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

*THIS IS A 2ND NOVEL IN A SERIES, I RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT READ REVIEW UNLESS YOU HAVE READ BOOK ONE*

Review

Heather Hildenbrand has officially become one of my favorite authors; I loved Dirty Blood and the sequel Cold Blood did not disappoint! In fact it completely rocked my face off! Dirty Blood series just keeps getting better and better and I cannot wait to see what Heather comes up with next! If you haven’t picked up Heather’s Dirty Blood series, you need to right now cause you are seriously missing out!

While Dirty Blood covered a lot more of the Werewolf side of things, Cold Blood has completely flipped around and taken us into the Hunter side! Tara has to go to Hunter school, and she could not be any less happy about it. With everything going on around her, going to a boarding school away from everyone..including Wes seems like a total waste. Thank goodness she right away makes some new friends Cambira and Logan! There is also Alex, he is her personal trainer/tutor, who may seem like he hates Tara, but really he doesn’t at all. As if being away from everyone, getting mixed feelings from Alex , and getting insane phone calls from her cousin Miles saying he will have her isn’t enough for Tara to be going threw she is also changing, and into what only time can tell.

Heather is putting together such an amazing series, from the characters, storyline, romance, action, suspense, it has it all! I very much enjoyed Dirty Blood the first novel, but Cold Blood I completely fell in love with from beginning to end.

My favorite part of this new addition to the Dirty Blood series was the new characters! These new characters are ones I will not forget! Starting with Cambria, I adored her. She is a spunky edgy chick that doesn’t take crap. She was a great friend to Tara always standing up for her, and I look forward to seeing their friendship grow in the next novel! Another new friend Tara made was Logan, he was also a great new addition! He is the shy, nerdy guy, but he also stands up for Tara and you can’t help, but appreciate him for it.

Then there’s Alex…oh Alex how you have come into this new addition and completely tore my heart in two! I was completely in love with Wes, but now that Alex is in the picture I am stuck! Alex in the beginning comes off as the tough guy that couldn’t give two hoots about Tara, but as the story unravels he starts to show a softer side. He is a character that I believe any girl will love; he is beautiful, protective, strong, and of course caring. Girls who believed they were completely all for Wes (like myself) will be questioning themselves after meeting Alex in Cold Blood!

Not only were the new characters nice, but also the changes in some of our original characters were amazing! Tara really developed in Cold Blood, although I feel she was never foolish/immature like most heroines start out as, you could still see her growing throughout Cold Blood. Wes we don’t see often, but when we do I feel he was a lot more vulnerable, also even though he is seen less I felt Cold Blood showed a lot more of his feelings for Tara. Which was very much refreshing.

This novel in every aspect kicked it up, Heather I thought was already an incredible author after I read her first novel, now after reading Cold Blood, I know she is going to be an author that everyone should follow and keep their eyes on!

"Tara, it's impossible to be in a bad mood around you."~Wes


Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand
Publisher: Accendo Press
Pages: 288
Series


Thought after finishing: YAY finally another good werewolf story!




I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. That’s about the time I went into shock… And that was the moment he showed up.

Now, all I can do is accept the truths that are staring me in the face. One, Werewolves do exist. And Two, I was born to kill them.

Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenberd was a great treat! There was everything you could want in one novel, there was action,thrill,suspense,mystery, and of course romance (;

Dirty Blood goes into the world of werewolves and hunters, and 17 year old Tara has just killed a girl...but when she killed the girl she wasn't a girl at all, she was a werewolf. Tara with the help of the sexy 'dirty blood' Wes a boy who is half werewolf half hunter is helping her find out who she is, she is a hunter, but thats not quite all there is to it. Tara thought she had enough problems trying to sort things out with her ex boyfriend George, now this! Not just only is she finding out about the existence of hunters and werewolves, and that she is one of them, she is also finding out the hard way that there are people that want her dead..

This book was a great new twist on the world of werewolves! I for one LOVE the werewolves genre, it is probably my second favorite after fae. Sadly though, I feel most werewolf books are well....average..okay..blah. None really stand out, but Dirty Blood was great! It deffiently caught my attention from the first page and kept it till the last! Heather really knew how to keep eveyone on the edge of there seat dying to find out what is going on and what is coming up next!

I also very much enjoyed the romance between Wes and Tara, such a great romance! I cannot wait to see where their romance takes them in book two! Anywho, if you are a werewolf lover such as myself, or just a paranormal lover, or just a romance lover...or a combination then I recommend Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenberd will be a book you will enjoy!

Cant wait to get my hands on book two! (: