Dear Reader,

Nightshade is the first book that has made me nervous in a long time. After writing laugh out loud paranormal romps for years, I finally gave in to my very bossy muse when she handed me an idea for a vampire novel that wasn't all that funny—it was more on the dark and scary side of paranormal romance. Yikes!

I always joke that I like to torture my characters as much as possible. Well, no character of mine goes through more than poor Jillian Conrad, injected with a serum that turns her blood poisonous to vampires before she's kidnapped by Declan Reyes, a dhampyr assassin who drags her into his fight against an infamous vampire king.

Declan isn't exactly your typical romantic hero. He's scarred, damaged, and on a serum that keeps his vampire tendencies at bay. It also shuts down his ability to feel human emotion...unless, of course, this very important serum is taken away from him. Would I really do that to my character? Why, yes. Yes, I would.

Then hell really breaks loose. Declan never signed up as a protector of a human woman in desperate trouble, but that's what he has to do if she's going to get out of this alive. Through it all, Jill tries to retain her wry and sarcastic view of the world—hey, I couldn't write a book totally devoid of humor, you know. It's just not me.

Nightshade is definitely a roller coaster ride into the darker recesses of my imagination—part kickass urban fantasy, part horror novel, and part sexy paranormal romance. And if you enjoy Nightshade, Jill and Declan's story continues in the novella "Bleeding Heart," in the Primal anthology (released the exact same day!), and then again in July with Bloodlust.

I think Nightshade is a bloody good time for readers. I certainly hope you agree!

Happy reading!

Michelle Rowen
www.michellerowen.com