G I V E A W A Y   E N D E D

Guest Post:
Moon Flower: Vampires of Los Angeles is about a community of vampires living in, you guessed it, Los Angeles. I am passionate about two things: history and the fabulous. So vampires seemed a natural topic,  due to their inherent historical nature and their fabulousness. And vampires have been fabulous a long time, dating back to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. So when I was writing Sonia, my 250-year-old Australian protagonist, I really got to delve into the history of Australia, and I did the same for some of my other characters. Sunny, by contrast, my hunky Alpha-vampire extraordinaire, was only turned in 1997, and so I was able to contrast him with Sonia very nicely. There were other ways I was able to incorporate my historical studies, such as the fact that my vampire society has ties to the Ancient Greek coven that sort of rules them all.

But while history was fun to write, it was the romance that really got this novel going. This is not in any way a Paranormal Romance—this is an urban fantasy, and it features the very beginnings of a love triangle that is going to continue to burn as the series moves forward. The triangle features my main character Sonia, and Sunny—the vampire I’ve already mentioned, and Alex, the human photojournalist who has caught Sonia’s eye. Sonia has a thing for humans. She was married to a human in Australia. Sonia and Owen were already married when Sonia was turned, and then they continued their marriage for the rest of his human life. In my world, turning humans is a very dangerous operation. Only about 15-25% actually survive the process. So simply turning your paramour is not really something a lover will want to risk. I have left the details of Sonia’s turning in the shadows for this book, but I do reveal more in the sequel that I am writing now. So, back to the romance. Sonia is fascinated by Alex, and Sunny is in love with Sonia, but doesn’t want to settle down just yet. Sonia loves Sunny as her friend, but she really wants Alex. What does Alex want? Well, he doesn’t know. He has a past with vampires that he alludes to, and he has loved a vampire before, but he’s not sure he wants to date someone he can’t take home to Mom. 

Now as for the suspense element in this book, which is very important as this is in fact an urban fantasy, well that is provided by my (spoiler) vrykolokas. Now what on earth is a vrykolokas? It is a very old type of vampire that goes back to Ancient Greece. There used to be a saying that the vrykolokas in Santorini were as numerous as the owls in Athens. Are there a lot of owls in Athens? I don’t know, but as ancient Athenian coins have owls on them, perhaps they are. A vrykolokas was a type of zombie-ish vampire that was brought back from the dead to harass the living. It was a nasty thing, certainly nothing you’d want to run into down a dark alley. In Moon Flower, I’ve got a particularly nasty vrykolokas, and its taking out the younger vampires of Los Angeles. And it’s being controlled by a Master Vampire. Sot the questions Sonia must answer is: Who is the Master Vampire? And why on Earth are the younger vamps being targeted? If this is some sort of political move, which indeed it is, then wouldn’t it be far more effective to take out the older and more powerful vampires of the Los Angeles community? Why on Earth are the younger and seemingly less powerful Neoi Vampires being targeted? 

And what sets Sonia on the trail of this creature is that it has targeted Sunny. And once it sets its sights on a target, it is much like the terminator. It’s never going to stop. Sonia must figure out who is controlling the thing so she can stop both the Master Vampire and the vrykolokas before it succeeds in taking Sunny out. And the stakes are high if she fails. Not only could she lose Sunny, her best friend and potentially the love of her life, but her way of life in Los Angeles is in jeopardy. Los Angeles is a unique community in the vampire world. It’s sort of the last bastion of the Wild West. There is no formal coven in place, and no formal rule of law for all vampires to follow. Los Angeles is instead guided by an oligarchy of the older vampires. Rules are suggested, not dictated. And it is a harmonious enough system. But it is a system that has its flaws, as is evidenced by when an nasty vrykolokas starts taking out the younger vampires. Who is going to deal with this thing? There is no police force in effect in the olgarchia. They simply are not organized like that. No, if Sonia wants the vrykolikas taken out, she’s just going to have to do it herself. The oligarchia do not care very much—it is not taking out the older vampires, just the younger vamps, and it has long been the opinion of the vampire world that the population of younger vamps is too large in Los Angeles anyway. 

And that is basically Moon Flower: Vampires of Los Angeles. There is romance, with Sonia, Alex, and Sunny. There is plenty of mystery, both with the various histories of each character, as well as the plot behind the vrykolokas. There is plenty of action and some great fight scenes. And in the end it is up to Sonia not only to solve the mystery behind the vrykolokas, but to deal with the monster and its Master herself—a tall order for a 250-year-old vampire going up against foes that have existed for millenia.

Synopsis:

Sonia, a 250-year-old Australian vampire, thought she had found peace in the quiet neighborhood of Whitley Heights, Hollywood. But when a mysterious creature starts slaughtering young vampires, Sonia is thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

With her friend Sunny targeted by an ancient monster, Sonia must uncover the truth behind these brutal attacks. Desperate to save her friend and end the bloodshed, Sonia navigates the treacherous politics of the vampire world. Along the way, she finds herself torn between her irresistible attraction to Alex, the enigmatic human journalist helping in her investigation, and her deep bond with sexy and charismatic Sunny, Alpha Vampire extraordinaire.

As the sinister plot unravels, Sonia’s race against time becomes a pulse-pounding battle against an impossibly powerful foe. Will she uncover the truth before more lives are lost? And what sacrifices will she have to make to protect those she loves?

Moon Flower is a spellbinding urban fantasy that will leave you breathless. Heather Ewen-Foster’s suspenseful tale immerses you in a world of danger, romance, and mythical creatures. Get ready for an electrifying adventure that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.

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