Category: Contemporary fiction

In the Spotlight: Her Hometown Girl (Belladonna Ink #3) by Lorelie Brown (Riptide Publishing Tour & Giveaway)

Her Hometown Girl (Belladonna Ink #3) by Lorelie Brown
Riptide Publishing

Cover by: L.C. Chase
Read an Excerpt/Purchase it Here at Riptide Publishing

 

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host the spotlight tour for Her Hometown Girl (Belladonna Ink #3) by Lorelie Brown.   Check it out below and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

♡

 

About Her Hometown Girl

I had doubts before the Big Day—doesn’t everyone?—but I didn’t expect to find my fiancée banging the caterer’s assistant right before the ceremony. Especially because he’s a guy. And we’re lesbians. The proper sort of Southern Californian lesbians who invest in hedge funds and wear bedazzled wedding dresses and wouldn’t be caught dead in a Subaru.

But then I became a runaway bride, headed straight for Belladonna Ink to get the kind of tattoo I always wanted and my ex always called trashy. She didn’t approve of a lot of things I did. I think maybe she didn’t approve of who I am.

So I’m determined to be as much of myself as I can manage. Dating my tattoo artist? I’m in. Cai is smart, sexy, and mysterious. Exactly what I need for a rebound. She keeps herself guarded, but I understand—I’m holding on to secrets too. The kind of secrets that make a girl want to run home to Mom, even if home is Idaho. Maybe especially then. I just didn’t expect Cai to come with me.

I wonder what it would take to get her to stay forever.

Now available from Riptide Publishing.

About the Belladonna Ink Universe

Belladonna Ink is the hottest female-centric tattoo parlor in Southern California. It doesn’t matter if you’re cis, trans, het, gay, or spectrum, our host of female tattoo artists will give you beautiful ink, personally designed. We don’t believe in paint-by-number drawings—you’re worth more than that. Give us a chance and we’ll help you find the meaning in your personal scribbles, and turn your skin into our professional canvas.

Just one thing: it’s really weird, but all our friends and some of our artists keep falling in love. Maybe it’s something in the ink.

Check out Belladonna Ink! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/universe/belladonna-ink

About Lorelie Brown

After a seminomadic childhood throughout California, Lorelie Brown spent high school in Orange County before joining the US Army. After traveling the world from South Korea to Italy, she now lives north of Chicago. She writes her Pacific Blue series of hot surfers in order to channel some warmth.

Lorelie has three active sons, two yappy dogs, and a cat who cusses her out on a regular basis for not petting him enough.

In her immense free time (hah!) Lorelie cowrites award-winning contemporary erotic romance under the name Katie Porter. You can find out more about the Vegas Top Guns and Command Force Alpha series at www.KatiePorterBooks.com or at @MsKatiePorter. You can also contact Lorelie on Twitter @LorelieBrown.

Connect with Lorelie:

Website: loreliebrown.com/

Twitter: @LorelieBrown

Facebook: facebook.com/lorelie.brown

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Her Hometown Girl, one lucky winner will receive a bottle of Macallan single malt whisky! Contest IS restricted to both US entries and to those over the age of 21. Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 9, 2017. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Release Blitz for Be My Best Man by Con Riley (Giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 260 pages
 
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
 
Blurb


Will Jason’s third time as a best man lead to first-time love for Vanya?

After fleeing violence in Moscow, student teacher Vanya Petrov winds up lonely in a run-down London hostel. At least visiting the Bond Street store where his roommate works lets him practice his English, but as Vanya’s vocabulary expands, so does his isolation, especially when he sees happy couples planning their perfect weddings.

According to Jason Balfour, weddings are a waste of time and money. After all, he’s been best man for his brother twice already. Saying that a third marriage will end in divorce too leads to an angry ultimatum: to save his relationship with his brother, Jason must meet his fiancée, at last, and make a good first impression.

Jason’s need to dress to impress brings him and Vanya together. Language is no barrier to falling in love with the young and fragile Russian, and neither is their age difference. But Vanya’s bruised soul carries secrets that could rip them apart. As the wedding draws near, Vanya must confess, and soon, or risk losing Jason—his own best man in Britain.

.

Author Bio
 

Con Riley lives on the wild and rugged Devonshire coast, with her head in the clouds, and her feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Injury curtailed her enjoyment of outdoor pursuits, so writing fiction now fills her free time. Love, loss, and redemption shape her romance stories, and her characters are flawed in ways that makes them live and breathe.

When not people watching, or wrangling her own boy band of teen sons, she spends time staring at the sea from her kitchen window. If you see her, don’t disturb her—she’s probably thinking up new plots.

 
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A Kai Review: Facing West (Forever Wilde #1) by Lucy Lennox

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Nico: 
I left my family and tiny Texas hometown fifteen years ago to escape small-town gossips and to give my mom and sister the chance at a better life. But when a phone call from an attorney back home informs me that my sister passed away, leaving me custody of her newborn baby, I’m shocked out of the steady life I’ve built for myself running a tattoo shop in San Francisco.
The thing is: I don’t do babies. And I don’t do small towns. Or commitment. And I especially don’t do family. My plan is to go back to Hobie just long enough to sign adoption papers, giving my niece the kind of stable, loving family I could never provide.
But the moment I meet my niece in the arms of Weston Wilde, my sister’s best friend, and the town’s handsome doctor, my plans begin to change. Because suddenly, I see a different future. One with the very thing I thought I never deserved: a family. If only I can convince West that I’m not the same good-for-nothing kid ready to bolt when things get tough.
Weston:
There’s one thing I know for sure about Nico Salerno: he was a good-for-nothing as a kid and judging by the purple-haired, tattooed punk who shows up at his sister’s funeral, he hasn’t changed. There’s no way I’m letting him take custody of my best friend’s baby.
But the more time I spend around him, the more I realize that his rough exterior is just a shell and that beneath all the tattoos is a scared, insecure man searching for a place to belong. And pretty soon I know exactly where he belongs: in my bed and by my side.
The problem is, he abandoned his family once before, how do I know that if we become a family he won’t do it again?

 

Facing West is a light, funny, sweet and sexy story. Absolutely just what I needed!

I love the Lucy Lennox style and in this book, she didn’t disappoint. She brought us a story filled with good writing, good and complex characters, hot-hot scenes, a crazy and big family and hot guys with babies. That’s right! (take care of your ovaries ladies, they can explode).

At first, I didn’t like West. He was presumptuous and judged Nico for things he didn’t know anything about. Even I could see that was more than the surface there. Luckily for him (since I didn’t have to hate him for long) he came around and realized Nico was a great guy. With problems, of course, but the guy’s heart was in the right place. And since Nico was a super-Hot tattooed man, I think it helped a little. Right, West?

Nico was a great character. I just loved him. I know he had problems and he was used to running instead of fighting, but I could see his struggle. Please don’t judge him so much, ok?

Guys, one of the things I absolutely loved about this book was the interaction between Nico and Pippa (his baby niece). For someone who feared babies, he got involved with Pippa so well. And it was clear he did love her. Stay with her, Nico!

Nico and West were super hot together. Are you hearing? I said: SUPER hot, like more than hot. I won’t spoil you the details but keep a ventilator close by. Just a little tip. 😉

The city was well described and the supporting characters were so great. Even the douche ones were well represented. Curt, for example, was one of the homophobic in closet dudes. I hated him, but thought Lucy did a great job with that character.

I loved West’s family. They were really huge, so guess what? That’s right, more books to come! Yay! The family patriarchs weren’t anyone less than two grandpas. Yes, Like couple grandpas. Isn’t that sweet? I think so. They were also funny and much supportive of their family and friends. I loved it about them.

I can talk more and more about this book, but I will leave you with this quote, below. Hope you enjoy this reading as much as I did.

“Spending time with Weston Wilde was supposed to have been temporary—like a stick-on tattoo at a child’s birthday party. But with every touch of his fingers in my hair and every brush of his lips over mine, I found myself wanting to cement those feelings into my skin forever with permanent ink.”

P.S: The cover art by AngstyG is beautiful and sexy, isn’t it? I absolutely love it!

​​

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition: 312 pages

Published August 20th, 2017

Series: Forever Wilde #1

An Ali Review: Circle (Roads #3) by Garrett Leigh

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I love him…but he’s forgotten why.


A lot can happen in six years, and Ash and Pete have seen their world flipped upside down more times than most. Being parents to Pete’s young nephew wasn’t in their plan, but life happens to them and they roll with the punches. Or at least they did, until new heartache rocks their hard-won happily-ever-after.

Ash loves Pete as much as ever—more, in fact—but Pete battles alone with a burden that weighs heavily on his heart. Ash is no stranger to dark clouds, but the secret Pete keeps from him is a storm that could break them.

Despite the fierce love that once buoyed them, they’re both drowning until a new friend throws them a lifeline. His wisdom offers insight—for better or worse, real love is rarely a smooth journey. For Ash and Pete to come full circle once more, they’ll have to hit the road and chase it. 
I was both excited and nervous when I saw that this book was coming.  The first book in the series, Slide, was one of the first books I read in this genre and it holds a special place in my heart.  I was happy with how things ended after book two and I wasn’t sure I wanted to revisit these two if their happily ever after was going to be changed.  As it turns out I had nothing to worry about.  This book was fantastic.  I loved every page of it.
When the book starts Pete and Ash are having some troubles.  Pete is really struggling with something and as a result he’s pulling away from Ash emotionally.  The thing that made this ok to read was that despite their struggles, you never doubt how much they love each other.  It jumps off every page at you.  You see that they’re going through something bad but you know that it’s going to work out in the end.  
I’m hesitant to say much about the plot because there are a lot of plot points that can be spoiled.  In fact, I recommend, rather ironically, that you avoid most reviews on this book.  There are just too many things that can be spoiled and I think it’s best to just go in to it with no information.  
This is the third book in this series and can not be read as a standalone. If you want to try this series you need to start with book one. If you are already a fan of this series you can read this without doing a re-read of the previous books.  It takes place a few years down the road and the author does a good job of catching you up on what’s been happening.  I did it without doing a re-read.  Honestly though, I wish I had done a re-read but just because once I got in to this I realized how much I’ve missed these two.  
This book was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not let me down.  I loved it from the first page to the epilogue that I cried happy tears through.  A must read for fans of this series.
Cover by Garrett Leigh:  I love this cover.  It’s a gorgeous cover and it fits well with the previous books in the series 
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 179 pages
Published September 5th 2017
ASINB0758BPRLJ
Series Roads #3

An Ali Review: Making It (Ringside Romance #3) by Christine d’Abo

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Devan knows exactly what he wants from life: a good career, a husband who loves him, and a child to call his own. He’s working at the perfect job, and has found the man of his dreams in Eli. That only leaves one box left to tick. When his friend offers to be a surrogate mother for Devan and Eli, he’s convinced all his dreams have come true.

Eli has been fighting his entire life. Fighting to keep his sick mother safe, fighting his frustration, and fighting daily as an up-and-coming MMA star. The one thing he can’t fight is the feeling that he’s made a terrible mistake agreeing to be a father with Devan. On the worst night of their lives, Eli knows Devan is better off without him, and leaves.

When Eli returns three years later he comes face-to-face with Devan and a son who might be his. Devan has moved on with his life, but seeing Eli once again reignites forgotten passion. Yet if Eli wants to make it work with Devan, he must decide if he’s ready for the biggest fight of his life.
I was super excited about this book. I love a good second chance story. Unfortunately this didn’t live up to my expectations. 

The book starts three years in the past. Eli and Devon are married and they’re in a bad place. Things happen and Eli walks away from it all and the way he does it is truly horrible. My status update at this point said “Eli exhibited a bionic level of asshattery. He’s going to need to crawl through broken glass while begging for forgiveness for this to work for me.”

And there is the problem. He didn’t. He just shows back up, says he’s sorry and they’re seeing each other again. I couldn’t understand any decision Devon made at this point. They do this weird thing where they decide Devon should see other people so he knows he wants Eli back (but he hasn’t dated at all in the three years he’s been gone) AND he leaves his kid with Eli as the babysitter. Devon was like that one friend we all have who makes constant decisions that make you scream “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!?!” internally every time you talk about their relationship.
Despite the dramatic set up, the story is actually low angst and low drama and a nice and mellow love story. Which is not necessarily a bad thing but it was absolutely not what I was expecting or wanting from this book.

This is the third book in the series but is fine as a standalone. You see both couples from books one and two in this but the way the books are done they can all be easily read on their own.
This cover was done by L.C. Chase and I like it a lot.  I think it’s a good cover by itself but overall the covers of the books in this series have been some of my favorites this year.  They coordinate really well and they’re all striking in their own way.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 226 pages
Published August 7th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleMaking It
ISBN139781626495821
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesRingside Romance #3

Release Blitz and Giveaway: Hard Time (Responsible Adult #2) by C.F. White

 

 
Buy Links: Pride | Amazon US | Amazon UK 
 
Length: 77,855 words
 
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Responsible Adult Series
 
Misdemeanor (Book #1): Pride Publishing | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Blurb

 

Love isn’t always responsible.


After Micky O’Neill is remanded in custody for breaching his court order, his already tempestuous relationship with Dan Peters is tested to the limits.


Having to battle their way through a court case that could end with Micky in jail, social workers breaking up the family home, and the return of Micky’s deadbeat father, it seems everything is set to destroy their relationship before it even had the chance to start.


With such high stakes involved, not just for Micky but for once-burned, twice-shy Dan, they both have to learn that falling in love isn’t always responsible.

Author Bio


Brought up in a relatively small town in Hertfordshire, C F White managed to do what most other residents try to do and fail—leave.


Studying at a West London university, she realised there was a whole city out there waiting to be discovered, so, much like Dick Whittington before her, she never made it back home and still endlessly searches for the streets paved with gold, slowly coming to the realisation they’re mostly paved with chewing gum. And the odd bit of graffiti. And those little circles of yellow spray paint where the council point out the pot holes to someone who is supposedly meant to fix them instead of staring at them vacantly whilst holding a polystyrene cup of watered-down coffee.


She eventually moved West to East along that vast District Line and settled for pie and mash, cockles and winkles and a bit of Knees Up Mother Brown to live in the East End of London; securing a job and creating a life, a home and a family.


Having worked in Higher Education for most of her career, a life-altering experience brought pen back to paper after she’d written stories as a child but never had the confidence to show them to the world. Having embarked on this writing malarkey, C F White cannot stop. So strap in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…

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Release Blitz & Review Tour for Garrett Leigh’s Circle (Roads #3) (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 50,000 words approx
 
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
 
Roads Series
 
Slide (Book #1) Amazon US | Amazon UK
Rare (Book #2) Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Blurb
 

I love him…but he’s forgotten why.

A lot can happen in six years, and Ash and Pete have seen their world flipped upside down more times than most. Being parents to Pete’s young nephew wasn’t in their plan, but life happens to them and they roll with the punches. Or at least they did, until new heartache rocks their hard-won happily-ever-after.

Ash loves Pete as much as ever—more, in fact—but Pete battles alone with a burden that weighs heavily on his heart. Ash is no stranger to dark clouds, but the secret Pete keeps from him is a storm that could break them.

Despite the fierce love that once buoyed them, they’re both drowning until a new friend throws them a lifeline. His wisdom offers insight—for better or worse, real love is rarely a smooth journey. For Ash and Pete to come full circle once more, they’ll have to hit the road and chase it.

Excerpt

Okay, so feline-themed clubs were definitely not my bag, but I couldn’t deny that it felt amazing to be out and proud with Ash. I sank into a couple of beers, and the dark cloud that had become my constant companion lifted a touch, chased away by neon lights, glitter, and the swathes of naked man skin all around us.

Not that I took much notice of any man but Ash. He was never going to take his shirt off in public, but he didn’t need to. The fucker turned heads wherever he went, and the fact that he had no idea made me love him even more.

Made me want him even more.

We didn’t dance. Ever. But clubs had always made us horny in the past, and this one was no exception. The music ramped up and the heat seeped into us. The crowds thickened, pushing us ever closer. I pressed myself tight against Ash, so absorbed in him that I forgot to glare at anyone who dared look his way, and backed him into a nearby wall. “I like this club.”

“Yeah?” Ash hadn’t touched any booze, but his face was as flushed as mine felt, his eyes as hooded, and his skin jumped when I slid my hands beneath his T-shirt and over his chest. He licked his lips. “Do you think we’re gonna be here long?”

I doubted it, and it wouldn’t be the first time we’d cut loose early to run home and bang. But we weren’t at home now, and as I kissed Ash, it occurred to me that we’d never fucked anywhere that wasn’t our home. If tonight went the way most of our club adventures had before, where would it end? Would Ash fuck me in a hotel? I honestly had no idea. And whose fault is that? If I’d come with him when he’d first started traveling two years ago, I’d know, and perhaps would have even persuaded him that we could fuck anywhere we damn well pleased.

We kissed for hours in the club. The fact that Ash made no move to hustle me out clued me in to how he felt about banging in our hotel room, but I didn’t let that stop me enjoying him. Because, fuck, I’d missed him, even though he’d been right there from the moment I’d met him. Ash was my home, my family, my everything. We didn’t need to screw for me to know that.

Author Bio

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett’s debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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Elin Gregory on Heroes and Helpers and her release ‘The Bones of Our Fathers’ (guest blog and giveaway)

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Elin Gregory here talking about writing, characters and her latest story,The Bones of Our Fathers, one of our highly recommended novels.  Welcome, Elin.

✒︎

Heroes and Helpers by Elin Gregory

We all love a hero, don’t we? I know I enjoy writing mine, but I have to admit that most of my heroes would flounder and fall without the support of their secondary characters. Because I’ve often written stories where the heroes are in small enclosed communities – a workshop, on a ship – most of them have been ‘stag dos’ where all the available characters are men, but when writing stories set in a modern town with a normal spread of population it would seem a bit odd for the heroes to only bother with the other men in the area. In the Bones of Our Fathers I have very much enjoyed adding a mixed bunch of men and women who can help the heroes along, or hinder them if that’s what they are like.

Small towns thrive on gossip and so Mal, used to the anonymity of city living, is constantly startled by how much people know about him. I don’t find that unusual at all. I was brought up in a village even smaller than the fictional Pemberland and knew very well that if I stepped out of line my parents would have been told about it before I could get home to tell my side of the story. That sounds terribly oppressive but it had its advantages too. Any child who needed help could count on getting it. Any elderly person who was ill and didn’t open their curtains in the morning would get a visit from a neighbour as soon as it was noticed. In rural areas there’s a very blurred line between nosiness and neighbourly concern.

So Mal has a support network whether he likes it or not. There are the men, young and old, of the Friday Night irregulars – an unofficial gay club – and his employees, mumsy Sharon and outspoken pool-shark Betty. There’s Lil, his landlady and Veronica “Call me Ronnie, dahling”, a venerable groupie rumoured to have boinked all of the Stones – or was it The Who? She doesn’t know, if you can remember the Sixties you weren’t there! Newspaper reporters, ambulance men, building site labourers, all have an opinion on Mal’s doings and don’t hesitate to share it, but if there’s trouble they’ll join forces. Cities may be exciting places to live but I think I prefer the smaller more friendly environs of a little town.

Which do you prefer – city lights or rural quiet?

Buy Links: Manifold Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 80,000 words approx
 
Publisher: Manifold Press
 
Cover Design: Michelle Peart
 
Blurb
 

Malcolm Bright, brand new museum curator in a small Welsh Border town, is a little lonely until – acting as emergency archaeological consultant on a new housing development – he crosses the path of Rob Escley, aka Dirty Rob, who makes Mal’s earth move in more ways than one.


Then Rob discovers something wonderful, and together they must combat greedy developers and a treasure hunter determined to get his hands on the find. Are desperate measures justified to save the bones of our fathers? Will Dirty Rob live up to his reputation? Do museum curators really do it meticulously?


Answers must be found for the sake of Mal’s future, his happiness and his heart.


 

 

Author Bio

Elin Gregory lives in South Wales and works in a museum in a castle built on the edge of a Roman Fort! She reckons that’s a pretty cool job.


Elin usually writes on historical subjects, and enjoys weaving the weird and wonderful facts she comes across in her research into her plots. She likes her heroes hard as nails but capable of tenderness when circumstances allow. Often they are in danger, frequently they have to make hard choices, but happy endings are always assured.


Current works in progress include one set during the Great War, another in WW2, one set in the Dark Ages and a series of contemporary romances set in a small town on the Welsh border.

Author Contacts:

www.elingregory.com
www.facebook.com/elin.gregory
@ElinGregory
www.elingregory.wordpress.com

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