A Scary Review Redux: Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall (A MelanieM Review)

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 (for story and cover) ★★★★★

Once upon a time . . . that’s how the old stories always begin.

And so this one begins, in a land both foreign and familiar, it’s a tale of princes, and merfolk and love…of a sort.

Once upon a time there was a king of a fallen kingdom. He was just and he was beloved. Or so the numbers said. One day, he gathered together the greatest, wisest minds in all the land—not sorcerers, but scientists—and he bade them fashion him a son. A prince. A perfect prince to embody his father’s legacy.

But as fate would have it, nothing ever turns out as planned and the golden perfect prince had other ideas for his future. After gazing upon the dances of the mer in a performance, our prince runs off to join the circus, the Cirque de la Mer. Once there the prince trained the merfolk, he performed with them, and thought he was happy…for a year.

Time brought strange thoughts and emotions to the prince the closer he got to the merfolk. Then Nerites arrives, a mesmerizing merman who refused to be trained or tamed. Nerites was something far more than the prince ever expected. Nerites was savage and unknown.

How does the tale end? Ah, there’s the rub. For every prince, there exists a beast, and for every love, there exists a forever heartbreak. Sand and Ruin and Gold has them all.

Sand and Ruin and Gold hearkens back to the olden stories. Not the comforting ” Disneyfied” fairytales but those of Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. Here the darkness and unknown reign supreme, not happy endings or light. Less a tale of romance, this beautifully written short story builds an atmosphere of creeping foreboding, a sense that not everything is as it seems. The poetic nature of the narrative combined with an imagery that will enchant, then leave you haunted by the possibilities, make Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall a short story that refuses to be limited by category or trope.

The feeling of something just off kilter is already present at the beginning. Hall’s prince isn’t born, he’s a genetically perfected young man, created to be the ideal heir to a “good” king who resides over a fallen land. The clues and telling phrases are slipped in sparingly at first, then in ever increasing numbers. As new descriptions of the circus and the shows appear, a far different picture emerges from our original assumptions of the merfolk and the circumstances at the Circus. And along with it comes the feeling one gets when the hairs rise off your arm when frightened or the queasiness that originates in your stomach when it dawns on you that something you thought was happily normal or ordinary turns out to be fearfully, horrifically wrong.

Alexis Hall understands how to build a powerfully evocative story, one that runs more along the lines of those classics passed from bard to bard, told around fires in great halls and forests alike. Whether those bards be from the past or perhaps even our future, that is but one more chilling aspect of this story, a tale that exists in the mists and ocean eddies of the dark seas of this unknown world. But its Hall’s stylistically vivid and powerful narrative with its lush descriptions that makes this story so stunning, so poignant. This is how it starts out:

“I must have been very young when I saw the mermaids at the Cirque de la Mer because it was the nurse who took me and her place in my life was soon surrendered to tutors. I don’t think my father ever found out. He would not have approved.

The day is little more than a sensory haze, of pastel children, the laughter of strangers, and the burn of salt and chemicals at the back of my throat.

The mermaids, though. They are as vivid as stained glass, even now.”

Told from the prince’s pov, we feel his assumptions of his life and the circus fall slowly away as comprehension and understanding arrive building block by building block as events unfold around him. It is a tale of deep love faced amidst horrifying truths. One reading will not be enough to capture all the incredible and terrifying moments as sudden realization, and insight sets in.

And then there is that ending, the one that will refuse to let you go. Its in the words and feelings that emerge, and the tears that will run down your face as you try to decide the implications of words strung like pearls, luminescent and beyond value. An ending that will send you back to the beginning of the story and start this tale once more.

I highly recommend this story to all readers. This is a story that should be on everyones shelf, whether it be made of wood or eReader. This is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Best of 2014 as is its cover.

Cover Artist: Simone. The artwork for Sand and Ruin and Gold is every bit as lush and haunting as the story itself. One of the best covers of the year.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing All Romance (ARe) amazon Sand and Ruin and Gold

Book Details:

ebook, 39 pages
Published September 22nd 2014 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492318
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://riptidepublishing.com/title

A Stella Review: DEAD RINGER by Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Brandon Ringer has a dead man’s face. His grandfather, silver-screen heartthrob James Ringer, died tragically at twenty-one, and Brandon looks exactly like him. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Brandon is unknown, unemployed, and up to his ears in bills after inheriting his grandparents’ Hollywood mansion. He refuses to sell it—it’s his last connection to his grandmother—so to raise the cash he needs, he joins a celebrity look-alike escort agency.

Percy Charles is chronically ill, isolated, and lonely. His only company is his meddlesome caregiver and his collection of James Ringer memorabilia. When he finds “Jim Ringer” on Hollywood Doubles’ website, he books an appointment, hoping to meet someone who shares his passion for his idol.

Brandon? Not that person.

But despite their differences, they connect, and Percy’s fanboy love for James shows Brandon a side of his grandfather he never knew. Soon they want time together off the clock, but Percy is losing his battle for independence, and Brandon feels trapped in James’s long shadow. Their struggle to love each other is the stuff of classic Hollywood. Too bad Brandon knows how those stories end.

Don’t let you be misled by the old cliche rentboy plus rich boy equals HEA. There are all of these three elements in Dead Ringer ( and I admit I wanted to read it just for this), but so much more too.

I heard a lot of things about Heidi Belleau but I haven’t read anything by her and Sam Schooler was totally new to me. Since I’m always looking for new authors I was so ready to rush through it. Of course what caught my attention first was the cover, I was pretty much drooling in front of the PC.

What I particularly liked in this book were the characters, Brandon and Percy both took my heart because they are too young to be already so broken.

Brandon is 19 years old, he has just inherited his grandmother Dahlia’s mansion and having no job, he’s swamped with bills to pay. Point is Dahlia was the only person in Brandon life to care for him, she took him into her house when he was thrown out by his parents and living on the streets for some time. He’s ready to do anything to keep her house. He’s not new to the rent boy job so when he finds out about an escort service called Hollywood Double, being the spitting image of his famous grandfather, he soon decides to join them as the James Ringer doppelganger. This will be nothing as what he was used to be on the street and with the help of great people he will try to save himself and his new pricey home. And his job will take him to the lonely life of a sweet young man.

Percy is 21 years old, he is affected by a juvenile type of arthritis that forces him to live as a recluse in his parents’ big house, steadily under control of his caretaker. He has no friends because he believes no one would stick with his struggles with his disease. He feels he’s a burden for his parents who pretty much ignore him and he is totally resigned to be alone with people who treat him as a disabled person, forbidding Percy to do even the easiest daily things. He’s sick of being obedient and in a moment of rebellion, he hires his favorite actor’s double, unaware his choice will give his lonely life an unbelievable turning point.

Brandon and Percy’s is a beautiful story, thoughtful and crowded with emotions. But it’s not just theirs, it’s James Ringer’s story too. It’s a believable journey in the discovery of a undisclosed past, essential to Brandon to start his new life.

I liked Dead Ringer a lot, it kept me glued to my kindle till the end but my rating stops at just 4 stars because at first I found it a little hard to get into the book, even if later I was able to appreciate the initial slower pace as a way to know the MCs better. Moreover I was left with some doubts about Percy’s caretaker and her behaviour.

I want to talk a little about the double point of view Heidi and Sam chose to use. I’m not sure if each author wrote a specific character or if they simply mixed ideas and words but what it came out, what I felt and loved, was a real difference in the writing that amazed me. Maybe it was intentional, maybe it was just my feeling, both Brandon and Percy were very delineated and characterized, each of them with a specific writing style. It’s not easy to find point of views so well done, moreover with a co-authored book, it was a surprise because often it happens that the characters sound the same. Not in this case.

Last thing, I want suggest the authors to please consider the idea of a “spinoff ” about Nolan, he brought peace into the chaos that was Brandon’s life. I’d love to read his story!

Cover art by L.C. Chase and COVER PHOTO by Dion Marc and Marisha Dudek. Really really good!

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

BOOK DETAILS

ebook, 453 pages
Published October 26th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN 1626493375
Edition Language English

A MelanieM Review: Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 ★★★★★

Jason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.

There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.

But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart.

Ever looked at a cover, read a blurb and just known, known that the book had a story you just needed to read? Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton did that for me. I’ve long held a fascination with snow globes, especially the idea that the people and things inside them were alive, existing in a world we could only look at. Add to that the elements of love and a man trapped out of time and I was hooked. Plus it was Marie Sexton writing the story!

Marie Sexton’s character of Jason comes across as believably real and lost, his old career dying or maybe its Jason who tired of dealing with being a Hollywood actor and the problems that comes with it. We feel his weariness, his loss, and his uncertainty now that he’s fled to the backwoods and this peculiar house. Because quite frankly we are wondering if he made the right choice too. As charming as Sexton makes the house seem on first appearances, she also manages to bring a air of eeriness and oddity with it as well.

With those elements flowing through the narrative from the beginning, when Jason’s actor friend with benefits, Dylan, makes his appearances into the scene, its acts as a jarring, albeit lively, interruption into Jason’s new isolated life. Just as I suspect Sexton meant it to be. At first we welcome Dylan short visits into Jason’s new life, and then slowly everything changes when Ben and the globe enters the story.

Such a magical element. A snow globe. All those possibilities of what could lie inside. Here they contain a young man, trapped outside of time, the reason why I will let the story explain for itself. The romance that develops between Ben and Jason is so real, so heartfelt and fragile that each moment they are together in the story is one you treasure as much as they do.

How does it end? With stunning danger, heartbreak, tears and laughter. And love, so much love. I adored this story. Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton is its own delightful treasure. One to be taken out, reread for its magic and romance, and love against all odds relationship. Perfect for the holidays no matter what holiday that would be. I highly recommend this story and this author.

———————–

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center. Love for the Holidays: A Charity Bundle Benefiting the GLBT National Help Center – See more at: Riptide Publishing

Cover design by L. C. Chase is perfect, just perfect for this story. I loved it because it drew me in and made me need to see what was inside.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing preorder Other links to follow closer to release date

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages

Expected publication: November 30th 2015 by Riptide Publishing

original title Winter Oranges

ISBN13 9781626493575

edition language English

Want that Shiver of Dread to Go with your Romance? Dead Ringer by Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler is Here ( contest)

Dead Ringer by Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Dion Marc, Marisha Dudek

Buy It at Riptide Publishing here

Hi, and welcome to the DEAD RINGER release tour! We’re Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler. Thanks to our generous blog hosts, and thanks to you for hanging out with us! Be sure to check out our full list of tour stops so you can see the rest of our extras and snag yourself more chances to win our giveaway!

Blurb

Brandon? Not that person.

About Heidi

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write.

She has a degree in history from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!)

When not writing, you might catch her trying to explain British television to her newborn daughter or standing in line at the local coffee shop, waiting on her caramel macchiato.

Connect with Heidi:

Blog: “http://www.heidibelleau.com/“
Twitter: “http://www.twitter.com/HeidiBelleau“
Goodreads: “http://www.goodreads.com/heidibelleau“
Email: HYPERLINK “mailto:heidi.below.zero@gmail.com”

About Sam

Sam Schooler is queer and nonbinary, and she grew up surrounded by corn, churches, and cliché “Hell Is Real” signs. After twelve years of Catholic school in southwestern Ohio, she applied to the most liberal university she could find and wound up with a degree in journalism. Now, she writes trope-subverting new adult books about people of all genders and orientations—and all the ways they can love each other. Sam lives with her wife and their two cats in Regina, Saskatchewan.

You can find her backlist and details about upcoming projects at “http://samschooler.weebly.com/” .

If you’re feeling daring, follow her on Twitter as “https://twitter.com/samschoolering” or on Tumblr as “http://meetcute-s.tumblr.com/“ to get the full immersive experience.

Giveaway

Feeling lucky? Leave a comment with your email on this or any of our other DEAD RINGER tour posts for a chance to win one of our two grand prizes. Each winner will receive a $15 gift card to Riptide Publishing, plus get their choice of either a poster-sized print of DEAD RINGER’s gorgeous cover photo by Marisha Dudek, or a postcard set featuring the eye-catching ephemera of James Ringer’s filmography, designed by Vivian Ng. Contest is not restricted to US entries. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

More On The Last Word, Famous Last Lines and This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

I know we covered some ground last week on famous last lines, some of which everyone could conjure up after a moments or two of thought, But after some investigating I came across some that just had to be mentioned. Some because of their beloved source and others because their darkness makes them perfect going into this Halloween week. Oh those closing lines. They make us think, they surprise us, they can make us shiver with joy or fear or teeter off into uncertainty.

“There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler’s mind.”
– So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. –A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

“GOOD GRIEF—IT’S DADDY!” –Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, Candy (1958)

“Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” –Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936)

It was a fine cry—loud and long—but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow. –Toni Morrison, Sula (1973)

I never saw any of them again—except the cops. No way has yet been invented to say goodbye to them. –Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye (1953)

For now she knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it. –Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977

And he couldn’t do it. He could not fucking die. How could he leave? How could he go? Everything he hated was here. –Philip Roth, Sabbath’s Theater (1995)

So that, in the end, there was no end. –Patrick White, The Tree of Man (1955)

I will admit to looking and not finding too many outstanding final lines in M/M novels. Wonderful final paragraphs, but final lines? Nope. Prove me wrong. Tell me they are out there by sending them to me and I’ll post them here in one “blaze of glory” here they be Sunday blog.

Now on to this week’s schedule and Halloween of course!

☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠

This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, October 25:

More On The Last Word, Famous Last Lines and This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, October 26:

Coffee Sip and Book Break with AM Arthur ‘The World As He Sees It’ (excerpt and giveaway
Special Author Spotlight: Our Jaye McKenna Interview and Leythe Blade Release
A BJ Review: Leythe Blade by Jaye McKenna
A Stella Review: How to be a Normal Person by TJ Klune
A MelanieM Review: Dead Money by Lee Brazil

Tuesday, October 27:

John Wiltshire ‘Enduring Night’, virtual tour and contest
In the Spotlight: Dead Ringer by Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler (contest)
Best Books and Book Covers of October 2015
RJ Scott: The Guardian Angel by Liam Livings Tour
A Mika Review-Will & Patrick Wake Up Married by Leta Blake
A Scary Review Redux: The Mingled Destinies of Crocodiles and Men by Eric Arvin

Wednesday, October 28:

Coffee Sip and Book Break: : Hannah Walker’s ‘Corin’s Chance’ (excerpt and giveaway)
In Our Spotlight: Angora Shade ‘Cat Games’ book blast and contest
Lisa Henry’s Darker Space Guest Blog and giveaway
A Stella Review: Dead Ringer by Heidi Belleau and Sam Schooler
A PaulB Review: The Lost Otter (Patching Up, #1) by Caitlin Ricci, A.J. Marcus
A MelanieM Review: Dirty Deeds by Rhys Ford

Thursday, October 29:

Coffee Sip and Book Break: ‘Enigma’ by Nephy Hart‏ (excerpt and contest)
Morticia Knight ‘Negotiating Love’ Excerpt Tour and giveaway
Katey Hawthorne & Jenna Rose Joint interview and Elemental Release day Guest Post/Contest
A Free Dreamer Review: Retribution by Kate Pearce
A PaulB Review:Flint’s Fury (EMS Heat # 19) by Stephani Hecht
A Scary Review Redux: Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall

Friday, October 30:

Early Morning Book Break: Will & Patrick Wake Up Married by Leta Blake (excerpt and giveaway)
A Scary Spotlight: VL Locey ‘An Erie Halloween’ (excerpt and giveaway)
Scary Review Redux: Lily by Xavier Axelson
A BJ Review: Dark Space by Lisa Henry
A Free Dreamer Review: Purpose by Andrew Q. Gordon
A Paul B Review: Paws, Preening and a Pumpkin Patch by Charlie Richards

Saturday, October 31 ~ Happy Halloween!:

A Stella Review: How We Began ( YA anthology)
Scary Review Redux: Vampirism and You by Missouri Dalton (YA)
VL Locey ‘An Erie Halloween’ book blast and contest

Can’t Get Enough of the Bluewater Bay stories? Rain Shadow by L.A. Witt is Here! (Tour and contest)

Rain Shadow (Bluewater Bay #10)
by L.A. Witt
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by L. C. Chase

Buy Link at Riptide Publishing

Welcome to the Riptide Publishing/L. A. Witt blog tour for Rain Shadow, the latest installment in the multi-author Bluewater Bay series!

Blurb

Jeremy Rose came to Bluewater Bay to work as Anna Maxwell’s bodyguard, not to escape his increasingly bitter relationship with his estranged kids. He just wants to focus on his job and be alone for a while. He’s done with love, especially now that three years after his long overdue divorce, he’s got a front-row seat to the rapid deterioration between Anna and her girlfriend. Cynical doesn’t even begin to describe him.

Then Anna and Leigh’s attempts to reconcile put him in the crosshairs of marriage counselor Scott Fletcher. Scott’s exactly what Jeremy needs right now: gorgeous, hot, horny, single, and 100% uninterested in a relationship. The problem is, too much no-strings-attached sex — and too much time in each other’s company — inevitably builds emotional connection.

Except Jeremy refuses to seek counseling for his broken family, and Scott refuses to get seriously involved with men who work dangerous jobs. They both need to realize they can only hide for so long from the pain they came here to escape. They must face their pasts before they lose their shot at a happy future.

Rain Shadow is available from Riptide Publishing.

Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks off my backlist (excluding Rain Shadow) and a $10 Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 24^th, and winners will be announced on October 26^th. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Leave your email address in the comment. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

About the Author

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut…

L. A.’s backlist is available on her website, and updates (as well as random thoughts and the odd snarky comment) can be found on her blog or on Twitter @GallagherWitt.

Bluewater Bay

Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton.

Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by eleven award-winning, best-selling LGBTQ romance authors: L.A. Witt, L.B. Gregg, Z.A. Maxfield, Aleksandr Voinov, Heidi Belleau, Rachel Haimowitz, Anne Tenino, Amy Lane, SE Jakes, G.B. Gordon, and Jaime Samms. Each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.

Starstruck (Bluewater Bay, #1) by L.A. Witt
There’s Something About Ari (Bluewater Bay, #2) by L.B. Gregg
Hell on Wheels (Bluewater Bay #3) by Z.A. Maxfield
Lone Wolf (Bluewater Bay #4) by Aleksandr Voinov
The Burnt Toast B&B (Bluewater Bay #5) by Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz
Lights, Camera, Cupid (A Bluewater Bay Valentine’s Day Anthology; Bluewater Bay #6)
Wedding Favors (Bluewater Bay, #7)by Anne Tenino
The Deep of the Sound (Bluewater Bay, #8) by Amy Lane
When to Hold Them (Bluewater Bay, #9) by G.B. Gordon
Rain Shadow (Bluewater Bay, #10) by L.A. Witt

Greek Mythology Comes to Life with MINOTAUR by J.A. Rock (guest post and giveaway)

MINOTAUR by J.A. Rock

Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Imaliea

Buy it at Riptide Publishing

Hi! I’m J.A. Rock, and I’m touring the internet with my new release, MINOTAUR, a queer fantasy/horror reimagining of the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. And there’s a giveaway involved! I’m giving one reader a chance to win Lost in a Jigsaw, the puzzle that nearly destroyed my sanity a few years ago (but provided hours of fun, I swear), as well as a $15 Riptide voucher.

Thanks so much to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for having me here today, and to everyone following the tour. Here’s today’s look at MINOTAUR.

The Legend of the Minotaur

There are many versions of the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. The basic story is that King Minos of Crete’s wife, Queen Pasiphae, was cursed by Poseidon to fall in love with a bull. She slept with the bull and gave birth to a monster that was half-man, half-bull, which King Minos then had shut up in a labyrinth so complicated, no one could get out of it alive.

Every year, seven Athenian men and seven Athenian women were sent to the labyrinth as tributes to keep the Minotaur satisfied. Theseus eventually decided to go into the labyrinth as one of the tributes and kill the Minotaur. To ensure he could find his way out, Princess Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, gave Theseus a ball of thread, so that he could tie one end to the labyrinth’s door and follow the thread back to the entrance.

I didn’t actually know the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur terribly well when I started Minotaur. My mom had a book of Greek myths she read to me from when I was a kid, and I liked the story of the labyrinth because I was obsessed with mazes. Loving mazes is a thing. I reacquainted myself with the legend by reading it over a couple of times before I started writing, but I wasn’t looking to do a blow-by-blow retelling of the myth. Nor was I looking to do anything specific and agenda-driven, like “a feminist retelling of the Minotaur story.”

What I did want to do was explore themes of heroism, sacrifice, self-discovery, and what makes a monster. Minotaur takes place in an unspecified time based very loosely on the 1930s, and centers on an angry orphan, Thera, whose fascination with a legendary beast comes in part from the wickedness she perceives in herself. Years before Thera was born, a young woman gave birth to a baby she couldn’t care for, and the baby grew into the Minotaur, a half-woman, half-bull who terrorized the town of Rock Hill before she was trapped in a labyrinth. Now the town feeds her tributes in the form of orphans and criminals in order to keep her satisfied in her prison.

There are characters in Minotaur who have counterparts in the legend—though Thera is almost an anti-Theseus, drawn to the labyrinth for selfish reasons, and frustrated by society’s willingness to deem grand acts “heroic” while failing to recognize more subtle, honest displays of loyalty and courage as anything other than recklessness and stupidity.

What I love about the original myth is the way you just kind of have to roll with it. Pasiphae was cursed to fall in love with a bull? Okay, why not. The king had Daedalus build a massive labyrinth to contain the Minotaur? Sure. Myths are stories where so much seems to be going on below the surface, and yet they’ve been reduced to easily digestible two or three paragraph tales.

I didn’t care so much about being true to the legend as I did about showing what might lie under the surface in a story like Theseus’s, or Thera’s. Minotaur is not a tale about a monster and a hero, but rather about the way the two coexist in all of us.

Giveaway

Thanks for being part of the tour! To celebrate this release, I’m giving one commenter Lost in a Jigsaw, the award winning maze puzzle—all the pieces fit together, so the only way to know if you’ve put it together correctly is to solve the maze. If this sounds too much like torture, rest assured that you also get a $15 Riptide voucher. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you. Please leave your email address so we can get in touch with you if chosen. On October 26th, I’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments. Contest is not limited to US entries. If you’d like,follow the whole tour—the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

Blurb

GreekKnow this: I am not a warrior. I am a disease.

When I was six, my parents died.

When I was sixteen, I was locked away in Rock Point Girls’ Home. Nobody wants to deal with a liar. An addict. A thief.

Nobody except Alle. She is pure, and she’s my friend in spite of all the rotten things I am.

There was once another girl like me—long ago. A cast-off daughter. A lying little beast who left a red stain across the land with her terrible magic. She’s imprisoned now in a maze high up on the cliffs. They say she’s half woman, half bull. They say she dines on human tributes and guards a vast treasure. They say she was born wicked.

But I know her better than the history books or stories do. She and I dream together. Our destinies are twisted up like vines.

Except I’m not going to turn out wicked like she is. I can save myself by destroying her. I’m going to break out of this place, and I’m going to enter the labyrinth and take her heart.

And once I’m redeemed, maybe Alle will love me.

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/minotaur

About The Author

J.A. Rock is the author of queer romance and suspense novels, including By His Rules, Take the Long Way Home, and, with Lisa Henry, The Good Boy and When All the World Sleeps. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama and a BA in theater from Case Western Reserve University. J.A. also writes queer fiction and essays under the name Jill Smith. Raised in Ohio and West Virginia, she now lives in Chicago with her dog, Professor Anne Studebaker.

Website: www.jarockauthor.com
Blog: http://jarockauthor.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jarockauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ja.rock.39

The Final Word, Famous Last LInes of Novels and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

The last couple of weeks I have been talking about the first lines in novels. The ones that pull you in, set the tone, even lay out some of the plot. Its so hard to get that all important first line right. Look how few make it into the top 10, 20 or even top 50 lists. Not many. It was even harder to compile our own. So many first lines had the name of the main character or rambled on or just didn’t do their job.

Now let’s switch to the end of the story. The last line to be exact. The last lines of novels are the final word. The author may offer resolution (or just more questions). The last line may make us scream in frustration and clap in joy and stare silently in shock. In the end, we take what we can get. Here are a few famous last lines. Notice how many authors and novels also had the most famous first lines. Which of the famous last lines in literature is your favorite?

“Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!”
– Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

“Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.”
– Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

“It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.”
– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

“The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.”
– Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty.”
– Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”
– Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He loved Big Brother.”
– George Orwell, 1984

“His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
– James Joyce, Dubliners, “The Dead”

“I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!”
– William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!

“Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.”
– Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

“If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.”
– Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Now what famous last lines, no not death lines, last lines of books can you remember? Yep, a list of those is coming too. But not this week. Next up, our up coming schedule.

This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, October 18:

The Final Word, Famous Last Lines of Novels and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, October 19:

Coffee Sip and Book Break with Sarah Madison’s ‘Truth and Consequences (excerpt and contest)
A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Boyfriend For The Weekend (Boyfriend #1) by Diana DeRicci
A Jeri Review: The Making of Matt By Nicola Haken
A MelanieM Review: Dead Flush by Laura Harner (Pulp Friction 2015) ☠
Scary Redux Review: Necromancy and You (Guidebook #02) by Missouri Dalton ☠

Tuesday, October 20:

In the Spotlight: Minotaur by JA Rock (Riptide Tour and Contest)
Romance Hits a Triple Play by Sloan Johnson (Tour and Contest
A Free Dreamer Review: Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price
A Mika Review: Redeeming Hope by Shell Taylor
A Jeri Review: Triple Play by Sloan Johnson

Wednesday, October 21:

Cover reveal for ‘Cardinal Sins’ by Lissa Kasey (excerpt and cover reveal)
Coffee Sip and Book Break: Coming Back Home by April Kelley (excerpt and giveaway)
Looking for Something New? Check Out Rain Shadow by LA Witt (contest)
A BJ Review: Just a Bit Wrong (Straight Guys #4) by Alessandra Hazard
A PaulB Review: Scarred Mate by A C Katt

Thursday, October 22:

In the Book Spotlight: Aspect of Winter by Tom Early (excerpt and contest)
Jess Buffett and ‘Packmaster’ book blast and giveaway
A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Bowerbirds (Nested Hearts #2) by Ada Maria Soto
A Jeri Review: Deliver Me by Faith Gibson
A MelanieM Review: Children of Noah by Neil S.Plakcy

Friday, October 23:

Scary Spotlight: Haunted Hotties 2 Anthology from Torquere Press (excerpts and contest)
Paul’s Paranormal Portfolio: My favorite Non traditional Shifters
Scary Review Redux: Lily by Xavier Axelson ☠
A MelanieM Review: Dead Money by Lee Brazil (Pulp Friction 2015) ☠
A Jeri Review: Hollywood Secrets (Hollywood) by T.S. McKinney

YA Saturday, October 24:

A Stella YA Review: Go Your Own Way by Zane Riley

☠ – Look for on our October Scary Reads and Recommendations coming soon.

A Sammy Review: Where There’s Fire (Panopolis #2) by Cari Z.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 ★★★★★

Panopolis is a city of stark colors, folks. Right or wrong, black or white, no shades of gray here. Panopolis is epic battles and soaring rhetoric on both sides, and dirty secrets buried so deep beneath layers of lies that you’d need a map to know where to start digging. Moral ambiguity is for stories, not real life. At least, that’s what we’re told.

But the best stories, I’ve found, are the ones that aren’t so clear-cut. No spoon feeding you Truth, Justice, and the Heroic Way, or telling you that every Villain was born flawed from the start, not made into that. The best stories are the ones that make you think and leave you wondering. I think Panopolis needs a new caliber of storytellers, folks. Maybe it’s time to find those maps and ready those shovels.

Maybe it’s finally time for a change in the narrative.

Edward Dinges was once a normal guy in a city of Supers. He worked at a bank, had a plain life… then he fell in love with a Villain and found himself imprisoned. Soon, normal was a thing of the past.

Though he’s been working to harness his new powers, Edward is still trying to gain control over his life. It helps that Raul is always at his side, but it’s time to step out by himself for his first real job as a villain.

But nothing ever really goes as planned. Soon, Edward finds himself needing to fight for Raul’s life and free him from the hands of a true Super Villain. Whether they make it out alive or not, Panopolis will never be the same.

“You made it back. Not a lot of people do. That makes you interesting, maybe worth forming an alliance with. You need to work on making connections, especially if you don’t love to fight for fighting’s sake.” Vibro sounded tired.

“You don’t like fighting either.”

“I like living,” she corrected me.

So, first off, I want to put it out there that I absolutely loved this. The series is set in such an interesting world that it really pulled me right in from the get-go and I continued to be incredibly interested in it even months after reading the first book. Cari does a brilliant job of building a world that is so unique, but in this book, I really felt it resonated with reality.

I’m not sure if it’s that social justice has been on my mind a lot recently or what, but the way Cari writes about the dichotomy in the city, pitting two sides against each other, having this large body of power that rules over everyone and manages to cast aside the undesirables… the book takes massive and frustrating issues and puts it into an abstract and easily digestible manner. What do I mean with that? I mean people can turn their face to the real world and it’s social justice, but if you really read this, you’ll find yourself feeling everything the SuperTruther conveys and not even realizing how much Panopolis resembles the world just outside your door.

Now, onto the characters. Edward continues to grow on me. At first, I felt like he was just as boring as he projected himself to be, but in the first book we got to see his evolution when it came to morals. Now he’s crossed that line and is trying to find himself within his new powers.

Raul was a lot less present in this, but I didn’t really mind that, as I think this story is so much more than a romance. Sure, the romance is there, but the story is just front and center, adorned with action and alliances and… okay, just, really great story telling.

And new characters – Vibro is just freaking fantastic. I mean, she has purple hair! On top of that, she seems to have such an interesting personality and I would love to learn more about her and her brother.

The only downside I can think of is that the editing was off a bit. There was a lot of misplaced commas and such. But besides that, it was great.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Cari set us up for a great sequel.

The cover by L.C. Chase is very nice. It fits the previous book well and has a nice punch of color. Additionally, getting to see Edward is a nice treat. Great job.

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

Book Details:

book, 113 pages

Published July 13th 2015 by Riptide Publishing (first published July 12th 2015)

ISBN139781626492974

edition languageEnglish

seriesPanopolis #2

Panopolis series

Where There’s Smoke (Panopolis, #1)

Where There’s Fire (Panopolis, #2)

A MelanieM Review: Lessons for Sleeping Dogs (Cambridge Fellows #12) by Charlie Cochrane

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Cambridge, 1921

When amateur sleuth Jonty Stewart comes home with a new case to investigate, his partner Orlando Coppersmith always feels his day has been made. Although, can there be anything to solve in the apparent mercy killing of a disabled man by a doctor who then kills himself, especially when everything takes place in a locked room?

But things are never straightforward where the Cambridge fellows are concerned, so when they discover that more than one person has a motive to kill the dead men—motives linked to another double death—their wits get stretched to the breaking point.

And when the case disinters long buried memories for Jonty, memories about a promise he made and hasn’t kept, their emotions get pulled apart as well. This time, Jonty and Orlando will have to separate fact from fiction—and truth from emotion—to get to the bottom of things.

I am always thrilled to find that Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith have returned for another mystery and here they are back in Charlie Cochrane’s Lessons for Sleeping Dogs better than ever.

With the last few stories we have been flip flopping back and forth along the time line as laid out in the novels released to date. Lessons for Sleeping Dogs now moves that time line forward once more another year. The men are older, their relationship more established and yet, their love for each other has never been so deep and committed as the one we see here. Orlando and Jonty are starting to think past their time at St. Bride’s, perhaps even into retirement age, a startling thought considering we first met them 16 years ago when their world was far more innocent (at least on the surface) and WWI was not even a faint grumbling politically.

Charlie Cochrane is easing her Fellows into the aging process with a smoothness most would envy. Its acknowledged, through a gentle gesture or wry remark, a memory to those so sorely missed, lost to war or old age, and then the story moves on as it should. Its a lovely realistic touch and its inclusion makes me appreciate this author even more.

Oh the mysteries, yes, more than one. I think this must be the most convoluted of them yet. Shades of Sherlock Holmes! There is an echo of an earlier story but you don’t have to have read that to get the gist of it here. Most of that backstory is included. There are several mysteries ongoing at several levels of importance, or so you think. I loved them of course, but I thought that too many puzzles almost took away from the main murder mystery. I get what Charlie was after, but this was a lot to juggle and it was hard for the reader to keep track of all of the facts, places and people while still dealing with the many emotional scenes and fallout for Jonty and Orlando. This aspect of Lessons for Sleeping Dogs kept it from a perfect 5 star rating, but oh it was so close.

There is so much darkness here. The aftermath of WWI lingers on in the broken minds and bodies of the soldiers who returned, included Orlando and Jonty. The bleakness and pain of their childhood must also be dealt with once again as parts of their case brings their memories surging back to overwhelm them. Their past histories are alluded to here but this remains another definite reason why theses stories should be read in order (in my opinion). You can only get the full impact of what happened to them in those previous novels not here. Jonty and Orlando have so many issues to deal with, and they must do it using their hearts, their intelligence and their trust in each other. What a outstanding story to have Jonty and Orlando make their reappearance!

Yes, it all works out. We get to see some of our favorite secondary characters and Hyacinth Cottage. I absolutely loved it. What’s next for Jonty and Orlando? It’s anyone’s guess and only Charlie Cochrane knows for sure. But one thing is for certain, I will be there, waiting in line, to pick up the story and see what happens next and hoping that the author won’t tear my heart out.

I highly recommend this story and all the novels in the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries. I have them all listed for you below. Don’t miss out on any of them.

Cover artist: Lou Harper. I love these new covers. They are my favorite covers so far for the series.

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