Category: M/M Contemporary Fiction

In the Book Spotlight: Classic
 (Rainbow Connection
 #3) by Lynn Townsend

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Classic
 (Rainbow Connection
 #3) by Lynn Townsend
Release Date: September 2, 2015

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Publisher: Torquere Press
Cover Artist: BSClay

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Sales Links:  Torquere Books

STRW Author BookSynopsis

Beau Watkins and Vin Reyes have mended their differences, but that doesn’t mean that everything is back the way it was. When Beau’s teenage niece shows up with her son in tow, Beau is thrown unexpectedly into a world of adult responsibilities and adult decisions, all of which could have disastrous consequences. Reconciliation with his family is complicated by an overseas internship with a predatory business woman.

Vin still struggles with his alcoholism, with finding his place in a world after college, and establishing relationships with his newfound father and sister. The last puzzle piece of Vin’s mysterious past is clicked into place when he comes face-to-face with his mother’s ex-fiance. His relationship with Beau has never been stronger… until an unexpected email threatens to topple everything they’ve build together.

Pages or Words: 69,900 words

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

Beau grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and tossed it in his gym bag. Outside, David laid on the horn.
“Coming,” Beau muttered to the empty room. Vin was off touring yet another one of his grandfather’s facilities in the endless, looping discussion about what he was going to do with his life.Beau locked the door behind himself, and skipped most of the bottom half of the stairs with a one-handed rail-jump. He waved to the Escalade, knowing David would see him behind the tinted windows. Beau felt a flutter of pleasurable nerves in his gut; it had been a while since he’d gone out dancing–avoiding the bars was in Vin’s best interests for the time being–and he really needed a workout. David had suggested a trip to the gym, where he’d teach Beau some of the basics in kick-boxing.
Beau just reached the door when someone grabbed his shoulder. He dropped his bag, whirling, heart in his throat, breathing hard. He knocked the offending limb aside. The passenger side door of the Escalade flew open and David slid out, gun already in hand.
“Back away from Mr. Watkins, sir,” David advised, his voice low and firm.
“I am Mr. Watkins,” the man said, confused. “Beau?”
“Lee?” Beau’s legs almost gave out from under him and he leaned hard against the side of the SUV, feeling the black painted metal heating his skin. “Jesus Christ.”
“Are you all right, sir?” David didn’t look away from his target, his gun still trained on Beau’s older brother.
“Parking lot,” Beau said. David knew about his panic attacks. David had been there when Vin found Beau, beaten and bloody, on the asphalt, two years ago.
“Back. Up.” David slid the rest of the way out of the vehicle. “I consider you a threatening individual.”
“My God, David,” Beau said. David wasn’t wearing his typical three-piece suit, probably the first time Beau had ever seen him dressed casually, in black sweatpants and a white tank top, his gun holster buckled to his chest like some sort of kinky lingerie. Beau’d always suspected the raw strength underneath the tailored coats, but he’d never actually seen it. David was cut from a block of wood, hard muscles overlaid with tanned skin, marred here and there by scars, one of which could have been caused by nothing less than a bullet wound. “Lee is my brother.”
“Which does not negate the need to protect you from him, sir,” David said. “I’ve heard about his letters. Not only that, but I saw Mr. Reyes’s throat after spring break. This is a dangerous individual.”
“I kinda dislocated his shoulder for that,” Beau admitted. “Seriously, David, put the gun away and put on a shirt, you’re makin’ me horny.”
“Yah, you’re cute, kid, but not that cute.” David gave Lee a particularly fierce look. “I am very fond of your brother. I will shoot you if I even think you’re about to do something stupid. Are we crystal on this?”
“Yeah, clear, man,” Lee said. He took a cautious step backward. “I just wanna talk to him. I’m not here to pick a fight.”
Beau nodded. “Right. We’ll go talk on the steps,” he said.
Lee waited until they were out of earshot. “What the hell is that guy’s problem?”
“David and Vin saved my life a few years back,” Beau said. “I think David takes it personally that he wasn’t there to keep Contreras from beating the shit out of me. And you did try to crush Vin’s throat.” Beau’s legs were still wobbly and he collapsed onto the stairs gratefully.
“Whatever, man.”
It was barely worth the effort to glare at Lee. “What are you doing here? What do you want? How the hell did you even find our place?” Beau leaned his head against the brick wall. He would probably kill someone for a cigarette, but he was trying to quit–again–and didn’t currently have any on him.
“I got the address from Sheila, down at the post office. I asked her where Momma was sending all your packages.”
“Well, that’s just a little bit creepy,” Beau said. Not that it wasn’t typical; small towns did not hold with big federal laws about privacy. It wasn’t private, between kin, and half the town was related to most of the other half. “Sit down, Lee. My head already hurts.”
Lee dropped onto the porch, leaning his weight back on one arm. He looked older. There was no better word for it. His usually needs-a-haircut curls were gone, close clipped in an almost military style, and he’d finally shaved off the soul patch under his lip. Lee wore a button down shirt and jeans. Near his knee, there was a red smear of something that might have been dried jelly.
“How have you been, kid?” Lee asked.
“Are we being nice? Is that what we’re doing here? Nice? After… well, after everything?”
“I didn’t think you’d listen to me if I called.” Lee raked a hand over his scalp, his wedding ring glinting in the sun.
“I suppose you think I’m being unreasonable, all things considered?” Beau asked.
“Look, I’m sorry about the letters,” Lee said.
“Don’t apologize to me about them.” Beau snorted. “I didn’t read ’em after the first two. Broke my hand on the wall wishin’ it was your skull. Ann-Marie read them for me, to see if you’d stopped being an ass. Haven’t gotten one in a while. Something change in your life?”

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Lynn Townsend is a geek, a dreamer and an inveterate punster. When not reading, writing, or editing, she can usually be found drinking coffee or killing video game villains. Lynn’s interests include filk music, romance novels, octopuses, and movies with more FX than plot.

Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/LynnTownsendwriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tisfan
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kthicks3/
Other: http://paidbytheweird.blogspot.com/
Other: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tisfan

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Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Happily Ever Chapter, Bayou Book Junkie, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, MM Good Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, BFD Book Blog, Inked Rainbow Reads, Molly Lolly, Velvet Panic, Jessie G. Books, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Divine Magazine, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My

 

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Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: Trilogy of books, Roll, Blues and Classic. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
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In the Spotlight: Reckless Hope (Letting Go #2) by j. leigh bailey (author interview, excerpt and giveaway)

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Reckless Hope (Letting Go #2) by j. leigh bailey
Release Date: August 24, 2015

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Goodreads Link
Publisher: Carina Press

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Sales Links: amazon | barnes&noble | kobo | ibooks

My interview with j. leigh bailey

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing j. leigh bailey, author of Reckless Hope.

Hi j. leigh, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Thank you so much for having me! I’m j. leigh bailey, author of New Adult and Young Adult male/male romance. I live in the Chicagoland area and have always believed that nothing—not race, gender, sexual identity, religious background or paranormal affiliation—should get in the way of the vitally important Happy Ever After ending.

  • Tell us about your book.

RECKLESS HOPE is an opposites attract New Adult romance, in which I’ve paired up a hard-working, super-responsible, over-scheduled guy with a hard-partying, entitled, wealthy adrenaline junkie. Together they discover that learning to trust is a risk, and sometimes the risk is well worth the reward

  • How difficult was it to get into the main character’s head?

There are a few challenges I face in getting into the head of my main characters. I’m neither a young male nor gay. Clearly, I don’t have the exact life experiences that match up to my characters.  But I was once twenty. I struggled to find my way, to define my future. One of the greatest things about writing, or even reading, is that the characters, even the non-human ones, have a shared human experience. We all go through stages of growth, of challenges. We all have periods of grief and excitement. We all fall in love and get our hearts broken. It’s exploring and facing these challenges, and hopefully overcoming them, that make books so much fun. It’s proof, through fiction, that people are capable of surviving and, at least in romantic fiction, achieving a happy ever after ending.

Which all sounds very… philosophical, which isn’t very me. The biggest challenge I face, really, is creating an authentic young male voice. Even when I was twenty, I used words and phrasing that came off as “too adult.” There’s a fine line between language that is so simple or clichéd as to insult young men everywhere, and using language that makes my young men sound like thirty-something women with a love of “big” words. Trying to sound realistic, and not stereotypical, while in my characters’ heads can be a struggle.

  • Is this book a standalone or do you plan on visiting it again?

Reckless Hope is the second book in my Letting Go series, though it, and the others, are stand-alone. They share a common theme, but don’t have any characters or locations in common. I have a couple of characters who are introduced in this book, though, that I may decide to expand upon. Micah’s best friend Jace is kind of a hoot, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him paired up with someone who won’t know how to handle his slightly dramatic flair.

  • Why did you choose to write M/M stories?

I’ve been reading romance since I was 11 years old. Even before that, the television shows and stories I read tended to have a romantic pair-up. Added to it, I read about 100 pages an hour, so I’ve read a lot of different books in a lot of different genres. I went through phases. For a while it was all romantic suspense. Then it was Regency romance. Then it was medieval romance. Then paranormal. If it was romance, I would read it. One day I read a male/male romance and it changed everything. In a male/male romance you have all the same elements that make a great romance, the same kinds of conflict that make getting from point A to point HEA so exciting. But you also have the added conflict of social pressure, the questions of to-PDA or not-to-PDA, out or in. Extra conflict that can make achieving the happily ever after ending more rewarding.

  • Where do you find your inspiration?

For me, I’ll get a phrase or an image stuck in my head. That phrase or image grows into a scene. Next thing I know, I’ve got a story brewing in my brain. Almost always I see an opening scene, or the scene in which the characters first meet, and I see how I want their story to end. Then I get to watch everything unfold from the first meeting to the end, just like I was reading the book as I was writing it. Sometimes I’m surprised at the direction the story takes me, but always the first scene and the last scene stick.

Thank you so much for having me!

STRW Author BookSynopsis

What’s life without a little risk?

Or a lot of risk, if you’re Sebastian Carlisle. He’ll never live up to the legacy of his dead brother, so why try? Being the wild child in a family of stuck-up rich snobs suits him just fine.

Until he meets Micah Burke, and everything changes.

Micah’s got too much going on for a relationship. Even if he could trust Sebastian, a distraction—a sexy, reckless distraction with a death wish—would only derail his carefully scheduled life. If it were just Micah, maybe that would be fine, but his mother and sister depend on him, and he can’t let them down. Or at least that’s what he tells himself.

A hot moment leads to a hot night leads to a connection neither of them are ready for. And when a crisis hits Micah’s family hard, Sebastian will have to shed his bad-boy image and decide whether he can be the man Micah needs—and Micah needs to decide whether he’ll let him.

Book two of Letting Go
Pages or Words: 67,000
Categories: M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

“I thought I knew what kind of person you were.”
“Yeah, you made that pretty clear.”
Micah cringed, but kept going. “You take for granted everything I work my ass off to achieve. It’s easy for you. And now I know there’s more to you than that. I don’t understand your choices, or the need for an adrenaline rush you seem to have.” He held up a hand to keep Sebastian from saying anything. He scooted up, resting his back against the handlebars. “I don’t have to understand. It’s part of who you are.”
“Somehow I don’t think this discussion is heading in a direction I’m going to like.” Sebastian drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
“The thing is, you’re a bad influence on me.”
“I don’t—”
“You don’t even have to do anything. Take tonight, for instance.”
“Tonight?”
“I have a midterm tomorrow. I should be studying. Or even sleeping. Instead I’m here. I never have trouble doing what I’m supposed to do. Setting aside my ‘want tos’ to do my ‘have tos.’ Except around you.”
“I’m not trying to make your life harder. I’m just trying to be part of it.”
“That’s what I don’t get. You could have almost anyone. You could find someone a hell of a lot less complicated than me.”
“You may not believe it, but I don’t mind complications.”

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

j. leigh bailey is an office drone by day and the author of New Adult and Young Adult LGBT Romance by night. She can usually be found with her nose in a book or pressed up against her computer monitor. A book-a-day reading habit sometimes gets in the way of… well, everything…but some habits aren’t worth breaking. She’s been reading romance novels since she was ten years old. The last twenty years or so have not changed her voracious appetite for stories of romance, relationships and achieving that vitally important Happy Ever After. She’s a firm believer that everyone, no matter their gender, age, sexual orientation or paranormal affiliation deserves a happy ending.

She wrote her first story at seven, which was, unbeknownst to her at the time, a charming piece of fan-fiction in which Superman battled (and defeated, of course) the nefarious X Luther. She was quite put out to be told, years later, that the character’s name was actually Lex. Her second masterpiece should have been a best-seller, but the action-packed tale of rescuing her little brother from an alligator attack in the marshes of Florida collected dust for years under the bed instead of gaining critical acclaim.

Now she writes New Adult and Young Adult LGBT Romance novels about boys traversing the crazy world of love, relationships and acceptance.

Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.bailey.39948
Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/JLeighBailey
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JenniWrites

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Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: An eBook copy of Nobody’s Hero (Letting Go book 1) and an eBook copy of Reckless Hope.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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Tour Dates & Stops:
24-Aug

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Velvet Panic, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My

25-Aug

Hearts on Fire, Havan Fellows

26-Aug

Amanda C. Stone, Divine Magazine

27-Aug

V’s Reads, Boys on the Brink Reviews, BFD Book Blog

28-Aug

EE Montgomery, Bayou Book Junkie

31-Aug

Happily Ever Chapter, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat

1-Sep

MM Good Book Reviews, Cathy Brockman Romances, Jessie G. Books

2-Sep

Dawn’s Reading Nook, Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Hearts on Fire

3-Sep

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads

4-Sep

Just Love Romance, Molly Lolly

ug
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Velvet Panic, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My
25-Aug
Hearts on Fire, Havan Fellows
26-Aug
Amanda C. Stone, Divine Magazine
27-Aug
V’s Reads, Boys on the Brink Reviews, BFD Book Blog
28-Aug
EE Montgomery, Bayou Book Junkie
31-Aug
Happily Ever Chapter, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat
1-Sep
MM Good Book Reviews, Cathy Brockman Romances, Jessie G. Books
2-Sep
Dawn’s Reading Nook, Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Hearts on Fire
3-Sep
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads
4-Sep
Just Love Romance, Molly Lolly

A Mika Review: Outcast Cowboys by Sarah Masters

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Outcast Cowboys coversYou can run but you cannot hide. Problems have a habit of following you, even if it’s only inside your head.

Ross decides to start a new life away from the grim belly of London, England, unable to stomach being a cop any longer. He tells himself he’s moving miles away to find himself a bed partner, but he’s lying. He has to. Facing up to the real reason he’s leaving isn’t something he can handle. His last undercover job proved too much—his life was at risk—and if he stays in London he’ll likely end up dead. Nightmares plague him, his subconscious unable to switch the past off. So he moves to a ranch in America, thinking the new surroundings and different lifestyle will help him to heal—and to forget. What he soon realizes is he’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire…

Joe’s passion—that of caring for the horses—is the only thing that keeps him sane. He’s a surly man, and for good reason—a reason he hasn’t told a soul. Folks think he’s mean and unapproachable and suspect him of committing murder. More than once. Locals assume that Joe got let off the hook. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Joe lets people think what they will. He’s done with their speculation and sly looks.

When Ross and Joe meet, tension is rife. The air between them prickles with animosity as well as sexual tension. Both have a past they can’t get over. Both have skeletons in their closets they wish would turn to dust. And both have to make a decision. Can they cast their fears aside and trust each other, or have the terrors they’ve experienced ruined them for love?

Outcast Cowboys by Sarah Masters more of a psychological drama and less of cowboy story, dealing with murder and mayhem. One characters past life was as a British police officer. We start with a past flashback where Ross was in London as an undercover cop. I do not know how realistic this is. I enjoy stories like those from time to time, but I guess I felt detached from the very beginning because of the dark feelings from the book.

It was somber for most of the plot and that kept me from connecting with any of the characters. I think that just to drop that career into another country, and  to up and become a cowboy in said country with no qualifications felt unrealistic. I could see if he was a wanderer, but he has no skill sets for this. Then meeting Joe, it is rocky start to say the least. There was immediate hostility between the two as well as a total lack of chemistry in my opinion.  I think it made getting together more of a booty call at best than an actual romance.

I do not know if I understand what Joe was going on about in the beginning, his attitude was horrid, then after one day, he completely changes his tune. He changed and I did not believe it at all. I couldn’t relate to either character. It felt very disjointed throughout most of the story. The tone seemed different from the beginning to the middle. Some things did not make sense to me, like talking about murdered horses, and burned down dorms. The drama aspect of the story did not make sense. Here I was thinking that this was going to be a straight CR m/m story with a foreigner and a cowboy falling in love over the horses. I did not like anything about this. I have picked it up 3 or 4 times just to get through the story. Sadly, at the end I was not happy with the plot or the characters.

 Cover Art by Posh Gosh. The cover was one reason I was interested. The cowboy boots makes me believe I’m going to get a happy, contemporary story. While it wasn’t that, I did think the cover was nice.

Sales Links: Pride Publishing |  All Romance (ARe)  | Amazon  | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published July 21st 2015 by Totally Bound
ISBN13 9781784306625
edition language English
url https://www.pride-publishing.com/outcast-cowboys
 other editions None found