Fanged Mania #6 – Giveaway/Review – Being Mrs Dracula by Faith Marlow

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(To see the complete rules for Fanged Mania, go to the end of the post)

Being Mrs. Dracula

When Van Helsing died, he left a diary. That, in turn, led to more diaries by the Mrs. Dracula‘s. The story is told from the wives perspective.

Valeria’s father aligned their family with Count Dracula by Valeria’s marriage to him. The Count was a good man, but he scared her very much. He had courted her for a short time, so they weren’t strangers when the wedding finally took place. The sex was more wonderful than she could imagine. Afterwards, she lay with her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat.

As Hungary and the Turks fought, he had to go into battle. When he returned at the first of the year, he was a different man. Rumors that he slaughtered thousands of men women and children ran rampant.

She feared him, but couldn’t fight the attraction she had for him. He had changed. She touches him and he feels so cold. His teeth seem longer and he is stronger, even though she never sees him eat. The light shines on his red eyes.

red eyes Pictures, Images and Photos

She had been ill, but recovered while he was gone. When he had come home, she seemed to get ill again. She also noticed, she had another “love” bite. It seemed as they made love, he could read her mind. He fed off her, which was her illness. She has such love for him, that she doesn’t mind. He is now a man-creature, who comes home from battle in the middle of the night and enters through the window.

The servants were terrified and many of them fled, but she didn’t care. Valeria and the Count fed off each other, sharing their life force – blood. She loved him, even though she thought she would die because of him. Even she thought herself odd.

When he left with the peasants, she realized she had been abandoned. She sent the rest of the servants away and she was now all alone. She would kill herself before she would let the Turks take her.

As she dies, she is reborn. Like her husband, she is now a vampire.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Castelul_Bran.jpg/640px-Castelul_Bran.jpg

She is vicious in her revenge of the Turks looting her home. She tells of her anger when she is abandoned by Vlad. She rampages through her home, and the carnage and savage killing of the Turks are beyond description.

After two years, she takes up her pen and begins her diaries.

https://i0.wp.com/i-love-cartoons.us/snags/clipart/christmas/looney-toons/Christmas-Taz.jpg?resize=138%2C131    5 STARS – Would Buy It For Them (lol)

A vampire book like no other. It is told in the form of diaries, and begins with his first wife, Valeria. Needless to say, he is immortal, so one wife would never be enough. Vlad’s callousness, cruelty, and betrayals are so selfish and self-centered, it makes you wonder how the wives are able to keep their sanity. Or do they?

The story is told from the wives points of view. The confusion, loneliness, hatred, grief, love, pain, and betrayal they experience will leave you feeling emotionally drained.

When I first opened the book, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it. I’m not huge on books written as diaries. It didn’t take long for me to become totally engrossed in it. You must keep reading or you will miss a truly unique story of a love like no other.

I fell in love with Valeria. Even though she is a vampire and has the capacity to be truly vicious and savage, her love encompasses so much more than she thought she would ever be able to give. The horrible things she goes through would make you think she would be incapable of what she does at the end of the story. The ending blew me away and I can hardly wait to read the sequel. I hope you are a fast writer Faith. lol

Faith Marlow takes vampires to a whole new level. I never saw where this book was going and I am so glad, because the surprise was well worth waiting until the last page to discover. I loved where she went with the book and the journey was well worth traveling.

As I sit here writing the review, all I can think of is WOW. I am still caught up in the story, trying to think how to describe it to you, so that you will be sure to pick up your copy and enjoy Valeria’s story.

I was given this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

About the Author

Faith MarlowIn the fifth grade, Faith Marlow discovered a fondness and talent for writing and has considered herself a storyteller ever since. The notion of transporting a reader into another place or time, to allow the reader to experience life from the perspective of the character is as intriguing is it is challenging and is at the heart of any project she undertakes. In addition to writing, she is an avid reader (a dedicated student of Dean Koontz), movie connoisseur, and a veritable repository for all manner of useless yet entertaining knowledge.

Faith lives in Tennessee with her high school sweetheart/ husband, Scottie, their son Avery, and Moses the loyal family turtle. As often as their schedules and weather will allow, the Marlow’s take a break from the stress of everyday life and all its technology and escape into the natural beauty of the Appalachian countryside to hike, camp, and take countless photographs.
Faith sincerely hopes you will enjoy her first novel, “Being Mrs. Dracula”, which chronicles the lives of Count Dracula’s three beautiful, yet very different wives. She is currently working on its sequel “Being Dracula’s Widow”.

To stalk Faith Marlow, follow the links below:

Website

Goodreads

Giveaway

taiwan flag smiley animated gif Pictures, Images and Photos  Faith Marlow is offering 5 e-books for the giveaway (must be able to download from Smashwords). Entry is easy, as always. Just leave an email address, so I can contact you if you win, and answer the question – Would you be able to share your vampire husband with another wife?

Closed. Winners will be announced on confirmation.

Giveaway runs 12/21 – 1/4/2013.

Please tweet it out to share with your friends, family and followers, not required.

It is always appreciated if you follow my blog, also, not required.

To order the book from Amazon US, just click on the cover below.

Can also be ordered through the links below:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007UK4FE0#_
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view…
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/being…

Fanged Mania rules:

To join in, copy and paste these rules and the above banner into your Fanged Mania post and add your link to this week’s Fanged Mania post at Elisabeth Wheatley’s Blog. Fanged Mania is a Friday meme counting down to the release of Fanged Princess and displaying all things vampire and awesome. Fanged Mania posts can be a review of a vampire book, a quote from the latest Vampire Diaries episode, a showcase of a cool vampire book’s cover, or whatever you like so long as it is vampire related. Don’t forget, participants will be entered in the drawing to win a fanged-abulous prize pack!

The prize pack I mentioned includes Vampire Diaries and Breaking Dawn posters as well as a paperback copy of Erica Steven’s Captured (my review here) and the complete collection of The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter stories by Jennifer Malone Wright, in paperback, too! =D

Oh, and the contest is international. And the more Fanged Mania posts you have, the more entries you get! So what are you waiting for? Hop on the bandwagon!

Who’s Afraid Of A Little Kitty Kat?

9 Lives by George M. Moser

Nine Lives

Is it true cats have 9 lives?

A cat has nine lives – three to play – three to stray – and three to stay.

Author Unknown

Jenny could remember when her and Michael first met at the library. She was studying and he was with his friends, drunk. She told him the name of her dormitory house, the Mayflower, thinking he’d never remember. But he did. When she turned up pregnant, he was happy.

Jenny had called Michael at work telling him about the cat JR had found under the deck. It didn’t seem to be able to find its way out and needed rescuing.

He had a 66 blue Ford Mustang Shelby GT his dad had given him and he called it his cat’s meow. How ironic that would prove to be. While Michael and Max, his lab, were trying to scare the cat out its hiding place, it made a run for it. A chase ensued. Unfortunately, his attempt to catch the cat was a complete failure and he accidentally killed it. He hurriedly disposed of it before Jenny could see what happened.

Near the Valley of Kings in the Sahara Desert was an excavation site. Among the artifacts were small mummies of cats or maybe small dogs. Marty McAndrews was heading up the dig. He had accidentally stumbled upon the site and began digging illegally thinking to get the permit if they found anything.

Marty had found 250 cat mummies They were usually buried because they were loved or someone wanted to protect them. The door they had come across had a warning telling them not to go in, but Marty would anyway. He felt there was a great treasure inside, just waiting for him to come and take it.

They had not gotten the necessary paperwork done and Mohamed was trying to get Marty to slow down, use caution. Money would not buy them out of trouble this time, even though Marty’s arrogance had always allowed him to have his way before.

Michael called Shaun, Jenny’s brother, to come over and when he did, he gave him the cat in a plastic bag and told him to get rid of it. He was drunk, but took it to the forest preserve thinking it was a perfect place to dump it. He thought he heard it move, but nothing happened so he threw it in the bushes and left, not realizing a cop had seen him.

Cats, Animated Pictures, Images and Photos

After Shaun had left, the cop went to see what he had done. The saying “curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought it back,”, proved so true. Unfortunately for Steven Case. He opened the bag, sure the cat was dead, but it hissed and spat at him before he could pull his gun and shoot it.

Michael was waiting for Jenny to finish dressing for the block party. A cat jumped on the ledge outside the window. It looked like the one he killed,, but he knew it couldn’t be.

Everywhere he turned he saw the cat with its head bashed in and its funky eye, except now he brought a friend. He must be imagining it.

Ever since Michael got his promotion and accidentally killed the cat, his life began going downhill. He had been scratched by the cat and the scratches had become infected. He was getting rabies shots, just in case, but had told no one about it. Not even his wife.
fortune teller Pictures, Images and Photos

The fortune-teller at the party told him about the cat in the garbage and Krista, the town hussy. She mentioned other things, but Michael was not really paying attention. Who believed in fortune-tellers anyway?

His first day of work in his new position turned into a nightmare. When he left work he decided to stop for a bit to eat before heading home. He sat down by his favorite statue, Picasso, in the center of Daley Plaza. Cats began appearing from everywhere. As he ran, he kept turning back and saw all the cats still chasing him, but where were all the people? It was like in a dream, where you’re running as fast as you can, but it feels like slow motion.

The fortune-teller, Zara, had written down Reland, His car was parked on Ireland, was she behind this?  There was a man in the parking structure in a long black coat. His hat covered his face, just like the fortune-teller had mentioned. When lightning flashed, he saw the man was deathly pale with catlike eyes and fang-like teeth. Cats were swirling all around him. The man and cats vanished into thin air, but written on the windshield was Valafar. What or who was that?

He was caught in a nightmare and it just kept getting worse. Everywhere he went, the cats were there attacking him and getting meaner and meaner.

“Look, why would I take a cat from the zoo and release him into the Wagon, only to kill the damn thing in a blender? Sounds like a book to me.” Made me laugh, even through the gruesomeness.

“Snakes! I hate snakes” copied from Indian Jones.

funky blinking cat eyes Pictures, Images and Photos

Sneak up on prey – efficient, silent.

I think cats are already creepy, so go ahead and add a supernatural one. LOL

Techniques – stalk, run, pounce, ambush .

What’s not creepy about that?

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos    4 STARS – Would Highly Recommend To Others

Won on Goodreads First Read Giveaway. The author was gracious enough to sign it for me. Thank you. I have been wanting to read this book ever since it arrived in the mail, but I just got to it.

The cover is eye-catching. If I had been in the library, I would have pulled it off the shelf without even looking further. If I saw it in the book store, I definitely would have investigated further. And after reading the book blurb, I would have bought it. The blurb  put a smile on my face, but I’m not sure if it was appropriate considering the gruesomeness and horror of the book, even though I’m smiling as I write this.

What happens when you forget your dreams? So many people grow up and trade their dreams for the things it takes just to survive and provide for your family.

It seemed Michael did like most of us, put aside his dreams and entered the “real world”. But who’s to say what is right or wrong when you are talking about the rest of your life. Sometimes there will be a moment in our lives that will lead us to the path we wanted to take in the beginning.

He talked about pulling a Bruce Willis in Die Hard, strapping the gun to his back. Only real life isn’t like in the movies.

I really like that I couldn’t figure out what was going to happen next. The tension created by the anticipation of the cat’s attack kept building throughout the book. More than once I found myself saying to myself don’t turn around, don’t go there, don’t open the bag. I could feel the chills running up and down my spine and the hairs rising on the back of my neck as the cats stalked him, creeping around, unafraid and so bold.

Right up there with Stephen King and Dean Koontz, who are two of my favorite horror writers.

This is a caracal cat – one of the Kings of terror in 9 Lives.

About The Author

George M. Moser graduated from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa with a degree in Business Finance. He enjoyed a successful career in real estate in the Chicago area and became an active and upstanding member of the community, making charitable donations to local hospitals, churches and community projects. He lives with his wife and children just outside Chicago and spends his free time writing. Nine Lives is his first novel and he is currently working on a further two titles.

Website:    http://www.gmmoser.com

Author Profile Page:   http://www.gmmoser.com/the-author.html
  To order, simply click on the cover.