Blood Forever Release Day!

Today is a very bittersweet day for me! Blood Forever, the 8th and final Blood Coven Vampire book has been released. I could have never imagined, back in 2005 when I first sold Boys that Bite, that this would be such an amazing ride. Back then, Twilight had just been released and no one had any idea how popular vampires would become!

It's funny--sometimes I see reviewers accuse me of following a trend by writing vampire books but these books always came from my heart, not the marketplace. I was fortunate that the marketplace wanted to read them. But for me, vampires have always been special. Ever since I picked up that first Anne Rice book. Or the days I got completely sucked into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's just something awesome about those creatures of the night and the fact that I get paid to write about something I love so much -- well, who could ask for anything more?

At first there was only going to be three books in the series. My publisher had decided to stop publishing young adult novels. But readers rallied through the "Save the Blood Coven" campaign we had through MySpace (yes, I'm dating myself!) and my German publisher asked for a book four. I figured I'd write it for Germany and then I'd just give it away in the US or something as an e-book. (Back before e-books were really that popular.) In any case, the popularity of Twilight and other vampire properties convinced my publisher to not only buy a fourth book, but also repackage the first three. One thing led to another and now we end the series at a whopping eight. With the books being translated into at least six different languages.

Some of you ask why I am ending the series--you could read Blood Coven books forever. (And I love you for that!) But I wanted to give Sunny and Rayne a real, definitive happy ending and the only way to do that was to make sure I got to write that last book. Many authors get cut off by their publishers before they can finish what they started and the books just kind of dangle at the end. I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to give readers a satisfying ending to the series.

That said, I do hope to revisit the world of Blood Coven through digital publishing in the future. I'll be creating spin-off stories about Stormy and Spider and some of the other characters, with Rayne and Sunny playing supporting roles. I'll release those novellas at a low price for readers who want to keep going. And for the rest of you? I have a brand new hardcover series that begins next fall. So stay tuned - more to come on that, soon!!

Thanks so much for taking the ride with me. Writing books isn't always easy or fun, but the excitement and enthusiasm of readers has kept me going to the end and makes even the most difficult days worthwhile. I love you all!!!

Hope you enjoy Blood Forever!!!

xo
MARI

Blood Forever is available at:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository (International)