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Friday, November 23, 2012

Guest Post with Author Moriah Densley and Giveaway


Today I would like to welcome author Moriah Densley to RFTC. Moriah is currently on tour promoting her book The Valkyrie's Guardian, and has stopped by to chat. Please give Moriah a warm welcome.

2012 RWA Golden Heart finalist Moriah Densley sees nothing odd at all about keeping both a violin case and a range bag stuffed with pistols in the back seat of her car. They hold up the stack of books in the middle, of course. She enjoys writing about Victorians, assassins, and geeks. Her muses are summoned by the smell of chocolate, usually at odd hours of the night. By day her alter ego is your friendly neighborhood music teacher. Moriah lives in Las Vegas with her husband.

Places to find Moriah:


Paranormal characters kiss differently than mere mortals.

“Well, duh,” you say. My debut novel was a Victorian-era historical, and the characters behaved themselves, comparatively speaking. Didn’t take long for me to realize my berserker and valkyrie characters should have an entirely different experience.

Jack MacGunn the immortal berserker has night vision, telepathy, and an elevated body temperature. Cassie channels electricity, and tumultuous emotions set her off. Not to mention both of them could bench-press a freight train.

Here’s my first attempt at a kissing scene. Do you agree it’s too “human?”

Keeping one hand on the wheel, Jack leaned into the aisle, grasped the side of her neck with one tense, heated hand, and kissed her hard on the mouth. Then once more, gently, teasing her with a wicked but tender roll of his lips. Ever so lightly he traced across her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, and a dozen alarms went off all over her body. His kaleidoscope hazel eyes flashed with that iridescent glow-in-the-dark energy she’d noticed earlier when his anger flared. Without a word he leaned back and continued driving, watching the channel for traffic.

The shock wore off, but her heart still kicked in a frenzied rhythm. She could swear there was a magnetic heat wave in the forty-four inches of space between their seats. Jack seemed oblivious to the flash of heat, but it consumed her, burning hottest at the top of her head, her fingertips, and a few places she didn’t dare scrutinize. Cassie couldn’t resist the urge to press a finger to her lips—on fire!—and her pulse throbbed there. For a weak moment, she wondered if she would pass out, over one brief kiss. She’d never live it down.

A few minutes later she dared ask, “Care to explain that one, Jack?”

“No.”

She stared at the stubborn line of his jaw, the tingling massaged sensation still fresh on her skin from the scrape of his whiskers. She would never look at his morning scruff again without conjuring the memory.


Now here’s what happened when I took Jack and Cassie’s paranormal traits into account. Senses are heightened, through telepathy their thoughts mingle, so sensation is very vivid for them. I tried to make it true to (superhero) life, and more distinctively paranormal. Did it work?

Cassie tried to inhale, but a gasp caught in her throat as a tide swept over her—intense charged heat. Whatever Jack had been holding back in his thoughts he unleashed inside her mind.

Her knees buckled. Rough pulses of physiological nerve candy stroked her from the inside out. A scream rose in her throat—she tried to warn him it was too much. His hands smoothed along her sides, spreading the sensation evenly so she could handle it. Then he kneaded her skin with a gentle brutality that made her crazy, hungry, wild. The shocking sensation settled into thrumming, glowing warmth.

He probably didn’t know the words he muttered against her neck were in Gaelic. She breathed a slow, deep draught of the delectable scent radiating from his skin. It concentrated over his pulse, and she couldn’t quit burying her nose in it. Better than baking bread, better than fresh cut pine, rubbed leather, crushed mint, roasted almonds, motorboat exhaust—she couldn’t stand it, she had to taste him.

Tangy, spicy, strong, wild . . . More. Again. Driving her insane. The provocative steel-silk texture of his skin on her tongue, the whiskers on his jaw rasping her lips—instant addiction. So the masses of ogling females were right: Jack MacGunn was good enough to eat.


And that’s just the kissing scene, dear Readers.


“Augmented strength, lightning weapon, chronic PMS – you’re a valkyrie, Cass.”

You might call them superheroes. “Extra-sentients” are one in 4.5 million with the extraordinary ability to unlock the full potential of the mind.

Cassiopeia Noyon is descended from the most powerful known extra-sentient, but she’s a dud – no impressive talents except a healing ability which lands her in trouble. She’s all wrong for Jack MacGunn, her dazzling immortal berserker bodyguard.

Cassiopeia Noyon has a medical degree at age twenty-one, which makes her a total loser … for an extra-sentient with merely superhuman strength and healing powers but not much else. Cassie may not even be immortal, which is a downer since the man she’s adored since age six, is.

Jack MacGunn is King of the Bad Pick-Up Line. A true blue kilt-wearing, pipe-playing Scot descended from a long line of berserker warriors; if he’s awake, he’s either hungry or itching for a fight. Lately Jack feels lost. His career as a Navy SEAL detachment agent is on a slow train to nowhere. He suspects it has something to do with his out-of-control superhuman rages.

The one task Jack has never failed at is guarding Cassie from their enemies, but now he fears he can’t protect her from himself. Even if they could go a single day without fighting, Jack knows he’ll never be good enough for her. The boss’ granddaughter is off-limits anyway.

A chance encounter with a villain long assumed dead sends Jack and Cassie on a race to save the children secreted away at Network One, the academy for genius extra-sentients. Jack discovers a new side of Cassie when in the heat of combat she invokes unheard-of powers. Has Jack finally met his match?

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |
Want to win some goodies from Moriah? Check out whats up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:
  • 1 lucky winners from the ENTIRE tour will win a $100 Gift Card 

To Enter:
  • Leave a meaningful comment or question for Moriah.
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28 comments :

  1. Congrats on the release Moriah! Yes, I believe the kissing scene is a little too "bread and butter" but still a good scene none the less! Thanks for sharing your lovely book!

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth. Nice to meet you, and thanks for stopping by. Yeah, funny I've put so much thought into a kissing scene, but the first one just didn't really do it for my imagination ;)

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  2. Hi Moriah!I laughed when I read "the characters behaved themselves".
    Just read the "kissing scene" and I think I'm already hooked on your style of writing! Some words are very attractive to me: immortal, berserker, kilt...Thanks for sharing your book, I'm sure that I want to read your books. Nice cover for The Gardian. Books are written to make us dream!

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    1. Hi there, Nicole. Fellow enthusiast of kilts here. Thanks for your very flattering encouragement - glad you liked the excerpt, and I hope you get a chance to read the book. I'm glad you stopped by today, thanks!

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  3. Sounds like a really good read!! Thanks for the chance to win!

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Natasha. Good luck in the giveaway.

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  4. Hi Moriah your book sounds great and I love the cover thank youfor sharing with us today.Have an amazing weekend

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    1. Hello, Wanda. About the cover - I had a little imput on the design. I suggested the lightning and adding a kilt to the male model, which proved a popular feature ;)

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  5. I love the idea of a dud for a heroine and a beserker for a bodyguard... That can only lead to a very interesting life... Possibly short lived since Cassie isn't sure she's an immortal.

    Oh Maria, we appear to have a few things in common also... In my case it would be my Yamaha Folk guitar instead of a fiddle. For the range bag, I had a Hi-Standard Supermatic Citation 5" .22 and a 6" Mod. 19 S&W .357 which with custom trigger work and a hard chromed finish.

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  6. You're turning me on, Nora, with all this ordnance talk ;) Greetings to a fellow shooter! I carry an ultra-compact .45 Bersa Thunder. Also have a full-size 9mm (17-round clip, FUN!) and a .380. I'll bet you go to the shooting show the boys how it's done.

    And as you probably suspected, Jack and Cassie get their HEA (happily ever after) but not until I put them through the wringer first. Thanks for commenting. Lovely to meet you.

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  7. Sounds fantastic! Thanks for a fun post!

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  8. The book sounds great. I'm adding it to my TBR pile.

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    1. Nice to meet you, Lori. Thanks for commenting, and good luck in the giveaway. Hope you get a chance to read the book, especially if bad pick-up lines make you smile: )

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  9. Hi,

    I'm loving the idea of extra-sentients. Is THE VALKYRIE'S GUARDIAN going to be part of a series? Or did I miss that part?

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Mary. If you like X-Men, you might like my "extra-sentients." I call them "X-men for geeks, without the latex suits." YES this will be a series. I've already finished writing the next one. Now I have to polish it then sell it. Wish me luck!

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  10. Congrts on th release.

    Sounds a great book and love the cover book, so beautiful :)

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  11. The book sounds great. I'm adding it to my TBR pile.

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  12. Wow, that was a big difference between the scenes - they were both great, just in different ways.

    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi, Alicia. Glad you like kissing scenes too ;) And thanks for visiting.

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  13. Hi Moriah. I loved Song for Sophia & just bought The Valkyrie's Guardian. Can't wait to read it!

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    1. Well thank you, Linda! You just made my day. Hope you enjoy the book, and thanks for giving a new author a chance.

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  14. wow..and it's only kissing scene, I'm really hooked

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    1. hehe Thanks, Linda. Hope you get a chance to read the book. There's more kissing, by the way ;)

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  15. if Cassiopeia is a dud and a loser, what are the rest of us?
    wish I had her skills!
    sallans d at yahoo dot com

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    1. hehe Yeah, her perception is definitely skewed by living with the two most powerful extra-sentients in the world. Plus, she's pouting over being mortal when her crush is immortal. I'm with you, Di. Hey, I'd be glad if I could manage not to trip over my own feet :)

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  16. It's a great scene that was an amazing kiss.

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