Category: Riptide Publishing

A MelanieM Audiobook Review: Played! (The Shamwell Tales #2) by J.L. Merrow and Mark Steadman (Narrator)

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

All the world’s a stage…but real-life lessons are hidden in the heart.

Tristan’s in Shamwell for one last summer of freedom before he joins the family firm in New York—no more farting around on stage, as his father puts it. But the classically trained actor can’t resist when members of the local amateur dramatics society beg him to take a role in their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Especially as he’ll also be giving private acting lessons to gorgeous local handyman, Con, who’s been curiously resistant to Tristan’s advances. Tristan’s determined to get Con in his bed—not only is the man delicious, there’s fifty pounds riding on Tristan’s success after a bet made with his drama school chum Amanda.

Con’s never dared to act before. A late-diagnosed dyslexic who had a hard time at school, he’s always been convinced he’d never be able to learn his lines—but with Tristan helping him, he might just be in with a chance. Trouble is, the last time Con fell for a guy, he ended up getting his heart broken, and with Tristan due to leave the country in a matter of months, Con’s determined not to give in and start anything that’s bound to finish badly.

Just as Tristan thinks he’s finally won Con’s heart—and given his own in return—disaster strikes. And the curtain may have fallen forever on their chance of happiness.

Warning: contains a surfeit of Bottoms and asses, together with enough mangled quotations to have the Bard of Avon gyrating in his grave.

I’m a fan of both JL Merrow and her Shamwell Tales, the series that follows the lives and romances of this small English village and it’s little group of thespians.  Not familiar you say?  Well, Played! in audiobook format is a splendid way to make its acquaintance because a terrific story is further enhanced by the outstanding narration by Mark Steadman.

I easily sunk into the drama and every day lives of Tristan and Con with Mark Steadman’s voice casting a spell over the tale.  The narrator rose quickly to being the “voice’ of  everyone in the large cast of players as well as acting the various roles the characters/actors were playing (play inside a play) from Bottom to Puck, and giving them life as well.  I never had a difficulty distinguishing between characters, and indeed, often forgot I was listening to only one person narrating the story, Mark Steadman is that good.

And with Mark Steadman narrating, you can concentrate on the story of Tris and Con and their rocky path towards romance and love. Ah, Tris with his rich imperious father and full load of familial expectations, none of which seem particularly desirable to Tristan.  The death of his Gram, a house, and a cat lead Tris to Shamwell, the Shamwell Players and Con.  All of which starts to erode the strict goals his family has laid out for him,. Under the influence of Con and the people he’s meeting,  Tristan becomes the person he’s meant to be.

Con, a handyman, ends up with a remarkable amount of revelations for himself as well.  A learning disability has Con convinced he could never act until Tristan starts coaching him. The why’s behind that action I’ll leave up to the story.  There’s is mystery in Con’s background and an investigation to launch in the village.  Really, Played! has a cornucopia of elements and it makes for a lively, hopping plot!

Merrow’s characters have depth and a believability about them that makes it a delight to care for them and the outcome of their romance. Especially, when you want to give them a shake or two as you will Tristan!  The story just flows and the listening goes quickly.  You’ll find the book is over and your visit in Shamwell done before you are ready to leave.  At least I felt that way.  Luckily there are more Shamwell tales out there.  I hope they all end up as audiobooks with Mark Steadman as the narrator.  I can’t wait to listen.

I highly recommend this audiobook and all the Shamwell stories, ebook and otherwise.

Cover by: Natasha Snow is  perfect for Tristan.  Love the cover.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | Amazon |  Audible |  iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Listening Time: 6 hrs., 58 min.

Audiobook
Published September 15th 2017 by Riptide Publishing (first published June 30th 2015)
Original TitlePlayed!
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series The Shamwell Tales #2
setting England (United Kingdom

 

 

 

An Alisa Audiobook Review: Afraid to Fly by LA Witt and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

This was a great story of two broken men finding love and acceptance with one another.  Clint has had a hard battle to bring his life around and still has to face his ex’s scrutiny and his own doubts.  Travis has worked hard to keep relationships from getting too involved as they always leave but will Clint be the exception?

 

Both of these characters’ stories are heartbreaking.  After Clint’s drone catastrophe he doesn’t have anywhere or anyone to turn to and his life just implodes and he’s finally on an even keel but still incredibly lonely without any family around or anyone to lean on.  Travis knows that no one will ever want to deal with his back pain, heck he doesn’t want to deal with it and when thoughts from his past start to come back to haunt him he wants to run in fear.  I loved how Clint wasn’t willing to just let go and was willing to work for them to figure it all out.

 

Nick Russo did a wonderful job narrating this story.  I could just feel the characters’ emotions right along with them while listening.  The different voices he used for the characters helped me keep up with what was going on and get an idea of the characters personality some more.

 

I love the cover art by LC Chase and it follows the pattern for the series.

 

Sales Links:  Audible | Amazon | iTunes

 

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 9 hrs 22 min
Published: August 31, 2017 (ebook first published January 16, 2017) by Riptide
Edition Language: English

Series: Anchor Point #2

A Free Dreamer Review: Covet by Yolande Kleinn

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Jack Mason—graphic designer and unrepentant player—has never been interested in monogamy. He certainly isn’t looking for romance when he meets Professor Colin Sloan.

Newly single and not looking for anything serious, Colin is intrigued by Jack’s offer of a physical affair with no strings attached. Becoming friends wasn’t part of the plan, but as accidents go, this one’s pretty great.

Peter Mason is Jack’s identical twin. In a long-term relationship himself, Peter tells no one that he’s falling for his brother’s newest favorite, even as the secret creates tension with his girlfriend.

When Peter’s relationship falls apart, he seduces Colin, fully expecting Jack to forgive his transgression. But Jack is keeping secrets too—he hasn’t told even Colin that he’s fallen in love. Suddenly the twins are feuding, and Colin is caught in the middle, blindsided by the revelation that he doesn’t want to choose between them.

Now all three must find a way to share, or they’ll tear each other apart.

I love menage stories but I guess I misinterpreted the plot. I totally didn’t realize there would be (sorta) twincest in this. Which, in hindsight, is glaringly obvious from the blurb. Guess I was too greedy… Because while I don’t mind incest with brothers (one older and one younger), twincest makes me feel very conflicted. My dad is an identical twin and thinking of him and my uncle is so wrong when reading a hot sex scene. But it’s not the author’s fault that I can’t read, so I’m not going to let my personal dislike influence my rating.

First things first: the sex scenes were hot. Absolutely scorching hot, especially whenever Peter was involved. And there was a lot of sex in this book.

There was no real twincest, Peter and Jack just shared Colin. They had sex with him but not with each other. This is the first menage where it’s one guy having two boyfriends. That was an interesting change from the usual way these stories go.

As hot as the sex was, there might have been a bit too much of it. The plot was a little shallow overall and had a few too many cliches (like the feisty female friend who meddles with her best friend’s love life). While we got a long build-up of attraction from Peter’s side, Colin’s attraction to him seemed a bit sudden.

I liked that there was a HFN ending. It fit the book perfectly and felt realistic.

Overall, “Covet” is a hot, fun read. Definitely worth a read, even though I’m not really fond of twincest.

The cover by L.C. Chase is totally hot, just like the book.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book details:

ebook, 268 pages
Published September 18th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626496279
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Caryn Review: Bad Boy’s Bard (Fae Out of Water, #3) by E.J. Russell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Reading this book reminded me a little of my progression reading through J.R.R. Tolkein – The Hobbit’s simple characters give way to The Lord of the Rings darker tone and complex world, and The Silmarillion’s vast scope is tragic, and so detailed and interconnected that it was very hard to read.  For me, that was the end of reading Tolkein!  And of course I am not comparing the Fae Out of Water series to Tolkein, but moving from the romantic comedy of Cutie and the Beast through The Druid Next Door to Bad Boys Bard was also a journey with increasingly complex world building and darker, more tragic characters.  There is nothing of comedy in this book, and the denouement is the fate not just of Faerie, but of all creation.

Gareth is the youngest of the Kendrick brothers, and he is the last true bard.  Where his brothers have been raised to fight with body and sword, Gareth was trained to use the powerful magic of his voice to influence and change people’s behavior.  Gareth’s training came at a much greater price than his brothers’ though – he was apprenticed to an amoral ghost, locked away from Faerie and subjected to the voices of the dead, and when he finished his apprenticeship he came back changed – aloof and unable to connect emotionally to anyone. 

Niall was the one person who was able to get through Gareth’s armor, and awoke passion and happiness in him.  He is human, and though Gareth always believed the races should not mix, he was swept away by his love and desire for Niall.  When Niall was taken by the Unseelie – and killed – Gareth was broken, bitter, and his hatred for anything Unseelie was limitless.  He removed himself completely from Faerie, cut most ties with his brothers, and never felt passion or romantic love for anyone again.

All is not as it seems though, and Niall is not dead.  And not human.  When he is released from hell to attend the Convergence between the Seelie and Unseelie realms, he finds he will have to face Gareth again.  And though he still loves Gareth, coming clean about who he really is, not to mention all of the lies he told, and all of the suffering their affair caused, seems to be an insurmountable task.

I enjoyed the tragic parts of the story, as well as the way both Gareth and Niall were imperfect and had some serious flaws that they had to recognize and address before they could save the world.  My problem with this book, however, was that the world building got so complex that it was incomplete.  Celtic mythology isn’t exactly common knowledge, and in the previous books everything that was introduced was at least explained – I wondered if there originally was more exposition, that was edited out to keep the book at a certain length.  If so, the editing could definitely have been better.  Fortunately this didn’t detract from the story too much, but I had to drop at least one star for it.

Cover art by Lou Harper fits in with the rest of the series, and with this story.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 264 pages
Published September 18th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleBad Boy’s Bard
ISBN139781626496231
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Fae Out of Water:

Garrett Leigh on the Inspiration and Characters of ‘Finding Home’ (author interview and giveaway)

Finding Home by Garrett Leigh
Riptide Publishing
Cover by: G.D. Leigh

Release Date: October 9, 2017

Read an Excerpt/Available for Purchase at Riptide Publishing

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Garrett Leigh today on her Finding Home tour.   We have a wonderful interview with the author and a giveaway to enter.  Neither are to be missed!

✒︎

~ A Memorable Interview with Garrett Leigh Talking About Writing Finding Home and It’s Characters ~

  •  You write so movingly and here there’s the main element of foster children, a gutwrencher of a topic. What prompted this element?

I was actually inspired to write Finding Home by a documentary I saw on BBC3 a few years ago. Ironically, I can’t remember much about it now, but I found the notes it prompted a year later, and the story was still there.

  • How much research did you have to do for this story and characters?

Not nearly enough at first. I had the characters down because they were very dear to my heart even in the early stages, but after checking with some sensitivity betas in the foster care system, I realised that I still had a lot of work to do. Assumptions I’d made didn’t ring true anymore, and there was some significant rewriting.

  •  Was there ever a time you thought that you were getting too emotional as you wrote or is there such a thing?

There is never such a thing. If I don’t connect with my characters, I’m wasting my time.

  • What makes you decide to go down this particular narrative path?

Originally, the story was told entirely from Leo’s POV, but Charlie had far more to say than I realised, so the dual POV came naturally.  

  •  Is there something special you would want the readers to know about this story?

I wrote it for my daughter.

  • I’m not usually drawn to young adult books but this one calls to me.  What is different about this book from other young adult books?

I think perhaps that it’s told in third person, rather than the first person/present tense we’re used to in YA books. I enjoy books like that, but I wanted this book to be a little more reflective. 

  • How old are Leo and Lila when they’re put into foster care?

Fifteen and five, though Lila has turned six by the time we meet her.

  •  I get the feeling that Leo’s journey through this book will be heartbreaking.  Will he fight letting Charlie in or welcome it?

Without giving too much away, Leo doesn’t have much left to fight Charlie with. And he doesn’t want to. Charlie is sweet and kind, and wonderful, and despite all Leo has been through—is still going through—he knows what a rare thing a boy like Charlie truly is.

  •  Does Charlie have his own darkness to conquer or is he the light to Leo’s dark?

Charlie has his own demons, but he’s had years of stability and love to build his resilience. He had a rough start in life, and he’s quite a shy boy, but he has an emotional confidence that Leo is lacking. You’ll see what I mean when you read it.

About Finding Home

How do you find a home when your heart is in ashes?

With their mum dead and their father on remand for her murder, Leo Hendry and his little sister, Lila, have nothing in the world but each other. Broken and burned, they’re thrust into the foster care system. Leo shields Lila from the fake families and forced affection, until the Poulton household is the only place left to go.

Charlie de Sousa is used to other kids passing through the Poulton home, but there’s never been anyone like his new foster brother. Leo’s physical injuries are plain to see, but it’s the pain in his eyes that draws Charlie in the most.

Day by day, they grow closer, but the darkness inside Leo consumes him. He rejects his foster parents, and when Charlie gets into trouble, Leo’s attempt to protect him turns violent. When Leo loses control, no one can reach him—except Charlie. He desperately needs a family—a home—and only Charlie can show him the way.

Available now from Riptide Publishing. 

About Garrett Leigh

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett’s debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Social media:

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Finding Home, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 14, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Stella Recent Release Review: Five Dares by Eli Easton

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Andy Tyler has been the class daredevil since middle school. Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms.

But hey, nothing gets the “terrible two-o” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Cape Cod . As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities—including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it.

But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining for his straight best friend. Inevitably, the burns heal, summer ends, and hearts are broken. To fix things, Andy will have to face the greatest dare of all.

Eli Easton writes is a success, her name has simply become a guarantee of great quality to me, there is really no space for boring or shallow stories.

I love the kind of books like Five Dares, because I adore the friends to lovers trope  and Andy and Jack were perfect, friends so close, so devoted to each other. They were great as just friends and then amazing as lovers. They were hot together when sex was just a sort of experiment (for Andy) and then when they realised that something big was happening all the past years fell into the right perspective. Although Jack was already in love with his best friend, not once I had doubts this was used against him, not even when Andy knew Jack’s feelings.
I want to recommend Five Dares, I found it very well done. The reading flew easily thanks to a perfect writing that makes the reader able to be right there with the characters and fall in love with their lives. I liked how the chapters are grouped into the five dares. And the double POV is exactly what I prefer to understand the MCs minds.
I’m deeply satisfied with this new release by Eli Easton.
Cover art by Natasha Snow is amazing and perfect.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon
 
Book Details:
ebook, 245 pages
Published October 2nd 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original Title Five Dares
ISBN139781626496507
Edition LanguageEnglish
setting Cape Cod, Massachusetts (United States)
Massachusetts (United States)
California (United States)

In Our Spotlight: Five Dares by Eli Easton (Riptide Publishing Tour and Giveaway)

Five Dares by Eli Easton
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by Natasha Snow

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here at Riptide Publishing

 

Love contemporary Romance?  Check out the latest from Eli Easton and Riptide Publishing and don’t forget to enter the contest too!

About Five Dares

Andy Tyler has been the class daredevil since middle school. Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms.

But hey, nothing gets the “terrible two-o” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Cape Cod. As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities—including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it.

But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining for his straight best friend. Inevitably, the burns heal, summer ends, and hearts are broken. To fix things, Andy will have to face the greatest dare of all.

Now available from Riptide Publishing! 

About Eli Easton

Having been, at various times and under different names, a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, a game designer, an author of paranormal thrillers, a fan-fiction writer, an organic farmer, and a profound sleeper, Eli Easton is happy these days writing love stories.

As an avid reader of such, she is tinkled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness, and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, three bulldogs, two cows, a cat, and a potbellied pig. She enjoys reading in all genres and, when she can be pried away from her iPad, hiking and biking.

Eli Easton has published 24 books in m/m romance since 2013. She won the Rainbow Award for Best Contemporary Romance in 2014 (The Mating of Michael) and in 2016 (A Second Harvest). Her Howl at the Moon series of humorous dog shifter romances have become fan favorites and placed in the Rainbow Awards and the Goodreads M/M Group Reader’s Choice awards. She is best known for romances with humor and a lot of heart.

Connect with Eli:

● Website: www.elieaston.com

● Facebook

● Twitter: @EliEaston

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Five Dares, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 7, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

 

 

A Jeri Review: Rank & File (Anchor Point #4) by L.A. Witt

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This newest installment in the Anchor Point series was excellent and probably my favorite so far. An enlisted man and an officer who start off as a hook up, but can’t the chemistry.
Besides all of the romance and steamy hot sex, I actually really enjoy reading about the ins and outs and politics of the Navy. I think it is really interesting and the author has either obviously done their homework or personally knows someone in the Navy.
One of the things I think I liked about this one above the rest was that there was no PTSD, no lingering physical issues from previous deployments and no alcohol or drug abuse. Don’t get me wrong- I love an angsty book with those things. But they were covered in previous books in the series and didn’t need to be done again. Instead we just have two men, on different career paths, but totally invested in their careers.
But it is because of those careers that they have to keep their relationship in the closet. Because while it is ok for two enlisted men to have a relationship or two officers to have a relationship, it is not ok for an enlisted man to have a relationship with an officer. I actually would have really liked to see them fight for that to be changed, but alas….
I felt really bad for Brent. He knew nothing but Navy. His father was Navy and he was groomed to join the Navy. He has zero hopes and dreams that didn’t involve the Navy. Who doesn’t have fantasies of what they would do if they could? Apparently not Brent.
And while Will isn’t necessarily looking to move up in the ranks, he does want to get his time in so he can retire fairly young with a good pension. But even he has some idea of what he would do if he wasn’t in the Navy.
And the sex scenes. Ho-ly. My gawd they were hot. The “sir” thing. The officer submitting to the enlisted. Basically all of it. Ms Witt can write a steamy scene.
Definitely pick this up. It is a good, fun read with very little angst and a good story.
Cover artist L.C. Chase designed another hot cover.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 272 pages
Published September 25th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleRank & File (Anchor Point, #4)
ISBN139781626496057
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesAnchor Point #4

Kelly Haworth on Making a Religion is Never from Scratch and her latest release ‘Read My Mind (Under the Empire #1)’ (guest post and giveaway)

Read My Mind (Under the Empire #1) by Kelly Haworth
Riptide Publishing

Cover by: Natasha Snow
Read an Excerpt/Purchase it Here at Riptide Publishing


Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Kelly Haworth here today on her Read My Mind tour. Welcome, Kelly.

✒︎

Making a Religion is Never from Scratch by Kelly Haworth

I was that kid who would take every extra credit report the teachers ever assigned and write it on Ancient Egypt. I was obsessed with it, reading up on all the gods and the stories, learning about the language, visiting the museums. I still have a ton of Egyptian trinkets, from statues to tarot cards. I have books on my bookshelf, and can still tell you weird facts, like how ancient Egyptians had a weirdly inaccurate fraction they used for pi, and scholars aren’t quite sure why they never used a more accurate one. (I’m sure they had their reasons!)

So it should surprise no one that when developing a fantasy world with their own religion, I would make a polytheistic one.  And accompanying that love of polytheism with my limited knowledge of the Greek pantheon, I knew that was the direction I wanted to go in a fantasy. There’s something very elegant about being the god of a few specific things, instead of all of existence and experience. Plus, who doesn’t like the stories of feuding gods?

However, actually establishing a fabricated religion is complicated. Throwing around god names during the course of a narrative is relatively easy. But turning those random mentions into an actual practicable religion is a different thing entirely. Before I started drafting Read My Mind, I scoured my two completed manuscripts in the Under the Empire universe for everything about religion I had mentioned. Okay, churches, altars and trinkets, about 5 gods, and allusions to angels. But it was all pretty vague stuff, because I had never had any religious teachings outside of the things one learns in a public school, and what I had read about polytheistic cultures. So I knew what I needed to research, and I came out the other side knowing the difference between a parable and an epistle, that angels come from many cultures, and that the translations of religious texts have been politically bent over the centuries, just to name a few things.

This all fuelled how I shaped the religion.  And adding on the idea that the people of this world had been gifted magic from these gods, I hoped that the idea that one religion would dominate most of the world’s population would be reasonable. I settled on ten gods, each representing one of eight different magics, with two additional gods representing the non-magical.  There would be churches and priestesses for what they bring to communities, and there would be altars and prayer for individuals who wanted to lead their own worship.

Most importantly, I wanted this religion to be inherently LGBTQ friendly. Thus there are canonically bisexual, lesbian and trans gods, and maybe more that I haven’t figured out yet.

Religion or the lack thereof shapes community, drives some governments, influences societal norms. In Read My Mind, I wanted to show a religion that cares and supports and encourages love and giving. I hope I have succeeded in that, and I hope as I write future books in this series, I get to continue to develop it.

Welcome to the blog tour of Read My Mind, the first book of the Under the Empire series! I hope you’ll check out all the stops, where I explore the craft that goes into creating a fantasy series set in a contemporary era.

Long ago, a pantheon of ten gods gifted magic to the people of our world, changing the course of history as we know it. The Flavian Empire now reigns over what would have been America, led by a royalty of fire weavers. Frannesburg, the city by the bay, is a haven from the empire’s encroaching dictatorship, and its university is bustling with people of all magics, sexualities, genders, and races. As students study toward their degrees, they hope to find friendships across majors, and maybe even love under the fog and city lights.

Read My Mind follows two freshmen, Scott and Nick, who have just started at the University of Frannesburg. Magic, attraction, and too much homework await them on their journey to figure out who they are now that they are on their own, and how they fit into this magical world.

About Read My Mind

Scott Kensington lives happily without magic; prayer is all he needs to worship the gods. Then he starts his studies at the University of Frannesburg, and not only is he suddenly surrounded by eccentrics—those gifted with magic—but his own latent ability begins to surface, with consequences that could tear his soul and family apart.

Nick Barns is grieving for his lost mother and desperate for distraction—usually in the form of limited-edition action figures. As a telekinetic, he’s no stranger to magic, so he offers to help Scott adjust to his new powers. They quickly learn how their magics interact, their shared passions soon growing beyond superheroes and immortals. But Nick’s not taking his studies seriously, and his father threatens to pull him from the university. Overwhelmed by his own crumbling family, Scott’s convinced he can’t handle a relationship, but he doesn’t want to let Nick go.

With grief, guilt, and magic complicating everything between Nick and Scott, it seems that not even the gods—or a new comic book—can save their relationship now.

Sometimes, even reading someone’s mind won’t help you understand what they want.

Now available from Riptide Publishing. 

About Kelly Haworth

Kelly Haworth grew up in San Francisco and has been reading science fiction and fantasy classics since she was a kid. She has way too active an imagination, thus she channels it into writing. Kelly is genderfluid and pansexual, and loves to write LGBTQIA characters into her work. In fact, she doesn’t know if she’s ever going to be able to write an allo-cishet couple again. Kelly has degrees in both genetics and psychology, and works as a project manager at a genetics lab. When not working or writing, she can be found wrangling her two toddlers, working on cosplay, or curled up on the couch with a good TV show or book.

Connect with Kelly:

● Website: kellyhaworth.com

● Twitter: @KHaworthWrites

● Facebook: KHaworthWrites

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Read My Mind, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 7, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!