Contest : The Dragonfire Series: KISS OF FIRE by Spotlight Author Deborah Cooke

Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780451223272
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 2/5/2008
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 117,036
Age range: 18 years
Series: Dragonfire Series, #1
Product dimensions: 4.46 (w) x 6.80 (h) x 0.95 (d)
Order: Barnes & Noble


Overview
For millennia, the shape-shifting dragon warriors known as the Pyr have commanded the four elements and guarded the earth's treasures. But now the final reckoning between the Pyr, who count humans among the earth's treasures, and the Slayers, who would eradicate both humans and the Pyr who protect them, is about to begin...

When Sara Keegan decides to settle down and run her quirky aunt's New Age bookstore, she's not looking for adventure. She doesn't believe in fate or the magic of the tarot-but when she's saved from a vicious attack by a man who has the ability to turn into a fire-breathing dragon, she questions whether she's losing her mind-or about to lose her heart...

Quinn Tyrrell has long been distrustful of his fellow Pyr and a self-reliant loner. So when he feels the firestorm that signals his destined mate, he's determined to protect and possess Sara, regardless of the cost to himself. Then Sara's true destiny is revealed-and Quinn realizes he must risk everything- even Sara's love-to fulfill their entwined fates...

 

Meet the Author

Deborah Cooke has written more than thirty romance novels. When she isn't writing, she can be found knitting, sewing, or hunting for vintage patterns.www.deborahcooke.com 

Excerpt from KISS OF FIRE

©2006 Claire Delacroix, Inc.

The reckoning had begun.


All around the world, gazes turned skyward for the total lunar eclipse. Not everyone realized that it was the first eclipse of a new cycle, that it was the beginning of an age of reconcilation and reckoning.


There were thirteen who knew. 

No sooner had the shadow of the earth passed over the full moon than the first six met in the quiet reaches of southern Libya. The moon glowed red and unnatural, as unnatural as many might have found the sight of the dragons circling out of the darkened sky. The dragons gathered silently, as prearranged, honoring custom. They landed unobserved beneath the path of the eclipse.


There was no need for conversation: the process of ordination had taught them their responsibility, though none had known whether they would be summoned until now. Dread and anticipation mingled in one of the eldest, Donovan, as he watched his fellows arrive. He didn’t like foretold events, didn’t like the sense they always gave him that there was more controlling his future than his own will. Heat rose from the sand underfoot and the sky appeared to be stained with blood.


Erik arrived last, his onyx and pewter figure casting an erie shadow as he wheeled with confidence out of the sky. He carried a black velvet sack, moving as if it weighed nothing. Donovan knew that sack’s contents and the weight of the burden Erik carried.     

The blessing was murmured in old-speak by all of them, even skeptical Donovan. The bag’s cord was loosed to reveal the treasure of their kind, still nestled in the shadowed interior. The Dragon’s Egg was as dark as night, as fathomless as obsidian, and the surface of the stone gleamed as if wet. 


The sight of it gave Donovan the creeps. 


“It’s not working,” Niall said with alarm. He was young, and more inclined to panic.


“Nonsense. It must taste the moon’s light,” Erik said, impatient with doubt. “Give it room.” The others withdrew slightly and Donovan restrained the urge to destroy the sacred relic. It was older than any of them, mysterious and potent, and to his thinking, it brought more trouble than it solved.


Erik spun the Dragon’s Egg three times, requested an augury of the Great Wyvern, and released it. The stone spun like a top across the hot sand. When it came to a halt, the six clustered closer, as close as Erik would permit. 


For a long moment, only the reflection of the moon’s red glow was visible in the orb. The eclipse was already progressing - if Erik felt the press of time passing, he gave no outward sign. Their leader was as cool and composed as always, as confident as Donovan had always known him to be.

Donovan was impatient and inclined to prod the stone. Before he could move, though, the orb sparkled, as if lit from the inside. Lines of gold appeared in the darkness, running across and around its surface.


“First it traces the planet,” Rafferty said, for those who had not witnessed the marvel before. The outline of continents appeared, as if drawn in gold by a frantic mapsmith. 


“North America,” said Donovan, recognizing the shape of the continent displayed on the top. He sighed. “It figures. Why can’t we ever be dispatched to Italy, where the women are gorgeous, or some South Sea island where they’re naked?”


“Silence!” Erik commanded. 


Nothing happened after the continents were drawn although the shadow of the earth moved relentlessly across the full moon. 

Then suddenly finer hairlines appeared on the Dragon’s Egg, straight lines of force, and the six exhaled in relief. The leylines could have been lines of longitude and latitude, because they triangulated a precise location. What they really marked was lines of energy, earth energy, energy that might as well have been Roman roads for the readiness with which Donovan and his kind could follow them. 


The lines targeted the nexus where the next firestorm would begin. The leylines glowed briefly as they made a conjunction and the six leaned closer, anxious to read the location before the gleaming lines faded to darkness.


“Ann Arbor,” Erik murmured, his old-speak echoing in the thoughts of his fellows with authority. “I will go.”


“I will be your second, if you wish it,” Donovan said, speaking out of some impulse he could not name. 

“You will all second me,” Erik declared and Donovan felt a frisson of alarm pass through the group. He exchanged a glance of understanding with Rafferty, knowing that the old prophecy must be correct for Erik to make such a demand.


The final battle had come.


And the world would ever be the same again.





©2006 Claire Delacroix, Inc.

~CONTEST~

All week long OTER spotlighted award-winning author Deborah Cooke.  Today is our final installment and what better way to end  this fantastic week than with Spotlight Author Deborah Cooke's first release KISS OF FIRE from her phenomenal Dragonfire series

THE PRIZE: Two lucky reader will have the chance to win the either first two titles, FLYING BLIND and WINGING IT from Cooke's The Dragon Diaries or FLASHFIRE and KISS OF FIRE book seven (7) and one (1). 

To enter contest you will need to stop back each day, read the excerpt posted and answer the question or questions of the day.

Monday Question: Dragons by nature are what?

Tuesday Question: Who is the Keeper of the Covenant?

Wednesday Question: Who is  Megan (Zoe's best friend) massively crushing on?

Thursday Question: Do you like reading stories about dragons? Have you ever imagined being a dragon - or a dragon shape shifter? What do you think would be the best thing about being a dragon?

Friday Question:  What is a Firestorm?

Saturday Questions:  What has begun?  What is in the black velvet sack that Erik is carrying?

***

*Connect with RCJR eZine at:

Contest is open to ALL readers.

Contest runs until January 22, 2011.

I will contact winners directly on January 23, 2011.

Contest : The Dragonfire Series: FLASHFIRE by Spotlight Author Deborah Cooke

Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780451235473
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Publication date: 1/3/2012
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 416
Sales rank: 25,656
Series: Dragonfire Series, #7
Product dimensions: 4.28 (w) x 8.46 (h) x 1.14 (d)
Order: Barnes & Noble


Overview

Master illusionist Lorenzo wants nothing to do with the Pyr.
His dragon nature is just another secret to hide and another detail to juggle, like ensuring that each of his Las Vegas magic shows is a true spectacle. Until he feels the burn of his firestorm and his whole world shifts....

Cassie Redmond is tired of photographing celebrities. She wants to pursue her dream of serious photography—despite the lucrative offer for a shot of a dragon shifter. Las Vegas is the last place she wants to be, but Lorenzo arouses more than her curiosity when he shifts shape as the finale of his show. Instead of forcing him to reveal his secrets, Cassie gets swept away by this illusionist’s masterful touch.

Lorenzo wants to satisfy the firestorm and put it behind him. But Cassie is hard to forget—and he can’t ignore the danger when Slayers target the mate Lorenzo didn’t believe he wanted....

 

Meet the Author

Deborah Cooke has written more than thirty romance novels. When she isn't writing, she can be found knitting, sewing, or hunting for vintage patterns.www.deborahcooke.com 

An Excerpt from FLASHFIRE

 ©2011 Deborah A. Cooke

Lorenzo was irritated. He pulled into his parking spot behind the theater and flung himself out of the car. He locked and armed it without a second thought, his hand on the stage door before the car had given its last beep of acquiescence.


Fred was there, sweeping the door open for him with his usual flourish.


At least something was going right.

Lorenzo hated being late. A lack of time before his performance compromised his routine of calming himself before the show. That lack of composure could lead to mistakes. He took the pricing of the tickets to his shows very seriously - he was determined to give each attendee the value he or she had paid for. And that meant a perfect show, each and every time.


Perfect consistency. Perfect timing. Perfect showmanship. The way he saw it, he and the humans made an exchange: two and a half hours of magical perfection for $150 a seat.


Perfection was only possible with no stress.


Unfortunately, everyone around him seemed determined to generate stress by the megaton.


One more matinee. Three more evening shows. Then the launch of the spectacle, and he’d be done.


Free.


He was counting down the moments.

Lorenzo marched to his dressing room and slammed the door, pressing his fingertips against his temples. He needed to calm himself. He was edgy. Ready to lose it.


Of course, there’d been that argument today at the house, the completely unnecessary drama of his father shifting shape right in front of the staff, and the subsequent need to terminate all employees at the house.


All Lorenzo had done was ask his father what had happened to the darkfire crystal.


Again.


It was still missing. Lorenzo had promised to hold it in trust and he had kept his word – until he’d had a funny feeling six months before and checked for the crystal. It had been gone.

Failing to keep his pledge worried Lorenzo. What would the Pyr ask of him in exchange for his loss of the stone? It was imperative that he have no more ties to his kind after Saturday.


Only Lorenzo and Salvatore had access to the hoard, which was secured at the house. Therefore Salvatore must know what happened to it since Lorenzo didn’t. But his father had been evasive and confused every time Lorenzo had asked after the crystal - Lorenzo was certain it had been an act, especially since his father had abruptly shifted shape in the middle of their dispute and gone to sleep.


Of course, the housekeeper and her husband witnessed the shift, undoubtedly Salvatore’s plan. They would never truly forget seeing a dragon shape shifter in his living room. Lorenzo regretted losing them after so many years of good service, especially due to some game of his father’s, although he had paid a hefty severance to each.

Plus the pair had had to be beguiled before they left his employment, for their own safety and psychological well-being. Now he had to find another couple willing to work for him under his terms, and only for a few days. It was all very time-consuming and extremely annoying.


Lorenzo couldn’t help suspecting that his father was deliberately making problems for him.


Instead of just being old, confused and generally impossible.


Never mind that there were technical issues with Lorenzo’s final spectacle, a feat of daring that relied upon precise preparation. The modifications to the car were not quite as he had insisted, and he’d have to discuss it with the mechanic again. If Lorenzo had had a dollar for every incompetent human with whom he’d been obliged to work in the past five centuries, he’d be a multi-millionaire.


He was one anyway, but he’d earned that money.

And now the eclipse. He could feel it. It had nothing to do with him, because he had nothing to do with his fellow Pyr, so it infuriated him that he was sensitive to total lunar eclipses at all. What did he care if another Pyr had a firestorm? What did he care if another Pyr met his destined mate and conceived another dragon shape shifter? They were just more Pyr for Lorenzo to ignore.


Lorenzo had work to do and money to make and obligations to fulfill. He would have appreciated the other Pyr ignoring him as thoroughly as he ignored them.


It would only have been polite for the moon to have chosen to not send him notice. But the pending eclipse teased at the edge of his consciousness, making him feel on the cusp of change.


Involuntarily.


Lorenzo hated everything that was involuntary.


And he hated being Pyr.

Becoming a dragon was barbaric and primitive. Never mind the fighting, the slashing and ripping and biting. He shuddered.


In this moment, Lorenzo had to focus. He preferred evening shows, but that wasn’t relevant. Two thousand people had just paid top dollar to see his afternoon performance.


And they would leave his custom-built theater happy.


Lorenzo did his breathing exercises and deliberately lowered his pulse. He steadied himself as well as he was able, under the circumstances, and prayed that all the preparations had been done correctly. On this day, he’d take heads if there was anything less than perfect. He dressed alone, as always, then squared his shoulders and considered his reflection.


He wasn’t holding up too badly. He didn’t look a day past three hundred years old.


Or in human terms, a day past thirty-five.

The tuxedo fit him beautifully, but that was the mark of a good bespoke tailor. It reassured him to look so polished.


Appearances were critical. He straightened his bow tie with a tweak. He swirled the black cape he favored as he swung it over his shoulders. As usual, the glimpse of its orange satin lining lifted his spirits. So beautiful. So elegant. So unexpected. He adored that cape.


Lorenzo scooped up his top hat and turned with a flourish. He strode to the door, leaving his dressing room with purpose.


He checked the props and the staff, hearing the chatter of the audience gathered behind the heavy velvet drapes. He felt the familiar tingle that he always felt before a performance - part nerves, part anticipation, part terror.


The lights began to dim. The music began to play.


Show time.


***

Cassie had to hand it to this Lorenzo guy. The theater was incredible. He hadn’t skimped at all. There was nothing tawdry or tacky about it. The interior was gorgeous and elegant, far more luxurious than any of the other venues they’d visited or glimpsed.


The seats were cushy and upholstered in black velvet. They were scrupulously clean, as if they’d been upholstered just that day. The carpet was black and thick underfoot, unstained as far as she could see. There wasn’t so much as a stray kernel of popcorn. The curtains on the stage looked like real velvet, black with a line of metallic orange along the hem.


That line etched the glittering outline of flames.


Trial by fire. She got it.


There were sconces spaced along the walls, each looking like a brass bowl that held a flame. Of course, they couldn’t have been real flames, not with fire codes, but they looked real. The temperature in the theater was cool but not cold. It felt like a refuge, both from commercialism and the noisy bustle of Vegas.

She listened to the audience as they took their seats and murmured to each other. She felt their wonder and knew that Lorenzo had them believing in him even before he began his show.


Cassie folded her arms across her chest, less willing to be persuaded. All of this magic stuff relied on trickery, on making people look left when things happened on the right, for example. She was determined to see the truth of whatever this guy did.


Her Blackberry vibrated again and she glanced at it. Again they had doubled the price they’d pay for shots of those shape shifting dragons. Melissa Smith’s television show about the Pyr must have really good ratings. Cassie scrolled through the message, eying the specifications for what they wanted.


A suite of shots, documenting the change from man to dragon.


That would be tough to fake.


Unless, of course, the Pyr were real.

Cassie dismissed that possibility. She wondered what the editor would pay for proof that the Pyr were a hoax. Well aware of Stacy’s disapproval, Cassie sent a message to ask.


Her Blackberry received a reply almost instantly. This story was hot. She wasn’t totally surprised that the editor would pay the same price for proof of a hoax, but was surprised that the price had increased again.


But where would a person find one of these dragon shifters?


“Off,” Stacy muttered. “You promised.”


Cassie turned off the device and put it away. It would be enough money to retire. To leave the business of illusion for good.


She was surprised by how appealing that idea sounded.

Cassie was still thinking about that money as the lights began to dim and music started from all sides. The flames in the sconces leapt higher and that line across the bottom of the stage curtains began to glitter.


As if it were burning.


A trick, but a good one.


If she were a dragon shifter, where would she hide?


Maybe, just maybe, in a place where nothing was what it seemed to be.


A place like Las Vegas.


Hmm.


***

Lorenzo nodded at his staff and strode to his place at center stage, where he would await the rising of the curtains. He fought his awareness of the slow burn of the eclipse, teasing at the edge of his thoughts. He felt the firestorm light for some poor Pyr and ignored it, just as he had a hundred times before.


Even though it was close.


It was not his problem.


Lorenzo was in the act of donning his top hat when the music swelled. One pair of curtains swept back and the other curtain rose skyward.


Right on cue.


Perfect.


The audience stared at him in expectant awe. Lorenzo had a moment to think that everything would be just fine.


Then he raised his hand in a welcoming gesture, and the light of his own firestorm sparked from his fingertips.

Lorenzo was astounded.


His firestorm launched an arc of fire that illuminated the space between himself and a woman in the front row. She was lit suddenly with radiant golden light.


The audience gasped.


Lorenzo wanted to swear.


The woman had been sitting with her arms folded across her chest, reluctant to be impressed. Her skepticism would have made his eye skip over her under other circumstances. The blonde beside her was more typical of the women Lorenzo took as lovers.


But the bright glimmer of the spark startled her.


And it compelled Lorenzo to look. Her bones were good. She could have been attractive if she’d chosen to do anything other than tug her hair back into a sloppy ponytail. She wore no make-up and was dressed in jeans, a cotton shirt and hideous red cowboy boots.


Lorenzo couldn’t stand cowboy boots.


Even on cowboys.

Women certainly shouldn’t dress like cowboys, not if they wanted to show their assets to advantage. Women should wear skirts and high heels, lacy little bits of nothing and lipstick. They had serious assets and they should use them.


This woman apparently didn’t bother. Her hair was reddish blond, her skin fair. She jumped when the spark struck her shoulder, and the golden light revealed that she was young and pretty. There was intelligence in her expression, wariness and interest mingled together.


Despite that, there couldn’t be a woman on the face of the earth who he was less likely to find intriguing. She seemed to feel the same way about him. Lorenzo didn’t find it promising that they had that one thing in common.


Meanwhile, he smiled at the crowd and bowed, as though everything were going according to plan.


Far from it! Curse the firestorm, its timing and its choices. Curse his Pyr nature and everything that came with it.


Lorenzo was just going to have to work with the firestorm.


Somehow.


excerpt ©2011 Deborah A. Cooke

~CONTEST~

All this week OTER will be spotlighting award-winning author Deborah Cooke.  Today we have Spotlight Author Deborah Cooke's January 3, 2012 signet Eclipse release, FLASHFIRE, the 7th installment in Cooke's phenomenal Dragonfire series

THE PRIZE: Two lucky reader will have the chance to win the either first two titles, FLYING BLIND and WINGING IT from Cooke's The Dragon Diaries or FLASHFIRE and KISS OF FIRE book seven (7) and one (1). 

To enter contest you will need to stop back each day, read the excerpt posted and answer the question or questions of the day.

Monday Question: Dragons by nature are what?

Tuesday Question: Who is the Keeper of the Covenant?

Wednesday Question: Who is  Megan (Zoe's best friend) massively crushing on?

Thursday Question: Do you like reading stories about dragons? Have you ever imagined being a dragon - or a dragon shape shifter? What do you think would be the best thing about being a dragon?

Friday Question:  What is a Firestorm?

***

*Connect with RCJR eZine at:

Contest is open to ALL readers.

Contest runs until January 22, 2011.

I will contact winners directly on January 23, 2011.

Contest & Spotlight Post: Dragons, Dragons EVERYWHERE! by Deborah Cooke

Dragons, Dragons EVERYWHERE!

by Deborah Cooke 

I've always been a big fan of dragons but over the past few years, a lot more of them have taken up residence in my office. Even better, these dragons are dragon shape shifter heroes, known as the Pyr. So, they're gorgeous hunks in human form, and powerful dragons in their other form. This works for me in a big way!

So, come over to my Dragonfire world and let me show you around.

First of all, those dragon shape shifter heroes in my Dragonfire series of paranormal romances. My dragon shifters are an ancient race called the Pyr, who are long-lived but not immortal. Once in his lifetime, a Pyr will have his firestorm - this is the moment he meets the human woman who can bear his son. Sparks fly when they meet and the firestorm gets them both all hot and bothered. The firestorm is all about biology, but it's seldom that simple for my dragon dudes. Each one has to explain the firestorm to the heroine in question, seduce her and simultaneously defend her from the bad dragon shifters - called Slayers - who are drawn to the firestorm, like, well, moths to the flame. These books are action-packed and sexy. There's also an over-arching storyline because the Pyr and the Slayers are in a battle for control of the treasure that is the earth. The Pyr see humans as part of the treasure (the firestorm might affect their thinking) while the Slayers - who do not get firestorms - see humans as a threat to the earth. Slayers would be just as happy to eliminate both Pyr and humans, and keep Earth for themselves.

This month, FLASHFIRE, which is Dragonfire #7, was published. Lorenzo is my first "bad boy" dragon - the Pyr who have had firestorms to date have been pretty noble guys. Their issue was with permanent commitment, or with joining the other Pyr, or with the sharing of their big secret with the woman who was stealing their heart away. Lorenzo, in contrast, has no desire to be a dragon shifter anymore. He has a plan to ditch that side of his nature for good - as a stage illusionist, he's planning on a last big disappearing act. Of course, Lorenzo isn't counting on the firestorm, and he isn't counting on the passion and persistence of Cassie Redmond, his destined mate. These two were a lot of fun and I enjoyed writing about their battle of wills. Next up for Dragonfire is EMBER'S KISS, coming in October. (You can read more about Dragonfire on my website http://www.deborahcooke.com)

I also have a spin-off YA paranormal series called The Dragon Diaries. Although most of the Pyr are male, at any given time, there is one female dragon shifter. She's called the Wyvern and has special powers. Small spoiler alert right here, just so you're warned. The Wyvern at the beginning of the Dragonfire series died in book #3, KISS OF FATE. You'll have to read the book to find out how and why. The point here is that the child conceived during that firestorm turned out to be a girl. Her dad, Erik (who is the leader of the Pyr) assumed that she must be the new Wyvern. The male Pyr, though, come into their dragon powers at puberty - until then, they're indistinguishable from human boys. Once I realized that Zoë would come into her dragon powers right when she was already in the midst of wrestling with school and mean girls and keeping the faith with her best friend forever, I knew her story would be amazing to write. Zoë's coming-of-age is complicated by the fact that no one knows much about the Wyvern's special powers or how she develops them, and the only Wyvern she's heard of is dead.

Just to keep Zoë's life complicated, Erik invented the Covenant, which forbids all of the Pyr from revealing themselves in both human and dragon form to any human, without prior authorization from him. This means Zoë can't confide in her friend Meagan when her powers start to reveal themselves. I also reinvigorated an old enemy of the Pyr, one that only Zoë and the other teenage dragons believe is a threat. Again, there's a lot of action in these books - it seems to come with the territory when there are dragons in the vicinity! - and there's a hot guy with a motorcycle named Jared, who runs hot and cold with Zoë, kisses like a god, and somehow knows more about dragons than she does.

WINGING IT, the second book in Zoë's trilogy, was published in December and book #3, BLAZING THE TRAIL, will be out in June. You can read more about the Dragon Diaries on my website http://www.thedragondiaries.com

So, tell me, do you like reading stories about dragons? Have you ever imagined being a dragon - or a dragon shape shifter? What do you think would be the best thing about being a dragon? Me, I'd like to be able to fly. I have that in common with Zoë - but she also has an Incinerate Now list.

~CONTEST~

All this week OTER will be spotlighting award-winning author Deborah Cooke.  Today we have Spotlight Author, herself, Deborah Cook dropping by to chat about Dreagons, Dragons, EVERYWHERE.  Please make her feel welcome. =)  

THE PRIZE: Two lucky reader will have the chance to win the either first two titles, FLYING BLIND and WINGING IT from Cooke's The Dragon Diaries or FLASHFIRE and KISS OF FIRE book seven (7) and one (1). 

To enter contest you will need to stop back each day, read the excerpt posted and answer the question or questions of the day.

Monday Question: Dragons by nature are what?

Tuesday Question: Who is the Keeper of the Covenant?

Wednesday Question: Who is  Megan (Zoe's best friend) massively crushing on?

Thursday Question: Do you like reading stories about dragons? Have you ever imagined being a dragon - or a dragon shape shifter? What do you think would be the best thing about being a dragon?

***

*Connect with RCJR eZine at:

Contest is open to ALL readers.

Contest runs until January 22, 2011.

I will contact winners directly on January 23, 2011.