Interview & Contest: Margie Church, Author of LOVE BITES

“...a paranormal read that dares to be a bit different. . . equal parts action, dark intrigue, and sizzling sex.”
             —Half Past Midnight
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Joining me today is Margie Church, author of Love Bites and Love Bites II: Dangerous Love, available from Noble Romance. Be sure to check out Margie's giveaway at the end of the interview.

Love Bites Synopsis:

An accidental encounter turns into high stakes love when Jui Fabrice meets Wade Kairos in Germany. She has no idea he’s a vampire, and Wade has every intention of keeping his secret.

A vineyard cottage is the perfect place for Jui and Wade to make love until he discovers her unique link to his living years. He vows to stay away from her forever, but he can’t let her go completely. Wade’s repressed human feelings continue rising. He invades Jui’s dreams and communicates telepathically with her at will. Evil jealousy consumes him when Jui becomes involved with Rob Hawthorne and she rebukes Wade for his controlling behaviors. Then Wade’s lifelong companion dies in a vamp war and his desolation is too much to handle alone. He turns to the only person who cares about him—Jui— and during one hot night, he becomes the man she wants.

The Ancient One, Ladislav Husek, learns of Wade’s risky human behavior and gives Wade a taste of how viciously he’ll die if he doesn’t bury his tracks with Jui. Husek promises to turn Jui into his personal playmate and Wade has to choose. Can love prevail over evil in a relationship that never was supposed to happen?
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SUBURBAN VAMPIRE: Welcome, Margie! Please start by telling us a little about Jui and Wade, your two central characters in Love Bites.

MARGIE CHURCH: Thank you for having me. It's always fun to visit a new blog!

Jui Fabrice is an independent, confident, American business woman. She fell for Wade the moment she laid eyes on him and has no idea he's a vampire. She can't shake him from her memories or life when she goes home to Seattle. The fact he's telepathic and teleports himself around the world to get to her could be a reason she's having these troubles, too. LOL However, the more he pushes her away, the more she digs into his life, trying to understand why he won't return her love the way he clearly wants to. The consequences for this forbidden love are unfathomable. Once she learns what Wade really is, the decision to love or leave him isn't as easy as you might think.

Wade Kairos has only been a vampire for 70 years. He was turned by his friend and mentor, Christophe, after a car wreck. Friend and mentor sound crazy, but Christophe cared enough about Wade before the accident to make Wade's transition to vampirism as easy as possible. Having said that, understand that vampires don't forget what it was like to be human. Wade was in love and engaged to be married when he became a vampire. Those emotions tormented him until his fiancée died years later. By the way, that fiancée was Jui's grandmother, Claire. Wade meets Jui accidentally in Heidelberg and battles mightily to ignore the resurgence of his human emotions. He has a fiery temper and privately takes out his aggravations in unique ways. Ultimately her allure is too much. Once his heart is snared, he faces the wrath of Ladislav Husek, the leader of the vampire nation. It's not pretty.

SV: When and how did you first become interested in vampires?

MARGIE: As a kid, I watched Dark Shadows. I never really thought the show was romantic; mostly I thought it was creepy. My mom forbade us to watch it, so we would sneak over to the neighbors to watch.

SV: You've set Love Bites in Germany. How did you decide upon that particular setting?

MARGIE: My mother is from Heidelberg and I have a number of photos on my computer of the Heidelberg castle. One day I was staring at a photo, thinking about a time when I'd been there and saw the castle and Old Heidelberg from the same perspective. The castle has witnessed so many things and held all the city's secrets. That concept became the vampire, Wade. The book then moves all over Europe, Russia, and the U.S.

SV: It's no secret vampires are everywhere in books, movies, and TV series. What do you feel most makes your own vampire tales stand out from the crowd?

MARGIE: There's plenty of romanticism attached to vampires, but Love Bites/Dangerous Love don't follow the formula. In my books, vampires live and work openly in peace among humans. Humans have no idea vampires exist and vampires want to keep it that way. Consequently, romantic relationships with humans are forbidden. The romance between Wade and Jui is deep and very hot. Wade is extremely intelligent, handsome, and a very talented lover, but he's also a creature of death. He knows his true self is not something Jui would embrace or love. He doesn't want her to become a vampire either because he's experienced the agony of leaving behind his humanity. He's watched many of his vampire brethren become twisted, vindictive beasts after being turned. His peculiarities set off alarms in Jui's head, but since vampires are unknown to humans, how could she draw the conclusion that is what he is? And her heart has his name inscribed on it. Knowing these things makes Wade despise himself even more.

SV: You write erotic paranormal romances. What are some of the pros and cons of being known as a writer of steamy fiction?

MARGIE: Recently, a full-page story was written about me in my hometown newspaper. And the next day, I was a lector in church. LOL I got the "look" from a few people, but I also had almost 400 visits to my blog and website in one day. I've never kept this work a secret any more than the fact I have a nursery rhyme on the market. Sex sells. Romance is the hottest fiction genre, and I want to sell books. For me, there's a tremendous freedom in erotic romance to write what the characters want, not what my internal censor is dictating because I'm worried someone might condemn me for writing vivid love scenes. The people who've gotten upset are only focused on the sex in the books. My response is they'd better watch their backs, because I'm going to rob, beat, kidnap, drug, torture, kill, and drain their blood when they aren't looking. My plots are as vivid and engaging as the sex. I think it takes a bit of inner strength to write erotic romance in your own name, but so far the downsides have been minimal. A few people have made inappropriate remarks and some have looked at me like I should be wearing lingerie all the time. And of course there are those who ask whether my love scenes are based on things my husband and I do. (My lips are sealed.)

SV: You've also released Love Bites II: Dangerous Love. Will there be further novels in this particular series?

MARGIE: Yes, Love Bites III: Redemptive Love is planned for later this year.

SV: Where can readers learn more about you and your writing?

MARGIE:
Margie's website and blog: Romance with SASS
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MargaretRChurch
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MargieChurch
Buy Margie Church's Books at Noble Romance.
Buy Margie Church's Books at 1Place For Romance.

SV: Thanks so much for joining me at Suburban Vampire today, Margie. Best wishes for all of your books!

MARGIE: Thank you so much. I am excited to give away a copy of Love Bites. Answer this question in the comments section of this post and include your email address to win!

The market is flooded with vampire books. What draws you to read one more? What's become boring and stale to you?

YOU MUST BE 18 OR OLDER TO ENTER.

Deadline: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT