THE DEVIL YOU WANT by Sam Cheever
Dancin' With The Devil Book FiveAstra Q Phelps gave her boyfriend a magic hickey. Usually not a world-changing issue. But in Astra's case, her boyfriend is king of the Royal Devils. And Royals have always thought that only males could mark their mates. So how did she do it? Even Astra doesn't know. That's the first of her problems.
Now somebody's trying to kill the naturally curious Astra, which is always a problem.
Thirdly, there's Slayer. He's shown up on Astra's turf and wants her to hire him. Given their undeniable sexual chemistry, that's probably not going to go over well with her boyfriend. Not to mention that he's got some baggage that's gonna come back to bite Astra big time.
Add in the nearly constant sexual need caused by her Settling and you have a whole lot of stuff for Astra Q Phelps to handle. But, as you probably know by now, she's definitely up to the challenge.
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Sam Cheever writes fast paced fantasy and romantic fiction with feisty characters who deal with life's little challenges in unique and often hilarious ways. As a reader Sam is very impatient. She quickly loses interest if a story doesn't have a good pace and snappy dialogue. Sam's inability to focus in a backwash of human angst and subtleties works out well for her readers, since she writes the way she likes to read.
In her real life, Sam lives on a hobby farm in Indiana with 10 dogs, 4 horses, 2 barn cats, 2 daughters, and one husband. Not necessarily in that order.
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WIN - Leave Sam a question today at her Cyber Launch Party and your name goes in the hat for a $25 Target Gift Card! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are today's winner - Good Luck!
Good morning Sam and congrats on the new release!!! I'm so excited to see Astra back in action!
ReplyDeleteTell us all about the new book and where you see Astra going from here.
And for those who aren't familiar with Astra or your Dancin' With The Devil Series - can you tell us about it and how the books connect?
I hope THE DEVIL YOU WANT is a huge bestseller for you and introduces more readers to Astra, she's a hoot!
Have fun at your cyber launch today and thanks for the giveaway!!
Thanks DeNita! Before I tell you about the new book, here's the series blurb:
DeleteThis is a fun, action packed series based on a heroine who will touch every emotion you have. The series includes five books following the antics of Astra Q Phelps. Astra is a Tweener, a warrior race that's part angel and part devil, and, aside from running her demon exterminating business, she helps the Big Guy and the Celestial Army beat back the dark world. She generally gets the job done, but sometimes it ain't pretty! And to complicate things for Astra, she finds herself strangely attracted to the consummate bad boy. Royal Devil Prince Dialle is gorgeous and incredibly sexy, but Astra's just never sure whose side he's on!
The Devil You Want is Book 5. There will be one more book in this trilogy, entitled The Devil You Need, which will probably hit cyber shelves around the end of the year. In Book 5 Astra has a unique challenge, which leaves her irretrievably changed by the end of the book and Book 6 will see what's in store for Astra following those changes.
DeleteThis story line is fun and fast paced like the other books in the series, but with an added dimension that deepens the reader's understanding of Astra. It was a great story to write and I'm excited to take Astra to the next level with Book 6.
Here's a little taste:
Warning bells were pounding around inside my head, turning my brain to mush.
I climbed out of the Knight and pulled my power forward, checking the knives in my boots to make sure I could get to them easily.
I briefly considered calling for help, but knew I’d never live it down if I asked for help against one little old lady. Besides, just because the old woman lived within a few clicks of my other client’s home, that didn’t mean she was a furry, razor claw wielding shape shifter with a taste for my delectable flesh.
Of course it didn’t mean she wasn’t either.
In my world you could never trust an old woman with wet, brown eyes. Chances were it wasn’t an old lady at all, but something evil, with big teeth and lethal claws in disguise.
Or worse, it could just be an old lady who drank tea and tried to iron your clothes when you weren’t looking.
Can you tell I didn’t grow up in a nurturing environment?
I walked around the small house before knocking on the door, throwing out my sensing power to “taste” the area. Nothing obvious jumped out at me.
Finally, I knocked on the metallic front door with its ridiculous, hanging spray of pink and purple flowers, my gaze sweeping the area around me with suspicion.
After a moment the door creaked inward, showing me the wrinkled, seemingly harmless countenance of Mx. Diamon, her rheumy gaze filled with welcome. “Hello, dear. Thank you for coming.”
I frowned but kept my big mouth shut. It wasn’t as if I was there for a social call.
“Come in, come in. I have your room ready.”
And with those few words my world came crashing down around me. Reality smacked me between my beady green eyes. My heart stopped beating and my lungs clenched.
I was gonna have to stay there, in that gingerbread house, with that scary little old lady. My battered brain immediately pictured a huge furnace filled with scorched bones and a platter of cookies cooling on the top.
My fingers twitched with the need to pull my power forward. Then I remembered I was supposed to be there to protect the woman.
When had I made it all about me? Weird.
I forced myself to step inside the house and immediately recoiled at the abundance of pinks, purples, and swirly type woven things on table surfaces.
The walls were decorated with kittens and puppies and small, adorable dragons.
The air smelled of lilacs and cinnamon.
My eyes started to burn and I was afraid they’d bleed.
“I’ve made cookies, Mx. Phelps. Follow me.” She marched down a hallway toward the back of the house, her well-padded hips swaying with happy purpose. Glancing back at me with a wispy smile, she added, “I hope you like sugar.”
Shriveling up under saccharine overload, I stumbled after her down the hall, already feeling as if I’d gone twelve rounds with Satan himself.
In fact, I realized with a start, I’d rather deal with Satan.
Him I understood.
Congratulations to Shadow! She won the Target gift card. I think she's gonna blow it all on chocolate...well...that's what I'd do! LOL!
DeleteEnjoy!
Oh wow, Sam--so this just about wraps things up for Astra, eh? How fun! Congrats on this latest! How soon will book 6 be out? Do you think you might ever revisit Astra in the future (a little novella or something)?
ReplyDeletef dot chen at comcast dot net
I can't wait to see what happens between Astra and Slayer. It's so sad Astra's run is almost over. Congrats on the new release. Does Astra get a HEA?
ReplyDeletee.balinski(at)att(dot)net
Hey Flchen!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'm not done with Astra. Book 6 will end the second trilogy and I'll make a decision on whether I still think there's interest in the series then. I don't want to be one of those authors who doesn't know when to stop a series. LOL I anticipate that Book 6 will be out around ht end of the year. Stay tuned!
Hi Joanne!
ReplyDeleteAstra always gets an HEA! LOL She'd hurt me if I didn't give her one. #:0)
How did you get your first book published?
ReplyDeleteHey there, Runner10!
ReplyDeleteIt's all a blur now, LOL, but my first book was actually Book 1 of the Dancin' With the Devil series, 'Tween Heaven and Hell. I did something a little different, probably, from most authors. I wrote the book as a serial, with weekly installments of a chapter each. I had subscribers whom I called Tweenies who read each installment. LOL Once I'd completed the book I polished it up and sent it out to publishers. Not too long after that I got an email from Ellora's Cave. They wanted it for their Cerridwen Press side of the house. I was very excited. EC was and still is one of the biggies so I was pleased by their offer and took it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Good evening! Congrats on your new release! Another great sounding book! Woot! How exciting!! :) Congrats lady! Wishing lots of success!
ReplyDeleteshadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
I love Astra. She is so unique. I can't wait for the next book.
ReplyDeletedebby236 at gmail dot com
Congratulations on the book! It sounds very good. I like the characters' names. How did you come up with them?
ReplyDeletebn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Hi Shadow! Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteHey Debby!
ReplyDeleteShe is definitely unique! LOL Thank you for dropping into the launch party. I hope you enjoy the book.
Hey Bn100!
ReplyDeleteGenerally I use a baby book to come up with names. I actually look at the meanings of the names to make sure they suit the type of character I'm writing. For the Dancin' With the Devil series, however, I didn't do that. The names came to me as I was fleshing out the characters. They just seemed to suit them. And that's how Astra got stuck with the elusive Q in her name...which she's burned all evidence of. Snorf. If you haven't read the books, here's the prologue that is in all of them, but written slightly differently for each one. It starts right off with Astra's "Q" problem. LOL
~~*~~
My name is Astra Q. Phelps. Don’t ask me what the Q stands for because that little piece of info will go with me to the crematorium. I’ve had all printed documentation of the name destroyed and, though a lot of my enemies have tried to dig it out, no one will ever know what it stands for. A girl has to have some secrets. Especially when the truth would cause her some serious embarrassment.
I run a business called the Angel Network, which is the only devil and demon locating and destroying business in the universe. In other words, I kick serious evil butt for a living. I am a Tweener. What exactly is a Tweener you ask? A Tweener is a non-human. We have neither wings nor horns, but generally have both angel and devil in our family forests. Which is probably why we enjoy a higher sensitivity to spectral influence than regular human people.
Recently, the Celestial Army has been keeping me pretty busy saving the world. Over and over and over and…well, you get what I’m saying. The human world just has trouble staying saved.
It’s been a busy and confusing time. But it’s about to get much worse.
My twenty-fifth birthday is just a few months away.
The thing about that twenty-fifth birthday is…well…for Tweeners it’s kind of make or break time. It’s called our Settling and it’s the culmination of our growth period. The time when we become what we will be in life. It’s also the time when the dark side of our nature has the greatest pull.
It is on our twenty-fifth birthday that we decide which way we’re gonna go. Good or bad. Black or white. Gray usually isn’t an option. And outside influences have a lot to do with the outcome. In my case, my influence pool is decidedly murky, given the fact that I hang out a LOT with devils.
Lately, my life has taken a turn toward the complex. Dialle, King of the Royal Devils on Earth and my steady boyfriend, is really mad at me because I marked him with a Daemon hickey.
I guess females aren’t supposed to be able to mark males.
How would I know that? Nobody told me that little piece of devil trivia, thank you very much. And apparently it isn’t true anyway…since I did manage to put that cute, little power mark on his sexy throat.
But now he’s all embarrassed and mad and threatened in a male way, and I’m dancing the romance two-step trying to win back his love.
Bleurgh!
To make things even more complex, somebody’s trying really hard to kill me. And they’re doing a bang up job of it too! Staying alive is becoming increasingly difficult.
And my long time friend and partner, Emo, is in celestial anger management, dealing with his own Settling.
Forget doing my job slaying demons.
The one place I can go for help isn’t really a good option at all. Since the helpful and sexy Slayer represents mucho temptation to me and my stupid Settling.
Any minute now my slut monkey side might just take him up on one of those offers he likes to present during a moment of weakness.
My weakness…not his.
So anyway, those are the high points of my life at the moment.
Ugly huh?
What? Oh, you wanted the dirty details? Well, all right, it’s your brain cells that are at risk. Not mine.
Here we go…
Hi Sam, glad to dine DeNitas site again lost lots of prev favs, congrats.
ReplyDeletedo you have anything to do with the titles?
thanks
Dina
dlsmilad at yahoo dot com
Wow, poor Astra has had a run of bad luck. I hope she finds a trustworthy ally in Slayer.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new release, Sam!
geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com