Thursday, September 29, 2011

Karin Harlow/Tabke Interview & Giveaway


I’m so EXCITED! Karin Harlow a.k.a. Karin Tabke is hanging out today to talk about her awesome books! She has also been kind enough to bring along an autographed Enemy Mine for a lucky commenter.



Would you like to start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?  First I want to say thank you, Vanessa for the invite to hang out with you today!  So, about me now?  Hmm, I’m a very happily married mom of four great grown up kids, and grandma to one amazing little girl. My bliss is my family and from them I find my inspiration.  That and hubby is a retired cop, so writing hawt cops is easy peasy!

·        I know you that you write several different series. Would you like to tell us a bit about them?
As Karin Tabke I write the Blood Moon Rising series, think Sons of Anarchy meets Rise of the Lycan.  Vera sexy.  I’m also going to be continuing my beloved Blood Sword Legacy series, which features eight knights of William the Conqueror.  As Karin Harlow, I write the L.O.S.T. series, (Last Option Special Team) we pitched it as The Dirty Dozen meets Mission Impossible with a paranormal twist.  It’s a paranormal action adventure romance series.




















Of the above mentioned series do you have a favorite that you enjoy writing, or perhaps a favorite world? I love all of my stories but will admit my medievals are always on my mind.

·        Can you tell us about your current work in progress?  I just wrapped up BLOODRIGHT, book two in the Blood Moon Rising trilogy.  And OMG!  Talk about a wild emotional and sexy roller coaster ride!  I still get goose bumps when I think of that story.  ;)

·        While reading Enemy Lover I got the impression that Gage had a bit of a crush on Jax. He obviously didn’t get that girl. Do you have intentions of giving him his own L.O.S.T. book? Gage definitely had it bad for Jax, but even if there had been no Marcus they would not have gotten together. No fraternizing! I hope to write many more L.O.S.T. books. Gage will have his own story.  His background is tortured and messed up.  I can’t wait to get to know him better!

·        How many books do you have planned for your L.O.S.T. series?  Right now, I’d like to write Gage’s story, Mr. Black’s story, as well as Joran and Rurik’s story, which will be more of spin offs since they aren’t part of LOST.

·         Blood Law has an ending that has me (and I’m sure numerous others) dying to get my hands on the next book Bloodright. Without giving anything away does the beginning of Bloodright at least let us readers know exactly what happens after “Then all Hell broke loose.” Oh, yes, BLOODRIGHT picks right up with Hell breaking loose all over the damn place!  J

·         Your characters include knights, vampires, cops, lycans, special ops and demons, did you find any of these more difficult to write than other, or did one come more easily to you than another?  I write character first.  I think I write pretty complex and flawed characters.  To me it doesn’t matter what they are, when they lived or where they come from because I strive to create the character of each character. Does that make sense?

(this comes out Tuesday October 4. I do believe that is the very sexy Paul Marron on the cover!)


·         If you were to write yourself into one of your series which would it be, what role would you pick and why? Oh, wow, hmm, I’d want to be Jax in ENEMY LOVER, Jade in JADED, most def Falon in all three Blood Moon Rising books, any one of my ladies in MASTER OF SURRENDER, MASTER OF TORMENT or MASTER OF CRAVING.  I can go on and on and on and on…



If you could have a romantic dinner with one of your uber sexy heroes which one would it be and why? I honestly could not pick just one.  I love them all so much and I’d want to be the main dish!!!!

·         How did you celebrate the publishing of your first book? Champagne in the hot tub! Cheers.  J

·         What is one thing about you that your readers would find surprising or never guess about you? 
That I find reptiles fascinating and used to raise red tail boas!

For your chance to win the autographed copy of Enemy Mine just comment below with email address. Giveaway is open to US only. I will announce the winner on Saturday October 8.
























ENEMY MINE
Book two in the L.O.S.T. series.

Lovers from opposite worlds reunite in Karin Harlow’s explosive, erotic new L.O.S.T adventure...

While tracking uranium-spinning centrifuges in Kyrgyzstan, L.O.S.T. operative Nikko Cruz is ambushed and left for dead. Which means he must be hallucinating when the only woman he ever loved—the woman he was sentenced to death for killing—comes to his rescue.

Half-daemon Selena Guererro has secrets she’d kill for. The most important one, she’s already died to protect. Now she’ll do anything to keep her daughter safe. But she can’t just leave her lost love to perish. She injects Nikko with immortal blood serum, putting herself in grave danger.

When Nikko comes to, he is superhuman and super pissed. The mother of his daughter—the one he thought killed their child—is alive. He wants answers. He wants blood. And despite his best intentions, he wants Selena. He traces her to a mysterious terrorist cell where the spun uranium has surfaced. First, he must retrieve the deadly material. Then he’ll take revenge on his beautiful ex. But when nothing goes as planned, Nikko and Selena find themselves burning with desire . . . and blowing the roof off their separate worlds, human and daemon alike.
EXCERPT
The Gold Coast at midnight had come alive. Like a living, breathing rock star high on cocaine, it pulsated with vitality and energy unlike any other.
Nikko stood across the street from Lost Souls. Scents and sounds swirled around him, blending into an indistinguishable blob. But he didn’t need to be told Selena was inside. He could smell her. Exotic and sultry, her scent overrode all others. He had thought that learning she was alive, then seeing the proof positive in pictures, had elicited a strong reaction from him at the compound, but the reality of it now created an emotional maelstrom inside him. Longing, hate, and betrayal jockeyed for the top spot in his heart. Worming itself between all of those feelings was the unmitigated desire to hold her again, to make love to her—not the cold-blooded killer she was today, but the innocent girl he’d fallen in love with so long ago, before she—Nikko mentally shook himself. He allowed the hatred and his need for vengeance to take control. That would get him through this mission. Keep him sane as his body, his mind, and his soul continued to evolve into something and someone so foreign to him, he would admit only to himself that it terrified him. He was unpredictable even to himself. He battled impulses he had always had control of. His emotions raged. It was becoming unbearable, this thing inside him. He sneered, wanting to bend her to his will, to—he squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to acknowledge the visions of his taking her until she screamed for him to stop.
No, his desire wasn’t simply to fuck her again. Since his arrival in Miami that morning, a new hunger had taken root. For blood. Anyone’s would do, but he craved Selena’s blood most of all.
Nikko struggled for composure. He was Ice, damn it. He would not blow this mission apart. Put this team at risk. Or himself.
“You smell her?” Cross asked from Nikko’s left.
While Nikko did not have the nuances of a vampire that Cross possessed, he had enough of the primal part to make him dangerous. His senses were honed, his strength impressive, and now his desire for blood was driving the vampire in him. Once he had looked at Cross as a freak, one without feelings or humanity. Now, walking in his shoes, Nikko understood what drove him as a man and a vampire and was impressed at how Cross managed to maintain his iron control. Nikko was having extreme difficulty with that.
“Yeah.”
“Marcus and I will go in first and get the lay of the land,” Cassidy said from Nikko’s right.
He nodded, fighting the craving to get to Selena first. Get her alone. At his mercy. The things he wanted to do to her were inhuman. But hadn’t what she’d done to him made her a monster? Nikko set his jaw. What he had done to her made him every bit as much a monster.
He had dived headfirst into love with Selena. Given her every part of him. Only to be betrayed in the most heinous way a woman could betray a man. He had reacted viciously. He had paid for it with his soul. Now his only regret was that she was still alive. How long that would continue was up to him, and he wasn’t feeling particularly generous at the moment.
“Cruz, I don’t like that look,” Cassidy said, staring up at him, her face wrinkled in consternation. “Plot your revenge later. After we get what we came for.”
Nikko set his jaw. His revenge would be slow, methodical—
“Cruz, if you give in to the bloodlust, it will destroy you,” Cross quietly said. “It’s like a drug. If you don’t control it, it will control you.”
Nikko closed his eyes and only saw red. “I just want to tear her apart.”
Cassidy touched his hand. He looked down into her serious but compassionate eyes. “I know you do, Nikko. I don’t blame you. But if you can’t get a handle on your emotions, millions of lives could be on the chopping block.”
Nikko exhaled. Cassidy was right. This mission was bigger, much bigger than his hatred for the woman who owned Lost Souls.

22 comments:

  1. Champagne in the hot tub. Now that's the way to celebrate :) thanks for the great giveaway.

    frellathon(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Who is this open to? Country wise.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, Cynthia read this the other day and I want it bad now... Please enter me.

    Great interview Vanessa!

    Champagne in the hot tub. I don't blame you there Karin.

    bittenbyparanormalromance(@)gmail(.)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the champagne in the hot tub celebration! LOL Note to self: get a bottle of champagne.

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity

    Francesca from Under The Covers
    fmg_29(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  5. looks like an interesting read. i'd love to get a copy to read so i can review it :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. oops forgot my email
    jessbiggers@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome interview, I am so glad I got to meet Karin at AAD, such an awesome lady and I can't wait to dive into her books.

    mrsqueentutt@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I loved Enemy Lover and need to check out the other series. I am really interested in the Knights of William the Conquerer. That sounds terrific. Thanks for the contest.

    dukediva32(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was planning on very soon reading Nikko and Selena's story but the Bastrop County Wildfires over Labor Day weekend took my brand new copy of the book from me so would love to win the autographed copy from Karin.

    Thanks for the chance and the interview was fun, I too love reptiles but only if someone else owns them!

    jacabur2008(@)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds like a really good giveaway. Pleaase, enter me in it.
    mom1248(at)att(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  11. It was SO awesome to meet you Karin, at AAD. I am currently reading Master of Surrender and I am enjoying quite a bit! I cannot wait to read more of your books.

    ferishia.1@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I recently read the first book and enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading this one too.

    Thanks for the giveaway.

    Danni
    dannigv616AThotmailDOTcom

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've read Enemy Lover and of course would love to read Enemy Mine. I haven't read any of her others, but Blood Law and Master of Surrender are on my list! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jessica, I had a great time celebrating that night. I sold in May so the weather was celebrating right along with me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jet, if you win, I'll send it your way, it may take awhile but it will find you!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Laurie if you don't win, snag Cynthia's copy! (she has such good taste!!)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! That was an AWESOME excerpt! I really, really want to read this book now :)
    jwitt33 at live dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. The excerpt ended too soon! Great interview. :)
    noraweston.nw@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fantastic post! Loved the whole thing. The covers are beautiful and so are you, Karin. I cannot believe you're a grandmother!
    Thanks for the giveaway :)

    nissie151530 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. OMG! I've never known a woman to have a bunch of reptiles!

    rootml1 AT hotmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Enemy Mine's cover is awesome! Great giveaway.

    marieimy (at) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great interview! I have several of Karin's books in my TBR pile. I can't wait to read them.

    beckerjo at verizon dot net

    ReplyDelete