Category: Riptide Publishing

A Lila Audiobook Review: Good Boy (Theta Alpha Gamma #4) by Anne Tenino and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

good-boy-audiobookBrad “Frat Boy” Feller and Sebastian “Toppy” DeWitt have been together for nine months, and their relationship is as hot as ever. The only cloud Brad sees on their horizon is Sebastian’s stress over his thesis. And their uncertain future together after graduation. And how Sebastian sometimes takes Brad for granted. And Sebastian’s unwillingness to introduce Brad to his father.

Other than that, everything’s awesome.

All of Sebastian’s energy is currently devoted to his thesis, and getting into a top-notch PhD program. Fortunately, his boyfriend takes care of all the domestic stuff and Sebastian’s needs. Any minor strain between them will disappear and they’ll return to the status quo after Sebastian graduates. As long as nothing upsets their delicate balance in the meantime.

Then a friend Brad once had a small fling with is forced to take refuge with them, and Frat Boy and Toppy’s delicate balance topples like an elephant on a waterski. Now Sebastian has to face some truths about how he’s been treating Brad, what he wants for their future, and what he has to do to get it.

Good Boy is a BDSM snippet done right. I read Frat Boy and Toppy back in 2013, and really enjoyed Brad’s & Sebastian’s story. Seeing them again in the other books was good, but having them back, in their own story, was more than I expected.

I listen to this story shortly after finishing Sweet Young Thang. That was a plus since we get to see the pivotal scene in this book from Collin’s perspective in the previous book. It’s almost like seeing the whole thing again from a movie-like point of view. The events are simple but essential to their relationship, and the way Sebastian and Brad take care of each other is priceless.

This is a very short, very well-written story with adorable characters. Yes, Sebastian is back in his “bitchy mood,” but just like before, Brad brings out the best in him. It was nice to see that their happily ever after still true.

Nick J. Russo, as always, brought all the characters back to life. The consistency within the series is part of the appeal. He gives Sebastian’s state of mind the perfect tone, and Brad’s concerns the perfect outlet.

L.C. Chase caught the heart of the story with a simple cover and adapted it for the audiobook version.

Sales Links:  Riptide | Audible | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Length: 1 hours and 55 minutes

Published: November 1, 2016 (Audio Edition) by Riptide Publishing
ASIN: B01MDRYNF3
Edition Language: English

Series:  Theta Alpha Gamma
Book #1: Frat Boy and Toppy
Book #2: Love, Hypothetically
Book #3: Sweet Young Thang
Book #4: Good Boy

 

Its Back to Bluewater Bay with No Small Parts (Bluewater Bay #16) by Ally Blue (Riptide Tour and Giveaway)

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No Small Parts (Bluewater Bay #16) by Ally Blue
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Ally Blue here today talking about her release, No Small Parts, a Bluewater Bay story and bringing a Riptide Publishing giveaway with her.  Thanks, Ally, and welcome.

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Hello out there, lovely readers. I’m Ally Blue. Welcome to the blog tour for my new book, No Small Parts. It’s the latest addition to Riptide Publishing’s awesome Bluewater Bay universe. I love this story, I love my boys—Nat Horn and Rafael Cortez—and I’m excited to give y’all a glimpse behind the scenes. Thanks so much to my blog hosts for having me here, and thank you all for joining me!

About No Small PartsBWBlogo_Web

Nat Horn is almost living the dream. His part as a werewolf extra on the hit show Wolf’s Landing has somehow turned into a regular role. Beautiful rising star Solari Praveen has taken an interest in him. He’s even making enough money to think about getting out of Bluewater Bay someday. Except his retired dad’s dependence on pain medications seems to be getting worse, and Nat’s the only one around to take care of him.

When Nat learns that Solari’s interest isn’t romantic, his disappointment is surprisingly short-lived, because in getting to know her, he also got to know her assistant, Rafael. And Rafael turns out to be the kind of friend—and potential boyfriend—Nat never dared to dream about.

Distracted by his astonishing new life, new friends, and new possibilities, Nat lets his guard down, and suddenly his life goes careening out of control. Racked by guilt, he tries to push his new friends away, but the bonds he’s formed are already too strong. In fact, they’re strong enough to pull him forward, into the future he’s been longing for—but to get there, he’ll have to let go of the past. 

Now available from Riptide Publishing. http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/no-small-parts

About Ally Blue

Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.

Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally:

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of No Small Parts, one lucky winner will receive an ebook from Ally’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 24, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

This title is part of the Bluewater Bay universe.

In the Syfy Spotlight: Murder Once Seen (The Oddities #1) by J.T. Hall (giveaway)

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Murder Once Seen (The Oddities #1) by J.T. Hall
Riptide Publishing
Cover by: Kanaxa

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here

 

About Murder Once Seen

In the city of Nis, things often aren’t what they seem.

Derwin is a bounty hunter gifted with the Oddity of superhuman strength and agility—perfect for hunting down fugitives and demons who roam the streets. One killed his boyfriend two years ago, and Derwin won’t stop until he finds out who. Police suspect it was someone he sent to prison, but he can’t shake the idea that they’re missing something.

Elliot is a rentboy who’s been living on the streets since his parents disowned him. He mistrusts everyone and, given his uncontrolled ability to Read Objects and a client list that includes a major gang boss, despairs of ever having a normal life.

Derwin and Elliot meet in a storm of lust. Derwin’s Oddity is fed by the pain of others, but he only wants what’s freely given. Elliot loves pain, but needs safety and a way off the streets before he can allow it. They may be able to solve each other’s problems . . . if they can survive long enough to work together.

Available now at Riptide Publishing. http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/murder-once-seen

About JT Hall

J.T. Hall has been writing for many years under this name and others, and has appeared in magazines, anthologies, and online books. She earned her BA in creative writing from the University of Arizona, her master’s in education from Argosy University, and works as an independent technical writer for state and federal programs. In her free time, she volunteers for the LGBT community and is active in the leather scene. She has a teenage daughter and a partner of over ten years. They live in sunny Arizona with three adorably cute dogs, three black cats, and a hamster who loves peanuts.

Connect with J.T.:

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Murder Once Seen, 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 December 17, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

An Ali Audiobook Review: Sweet Young Thang by Anne Tenino and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

sweetyoungthang_audiobookThanks to Collin Montes, Theta Alpha Gamma now welcomes gay and bisexual students. Persuading his Uncle Monty, president of the TAG Alumni Association, that the open approach won’t adversely affect TAG’s reputation is Collin’s own first step toward coming out. As long as there are no repercussions, he’ll escape the closet by graduation.

Enter repercussions, stage left: someone rigs the TAG House water heater to launch through the ceiling, then plants a bomb—thankfully unsuccessful—in the fraternity’s basement. Now Collin has his hands full not only trying to convince his uncle that this might not be the work of homophobes, but also dealing with a fratful of brothers worried about their kegger fridge.

Paramedic Eric Dixon can’t stop thinking about the kid he met during a call at his former college fraternity house. The age gap between them is trumped by sexy eyes, so when Eric sees Collin again at the bomb scene, he pursues him. Soon, Eric is dreaming of being a househusband, fighting to keep Collin safe from whoever’s trying to destroy the fraternity, and helping his sweet young thang realize that repercussions sometimes have silver linings.

Sweet Young Thang is a May-December story with a New Adult twist. The age gap between the main characters is only fifteen years, allowing them to have more things in common than differences. At the same time, it’s easy for Eric to identify with the changes and challenges of Collin’s life. We get to see both troupes move the plot forward without one taking over the other.

The story arc, not the romance, seems a bit over the top at times—as well as Eric’s involvement in the investigation. All the events contributed in bringing them together, but after that were irrelevant. I like the author’s effort to bring more to the table than a simple romance, but sometimes those work too. 

And that’s what we see here. A love story that started from a far-fetch circumstance, but that, in the end, was strong enough to carry the MCs to their HEA. I’m glad the age difference didn’t turn into a daddy fetish. Eric and Collin were great together. Their chemistry wasn’t limited to the bedroom. Their sense of humor and corky personalities made them a lovely couple. 

I like how independent each main character was. Even after all the things that were happening around them, they stayed as equals and made an effort to work in their developing relationship. They were also great with their friends and families. Some aspects might have been a little too cliché, but in the end, they worked. 

Overall, a nice addition to the series. Great characters and a romance story with a long lasting happily ever after. 

As always, Nick J. Russo can read the yellow pages and make them shine. The voices for the characters carry over from previous books, making it easy to go back into the Theta Alpha Gamma world. All the new characters are as well-rendered.  

The cover by L.C. Chase matches the style of Frat Boy and Toppy and depicts an important scene in the story. 

Sales Links:  Riptide | Audible, Amazon, iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Length: 10 hours and 9 minutes
Published:  October 28, 2016 (Audio Edition), by Riptide Publishing
ASIN:  B01M6934ZA
Edition Language: English

Series:  Theta Alpha Gamma

  • Book #1: Frat Boy and Toppy
  • Book #2: Love, Hypothetically
  • Book #3: Sweet Young Thang

A Release Highlight: Love Letters by Kris Ripper and One Life to Lose (Queers of La Vista #4) (giveaway)

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One Life to Lose (Queers of La Vista #4) by Kris Ripper
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here

Kris Ripper has brought a special conversation to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words from the author’s characters in zir’s latest release, One Life to Lose (Queers of La Vista #4). Thank you, Kris and welcome.

Love Letters

by Kris Ripper

My phone dinged with a message: You have been invited to join the following conversation: JCK. Click to join.

I clicked.

Keith: Yay! Cam’s here! Hi, Cam! (^_^)/ (That’s me waving at you, but I actually had to look it up, ha ha ha ha.)

Josh: He literally googled until he found one he liked. You can’t imagine how many waving text things there are, seriously.

Cameron: Hello. What is this? I had to install something.

Keith: It’s a group chat! So we can all talk to each other!

Cameron: Aren’t we going out to dinner?

Keith: *sigh*

Josh: Yep. Still going to dinner at The Grill. You’re gonna wear a waistcoat, right, Cam?

Keith: …

Keith: This is what you’re looking for, Cam: *blush*

I blushed just looking at the word blush. I shook my head.

Cameron: I can’t type that.

Josh: Is it true, though?

Keith: …

Keith: Your silence speaks volumes.

Keith: I’m just saying.

Josh: I’m going to picture Cam in that waistcoat with gold thread. You know the one, Keith?

Keith: Oh yeah. The black one, with all that intricate gold details. God, that’s so hot.

Josh: So. Hot.

I took slow breaths and glanced around. Maybe to make sure no one was watching me (no one was; I might as well have been in an invisible bubble in the booth). Maybe just to clear my blush.

More messages dinged.

Keith: Yeah, wear that one.

Keith: Cam?

Keith: Okay, okay, we’ll stop rubbing one out thinking about you in that waistcoat.

Josh: He’s never going to come back if you say things like “rubbing one out”.

Keith: Sorry. We aren’t rubbing one out. I mean, obviously it’d realistically be rubbing TWO out.

Josh: Unless it’s me in control of exactly who’s rubbing what, babe. Don’t press your luck.

Now I kind of hoped Keith pressed his luck.

Keith: *googling*

Keith: Oh my god, never mind. I have to scrub my brain now.

Keith: People are perverted.

Keith: Like…I can’t unsee what I have seen.

Keith: You guys, seriously, there are some really disturbing emoji sets.

Cameron: What’s an emoji set?

Josh: Welcome back, Cam. And don’t think too much about emoji sets.

Josh: Anyway.

Josh: We’re going to dinner. Keith and I are dressing up.

Keith: We are?

Keith: I mean…yeah, we are.

Keith: I’m already planning what we’re gonna wear.

Josh: And we look forward to spending the night with you, Cam. Your place or ours?

I swallowed hard, thinking about the two of them dressed up. Thinking about sleeping next to them. I loved their apartment, but my thumb hovered over the Y and hesitated.

Keith: My spidey sense tells me Cam wants to be at home tonight.

Josh: Sounds good. Plus, we can bring over the stuff we were planning to bring over.

Cameron: Stuff?

Josh: We picked up some your-place pajamas. Nothing big.

Keith: And slippers. Got you a pair, too.

Josh: I forgot. And bathrobes.

I stared at the messages and my heart rate sped up. I stared so long the screen went black.

They’d bought things specifically to keep at my apartment for when they spent the night. The thought filled me with a fizzy floating sensation.

My phone vibrated.

Josh: We don’t have to, Cam. If you don’t want us to.

I fumbled the phone in my haste to reassure them.

Cameron: No, no. Please. Yes.

Cameron: I mean, yes, of course.

Cameron: *blush*

Keith: ❤ ❤ ❤ Love you, Cam.

Josh: All those hearts are from me, too.

Cameron: ❤ ❤ One for each of you.

Cameron: I look forward to seeing the slippers.

Keith: We’re gonna match. It’ll be great.

Josh: We’ll see you later, Cam.

Cameron: I’ll see you both tonight.

I put my phone face down on my desk and realized my hands were shaking.

They had brought so much beauty, and grace, and warmth into my life. But I’d never expected to love them. And I certainly never expected them to return the sentiment.

Heart, heart, heart.

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About One Life to Lose

Cameron Rheingold is the kind of guy who takes a book to a bar. He’s a loner by nature, but he has to engage with the community to keep his movie theater business afloat. When two young men stay after a Cary Grant film showing to chat, Cameron thinks he might have made some new friends—but their interest is more than friendly.

Josh is charismatic, and every smile is a little bit seductive. Keith is sweet and kind, with a core of steel Cameron can sense even when Keith’s on his knees. Cameron is willing to be the couple’s kinky third, but that’s it. He refuses to risk complicating things with his growing devotion, even if being with Josh and Keith feels more right than anything else ever has.

When the three of them are attacked by the killer roaming La Vista, Cameron must decide what’s more important: pretending the assault never happened and he’s the same loner he used to be, or coming clean to Josh and Keith about how much he loves them, even if they can never return his feelings.

Now available at Riptide Publishing. http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/one-life-to-lose

About Kris Ripper

Kris Ripper lives in the great state of California and hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. Kris shares a converted garage with a toddler, can do two pull-ups in a row, and can write backwards. (No, really.) Kris is genderqueer and prefers the z-based pronouns because they’re freaking sweet. Ze has been writing fiction since ze learned how to write, and boring zir stuffed animals with stories long before that.

Connect with Kris:

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of One Life to Lose, one lucky winner will receive an ebook from Kris’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 17, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Trailer Trash by Marie Sexton and John Solo (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

trailer-trash-audioIt’s 1986, and what should have been the greatest summer of Nate Bradford’s life goes sour when his parents suddenly divorce. Now, instead of spending his senior year in his hometown of Austin, Texas, he’s living with his father in Warren, Wyoming, population 2,833 (and Nate thinks that might be a generous estimate). There’s no swimming pool, no tennis team, no mall—not even any MTV. The entire school’s smaller than his graduating class back home, and in a town where the top teen pastimes are sex and drugs, Nate just doesn’t fit in.

Then Nate meets Cody Lawrence. Cody’s dirt-poor, from a broken family, and definitely lives on the wrong side of the tracks. Nate’s dad says Cody’s bad news. The other kids say he’s trash. But Nate knows Cody’s a good kid who’s been dealt a lousy hand. In fact, he’s beginning to think his feelings for Cody go beyond friendship.

Admitting he might be gay is hard enough, but between small-town prejudices and the growing AIDS epidemic dominating the headlines, a town like Warren, Wyoming, is no place for two young men to fall in love.

I well remember the eighties. I know I’m dating myself, but as my reviewer name says, I’m a zany old lady. I got that way from living through those eighties. Just kidding. But I do have a very close friend who realized he was gay in his early teens and couldn’t tell anyone in our small, homophobic hometown. He visited Chicago with his twin brother and a friend when he was eighteen and when he graduated from high school, he took what I now know was a courageous leap of faith and moved there alone. He’s been with his partner since the mid-eighties and I can recall keeping him in my prayers when the AIDS crisis peaked.

This is a young adult story featuring two young men, Cody and Nate, who I totally fell in love with. Their story made me think of my friend all while I was reading. Each had a different family background and set of circumstances, yet fate brought them together at a time when gay men were still in hiding in most of the states, and most definitely in a rural territory in Wyoming. There are so many very, very sad times in this story. It’s definitely not fluff. But it’s also not something that I would pass up, no matter how tough it got. Marie Sexton never fails to reach down deep in my gut and wrench up all the feels I try to keep hidden, and she does it with such finesse, I can easily forgive her.

John Solo’s narration was spot on. Two weeks later and I can still hear their voices and feel their pain, and of course, their moments of joy. Cody and Nate’s story is not to be missed and the audiobook format is wonderful.

Cover art by Jay Aheer is poignant and quite wonderful.

Sales Links

Riptide Publishing

Audiobook Details:

Listening Length: 9 hours and 43 minutes
Audible Audio, 10 pages

Published October 19th 2016 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 21st 2016)
ASINB01M5BJX19
Edition Language English

E.J. Russell on Characters and their release ‘Clickbait’ by E.J. Russell (guest post and giveaway)

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Clickbait by E.J. Russell
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have E.J. Russell here today talking about Gideon, one of the characters in Clickbait and the Geeklandia series.  Welcome, E.J.!

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Gideon: A Peek Before Clickbait

Clickbait is actually the second book in my Geeklandia series about a group of friends in Portland—roommates Charlie, Gideon, and Lindsay, their sidecar friend Toshiko—and their search for romance, wherein geeks pair with non-geeks, much to everyone’s astonishment. Gideon, one of the co-heroes of Clickbait, made his grand entrance in the first book, Lost in Geeklandia, where he helps his BFF Charlie overcome her gawkitude and land her man. (Charlie appears in Clickbait as well, as do Toshiko and Lindsay—who’s the sister of Gideon’s co-hero, Alex.)

This is a deleted scene from Lost in Geeklandia, where Gideon (in his Noel Coward-inspired red brocade dressing gown) tries to prep Charlie for her next interaction with her childhood friend and later nemesis, Daniel (whom Gideon refers to as He-man). She has thirty days to turn Daniel into her boyfriend or lose the chance at her dream job—and the clock is ticking.

Gideon tapped his fork on the empty Tupperware bowl. “Attention, please. Back to He-man. Tell me you at least managed a good-night kiss.”

Charlie’s cheeks heated as if she’d dry-roasted them along with the peanuts in the snack smorgasbord. “Of course I didn’t. We’re talking about Daniel Shawn. It would be easier for me to manage a good-night kiss from Chris Pine.”

“Charles, Charles, Charles. Whatever am I going to do with you? Stop thinking of him as a threat and think of him as an opportunity.” He popped off the barstool. “Let’s SWOT this.”

Lindsay stopped mashing avocado and wiped her forehead with the back of one wrist, her expression troubled. “I know you’re trying to help, Gideon, but do you really think it’s okay for Charlie to hit Daniel?”

He patted her cheek. “S-W-O-T, darling, not S-W-A-T. Strength, weakness, opportunity, threat. Standard management exercise, as Charles would know if she’d taken any business classes amid all the technobabble.”

“It’s hard to take you seriously as a management consultant when you’re dressed like Raul Julia as Gomez Addams,” Charlie grumbled.

“Gomez wore a smoking jacket, not a dressing gown. Stop focusing on inconsequentials.”

Gideon plucked the magnetized dry erase marker off the refrigerator and slashed a grid on the whiteboard they used for their grocery list. In giant letters, he scrawled an S and a W across the top row. “This represents your internal organization. Whatever you perceive as your own.” He added an O and a T down the left side. “This represents the Other. The outer world. Things you don’t control.”

“I’m not sure I control anything.”

“Stop it. See.” He pointed to each letter with the marker. “Strength. Weakness. Opportunity. Threat. Your weakness is this unaccountable need you have to hide your talents under a virtual bushel. Your strengths are legion, but when it comes to Daniel, you forget that you are a smart woman and act like a freaking moron.”

Charlie glared at him. “Don’t you have a hot date to get to?”

Gideon’s gaze flew to the clock above the sink. “God. I’m late. Only concern about your sex life could distract me from my own.” He smacked the marker back on the refrigerator. “Think about it. There’ll be a test later.”

He disappeared down the hall in a billow of red satin.

About Clickbait

After the disastrous ending of his first serious relationship, Gideon Wallace cultivated a protective—but fabulously shiny—outer shell to shield himself from Heartbreak 2.0. Besides, romance is so not a priority for him right now. All his web design prospects have inexplicably evaporated, and to save his fledgling business, he’s been compelled to take a hands-on hardware project—as in, his hands on screwdrivers, soldering irons, and needle-nosed pliers. God. Failure could actually be an option.

Journeyman electrician Alex Henning is ready to leave Gideon twisting in the wind after their run-ins both on and off the construction site. Except, like a fool, he takes pity on the guy and offers to help. Never mind that between coping with his dad’s dementia and clocking all the overtime he can finagle, he has zero room in his life for more complications.

Apparently, an office build-out can lay the foundation for a new relationship. Who knew? But before Alex can trust Gideon with the truth about his fragile family, he has to believe that Gideon’s capable of caring about more than appearances. And Gideon must learn that when it comes to the heart, it’s content—not presentation—that matters.

Now available from Riptide Publishing. http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/clickbait

About E.J. Russell

E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer, and business-intelligence consultant. After her twin sons left for college and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class, she returned to her childhood love of writing fiction. Now she wonders why she ever thought an empty nest meant leisure.

E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her curmudgeonly husband, the only man on the planet who cares less about sports than she does. She enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

Connect with E.J.:

Website: ejrussell.com
Blog: ejrussell.com/bloggery/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/E.J.Russell.author
Twitter: twitter.com/ej_russell
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ejrussell/

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Clickbait, one lucky winner will receive $25 in Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 10, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!