House of Royals
Keary Taylor
(House of Royals, #1)
Publication date: June 21st 2015
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal
If you loved BRANDED, you won’t want to miss HOUSE OF ROYALS, Keary Taylor’s newest dark, romantic read.
Every town has its history and skeletons, but Silent Bend, Mississippi’s are darker than most. Ruled from the shadows by the House—the immortal Born and their aging, enslaved Bitten—everyone knows not to go out after dark and that the police will never look into crimes involving blood.
Alivia Ryan didn’t know the man who claims to be her father through a will even existed until she inherits the Conrath plantation. Instead of the sleepy house she expects, she finds a mansion and a staff who look at her with fear in their eyes.
Ian Ward tried to kill Alivia the first time they met, and then insisted he train her to defend herself against the House, who he claims will try to manipulate and take her in for their own political reasons. And the growing attraction between them will threaten their lives—Ian is a sworn enemy of the House.
In Silent Bend, people disappear, the threat of a demented King and the legend of his resurrecting Queen hang over everyone’s heads, and proving loyalty means far more than blood. You’d better watch who you trust in this town…
EXCERPT
“What are you doing here?” he hisses, pulling me close. His lips tickle my ear. His hand on my waist slips low and his fingers dig into my skin just a little.
The breath catches in my chest and every nerve ending in my body goes crazy. The music surges, and this night suddenly feels too big for me to breathe.
“I’m not lying down and taking a fate I didn’t ask for,” I manage. My fingers cling hard to Ian’s shoulder. I can feel the muscles beneath his clothes tense and tighten. And suddenly, I’m back to the days at his cabin, when he’d come walking out of the shower with only a towel and I pretended not to look. I know what his bare skin looks like, and I’m craving another glimpse.
“They won’t care about a show of good faith,” he says. “Do you have any idea what this party is even for?”
My silence is his answer.
“They throw this party once a year and offer massive amounts of alcohol so that people won’t remember the blackouts that come from being fed on.”
My eyes dart to that door at the back of the room. The blood on the woman’s shoulder. The blood in the corner of the man’s mouth.
“They’re feeding on the party attendees,” I say.
Ian nods. His scratchy cheek brushes mine. “The bite numbs and makes you forget, but people tend to realize they blacked out. A party like this with this much booze, you brush it off. It’s the one time a year they feed freely upon the townspeople. It’s the only way to keep people from asking too many questions.”
It’s terrifying and horrifying, and I’m suddenly wondering if the man was asking me to dance as my turn to be fed upon.
“It’s bad, but I have to do something, Ian,” I breathe.
“Walking into the fire isn’t the way to do it,” he whispers into my ear.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Please
tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Keary Taylor, and I’ve been
self-publishing since early 2010. Since
then I’ve released 15 titles and I’m loving every bit of this industry! I write in a few different genres, but
paranormal seems to be my most loved. I
currently live in Utah and spend my summers on a little island in Washington
State with my husband and our two kids!
I love traveling, jamming out to music, and have the sugar taste buds of
a four year old!
Tell
us about your latest book, HOUSE OF ROYALS.
This has been such a fun series to
write! Alivia comes to live in
Mississippi after a father she didn’t know leaves her his massive estate. She arrives to find a town that’s terrified
of the dark and her very last name brings all kinds of fear to their eyes. She’s about to learn of a completely hidden
monarchy where the politics get bloody and deadly.
Where
did you get the inspiration for HOUSE OF ROYALS?
This story actually evolved from a very
different one that I had been trying to write for three years. It was similarly set in the South, in a
sleepy, creepy town, but the supernatural basis for it was voodoo. I did a lot of weird research, had massive
outlines, but every time I worked on it, I had to stop for one reason or
another. I just couldn’t write that
version of the story. I joke and say it
has a curse on it, but I’m not really joking…
One day the thought just popped into my head that vampires would totally
fit into this town instead, and the rough monarchy I’d been setting up in the
original version worked even better in the vampire version! And House of Royals just poured out of me.
What
celebrity would you chose to play the main character(s) in the movie rendition
of your book?
I would have Lily Collins play Alivia
Ryan. She totally fits the soft, shy
girl Alivia starts out as, but captures the hidden wolf within. Ian Ward would be played by Liam Hemsworth (I
know, this surprised me too, I’m a hardcore Chris loyalist). And Rath would be none other than Lenny
Kravitz!
What
do you have coming out in the future?
I’m plowing through this series! Book two, HOUSE OF PAWNS releases December 15th,
and then book three, HOUSE OF KINGS, comes out in March of 2016. And the series will continue in the fall!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Keary Taylor grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now resides on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their two young children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night. She is the author of THE EDEN TRILOGY, the FALL OF ANGELS trilogy, and WHAT I DIDN'T SAY. To learn more about Keary and her writing process, please visit www.KearyTaylor.com.
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