Book Crazy: Book Blitz & Giveaway: Queen of the Underworld [A Guardians of Hades Series Prequel] by Felicity Heaton!

Excerpt!

Persephone’s first thought upon waking was how blue his eyes were, shining like azure fire.

And then his lips descended upon hers.

All her thoughts fled, the ability stripped from her as feeling swept in to steal awareness of anything but the hard press of his mouth against hers. A startling yearning blasted through her in response to his fierce kiss and her body arched towards his, her blood turning molten as she ached for more.

And then her mind caught up with what was happening.

A male was kissing her.

The god-king of the Underworld was kissing her.

Panic lit her veins and stole her breath in response to that thought, and she flattened her palms against his hard breastplate and shoved. When he only kept kissing her, his mouth moving masterfully against hers, transforming panic into pleasure and threatening to shatter her resolve, she reacted on instinct.

She shoved with all her strength, this time pushing him off her, and slapped him.

Hard.

The fierce crack of her palm meeting his sculpted cheek echoed around her.

Shock filled his blue eyes as he stared at her, his cheek reddening where she had struck him, and then crimson ringed his irises as the dark slashes of his eyebrows knitted hard and his lips flattened. Beyond him, the golden fire that lit the room morphed into azure, matching the colour his eyes had been and casting cold light over the sharp glossy spikes of his crown and his pitch-black hair.

Persephone scooted out from beneath him and was across the room as quickly as her trembling legs could manage, placing as much distance as she could between them as his face darkened and her heart galloped. Her hands shook, her right one stinging from the slap.

She had struck Hades.

By the gods, what had she done?

When he pushed to his feet and turned on her, she backed into the curved black stone wall, fear gripping her as she readied herself for his wrath.

He lifted his gauntleted hand and touched his cheek, his eyes fully crimson now, and then his features shifted, something she couldn’t name crossing them for a moment as his talons glided to his firm lips.

The way his claws brushed them made her deeply aware of her own lips.

Lips no male had ever touched before.

She hadn’t expected her first kiss to be so… transformative.

Her entire body had come awake from the mere brush of his mouth over hers and the mingling of their breath, and echoes of pleasure continued to ripple through her even now, rousing a wicked need for more. Unwise. She tried to shut that need down as she caught her breath and fought to calm herself, struggling to regain control of her body.

She licked her lips, an action she regretted on two counts.

One: It made Hades’s eyes darken and lower to her mouth, the hungry look that flared in them wreaking havoc on her body that she fought to hide from him.

Two: She could still taste him on her lips—all dark spice—and ended up recalling every moment of his brief bruising and savage kiss.

Her cheeks flamed.

Persephone turned her back on him to conceal the reaction and frowned as she found herself facing a small square doorway and a balcony barely big enough for one. But it was neither of those things that had dread pooling inside her, tangling with a stronger emotion that had her cheeks burning for another reason.

It was the forbidding black lands that stretched around her, illuminated by a scarlet sky.

The Underworld.

She pivoted to face Hades again, anger flaring within her as she glared at him. “Why am I here?”

Hades, the wickedly dark god-king of the Underworld, needs a queen…

And he’s chosen Persephone.

All Persephone has ever desired is control of her own life, and someone noticing her once in a while. Kept in her mother’s shadow, and overlooked by the entirety of Olympus, her dream seems impossible… and now she’s doomed to wed a dull god of her mother’s choosing…

Until she crosses paths with a handsome, dark warrior who rouses wildfire heat in her veins—a male whose immense power is unmistakable, and who matches the fearful tales whispered in Olympus—stories of a cruel, heartless king who rules his realm of death with an iron fist.

When Hades abducts her and imprisons her in the depths of the Underworld, a dormant part of her awakens. And as she slowly discovers the truth about him, Persephone isn’t sure whether the snarling, dark beast of a king is her doom… or her saviour… but she knows one thing…

She will embrace the fire he awakens in her with every heated glance, and every vicious growl.

And use it to tame him and forge her dreams into reality.

Because, Persephone, the quiet, gentle goddess of nature, desires a king.

And nothing will stop her from claiming his black heart.

Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or Google Play

Author bio:

I'm a NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY and International Best-Selling Author writing passionate paranormal romance books and series for adults.

I love to create detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! All of them alpha as you would expect in paranormal romance, and every book with a guaranteed HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER!

Sign up to my newsletter for exclusive sneak previews, freebies, special offers and more! (copy / paste link into your browser):

http://bit.ly/FH-VIPS

Fans of paranormal romance books by authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole and Christine Feehan will love my books too.