Category: M/M Contemporary Fiction

Release Blitz for Amy Aislin’s As Big As The Sky (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 
 
Length: 37,000 words
 
Publisher: MLR Press
 
Blurb
 

Sam wants nothing to do with his irresponsible, sarcastic neighbor…or does he?
Sam McAuley is having a rough start to the summer: Not only is he being sued, but the new guy running the animal rehabilitation center next door has no idea what he’s doing and his runaway chickens constantly end up in Sam’s pristine yard.

Everything is temporary for Bo Novak. For as long as he can remember, it’s been one town to the next, one school to the next, one job to the next. Even his current job—running his sister’s animal rehab center while she’s away on a four-month leave—is temporary. And he does know what he’s doing, thank you very much. Sure, things don’t always run smoothly, but the stick-in-the-mud next door could be a little nicer about it.

One overheard conversation, an olive branch, and a baseball game might show these guys that being at odds isn’t really what they want, and that what they want might just be each other.


Excerpt

Argh! Bo kicked his closed front door. That…that man. Every five frickin’ minutes he was up in Bo’s face about something.

I’m trying to work, Bo. Can you get the dogs to stop barking? Why is the goat making weird noises?

How did your chicken get into my yard?

What’s that smell?

Fix your side of the fence.

Bo had fixed his side of the fence, damn it, so it wasn’t his fault the chicken was still getting into Sam’s yard. If anything, it was Sam’s side that needed to be fixed. But did Sam give him a chance to say his piece? Nooooo. Mr. I’m So Cool With My Muscles And Tallness And Swanky Haircut wouldn’t get off his pedestal long enough for Bo to defend himself.

Not that Bo was envious of those muscles or that tallness or that swanky haircut that was on the redder side of strawberry blond. He was perfectly fine with his own five foot seven height and his messy ‘do. Tallness was overrated anyway. And he had his own muscles. Arm muscles, anyway. The little pudge on his belly left a lot to be desired.

Stupid cookies.

But whatever. Arm muscles were all he needed to catch a guy’s attention at the clubs and bars. By the time the guy realized Bo wasn’t so muscly all over, they were already in each other’s pants and that little detail no longer mattered.

Bring on the cookies.

Shaking his head at himself, he headed out back to the shed and grabbed a thicker pair of gloves and some chicken feed. He inspected his side of the fence—just in case he was mistaken. Which he wasn’t, thank you very much. Grunting in satisfaction, he left his backyard via the gate and cut through the path in the hedges between his and Sam’s front yards. After unlatching the gate to Sam’s backyard, he followed the sounds of clucking chicken to a wildflower garden along the back fence. Along with some kind of leafy tree and a couple of shrubs, there were bursts of yellow, purple, and pink flowers in the garden that Bo couldn’t name to save his life.

Of course it was that chicken. The brown one with the lone white feather along its back. The instigator of the group. The one that riled up the other chickens and always seemed to find a way out of the chicken coop. The one who’d pecked Bo’s hands raw the first time Bo tried to pick him up. That’s where his new extra-thick gloves came in.

He slipped them on then scattered some chicken feed. Bait the chicken and then grab it from behind, the YouTube tutorial he’d watched a couple weeks ago had said. Bo had become somewhat of a chicken corralling expert in the past couple of weeks. A skill he never thought he’d need and didn’t know how to add to his resume without sounding like a smart-ass.

The chicken went after the food just like always. Bo gave it a minute to eat most of it, then quietly snuck up behind it, cupped his hands around its sides, and lifted.

The angry squawk the chicken let out pierced Bo’s eardrums and its legs worked as if trying to walk on air. Bo held on tighter as the bird struggled in his grip. He made tracks for the gate, where Sam was oh-so-helpfully holding it open. The sight of him standing there all tall and perfect jolted Bo and had him fumbling the chicken. A wing got loose and flapped in Bo’s face.

Bo thought he heard a chuckle, but when he looked at Sam around the feathers in his face, the man was as stony as ever. Was that a hint of laughter in Sam’s eyes? No. The man didn’t know how to laugh. Drawing his shoulders back, head high, Bo stalked past him and—

“Don’t forget to fix your fence,” Sam said.

Before Bo even had a chance to reply, the gate slammed at his back.

Author Bio


Amy started writing on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class was forced to stay inside for recess. Tales of adventures with her classmates quickly morphed into tales of adventures with the characters in her head. Based in the suburbs of Toronto, Amy is a marketer at a large environmental non-profit in Toronto by day, and a writer by night. Book enthusiast, animal lover and (very) amateur photographer, Amy’s interests are many and varied, including travelling, astronomy, ecology, and baking.

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Amy loves connecting with readers! You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter or sign up for her infrequent newsletter at www.amyaislin.com/signup

Giveaway

Blog Tour for When Heaven Strikes by F.E Feeley Jr (excerpt, book trailer and giveaway)

Book Title: When Heaven Strikes

Author: F. E. Feeley Jr.

Cover Artist: Goonwrite.com

Genre/s: Contemporary Romance, gay literature

Length: Words: 60,400/No. of Pages: 298

Goodreads

Blurb  

Can love survive heaven’s wrath?

Artist Ted Armstrong lives a solitary and eccentric life. The survivor of child abuse disguised as religion, Ted has cut himself off from the world.

Then Ted meets Anderson Taylor, and it’s like being struck by lightning.

Anderson is a cardiac surgeon whose passion for his work has consumed him. He fears he’ll never find a partner—until he sets eyes on Ted. It’s happening fast, but both men know what they feel is right.

Confronted with an angry preacher, a scandal, and an act of God that threatens to destroy everything, their relationship will face its first true test.

Excerpt:

 
“He was scared.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?”
“Thunderstorm, baby. Hang on,” she said to him, and then to his mother, whom he just spotted to their left, “Where’s the car?”
“At the front of the lot. We were one of the first ones here this morning,” Ann said as she worked to keep up in her flip-flops.
On the water, he saw his yellow bucket floating bottom down. It was spinning hypnotically, but it was when Anderson looked skyward he found himself becoming terrified. Above the lake, the sky had turned a sickly green. The clouds directly above it and moving in closer were swirling in a tight formation with what looked like a big black eye staring down at them.
“Grandma! What’s that?” Anderson exclaimed pointing skyward. She stopped and turned to look.”
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, mostly to herself. Anderson felt panic begin to set it.
Someone shouted close to them, “Jesus Christ! It’s a tornado!”

Book Trailer

Buy Links:

Amazon US  |   Amazon UK

Paperback

Meet the Author

F.E.Feeley Jr is a poet and the author of six published works – four full length novels, two short stories featured in anthologies, and a good deal of poetry.

Married to the love of his life, John, he came to the writing world about four years ago where he fell in love, again, with the written word.

Visit F.E. Feeley Jr.’s Blog

ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN EBOOK FROM

F.E. FEELEY JR.’S BACKLIST

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When Heaven Strikes Tour Schedule 3

July 23rd: Foxylutely Books, Millsy Loves Books

July 24th: My Fiction Nook, Lily G. Blunt, Gay Book Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

July 27th: Drops of Ink

August 2nd: Stories That Make You Smile, Because Two Men Are Better Than One

August 4th: Hoards Jumble, Hearts on Fire, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

August 7th: The Way She Reads, Louise Lyons, Bayou Book Junkie

August 9th: Gay Media Reviews, Lily’s Reviews, Diverse Reader

August 12th: The Novel Approach Reviews

August 14th: Love Bytes Reviews

Hosted by

Gay Book Promotions

 

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Susan Mac Nicol “Revival” Tour and Giveaway (excerpt and giveaway)

Revival Tour

Title: Worth Keeping
Author: Susan Mac Nicol
Release Date: December 23rd 2013
Published by: Boroughs Publishing
Genre: MM Contemporary Romance

WorthKeeping_Cover Final

BLURB

Abused horrifically as a boy, Nick Mathers has come to terms with his existence as a man. Mostly. Other days life seems a little much. Especially when Nick knows he’ll always be alone.

On those days his thoughts turn black. He walks the Norfolk coast and considers the frigid embrace of the waves. And then, one stormy night, he finds someone who’s tasted just that. The beautiful stranger on the beach is near death, and Nick rushes him home to slowly nurse back to health. As he does, he finds a love unlike any other.

Owen Butler’s body is as warm as the sea was cold, his heart as big as an ocean. And Owen is a man who swears to repay the favor. Nick can yet be saved from himself, and he will see that he is indeed a man … worth keeping.

Worth Keeping on Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Boroughs | B&N | Smashwords | iBooks

Karen Jones

EXCERPT

“Jesus, Nick, for God’s sake, man, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.” The panicked voice of Owen Butler stirred Nick into wakefulness. He sat up in panic, his chest heaving, his throat raw and sore. He reached out an arm, grabbing Owen’s shoulder tightly. Owen winced and brushed hair from Nick’s sweat-drenched face. Nick stared at him blindly. Socks jumped up and down in agitation on the bed, his paws waving frantically as he chittered in panic.

“Nick, you were screaming. You had a nightmare. It’s all right.” Owen’s soothing voice cut through Nick’s fear and he started to breathe deeper, more evenly.

Owen encouraged him. “That’s right, take deep breaths. You’re awake. You’re fine.”

Nick’s tears rolled down his cheeks as he sobbed quietly. Owen leaned forward, wiping them off with tender fingers. “God, you’re a bloody mess, aren’t you? And I thought I was a basket case. Come here.”

Nick was pulled into a pair of warm arms and a hard chest that promised comfort and safety. It had been a long time since he’d been touched this way. When he was in the town with his regular fuck buddy, Daniel, it was pure sex. At Nick’s insistence, there was no kissing, no real tenderness, just lust and animalism that ended in both of them getting their relief and then Nick going home. He’d never stayed over, as that would have been too intimate. But this stranger holding him close, softly stroking his hair and his back, lulling him back to sleep. This was intimate and it felt good, just for a while. He closed his eyes, enjoying Owen’s closeness and scent.

GIVEAWAY: Win a SIGNED copy of Saving Alexander by Susan Mac Nicol

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About the Author

Susan bio pic

Susan Mac Nicol is a self-confessed bookaholic, an avid watcher of videos of sexy pole dancing men, geek, nerd and in love with her Smartphone. This little treasure is called ‘the boyfriend’ by her long-suffering husband, who says if it vibrated, there’d be no need for him. Susan hasn’t had the heart to tell him there’s an app for that…

In an ideal world, Susan Mac Nicol would be Queen of England and banish all the bad people to the Never Never Lands of Wherever -Who Cares. As that’s never going to happen, she contents herself with writing her HEA stories and pretending, that just for a little while, good things happen to good people.

Sue is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America and is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She’s also Editorial Manager at http://www.divinemagazine.biz, an online LGBTQ e-zine, and she’s a Charity Board trustee at http://wwwbeingmecampaign.com in London.

She’s passionate about research for her books and has stayed in a circus, taken lessons from a blind person on how it feels to be non-sighted, and travelled to a lighthouse with maintenance crew to see first-hand what it’s like inside. She’s also writing a screen play with a Hollywood actor named Nicholas Downs, with a view to taking her latest release, Sight Unseen, to the big screen.

All in all, she’s happy with her lot and loves that you love to read her books.

You do, right?

Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

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A Caryn Review: All Wheel Drive (Bluewater Bay #18) by Z.A. Maxfield

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Well, that was 3 hours of my life wasted.  I wanted to DNF early on, but that is the drawback to getting a book for review — you gotta review it even when it’s just that bad…

This book was set in the Bluewater Bay series, and I admit I’ve only read one other in this universe — Burnt Toast B&B — and that one I actually enjoyed. The books are all pretty much stand alone, although the various characters do show up in other books.  And at first I thought that’s what I was missing, and why I struggled with this book:  I just didn’t have enough background.

But as I went on, I realized, no, this book was just that random and disorganized.

The main characters here are Healey, who grew up in Bluewater Bay although he’s been at school and away from home for years, and Diego, who moved in as part of the Wolf’s Landing production crew (the unifying theme of this series).  Healey came back to town broken both physically and mentally from a recent car accident that for extremely vague reasons he is not allowed to talk about.  His family has long since moved out of his boyhood house, but he feels like he just has to be there.  So he shows up, beaten, wet, and bedraggled, on the doorstep, and begs the new owner, Diego, to let him stay in the garage apartment.  And pays him a couple thousand dollars for the privilege and gives him a false name.  The apartment is full of Diego’s dead mother’s art, apparently because Diego wanted it as far away from him as possible — because Diego is in a wheelchair, he cannot get to the apartment.  Despite this inauspicious beginning, there is instant, undeniable chemistry between the two men, which is convenient because otherwise these two have absolutely nothing in common and there would be no story.  The next day Healey moves out, so I guess he got over his extreme need to be back in that home pretty quickly.  But he goes back, fesses up to who he is, admits that there really was no reason for the subterfuge and bribe, and helps to move Diego’s mother’s things to the garage where he can reach them.

Diego, in the meantime, has never really come to terms with being disabled, and now he’s also being hounded by his stepfather to collect and write about his mother’s art and life.  But something about the instant attraction he has to Healey makes him want to start accepting his disability, and to dig deeper into his mother’s past — because Healey makes a fairly random comment about one of her photographs that gives Diego an epiphany about his mother.  Which, as a side plot, completely fails because there is a big mystery brought up about her which is ultimately just dropped.  Healey summed up his side of things like this: “for me, attraction is instantaneous.  I lock eyes with a dude, and it’s either on or it’s not.”  Seems to be the basis of this romance, and that’s not enough for me.

What other things bothered me?  How about head bopping, changing from Diego’s to Healey’s point of view with each chapter, and their dialogue was so generic and stupid that I didn’t know which one of them was even talking.  The way both men would go from friendly to pissed off to sad to passionate from one sentence to the next, without any sort of explanation that made any sense.  The way the mystery of the car accident was dragged out way too long so I had almost no idea why Healey was so full of angst until the big reveal, which was pretty anti-climactic.  The way both of these guys were completely inconsistent in what they wanted, and how they acted — I mean, yes, characters should grow and change and let the story lead them to new things in life, but I didn’t buy any of it in this book.  Completely random.  The editing errors, like when Healey was afraid to tell Healey about the accident, when Healey came between Diego’s thighs and all of his cum ended up on his own stomach, or the multiple times when words were just left out.  I was really wondering if I got a rough draft instead of the final book, but as far as I know, this was the final book.  Then there were weird descriptions and analogies scattered throughout:

“Diego rattled his pinkie finger like the Titanic hit an iceberg and it was up to him to inform all the ships at sea.  He always did that. It was his tell”

“longing rose in his belly like the smoke of an abandoned cooking fire”

“post-SCI sex turned out to be almost like every other kind of sex he’d had.  It was embarrassing and funny and silly and gruesome.”  Gruesome?  first time I’ve heard that adjective used for sex in a romance novel…

“his hair slithered over Diego’s shoulders like he was some hipster saint, come to perform a miracle”

I almost gave this book only one star, but I was pleased that at least the author did some research about spinal cord injuries and adaptive equipment (that led to awkward conversations about self-catheterization to urinate that really should have been left out), and Healey showed amazing understanding and forgiveness for his mentally ill ex-boyfriend when it would have been easier for her to demonize bipolar disorder as a lot of people in society do.  So there was that.  But overall, don’t waste your time…

Cover art by L.C. Chase didn’t do much for me, and I don’t think adds anything to the story.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 329 pages
Published July 8th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleAll Wheel Drive
ASINB073TLS5TR
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesBluewater Bay #18