Category: Book Reviews

Its Back to Bluewater Bay with Selfie by Amy Lane (special audio links and giveaway)

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Selfie: A Bluewater Bay Novel by Amy Lane
Published by Riptide Publishing
Art by L. C. Chase

 

For the Selfie blog tour, Amy Lane has written a few monologues from Vinnie’s video blog, set prior to the crash that takes his life. These monologues, performed by Nick J. Russo of Dark Night Sound, correspond to scenes or memories reference by Connor in Selfie, giving you a unique look at this off-screen character.

Please visit http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/selfie and select the extras tab for all six monologues, which will be updated there as they are published.

Enjoying Bluewater Bay? All Bluewater Bay titles are being produced in audio, starting with Starstruck, written by L.A. Witt and narrated by Nick J. Russo, coming soon!

About SelfieBWBlogo_Web

One year ago, actor Connor Montgomery lost the love of his life to a drunk driver. But what’s worse for Connor is what he still has: a lifetime of secrets born of hiding his relationship from the glare of Hollywood. Unable to let go of the world he and Vinnie shared, Connor films a drunken YouTube confession on the anniversary of Vinnie’s death.

Thankfully, the video was silent—a familiar state for Connor—so his secret is still safe. He needs a fresh start, and a new role on the hit TV show Wolf’s Landing might be just that.

The move to Bluewater Bay may also mean a second chance in the form of his studio-assigned assistant. Noah Dakers sees through Connor’s facades more quickly than Connor could imagine. Noah’s quiet strength and sarcastic companionship offers Connor a chance at love that Hollywood’s closet has never allowed. But to accept it, Connor must let Vinnie go and learn to live again.

About Amy Lane

Amy Lane exists happily with her noisy family in a crumbling suburban crapmansion, and equally happily with the surprisingly demanding voices who live in her head.

She loves cats, movies, yarn, pretty colors, pretty men, shiny things, and Twu Wuv, and despises house cleaning, low fat granola bars, and vainglorious prickweenies.

She can be found at her computer, dodging housework, or simultaneously reading, watching television, and knitting, because she likes to freak people out by proving it can be done.

Connect with Amy:

 

About Nick J. Russo

 

Nick J. Russo has been a professional performer for over a decade, but has been voicing audio books for the past few years. He has voiced several titles throughout the romance, sci-fi, supernatural, and thriller genres, and has recently started his very own sound studio; Dark Night Sound. On top of voice acting, Russo manages Dark Night Sound with his fiance and works with a staff of four up and coming narrators. In his free time, Russo is a drummer in a pop/rock cover band, loves to travel, and dreams of one day being able to voice a role in an animated comedy series.

 

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Selfie, one lucky person will receive e-copies of Amy’s entire backlist with Riptide, and an Amy Lane t-shirt. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 23, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Its Release Day for Imperfect Harmony by Jay Northcote!

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Imperfect Harmony by Jay Northcote

Publisher: Jaybird Press (self published)
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh

Release Date: Friday 15th of April 2016
Goodreads link

Blurb

Imperfect harmony can still be beautiful…

John Fletcher, a former musician, is stuck in limbo after losing his long-term partner two years ago. He’s shut himself off from everything that reminds him of what he’s lost. When his neighbour persuades him to join the local community choir, John rediscovers his love of music and finds a reason to start living again.

Rhys Callington, the talented and charismatic choir leader, captures John’s attention from the first moment they meet. He appears to be the polar opposite of John: young, vibrant, and full of life. But Rhys has darkness in his own past that is holding him back from following his dreams.

Despite the nineteen-year age gap, the two men grow close and a fragile relationship blossoms. Ghosts of the past and insecurities about the future threaten their newfound happiness. If they’re going to harmonise in life and love as they do in their music, they’ll need to start following the same score.

Length: 66,000 words
Genre: Contemporary gay romance
Standalone

Excerpt

Luckily there were still some parking spaces outside the church hall where Maggie’s choir met. John made sure they arrived a little early so Maggie wouldn’t have to walk too far. She was managing well on one crutch, but she still tired easily. After he parked, he got out and hurried around to help her out of the passenger door.

“Thanks, love,” she said, patting him on the arm. “I can manage now.”

A vicious gust of wind whipped a strand of hair into her face. It was dark, still sleeting, and probably slippery underfoot. There was no way John was going to leave until she was safely indoors. “I’ll just see you inside. Let me take your bag.”

Maggie let him have it without argument, and he popped it over his arm. He hovered close to Maggie as she made her way slowly to the double doors. He held one open for her and was hit by a blast of warm air. Then he accompanied her inside as she crutched along the corridor towards an open door. Yellow light flooded out, and the sound of a tenor voice singing “I Can See Clearly Now” raised the hairs on the back of John’s neck with its pure, clear beauty.

“I thought you said the emphasis was on fun rather than perfection?” he said quietly. “He’s got quite a voice.”

“That’ll be Rhys, our choir leader,” Maggie said with a smile. “Come and meet him, even if you’re not staying.”

Maggie paused when she reached the doorway and put a finger to her lips. They listened and waited for Rhys to finish singing. John peered over Maggie’s shoulder, hoping for a glimpse of the man the voice belonged to. Rhys, John presumed, was alone in the room. With his back to the door, he stood at a table pushed to the edge of the room, shuffling through some papers as he sang. All John could see of him was that he was small and slight, and quite young, based on the cut of his clothes. A hood covered his hair.

When he finished, Maggie started clapping.

Rhys wheeled around. “Oh my God! You made me jump.” He pushed his hood down and his face lit up as he beamed. “Maggie. How are you?”

John’s eyes widened as he took in Rhys’s front view as he approached Maggie and gave her a careful hug. His hair, which was shaved at the back and sides, was long on top and dyed peacock blue. His eyebrow was pierced, his arms were covered with tattoos, and the front of his T-shirt was emblazoned with a glittery equals sign in rainbow colours. All in all, he was at least twenty years younger than John had expected and completely unlike how John would have imagined a choir leader to look. In this dingy church hall in their small market town, Rhys looked like a bird of paradise that had accidentally ended up in a cage full of sparrows.

Sales Links

The buy links are:
 *Imperfect Harmony will be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days. After that it will be available at all retailers.

About the Author

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her husband, two children, and two cats.

She comes from a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short story–just to see if she could–and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

In the Contemporary Spotlight: Second Skin by Alex Whitehall (New Adult Release and giveaway)

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Second Skin by Alex Whitehall
Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here

Hello, everybody! I’m Alex Whitehall, and I’m here today touring for my New Adult story, Second Skin, which is about Jay and Roswell, who are on a journey of love, acceptance, and self-discovery.

About Second Skin

When Jay heads to the university’s learning center for help with his math class, he doesn’t expect his tutor to be tall, dark, and handsome. But Roswell is all that and more, and their instant connection over cult movies, books, and TV shows quickly evolves into dating.

That’s when things get tricky.

Roswell might claim he doesn’t have issues with Jay being trans, but when he’s constantly insisting they “take it slow,” Jay’s not so sure. He’s been hurt before, and he’s not going to let it happen again.

But then Roswell reveals that he, too, has a few secrets under his skin.

About Alex Whitehall

If there are two types of people in the world, Alex Whitehall probably isn’t one of them, despite being a person. Their favorite pastimes include reading, horseback riding, sleeping, watching geek-tastic television, knitting, eating, and running. And wasting time on the internet. And spending glorious evenings laughing with friends.

While Alex prefers sleeping over doing anything else (except maybe eating), sometimes they emerge from the cave to be social and to hunt for food at the local market. They can be found blogging, reading, and tending after their aloe plants.

Connect with Alex:

SecondSkin_TourBanner

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Second Skin, Alex is giving away $25 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 16, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Paul B Review: Enemies of the State (The Executive Office #1) by Tal Bauer

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars       ★★★★★

Enemies of the StateEthan Reichenbach is the lead agent in the President-Elect’s Secret Service detail.  He expects to spend the next four or eight years being shadowing the man just elected to live in the White House.  What he did not expect is to become the new President’s friend. Nor did he expect to develop a crush on the man in the first few months after they move to Washington. Doing so would break so many Secret Service rules and would be grounds for dismissal.  Not to mention that the President is straight.  This breaks Ethan’s personal rules of never getting involved in a relationship and never falling for a straight man.

Jack Spiers has spent the fifteen years since his wife’s death in combat in public service.  Focusing on veterans and their families, he has held several posts in Washington.  Having been elected President should be the pinnacle of his career.  But having lost his wife a long time ago, Jack finds the office lonely.  He turns to his lead Secret Service agent for friendship, which Ethan is hesitant to give at first.   However, as their friendship develops, Jack is surprised when one night Ethan kisses him.  To say that Jack is surprised would be an understatement.  As the two put distance between them, Jack still wants Ethan to be his friend.  But Jack begins to realize that he has feelings for Ethan as well.  He wants to find a way to make this work.

Against this backdrop, Jack is still President.  He must deal with a world that has basically gone to hell in a handbasket the last ten years.  With China and Russia both occupying countries and the Islamic Caliphate causing trouble both in the Middle East and around the world through terror attacks, Jack has his hands full.  However, the real trouble might be right under Jack’s nose.  An American general is working with agents in the Middle East to bring about even more instability to a region already at war.  As Jack works toward bringing peace to the world, there are others who are trying to insure that he does not succeed.  Ethan must work to protect the man who is not only the President but also his lover.

In order for a political thriller to work, the premise behind the book must work.  Set approximately 10-30 years in the future, Enemies of the State describes a world that could possibly exist at that time.  The Islamic Caliphate (ISIS/ISIL) has grown bolder with the passage of time, as has Russia with their land grabs.  The English, French and Germans are battle weary after numerous terrorist attacks.  Into this world, Jack must try to bring all sides together to prevent the start of World War III.

The other part of a good political thriller is the romance.  I loved the slow building romance between Ethan and Jack.  Ethan, the gay Secret Service agent, knows that a relationship with Jack is wrong on so many levels.  But are the signals the President is sending him real?  Jack is alone in the White House and needs a friend.  What could be wrong with that?  They begin to learn about each other as they work through their own problems with this relationship.  I look forward to see where the next book goes with both this relationship and the various subplots that are left unresolved.

The cover art by Aria Tan shows Ethan and Jack above the Washington skyline.  It is a fitting cover for the book.

Sales Links:   NineStar Press | Amazon |  ARe

Book Details

ebook, 324 pages
Published February 15th 2016 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781911153337
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series:  The Executive

Enemies of the State (The Executive #1)

Cornelia Grey Sharing Pinspiration and More About ‘The Empty Hourglass’ by Cornelia Grey (giveaway and guest blog)

The Empty Hourglass

The Empty Hourglass (Deal with a Devil) by Cornelia Grey
Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Jay Aheer

 

 

Hello! I’m Cornelia Grey—welcome to the Empty Hourglass blog tour! At various tour stops, I’ll be sharing some secrets about my writing process, sources of inspiration and future projects!

Comment on each stop to be entered in a drawing for a $15 Riptide Publishing gift card and the two previous titles in the Deal with a Devil series— Devil at the Crossroads and The Circus of the Damned—in an e-book format of your choice. Thank you for joining me on the tour!

Pin-spiration!

Authors are often asked where they find inspiration. Among various sources, I find what works best for me is visual inspiration… I studied fine arts and history of arts for several years, so I’m very fond of paintings, incisions, photography, digital art and comics—and I find they do wonders to fire up ideas and storylines in my brain!

On some occasions, seeing a single image has been enough to spark a chain reaction that ended up in an entire plot somehow pouring out of my brain. Other times, a picture of a potential character intrigues me enough that I start wondering who they might be, what their story could be like, and end up with a protagonist on my hands in need of an adventure.

One of my current favorite sources of visual inspiration is Pinterest—I used to scour the internet and save tons of pictures on my hard drive, neatly divided in settings, characters, props, various historical eras… but, unfortunately, they ended up getting lost in the mix when the folders became too big and it was time-consuming to keep them all properly organized.

With Pinterest, I find the feature allowing to mimic a corkboard ‘pinning’ the pictures and having them all available at a glance much more convenient. So when I started working on The Empty Hourglass, I spent some time browsing through the website looking for inspiration for the characters, the setting and the general atmosphere of the story (Just a word of caution… gotta be careful that a bit of browsing for inspiration doesn’t accidentally turn in hours of procrastination 😉 )

So, allow me to introduce you to a few of The Empty Hourglass’s characters!

If you have read the previous installments in the Deal with a Devil series, you might have noticed that our resident devil, Farfarello, looks different in each one. Discovering what he’s going to look like in the current story is always one of my favorite aspects when working on this series. And usually, I come across a particular image that just strikes me—you know, the ‘there! That’s him!’ feeling! And this is what he looks like in The Empty Hourglass:

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As for our protagonist, toymaker Thomas Escott, who grew up on the streets of the capital, I was rather charmed by this fellow:

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Our reclusive inventor, Jethro Hastings, was instead inspired by Algerian actor Tahar Rahim—please notice the curly inventor hair!

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This lovely lady and her spiders were the inspiration for Dragana, the blind inventress, although my character ended up looking fairly different, with dark hair and skin:

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And as for Mina, the little ghost girl inhabiting Jethro’s garden, I found this picture absolutely lovely for her:

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I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to The Empty Hourglass’s characters! If you’d like to see more pictures—of Jethro’s mansion and laboratory, for example, or of his prosthetics and, of course, the devil’s hourglass, please feel free to have a look at the Pinterest board for this novel!
https://it.pinterest.com/corneliagrey1/the-empty-hourglass/

About  The Empty Hourglass

Thomas Escott has always wanted to be a toymaker, yet just as he achieves his dream, an accident claims his right hand. He’s certain his life is over—until he hears about groundbreaking prosthetics being made by a reclusive inventor.

Jethro Hastings is perfectly content to live alone up in the mountains working on a secret masterpiece: a humanoid automaton that will change the scientific community forever. He’s behind schedule, and the date of the unveiling is fast approaching, so when Thomas shows up on his doorstep offering help in exchange for a mechanical hand, Jethro agrees. Time, after all, is running out on another deal he’s made: one with the devil.

The devil gives Jethro’s inventions life, but he can just as quickly take life away—Jethro’s, to be exact. As the sand in the devil’s hourglass falls, marking the time until the end of the deal, inventions go haywire, people get hurt, and Thomas realizes he needs Jethro just as much as his prosthetic. Now he must find a way to save Jethro’s soul, but negotiating with a devil is just as difficult as it sounds.

About Cornelia Grey

Cornelia Grey is a creative writing student fresh out of university, with a penchant for fine arts and the blues. Born and raised in the hills of Northern Italy, where she collected her share of poetry and narrative prizes, Cornelia moved to London to pursue her studies.

After graduating with top grades, she is now busy with internships: literary agencies, publishing houses, and creative departments handling book series, among others. She also works as a freelance translator.

She likes cats, knitting, performing in theatre, going to museums, collecting mugs, and hanging out with her grandma. When writing, she favors curious, surreal stories, steampunk, and mixed-genre fiction. Her heroes are always underdogs, and she loves them for it.

Connect with Cornelia:

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of The Empty Hourglass, Cornelia is giving away the two previous titles in the Deal with a Devil series—  Devil at the Crossroads and  The Circus of the Damned—in an e-book format of your choice, plus $15 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 16, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following  the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

The Sexy Sirius Wolves Series is Back in The Dilemma by Victoria Sue (exclusive excerpt and giveaway)

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The Dilemma (Sirius’s Wolves #5) by Victoria Sue
 Release Date: April 7, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Cover Artist: 3 rusted spoons

Blurb

Marcus has just become the only human ever to be Alpha of a werewolf pack and thwarted the plans of Anubis to destroy the goddess Sirius’ creation – the werewolves.

Now, Anubis has decided to focus his efforts instead on Marcus and his new pack, to try and destroy the pack from within. In order to do this, Anubis seeks the one thing Marcus wants above all else and when he finds it, will use that to get him to walk away from his lovers and the pack.

Unaware of the evil god’s plans, Marcus works together with Kellan and Ricoh, not only trying to help Nate recover from the vicious torture he has undergone at the hands of the terrorist group, The Winter Circle, but to also come to terms with leading a pack of over two thousand wolves.

Marcus soon will be faced with a dilemma, but will he give everything up for his mates and the pack or will the temptation Anubis offers him be too much for one human to refuse? Will Marcus put his wolves before himself or will he be tricked into leaving them behind forever?

 

Pages or Words: 50,000 words
Series should be read in order.
 Categories: Fiction, M/M Romance, Ménage/Poly, Wolf Shifters

Exclusive Excerpt

Marcus rubbed his right knee. It had started throbbing an hour ago, and was now hurting like a bitch. He’d been sitting down in one place for too long. He wanted to get back upstairs so Kellan could work his magic on it. He’d caught the concerned glance Ricoh had just thrown at him, and willed himself to stay still.

Blaze was drawing the meeting to a close, and they’d gotten loads of work done. He now had thirty gammas with Jed firmly in charge of them all. Blaze had again indicated that they would assume that financial responsibility also. Marcus bristled a little at that, but until he actually knew if Jefferson had any money, there were more important things to worry about…like what were they going to do with the only prisoner locked up downstairs.

Hunter. Marcus had been expecting the question to come up for the last thirty minutes and had wished Ricoh wasn’t there.

Blaze looked at Ricoh. “Something happened two days ago. I decided not to tell you at the time.”

Marcus’ heart beat hard.

“The gammas caught Hunter trying to kill himself.”

Ricoh paled.

“How is that even possible?” Marcus asked quietly. He tightened his grip on Ricoh’s hand. Werewolves were hard wired to protect themselves by shifting. Even he knew that.

“He partially shifted and used his claws to slit his wrists. He passed out and his body immediately shifted as he lost consciousness.”

Ricoh seemed to shrink a little into himself. Marcus glanced down at Ricoh, and instinctively pulled him close. He wasn’t dumb enough to assume that Ricoh would have recovered from being betrayed by Hunter, or being convinced the wolf was his mate for years.

“How is he doing now?” Marcus asked.

Jed answered shortly. “I’m sorry, but I wish he’d succeeded.” Marcus looked up at the older man. Jed looked furious. “He deceived us all. Just look what he did to Nate.”

“He didn’t actually physically touch Nate,” Conner said.

“But he knew about it,” Jed’s voice rose. “He stood by and allowed it to happen. I trusted that man. We all did. Any of his gammas would have given their lives for him as our Alpha.” Marcus watched in silence as Jed struggled to calm down. The enormity of what had happened was finally sinking in. Hunter hadn’t just hurt Nate and Ricoh, who had both managed in barely a week to plant themselves firmly in Marcus’ heart; he had hurt his wolves, his family. They had trusted their Alpha to look after them, and he had let them down in a spectacularly cruel way.

Marcus turned to Ricoh and looked at the worried blue eyes that were blinking up at him. Marcus turned his seat and took Ricoh’s other hand. “You have choices. You can go and see him. You can see him on your own or any one of us could come with you, including me. I can go and see him for you and find out what he wants, or you can simply tell him to get lost. You never have to think of him again.”

Ricoh swallowed. “Will you come with me?”

“I think we’ll take Jed as well.” Marcus glanced at Jed and the man nodded his head sharply.

“Good then.” Blaze stood up. “Might I suggest you see him in a few hours? I know you’ll need to see how Nate is and bring Kellan up to speed with what’s been decided.”

Marcus shot Blaze a grateful glance. Everyone filed out.

“Marcus?” Blaze hesitated.

Marcus turned to Ricoh. “Do you want to organize some food for us to take upstairs?”

Ricoh squeezed Marcus’ hand then headed towards Lilly.

“I just wanted to say I’m very grateful,” Blaze said slowly.

Marcus looked in astonishment at the big guy. “I think running my mouth off might have just cost you a lot of money.”

Blaze waved an impatient hand. “I don’t mean the school, or the housing, both of which are long overdue. I mean the way you spoke to May.”

Marcus screwed his eyes up in confusion.

“I have never said thank you,” Blaze added.

“For what I said to May?”

Blaze chuckled. “I know it’s been nearly a week, but because of Nate we have never had a chance to talk about what happened.” Blaze paused.

“You were willing to die for our wolves.”

Marcus turned at the other voice. He hadn’t realized Darric was still in the room. All his focus had been on Blaze.

“You’re human,” Darric continued. “Stating the obvious, but there aren’t many wolves who would have stepped up and done what you did. We owe you our thanks and our loyalty.’

“And I don’t want you to think I’m taking over, either,” Blaze added.

Marcus put a hand up to stall him. “I’m completely out of my depth and everyone knows it.”

“No, you’re wrong,” Blaze said firmly. “You had May eating out of your hand.”

“By promising her something I had no right to,” Marcus interrupted.

“By being an Alpha and reminding us that packs are about family,” Blaze replied. He put a hand on Marcus’ shoulder. “Your pack made the right decision.”

 

 

Buy the book:  Amazon

 

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Meet the author:

Victoria Sue 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 especially loves writing gay romance because as far as she’s concerned the only thing better than one hot guy, is two of them.

Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/victoriasueauthor/

Twitter: @vickysuewrites

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

11-Apr: BFD Book Blog, Bonkers About Books, My Fiction Nook, Outrageous Heroes, Jessie G. Books

12-Apr: MM Good Book Reviews, Hearts on Fire, Alpha Book Club, Full Moon Dreaming, Love Bytes

13-Apr: Oh My Shelves, Happily Ever Chapter, Mikky’s World of Books, Joyfully Jay, The Blogger Girls

14-Apr: Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Book Lovers 4Ever, Inked Rainbow Reads, Velvet Panic,

A.M. Leibowitz, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

15-Apr: Bayou Book Junkie, Unquietly Me, Caraway Carter, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Molly Lolly

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: eBook from Victoria Sue’s backlist.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
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