Contemporary fiction

Looking For A New Christmas Romance? Check Out Walking In A Winter Wonderland by Claire Castle (giveaway)

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Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK – Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow in Kindle Unlimited
 
Length: 34,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Claire Castle
 
Blurb
 

Colton Dawson is miserable this holiday season. Those he’d loved the most are no longer in his life. With one disappointment after another, how can he possibly get into the Christmas spirit? Maybe a change of scenery—a new place to put down roots—is just what he needs for a second chance to find some happiness.


Winterbourne Vale is only too happy to help his much-loved aunt and uncle run their café in Canada while on his short December break—even if it means leaving his home in the United Kingdom. After a defeated-looking Colton walks into the café, Winter is determined to lift his spirits.


Can Colton and Winter’s Christmas happiness continue long after the gifts are unwrapped and the decorations are stowed away?


Walking in a Winter Wonderland is holiday treat filled with special ornaments and glistening snow, hot tea and cold-weather kisses, along with some sexy shenanigans and plenty of holiday cheer. 

Claire Castle grew up surrounded by books. She has loved reading for her whole life. Her true love is romance and HEAs. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found wearing comfortable leggings, drinking mocha and petting her west highland terrier. She loves collecting awesome mugs and paperbacks of her favorite stories.


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A Jeri Review: Pay It Forward (Giving Back #1) by Nic Starr

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Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

This was a sweet romance with very little angst or drama. It wasn’t exceptionally fluffy either and there was really only 1 sex scene. Just, what I like to call, a palate cleanser.
Bailey has a bit of a crush on the barista at a local coffee shop. Turns out the barista is the owner and might have a crush himself. And so they go on a date. SHOCKING! It seems that jumping into bed usually comes first and then a couple falls into a relationship. But this time they actually went in the right order.
The most drama is Tom not wanting to accept help from his friends and then later Bailey not wanting to accept help from Tom. I guess every book, no matter how sweet it is, needs some sort of discord that needs to be worked out.
There isn’t a lot for me to say about these 2 ordinary guys finding love with each other. If you need something sweet that will make you smile, this is it.
Cover art is sweet and appropriate for the story.
Sales Link:  Amazon
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 203 pages
Published November 11th 2018 by Nic Starr
ASINB07K8QVGCL
Edition Language English
Series Giving Back #1

Gene Gant on Why He Writes and his new book Borrowed Boy (guest interview)

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Borrowed Boy by Gene Gant 

Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist: Adrian Nicholas

Sales Links:  Harmony Ink Press | Amazon

Scattered Thoughts and  Rogue Words is happy to host Gene Gant here today on tour with his latest story, Borrowed Boy.  Welcome, Gene.

~ A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with Gene Gant ~

 

With so much going on in the world today, do you write to explain?  To get away?  To move past?  To widen our knowledge?  Why do you write?

I write mostly because I have a passion for it, the same as I do for reading. I enjoy telling a story as much as I enjoy reading one. But my writing is often driven by events and situations occurring in the world around us. The Battle for Jericho, as an example, grew out of my concern that religious belief was (and still is) having far too much influence on our country’s laws and public policy. Child exploitation is a recurring theme in many of my works because someone dear to me was sexually abused as a kid and left with permanent, debilitating emotional scars.

Division, intolerance and hatred are on the rise in our country. Police shootings of unarmed black people; Trump’s use of racism, xenophobia and blatant lies to set his administration’s agenda and stoke the ire of his supporters against “the other side”; the steady erosion of civil rights protections for people of color and those on the LGBTQ spectrum; the woefully under-addressed crisis of climate change; these are all things that weigh on my mind. Writing about them is a way of coping for me.

But I don’t see only the dark and ugly aspects of human nature. There is still beauty, hope, joy and love in the world, and those things find their way into my writing as well. We need to nurture them, hold onto them, because they will ultimately see us through the chaos and bring us together.

How do you choose your covers?  (curious on my part)

The artists at Harmony Ink Press design multiple covers for my books using my input. Among other things, they ask what I’d like to see in a cover, if there are any objects or images I want included, and if there is any particular thing I don’t want in the cover. The result is that I’m usually presented with several cover versions that are all so good it’s hard to pick one.

It comes down to feeling. Which cover comes closest to the overall mood of the story? Which one do I feel best represents the characters and situations depicted in the novel? Which one pulls at me and makes me wish I could walk right into it? The cover you see on Borrowed Boy pushed all my buttons. In my humble opinion, it effectively captures the emotion and the hope of the story.

If you could imagine the best possible place for you to write, where would that be and why?

That would be a nice little house with a covered patio that looks out on a private beach. Why? Well, I love the ocean for one thing  And for me, writing is a necessarily solitary venture. I have to let my mind settle into the world I’m building, have to inhabit the souls of the characters I’m bringing to life. To do that I need an environment that is quiet and without distraction.

Those conditions that can be hard to come by when you have a family, as I do. That means there’s usually someone watching TV or talking on a cell phone or listening to music, all at the loudest of volumes. It’s hard to hear the voices in your head with that kind of distraction going on. (Voices in my head…hm. Does that make me sound unwell?)

Sometimes I write in the midst of the hullabaloo because I have no choice; my novels would never get finished if I didn’t. Fortunately, I live in an area that’s fairly rural, so in temperate times I can retreat to the patio, which looks out on a spread where a neighbor has horses and chickens, for a bit of quiet isolation in which to write. There’s also the rare occasion during the day when I have the house all to myself, allowing me to turn off everything except my laptop and let my imagination run free. Of course, push come to shove, I can always wait until the wee hours when everyone is asleep and do my thing.

What’s next for you as a writer?

Next I have a companion piece to Borrowed Boy titled Golden Like Summer, which will be published by Harmony Ink Press in 2019. This second book is not a sequel or part of a series as it doesn’t involve any of the characters from Borrowed Boy. But they both grew out of the same general idea of a kid discovering that he’s been living under a false identity.

Beyond that, I’m working on a new adult novella/novel (not sure yet how long it’s going to be) about a young man starting his freshman year of college. He’s been homeschooled and sheltered and is eager to jump into all the things he thinks he’s missed out on, including parties, drinking, drugs, and losing his virginity. He’s going to quickly discover that adult life is a lot more complicated than he thinks. The working title is Mannish. So far, I haven’t run into the dreaded writer’s block on this one. Keep your fingers crossed for me.    

Blurb:

An entire life can be snatched away in an instant.

Thirteen-year-old Zavier Beckham is an average teen living in Memphis. He has great parents and a quirky best friend named Cole. He’s happy, and he thinks his life is totally normal… until an FBI agent shows up and informs Zavier he was stolen as an infant and sold to an adoption agency.

Now his biological parents want him back.

Forced to confront his distant past, Zavier faces an uncertain future. He may be taken from the only home he’s known by parents who are strangers living in Chicago. He may have to deal with a brother who hates and torments him. He meets Brendan, an older boy who offers him friendship and wakens a strong, unsettling attraction in Zavier. Brendan has secrets of his own, and he’ll either be the one ray of light in Zavier’s tense situation or the last straw that breaks Zavier under the pressure.

 

 

About the Author

Gene Gant grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. After living for a time in Missouri and Illinois, he now makes his home on a quiet country lane outside Memphis.

Website
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/pages/Gen…

A Stella Review: Bishop Ridge (Sawyer’s Ferry #2) by Cate Ashwood

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RATING 4,5 out of 5 stars

They found exactly what they weren’t looking for.

Logan:
I had almost everything I’d ever wanted—career, friends, my own easy life in Sawyer’s Ferry, Alaska. I’d given up on filling in the missing pieces long ago. Now, I was more than satisfied with the perfectly practiced, perfectly predictable routine I’d created for myself. At least until Jackson Daley walked into my clinic.

Jackson:
Working the rigs is temporary. Everything in my life is. Jobs, cities, and the guys I take home—nothing sticks, and that’s exactly the way I like it. After four years in Alaska, I’m itching to pick up and leave. I’m ready to move on and start over someplace new, until a one-night stand I can’t seem to shake has me breaking all my own rules.
Now as I get closer to walking away, my reasons for leaving seem blurrier than ever, and for the first time in my life, there could be something worth staying for.

This new release by Cate Ashwood is one of the reasons why I love the author so much, Bishop

Ridge was a very good novel and I will surely reread it in the future. This second installment in the Sawyer’s Ferry series was perfect as the first one.

I followed with enthusiasm and trepidation the love story between Jackson and Logan, how beautiful they were together, really made for each other, although Jackson’s determination at not falling in love with the sexy doctor. He needed an almost life ending situation to finally admit that he wanted logan in his world so badly. The chemistry was explosive sure, but what I adored the most was how the author matched the sex scenes with as many scenes where the characters deeply talked and knew each other backgrounds, they discovered their fears and qualities. And I was able to feel them and they caught my heart, and then meeting again Hoden and Gage was a huge bonus.

I was hooked by these characters lives from the beginning and really got stuck to them till the ending, I loved the writing, the dual POV was well done. The only reason why I am not giving Bishop Ridge the full five stars is that I need a little more from the ending part, I wasn’t ready to let these men go, I think they had a little more to say and for just a tiny moment, at the end, I was disappointed. I so hope the author will decide to write again about them.

The cover art by Cate Ashwood is lovely and fitting, I like it.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 191 pages

Published November 13th 2018

ASIN B07KGP42QF

Edition Language English

Series Sawyer’s Ferry #2

An Ashlez Review: Kinky Pride Collection by Shannon West, TS McKinney, Sara York, Susan E Scott

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Rating:4 stars out of 5
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s time for Pride! Okay, scratch that—it’s time for another round of parades, parties, and good times. And nothing spices up a party like a little kink. Surely belligerent parents, jealous ex-lovers and whips, spanking posts and ropes will keep it classy. Add a lot of alcoholic beverages, and what could possibly go wrong? Four sexy novellas, four brand new stories, each one by a bestselling author, puts a spin on Pride and celebrates gay romance in all its glory. Each novella is about finding love and maybe a little—or a lot—of kink just to keep it interesting.
Whiskey Dreams – 4/5
Mac – very strong alpha male, totally loved his character and his actions from the very beginning.  Perhaps a bit of a grudge holder but I love how it transferred into something else.
Evan – he seems very entertaining and fun, hell I’d love to go out dancing with him – and his outfit choices were pretty epic.
The interaction between Evan and Mac from the beginning was quite hostile, which honestly built the suspense – and Mac’s dom qualities put Evan firmly in sub mode – I havent read a Dom/sub book in ages and I absolutely adored it.
I like their “coming to a head” moment, and realizations, it was sweet
Fireballed – 4/5
Oh I loved the nickname Fireball it fit so well, especially given the way Jer acts and the way that Ten collects whiskey – it’s pretty fitting.  The pets in this I think were my favourite – Princess is written to be an actual princess and that was adorable.
Slow yet fast moving – it felt like nothing happened then everything happened.  Working through their issues and Jers past was just icing on a cake I think.  Overall it was a great story.
Tequila Sunrise – it’s at this moment I realize all the books have been named after alcohol ……………… 2/5
I think this is a case of “Finding someone that was there all along” after a space of some time, I love stories that start out this way, friends
Rafe – he seems a bit confused and unsure of himself – though I think his job would have many a perk
Linc – self assured and with it, I like him.
I had an issue with this one, I hate when someone isn’t quite sure of themselves, I like a bit of suspense but when most of the story goes into their “are they, are they not” .. “do I feel like that, do I not” .. this just really wasn’t the story for me
Skyy’s Bailey – 5/5
I love a good good BDSM story – this one had heartache in the background and some goodness in the end, this was an awesome story to read – save the best for last?  does this ring true.. 100%.
Bailey was a hardass man but yet a softie, I found his backstory compelling and just wanted things to work out for him.
Sky was something else, I feel bad for his past/having to come back up from having what he did, what heartbreak.
I’m so happy about this story.  So happy.
Cover art – meant not a whole lot, there’s only so much you can do with an anthology – it was intriguing though
Sales Link:  Amazon
Book  Details:
Kindle Edition, 347 pages
Published October 10th 2018 by Painted Hearts Publishing
ASIN B07JB4BG1K
Edition Language English