Series Feature: The Shadowfae Chronicles by Erica Hayes & International Giveaway

It's been nearly a year now since I picked up a book that gave me my first glimpse into a dark paranormal world filled with danger, intrigue, adventure, and a whole lot of sexiness! I didn't know it at the time, but that beautiful red, sexy cover of book one, would be the first book that would hook me on a series that has proven to be a unique and fabulous addition to dark paranormal romance: the Shadowfae Chronicles series by Erica Hayes.

While there's many different facets that come together to create a unique experience in this urban fantasy world, four key aspects come to mind whenever I think about what makes this a must read series. And, I've invited Erica to comment on my four literary elements that I've chosen to highlight, as well as dug through my books to find mini-excerpts that help to back up my points.

I hope you enjoy, and learn a little more about the uniqueness that encompasses the Shadowfae Chronicles.

Tanya: With a descriptive and lyrical style prose that creates a movie in the readers heads, Erica Hayes' writing style captivates and spellbinds the senses. This is what truly makes the Shadowfae Chronicles standout amongst the crowd of dark urban fantasy romance reads. It's what caught my attention and still does now through book four. Switching from 1st-person POV of the heroine in one chapter, to 3rd-person in alternating chapters, it's imaginative, descriptive, and flowing with an ease of effortless rhythm, Erica Hayes knows how to marry danger, fun, and dark sexiness like nothing I've read before!

Erica: If you want a movie in the reader's head, then precise and striking images are important. But it's also a matter of pacing. Things have to happen with the right rhythm. Watch your favourite actor on the screen: they’ll time their gestures, words and pauses so exquisitely, you can see them thinking. That's the effect you're looking for. And in a book, you've got so much more to work with. You can include thoughts, smells, sounds, tastes and textures to immerse readers in the scene. Still, action is king. If nothing happens, readers get bored, so you have to make sure that all that fancy scenery is going somewhere.

Tanya: I find it only appropriate to give an excerpt straight out of book one, right from the beginning, to show other readers what first drew me in.

~ Mini-Excerpt ~

The dark shape in the bed didn't stir. I trailed tingling fingers over silken sheets, carpet soft and luxurious beneath my feet. I inhaled crisp male cologne and sweat, and it made me drunk with excitement. The French window lay open, city lights glittering beyond, citrus summer breeze teasing the pale lace curtains. They drifted over me like a lover's sweet touch, and I burned. If I didn't have this man soon, I'd spend the night sick and sorry. And I didn't even know who he was.

Sometimes I feel so cheap.

My demon lord, Kane, calls it rapture. Our victims, if they live long enough, call it the sexiest thing they've ever seen, which of course, is the point. It's easier to suck out someone's soul if their attention is elsewhere. Only problem is, it's humiliating to slaver like a sex-starved ghoul over some fat chauvinist gangster or unwashed backroom drug dealer just because they were follish enough to cross Kane and his charming minions, the Valenti crime family.

But it's my job. I'm in thrall to Kane for a thousand years. I was just glad no one could see me this time.

I crawled towards him arousing my scent so it drifted over him like a sweet cloud. The sheet slid off his massive shoulder, baring his chest, and I bent to sniff his stubbled throat, my hair brushing his face.

He didn't stir.

The dark smell of his skin made me moan, and I slid my tongue along his warm collarbone, desperate to taste him. My breasts ached as I pressed into him, only my thin tank top separating us.

He didn't even twitch.

I dragged my fingers through his lank fair hair, and his head fell sideways, limp, no breath forcing from his slack mouth.

My racing heart missed a beat. I fumbled on the bedside table, switching on the dim lamp. His hard features lay softened in death, his tanned skin already pale.

I stared. I knew that blond ponytail, that unforgiving mouth, those rigid gym-built muscles. I'd danced with him, dined with him on amatriciana and red wine at Valentino's, peeled his big hands off my ass more than once. Nino Valenti. Gangster, extortionist, multiple murderer. Ange Valenti's right-hand man.

Kane had sent me to kill one of his own minions. And Nino was already dead. His glazed eyes shone vacant, colorless, their once-steady blue drained. No blood, no vomit, or marks on his body. It wasn't a typical mob murder. He wasn't drugged, shot, strangled, fae-poised. Someone had sucked out his soul. They'd beaten me to it.

What the hell?

I sat up on my knees, my chest heaving, frustrated desire radiating off me like sultry summer heat. Dead. But still fragrant, still warm. Which meant...

My back thudded into the soft matress, the weight of a hard male body between my legs pressing me down. Strong hands grasped my wrists, trapping them above my head, strands of my hair pulling in their grip.

"Wrong place, wrong time, sweetheart." The voice was low, breathless, a hint of exotic Hindi accent. I glimpsed dark tangled hair, a flash of golden-brown eyes, fragrant brown skin. Fresh desire burned over me, my urgent breath searing my throat, my entire body straining, yearning for sex.

Tanya: A setting that's fun, fascinating, and unique, especially for those living outside of Australia! The Shadowfae Chronicles series takes place entirely in Melbourne, Australia, with real life places woven in through the context of this dark urban fantasy world. For starters, I love having the streets of Melbourne as the backdrop for this fun and unique series. Forgive me for sounding too touristy, but I feel as though it enhances the 'exoticism' of the setting, the events, and even the characters as they glamour their way through the urban sprawl.

Erica: Most of the settings in my books are real places. I just describe what I see – but with added paranormal goodness! And I can take all the sensory details to their extremes, because my characters have magical senses. For them, everything has a smell, a taste, a sensation associated with it.

~ Mini-Excerpt  ~

The early morning tram to the city already teemed with commuters clutching briefcases and wheeled document cases and bags stuffed with gym clothing. The hot yellow sun climbed rapidly to bake storm-fresh streets, and as usual, the tram's air-con was cranked up to the max. I shivered and tried to find a seat to myself, but I ended up standing at the back, clutching the little plastic handles that hung from the ceiling.

My glamour is okay, but when you're flush up against some pasty office worker, it's hard to hide wings. Some fairies -- like Blaze, of course, that gifted little shit can do everything, and no, I'm not jealous at all -- some fairies can make humans forget what they see, so it doesn't matter. Others like Azure dazzle with their beauty. I'm not so lucky. People think it's easy, being fae, living in a shadow world. They should try a revolving door, or buying clothes that fit, or the dodge I have to do when some glamourblind guy slips his arm around me at the Court.

I also stank, and glamour couldn't hide that. I was smeared in sweat and my own arousal before I even saw Kane. Now I was caked in it. Water, spit, vodka, demon come, you name it, adding up to a curious earthy reek that no one would mistake for the latest fragrance. I really needed a shower, and I almost regretted not giving Kane that last blow job.

...

A human girl bumped into me, tilting on patent leather heels. Damn it. I lurched back, but too late. Her flowery perfume hit my nostrils, and water molecules spread, tingling like a sneeze. My eyesight dimmed, images flooding like stormwater. Glitzy soirees in glossy Yarrabank apartments, luncheon at Flemington racetrack, expensive dinners in glassy rooftop restaurants. Days spent gossiping flipping through magazines, sun baking with cocktails by the pool, a glittering diamond ring, a warm and lucky boy who worships her.

She murmured an apology and sidled away, and my ears popped, the tram hovering back into focus. Envy stung my wings. Humans have everything.

It's a talent of mine I don't talk about, this witchy trick with human smells. I'm just thankful it doesn't work on my friends. I don't wanna know what they really think of me.

...

Federation Square, where seagulls dipped and swerved, and sun shone brightly on the green metal-framed facade of the film museum. Workers grabbed early coffees from fragrant black cafes/ A  greasy black spriggan in a trench coat crab-walked between rubbish bins, picking out cigarette butts and half-eaten sandwiches with gnarled yellow claws. A grinning firefairy clung to a passing tram's roof, wings trailing flames in the breeze, cackling in delight as sparks rolled over her naked back.

...

Swanson Street, glass skyscrapers and retail cantilevers giving way to dirty office buildings and car parks, the university, my suburb with its bluestone gutters and cracked pavements and broken-down student houses. I drifted off the tram and flitted the last few blocks in a daze, blinking in the sunlight, my bare feet stinging on rough concrete.

~ Shadowglass, Shadowfae Chronicles, #2; pgs 47-51

Tanya: Another very strong aspect that makes the Shadowfae Chronicles stand out is the fun, dark, and dangerous urban fantasy world. This world holds no bars. There's no apologizes for paranormal creatures walking amongst unsuspecting humans who dabble in fairy drugs, enjoy sex, and use whatever skills, lies, deceits, and schemes in order to survive -- and get what they want. Yet, at the same time, within the dark of the world that can hold hurtful pains, romance and love is what ultimately saves the characters. But it's never easy. They have to work for it!

Erica: Most fantasy books have two worlds: the 'real' human world, and the paranormal world. Sometimes, the paranormal world is out in the open, but in my books, it's hidden. Which is great, because it means I can do more fantastic things without worrying about reality!


~ Mini-Excerpt ~

Crashing nightclub metal wound sinuous tentacles into my ears, vibrating my body with sweet longing until the club's dark humidity caressed me like a lover's fingers. You'd think a nightclub would be deafening for a banshee's heightened senses, but I could hear everything: the warm rainbow whisper of wingbeats, sharp teeth clinking on glass, claws scraping skin, the silky slide of kisses, and the tantalizing friction of bodies shifting and swaying as they dance and drink and fuck.

Unseelie Court, the dirtiest, sexiest club in town. The hottest action, the coolest drugs, the wildest party. In here, fairies hid themselves from human eyes with glamour, that shadowy, look-away, don't-see-me magic that makes them look normal. Vampires dazzled their prey, that mesmerizing glint in their eyes, and humans blink and sigh and forget they saw anything out of place. We all did it, glassy and effortless, and the air sizzled and clashed with spells, sparks alight, the magical stink of ozone faint but definite.

~ Poisoned Kissed, Shadowfae Chronicles #3; pg. 10

Tanya: Ugh! The characters! Where do I even begin?! They are nothing short of fab-u-lous!! The creative uniqueness, the danger, the obstacles, and finding the light of love in the dark.

 The vampire gangsters, the demon lords, the weird lookin' spriggins, the gorgeous banshee, a lizard looking hero, a beautiful bloodfairy meant to entice the vampires who can 'infect' any creature they so choose with their virus. Every book carries over characters that had made their presence known in previous books, and introduces new exciting and very creative new characters in each passing one. And one of the best things about these unique characters is that they all battle 'real-life' issues.

Erica: I want my characters to be 'real', with real-life problems and hang-ups, so readers can relate. They're also weird, because they're fairies or vampires or whatever, with their own unique problems. And the stakes are always higher in a paranormal world – that's the point! But basically my characters just people, in a dark, dirty world that's out to get them.

Tanya: I absolutely have to highlight an interaction between the heroine and hero of book four, more specifically one of my newest favorite broken heroes Diamond *swoons*, a glassfairy. Along with external conflict, this book really highlighted internal conflicts in both the hero and heroine, and the struggles with them personally as well as helping each other overcome past hurts and self-confidence issues.

~ Mini-Excerpt ~

Diamond acted on impulse, and to hell with tomorrow.

His prismed light dazzled me, and suddenly my head swam with the scent of roses and hot, willing male flesh.

He swept me to my feet, and dizzy temptation swirled. I stumbled back against him, laughing, and when he tugged me back against the wall with him in a bright patch of moonlight and played idle fingers into my hair, I didn't push him away.

Delight warmed me, stained delicious with his tempting rosy scent. I felt like I'd done something naughty and fun for once in my life, and guess what? No one disciplined me. No one slapped me or put me in the corner or sent me to bed without any supper. The rules I lived by had dissolved.

Including the one that said Don't play with dirty-sexymad fairy boys.

"Toldya it'd be fun." Diamond captured my fingers and kissed them, lingering on the soft places inside my knuckles, and tingles crept up my arm, dangerous.

"Umm... don't do that," But desire sprang alive deep in my belly. I shivered, cold and burning at the same time. I felt strange, reckless, fevered. Just the moon, playing sexy tricks in my blood, like the night I'd met Jasper. Right?

"Why not?" He kissed inside my wrist, and longing rippled so deep in my soul, I nearly cried out. I had a hundred reasons why not, and I couldn't think of a single one.

What was wrong with me? I'd only just ditched one controlling boy. I couldn't succumb to another. Was he casting some treacherous glamour on me? I didn't know or care. I just wanted to dance in his embrace and let him make me his.

...

I stopped loving Jasper the night he hit me for the first time. The rest was just habit and infatuation. For so long, I'd painted and prettied and molded myself into the girl someone else wanted -- the girl I had to be to survive -- that I'd almost forgotten there was a real me inside, one who wanted and hoped and dreamed for herself. But tonight, with my heart still pounding and the moon rippling sweet anarchy in my blood, I knew exactly what I wanted.

And I wasn't the only one.

Giveaway Entry Rules:

• Each comment you make on any of the following posts counts as one entry point towards winning a Shadowfae Chronicles backlist book.

• My review of BLOOD CURSED

• My Interview with Erica Hayes

• Today's Shadowfae Chronicles series feature.

• Contest open International as long as The Book Depository ships to you. {US residents will receive a copy via St. Martin's Press.}

• Contest will run from 8/8 - 8/14 11:59pm EST.

• Winner will be selected via random.org and notified via email and have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen.