Book Review: Damaged: A Zara Lain Novella and GIVEAWAY!!!

Damaged: A Zara Lain Novella

By:  Skyla Dawn Cameron

Publish Date:  June 15, 2013

Format:  ebook, 90pgs

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  4.5 of Demons of Oblivion series:  Book .5 ~ Whiskey Sour, Book 1 ~ Bloodlines, Book 2 ~ Hunter, Book 3 ~ Lineage, Book 4 ~ Exhumed, Book 4.1 ~ 9 Crimes

Recommendation:  Oh yes.  To see how Zara is doing.  You must read to get your fill.

Synopsis:
Fresh off the events of Exhumed, snarky vampire and professional narcissist Zara Lain is still adjusting after accidentally triggering the apocalypse and everything that happened to her.  An escape from her life seems in order, one that takes her and Sir Rodney Ballsgalore - her trusty saber-toothed cat companion - deep in the woods of northern Ontario for some R&R.

It's not just nightmares that follow; trouble is always on Zara's heels, this time in the form of some idiot vacationing teenagers summoning something they can't control.  Though she believes stupid should hurt and doesn't want to lift a well-manicured finger to help them, once the creature burns through the kids it'll be coming after her.

But Zara's not the survive-at-all-costs girl she once was.  She's damaged, she's tired, and she might not have the fight left in her to live when death comes knocking this time around...

First Sentence:
Mick was a new bouncer at Alchemy Red, in his second week of employment, and I was debating pulling his spine out through his throat.

Purchase At:
Amazon  (if you need another format, if you purchase this one and email your receipt to Skyla - found on her site - I'm sure she'll send you the format you need.)

**I read this one for my own personal enjoyment, as I LOVE this series so hard.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Zara can't get into her stomping grounds, Alchemy Red, with her best friend - Rodney Ballsgalore, her sabortooth cat.  Talked into getting out of her apartment for a relaxing vacation, Zara decides to go to a cabin on acreage she owns.  Zara doesn't want bothered, but a screaming girl knocking at her door and kids that don't know what they are messing with, might be what Zara needs to help shaker her out of her current state.  Zara gets to help save the remaining teens and hunt demons they stupidly summoned...or was it stupidity?

Zara is broken.  You can see the difference in her right away with the way she interacts with Rodney and her friends.  Things are all out of whack for Zara, emotionally after the incidents of Exhumed along with no work and her money is running out.  I love Peri!  She says it like it is with Zara and what others are thinking but won't say.  Peri does not fear Zara's wrath at all, she actually seems to embrace it. ;)

Zara is...well, Zara.  I love her when she doesn't care for strangers.  Even in the state she's in she makes me smile with her...bluntness.  Zara is working to be, or find, herself again.  Nightmares from Exhumed haunter her and Zara's not sleeping well.  She's feeling weaker and lonelier than she's ever felt, almost like when she was human.

I WANT A RODNEY BALLSGALORE!!! lol.  He is a perfect pet for Zara.

I loved the plays on movies here.  Horror movies make this so fun.  No, this is not a horror story.  It's not spooky.  It's Urban Fantasy, with a play on horror movies.  It's cool, and you'll pick up the movies if you've watched horror.

Can you read this one without the series?  You could.  BUT!  there are a few things that come into play here you will not know.  There is a "person" that Zara sees that you won't realize who she is and the connection of her.  You won't know why Zara is in the state she's in.  But the story of what happens at the cabin is a complete story.  It might make you curious about what's happened with Zara and all the other characters you learn of in her life.  Go ahead and try it.  Zara's not at her top snarky shape yet, but you'll still enjoy her.  Maybe she'll ease you into reading her in the first novel, Bloodlines, and meeting all the friends in those that follow.

You love Urban Fantasy?  This is a must read series.  You are missing out on snark, kick butt action, and love (of growing friends and more) if you do.  Shame to miss it all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, because I love this series so deeply and stalk the author something fierce, Skyla has offered up an Ecopy of one of her Demons of Oblivion books!

GIVEAWAY!!

One Ecopy of One of her Demons of Oblivion books.  Whichever one you need of the series, your pick.

You need the first?  Bloodlines

You read the first and need 2nd?  Hunter

3rd?  Lineage

4th?  Exhumed

This novella?  Damaged

Or any of the other novellas in this world?
Whisky Sour
9 Crimes

Winner picks the one they need.  Easy as that!

Open Internationally.

Runs July 10, 2013 through July 21, 2013 11:59pm

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bloodlines
After three hundred years of unlife, vampire Zara Lain has seemingly done it all, and she's now making a living as a successful thief-turned-assassin. Her newest assignment seems simple enough--kill the aging leader of the O'Connor Coven and his only heir, and she'll have another ten million in the bank.But in the dangerous world of the supernatural, few things are ever "simple."When a massive assault decimates the continent's population of powerful witches and warlocks, and its orchestrator has vampires being hunted down and captured, Zara realizes the tables have turned and now she'll be playing the hero. Forced to join with a smart-mouthed fellow vampire, a demonologist who's also a fan of hers, a recently widowed--and frequently brooding--warlock, and her best friend's mom, Zara's grudgingly willing to do what she can to save the day.If only people would stop ruining all her outfits...

Hunter
Sometimes natural predators need to be kept in check, and for that, there's Ryann David. Orphaned as an infant and raised by an exiled branch of the church to become a warrior for God, she and her fellow members of Venatores Daemonum have trained all their lives with only one purpose: destroy all demons in the mortal realm.

But when Ryann and her team are sent to hunt down a vampire who has killed one of their own, a new world of danger, betrayal, and conspiracy greets her. Allied with an irreverent psychic detective and the very monsters she was raised to kill, Ryann will risk everything—her life, her faith, and her heart—in pursuit of the truth as the black and white existence she knew turns a murky shade of gray.

Lineage
What’s a woman to do when her dad’s the antichrist, her grandma’s the devil, the end of the world is at her doorstep, and she’s out to avenge the murders of her husband and kids?

Kill everything in her way.

Quarter-demon Peri Takata exists with but one goal in mind: annihilate everyone responsible for the death of her family. Then—her need for vengeance quelled—she plans to take her own life.

Her mission brings her to the vampire Zara Lain, the only known survivor of the event that destroyed Peri’s family five years ago. Hunting down a secret society of those who don’t want to be found has its challenges, however, especially when forces are working to keep the antichrist’s daughter very much alive. The apocalypse is closing in and Peri may be playing a role in it whether she wants to or not.

But when a heart long-thought dead begins to beat again with love for another, she’s not so sure about anything anymore.

Exhumed
Zara Lain, narcissistic vampire and assassin, cleaned up after a crazy warlock tried to build a vampire army, made some cash when the North American covens were left in shambles, got away when framed for the murder of a Demon Hunter, and dealt with some idiots who tried to jumpstart Armageddon. None of that could prepare her, however, for the moment when her lover of the undead persuasion awakens...

And promptly tries to kill her.

She’s raised a handful of orphaned baby vampires during the past six years and she knows the score: if they don’t get sane again, they have to be staked. And even if she can fix her would-be boyfriend, he’s not the only formerly deceased one in town who wants to kill her. Old enemies are back to put a cramp in her love life, ruin a good pair of heels, and just maybe end the world.

An apocalypse is nigh...and it gets a lot worse than having nothing to wear to the occasion.

9 Crimes
9 Crimes: Set during Exhumed, vampire-warlock Nate O'Connor sets off on his own to discover the truth behind a startling bombshell dropped on him, not only putting him at odds with the woman he loves but risking his life and those around him.

Aftermath: This covers the twenty-four hours right after the final chapter of Exhumed (but before the Epilogue). Irrevocable choices have been made and now the fallout must be dealt with.

#TheGreatBloodHunt: A post-Exhumed story featuring Nate, Ellie, and Nicolette on Twitter. No, really.

Thrall: The first Nate-POV story, originally included with Bloodlines. Set towards the end of Bloodlines, warlock Nate O'Connor is on the run from those who want him dead--and looking for the one person he can't bring himself to leave behind.

Sunrise: The second Nate-POV short, originally included with Lineage. Since the worst hasn't come to pass, warlock Nate O'Connor sets about fortifying cabin where he and Zara are staying and keeping out the coming sunrise.

Bonus Stuff: Complete series of available works in chronological order, blurb of Oblivion (Book #5) and an exclusive look at Solace (#6), the proposed next Zara book.

Damaged
Fresh off the events of Exhumed, snarky vampire and professional narcissist Zara Lain is still adjusting after accidentally triggering the apocalypse and everything that happened to her. An escape from her life seems in order, one that takes her and Sir Rodney Ballsgalore—her trusty saber-toothed cat companion—deep in the woods of northern Ontario for some R&R.

It’s not just nightmares that follow; trouble is always on Zara’s heels, this time in the form of some idiot vacationing teenagers summoning something they can’t control. Though she believes stupid should hurt and doesn’t want to lift a well-manicured finger to help them, once the creature burns through the kids it’ll be coming after her.

But Zara’s not the survive-at-all-costs girl she once was. She’s damaged, she’s tired, and she might not have the fight left in her to live when death comes knocking this time around...

Whisky Sour
One night without protection led to French-Canadian fae bartender, Juliette Aubrey, catching lycanthropy. Now half faerie, half werewolf, and entirely pissed off, Juliette has the chance for revenge when the last person she wants to see strolls into her bar needing help. 

This short story download also contains:

A Vampire Walked Into a Bar: Pat knows there are vampires in his city, and now he has visual proof. He's set up a meeting with someone who might be able to stop them...but there's a vampire or two who might have something to say about that.

Zombie Faeries: When a vampire entered her territory uninvited, faerwolf Juliette Aubrey decided to teach her a lesson. Unfortunately for her, that vampire is Zara Lain. And unfortunately for the both of them, they aren't the only big, bad creatures of the night in the cemetery when they meet.

(Note: Whiskey Sour originally appeared in the anthology Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad.)