A VVivacious Release Day Review: In Your Court (World of Love) by Reece Pine

Rating – 1 Star out of 5

Regan a.k.a Ray is in Ho Chi Minh City (a.ka. Saigon), Vietnam as a volunteer basketball coach at the Ho Chi Minh Central Crane School for a week. But this week is also Ray’s goodbye to a sport he has loved for too long but is now unable to play because of his crippling back ache. So for one week he is going to play through the pain and when the week ends he plans to curl up and pay for it. He has everything worked out but what he didn’t take into account was falling in love, unfortunately a distance as large as the Pacific Ocean isn’t going to be easy to ignore.

Have you read the blurb for this story? If you haven’t, read it, it is painfully accurate and also 80% of the story.

The book is written in a lingo which as the book is written entirely from Ray’s perspective translates into I have no idea why Ray thinks and talks like this.

This story is extremely disjointed and vague. It is so vague that having read it I still have no idea what Xin does for a living, why or how Ray was in Saigon and also who both these characters actually are. I mean yes the story does inform us about these things but if you stop and think about it you will be completely befuddled. Let’s take Xin’s job for example he tells us in many words that he is a glorified translator but later on we find out that he matches companies with tax-deductible sponsorship opportunities, makes connections, talks to a lot of people and since he speaks multiple languages he translates for his father, but in all this mess of words I still don’t know in any concrete sense what it was Xin does for a job and how that translated in him being in Vietnam coincidentally on the first day of Ray’s stay there. Also if volunteers other than Ray had been there in Crane School, why the hell did they need a translator for Ray when they had managed without one before?

Basically the story seems to make no sense. Things seem to happen just because they are planned to happen that way and the strings calling the shots are not so invisible. I couldn’t for the life of me understand Ray’s motivations or what he wanted from life and that is despite being in his head all the time so it was almost impossible to get a grasp on Xin, he might has well have been an alien. Also while Ray’s condition is one of the only things in this book that is spelt out, while the science made sense, I had no idea how the disease translated to Ray and his life.

One of the aspects of this book was the culture shock. The author talks about the differences in culture but the problem was that at no point in the story did the differences seem to end at no point in the story was there the realization that we are all just people no matter how different, in fact the differences just seemed to be building on till they became almost insurmountable.

The first half of the story which is the part in Crane School adds absolutely nothing to the story. The story actually doesn’t start till Ray’s obligations with the school are over so technically Ray and Xin fall in love over 3 days, the worst part is I would have accepted it if it was written in a convincing matter but yeah that never happened.

I just can’t understand why Xin and Ray fell in love. They have nothing together that would equate a good relationship and they have no chemistry. The first sex scene in this story is around the 60% mark and it was the slowest sex scene in history, the scene spans 10 plus pages and was just so boring, why, just why was this so long and so detailed. Unfortunately the subsequent sex scenes were no improvement.

One of the reasons I picked up this book was that I thought this book would focus more on the relationship between Xin and Ray and would centre around their decision to stay together despite odds and I was hoping we would get to see them take a leap of fate as they rearrange their lives around being together but that was a pitiful 5% of this book and the answer was a yes without any thought, planning, knowledge or understanding.

If you ask me just skip this book the only pleasure I got from this book was when I was pounding my frustration into this review. The characters are vague, they story makes no sense and the blurb reveals all there is to know.

Cover Art by Garrett Leigh. I liked the cover but the guy on the cover fits no description of Xin’s and I’m pretty sure that is not supposed to be Ray.

Sales Links

Book Details:

ebook, 120 pages
Expected publication: January 18th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 1635332249 (ISBN13: 9781635332247)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWorld of Love settingVietnam

A Caryn Release Day Review: The Mighty Have Fallen by Bonnie Dee

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The book opens up with Trevor Rowland quoting the Bible (because I am a nerd, I looked it up, Samuel 1:25, KJV) “How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle!” referring to himself. He had been a wealthy, celebrated stage actor when he suffered a stroke that left him completely blind. To add insult to injury, while he was still in rehabilitation his boyfriend ran away after emptying their bank accounts, and Trevor found that he had been swindling him all along. Trevor is feeling pretty low – he used to have it all, and now he’s disabled, poor, and feeling like an ass for not recognizing that his boyfriend was so shallow and dishonest. He is depressed, angry, bored, scared, and frustrated.

The same page introduces Jack Burrows, a blue-collar East Ender who moved in with Trevor one month ago mostly to split the rent, but partly to help Trevor out with household chores. He is almost annoyingly optimistic and cheery, and has decided it is his mission to get Trevor to find meaning in his new life. He does so by suggesting that Trevor look into doing voice-overs, and amateur drag queen performance. Which Trevor immediately does and his attitude and his life turn around almost instantly.

So at this point, I was already sitting back and considering the story very detachedly, because it felt forced and awkward. The reader is dropped into the story literally at the moment that Trevor is transforming his life, so the backstory is all told instead of shown and I wasn’t convinced. I also did not feel the realities of losing one’s sight as an adult was portrayed very realistically – Trevor usually acted like a sighted person, so when the cane actually was mentioned it seemed intrusive. I recently read Running Blind, by Kim Fielding and Venona Keyes, and that portrayal of a man who lost his sight (also from a stroke, imagine that) was much more credible. Then there was the insta-love aspect – I really hate insta-love because I think it is a cop-out so an author can avoid plot and characterization – although I know that is not unusual for this author. I was dubious about the whole business of Trevor doing a drag show, despite the extensive monologues about how it equated with his previous career and why the music he chose to lip-sync was so meaningful. Jack’s character was too perfect, and though the accent did help to bring his voice to life for me, it slipped frequently (for an amazing example of the accent done well, and the contrast between posh and uncultured voices, read Glitterland by Alexis Hall)

When I realized that I was comparing this book to others just to see how it fell short, I knew it was going to be a miss for me. The conflict before the happy ending was the usual misunderstanding blown out of proportion – so overused – and the drag show, which should have been a pinnacle of the story, was unimpressive.

Cover art by Bree Archer is nice but way too dramatic for this story.

Sales Links

Book Details:

ebook, 112 pages
Expected publication: January 18th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 1635332370 (ISBN13: 9781635332377)
Edition LanguageEnglish

Kim Fielding on Rocky Horror and her release Love is Heartless (Love Can’t Series #2) (guest post and giveaway)

Love is Heartless (Love Can’t Series #2) by Kim Fielding

Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Brooke Albrecht

Available for Purchase at

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Kim Fielding here today. Welcome, Kim!

Kim Fielding on Rocky Horror!

It’s just a jump to the left….

When I was in high school—back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth—my friends and I used to go to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was playing at the Clinton Street Theater in Southeast Portland (where it began playing in 1978 and still shows every Saturday night!), which was way across town from our suburb. But we’d pile into vehicles and make our way across the city. Sometimes we dressed up (that’s me, far left, as Janet). Sometimes after the movie we’d go to Carrow’s for coffee and cinnamon rolls.

What was the appeal of Rocky Horror? Well, participation was fun. I still remember all the lyrics and callbacks. Rocky himself was awfully sexy in his little gold Speedos, and Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter was perfection. And of course it was cool to stay out really late. More than that, though, I think the film spoke to those of who were… different. The crowd at the Clinton Street wasn’t made up of the cool kids—the jocks and the preppies and the cheerleaders. Sitting in the audience were boys who liked to wear girls’ clothes, people of all shapes and sizes and eccentricities. At Rocky, nobody shunned us for being weird. We’d stand out in the cold, waiting for the theater to let us in, and for that time we were colleagues. For suburban teens in the early eighties, Rocky was subversive.

Life went on. I grew up, moved away, found my own place in the world. But Rocky still has a place in my heart. So when a local theater had a midnight showing this summer—outdoors—I took my 16-year-old daughter. We sang along and tossed playing cards and had a wonderful time. The venue was sold out, some of the audience members ancient like me but many of them younger, and it was a blast. Rocky still speaks to the eccentric, I think.

In my newest book, Love Is Heartless, Colin takes Nevin on an impromptu date to Rocky. At the Clinton Street Theater, in fact. Colin loves musical theatre anyway, so he’s a fan from way back. But Nevin had a hardscrabble childhood and an adulthood without much whimsy, so this will be his first time.

Are you a Rocky fa-an? Which character is your favorite?

Blurb

Small but mighty—that could be Detective Nevin Ng’s motto. Now a dedicated member of the Portland Police Bureau, he didn’t let a tough start in life stop him from protecting those in need. He doesn’t take crap from anyone, and he doesn’t do relationships. Until he responds to the severe beating of a senior citizen and meets the victim’s wealthy, bow-tied landlord.

Property manager and developer Colin Westwood grew up with all the things Nevin never had, like plenty of money and a supportive, loving family. Too supportive, perhaps, since his childhood illness has left his parents unwilling to admit he’s a strong, grown man. Colin does do relationships, but they never work out. Now he’s thinking maybe he won’t just go with the flow. Maybe it’s time to try something more exciting. But being a witness to a terrible crime—or two—was more than he bargained for.

Despite their differences, Colin and Nevin discover that the sparks fly when they’re together. But sparks are short-lived, dampened by the advent of brutal crimes, and Colin and Nevin have seemingly little in common. The question is whether they have the heart to build something lasting.

Buy links:

Dreamspinner Press

Find Kim!

Website: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites/

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Author bio:

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her husband, her two daughters, and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Giveaway

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In Our New Release Spotlight: Afraid to Fly (Anchor Point #2) by L.A. Witt (excerpt and giveaway)

Afraid to Fly (Anchor Point #2) by L.A. Witt
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here At Riptide Publishing

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to be hosting L.A. Witt today on her Afraid to Fly tour. Welcome, L.A.!

Welcome to the Riptide Publishing/L. A. Witt blog tour for Afraid to Fly, the second book in the Anchor Point series!

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks off my backlist (excluding Afraid to Fly) and a $10 Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 22^nd, and winners will be announced on January 23^rd. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.

Excerpt

(Clint)

Thanks to skipping lunch, I was able to slip out of the office around four thirty. Travis was held up for a while because he had a meeting with the CO, but about ten minutes before I got home, he texted me to let me know he was on his way.

While I waited for him, I couldn’t sit still. I’d showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and now all there was to do was wait. And wait. And try to keep myself calm and cool.

Why isn’t he here yet? He should’ve been here five minutes ago.

Did he remember how to get here? Wait, I’d given him my address, and his car had GPS. He’d find the place. Right? Did I need to text him with my apartment number?

What the hell is wrong with me?

And then . . .

Footsteps on the walkway.

The distinct sound of boots.

Fuck yes.

I opened the door right as he stepped onto the porch. Neither of us said a word. He hooked his fingers in my waistband and pulled me in close, and we were back in each other’s arms. We kissed. Stumbled. Somehow made it off the porch and into the apartment without falling on our asses, and I was so tangled up in him, I couldn’t even remember for sure if we’d closed the door.

I opened my eyes briefly. Glanced past him.

Yep. Door was closed.

Where were we?

I cradled the back of his head and kissed him even harder.

“Sorry I took so long,” he panted against my lips. “Fucking traffic through the gate.”

“’S’okay. You made it.”

“Finally.”

“Mm-hmm.”

His hands slid across my bare skin, emphasizing how dressed he still was. That wouldn’t do. This uniform needed to be on the floor right now.

He must’ve had the same idea, because we both started fumbling with buttons. One by one, they gave. I pushed the blouse off his shoulders.

“By the way,” I said as I ran my hands up the front of his snug T-shirt, “one more hour at work, and I would’ve run out of military bearing.”

“You and me both,” he said between kisses, and slid his hands down over my ass. “Today was killing me. Even before you showed up in my office.”

“Tell me about it.” I started kissing my way down his neck. “You didn’t have to stand up in front of a class and try not to get a hard-on.”

He laughed, tilting his head to the side as I inched toward his collarbone. “Maybe I should’ve teased you a bit more.”

“That wouldn’t have been a good idea.” I bit his shoulder through his clothes, and he responded with the most delicious groan.

“Not a good idea?” He pressed against my dick. “Why not? What would’ve happened?”

“All kinds of . . . court-martial-worthy . . . offenses.” I groaned softly. “On government property.”

“More than what we already did?”

“So much more.”

“Hmm. Scandalous.” He dipped his head and kissed my neck. “Might have to step up my game at work. See what happens when you lose all your—”

“Don’t you dare,” I growled.

“Or what?”

“I’ll tell the CO.” I curved my hands over his ass. “Tell her you seduced me in my office.” I kissed beneath his jaw and murmured, “Tell her I was . . . helpless to resist . . . your charm.”

We both broke out laughing.

“Go ahead and tell her,” he said. “I won’t deny it.”

“Shameless bastard.”

About Afraid to Fly

Once a fearless fighter pilot, Commander Travis Wilson is now confined to a desk. It’s been eight years since the near-fatal crash that grounded him, and it still rules his life thanks to relentless back pain.

Lieutenant Commander Clint Fraser almost drowned in a bottle after a highly classified catastrophe while piloting a drone. His downward spiral cost him his marriage and kids, but he’s sober now and getting his life back on track. He’s traded drones for a desk, and he’s determined to reconcile with his kids and navigate the choppy waters of PTSD.

Clint has been on Travis’s radar ever since he transferred to Anchor Point. When Clint comes out to his colleagues, it’s a disaster, but there’s a silver lining: now that Travis knows Clint is into men, the chemistry between them explodes.

It’s all fun and games until emotions get involved. Clint’s never been in love with a man before. Travis has, and a decade later, that tragic ending still haunts him. Clint needs to coax him past his fear of crashing and burning again, or their love will be grounded before takeoff.

Afraid to Fly is available January 16^th from Riptide Publishing.

This title is #2 of the Anchor Point series.

About L.A. Witt

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut…

Website: http://www.gallagherwitt.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GallagherWitt

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Afraid to Fly, one lucky winner will receive $10 in Riptide Publishing credit and two books of choice from L.A. Witt’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 21, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Lila Audiobook Review: Undercover Boyfriend by Jacob Z. Flores and Rusty Topsfield (Narrator)

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Two men, one lie, and a whole bunch of trouble.

Marty Valdez is in serious trouble. His sister’s wedding is around the corner, and everyone expects to meet Marty’s super-successful underwear model boyfriend – whom Marty invented. Now Marty has to produce a half-naked hottie or suffer the worst humiliation of his life.

FBI agent Luke Myers is in serious trouble. He’s been working undercover to take down a dangerous drug cartel, but his cover’s blown and he needs to disappear. Luckily, a geeky yet intriguing comic book artist gives him the perfect opportunity. Luke just has to pretend to be his boyfriend, and pretending is what he does best. But between Marty’s mother and his ex, Luke might’ve bitten off more than he can chew, and Marty’s knack for finding trouble might ruin more than just his sister’s wedding.

Undercover Boyfriend is one of my favorites in the Dreamspun Desires series. The plot seems simple from the start, but the author did an excellent job adding to it as the story moved forward. It balances the romance and the mystery well even when the reader can guess who the antagonist is and what would happen next.

I love Marty and Luke, separately and as a couple. They’re easy characters to fall for. I kept wishing for everything to go right for them even when this series guarantees a HEA. They’re sweet and over-the-top, but it worked with the character and plot building in the story. It’s great to see how protective of Marty Luke is from the very beginning. And how much compassion Marty has for Luke when they first met.

As I mentioned, the mystery is as important as the romance. It brings to different characters together and continues to build up to the very end. The reader can connect the dots, but it doesn’t take from the story itself. The slow build goes beyond the main characters. It includes every scene in the story.

The secondary characters are as good as the principals and I hope we get to see some of the guys later in the series. Marty’s mom and sister were perfect. Everyone, even the villain, had a reason to take part of the story. There are a lot of coincidences to make the story shine, but in the end, we get another good book by this author.

I like Rusty Topsfield narration. It complimented the story’s soap opera feel. He did an excellent job emphasizing the characterization and making Marty and his family feel realistic.

The cover by Bree Archer matches the rest of the series and gives the reader a nice visual of Luke’s appearance. Adapted to audiobook format.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner | Audible | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Rusty Topsfield
Length: 5 hours and 51 minutes

Published: August 9, 2016 (Audio Edition) by Dreamspinner Press
ASIN: B01JVMUDAY

Edition Language: English

Series: One Fine Day
Book #1: Undercover Boyfriend
Book #2: Suddenly Yours

An Alisa Review: Hanukkah Gifts by Jacob Cheyenne

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Twenty-five-year-old TV producer Jared Greenfield loves his big city life — job, friends, and shopping — but even with all the fun of big city life, he feels a longing for something, or someone, more. Then, on the very first night of Hanukkah, he spots a handsome, sweaty basketball player at the Jewish Community Center.

Tall, dark, and Orthodox, the young and athletic Shai Goodhart strikes up an easy friendship with Jared, only to discover Jared has very little appreciation for his own Jewish heritage and religion. Determined to enlighten this “Bad Jew,” Shai invites him over for a family Hanukkah celebration.

Then Jared discovers Shai’s deepest secret and the biggest threat to his future. Over the eight days of Hanukkah, deep emotions pull them closer and closer together. Can they ever reach across the divide of their shared culture and fall in love?

This was a nice short story. Jared has always identified as Jewish, but doesn’t necessarily follow the religious laws as many more observant Jews do. When Shai invites Jared to his family’s Hanukkah celebration he gets a better glimpse of his heritage and is intrigued by not only his religion but also of Shai.

Jared can’t seem to help but fall in love with the innocent Shai, however their interactions don’t always leave him feeling so wonderful with Shai’s wavering. I understood Shai’s reluctance to leave his family’s grasp as it is all that he is know, but I could just see and feel how Jared’s heart broke every time things were looking up for them and Shai would just retreat back. The only thing I didn’t like is that Shai never really made the decision for himself to completely be with Jared, but only after his family kicked him out did he suddenly decide that he could be out and proud with his love. I enjoyed the story, but it didn’t quite have the warm and fuzzy feeling I was hoping for in the end.

The cover art gives a nice visual of Jared and the traditional Jewish dreidel.

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 87 pages

Published: December 24, 2016 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634862967

Edition Language: English

In the New Release Spotlight: Marina Ford on ‘Lovesick’ (Dreamspinner Press author guest blog)

Lovesick by Marina Ford
Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Alexandria Corza

Available for Purchase at

Also at Dreamspinner Press in Paperback

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Marina Ford here today. Welcome, Marina!

Hi, I’m Marina, and I want to introduce you to my debut novel “Lovesick.” It’s the story of a university lecturer, Leo, who is based in London, and who spent the last couple of years mooning after a colleague of his, who disappoints all of Leo’s hopes by getting engaged. The story of how Leo recovers from this blow, how he finds love and friendship, and how he becomes a better person in the process, is told in the form of a diary.

It’s the only book I’ve ever written in this form, and it was an interesting challenge. Normally, chapters give you, the writer, a framework for how to organise your plot points. But diary entries are not like chapters. Stories, friendships, issues don’t evolve, usually, within the span of a day. While most novels (written either in the first person or third person perspective) involve a certain level of foreknowledge by the narrator, and therefore allow you to bring up things that will later become important, diaries have to seem like they are written a day at a time, and so if you, as the writer, want something mentioned that may later become important but feels innocuous or meaningless to begin with, you have to think of clever ways of including them.

The decision to convey Leo’s story in the form of a diary was mostly dictated by the type of story I wanted to tell. Since Leo’s perspective, and especially his flaws which this perspective exposes, are part of his arc, it made sense to tell his story in a way that revealed Leo to the reader, that might not be obvious to Leo himself. The diary form allowed me to present a ‘slice-of-life’ novel in a way that didn’t feel like I was cluttering the reader’s mind with irrelevant detail. The things Leo notices in his day-to-day life, which he thinks are worthy of being mentioned in his diary, tell us often more about Leo than they do about anything else. His wry observations about his neighbours, his work, his family and his friends serve not just to make us aware of the world around him, but mostly to unravel the way Leo sees the world – and eventually it allows us to monitor his growth and progress as a human being.

I had great fun writing this book. It was a labour of love from start to finish. I hope this comes through while reading it. It’s meant to be funny, light and romantic. I hope it’s as enjoyable to read as it was to write.

Blurb

Friday, 23 January

The cat funeral.

Yeah, that happened today. I went and participated in—aided and abetted?—a cat funeral.

London life is tough on idealists. In an ideal world, after years of flirtation, Leo would be cosily settled down with Jack, his long-time crush. In an ideal world, Jack wouldn’t now be engaged to a woman. And in an ideal world, Leo would move on.

When handsome new neighbour Alex moves in opposite Leo, an opportunity to do so presents itself. But Alex is probably straight, working class, and poorer than Leo. While Jack’s engagement unravels, and Leo’s friendship with Alex deepens, will Leo manage to find happiness with the right man? Or will he succumb to his enemies: self-doubt, family expectations, and pride?

Told in diary form, this is both the story of a love triangle in London and the chronicle of a man’s struggles to confront his self-image and overcome his insecurity.

Author bio:

Marina Ford is a thirty-year-old book addict, who would, if permitted, spend all of her time in bookstores, libraries, or in her own bed with stacks and stacks of books. Luckily, she has a husband and a dog who force her to interact with humans of planet Earth from time to time. In fact, she so enjoyed falling in love with her husband that she can’t resist evoking those same feelings in the love stories she creates in her head. She does not believe in love at first sight— but she does believe in Happy Ever After, though it must be earned. She likes her stories to be light and frothy, since real life can be miserable enough without making up more of it in fiction. She lives in England, loves rain (gives one an excuse to stay at home and read books, right?), long walks (when it doesn’t rain), history, love stories, classical literature, pulpy literature, Jane Austen, languages, and dogs. It is her dream to one day possess an enormous country house in which each room is a library (okay, maybe except for the kitchen), and in which there are more dogs than people. A smaller and perhaps more realistic dream of hers is to make people smile with the things she writes.

Release Day Blitz: Delayed Gratification by Tamryn Eradani (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Delayed Gratification

Series: Daniel & Ryan, Book 1

Author: Tamryn Eradani

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: January 16th

Heat Level: 5 – Erotica

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 11300

Genre: Erotica, BDSM; Businessmen; Friends to Lovers

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Daniel Brown is a man of routine. You might even call him a control freak. So when the new Director of Marketing, Ryan Cole, starts shaking up Daniel’s routine, Daniel doesn’t know how to react. He finds Ryan intriguing, infuriating and oh so attractive, but he doesn’t mix business with pleasure. As their games start to grow kinkier, dare Daniel give in to his desire to let Ryan top him?

Excerpt

There’s another donut on his desk the next morning.

There isn’t even the slightest bit of temptation this time as Daniel picks it up and deposits it on Tracy’s desk. She ate yesterday’s donut, and he doesn’t doubt she’ll eat this one too. Personally, he would never eat something a stranger left on his desk, but he explained the mysteriously appearing donut and she chose to eat it anyway.

He sets the donut down on Tracy’s desk and notices a light on, on the other side of the room, across three rows of cubicles. One of the driving forces behind Daniel’s desire to get promoted was the thought of having an office of his own, of not being hemmed in by cubicle walls or surrounded by people who don’t know how to focus even though that’s what they’re paid to do.

Daniel’s usually the first person in every day and one of the last to leave, and he’s curious who else is here this morning.

He winds through cubicles until he can get a good look at the occupied office.

Ah, Ryan Cole.

He’s the new Director of Marketing, hired a month or maybe two months ago. Daniel had stopped by the welcoming party in between calls. His first call had been an average sale. The second ended in one of Daniel’s best sales this quarter. He’s hoping to get a mention at the next all-company meeting.

Daniel doesn’t remember anything about the welcoming party except a vague sense of distrust, because the man has two first names. One of them, ostensibly, is a last name, and Daniel knows you don’t have control over your last name, but it’s something that bothers him. He likes neat rows of boxes and everything to fit in its box.

A person should have a clear first name and a clear last name.

Ryan’s at his desk, dark head of hair the only thing visible as he fiddles with something at his desk.

With a Krispy Kreme bag.

Coincidence, Daniel tells himself, even though there was a donut on his desk this morning, and there’s only one other person in the office here right now, and that person happens to have a bag from a donut shop.

Bribe, maybe, he thinks next. Sales and marketing have always had a tumultuous relationship at best, and maybe the new guy is trying to fix that. Daniel should tell him bribery isn’t the way to go.

Ryan looks up from what he’s doing, and he catches Daniel staring.

Ryan smirks and holds Daniel’s gaze as he pulls a glazed donut out of the bag. Daniel doesn’t know where to look. The donut is dangerous, because his self-control is stretched thin after two days of denying himself something he wants. The man is even more dangerous.

There’s a knowing look in Ryan’s brown eyes, something that suggests this isn’t a bribe either. It’s something else, something deeper, and Daniel shuts that train of thought down right away. It’s not that. He wouldn’t suggest—he couldn’t know—he…

No, Daniel tells himself firmly.

“Good morning,” he tells Ryan, as if that had been the purpose of his cross-office trip, and then he promptly returns to his own office.

He pulls the blinds to the interoffice windows and sits down in front of his laptop.

It takes him 2.4 minutes to put Ryan out of his mind.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Meet the Author

Tamryn studied English and Creative Writing in school but has been writing since she could first hold a pencil. Recently, she’s turned her focus towards writing erotica. She enjoys writing stories where sex comes first, then feelings, because doing things out of order can be fun.

Tamryn has spent the past few months writing the Daniel and Ryan series with a lovely view of mountains out her window, and she’s now searching for a new mountain range to serve as her backdrop as she begins her next project.

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A VVivacious Review: Delayed Gratification (Daniel and Ryan #1) by Tamryn Eradani

Rating – 5 Stars out of 5

Daniel Brown is being tempted every day with a glazed donut on his desk. When he realises that the new Director of Marketing, the one with the two first names, Ryan Cole is the guy putting the donuts on his desk, he realises what the donuts actually stand for. The only question remaining is if, Daniel is ready to take Ryan up on his not so innocent offer?

Daniel Brown is a man of routine. Indeed. Daniel is incredibly prim and proper, his body is in shape; he eats super healthy and denies himself all temptations all week long only to reward himself at the end of the week. He is quirky, borderline-OCD but Oh My God! He was just so prim and proper, I wanted to mess him up! But some of his quirks had me empathizing so much, like the fact that he only went around the left side of his secretary’s desk because that way it was two seconds faster and the way he liked being the first one in his office so that he could soak up the quiet. I mean I was in the story the moment we got to meet Daniel.

This book is very well written, like amazingly so. I loved the precise sentences that just cut away all the frills and get to the point. This book is all from Daniel’s point of view but I loved how the author despite being limited by Daniel’s worldview still manages to give us a such a holistic view of Ryan because Oh My God! Ryan.

I was amazed my Ryan he is like so relaxed and calm and not exactly laid-back but kind of like at peace with himself and personally I was wondering how that would translate to his Dominant side but my! Oh My! I was not at all disappointed. It was the most amazing transformation because it wasn’t one means I was finding it hard to reconcile these two aspects of Ryan’s character but the author had it spot on. He was not only a relaxed, calm, at peace with himself kind of guy he was also a Dom, it was just that simple.

The actual scene actually took my breath away because it was so simple and in a way it was all in Daniel’s head. But somehow that entire scene just put everything into perspective.

I honest to God screamed when this book ended because it is really short, like a short-story short but despite being so short it has this wealth of words that impart so much meaning and I am going to ignore the fact that this got over so soon because I know there is a sequel and I just can’t wait to get my greedy hands on it.

Cover Art by Natasha Snow. It is an amazing cover! I loved the dark colours and their dark overtones, it looks amazing and perfectly fits the story.

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NineStar Press

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 43 pages
Expected publication: January 16th 2017 by NineStar Press
ASINB01MS1XD9D
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDaniel and Ryan #1

A Stella Release Day Review: By The Numbers (By the Numbers #1) by Chris Owen and Tory Temple

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Deuce is coming home from work and find his apartment on fire. His first thought is to Q, his very pregnant dog. Luckily Trey,the hot fireman, has saved her. From that moment,a new friendship and lately more will born between deuce and Trey.

By The Numbers by Chris Owens and Tory Temple was a success to me this second time too. I remembered this story, I bought it when it was first published some years ago. I read a lot and if I remind a book, it means it really impressed me in a positive way.
That’s why I requested this second edition, I was curious to see how it was changed and how (or if) my tastes were changed too. Well I still loved it.

I liked Deuce a lot, how joyous and enthusiastic he was, how caring he was of Q and her puppies, the way he approached life and its difficult times, always with an easiness hard to find around.

I loved how Trey and Deuce became first friends, knew each other; of course the attraction was there since they met but it was measured and the authors left space to the knowing part first, not to the chemistry. That said there were a lot of sex scenes and they were really hot. There were a lot of puppies, adorable and messy as only puppies could be.

There was some child time and some adult time, even at the fire station.

By The Numbers by Chris Owens and Tory Temple is a light and quick read, cute and well done. I adored it and I feel to highly recommend it.

Cover Artist: Maria Fanning. Cover is adorable.

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Book Details:

ebook, 2nd Edition, 143 pages
Expected publication: January 16th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press, LLC (first published September 27th 2011)
ISBN 1635332311 (ISBN13: 9781635332315)
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesBy the Numbers #1

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Love is Heartless (Love Can’t Series #2) by Kim Fielding

Dreamspinner Press Cover art by Brooke Albrecht

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Afraid to Fly (Anchor Point #2) by L.A. Witt Riptide Publishing Cover Artist L.C. Chase

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Lovesick by Marina Ford Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Alexandria Corza

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Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Brooke Albrecht

Afraid to Fly (Anchor Point #2) by L.A. Witt
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist L.C. Chase

Lovesick by Marina Ford
Dreamspinner Press