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Pretty When She Dies Series Giveaway

Madam Frater has kindly given me permission to offer my wonderful interweb friends a chance to get their grubby little paws on ebook copies of the first two books in the Pretty When She Dies series! Hopefully you've seen my review and the blog stop post and it's grabbed your attention! If you're dying to read this awesome series, now is your chance! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and cross your fingers!

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Guest Post: Necromancy in the Pretty When She Dies Trilogy

Necromancy in the Pretty When She Dies Trilogy

By

Rhiannon Frater

At some point while writing about established monsters, magical beings, and the whatnot, every writer faces a moment where they have to decide what legendary traits do, or do not work for their particular story. While writing PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES and the recently released sequel, PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS, I had to decide not only the abilities and limitations of my vampires, but also what it meant to be a necromancer in that universe. I had already decided to adhere to a very traditional, old school vampire, so I decided my take on necromancers would take a decidedly modern turn.

Historically, necromancers resembled what we now consider to be a medium, but recent incarnations of necromancers have taken on a more threatening and ominous appearance. Instead of just being able to summon spirits to predict the future, in television shows, movies, and books, they’ve been imbued with the ability to raise the dead. Since this has become the established new canon for necromancers, I decided to embrace this new norm, but add a few twists.

In the first book, both The Summoner and Amaliya are vampires with necromantic powers, but they raise the dead through different means. The Summoner’s necromancy works differently from Amaliya, even though he created her, and it takes nearly the entire book for Amaliya to finally understand how to raise and control the dead.

They also have a decidedly different relationship with the dead.

The Summoner in the first book is cruel and likes to play games with the fledgling vampires he creates. He torments them, stalks them, and makes their lives into living hells. His cruelty extends to his victims and the dead. He can force a victim to hover on the edge of death and be his slave. He can also chop up dead bodies and make terrible constructs out of them. He regards the dead as his playthings.

Amaliya, meanwhile, slowly embraces her affinity with the dead and creates a much more compassionate relationship with the zombies she raises. Flickers of memories give her glimpses of the people the zombies once were and the lives they lived. Though she does raise the dead to help defend herself and those she loves, she actually does revere them and their service to her.

In PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS another vampire necromancer comes into play. Again, her necromancy takes on a different form. Bianca Leduc’s much more in tune with the spirit world than Amaliya and The Summoner were in the previous book. She’s able to use the spirit realm to her advantage when reaching out to Amaliya’s grandmother, who is a medium, for help.

Innocente, Amaliya’s grandmother, and Samantha, Cian’s former fiancée, both take on a more traditional necromancer role in PRETTY WHEN SHE KILLS. Though it was formerly established that Innocente was a medium, Samantha ends up with some pretty intense side effects from drinking Amaliya’s blood in the first book. Of the two, Innocente is closer to the traditional necromancer in her capabilities. For Samantha, I had fun creating some new abilities that she has to explore and learn to use. I also created a new title for the type of magic she can wield.

Since vampires are undead and bringers of death, necromancy fits easily into their world. The necromancers definitely shake things up. I also enjoy writing about a different sort of zombie that is much more sympathetic than the flesh eaters in the AS THE WORLD DIES trilogy.

Review: Pretty When She Dies

Blurb:
Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry... ... in a new, horrific, unimaginable way... Sating her great hunger, she discovers that she is now a vampire, the bloodthirsty creature of legend. She has no choice but to flee from her old life and travels across Texas. Her new hunger spurs her to leave a wake of death and blood behind her as she struggles with her new nature. All the while, her creator is watching. He is ancient, he is powerful, and what's worse is that he's a necromancer. He has the power to force the dead to do his bidding. Amaliya realizes she is but a pawn in a twisted game, and her only hope for survival is to seek out one of her own kind. But if Amaliya finds another vampire, will it mean her salvation... or her death?

My Thoughts: 
Okay, my first thoughts..straight out the gate...DANG Amaliya! Why you gotta be so awesome?! No lie, that was it. My initial thoughts were just how believable she was. Again, it's fairly obvious that I am a BIG OLE Rhiannon Frater fan, I ain't afeared to say it either! So once again I was stunned by the flawed but awesomeballs female character that I feel Madam Frater should be known for!

*accurate portrayal of how I looked while reading this book!*

I am not a fan of sappy insta-love, some vampire books use that gimick often and it makes me wanna throw the thing across the room. I am SO glad that even thought there is some romance and LURVE happens, it's not instant and it's not like a "OMG her eyez be so glinty and dayum I am in luv!" It came across as genuine. It's grown and not just shown. They develop their bond and their feelings as the get to know each other.

I like Cian.  He isn't some pompous asshat that nails anything that walks by him, simply because he can. He's sexy, but not a try hard. He's not trying to seduce the ladies with his flashy fangy charm. What he is trying to do, is live his life like a normal human. He's got a fiance (poor thing), he keeps all the other vampires out of his city, and he tries to blend in as best as he can. It doesn't work. :( Poor Cian! When Amaliya shows up, she is all up in his situation, messing up his flow. At first his reaction is to send her away, but then he realizes that she needs her. They share something in common and that leads them on, for lack of a better phrase, a BEAUTIFUL adventure!

This book pleased me to no ends. There's all kinds of goodies up in this book! Sex, humor, fangs, and GREAT STORY TELLING! Did I mention the kick ass heroine? Yeah, cuz there's that too!

Also, I will be participating in the blog tour for the release of Pretty When She Kills! The book will be released on Sept. 7th, and I will be posting my review on the 12th! I cannot wait to read it!