Category: Riptide Publishing

Review: Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8) by Abigail Roux

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

???????????????????????????????????????Ty Grady and the others in his Sidewinder crew are finally home.  After an emotional welcome at the airport, Ty finds he has returned to a world that moved on without him.  As Ty deals with the emotional fallout from the their last black op mission and his reunion with Zane, Deuce, Ty’s brother arrives with wedding news.   Deuce asks Ty to be his best man.  And the wedding?  It’s on a remote island in Scotland. And someone’s been threatening his future father-in-law.

Clearly help is needed and Ty calls on Kelly Abbott and Nick O’Flaherty, his Sidewinder brothers, for assistance, a team with their own secrets to hide. When Nick O’Flaherty and Kelly Abbott join Ty and Zane at the wedding on a private island in Scotland, the remoteness of the location and poor cellphone reception gives them jitters.  But none of them are prepared when the bodies start falling and the killer or killers identities is someone on this small island, either friend, family or close acquaintance.

With all the families jeopardy, including Ty’s young  niece, Ty and Zane, along with Nick and Kelly, must sort through past cases, old enemies, and unknown alliances before more murders occur, including their own.  Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions but who will survive this one is anyone’s guess.

 

Well, here we are.  The penultimate story in the Cut & Run series.  With Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8), the bells are starting to ring down the end of this remarkable series and Ty Grady and Zane Garrett is starting on the road to their finale. The penultimate story in any series is a tricky one, but even more so in a series as beloved as this one.  It must start to wind down a multitude of plot threads, but not too many, mind you, because you must save the most for the last story.  The penultimate story must layout clues, guidelines as it were, for all the events to come without losing sight that this story must have its own legs to stand on. Its own storyline and its own resolution.

Does Ball & Chain and its author, Abigail Roux, accomplish this daunting task?  Yes, I think it does. Although I think some readers will be disappointed, others will love it, and the rest are just waiting for that last story and nothing will be able to satisfy them before that story arrives.  What a tough audience this book will face as most readers have been with this couple and series from the first book, Cut & Run, and are quite fanatical about Ty and Zane.

One obstacle that I think this book must surmount are the scenes/storylines readers have written for Ty and Zane in their minds since they finished book 7, Touch & Geaux.  This is the reunion book, the one we have been waiting for since that heart-wrenching exit at the  end of Touch & Geaux.  You know, the one that had  people pulling out their hair in tears while wailing in dismay.  That scene.  I have been waiting for that along with you.  Did it live up to my expectations?  Not on the first reading.  Maybe the second.  Again, how could anything beat the glorious, and totally unrealistic scenario I had created in my head for Ty and Zane?  Cue the swelling music,  passionate glances and mad sex acts that happen immediately upon reuniting!  What Abigail Roux came up with was so much better and in keeping with the characters, Ty and Zane.  It was done with humor, affection for all those returning home and, of course, the love that Ty and Zane held for each other. And I loved it, once I got past the purple prose of my imagination.

I loved the location, that isolated island off the coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides.  It’s a perfectly spooky place for dead bodies, startling revelations, and hidden passages, of the building and of the heart.  It took all the main characters out of their comfort zones (if they still have any by now), and forced them to look closely at what each of them has become, and at the relationships that have carried them through so far.  Not a particularly happy time….a sexy one but not a happy one for the most part.  Abigail Roux has these precious characters exposing some hard truths about themselves and what their past actions have done to others they care about.  Plus this last mission has clearly damaged all the men involved, Digger, Owen, Nick and Ty, all are showing symptoms of PTSD or signs of other trauma that is the result of their final secret mission.  The stress is overwhelming them and each is trying to deal with it in their own way.

Ball & Chain is a hard book to review because any detail given can lead to a spoiler.  Still there is a lot on Abigail Roux’s agenda for this story.  There is the reunion we have been waiting for as Ty returns, along with the rest of the Sidewinders, from a mysterious mission.  And the reader is just getting settled into familiar surroundings and the FBI office when we are thrown out of the action and into unfamiliar territory.  At the end of the last book, Ty and Zane have outed themselves to their colleagues and bosses and now we wait for the repercussions to hit.  And they do but only for a short while and then we are  whisked away to Scotland.  That felt too abrupt and left this reader feeling a tad unsatisfied about the lack of resolution to this story element.

The wedding in Scotland brings together not only Ty’s entire family, including Ty’s grandfather and his shovel, but Nick and Kelly and the Director too.  As loyalties are divided, and old secrets revealed, ties between people begin to unravel as past histories and relationships surface. Sometimes, however, I felt that so many plot threads, one piling on top of another, almost overwhelmed the story.  At moments, Ball & Chain almost felt like an extension of the 12 Little Indians movie, with corpses piling up everywhere as it looks bleaker and bleaker for those left on the island.  But in true Abigail Roux form, the plot tightens, the nonessentials are pared away, and we are left with Ty and Zane and their fight for each other and a relationship.

Still Ball & Chain is as much about Nick and Kelly as it is about Ty and Zane. It’s about couple dynamics as well as the other complex relationship issues at play here. Sibling brother to brother, Sidewinder brother to brother, lover to lover, fathers/and father figures to sons….Abigail Roux threw it all into the wedding melting pot with explosive results. And this multitude of players, main players, will raise objections from those readers who want Ty and Zane, and only Ty and Zane. And I get that, I really do.

But think back to Touch & Geaux,the preceding story. What a great mess of a book! Full of emotional land mines, psychological quagmires, and quests for revenge to fill several novels, it brought all the Sidewinders together along with Ty and Zane and other important characters only to leave several major plot threads dangling at the end along with character fates. And remember, this includes a mole in the FBI. With that story, everything got tangled up together, people, histories, and past events returning with traumatic results. Now Abigail Roux only has two books to pull it all together. So in my mind, Ball & Chain, as well as the final story, can’t be only Ty and Zane. Because in order for Ty and Zane to have their future, a number of supporting characters have major roles to play for that to happen.  So it has to be about those characters as well, even if that makes some readers unhappy about the loss of page time for Ty and Zane.

So back to the question did Ball & Chain do its job?  Did it raise the right questions? And did it include all the right people?  Did it set the stage for the final story while giving you the reunion you wanted, the drama you expected, as well as the surprises and angst one expects from Abigail Roux and this series?  For me, the answer is yes, yes it did.

Repercussions from the events in New Orleans are still rippling through the group, the mole is at large, and a major player has just died. OK, i was pretty happy about that one.  Now everyone has returned to the US and the final battles can begin.  I can’t wait.

And Abigail Roux did give me an ending this time that I adored (at least as far at Ty and Zane were concerned).  One that starts to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion. There is a line towards the end that will be one of my favorite ones of the series.  I wonder if you will be able to spot it?

The author has said she won’t go past book 9 for the Cut & Run series, so I expect Ty and Zane to go out with a bang.  Maybe even a flashbang.  Only the author knows for sure.  Roux has made Ty and Zane deal with huge issues and traumas, from alcoholism and torture, lying and commitment, kidnapping and coming out, even claustrophobia and fear of heights. So I expect the final story to feature more of the same, more soul searching and scary events to come.

Maybe even Grandpa with his shovel.

And hopefully a wedding.  That would be lovely.

Until then I will search through the series again for more clues about the Mole and people we expect to pop up in the finale.  I will reread the moment they were pulled apart in Touch & Geaux, and then the moment they came back together in Ball & Chain.  And then I will read the end of this story one more time.

Ty and Zane are about to have their ending.  I will be there with tissues in hand to see how it all ends.  I will probably hate it in sections and I will love it.  That’s the way this series works.  And this couple.  All or nothing.  Bring it on, Abigail Roux!

Cover art by LC Chase continues the wonderful branding that is a mark of this series.  Love it although not as much as the tiger.

Book Details:

Paperback, 306 pages
Published March 17th 2014 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 2nd 2014)
original titleBall & Chain
ISBN139781626491076
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://riptidepublishing.com/titles/ball-chain-cut-run-8
seriesCut & Run #8
charactersTy Grady, Zane Garrett

Books in the Cut & Run series in the order they were written and should be read:

Here are the books in the order they were written and should be read:

  • Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8) the penultimate story
  • Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run #7)
  • Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run #6)
  • Dine & Dash (Cut & Run, #5.5)
  • Armed & Dangerous , #5 – by Abigail Roux
  • Divide & Conquer #4,*
  • Fish & Chips #3, *
  • Sticks & Stones #2,*
  • Cut & Run #1 – *all of these written by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

Ty & Zane Are Back in Ball & Chain! Visit with Abigail Roux (Inside Info and Amazing Contest)

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Welcome to the Ball & Chain virtual tour! If you’re following along, you’ll be able to win yourself some goodies that might just save your life! I’ve got five Survival Kits in a Sardine Can, perfect for traveling and hiking or taking with you to remote island weddings where people might be dying. And I’ve got five sets of trading cards with original artwork and character work-ups for the less adventurous readers!Ty & Zane Survivial Kit

Contest: Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing to win one of five Survival Kits in a Sardine Can or one of five sets of trading cards with original artwork. Entries close at midnight, Eastern Time, on April 1 , and winners will be announced on April 3rd. Contest is valid worldwide.

 

STRW: Abigail Roux was kind enough to answer some of the questions I have been dying to ask her since I found Ty and Zane in the Cut & Run series and about her latest novel, Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8). Let’s get started….

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STRW:  I know you (Abigail) always do extensive research on the locations for your stories.  Ball & Chain is set in Scotland.  Where you able to travel there?

Abigail Roux:
I was! I went to the UK and Ireland last summer and spent almost three weeks traveling with two friends. I post about my research travels on a Tumblr I made specifically so people could follow along. You can find it at abitravels.tumblr.com. It follows my adventures, and the adventures of Nelson the om nom, who goes everywhere with me. I like to share those adventures with readers; it makes the process even more hands on.

STRW: • What was your inspiration for setting the story in Scotland?

Abigail:
Originally the book was supposed to be set in the Caribbean. After a little research, though, I realized it would never work for my purposes. So I did a Google search for isolated wedding locations, and the name that caught my eye first was a place called Knoydart. We actually traveled there to scout it out. It wound up not being right for the book either, but I was able to see enough of Scotland, which is absolutely breathtaking, to create an amalgam of the things I needed. So the book takes place on a fake island, but everything about it is as authentic as I could make it.

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STRW: • What was the biggest challenge to writing this penultimate story to the Cut & Run series?

Abigail:
Oh gosh. It’s so stressful. I want these last two books to be worthy, and I want them to be memorable and perfect and I want readers to end the series on a high note. And that’s going to be so very hard to do. It keeps me awake at night. But when I got into this book and started writing, all that slipped away and it was just about the story and the characters again. So the biggest challenge is compartmentalizing it to keep me from freaking out!

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STRW:• So many people have fallen in love with Nick and Kelly; did you find it hard to balance out the readers’ devotion to Ty and Zane with our need to see more of Nick and Kelly when putting them in the same story?  Especially this story that we have been waiting for-the reunion of Ty and Zane?

Abigail Roux:
I didn’t find it hard, no, because Nick always had a huge role in this book. He’s actually the driving force behind a lot of the tension and drama. Adding Kelly to him was no trouble at all because Kelly is an easy character. He doesn’t make waves, basically, because he just rolls with it. I don’t think they take away from Ty and Zane, and they certainly don’t subtract from Ty and Zane’s romance or their tale. I know some readers have been worried about Ty and Zane sharing page time, but at this stage they have to or the books would be all about them hiding under the covers refusing to answer their phone.

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STRW:• Do you think you will be able to let go of Ty and Zane at book 9, or will the series continue?

Abigail Roux:
The series will definitely end at book 9, whether I like it or not. That’s always been the plan, and there’s no reason to change it now. I will miss them terribly, because at this point they’re both a part of me. But I have surprises for readers coming in the Sidewinder Series. No one will have to say goodbye to Ty and Zane until I kill them off!

STRW:• Is there a Ty and Zane wedding to look forward to?

Abigail Roux:
Well, someone does get married in Ball & Chain . . .

STRW: Now that’s just evil…
• Both characters have undergone so much growth over the series.  It has been wrenching to read about at times, joyful at others. Is there one special scene that is your favorite with the men?

Abigail Roux:
My favorite scene between Ty and Zane will always be in Divide & Conquer when they dance in Ty’s living room. It wasn’t planned as we were writing; it was just something Ty did almost without my permission. It made it feel very authentic, even to me, and I love the quiet romance of it.

STRW:• Ty and Zane are definitely an A List couple.  People are mad for them.  Why do you think they have such staying power for readers?

Abigail Roux:
I wish I knew so I could bottle it! I think both men are so flawed, people can relate to them easily, but they also do things most of us don’t’ allow ourselves. Zane is hard on himself and he lets his past and fears dictate his actions, and that’s something a lot of people do and can sympathize with. They root for him to pull past that. Ty is impulsive and fun and frankly kind of crazy, and that’s a luxury a lot of people aren’t allowed in life. Ty and Zane offer us a combination of pieces of ourselves we recognize, and pieces we wish we had. I think people have latched onto them because they see a bit of themselves in one or both characters.

You can contact Abigail Roux at:

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???????????????????????????????????????Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8): Home from their unexpected deployment, the former members of Marine Force Recon team Sidewinder rejoin their loved ones and try to pick up the pieces of the lives they were forced to leave behind. Ty Grady comes home to Zane Garrett, only to find that everything around him has changed—even the men he went to war with. He barely has time to adjust before his brother, Deuce, asks Ty to be his best man. But that isn’t all Deuce asks Ty to do, and Ty must call for backup to deal with the business issues of Deuce’s future father-in-law.

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Nick O’Flaherty and Kelly Abbott join Ty and Zane at the wedding on an island in Scotland, thinking they’re there to assuage Deuce’s paranoia. But when bodies start dropping and boats start sinking, the four men get more involved with the festivities than they’d ever planned to.

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With the clock ticking and the killer just as stuck on the isolated island as they are, Ty and Zane must navigate a veritable minefield of family, friends, and foes to stop the whole island from being destroyed.

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You can pre-order Ball & Chain from Riptide and get it two days early!

Contest:  Abigail Roux is giving away five Survival Kits in a Sardine Can, perfect for traveling and hiking or taking with youTy & Zane Survivial Kit to remote island weddings where people might be dying. And I’ve got five sets of trading cards with original artwork and character work-ups.Leave a comment to be entered into the drawing. . Entries close at midnight, Eastern Time, on April 1 , and winners will be announced on April 3rd. Contest is valid worldwide.

When All The World Sleeps Tour and Contest

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Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock, authors of  When All the World Sleeps. We’re touring the web talking about our influences, our crazy ideas, this new book, and even giving you a sneak peek or two! And of course there’s a giveaway involved! Leave a comment to win!

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ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords welcomes Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock today on their When All the World Sleeps tour. Hi.Lisa. Good morning, JA!WhenAllTheWorld_150x300

Thanks so much to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for having us, and to everyone following the tour. Today Lisa interviews J.A.

LH: Hi! I’m Lisa Henry. Today, as part of our When All the World Sleeps blog tour, I’m interviewing my co-author, the very talented and only slightly disturbed J.A. Rock.


J.A.R: Only slightly? How many more sharks do I need to hug to get upgraded to highly?

LH: So, J.A., I’m giving you all the credit for coming up with the idea for When All the World Sleeps. It’s a darker premise than anything we’ve written before, particularly coming on the heels of Mark Cooper versus America. Where did you get the idea from?


J.A.R: In grad school, Barnes & Noble was on the way to campus, so sometimes a demon would take hold of me while I was driving to school and make me swerve into the B&N parking lot. I would hang out reading for hours instead of going to class. One day I found an issue of Scientific American that featured a story about sleepwalkers committing violent crimes. I knew I wanted to do a book about it, and I also thought it might be a good project for us to work on together. But we were still writing The Good Boy, and I had no idea if you were going to want to continue co-writing after TGB. So I sat on the sleepwalker idea for a while!

I also lived in a cabin in the woods at the time. In the south. And I’d killed a ma–uh, mosquito. I killed mosquito. *darts eyes* So the pieces were all there.


LH: Chronologically, we wrote Mark Cooper versus America after When All the World Sleeps. I think Mark Cooper might have been the light-hearted relief we needed after WAtWS. When All the World Sleeps might be my favourite of all our joint works. Do you agree with me, or are we going to have to fight it out?

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J.A.R: No fighting necessary! It’s definitely my favorite. All the other books know it and are plotting to smother WAtWS with a pillow when I’m not looking.

I love that the majority of my solo works are comedies and all of yours are dark and angsty. Yet you’re hilarious, and I am, as you mentioned, slightly disturbed. So I came to you with a really messed up idea, and shortly thereafter you came to me with a funny, angst-free idea. We just don’t want to be pigeonholed, right? Why does that word always sound dirty to me?

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LH: In Daniel, we wrote a character who got into BDSM for what might be the wrong reasons: he needs to be locked up by a Dom because he’s afraid he can’t control himself. There’s nothing safe or sane about what Daniel does. His perceptions of BDSM are more skewed than Bel’s, even though Daniel’s the one with experience. In a lot of romance, BDSM is seen as some kind of healing process, almost like therapy. How important was it to you that we avoided that trope here?

J.A.R: I believe BDSM can be therapeutic—in the same way any kind of love/relationship/intimacy/exploration of self can be therapeutic. For trauma victims, it’s no substitute for actual therapy, but it can help people learn more about themselves and their desires, open up, trust others, and understand the contrast between suffering in real life and getting to choose when and how to “suffer” in the bedroom with a trusted partner.

In Daniel’s case, I think he gets a little of that—but he also totally abuses BDSM. And he’s been so confused and lost for so long that he can’t always tell the difference between the kind of submission that brings him peace, and the kind of “submission” that’s about self-harm.

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LH: Do you think writers have a responsibility to educate readers about BDSM practices simply because of the amount of misinformation out there?

J.A.R: Hmm. This is tricky. On the one hand, the romance genre is very much fantasy-based. You could argue that romance sometimes offers misinformation about vanilla sex, or about relationships in general. But at least with vanilla relationships, we have a wide variety of mainstream portrayals ranging from the realistic to the completely absurd. Plus the majority of the population has firsthand experience. BDSM doesn’t have that. Most portrayals of BDSM in our culture come from the romance and erotica genres. Or from, like, Law & Order: SVU — “The Case of the Sex Dungeon Pervert.” So if these portrayals are ignorant or negative, I think that definitely has some real world repercussions.

BDSM is a massive umbrella term, and the lifestyle works differently for all participants, so it’s hard to define an “accurate” portrayal. However, one rule across the board is that BDSM should always be safe, sane, and consensual–and that’s a rule often broken in romantic fiction! We’ve got all these stories about kinky people who were warped by their abusive pasts, or mind-reader doms who somehow know at first glance that a beautiful vanilla is actually a secret sub. These can be fun fantasies, but ones I sometimes worry eclipse reality–to the detriment of a mainstream understanding and acceptance of BDSM.

In the end, I think I’d go with the ol’ “know the rules before you break them” creed. I like the idea of authors doing their research, and then deciding if/how they want to deviate for the sake of fantasy.

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LH: Who is your favourite character in When All the World Sleeps?

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J.A.R: Daniel’s the kind of character I tend to enjoy writing the most—in severe mental turmoil, self-destructive, sort of submissive, and unsure who he can trust. He’s probably my favorite–though Bel might have been even more rewarding to write, since his journey forces him to shed his misguided ideas. I love seeing characters sacrifice what’s familiar and comfortable in order to try to do the right thing.

LH: You’ve lived in the South. Do you think we got it right?



J.A.R: Oh the poor South! We definitely played into some stereotypes of small minded rural southern towns. But you know, when I was heading off to Alabama, a lot of people joked about how hard I was going to clash with the conservative environment. And I was like, no way can it be that bad. Yet I definitely heard some things in small town Alabama that I wasn’t aware people still said post, you know, 1964 or so.

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But those attitudes are by no means unique to or present everywhere in the South. In WAtWS, the problem isn’t so much WHERE Logan (the town) is, and more WHAT it is, I think. It’s so small and so isolated that its prejudices are really deep-rooted. It’s not a place that lets in a lot of new blood or fresh ideas.

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We definitely got the humidity and mosquitoes right.

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LH: Okay, no spoilers, but what was your favourite part of the book to write?

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J.A.R: I really like the first time Bel helps Daniel through a hallucination. Normally I like writing the dark stuff better than the sweet stuff, but in this book, the tender moments feel earned. They’re not just there because Aw, Love Is Cute. They’re there because Daniel needs them—and we need a periodic break from Daniel’s relentless suffering. But I also really like the finale. You know what I’m talking about. You were there.

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Contest: Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away a great pair of prizes! Up for grabs is an ebook of our last co-release, Mark Cooper versus America, and a $20 gift voucher from Riptide. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your Twitter, or a link to your Facebook or Goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! On APRIL 2, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to  follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave the more chances you have to win this awesome prize!

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WhenAllTheWorldSleeps_500x750_0About When All the World Sleeps:

Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper’s house—with Kenny inside it—after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.

Like the rest of Logan, local cop Joe Belman doesn’t believe Daniel’s absurd defense. But when Bel saves Daniel from a retaliatory fire, he discovers that Daniel might not be what everyone thinks: killer, liar, tweaker, freak. Bel agrees to control Daniel at night—for the sake of the other townsfolk. Daniel’s fascinating, but Bel’s not going there.

Yet as he’s drawn further into Daniel’s dark world, Bel finds that he likes being in charge. And submitting to Bel gives Daniel the only peace he’s ever known. But Daniel’s demons won’t leave him alone, and he’ll need Bel’s help to slay them once and for all—assuming Bel is willing to risk everything to stand by him.

You can read an excerpt and purchase When All the World Sleeps  here.

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About the Authors

✍Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.
She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa at:

✍J.A. Rock has worked as a dog groomer, knife seller, haunted house zombie, standardized patient, cashier, census taker, state fair quilt hanger, and, for one less-than-magical evening, a server—and would much rather be writing about those jobs than doing them. J.A. lives mostly in West Virginia, and always with a beloved dog, Professor Anne.

You can visit J.A. at:
Website,
JA Rock blog,
Twitter”
Facebook.

Review: Free Falling (Extreme Escapes, Ltd.) by S.E. Jakes

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Sometimes falling in love is the most dangerous thing of all…

FreeFalling_500x750Expert thief Blue first met Mick, a mercenary and a hitter, when the millionaire they were working for sent them out to “retrieve” a priceless statue and ship it out of the country.  Blue was adamant about working solo, Mick was just as adamant that he was coming along as ordered.  The argument only ended after a bet was made and agreed upon.  A bet Blue lost.  But Mick never showed up, leaving Blue hanging  and alone in the hotel room that had been part of the bet.  Blue was angry, humiliated, and more than a little frustrated at the way the evening turned out.  Blue swore that Mick wouldn’t get a second chance.  And then a year later he sees him again.

A year later finds Blue in Bogota.  The job Blue is on should be quick and easy, its also one he has been paid for.  But things start to go wrong almost immediately.  Blue spots Mick in a meeting in a bar, catching not only Mick’s eye but that of the dangerous drug dealer Mick is working with.  It takes finesse and quick thinking by Mick to get Blue away from the criminal and a deadly situation that was getting out of control.  Recovering, Mick and Blue realize that they care for each other.  But their jobs and personalities make going forward impossible.

Then Mick disappears on a job and its up to Blue to save him.  Suddenly nothing is impossible if only he can save Mick first.

Blue and Mick first appeared on my radar during the Hell or High Water series.  SE Jakes gave us tantalizing glimpses of this duo throughout those stories as Blue popped in to visit Prophet only to be followed by Mick still chasing after him.  A few sentences of dialog, a quick scene that telegraphed the deep love and affection these men felt for each other, and then, poof, they were gone.  Blue would jump out the window with Mick close behind him.  And the reader was left wondering who were these crazy men and what was their backstory?

In Free Falling, we finally get some answers, but only some.  Blue is an unrepentant thief.  He enjoys his work and is one of the top “procurement” people in the world.  He is never going to change, a fact that has acted as a bulwark against any lasting relationships except one. But what happened to make Blue this way?  SE Jakes has created an almost heartbreaking answer to that question.  From Blue’s memories and several phone calls he gets while on the run, the reader gathers the pieces to the puzzle that is Blue.  From his dysfunctional family background to his raison d’être, all are clues which help us better understand Blue. It also makes his need for stealing understandable and almost honorable, almost.  Blue is a complicated man, surprisingly full of insecurities and yet still so confident in his abilities and intelligence.  And he meets his match in Mick.

Ah, Mick.  A massive mountain of a man.  A killer, a soldier, full of unwavering loyalties. And yet….still capable of friendship and love.  His complexities are a perfect match for the compulsions and intricacies that is Blue.  I haven’t read all of the Extreme Escapes Ltd. stories, so I don’t know if his backstory is already out there.  But again, SE Jakes gives us enough to cobble together an understanding of this man and the forces that drive him.

These men need a plot as intense, dangerous and wild as they are and they get it in Free Falling, a perfect metaphor for their lives.  Someone is manufacturing a drug that whips a person into a long lasting sexual frenzy, one that compels them to want more and more sex.  It’s the ultimate blackmail tool and perfect for creating sexual slaves.  And EE and Mick are out to stop its manufacture and distribution.

Free Falling is such great high wire fun! The action is fast-paced and explosive.  The sex scenes intense and incendiary.  And the pathos when it comes, well, it’s heartbreaking.  No idling, no slow speed to this narrative,  it’s just revved up and roaring down the road!

So buckle up, grab this story up and prepare for one wild ride.  You are going to love it.

Cover Art by Croco Designs, http://www.crocodesigns.com.  Can that cover get any hotter?  I  don’t think so.  Love it.

Book Details:

ebook, First Edition, 150 pages
Published December 5th 2012 by SEJ (http://sejakes.com)
original title Free Falling
edition language English
Books in the Extreme Escapes Ltd universe are:
  • Hell or High Water Series: Catch a Ghost, Long Time Gone, Daylight Again (coming soon), If I Ever (coming soon)
  • Dirty Deeds Series (EE, Ltd.): Dirty Deeds, Dirty Lies (coming soon), Dirty Love (coming soon)
  • Men of Honor Series: Bound by Honor, Bound by Law, Ties That Bind, Bound by Danger, Bound for Keeps (EE, Ltd.), Bound to Break

Go Free Falling with S.E. Jakes! Guest Spotlight and Book Contest.

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have SE Jakes visiting today to talk about Free Falling, a story in the marvelously addicting Extreme Escapes universe series.FreeFalling_150x300

S.E. Jakes:
Thanks so much for having me here today, so I can shout about the fact that Free Falling’s getting a re-release with Riptide! I’m so excited about this, you have no idea. For me, this is the book that started the Hell or High Water series (see below for more on that).

Free Falling originally came out in December of 2012—it was the first book I self-published, and I worked with Sarah Frantz as my editor (and she’s now my Riptide editor as well) and the entire experience was simply awesome.

This would also be the second book Prophet inserted himself into (the first was Bound For Keeps). It was then I realized that the man needed his own series or else he would show up in every single book I wrote. But for Free Falling, it certainly cemented the bond between Blue and Prophet. I’ve brought Blue and Mick back in Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water 2) and yes, I’m totally planning a Free Falling sequel, which would happen sometime post Dirty Love (Dirty Deeds 3). Because I can’t get enough of Blue, my favorite thief, and Mick, the man who’ll chase him every single time.

The great thing about moving this book to Riptide is that now all my EE Ltd. books are in one place AND Free Falling will now be available everywhere in eFormat AND in print!!! The cover looks gorgeous in person.

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Contest:
Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing to win one of three SIGNED copies of Hell or High Water series: Catch a Ghost and Long Time Gone. Entries close at midnight, Eastern Time, on March 24th, and winners will be announced on March 25th.  Contest is valid worldwide.

About Free Falling:

Sometimes falling in love is the most dangerous thing of all.
**
FreeFalling_500x750Blue is a thief who lives for adrenaline and danger. And when he meets Mick, a mercenary, he’s hit with a buzz of attraction like the rush of a high-rise job without a safety rope. But after making plans to get together, Mick leaves him hanging, and Blue vows never again.
A year later, Mick watches helplessly as Blue stumbles into the middle of one of Mick’s jobs. Risking his cover and their lives, Mick saves Blue and cares for him as he recuperates, but neither man has any idea how to handle the intimacy this forces them into.
Once Blue is safe, Mick redoubles his efforts to take down the drug lord responsible—and disappears. Blue goes after him, determined to return the favor and rescue the man he loves, no matter the cost.
This is a revised second edition of the originally self-published title. No substantive changes have been made to the story.
About SE Jakes:
SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life.
She lives in New York with her family, and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…

Connect with SE Jakes:

Review: To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5) by Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

To The Very Last InchJamie Sheridan was furious  when he found out that Professor Carson had “words” with his boyfriend Satish Malhotra, in effect warning him off any relationship with him. That lead to an ugly confrontation between them and a final break or so Jamie thought. But Satish thinks that there was something other than head games behind his encounter with the Professor, that maybe he and Jamie had misinterpreted Evander’s actions.   Satish realizes that the Professor gives Jamie something that Satish can’t, at least right now.  So Satish sets out to do what would have been recently unthinkable, he is going to try to salvage Jamie and Evander’s relationship, even if it means he loses out once and for all.

After a confrontation with his former lover and pupil, Professor Evander Carson realizes the extent of his miscalculations and misunderstanding of the past events in his and Jamie’s relationship.  And even though  the break up is tearing him apart, Evander is determined to stay away from Jamie, for Jamie’s sake.  Nothing prepares him for the sight of Satish at his door or for what Satish offers to him….a possible relationship with Jamie as well as Satish.

But will Jamie be able to trust Evander again? And will a renewed relationship between Jamie and his Professor leave Satish out in the cold?

To the Very Last Inch is a wonderful culmination to a hot, sexy and ultimately very sweet love story. Through five books, Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley have built a relationship between  three very different men.

The first character is the wounded James Sheridan, whose drug habits drove him into poor life choices, including whoring himself out for drugs and money. Only through submission can Jamie successfully control his anxiety and need to relapse into his drug habit.  The man who taught him control through his submission is the complex Professor Evander Carson.  Older, dominant, and in love with Jamie, Evander misunderstood several key elements in their relationship that caused the first break up and threatens to destroy any future they might have.  He is also unsure that a relationship with a man his age is something Jamie would want.  And finally, the last man to enter into the picture, Satish Malhotra.  Satish met Jamie during one of Jamie and Evander’s sexual games where he was an unwitting participant.  That initial encounter almost ruined any chances of any type of relationship between Jamie and Satish as Satish viewed the D/s roles with distain and no little anger over what he thought of as physical abuse of Jamie.  Three fascinating and complex men, all brought to life and made utterly relatable through four stories leading up to this….the conclusion of The Professor’s Rule and the resolution to all the issues raised in the preceding stories.

One of the aspects of this series I so appreciate is the ability of these authors to let the reader into the mindset of someone who lives or needs to live a D/s lifestyle, people like Jamie and Evander.  One, Evander Carson, a dominant or Master. The other, Jamie Sheridan, a submissive. As the authors show us, without that element in his life, Jamie becomes a very different person.  Being a submissive fills a hole in Jamie that nothing else can and without it Jamie feels incomplete.  As I said before, the character of Satish  Malhotra becomes that channel through which the reader can begin to understand what a D/s relationship can entail and what exactly how such a lifestyle can impact and benefit those that live it.  The whole bdsm aspect of this story is folded seamlessly into the narrative.  It is informative and it is certainly hot!

Belleau and Gormley force these men to face the misunderstandings and challenges that a realistic relationship between all three of them will offer. The manner in which Jamie, Satish and Evander work through their issues feel as real and authentic as all the other elements here.  Miscommunications arise, no matter the age of the person involved.  And events can be viewed through very different lenses, depending upon perspective and past histories.  All that and more is crammed into 56 pages and its wonderful.

Did I wish that we had  been given a little more of a glimpse into their lives down the road? Of course, but the little we did see was revealing and totally satisfying.  Kudos to the authors for such a wonderful series finale and for the men that we came to love through it all.

Cover art by LC Chase is perfect for this story and the entire series.

Book Details:

ebook, 56 pages
Published March 3rd 2014 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 1st 2014)
original title To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #5)
ISBN13 9781626491281
edition language English

Book in The Professor’s Rule series.  It helps to read them in order to understand Jamie and all the relationships within.

Giving an Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #1) currently free where sold (Amazon, ARe)
An Inch at a Time (The Professor’s Rule, #2)
Inch by Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #3)
Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule, #4)
To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #5)

Review: Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule #4) by Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley

Rating: 4. 5 stars out of 5

Every Inch of the Way coverOne email has brought the mysterious Professor Carson back into his former student’s life and the consequences for Jamie Sheridan has just added to the confusion and unhappiness that is his life.  Jamie has two men in his life and needs very different things from each of them.  And neither of them appear to want to share Jamie with the other. Or if one is willing to do so, it must be on his terms…as always.

Satish Malhotra is crazy for Jamie Sheridan.  Jamie is sweet and intelligent and gorgeous.  But the welts on Jamie’s back and the reappearance of Jamie’s former Professor has forced Satish to make a decision as to whether he can keep Jamie in his life.  He doesn’t understand what drives Jamie’s submission and he is not sure that he can fulfill all of Jamie’s needs.

With the Professor and Satish vying for Jamie’s affections and attention, Jamie is divided between his need for love and his need for submission.  Will Jamie have to choose or will Satish make the choice for him?

Every Inch of the Way is the penultimate story in The Professor’s Rule series that has followed the story of Jamie  Sheridan and his Professor Evander Carson through college and graduation.  A test message reunited Jamie Sheridan with Professor Carson after several years break.  Old games that the Professor had introduced prior in their relationship instigated a meeting and hot sexual encounter with clothier Satish Malhotra.  But Satish’s discovery of Professor Carson and his connection to Jamie served to demolish the fragile feelings that had been developing between the two of them.

Every Inch of the Way focuses on the emotions and feelings of Satish and Jamie as they try to pick up the threads of their relationship and see if a future is going to be possible between them.  Belleau and Gormley have done a terrific job in conveying the emotional minefield that was the result of events in Inch by Inch (The Professor’s Rule #3) for each man.  Both Satish and Jamie are coming from very different perspectives.  Satish’s idea of a sexual and emotionally satisfying romance does not extend to bdsm and a Dom/sub relationship.  Satish doesn’t understand it no matter how hard he tries.  Jamie, on the other hand, has certain needs that can only be fulfilled through his submission and the games involved in  a D/s partnership.  Normally,  they would part and go their separate ways and that, as they say, would be that.

But Satish and Jamie have an emotional connection that neither man is willing to give up.   And these authors make us not only see that connection but make it come alive for the reader to the point that we want these characters to find a way to make it work…even if we don’t understand it ourselves.

I have always believed that having a bdsm element in a story requires an extra effort from the author, in this case two authors, to help the reader understand what defines a bdsm lifestyle and also help provide an explanation as to why a particular character(s) need to have it in their lives.  The Professor’s Rule series allows the reader to achieve a certain understanding of that choice through Jamie Sheridan and the emotional journey he makes throughout the series.  The authors have constructed a history for Jamie (his drug use and more) that allows the reader access to his emotional state and the reasons why his submission and his need for a Master is so important to him.  And it delivers also in making Jamie’s Master, Professor Carson, more accessible by finally giving us his point of view about his own feelings as well as emotions about Jamie and their complicated relationship.  Although that does not fully spring to light until the final story, To The Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5).

In addition to these very complex men, authors Belleau and Gormley deliver Satish Malhotra, a character who might very well stand in for most readers because of the manner in which he views Jamie’s relationship with  his Professor and his lack of understanding of Jamie’s need for submission.  By giving the readers a character most can identify with, it then helps to bring the reader along with Satish  as he slowly starts to understand Jamie, the Professor, and the layers that a relationship with Jamie holds.  It feels utterly authentic to watch Satish wrestle with his emotions and thoughts as he juggles his affection and physical attraction towards Jamie with his rejection of what he initially sees as physical abuse, the welts on Jamie’s back raising Satish’s objections and vague disgust to go along with his concern.

And all this takes place in 42 pages.  Yes, there are 3 books that precede this one but I think you can read this story and still gather enough information about the events prior to understand and appreciate this story.  Does it help to have read them? Yes, but not definitively so.   Every Inch of the Way ends a bit unresolved so you will want to go quickly on to the next story.

The final story in the series is already out, To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5).   Follow me there to see how it all shakes out.  For those of you new to this series, decide for yourself whether to start at the beginning or continue on from here.  Either way, this is a delicious series, full of well written characters, sexy hot scenes and a fast paced narrative that moves all the events along concisely.  They come complete with covers guaranteed to draw you in!  Enjoy.

Book Details:

ebook, 42 pages
Published March 3rd 2014 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 1st 2014)
original title Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule, #4)
ISBN13 9781626491274
edition language English
Book in The Professor’s Rule series.  It helps to read them in order to understand Jamie and all the relationships within.
Giving an Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #1) currently free where sold (Amazon, ARe)
An Inch at a Time (The Professor’s Rule, #2)
Inch by Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #3)
Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule, #4)
To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #5)

Go “To The Very Last Inch” with Heidi Belleau & Amelia C. Gormley on The Professor’s Rule Tour & Contest

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Hi! We’re Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley, and we’re here to let you know that our kinky series The Professor’s Rule is coming to an end. The last two novelettes–Every Inch of the Way and To the Very Last Inch–are out now from Riptide TPR5_150x300Publishing, and to celebrate, we’re touring the web with a contest and a free bonus short. You’ll have to follow the whole tour to read the short in its entirety, but since every comment you make along the tour gets you an entry in our contest, there’s plenty of reasons to tag along.

If you haven’t yet heard of The Professor’s Rule, here’s a quick crash course (see what we did there?)

School is back in session.

When undergrad student James Sheridan set out to seduce his way into a better grade, he had no idea what he was signing on for. Professor Evander Carson wasn’t about to trade a good grade for sexual favors, but he was definitely willing to tutor his wayward pupil in far more than history.
By the end of their tumultuous relationship, James not only excelled academically, his sexual horizons had expanded to include pleasures—and agonies—the likes of which he’d never dreamed. But enough was more than enough, and James fled from his Professor, unsure of where his limits lay or if he had the wherewithal to set boundaries.

Two years later, a chance misdial puts James back in contact with his former instructor and brings all his old cravings back in force, leaving him yearning to kneel once again at his Professor’s feet. But James has a new life now, with new sexual and romantic prospects—most notably the charming menswear salesman Satish Malhotra. Still, the pull to return to Professor Carson is a powerful thing. Can James give in to it without giving up his newfound confidence and budding romance?

The complete collection is on sale now for 40% off, and if you’d like to try before you buy, Giving an Inch (The Professor’s Rule #1) is free wherever ebooks are sold!

To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5)

To The Very Last InchJust days after their scorching reunion, Professor Evander Carson has kicked his one-time pupil James Sheridan to the curb—and tried to sabotage James’s new relationship with Satish Malhotra. Something isn’t right here, but James isn’t sure he should bother trying to figure out what. Carson isn’t good for him and will never change. He needs to accept that and move on.

Satish knows something is up, too, but he thinks the relationship between Carson and James is worth saving. To do the right thing, Satish will have to make James and Carson confront the secrets they’ve hidden for years and help them to overcome the pain and mistrust they’ve caused.

But if Satish succeeds, where will that leave him and his intensifying romance with James? Will the three of them be able to find the right balance, or will James be forced to choose between the pain and submission he craves with Carson, and the sweet, vanilla stability he’s found with Satish?

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Book Details:

ebook, 56 pages
Published March 3rd 2014 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 1st 2014)
original title To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule, #5)
ISBN13 9781626491281
edition language English

About the Authors

Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot m/m erotic romance while her son is at school. When she’s not writing in her Pacific Northwest home, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.
Her self-published novel-in-three-parts, Impulse (Inertia, Book One; Acceleration, Book Two; and Velocity, Book Three) can be found at most major online book retailers, and be sure to check Riptide for her latest releases, including her Highland historical, The Laird’s Forbidden Lover, the The Professor’s Rule series of erotic novelettes (co-written with Heidi Belleau), the post-apocalyptic romance, Strain, and her upcoming, New Adult contemporary, Saugatuck Summer, available for pre-order now.

You can contact Amelia on

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 centered on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!) Her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms.

She also writes queer-flavoured M/F as Heloise Belleau.

Contest

Contest Rules: Win an ebook copy of An Inch at a Time (The Professor’s Rule #2) in your choice of formats! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you (email address–posted in comment field, twitter handle, goodreads or facebook account), and you’ll be entered to win! Every comment counts for another entry, so be sure to follow the whole tour