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Blood Thorn is the new release from USA Today Bestselling Author A.S. Green.

BLOOD THORN
By USA Today Bestselling Author A.S. Green

Everyone thinks Ainsley Morris is your basic science nerd—a botany major who prefers the lab to the party scene—and maybe they’re right. But she’s got plans. Big plans that’ll keep her from repeating her mother’s mistakes. So even though life hasn’t always been rosy, at twenty-one, it’s finally less thorny.

That is, until she meets him. Alex Campbell.

Sure, he’s ridiculously handsome, rich, and powerful. And maybe he can steam up a room (and…um…other things) just by turning his green eyes in Ainsley’s direction. But unfortunately he’s also completely insane.

Alex thinks he’s some kind of vampire fae. And not only that, he says he’s the leader of said vampire faes and that Ainsley’s their queen.

Uh…excuse me?

Worse, he says they’re nearing extinction, and she’s their only shot at survival.

Right. Ainsley has her own problems to worry about.

But when her body begins reacting in ways even a science nerd can’t explain, it might be more than Alex’s survival on the line. It might just be her very own. Because those big plans of hers? They’re about to come bite her in the ass.

Get Your Copy of Blood Thorn Here

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Excerpt from Blood Thorn:

All the girls hooted “Woo-hoo!” and pushed through the crowd, headed for the dance floor.

Ainsley sighed and made her way to the bar. She slid onto a stool so she had a higher vantage point to watch the show. There was already a line of half-drunk male patrons and one female, each waving a dollar bill in the air wanting to suck a Life Saver off Harper’s chest.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked.

“Jack Diet.”

“You got it.”

As she waited, she touched her finger to the daisy in the bud vase on the bar. It had obviously been there for a while because three of its petals fell off at her touch, leaving its center partially exposed.

The bartender filled her glass right up to the rim. “If you’re hanging out with them,” he tipped his head toward the white cowboy hats, “you’re gonna need it.”

“Oh, you’ve noticed?”

He gave her a sympathetic smile, then moved to the other end of the bar where someone was flagging him down.

That was when Ainsley felt it. Or rather, the lack of it. It was as if a vacuum of space had opened up behind her. She would have looked, except that the emptiness was suddenly filled by a searing presence that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention. Someone was watching her. Again.

The sensation prickled at her skin, and after the weird incident at the fair, it unnerved her. She spun around on her stool, accidentally sloshing her drink onto the ground and just missing what appeared to be a very expensive pair of shoes.

“Christ!” exclaimed a man who was approaching the bar with his money in hand.

“Oh my god.” Ainsley grabbed a bunch of napkins. She’d totally overreacted. This guy’s focus hadn’t been on her; it had been on the empty stool beside her, the only clear access to the crowded bar.

The stranger took the napkins out of Ainsley’s hand before she was able to drop to the ground and start mopping.

“Easy there,” he said, though he still sounded irritated. “You need to handle your alcohol better. That one nearly got away from you.”

“I’m so sorry. I thought— I mean, you surprised me, that’s all.” She looked up and up his tall frame, ultimately seeing his face for the first time. Um…yikes.

Ainsley made it a point not to pay too close attention to a man’s appearance; what was the point when they were all the same underneath? But this guy would be impossible for anyone to ignore.

He was handsome, for sure, but so were plenty of men. This guy was striking; well over six feet, ridiculously broad shouldered, and his dark hair was expertly cut. He had a square jaw and aristocratic nose, but it was his piercing eyes—Green. Obviously green, despite the dim lighting—that had Ainsley holding her breath.

“You’re a jumpy one, aren’t you?” he asked, though there was no humor in his voice. He raised his hand to flag down the bartender.

“Tonight is not my usual night.” Ainsley dropped her gaze to his chest and winced. She’d splashed some on his shirt, too. It was nice shirt, the kind a man wore with a designer suit; in fact, he probably had to have all his suits specially tailored to fit him. And while the guy wasn’t currently wearing a tie, she could tell that casual was not his normal gig.

“I’ll buy you a new drink.” He gestured to the bartender again, then rolled up his sleeves, revealing a tattoo of a purple thistle on his left forearm. The tattoo was a surprise; he didn’t seem the type.

Ainsley glanced back at the wet spot on his shirt.

He must have noticed because he added, “I don’t mind smelling like whisky. It’ll make me more irresistible.”

She rolled her eyes—Here we go; cue asshole speak—and spun around to face the bar. “Irresistible to alcoholics, maybe.”

Mr. Green Eyes rested his forearm on the bar. “How about just to women who drink whisky?”

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Meet USA Today Bestselling Author A.S. Green

USA Today Bestselling Author, A.S. Green lives in the cold, upper Midwest and spends the all-too short summers on Lake Superior, which is the muse for many of her books. She’s a sucker for complex, risk-taking characters, whether that’s with their job, with their friends, or with romance. Especially with romance. She loves an action-packed plot sprinkled with witty, in-your-face banter and, of course, steamy love scenes.

When she’s not writing or reading romance, she’s probably binging on Outlander novels and TV shows. Still begging her husband to don the kilt she bought him last summer. Oh, well. There’s always fiction!

You can find her online at asgreenbooks.com and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @asgreenbooks.

Interview with Blood Thorn Author A.S. Green:

Q: Hi A.S. Green! Tell us, why paranormal? What drew you to the genre?

ASG:  I started my publishing journey writing YA with a trilogy about mermaids in Lake Superior. This was back when Twilight was pretty new, so I won’t lie, that was a huge part of why I started writing paranormal. After that, I was hooked. I went down a big o’  shifter/vampire reading rabbit hole. Later, I switched to writing adult romance, started using a pen name (so my younger readers didn’t get in over their heads), and it’s been an amazing ride ever since.

Q: For those who are new to your books, what is the story about?

ASG:  Blood Thorn is Book 1 of the Highland Blood Fae trilogy, so first I want to mention a little bit about how I build my fictional worlds. I hate cliffhangers, so all of my books can be read as standalones. But I also like to write in 3s, so I have the Hell Hounds Fated Mates trilogy, and the Fae Academy trilogy,  and now the Highland Blood Fae trilogy. You could read only  one, or jump into a series at any point, and it would be fine. But just as each trilogy has its own arc, each trilogy leads into the next, so you’ll see characters from one trilogy pop up in another, etc. I think that’s what makes the world feel real.

Anyway… Blood Thorn is about a clan of ba’vonn-shee, a race of blood-drinking fae from the Scottish highlands, who have been hunted for centuries. They are nearly extinct, and their only chance of survival is to find a queen–which is basically a needle in a haystack endeavor. Their chieftain, Alex Campbell, finds one in Ainsley Morris just as the fae hunters are back and gunning for them all. (This M/F, and not reverse harem)

Q: Tell us about your hero. What motivates him?

ASG:  Alex Campbell is the chieftain of the six surviving ba’vonn-shee. His past mistakes caused them to lose their last queen, and his fear of repeating those mistakes is what makes him tread lightly with Ainsley. Of course he can only hold it together for so long before nature (and fate) takes its course!

Q: What is a typical writing day like for you? What inspires you?

ASG:  I work full-time,  so I get my writing in where I can. Usually I wake up at 5:30AM, then I go to my writing nook and light some candles. I write until 8:00AM when I have to go to work. If I still have some stamina, I’ll do some editing at night. Then on Thursday evenings I meet  (over Zoom these days) with my critique group.

Q: Where can our readers find you? (Social media, website, etc.)

Goodreads, Instagram, Facebook, Bookbub (all under “A.S. Green” or asgreenbooks), https://asgreenbooks.com. I’m really trying to get more active on Goodreads, and I need more friends, so follow me there!
Goodreads Author Page – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15481846.A_S_Green

Thanks for hanging out with us, A.S. Green!

 

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