*The Gifted Dead* by Jenna Black - Blog Tour & Giveaway - Presented by Kismet Book Touring

I am honored to have been chosen as a participant for The Gifted Dead

Blog Tour! Please be sure to enter the Giveaway below, and add this book to your TBR
Pile! Also, please stop by each of the participating blogs which you can find below!

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Book Information:
Expected Publication: September 23, 2014 by Aardwolf Press
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy / Contemporary Epic Fantasy

Synopsis

Politics and magic make dangerous bedfellows.Deep within the Order, the seeds of corruption have taken root. While younger generations of the Gifted have embraced modern democratic values, a secret society of old-guard zealots seek a return to the past, when only European men of distinguished bloodlines held power.Now, three venerable European families and a maverick American each plot to seize control of the Order and shape it to their will. A cutthroat game of political intrigue will decide the winner; and the stakes couldn't be higher, for ruling the Order carries with it the power to grant—or deny—an afterlife.What begins as a battle of wills could turn into an all-out war. And magic could prove deadlier than any missile.

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About Jenna Black:

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Jenna Black is your typical writer. Which means she's an "experience junkie." She got her BA in physical anthropology and French from Duke University.

Once upon a time, she dreamed she would be the next Jane Goodall, camping in the bush making fabulous discoveries about primate behavior. Then, during her senior year at Duke, she did some actual research in the field and made this shocking discovery: primates spend something like eighty percent of their time doing such exciting things as sleeping and eating.

Concluding that this discovery was her life's work in the field of primatology, she then moved on to such varied pastimes as grooming dogs and writing technical documentation. She is now a full-time author of fantasy, young adult, and romance novels.

[Excerpt 5—Sergei Romanov scene 2]

Raleigh, NC 

Sergei paced the length of his small hotel room, cell phone clutched in his hand as he tried to work up the nerve to call the last man on Earth he wanted to talk to.

He had escaped the cemetery without being captured, and he had successfully destroyed Roberta Quinn’s soul, but none of that could make up for his failures. He had been seen—by a police officer, no less—standing over Quinn’s open grave while her body burned bright within it. The only thing that kept Sergei from being captured was the fact that Randy had bolted in the opposite direction when the cop got out of his car. The cop had had to choose which suspect to chase, and he had chosen Randy. Which no doubt meant Randy was now in custody. He knew little enough about Sergei—not even his name—but he could probably give a good description, and he would mention the Gift Sergei had revealed.

Worse, the authorities of the local parish would know that Quinn’s grave had been desecrated. Di Tommaso had made it abundantly clear that Sergei’s work was to be carried out in the utmost secrecy, which was why he had to kill any witnesses or accomplices.

Cursing himself, cursing the Anima, cursing the spirit guide who had granted him his Gifts, Sergei called the man who pulled his strings. If he himself were the one who would bear the brunt of Pietro di Tommaso’s displeasure, he’d face his fate with courage. But of course di Tommaso knew that, which was why he’d gone to great lengths to secure a different kind of leverage.

The phone rang twice before di Tommaso answered. A member of the Council of Elders for decades and the founder of the ultra-conservative secret society he called the Bastions, Pietro di Tommaso rarely bothered with civility if it wasn’t necessary. At least not with Sergei. There was no greeting, polite or otherwise, and he didn’t even do Sergei the courtesy of speaking in Latin, instead using his native Italian and forcing Sergei to invoke his Gift to understand. It was the most minor of annoyances compared to everything else the old man had done, but it never failed to grate on Sergei’s nerves.

“According to my watch, it’s four in the morning where you are,” di Tommaso said, his voice already holding the first hint of anger. “You would not call me at this hour if you succeeded.”

Sergei wouldn’t have called at this hour even in failure, if he didn’t fear that word would somehow make its way to the Elder’s ears if he waited too long. Di Tommaso was going to be livid no matter what, but if he thought Sergei was trying to cover up his error, his response would be exponentially worse.

“Roberta Quinn’s soul is no longer bound for the Anima,” Sergei said. “I completed my mission successfully.”

“But …” di Tommaso prompted.

Sergei let out a huff of air, not realizing he’d been holding his breath. “But I was seen. This assassination will not be a secret.”

There was a moment of seething silence on the other end of the line. Everything the Bastions did, they did under a smothering cloak of secrecy. If Sergei didn’t know how terrible the cost of his failure would be, he would have enjoyed the thought that the nest of cockroaches might be forced into the light.

“Then you have failed,” di Tommaso said. “Miserably, like the incompetent little miscreant you are. I believe I warned you quite clearly what the price of failure would be.”

Sergei’s knees weakened, and he sat on the edge of the bed, shoulders sagging, eyes closed. Pietro had indeed made it clear, and Sergei knew the old man had no hint of human decency in him. “Please, master,” he begged, so desperate to do something, anything to prevent what was going to happen that he didn’t even cringe at calling Pietro di Tommaso his master. “Do anything you want to me—I will come to you and accept any verdict, even death, if only—”

Di Tommaso snorted. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I kill you, and you are forever free of me. But despite this failure, you are far too useful to destroy. Your mission is not done, and I won’t have you wasting time with a trip to France to enjoy my hospitality. You will go on about your business, and you will be more careful about it. And tonight, I will invite my son and his lovely wife over for dinner and an evening of sport. I will email you a video of the highlights tomorrow. Anna is such a lovely little treat. I’ve almost been hoping you would fail me just so I could have an excuse to sample her.”

Sergei couldn’t force himself to answer. His whole body was shaking with rage and pain and helplessness. Young and innocent, Anna had married Alberto di Tommaso—Pietro’s vicious son—with the Anima’s blessing. No, not just with its blessing. That would have been bad enough. But on the day of her wedding, Anna had confided to him that her spirit guide had made marrying Alberto a Quest, one she thought was so easy to achieve she couldn’t turn it down. Anna had always been selflessly devout, had always served the Anima with unflinching faith. She must have received a Gift for succeeding in her Quest, but no Gift was worth the torment of being married to Alberto—and shared with Alberto’s father.

“Please,” Sergei tried again in a hoarse whisper, knowing Pietro would never relent. He would make a lesson of Anna, and Sergei would never be able to act against him for fear of worsening Anna’s suffering.

“Don’t believe this failure releases you from your obligations,” di Tommaso said. “You have a great deal more work to do in the weeks ahead, and trust me when I say you don’t want to fail me a second time.”

Sergei swallowed hard and fought not to answer with all the fire that brewed in his soul. It was hard to focus on the particulars of his mission when he knew what the di Tommasos were going to do to his little sister in just a few scant hours, but snarling at his lord and master would only make things worse.

“Keep your head about you, Sergei,” di Tommaso warned. “There is nothing you can do to stop Anna’s punishment, but you can certainly make it worse for her by making careless blunders. Tell me that you understand.”

Someday, old man, I am going to kill you, he thought, finding a hint of calm in the thought. As an Elder, di Tommaso would be surpassingly difficult to kill thanks to the Gifts he had received as he rose in the ranks. He would certainly be immune to fire; all Elders were. But just because he was immune to normal fire didn’t necessarily mean he would be immune to Sergei’s magical one.

Someday, Sergei would conduct an experiment and find out.

“I understand,” he managed to grit out, holding all thoughts of vengeance close to his heart. And, although he could not forgive the Anima Mundi for sending Anna into Alberto di Tommaso’s clutches, although he had not spoken with his spirit guide since he’d realized exactly what kind of monster Alberto was, although he had lost every scrap of faith he’d ever had, Sergei silently begged the Anima to keep his sister safe.

The Gifted Dead will be on a 2-weeks Teaser Blog Tour featuring unique and catchy scenes from the The Gifted Dead and includes also a great Giveaway!

Monday, September 8th Fiktshun
Tuesday, September 9th Books and Things
Wednesday, September 10th Xpresso Reads
Thursday, September 11th Addicted 2 Heroines
Friday, September 12th Gizmos Reviews

Monday, September 15th The Book Swarm
Tuesday, September 16th Jessabella Reads
Wednesday, September 17th Romancing the Dark Side
Thursday, September 18th Literary Escapism
Friday, September 19th Bookish

Jenna is generously offering up 10 eCopies of THE GIFTED DEAD as well as one grand prize package including a $100 gift card from either Amazon, iTunes or B&N. Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open internationally.

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