Category: Contemporary fiction

Release Blitz and Giveaway: Sloan Johnson’s Inseparable

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 60,000 words approx
 
Blurb
 

Trevor and Gabe never knew life without the other. As only children, they grew up as close as brothers, but their love grew to something more. Something they couldn’t talk about because their parents wouldn’t understand.

Gabe is gay and unapologetic about his sexuality. He refuses to live his life in the shadows, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t harboring secrets.

Trevor is his parents’ miracle child and he doesn’t want to hurt them. Coming out, admitting he’s in love with Gabe, could ruin everything. 

Heading off to college was supposed to finally free them to be together, but nothing is as easy as it seems. Can they find a way to navigate this new world, living and loving openly?

Author Bio

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

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

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

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

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A Stella Review: Hard Fight by Laura N. Andrews

RATING 2 out of 5 stars

Out and proud Riley Anderson is dancing the night away at a private gay club when he first notices him. Dark, broad, and with muscles to drool over, it turns out he is MMA fighter Craig “The Lion” Johnson. Passion quickly flares and neither can fight the chemistry between them.

After a couple of false starts, Riley and Craig set out to try this thing called dating for real, but clashes are imminent. Too many lifestyle differences make their relationship difficult, but for Riley, it’s hard to be kept hidden.

Can he endure being a secret lover? Or will Craig put aside his fears of losing his career and decide what is really worth fighting for?

Argh I feel bad to write this review, just last month I discovered this new to me author when I read Trusting Him and I was enthusiastic about it, most of all I was superhappy to be able to have a new story on my hands so soon. But while the first one was a huge success, Hard Fight was a little too much on the delusional side to me. Although I had high expectations cause I found the author’s writing style very good, adored the cover, found the blurb  interesting, I have to say I think Hard Fight wasn’t for me at all.

Let’s start with the characters, I couldn’t connect with Craig and Riley at all. I felt them unreal and pretty shallow, especially Craig, I totally didn’t understand him and how he acted with Riley (not just the first time they met) was puzzling. I simply didn’t like him at all and I didn’t want Riley to be with him.  From the moment I get it I wasn’t going to love them, everything in the story was meaningless, and I tried and tried again to look for some element to like but found nothing.

Maybe the story should have been developed more because it seemed to me things between the MCs were rushed and that way they lost realism, becoming to be honest  a little confusing.

I’m sorry, this book simply didn’t work form me.

The cover designed by Soxsational Cover Art caught my attention at first sight, it’s well done and fitting, I so can see craig on it.

Sales Links:  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 148 pages

Published November 25th 2017 by Hot Tree Publishing

ASIN  B075SRP82N

Edition Language English

A Stella Review: Officer Charming and the Prince Who Wooed Him by Sarah Hadley Brook

RATING 4 out of 5 stars

Officer Chad Charming absolutely does not believe in love at first sight, or even love at all. Apple Grove is famous for their Fairy Tale Parade, and Chad is working when a horse carrying the parade’s Prince Charming kicks him, landing him in the hospital.

Jeff Garner’s family has a history of love at first sight and the local high school drama teacher is mortified when his horse kicks the sexiest man he’s ever seen. One look and he knows Chad’s the man for him.

Jeff sets out to woo the man, even though Chad makes it clear he isn’t looking for a relationship. While Chad recovers from his injuries, the two become close, but can Chad ever get past the idea love isn’t real and allow himself to love his very own Prince Charming?

Chad is a police officer who moved to the little town Apple Grove just some months ago to escape  the big city life. During a parade, a man on a horse jumps on Chad and he ends in hospital. Jeff is cute, a theatre teacher, not at all Chad’s type. Still his brown eyes and button nose are too much to be resisted and Chad falls for him, even if he isn’t actually looking for a relationship. But Jeff is stubborn and his determination to woo Chad too strong.

I soon fell into the MCs’ lives and liked them from the start, and  together they were perfect and cute. They were good persons, caring and loving and loved by everyone. 

I adored this story! It simply was exactly what I needed, something super sweet and quick. I read it in a one stand just before bed and it put me in a good mood. It made me believe in love at first sight and dream of Prince Charming. Almost a fairytale story. And sometimes this is what I look for in a book.

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is cute like the story, it’s well done and fitting and I like the colors and font used.

Sales Links:  JMS Books LLC  | Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 89 pages

Published October 28th 2017 by JMS Books LLC

ASIN B076N443HZ

Edition Language English

A MelanieM Review: The Caretaker (The Sin Bin #2) by Dahlia Donovan

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Who cares for the caretaker when his burden grows too heavy to bear?

Freddie Whittle devotes his life to his cancer patients, cheese, and his overprotective fathers. His big move to Cardiff is tainted by bigot neighbors and a dismal social life. He wants something more but doesn’t know what until he runs headlong into a Scottish-Maori mountain of a man.

Taine Afoa retires from international rugby feeling restless. He left his career behind and relocates for a change of pace. The last thing he expects is to become infatuated with someone who seems far too young and innocent for him. No matter how hard he tries, it’s impossible to get Freddie out of his mind.

Can Freddie handle the intensity of Taine’s naughty sexual desires?

And when the strong alpha male tangles with the playful nurse, will this May-December romance end before it even begins?

The Caretaker is book two in Dahlia Donovan’s international bestselling gay romance series, The Sin Bin. Each one features hot rugby players and the men who steal their hearts.

The Caretaker is the second story in Dahlia Donovan’s Sin Bin series revolving around a group of retired rugby players and the men they love.  While the name the sin bin refers to the penalty box in the game, here it evolves into a bar named appropriately The Sin Bin, owned and managed by the group.  Freddie Whittle is a character we first met in The Wanderer.  He played an important part in the cancer treatment and recovery of Graham Hodson, one of the main characters there.  Freddie stood out, even as a secondary character and you just hoped that meant he was coming back to get his own romance.  Now here it is.

His romantic match is Taine Afoa, a part Scottish, part Maori retired rugby player who is one of the aforementioned group.  He’s older than Freddie, an element other characters need to work through.  Taine’s has an unusual history of being abandoned as a baby, raised by a local priest, and has a hamster as a beloved pet.  So many layers to this kind man.  A lot of kinks as well as we find out as the story proceeds.

He’s the perfect match for Freddie, a man burdened down by two overprotective fathers (think smothered), a job that comes with heavy grief of losing clients you get close to, and neighbors who seem to be constantly attacking him because he’s gay.  He needs a huge rugby player in his life and gets one.  This is a wonderful romance to watch happen, no instant love.  Just a recognition that they work together as a couple and want to see what happens in the future.  It’s a HFN ending with a story with a HEA coming up further down the series.

I love that sort of realism that Dahlia Donovan deals with here. We see Freddie’s job and it’s effect on him up close. The maturity and strength it takes to handle that job.  Things aren’t perfect, unfortunate or bad things happen to people and they learn to deal.  This is a grownup look at life and romance.  It’s refreshing, realistic, and wonderful.

The sex scenes are wonderful kinky (erotic spanking) and very hot!  It matches the chemistry between Taine and Freddie perfectly.  I thought I had my favorite couple of the series down but Taine and Freddie kept growing on me until I have to admit they are right at the top too.  I can’t wait for their HEA book to arrive, that would be The Haka Ever After.  See the entire list below.

I love this series and all the characters that Dahlia Donovan has created for it.  They are so human, some broken, some brave, all intelligent, quirky, and multidimensional.  Throw romance into the mixture and this series has an unbeatable combination.  It’s one I highly recommend, including The Caretaker.

Cover art by Claire Smith is perfect, and contains an important element of the story.  Great job.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 244 pages
Published July 8th 2017 by Hot Tree Publsihing
ISBN13 9781925448924
Series The Sin Bin #2
The Sin Bin Series:

1. The Wanderer – BC & Graham

2. The Caretaker – Tens & Freddie

3. The Botanist (short story) – Aled & Wyatt

4. The Royal Marine – Hamish & Akash

5 The Unexpected Santa (short story) – Gray & Scottie

6. The Lion Tamer – Gray & Scottie

7. The Haka Ever After (short story) – Tens & Freddie

8. TBD – Zeb & Silus

9 The Blacksmith (novella) – Ivan, Rolly, & Wes

SERIES BLAST : Hunter Dane and Camden Snow Series by Adira August (excerpts and giveaway)

 

BOOK 1 

On His Knees (#1 Cam & Hunter 4Ever)

Author: Adira August

Publisher: RedDeer

Length:  13k words/76 Kindle pages

Genres: Contemporary gay, BDSM, erotica

Blurb:

Sometimes it’s the cop who needs to hit the floor…

As a homicide cop, every blood-soaked crime scene settled in my bones and snaked around my spine. There was only one way to exorcise the images from my soul …

Inside the club, I stopped to scan the room. He was here, Camden Snow. A Norse sex god in the guise of unpretentious youth. Only his ice-blue eyes gave evidence of the Dom who took whomever he wished, whatever way he wanted, with a look and a nod. Merciless.

Cam found me watching him and fixed me with his arctic gaze. This time, I didn’t walk away. He cocked an eyebrow. Well?

The last thing I needed was mercy.

I dropped to my knees.

A frank exploration of the D/s dynamic between two powerful men. Consensual. Adult. Intense.

Buy Links

Amazon US  

Amazon UK  

Free on Instafreebie until Nov 24th

Excerpt

It was an early summer evening, the sun half set. I was making my way to the door with one of the club’s boozeless Bloody Marys to find a deck chair and keep an eye on whoever came up the stairs. Decide what I wanted after sunset.

The door opened before I could touch it. He paused, backlit by the setting sun. Golden. Glowing. Idealized male beauty wrapped in an invisible cloak of incredible power. He was so careless of it. He scanned me and grinned. As if the sight of me delighted him. No one grinned here. Not with genuine pleasure.

He passed close to me, still scanning. It was the kind of moment that called for locked gazes and hardening cocks. Instead, he happily looked me over like I was a pastry display and he was deciding which succulent treat to select.

Cam was fresh from deep powder and Olympic triumph. Exuding health and vitality and bonhomie and danger.

I wanted to give him everything, simply because he existed. And looked at me.

He reached out and put a hand on the side of my neck, his thumb skating lightly along my jawline and down, across my larynx. My insides turned to water.

Don’t pick me. Please.

His eyes narrowed a little as if he’d heard. His hand tightened – scarcely, definitely – and withdrew.

“Kneel for me when you’re ready,” he said. And was gone.

BOOK 2

Matchstick Men: Hunter Dane Investigation 1

(Book 2 of 3 in the HuntandCan4ever series)

Author: Adira August

Publisher: RedDeer

Genre/s: Police Procedural, Murder Mystery, Contemporary Gay Erotica, BDSM

Length:  48k words/ 274 pages

Blurb:

SEX, GAMES & MURDER Want to play?

It was munch night at the most elite underground BDSM club in the Rockies. Relaxed and informal, highlighted by the weekly Matchstick Challenge game. Detective Sergeant Hunter Dane, reigning champion, looked forward to a relaxing evening to start his 3 days off. A few beers on the deck. An interlude with a sweet sub. Stumping a challenger with a new puzzle. Home early for a decent night’s sleep.

Some people are SO deadly serious about their games.

Now Hunt has a fresh body and a new puzzle to solve in twenty-four hours if he wants to find a killer.

A 48k police procedural with a liberal dose of M/M hotness. Which means our fave full-metal Dom shows up to collect on Hunter’s offer of his … coffer. So to speak.

There are puzzles for the reader and mysteries to be solved. Based on characters introduced in the short story On His Knees. 

Buy Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK 

Excerpt

Cam looked out the window, leaving me to myself  while I drove us through the quiet dark of the Capitol Hill streets. I wondered why this killer wasn’t perfectly obvious to me. I wondered if it was impossible for me to see them, being so close that everything blurred at the edges and melded together.

“Did anyone ever tell you, you think too much?” Cam asked.

“Did anyone ever not?”

“Take the next alley,” he told me.

“What? Why?”

“You need to stop thinking.”

“Cam,” I put a warning in my voice. “There’s not much time-“

The bastard grabbed the wheel and cranked it hard right.

“Shit!”

“Steer!”

I lifted my foot off the gas, or tried to. He had his left hand on my thigh just above my knee, digging in, pressing down.

“Stop it, goddamn it!”

“Pull into that parking lot.”

“Alright! Just let go, for Christ’s sake!”

He released me instantly and sat back. I managed to miss the light pole and the dumpster and slide into a parking space behind a converted Victorian housing psychologists’ offices. An appropriate place to stop when riding with a no limits lunatic.

The offices were dark, now, but the mosquito bulb over the back door and the security lights at the rear of the building illuminated the lot. And the car’s interior. Anyone walking by could see us. If they saw us in flagrante delicto, they’d call the cops.

Cam had gone too far. I shut off the engine but before I could turn and bust his ass, his fingers found my seat belt release and he launched himself up and over the console into my space, his big hands slid down my arms toward my wrists. I twisted sideways and we wrestled for control of my hands.

I was at a distinct disadvantage under the steering wheel. He bent me toward him and my head was on his thigh.

“Stop it, Cam! Not now, we are not playing!”

He fell back into his seat, taking me with him and manacled me with one hand. But we were sweaty from the struggle and I managed to break his grip, freeing my hands.

He didn’t try to regain them. He simply raised himself and laid his body over mine. My head pressed into his crotch, his weight forced me onto the hard lump of the console.

“You can always safeword you know,” he said. I heard the challenge. The taunting. He was having fun.

“Fuck you,” I grunted underneath him.

I’d never safe worded in my life. Not to “red,” anyway. “Yellow” a few times when I had a cramp or was on call and my cell went off with a dispatch tone.

Safewording might have been an option for me now, if his power and the idea of being at his mercy, of which he possessed none, hadn’t given me a blazing erection.

He’d been betting I wouldn’t go there—confident I wouldn’t safeword. He really was good at this.

I felt his hand at my belt in back. Handcuffs. A thrill of fear and excitement made me choke on air. I struggled again, just enough to feel my inability to stop him from doing exactly what he intended. Jesus, I was hard, weeping against my thigh, trapped by the elastic briefs.

My legs were twisted and caught under the steering wheel. His body locked my right arm against the seatback. He deftly handcuffed my left wrist and calmly found my right and ratcheted the other cuff around it.

This was not the infamous Dom of the club, calculatedly giving me what I needed. Not the sexual virtuoso of last night, expertly bringing me everything I never knew I wanted. Pleasures I never thought existed.

This was the sadist in his element. Loving what he did to me because of what it did for him.

Then, suddenly, I knew who the killer was.

 

BOOK 3

Book Title: Dancing Men: Hunter Dane Investigation 2

(Book 3 of 3—and counting—in the HuntandCam4ever series)

Author: Adira August

Publisher: RedDeer

Genre/s: Police Procedural, Murder Mystery, Gay erotica, BDSM

Length:  70k words/385 pages

Blurb:

You have to bury the past, or the past will bury you.

An ancient burial urn, empty for millennia, is suddenly not so empty.

When Detective Lieutenant Hunter Dane probes the murder at Natural History Museum, it’s his own past that haunts him. To solve the complex case, Hunter needs the talents of Camden Snow, the brilliant, beautiful, “no limits” Dom who’d helped him unravel a very peculiar, and very personal, murder.

But Cam’s ready to kill Hunt, himself! Their high-intensity D/s relationship that began in a playroom, ended in an emergency room.

“If you want to be with me, you’ll have to do more make some big re-entry gesture,” Cam said. “That’s just more drama. You’ll have to work for this, Hunter.”

“All right. What work would that be?” Hunter asked, eager to perform any penance Cam gave him.

“You’re the champion puzzle-solver and ace detective. Unravel a mystery.”

Hunter’s brows pulled together. “What mystery?”

“Me.”

For adults who love some mystery with their men. A 70k police procedural with a liberal dose of M/M heat. The 2nd of the Hunter Dane Investigations. Matchstick Men, their 1st case, also available on Amazon. Their next case, Psychic Men, will be out in spring of 2018

Excerpt

The Mystery

“You are familiar with the Tamil burial jars case I’m hearing?” the judge asked as she led him into her chambers.

“Enough to know the case exists,” he said, putting his professional face on. Why would they need a homicide investigator for an international property dispute? “I should mention I’m acquainted with Doctor St Clair who was appointed head of the research team.”

“I see,” she said, taking her chair but not inviting him to sit. “Do I have to go over confidentiality? I was informed with you it wouldn’t be necessary.”

“It isn’t,” he said.

“Good.” She sat forward and clasped her hands on the desk. “Expert testimony the Court finds to be compelling establishes the impossibility of determining the geographic origin of the jars or when they were created and sealed without extensive testing. There will be a problem of international relations if I award the urns to the Denver museum and later testing reveals clearly that the plaintiff did have standing.”

Hunter nodded. The judge cocked a skeptical eyebrow at him. “You understand the issue?”

“It will look as if we must have known all along and used a technicality in the law to keep the jars here. I imagine they have more than scientific value?” he said.

A slow and very small smile appeared. “Have a seat,” she told him. He did.

“At my request, Doctor St Clare sent a doctoral fellow to take air samples from the jars to determine how long ago they were sealed. That was ten days ago. I received the results on Friday. So did the attorneys. After which, I issued a gag order.”

Hunter waited for her to get to the point.

“I’m curious, detective, what you would guess the tests showed?”

“At least one of the air samples had a much higher level of carbon dioxide than would be present when the jars were made. And traces of methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and nitrogen. Decomp gases.”

Her Honor nodded.

“There’s flesh rotting in one of those jars and it wasn’t put there a thousand years ago,” Hunter said.

Buy Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

 

GIVEAWAY

November Rafflecopter Prize 1 x $25 Amazon gift card 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

SERIES BLAST AND REVIEW TOUR SCHEDULE

NOVEMBER

 

November 13

Millsy Loves Books    

Gay Book Promotions 

November 16  

Lily G Blunt   

November 21

Bayou Book Junkie 

Men & Men Midnightcafe.uk  

November 24

Gay Book Reviews 

November 30  

The Blogger Girls

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 

Stories That Make You Smile      

MORE POSTS TO FOLLOW IN DECEMBER

 

 

About the Author

TYPOS ARE MY TRADEMEARK

I write mostly BDSM EROTICA because I love exploring the power dynamics in terms of the love relationships. The work is explicit. It’s always consensual. If you have triggers about certain kinds of practices, use discretion. I do not make kink lists for my titles.

I went to school interminably, it seemed like. I studied anthropology and paleontology and genetics and literature and theology and ancient Greek. I chased down bad guys, raised children, climbed mountains, played poker, searched for dinosaurs and have had a rather large number of lovers. (I’m not giving up any numbers because TMI) Through it all, I wrote.

No wonder I’m so tired.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

You can read all my books stand-alone. There’s plenty of information about what happened previously in Hunt and Cam’s story for you to easily follow their relationship arc. The mysteries are always complete within the stories.

BUT if you’re a romance lover, the relationship story is not a romance. It is a love story. But it’s also the story of two independent Alpha males: one gay and one bisexual, one Dom and one switch with a preference for BDSM. And they aren’t simple, take it from someone who shares headspace with them.

I love these guys. They surprise me and challenge me and break my heart, sometimes. They inspire me.

(Just some FYI for the new readers. Hi. Welcome.)

Addi

Social Media Links

Blog/Website

Facebook Author Page

Addi’s Facebook Spoiler Group

Twitter

 

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RIPTIDE TOUR & Giveaway: Infamous by Jenny Holiday

Infamous (Famous #2) by Jenny Holiday
Riptide Publishing
Cover art: L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here at Riptide Publishing

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Jenny Holiday here today on tour with Infamous. Welcome, Jenny.

✒︎

Hello! I’m Jenny and I’m happy to be here to celebrate the release of Infamous. Infamous is book two in the Famous series, which mixes m/f and m/m romance. (And mixes famous musicians and regular people!) In Infamous, Jesse, our resident bad-boy rock star has to decide if he’s willing to risk his career to be with Hunter, a doctor he’s rapidly falling for. I hope you enjoy it!

About Infamous

All that up-and-coming musician Jesse Jamison has ever wanted is to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. When a gossip website nearly catches him kissing someone who isn’t his famous girlfriend—and also isn’t a girl—he considers the near miss a wake-up call. There’s a lot riding on his image as the super-straight rocker, and if he wants to realize his dreams, he’ll need to toe the line. Luckily, he’s into women too. Problem solved.

After a decade pretending to be his ex’s roommate, pediatrician Hunter Wyatt is done hiding. He might not know how to date in the Grindr world, how to make friends in a strange city, or whether his new job in Toronto is a mistake. But he does know that no one is worth the closet. Not even the world’s sexiest rock star.

As Jesse’s charity work at Hunter’s hospital brings the two closer together, a bromance develops. Soon, Hunter is all Jesse can think about. But when it comes down to a choice between Hunter and his career, he’s not sure he’s brave enough to follow his heart.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!

About Jenny Holiday

Jenny Holiday started writing in fourth grade, when her aging-hippie teacher, between Pete Seeger songs, gave the kids notebooks and told them to write stories. Jenny’s featured poltergeist, alien invasions, or serial killers who managed to murder everyone except her and her mom. She showed early promise as a romance writer, though, because nearly every story had a happy ending: fictional Jenny woke up to find that the story had been a dream, and that her best friend, father, and sister had not, in fact, been axe-murdered. Today she is a USA Today bestselling author of historical and contemporary romance. She lives in London, Ontario.

Connect with Jenny:

● Website: jennyholiday.com

● Blog: jennyholiday.com/blog

● Facebook: www.facebook.com/jennyholidaybooks/

● Twitter: @jennyholi

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Infamous, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 2, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A MelanieM Release Day Review: Watermelon Kisses by Freddy Mackay (Mischief holiday story)

Rating: 5 stars plus out of 5

Life hasn’t been easy for Amir since he fled Iran after a brutal imprisonment. The trauma experienced at the hands of the guards left a dark spot on his soul. The one constant in his life since relocating to Chicago has been his lover—now husband—Esmail, whose steadfast love and support has soothed his wounded heart.

​But this Shab-e Yalda, Amir wants to be the one giving his husband something special, because even after the darkest nights, the sun will rise again.

Really, Watermelon Kisses by Freddy Mackay  is one of those stories that makes me want to run outside, grabbing people to say “have you read this story? You must read this story…”.  Because it’s so powerful, it’s message of hope and love so enduring and impactful that I want to send it out there as a holiday gift to everyone.

And it starts out so gently, and like the gentle ripples spreading across a lake, you have no idea of the power of the swift currents waiting for you just underneath the initial surface you see, waiting to sweep you emotionally under.

You first meet Amir when he’s shopping for Shab-e Yalda.  Freddy Mackay gives a description of the religious holiday and the dishes they eat at the back of the story.  Don’t miss those.  But they aren’t needed to read the story through…the first time. Or the second. Or even third. From the manner in which you meet him and the way he’s handling the shopping, you know that there’s something wrong.  But the revelations about Amir unfold slowly, heartbreakingly, with hints and then facts that will crush you… little peeks into his  past history and horrors over the course of the story.  At points I had to stop because I just   not have enough tissues nearby to go on.  But go on you must.  Because this beautiful story is about surviving the dark, waiting for the light, the sunrise to arrive bringing hope and love.

Mackay’s writing is exquisite.  Each word, each sentence is precisely right…forming a picture in your mind and heart of the past, present, and finally, what the future may hold for Amir and husband Esmail.  Waiting for the golden rays of the  sunrise to put them back together again reminded me of the ancient Japanese art of mending broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold. Called Kintsugi which means golden repair because you can see the seams of gold glinting in the cracks of the newly whole pottery,  the sun shining down on Amir and Esmail seemed to help seal and mend the broken man huddled in the darkness.  So powerful, so enduring….this is a story that you will want to reread often.  It will be in the top stories of 2017 for me and I want everyone to go out and read it immediately!  That’s how highly I recommend Watermelon Kisses by Freddy Mackay.

Cover art is wonderful containing an important element of the story but nothing can really do justice to this story.

Sales Links:  Mischief Corner Books | Amazon

Book Details:

First Expected publication: November 29th 2017 by Mischief Corner Books, LLC
Edition LanguageEnglish

A MelanieM Review: Texas Gift (Texas #8) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A gift for every single reader who said they needed to know what happened next for Jack and Riley…

When Hayley arrived on the steps of the D, Riley and Jack knew life would never be the same.

Told through Riley and Jack’s eyes, this is ten years in the life of their family and watching Hayley grow up, fall in love, and start her own life. Hurricanes, illness, babies, happiness, sadness, work, play, the barn, the office, horses, friends, enemies, and above all love.

Texas Gift (Texas #8) by R.J. Scott is exactly that, a wonderful gift to all of her readers, myself included, who fell in love with Riley and Jack from book one of her Texas series.  Through seven stories, starting with The Heart of Texas, we have been through heartache, blackmail, murder, misunderstandings, accidents, illnesses, adoptions, and so much more.

We’ve watch their love grow from a business deal wedding to a deep abiding love that spans decades and expands to include children and friends cobbled together from all walks of life.  It’s been such an amazing journey.  It’s included  Max their autistic son, a character that RJ  Scott has  handled with such joy and loving authenticity that Max was at first both a poignant yet quietly awesome young man, someone we loved from the moment he entered their lives.  Of course we watched Hayley grow up and then there’s the twins as well.

Now in Texas Gift we get to see what happens…watch the years go by.  Hayley goes off to college with the appropriate parental meltdowns.  The twins grow up and we get to see what adulthood has in store for them…prepare to have your tissue boxes nearby. There are family crises, some of the other characters we have come to love over the course of the years at the DoubleD Ranch also  go through some life altering changes that will gladden your heart.  Texas Gift is like sitting down on a  couch with your family with their family albums and going through it with them as they tell you the stories from each picture, pointing out every loving detail with laughter, some sniffles and oh, so much joy.  It fills your heart with happiness and a warm glow because you’ve made such a connection with these men and their family over the course of these stories that they feel real and part of you.

Now as RJ Scott  closes the final chapter on Texas we get to see their whole story…what an amazing journey, what a marvelous gift. You’ve left me smiling and full of heartwarming memories.  I’ll miss you.

Cover art by Meredith Russell is absolutely perfect, framing out Riley and Jack when they were young and their family. Sniffles.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Book Details:

ebook, 180 pages
Published November 12th 2017 by Love Lane Books Ltd
ASINB077DJB1K8
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesTexas #8

Texas Series

Book #1 – The Heart of Texas – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #2 – Texas Winter – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #3 – Texas Heat – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #4 – Texas Family – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #5 – Texas Christmas – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #6 – Texas Fall – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #7 – Texas Wedding – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review Tour for Texas Gift (Texas #8) by R.J. Scott (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
 
Length: 50,000 words approx
 
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
 
Texas Series
 
Book #1 – The Heart of Texas – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 – Texas Winter – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #3 – Texas Heat – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #4 – Texas Family – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #5 – Texas Christmas – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #6 – Texas Fall – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #7 – Texas Wedding – Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Blurb
 

A gift for every single reader needed to know what happened next for to Jack and Riley…


When Hayley arrived on the steps of the D, Riley and Jack knew life would never be the same.


Told through Riley and Jack’s eyes, this is ten years in the life of their family and watching Hayley grow up, fall in love, and start her own life. Hurricanes, illness, babies, happiness, sadness, work, play, the barn, the office, horses, friends, enemies, and above all love.


Excerpt


Chapter One


Riley needed to apologize. Right now.


He’d fucked up big time, and he should have seen it coming, because everything he did went in cycles. He and Jack hadn’t argued in so long and maybe the tension that had been building inside Riley had needed an outlet; he’d provoked the argument. He’d pushed and prodded and sulked and shoved at Jack until Jack had snapped.


Not in loud, shouting temper, or anything like what Riley deserved. No, Jack had gone deathly quiet.


Absolutely. Utterly. Quiet.


Riley shouted at him, got everything out of his system, felt the weight of it all lessen by throwing it at Jack and what had happened? He’d stood there at first, confused, and then steadily calmer. Weirdly calmer.


They argued; no normal marriage went without arguments over things as important as the kids and as trivial as picking up wet towels. But they resolved things, Jack/Riley was a unit that worked. They sometimes bickered and teased, they shouted rarely, and on the odd occasion there would be sulking. Mostly from Riley. He considered it as thinking time but Jack just called him on his sulking like a child.


Their arguments always ended in love; talking, kissing, complete forgiveness that could only come when two people understood and loved each other.


This morning though, he’d made Connor cry, Lexie scowl, and Max hide under the table with Toby. Jack hadn’t even stayed for that. The crying, scowling and hiding had happened after he’d left.


“Why are you shouting at Pappa!” Connor shouted back at Riley. “Stop shouting.” Then he’d started to cry, and Riley’s heart had broken into a million pieces. He’d sat between a crying Connor, and a sullen, angry Lexie and tried to explain that he had a bad headache and he didn’t mean to shout. For headache, read migraine, tight painful migraine that blurred his vision and made him feel sick. He’d taken meds and the sharp edges of the glass in his head were easing, but he couldn’t think straight. Connor stopped crying.


“You were so mean,” Lexie summarized, but she did give Riley a hug and kiss him on the forehead to make it all better.


Max on the other hand, while not angry with Riley and the shouting, was still under the kitchen table with Toby. The black lab, Riley’s black lab, was between Max and Riley in a protective furry wall.


“It’s okay Tobes, I got this,” Riley tried to fold all six-four of himself under the wood. He got caught on a bench, his neck burned, his stomach was in knots, but nothing was going to stop him from getting to Max. Toby did eventually move to one side but not too far. Toby may well have been Riley’s dog at the start, but he and Max were inseparable now.


“Max, buddy?” he began, and Max at least looked up at him for a split second. “You okay?”


“M’okay,” Max said. “You’re noisy.”


At least he wasn’t rocking, or stimming. He was just sitting with his dog in his favorite place under the kitchen table.


“Is everything okay?” Carol said from behind him. He scrambled back and brushed himself off. “Riley?”


“I shouted,” Riley explained simply.


“At the kids?” Carol asked, aghast, as if that was the ultimate sin in her eyes. Which, to be fair, it was in Riley’s as well. He and Jack didn’t shout, they cajoled, and bargained, and ran a happy house. Most of the time, anyway. Just not this morning.


“No, at Jack.”


“Is Max okay?” she peered under the table and smiled at Max. He adored her, the kids all loved their nanny, probably quite a bit more than they loved their dad today.


“He seems fine.” Riley peered out of the window at where Jack had gone. The damage had been done, but Connie and Lexie were chatting to each other, Max was with Carol and he needed to go and make things right with Jack.


“I think we’re okay in here,” Carol said, “Go find Jack.”


Riley shot her a grateful glance, and as he left the kitchen he heard Lexie telling Carol that her Pappa had a headache and that she’d kissed it better. When he closed the door it was just him and the ranch and finding Jack. It didn’t take him long; he was outside their barn, looking up at the siding, with his feet apart and his arms crossed over his chest.


Riley inhaled the fresh morning air and pulled back his shoulders. He could do this; he could ignore the pain in his head now it had lessened a little, he could push back the nausea, and he could go and apologize to Jack for being a fucking idiot.


“I’m sorry,” he murmured, coming to a stop next to Jack, only a few inches separating their arms. Jack didn’t move.


“It’s okay.” Although it didn’t sound okay at all. Okay was one of those words that meant nothing in the context of an argument, it was a word that plastered over cracks in a relationship. Okay was quiet and tight-lipped silences and Riley recalled okay from when he was a kid.


He hated okay.


“It’s not okay, I have a headache and I didn’t mean any of what I said.”


“You didn’t mean to say that life would be easier if you didn’t have to listen to me?” Jack’s voice was low and serious, and Riley winced.


“You were saying too much, and I couldn’t think.”


Their discussion had started in the bedroom.


“I asked if you’d made an appointment to see someone about the headaches.”


“I know—”


“And why you were limping again—”


“Jack—”


“And why you weren’t sleeping, and why you spent so much time at the office, and why the fuck have we not used the barn in over a month?”


The barn wasn’t just the barn, it was a euphemism for sex. They hadn’t been together in a month, over a month now. How did Riley explain that he’d been at the office, sometimes with the blinds shut, closing out the light, sleeping? How did he explain he didn’t want to see a doctor because the headaches scared him? And how the hell did he tell Jack he was limping because every single one of his muscles hurt, because he was tired, because it was all too much?


“Jack, I’m sorry.”


“You’re not, Riley, because you won’t listen to me.” Jack pointed at the barn. “I’m thinking we turn this into a games room for the kids.”


Riley gripped Jack’s arm. “No, what the hell?” His tension fled and in its place was panic. This was their space. Sometimes they came out here to talk, to hide away from the world, but it was also the one place they had the hottest sex he’d ever experienced. He wanted that again, but he was so tired, every time he turned over in bed his neck hurt, and his head pounded, and his leg ached, and he was fucking tired of it all. “Jack, I’m sorry, don’t…”


Jack turned to face him, and his expression wasn’t angry. “Either you go to the doctor, right here, right now, or I start clearing the place for a pool table.” He looked deadly serious, and Riley couldn’t tell if this was an empty threat. Then Jack softened, cradled his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Riley, please.”


Just those two words pierced the fear in Riley, he couldn’t stop the pain, or the threat of being sick, or not sleeping, but whatever was wrong, Jack would be there for him.


“I’m scared,” Riley murmured.


Jack gathered him close. “You think I’m not?”


“Please don’t,” Riley said against Jack’s neck. His words sounded slurred and fear made him sway. What the hell? “Please don’t let me chase you away.”


“I won’t.”


And that was the last thing he heard as his world went to black.

 

Find Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 5 Star Review Here.

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Author Bio

RJ Scott is the bestselling romance author of over 100 romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men and women who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk
www.rjscott.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/author.rjscott?ref=ts&fref=ts
www.goodreads.com/author/show/3432558.R_J_Scott
twitter.com/Rjscott_author
www.librarything.com/author/scottrj

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