Here we are almost at the end of May!! Are you ready to kick of summer? Are you looking for an entertaining and exciting summer read? I am here to help! I have a fantastic new Urban Fantasy series for your reading pleasure. It has four unique sisters with some unusual talents as well as vampires, werewolves and witches! This book also has a sizzling hot romance! What is this book you ask? It is Sealed with a Curse by Cecy Robson. I have the lovely Cecy here today to share a deleted fight scene from the book. Her uncut, unedited version of the fight scene with a mutated, infected vampire was 75 pages long! Cecy loves her fight scenes! She ended up trimming it down slowly by 53 pages. Before we get to the deleted scene let me introduce you to Cecy:
Cecy (pronounced Sessy) Robson is an author with Penguin's SIGNET ECLIPSE. She attributes her passion for story-telling back to the rough New Jersey neighborhood she was raised in. As a child, she was rarely allowed to leave the safety of her house and passed her time fantasizing about flying, fairies, and things that go bump in the night. Her dad unwittingly encouraged Cecy's creativity by kissing her goodnight wearing vampire fangs. Gifted and cursed with an overactive imagination, she began writing her Urban Fantasy Romance Series, Weird Girls, in May 2009. THE WEIRD GIRLS: A Novella and SEALED WITH A CURSE are now available. The second novel in The Weird Girls Series, A CURSED EMBRACE, releases July 2, 2013. Find Cecy on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
Be sure to check the novella The Weird Girls before diving into Sealed with a Curse!
Here is the deleted fight scene:
Lightning brightened the room, casting shadows along what had once been a grand bedroom. Heavy, dark, corset-period furniture covered every square inch of the massive area. A thick and luscious drape of dark purple velvet canopied the four poster bed, but it was the set of claw marks scraping one of footboard posts that drew my attention.
The marks appeared similar to the long and slender nails vampires protruded during battle, except these appeared to be thicker and more elongated. The height also suggested a vampire close to seven feet tall or more. But the woman’s death didn’t coincide with a bloodluster attack. She hadn’t been drained like the women I’d encountered in the alley. The largest bloodstains were mere trickles of dark brown over the white-laced duvet.
I wished the blood and the shackles anchored to each post were the most hair-raising items on the bed. Of course, that wasn’t the case here in Freddy Krueger’s Disneyland Adventure. Black char marks outlined where a body had lay, searing through the white lace and smudging like coal along the edges. I took a whiff and cringed from the sour aroma of dying magic. That’s when I realized the woman nailed to the ceiling had been a witch―Zhahara’s witch.
Another chunk of skin fell. Loud enough to be a foot.
I wrapped my arms around my body and moved away from the bed. An armoire and a desk lay near the door. The armoire had been toppled over, and scratches etched into the wood floor where the desk had been dragged. The witch had probably tried to barricade herself in. But neither the furniture nor her magic had been enough to spare her. More falling parts motivated me to get the hell out of the damn room.
I reached for the brass handle and slowly opened the door. It almost seemed strange not to find a fire-breathing axe murderer with a forked tail and six eyeballs waiting for me on the other side.
Oil lamps and fat candles on brass candelabras illuminated the dim stone hallway. I crept down the corridor, stepping along the stone pavers as if a mystical booby-trap awaited. I rounded the corner where a vampire wearing a grey pinstripe suit sat on a satin-lined fainting couch . . . reading a newspaper. His nostrils flared once before he carefully folded his paper and smiled in my direction.
“Hello, baby,” he said in a thick Latin accent. “Come to me so that I may give you a kiss.” His eyes sparkled with growing thirst as I advanced. He watched the way my tigress made our hips sway. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, mami. You’re going to taste so good.”
Bubbles of acid made my stomach gurgle. His olive skin, thick hair, and dark, dreamy eyes may have been Latino gorgeous, but his words and tone screamed creepy guy lurking near Chuck-E-Cheese.
He thought he’d hypnotized me and that I wouldn’t cause any problems while he feasted.
He thought wrong.
I kneed him in the nuts, and pitched his pathetic ass through the stained glass window on the opposite wall. He bellowed as a torrent of blue and white flame shot upward past the window. Taran had sent her love.
I raced down the hall, past the closed rooms toward the sound of the back door collapsing inward. My family heard my signal. Yay for me. No way could I have faced any further horrors alone.
Misha’s voice echoed from the level below. “Celia! Celia!”
“I’m coming!”
Or I thought I was. Bulging green fists pounded through the doors lining the hall, splintering the thick oak and sending shards of wood soaring like dead leaves in a windstorm. The bloodlusters were hungry. And I’d awakened them.
I yanked a few oil lamps from their posts and threw them against the doors. Flames swooped along the path of the flammable liquid, blurring the wood in a wash of fire. The bloodlusters shrieked. Their putrid skin ignited like logs, slowly at first until deep orange flames consumed every inch of skin.
I tossed more lamps along the way, narrowly missing the sea of limbs desperate to grab me. I barreled down the hall, legs pumping fast enough to make my thighs burn, soles beating against my trashed shoes. Two more doors. I only needed to pass two more to reach the end―
The doors burst in a cluster of debris. I threw my last lamp, engulfing one vampire, but not the other six. Thick bodies lunged at me as I slid into a shift.
My bodies dissolved into tiny molecules only to reform mid-air. I fell screaming into the foyer. Misha dove across the stone floor, catching me in his outstretched arms. Good thing. No way could I have shifted safely to the next level. Blind, heart-quivering fear had that affect on me.
His wild eyes stared back at me as thundering roars echoed from the balcony. “We have company,” I mumbled unnecessarily.
About twenty screeching bloodlusters leapt over the wrought iron railing, because God forbid they’d take the stairs and give me a minute to catch my breath.
Shayna’s eyelids peeled back as she and the others spread in a defensive arc around us. “Dude! What did you do?”
I thought, “Pissed off a jillion infected vampires,” went without saying. I ignored her and scrambled to my feet, ready to fight for my life . . . and that of my family’s.
Thanks Cecy! This is just a small taste of all the fun you will have with this book! The lovely and talented Cecy is offering to one lucky U.S. resident a signed copy of Sealed with a Curse. This giveaway is sponsored by the author. To enter fill out the Rafflecopter. See Contest Policies for all details. Good luck! Be sure to follow Cecy's upcoming tour for the sequel A Cursed Embrace which releases on July 2nd. The Cursed Embraced Tour starts June 1st and ends right here on Rainy Day Ramblings on July 4th! Best of luck with your tour Cecy!
Here is my review:
Sealed with a Curse (Weird Girls #1) by Cecy Robson
Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other twenty-something girls—with one tiny exception: They're the products of a curse that backfired and gave each of them unique powers that make them, well, a little weird…
The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region—until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren't aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders if the vampires of Tahoe are plague-ridden.
Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha's family to keep the area safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and—oh, yeah—not lose her heart to the wrong guy or die a miserable death. Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, he's coming for her and her sisters. This Wird girl has never had it so tough.
Mass Market Paperback, 350 pages
Published December 31st 2012 by Signet Eclipse
Source: Author: won in a giveaway
Four stars: A fun and entertaining new series with original characters!
Celia and her three sisters tentatively head into the vampire courtroom. The sisters are being tried for murder of a vampire. Taran, after a night of clubbing, went home with a vampire, he attacked her, and she killed him. The problem is that vampires don't normally attack their victims and now she is in a bad position. It takes everything the sisters have to remain calm and subject themselves to the vampire court. The four Wird girls have not had an easy go in life. They don't fit in anywhere. They each have unique supernatural talents that make them stick out in the human world, and the paranormal world hasn't adopted them, either. So all they have is each other, and there love and loyalty for one another is fierce. The girls would give up their lives to protect each other, and it looks like in the vampire court it might come down to that! Can the Wird sisters finagle their way out of a tough situation?
What I Liked:
- I have been on the hunt for a fantastic new Urban Fantasy series, and I think I finally struck it lucky with Sealed with a Curse. Finally, a book that presents us with something original in the paranormal genre. Ms. Robson gives us the four Wird sisters. Each girl is blessed, or cursed if you will, with a unique talent. For instance, Celia, the oldest, can shapeshift into a powerful tigress, but there is a slight drawback to her gift, if she brushes up against another animal she takes that form. I thought the scene where Celia was a chicken running around on chicken feet was hilarious. Taran is brazen and very outspoken. Her talent is the ability to call fire and lightning and she can alter memories. Shayna can take any object and transform it into something sharp and deadly. Watch out for her toothpicks! Esme, the youngest sister, is kind and sensitive, she has the ability to heal, and she is telekinetic. Needless to say, these girls with their talents makes for an entertaining and interesting read!
- I loved that this book is action packed from the first pages. There is never a dull moment for the Wird sisters. If you are a fan of UF with lots of action and fight scenes I think you will be pleased with the amount of danger in this one.
- This book is brimming with all kinds of paranormal entities from witches, vampires, werewolves and all kinds of shapeshifting animals. There was a great deal of originality when it came to the shapeshifters. I particularly liked Gemini a werewolf who can transform into two wolves! I was pleased to find that the vampires were on the dark and dangerous side, yet they also had a sense of humor. I found that I really enjoyed the master vampire Misha. That is saying a great deal since I am extremely burned out on vampires. I also liked the vampire infection that turned the vamps into crazed killers. No sparkly romantic type vampires in this one.
- The romance is sizzling hot! It does start out with a bit of insta lust, but ends up being very enjoyable. Celia, even though she is beautiful and talented and can transform into a tigress, lacks self esteem. She is timid when it comes to dating and love as opposed to her more amorous and gregarious sisters. Her love life is non existent until she catches sight of the devastatingly handsome Aric, a pureblood werewolf, while jogging. From the moment their eyes meet there is insane chemistry. Don't think, though, just because it starts off with a heated attraction that the romance is easy. Celia is constantly doubting her attractiveness, and she doesn't believe that Aric is really interested in her. I loved that she was full of insecurity when it came to romance, it made her vulnerable and real. Needless to say, the tension between the two continues to build and build until it explodes. If you are needing a solid romance in your UF get this one. I was a bit worried that this might stray into love triangle territory when a vampire takes a serious interest in Celia, but instead it turns more into an intense and humorous male competition (another very funny scene). Celia, however, only has eyes for one suitor so the love triangle is averted.
- The story is entertaining and engaging and there is plenty of humor and lots of snark which I thoroughly enjoyed.
- The ending and climax are crazy good with a big fight scene and villainous reveal. Thankfully, everything ties up and there is a satisfactory ending. No cliffhanger!
And The Not So Much:
- As I discussed earlier, this book is packed with shapeshifters. There were all types of were creatures such as bears and raccoons, but I was never clear on all these species of weres. How did they become a were? What were their abilities? Aric is born as a pure blood werewolf, but there isn't much detail on his condition. If some people are born as weres does that mean others are turned into a were creature? If so, then how? I was curious for a bit more detail on all these were creatures, especially the garbage eating were raccoon.
- I was a tad disappointed that it was pretty easy for me to guess who the villain was from the beginning. So it wasn't a big surprise at the unmasking. It is fairly obvious who the bad guy is. This is no big deal because there is plenty else going on in the plot to keep you entertained. I was wanting a bit more of a punch at the end.
- The whole vampire infection thing got a bit muddled for me. I was not clear as to how the vampires were infected. Were they served up the blood? Furthermore, I was a bit confused on how the whole infection worked. Perhaps this is just me, but I found this whole contamination thing to be a bit unclear.
Sealed with a Curse is an excitingly fast and furious Urban Fantasy read. It features memorable and characters with unique abilities, plenty of action, a mystery and a sizzling romance. The Wird sisters are now some of my new favorite UF characters, and I cannot wait to see how much trouble they get into the next time out! If you are looking for a fantastic new series I highly suggest you check out The Wird Sisters by Cecy Robson!
Favorite Quotations:
"Based on his scowl, I would have guessed for sure he would have said no. Yet curiosity grabbed stubbornness by the throat and pimp-slapped it a few times."
"Misha didn’t appear taken by her charm. He eyed her as if she’s asked him to make her a garlic pizza in the shape of a cross. I laughed: I couldn’t help it. Leave it to Shayna to try to befriend the guy who’ll probably suck us dry by sundown.”
“A small smirk found its way to my lips. Luke Skywalker could suck it. He had nothing on Shayna.”
I won a copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
