Grave Vengeance – A Hot New Reaper Novel by Lori Sjoberg

I’m excited to share the latest release from Lori Sjoberg. It’s a Reaper book…and I LOVE Reapers!

Thank you for joining me, Lori.

Where did you get the idea for Grave Vengeance?

It came from my love of spy movies. Bond, Borne – you name it, I’ll watch it. And as I learned when I wrote Grave Vengeance, they’re even more fun to write! Dmitri’s character has been around since Grave Intentions, book one of the series, and even then I knew I wanted his book to highlight his former life as a KGB spy. So when the time came to write his story, I decided to send him on a mission with his worst enemy, the woman responsible for his downfall.

(Funny, the hero/reaper in my book, Soul Seducer is Dimitri :))

What’s the main thing that you could get rid of in your life that would give you more writing time?

I hate to say it, but social media. One minute I’m catching up on my messages, and the next thing I know it’s two hours later and I’m watching cat videos.

What’s your favorite book of all time and why? What’s your favorite childhood book?

It’s so hard to narrow it down to one! But since you insist, I’ll go with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read it at this point. It’s such a wonderful mix of romance, action, intrigue, humor, and history. When my husband and I traveled to Scotland a few years back, we made sure to visit a few of the sites mentioned in the book, such as Inverness and Culloden Moor. As for my favorite childhood book, that’s easy: the Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

What do you want readers to come away with after they read Grave Vengeance?

I want them to think, “Wow, that was a lot of fun!” and, “Where can I get my own Dmitri?”

What is your favorite quote?

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have 3 (inanimate) objects, what would they be?

A Swiss Army survival knife, an economy pack of lighters, and a large pot for cooking/boiling water.

(Okay, so I see you have a practical nature :))

What is your favorite…

Movie – Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Music – Hard rock/Metal

Place you’ve visited – Scotland

Place you’d like to visit – Australia

TV show from childhood – The Muppets!

TV show from adulthood – The X-Files

Food – Chocolate

Sports team – Minnesota Vikings

Which do you prefer: Board games/card games or television? – What, no book option? Gak! In that case, I’ll go with television.

(Of course not, all my guests would choose books…I can’t make it EASY on you :))

Thank you for such fun info and best of luck with Grave Vengeance! (It looks like a sizzling hot read!)

Now Lori has a question for readers…

Who is your favorite fictional spy?

The past doesn’t like to play dead…

Handsome and haunted, he’s a reaper who prefers to work alone. But Fate has other plans for him and the sassy secret agent who shot him in another life—if their pasts don’t catch up with them first.

Dmitri Stavitsky has never played well with others—a Soviet KGB spy in life turned reaper after death, his work of bringing souls to the other side is best done alone. But orders from the top soon place him alongside fellow reaper Gwen Peterson, the American counterintelligence agent who took his life so many years ago. Now, as a ghost from Gwen’s past resurfaces with the power to steal reapers’ souls, the two have no choice but to set aside their differences and apprehend the rogue together. But their cross-country mission soon ignites feelings Dmitri thought he was no longer capable of—for the woman who helped destroy him.

With an ancient force and a small army against them, he’ll have to let go of old grudges or risk his future with Gwen…as Fate hangs dangerously in the balance.

Available at Amazon BN iTunes Kobo Google Books

Excerpt:

Some men were nice to look at. Others, you couldn’t look away from. And then there was Dmitri Stavitsky.

He was taller than her, around six foot four, and had the powerful build of a gymnast. The shirt he wore did nothing to conceal his thick, corded arms or the broad expanse of his chest. His thighs strained against the confines of his jeans. He carried himself with an air of confidence that most men found intimidating and most women found irresistible. And even though Gwen despised him as much as he despised her, she had to admit he wore it well.

Gwen could feel his eyes moving over her while she drove, and she resisted the urge to squirm in her seat. “What?”

The passing streetlights played over the planes of his face. He hadn’t shaved in a day or two, and his jaw was shadowed with stubble. It made him look almost as dangerous as he was.

Almost.

Back in the day, he’d been one of the KGB’s top agents. For nearly a decade, he worked within the borders of the United States, stealing some of the country’s most valuable secrets. What he couldn’t steal he usually destroyed with calculated and ruthless efficiency. He killed defectors before they could spill their secrets as well as killing anyone else deemed an enemy of the Soviet Union. The full extent of his treachery was never determined; he’d taken those secrets to the grave.

“You cut your hair.” During the Cold War, he spoke with a flawless American accent to mask his true identity. The habit died when the Iron Curtain fell, and now his rich, deep voice contained a blend of both Russian and American, with the former growing more pronounced whenever he got pissed off.

Like now.

“So nice of you to notice.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “It makes you look like a boy.”

Bastard. Her grip tightened around the steering wheel. “Like I give a damn what you think.”

He laughed under his breath. “I think you do.” The smirk on his face vanished when she ground the gears. Careful! It took me two days to rebuild the transmission.

“Sorry.” Not really. She totally meant to do that. “Third’s a little sticky.” She held back a smile as she hooked a right onto Alafaya Boulevard.

Dmitri raked his hands through his short, dark hair. He was a few weeks past the time for a cut, and the ends curled around the nape of his neck. “Why are you here, Gwen?” Her name sounded like poison on his tongue.

Good question. Her current base of operations was on the opposite side of the country, along the American side of the border with Mexico. Samuel had been vague on the details when he contacted her late last night with orders to fly to Orlando for a special assignment. She hated the idea of working with Dmitri, but knew better than to refuse an order. After all, the Big Kahuna wasn’t known for his gentle demeanor. The quicker they got the job finished, the quicker they could return to their normal routines and forget the other existed.

“Samuel sent me,” she replied with a shrug, knowing he’d understand the way the boss operated.

He nodded, his expression grim. “And why did you steal my car?”

“Because I could.” And because she knew it would piss him off. It was the way things had always worked between them. They’d lost their humanity and become reapers together, and had been at each other’s throats ever since. Two Cold War relics, passing through the modern age. “You really need to install a better anti-theft system. Anybody with a screwdriver can hot-wire this thing in less than five minutes.” She’d done it in three.

She could have sworn he growled.

An uneasy silence fell between them. She darted a quick glance in his direction and saw the unwashed hostility darkening the blues of his eyes. The muscles along his jaw clenched and unclenched, his full lips pressed into a thin white line.

The light ahead switched from green to yellow. After checking for cops, she punched the gas to make it through the intersection before the yellow turned to red. “You know, I’m not happy about this either. The sooner we do whatever Samuel wants, the sooner we can go our separate ways.”

With a huff of annoyance, Dmitri rolled down the passenger side window and propped his arm on the sill. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

For once, they were in perfect agreement.

About the Author:

Growing up the youngest of three girls, Lori never had control of the remote. (Not that she’s bitter about that. Really. Okay, maybe a little, but it’s not like she’s scarred for life or anything.) That meant a steady diet of science fiction and fantasy. Star Trek, Star Wars, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits – you name it, she watched it. It fed her imagination, and that came in handy when the hormones kicked in and she needed a creative excuse for being out past curfew.

After completing her first novel, she joined the Romance Writers of America and Central Florida Romance Writers. Now she exercises the analytical half of her brain at her day job, and the creative half writing sensual paranormal romance. Grim reapers are her specialty, but she loves to write about all creatures of the night.

Web: www.lorisjoberg.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoriSjoberg

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6574214.Lori_Sjoberg

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lori_Sjoberg