warrior in modern day without turning him into a cartoon fumbling around in laughable situations. Decadent’s Western Escape line provided that means in the established character of Sheriff Hawk Blackwater. Hawk, through his own distant Native American heritage, becomes friend and reluctant mentor to the strange man who has seemingly appeared out of nowhere with a frustrating habit of wanting to kill anyone who irritates him, and the prowess to do it.

Though a secondary character in my story, Hawk’s strength and ties to his ancestors’ ancient beliefs lead him to accept the possibility that Kantu is just what he claims to be, a caveman lost in a world beyond his comprehension. Those same blood ties provide Hawk the realization that after Kantu encounters Sandra and Paul, the man who murdered Kantu’s clan, a battle that began thousands of years ago may well be coming to a violent conclusion right in front of Hawk. And there isn’t a damn thing he can do to stop it.

Thanks so much for allowing me to visit, and I hope you’ll check out Kantu’s Heart as well as all the other great stories in Decadent’s Western Escape line.

Before the ice age, warrior Kantu lost his tribe, his mate Sanda, and his life to a vicious band of cannibals led by his most powerful enemy. He awakens in a world beyond his comprehension only to find his mate in the arms of her killer. Misery and strength meld into one goal—to win back his heart and kill his enemy.

With a nudge from her gentle guardian, Sandra Harn travels to Freewill, WY, looking for bargains at the annual rummage sale and, hopefully, answers to her mysterious past. Once there, visions of a time before the town existed make her question her sanity. When an exotic stranger with flowing raven hair and a body she can’t resist tries to kill her companion, logic tells her to run, but her heart and body have other ideas.

Places to Purchase:

| Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookstrand | All Romance | Decadent Publishing | 

She stepped onto the bottom rail and laid her arms over the top one.

A man, undoubtedly a member of the Crow, clad in jeans and no shirt had somehow managed to mount the horned mammoth’s back. The man’s long, black, untied hair swung as if wheat in a storm. Young men in breechcloths tried to grab him, but the beast’s bucks and twists forced them to dive out of the way.

The beef on the hoof leapt in the air, wrenching his body, causing his rider to slip off. Gasps of horror tinged with excitement bounced from the crowd. When his feet hit the ground, the man, his hand firmly under the belt encompassing the beast’s belly, sprang again onto the frantic animal’s back. He worked at the fastener until the straps tumbled to the ground. Spinning off his ride, he ran to the far end of the arena where he opened the gate.

Young men jumped and scampered around the raging target, continuing their displays of courage by slapping hands at its snout. The bull pivoted and swung around, its horns glinting in the sun. A young man made contact, and the crowd roared satisfaction.

Out of nowhere the man in jeans was in the air, his hair flowing like a lion’s mane. He landed on the broad shoulders and locked his feet under the animal’s neck. Leaning forward, he cradled his arms under the horns and angled the head toward the open gate. The powerful legs broke into a full gallop. As the bull made its exit, the stranger slipped to the ground and closed the gate.

Enchanted, Sandra could only watch in silent awe.

Paul waved his hat in the air. “Whoo! That’s a hell of a show.”

Angry shouts arose once again. The dozen or more young men in breechcloths huddled, obviously discussing the situation.

Two of the MGR’s cowboys climbed into the ring. The animal’s blue jeaned liberator spun to face them. The cowboys held up their hands and gingerly backed away. A pair of Crow braves rushed him from behind. They grabbed his arms and tried to yank him to the ground, but he lifted his legs and kicked his feet into each of the youth’s knees. As they fell, he somersaulted to his feet and whirled, his icy glare staggering a few of the breechcloth covered men.

A funeral hush brushed over the crowd.

“No,” Sandra muttered. “This isn’t part of the show.”

Tingles sparkled beneath her skin. Heat balled at the base of her skull and plunged straight to her groin. Moisture dampened her panties. Oh, God. Violence turns me on. Dr. Crane, here I come.

The man strode seemingly unconcerned through the remainder of the group to the center of the arena. He pulled his hair back over his shoulders, exposing his round, but sculpted face and high cheekbones. Sandra sucked in a breath. His body was slender and rippled with sinewy muscles accentuated by the deep brown of his skin. Though he could only be five-eight at the most, his mere presence towered above any other man—she bit her tongue—including Paul’s six-plus feet.

Her stomach tightened at the sight of the three scars that traversed his torso from left shoulder to right hip. Holding out his perfectly formed arms, he glared a regal defiance at the crowd. Her heart thundered, breath caught in her throat.

“I am Kantu!” The man bellowed at the people. “A warrior of the three claws. Is this what we have become?” He inched his way in a circle as he spoke.

Sandra drank in every angle of his magnificent body and wrapped the desire coursing through her in the velvet texture of his voice.

“You torture beasts who eat grass, and you call this courage? In you, I see the people I once belonged to. I see men of strength. I see women who care for their warriors’ children, and I see those who have lost the ways and feed from the hands of others. Courage is not slapping a beast in a cage.” He slammed his forearm against his chest.

Sandra gulped.

Kantu turned to the young men in the arena and set his feet shoulder width apart. “Slap my nose. Show your people how brave you are against a warrior not afraid of death.” He lowered his arms to his sides and stood there, a solitary champion prepared to die for his cause—a bull of all things.

Want to win some goodies from KevaD? Check out what's up for grabs.

Up for grabs:

• 5 lucky winners from the ENTIRE tour will win a eBook copy of Kantu’s Heart.

To Enter:

• Please leave a meaningful comment or question for KevaD. 
• Fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

Good Luck =)

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