Category: M/M Paranormal Fiction

A Chaos Moondrawn Review: The Holiday Home Hotel (An Escape from the Holidays Story) by Lou Sylvre

Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5

This is part of the Escape from the Holidays series, but each book is a standalone. The overarching theme for the series is about escaping what is expected and taking a chance on something new. Dee is lonely so his dog Lelia, who is really a minor Slavic goddess wants to bring him love. She cons Leshy, a forest spirit, to help her play matchmaker. As it happens, Gunny is walking in the forest and gets caught in a snowstorm. He stumbles across the Holiday Home Hotel where Lelia’s “owner” lives. As Gunny thinks on his past and the regret he has about his college roommate Darin, Dee is thinking about his bitterness over a man named Gunny…

This is just a fun holiday second chance romance full of magic gifts and paranormal interference. If you would actually like to see them work out their old hurt and build something new in a realistic way, forget that. This is about a magical night of makeup sex in a faerie glade. It’s about a hotel that makes enough money opening for a month in December and a week at Valentine’s day to be able to run camps for the rest of the year to help young people. All winter holidays are celebrated in an inclusive environment with diversity. Darin/Dee/Dare sings in drag and spreads holiday cheer. If this sounds like something that will get you in a festive holiday mood, try it.

The cover artist is Catherine Dair. This shows Darin in front of the hotel with Lelia. The impression is one of fantasy and alludes to Darin love of Kwanzaa and having his hotel be a light in the darkness to welcome people.

Sales Links:

Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book Details:

ebook, 101 pages
Expected publication: December 15th 2018 by Mischief Corner Books
ASINB07KKBFC1H
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Caryn Review: Vampire with Benefits (Supernatural Selection #2) by E.J. Russell

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

So I finished Single White Incubus a few months ago, loved it, and wanted to know what happened with the other two guys who were left at the altar.  And of course, this author never disappoints me, so this is the story of Rusty Johnson, inactive beaver shifter, and Casimir Moreau, vampire.  It is definitely not a stand alone book, and I will try not to put any spoilers from either book in this review.

Casimir was the youngest of the vampires, after their near extinction as a race caused them to strike a deal with the rest of the supernatural community to ban further vampire creation.  Despite only being 100 years old, he was already bored and dissatisfied with his undead existence, and he managed to get into quite a bit of trouble.  To the point that the vampire council  decided that he needed a permanent keeper, and they also decided the best way to accomplish that was to marry him to an incubus of excellent breeding and social standing.  Supernatural Selections guaranteed the match would be perfect, and the vampire council was happy to be in charge of the choice.

Rusty was an anomaly and an embarrassment to the shifter community.  Unable to shift, too tall, too awkward, and all too conscious of these faults that the beaver community would not let him forget.  The last straw was when his boyfriend dumped him for a female beaver shifter, and took the house that Rusty had lovingly built for the two of them.  Rusty signed up with Supernatural Selections and was matched to a bear shifter who lived far enough away that he wouldn’t ever have to deal with them again.  It seemed perfect.

But when Rusty and Casimir showed up at the office to get hitched, they found their perfectly selected mates had married each other, through an incredible snafu.  It wouldn’t have been such a problem, but Cas faced a very real possibility of being staked in the sun if he didn’t show up to the council married.  Shifters and vampires are anathema to each other (thank you, Twilight lore), and Cas thought getting married to Rusty would be a phenomenal fuck you to the vampire council, so he convinced Rusty – with the help of plenty of alcohol – to sign a temporary marriage contract.  Rusty was a great guy though, and Cas wasn’t completely selfish, and he figured the charade would also benefit Rusty, because what would be better than showing up at his ex-boyfriend’s wedding with a husband guaranteed to piss off the entire beaver shifter clan?

Getting to know these guys as they got to know each other was the best part of the book.  Rusty was such a boy scout, honest, kind, generous, but not prudish or stuck up at all.  He was completely unaware of his charms, both mental and physical, and that is the kind of character that I love best.  Cas was a bit of a bad boy, but he had matured enough to know there was more to life, and Rusty brought out the best in him.  They were both misfits in their communities, but what made them stick out there turned out to be what made them exactly right for each other.  But just when they were discovering how good they actually were together is when the web of lies and old grudges started closing in on them, and the consequences became a matter of life and death.

There were more plot twists and turns in this book than the first of the series – like the Fae Out of Water series that spawned this one, the books seem to be getting more complex and a bit darker as they progress.  This one is still as much comedy as it is romance, but there is definitely more of the mystery about it, and even more foreshadowing of a huge reveal in the next book.  I’m pretty sure I know what’s up with those AIs (Angel Interfaces) now, and why they are so sneaky and ominous, and I can’t wait to see if I’m correct when I read the next book.  And I’m thrilled that it will be about Zeke, the demon employee of Supernatural Selections, who’s definitely got some secrets of his own.

Once again I couldn’t give a full five stars, mainly because the resolution of the book required the use of a plot device that I absolutely hate, and that I think may screw up all the hints and foreshadowing that were otherwise really well done.  This is a personal pet peeve though, other readers might not mind it.  I was happy to see that the characters from Druid Next Door featured prominently in this book, just as those from Cutie and the Beast featured in book one.

Cover art by L.C. Chase fits perfectly with the series, but I was disappointed that it was all about Cas, and nothing really represented Rusty.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 300 pages
Published November 26th 2018 by Riptide Publishing
Original Title Vampire with Benefits
ISBN 1626498563 (ISBN13: 9781626498563)
Edition Language  English
Series Supernatural Selection #2

Single White Incubus

Vampire with Benefits

Aidan Wayne on Writing, Happy Endings, and their new release Showers, Flowers, and Fangs (author guest blog)

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs by Aidan Wayne
Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist:  Tiferet Designs

Buy Links:

Harmony Ink | Dreamspinner Press |  Amazon  |  Googleplay  

 

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Aidan Wayne on tour for their new YA release, Showers, Flowers, and Fangs.  It’s a novel we highly recommend!. Welcome, Aidan.

✒︎

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview  with Aidan Wayne

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing? – Absolutely. I love YA of all types; fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary, you name it. I grew up on everything from Anne of Green Gables to the Harry Potter series, with a whole lot of variety in between. But while I loved all of these books, the representation in many of them was… lacking, especially when it comes to the main characters. And the books I did find that had queer MCs (usually gay white males, let’s be real here) weren’t what I wanted. I didn’t want tragedy. I didn’t want “desperately trying to fit in.” I wanted fun and humor and acceptance and escapism. And I wanted more than just the G.

Darren, the main character in Showers Flowers and Fangs, is a total flaily spaz, a loyal friend, and Tries His Best. He’s bad at math (which how both his parents are accountants), good at video games, loves the rain, and tiger lilies are his favorite flower because they taste the best. Oh, and, y’know, there’s the whole “half-fae” thing. He’s also a trans teen, bi, and completely accepted by his community.

I just want more fun stories where LGBTQ kids get to do things like be magic or pilot space stations or exist in the 1800s.

Do you like HFN or HEA? And why? – Yes! Or, wait, was I supposed to pick between the two? There are pluses to both. On one hand, I love happily ever afters. I love characters getting a happy ending… as long as it ultimately makes sense within the story premise. Point A to Point B to Point C to Point HEA. But sometimes an HFN fits a story–how it’s evolved and where it’s gone. A Happily Ever After doesn’t entirely work. More needs to happen, which may or may not have taken place in the book. This is especially true in YA. For instance, Showers Flowers and Fangs is a “happy for now” ending. It has to be; the characters are teenagers. They do make great progress and the story ends happily, but a “happily ever after” makes no sense yet.

How do you feel about the ebook format and where do you see it going? – I think the ebook format is great! I’m someone who never wants to be without a book, and with ebooks and a phone I can have as many as I want any time I want. Traveling used to be an exercise in Picking Books and I distinctly remember several years ago going to visit a relative and lugging around the last four Harry Potter books because I wanted to reread them. With ebooks, all those problems are solved. I do admit to enjoying having physical copies of my books though, because I think that’s really special. And, well, ebooks are also a lot easier to pirate which actively hurts me personally as an author. But there is so much merit (and better availability and accessibility) when it comes to ebooks. Overall I’m very glad they exist.

How do you choose your covers? – I’m not a very visual person at all, so usually I draw a blank when filling out a cover artist questionnaire sheet. Mostly what happens is that the cover artist gives me some options, I realize what I don’t like or want, and we sort of narrow things down from there. Actually, Showers Flowers and Fangs is the one exception out of all of my covers so far. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted. And wow, did my cover artist deliver. I love it. It perfectly captures everything I wanted it to.

Have you ever had an issue in RL and worked it through by writing it out in a story?  Maybe how you thought you’d feel in a situation? – I remember being… maybe fourteen? reading Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer and being furious when the main character (who had been disguising herself as a boy) revealed herself to be a girl. Worse: that’s when her love interest exhibited said interest. Not before the reveal. Same with the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce. And Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. And so many, many, many others. Then there were the books where a male dressed up as a female–usually for laughs, or as part of some hackneyed plan that ended terribly.

I got… really tired of these trope. I wanted MCs to stay disguised as boys forever (and still get their love interests, if they wanted one) and to not be ridiculed for dressing and/or presenting a certain way. It didn’t ah, really sink in as to maybe why I reacted so viscerally to this trope until a lot later.

Anyway. The point is that, especially now, I write a lot of trans, non-binary, and otherwise gender non-conforming characters (having happy endings, this is important), and will continue to do so pretty much until I die.

Do you have a favorite among your own stories?  And why? – Ironically? Showers. Showers Flowers and Fangs is my favorite. I am varying degrees of proud of all my work (with and without ways I can think of improvements) but writing Showers was an amazing time for me. I don’t think I stopped grinning once while writing it. I was delighted to discover things as they came to me. I love all the characters. I think the plot and premise is fun. There’s overcoming sadness and getting out to the other side. There’s acceptance and love. There’s magic and friendship and laughter and ice cream.

It makes me happy.

I hope it makes readers happy, too.

BLURB

Darren is your average half-human, half-fae trans teenager, busy figuring out his powers and puberty while trying to survive finals. When Vlad, a newly turned vampire, moves in with the witch down the street, he and Darren get off on the wrong foot. Darren is always one to give somebody a second chance, though, and as they become friends, he realizes Vlad is just lonely and struggling with his new powers. That’s something Darren can definitely relate to, and he’s happy to lend his support. But while he coaxes Vlad out of his shell, Darren ends up learning about Vlad’s past… and the danger Vlad is in. Darren only wants to help—help Vlad feel comfortable in his own skin and help him feel safe.

He hadn’t planned on falling in love.

About the Author

Aidan Wayne lives with altogether too many houseplants on the seventh floor of an apartment building, and though the building has an elevator, Aidan refuses to acknowledge its existence. They’ve been in constant motion since before they were born (pity Aidan’s mom)—and being born didn’t change anything. When not moving Aidan is usually writing, so things tend to balance out. They mostly stick with contemporary romance (both adult and YA), but some soft sci-fi/fantasy has been known to sneak in as well, and they primarily write character-driven stories with happy endings. Because, dammit, queer people deserve happy endings too.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website: aidanwayne.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aidanwayne

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15164017.Aidan_Wayne

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

Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/cO6OGL

Is Sci fi/fantasy a Favorite of Yours? Check out the collection of stories in Spells & Stardust by J. Scott Coatsworth (giveaway)

Spells & Stardust

J. Scott Coatsworth has a new queer sci fi/fantasy anthology out: Spells & Stardust.

Spells & Stardust is Scott’s first anthology – eight sci fi and fantasy shorts that run the gamut from regeneration to redemption.

The Bear at the Bar: A gay fish out of water tale with a pinch of magic.

Tight: What happens when your lover disappears in midair?

Morgan: The year when everything changed.

Re-Life: What if you were reborn in a strange new future?

A New Year: They met every eleven years. And each time, Hank’s life changed.

Repetition: What if you wanted to go back in the closet?

Gargoyle: Sometimes you get what you deserve. Sometimes it happens on All Hallows Eve.

Avalon: A few bright moments in the sun, stolen from outside time.

Most of these stories have been previously published in various anthologies and journals. This is the first time they have all been collected in one place.

Get It On Amazon

Giveaway

Scott is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4740/?

Unique Excerpt – From “Re-Life”

The taxi from the Re-Life Clinic dropped out of the sky onto a raised landing pad. It alighted twenty feet above ground level like a giant dragonfly. The door lifted, and Eric looked out uncertainly. “The hostel?” he said.

“Down the ramp, on the left,” the taxi told him in a suave, gender-neutral voice.

He clambered out, dragging his shiny duffel bag along, trying hard to ignore its ever-changing ripples of color. It epitomized the gaudy nanotech that seemed to be in everything here. He’d just completed his six-week orientation and rehab at the Clinic. It had taken four weeks just to get used to this new body they’d grown for him using his own DNA. It still didn’t feel entirely… his.

It was finally time to get out into the world. The long weeks of rehab had chaffed at him—he was itching to explore this strange new city, Safris. He couldn’t wait to take a look around and see what had changed. And though he had nothing but a few personal belongings and a credit on his account, he was young and healthy again.

The cancer that had killed him half a millennia earlier was gone.

It had been utterly strange to open his eyes in the clinic for the first time, after he’d had himself frozen on the off chance that someone, sometime in the future would be able to cure him. It had also been traumatic, processing the loss of everything and everyone he had once held dear.

He’d spent a week straight crying and morose, sitting in a dark room and counting all the things he’d lost. All of that is behind me now. I hope.

He looked around. There were few people about, most of them standard-form. The buildings were so unlike those back home—they thrust upward at strange opposing angles, and they went up and up and up. Like the carry sack, some of them changed colors as he watched, and he was half-convinced that one of them moved.

He fought down his panic. It was perfectly normal to feel out of place the first time out, his counselor had told him.

Maybe so, but it was also painful.

He missed many things: Levis, trolley cars, Wild Cherry Pepsi, and the smell of sandalwood.

But he missed David most of all.

Author Bio

Scott lives with his husband of twenty five years in a Sacramento suburb, in a cute little yellow house with a brick fireplace and two pink flamingoes out front.

He inhabits in the space between the here and now and the what could be. Indoctrinated into science fiction and fantasy by his mom at the tender age of nine, he quickly finished her entire library. But he soon began to wonder where all the queer people were.

After coming out at twenty three, he started writing the kinds of stories he couldn’t find at Crown Books. If there weren’t many queer characters in his favorite genres, he would will them into existence, subverting them to his own ends. And if he was lucky enough, someone else would want to read them.

His friends say Scott’s mind works a little differently than most – he makes connections between ideas that others don’t, and somehow does more in a day than most people manage in a week. Although born an introvert, he forced himself to reach outside himself, and learned to connect with others like him.

Scott’s stories subvert expectations that transform traditional science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something different and unexpected. He runs both Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark.

His romance and genre fiction writing brings a queer energy to his stories, filling them with love, beauty and power. He imagines how the world could be – in the process, he hopes to change the world, just a little.

Scott was recognized as one of the top new gay authors in the 2017 Rainbow Awards, and his debut novel “Skythane” received two awards and an honorable mention.

Author Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/jscoatsworth/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ

LOGO - Other Worlds Ink

An Alisa Review: Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights (Escape From the Holidays) by Mere Rain

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Having escaped his abusive family by winning a scholarship to college, Shahin promised himself he would never go back. So when his plans for winter break fall through and he’s left homeless for a month, he decides he’d rather camp in the park than go home. But he doesn’t realize it’s the solstice, the longest night of the year, the start of the season when the supernatural is at its strongest.

Yima is a demon-hunter, a duty passed down through his family. He doesn’t resent it, but it does get lonely, especially since his work is at its most difficult and dangerous when everyone else is celebrating with family. After he rescues Shahin from an demon attack and finds that he has nowhere safe to stay, he takes him back to his flat. He just arrived in town and hasn’t even gotten the electricity turned on, leaving the two men with little to do but talk.

It isn’t a surprise when they end up in bed, though what at first feels like a temporary comfort grows over days spent together into a deeper bond. Nomadic Yima has to find a way to stay without demons coming after his lover, and Shahin has to decide whether he can risk his heart loving a man who constantly puts his life in danger.

I felt for Shahin from the beginning, as he is trying to survive without any support from his family.  Yima is quite mysterious and not very open.  While I liked Shahin, I didn’t feel much of a connection to Yima though I know he is used to being secretive.  Shahin finds a surrogate mom along the way too.  It was nice for them both to find acceptance and somewhere to belong.

The cover art by Catherine Dair is nice and is one of the holiday series styles.

Sales Link: Mischief Corner Books | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, ~12,500 words

Published: December 12, 2018 by Mischief Corner Books

Edition Language: English

Loving the Christmas Angel Series? Check Out Our Review Tour and Giveaway for The Magician’s Angel (A Christmas Angel Story) by Jordan L Hawk

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK


Length: 27,000 words approx.Cover Design: Meredith Russell

The Christmas Angel Series

Christmas Angel – Eli Easton – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Summerfield’s Angel – Kim Fielding – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Christmas Homecoming – L.A. Witt – Amazon US | Amazon UK
A Soldier’s Wish – N.R. Walker – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Shrewd Angel – Anyta Sunday – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Christmas Prince – RJ Scott- Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

Vaudeville stage magician Christopher Fiend lives for the spotlight. His chance at big time stardom awaits him in Chicago, the next stop on the circuit after the little town of Twelfth Junction.

Edward Smith wants nothing to do with his family’s theater. Until Christopher catches his eye on opening night, then treats him to a very special performance during intermission.

When a dead body turns up in the middle of Christopher’s act, suspicion immediately falls on him. If Christopher and Edward can’t work together to clear his name, Christopher won’t make it to Chicago in time. Edward knows he shouldn’t get attached to a man who will be gone in two days, but his heart—and a very special angel—have other ideas.

The Christmas Angel series of holiday romances follow the travels of an angel ornament through the decades as she inspires (and sometimes nudges) lonely men to find their Happily Ever After. The Magician’s Angel is the third in series, which can be read in any order.

The Christmas Angel Series

In 1750, a master woodcarver poured all his unrequited love, passion, and longing into his masterpiece—a gorgeous Christmas angel for his beloved’s tree. When the man he loved tossed the angel away without a second thought, a miracle happened. The angel was found by another who brought the woodcarver True Love.

Since then, the angel has been passed down, sold, lost and found, but its magic remains. Read the romances inspired by (and perhaps nudged along by) the Christmas angel through the years. Whether it’s 1700s England (Eli Easton’s Christmas Angel), the 1880’s New York (Kim Fielding’s Summerfield’s Angel), the turn-of-the-century (Jordan L. Hawk’s Magician’s Angel), World War II (L.A. Witt’s Christmas Homecoming), Vietnam-era (N.R. Walker’s Soldier’s Wish), the 1990’s (Anyta Sunday’s Shrewd Angel), or 2018 (RJ Scott’s Christmas Prince), the Christmas angel has a way of landing on the trees of lonely men who need its blessing for a very Merry Christmas and forever HEA.

Dec 2 – Amy’s MM Romance Reviews, Dec 4 – Cupcakes And Bookshelves, Xtreme Delusions, Dec 6 – My Fiction Nook, Open Skye, Sexy Erotic Xciting, The Secret Ko, Rainbow Book Reviews, Dec 8 – Mirrigold, Dec 10 – Making It Happen, Megan’s Media Melange, Two Chicks Obsessed, Dec 12 – Drops Of Ink, Lillian Francis, Momma Says: To Read Or Not To Read, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wicked Reads, Dec 17 – Bayou Book Junkie, Dec 19 – MM Good Book Reviews, Dec 21 – Bonkers About Books

 

Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words review here.

 

 

Author Bio

Jordan L. Hawk is a non-binary queer author from North Carolina. Childhood tales of mountain ghosts and mysterious creatures gave them a life-long love of things that go bump in the night. When they aren’t writing, they brew their own beer and try to keep the cats from destroying the house. Their best-selling Whyborne & Griffin series (beginning with Widdershins) can be found in print, ebook, and audiobook.