Category: M/M Paranormal Fiction

A MelanieM Review: Under the Gun: King of Hearts Five by Havan Fellows (Pulp Friction 2015: Altered States Book 18)

Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

Under the Gun coverIn a world where supernatural creatures openly exist, who can blame them for coalescing in one of the most fascinating and erotic places on earth? Welcome to New Orleans.

A sex demon no longer interested in feeding just for the necessity of it.

Laurant is secure enough in his demonhood to admit to the few flaws he has, such as mouthing off to the wrong people and ignoring warnings from his dear old dad…but he isn’t quite ready to fess-up to his latest self-revelation. He doesn’t want to feed from any other person or supernatural but the mystery man who is no longer a mystery. Unfortunately, it seems there are other people who want Gun for themselves, and Laurant might not be strong enough to keep him.

They say you can never go home…what they didn’t mention was that trying might be the death of you…

Gun finally knows who and what he is…now he needs to find out why. He’s been commuting between New Orleans and his hometown in Maine for the past couple of months in search of answers, and all he’s found out is that half the population is afraid of him and the other half wants him dead. He longs for the simpler times in life when all he had to worry about was beating off an incubus’s advances and who had the king of hearts to complete his flush. Now he’s fighting against human police and supernatural creatures alike…and the winner takes all.

Gun needs to come to terms with who he was to figure out who he is. Laurant needs to decide if he will stand beside whichever Gun prevails.

May the real Gun please stand up.

Under the Gun by Havan Fellows gives the mysterious Gun and the irrepressible Laurant the answers they have been searching for from the moment they met in a story that’s full of surprises and just as many heart-felt moments.  Book five is always the deciding story.  How is it all going to shake out for our heroes?  Are they going to get their HEA?  And in this series who is going to feel the pain, feel the blood run?

Gun with his stolen memories and Laurant with his longing hidden behind his sexy walls are perfect for each other.  But there are enemies, unknown and familiar to contend with as well as their own fears before any sort of happiness is to be had.

Havan Fellows has made us care for these two powerful and widely disparate characters, especially Laurant,  I have such a wide space in my heart for Laurant, for all his age, power, and bravado, there is a courage to him and loyalty to his character that shines through every scene.  Laurant glows on the page and how he would enjoy that were he real.   Gun too has grown through each story until his strength is more than a match for Laurant’s  power, and not just magically speaking. Intellectually as well as passionately, Laurant and Gun are perfection and nothing demonstrates that better than this story.

Under the Gun has no one fine moment, it has a multitude of them.  From the heat of the bedroom (or wherever Gun and Laurant happen to be) to the sheer terror of the final showdown, Fellow’s descriptions  pull us into the actions and emotions of the immediate scenes.  I had no idea who had survived, or who was lost and I was heartbroken…until I turned the page.  I was there so throughly invested with this couple and their relationship that the story was over before I could  blink.  And then because I loved it so I started over reading it again.

If you’ve been following this series, be prepared for a treat.  Its sexy, its scary, and its a slam bang of a fine ride.  Don’t miss out on a word of it.  I highly recommend it and all of the previous stories.  Grab it up today.

Love the cover.  Great job.

Sales Link:  All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published October 31st 2015 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN139781941841372

Pulp Friction 2015

Welcome to the Pulp Friction world…though you can certainly read the King of Hearts series by itself, the other three series greatly enriches your reading enjoyment. But beware, the supernaturals in our world want to show you much more than just a good time…

About Pulp Friction 2015

Lee Brazil ~ Havan Fellows ~ Parker Williams ~ Laura Harner

The Pulp Friction 2015 Altered States Collection.
Four authors.
Four Series.
Twenty books.
One supernatural finale.

Spend a year with the creatures that go bump in the night…fighting for their rights to exist and protecting the innocents of The Big Easy. A diverse group of friends trying to find their place in a world they never had to “fit” into before.

Although each series can stand alone, we believe reading the books in the order they are released will increase your enjoyment.

Round One:
Drawing Dead ~ Blind Stud ~ The Devil’s Bedpost ~ Diamonds and Dust

Round Two:
Dead Blind ~ Stud Player ~ Up the Ante ~ Diamond Draw

Round Three:
Dead Button ~ Blind Man’s Bluff ~ Devil’s Playground ~ Diamond Edge

Round Four:
Dead Man’s Hand ~ Blind Hearts ~ High Stakes ~ Diamond Flush

Round Five:
Dead Money ~ Under the Gun ~ Devil’s Due ~ Diamonds Down and Dirty

Supernatural Spotlight: Lisa Oliver ‘Watching Out For Fangs (author interview, excerpt and giveaway)

actual cover copy

Watching Out For Fangs (Cloverleah #7) by Lisa Oliver 
Release Date: October 17, 2015

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Oliver Group Publications
Cover Artist: Lisa Oliver

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Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Lisa Oliver, author of book 7 in the Cloverleah Pack, Watching Out For Fangs. Hi Lisa, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hello and thank you for hosting me here today. Some of your readers may know my books already – this is my 17th one. All of my books are M/M paranormal books – shifters, vampires and so much more to come. In this book, Josh, who is a newcomer to Cloverleah meets Vadim, his true mate. Unfortunately he is unconscious at the time, and Vadim heads home to Atlanta, convinced he doesn’t have what it takes to be a good mate. Of course, being one of my books, the men don’t stay apart for long thanks to a couple of interfering Fae, and that’s a good thing too, as the men of Cloverleah are under threat again – this time from a coven and a pack. It can be read as standalone.

  • Favorite thing about building your own world?

I get to make the rules! I have five different series going at the moment and while there are some rules that apply to all of them – no cheating, no cliff hangers and an HEA – there are subtle differences between all of the different “worlds” that I get to choose.  I’m a control freak and the first to admit it.

  • What inspired you to write your first book?

I’m going to qualify that with first “fiction” book as I have written non-fiction in the past as well.  I had always thought I couldn’t write fiction as dialogue was a real problem for me. Once I got older I decided I could do whatever I wanted to do, and things kinda snowballed from there.

  • Do you have a specific writing style?

I write the same way as I talk – so my books are my way of telling you a story. All of my books so far have been from a duel POV, although after getting told in my first book that I had blurred the lines a bit with that, I now make specific section breaks to show clearly who is thinking what and why.

  • Who are some of the authors that influenced you to write?

My favorite author list is huge – no kidding. I couldn’t pinpoint just one but I love stories in all forms, and just a few of my favorites include Sandrine Gasq Dion and Charlie Richards. I used to think I wanted to write just like them, but I have since learned there is a place for my style of books as well. But I still read everything they put out.

  • What are some jobs you’ve held? Have any of them impacted your writing? How?

I have had a varied career path.  I’ve worked in lawyer’s offices, in accounts, a hotel receptionist and a newspaper office.  But on the other side of the coin I have also been a full time bartender, a waitress (which I hated) and a taxi driver. I don’t think it is any specific job that impacts my writing, but more my belief that you can do anything you set your mind too and hopefully that comes through in my work.

Thanks, Lisa, for the wonderful interview.  Now lets take a closer look at Watching Out for Fangs.

RC

Blurb

Josh moved from the huge San Antonio pack to join the men at Cloverleah looking for a bit more adventure, and the chance to meet his mate. He’s quick to adapt to the much smaller pack, and even his status as one of the few beta wolves in a group full of Alphas. A chance visit from the Atlanta coven has him meeting the man he was waiting for. It was just a damn shame he was unconscious at the time.

Vadim D’Arcy should be the Regent of the Atlanta coven, but he gave up his position years before when a personal tragedy had him hiding away in his huge mansion. Forced into a situation where he had to escort a cursed vampire to Cloverleah, he realizes pretty quickly that Josh is his true match. The only problem is, he doesn’t want one.

However threats on the pack, and two interfering Fae soon nudge the two men back together. Fighting other wolves, and even vampires is becoming commonplace for the Cloverleah pack. But a dark magic user just might have the last laugh. Can Vadim fight his personal demons long enough to keep his mate safe, and will Josh be there for him when he does? Or will a combined attack from the coven and the pack in Atlanta bring the entire Cloverleah pack to its knees?

Warnings: This is an m/m erotic romance featuring a sweet but staunch beta wolf, an old as sin vampire and all your other favorites from Cloverleah. HEA and no cliff hangers guaranteed.

 

Excerpt

“Everett was known as your favorite, yet you have set him free, compelled him to leave you and never return. You have met your true match, my son.” Not a question, but a statement of fact. Vadim opened his eyes, knowing he could never lie directly to his mother. He nodded instead, as his brain once again focused on Josh. What would the young wolf be feeling, knowing that Vadim had bonded with him without permission and then rejected him as a mate? Maybe some of the pain he was feeling was coming from his mate, even if they were separated by miles. That idea didn’t make him feel any better.

“The wolf you healed?” This time his persistent mother was asking a question so Vadim nodded again.

“And you didn’t think to stay and protect him?”

Letting out a deep breath in an effort to calm himself, Vadim said slowly, “I came here to protect him, from this coven and the Atlanta pack.”

“That didn’t work out too well for you now, did it?” Eloise had a small smile on her face as though a lot happier now she knew the reason behind the loss of Vadim’s fabled control. “What are you going to do?”

Vadim would have shrugged but that was a little hard to do with his arms strung up, so he was forced to speak instead. “Wait out my punishment. If I am released in time I will go home and sort out my affairs. Either way I anticipate it will all be over for me in six weeks as I haven’t fed for a while.”

In a strong flowing movement Eloise stood up, gliding over to where Vadim was chained, her gown settling around her feet in a soft mist. The finery of the pale blue looked incongruous against the dirty concrete floor.

“You would die rather than accept your true match? Why would you do such a cruel thing to your wolf? Is he that disfigured from the attack on him that you cannot look past it?” Vadim realized his mother was not only shocked, she was hurt as well, and damn it all, Vadim didn’t like it when the lovely woman was upset. So he answered as honestly as he knew how.

“Josh is beautiful, mother,” Vadim assured her softly, remembering all too well the lovely features of his mate’s face. They would be scorched in his brain until he took his last breath. “He is a loyal fighter, a beta wolf, with tanned skin and light hair that glows like a halo in the sun. There is nothing wrong with him at all.”

“Then why?” Easily asked, harder to answer.

“Because I made a promise, mother, surely you can understand.” Vadim’s voice hardened. “My true match, my mate, he’s a wolf and he deserves to be loved with an open heart. To be held and cared for, to be protected and cherished in the way of a wolf, not bonded forever to a vampire with no heart.”

Pages or Words: 270 pages/91,497 words
 Categories: Erotica, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance

 

Buy the book:  Amazon |All Romance eBooks | Smash Words

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Meet the Author

Lisa Oliver had been writing non-fiction books for years when visions of half dressed, buff men started invading her dreams. Unable to resist the lure of her stories, Lisa decided to switch to fiction books, and now stories about her men clamor to get out from under her fingertips.

When Lisa is not writing, she is usually reading with a cup of tea always at hand. Her grown children and grandchildren sometimes try and pry her away from the computer and have found that the best way to do it, is to promise her chocolate. Lisa will do anything for chocolate.

Lisa loves to hear from her readers and other writers. You can friend her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/lisaoliverauthor), catch up on what’s happening at her blog (http://www.supernaturalsmut.com) or email her directly at yoursintuitively@gmail.com.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

2-Nov: BFD Book Blog, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

3-Nov: MM Good Book Reviews, Carly’s Book Reviews

4-Nov: Havan Fellows, Mikky’s World of Books

5-Nov: Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My, Happily Ever Chapter

6-Nov: Just Love Romance, Love Bytes, Bonkers About Books

9-Nov: Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, Inked Rainbow Reads, Hearts on Fire

10-Nov: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

11-Nov: Open Skye Book Reviews, Jessie G. Books

12-Nov: Divine Magazine, Alpha Book Club

13-Nov: 3 Chicks After Dark, Bayou Book Junkie, Parker Williams

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: 3 print copies of ‘Watching Out For Fangs’ by Lisa Oliver (3 winners).  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

 

 

 

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A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Oracle / Book of Secrets – The Complete Collection (Oracle #1-2) by RJ Scott

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Oracle The Complete Collection gives readers an opportunity to own both books at a reduced price.

Oracle Collection coverBook 1 – Oracle

Love, adventure, an empath & an ancient relic that could destroy the world.

Alex Sheridan is a thief, able to steal even the hardest to reach antiquities. Luke MacKinnon is a professor of ancient languages.
When they come together to locate the Oracle, it is because both men have targets on their backs. Can love blossom when each day could be their last? And, how can they survive the evil that wants the Oracle?

Book 2 – Book of Secrets

Kidnapping, adventure, drama and the fight for eternal life.

Alex is making good on his promise to put things right; retrieving items he had stolen, and returning them to their rightful owners. It’s dangerous work, especially since he lost his most useful Oracle-given powers.

When Luke is kidnapped by a man intent on finding the secrets to eternal life, Alex has to make a bargain with the devil and break steal an item from the private library at Windsor Castle. Will Alex be too late to save the man he loves?

This book is actually two books in one: Oracle and its sequel, Book of Secrets. It’s a sweeping fantasy-paranormal-contemporary saga in which one man, Alex Sheridan, meets his soulmate, Luke MacKinnon, and together they learn that Alex is the infamous Oracle of Greek legend.

As the story opens, we meet Alex who, together with his partner Edward de Chauncey, is about to steal a priceless artifact from the British Museum. Alex and Edward own an antiquities business which specializes in placing hard-to-get items. It just so happens that Alex can get them because he has a gift which allows him to sidestep into another dimension, making him invisible to those here in the real world. Shortly after the theft, Edward is killed by a gunshot as armed men try to force their car off the road, and Alex is left alone with only Edward’s last words imploring him to go to Greece, echoing in his mind.

There he meets up with an old friend, Thanos, who alerts him to his true nature and the possibility that he is the Oracle come to life. Thanos has been holding his secret all his life, a secret passed down through generations of his family, only to be revealed when the Oracle is found. They realize that they need someone to translate the etchings and markings which cover Alex’s body—etchings which were carved into his skin when he was a child and are covered with the tattoos Alex felt he needed to hide them. Intuitively, he knows that he needs to connect with Luke MacKinnon, well-known professor and scholar and authority on ancient languages, a man he met briefly that night at the British Museum. Luke is well-known for his translations of ancient Greek, and since Alex has no memory of the first eight years of his life before Thanos found him lying on the beach half-dead, he hopes the markings on his body will give some answers.

At the time he was found, the atrocities committed on him were evident, but the boy had no memory of how they got there, so Thanos arranged for him to be adopted by friends from California, seeking to move Alex far away from any danger. Now, as an adult, Alex has come full circle back to Thanos in the hopes of solving the mystery of his scars and how that mystery connects to Edward’s murder.

What Alex and Luke uncover is a bizarre story of the second coming of the Oracle, and they also discover that the initials carved into Alek’s thigh so long ago actually spell out Luke’s name. It’s very evident that the two are destined to be together, soulmates apparently bonded centuries ago and destined to work together to carry out the prophecy of the Oracle made by the gods on Olympus.

Poor Luke is kidnapped twice in the story: once by the US Army and the next by a Serbian ex-Mafia chieftan. Everyone wants to get their hands on the Oracle for the power and the mystery as well as the possibility of eternal life and everyone seems to know that Luke is the best person to force into translating the ancient language. One of the best things to come out of Luke’s first kidnapping is his friendship with his rescuer, Chris Samuels, and Chris’s eventual romance with Griff Morgan. The two were a secondary MM couple in the story, becoming close friends of Luke and Alex and playing a prominent role in the Book of Secrets.

The first story focusing on the power of the Oracle and Alex’s abilities is very lengthy with a complex and convoluted plotline which I found a bit difficult to follow at times, however it ended dramatically in a very satisfying nail-biting adventure. It was starting to look like the fated lovers were going to become ill-fated lovers, but the surprise ending allowed for the possibility of a HFN or HEA.

In the second half of this story, originally Book of Secrets, Alex is on a quest to return all of the priceless items he and Edward had stolen. Griff and Chris, their good friends and housemates, play a pivotal role, helping to resolve Luke’s eventual kidnapping and working through possible solutions to the mystery Luke is kidnapped to translate. Alex’s powers and ability to shift into an invisible half-space are no longer with him at the beginning of the story, however one night when his back is to the wall and he’s about to be caught, he discovers remnants of his original gifts. His ability to fade and some of the “blue light” power he previously had seem to be returning, enough so he’s able to escape from a situation set up by an old nemesis, and he can make his way back home.

When Alex is then blackmailed by that nemesis to lift a document from the Queen’s chambers in Windsor Castle, he discovers that Luke has been kidnapped and it turns out that he’s being held to translate the very volume Alex lifted. It’s a document apparently originally penned by DaVinci that appears to be the key to the code for the Voynich Manuscript that has the reputation of holding the secrets to eternal life. Complex? Yes. If you put this down and walk away for a day, you will be lost. This is a story that needs to be the reader’s primary focus until complete. It’s quite creative and ingenious, entertaining, romantic, and wildly improbable. That’s pretty much why I described it as a fantasy-paranormal-contemporary story. It’s just too difficult to separate all the components and decide what to call it.

If you like epic adventures, you should like this one. It reminds this reviewer somewhat of Indiana Jones meets the Ten Commandments. There’s some reality woven in among the fantasy, and it’s set in a contemporary time period, but it’s got the gods, the sorcery, the mystery, and the romance to make it a story you won’t want to put down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cover Art by Meredith Russell features a split cover done in shades of browns and golds with Alex’s face in the forefront of a scene reminiscent of an ancient temple in the upper pane and with Luke’s face in the forefront of a scene of filled bookshelves in the lower pane, thereby representing both stories in the book.

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

Book Details:

Goodreads Link

ebook
Published September 16th 2015 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN139781785640254
series Oracle #1-2

A Stella Review: How We Began Anthology by Edie Danford , Alexis Hall , Delphine Dryden , Vanessa North , Amy Jo Cousins , Annabeth Albert , Geonn Cannon

RATING 4 stars out of 5

How We Began Anthology coverHow does love begin?

A glance, a gesture, an unexpected offer of help from a stranger…or from a good friend. A smile across a counter at a coffee shop or video store. A secret revealed in a song from another place and time. Or in a love ballad crooned at a high school dance.

In this anthology of never-before-published sweet LGBTQ+ stories, six authors explore the beginnings of love between young and new adult couples.

All proceeds will support The Trevor Project’s work with crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth.

How We Began is a sweet and interesting young adult anthology. All stories are really well done, I found some of my favorite authors and a couple of new to me writers. It has a perfect mix in plots, characters, genre and feelings. I particularly liked how each story has a “DearAuthor” at the start. Each very thoughtful.

The purpose of this anthology is really honorable and for this it deserves more than 5 stars but I’ll try to be honest in my review.

TruNorth by Alexis Hall 3,5 stars

Noah and Callum sing in a band called TruNorth. One night after a concert in New Berlin, Noah sees Callum sneaking out from their hotel and follows his mate to a place called Eldorado. Here Noah will find Aisling.

It’s not a news I’m a huge fan of Alexis Hall’s works, I’m sorry to say this dystopian tale is not his best but the magical atmosphere of his words is still there, no worries. Surely  the story is too short to be more developed but what I more missed were some specific elements in the setting and a connection with the MCs. I liked them together and how the story easily carry on till a right and sweet ending.

Unexpected Dragons by Delphine Dryden 4 stars

This is an unexpected surprise by a new to me author, I liked it a lot. For being so short this fantasy story worked so well to me, it has loveable  characters and a great defined world building, not many informations but what the author give me is more than enough to understand this dragons’ society. While it focuses more on the first shift for Zev and the romantic story between Rook and Zev is just outlined, there is space for some second characters like Zev parents that added emotions to a well done story. I want more!

A Song for Sweater-boy by Vanessa North 5 stars

Only Vanessa North could have picked an autistic young man as Jamie, high IQ, sweet and loyal to his family and Ash, an ambitious musician, beautiful and in probation, mix them in a prison-knitting program and score an awesome sweet and clever story, full of emotions and the unforeseen tears at the end. One of the few shorts I read so far that I’m feel really satisfied, I almost don’t want to know more about these boys, cause I know they are enjoying their HEA and I don’t want to disturb them. Really well done.

The Taste of Coffee and Cream by Amy Jo Cousins 4 stars

I had a hard time to get into this one and I’m really not sure why, cause at the end I realized this was the most complex, delicate and hurtful story. The writing style (hard to like) caught me unprepared for the beautiful development of Jude’s life. Her strength is clear in the braveness she has when each week takes a trip to another town to be the one true Jude. But her pain is weakened with the help of her savior, Owen and his mother, the most amazing woman in the world.

First in Line by Annabeth Albert 3,75 stars

First Line is an easy and quick story, just reading the title it brings me a smile on my face. The author was good at showing us how a shy farm boy like Ethaniel can collide (literally) with the force of nature is Nesto, out and proud and so supportive, and not only survive to his first day at college but easily coming out from his closet cause he is now in the right place. There are a lot of struggles but it is mostly a short full of positive feelings.

Extinction Level Events by Geonn Cannon 3,5 stars

This was my first ever FF story, I had no idea and I have to say I liked it a lot, especially the writing and the dialogues, engaging and never boring. I get the purpose of the author, to write about be brave to come out to the people who love us. I liked the characters but it needed a little more in the romantic part, I appreciated the beautiful friendship between Cassandra and Natalie but I wanted a couple of more pages about Cass’ new life and love.

The COVER is well done but I’d have preferred something different. Two boys can’t well represent an anthology with these variety of characters.

SALE LINK: AMAZON

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 297 pages
Expected publication: November 9th 2015 by Pink Kayak Press LLC
ASIN B016E0LULM
Edition Language English

 

Release Day Blitz – Secret of the Manor by Taylin Clavelli (excerpt)

Secret of the Manor Facebook Cover Art

 Secret of the Manor by Taylin Clavelli
 Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing

Blurb

Warren Blake is an accountant at the pinnacle of his career. After accepting a new position he decides to settle in the scenic Cotswold village of Walmsley Hackett.  A village with a colourful history of myth, old wives tales and mystery.

One morning during his train ride into work, Warren notices a small quaint church which he becomes enchanted with. Curiousity compels him to find the church and when he finally does, he discovers an unmarked grave in the corner. Feeling sorry for its occupant, Warren becomes a frequent visitor.

Little does he know that the young man inside the coffin needs a champion and Warren is chosen.

What follows involves a ghostly medieval joust, witchcraft, love, and Warren risking his life.

Secret of the Manor Cover

Buy Links: WIP | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon DE | ARe

Excerpt

DURING THE previous summer, midway through the building process, Warren had found a local stables and indulged his love of horses. The facility had both indoor and outdoor schools, a field full of jumps, and a cross-country course. Warren chose the place not only because of its impressive amenities, but because he immediately struck a chord with its aging owner, Carl. He and Carl rode together often. Their friendship developed during Sunday-afternoon rides through the vales and hills of the Cotswolds.

It was during one of the pair’s lollops into luxurious green canopies and winding trails that Warren first spotted a small church spire. But it was in the distance, and was soon out of sight. Even then, Warren was intrigued. Sadly, they never rode close enough for it to be anything but an image veiled by trees and for one reason or another he never asked about it.

Often, he and Carl didn’t talk at all when they rode together. They simply enjoyed the relaxing, mind-clearing experience of milling around the countryside on horseback. Short of the odd bird flying out of a hedge and scaring the bejesus out of them, or a rabbit making a dash for cover, riding was a time of compatible solitude, away from the rat race.

When Carl was in the mood to talk he regaled Warren with the origins of Walmsley Hackett. And when Carl spoke Warren stayed quiet, enamoured with his stories.

As it turned out, the 1800s was nowhere near the start of Cheltenham life. Unearthed historical finds suggested several villages in the Cotswolds dated back to Roman times, long before the Saxons, Vikings, and mediaeval Normans.

The historical tales were of varying believability. Carl often rolled his eyes while he glossed over the fables he considered ludicrous. Among those were stories of a jousting competition reenacted during the summer solstice. It was believed to take place in a field on the village border, and Carl had never met anyone who’d seen it. Other stories told of winged fairies in the woods during spring and a Roman army on the march.

Genre: Gay romance, mystery, paranormal, adventure
Length: Novel

About the author

Taylin Clavelli lives in the United Kingdom, about 15 miles south of Birmingham, and a short journey from the world famous Cadbury’s Chocolate factory. She’s married with children and loves her family with all her heart.

Her love of books has been a long standing affair, with Taylin liking nothing better than to lose herself in an imaginary world.

Until she met Lily Velden, she never considered trying her hand at writing. However, after talking ideas, Lily encouraged her to put pen to paper—or rather, fingers to keyboard. Since, with a few virtual kicks in the right place, she hasn’t stopped. Her confidence eventually led to her writing an original work for submission.

Her first published work was Boys, Toys, and Carpet Fitters, developed for the Dreamspinner Press Anthology – Don’t Try This At Home.

Now she absolutely adores immersing herself into the characters she creates, and transferring the pictures in her brain to paper, finding it liberating, therapeutic, and wonderful.

Outside of writing, her interests include; martial arts (she’s a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Taekwon-do), horse-riding, all of which facilitates her love of a wide variety of movies. Her action heroes include Jet Li and Tony Jaa—finding the dedication these men have for their art combined with their skill both amazing and a privilege to watch. If pressed, she’ll admit to thinking that the screen entrance of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl, and Shadowfax in LOTR, to be the greatest screen entrances ever. Her all-time favorite movies are Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

The simple things in life that make her day, putting a smile on her face are:

Laughter – especially that of her children.

The smell of lasagna cooking – it makes her mouth salivate.

The dawn chorus – no symphony ever written can beat the waking greetings of the birds.

Social links:

Website: http://www.taylinclavelli.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005234535413
Twitter: https://twitter.com/taylinclavelli

Dive Back Into the Supernatural with Melissa Grave’s Tainted Heart (author interview, excerpt and giveaway)

TaintedHeart 1600px SeriesCOVER-Front

Tainted Heart (Mi Corazón Sangrante #2) by Melissa Graves
Release Date: November 5, 2015

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: RJ Shepherd, Buckeyegrrl Designs

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Melissa Graves author of Tainted Heart.  Hi Melissa, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Tainted Heart is an urban paranormal story with themes of political intrigue and a heavy dose of erotica. The two main characters—a gay couple comprised of a human doctor who treats vampires and ends up falling for one, and the vampire he loves, a young, socially outcast man who was put through hell in high school—bring a variety of human and vampire experiences to the page. Brian, the doctor, comes from privilege and wants to make the world a better place, for vampires and humans alike. Kyle, the vampire, struggles to move on from his past and find a way to grow and give back on his own terms—unlike Brian, his love for the world he lives in is still somewhat conditional.
• How difficult was it to get into the main character’s head?

It’s actually surprisingly easy. I have a little of both Brian and Kyle in me. I love Brian’s optimism and determination to affect positive change. His energy and the faith that it creates is inspiring. But sadly, most of the time, I’m Kyle—trying to shake off the chains of persistent, youthful pessimism, far too wrapped up in memories and doubt to see the world as a work in progress instead of a system of oppressive stumbling blocks. One does much to balance out the other. In the first book, we get more of the shiny, new relationship trappings, so the differences between them aren’t highlighted. In Tainted Heart, we get to see them struggle as a couple for the first time—so readers will get some realism to contrast the first time romance theme in Bleeding Heart.
• Is this book a standalone or do you plan on visiting it again?

Tainted Heart is the second book in the Mi Corazon Sangrante trilogy. Bleeding Heart, the first book, was an introduction. Tainted Heart is the meat of the story of Brian and Kyle, how they struggle and settle with themselves, their responsibilities, and others. The third and final book will hopefully leave readers with a solid sense of completion and a good idea of how the rest of the characters’ lives will play out. I definitely want to provide satisfactory closure—I hate when book series go on and on with little to no clear purpose and leave the reader wondering why this thing is still happening.
• Why did you choose to write M/M stories?

It wasn’t so much a choice as a quest. I grew up obsessed with romance novels with neat plots and heart-pounding tension that led to explicit erotica. There was little chance of finding that in combination with sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal themes, but I looked! Through Anne Rice and Buffy, I sweated and swooned, but never found quite what I was looking for—a story about two imperfect men falling for each other and trying to figure themselves out while balancing the pressures of responsibility and settling down. A story not centered entirely around coming out or homophobia—those stories are vital, but not what I wanted to find when I went looking for fictional escape—but rather the struggle that results when two people from very different backgrounds try to create a life together.
• Where do you find your inspiration?

Anne Rice’s work has always been hugely influential for me. Her prose, humor, and the way she embraces every facet of human (and vampire!) nature is incredibly satisfying for me. There is a brutal honesty as well as an almost melancholy acceptance of life in her work that I find very truthful. Shows like Buffy and Angel played a role in the development of my style, as well as the Sookie Stackhouse books, which have a deliciously out there humor and a camp that’s refreshingly modern. L.J. Smith churned out some excellent young adult paranormal series that combine the supernatural with growing up experiences (romantic and otherwise) that I found very enjoyable. Anything that combines sarcasm, sex, and a hint of gloom is right up my alley.

For the Mi Corazon Sangrante series, I aimed for a variety of these elements. I wanted the characters to be relatable but not necessarily stereotypical. I wanted there to be humor even in darker moments. I wanted people to root for them, but not because they were perfect. I wanted them to be the kind of guys you might imagine having for neighbors. I wanted their story—and especially their love life—to turn people on. I hope everyone comes to love them the way I have!

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Blurb

A year after meeting and falling for the young, mysterious vampire, Dr. Brian Preston is now living and working side-by-side with Kyle Hayes for the agency guiding vampire-human relations at a secret underground facility. As the couple adapts to the demands of Brian’s career tending to vampires, Kyle’s return to school and the needs of their evolving relationship, a dangerous conspiracy puts everyone they know and everything they have been working for in danger. The sequel to 2014’s Bleeding Heart, Tainted Heart is Book Two in the Mi Corazón Sangrante series.

 

Excerpt

When it gets dark, he texts Brian that he’s going to be out late, and avails himself of not one but three vampire-human nightclubs set along a dense strip of Chicago nightlife. Going alone to places like this always attracts immediate attention, and he isn’t surprised when he has to pry both humans and vampires off of himself. But he doesn’t mind—the blood from the center is humming in his veins, and that buzz takes on a new dimension every time that he swallows a thimbleful of blood from a donor, which he does at least a dozen times over the course of the evening. When he’s more relaxed, he allows bodies against his own, dancing with strangers until strobe lights become normal and everything outside is too dim and still.

The blood changes the world around him. Every color, every sound and every source of light takes on a life of its own.

He loses track of how many donors he pays. All he knows is he’s spent all of the pocket money that Brian gave him for the weekend.

He feels like a bloated tick. He’s been away too long. Brian. He has to get back to Brian.

Pages or Words: 294 pages
 Categories: Erotica, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Thriller, Urban Fantasy

Buy the book:

store.interludepress.com;

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=InterludePress;

Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/978-1-941530-52-8?aff=InterludePress

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Meet the author:

A veteran writer of fan fiction with thousands of followers, Melissa Graves wrote her first story at age thirteen, and by age sixteen had met her future husband in an online vampire fiction chat room. A fan of science fiction and fantasy, she has a degree in anthropology and a passion for good chocolate, amateur erotica and fan worlds that celebrate diversity. She is mother to two cats.

Bleeding Heart, book one of the Mi Corazón Sangrante series, was her debut novel for Interlude Press.

Where to find the author:

Connect with Melissa at msmelissagraves.com, on Twitter at twitter.com/msmelissagraves, on Goodreads at goodreads.com/melissagraves and on Facebook at facebook.com/msmelissagraves.

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Tour Dates & Stops:

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Grand Prize plus five multi-format eBook editions of Tainted Heart. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.  Must be 18 or older to enter. 

 

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It’s Release Day for Perie Wolford’s Extraterrestrial Anthology (release day announcements)

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Title: Extraterrestrial Anthology
Author: Perie Wolford
Author website: http://periewolford.com

Release date: 11/02/2015

Goodreads Link
Buy It at Amazon

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BLURB: 2 ALIEN ENCOUNTER STORIES IN 1 PACKAGE

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In an attempt to prove it to the world that crop circles are man-made and aliens donít really exist, Ricky and his team of young enthusiasts (including one particular enthusiast, Josh, who is hopelessly in love with Ricky) start falsifying the phenomenon by creating their own crop circles. Their endeavors prove successful, pretty much so, but only until the day when Ricky sees his unique circle design replicated throughout the country by the force unknown.

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Coming home for summer break, two film school students, Bradley and Tag, decide to shoot a staged UFO encounter video, one that could potentially generate a lot of attention and a lot of clicks on YouTube. Unexpectedly for both of them, during the filming they accidentally discover a real alien presence in the dark waters near their coastal home town.

Length: 315 pages
Genre: Gay/SciFi

 

 

Book Trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqaBDdJSZRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7BJrRKCukI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X00sPZPgN-k

About the Author

Perie Wolford is an optioned and produced screenwriter and published author.
His first feature-film movie Dark Harvest The Movie was shot in California by Emerging Artist Productions in 2011 and is now in post-production. Perie became a published author in 2014, with his debut novel PRESENCE. Following Presence was book 1 in SAM DORSEY series, which instantly sold over 5,000 copies. In 2015 Perie returned to science fiction with ENCOUNTER, a tribute to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE 3RD KIND. For more information visit periewolford.com