Hi there! I’m Linda J. Parisi and I’ve been asked to tell you something about myself.
First off, I love being an author. I get to go to book signings and conferences around the country, meet readers, and find out the books they enjoy. So much fun to talk to someone who has read my work and understands the motive behind the plot, and who loves my characters as much as I do.
Second, I love being a writer. I have a huge imagination so I get to create scenes and worlds and put my characters in all kinds of situations. Of course, I have to get them out of those situations too, but that’s all part of the fun. I want my readers to turn to the next page and the next because they can’t wait to see what’s going to happen. And then, sometimes, I throw in a twist. So delicious.
I write Romance. I love hot vampires and paranormal romance. What can be harder than redeeming the unredeemable hero? What can be more satisfying than making a broken man believe he’s worthy of love? Like Hunter in Honorable Rogue?
I also love romantic suspense, historical (Jamie, Jamie, Jamie), and well, any kind of romance actually. For me, the best part of a book is watching the hero and heroine grow and grow together which opens their hearts to love.
I come from a big Italian family (four brothers and sisters), and my next new venture from Harlequin is about a big Italian family, the Diamante’s, ‘down the shore’ (in Jersey, we don’t call it going to the beach). So, obviously, I’m a Jersey girl, not born (NYC) but bred (since I was three).
I have a son, Christopher, who teaches high school science, and a daughter-in-law, Sara, who is a licensed clinical social worker. They’ve been married, wow, over seven years now. I have two grand-dogs (no kids yet). Archer is a two year old German Shepherd/Australian Cattle Dog mix, and Audi is a twelve year old Cocker Spaniel. We all know who’s the boss, don’t we? Not the sixty pound pup, that’s for sure.
I love to cook. I make a mean gravy (which is what we called spaghetti sauce when I was growing up). I try to bake (don’t ask). I eat Taylor Ham, not Pork Roll (an ongoing battle with my bestie and critique partner Gwen). I love conference mornings and coffee and talking about books and plots and characters with my other bestie and critique partner Chris.
I recently retired. I used to be a Clinical Research Scientist and Project manager so I blended some real world science into my Blood Rogue series. There’s nothing more fascinating than taking on-the-cusp research and making it work in fiction.
I was married nearly forty-four years before I lost my husband. I guess I believe in love and HEA’s. It’s why I write romance.
Thank you for taking the time to step into my world. I hope you enjoy the Blood Rogue series. If you do, come visit me at www.lindajparisi.com
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Title: BLOOD ROGUE
Author: LINDA J. PARISI
Genre: VAMPIRE ROMANCE
Book Blurb:
Vampire Charles Tower never knew anything sweeter than the taste of Stacy Morgan’s lips. He never imagined anything crueler than her being marked for death by the only father he’s ever known. Now he’s gone rogue and it’s up to Charles to put the man down. But can Chaz convince himself and Stacy that love between them is impossible? That’s hard to do with a woman like Stacy Morgan, especially when she offers herself up as bait. Now they must fight against the centuries-old customs that bar them from being together and the rogue vampire who wants every last drop of Stacy’s blood before they can discover why Mikhail isn’t the only BLOOD ROGUE they’ll have to face.
Excerpt
“Who would be powerful enough to control vampires this way?” he asked.
Sam shook her head. “I don’t know, but somehow, I don’t think this is purely mind control. Even I couldn’t do something like that. And as you know, I’ve tried many techniques at Sanctuary.”
Chaz nodded. “What I don’t get is the danger. This is like playing with an atom bomb. Rogues cannot be contained. One wrong move and…why take that risk?”
Sam seemed to agree. “Because of the reward. We’ve been talking about single cells. What if this person, or more than one person, wants more. Perhaps, by creating enough chaos, they think they can take over all vampires.”
“All vampires?” Chaz stepped back to examine the possibility. One ruler? A vampire empire? The idea seemed beyond the realm of reality. Vampires were loners, singular; they only came together in cells for the right to feed. “That’s a major stretch, Sam.”
“I know.”
“And if anyone were powerful enough to do that, it’d be you.”
She threw him a look but agreed. “Only pureblood would make it possible.”
He frowned. “I’ve got another question for you. Why now, Sam? Why not twenty years ago? Or forty years from now? Or one hundred? Time is the one commodity we can use to our advantage.”
“I’m not sure. However, this is the age of technology. Human science has gone to great lengths to understand their own biology, but, in the end, it all boils down to power.”
She said the last word with such vehemence that Chaz asked, “How can you be so certain?”
Sam turned to him and gave him a look he’d never forget. Sam had been part of a race of vampires who were proud and honorable. Mixed deep inside her anger, he read sadness. Only a coward would use beings to further a goal. “The lust for power destroyed my people.”
It was a story he’d never fully heard. Only bits and pieces. Someday, Chaz thought, he’d like to know more.
She frowned and fell silent for a long moment. “All right,” she continued with a long sigh. “What we’ve discussed is certainly plausible. I’ll warn The Council. But I don’t want to create a panic. We have very little proof beyond a group of over-confident, arrogant, and newly made vampires who require severe discipline.”
“And one too many rogues.”
“Indeed.”
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Author Biography:
As a major in biochemistry with a minor in English literature, Linda has always tried to mesh her love of science with her love of the written word. Once a clinical research scientist, now a NJRW Golden Leaf, N.N. Light’s Book Heaven 2021 Paranormal Romance award, and the 2022 HOLT Medallion winner for Speculative Fiction, she creates unforgettable characters and puts them in untenable situations, much to their dismay. Choices always matter and love conquers all, so a happy-ever-after is a must. Linda is the current President of Liberty States Fiction Writers. She has served on the boards of other writing organizations, and loves to teach the craft of writing at workshops and conferences. She lives in New Jersey with her son Chris, daughter-in-law Sara, and Audi and Archer, a pair of pooches who had her at woof!
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Title: HONORABLE ROGUE
Author: LINDA J. PARISI
Genre: VAMPIRE ROMANCE
Book Blurb:
As a Roman gladiator and slave, vampire Hunter Pierce only knew death and destruction. Dr. Victoria Roberts only knew love and safety, until the day her life was shattered by a home invasion that destroyed her world. With Blood Rogues continuing to menace both human and vampire alike. Tori is in danger and it’s all Hunter’s fault. To keep watch over the clever scientist, the vampire enlists her to aid in finding a cure for Nirvana, the dangerous poison creating rogue vampires. When Tori is kidnapped, Hunter faces his corrupt former master and a race against the clock to save his own life. But can a vampire who has only watched out for himself risk his life, and his immortality, for the love of a human? Can a woman who has lost everything rebuild her shattered heart with a man who thinks he hasn’t got one? Only love, trust, and an HONORABLE ROGUE can save them all.
Excerpt
Hunter watched her work through half-closed eyes. The house seemed spotless to him, but she wiped and scoured and dusted until the place sparkled. Humans called it obsessive-compulsive behavior, but Hunter called it coping.
Pain. He understood his own but had never really considered another’s before, or that there could be such varying degrees from so many different causes. Did different causes make one type of pain less than another? No, he decided, simply different and no less hard to bear.
A load of laundry went into the washer, then she went into her bedroom. He listened to the shower run. He rose, knowing what was going to happen. In Tori, he found a kindred spirit. They both knew loss. They even shared a common pain, the loss of a loved one, though she didn’t know that yet. He knew of only one way to ease such incredible pain.
He opened the bathroom door quietly, watching steam surround her body. His heart stopped. Just that fraction-of-a-second missed beat, that jolt of awareness. All too familiar but in a different context. Always with the need, with the blood. Never with a woman, until now.
So brave to continue, to go on despite the devastation. He tried to imagine. Was it better to be so far away and not know the actual events, or was it better to have the horror happen before your very eyes? Hunter decided the best thing for both of them was to block out the pain by seeking succor. He opened the shower door and stepped inside. Droplets of hot water snaked down his skin. Every cell the fluid touched woke up, took notice, and drank in the water as he did the blood.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?”
Hunter hated painted faces. He hated the smell of makeup, cloying and stifling. Both sight and smell reminded him of the rich wives who’d paid his master for his services. Women with their fawning fingers and men with their furtive glances, they’d owned him, therefore what had been wrong had become right. But with her hair slicked back, Tori looked fresh, alive, and real. She looked right. And she smelled clean, of citrus and herbs.
Her gaze met his, searching. Her eyes were so soft, so round, they seemed infinite, yet they were filled with disbelief. Tori was intelligent enough to understand the consequences of his actions. They both knew she should push open the door and demand he step back out to drip onto the rug and shiver as the water turned cold on his skin. But all she did was acknowledge the danger. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
Even as she said the words she was working at the buttons on his shirt. He helped undo his trousers, letting them fall. She splayed her fingers across his chest, exploring, learning every muscle. He shucked his shirt and stood naked before her.
“I’ve done many things in my existence I shouldn’t have done,” he replied, deciding they were both wrong. He pulled her into his embrace. “This isn’t one of them.”
She stared up at him with the innocence of a doe and the strength of a lioness. He turned off the water and sluiced the droplets from their bodies with his hands. She lifted onto her toes to kiss him. He held back. She cocked her head, fingers caressing his cheeks, thumbs grazing his lips. By sheer will, she pulled his head closer and closer until their tongues began to mate. Each time she grazed one of his incisors, he jumped, a shiver of pleasure racing through him.
Leaning back, she broke the kiss. “That is so fascinating.”
“Mood killer,” he groused.
She laughed softly. “Never,” she whispered as she brought his head back down again. She kissed the hell out of him, and Hunter realized he didn’t want it to end.
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Title: DESTINY’S ROGUE
Author: Linda J. Parisi
Genre: Vampire Romance
Book Blurb:
When vampire queen Samira Anai Se-Bat turns scientist Cordell Stuart into a vampire, she makes him a deal. If he promises to find a cure for Nirvana, she will find and protect his daughter Kayla. A direct descendant of The Mother and The Father, Samira must protect her race from her brother-in-blood, Antu Si-Tayat. Antu murdered the priests and priestesses of the temple so he could be the only ruler, causing Samira to imprison him for his crimes. Having escaped, Antu wants revenge. A cellular kineticist, Cord stumbled on Nirvana while trying to save Kay’s life. He never thought his research would create an army of deadly rogue vampires. Now he is caught between his promise to save a race he neither trusts nor understands, and the need to find and save his daughter. With Antu pitting vampire factions against each other, war is brewing and Sam is caught between her promise to save Kay and her need to protect her people. But a vision shows both thrones blending into one until they are no more. If Sam follows the vision and sacrifices herself, will Antu subjugate the world? In a race against time and destiny, Sam and Cord figure out what they have to do, and find the cost will be their new found love, possibly their lives. Or will it? For a Destiny’s Rogue, nothing is certain except love. Love will always endure.
Excerpt
Blood.
No human sat behind the massive curved reception desk. Sam pushed open the door and breathed deeply as she rushed to go around the lacquered wood. She looked down to find a woman, still alive from the sound of her fluttering heartbeat. Thank the Gods.
Then she caught the scent she dreaded. He was here.
She heard a low moan echo down a long corridor to her left. Sam bent down and let her incisors grow. She placed them in the same holes on the woman’s neck, shuddering at the taste, and gave the woman the Lethe, the drug that would make her forget this day. A quick swipe of her tongue closed the holes as she withdrew.
She reared back acknowledging the taste of him, the reality as sickening as the memory enticed. Her brother in blood, Antu Si-Tayat, toying with her, for he knew her every move.
We’ll see about that.
She flashed down the hallway. Just about to throw open the doors to the office at the end, Sam whirled, sensing another presence. There could be but one other, Bahir, Antu’s manservant, the one who had been with Antu since the beginning. And there could be nothing but death. A man lay on the floor of the office she stood before, and Sam heard no heartbeat. Sadness filled her.
She ran to the next office to find Antu holding Cordell Stuart in his arms like a child. She’d seen his picture on her computer and had wondered at his likeness to another.
Sam’s shoulders lifted. Her back straightened. She drew herself up to her regal height. “Brother.”
“Sister.”
She slammed her brows together, staring at Antu long and hard. He seemed unfazed by her rebuke. “You have no right to play with them.”
Tiny red threads dripped down Stuart’s neck, staining the pristine white of his shirt collar. She licked her lips. Antu merely smiled.
There would always be the blood.
His posture defied his actions, at ease almost carefree. He bore the same bronze skin and midnight hair, cut and falling loose to his shoulders. His black eyes seemed opaque, but they were rimmed with orange, a fire ready to rage out of control at any moment. He wore the colors of the temple, a black tunic with red lettering, a reminder of a past he had no business flaunting.
“Would you like some? In the past we would have shared in joy.”
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