In Our Supernatural Spotlight: Eternal Circle (Sirius’ Wolves #3) by Victoria Sue (author interview, excerpt and giveaway)

Orion 3 (3)

Eternal Circle (Sirius’ Wolves #3) by Victoria Sue
Release Date: September 24, 2015

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Cover Artist: 3 Rusted Spoons

Buy the book:  Amazon | All Romance (ARe) | Bookstrand

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My Author Interview with Victoria Sue

 

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Victoria Sue,  author of ‘Eternal Circle’.  Hi, Victoria, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

  • Where do you find your inspiration?

I wrote Orion’s Circle after seeing a photo of four happy guys. I wanted to make a world where they could be in love.

  • When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I think anyone can be a writer – you don’t specify “published” writer. I was a writer as a child, loved it. Then life happened, and thirty years later I became one again.

  • Do your characters become like real people to you?

No, to be honest I don’t have that much control over real people. (I wish)

  • If you weren’t a writer, what else would you like to have done?

I’m a mom, a wife. I have been a nurse and worked in a school. Job-wise there is nothing else I would have chosen. My one regret was that I didn’t start writing again ten years ago.

  • What do you want your tombstone to say?

I don’t want one. I don’t want a place that my children have to feel guilty if they don’t visit it, and I don’t want remembering like that. I already told them, I want a kick-ass party and then they can scatter my ashes somewhere I was happy. (Although the local library might object to the mess)

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Blurb

How can you repair something that should have been unbreakable? Darric, Blaze and Conner had been together for centuries, and their bond, like their love, should have been eternal. Blaze is trying not only to hold his family together, but stop himself falling apart.

The fragile relationship between the werewolves and the humans is at risk once more, and the goddess Sirius seems to have deserted them. Inexplicable changes are taking place to their little omega, and whilst Aden’s powers are increasing, Conner seems to be losing his.

The terrorist group, The Winter Circle, is getting bolder and placing everyone in danger. Worse, there is a traitor among them, perhaps someone a lot closer than they want to admit. Just when Blaze thought the worst that could have happened is behind them, the traitor is revealed, and Blaze realizes that their circle is not only broken, but in danger of being irreparably torn apart.

Pages or Words: 49,000 words
Categories: M/M Romance, Ménage/Poly, Paranormal

Eternal Circle – extracts

According to legend the goddess Sirius gifted humankind with powerful werewolf shifters, to bring balance and peace to the planet that both species called home – Earth.
The great god Orion was pleased with his wife’s final efforts, and the werewolves he allowed to be created showed such equal amounts of strength and compassion that humans were awed and showed their gratitude by adding a full five feast days to their calendar to commemorate them. The days were named after the five oldest gods: Osiris, Heru, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.
But one god was jealous. Anubis had worked tirelessly for years weighing the hearts of the dead for their goodness, and granting the dead passage into heaven or escorting them to hell. He was incensed that the ungrateful humans didn’t show him proper homage, and decided to sabotage the plans that Sirius had made.
He couldn’t stop Sirius’ creation but decided that some of the wolves would be given the gifts that the dead laid at Anubis’ feet, as a way for them to barter their fate. These were special attributes, the ones that enabled humans to navigate their way to hell, and the ones that wolves weren’t naturally born with.
Anubis sat back after his efforts and smiled. For every wolf and human born with strength and compassion, there would be one born with hate, greed, and jealousy. Some strong, some weak. Mostly the gifts of strength and compassion would win, but every so often a wolf would find hate, and greed, and grow strong and powerful with it. Anubis had cunning and had to do this out of sight of Orion. The great god just had his wife, Sirius, returned to him, and Anubis could not do anything that would risk his wrath. No, he had to work stealthily, as if Sirius’ creation had gone bad all on its own and he had no hand in it. Anubis watched as the gods all agreed there could be no more interference in human lives and he smiled. His own creations would bring down the werewolves and they would infect others. Anubis had patience and could wait for those days, for they would be glorious.

Extract Two
It was stunning. Even though his vision was black and grey, the world looked sharper, cleaner. Aden felt the soft touch of Darric’s wolf in his mind, and felt the love swirl around him. The other, bigger, black Alpha- marked wolf stood beside him, Blaze’s massive head swinging cautiously to one side, scenting for possible danger. Always on the lookout, always in full-on protective mode. Aden whined and lowered himself down. Blaze was making him rest. Memories clawed at him, hurt, and he tried to push them away. This. This was when Aden felt truly, irrevocably free. As a wolf he wasn’t small and scarred. Pathetic, abused, and beaten.
He felt a nudge against his side. Blaze’s wolf came and stood close, gently brushed his snout along the grey fur on Aden’s round belly protectively. No, that wasn’t fair. He was none of those things now, even as a human. Aden tucked his paws under him and panted. He knew Blaze was urging him to go home. They had agreed on the advice of the doctor that this was the last time he would shift before the baby was born. He’d known it was a risk, and not something the she-wolves did at all, but this was when he felt the most connection to his lover.
This was the one time Darric had never died. The time before that beautiful body had been laid finally to rest and gone to Sirius. He knew Darric would be with Sirius until it was finally time for Aden to join him, and it wasn’t as if he was in a rush to die, but these moments as a wolf were all he had left of his silver-haired, beautiful mate, and he wanted to hold on for just a few seconds longer.
Sometimes Aden wanted to disappear in his wolf and never come back.

 

Meet the Author

Has loved books for as long as she can remember. Books were always what pocket money went on and what usually Father Christmas brought. When she ran out of her kids’ adventure stories, she would go raid her mom’s. By the age of eight she was devouring classics like Little Women, and fell in love with love stories.
She’s still in love with them. Any size, any shape, any creature – love is love, no matter what it says on the box.
In fact if they don’t fit very neatly into any box she loves them even more!
She has a very patient husband and three wonderful children. In 2010 in search of adventure they all moved from the UK to the US and are happily settled in Florida. Finally, after reading love stories for so long, she decided to write her own.

Where to find the author:

Facebook Author Page: Victoria sue author
Twitter: @vickysuewrites

 

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $15 Amazon gift card.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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Tour Dates & Stops:

5-Oct Multitasking Mommas: http://www.multitaskingmommas.com/2015/10/blog-tour-excerpt-giveaway-eternal.html

The Blogger Girls: http://thebloggergirls.com/2015/10/05/author-qa-victoria-sue-excerpt-giveaway/

The Blogger Girls: http://thebloggergirls.com/2015/10/05/book-review-eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue/ – 4 star review!

KathyMac Reviews: http://kathymacreviews.com/blog-kathy-mac-reviews/2015/9/26/blog-tour-eternal-circle-sirius-wolves-3-by-victoria-sue

6-Oct MM Good Book Reviews: https://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue-blog-tour-interview-excerpt-review-giveaway/ – 5 Heart Review!

Bayou Book Junkie: http://bayoubookjunkie.blogspot.com/2015/10/virtual-tour-mmm-eternal-circle-by.html

 7-Oct Iyana Jenna: https://iyanajennaauthor.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/in-the-spotlight-victoria-sue/

Happily Ever Chapter: https://www.facebook.com/happilyeverchapter/posts/420255908166482

  8-Oct Lee Brazil: http://leebrazilauthor.blogspot.com/2015/10/crawl-in-bed-with-victoria-sue.html – Includes one of the hottest Crawling In Bed’s yet!

SA McAuley: http://samcauley.com/2015/10/08/eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue-out-now-includes-giveaway/

 9-Oct My Fiction Nook: http://www.myfictionnook.com/2015/10/blogtour-eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue.html

Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies, Oh My: http://vampireswerewolvesfairiesohmy.blogspot.com/2015/10/eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue-tour.html

Divine Magazine: http://divinemagazine.net/book-stuff/eternal-circle-by-victoria-sue-blog-tour

 12-Oct Attention Is Arbitrary, Jessie G. Books

13-Oct V’s Reads, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

14-Oct Dawn’s Reading Nook, Love Bytes, Rainbow Gold Reviews

15-Oct Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, BFD Book Blog

16-Oct Molly Lolly, Inked Rainbow Reads, QUEERcentric Books

 

Its Back to the Ball Park With Sloan Johnson’s Triple Play! ( contest)

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Triple Play
by Sloan Johnson
Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Romance, Sports

Triple Play

Amazon • Nook • Kobo • iBooks

Drew Jackson seemed to have it all. He has a family who loves and supports him, a tight circle of friends, and is a rising star with the Milwaukee Mavericks. Then, it all begins to unravel. Cam, the only man he’s ever loved, falls head over heels for Drew’s teammate. He makes a critical mistake in the playoffs that he’s not sure he’ll be able to recover from. And then, his world really crashes around him…

Eric Sapp may no longer play for the Mavericks, but he’s still one of the guys. No one could have imagined how much his life would change when he agreed to help his former teammates mourn the end of their run for the pennant. After stopping a brutal attack, Eric is forced to face the feelings that’ve been growing for his roommate, Drew. That’d be much easier if Drew wasn’t hell-bent on pushing everyone away as he recovers.

Neither of them were counting on Bryce Shaw. He and Drew enjoyed the one night they spent together, but knew it was unlikely they’d be anything more since they lived in different parts of the country. After Bryce is relocated to help a failing LGBT homeless outreach, he wants to explore something more with the Mavericks’ short stop.

As much as Eric wishes he could be the one to help his friend, he knows Bryce holds the key to Drew’s recovery. Will pushing the two back together be the biggest mistake of his life or will they all learn there is strength in numbers?

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Also in the Series

Wild Pitch Curve Ball

 About Sloan Johnson

Sloan Johnson

Sloan Johnson is a big city girl trapped in a country girl’s life. While she longs for the hustle and bustle of New York City or Las Vegas, she hasn’t yet figured out how to sit on the deck with her morning coffee, watching the deer and wild turkeys in the fields while surrounded by concrete and glass.

When she was three, her parents received their first call from the principal asking them to pick her up from school. Apparently, if you aren’t enrolled, you can’t attend classes, even in Kindergarten. The next week, she was in preschool and started plotting her first story soon after.

Later in life, her parents needed to do something to help their socially awkward, uncoordinated child come out of her shell and figured there was no better place than a bar on Wednesday nights. It’s a good thing they did because this is where she found her love of reading and writing. Who needs socialization when you can sit alone in your bedroom with a good book?

Now, Sloan is a tattooed mom with a mohawk and two kids. She’s been kicked out of the PTA in two school districts and is no longer asked to help with fundraisers because she’s been known to lose herself with a good book and forget she has somewhere to be.

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A Paul B Review: For a Dragon’s Persuasion (Highland Dragons, #7) by Charlie Richards

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

For A Dragon's Persuasion coverThe seventh book in the Highland Dragons series opens as Kaiser and Perth, two members of the black dragon counterintelligence caste, are trying to meet with the chieftain of the MacDuffan clan.  As they wait for the chieftain’s return the next day, Kaiser decides to get some intelligence by bedding the son of the chieftain.  Perth meanwhile, refuses the advances of Hamish, one of the MacDuffan clan’s lead warriors.  Instead, Perth decides to go to the stables to check on his horse, which has a reputation of being aggressive to people whom she does not know.

Aodhan is an apprentice to the stable master.  When Master Doohan realizes that Aodhan is more talented at handling the horses than he is, he makes Aodhan’s life miserable.  However badly Doohan treats him, Aodhan puts up with it since his father bartered his services to the stable master and feels he cannot let his family down.

When Perth gets to the stables, he sees a young man skillfully handling his horse.  As he approaches Aodhan, Perth realizes that the young man is an asda, or human compatible to mate with a dragon.  As the rules of courting asdas have recently been changing, Perth decides to try his luck in wooing the young man.  After having a late dinner with Aodhan, Perth homes his caste leader will back his claim of Aodhan as his mate.  Now he has to hope that the apprentice will accept the world of dragons.

Perth’s plans of a normal courtship are cut short when Kaiser informs him that Hamish has told the chieftain that Perth was seen near the entrance of the chieftain’s daughter’s room late last night.  Even though false, Kaiser suggests that Perth leave the area.  Not wanting to leave his potential mate with the abusive stable master, Perth convinces Aodhan to run away with him.  When Perth is forced to reveal his true form to Aodhan, the young man says dragons are only tales.  Can Perth calm Aodhan’s fears and show him that life with him would be better than the existence he now has?

While I usually enjoy the books in this series, I thought there was something missing with this one.  The romance between Perth and Aodhan was as usual for this series well done.   Readers new to the series are caught up in the author’s world building through Perth’s answers to Aodhan’s questions about dragons.  However, unlike previous books, the conflict (Hamish’s allegations) just did not seem equal to dragon fights or potential clashes between dragons and humans.  In light of the times though, Perth’s concern about Aodhan’s reputation in the clan regarding same sex couples does make sense.

The cover art by Angela Waters once again delivers.  In the foreground is young Aodhan shirtless.  In the background is Perth’s dragon.  Ms. Waters never fails to deliver gorgeous covers for this series.

Sales Links:  Extasy Books | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 78 pages
Published October 1st 2015 by eXtasy Books
ISBN139781487404796
edition language English

Series:  Highland Dragons

  • For a Dragons Touch (Highland Dragons #1)
  • For a Dragon’s Protection (Highland Dragons #2)
  • For a Dragon’s Treasure (Highland Dragons #3)
  • For a Dragon’s Protection (Highland Dragons #4)
  • For a Dragon’s Redemption (Highland Dragons #5)
  • For a Dragon’s Healing (Highland Dragons #6)
  • For a Dragon’s Persuasion (Highland Dragons #7)

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Ruin Porn (Resonator #1) by S.J.D. Peterson and S.A. McAuley

Rating: 5 stars out of 5   ★★★★★
Ruin Porn coverKevin Rene can’t believe his luck when he’s personally “recruited” by Miah Thade, lead singer of Resonator, a rock band on the fast track to fame. He met Miah when his band was set to be the opening act in Resonator’s first tour, Made in Americana, but when his own band members showed up drunk and high, the deal was off, and Kevin and the guys were left to languish in LA. What Kevin didn’t know is that his songwriting talent and his musical abilities did not go unnoticed and Miah wants him as the group’s fourth.

Miah Thade, Finn Reese, and Ritchie Meyer are the three young men who grew up together in Detroit and together formed the band, nicknamed Rez. Also known as the Detroit 3, the friends rely on Miah’s good judgment and welcome Kevin, now renamed Evin by Miah, into their lives.

Not willing to rely on others for promo, Miah, always the leader and most ambitious of the group, spearheads efforts to use social media to move his band to stardom. They stir up their fans in each city they visit by tweeting and using other social networking sites and getting the crazy Rezors worked up to fever pitch. But as their popularity grows, the boys start to see the lack of privacy as one of the major costs of success. At times the close quarters and differences of opinion create havoc among the guys. Miah, an outspoken homophobe, can be the worst offender sometimes, picking on the guys unmercifully.

Ritchie, the peacemaker of the group, and the man who considers Miah his best friend, takes any negativity to heart. Flinching every time he hears a homophobic remark from Miah, Ritchie worries that Miah might some day find out that he’s gay, and if that happens, he’ll lose his best friend and the man he secretly loves.

Finn, a musical genius, has been raised by Irish immigrants who only want the best for their talented son and have given him every opportunity to learn all instruments and all musical genres. Extremely talented, Finn can play anything he hears one time, and coupled with Evin’s songwriting genius and ability to play bass to Finn’s guitar in the group, it makes for a dynamic musical partnership. It also provides the opportunity for the duo to spend extra time together, and considering how hot Evin finds Finn, it eventually leads to an explosive opportunity to satisfy their lust for each other.

As time goes on, and the secret gets harder to hide, the band members realize that if Miah had any idea that Evin and Finn couldn’t keep their hands off each other, he’d flip out. And if he ever found out that Ritchie was not only aware of the attraction between the others, but had also participated in a ménage with them, the friendship between the Miah and Ritchie would be destroyed and the future of the band would be in jeopardy.

So why can’t Evin and Finn and Ritchie just say no? Why take a chance on being together? And why can’t Evin and Finn communicate their true feelings to each other? Ritchie seems to be the only one who can see that Finn and Evin have moved beyond mere sex. And what transpires if someone happens to see them? The pot is stirred with enough ammo to cause a nuclear explosion within the group, and if it blows up, will the band survive?

I appreciated the way the authors engaged the reader with the characters and created the conflict among various members of the band, first with each other, and then with the band vs the outside world. I also appreciated the setup for a sequel (and I’ll be the first in line to buy it!), and I loved the resolution of the conflict, or at least the resolution for some of the band members’ conflicts by the end of the story. Any remaining conflict will make an enticing sequel.

I certainly recommend this book for those who enjoy rocker/musician stories, but even more for those who like a story where readers get engaged in the lives of the characters, unable to predict how they’ll act, but can laugh with them, cry with them, and be happy for them when they finally work their way through the crisis and come out the other side a better person.

The cover design by Paul Richmond shows a photo of downtown Detroit with the title Ruin Porn across the bottom of the cover. Ruin Porn is a term given to photos taken of a downtown area which used to be vital and now lies forsaken in the face of the decline of the auto industry in Detroit. The term was chosen by the Resonators to be the title of their first album because it represents their hope that everyone can learn from what appears to be ruin and destruction and, rather than wallow in it, use it as a catalyst for change.

I very highly recommend this story. These two talented authors have created something special that I won’t soon forget.

Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press eBook & Paperback | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

eBook, Paperback, 252 pages
Published August 28th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
original title Ruin Porn
ISBN 1634764676 (ISBN13: 9781634764674)
edition language English
series Resonator #1

A MelanieM Review: Lessons for Sleeping Dogs (Cambridge Fellows #12) by Charlie Cochrane

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Cambridge, 1921

LessonsForSleepingDogs_600x900When amateur sleuth Jonty Stewart comes home with a new case to investigate, his partner Orlando Coppersmith always feels his day has been made. Although, can there be anything to solve in the apparent mercy killing of a disabled man by a doctor who then kills himself, especially when everything takes place in a locked room?

But things are never straightforward where the Cambridge fellows are concerned, so when they discover that more than one person has a motive to kill the dead men—motives linked to another double death—their wits get stretched to the breaking point.

And when the case disinters long buried memories for Jonty, memories about a promise he made and hasn’t kept, their emotions get pulled apart as well. This time, Jonty and Orlando will have to separate fact from fiction—and truth from emotion—to get to the bottom of things.

I am always thrilled to find that Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith have returned for another mystery and here they are back in Charlie Cochrane’s Lessons for Sleeping Dogs better than ever.

With the last few stories we have been flip flopping back and forth along the time line as laid out in the novels released to date.  Lessons for Sleeping Dogs now moves that time line forward once more another year.  The men are older, their relationship more established and yet,  their love for each other has never been so deep and committed as the one we see here.  Orlando and Jonty are starting to think past their time at St. Bride’s, perhaps even into retirement age, a startling thought considering we first met them 16 years ago when their world was far more innocent (at least on the surface) and WWI was not even a faint grumbling politically.

Charlie Cochrane is easing her Fellows into the aging process with a smoothness most would envy.  Its acknowledged, through a gentle gesture or wry remark,  a memory to those so sorely missed, lost to war or old age, and then the story moves on as it should.  Its a lovely realistic touch and its inclusion makes me appreciate this author even more.

Oh the mysteries, yes, more than one.  I think this must be the most convoluted of them yet.  Shades of Sherlock Holmes!  There is an echo of an earlier story but you don’t have to have read that to get the gist of it here.  Most of that backstory is included.  There are several mysteries ongoing at several levels of importance, or so you think.  I loved them of course, but I thought that too many puzzles almost took away from the main murder mystery.  I get what Charlie was after, but this was a lot to juggle and it was hard for the reader to keep track of all of the facts, places and people while still dealing with the many emotional scenes and fallout for Jonty and Orlando.  This aspect of  Lessons for Sleeping Dogs kept it from a perfect 5 star rating, but oh it was so close.

There is so much darkness here.  The aftermath of WWI lingers on in the broken minds and bodies of the soldiers who returned, included Orlando and Jonty.  The bleakness and pain of their childhood must also be dealt with once again as parts of their case brings their memories surging back to overwhelm them.  Their past histories are  alluded to here but this remains another definite reason why theses stories should be read in order (in my opinion). You can only get the full impact of what happened to them in those previous novels not here.  Jonty and Orlando have so many issues to deal with, and they must do it using their hearts, their intelligence and their trust in each other.    What a outstanding story to have Jonty and Orlando make their reappearance!

Yes, it all works out.  We get to see some of our favorite secondary characters and Hyacinth Cottage.  I absolutely loved it.  What’s next for Jonty and Orlando?  It’s anyone’s guess and only Charlie Cochrane knows for sure.    But one thing is for certain, I will be there, waiting in line, to pick up the story and see what happens next and hoping that the author won’t tear my heart out.

I highly recommend this story and all the novels in the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries.  I have them all listed for you below.  Don’t miss out on any of them.

Cover artist:  Lou Harper.  I love these  new covers.  They are my favorite covers so  far for the series.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 243 pages
Expected publication: October 12th 2015 by Riptide Publishing

 

 

 

Join Charlie Cochrane as She Talks “Gary Stu” and “Lessons for Sleeping Dogs” (guest post and contest)

LessonsForSleepingDogs_600x900

Lessons for Sleeping Dogs (Cambridge Fellows #12)
by Charlie Cochrane
Publisher:  Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Buy it here at Riptide

I have long been a fan of author Charlie Cochrane and this amazing series.  Set in historical England, her readers have followed Jonty Stewart  and Orlando Coppersmith from the moment at the dining table at St. Bride’s College where they first met through times filled with confounding puzzles, multiple murderers, an ever deepening relationship that could see them to the gallows if discovered, and hidden darknesses in both men’s backgrounds that comes back to haunt them time and again.  And all brilliantly staged in Cambridge  and various locations throughout England, starting in 1905, through the tumultuous war years to 1921 where this story takes place.

 One of the many elements that keeps me and so many other readers returning is that  Charlie Cochrane’s ability to place us directly onto the cobblestone walkways and dirt paths that Jonty and Orlando are trodding.  We feel as though we are there with them, and historical Cambridge is as real to us as it would be to our Cambridge Dons.  That’s quite a gift.  Now I find maybe because its author feels herself walking there too.  Hmmm.  Let’s hear it from  Charlie herself.

Anyone for self-insertion in their own books?

By Charlie Cochrane

Authors writing themselves into their works is nothing new. Many people reading St. Mark’s gospel think the young man who slipped out of his linen clothes to elude his captors and ran away naked from the garden of Gethsemane was the Apostle Mark himself. And, in “As You Like It”, there’s a slightly dim-witted countryman called William who seems to have no real purpose in the play except to be a figure of fun – is this the Bard making game of himself?

I’m not necessarily talking Mary Sues here, although some self-inserted characters come perilously close. I find the wikipedia description of these women – or  their male equivalent, the Gary Stu – useful, that they’re “primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors”. Many of the author appearances make the feet of clay all too apparent and so wouldn’t fit into this category.

Autobiographically inspired novels clearly portray the writer and his/her friends, foibles and all, to some extent or other. Sal Paradise in “On the Road” is Jack Kerouac, Jeannette in “Oranges are not the Only Fruit” is Jeannette Winterson and Philip Carey in “Of Human Bondage” may be Somerset Maugham, more or less.

Sometimes, though, the reader sees what he or she wants. E M Forster insisted that Maurice Hall wasn’t him, although the similarities in appearance, Cambridge background and sexual awakening by a man from the lower classes has made fans of “Maurice” wonder whether that’s true. Harriet Vane is evidently based on Dorothy L Sayers – similar educational background, similar unhappy love affair – although she possesses too many faults to be a Mary Sue. Except in one thing; Sayers was infatuated with Eric Whelpton (one of the models for Peter Wimsey), but to no avail. Could Harriet’s happy ending with Peter have been a bit of wish-fulfillment?

Certainly the wish-fulfillment element looms large in the case of some authors of fanfic. In Age of Sail stories, there’ll be a young woman who’s beautiful, talented, clever, witty; a right pain in the bum, to put it bluntly. She’s the best shot on the ship and can probably outdo the officers at swordplay. She might even be in disguise as a man, some very capable second lieutenant, and nobody’s twigged yet.

Talking of Age of Sail, Dr. Maturin in the Jack Aubrey series fascinates me, as does his creator, Patrick O’Brian. It would be easy to overegg the pudding discussing similarities between the two – secrecy, dissimulation about background, a daughter with special needs – but the fact remains that Maturin at times feels like a Gary Stu, despite his faults. Brilliant shot, wonderful espionage agent, a bit of a super hero (he takes a bullet out of his own abdomen and survives torture, storms, abandonment on a scorching hot island, a night on a freezing cold mountain, etc). I can’t help wondering if O’Brian was using Maturin in part to be what he’d wished to be, (or pretended he’d been) including a spy, an Irishman and a wonderful father to his disabled child.

Self inserted characters exist today. There’s a lady in my Cambridge Fellows books, including the latest, Lessons for Sleeping Dogs, who bears more than a passing resemblance to me in terms of her appearance, interests and maternal outlook. Of course, with that in mind, the tendency is when I’m reading something to try to spot a character who might just be the author in disguise. I daren’t say anything because of the risk of a suit for libel, but might that beautiful lady in the latest book by xxxx really be her indulging in wish fulfilment and can that ridiculously sexy man, the one all the blokes fawn over truly be yyyyy? And will you share your favourite ‘self-inserted’ characters in the comments?

Blurb

Cambridge, 1921

When amateur sleuth Jonty Stewart comes home with a new case to investigate, his partner Orlando Coppersmith always feels his day has been made. Although, can there be anything to solve in the apparent mercy killing of a disabled man by a doctor who then kills himself, especially when everything takes place in a locked room?

But things are never straightforward where the Cambridge fellows are concerned, so when they discover that more than one person has a motive to kill the dead men—motives linked to another double death—their wits get stretched to the breaking point.

And when the case disinters long buried memories for Jonty, memories about a promise he made and hasn’t kept, their emotions get pulled apart as well. This time, Jonty and Orlando will have to separate fact from fiction—and truth from emotion—to get to the bottom of things.

About The Author

As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.

Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.

Connect with Charlie:

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Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for your choice of an a ebook from Charlie Cochrane’s backlist (excluding Lessons for Sleeping Dogs.) Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 17, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your contact information so we can reach you if you win!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  

Cambridge Fellows Mysteries

CambridgeFellows_Series_0 (1)

If the men of St. Bride’s College knew what Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith got up to behind closed doors, the scandal would rock early-20th-century Cambridge to its core. But the truth is, when they’re not busy teaching literature and mathematics, the most daring thing about them isn’t their love for each other—it’s their hobby of amateur sleuthing.

[The Last books starting with #9 are available from Riptide Publishing]

 

Hit the Road Running with A Lone Stranger (The Bent Zealots MC #3) by Layla Wolfe (excerpt and giveaway)

LONE new cover

A Lone Stranger (The Bent Zealots MC #3) by Layla Wolfe
Release Date: October 12, 2015

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Quicksilver Books
Cover Artist: Jan Bowles

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Blurb

Ride on. Ride on.

HARTE: After a world-altering run-in with the guy I thought was my father, I went on the road to find myself. I patched over to The Bent Zealots MC, an out-and-proud club on the Colorado River. A cock virgin, I raced to experience all I could, eagerly sniffing every nook and cranny, a whole new existence offered up by Grindr. But when Ormond Tangier was assaulted by a rival club, I quickly got down to brass tacks, to show my new brothers I was all business.

Too bad that business involves Bond Blackburn, jailbird brother of our Prez, Turk. That guy is so far in denial he’s practically Egyptian. But he even he can’t deny what I saw with my own eyes at the gay club. Sure, I was on my knees paying homage to a Daddy Dom, but Bond can’t pretend he wasn’t getting some oral praise as well. And now they’re telling me I have to work with this hypocrite?

BOND: This club is a fucking joke. How’s a man supposed to make a new start after the joint? First, my own brother forced me to prospect. I couldn’t automatically rise to the top of the heap through my family connections. No, I’m supposed to labor in a noxious sweatshop making product for their pot dispensary. And I have to sneak downtown if I want to get some halfway decent head, because I don’t even want my gay so-called brothers knowing about my shameful hobby.

Now we’re reaching out to the cops to even the score with those Hellfire Nuts who abused Ormond. And that delicious Harte Saxonberg is getting my goat, so by the book, such bleeding heart. I just want to strangle him—or fuck him.

HARTE: I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, one that slab of a man, Bond Blackburn. He kisses me, then punches me. Fucks me, then ignores me. He’s got me so upside-down I’ve lost the clarity I had a week ago when I rode west. Ride west, young man. I could be a steam train if I could just lay down my tracks. But the only name I’m calling out is that sexy convict’s.

Ride on. Ride on.

Publisher’s warning: This book is not for the faint of heart. It contains scenes of gay sex,  consensual BDSM, illegal doings, vaguely legal marijuana operations, and violence against men. There is no cheating or cliffhangers, and HEAs for all.

 

Pages or Words: 62,000 words
Categories: Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt

“Stupid kids,” was all Bond would say. “Fucking spring break.”

“You never got a chance to go to college,” I said, tentatively. I thought we’d started a good conversation the day before at Ormond’s. We could certainly continue along that tack. Bond didn’t seem to be aware that Turk had had an equally lousy childhood as he had. He seemed to think Turk was rolling with some kind of sudsy reality family where Jim Bob Duggar would dispense with fatherly advice about dental cavities and wet dreams. He somehow seemed to have gathered this vision of Turk’s adoptive home as a heavenly, squeaky clean TV set, not the lousy, dirty Party Central that it was. “But Turk didn’t, either, and he was the smartest of the bunch of us, growing up. He didn’t have the best home life, Bond. I don’t know where you get your impression of Cropper Illuminati, but Turk wasn’t playing board games and roller skating. He had it rough.”

“Sure,” snorted Bond. “Cropper docked his allowance if he didn’t eat his broccoli.”

“I doubt they ever had broccoli.” I was starting to lose patience with this man. “I doubt they even knew what a fucking board game was, Bond. That house was just as bad, if not more so, than any of your group homes. You probably played Life or Trivial Pursuit a couple of times.”

“A couple of times, maybe,” Bond grudgingly admitted. “I knew what they were.”

“Well Cropper had Turk and Ford stealing Walkmans from Radio Shack when they were ten. He was handing them hits of four-way Windowpane as rewards. Before he started Illuminati Trucking, they slept with buckets around their beds because no one could afford a new roof. They rarely even made it to school, and luckily both got their GEDs because they kept up with book learning on their own. He had them selling weed to seventh graders—their own friends! Did you know that?”

“I didn’t know squat,” Bond said, somewhat angrily. “I only saw Turk twice before yesterday. He never tried to contact me.”

“Because he didn’t know where you were! I distinctly recall about five years ago, I asked him about you, where you were. He said he didn’t fucking know, but he’d really like to fucking know.”

“He could have fucking asked! He could have fucking asked the child placement agency where I went!”

I was so livid by that time I was nearly driving on the shoulder. The sun blared high above the treeless desert, and the trailer park we were passing made it even more desolate. My hands clenched the wheel. Now I was the one white-knuckling it. “He did! He said after the last group home let you go when you were seventeen, everyone lost track. He knew you were in Colorado and that was it. He tried, Bond. He tried. Yet you knew where he was the whole time. The Bum Steer clubhouse in Pure and Easy didn’t move for fifteen, twenty years. They still use it. It’s still a bar and grill.”

“Well, what would I’ve said to him? We had nothing in fucking common. At least he lived with a real family. I lived with a bunch of other kids who’d punch you just for looking sideways at them. A bunch of degenerates. Fake ‘fathers’ visiting your bed at night.”

That last part kind of sailed right over my head. I was like a dog with a bone now, determined to worry it. “You wound up having a lot more in common than you thought, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean? We both like leather? We both ride scoots?”

“No,” I boiled. “You’d both rather smoke dick than cigars.”

Boy, that one, short pause was practically electric with emotion. Bond probably needed that pause to determine whether I’d really said what he thought I’d said. Then I guess he’d decided that yes, I’d really said it, because his hand shot out and bashed the steering wheel so badly I swerved into oncoming traffic.

“That’s it. That’s fucking it. Pull over, you motherfucking scumsucker. Pull over to the side of the road. I’m not riding with the likes of you anymore.”

Luckily there were no oncoming cars and I was able to maneuver the van to the shoulder next to an old-timey diner that was boarded up. I tried to say, “Look. I was just saying it’s interesting that two brothers who’ve been separated most of their adult life turn out to be gay, that’s all,” but Bond was having none of that shit.

He yanked on the door handle so violently I’m surprised he didn’t break it clean off. His look was murderous as well, his chestnut eyes flashing. His left hand grabbed the lapel of my cut. It was an unforgiveable sin to touch another man’s cut. But I felt in the wrong, and I did nothing to stop him. In the rearview side mirror, I saw Twinkletoes pull his white Dyna to the shoulder as well. He’d been riding back door to make sure us neophytes didn’t pull any shit. Like we were now doing.

“Listen, you fucktard. You may think you own this entire gay thing because you just came out after twenty-five years in the closet. Just because you were all over that gay stage owning it like some fairy being ogled by dozens of men with your stupid fucking cock leash. I’m here to tell you. You do not get to decide who does what, when. That’s my business.” And he slammed the hell out of the door, stomping over to the shuttered diner.

I immediately followed. Of course I did. I’d brought up the subject in the wrong way, possibly at the wrong time. But I couldn’t just let him run off next to the Sand and Rock diner.

Twinkletoes, too, was striding toward where Bond had hidden himself in the shadows by the diner’s front door. I held up a hand to tell Twinkletoes “I’ve got this.” I didn’t, really, but what else could I do?

“Listen,” I told the macho parolee, who paced in the shade with his arms folded so tightly his nipple ring was set to blow. “I’m sorry. You’re right. You get to decide when and where you come out. I was just trying to tell you you’re being fucking hypocritical thinking you can live a two-faced life. It’s going to make you unhappy, number one. Believe you me, I did that for years. I didn’t start suspecting I was gay until like my sophomore year in high school—“

Bond grabbed my T-shirt this time. He struck so quickly he was like a copperhead, the way his arm shot out to grab me. I swear my feet were off the ground while he was growling in my face. “You’re damn right it’s not your business. And I want you to fucking forget it ever happened, ‘cause it’s never happening again! As far as you and anyone knows, I’m straight, straight, straight. And the second we get back I’m gonna prove it by pushing up on at least two or three sweetbutts.” He tossed me away like yesterday’s nachos.

That pissed me off. Was he seriously going to pretend he wasn’t gay in the slightest? “What the fuck is that going to solve, Bond? It’s gonna come out eventually, you living in close proximity to other gays. Eventually you’re gonna slip up and someone’s gonna see you doing it with another guy. Believe you me, it happened to me. I was sucking someone’s cock in Flagstaff and my fucking mother saw me. Yes, my fucking mother, and it all came out then and there, and not in the way I would’ve wanted it to.” My real father, Sax Saxonberg, had also seen me inhaling Dayton Navarro’s meat, but he seemed cool with it. The point I was trying to make to Bond was that it was nearly impossible to hide it. I tried.

He yelled, “Why would I slip up if I only hook up with guys in Lake Havasu City?”

“Lake Havasu?” I sputtered. “That’s like twenty minutes from our clubhouse. Who the hell is not going to be grinding in Lake Havasu? Chances are I’ll literally run into you within the first ten days.”

“Okay, then I’ll go farther! Needles, Bullhead City!”

“That’s Assassins of Youth turf! Lock was nearly beheaded by those morons for being gay before they let him leave their fucking club. Listen, what I’m trying to say is—“

“What you’re trying to say is I’m supposed to admit something I haven’t even admitted to myself! No fucking thank you!”

We were practically standing toe to toe now, shouting at each other. Being so close, we didn’t really need to shout. But it sort of fit our moods, I think. We were both pissed as hell. “It’s going to haunt you anyway, asshole! Think how wrong it’ll feel, trying to suck some girl’s boob while the whole time you’re imagining it’s some guy’s cock.”

I don’t suck cock! I’m a fucking—a fucking—“

“Ha! You don’t even know what you are, that’s how far in denial you are. You probably don’t even know what a top or a Dom is. You’re so far in denial you’re swimming in Lake Victoria, and every time you slide your cock into a chick you’re going to be fantasizing it’s some guy’s tight ass. You’re going to be wishing that hair you’re stroking of the girl blowing you belongs to a guy, and—“

“I don’t fuck guys either! All I do is let them blow me, once in a blue fucking moon, and that’s just because they’re better at giving blowjobs than chicks are.” Bond was so close he was spitting on my face with every word.

“—and every time you kiss a girl you’re going to be pretending to yourself it’s a guy just so you can get it up—“

Oh, fuck it.”

That last was just one long groan, and suddenly Bond was kissing me.

I know, it sounds insane to say. It sounds insane to write it. In a fraction of a second, Bond went from a straight guy who only allowed men the pleasure of blowing him because they were more talented to a guy who just wanted to kiss another man. And that fucking man was me.

Me. A guy who’d never been kissed.

I was so shocked, so taken by surprise, at first I thought it was some strange kind of torture, maybe some martial arts move. I froze like a Windows computer. Abso-fucking-lutely stunned, my hands in the shape of claws, waiting for Bond to hurt me.

But he didn’t. And he didn’t stop. The kiss just got warmer, more passionate. He parted his lips and tickled mine with the tip of his tongue, snorting hot puffs against my cheek. His palm cradled my skull, pressing me to him, and he came up so close the toes of our boots touched.

No. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He was just filled to the brim with lust.

I breathed. My hands melted, and I dared to encircle his waist. I ran my hands underneath his cut, bold enough to feel his burning skin under the filmy wifebeater he seemed to have worn just to seduce me. Ah. My pheromones were responding to his essential manly scent, that mysterious, unfathomable scent that draws lovers together. I parted my lips and allowed him to tickle my tongue-tip, even relaxing enough to utter a moan that had him delving his tongue deeper.

He bent at the knees, leaning into me. With one of his hands on my hip, the other curled around the slope of my ass, pressing me into him, sort of lifting me. I gasped in his mouth, shocked to feel the pressure of his erection against mine. The delicious sensuality when he angled his hips ever so slightly sent a rush of bloodlust to my groin. In a flash, my dick was throbbing against my fly buttons.

Never in a billion years had I fantasized about this brutal, statuesque god making a pass at me, much less kissing me. And now he was thrust his pelvis against mine, dry-humping me with quick little jolts as though he meant to lift my boots clean off the ground. Our tongues twined together now, Bond lapping at the underside of mine. The tip of his beautiful, straight nose touched my cheekbone. It was much more voracious, no holds barred then the gentle kiss of a woman. So this is what it’s like to kiss a man. Already I wanted to do it over…and over…and over.

Just as he gave his most savage grunt punctuated by a stab of the hips, Bond broke away. Panting, with hands out at his side, he looked utterly stunned. He gazed at me wide-eyed as though he’d never seen me before. Oh, Lord. This is where he takes everything back again. Already I was getting to know Bond and his flip-flopping ways. He disgustedly wiped his mouth off on his forearm.

“There,” he practically spat. “Maybe that will shut you up.” He ambled past me like a Cro-Magnon man, all bulging muscles and aboriginal forehead, just like the knuckle-dragger he was. Even his stupid voice sounded dumb, a roided-out boxer who’d been bashed in the head too many times. “Let’s get this fucking show on the road. That kid ain’t waiting forever.”

I swiveled around, still trying to drink everything in. That was when Twinkletoes stepped out from behind a pillar.

“Way to not be gay, guy.”

It was so unexpected I burst out in laughter. I looked at Twinkletoes, expected him to be laughing, too, but he wasn’t. He’d meant every word. It wasn’t until he saw me busting a gut that he realized it had been funny. He, too, started chuckling, his eyes watery.

Bond had already slammed the hell back into the rape van’s passenger seat, jamming his seat belt into its buckle, so I stood next to the former Prospect.

“Strange guy,” Twinkletoes chuckled. “I busted him coming out of the Blue Oyster, but he denies being attracted to men.”

“Oh, you saw him there, too? This is what I’m trying to tell him. He’s not gonna be able to keep it under wraps for long.”

“Especially not in a club full of homosexuals. He doesn’t need to fly the colors of a unicorn riding a rainbow for those Zealots to scope him out a mile off.”

“I don’t envy you. You’ve got your hands full sponsoring him.”

Bond rolled down the manual window on the old van. “Hey! Burning daylight here!”

Twinkletoes exhaled loudly between pursed lips. “This is gonna be a tough row to hoe, for sure.”

I slapped him on the shoulder, pretending to be cheery about the whole thing. In reality, I was tweaked, thinking about the road ahead for Bond. It was hard enough coming out when you wanted to, like me. But for a guy so determined to think he was as straight as a laser beam, coming to grips with reality would be even worse.

Buy the book:

 

RC

Meet the Author

Bestselling author Layla Wolfe is satisfied with a leather jacket, one bad-ass pink camo compound bow, and a vicarious outlaw lifestyle. Her BARE BONES MC series explores the dark, disturbing life of the biker club in Arizona. Her spinoff series THE BENT ZEALOTS MC is a gritty MM saga.

Layla Wolfe is the pen name of multi-published erotic romance author Karen Mercury. To sign up for her email list to be notified of new releases, visit: http://oi.vresp.com/?fid=c6b5ab1d41

Where to find the author:

www.laylawolfe.com
www.facebook.com/layla.wolfe
www.twitter.com/LaylaWolfeAutho
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8072579.Layla_Wolfe

 

Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Havan Fellows, Bayou Book Junkie, Divine Magazine, BFD Book Blog, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, My Fiction Nook, Inked Rainbow Reads, Happily Ever Chapter, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Alpha Book Club, Molly Lolly, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My, Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy, Three Books Over The Rainbow, The Blogger Girls, Charley Descoteaux

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: Books #1 and #2 of THE BENT ZEALOTS MC.  Must be 18 years of age or older, link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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Answers to Our M/M Fiction First Line Quiz #1 and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

 Answers to Our Quiz, and The End of First Lines of Novels…For Nowblowing leaves clip rt

Last week we posted the first lines of 14 popular M/M fiction novels and asked you all to guess which books they came from.  Well, here are the answers.  How did you all do?  Not easy is it? I wonder if even the authors would have recognized their own first lines.    Even harder if you are trying to write the line the first time around.  It gives you a new appreciation for some of the difficulties an author has when writing a story and one of the toughest parts can come with the first line.

Still, we need that all important first line to do its job.  To pull us in, to set a tone and even impart a little about the story to follow. Did the lines below do their jobs? I think so.  More to come in November and December.  What’s up next?  Well famous last lines of course!  Have a happy week and for those of you at GRL, I’ll miss you this year and hope you have a great time. See you when it swings back my way!

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words October

M/M Romance First Line Quiz Answers

  1. “This is the way my world ends.”–  Bear, Otter, & the Kid, T.J. Klune
  2. “Once upon a time…that’s how the old stories always begin.” —  Sand and Ruin and Gold, Alexis Hall
  3. “It was pouring when I walked outside to use the pay phone.”–Frog,  Mary Calmes
  4. “He was on his third beer of the evening when he thought he heard a noise in the backyard.”–Infected: Prey, Andrea Speed.
  5. “His elegantly decorated hospital room looked regal and stately, much like the man lying in the bed in the center of the room.” —Always, Kindle Alexander
  6. “I don’t disagree with you Mother, Clarissa is a very beautiful woman. ” —Wake Me Up Inside, Cardeno C.
  7. “I wish to buy a boy,” the stranger said.” Wizard’s Moon, Josh Lanyon
  8. “I would say that I never let harm come to him, but in this world harm comes to us all. ” Fallocaust, Quil Carter
  9. At eight in the evening on a Friday, Roosevelt High School was dark and abandoned.  —Life Lessons, Kaje Harper
  10. “The whole thing started because of Lizzy’s Jeep.” —Promises, Marie Sexton
  11. “Dad, I’m gay.”–Clear Water, Amy Lane
  12. This is not a coming-out story.” —Something Like Summer, Jay Bell
  13. “He wore the navy suit because it was her favorite, the light blue shirt because when he looked down at his cuff, the slender line of color made him remember her eyes.”–Faith & Fidelity, Tere Michaels
  14. “The smell of cheap motel rooms was comforting to him, like his oldest, rattiest T-shirt.”–Zero at the Bone, Jane Seville

This is but the start of our test runs for our big December First Line End of the Year Quiz.  Want a leg up on your competition?  Send in a first line with the author and book.  The book must be sort of popular, nothing obscure.  If we choose your line to be included, well, you have a “leg” or line up on the competition when we post the final  quiz (and there’s a prize to be awarded in December).  Make sure you include your email so we know who sent in what line.  You will get credit for that as well.

 

Books, reading clipart 090

This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, October 11:

  • Answers to Our M/M Fiction First Line Quiz #1 and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, October 12:

  • Coffee Sip and Book Break with Layla Wolfe ‘A Lone Stranger’ (excerpt and giveaway)
  • Its Back to Cambridge with Jonty and Orlando in Lessons for Sleeping Dogs by Charlie Cochrane (contest)
  • A MelanieM Review: Lessons for Sleeping Dogs by Charlie Cochrane
  • A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Ruin Porn by SJD Peterson and SA McAuley
  • A PaulB Review: For a Dragon’s Persuasion by Charlie Richards

Tuesday, October 13:

  • In the Paranormal Spotlight: Victoria Sue ‘Eternal Circle’ (excerpt and giveaway)
  • Want More Wolf Shifters? Get it  with BA Tortuga’s ‘Ask Again’ (New Series, excerpt and giveaway)
  • A Jeri Review: Better Than Safe (Better Than #4) by Lane Hayes
  • A Wynter Review: Inner Sanctum (The Stonebridge Mysteries #2) by Maggie Kavanagh
  • A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Let Go of Loneliness by Edward Kendrick

Wednesday, October 14:

  • Laura Harner’s Coming Home Texas Book Tour and Contest
  •  Contemporary Spotlight: M.A. Church ‘Behind the Eight Ball’  (excerpt and giveaway)
  • In our Science Fiction Corner: Battle Stations by Chris T. Kat (the saga continues) giveaway
  • Get Prepared for All Hallow’s Eve with the Haunted Hotties Volume One Collection (tour and giveaway)
  • A MelanieM Review:The Firebird and Other Stories (Beings in Love Stories #5) by R. Cooper

Thursday, October 15:

  • Cover Reveal for Jessie G’s ‘Strength in Numbers’ (cover reveal and contest)
  • In  Spotlight: Brass & Keys by Russell Soots  (excerpt and giveaway)
  • Coffee Sip and Book Break with ‘Beignets’ by Michaela Grey (excerpt and giveaways)
  • A Stella Review: Beignets by Michaela Grey
  • A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Shadows Fall by J.K. Hogan

Friday, October 16:

  • Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Author Discovery: Mika on Avril Ashton
  • A Stella List of the Top Comfort Reads For Those Scary October Nights
  • A MelanieM Review: Diamond Flush by Laura Harner (PF 2015)
  • A BJ Review: Kraken by M. Caspian
  • A Sammy Review: Where There’s Fire by Cari Z

YA/NA Saturday, October 17:

  • A Stella NA Review: The Rules of Ever After by Killian B Brewer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Aurora YA Review: Mad About the Hatter by Dakota Chase

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

This isn’t his sister’s Wonderland….

Mad About the Hatter coverHenry never believed his older sister, Alice’s, fantastic tales about the world down the rabbit hole. When he’s whisked away to the bizarre land, his best chance for escape is to ally himself with the person called the Mad Hatter. Hatter—an odd but strangely attractive fellow—just wants to avoid execution. If that means delivering “Boy Alice” to the Queen of Hearts at her Red Castle, Hatter will do what he has to do to stay alive. It doesn’t matter if Henry and Hatter find each other intolerable. They’re stuck with each other.

Along their journey, Henry and Hatter must confront what they’ve always accepted as truth. As dislike grows into tolerance and something like friendship, the young men see the chance for a closer relationship. But Wonderland is a dangerous place, and first they have to get away with their lives.

 

I enjoyed this book, and I was a little wary about it. It’s so hard to take pre-existing characters, or even characters that people will have pre-existing ideas about and writing them as new, fresh characters that can still surprise the readers. I think the author did a good job of this, both by not using all the same characters that a reader might be expecting to see, and also by giving the characters that were well known traits that we haven’t seen before, while still keeping them within the realm of reasonable characterization that made sense in the context of the story.
The plot was very interesting, although similar to the original story in some ways, there was a new spin to it besides it just being about Alice’s brother instead of her. I particularly liked the Hatter’s part of the plot and would even say that he was the most interesting part of the story, more so even than Henry was. Although their interactions were interesting and it was a good way to get Hatter out of prison and away with something to actually do, it definitely seemed like it was more Hatter’s story than it was Henry’s. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing and, given the book’s beginning, isn’t exactly a surprise.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and think it was a fresh take on characters we have seen a few times before and a world we are, for the most part, familiar with.
The cover artist for this book was Paul Richmond and I liked the cover. I’ll admit that to me it seemed a little busy and it didn’t necessarily draw my eyes to a certain place right away. However, the color scheme is really nice and it seems to represent the book well and give people an idea of what they’re going to be reading when they pick the book up.
Sales Links: Harmony Ink Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here
Book Details:
ebook, 190 pages
Published August 20th 2015 by Harmony Ink Press
ISBN 1634761502 (ISBN13: 9781634761505)

 

 

A BJ Review: Winter (The Haunted Heart #1) by Josh Lanyon

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

Winter the Haunted Heart coverStill grieving the sudden death of his lover, antiques dealer Flynn Ambrose moves to his uncle’s old, ramshackle house on Pitch Pine Lane to catalog and sell the large inventory of arcane and oddball items that once filled his late uncle’s mysterious museum.

Flynn suffered a serious breakdown and attempted to kill himself after his lover’s unexpected death, and he’s still very depressed despite the counseling and help from his parents. He needs space and makes a deal with his parents (which I won’t share details of as too much of a spoiler) that allows him to travels to the rather secluded property to perform the inventory. Unexpectedly, he finds himself seeing a ghost in an old mirror. The only one Flynn has to turn to is Kirk, the thirteen year older, slightly grouchy but handsome playwright renting the downstairs of his house. When Kirk is also witness to the apparition, he can’t write Flynn’s problem off as easily as he had wanted to. When the ghost seems able to exit the mirror, the guys find themselves trying figure out what to do about the mirror before the ghost does them in. But getting rid of the thing isn’t as easy as it seems.

This book is bit of a step back to the scary stories of old… and it is scary folks. But then, I knew Lanyon could do horror after reading In a Dark Woods came out of nowhere and scared the heck out of me. This one is not of the gory variety where stuff is thrown in just for the ick factor either. This is tried and true, get inside your head and freak you out kind of scary. It will make you want to read with the lights on, it will make you think, and it might also make you cry.

This story has several elements I loved. First, as you’d expect from Lanyon, there’s a well-done and very interesting mystery that takes us on a compelling journey into the prejudices of the past. But it’s also the tender and heartbreaking story of a young man trying to deal with suddenly losing the man he grew up with and had thought he’d spend his entire life with to such a incredibly freak accident at entirely too young an age. Flynn’s situation is so heartrending. He’s in no way over what happened, and yet we see glimpses of his underlying strength in the way he handles the events and the manor. Then there’s Kirk, a Ranger in Afghanistan who appears to be suffering from PTSD, although we didn’t get much depth to his backstory just yet. I am so eager to learn more about both these men and follow along their journey, hopefully to each other.

Winter is an excellent mystery with wonderful character building and just a touch of heat, but if you want insta-love and lots of hot sex, this one doesn’t quite fill that bill. What we have here is more of a romance in bloom, and I found that both refreshing and perfect for book one of a series. Wait, maybe it is insta-love in a way, because it certainly did make me fall in love with both Kirk and Flynn.

I enjoyed the way the mystery plays out ties and the tantalizing little clue tidbit at the end rounds it out perfectly. Overall this is an excellent ghost story to read this October.

Cover art. Just look at that lovely, eerie, moody cover! It’s beautiful. Highly recommended read.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here


Book Details:  

ebook, 147 pages
Published August 26th 2013 by Josh Lanyon (first published January 1st 2013)
ISBN13 9781937909482
edition language English