Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Sure. I am still NOT QUITE thirty (Whew, I love that i can say that for a little bit longer) and a wife and mother. I am due in December with my 3rd baby (which makes me about 18 months pregnant right now...) I live in Virginia, near the ocean, and I LOVE the beach! Winter always feels twice as long to me. Although, being pregnant does make me appreciate the colder weather a little bit more. I started writing creatively as a teenager and then put it away for a long while in between. I wrote my first book two years ago and have been at it ever since. I can't remember WHY I stopped and I don't think I could stop again if I tried. Writing keeps the 'crazy' away.

How did the idea for the Dirty Blood series come to you?

It began as a NaNoWriMo project last November. Which means I wrote it in 30 days. Although, the original draft was nothing like the finished product. it did have Tara and Wes, but the story itself - The Cause, Leo, and Tara's political family background - came out later, in the rewrite. Still, it was fun to make it all up as I went along, during NaNo.

Book two of your Dirty Blood series was just released, is there a lot of surprises for people who have read book one?

I think so. First, there are several new characters. Don't be mad that your favorites from book 1 have minimal time in the spotlight in this one. We'll see them again. You will LOVE the new characters, too. You'll see more of Vera and find out what her deal is. And you'll see George again, which isn't really good for his health. And the ending... well, I can't spoil that, but it's BIG.

How does your Dirty Blood series differ from your DreamKiller series?

In a word: Werewolves. There are no werewolves in DreamKiller. Marlena (my main character in that series) is a "special" with the ability to successfully kill her enemies by first seeing it happen in a dream. A lot of the characters have special abilities. Think X-men meets Underworld. =) Oh and DreamKiller is a short story so its fun to read when you can't afford to get sucked into a book for 8 hours at a time. It'll only take you an hour or so to read both segments and you can buy them in a combined volume on Amazon for just .99.

For people who haven't read your Dirty Blood series, what can they expect from it?

Action. Werewolves. Cute boys. Unlikely weapons. And a hard-headed but tough main character.

This or That:
Edward or Jacob? Arrghhh. I CANNOT choose... I'm so fickle. But... Jacob. For today.
Summer or Winter? Summer!
Sweet or Sour? Sweet.
Run or Hide? Hide. (I HATE running!)
Zombies or Unicorns? Unicorns (is this a trick question? Unicorns dont want to eat my brain... so DUH)

Excerpt

Alex exhaled, and some of the fire went out of his eyes, leaving them pale and apologetic. “Look, I’m sorry.” His shoulders relaxed and he was running a hand over his buzzed hair like he didn’t know what to do next. “I didn’t mean to – I don’t feel that way. I’ve known your Grandma for a long time. She was good to me and I intend to return the favor, so I’ll tutor you, and I’m sorry for what I said. The truth is the warehouse fight still has me wound up. That’s what the kids are still talking about and none of them have all the right details, which is probably why you’ve been labeled the enemy. Give it a few days and it’ll pass.”

I purposely held back from answering for a few seconds. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him. I wanted to; but the look he’d given me when he’d talked about having a Werewolf in their midst – something told me he’d meant it. Even if he was trying not to. Finally, I nodded. “Okay, fine. Apology accepted.”

Alex looked relieved, and we started walking again. I thought about the warehouse fight. It made sense something like that would’ve been passed through the halls of a Hunter school, especially since Grandma’s rescue team apparently went to school here. I’d have to ask her about that. Between that, and how well she seemed to know Headmaster Whitfield, it seemed Grandma was more involved–or at least connected–than I knew.

“Here we are,” said Alex, swinging to a stop outside the last door on the left.

Through the small window, I caught a glimpse of desks filled with students. Posters with various fighting stances hung on the walls.

“So here’s how this is going to work,” he said, pulling my attention back. “I’ll meet you after last bell to show you the way to where we’ll train.” He glanced down at my jeans and hoodie. “You might want to change into more suitable clothes.”

I looked down at myself and then back at him. “More suitable how? We’re just studying?”

“No, we’re training,” he said. He raised an eyebrow at my blank look. “Combat? Fighting?”

“Oh. I didn’t know. They said tutor and I thought… my bags are being sent to my room for me. I didn’t have time to change.”

“No biggie, today will be a light day. Starting tomorrow, though, you’ll want to be comfortable.”

Something about the way he'd said light day made me defensive; like he expected me to suck or something.

The door opened and a petite red head appeared. “Mr. Channing. What can I do for you?” she asked Alex, and I realized she was the teacher.

“Professor Flaherty, this is Tara Godfrey.”

The woman turned to me and smiled. “Miss Godfrey, it’s nice to meet you.” I took the hand she offered and shook it, trying to figure out where I’d seen her before. She wore black pants that molded to her and had a mass of red hair secured in a haphazard bun high on her head.

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said. “Do I know you?”

“We’ve never been introduced. I know your grandmother. You might have seen me at the warehouse incident a few days back.”

“Oh, right.” I remembered the tiny red head, but I hadn’t been close enough to make out facial features – and I’d assumed based on her size that she was a student.

Professor Flaherty looked at Alex. “It was nice of you to show our new student to her class. I’ll take it from here.”

“I’ll see you at three,” he said, nodding to me as he retreated down the hall.

To find out where you can read the next installment of Cold Blood, please visit www.heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com