Category: Book Reviews

In the Book Spotlight: The Superstar by Patricia Logan (book tour and contest)

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Book Name: The Superstar
Author Name: Patricia Logan

Author Bio:

Patricia Logan resides in Los Angeles, California along with her husband, four children, her grandchild and ever increasing number of cats. When not being stage mom, baking cookies, or scooping kitty litter, she writes steamy, award winning, gay erotic romance and tries to lead her readers on a journey of discovery with more than a little angst.

Author Contact:

Publisher:The Superstar Cover
Cover Artist: Jeff Adkins: http://www.jpadkinsdesigns.com
Sales Links: amazon

The Superstar Blurb:

Storm Ellison is the sexiest man on two legs. The gorgeous young star of “Trapped on an Island”, the hottest reality show on television, is instantly recognizable the moment he leaves his palatial mansion. Paparazzi follow him everywhere, leaving him no peace or privacy, selling his pictures to the tabloids, and cementing his reputation in the press as a slutty gay playboy. As Storm prepares to sign his first major movie deal, his manager decides he needs protection. What he doesn’t expect, is to be attracted to the cold bastard who’s now running his life.

Balthazar Grant, freelance bodyguard, is a huge, handsome, rough and ready former Marine, trained by the best, and willing to step between Storm and anyone stupid enough to come at him. Always stoic and serious, Taz lends a deadly presence to Storm’s entourage whenever he ventures out in public. Storm doesn’t want a bodyguard, much less one who won’t let him live his fast and loose lifestyle with impunity and he’s certainly not one to be dictated to by an overconfident Marine who has opinions about everything including who he should hook-up with.

When a deadly threat hits Storm’s world, he’s suddenly living his own reality show, only this one has an outcome which doesn’t involve being voted off an island. Will Storm wake up before it’s too late and will Taz be able to fight his attraction to the handsome young superstar while trying to convince him he’s in very real danger? The pair will soon learn that reality is stranger than fiction.

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, M/M Romance

The Superstar Excerpt:

Jules grinned again. “You like Storm, Taz. You LIKE like him!” she raised her voice and Taz looked around to see who else could have overheard her.

“I like him fine, Jules; I work for the guy,” he replied, intentionally misunderstanding her.

“No, Taz, you are ‘in like’ with Storm,” she reiterated. She reached up and took hold of his sunglasses, dragging them off his face. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t like Storm like that, big guy. Whoa, those are some dreamy eyes,” she sighed.

Taz felt embarrassed and exposed without his shades and hated the fact that she could see the very real truth in his eyes when all he wanted to do was deny it. He averted his gaze, staring out onto the dance floor only to regret it immediately when he noted Storm’s arms wrapped around the twink, his lips being plied by the smaller man’s as their lower bodies ground against each other to the beat of the music. The moment he saw them, he frowned.

“See? That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Taz. You can’t stand the way that other man touches Storm. You want him for yourself,” she said emphatically.

Words: 82,000

Tour Dates/Stops:

PSuperstarBadgeTour Dates/Stops: 

19-Nov

Multitasking Mommas

Michael Mandrake

My Fiction Nook

20-Nov

Tara Lain

Cate Ashwood

Parker Williams

21-Nov

Hearts on Fire

Love Bytes

Queer Town Abbey

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

24-Nov

It’s Raining Men

Velvet Panic

Prism Book Alliance

25-Nov

BFD Book Blog

26-Nov

Inked Rainbow Reads

Molly Lolly

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-book copy of ‘The Superstar’ by Patricia Logan. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the Rafflecopter link provided for the entry form and for all additional contest details.

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Enter the Wonderful World of Gabriel’s City by Laylah Hunter: Exclusive Excerpt, Great Giveaway and more!

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Hi, everyone, thanks for having me on this tour for Gabriel’s City! Don’t forget to leave a comment at the end of this post to win a chance at the ZOMG Smells giveaway!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

Spoiled young aristocrat Colin Harwood has always enjoyed flirting with danger, but he’s always been able to retreat to safety—until bad decisions and a chance encounter plunge him into a world far more savage than his own. Gabriel is an urban legend, famous in the underworld for his unpredictability and violence. He’s also a believer fairy tales, and quick to decide to the handsome stranger who came to his aid must be good luck. With few other options remaining, Colin will need to keep his wits about him to learn to survive in Gabriel’s City.

Gabriel’s City Blurb:GabrielsCity_200x300

For spoiled young aristocrat Colin Harwood, the port city of Casmile is a buffet of easy pleasures. But when he steps into a pub brawl to help a dangerously outnumbered young man, he is drawn into the seedy underbelly of the city the young man calls home.

Gabriel is a cutpurse and a knife for hire, practically an urban legend. His vision of Casmile is touched by a strange combination of faith and madness, driven by fairytale logic and a capacity for love that he often must suppress to survive. He’s always worked alone, but when a dashing dragon who calls himself Colin saves him in a bar fight, he pulls Colin into his world.

Gabriel’s city is nothing like the refined, socialite existence that bored Colin senseless. Colin finds adventure and excitement there—and maybe even love. But with his layers of finery stripped away, nothing remains to protect him from poverty or danger—except Gabriel. So he must choose: go back to the civilized young man he once was, or fly free as Gabriel’s dragon.

Title: Gabriel’s City
Author: Laylah Hunter
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: Imaliea
Genre/Sub-Genre: Historical, M/M Romance

About Laylah Hunter

Laylah Hunter is a third-gendered butch queer who writes true stories about imaginary people in worlds that never were. Most of hir work deals with queer characters, erotic themes, and the search for happy endings in unfavorable circumstances.
Hir mild-mannered alter ego lives in Seattle, at the mercy of the requisite cats and cultivating the requisite caffeine habit, and dreams of a day when telling stories will pay all the bills.

Connect with Laylah:

Website:  laylahhunter.com
Twitter:  @LaylahHunter
Goodreads:  goodreads.com/Laylah_Hunter

Laylah is Riptide’s Featured Author for November!

Giveaway! I have the good fortune to be friends with the charming people who run ZOMG Smells, who make, as their tagline says, “Fine nerdy scents for fine nerdy people.” They have created a set of perfume oil blends inspired by the characters of Gabriel’s City, and I’d like to give some away at the end of this tour! You’ll get seven 5-ml bottles, one of each of these scents, including a nice spectrum of masculine through feminine notes. Leave a comment that includes your email address to enter!

The Battle of Troll Bridge

There are a lot of stories embedded in the narrative of Gabriel’s City. Some of them are told in the book and others are only mentioned, because I’m pretty sure I can’t get away with pulling a Tolkein and interrupting the main story with folklore every few pages. But this one seemed like a good insight into the way Gabriel approaches the world, so here it is: his account of the Battle of Troll Bridge. It’s a bit gory. But only a bit.

“And if nothing more clever has come along, why, he must be living there still,” Colin finishes. It’s the way tales always end, nothing particularly interesting, but Gabriel sighs contentedly all the same. “Does that make it your turn?”

“Mmm. It does.” Gabriel leans back, looking up at the old stones of the bridge overhead, as if some cue is written there. “This was not so many years ago, maybe a handful, maybe less. It was a strange winter in Casmile that year—which means colder than this, but dry.”

Colin nods. He remembers the winter Gabriel’s talking about; there were barely any winter rains, and the next year’s harvest was poor.

“And there was a boy in the city who had the favor of the Lady, but not much else to speak of.”

How many people get to hear the tales of Gabriel’s exploits from his own mouth? “He must have had his wits about him,” Colin says.

Gabriel’s smile flickers knife-quick and disappears as if he’s pocketed it again. “Oh, always. The Lady wouldn’t love someone who couldn’t find his way back out of trouble.

“But times were hard, and the winter had been strange, so the boy had nothing to keep off the rain when one afternoon he was caught in it. He had no coin for taverns, but he was close by the river, so he darted down to take shelter beneath a bridge.”

He pauses there, and Colin thinks his arched brow might be prompting a response. “But the trouble with sheltering under a bridge is that you might run afoul of a troll.”

“It’s nearly guaranteed, in the winter,” Gabriel agrees. “The troll under this bridge was called Black Tom, and he was a nasty thing. Huge and hulking, snaggle-toothed and mean. This was his bridge, and he meant to share it with no-one.

“He said as much, in his booming growl, when the boy came tumbling down the bank to take shelter from the rain.

“It’s raining, the boy pointed out to him, and I don’t plan to stand out in it.”

“I bet he did.” Colin can imagine the way Gabriel would have sounded then, the petulant tone that means he’s only moments away from making someone bleed. “That can’t have pleased the troll.”

Gabriel shakes his head. “He wasn’t kind in the least, and nor was he clever.” His expression turns cold and guarded. “He said he couldn’t see why he’d want to let someone under his bridge who was too scrawny even to make a good meal.”

Colin feels a chill that has nothing to do with the stone at his back. He’d bet that wasn’t really the appetite Black Tom wanted to satisfy. The cold winter he remembers was four years ago; he was having his first polite fencing lessons that year, and Gabriel was already facing this. “What did you do?”

“The boy laughed at him. When your enemies are big and mean, it helps if they’re also angry, because then they forget whatever cleverness they had. Black Tom was easy to anger. He struck out at the boy, a vicious blow, but the boy was too quick for him, and dodged it. Again he tried, and again he missed. But as he reared back for a third strike, the boy slipped on a patch of wet moss and fell. The troll was on him in a moment, claws at his throat.”

Even though he knows how this story ended, Colin finds himself tense. “And then?”

“Then he’d made a terrible mistake.” The grim satisfaction in Gabriel’s tone makes Colin brace for the worst. “He’d forgotten to watch the boy’s hands, hadn’t he? And he had such a soft underbelly. So easy to cut up.”

“And then you pushed him into the river,” Colin says, hoping they can skip the rest of the killing.

“He lost his grip on the boy’s throat,” Gabriel goes on, undeterred. “And he tried to grab the knife, but he had always been too slow. It went up beneath his ribs, here, and then blood started running from his mouth, and even if you’re a troll, you’re done for then. The boy pushed him away as his strength failed, and then watched all the strength run out of him, until he was finally still.

“The boy had come there with the Lady’s favor, and he still had it. So he thanked her, and rolled Black Tom into the water, where She turned him to stone.”

“That’s—” But it would do no good to say that was impossible, would it? Colin bites his tongue.

“So the troll was defeated, and the boy had his shelter, and if nothing more wicked has come along, why,” Gabriel spreads his arms, taking in the scene, their place under the bridge, “perhaps he shelters there still.”

Get Into the Holiday Spirit with Mischief Corner Books ‘Chestnuts Roasting’ Anthology from Angel Martinez, Silvia Violet, Freddy MacKay, and Toni Griffin (book tour and contest)

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 Book Name: Chestnuts Roasting Anthology
Goodreads Link
Authors Names: Toni Griffin, Angel Martinez, Silvia Violet, Freddy MacKay

Four authors, four different perspective on the holidays.  Now for something a little different.  Instead of a full author interview, I asked each of the authors one question. Where did your inspiration come from?  Here are their answers…

Angel Martinez:

Yes. Everywhere. Everything. A conversation, a painting, a moment on the street, Freddy daring me to try something – there are no limits or predictable patterns for inspiration. I use a lot of science news and folktale as starting points, but those are certainly not my only inspirations.

Silvia Violet:

My story is set in Baton Rouge. I lived there for six years so all the celebrating Christmas when it still feely summery outside comes from personal experience. A scene with a barista asking out a guy who considered himself straight just popped into my head one day. I wrote it down, knowing I’d use it eventually and when I started thinking about Christmas stories, there it was.

Freddy MacKay:

I decided I wanted to write a fantasy, so I went shopping for mythical creatures. I like to go for the more obscure, lesser used/known creatures. When I found my “demon” I was hooked because I knew I hit something different and fun for me to write.

Toni Griffin:

My story, Wreath of Fire, is book two in my Smokey Mountain Bears series. It’s my only series set outside of Australia and the reason for that is in 2012 I visited Gatlinburg TN and the surrounding areas. I met some amazing people, had the time of my life in one of the most relaxing, picturesque settings I could have ever imagined. This place needed to be put down on paper. When the idea for the Cabin for Two anthology was being thrown around I knew exactly what I wanted to write. A Bear in the Woods was born. It’s taken me a little while to get back to the characters and write book two, but I can guarantee you won’t have to wait as long for book three.

 

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Author Group Bio:

Mischief Corner Books is an organization of superheroes… no, it’s a platinum-album techno-fusion group…no, hold on a sec here…

Ah, yes. Mischief Corner is a diverse group of authors who met on a mountain in Tennessee and decided since we probably were too easily distracted to rule the world that we’d settle for causing a bit of mayhem instead.

In addition to making mayhem, we publish books with a diverse range of genres and topics… we live to break molds. 

MCB. Giving voice to LGBTQ fiction.

Author Contact:

Mischief Corner Books Website and Store
MCB Facebook page

Publisher: Mischief Corner Books, LLCChestnutsRoasting10x15
Cover Artist: Catherine Dair
Sales Links:  

 

Blurb(s):

Christmas means different things to everyone, but most often it’s all about pulling loved ones close and brightening the gloom. The fire’s crackling. The snow is piling up outside, even if it’s only in your dreams. Time to snuggle up with some cocoa and some stories carefully crafted by the Mischief Corner Crew to warm hearts and cockles.

Wreath of Fire: Smokey Mountains Bears 2 – Toni Griffin:

Michael’s trying to start a new life away from his abusive father, but he’s drifting and not sure what he wants. When he accidentally starts a kitchen fire, the hot new fireman who comes to the rescue is not only another bear shifter. He’s Michael’s mate. Michael desperately needs to get his act together and figure out what he wants if he has any hope of claiming the bear fated to be his.

A Christmas Cactus for the General – Angel Martinez

Exiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can’t imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought.

Holly Jolly – Silvia Violet

I’m not gay. I just notice men sometimes. Everybody does, right? I notice Dane a lot, like every time I’m near him, but just because I think he’s an attractive man that doesn’t mean I like him, does it?

I’m also not a fan of Christmas. Too many years “celebrating” with my Bible-thumping family ruined the holiday for me. So what if I envy all these cheerful souls dashing about with smiles on their faces? I don’t have to like Christmas, do I? If anyone could get me in the Christmas spirit, it would be Dane with his easy, relaxed manner and his gorgeous smile. If that were going to happen, though, I’d have to find the courage to talk to him and to admit that maybe I don’t know myself all that well after all.

Snow on Spirit Bridge – Freddy MacKay

Alone in Japan, Finni is struggling against the constant distrust, avoidance, and xenophobia he experiences every day. He misses home. He misses his family. Nightmares come all too frequently because of the stress, and well, Christmas is just not Christmas in Japan. Not how he understands it.

Distressed by how miserable Finni is, his roommate, Mamoru, offers to be Finni’s family for Christmas. Little does he know how much one agreement would change everything between them, because both of them kept secrets neither ever dreamed were true.

Categories: Contemporary, Fantasy, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy (Please note: Not all tags refer to the collection of stories.)

Excerpt From Snow on Spirit Bridge by Freddy MacKay

Chapter One

There should be snow. Lots of it. Moreover, it should be below freezing with clouds, not this sunny and fifties crap. People should be huddled together and hurrying to get inside. It didn’t feel like Christmas otherwise.

With a sigh, Finni glanced around the train platform.

If he’d been home in Chicago, snow would blanket the streets and salt would crunch under his feet. Shop windows with mannequins would line the Magnificent Mile with Christmas winter scenes. The tree would be up at his parents’, decorated with bright lights and homemade ornaments he and his siblings made over the years. One or two presents would lie under the tree as a teaser for the younger cousins. Warm drinks would be waiting for him as he stepped through the door and brushed the snow off his coat. His family would smile at him and voices would call out to him.

If he’d been home in Chicago.

Tokyo wasn’t home.

A big, bustling city, yes, but not home.

As people hurried from one shop to the next, got on and off the trains, and ran about in their jackets and sweaters, Tokyo couldn’t have been farther from home. Yes, decorations were up at cake shops and at the department stores, but they weren’t the same. The plastic Christmas trees seemed more likely to come alive and hunt people down than give off a relaxing pine scent. They didn’t give off the same cozy family feeling Finni connected with. Everything was geared toward couples.

Since when was Christmas about couples?

A pang of loneliness ate at Finni’s gut. All he wanted was his parents, his brothers and sisters, and his cousins, aunts, uncles, and some snow. He needed to see everyone was happy and okay. Was that too much to ask for?

A chilled wind blasted Finni, and he looked up, expecting the train, but nothing rattled down the tracks. Other people grabbed their coats and hunched. Some young girls squealed and huddled closer to each other. Finally, a shiver wracked Finni, clueing him in to the unusual temperature drop.

Temperatures had plummeted from the fifties to almost thirty since he’d arrived on the platform, not normal weather. In only a T-shirt, even Finni felt the cold.

Finni sighed, closed his eyes, and concentrated on sunshine and warm thoughts. He almost laughed under the circumstances. The people would think he was odd and leave an even bigger circle around him. One more oddity to make Finni miss home even more.
The swoosh and rattle of a train making its way down the tracks caused Finni to open his eyes, watching expectantly with the others.

About damn time. Usually the trains didn’t run late unless something untoward happened. Like a jumper, which occurred more often than Finni comprehended. He risked a glance around and saw the people more relaxed, the extreme temperature flux now gone, just an oddity to discuss among themselves.

The train hissed to a stop, the doors popped open, and everyone hurried on, ready to leave the unusual drop in temperature behind them. While the men and women bumped into each other, the girls giggling as they passed Finni, he still got a wide berth as he ducked through. The crowd moved and swayed in a loose circle around him until Finni got to his spot by the doors and faced the window.

Once again, the seat next to him remained empty, no one sitting down even though the train was packed. Not every foreigner got quite the same treatment he did, but his size—not to mention the blond hair and blue eyes—made people’s reaction to him more extreme. Finni ignored the slight, though it stung more than it had the past couple of months. He’d learned not to notice when people stared or jumped in surprised when they looked up at him or moved away as soon as they noticed him after they sat down. Better to stay quiet and pretend nothing happened than draw attention to the behavior. It only made things worse.

Except today, the unfounded fears of the people he’d rode the train with since his move mid-October dug into him like claws. He sighed, leaned against the windows, and closed his eyes, exhausted.

Sleep wasn’t easy lately. Nightmares waited for him, ones that made it harder to be away from his family. He yawned, fighting off the weariness, but the rocking of the train called to him like a siren to a sailor.

No matter the direction he looked in, Finni only saw white. The snow beat down on him as he cried out. Torrents of wind spiraled all around him, the weather mimicking his heart.

Why hadn’t anyone come? The sky was dark. Someone should have found them by now. He trembled in the cold and felt so tired. He just wanted to sleep.

But he couldn’t. Not yet.

Finni tried to call out, but his voice had given out long before the sun went down.

He clutched Gunder to him. Realization had finally sunk in, but as he sniffed, Finni knew he’d never let Gunder go. No matter what.
He should’ve kept up with him. Kept Gunder in his sights, but his brother ran so much faster than he did. His legs were so long and big compared to Finni’s scrawny ones. Someday, he’d be bigger than Gunder, though, he just knew it. Then he’d be able to outrun his brother.

When they were grown up, three years wouldn’t be that big of a difference in age.

“Hear that, Gunder?” Finni asked in a whisper, pressing his face against his brother’s. “I’m going to be bigger than you someday. Be able to run faster. So…so…so…”

He broke down, sobs torn from his chest. How did they get home? Finni just wanted Mom and Dad. He just wanted to go home with Gunder.

“Mom!” His voice barely made it out, but he had to try. “Dad! Somebody!”

Nothing. He was alone. All alone.

Mom. Dad. I don’t want to be alone.

He screamed and the wind picked up, whipped around him in a cyclone. The temperature dropped farther.

“Finni! Gunder!”

Who was that?

“Finni! Where are you boys?”

“Gr-gr-grandpa?” Guilt warred with hope. He should hide. Everyone was gonna be mad. So, so mad. They’d never like him again.
The wind’s moaning stopped. The snowflakes stirred no more. Grandpa’s huge, hulking figure appeared.

“Grandpa,” Finni cried out. The hiccups came as he tried to get it all out. “G-G-Gunder fell through the ice… I-I-couldn’t reach him. Gunder…he… I-I-tried to g-g-get us home.”

“Oh, oh. Oh, Finni,” his grandpa said quietly. Tears ran down his cheeks.

Oh no. Grandpa was mad.

“My little boy.” Grandpa wrapped his big arms around them and kissed his forehead. “My poor boys.”

Finni wailed, and the snow picked back up.

 

Snow on Spirit Bridge – Freddy MacKay – Angel Martinez Reading The Excerpt – so wonderful!

Pages:

MCBBadgeTour Dates/Stops:

20-Nov

Amanda C. Stone

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

21-Nov

Parker Williams

24-Nov

Love Bytes

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

25-Nov

Hearts on Fire

26-Nov

BFD Book Blog

27-Nov

MM Good Book Reviews

28-Nov

Velvet Panic

1-Dec

Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

Molly Lolly

2-Dec

Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves

Cate Ashwood

3-Dec

My Fiction Nook

Queer Town Abbey

Prism Book Alliance

4-Dec

Multitasking Mommas

Cathy Brockman Romances 

 

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: First prize: $25.00 GC (choice of Amazon or ARe) and a choice of Tote or Mug from the MCB Redbubble store (choice of graphic). Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link provided for the entry form and for all additional contest details.

Second prize: $5.00 GC (choice of Amazon or ARe) and choice of sticker from the MCB Redbubble store
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Begin Your Holidays with the Three of Hearts Collection from Riptide Publishing-You Choose The Charity Sales Benefits

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Begin your holidays with a very special offer from Riptide Publishing and the author of Three of Hearts, Kelly Jamieson.  Help Choose The Charity This Season!

For the Choose the Charity contest, check out all the details below.  The Three of Hearts is one of three stories in this heartwarming holiday collection from Jane Davitt, Kelly Jamieson and Sydney Croft.

 

Book Title: Three of Hearts!
Author:  Kelly Jamieson
Share the Love Collection, authors Kelly Jamieson, , Jane Davitt, and Sydney Croft
Publisher:  Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase
Titles available for pre-order.

Sales Link:  Three of Hearts link Riptide    Share the Love Collection at Riptide

ThreeOfHearts_500x750Three of Hearts Blurb:

Haylee Tremayne is tired of the road. The concert tour for Three of Hearts was a success, but she’s confused by the inexplicable tension between her bandmates, Ben and Lucas. She’s also ready to go home to her boyfriend in Nashville. Time off would probably help everyone relax, even if it is Christmas, a season with too many bad memories.

But right before their last concert, Haylee discovers she’s been dumped for a sexy girly-girl. Story of her life: all guys see is tomboy Haylee. At the after-concert party, she drowns her sorrows and—desperate to feel feminine for once in her life—asks Ben and Lucas for a threesome. And it’s just as sexy and fun as she hoped.

Back in Nashville, Ben and Lucas prove again and again that their first night wasn’t a mistake. But the tension between them is still high, and on Christmas Eve, their ménage takes a stunning turn. When it all falls apart, Haylee is terrified that their crazy relationship might cost them the band, their success, and worst of all, each other.

Begin Your Holiday Gift Giving here….

Each year, Riptide Publishing releases a holiday collection in support of an LGBTQ charity. Twenty percent of all proceeds from the  Share the Love collection  will be donated to the  It Gets Better Project.

This collection would not be possible without the talent and generosity of its authors, who have brought us the following holiday stories:Share the Love Bundle

Three of Hearts  by Kelly Jamieson (releasing November 17)
Lucky Strike  by Jane Davitt (releasing November 24)
Three the Hard Way  by Sydney Croft (releasing December 1)

About Kelly Jamieson

Kelly is a married mother of two who lives a very ordinary life outside of her imagination. When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading. She also likes to cook, and that means she likes to read cookbooks and cooking magazines. In the summer she enjoys spending time gardening, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues. She loves lying on the beach or on her deck with a glass of wine and a good book. She also loves to travel. As you can see, pretty much all of her activities involve reading somehow! Although she doesn’t have as much time for it anymore, she also loves to shop, especially for clothes and shoes. Some think she’s obsessed with shoes but that is not true (although her husband would point out that there is no room left in our closet).

She loves to hear from readers, so visit her on her  website, tweet her on Twitter, leave her a comment on Goodreads or Amazon or her  blog, or email her at  info@kellyjamieson.com.

Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a $25 Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 7. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.

Every year, Riptide Publishing releases a Holiday charity bundle with themed stories by bestselling authors. Twenty percent of the net proceeds of each bundle goes to a charity that serves the LGBTQ population.

Royalties from Riptide’s 2013 Home for the Holidays charity collection have raised over $14,000 in nine months for the Ali Forney Center, and continue to yield several hundred dollars per month in royalties donations. Our 2014 Share the Love charity collection will be raising money for the It Gets Better Project, and we hope to report even better results than in 2013.

For 2015, the theme will be Holiday Surprises, and we’ll have stories by HelenKay Dimon, Christine d’Abo, and Marie Sexton. But we don’t have a charity yet.

We need YOUR help to choose the 2015 charity. Nominate your favorite LGBTQ charity below and Riptide might choose it as the 2015 Holiday bundle charity!

The chosen charity for 2015 will immediately receive a $5,000 advance against royalties (paid in 2015 on announcement of the award recipient). The charity will continue to receive 20% of all lifetime net sales income from the 2015 holiday charity collection, in the form of a monthly royalty check.

Three honorable mention charities will each receive a $250 donation.

Click here to nominate a charity. Both supporters and representatives of a charity can submit a nomination

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A Mika Review: Damaged Package by S.A. McAuley

Rating:  2.75 stars out of 5

Damaged Package coverForced into early retirement from his career as a SWAT officer for the city of Detroit, James Deacon knew that when he failed it would be a fall of epic proportions. He’s been living life by the tips of his fingers for over twenty years, and his new gig organizing a group of misfit military types into a functioning team—including his reluctant ex-fiancée—won’t return him to stable ground anytime soon.

Trevor Barrow has been on the move for the last seven years—hitting the road when relationships became too real or too much work. He’s home now, working in the hazardous world of bike messengers in the Motor City, and the only one of his eight siblings who knows he’s returned is his sister Cat. It’s not as if reconnecting with them matters anyway, because it’s likely he’ll be gone again soon.

Both men are lugging some heavy baggage, but when they chance upon each other in a dive bar it’s hard to deny their flaws are more like symbiotic quirks. Trevor’s backpedaling instincts and Deacon’s dance-dance party past may just be intersecting at a time when things are about to get explosive in Detroit.

I didn’t like this book. I found myself wanting to end it multiple times throughout reading it. I gave these ratings based on the basic level of relationship between Deacon and Trevor. The entire book felt disjointed to me. It was weird, and not believable. I didn’t buy into the corporate espionage angle one bit or that a 16 yr old boy would get emancipated from his mother and for 7 years was able to travel to 93 countries. What did he do to gain money, shelter, protection, and knowledge? I can’t believe that would have unless he had a fairy godmother out here protecting him and supplying him with endless funds. Then after being gone from home from 7 years, he’s able to return and start up a bike messenger service. Really, because it’s that simple? Trevor talks about these friends he’s got, and how he’s able to live in an upscale apartment building and have his own company at 23. He never once talked about formal education, any type of training. The one relationship he held dear to his heart the author decided to make a muck out of it. I didn’t like it, I felt it was too easy to place the blame and take away the only faith and trust in someone.

Deacon character’s threw me off a lot, whereas with Trevor I understood why he was closed off. Deacon’s character seemed unauthentic throughout the entire book unless they were in some sort of physical state. The story seemed to be told out of sequence. They kept referencing the Audra Price incident as his reasoning from getting fired from his job of 20 years? What did he do that was so wrong? From my understanding of what was said in the book was whispering in Miss Price ear about what she did; it felt like a gimmick and not realistic. The crux of the story was basically Deacon working for “The Dictator”, this wsapowerful man in Detroit who owned lots real estate and businesses. Why does one need an paramilitary/ swat team to deliver correspondences all over the city? The corporate espionage plot was so unrealistic for me. I felt like the author spent way to much time on it, and it didn’t solve, answer or satisfy me with the story.

The only plus for me was Continue reading “A Mika Review: Damaged Package by S.A. McAuley” →

Go Into the Night with Shannon West’s latest, Moonstruck (tour and contest)

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Book Name: Moonstruck
Goodreads Link
Author Name: Shannon West

Author Bio:

Shannon West currently lives in the South with her husband and family. A lover and avid reader of M/M romances, she began writing them a few years ago and now has over forty short stories, novellas, and novels to her credit. She was a finalist in the Rainbow Awards for 2013 and very honored to be an All Romance Ebooks Top Ten Author for 2013. She loves men and everything about them, and believes that love is love, no matter the gender. She mostly spends her days at the keyboard, trying to elude housework, which stalks her relentlessly.  A 2014 Rainbow Awards nominee in Science Fiction.

Author Contact:

  • Twitter: @shannonwest8

 

Author Note about ‘Moonstruck’:

I used to teach high school English and at one point I taught a class called Pacesetter, which was a kind of pre-AP Literature class. One of the units focused on Cultural Differences and how they had caused so much prejudice, misunderstanding and downright hatred over the centuries. Kind of a “man’s inhumanity to man” theme. Really fascinating and also horrible to realize how utterly cruel human being can be to each other because of the difference in our skins, our religion or our sexual orientation. In Germany, Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews, the homosexuals and anyone else who disagreed with him politically. In Australia, the British tried to “breed the black” out of Aborigine and English mixed children to keep their race pure. In Rwanda, the Hutus tribe set out to exterminate the Tutsi tribe because they looked a little “more white” than the Hutus, and came very close to wiping them off the map. These stories abound all over history and literature.

So I thought if a new breed of human (one that could shift into a wolf) were to be discovered, what would be the outcome? It would be nice to think we would accept them, but in reality, we’d probably do the same as so many other cultures–marginalize them and/or eradicate them. This is where I got the idea for the story and it will follow the lives of a small group of wolves who join with a few Alaskan wolves, who have already had their lives mostly destroyed by the government. Two alphas from these groups fall in love and decide not to just go along and meekly accept their fate. Instead they refuse to go into the camps and they try to fight for their own lives and for the future of their species.

Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Cover Artist: 3 Rusted Spoons

Sales Links:   ARe      Amazon    Dark Hollow Press

moonstruck coverMoonstruck Blurb:

Special Agent in Charge Jaden Malik’s meeting with the old gray alpha was the first step in an attempt to convince him a fight by his pack against their removal by the Bureau of Lupine Affairs or the BLA would not only be futile but would lead to their utter destruction. When he’s attacked by the son of the old alpha, he takes the handsome man hostage to ensure the pack’s cooperation and then finds to his horror that the man is his mate.

Tyler Jenkins is furious at his capture and Malik’s plans to take his pack to one of the government preserves for wolf shifters. Malik is a shifter himself, and Tyler can’t understand how he can betray his own kind. Tyler’s pack has evaded capture for over thirty years, since the camps were first created, and he has no intention of being put behind bars. Despite his growing attraction to Jaden, Tyler manages a dangerous, daring escape with his pack, turning the tables on Malik by putting him in his own silver handcuffs and taking him with them.

Tyler has only one chance to save what’s growing between them. He has to make it good or risk losing his lover and his mate forever.

Categories: Erotica, Fantasy, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal

Moonstruck Excerpt:

His shoulder began to throb from the silver bullet the big one had dug out of his shoulder. Before they’d started, their alpha had given him an injection to deaden the pain, but it was coming back now with a vengeance. Malik had surprised Ty with the gunshot and caught him off guard, but the attack on the agent proved to Ty, at least, that these bastards could be beaten. His father wasn’t even willing to try. Bile churned in his gut and the blood roared in his ears as the reality of his situation sank in. From free man and son of the alpha to hostage of a hated enemy and prisoner in the span of a heartbeat—how the fuck was that even possible?

He shook his head frantically and Malik reached up to pull down the gag from around his mouth. Ty practically spit the words at him. “You son-of-a-bitch! Let me go! I’ll fight you by myself. Just release me and give me a chance, or are you afraid of a fair fight?”

“So you’ve been yelling for some time now, which is why you’re wearing the gag. No more fighting. You’re my prisoner now and prisoners don’t get to make challenges. So settle your ass down.”

Ty glared at the big leader, standing in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest. “What’s the matter, are you scared?” Ty said, taunting him. “I’ve made a challenge, so either accept it or admit you’re afraid to fight me!”

The big leader stepped closer to him, taking his chin in his hand and forcing him to gaze directly into his eyes. “Be careful, Ty. Continue to run your mouth and I’ll gag you again, but it won’t be with this rag,” he said contemptuously, flicking at the cloth pulled down from his mouth. He rubbed his hand over his groin and smirked at him. “Do you understand my meaning?”

Ty flinched, but kept his gaze steady. “I’m not afraid of you, you bastard,” he said, and it would have been perfect if his damn voice hadn’t cracked there at the end, which pissed him off. He wasn’t afraid of this wolf, but there was something about him…something that fascinated and infuriated him at the same time.

Malik’s eyes softened and grew darker as they stayed fixed on his. A long, infinitely strange moment passed during which they simply gazed into each other’s eyes. It seemed like even the air around them almost crackled with energy. Ty swore that for a moment he could see the sparks flying between them. Then one of the others cleared his throat, breaking the mood. Jaden shook his head and released Ty’s chin abruptly, turning toward his men. “We’re heading back to camp. We can notify headquarters to expect us with the newcomers in two days’ time. Keep close and vigilant. I don’t trust these people to keep their bargain.”

Ty dropped his gaze so the rogues wouldn’t see the emotions that surely must be blazing in his eyes. His father would keep his filthy bargain—Ty had no doubt of it now, and he wouldn’t add to his father’s shame by creating any more of a scene, because this was a dishonor. They should have fought these trespassers off, given up their lives if necessary to defend themselves. Ty was deeply ashamed of his father for rolling over and giving in so easily. Were they cowards to be so afraid of a fight? Ty wasn’t afraid, and he’d make sure this government lackey—this traitor—knew that soon enough. He was aware of the big man reaching for him, and he put his head back up, his eyes defiant and met the agent’s steely gaze without flinching. He forced a tight rein on his emotions, because he knew they showed plainly on his face and he would not give away his private thoughts, no matter how wildly they raged inside his head. He had a strange feeling that this man knew exactly what he was thinking anyway and was quietly amused by it. His father and the rest of his pack had left the clearing, leaving Ty alone with these savages. As the others prepared to leave the clearing, Malik took deliberate stock of him, even walking around behind Ty to look him over. When Ty glared back at him, the man met his gaze with an impassive coldness, though his eyes lingered for a long time on Ty’s face. Ty hoped he could see the hatred and antipathy raging there, and he thought he might, because the alpha quirked up one eyebrow as he gazed into Ty’s eyes. The corners of his mouth lifted in a slightly contemptuous smirk, which only served to fuel Ty’s rage.

Malik reached down and took hold of the rope on Ty’s wrists, and for a second, Ty thought he actually might release him. Instead he took off the rope and held his wrists in an iron-like grip as he reached for a set of silver cuffs hanging from a loop on his camo pants. He quickly and efficiently snapped them on Ty’s wrists and a feeling of extreme weakness and lethargy came over Ty, so profound that he immediately wilted and looked up at the agent with astonishment. The cuffs began to make his wrists ache, and he groaned in pain before he even realized it. The cuffs were draining his energy and making him feel weak. His knees buckled a little.

Malik immediately put an arm around his waist to hold him up. “Steady now. You’ll get used to them in a minute. Don’t fight it.” In another couple of minutes, the ache did decrease, though the weakness remained. Ty felt like an idiot, standing there being held up by another man in an embrace so close they might be mistaken for two lovers.

Before he could gather the strength to pull away, Malik took a silver chain looped on the back of his belt and fixed it to the handcuffs, thus tethering Ty to him. Ty gave him an incredulous look and tried to jerk away, only to be shocked at the strength in the delicate-looking chain as it held him effortlessly. Malik smiled down at him and nodded toward each of the four or five big men standing behind them, regarding him with frank curiosity.

“These are members of my team. Follow their orders as you would mine.”

“That’ll be easy enough, since I have no intention of following yours either.”

Ty was aware of the angry, surprised looks the others were giving him—all except for Malik. He showed no emotion at all, except maybe amusement as Ty smirked at him and raised one eyebrow in defiance, deliberately baiting him. It was taking everything in him to stand there as if he were unaffected by all that had happened, when all he felt like doing was collapsing to his knees. The silver from the cuffs seemed to be leaching into his bones. “You’re going to be fun,” Malik said softly and held his gaze so long Ty felt a shiver of fear down his spine, though he’d rather die than let this bastard know it. Maybe, considering his situation, he should tone it down a tad. He shuffled his feet and lowered his gaze. Better to bide his time so they might relax and think he was cowed down by them.

“Let’s get going—it’ll be dark soon,” Malik finally said and turned on his heel to take off down the trail to where they’d camped, pulling Ty along behind him like a stray puppy.

Rather than get into an undignified struggle with Malik that he probably wouldn’t win anyway, Ty huffed out a breath, giving in. He ungraciously allowed the alpha to pull him along by the chain into the woods and down a long shady pathway there. He dragged his feet as much as he dared, slowing Malik down and once even making him stumble. He concentrated on sending a wave of hatred at the agent’s back and was surprised to see him glance back at him from time to time as if he actually felt it.

Words: 43,397

MoonstruckBadgeTour Dates: November 17, 2014

Tour Stops: 

Parker Williams, BFD Book Blog, Molly Lolly, Sinfully Sexy, Decadent Delights, Cate Ashwood, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Iyana Jenna, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Multitasking Mommas, Velvet Panic, 3 Chicks After Dark, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, The Hat Party , Carly’s Book Reviews, , My Fiction Nook, Queer Town Abbey, Fallen Angel Reviews

Contest: Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘Moonstruck’. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link provided for additional contest details and for the entry form.

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In the Spotlight: ‘Across Worlds: Collision’ by S.A. Snow (book tour and contest)

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Book Name: Across Worlds: Collision
Goodreads Link
Author Name: S.A. Snow

Author Bio:

After chasing around puppies and corralling kittens, S.A. Snow flips open her BSG replicated console and enters her mysterious world of imagination. Seeking to escape the rigors of her day jobs, she enters flight mode and powers her engines full-speed ahead.

A prolific writer of non-traditional erotica, S.A. Snow grew up on a small alpaca farm high in the Andes Mountains.

A lover of yoga and meditation, she spends her free time constructing alien space stations, organizing werewolf governments, and cataloging all episodes of Star Trek in order of technical soundness. A firm believer that one need not choose between Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas, she also has closely examines all Star Wars movies in order to determine which episode is more factually based.

S.A. Snow writes truth and only truth, factoring in all evidences she can find. She writes only about parallel universes she has personally visited, and believes if something about her books isn’t shocking, she’s not effectively telling the story.

Author Contact:

Email: booksbysnow@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/booksbysnow
Twitter: www.twitter.com/booksbysnow

Publisher: Supposed Crimes LLC
Cover Artist: Heidi DeCausemaker

Sales Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
Kobo
iTunes

Across Worlds: Collision Blurb:

Jane expected six months undercover to be hard; she expected it to be lonely and bleak. She didn’t expect to find love.

Jane Butler, a CIA operative, is assigned the task of infiltrating the Xanthians and determining if they’re a threat to humanity. Going undercover as a Xanthian mate, she boards the transport ship and meets Usnavi—her new mate. After spending six days traveling through space, Jane is ecstatic to explore the Xanthian station and soon sets out to complete her mission. The only problem? Usnavi—and the feelings she is quickly developing.

Fumbling their way through varying sexual expectations, cooking catastrophes, and cultural differences, they soon discover life together is never boring.

As Jane and Usnavi careen into a relationship neither of them expected, Jane uncovers dark secrets about the Xanthians and realizes she may no longer be safe. When it becomes clear she’s on her own, Jane is forced to trust and rely on Usnavi. Simultaneously struggling with her mission, her feelings for Usnavi, and homesickness, Jane faces questions she never imagined she would have to answer.

Categories:Bisexual, Erotica, Romance, Science Fiction

Across Worlds: Collision Excerpt:

“I am not a man.”

Jane took a long sip from the drink, using it to bide her time before she asked the question on the tip of her tongue.

“What are you, then?”

“I am Xanthian.”

Usnavi stood up straight, zher back tense as zhe moved over to stand in front of Jane.

“Is it really that hard to understand that I am neither man nor woman, male nor female, that I am simply Xanthian and Usnavi?”

Grinding her back teeth together, Jane nodded minutely.

“Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not,” she responded.

Pages: 206 pages
Tour Dates/Tour Stops:

AWCBadgeTour Dates/Tour Stops:

17-Nov

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

18-Nov

Butterfly-O-Meter

Parker Williams

19-Nov

Hearts on Fire

Up All Night, Read All Day

20-Nov

Jade Crystal

21-Nov

Molly Lolly

24-Nov

BFD Book Blog

25-Nov

Velvet Panic

26-Nov

Amanda C. Stone

27-Nov

Rebecca Cohen Writes

Inked Rainbow Reads

28-Nov

Prism Book Alliance

Cate Ashwood

 

 

Contest: Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-Book Copy of Across Worlds: Collision. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link provided for the entry form and for all additional contest details.

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