THE SIREN’S DREAM by Amber Belldene
Revenge never felt so sweet…
Murdered by a bullet intended for her beloved, Katya Dvoynev’s fate is to haunt the building where she took her last breath. That is, unless she can lure her killer into her clutches and find the vengeance her mara spirit seeks. But destiny has other plans, and handsome Nikolai Zurkov arrives instead, filling Katya with a desire so strong she must fight to remember it’s revenge she seeks, not love…
Investigative journalist Nikolai is on a mission to bring down a corrupt corporation responsible for so many deaths. If the gorgeous ghost who enters his dreams holds the key, Nik has no problem sharing in the seductive beauty’s nightly encounters. But when he discovers Katya’s intent is murder, he’ll do anything to keep her from getting blood on her hands. For only true justice can give her the love she longs for and keep her in his world.
Amber Belldene on Ghosts You Can Touch
The romance readers I know are suspicious of a ghost love story. I mean, how can you have crazy hot chemistry and satisfying sex if a character doesn’t have a physical body? As a romance writer, I feel the same way. It wouldn’t be much fun to pen a story where the heroine was invisible and incorporeal. I want her heart to pound for her lover, I want her to share breath-stealing kisses, and I most definitely want her to drive the hero to lusty distraction.
It’s pretty tough to do all that if you’re invisible and untouchable! So when I wrote the Siren series, I had to figure out how to get each ghost into her skin as soon as possible.
Creatures from Slavic mythology inspired the paranormal aspects of my Siren Romance series. These female spirits used their alluring voices and strange powers to win vengeance against the men who’d wronged them. I’m fascinated by these rusalkas, vilis, and maras, with their supernatural sex appeal.
When I was researching these Slavic spirits, I was often frustrated by how little I could learn about them. I read everything I could find, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my curiosity. Maybe if I could learn to read a few Slavic dialects and travel to the villages in Eastern Europe where people still remember their old stories, I could have discovered everything I wanted to know. But I couldn’t exactly swing that with my toddler twins in tow!
Fortunately, as a storyteller, the gaps between facts are the places where my imagination runs wild. I could build a world as true to the myths as possible, while dreaming up thrilling rules to govern my sirens. Most importantly, I could think up surprising and different ways for them to become corporeal, so that in the flesh, with all their siren powers, they were irresistible to the heroes of their books.
To keep the surprises coming, I chose to write about different kinds of creatures. That way, readers of subsequent books would still encounter unexpected plot twists. Sonya the water spirit had different qualities than her sister Anya, the wind spirit. And Katya, the mara, or nightmare spirit, was bound by entirely different supernatural rules.
One of the most satisfying parts of writing paranormals is carving out a love story that is shaped by supernatural factors. In the Siren Romance series, each heroine is tied to her hero in a complex web of history, tangled relationships, ghostly powers and needs.
For Katya, the heroine of The Siren’s Dream, everything about being a mara makes being with Nikolai impossible and also irresistible. They have the same goal—to bring justice to Dmitri Lisko, who wronged them both. But Katya’s supernatural need for vengeance puts her at odds with the extremely ethical Nikolai. At the same time, she’s completely dependent upon him to be in her skin. Without Nik, she is helpless to have her revenge against Lisko.
I don’t want to reveal how they will resolve their differences in spite of these supernatural obstacles—learning that is all the fun of reading. But I promise, all my ghosts get their Happily Ever Afters and plenty of sexy times along the way!
You can purchase The Siren’s Dreams at:
Kensington Books
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees, and diving for scallops—when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days.
Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion. She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it’s strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to Amber, because she believes the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She writes paranormal, historical, and contemporary romance in every spare moment, and she lives with her family in San Francisco.
Author Links:
Website: http://amberbelldene.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmberBelldene
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amberbelldene
