Blog Tour- TASTE OF DARKNESS Meet Loren and Quian and a Giveaway!

I am so excited to have Maria V. Snyder here today! I am one of her biggest fans I love all of her books and I freaking loved TASTE OF DARKNESS it was the perfect ending to the Healer Series! I fell hard for all of the characters in her books and I loved the smartass duo of Loren and Quain.And today we get to see what happens when they interview each other! Make sure to enter the giveaway below for a copy of the book!
Haven't heard of TASTE OF DARKNESS? Check it out!

Title: TASTE OF DARKNESS

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Pub. Date: December 31, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Pages: 464

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

She's fought death and won. But how can she fight her fears?

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

But there's a more immediate threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.

Now on to the interview!

The following is Loren and Quain being interviewed about how they met each other and Kerrick and Belen:

Loren:  I was sipping tea at the Nasty Bear tavern—

Quain:  Tea?  At the Nasty Bear?  No one’s gonna believe that.

Loren:  Shut up, Quain.  It’s my turn, you’re next.  Let’s see I was in the town of Vix in Tobory Realm, minding my own business  [Quain snorts in amusement] when this distraught father enters the tavern.  Seems his daughter had been kidnapped and forced to work in the infamous Vix’s Vixens brothel.  He was hoping to hire some people to help rescue her.  He was going to need more than a couple as the place had more security than Queen Bianca’s bedroom.  No one volunteered.  Or rather no one sane volunteered, but a very young, very drunk, hot-headed—

Quain:  Hey, I’m not a hot head.

Loren:  Noticed he didn’t protest the young and drunk.

Quain:  My dad had just died and I was drinking to forget.  Besides, you volunteered, too.

Loren:  I didn’t want you to get yourself killed.  The plague had killed so many, I couldn’t stand by and watch some young idiot throw away his good luck at surviving.

Quain:  And you hated the idea of a young girl being forced to—

Loren [snapping]:  Yes, that too.  Without law enforcement, criminals were preying on the survivors.  And we were letting them!  At that time, the survivors should have been banding together and supporting each other.  Anyway, I offered to go along, hoping a few others would as well.

Quain:  No luck.  We left and checked out the brothel and once I gotta a good look at the security, I sobered up real quick.  These guys had muscles on top of muscles. 

Loren: Which is why we decided to go in and pretend to be clients.  The father stayed outside as he’d already been tossed out of the place earlier that night.

Quain: And we had to pretend to be clients who likes to…  who likes their girls…  [blushes bright red]

Loren: Tied up since Loni, the daughter, wouldn’t be cooperating at this point. [shakes his head in disgust].

Quain:  We each were led to a room and…er…freed the girls, but neither was Loni, so we searched for her and inadvertently revealed the real reason we were there.

Loren:  Inadvertently?  This is when that hot headedness of Quain’s made its second appearance.  So outraged by what he saw, he started busting down all the doors and making a racket.

Quain [shrugging]: We were running out of time.

Loren [sighs]: Because you…oh, never mind. 

Quain:  And it worked.  We found Loni.

Loren:  But it didn’t take long for the muscle men to converge and…  Well, it wasn’t pretty.

Quain:  Yeah, good thing Kerrick and Belen showed up.  I was doing fine, but Loren was floundering.

Loren:  Floundering?  Seriously?  Have you ever seen a flounder?

Quain:  It doesn’t matter.  I used it correctly in a sentence.

Loren:  No you didn’t.  I was far from…never mind.  Either way, it was excellent timing on Kerrick and Belen’s part.  Later we found out they’d been in the Nasty Bear and heard everything, but didn’t want to call attention to themselves by volunteering in public. Instead they followed us and learned the plan from the father.

Quain:  Belen cleared a path for us.  He tossed those big muscle men aside like they were toys and I think I heard growling.

Loren:  It was groaning and it was coming from those unfortunate enough to be in Belen’s way.  Kerrick’s skills with his sword were impressive, he kept the other guards from getting close and the four of us, along with Loni and five girls escaped.

Quain:  Yep.  It was a nice bit of work and the father was very happy to see his daughter.

Loren:  Kerrick told us that he’d seen similar bad things happening all over the Fifteen Realms, and he and Belen were on a mission to help a ruler who would get our world back. 

Quain:  I joined up right away, but Loren took some convincing.

Loren:  No.  I agreed and you—

Quain:  No.  You have it all wrong.  I—

Loren:  Planned to go back to the Nasty Bear and finish drowning your sorrows, while I—

Quain [huffs in disbelief]:  You are incapable of admitting I’m right.

Loren:  I’ll admit it when it’s ever true.

Quain [growls and launches himself at Loren]:  Argh!

Thanks guys! You crack me up!!

About Maria:

Maria V. Snyder changed from being a meteorologist to a novelist in 1995, when she began writing to keep her sanity while raising two children. Since then, she has published numerous freelance articles in magazines and newspapers, and teaches fiction-writing classes at the local college and area libraries. The classes give her the wonderful opportunity to encourage fellow writers, and to keep improving her craft.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria always had a fascination with big storms. Dreaming of chasing tornados, Maria earned a bachelors of science degree in meteorology at Penn State University. But she discovered, much to her chagrin, that forecasting the weather wasn't one of her skills. In order to chase tornados you had to predict where they might form. Creating fantasy worlds where she has complete control of the weather was more agreeable to her.

Maria's research on food-tasting methods with an expert chocolate taster, her husband, turned out to be a delicious bonus while writing Poison Study.

Maria has a brown belt in Isshinryu Karate, and enjoys playing volleyball and the cello. Traveling in general and via cruise ship in particular are her biggest distractions from writing. Maria has traveled to Belize, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.

Maria lives with her husband, son, daughter and yellow lab, Hazelnut, in Pennsylvania where she is at work on more LUNA novels. She is also pursuing a master's degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University.

Readers are welcome to contact Maria at the following email address: maria@mariavsnyder.com.

Where you can find Maria:

Website/Blog/Facebook/Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

2 Copies of TASTE OF DARKNESS International

10 Copies of TASTE OF DARKNESS US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the Tour Schedule:

Week One:

12/30/2013- Read Now Sleep Later- Interview

12/31/2013- Tynga's Reviews- Guest Post

1/1/2014- Fiktshun- Guest Post

1/2/2014- Bibliophilia, Please- Interview

1/3/2014- Snowdrop Dreams of Books- Review

Week Two:

1/6/2014- http://www.parajunkee.com/         Parajunkee- Guest Post

1/7/2014- Moonlight Gleam Reviews- Review

1/8/2014- The Cover Contessa- Interview

1/9/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

1/10/2014- Mundie Moms- Interview

Review- Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Scent of Magic

Maria V. Snyder

Release Date: December 18, 2012

Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

ISBN: 0778314189

Source: ARC from the publisher via Netgalley

Rating: Obsessed!!!!!!!!!

Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

From Goodreads.

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

 Ah people you all know my love of Maria V. Snyder’s books and Scent of Magic was no exception! I saw this book on Netgalley and even though I really don’t like reading eBooks I requested it and started reading the minute it downloaded. If I hadn't of started it so late at night I would have read this book in one sitting. It was that good! I didn't realize how much I missed Avry, Kerrick, Belen, and the rest of the crew until I read the first chapter and then I was instantly sucked back into this world of life magic, death magic, friendship, treachery, and love.

I don’t want to say much because anything I can think of to say would be too spoilery but let me just say that there will be huge surprises for you all in this one and I mean huge! Surprises that made me smile and ones that made me ugly cry! And the ending oh dear gods I wanted to strangle Maria! I even told her the downfall of reading her books early is the long wait for the next one! And she then told me a bit of info that I can’t quite share just yet but it made me squee like crazy! So peeps go get this one when it comes out!

I chose a scene from the beginning of the book to share with you between Avry and Kerrick…..

“How long are you going to play dead?” Kerrick asked.

“As long as I can. It’s a good strategy.”

“For you. I’m the one that’s going to have to deal with Belen, Quain and Loren.”

“I’m sure Ryne’s keeping them busy with his genius mili­tary tactics that will stop Tohon.” Which was the reason I’d given up my life for him.

Kerrick relaxed his arms and moved to sit next to me. He pulled me close.

“At least I won’t have to act like I’m sad and missing you.”

“You mean you’ll go from moody, sullen and distant, to moody, sullen, distant and sad? The guys won’t suspect a thing,” I teased.

“Don’t start.” He tangled his fingers in my hair. “You were the reason for all those…”

“Temper tantrums? Grumpiness? Irritability?”

He tilted my head until I gazed up at him. A dangerous glint shone in his eyes. “You didn’t make it easy.”

“True, but neither did you.”

“True.” A hint of a smile. “I guess we’re meant to be to­gether.”

“Surprisingly,” I agreed.

“Not to Belen. Once he forgives me for lying to him, he’s going to gloat.”

Belen had been his loyal friend, bodyguard and all but his older brother ever since Kerrick was born. It made sense that he could read Kerrick better than anyone.

“When did he figure it out?” I asked.

“Well before I did.” Kerrick gazed at the fire. “I think he made a comment after you escaped and I saved you from the mercs.”

An odd time. Kerrick had been furious at me. “And when did you…agree with him?”

“My feelings started changing after you healed Belen and we were at Mom’s.” He returned his focus to me. Cupping my face with his other hand, he said, “You had me tied in knots. You saved Belen’s life, and I wanted to kill you and thank you at the same time. And during those nights when we didn’t know if you’d live or die, I went from being angry to worried to frustrated to scared all within a single heartbeat. If you had died, I would have killed you.”

“You know that doesn’t make sense, right?”

“Nothing about that time made sense.”