Lynsay Sands writes The Argeneau series, one of my very favorite, escape-to-happy-place reads. In Lynsay's world of good-guy Vampires, they prefer to be called Immortals. The family central to the series is the Argeneaus. The family line is really old, like Atlantean old. And, they prefer to be called Immortals. Not the "V" word.
As someone who likes scientific explanations the stories really appeal to me. The really hot immortals with lifemate´s also appeal! Plus the books are just fun; and while there's some danger the stories do have a lot of humor.
So when Avon contacted me to see if I wanted to be a host on Lynsay's tour for IMMORTAL EVER AFTER, I kind of leaped at the chance.
All About the Argeneaus
with Lynsay Sands:
By Caroline Perny, Publicist at Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins
Q) You write the popular Argeneau vampire series, but you also write historical romance novels. What is it like switching from vampires to corsets? Do you prepare, or approach the writing differently?
A) Hmm… no. My style of writing is the same regardless of the genre I’m doing. The only issue is that characters have to come to me when they want to be written about so if I’m supposed to write a historical but an Argeneau keeps appearing well then the Argeneau might be sent in first.
Q) Vampires have been a mesmerizing subject since the eighteenth century. Why do you think readers love them so much? When did you first decide to write about vampires?
A) What you have with a vampire is someone who is really old with all the experience that comes with that, but who looks young. So you have a mysterious, sexy, smart guy who’s seen and done a lot, met probably thousands of women over the ages and yet (at least in the Argeneaus’ case) chooses one woman to be his lifemate. She’s got to feel special with a guy like that, don’t you think? And don’t we all want to feel special?
I never even read them before starting the series. The inspiration came from a writer friend. She, myself and another friend (who does write a very popular dark series of vampires) were chatting via instant messenger and she suggested that the three of us do a Halloween anthology of vampires. She would do her own version, the other friend could do one of her dark stories, and I could write a light funny vamp story. I laughed and said, “If I did something like that you know my vamp would have to faint at the sight of blood or something.” We all laughed and I tossed out a couple more ideas before we changed the subject. We never did that anthology, but those ideas stuck in my head until I finally just had to write the story.
Q) Your vampires are not the typical sinister undead characters. Can you tell us how and why you came up with the idea of the nanos and Atlantis?
A) Well, quite simply, I couldn't do the dead soulless version as a hero. I needed a different source for my vampires to be able to write them with any sort of believability, so had to come up with an alternate source. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. I looked around at what was possible and nanos that used blood as a propellant and to perform the necessary repairs to the body seemed the most viable answer. But I wanted my vamps older and that’s where Atlantis came into play since it's legendary for being advanced technologically. I combined it all and then added that when Atlantis fell, the nanos evolved their hosts to have fangs and be stronger and faster to be better predators and get the extra blood they needed (nanos use more blood than a mortal body can produce to do their work.) It all just kind of came together for me.
Cooking with Lynsay Sands:
When immortals first encounter their lifemates, their appetites open up; that’s why Anders is able to rediscover exactly how awesome coffee and ice cream are (facts that Leigh and Valerie have never lost sight of!). Lynsay shared some of her favorite foods—and some of her best, lifemate-worthy recipes:
I love Pizza…and steak, Caesar salad and, of course, ice cream. As you can see, I like the healthier foods (grimace). As for a recipe…hmmm…I have two GREAT recipes for you I love.
Orzo with Saffron, Asparagus and Prosciutto
· 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
· 4 tablespoons butter
· 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips
· 1 1/4 cups orzo
· 3 cups low-salt chicken broth
· 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
· 1 pound slender asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
· Parmesan cheese shavings
Sauté prosciutto in 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until almost crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in same skillet over high heat and add orzo. Stir 1 minute. Add broth and saffron.
Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until orzo begins to soften, stirring occasionally (about 8 minutes.) Add asparagus; cover and continue to simmer until tender (app 5 minutes.) Remove cover and continue simmering until almost all liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Mix in prosciutto and 1/2 cup grated cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer to large bowl and garnish with Parmesan shavings.
Steak Pinwheels
· ½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
· 8 slices bacon
· 1 ¼ lb beef flank steak
· ¾ tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· 1 10 oz pack frozen chopped spinach (thawed and well drained)
· 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
· 2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until brown, but not crisp. Drain on paper towel and set aside. Trim fat from steak and score it, making shallow diagonal cuts in the steak at 1 inch intervals, making a diamond pattern. Repeat on other side. Cut steak in half lengthwise. Place steak between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound lightly with the flat side of a meat mallet, working from the center to the edges until you have a 10 x 6 inch rectangle. Remove steak from plastic wrap. Combine ¼ teaspoon of the lemon pepper seasoning and 1/8 teaspoon salt and sprinkle over steak. Arrange 4 slices of bacon lengthwise on the steak. Repeat with remaining portion of steak.
Preheat indoor grill or barbecue. Combine feta cheese, bread crumbs, thyme and remaining lemon-pepper seasoning to make the filling. Spread half of filling over each portion of steak. Starting from a shot side, roll up each portion to make a spiral. Secure with wooden toothpicks at one inch intervals. Cutting between the toothpicks, slice each portion into six 1 inch pinwheels.
Place pinwheels on the grill or barbecue. Grill until steak is done to your taste. (For a covered grill or closed barbecue. Allow 6 to 7 minutes for medium, turning once halfway through grilling).
GIVEAWAY
Enter to win a paperback copy of
IMMORTAL EVER AFTER
The lovely people at Avon/Harper Collins gave me a copy of this brand new book to offer to one lucky winner!
Please use the rafflecopter form below. 18 and over, US addresses only please.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Even an Excerpt from IMMORTAL EVER AFTER!
“Mmmm, this really is good,” Valerie murmured, dipping her spoon into her ice cream and scooping out a large mouthful.
“I told you it was.”
Valerie shifted around in the front seat and smiled at Leigh. The pregnant woman was seated between Bricker and Marguerite on the SUV’s back seat where all three of them were gobbling up their own Rocky Road sundaes with marshmallow topping, nuts and a cherry.
“You were right,” Valerie complimented the woman and then settled back in her seat, her gaze sliding to a scowling Anders in the driver’s seat. The man had been scowling since leaving the house. Her gaze dropped to the sundae sitting on the floor between them and she said, “You really should pull over and eat yours before it completely melts, Anders. It will only take a couple minutes.”
“I don’t have a sundae,” Anders said grimly. “That’s Leigh’s. She said she wanted two, so she has two.”
“And I told you I lied so you could have one because I knew you were too annoyed to order one for yourself,” Leigh said patiently. “Pull over and eat it, Anders. I promise you it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted.”
When he didn’t respond, Marguerite said, “Why don’t you feed him, Valerie. That way he doesn’t have to stop, but can still enjoy it.”
Valerie’s eyes widened. “Oh, I don’t think--”
“Just pretend he’s a sick and cranky child you have to feed.” Marguerite said with amusement.
Valerie’s eyes shot to Anders in time to catch him casting a dirty look into the rearview mirror, no doubt at Marguerite. Since the woman suddenly chuckled, she supposed Marguerite caught the look.
Valerie glanced down at the melting sundae. It did seem a shame for it to go to waste. It was good ice cream. And it hadn’t been cheap.
“Just give him a taste, Valerie, so he’ll stop and eat it,” Leigh suggested.
Valerie hesitated, but they were pulling up to a red light and it wouldn’t interfere with his driving, so she scooped up a healthy selection of her own ice cream and topping and leaned over to offer her spoon to him.
Anders eyed the offering, but didn’t at first open his mouth. She was just about to give up, sit back and eat it herself when he suddenly did. Valerie moved the spoon between his open lips, watching silently as he closed his mouth around the spoon and ice cream. She could have sworn the gold flecks in his eyes flashed bigger and brighter in the black irises and then he closed his eyes on a long moan that sounded almost sexual.
Valerie stared wide-eyed as he savored the food, then withdrew the now clean spoon and sank back in her seat uncertainly.
“Told you you’d like it,” Leigh said with amusement from the back seat.
When Anders didn’t respond, but remained still, eyes closed, Bricker said, “Yo, A-man. The light’s changed.”
Anders blinked his eyes open, saw that Bricker was telling the truth and urged the car forward again. He only drove half a block though before pulling into a mall parking lot to finish his sundae.
And, here, from AVON, a chance to win a specially created ice-cream flavor created by Lynsay:
https://www.facebook.com/avonromance?v=app_192229990808929&app_data=gaReferrerOverride%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252F
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