Category: LGBTQ Book Reviews

Happy Australia Day! Celebrate with Christian Baines’ ‘Puppet Boy’ and his take on Australian Antiheroes (guest post and giveaway)

PuppetBoy

Puppet Boy by Christian Baines
Published by Bold Strokes Books
Goodreads Link

Sales Links: Amazon US

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Christian Baines back again to talk about his new release, Puppet Boy and writing Australian antihero characters.  Welcome, Christian, and happy Australia Day!

Australian Antiheroes by Christian Baines

Scheming bastards need love too. 

Thanks so much for having me back on the blog, Melanie. Always a great pleasure to be here and touch base with your readers! Before I start though, Puppet Boy’s main character, Eric, has a special Australia Day message he’d like to share with you all:

Happy Australia Day!

There. I said it. Now don’t tell me I never join in with things. Even a day that celebrates a nation so insecure it clings desperately to its forebears. A day that tries to ignore that this is a nation built on theft, colonisation, and slaughter. Oh, I know you foreigners think it’s cute. That Australia is awesome and sunny all the time, and that Aussies are all ridiculously sexy, and super nice. That we’re always surfing or drinking, when we’re not busy popping out baby Hugh Jackmans and Chris Hemsworths. That we treat all races equally and all love LGBT people and that every day in Sydney is Mardi Gras. That ours is a land of beauty, freedom, and equal opportunity at all.

I mean, sure. If that’s what the picture tells you to believe, then keep right on thinking it. Go on. Admire us. We did get our shit sorted on the whole gun thing, after all.

So let’s all say it again. Happy Australia Day! Enjoy your beach. Enjoy your barbecue. Enjoy that ‘authentic Aussie’ $8 meat pie ($12 if it’s kangaroo) you’re scarfing down at the Williamsburg organic market while trying to shield yourself from freezing New York winds. Try not to think of the blood of Indigenous nations as you smother it in tomato sau—pardon me. Ketchup. And enjoy your holiday.

Eric     

PS: That delicious Aussie flat white you’re drinking was invented in New Zealand.

Cheery, isn’t he?

Writing misanthropic characters isn’t easy. It isn’t that popular anymore either, particularly in gay fiction. The inherent optimism required in the romance genre makes it almost impossible, and in gay and MM fiction, romance is particularly dominant right now, sometimes to the point of giving readers false expectations when they pick up a non-romance book. There’s a pressure to be ‘gay positive.’ To show a world for LGBTs where everything ‘gets better’ despite the odds, depicting characters who deserve their HEA. Don’t be ambiguous. Don’t be bittersweet. Things that many people accept as a normal part of real life, yet won’t accept within the fantasy of a novel.

That’s a troubling idea for me. When we start to talk about characters in terms of what they deserve, we are inherently passing judgement on them, and this invariably limits the character.

When The Beast Without came out, a lot of readers remarked on the main character, Reylan’s cattiness, his apparent selfishness and arrogance, and other anti-social traits. Not to mention his rather dubious Blood Shade/vampire morality. For readers and critics who ‘got’ the book, this wasn’t a turn-off. It was simply there, part of what defined the character and gave him personality. Yet, Reylan also has a fiercely paternal streak, including a soft spot for lost kids/young supernaturals in trouble. Many of his friends, his servant, Brett, and his lover, are either former protégés, or lost souls he’s rescued. Reylan may pack an acid tongue, but ultimately, though he won’t admit it, he has a strong moral compass where the greater good is concerned. In the follow-up, The Orchard of Flesh, coming later this year, we get to see even more of that.

Then, there’s Eric.

I’m not going to tell anyone what to think of Eric. He’s a young man with a goal, an outspoken mind, and a social conscience, but also a decidedly skewed moral centre. He loves his girlfriend Mary, and has an obvious thing for young Middle Eastern men, to the point of keeping one tied up in his absent mother’s home theatre room. He’s caustic and cynical, but won’t spit venom at everyone he meets, and he seems to have no trouble making friends. There’s also the whole high-class rent boy thing – or maybe, as one character points out, he’s just worked out that sucking the right cock gets him taken to the opera.

A character like that doesn’t tend to fit the traditional romance archetypes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write one, or that he can’t be likeable, or that he doesn’t feel the need for love. Eric is in some ways Daria from the namesake MTV cartoon, by way of Frank Underwood from House of Cards. He calls out his world’s wrongs as he sees them, but he’s also not afraid to manipulate the hell out of those around him to get his way. Yet when you look closely at Daria and Frank, you see their vulnerabilities, and their need for human connection, even when it’s shrouded by misanthropy or arguably sociopathic behaviour.

Characters like this work when you can find the human in the monster, whether that monster is a Blood Shade/vampire, or just a young man with a goal and an enduring distrust of humanity. My favourite parts of Puppet Boy aren’t about the prisoner in Eric’s basement, or his escorting exploits, or his jerk of a music teacher. They’re the scenes where he connects with Julien, the transfer student who catches his eye. Where they talk about their inspirations and dreams for the future. Where Julien falls asleep on Eric’s chest. The scenes where we catch a glimpse of Eric’s vulnerability. Those are the scenes where I kind of fall in love with Eric and want to see him come out on top, even when his attitude annoys me. Even when his morals seem way off base.

Even when he’s making fun of my meat pie and flat white.

Happy (for what it’s worth) Australia Day!

About Puppet Boy

A school in turmoil over its senior play, a sly career as a teenage gigolo, an unpredictable girlfriend with damage of her own, and a dangerous housebreaker tied up downstairs. Any of these would make a great plot for budding filmmaker Eric’s first movie.PuppetBoy

Unfortunately, they’re his real life.

When Julien, a handsome wannabe actor, transfers to Eric’s class, he’s a distraction, a rival, and one complication too many. Yet Eric can’t stop thinking about him. Helped by Eric’s girlfriend, Mary, they embark on a project that dangerously crosses the line between filmmaking and reality. As the boys become close, Eric soon wants to cross other lines entirely. Does Julien feel the same way, or is Eric being used on the gleefully twisted path to fame?

Genre:  gay fiction, contemporary, romance, LGBTQIA fiction

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, Paperback available, 314 pages
Published November 16th 2015 by Bold Strokes Books
ASINB01784KP2I
Edition LanguageEnglish,settingSydney (Australia)

Christian Baines’ new novel, Puppet Boy is now available from Bold Strokes Books or on Amazon.

He will be signing copies at The Bookshop Darlinghurst in Sydney on January 30 at 11.30am, and reading at Hares and Hyenas in Melbourne on February 1 at 7.30pm.

About the Author

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Christian Baines

Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Christian Baines has since lived in Brisbane, Sydney, and Toronto, earning an MA in creative writing at University of Technology, Sydney along the way. His musings on travel, theatre, and gay life have appeared in numerous publications in both Australia and Canada.

Dual passions for travel and mythology have sent him across the world in search of dark and entertaining stories. His first novel, The Beast Without, was released in 2013, followed by an erotic short story, The Prince and the Practitioner.

His second novel, Puppet Boy was released in late 2015.

Find Christian on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

  Giveaway

Enter to win a ebook copy of Puppet Boy by Christian Baines.  Must be 18 years of age or older.  Use the Rafflecopter link provided to enter.

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A Barb, the Zany Old Lady Review: Horsefeathers by Caitlin Ricci

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

HorsefeathersWhen Justin arrives at the mustang roundup run by the Bureau of Land Management, he’s dismayed to see that none of the mares or geldings meet the requirements his boss had given him for his next purchase. But he’s fascinated by a dark gray stallion, one with unusual forest-green eyes. The first time Brother Mustang sees Justin, he’s rightfully fearful and wants to charge the man, but Nohatu, the human who lives side-by-side in Brother Mustang’s mind is able to keep the stallion calm. Unfortunately for them, Justin makes the purchase, and Nohatu and Brother Mustang find themselves taken far away from the land they’ve known.

Caitlin Ricci took an interesting twist on shifters with this story. Each half lives within the current form, but they are not one and do not always agree. In addition, the human prefers being in the shifted form, even though he’s often in a subjugated position. We learn rather quickly that Nohatu prefers sex with men because as soon as he’s found in the stallion’s pen, he’s shipped off to the bus station, and on the way, he manages to seduce Justin into stopping for a quick blowjob. It turns out that sex is the means by which they pass on the spark to shift when they meet someone who appears to be of “their kind.” And they believe Justin is. The way the background is filled in is via storytelling by Nohatu of the tale of his own turning. It’s a clever way to impart a lot of information in a brief way.

Overall, the story was very short, but it was packed with a lot of information. On the negative side, there was no time for a romantic buildup, and in fact, it felt like there wasn’t even a romantic element promised for the future. The story ends with a HFN and actually felt as if might have been an introduction to some future series or novel.

There also wasn’t enough time to fully develop any of the characters, and although I felt a little sympathetic to Justin, I lost that when he made his decision at the end. And because Nohatu and Brother Mustang were at odds with each other throughout most of the story, and neither had a likeable personality, I couldn’t manage any empathy toward their joint or individual well-being.

Since it is so short and does display a clever and interesting treatment of shifters, I’d recommend the story to those who enjoy paranormal shifter stories with a different twist.

~~~~~

Cover art by Natasha Snow features a leafy background on which is the head of a white horse, looking down, with some of his mane flopped forward. If I look closely, I can see a hawk-like bird instead of the horse—one ear a beak, one a body, and the horse’s mane the full wingspan of a hawk in flight. It may be an optical illusion, but due to the content of the story, I suspect the artist did this purposely, and if so, she did a remarkable job.

Sales Links:   Less Than Three Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published January 13th 2016 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781620046920
Edition LanguageEnglish
URL settingColorado (United States)

A MelanieM Review: The Music of the Spheres by Chase Potter

Rating: 5 stars out of 5    ★★★★★

Cover - The Music of the SpheresAn athlete and introvert from a family touched by loss, Ryan Mattson splits his life between reading and spending time with his dad and precocious younger sister. With the wounds of Ryan’s past almost healed, high school is simple, and so is everything else.

But that changes when he’s paired with Adam for a class project. Adam, the guy with birthmarks like flecks of mud and compost-brown eyes that hide behind dorky glasses. Grudgingly, the two young men work together, and as they do, an unlikely friendship is formed.

With the passing college years, their bond deepens and grows. Even Ryan’s sister and dad take a liking to Adam, and the family – always missing a voice – seems to gain another. But just as Ryan is forced to confront what Adam really means to him, his family is dragged toward crisis. And beneath the silent snows and starlit sky of a Minnesota winter, their friendship will be tested more than ever before.

I discovered Chase Potter through his wonderful debut novel, The Race for Second.  Two more stories followed, each even better than its predecessor, but now he’s written The Music of the Spheres, a novel so moving and heartwarming that I found it impossible to put down.

Its a tale of two young men, told from the perspective of Ryan Mattson, whose world was shattered when his mother died.  Rebuilding after that trauma made his small family stronger and more bonded but a little insular. So when a school assignment brings him into contact with Adam Haskamp, Ryan’s reactions aren’t exactly social. Then again neither are Adam’s.  Its not a particularly good first beginning but slowly, like a tentative dance, the two young men start to discover things about each other that they connect with.  How I loved this way to bring them together.  Potter made it feel so natural, you could feel it when the friendship kicks end and the vulnerabilities start to reveal themselves through the conversations and the descriptions of the body language and clothes.

Those characters are going to dig themselves so deep into your heart, starting with Ryan who doesn’t see himself as the special, caring person he is.  Ryan can be a little, no a lot, naive about things. Like those who just don’t pick up on clues while everyone else around them has not only gathered all the clues but solved the mystery and moved on to something else. I know people like that so I could see Ryan so clearly.  Adam too is painted so beautifully in words and descriptions that I could never get enough of him, every scene just cried out for more of his presence as his personality is so strong and yet so painfully vulnerable.  And together?  They have a friendship and romance everyone will want to see work and become something wonderful.

There’s Ryan’s father and brilliant sister and their own interactions with Ryan and Adam, at the start and as the relationship progresses.  Trust me, there is so much to love here.  You will find yourself quickly connected to these characters and their lives, your emotions riding along with theirs.  Yes, have that box of tissues handy, you will need it at times.

I’m not going into too much detail here, so much of this story should be savored, from the small revelations to the large painful realities everyone must go through.  It all feels so authentic that at times I thought my Kindle would bleed with the  pain and angst.  There are sections that some might feel a little slow but there are times in Ryan’s life when its introspection not action that he needs, so the pace feels right to me.

There is one nagging element, the tale of the disappearing blind dog.  He’s there and then, he’s gone.  I did talk to the author about this and was satisfied.  Unfortunately, I can’t say more at this time.  Hopefully that will change in the future and I will be able to update this review.  But it wasn’t enough to take away from the rating.

Need a story to lose yourself in?  Love a friends to lovers romance?  I haven’t even mentioned the magical inspiration behind the title, that might bring you to tears. It did me as did the story behind the cover.  The Music of the Spheres by Chase Potter has it all, deep friendship, family, self knowledge and enduring love.  Please don’t pass this one up,  I highly  recommend it to all.

 

Cover Artist: Chase Potter.  That is Chase and his husband, then fiance’, in that photograph on their engagement trip.  It makes that cover and its part in this book even more magical.

Sales Link:  Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 239 pages
Published January 21st 2016 by Chase Potter Books
ASINB01AXJ6YO8
Edition LanguageEnglish

Need A New Romance to Love? Check out Chase Potter’s The Music of the Spheres (guest post and giveaway)

Cover - The Music of the Spheres

The Music of the Spheres by Chase Potter
Publisher and Cover Artist: Chase Potter
Release Date January 21, 2016

Amazon

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is so happy to have Chase Potter here to day to talk about his latest novel, The Music of the Spheres.  Welcome, Chase, please tell us a little about the inspiration behind the story and that gorgeous cover.

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The Music of the Spheres by Chase Potter

Never before have I written a book quite like The Music of Spheres. Even the writing process itself was unique for me. At the beginning of November, I had just released my third book, and I wasn’t remotely interested in starting another project.

Then the inspiration came. A post about two guys graduating college who had shared a close friendship for years. A friendship defined by an innocent physical intimacy and a captivating sense of shared affection. A friendship that ran deep, touching each of their lives in a hundred different ways and eventually bringing the original poster to ask, “Are we… boyfriends?”

I was hooked. I built an outline over the next two days, and then I began to write. With my husband out of state, I had nothing but time. And just three weeks later, I was done. It took forty cups of coffee, five bubble baths, and a dozen beers spread across several tough scenes, but barely after I’d started, the manuscript was done and it felt like something amazing.

It’s no big secret that I like metaphors, and I put a lot in this story too. The title has its own special place in the book, and the covers features me and my husband as the silhouetted figures, courtesy of our engagement pictures (which incidentally were taken years ago by the young woman to whom the book is dedicated and who was the basis for one of the main characters.)

From the beginning, creating The Music of the Spheres was really a wonderful experience. The story had a certain symmetry and cohesion that not only made it painless to create but also let me fall in love with it. I laughed and I cried, and the emotions stuck with me longer after I’d finished writing. That’s the kind of story I love to write, and I’m excited to share it with readers.

About The Music of the Spheres

Cover - The Music of the SpheresAn athlete and introvert from a family touched by loss, Ryan Mattson splits his life between reading and spending time with his dad and precocious younger sister. With the wounds of Ryan’s past almost healed, high school is simple, and so is everything else.

But that changes when he’s paired with Adam for a class project. Adam, the guy with birthmarks like flecks of mud and compost-brown eyes that hide behind dorky glasses. Grudgingly, the two young men work together, and as they do, an unlikely friendship is formed.

With the passing college years, their bond deepens and grows. Even Ryan’s sister and dad take a liking to Adam, and the family – always missing a voice – seems to gain another. But just as Ryan is forced to confront what Adam really means to him, his family is dragged toward crisis. And beneath the silent snows and starlit sky of a Minnesota winter, their friendship will be tested more than ever before.

Contemporary, friends to lovers, gay fiction, romance, coming out.

Kindle Edition, paperback (coming Jan 25), 239 pages
Published January 21st 2016 by Chase Potter Books
 authorphoto Chase Potter

 About the Author

 Chase Potter lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his husband Mitchell and their dog Alex. The Music of the Spheres is his fourth novel. Raised in rural Minnesota, Chase has also lived in Germany and Austria. The experiences growing up in a small town and his struggles to adapt to foreign culture and language have served as inspiration in his writing.

Giveaway

For the Rafflecopter giveaway, five copies of The Music of the Spheres. Copies will be in the form of a gifted Amazon Kindle copy.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

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Its Greek Gods and Rock n Roll with ‘The Backup’ by Erica Kudisch (guest post and giveaway)

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The Backup by Erica Kudisch
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist Jay Aheer

Read An Excerpt/Buy It Here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Erica Kudisch here today to talk about her latest novel, The Backup, along with the music and a touch of mythology.  Welcome, Erica.

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Hi all! Erica Kudisch here, promoting my debut novel THE BACKUP, queer urban fantasy with a side of myth and music. Thanks so much for keeping up with the blog tour! Be sure to swing by the other stops for awesome multimedia content and a $50 prize package giveaway!

Nik’s Latest Album: LAST AGAINST THE PRECIPICE

CD Cover_FINALCD Back Cover_FINAL

Nicole Peterson of Inappropriately Adorable has graciously supplied the cover art for Nik’s new release!

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About The Backup

I’m supposed to be better than this. I’m supposed to have a tenure-track job teaching music history to undergrads, writing papers about Bach, and proving to kids like me that you can work your way out of Harlem. I’m not supposed to be following a rock star around the country, fetching his mail, making sure his groupies are of age.

I’m definitely not supposed to be sleeping with said rock star, who claims to be the Greek God Dionysus. At first I thought it was a load of crap. Nik’s fans might think his music captures their hearts—and souls—but I knew better. Until one of Nik’s orgiastic concerts gets out of hand and I don’t know which is worse: that he might be a god after all, or that he has a body count.

Nik doesn’t care what I want or what I should be. He wants to tear down the world I’ve built, warping all I am, until his music is all that’s left of me. I can’t let him do that. I shouldn’t believe in him. I’ve seen what happens to the people who believe in him.

But I can’t get his song out of my head.

About Erica Kudisch

Erica Kudisch lives, writes, sings, and often trips over things in New York City. When not in pursuit of about five different creative vocations, none of which pay her nearly enough, you can usually find her pontificating about dead gay video games, shopping for thigh-high socks, and making her beleaguered characters wait forty thousand words before they get in the sack.

In addition to publishing novellas and short stories as fantastika-focused alter-ego Kaye Chazan (What Aelister Found Here and The Ashkenazi Candidate, both available at Candlemark & Gleam) Erica is responsible for the BDSM musical Dogboy & Justine, and serves as creative director and co-founder of Treble Entendre Productions.

She also has issues with authority. And curses too fucking much.

Connect with Erica:

TheBackup_TourBanner

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of The Backup, Erica is giving away iTunes and Riptide credit totaling $50! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 30, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!

The Sage of Will & Patrick Continues with ‘Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings’ by Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths

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Title:  Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings (Wake Up Married, Episode 4)
Author: Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths
Publisher:  Leta Blake Books
Release Date: 1/25/16

Book/Buy Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Book Blurb

Follow Will & Patrick in this fourth installment of the romantic-comedy serial, Wake Up Married, by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!

Will and Patrick have embraced adding hot sexy-times to their fake marriage, but as their emotions deepen, they confront whether or not they want to be more than friends-with-benefits. Freshly free of a restrictive relationship, Will’s not ready for more than exploratory fun. And no matter how Patrick feels about Will, his own difficult past has left him wary of love.

The heat is high (and occasionally kinky) in this episode of the Wake Up Married serial, but Will and Patrick struggle to accept their mutual affection, much less confess it. How long will they fight their feelings?

Episode 4 of 6 in the Wake Up Married serial.

Genre:  Romantic Comedy M/M Romance
Tags:  gay, woke up married, tropes, rom-com, mafia, forced marriage, disabled heroes
Heat Level: 5
Pairing: M/M
Length: 38,000 words

Excerpt

Wrung out after the long night, Patrick shovels in the eggs and toast he ordered from room service. His mind drifts lazily as he eats, but when he hears the shower turn off, his stomach churns. He hates that his brain can ruin a perfectly good moment with memories that make him twitchy.

“About last night…” Will’s voice cracks slightly.

Patrick’s heart stops.

“Maybe it shouldn’t happen again?”

A sharp, deep pain lances into Patrick and he can’t breathe. It’s so unexpected, this horrible feeling, and he can’t think of anything to say. But hope and lust surge together as Will shoves away from the door. He grabs Patrick so hard it hurts and kisses him until the world shifts under their feet. 

Yep, it had happened again. Had it ever. God, their second night in a row of sex had been—

Patrick jerks back to the present as the bathroom door swings open and Will strides out fully dressed in a pair of trousers and a button-up shirt. The eggs churn faster in Patrick’s stomach.

Will sits at the breakfast table. He tests, calculates, and injects his insulin before starting on his cottage cheese on toast. He looks up, fixing Patrick with a resolute gaze.

Patrick dodges the look and pokes his eggs with his fork. “Do we have to talk about it?”

Will takes another bite and chews deliberately.

“Because I don’t want to talk about it.” Patrick’s much more interested in a “don’t think, just do” policy when it comes to sex with Will. He’ll take that over revisiting the surprising pain of Will’s near-rejection the night before.

Will’s brows draw low and he chews for a long, tense moment. Patrick’s heart lurches like a skipping record until Will speaks. “Really? So you think there’s nothing to talk about?”

“Nope.” Patrick’s fork scrapes against his plate. “I don’t see why there would be.”

Will, of course, has other ideas. Like that’s anything new. “Patrick, we had sex again last night. Three times.”

“I know what we did, Will.”

“And?”

“And I liked it. And I don’t regret it.”

Will pulls his lower lip between his teeth. “You really liked it?”

“Puddin’-pop, you were there. Do you doubt you’re the best lay I’ve ever had?”

“The best?”

“Unequivocally.”

Will grins and eats some more of his cottage cheese on toast, joy rising up like the sun on his face. “You too. I mean, you’re the best I’ve had.”

Shocking. Patrick wants an award for not saying that out loud. He reaches out and takes hold of Will’s fingers. “I like being with you. I like what we’re doing and I don’t want to talk about it.”

Will pulls his hand away and scratches his ear uncertainly. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want us to stop.” He clenches his fist on the table and summons the strength to say, “Unless you want to stop?”

Will shakes his head and studies the food. After putting some eggs on his plate and compiling another cottage cheese and whole-wheat toast sandwich, he clears his throat and tentatively meets Patrick’s eye again. “So you think it’s okay if we—”

“Screw without professing our undying love first?”

Will flushes but nods.

“We’re having sex, not committing a crime. Of course it’s okay. Why make it into something it’s not?”

Will butters his toast and carefully doesn’t meet Patrick’s gaze again. This. This is why Patrick doesn’t want to talk about things. “What did I say wrong now?”

Will shrugs and takes a bite of toast. He finishes chewing and swallows. “What would we make it into that it’s not?”

“That’s what I don’t want to talk about.”

“Because you think I’ll say we can’t have sex anymore if there’s no hope of us really falling in love and making a little family together?”

Patrick breaks into a fine sweat. “Won’t you?”

He has no idea what thoughts the tiny hamsters on the wheels in Will’s mind are cranking out, but he can imagine they’re racing overtime as Will gazes at him silently. He feels like he might puke.

Will’s mouth tilts up at the corner. “No.”

“What?” Patrick chokes on his toast and has to grab a swallow of water.

“No, I won’t say we have to stop. We’ll keep on…you know.”

“Having sex.”

Will’s eyes go hot with lust. “Yeah. We’ll keep having sex.”

“I knew you liked it.” He leans forward, smirking. “Now, tell me what you liked best. In detail.”

Will adjusts his napkin in his lap. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“I didn’t want to talk about ‘Oh, woe, it was wrong, and I’m still hurting over Ryan, and we’re getting divorced as soon as possible,’ because I know all that.”

Will finishes off his cottage cheese sandwich. “I get it.”

“Tell me all the dirty stuff. I want to hear how much you loved it.”

Will’s smile is soft. “Oh, I loved it.”

Author Bios

Leta Blake

Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

You can find out more about her by following her online:

Alice Griffiths

A long-time reader of romance novels, Alice Griffiths finally took the plunge into writing, teaming up with best-selling author Leta Blake for the ‘Woke up Married’ serialized comedy. A lover of tropes, Alice enjoys mining old ideas and putting a fresh, funny spin on them. Formerly working in the newspaper industry, Alice is now an art curator. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

You can find out more about her by following her online:

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Giveaway

Enter to win 1 copy of any Will & Patrick episode. 2 winners will be selected. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

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A Mika Review: Thorns and Fangs (Thorns and Fangs #1) by Gillian St. Kevern

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 

Thorns and FangsNate is caught between two dangerously hot vampires who can compel people to do whatever they want and a ruthless necromancer who wants Nate for all the wrong reasons—and that’s only the start of his problems.

Escort Nate prides himself on two things: his ability to please his clients and his normality – living in the monster capital of the world, ordinary is rare. Hunter, a darkly charming vampire with more charisma than is good for him, decides Nate is just what he needs. Nate’s sympathetic nature and skill in the bedroom are put to the ultimate test. But Hunter wants Nate for someone else – his brother, Ben. Nate is immediately attracted by the control with which Ben holds his sensitive nature in force. Too afraid of becoming a monster to allow himself to feel, Ben struggles to resist Nate’s generosity of emotion. As a vindictive necromancer makes Ben his target of revenge, Nate discovers that making people feel good doesn’t compare to making Ben feel. As Nate’s normal world crumbles around him, and he desperately searches for a way to save Ben, Nate is unable to escape becoming the necromancer’s latest victim.

But Nate’s death is only the beginning. Coming back to life in the bathroom of Gunn, a Department Seven officer who hates the vampire family that Ben and Hunter belong to, Nate doesn’t know who to trust or even what he is. As the necromancer’s trap pulls tighter around himself and Ben, Nate is forced to let go of normal and embrace powers he doesn’t fully understand. In defiance of Ben’s vampire sire and hunted by Department Seven, Nate and Ben finally learn to trust and rely on each other. But when the necromancer succeeds in capturing Ben, Nate alone can come to his rescue.

  DNF at 69% **raises fist to the air** I tried!!! I tried so hard, I tried to read this book for 5 days. I got a little further and further. As I did get further, my frustrations got bigger and bigger. The writing was good. I liked Nate and Ben, I just didn’t understand the story. Honestly the writing was good for me, the dialogue, the conversation and back story is what is lacking.

In the beginning it was good, I kind of pushed through those “what does she mean?” moments. It was too many of those moments for me. I found myself trying to figure what happened, or what does it mean. A lot of the dialogue between the characters felt like they were abruptly ended. Most of the time, I felt like they were talking in code. It seems like it needed a prequel and maybe that might have worked for me. I honestly think the world building needed more sustenance. It needed to be explained a lot more for me.

I generally liked Ben and Nate together. Sure, I got tired of them trying to protect one another. I didn’t understand the references Nate kept making regarding his Dad. I’m glad he thought about them, but it didn’t make sense at all. It fell very flat to me and I liked the premise of where it was going. Though the blurb is a little misleading, I don’t think Hunter plays that big of character towards Nate. I think he was all about Ben. This just didn’t work for me.

 I like the cover, but I did feel like it was misleading, the whole m/m/m trope isn’t really how it happens, but I did like the feel of the world on the cover.

Sales Links:  Amazon  |   Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published January 18th 2016 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781911153184
Edition LanguageEnglish
URLhttp://ninestarpress.com/product/thorns-and-fangs/
SeriesThorns and Fangs #1

In Our YA Spotlight: Poz ( The Lives of Remy and Michael #2) by Christopher Koehler ( exclusive excerpt and giveaway)

AllThatIsSolidMeltsIntoAirFS

 Poz ( The Lives of Remy and Michael #2) by Christopher Koehler
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Publication Date: 8 Jan 2015
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

Blurb

The Lives of Remy and Michael: Book Two

A CalPac Crew Story

I thought life after high school would be easier. I’d go to California Pacific for a year while I got a handle on my HIV, then after Michael graduated from high school, we’d blast out of here for colleges—and life—on the East Coast. Then I visited Boston and everything changed. I realized I like CalPac. Turns out, Boston didn’t have anything for me beyond one of the biggest regattas in North America.

Life grew more complicated when I got home. I couldn’t find a way to tell Michael that I’d just blown our plan for our lives out of the water. Then my CalPac coaches dropped a bomb on me. Those rowing officials who’d been watching me? They were recruiters for the national team, and my coaches wanted me to try out. They’d even let Lodestone coach me. Now I have to choose, school or crew, CalPac or Michael, and I still haven’t told Michael I can’t transfer. Is there even a place for Michael in my life? Somehow we have to withstand training at the highest levels and having different goals. Will love hold us together… or tear us apart?

Genre: Contemporary, Gay, Young Adult

Exclusive Excerpt

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air blog tour exclusive excerpt (edited for clarity)

Christopher Koehler

The junior varsity boats appeared to be in front, and I’m sure Michael would have something to say about that. That the JV were in front doubtlessly meant they had won a scrimmage, and if there was one thing varsity hated, it was losing to junior varsity. I’d have to gauge Michael’s mood before I said anything snarky.

In the meantime Coach Lodestone drove his launch toward its berth at the dock. A huge grin split his face as he called out, “Remy!”

“Coach Lodestone!”

I waved as I loped over to his boat. This man had been responsible for some of the greatest triumphs of my young life, as well as helping me through some of my most challenging times. He was a mentor, a father figure, a friend. So it wasn’t like he was important to me or anything. I rowed varsity under him for three years—okay, maybe not under him in the way some of my more overheated fantasies might have had it—so in many ways he helped to shape the man I was becoming.

I helped pull Lodestone’s launch the rest of the way in. Cap City forbade coaches driving their launches all the way into their berths. Apparently the club’s board frowned on ripping the bottom out of the boat by forcing it up onto the dock with the engines.

As important as Lodestone had been to me, and as much as I was doing a member of his gentlemen’s crew—being done by?—I’d been somewhat shy about showing my face around here, at least since I stopped helping with the learn-to-row camps at the end of summer. I lived inside my head, but sometimes I didn’t like to examine my motives too closely. I didn’t want to think about making a break from the most important four years of my life to date. My father’s a therapist. I learned a snoutful growing up about the stages of childhood development, and when Geoff and I were in high school, we couldn’t turn around without hearing about how it was another step in the separation process. If therapists’ kids were nuts, it’s because their parents made them that way. I didn’t want to think about separating from a place in which I had learned so many lessons about life. I didn’t want to think about making a break from a place where I had grown up.

Then something else occurred to me. What if I had avoided the Cap City boathouse up until now because I was pulling away from Michael? It had occurred to me before, and I had discussed the matter with my own therapist, but I sure as hell wasn’t going there right then.

I faked a smile as Lodestone jumped out of his launch. He grabbed my hand to pull me into a bear hug. Guess I wasn’t the only one with familial feelings. “Remy, it’s great to see you! Where’ve you been?”

“Oof. You might consider leaving a rib or two intact, Coach Lodestone.” Seriously, dude, ease up.

Lodestone shook his head. “You could call me by my name. You know, since you don’t row for me.”

“I thought I did.” I pretended to be puzzled. “Your name’s Coach, right?”

I blinked at him in innocence, an innocence no one on that dock believed for a shred of a second.

Lodestone stared at me. “Angels and ministers of grace, was that a joke?”

“No.” I held my face expressionless, even though it about killed me.

“How I’ve missed you.” Lodestone laughed hard. “Do you know none of these boys have the stones to bust my chops?”

“Shocking. I see Michael’s rowing varsity.”

We both lost it at that point. Lodestone, seeing some potential in me, had encouraged me to ride along in his launch so he could show me rowing from another perspective. I learned an incredible amount from those ride alongs, including that a certain now-varsity rower wouldn’t be stuck in JV for long. When I pointed this out to Lodestone at the San Diego Crew Classic one year, he grew rather testy. I stood my ground, and I think he respected that. It helped that I’d been right, because Michael now rowed at seven seat in the gentlemen’s varsity A boat, a boat that was most definitely not going to be first back to the dock.

I could’ve watched Michael row all day, although he was obviously tired. We might’ve met when we were both in high school, but we had both grown. My own maturation barely registered when I looked in the mirror. I mean, who observed himself on a daily basis, right? But Michael—Mikey—I paid attention to. Two years of puberty had been very good to him. He was now taller than I was and far heavier of build, and I fucking loved it. Let’s be honest, I’m subby, and our physical differences worked very well together.

By the time Michael’s boat landed, I stared openly. He looked up and smiled, so yeah, I’d been caught. Neither of us cared. I guess a few of the other guys noticed. I had only graduated the year before, and some of them recognized me, acknowledging my existence with a nod or a wave, but they had other things to do, like carry the oars to the oar racks and otherwise prepare to get the boat back into the boathouse and wipe the water off it. I didn’t recognize one or two faces. They ignored me, and I returned the favor.

“I said,” Lodestone repeated, snapping his fingers in front of my eyes, “are you rowing at Head of the Charles in Boston?”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, I heard some annoying, buzzing sound. Did you ask a serious question?”

“And the ego has landed.” Lodestone shook his head.

I blushed. “It’s not ego if it’s true.” I looked at my former coach. “You didn’t train me to row a novice boat. Junior varsity, freshman walk-in.”

“Damn straight,” Lodestone said.

“As it were.”

Lodestone gave me a shove toward the boathouse. “Go help your boyfriend wipe his boat down, and you’ll be out of here faster. And out of my hair sooner.”

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Author Bio:

Christopher Koehler learned to read late (or so his teachers thought) but never looked back. It was not, however, until he was nearly done with grad school in the history of science that he realized that he needed to spend his life writing and not on the publish-or-perish treadmill. At risk of being thought frivolous, he found that academic writing sucked all the fun out of putting pen to paper.

Christopher is also something of a hothouse flower. Inside of almost unreal conditions he thrives to set the results of his imagination free, and for most of his life he has been lucky enough to be surrounded by people who encouraged both that tendency and the writing. Chief among them is his long-suffering husband of twenty-two years and counting.

When it comes to writing, Christopher follows Anne Lamott’s advice: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” So while he writes fiction, at times he ruthlessly mines his past for character traits and situations. Reality is far stranger than fiction.

Christopher loves many genres of fiction and nonfiction, but he’s especially fond of romances, because it is in them that human emotions and relations, at least most of the ones fit to be discussed publicly, are laid bare.

Writing is his passion and his life, but when Christopher is not doing that, he’s an at-home dad and oarsman with a slightly disturbing interest in manners and other ways people behave badly.

Visit him at  http://christopherkoehler.net/blog or follow him on Twitter   @christopherink.

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Tour links:

21 Jan –  Hearts on Fire Reviews

22 Jan –  Dreamspinner Press Blog

23 Jan –  Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

26 Jan –  BFD Book Blog

28 Jan –  The Land of Make Believe

30 Jan –   Prism Book Alliance

1 Feb –   MM Good Book Reviews

3 Feb –  JP Barnaby

6 Feb –   The Novel Approach

9 Feb –   The Purple Rose Teahouse

10 Feb –  Diverse Reader

Buy links:

Dreamspinner eBook |Dreamspinner Print | Amazon US  | Amazon UK | All Romance eBooks

Giveaway

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A MelanieM Review: End Street Detective Agency Volume Two (End Street Detective Agency #3-4) by Amber Kell & R.J. Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

End Street Detectives Vol 2The Case of the Dragon’s Dilemma

Dragons, battles, a Siren attack and a deal Sam may come to regret leave Sam and Bob in danger…and result in Mikhail finding a mate.

Bob and Sam take their kind-of-adopted-now vampire daughter Mal to look at new schools. Mikhail is left to babysit the last of the remaining rescued children whilst they are away.

When Sirens appear to steal her away, he is left facing the attack alone until a mysterious hero comes to his aid. Ryujin, or Jin to his friends, is a dragon shifter and his role as Captain of the Dragon Guards puts him in direct conflict with Mikhail.

The minute he sees Mikhail he knows what he wants. Now if he can only get Mikhail to see the same.

The Case of the Sinful Santa

Zephariel, the Angel of Vengeance, Nick Klauson, nephew to Santa, Christmas magic, zombies in the school and a necromancer causing chaos…and at the centre of it all-Mal.

Zephariel is the Angel of Vengeance and is tracking down his cousin Danjal for misuse of brimstone. When he walks into a bar and finds Nick Klauson drowning his sorrows, he is instantly drawn to him. Could this be his fated mate?

When Nick and Zeph join forces to deal with zombies in Mal’s school, sparks fly. Add in a demon, a wolf and a necromancer, and Sam and Bob have a hunt on their hands.

For purposes of this review, I am only going to deal with The Case of the Dragon’s Dilemma (book#3) as I have already reviewed The Case of the Sinful Santa here.  The case starts with the remnants of the last one, as most of the stories do.  Here it is one of the remaining kidnapped children that they have been unable to figure out what species she is and where she belongs.  Unfortunately the Sirens are determined to  recapture her and in the attack, her identity is revealed.  She is a dragon.

I absolutely loved the world and myth-building that went on in this story.  Amber Kell and RJ Scott went far deeper into this world, exploring the subtleties of the dragon culture politics and shifting current loyalties.  Sam and Bob, more Sam here and his familiar go along to help see the dragon child home, along with Mikhail, the half vampire/half siren (cousin to Bob) and Captain of the Dragon Guards, Jim, who recognizes Mikhail as his mate.  Mikhail?  Not so much.    The descriptions of the dragons make you yearn to see them and in fact, this whole story make you want the authors to separate it out into their own series.  Its that good.

Perhaps they will, they certainly left us with a huge, well not cliffhanger, but certainly a character in need of a  solution and a heart in need of mending.  That story has yet to be told.  I can’t wait.  This series and its characters has stolen my heart and I eagerly await each new case that arises.

Have you found this series yet?  Are you a lover of the supernatural or paranormal?  Like a mystery or two or three thrown in for good measure?  This series has got it all.  Pick them up and get started today.

Cover art by Meredith Russell.  I like these covers. The design is really beautiful, excerpt that is not my idea of a dragon, and they pull you in.

Sales Links:  RJ Scott Blogspot | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 183 pages
Published November 3rd 2015 by Love Lane Books Ltd (first published January 24th 2014)
ASINB017KW05SC
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesEnd Street Detective Agency #3-4

SeriesEnd Street Detective Agency #3-4