Giveaway and Excerpt: Dayling ~ by Gabriel Madison (a young adult vampire novel)

 

Today we have a giveaway and chapter excerpt ~ for the newly released young adult vampire novel:

Dayling ~ by Gabriel Madison

Here is a bit about the book:

Times were a lot simpler for Haven before she stepped out of the shadows… and into the eternal night.

Turning eighteen is an exciting time for most girls. It means finally being considered a legal adult, having more freedom and a wild birthday party. For Haven Vigano, it means no longer being able to move around in the daytime, immortality and a craving for human blood. Haven is a Dayling, but in three weeks she will ‘Cross Over’ into the world of Nightlings.

Most Daylings live their lives as humans for as long as they can, which means they attend school, make normal friends and indulge in all the pleasures of being mortal… most Daylings except for Haven.

To make matters worst, a friend from her past, another Dayling named Sébastien, arrives in Tallahassee with the news that an ancient group of Nightling hunters called The Holy Sect of Mântuitors are hunting down and killing her kind. Now Haven must deal with her growing attraction to Philip, plus understand Sébastien’s jealousy towards her human crush, and oh yeah, help deal with the threat of the Mântuitors.

Times were a lot simpler for Haven when she felt indifferent towards everything and everyone.

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To find out more about or to connect with Gabriel Madison ~ link to his webpage, or blog, and Goodreads. Also to a review of his first book Three Seeds here on Layers of Thought.

To purchase from Amazon US[Kindle] ~ UK[Kindle] ~ Canada and Smashwords (for other e-formats and to print).

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An excerpt from chapter one:

The thought of my upcoming birth day wouldn’t leave my mind. I placed my arms behind my head as I closed my eyes and focused on pleasant memories. Most of them were of me alone with a good book, but a few were of being around family and friends. None had to do with being around people outside of my world. Being on my families estate, only dealing with the people closest to me, would be all I needed
after my eighteenth birthday.

I must have dozed off for a moment, because she was standing over me when I opened my eyes, and the moon reflected behind her. Angela still lay beside me on her back, obviously asleep. But she didn’t seem to care about her kid sister at the moment; instead she stared directly at me, “time to wake up pequeña
princesa. You need to get ready for a party.”

Slowly I sat up on my elbows. “I know you’re insane Sophia, but are you also delusional?”

She kneeled down beside me. “Since my little sister is starting real school soon, Nigel and I are going to take her to this party we heard about. Give her and opportunity to check out the locals at play.” Sophia leaned in closer to me, causing my entire body to uncontrollably shiver as she whispered. “You don’t have a choice in this chica.” She reached over and shook Angela awake while continually staring at me. I hated Sophia thinking she scared me, even though she did scare the crap out of me, but it was a major blow to my pride how much she knew she scared me. Angela looked over to her sister. Finally, Sophia turned to face Angela. “Time to go party with your soon to be class mates. Get up, take a quick shower, get dressed in something slutty, and let’s go introduce the students of Lexington High School to their future queen.” She smiled at both of us, before she stood up and walked away.

Angela groggily looked over to me. “What?”

The fear finally left my body. A frown covered my face as I looked in the direction Sophia had walked away in. “Hell! She is dragging us to hell!” Angela gave me a confused look. “We’re going to a high school party.” Why couldn’t I have simply died from a heat stroke while I slept? Because I’m Haven Vigano, and my luck doesn’t work like that.

A few hours later we were making our way up a long driveway towards the party, and I was thinking about making a run for it. I was fast enough, not to mention the only real light source came from a half moon looming above us in a starless night sky. On top of that, Sophia wore her favorite high heels; the ones that formed a thin spike at the end, and made it seem as if she walked on her tiptoes. I felt that those god-forsaken shoes gave me a good chance of getting away before she caught me, and I would have taken that chance, if my other cousin Nigel, hadn’t kept glancing back at me every time I thought about dashing towards our estate.

We stopped at the front door of Eliot Little’s two-days-until-back-to-school-party. I could hear music pulsating out of the den, a type of techno hip-hop blend. Glimpses of blue and red lights flashed out of a window. My body tensed. Every cell inside of me screamed for an escape route. I couldn’t believe the jock had disco lights for his house party.

Sophia knocked on the door, a moment later the door opened with a short, muscular guy standing in the entrance.

The jock stumbled a little as he tried to gather himself. His eyes were barely open, and he reeked of  alcohol. His short, black hair hung disheveled over his forehead. He held a beer can in one hand, while using the other to gain balance on the side of the doorframe.

“Yo, haven’t seen you around here before.” He slurred out as he gazed at Sophia. Her black eyes gleamed as she stared at the inebriated jock. A playful half smile slowly crept across her smooth, innocent-looking face. I’d seen that look before. It had gotten us into as much trouble as it had gotten us out of. But, it never failed in achieving whatever task Sophia conjured it up for. “We’ve lived up the block for a little over two years. Never made the time to make the rounds. Making the time now.” Sophia moved her long black hair behind her ears. She allowed her seductive gaze to fully light up her beautiful Spanish face. “You’re Eliot right? The man of the house?” She spoke with a slow rhythm.

Eliot almost fell over with excitement. His eyes became glazed with longing. His entire body stiffened. He had no idea the game being played on him. Nigel knew, which is why he quietly laughed at the enthralled football jock. Personally, I just wanted to get this over with so I could go home.

Stumbling again, Eliot quickly re-gathered himself. “Yeah I’m the man of the house. And you and your friends are invited to my party.” He moved out of the way for us to enter; never once taking his eyes from Sophia’s as he closed the door behind us.

Teenage kids grinding against each other filled the first floor of the house. I’d never gone to a teenage party before. I’d only read about them and seen them on TV or in movies. I thought Hollywood exaggerated what went on at these events, I had no idea how tamed the Hollywood versions were compared to the real thing.

A few kids were scattered around making out. I saw an area where belly shots were taking place. And of course, no party would be complete without the triple-kiss being performed in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. I’d learned about the triple-kiss from Angela, who swore she’d never participated in one, but saw them on MTV Spring Break. 

“Okay, I’m ready to leave now. I came, I saw,” I quickly shook my body, “I danced. See you guys back home.”

Sophia stepped in front of me. The flashing lights bounced off her face, giving her skin a slightly unnatural porcelain glow. She locked her shimmering black eyes onto mine. Unlike Eliot, she wasn’t trying to seduce me. Instead she tried to intimidate me. And as much as I hated to admit it, it worked. “You’re going to stay here with us, mingle, and have some fun. In a few weeks, Haven, you’ll be like me. But for now, you’re more like them. So enjoy it while you can chica.”

I stared back into Sophia’s eyes, trying not to show the fear building inside me. “I’m nothing like them. And I’m never going to be like you Sophia.”

“Three weeks until your eighteenth b-day. Looks like someone has already started Crossing Over. Are we getting a little feisty there Haven?” Nigel said with a lopsided smile.

I turned from Sophia to face him. His skin also had a slightly porcelain glow to it. His frosty blond hair sat perfectly on top of his head. His light blue eyes gleamed with playfulness. He seemed as relaxed as always. I gave him a frown before I turned back to Sophia.

“Why am I here anyway? I thought this was supposed to be about Angela?”

She placed her left arm around her kid sister’s shoulder, pulling her in closer to her body. If I hadn’t known any better, the embrace would have seemed comforting, almost loving. However, the malice in Sophia’s eyes always gave her true nature away. “It is about me mamacita. And she wants you to stay. Isn’t that right Angela?”

I looked at Angela hoping for her to say the words to excuse me from this torment. Instead, I got the top of her head as she stared at the floor; her telltale sign when she’s about to say something you don’t want to hear.

“It’s true. I’d feel better if you were here with me Haven.” Angela mumbled. Sophia kissed Angela on the jaw before she released her.

Sophia stalked up to me, only stopping inches from my face. I could feel her slightly cool breath, and taste her unnatural scent as a chill gradually entered my body, leaving me frozen in place. “While Nigel and I check out this place for some after party fun, I want you to take Angela around for some introductions.” As she spoke, Sophia slowly leaned towards me, bearing her perfect white teeth while gazing longingly at my exposed neck. I tried to move. The fear flooding inside of me left me petrified in place. Sophia giggled before kissing me on the jaw, and then disappearing into the swarm of dancing teenagers with Nigel.

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International Giveaway:

Since the book will be sent by the author - you do not need to be a “reader” for this giveaway. Anyone can enter, but the hard copy of the book is only available for mailing inside the US, for international readers there is an ecopy.

Contest Info:

To enter you must:

• comment
• include in the post your email so that I can contact you

For optional extra points you can do any, or all or none of the below for 1 entry point each: (All entries separately please!)

1. Be a subscriber of Layers of Thought – google or facebook. (I need to be able to see you! – to get updates in facebook feed and add me as a friend otherwise it does not count.)
2. Blog it - side bars are great - please provide links
3. Tweet it – provide links please
4. Friend on Twitter
5. Friend on Goodreads
6. Friend on Book Blogs
7. Friend on Glue  - new to glue? have questions? let me know.

As stated above, this giveaway is International for an ecopy and US for hard copy.

Contest ends Wednesday December 29, 2010 at 12 pm US Pacific time. Winner will be posted and notified on Tuesday January 18, 2011. 

Please note unlike other posts we do not respond to comments for giveaways. If you have a question or concern (like a typo or bad link) please email me via my profile – Shellie.

Thanks for entering and good luck!