Tour/Review/Excerpt/Giveaway - Bitten Shame by Olivia Hardin

Welcome to my stop on the Bitten Shame book tour which has been brought to you by Innovative Online Book Tours. Here you can read a summary of the book, my review, the Prologue and learn a little more about the author Olivia Hardin. There is also a Tour wide giveaway, so please enter!! Don't forget to visit the other blogs on this tour for more information about this book and the author.

  

Title: Bitten Shame

Author: Olivia Hardin

Series: Bend-Bite-Shift Trilogy #2

Publisher: Olivia Hardin

Published: May 25^th 2012

If you haven’t read the first book you can check out my review for Witch Way Bends here.

Book Description

Jill Prescott returned from self-imposed seclusion to help save her best friend Devan’s life. Throwing herself into Devan’s problems and bringing an evil organization to its knees might just be the distraction she needs to keep living without the only man she’s ever loved. Her life changed forever when she was hired to spend a week with Doc Massey.

On the day she became a vampire her youthful innocence ended, but Doc’s love rescued her from being consumed by the darkness. The shadow of that former life continues to loom over her, keeping her from realizing her own self-worth. Running from her past only brings her closer to a destiny that is inextricably connected to what she is trying to escape…

Every gift has both a reward and a price, because All of it fits…

This book is completely different from the first book in the series. Not only has the story moved to Jill, Devon’s best friend from college, but the writing style is completely different as each chapter alternates from past to present. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the book written this way, but Olivia Hardin has blown me away again!! I loved every minute of reading it!

In this story we learn more about Jill, what happened to her after she disappeared, when she was living with Devon and attending college. It has been almost 15 years since she last saw Devon and only returned in the first book Witch Way Bends to help fight against the Org. She wants to help Devon and Kent bring them down as they have taken so much from her too. Devon is still on her own quest discovering more about herself in the present time and Jill is on the journey with her, so the plot appears to be still focused on Devon.

In Witch Way Bends we learn that Jill is a vampire from the moment we meet her, but in Bitten Shame we find out how, when and why she became one. We discover how her life changed when she met Doc and how hard things have been for her.

Doc is a beautiful soul, even though he is a Vampire and has the darkness inside. He was unwillingly turned but has been able to master the darkness so that he can help the children from the Org. He may not be perfect, but he is willing to do anything to save the children and bring down the Org. He was unsure of what to do with Jill when they met, as he hasn’t let anyone too close to him since the change, let alone a human woman!

I really enjoyed Bitten Shame and I think Olivia did a marvellous job writing it and may have taken a risk changing the style from the first book, but I think she pulled it off perfectly. I was absorbed into the storyline immediately and was on the emotional rollercoaster with Jill too! 

Here is a sneak peek into the start of the book, Bitten Shame!

Prologue

Jill stood in what had become her bedroom in her friend's house and watched as Devan walked away. As she murmured another goodnight, she felt a prickle run along her skin bringing her attention back to the fact that Langston was waiting outside her room for her. Her lips drew into a severe line when the giant man quietly opened the door and approached her with steps too soft for his massive body. His size was such that he should have sounded like a herd of elephants entering the room. He exuded calm and patience and she tried to draw from his composure but her stomach still turned into knots.  Even being a vampire, Jill experienced all the same emotions and feelings she’d had before she was changed. At this very moment she was both terrified and sickened.

Langston’s easy smile didn’t help soothe her any, but instead caused her to open her mouth and begin talking in short breaths. “I wish we had more time. I wasn’t prepared to do this yet. I don’t like doing this at all, you know? It’s not right. It makes me feel dirty…”

“It is not dirty when it is consensual. It is the best way to prepare you. We do not have time now, and we all need the rest,” Langston began to use his large hands to unbutton his grey shirt.

Horrified, Jill reached out and waved her hands to keep him from removing   his clothing any further. “No,” Jill shouted, “I can take just as well from your wrist. I can’t… I can’t from your neck. That’s too intimate… you know?”

He touched her chin in a gentle manner, not as a lover would do but more as a father might. “Shoulders back, Jill. Tomorrow you will be free, no matter if you succeed in your quest or not.”

It was an ominous sort of comment, because failure meant her death. Still, strange as it seemed, his words provided her with a sort of solace; an end to her life would at least stop her constant torment. Releasing the ball of tension in her gut, she laughed and shook her head. “Ah, Andre, you’re something else, ya’ know that?”

He showed little or no reaction to the pet name.  There was no denying the impressive stature of this tall and beefy guy. When they first met she’d thought instantly of Andre the Giant, and the name had just stuck in her mind.

She took his enormous hand in her small one, marveling at how warm he felt to her touch. As a vampire, her body was forever cold and although she could register the feeling, she couldn’t warm herself with it. The heat passed through her and disappeared just as quickly.

“The reverie,” she whispered, her lips trembling as she hovered them just over his skin. “Are you sure? There’s no reason not to. It isn’t right for you to feel pain for my benefit…” she trailed off as she felt his eyes bore into hers. They had discussed this, several times actually, since the moment he first suggested she should feed off his blood. Each time he refused the reverie which would hypnotize him and thereby allowing her to pierce his skin and suck his blood without pain.

Jill brought his wrist to her lips and closed her eyes. She willed her incisors to lengthen, and with a quick and sure thrust she dug them into his skin. Langston remained immobile. When the first metallic taste of his hot blood splashed her tongue, she tried to pull away, but he took the back of her neck and held her fast to his wrist. Giving in, she sagged against his side and began to suck like a hungry babe.

The taste of him was intoxicating. She hadn’t had fresh blood in such a long time. She was like an addict taking a hit after years of sobriety. And to complicate matters further, Langston’s blood was bursting with strength. His magic tingling her throat with each deep swallow of the luxuriously thick and decadent liquid. Her limbs began to throb and pulse with energy.

This was why she’d fought so hard against the idea of taking Langston's blood. She was afraid that getting just a taste of the real thing again would destroy her ability to resist in the future. She didn’t want to stalk hosts in the night and she didn’t want to take a supplicant; she didn’t want to drink the life-blood from a living creature again.

Most importantly of all, she didn’t want to remember that this was what had broken his will. She didn’t want to take the chance again that someone else would break her own will and give her a reason to forget him…

Author Bio:

Olivia Hardin realized early on how strange she was to have complete movie-like character dreams as a child. Eventually she began putting those vivid dreams to paper and was rarely without her spiral notebooks full of those mental ramblings. Her forgotten vision of becoming an author was realized when she connected with a group of amazingly talented and fabulous writers who gave her lots of direction and encouragement.

With a little extra push from family and friends, she hunkered down to get lost in the words. She's also an insatiable crafter who only completes about 1 out of 5 projects, a jogger who hates to run, and is sometimes accused of being artistic, though she's generally too much of a perfectionist to appreciate her own work. A native Texas girl, Olivia lives in the beautiful Lone Star state with her husband and their puppy Bonnie.

You can stalk Olivia online at:

Website:     www.booksbyolivia.com

Blog:            www.oliviahardinwriter.com

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/OliviaH_Writer

Facebook:    http://www.facebook.com/oliviahardin

Goodreads:   http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5354958.Olivia_Hardin

Youtube Trailer:    http://youtu.be/9I0C2V6DFUQ

Giveaway

There is a Tour Wide Giveaway running where you could win a eBook of Bitten Shame. There are 2 up for grabs so enter now!!

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Naomi