Evernight’s Valentine Snippets Blog Hop!

February 9, 2013

Welcome to my blog hop stop for the Evernight’s Valentine Snippets!

I’m giving away:

A Tote Bag and Pen (see below for picture).

All you have to do to win is read the excerpt below from my latest release, Succubus Steam, and answer the question in the comments. You can earn extra chances by “Liking” Evernight Publishing’s Facebook page and my Facebook page.

Please use the Rafflecopter if you can, but if you can’t, then indicate the name you “liked” Evernight’s and/or my Facebook pages as in your comment. Don’t forget to include your email address so I know how to contact you! All entrants will need to answer a question about the short excerpt below in the comments.

Blurb from Succubus Steam:

A succubus half-breed, such as Violet, who hobnobs with the highest echelons of Victorian London society, is a bride in a difficult marriage of extremes. Any act that wants of propriety, and she would find herself banished to the wilds of Cornwall where her full-blooded succubus sisters live and thrive. Yet she prefers the company of mortals, even if she must occasionally risk her reputation by engaging in discreet sexual liaisons.

When Violet’s great uncle dies and bequeaths her his laboratory and home, she crafts an artificially intelligent automaton named Adam to sate her carnal needs. Her plan is coming along nicely until an incubus from her past, and the unwitting model for her invention, discovers her secret. Violet has good reason to be wary of losing her heart to Lyle, but perhaps Adam is the key to fulfilling all of her desires.

and EXCERPT from Succubus Steam:

My butler, Barrick, alerts me by way of a volley of signals that cascade into my laboratory far below street level. The end result is a reproduction of Barrick’s voice down to the last inflection in tone that alerts me to the arrival of my guests, thirty minutes prior to what had been arranged.

I do not enjoy the company of my half- sisters, yet they insist on making periodic visits to my London home. They are coarse and unpredictable and threaten my already precarious social standing.

“Why are they always early when I wish they were late and late when I wish they were early!” I proclaim.

“I do not know, Violet. Shall we discuss it further?” Adam says.

“That was a rhetorical question, Adam. There is no logical answer other than capriciousness.”

“Capriciousness,” he says, swirling the word around in his mouth. He tilts his head and makes eye contact. “Explain capriciousness.”

“Capriciousness means unpredictable, subject to whims, or in my sisters’ cases, behavior intended solely to disconcert.” I smile at his inquisitiveness and ability to increase his intelligence. I had intended a certain amount of growth in his mental faculties, but his enthusiastic expansion of such has surpassed even my dreams.

I disengage Adam’s gears with a sigh and place a kiss of hope upon his cheek.

The trip to my parlor I make at a leisurely pace. My sisters must be taught that I do not make haste to reward their ill-time arrival. Once settled, I give a nod to Barrick to admit my guests.

“Violet!” Morganna sweeps into my parlor, unfurling her scarf and unbuttoning her coat as she covers the distance between us.

“Thank you, Barrick,” I say. Morganna’s confidence that Barrick will catch and tend to her discarded items mortifies me. Barrick has always been a noble and faithful servant and does not deserve such haughty presumptiveness. “Would you bring us some tea, please?”

“Certainly, my lady and perhaps some of Cook’s tea cakes as well.” Barrick gives a shallow bow but not before I catch the lift of his sardonic brows.

***

OK, so here’s the question you’ll need to answer in the comments (click the little balloon icon in the upper right corner of the post to open the comment box):

What word does Violet explain to Adam and why?