Cover Reveal for Lying Eyes by Robert Winter (excerpt)

Title: Lying Eyes

Author: Robert Winter

Publisher: Robert Winter Books (self-published)

Release Date: July 7, 2017

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 84300

Genre: Romance, Mystery, BDSM

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Synopsis

This bartender’s art lies in more than mixing drinks …

Randy Vaughan is a six-foot-three mass of mysteries to his customers and his friends. Why does a former Secret Service agent now own Mata Hari, a successful piano bar? Where did a muscle daddy get his passion for collecting fine art? If he’s as much a loner as his friends believe, why does he crave weekly sessions at an exclusive leather club?

Randy’s carefully private life unravels when Jack Fraser, a handsome art historian from England, walks into his bar, anxious to get his hands on a painting Randy owns. The desperation Randy glimpses in whiskey-colored eyes draws him in, as does the desire to submit that he senses beneath Jack’s elegant, driven exterior.

While wrestling with his attraction to Jack, Randy has to deal with a homeless teenager, a break-in at Mata Hari, and Jack’s relentless pursuit of the painting called Sunrise. It becomes clear someone’s lying to Randy. Unless he can figure out who and why, he may miss his chance at the love he’s dreamed about in the hidden places of his heart.

Note: Lying Eyes is a standalone gay romance novel with consensual bondage and a strong happy ending. It contains potential spoilers for Robert Winter’s prior novel, Every Breath You Take.

Excerpt

Saturday rolled around, and Randy headed to town early to make sure everything was ready for Mata Hari’s busiest evening of the week. Although the bar officially opened at five-thirty, it was rare for anyone to wander in much before seven o’clock. Randy was surprised when the front door opened at six to admit a good-looking man.

The stranger was probably about five foot nine or ten, and wore a three-piece suit that seemed tailored to accentuate a lean build. His dark hair was cut stylishly short on the sides but thick and swept back on the top, and his mustache and full beard were closely trimmed. A brightly colored necktie contrasted with the somber gray of his suit. Randy had trouble assessing the man’s age, but he would go with thirty. European, though—Randy would stake the bar on that guess.

The newcomer contemplated the walls of Mata Hari, passing almost dismissively over the art on display. He studied each piece for no more than a second before moving to the next, but Randy had a distinct impression the man sought something in particular. As he completed his survey, he kept turning and eventually met Randy’s eyes across the bar.

Immediately desire flared in the man’s face as his hungry gaze drifted over Randy’s tight white shirt and up to his face, lingering on his mouth. Shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly as he drew himself to his full height, yet Randy recognized a softening of hard edges. He lazily ran his own eyes to the stranger’s luxurious beard, and he imagined stroking the softness there. He sensed something accommodating. Something potentially submissive, yet more subtle than the wanton displays of obedience and posing he was used to on Mondays at his private club.

Something he would enjoy channeling and rewarding, in the right circumstance.

The man started toward the bar. As he moved, Randy had the odd sense that the suit he wore was ill-fitting, even though it seemed perfectly tailored. A step away from the bar, his face just—closed. That was the only word for it. One instant he was cruising Randy; the next he was stone.

Randy sighed to himself. The guy was probably a closet case on his first night at a gay bar. That usually meant an unsatisfying encounter, even if the newbie didn’t rabbit. In any case, it wasn’t Randy’s thing. He’d had plenty of virgin ass over the years, and preferred his men experienced.

Fine. Nothing for me here. He waited at the bar, vaguely disappointed.

“Sir, good evening.” The man’s accent was English, his words precise and elegant like his hair and his clothes and his beard. Probably from London. Up close, Randy could see his eyes were a deep shade of brown graced with streaks of gold around the pupils that caught the lights over the bar. “I’m looking for a Mr. Randall Vaughan.”

Despite forswearing his immediate attraction to the stranger, that honeyed voice caused Randy to smile slowly and show his teeth. He registered the slight widening of the eyes behind the stranger’s mask as he focused on Randy’s mouth.

“I’m Randy Vaughan. And you are…?”

The man blinked in surprise. “Oh. The Mr. Vaughan I was seeking is an art collector.”

Shit. Just another jerkwad, making assumptions right away. Randy was a big man so he couldn’t possibly be knowledgeable about art, could he? Well, fuck that noise. One more chance.

“I wouldn’t use the term collector, but…” Randy gestured at the walls.

“Quite so,” the man said distantly, and turned to sweep his gaze over the works on the nearest wall. “Neither would I.”

Randy’s back stiffened immediately. The stranger—no, the asshole—turned his attention back to Randy and held out a hand. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he’d just royally pissed Randy off. “My name is Jack Fraser. I’m from the Kensington Museum in London.” Fraser paused as if waiting for Randy to be impressed. “I sent you a letter recently.”

Randy willed himself not to think further about Fraser’s whiskey-colored eyes or the luxuriousness of his beard, and he didn’t take the offered hand. Instead, he wiped a small spill on the counter before him. “You did,” he agreed in a bored tone.

Fraser dropped his hand. “Ah, yes.” A pause. “My secretary didn’t hear from you to set up an appointment.”

“Which was my answer to your request,” Randy said, letting some snarl appear as he met Fraser’s eyes. They were still guarded and closed off, but Randy could see embers burning deep inside. In the right setting, and with proper motivation, he could imagine making those embers flare and ignite in the slender man before him. For the moment, though, the eyes just narrowed in calculation.

Before Fraser could say anything, Randy turned away. “If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“May I buy a pint?” Fraser asked, desperation shading his smooth accent.

Randy considered calling Malcolm over to deal with it, but stopped in front of the beer taps. He was annoyed at his lingering attraction, and he decided to push back on this prick a bit. “Fine. What’s your pleasure?”

“Guinness. If you have it.”

“Of course you’d drink Guinness.” A little scorn curled Randy’s lip. “Well, the closest beer I have is a stout from Flying Dog.” He let his sneer turn feral. “It’s called Pearl Necklace.” He dropped his eyes to Fraser’s necktie, as if he could picture that very thing replacing the colorful silk.

Fraser blinked nervously. Probably he could picture it too. Maybe he even imagined Randy’s hot jizz splattering his chest and neck as his reward. Well, he shouldn’t have been a condescending shit out of the gate then. Randy waited, one hand on the tap, the other idly scratching his ear to make his bicep flex under his white shirt. Fraser focused on his arm and swallowed audibly.

“That’ll be fine,” he said. “A, uh, Flying Dog then.” Randy drew the pint to set before Fraser on a coaster. He didn’t wait for the man to take a sip or comment, but headed to the other end of the bar to check inventory.

He stayed busy but somehow noticed that Fraser lingered at the bar for several minutes, apparently hoping Randy would come back and let him ask again about the piece Randy had purchased from the Gates Gallery. When Randy deliberately kept his distance, Fraser took his beer (which, Randy was pleased to note, was more than half gone) and wandered around the room to examine more carefully each painting displayed. Sometimes he moved on quickly to the next piece of art. Other times, he gave a slight shake of his head.

Randy’s ears burned, and he considered throwing the guy out. Since he’d opened Mata Hari no one had given him grief about his collection. To be honest, no one had studied it the way Fraser did, but still. Each piece had been acquired because Randy connected to something in it. To have this handsome English stuffed shirt look down his nose offended Randy in a way he couldn’t even articulate. He seethed inside the longer Fraser spent on his dismissive tour of the room.

When Fraser reached a landscape that was hung over a small settee, he gave a distinct snort. He set his empty beer glass on a nearby table and Randy swooped over to pick it up, ostentatiously swiping the wood as if it had left a ring. “Another Pearl Necklace?” he snarled.

“Ah, no. Thank you.” Fraser seemed surprised to find Randy standing so close, though his eyes remained closed off and stony. “But it was a quite nice stout after all. Thank you for the recommendation.”

Randy gestured at the landscape with his chin. “Is that painting offensive to you for some reason? You’re practically laughing at it.”

“What? Oh no, it’s…fine. Competent. It’s the presentation, the arrangement of the art, that I find amusing.”

Randy ran his gaze over the pieces arranged on that wall of the bar. He’d decided where to hang each and every work over a long stretch of time as he’d readied Mata Hari for opening. He revisited the collection frequently and rotated different pieces in and out of prominent positions. Most of his customers were oblivious but Randy took great satisfaction in presenting something unique in the atmosphere of his bar.

“What’s amusing about it?”

“Well, there’s no story, is there?” Fraser answered him.

“What do you mean?”

“Individually each piece is presentable. A few are even intriguing. But see here,” he gestured at the landscape, “this is a nicely executed pastoral, yet it’s positioned between a Japanese scroll and a watercolor of a monarch butterfly. The pieces say nothing about each other, and have no intrinsic relationship.

“But over there,” he indicated the wall opposite, “is a modern landscape. Change the frames to something complementary, place them side by side, and the two landscapes together suggest a conversation in, oh, quite a lot actually. Painting techniques, the subject and tonal changes in works separated by two artistic traditions. You see?”

Randy did see, but he’d be damned if he’d admit it. “Two landscapes here wouldn’t fit,” he said stubbornly.

“Ah. Art as furniture. Of course,” Fraser said with a smirk, and that did it.

“No charge for the Pearl Necklace,” Randy barked. “Since you made the trip for nothing.”

Meet the Author

Robert Winter lives and writes in Provincetown. He is a recovering lawyer who prefers writing about hot men in love much more than drafting a legal brief. He left behind the (allegedly) glamorous world of an international law firm to sit in his home office and dream up ways to torment his characters until they realize they are perfect for each other.

When he isn’t writing, Robert likes to cook Indian food and explore new restaurants. He splits his attention between Andy, his partner of sixteen years, and Ling the Adventure Cat, who likes to fly in airplanes and explore the backyard jungle as long as the temperature and humidity are just right.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | e Mail

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A Lila Release Day Review: Something’s Brewing at Joe’s by SJD Peterson

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

The promise of a dream job lures Murphy to Tampa, but he arrives to the rude awakening that the offer is on hold. Now he’s got two choices: slink back to Michigan with his tail between his legs or stay and look for work. Things perk up when he goes into a coffee shop and learns the owner is looking for someone to renovate the apartment above it. He happily takes the job, only later realizing he’s met Joe Sterling, Kaffeinate’s proprietor, before… when they hooked up at a club Murphy’s first night in Tampa.

Murphy and Joe are both proud, passionate, and outspoken. Neither is looking for a relationship, though they can’t deny they go together as well as coffee and doughnuts, in spite of their tempers. But that’s before Joe learns Murphy will be working for the corporation he believes is harming local businesses and the environment—and if Murphy will be supporting it, Joe will want nothing to do with him, dooming any possibility of an unexpected happy ending.

Something’s Brewing at Joe’s is a sweet, steamy romance with a side of trouble. From their first meeting, Joe’s and Murphy’s chemistry goes off the chart. They’re both looking for a quick hook-up that in turn morphs into more than they’re ready for. They might not have had any plans for a relationship, but their easy and steady connection kept them coming for more.

There’s a smaller conflict with Murphy’s job in addition to their romance. It is simple, but it interfered with some of Murphy’s decisions, causing him trouble with Joe. At the same time, it brings them together to find a solution that allowed them to get their HEA.

The setting and secondary characters take an important role in the story as well. Everything from Joe’s cottage, the Floridian weather, and the coffee shop create a believable background. Joe’s employees and customers add to the flavor of the book.

The only downfall, in my opinion, was the number of sex scenes. Yes, they go with the story, but they prevented the reader from fully enjoying their connection.

The cover by Reese Dante has an appealing picture of Joe and his gaze is filled with promises. It goes with the books and the artist’s style too.

Sale Links: Dreamspinner| Amazon | Kobo

ebook, 200 pages
Published: June 30, 2017, by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN: 1635333385 (ISBN13: 9781635333381)
Edition Language: English

Kate McMurray on Writing Music You Know and her release ‘What’s the Use of Wondering?’ (author guest blog)

What’s the Use of Wondering? (WMU #2) by Kate McMurray
Dreamspinner Press

Available for Purchase at Dreamspinner Press

Expected publication: July 3rd 2017

🎻

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Kate McMurray here today sharing her thoughts and inspiration behind her latest story,What’s the Use of Wondering? (WMU #2). Welcome, Kate.

🎼

Write Music You Know by Kate McMurray

Logan in What’s the Use of Wondering? is my second violinist character. (The first was Everett in The Silence of the Stars.) I don’t think it’s a secret that I am also a violinist, so I had some first-hand experience I could lend to the characters.

My experience is different from Logan’s, though. I started taking lessons when I was nine. I loved playing but hated the pressure my parents put on me to practice all the time, which I realized as an adult was what held me back from becoming really great at it. When I took lessons again in my twenties, and I was grown up enough to actually want to get better, there was a noticeable improvement in my playing when I practiced regularly, and my teacher could totally tell when I’d slacked off.

I think we generally have this perception of artists that they’re just born with their talent without appreciating how much work it takes to be excellent. So I wrote a character, Logan, who works. He’s the concertmaster (lead violin) of the university orchestra. So he’s extraordinarily talented, but he’s taken lessons since he was five, he practices daily, he attends rehearsals and classes and special one-on-one sessions with his teacher. In fact, all that work is cutting into his social life, and at the beginning of What’s the Use of Wondering? he’s starting to wonder if maybe all that work isn’t worth it, because he’s missing out on what he thinks are normal college experiences. It’s making him question this whole plan he’d had to become a professional musician when he graduates.

I played enough in college that I could pull from my experiences when writing Logan. I auditioned and played with small ensembles and then went to music school again after college. But I like doing research anyway, so I would have tried to lend a certain amount of realism to the situation.

I always try to strike a balance between embedding the characters deep in their setting while also still keeping things accessible. So the book is a peek at what it might be like to be a serious musician in college. But even if you aren’t a musician yourself, you can sympathize with Logan’s growing unease that he’s committing all this time to doing something he’s not even sure he wants to keep doing.

And certainly you can relate to what happens when I guy he doesn’t like—who also happens to be really hot—ends up as his roommate.

Blurb

What’s the Use of Wondering?

WMU: Book Two

Violinist Logan has spent most of his life training for a career in music. But as the pressure mounts during his junior year, he questions whether playing in an orchestra is the future he wants, or one chosen by his parents. His new roommate—that annoying jerk Peter from last year’s production of Guys and Dolls—complicates matters. Crammed into a dorm room with the overconfident but undeniably hot accounting major, Logan can’t stop snarling.

Then Peter sprains his ankle building sets, and Logan grudgingly agrees to play chauffeur. But instead of putting further strain on their relationship, spending time together reveals some common ground—and mutual frustration. Logan discovers he isn’t the only one who doesn’t know what he wants from life, and the animosity between him and Peter changes keys. But just as the possibility of a happier future appears, Logan gets a dream offer that will take him away from Western Massachusetts University—and Peter. Now he has to decide: will he live the solitary life laid out for him, or hold on to Peter and forge his own path?

About the Author

Kate McMurray writes smart romantic fiction. She likes creating stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities. She advocates for romance stories by and for everyone. When she’s not writing, she edits textbooks, watches baseball, plays violin, crafts things out of yarn, and wears a lot of cute dresses. She’s active in Romance Writers of America, serving for two years on the board of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter, and three—including two as president—on the board of the New York City chapter. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with two cats and too many books.

Twitter: @katemcmwriter

Facebook: facebook.com/katemcmurraywriter

Website: http://www.katemcmurray.com

Sean Michael on Characters, Writing and his release “A New Way To Dance by Sean Michael” (guest blog, excerpt and giveaway)

A New Way to Dance by Sean Michael

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Release Date: June 20, 2017
Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 65,000 Words | 262 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Gay Romance, M/M Romance, BDSM
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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Sean Michael here today. Welcome, Sean!

♦︎

Thank you to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for hosting me today!

The first character that came to me to ask for his story told for A New Way to Dance was Seth, the dancer. And I know exactly where he came from. I had seen a number of images of dancers, and several videos of male dancers doing their thing.

These guys are in such good shape – not an ounce of fat anywhere, muscles shown off to best advantage in skin tight leotards. Muscles that are being pushed as far as they can. On top of that, they’re interpreting the music, putting so much emotion into each move. It is a wonderful combination.

Every time I saw a picture or a video, the knowledge that I was going to have a character who was a dancer became deeper. Then suddenly there was Seth with this sad story of his nasty breakup and as soon as I had that, Brook came running to claim Seth as his own.

I hope you enjoy their story!

Sean

smut fixes everything

Excerpt:

“You’re sure I can’t get you anything to eat?”

“I haven’t exercised enough to. You won’t offend me if you eat, though. Honestly.”

“I’m not hungry yet—I had that cheesecake.” Brook tilted his head. “So how many calories a day do you eat?”

“I try to keep it under twelve hundred.” Not that it was any of Brook’s business. He averaged a thousand on days he didn’t exercise.

Brook looked at him like he was crazy. “You must be skin and bones.”

He wasn’t huge, he guessed. He answered with a long, steady look that was meant to tell Brook to back the fuck off.

Brook shook his head like he’d just got it. “Okay. Movie. What are you in the mood for?”

“What’s your favorite?” He felt a little embarrassed, a little silly for being here. It had been obvious that Brook had been interested when they’d met previously, but now… Seth was awkward.

“Oh, I could never just pick one.” Brook laughed. “Maybe if you picked a genre…”

“How about something campy and fun?”

“We could do the grandfather of campy and fun—Rocky Horror?”

“It’s just a jump to the left?”

They sang the next few verses together, Seth surprising himself with his laughter.

Brook pointed to the couch and he moved there while Brook found the movie and put it in the player. Then the man joined him.

He sipped his drink, shifting as he tried to find a comfortable spot.

Brook offered him a couple of pillows and he managed to get them adjusted to where he was mostly comfortable. And sort of leaning against his host.

“Sorry, is this okay?”

“I’m great, are you comfortable?”

He nodded. He was, very.

So comfortable, in fact, that he dozed off before Janet and Brad got to Frankfurter’s house.

Synopsis

Dancer Seth Avery has it all. He’s at the top of his game as a dancer and he’s in love with famous dance director Fayden DelMonaco, the man who is his sub. Seth’s whole world is turned upside down when Fayden dumps him in the nastiest and most public way possible. To compound matters, he’s in near fatal car crash shortly thereafter that leaves him severely injured.

Brook Turner is an ex-lawyer turned micro-brewer, baby-brother of Seth’s best friend Lizzie. The two met briefly before Seth’s accident, but it’s when they meet again six years later that they get a chance to act on the attraction they’d initially felt.

With Brook’s help, Seth begins to heal not only from his residual physical injuries, but also from the emotional ones inflicted by Fayden. Will it be enough to keep the two of them together?

Join Seth and Brooke as they find a new way to dance together.

Excerpt

“Did you see USA Today, man?” Julian plopped down, eyes wide. “Fayden is… Well, he’s not naming names, but…”

Seth looked at one of his oldest friends and arguably the best choreographer he knew and tried not to growl. “I saw.”

He saw. His brother saw. His mom saw. His neighbor. Fayden’s sister. Ernie at the fucking convenience store where he bought his daily diet energy shot saw.

“World-Famous Director Escapes from Abusive Sex-Slave Relationship! Says He Feared for His Life!”

Sex slave.

Christ.

Ten years they’d been together. He’d been nineteen when he’d met Fay. Nineteen and horny and amazed that a man almost twenty years his senior with money and power and the most beautiful eyes on earth would want a dancer in the chorus.

“It’s all lies,” Julian told him. “You should sue him.”

“Just drop it, Jules. It’s no big deal.”

Just a huge, life-changing, world-altering deal.

Julian’s eyebrow went up, the man not saying another word but still speaking volumes.

“What do you want me to say? I… I don’t have anything.” He had an apartment. The cops had let him take his car and computer—after they’d copied the hard drive for evidence.

Evidence.

Christ.

“Honey, I’m on your side here.” Julian hugged him.

“I know. I do. Thank God for that.” Who else would he have called from the jail? His lawyer was Fay’s. His friends were Fay’s. Julian was it. His saving grace.

“Come on out with me tonight. There’s a new bar that we haven’t ever been to—he won’t be there.”

“No. Not yet. I’m not going out right now. I need to recover.” Seth needed his space.

“You need someone to take the bad taste of that asshole out of your mouth,” Julian said.

Seth blinked, then started laughing, deep, full belly laughs that felt so good. God, this sucked so hard. “I caught him with another man. That new dancer. Dylan.”

Dylan was nineteen now. Ah, the irony.

“Shit, he’s old enough to be that boy’s grandfather!”

“Yeah. Well, you know…” Seth was going to lie down and die, simple as that. Okay, he wasn’t, but he was going to pretend to, mentally.

“You think we should warn Dylan what a predator asshole he is?”

“Poor, innocent, victimized Fay?” He shrugged. “You wait. I’ll stop getting jobs soon.” It was inevitable.

Julian shook his head. “That’s not fair.” Seth noticed that his friend didn’t say it wasn’t going to happen.

“Life’s not fair. I have to work out and head home. I have an audition for a music video in the morning.” Hopefully he’d make a good impression. It would be good to put some money in the bank before the jobs started drying up.

Julian hugged Seth tight. “If there’s anything I can do, honey…”

“I love you, honest. Maybe we’ll meet for brunch on Sunday? Somewhere new?” Somewhere the paparazzi and Fayden wouldn’t be.

“You got it. Text me the deets.”

“Absolutely.” He grabbed his coffee and headed out of the little coffee shop outside of the studio he’d rehearsed in most of his adult life.

He was going to lose that too, he’d bet. Everything was going to just disappear because Fay had decided to trade him in for a younger model and was doing it in the nastiest way possible. Seth could feel everyone staring at him, could hear people talking about him.

He couldn’t stand it anymore and it was only going to get worse.

“Hey. Seth. I…” Lizzie Bean came up, took his arm, the leggy dancer as tall as he was. They’d worked together a hundred times at least. “I don’t know what to say except that I love you, man, and people suck.”

He made this weird half-tickled, half-surprised sound. “They totally do. God, they do.”

“Come have supper with us? Mel is grilling chicken.”

Mel was an amazing cook. And it was tempting, being with people who wouldn’t look at him like he was a monster.

“Please. Come on. You look exhausted and I promise to just feed you foods with no real calories and ply you with wine.” She put her hand on his arm. “Please.”

“God, you’re so demanding.” Seth nodded, though, found a smile. “Let’s go.”

She beamed at him and slid her hand into the crook of his elbow when they started to walk. Lizzie and Mel lived not that far from the studio in a converted loft with the most amazing roof garden full of potted trees and flowering plants and several large raised areas where they grew vegetables.

Mel was big into farm-to-table cooking and tried to grow as much of his own produce as he could.

Lizzie told him a story about one of Mel’s nephews—the man had far too many nieces and nephews to keep track of—who had gotten a skateboard for his birthday and become the terror of the neighborhood.

Seth tried to laugh in all the right places. Every so often he’d catch sight of himself in a window, just the barest hint, and he’d sigh. He’d really thought Fay was his Mr. Right. They’d been into the same things, the chemistry had been off the charts, they were uber-compatible in bed…

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Evil Plot Bunny | Amazon

Meet the Author

Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and pursuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Sean’s available for interviews, by the way. He can always be talked into, well talking about himself. Just drop him an email.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Tour Schedule

June 26 – Sue Brown’s Stories | MillsyLovesBooks | Because Two Men Are Better Than One

June 27 – BFD Book Blog | Stories That Make You Smile

June 28 – The Really Naughty Corner | Happily Ever Chapter | Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

June 29 – MM Good Book Reviews | Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words | Boy Meets Boy Reviews | Divine Magazine

June 30 – SiK Reviews | Dawn’s Reading Nook | Two Chicks Obsessed

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A MelanieM Recent Release Review: Hawaiian Ginger (The Hawaiians #4) by Meg Amor

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Zane Andrews, a striking redhead and severely deaf dancer, has a love of pretty aloha dresses and girly feminine things. He comes from a poor, and extremely sheltered, cultish background. When he and Danny connect after the winning tango, things heat up quickly. But what about Zane’s relationship with Kaleho? Guilt eats at him and he wonders what he’s doing.

Danny’s a fourth-generation Hawaiian Big Islander, from the wealthy Lucerno ranching family. He’s a dark-haired, smoldering mix of Portuguese male and Argentine sensuality who was fighting his attraction to Zane. But even he can’t deny where his heart has taken him.

When Zane decides to face Kaleho, Danny disappears to Las Vegas. Zane’s worried he’s gone back to his old, glamorous life he had with Paolo. Has he lost Danny?

Zane’s first time on a plane to Vegas away from Hawai’i overwhelms him. And what if Danny rejects him? Then Zane’s past catches up with him. His abusive birth parents sue Danny and his adopted family, the Masterson-Mahikoas, sending everyone into turmoil.

Can they finally heal from the past abuse of dysfunctional family relationships? Will Danny and Zane be able to accept each other’s backgrounds, insecurities, and express their deep feelings for each other?

As Hawaiian Fragrance (The Hawaiians #3) was Danny Lucerno’s story, Hawaiian Ginger (The Hawaiians #4) is Zane Andrews. Zane, as we’ve come to know him, is one of Rob and Kulani’s lost boys (the Masterson-Mahikoas household now). Zane is deaf, embraces both his male and feminine sides, especially true when it comes to dresses, makeup and jewelry, outward extensions of that part of himself that feels “girly” most of the time while still enjoying the fact that he’s male as well. Getting to know Zane has been an important and rewarding element of this series. Amor has researched the speech patterns of those with the same level of hearing impairment as Zane so his conversations “sound” as natural as one would expect from someone who’s severely deaf. Another realistic narrative touch? That Zane’s thoughts flow as naturally as would someone with full hearing. Only the misplaced words or misunderstandings make it into both inner and outer dialogs. After four stories, Zane’s “voice” is one that lingers in my head and heart, complete with missed words and letters from his lip reading or hearing aids on the flux.

Throughout the series the author has given her readers tidbits and clues about each of the “lost boys” backgrounds and reason for their initial homelessness before Kulani found them and made them into a family. Here Zane’s history comes out (thankfully not explicit) to the extent that we start to comprehend the deep hell of abuse he suffered and survived. I get the feeling that the elements left about his shaking, his sister, and the compound might come out in future stories, something that makes me cringe and want to know more at the same time. Either way, I don’t think we are done with the horror that is the Andrews family yet.

With Zane you get Danny as this story picks up after their competition and beginning of their romance. Told from both perspectives (important when you have a character as impetuous and insecure as Danny), the main focus is on Zane, his path towards self-acceptance and love, and perhaps, the final steps to making the Masterson-Mahikoas a complete family right down to an enchanting cat Mr. Beaumont. It’s quite the journey, taking all of the family (Rob, Kulani, Zane, Danny and the Twins as well as Beau and Matty) off to New Zealand to see the grandparents and meet new cousins The Twos. I have to admit the family trip to NZ is one of my favorite elements here. From the magical landscape, the two sets of grandparents (I won’t get into them here, but yes, as grounded and heartwarming as you would want), an unforgettable Christmas beach vacation and two young men, The Twos, who surely we will see again when the twins get their own story. It’s here that Zane finally gains acceptance and an insight into cultures who embrace a third gender in their people. Amor brings in cultures, family, mysticism and more for one more shining example why this series and this story has such depth and becomes what I consider a “must read” for everyone.

Finally, it’s both Zane and Danny’s story as they work through their issues of acceptance of each other while dealing with their own continuing emotional “ground tremors and earthquakes” left behind by their upbringings and childhoods. Luckily they have their dads and plenty of support to help them through this rough passage. Amor also delivers moving, emotional scenes guaranteed to leave you in tears time and again throughout Hawaiian Ginger. How I adored this book! The only reason I didn’t give this story a complete 5 star rating was that I thought the surplus of sex scenes at the beginning of the story kept the reader from diving into the plot and new relationship between Danny and Zane. However, maybe that was the idea. They were using the newness of their sexual relationship to keep them from talking to each other about the things they knew needed to be discussed. And the author wanted us to see that as well as deliver some very hot sex! But I found I wanted to jump right into the heavier layers and save some of this for later. But that was just me.

The final pages of this book left me cheering! You will be too. I highly recommend Hawaiian Ginger and all the stories in The Hawaiian series by Meg Amor but they aren’t standalones and should be read in the order they have been published for the reader to get the full background, relationships and watch the character growth that occurs. More stories are coming and I can’t wait to grab them up!

For those readers like me who can’t get enough of this family and series, don’t forget to check out Meg Amor’s Hawaiian Ginger page with the referenced flowers, locations, models etc. It’s not to be missed either.

Cover art by Syneca Featherstone has some of the elements I love although that’s not really Zane I see in my head.

Sales Links: Loose id LLC | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 311 pages
Published June 6th 2017 by Loose Id LLC
ASINB072Q5J4CC
Series The Hawaiians

In the Spotlight: Jeff Erno on Slim Chance (author interview and excerpt)

Slim Chance by Jeff Erno
Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by L.C. Chase

Available for Purchase at

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Jeff Erno here today. Welcome, Jeff!

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Thank you for hosting me on Scattered Thoughts. I’m thrilled to be promoting the release of my brand new novel, Slim Chance, which is a gay romance featuring a couple of unconventional main characters. Oliver is a twentysomething computer programmer who’s been battling obesity his entire life. His love interest, Benjy, is his coworker, and Benjy carries his own baggage. He suffers from severe social anxiety. With Benjy’s help, Oliver sets out to lose weight and become a new man. In the process, he and Benjy fall in love, but Oliver ultimately must decide if Benjy still fits within Oliver’s new lifestyle as a much trimmer man.

How much of yourself goes into a character?

I’ve recently determined that it’s more than I intended or realized at the time I was writing. I’ve never set out to write autobiographies, but I can see at least fragments of myself within many of my protagonists. Certainly in my earliest works—Trust Me, Dumb Jock, and Puppy Love—I didn’t even attempt to conceal the ways in which I related to the main character. Much of the backstory, setting, and personality for each of these characters were drawn from my own experience. As I continued writing, expanding my subject matter, I featured a lot of characters who were very different than me. Then most recently I’ve written a few books featuring older protagonists (Baggage, The Escort, Speedy Rewards) and these stories have characters who are in many ways similar to the middle-aged version of myself.

Does research play a role into choosing which genre you write? Do you enjoy research or prefer making up your worlds and cultures?

I envy authors who have the types of minds that absorb details. I think you have to be like this in order to write a believable, realistic historical novel. I think a lot of it has to do with personal interest. If you’ve watched a lot movies from a certain setting or era, or if you’ve read a lot of books, fiction or non, about a time period, and you have one of those minds that stores all the details for easy recall, then your work is going to appear more polished. In my case, I usually stick to contemporary stories. I don’t have great recall like that. Most of the research I do is about specific things in contemporary society, and most of the information I find online with Google searches. Sometimes I consult with an expert within an industry or a profession.

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing?

As a teenager I read books like SE Hinton’s The Outsiders and a lot of Stephen King novels. By the time I was a young adult I was reading sci-fi and bestselling romance authors such as Danielle Steele and Jackie Collins. Once in a while I’d lay my hands on a gay-themed story but they usually were not romances. Bookstores carried gay books in the “Gay/Lesbian Studies” section, and most were biographies or non-fiction. Then I finally discovered gay fiction, and this was back in the day when Armistead Maupin, Paul Monette, and Andrew Holleran were just becoming famous. Though they wrote fiction, they definitely didn’t pretend their books were romances. A little later, I joined a book club where I was able to select “gay literature” as my preferred genre and became aware of a brand new set of authors, some of whom actually did write romantic and/or erotic gay stories. My favorite was Chris Kenry. He was the very first author who wrote gay romance that even come close to resembling the kinds we see today in m/m. I think he was published by Kensington, and they were one of the few larger publishers who took a chance on gay-themed fictional stories. Christopher Rice was another author who was writing romantic themed gay stories before m/m emerged. And I could provide a long list of examples thereafter of authors that paved the way for us to transition making gay literature more mainstream. M/M romance actually emerged online out of fanfiction and slash fiction. And some of the early m/m romance publishers (like Dreamspinner—read their history on their website) began with an idea to publish romance books that exclusively featured gay characters.

Do you like HFN or HEA? And why?

Not all my stories are “romances” per se, but they all have happy endings. I’ve never been able to write a story without an HEA.

Do you read romances, as a teenager and as an adult?

I read a lot of heterosexual romances and any gay romances I could lay my hands on, but at the time, there weren’t many available.

Do you have a favorite among your own stories? And why?

Interestingly, my “favorite” changes. It’s sort of like asking me to choose a favorite period of my life. Dumb Jock and Trust Me remind me of my teenage years. Puppy Love takes me to a place when I was deeply in love with a very controlling man—it’s very bittersweet. Baggage contains every ounce of regret I’ve ever felt in my life and feels like a baring of my soul. Speedy Rewards reminds me of a group of coworkers I loved with all my heart. The story I probably would choose as the one I want to be most remembered is Final Destiny. It’s not the most read or highest rated, and it’s not a romance, but I think it’s my best work.

What’s next for you as an author?

I just completed an m/m romance featuring a pediatric nurse and a police detective who fall in love while working together to solve a murder case. I’ve started a YA novel featuring a teenager with telekinetic powers who uses a magical remote control gifted to him by his witchly aunt to attract a boyfriend. I also just finished a Christmas story and have a dystopian, a BDSM erotic story, and another romance in the works.