Blog Tour- TASTE OF DARKNESS Meet Loren and Quian and a Giveaway!

I am so excited to have Maria V. Snyder here today! I am one of her biggest fans I love all of her books and I freaking loved TASTE OF DARKNESS it was the perfect ending to the Healer Series! I fell hard for all of the characters in her books and I loved the smartass duo of Loren and Quain.And today we get to see what happens when they interview each other! Make sure to enter the giveaway below for a copy of the book!
Haven't heard of TASTE OF DARKNESS? Check it out!

Title: TASTE OF DARKNESS

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Pub. Date: December 31, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Pages: 464

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

She's fought death and won. But how can she fight her fears?

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

But there's a more immediate threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.

Now on to the interview!

The following is Loren and Quain being interviewed about how they met each other and Kerrick and Belen:

Loren:  I was sipping tea at the Nasty Bear tavern—

Quain:  Tea?  At the Nasty Bear?  No one’s gonna believe that.

Loren:  Shut up, Quain.  It’s my turn, you’re next.  Let’s see I was in the town of Vix in Tobory Realm, minding my own business  [Quain snorts in amusement] when this distraught father enters the tavern.  Seems his daughter had been kidnapped and forced to work in the infamous Vix’s Vixens brothel.  He was hoping to hire some people to help rescue her.  He was going to need more than a couple as the place had more security than Queen Bianca’s bedroom.  No one volunteered.  Or rather no one sane volunteered, but a very young, very drunk, hot-headed—

Quain:  Hey, I’m not a hot head.

Loren:  Noticed he didn’t protest the young and drunk.

Quain:  My dad had just died and I was drinking to forget.  Besides, you volunteered, too.

Loren:  I didn’t want you to get yourself killed.  The plague had killed so many, I couldn’t stand by and watch some young idiot throw away his good luck at surviving.

Quain:  And you hated the idea of a young girl being forced to—

Loren [snapping]:  Yes, that too.  Without law enforcement, criminals were preying on the survivors.  And we were letting them!  At that time, the survivors should have been banding together and supporting each other.  Anyway, I offered to go along, hoping a few others would as well.

Quain:  No luck.  We left and checked out the brothel and once I gotta a good look at the security, I sobered up real quick.  These guys had muscles on top of muscles. 

Loren: Which is why we decided to go in and pretend to be clients.  The father stayed outside as he’d already been tossed out of the place earlier that night.

Quain: And we had to pretend to be clients who likes to…  who likes their girls…  [blushes bright red]

Loren: Tied up since Loni, the daughter, wouldn’t be cooperating at this point. [shakes his head in disgust].

Quain:  We each were led to a room and…er…freed the girls, but neither was Loni, so we searched for her and inadvertently revealed the real reason we were there.

Loren:  Inadvertently?  This is when that hot headedness of Quain’s made its second appearance.  So outraged by what he saw, he started busting down all the doors and making a racket.

Quain [shrugging]: We were running out of time.

Loren [sighs]: Because you…oh, never mind. 

Quain:  And it worked.  We found Loni.

Loren:  But it didn’t take long for the muscle men to converge and…  Well, it wasn’t pretty.

Quain:  Yeah, good thing Kerrick and Belen showed up.  I was doing fine, but Loren was floundering.

Loren:  Floundering?  Seriously?  Have you ever seen a flounder?

Quain:  It doesn’t matter.  I used it correctly in a sentence.

Loren:  No you didn’t.  I was far from…never mind.  Either way, it was excellent timing on Kerrick and Belen’s part.  Later we found out they’d been in the Nasty Bear and heard everything, but didn’t want to call attention to themselves by volunteering in public. Instead they followed us and learned the plan from the father.

Quain:  Belen cleared a path for us.  He tossed those big muscle men aside like they were toys and I think I heard growling.

Loren:  It was groaning and it was coming from those unfortunate enough to be in Belen’s way.  Kerrick’s skills with his sword were impressive, he kept the other guards from getting close and the four of us, along with Loni and five girls escaped.

Quain:  Yep.  It was a nice bit of work and the father was very happy to see his daughter.

Loren:  Kerrick told us that he’d seen similar bad things happening all over the Fifteen Realms, and he and Belen were on a mission to help a ruler who would get our world back. 

Quain:  I joined up right away, but Loren took some convincing.

Loren:  No.  I agreed and you—

Quain:  No.  You have it all wrong.  I—

Loren:  Planned to go back to the Nasty Bear and finish drowning your sorrows, while I—

Quain [huffs in disbelief]:  You are incapable of admitting I’m right.

Loren:  I’ll admit it when it’s ever true.

Quain [growls and launches himself at Loren]:  Argh!

Thanks guys! You crack me up!!

About Maria:

Maria V. Snyder changed from being a meteorologist to a novelist in 1995, when she began writing to keep her sanity while raising two children. Since then, she has published numerous freelance articles in magazines and newspapers, and teaches fiction-writing classes at the local college and area libraries. The classes give her the wonderful opportunity to encourage fellow writers, and to keep improving her craft.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria always had a fascination with big storms. Dreaming of chasing tornados, Maria earned a bachelors of science degree in meteorology at Penn State University. But she discovered, much to her chagrin, that forecasting the weather wasn't one of her skills. In order to chase tornados you had to predict where they might form. Creating fantasy worlds where she has complete control of the weather was more agreeable to her.

Maria's research on food-tasting methods with an expert chocolate taster, her husband, turned out to be a delicious bonus while writing Poison Study.

Maria has a brown belt in Isshinryu Karate, and enjoys playing volleyball and the cello. Traveling in general and via cruise ship in particular are her biggest distractions from writing. Maria has traveled to Belize, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.

Maria lives with her husband, son, daughter and yellow lab, Hazelnut, in Pennsylvania where she is at work on more LUNA novels. She is also pursuing a master's degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University.

Readers are welcome to contact Maria at the following email address: maria@mariavsnyder.com.

Where you can find Maria:

Website/Blog/Facebook/Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

2 Copies of TASTE OF DARKNESS International

10 Copies of TASTE OF DARKNESS US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the Tour Schedule:

Week One:

12/30/2013- Read Now Sleep Later- Interview

12/31/2013- Tynga's Reviews- Guest Post

1/1/2014- Fiktshun- Guest Post

1/2/2014- Bibliophilia, Please- Interview

1/3/2014- Snowdrop Dreams of Books- Review

Week Two:

1/6/2014- http://www.parajunkee.com/         Parajunkee- Guest Post

1/7/2014- Moonlight Gleam Reviews- Review

1/8/2014- The Cover Contessa- Interview

1/9/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

1/10/2014- Mundie Moms- Interview