Between the Bind: ARC Review and Excerpt: Mercy's Debt (Montgomery's Vampires, Book One)

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance Thriller
Author: Sloan Archer Blog :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Goodreads :: Amazon
Word Count: 52,000 Words
Publication Date: February 14, 2013
Buy: Amazon :: B&N

Blurb: After graduating from the prestigious Dewhurst University, Mercy Montgomery finds herself in a bit of financial trouble: over $108,000 worth of financial trouble, in fact. She can’t find a job to save her life, and with bill collectors constantly at her heels, she has no idea how she will ever come up with the money needed in order to keep her head above water.

Mercy’s monetary worries seem to be over after a chance meeting with mystifyingly pale Michael Graves, who offers her a high-paying job at his company, Dignitary. But there’s a catch; the seemingly harmless Dignitary is an underground organization that offers human chaperones to wealthy bloodsucking clients.

As if congregating with the undead doesn’t make life complicated enough for Mercy, there’s a savage killer on the loose who appears to have a craving for her blood. Soon Mercy is torn between a dark and dangerous underworld of supernatural desire and a simple life of practicality, and business magnate Robert Bramson is the man she blames for her confusion. If he just wasn’t so damn sexy… And dangerous. As the killer closes in, Mercy realizes that she must make a decision. But will she make her choice too late?

Mercy is your average college grad. She's from a small town in Florida and moved to California to attend a prestigious university. After graduating with her Bachelors in Psychology, she's struggling to find a job, pay off her loans, and make her late-grandmother proud. With feisty, uninhibited roommate Liz keeping things more than interesting, Mercy finds herself with an unbelievable opportunity to finally rise into the black.

Mercy quickly learns that there are two main rules in this vampire business - you can't tell anyone and NEVER get romantically involved with a client. But keeping her nightly escapades from observant Liz proves more difficult than she thought. Well, that and the complete attraction to her first official vampire date, who also happens to be one of the richest, sexiest, and most dangerous vampires.

Mercy's Debt is Sloan Archer's writing debut and what a hit! What was originally intended to be a short story, quickly developed into a full-blown novel, complete with excellent character development, intelligent, well-developed writing and some smolderingly sexy scenes - what's not to love?!

Mercy is easily relatable to all audiences but was especially to me, being that we are both Psychology grads from Florida. And I've been waiting for a vampire meeting for, you know, years. No big deal. :) But no matter your walk of life, Mercy is easy to love. Quick witted and honest, she stole my heart and I am so looking forward to more of her story. With how much I loved Mercy, I equally adored Liz. Her blatant disregard for boundaries and natural ooze of sexuality had me fanning myself a bit! Dang girl!

I am, however, looking forward to getting to know more about the supporting characters. I enjoyed Mercy's vamp love interest, Robert, but definitely felt like there is a lot more left to uncover. He was, at times, a bit irritating with his obsessive tendencies and I was just as frustrated with him as Mercy was. I also enjoyed Michael and his wife, the owners of Dignitary. She was a hot mess and he was just all about pleasing the wife. Happy wife, happy life - smart man.

As for the novel as a whole, I just loved how it was written. Easy to read while maintaining an intelligent and inquiring voice is something I really look for in novels. Sloan writes thorough, descriptive scenes that I truly enjoyed.

There are a couple of erotic scenes throughout the novel - the first I loved! The second, felt a little forced to me. While well-written, it was just a little a-typical. That being said, it was SO very minor in comparison to the story as a whole that I almost didn't mention it.

I truly adored Mercy's Debt and cannot WAIT to get my hand on book two in this series and find out what happens after our cliff hanger ending, although, there is some definite fore-shadowing. I would most definitely suggest adding MD to your to-read shelf - you won't be disappointed!

About Our Author: Sloan Archer is a bona fide California native who works full-time as a writer, occasionally in the desert as an archaeologist, and has a ten-year employment history in marketing. She has been penning fiction since childhood; her first stories were spooky mysteries inspired by horror films and the howling coyotes on her family’s farm.

She is a seasoned world traveler whose journeys have taken her from Madagascar to Indonesia, and many countries in-between. In 2007 she founded a jewelry label, VIVI+VIVI, and received international recognition for her creations, her most coveted designs worn by celebrities and carried in trendy boutiques like Fred Segal in Los Angeles. In 2012, she closed her business to focus on her true love, writing.

When Sloan isn’t composing books, she enjoys traveling, running marathons, painting, reading, baking, and spending time at the beach. She is currently working on two novels: Mercy’s Doubt, the second installation of the Montgomery’s Vampires Series, and Lilac Coma.

Excerpt from Mercy's Debt:

“Dignitary offers a chaperone service to its clients, both male and female. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, allow me to clarify my use of the word chaperone. We are most certainly not operating a brothel or anything even close. We simply offer human companions to our clients.”

I stared at him, confused. “I’m not quite following you- human companions?” What other kind would there be?

“Okay, let me try a different angle,” he said exasperatedly. “You see, Mercy, when I spoke earlier of humans having different hours from us, what I was suggesting was that we, Marlena and I, are different from you.”

“Different,” I repeated.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Marlena gasped, throwing her hands up. “You’re not making any sense, Michael! Just spit it out!” She turned to me and took my hand in hers, gazing into my eyes. “I am certain that you are going to find this difficult to believe, Mercy, but we run a service for vampires.”

Vampires?

I snorted, shifting my eyes back and forth between my two hosts, who were clearly not sharing my amusement. They stared back at me earnestly, Michael backing his wife’s claim.

I glanced at my purse hanging on the coatrack and thought of the pepper spray inside, feeling an acute concern for my safety. These people were clearly out of their minds.

This was much worse than them merely being ordinary sex freaks. At least I’d been formally educated on how to treat run-of-the-mill dysfunctions. People who believed in wizards, werewolves, and vampires were an entirely different story. They were an extra special kind of crazy I wasn’t equipped to deal with. I thought of the front door, wondering how far I’d get if I made a run for it, or if I could manage not to get lost in the massive house before one of them caught up with me.

Just then, a boy who looked about twenty walked into the room carrying my cappuccino. Like Marlena, he was inhumanly beautiful. His skin was pale, too, yet his hair and eyes were dark and appeared Mediterranean in origin. Without a word, he set the drink down on the coffee table in front of me and turned to leave the room.

“Wait a moment, Stephano,” Michel said to the boy.

“Yes?” he asked serenely.

Michael turned to face me. “Mercy, I know that you are probably frightened of us right now, and I cannot blame you,” he said. “You surely must be thinking my wife and I are utterly insane. But, please, stay here for a bit longer and hear us out, okay?”

I nodded my head emotionlessly; like I was going to argue with a nutcase.

Michael turned back to Stephano and said, “Do you remember that thing you have done for me in the past?”

“Of course,” he said.

“Would you mind doing it again for Mercy?”

Stephano smiled. “Not at all.”

“Okay, Mercy,” Michael said to me. “Keep your eyes on Stephano. Are you ready?”

I focused my gaze on the boy, playing along. I expected him to stand on his toes and pretend to levitate, or bare his teeth and hiss at me over his invisible cape, the embodiment of every vampire cliché known to man. No matter what he did, of course I’d feign being utterly astounded by his great feat. Anything to get the hell out of there.

“Yes,” I muttered. “I’m ready.”

Michel nodded his head once, giving Stephano the go-ahead.

And then Stephano was gone.

“Where did he go?” I whispered.

Michael and Marlena smiled, casually pointing skyward. I glanced up and let out a shriek. Stephano was lounging on the ceiling, his chin resting on his hands in a nonchalant pose.

“Hi, Mercy,” he said. He looked down at me and winked, wriggling his fingers at me playfully.

“Holy shit!” I screamed. I jumped up suddenly, knocking my chair over. It hit the coffee table with a whack, slopping my cappuccino over its side.

I ran in the direction of the door, but didn’t get too far on my gelatinous legs. Seeing dozens of white flecks dancing before my eyes, I shook my head back and forth dazedly. Michael and Marlena ran to my side and eased me down onto the sofa. Michael placed a satin pillow behind my head. Marlena fanned my face with a magazine.