Category: M/M Supernatural Fiction

A MelanieM Review: The Calling by MD Neu

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Being a nobody isn’t Duncan Alexander’s life goal, but it’s worked for him. He has a nondescript job, a few good friends, and overall he’s content. That’s until one fateful trip to San Jose, California, where he is “Called” to meet the mysterious Juliet de Exter. Juliet is a beautiful, wealthy, powerful Immortal who is undertaking The Calling—a search for a human to join her world of Immortals. Inexplicably, Duncan’s calling is more dangerous than any of the Immortals, even Juliet, ever thought it would be.

There is more to this nobody, this only child of long-deceased parents, than anyone thought. When Duncan experiences uncontrollable dreams of people he doesn’t know and places he hasn’t been, Juliet and the other Immortals worry. Soon, his visions point to a coven of long-dead witches. The dreams also lead Duncan to his one true love. How will Duncan navigate a forbidden romance with an outcast Immortal? How will he and the others keep the balance between the Light and Dark, survive vicious attacks, and keep the humans from learning who they truly are? More importantly, who is this implacable foe Duncan keeps seeing in his dreams?

I first found M.D. Neu through his fantastic Halloween horror tale The Reunion.  That was an amazing well written short story that haunted me long after I  finished it.  So when I saw The Calling I knew even without reading the blurb it was a novel I needed to read based on the author alone.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Duncan Alexander seems to be nobody special until he’s ‘called’ to San Jose to meet Juliet de Exter and  change his life forever. And from that moment on, into a lush and richly woven story , Duncan and the readers jump into a world that smells of  vanilla and roses, blood and mystery, pain and love. We do so with energy and some trepidation.  

I love how  M.D. Neu builds not only his characters, allowing us to see them grow, adding on their history while letting us see the true depths to their inner qualities, their honor, courage, steadfastness, loyalty, intelligence and more as the story quickens. But also adding to his world building and mythology.  It’s as though he’s constantly assembling his world view throughout the tale. And that makes The Calling even more intricate and magical because the beginning narrative structure and universe is so beguiling to begin with.

It starts with the Immortals, now divided into two factions of LIght and Dark, but not necessarily as you would imagine of Good and Evil.  No, instead it’s more of order and chaos.  Rules versus a lack of rules but then again not always.  So many shadows here between the two factions.  The Immortals are of course vampires but even the vampires here don’t follow some of the expected “vampire norms”.  Neu has created his own vampire mythology and its as complicated and bound in ritual as you would imagine given the nature of Duncan’s calling.

Nor are the vampires the only beings with magic.  There are witches as well, an enemy with a need for revenge.

And there is romance as well.  Although to be honest.  The romance does feel at times like a lesser storyline than the one about the mystery of Duncan’s importance and the war that’s being waged all around them.

But what kept me absolutely glued to this story was the incredible plot, the cast of characters (oh how I love Victor), the suspense and the action.  I couldn’t put this book down.  I was in agony along with all of them, through every battle, through every loss, and then at that ending!  Well, I can see that Neu is setting us up for a series and I couldn’t be more pleased.

For those that like to be warned about het sex, yes, there is some.  It comes as part of the ritual turning.  Yes, Duncan is gay but it’s as thought it’s just a part of who he is and not central to this story.   And yes, this is a M/M romance but I still don’t feel that’s the main focus here either.  The Calling is a powerfully engaging suspenseful supernatural story.    One I highly recommend along with its author who has now become a must read author for me.  Check out The Reunion and The Calling.  And I think you’ll agree.

Cover art: Natasha Snow is  haunting and lovely.  Just like the book.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published January 1st 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781947904798
Edition LanguageEnglish

 

 

Hurri Cosmo’s Ghost Wolf – Virtual Book Tour (excerpt and giveaway)

 

M/M Romance
Date Published: January 18, 2018
Publisher: Painted Hearts
 
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Hi, my name is Trevor. I’m a wolf shifter. I say that like I know what I’m talking about. I don’t. I was simply running off a ton of steam one day when I was about eleven and bam! Okay, not quite that easy or fast but it happened when I was young and stupid. I’m also gay. I say that like I know what I’m talking about with that too. I simply don’t.
I’m grown up now and living in the big city which has me too busy to much care about either one of those things. I get out and run my wolf when I can, trying like hell to stay out of the local pack’s territories. Belonging to a “family” just sounds like too much work. I honestly don’t have time for such things. Besides, I was told when I was young the color of my wolf was all wrong. Too silver I guess. Metallic. I thought it looked cool in the full moon. “An Alpha would kill ya soon as look at ya.” My grandpa used to say. Course he wasn’t my real grandpa. Just an old man who lived down the street. But he was a shifter too and I thought he knew it all. He probably knew diddly shit either but a guy can’t be too careful.
So romance? Way off the radar.
But then someone started killing wolves. Started leaving lined up broken bodies all in a nice little row next to the high school in my home town and it got me to thinking. If a shifter is killed in his or her wolf state, does he/she stay that way? Were these dead wolves like me?
I had to see what I could do. Kind of like a super hero. Oh yeah. Probably forgot to tell you this. I can turn invisible.
Yep, Ghost Wolf to the rescue.

Excerpt 

So that was where I was at the moment. The pack was going to track me down and kill me because I didn’t have a pack and I peed in their territory and I was also pretty sure I brought the smell of their Alpha into my bedroom. Not sure what that would do, but “help” was not one of the verbs that came to mind.

Well, Grandpa, at least I got out of my teens.

The knock on my door startled me not only because of the direction of my thoughts but because it was loud and hard enough to rattle the dishes in my cupboard.

But it wasn’t the pack out to fuck and kill me.

It was the landlord. However, it might just as well have been the damn pack because I didn’t have the money for the rent which was now officially a week late. I had tiptoed to the door and looked out that little peep hole thing but the asshole knew I was there. He banged again and shouted out my name.

“Taland, you fucker! I know you’re eyeballing me right now! You’re late with the damn rent and I’ll have you out on your sorry little white ass if I don’t have it by tomorrow! You fucking see if I don’t!” He wandered on down the hall then, pounding on a few more doors saying pretty much the same thing. I don’t think any one of us came to the door. Luckily, the man would drink himself into a stupor when he got back to his apartment which, of course, was why he had said “tomorrow” rather than later. He wouldn’t be able to even climb the stairs much less find my door after he opened a bottle.

The hell of it was, he would be back tomorrow and my part time job just did not do the trick. I had been able to get into college with a scholarship and some money from a “friend” of my mom’s but that unfortunately did not last long. And now with having to find all the rent money myself, things were more than just tight. I knew I was looking at having to drop out or at the very least, cut way back on the college credits and put in far more hours at work. But I had this delusion I would have been able to at least finish out the school year. Looked like that was not going to happen.

Fuck, I needed to run again. It had only been a handful of hours and it was already driving me nuts.

First thing on my day off, I was going to find somewhere safe to shift and run.

The next day my Strategic Management and Planning class went long and, the only other class I had that day, Business Law, the professor was a half hour late. I had to leave half way through his lecture in order to get to work on time. Then the supervisor, Mitch, dumped all the stand-bys on me and still expected me to answer calls. By time I got home I was already exhausted and the need to run was stronger than ever.

Buses, my main mode of transportation, went just about everywhere. I had studied the schedule along with a map before going to bed and thought I found a fairly good place to try. It was north of the city in a suburb called North Valley which had an expanse of forest that belonged to the state. It didn’t mean there were no wolves but at least there might be an argument the place didn’t belong to anyone in particular. Yeah, a weak argument, I know, but I really just needed to let my small pathetic little wolf out for a while without concern of discovery. The only thing was, this time I wouldn’t go peeing up the place. Plus, the fact I would be taking a bus to and from the woods, there would be no way to track me.

Totally wrong.

Why I thought I was safe was beyond me. All I thought about was getting free again, on all fours, running like the wind. I didn’t see him. I didn’t even smell him, not at first, not until it was too late. I felt the wind rushing at me before the jolt to my flank knocked me off balance. Suddenly I was rolling being tangled up in legs that were not my own. When the world stopped spinning I found myself pinned under a heavy body, a muzzle with sharp teeth drawn tight on my exposed neck. I had crazy visions of the animal weighing me down simply ripping out my throat but precious long seconds ticked by as I felt hot breath wash over my turned muzzle and neither one of us moved. We merely breathed.

I shifted. It wasn’t a conscious action. I think I did it out of self-defense. I would be bigger than the animal, maybe be able to scare it away. But now I was just a naked skinny man underneath a heaving dark gray wolf who was drawing blood from his hold on my neck. Suddenly the teeth were gone. I felt a rough lick and the animal forcing me into the forest floor shifted too.

Well, fuck me silly. Another shifter.

Who would now probably kill me.

About the Author

Hurri Cosmo lives in Minnesota where she holds tight to the idea that there, where it’s cold a good part of the year, she won’t age as fast. Yep, she avoids the truth as much as she avoids mirrors. But one of the reasons she loves writing is reality doesn’t always offer up a “happily ever after” and being able to take control of that is a powerful lure. Being a happy ending junkie, writing just makes them easier to find. Oh, she doesn’t mind “real life” and she does try to at least keep it in mind when she writes her stories, but she truly loves creating a wonderful couple, knowing they will fall in love and have their HEA. Every – single – time. And, of course, that is exactly the reason she loves reading this genre, too. Give her a glass of red wine, some dark chocolate, and her computer, whether she is reading or writing, and she will entertain herself for hours. The fact she actually gets paid to do it is Snickers bars on the frosting on the cake.
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Release Blitz and Giveaway – Bitten By The Alpha (Regent’s Park Pack #4) by Annabelle Jacobs

 

Universal Buy Link
 
Length: 76,000 words
 
Cover Design: Natasha Snow
 
Regent’s Park Pack Series
 
Book #1 – Bitten By Mistake
Book #2 – Bitten By Design
Book #3 – Bitten By Desire
 
Blurb
 

Garethís heart is set on Cam, but Camís heart broke a long time ago.

Gareth’s heart is set on Cam, but Cam’s heart broke a long time ago.

As alpha of the Regent’s Park Pack, Cam’s focus is always centred on its members—his personal life pushed aside after the death of his wife. Now that his pack has merged with the Primrose Hill shifters, he can’t afford any distractions.

Gareth’s been in love with his alpha for years, but his position as beta complicates matters. Added to the fact Cam still mourns his late wife, Gareth knows his feelings will never be reciprocated, so he buries them deep.

With the two packs already struggling to unite under one alpha, they get a surprise addition—one who causes more tension within the ranks. Under such strain, long-kept secrets are forced into the open. Gareth and Cam must deal with the aftermath, while also keeping the pack’s best interests at heart.

About The Author
 

Annabelle Jacobs lives in the South West of England with three rowdy children, and two cats. An avid reader of fantasy herself for many years, Annabelle now spends her days writing her own stories. They’re usually either fantasy or paranormal fiction, because she loves building worlds filled with magical creatures, and creating stories full of action and adventure. Her characters may have a tough time of it – fighting enemies and adversity – but they always find love in the end.



Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJacobs_fiction
Website: www.annabellejacobs.com
Email: ajacobsfiction@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ajacobsfiction

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Blog Tour for Katze Snow’s Demons & Wolves Series (excerpt and giveaway)

 

 
Demons & Wolves Series – Available to borrow on KU
 
Book #1 – Broken In Silence – books2read.com/BrokenInSilence

Book #2 -Within These Depths – books2read.com/WithinTheseDepths
 

Cover Design: Jay Aheer @ Simply Defined Art

Broken In Silence 

Tannerian Wulfric is a leader—a strong alpha who bows to no-one, especially those who try to undermine his authority.

When an opportunity arises, he grabs it with both hands and lets nothing get in his way. Trouble is, his brother has been caught in the crossfire of glorious retribution, and Tanner is in need of assistance.

For many years, Alex Jonas has lived his life in peace. But when fate lands him in the hands of his ex-lover and alpha, he finds himself in the centre of a feud he never knew existed, and must immerse himself in ways he had never imagined. One chance encounter, one night, and everything comes crashing down around him. Alex must fight for his life while Tanner fights for one thing and one thing only—vengeance, which has never tasted sweeter.

Can Tanner avenge his family’s death without spilling more blood? Or will his inner demon tear apart everything he has worked for, and lose the man who owns his heart?

Within These Depths

Tanner is so close to his revenge that he can almost taste it. With an unusual brand of negotiation skills under his belt, he has everything he needs. Now all that stands between him and destroying Elijah Ravenhill is a dangerous mission into the depths of Hell. Accompanied by his guides, he will enter where loyalties and souls are tested, and few ever return.

Newly mated Alex just wants to keep his loved ones safe. In the sprawling grandeur of Wulfric Manor, he finally has his family under one roof, even if it may only be temporary, and his dreams of having something normal seem to be within reach. Yet what’s normal for the wolf is torture for the prey, and chaos descends on Alex with one mysterious phone call.

Can Alex have all he ever dreamed of without sacrificing his life? Will Tanner put an end to Elijah once and for all, or will his revenge go up in smoke within the fires of hell itself?

Warning: Within These Depths is the highly anticipated sequel to Broken in Silence: Demons and Wolves Series, and things are really heating up. This story is NOT a typical romance and it’s not intended for those who seek a HEA. It cannot be read as a standalone.

 

Excerpt – In his own unique way, Tanner tells Alex he loves him

“You,” Tanner seized Alex’s chin and lifted it upwards, “are mine. I won’t let you out of my sight again. A minute, a day, a decade—I want every second of them. Is that understood?”

“You promise?” Alex joked, though his heartbeat spiked with confusion at what Tanner was announcing. He loved him? The alpha had never told him that. He’d never even hinted towards him being anything more than an eyesore he’d taken in off the streets. Although Tanner wasn’t exactly serenading him, the meaning was there, all right––a faint glow between the cracks of darkness. And Tanner had claimed him.

“Promises are for the weak. You are mine, and I intend to keep it that way even if I must hunt you to the ends of the abyss.” His lips assaulted Alex’s, crashing against his mouth with wild abandon…

Author Bio

Katze Snow never learned when to shut up. Food and coffee are what encourage Katze to function in a semi-normal, sort of socially acceptable way. Doses of sarcasm and sass are what she lives for, and her wolf, Kiba, who is Katze’s little furbaby. She’s been writing since she was a child, but finally published her debut novel, Alpha’s Bane, in Autumn 2016.

While Katze also writes MF, MM is where her heart truly lies. Her writing is dark, gritty, and takes satire to a whole new level. Come and join her! But be warned: Katze likes her men dark, twisted and all kinds of messed up, and she hopes you do too.

When Katze’s not writing, she’s working for a top secret, underground organisation, or taming wolves. (Check out her furbaby, Kiba!)

“Why ever would I want to go to heaven, when hell is so much more fun?” ~ Broken in Silence (Demons and Wolves #1)

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