Category: Book Tours and Contests

A Special Treat! Journey Into the Past with Amy Lane and The Bells of Times Square (Book Tour and Contest)

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What a feast for readers we have today!  Amy Lane is here with a special blog post on “Dirty Tricks”, an essay about WWII, her grandmother, and special memories.  It all ties into the start of the book tour for one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Best Novels of the Year, The Bells of Times Square by Amy Lane. 

I have linked our review above, but you won’t need that to want to pick this up.  Just listen to Amy Lane’s thoughts below, read the story blurb, and don’t forget to enter the contest !

The Bells of Times Square by Amy Lane
Publisher:  Riptide Publishing

Hi, and welcome to the blog tour for The Bells of Times Square!  This book is close to my heart– if you read the extra front and back matter in the story, you will see that I drew inspiration from my grandparents and their roles in WWII.  There was a lot of research involved here and also an unusual romance.  I hope you enjoy this stop on the tour, and don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter below for the giveaway of two ebooks from my backlist and a signed copy of The Bells of Times Square!  Feel free to comment, or to contact me at any of my links below–I’d love to hear from you!

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Blurb
Every New Year’s Eve since 1946, Nate Meyer has ventured alone to Times Square to listen for the ghostly church bells he and his long-lost wartime lover vowed to hear together. This year, however, his grandson Blaine is pushing Nate through the Manhattan streets, revealing his secrets to his silent, stroke-stricken grandfather.

When Blaine introduces his boyfriend to his beloved grandfather, he has no idea that Nate holds a similar secret. As they endure the chilly death of the old year, Nate is drawn back in memory to a much earlier time . . . and to Walter.

Long before, in a peace carefully crafted in the heart of wartime tumult, Nate and Walter forged a loving home in the midst of violence and chaos. But nothing in war is permanent, and now all Nate has is memories of a man his family never knew existed. And a hope that he’ll finally hear the church bells that will unite everybody—including the lovers who hid the best and most sacred parts of their hearts.

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:

Contest: Enter to win using  the Rafflecopter link below for the giveaway of a $10 Riptide Gift card and a signed copy of The Bells of Times Square!

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The Bells of Times Square Blog Tour-Stop 1

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Dirty Tricks By Amy Lane

My Grandma Olga’s work with the O.S.S. became declassified about a year before she passed away. Before that, we knew she worked in what she called “the office of dirty tricks” but she wasn’t able to tell us exactly what she did. After the declassification, well, her stories were pretty wild.

“So, we would radio ideas to the people in England, the and they would get message to the people in the POW camps to do play dirty tricks on the officers there. They would try to schedule it when there was action going down, so the officers would be taken unaware?”

“Yeah?” I asked, sort of dubious. I mean, I’d grown up on old TV. Hogan’s Heroes was my favorite. She’d already had me believing that the scene from The Godfather—the one where her father the restaurant owner paid off the crooked Irish cop with wine during prohibition—had actually happened to her. (She only succeeded because I’d never seen The Godfather. By the way, my aunts and uncle thought it was high hilarity that I took this story on face value.) Was I supposed to believe this too?

“It wasn’t as glamorous as it looked on TV,” she assured me soberly. “Nine out of ten of those boys we sent on missions, they didn’t come back.”

Wow. That wasn’t a statistic that got thrown around on Hogan’s Heroes. “Really?” I asked, humbled by that much courage.

“Oh no. But they got in line. They begged their contact for more ideas. I mean…” her voice faltered. “We felt bad, sending those boys to their deaths. But they wanted to do it. They wanted to fight. They were fighting for a righteous cause.”

“Yeah,” I said, because that much could not be doubted. “So, what’d you have them do?”

“Well, you know. Dirty tricks. They’d give food poisoning to the officers, and then, in the middle of the night, move all of the toilets six inches backwards. The portable ones.”

I held my hand to my mouth, horrified. “Oh my God!”

“Oh yes, that was a favorite!”

“What else did you do?”

“I think we had them dose the farm animals, so the roosters would stay up all night. It was silly, really, but they kept the officers up all night before a raid, so they were sluggish and sleepy the next morning. You know, disoriented.”

“Oh my God!” Because no sixth grader had ever planned a campaign better. “That’s brilliant!”

She’d nodded then, a frail little old woman with an impish smile. As she got older, and needed to be hospitalized frequently, it became harder and harder to spot her as I walked through the care home corridors. She was so tiny in bed. She didn’t seem that tiny in real life. In my mind.

“Oh it was,” she said, eager to share her secrets. Suddenly she became sober. “You know, when I was young—and really, until a couple of years ago, I was so excited about it. So proud. But in later years…” She looked unhappy. “I mean, it was easy to hate the Nazis, because they were the enemy. And because they were doing horrible things. But they were soldiers. Our soldiers did what we told them, and their soldiers did what they were told. I mean, in the end, they were their mother’s sons, same as ours, weren’t they?”

I’ve tried to explain this to people—this moment to people. They are as titillated as I was about her details of her time in the OSS, and sometimes, as dubious as I was about how much was true. But so far, I don’t know how many people hear that statement right there and think what I do:

It was this moment of realization that made my grandmother a great woman. She had no reason to think well of the Nazis. She had no reason to think of them as human beings. Part of the dirty tricks she played was to minister propaganda, the essence of dehumanizing people.

But she came to this conclusion on her own, after raising children, after watching her country become involved in unjust wars, after becoming more and more liberal in her political beliefs (which were pretty liberal to begin with) as her compassion became greater and greater, and not smaller and more miserly as sometimes happens as people age.

She was brave, smart, funny, resourceful and gutsy.

And she saw that the enemy too, was beloved of foreign mothers. I think that’s an incredible thing. I think that’s an incredible truth.

It’s a truth I’d lay down my life for, right there. It’s one of the things that makes me my grandmother’s granddaughter. It’s a reason to be proud.

 

A Visit with Author Owen Keehnen (giveaway)

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Owen Keehnen has stopped by today to talk about his year of writing, M/M Romance, and much, much more. Owen will be giving away one of the 4 m/m romances e book – The Dog Trainer, Springtime 1962, Thunder Snow, and December 1903, the winner’s choice.  To enter to win, leave a comment along with an email address where you can be reached if chosen.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

A Year of M/M Romance  By Owen Keehnen

One of my favorite things about being a writer is the creative adventure that it can be. Almost a year ago I ventured into the M/M romance world after having paired with a new publisher, Wilde City Press. Prior to this I had published a number of things – several books on LGBT history, a horror novel, a gay art novel, a book of LGBT interviews, and even a four volume set of interviews with gay porn stars.

When I first began working with Wilde City, I did a humorous gay coming of age novel called Young Digby Swank and followed it with The LGBT Book of Days, a comprehensive guide to the most important dates in LGBT history. On the heels of those two I wrote three hardcore erotic e-books under the name of Ewan Creed. In other words, my oeuvre was all over the place.

Around that time I decided to try my hand at writing M/M romance. When I asked for some pointers I was told about the importance of the partners winning the affections of their beloved and warned to avoid all signs of infidelity. I was also told the sex could be as raunchy as I wanted. I liked that last suggestion. With that advice in mind I hit the ground running.

I was also hopeful that this world of M/M romances would be a new means to implement one of my key interests – the reclaiming of our LGBT past. Maybe it was living through the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic that made me so keenly aware of the fragile nature of personal history, or maybe it was knowing that the lives of LGBT people had been edited from the annals of history. Whatever the reason a creative and personal theme of mine has been a desire to celebrate and reclaim a bit of our gay history. To that end I’d already written several bios on LGBT history and had also been a board member and was actively involved with The Legacy Project, a history-education-arts organization focused on pride, acceptance, and the recognition of LGBT lives and contributions throughout history. The possibilities of pairing history with M/M romance were endless.

Before I started incorporating an history into this new genre, I decided that I needed to understand the terrain of M/M romance a bit better. I lost my M/M virginity with an ebook called The Dog Trainer. Who doesn’t love a good dog story? Especially one that involves M/M romance. Richard, my protagonist, was a character I understood. Richard is a neurotic gay urbanite, a serial monogamist with a domineering peer group and a well-paying dead end job. When Richard finds a puppy named Hambone, his life and relationships begin to change and his priorities make a notable shift. Even bigger things happen when he meets and hires a dog trainer named Abe who teaches both Richard and Hambone a few new tricks. This one is a feel good story, relatively simple and very sweet, with some feel good sex thrown in for good measure.

With my next effort, Springtime 1962, I began to inject history into my M/M work. This ebook is set in the landmark of pre-Stonewall gay activity, The Lawson YMCA. I’d wanted to write a history about the gay doings at the Lawson for years, but stumbled along the way. So much of the underground history of the place was undocumented and so many potentially illuminating first hand accounts of life in those hallowed halls have vanished due to age and HIV. Instead, I opted to populate the Lawson with fictional characters and turn history into an M/M romance.

The premise of Springtime 1962 is relatively simple. A diary is found in a used bookstore and the present-day narrator quickly finds himself drawn into the intimate 1962 diary of a man named Joseph. The daily entries soon reveal a passionate gay love story of two retail workers in Chicago during the Kennedy years. Joseph is a middle aged department store employee. One day a young man named Clint is hired at the store. The men soon realize they are both living at the Lawson. They began spending time together, going to movies, exercising in the weight room, taking lunches together at work, etc. Love blossoms despite their age difference. In time Joseph discovers that Clint’s harbors a grave secret which will eventually threaten their relationship as well as their futures. This one screams for a sequel. I’m currently working on the further adventures of Joseph and Clint in Summertime 1962. The diary format offers a great opportunity to capture the lives and struggles of gay men at the time from bar raids to hook ups and even popular culture iconography.

My next M/M e-story was Thunder Snow, a homage to early 1980s academia, something else I had wanted to write about for some time. Romance was again my framework to explore the struggles and circumstances man gay men faced during this pre HIV period of time when Stonewall had already occurred, but the benefits of the gay liberation movement had not yet spread much beyond the major metropolitan areas.

Thunder Snow is the story of Jim Franklin who goes away to Windsor College hoping to leave his formerly closeted gay doings behind. He’s had enough of being an outsider and wants nothing more than to be like everyone else. To that end Jim has joined a fraternity and is dating a girl. Then, without warning, love blindsides Jim when he meets Glenn in his Romantic Literature class. Glenn is the kept lover of a wealthy town resident. When Jim asks for assistance with an assignment, Glenn agrees. Sparks soon ignite and passion ensues, but social constraints and Jim’s fear of being true to his nature prevent any sort of relationship from developing. Things change magically over winter break and what begins as another tryst quickly develops into something more. Both men fall madly in love. But is love, in the otherworldly setting of a college campus during break, enough to sustain the couple in the long run? In Thunder Snow I really wanted to capture the magical early stages of love and explore what happens when that idealism comes into contact with everyday reality, and eventually how we process that sort of conflict in our personal histories.

For my next M/M romance, I focussed on a specific historical event as a backdrop to the story. December 1903, the Iroquois, a Love Story is set in Chicago during the 1903 holiday season. The Iroquois Theater fire was a topic I’d obsessed about and wanted to explore for a long time. I was hoping to make the tragic story of the theater fire which killed hundreds history more vivid by planting two of my characters in proximity to the disaster.

December 1903 is the tale of two men from different worlds. Frankie is an actor working in the current Iroquois Theater production Mr. Bluebeard. One day Frankie makes knowing eye contact with a handsome and dapper stranger on the street. In only a few moments Frankie and “Otto” head off to Frankie’s boarding house. Though Frankie knows nothing about Otto’s life outside of the room, the two meet again the next night, and the next. As the winter wind howls outside the boardinghouse window, the couple make plans to run away and start a new life elsewhere. Frankie buys Otto a ticket to the the show and the men agree to meet behind the theater after the matinee to begin their life together. During that afternoon’s performance tragedy strikes and the deadly inferno consumes the theatre. With this ebook I really wanted to go epic and tell a very passionate story about these two men and evoke not only the era but also bring the devastating facts of this horrible and all but forgotten tragedy to light.

My soon to be published ebook, The Matinee Idol, is another historical venture. Set in 1933, The Matinee Idol is an M/M romance which takes place in Hollywood during the Depression. Raymond Richmond was a popular actor during the silent era of films and his popularity extended briefly into talkies. However, his sexual indiscretions and drunkenness soon get him fired from the studio. His drinking continues to escalate as his career sinks. Bad investments and spend thrift ways soon cause Raymond to find himself penniless. To make ends meet, he begins working as a hustler for a madame. One night Raymond is hired as a birthday present to set designer Carlton Finn who worked with Raymond back in his heyday at the studio. The two bond. Finn has always had a soft spot for the star and his heart goes out to the down and out man. Soon the two become lovers. In the following weeks, Raymond stops hustling and works at getting sober and getting his career back on track. As a big movie fan, especially from the golden era, I had a blast recreating Hollywood during that mythical time. On a deeper level it was also interesting to explore the ramifications of stardom and what a person is willing to endure and compromise for the sake of their image.

I’ve been on this M/M romance trip now for a year now and understand only some of the things I want to say about relationships and love. Every story seems to reveal something new about love and relationships that I hadn’t really considered or explored before. The entire process is an evolution. In that way, those original guidelines were helpful, but it has become increasingly apparent to me that I need to write the story that is inside me and often the story’s narrative strays from the prescribed guidelines. The sex can be a bit raunchier than the norm and often my characters are not 20 year olds with chiseled physiques and perfect features. In fact, sometimes my characters are middle aged and paunchy. I’ve even done the unspeakable and had characters who are not strictly monogamous.

At first bending these rules caused some concern, but then I remembered that my primary focus should not be worrying how my story is going to be received. To write a decent story my primarily responsibility must be to my characters and allowing them to reveal some truth about romance, love, and sex between two men. Adhering to that means that sometimes my romances don’t have happy endings, but love isn’t always nice and love isn’t always easy. Sometimes love is riddled with complications and even regret. The only given about love is that, if we’re lucky enough to find it, for however long we have it, that there is nothing on this earth that makes us feel more wonderfully and magically alive. And as a writer of M/M romance my priority needs to be on capturing and reflecting that incredible state in all its many forms and stages.

Meet Author Owen KeehnenOwen3

Bio:

Owen Keehnen is the author of the novels Young Digby Swank, The Sand Bar, Doorway Unto Darkness, and the ebook M/M romances, The Dog Trainer, Springtime 1962, The Lawson YMCA, Thunder Snow, December 1903, The Iroquois, a Love Story, and the upcoming The Matinee Idol. Along with Tracy Baim he has co-authored three LGBT biographies – Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, and Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to The White House. Keehnen also authored The LGBT Book of Days, a comprehensive guide to key dates in LGBT history. Over 100 of his interviews with various LGBT authors and activists from the 1990s have been collected in the book We’re Here, We’re Queer. He co-edited Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago’s LGBTQ Community 1977–1997, was a contributor to Gay Press, Gay Power, and wrote the foreword and helped edit Mark Abramson’s memoir For My Brothers. Keehnen also contributed several biographical essays to the coffee table history book Out and Proud in Chicago.

Keehnen was on the founding committee and executive board of The Legacy Project and is currently a contributing biographer for the LGBT history-education-arts program focused on pride, acceptance, and bringing proper recognition to contributions of LGBT people throughout history. His essays, short stories, poetry and erotica have appeared in dozens of periodicals and anthologies worldwide. He was the author of the Starz books, a four-volume series of interviews with gay porn stars. He has had two queer monologues adapted for the stage and served as co-editor of the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement for several years, and was a co-founder of the horror film website RacksAndRazors.com. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Carl, and his two ridiculously spoiled dogs, Flannery and Fitzgerald. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2012.

-Author Contacts-

You can contact Owen Keehnen at:

Get Into The Holiday Spirit with Silvia Violet’s Wild R Christmas (book tour and contest)

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Silvia Violet is here with her latest release, the holiday story Wild R Christmas.  Check out the blurb and sexy excerpt below and don’t forget to enter the contest at the end of the post!

Book Name: Wild R Christmas
Author Name: Silvia Violet

Author Bio:

Silvia Violet writes erotic romance in a variety of genres including paranormal, contemporary, sci fi, and historical. She can be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like “Do you write children’s books?” She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she’s actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinfully delicious treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading to her incorrigible offspring.

Author Contact:

Email: silviaviolet@gmail.com
Website: http://silviaviolet.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/silvia.violet
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Silvia_Violet
For a list of Silvia’s available titles: http://silviaviolet.com/books

Publisher: Self-publishedWild R Farm Christmas 600x900
Cover Artist: Meredith Russell

Sales Links: Amazon  All Romance eBooks   Smashwords

Wild R Christmas Blurb:

Every year Cole Wilder hosts a big Christmas dinner for all the employees of Wild R Farm, and every year he takes on too many responsibilities then ends up exhausted and even more cranky than usual. This year, Cole’s husband, Jonah, is determined things will be different. Not only is he having their bathroom renovated to add a little luxury to their lives, he’s got plans to whisk Cole away for a Christmas vacation. But getting Cole to agree to let their ebullient friend, Tristan, organize Christmas at the farm is easier said that done.

Tristan promises to take perfect care of the farm, but as soon as Cole and Jonah leave, chaos ensues—couples fighting, construction disasters, kitchen woes. The only thing keeping confessed Christmas-o-phile, Tristan, merry is his boyfriend, Wes. He knows exactly what Tristan needs so they can pull the whole Wild R Farm crew together for the happiest Christmas they’ve ever had.
Categories: Contemporary, Western/Cowboy, M/M Romance, Romance, Paranormal

Excerpt:

“Wes! Come help me!” Tristan shouted.

Wes pushed himself up from the couch where he’d been doing research for his latest case. “Just a sec.”

When he stepped into the hall, he froze in disbelief. Tristan was stuck in the doorway with at least three shopping bags in each hand. “What did you do?”

Tristan looked at him like he was a simpleton. “I went shopping.”

Wes sighed as he held the door open so Tristan could push through. Then he followed his lover to the living room where Tristan dropped the bags in the middle of the floor and plopped down beside them.

“I thought you went for a run. What the hell were you doing shopping on the day after Thanksgiving?”

Tristan again stared at Wes like maybe he’d been replaced by an alien, one without much brainpower. “Buying Christmas decorations, of course.”

“Christmas decorations?” Wes did not want to consider the possibility that all those bags were full of Santas, reindeer, and glittery balls. Tristan’s balls were all Wes required this Christmas.

“Sure. I thought we could put them up this afternoon.” Wes’s horror grew as Tristan pulled out a red and green sweater. “Look what I got for Cole.” Tristan held up the offensive garment and Wes fought the urge to shrink backward. On the front was a wolf in a Santa suit surrounded by sheep wearing elf hats. It said “A Wolf in Santa’s Clothing.”

“That is… hideous.”

Tristan laughed. “I know. Isn’t it fantastic?”

“Tris, look… I don’t—”

“Check these out.” He held up lights shaped like reindeer. “They even blink.”

Wes knew arguing with Tristan was useless but he felt compelled to make a small effort anyway. “I usually just put a wreath on the door.”

Tristan gave him an innocent look, the little bastard. “Really?”

“Tristan.”

“Oh, it’s just a few little things,” Tristan said, clearly unconcerned about Wes’s frustration.

“Tell me you don’t have an album of cats meowing Christmas songs in there.”

Tristan put his hands on his hips, which looked ridiculous with him sitting on the floor surrounded by Christmas decor. “How insulting! Do you really not know I prefer the barking dogs? I find cats too… slinky.”

Wes groaned. “You’re going to be even more impossible than usual from now until Christmas, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to be festive.”

“A tree, stockings, maybe a few other small items. That’s festive enough. I can’t live in the middle of North Pole Central.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a scrooge.”

“Tristan, I will not—”

Tristan’s sly, sexy grin derailed Wes’s train of thought. “I’m sure I can change your mind.”

“You’re always so damn sure you can get your way.” And all too often he was right.

Tristan crawled across the floor, and talk about slinky, he looked more jaguar than stallion. Wes’s cock took immediate notice. Wes dropped his legs open, knowing Tristan was playing him but not caring. No matter how annoyed he was, he wasn’t going to turn his man down. Tristan settled himself between Wes’s thighs and put his hand on the fastening of his jeans. He caught Wes’s gaze, green eyes twinkling. “Christmas is the season of giving, sweetheart. Just tell me what you’d like me to give.”

“You’re offering sex in exchange for turning the house into Tacky Christmas Wonderland?”

Tristan popped Wes’s snap. “I am. Tell me what you want.”

“Tristan.” Wes tried to sound ominous but probably just sounded horny as hell.

Tristan slid his zipper down, not easy in that position considering how hard Wes was. He licked his lips and looked into Wes’s eyes. “You want to tie me up? Paddle me? Tell me what it’s gonna cost.”

Wes’s breath caught as Tristan ran a finger over his cock, which was still trapped behind his boxer briefs. “This is insane.”

“I give something, you give something. What’s insane about that?” With a mischievous smile, Tristan opened Wes’s jeans wider and pulled his cock free.

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Tour Dates: December 15, 2014

Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Molly Lolly, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Rebecca Cohen Writes, Cate Ashwood, Guilty Indulgence Book Club, Havan Fellows

My Fiction Nook, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Fallen Angel Reviews, Andrew Q. Gordon, Love Bytes, Queer Town Abbey, Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons,

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Hearts on Fire, Velvet Panic, Wake Up Your Wild Side

Cathy Brockman Romances, Multitasking Mommas, the Twins: Talon ps & Princess so, Michael Mandrake, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Angel Martinez, Kristy’s Brain Food, Bayou Book Junkie, BFD Book Blog, Because Two Men Are Better Than One

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $10 ARe gift card. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the Rafflecopter link provided for additional contest details and for the entry form.

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On Tour with Rain Carrington and “Turquoise” (book tour and contest)

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Book Name: Turquoise
Author Name: Rain Carrington

Here’s a few questions to get to know author Rain Carrington:

1.  Favorite color?      Blue, cobalt blue to be exact

2.  Favorite meal?      Green chili and tortillas

3.  Favorite non-alcoholic drink?   Iced tea, I drink it all the time!

Author Bio:

Rain Carrington started writing when she was just a teenager in Trinidad, Colorado but didn’t start writing M/M romance until much later. Through the years many of her gay male friends told stories of heartache and the struggle to find “the one” so she told them stories, fantasies all about them and their future cowboy, fireman, biker or policeman. When she found a writing site that encouraged her to write them down she started what was an adventure like she never had before.

Her first story, Cabin Fever, about a young man searching for love and finding it wrapped in a member of a mafia family gained her readers who cheered for more. She knew then that she had found her place in the world. To make stories of love and kink that not only her readers but she could get lost in as well.

Rain now lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado but has traveled most of the US. Her last road trip to San Francisco gave her characters still coming out…no pun intended…in her newer stories. Rain has severe scoliosis which makes it hard for her to do all the things she used to love but it did give her the time to write that she never had before. She fights for lgbt rights from her home as best she can now and keeps in close contact with her friends that fight on two good legs to point them where they should go. She is a fervent believer that one door never closes without another opening so there are no limits she can’t get past.

Of all the people in the world no one has encouraged and supported her like her friends, many of them writers themselves, and her family. There is never a dull moment in her home where laughter is in the air 24/7 and everyone knows to avoid the computer screen when she sits in front of it. They never know what kind of beautiful man love they may see. Rain calls it research, they call it, “there she goes again!”

Author Contact:

Amazon
Facebook
Google+
@RainCarrington – Twitter
Goodreads

Publisher: Self-publishedTURFINAL
Cover Artist: Rain Carrington
Sales Links:   amazon

Blurb:

In the mountains of New Mexico lives a group of boys who are inseparable. That is until they grow up and one of them leaves the rez to fulfill his dream.

One of the boys misses him more than the others. A love that started as children grew with him and when Angel Quintana left New Mexico, Garcia Blacksnake had to occupy his time until the love of his life returned. Angel came back when tragedy struck, with secrets he does not want this old friends to know. Secrets about the life he lived as his dreams came true, turning to nightmares he could not run away from.

Can childhood friends help save him from a sadistic man who holds Angel’s dream in his hand? Can Garcia’s love help him to trust himself and others again?

Turquoise Excerpt (3)

The garden from the outside was more spectacular that he’d seen from the windows. There were stone benches like they were in a park, and that is what he felt like. Like he was in a park. There were beds with dormant roses everywhere, hedges sculpted into fine curves, statuary and three gazebos. The house was imposing, but the garden reached across the back, on what must have been a couple of acres. He saw a tennis court in the far side, and he looked at this, curiously.

“Do you like tennis? It’s a little cold, but I have a racquetball court inside.”

This man, he was too much. This was what people lived like, every day. He’d been lucky back on the rez. Once Raf came to live with them, he’d fixed up their house until it was nice, comfortable, but this was so far beyond anything he’d imagined. He really was a child to think people only lived like this in the movies. “I don’t play. Either game. In fact, I’m not the biggest fan of games.”

Guy stopped him with a gentle touch to his arm, obviously getting the double meaning of Angel’s words. “But, Angel, life is full of games. Life is a game. The goal is to win. Be a winner, Angel. I can make you a winner.”

Words: 101,697

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Tour Dates/Stops

1-Dec

Rainbow Gold Reviews

Love Bytes

2-Dec

Charley Descoteaux

Jade Crystal

3-Dec

Because Two Men Are Better Than One

MM Good Book Reviews

4-Dec

Amanda C. Stone

Up All Night, Read All Day

5-Dec

Bayou Book Junkie

Emotion in Motion

8-Dec

My Fiction Nook

Cate Ashwood

9-Dec

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

LeAnn’s Book Reviews

Inked Rainbow Reads

10-Dec

BFD Book Blog

Velvet Panic

11-Dec

Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons

Cathy Brockman Romances

12-Dec

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

Molly Lolly 

 
TBadgeContest and Prizes:
  • Rafflecopter Prizes:
    Rain Carrington is offering up:
    5 ebooks of Road Runner Enchantment Book 1
    5 ebooks of Turquoise Enchantment book 2

Anne Tenino – one ebook copy of Billionaire With Benefits

Edward Kendrick one ebook -L’histoire de François – Vampire – Immortal Angst – Book One

Jess Buffett – one ebook of Nick’s Christmas Wish

AJ Llewellyn – one ebook reader’s choice of my currently available titles…pdf

Douglas Black donate one ebook of Bucket List

Jamie Lynn Miller – one ebook of Burnin’ For You

Parker Williams – one ebook copy of ‘Lost Time’

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In the Spotlight: RJ Scott’s Angel in a Book Shop (book tour and contest)

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Angel In a Book Shop by RJ Scott
What happens when a broken man has to trust in the impossible?

Chapter One, an antique book shop is the last tangible thing Josh and his mom have left of his dad. Nestled in a quiet square a few steps from London’s St Pauls Cathedral, it is boarded up with whitewashed windows and no new stock. The place is a sad reminder of loss and it has to go, but destroying a business that has been in his family for generations is not a role Josh is looking forward to.

Michael is the owner of Arts Desire, the shop next door. With his rainbow pride mugs and his sunny positive outlook he is the complete opposite to what Joshua thinks he needs in his life.

But, when Josh and Michael become friends, Josh learns that finding true love starts with making big decisions, and that everyone deserves their own Christmas miracle sometimes.angel 400x600

 Buy Links
Angel in a Book Shop will be available at Love Lane Books, Amazon and AllRomance on 12 December, with other third parties shortly thereafter
Excerpt from Chapter Two

I look up at the noise and try to make some sense of it. The door is half-hidden behind a cabinet displaying hand-carved knights and queens and open chessboards inlaid with gold leaf. The scratching…no, more a sighing…is a familiar sound once I settle into hearing it properly.

He’s here.

I straighten from my position hunched over a small watercolour I’m attempting to restore. I recall when this image was painted. One of my charges was a talented young lady whose skill for capturing beauty was lost when she gave everything up to become a wife.

Things have moved on, changed to where I don’t recognise the London of today. Still, I know what the sigh means.
* * * * *

Josh reread the list and mentally checked off each thing in his head with an accompanying tap of his pencil. “Inventory” was first on the list. Beneath that single word he wrote “Expert?”. Who knew how much all this stuff was worth? There were books in here that he was sure would be happy in a bargain bin at a supermarket, others that looked valuable. He’d need to get someone in who knew antique books just in case there was enough money in the place to give Mum a settled retirement.

The door opened and he glanced up, blinking into the light spilling in from outside.

“We’re not open,” he said, attempting to focus on whoever had moved into the space. Some tourist seeing lights and thinking that the Closed sign actually meant “come on in and browse”.

“Hi,” a voice said. The owner of the voice stepped forward into the gloom of the interior, pulling the door shut behind him, tripping over the still heaped-up post, and righting himself with a wry look at the pile.

Josh noticed two things as he blurted an apology for the mess on the floor. The man was big, tall and broad, and he had a takeaway coffee in each hand. Josh hoped to hell one of those was for him.

Then he caught himself wishing for things that weren’t going to happen and stopped with a shake of his head.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed,” he repeated.

The man moved closer and held out a coffee. “I know. I’m Michael. I have the shop next door, saw you go in, thought you’d like coffee.”

As he drew closer Josh had a proper look at the man who proclaimed himself neighbour. Tall—well, Josh had that much from the way he’d filled the doorway. Michael’s hair was near ebony black and would have looked stupid on someone as pale as Josh. On this man, with his warmer skin tones and dark eyes, it looked just this side of dangerous to Josh’s libido. Josh stood immediately, took the cup with his left hand, and extended his right.

“Josh Blakeman,” he introduced himself.

Michael shook Josh’s hand warmly. “I was so sorry to hear about your loss,” he said. The familiar words meant nothing. Josh had heard them a million times, repeated by everyone from his work colleagues to the barman at the King’s Head. Everyone felt it was what needed to be said. Josh had yet to work out, even after eleven months, exactly what to say in return. Instead he sat back down on the stool and took off the lid of the coffee cup.

“You knew my dad?” Josh asked. He expected the usual pleasantries, but there were none from this man who filled the empty shop with his quiet presence. Josh coughed to cover the odd silence, suddenly worried as to why this man was still standing here with his face carefully blank of emotion. What did he want? He had cheekbones to die for, and…wait…hello dimples.

A spur of want poked insistently at Josh’s subconscious. It had been a long time since he had felt anything for another man. He’d found out his ex had been screwing him over way before Josh had ended up in the hospital, and that had been a few months back now.

Michael didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with the silence. He pulled out a selection of sugar packets and a stirrer from a pocket. “Just in case,” he said as he placed everything on the already muddled desk. “I gave you coffee, but this one is tea if you’d prefer that.”

“No, coffee is fine.” Coffee was way past fine. The first sip was heaven even as it scalded the roof of his mouth. He savoured the taste of the second sip as he rolled the liquid on his tongue to cool it. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Michael went silent again and seemed intent on checking the shop space out as thoroughly as Josh had done just now. He didn’t touch anything, nor did he move, but his gaze fell on the floor and the tall bookshelves and the door separating this shop from what Josh presumed was his. He looked serious, thoughtful, and there was sadness there too.

“So, you knew my dad?” Josh asked again.

This time Michael shook his head, his attention pulled back to Josh at the question. “Not really, though I took the shop next door a little while ago,” he admitted. “But who knows anyone in London, with everyone always so busy rushing this way and that?” The dusty lightbulb cast a luminous shimmer about the stranger, and the way he stared at Josh was a little disconcerting, intense and thoughtful.

Josh didn’t have time to think on the odd use of the words or the way they were spoken in such a formal manner. He was just about to comment that he didn’t remember his dad rushing anywhere when Michael turned on his heel and left the shop with a wave and a goodbye. The silence after he’d gone made Josh struggle to believe that anyone had actually been in the shop with him. Only the rising scent of his caffeine fix told him that he hadn’t dreamed the whole thing.

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Author Bio

RJ Scott has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies. She was told to write a story and two sides of paper about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born.

As an avid reader herself, she can be found reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror. However, her first real true love will always be the world of romance where she takes cowboys, bodyguards, firemen and billionaires (to name a few) and writes dramatic and romantic stories of love and passion between these men.

With over sixty titles to her name and counting, she is the author of the award winning book, The Christmas Throwaway. She is also known for the Texas series charting the lives of Riley and Jack, and the Sanctuary series following the work of the Sanctuary Foundation and the people it protects.

Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

Contact the author at:

Contest:
Win a $15 gift card and free e-books, must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link below for the entry form and for additional contest details.

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