Review: Designated Bottoms by B.A. Tortuga , Katey Hawthorne , Julia Talbot , Sean Michael, Shannon West, Kiernan Kelly , K.C. Wells

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Some men are bottoms by birth, others by choice. Whatever the reason, a designated bottom is someone who’s happy to surrender, to submit, or just catch instead of pitch! Inside the covers, you will find seven stories by seven terrific authors, each with a different bent on the subject of love, romance, and bottoming. They are:

➤Czech Me Out, by BA Tortuga, Korde discovers what it’s like to fall for someone when food truck owner Josh takes on the cowboy virgin.

➤The Mistell by Katey Hawthorne who’s gamer grad student Paul doesn’t date. He keeps things strictly physical. So why is Sammy so important to him ?

➤Faster Bobcat by Julia Talbot. A Lynx shifter and stripper Aleks doesn’t mix business with pleasure, but he thinks Rafe, a jaguar shifter, might just be the master for him.

➤Little Square of Cloth by Sean Michael. Peter isn’t sure about the club his friend takes him to, especially when Doms start hitting on him. Experienced Dom Rupert is happy to help, explaining about that little piece of cloth stuck in Peter’s pocket .

➤Sgt. Hardass by Shannon West. A recent ex-Army man Jake meets up with a man he has history with, and Chad isn’t sure he can explain himself and defuse Jake’s anger. Explosive? Absolutely and also very hot.

➤ Prince of Paupers by Kiernan Kelly. Prince Liam and longtime friend Deacon have to go back to Deacon’s Appalachian home, much to the prince’s dismay. What happens when royalty and the plain folk of the Applachians clash? Can love be far behind?

➤ Switching It Up by K.C. Wells. Jay knows he looks like a twink, but only hunky Dean understands that looks can be seriously deceptive. When twink meets hulk, who comes out on top? Or bottom?

What a fun anthology! Each story presents a totally different take on romance and challenges to love. There is something and some story for everyone to enjoy!

It starts off light and swift with BA Tortuga’s Czech Me Out. Korde and Josh had me wanting to reach for a Kolache or two. I felt it was missing a little substance in the boys back histories but still found it loads of fun.

Katey Hawthorne’s gamer lads of The Mistell are wonderful. It’s funny, current, and you will love these nerds on the path to happiness and love. I learned what a mistell is and the ones Katey Hawthorne created had me snorting. I loved Paul, Samir, and the rest of the WW gaming group. At the end I also wished that a certain sweet, if dim ex would also find his HEA. Maybe the next story. This was one of my favorites.

Faster Bobcat by Julia Talbot had me purring like a kitty. Loved both Aleks who needs structure and the hot jaguar shifter who supplies it along with love. Put this one at the top.

Sean Michael’s Little Square of Cloth is Sean Michael doing what he does best. Making BDSM seem hot, and exactly right for the people involved. In this case, Peter gets more than he ever expected when a friend plays a prank on him. Sean Michael lovers, this is for you!

Sgt. Hardass by Shannon West is a that bit of angst missing in the other stories. West delivers a painful breakup, and even more painful reunion and hot makeup sex!. This is one of the stories I wish had been a little longer. The characters were well done but I needed more about Chad and Jake to make their reunion and rapid reconciliation feel real.

I adored Kiernan Kelly’s Prince of Paupers and wanted much, much more of this story because of the small touches and comedic elements she included. More of Alfred the butler and the grubby little boy. That scene was priceless! Or Liam down in the “holler” learning why there is no “George” pig to go along with Ringo, Paul, and John. Still giggling over that one. I need a full on, enlarged version of this story and so will you. This is my favorite of the anthology. And it ended way before I was ready for it to be resolved.

The last story, Switching It Up by KC Wells had me a little perplexed for a while. I thought the author was heading in one direction with the romantic interest and she was headed in another opposite direction. Was it a case of red herring or was it just me? Not sure but it threw me off just enough that I didn’t enjoy it as I might have. Still, its a fun story and make a good addition to this anthology. Don’t think I would have ended the collection with it however.

My ratings fluctuate between a 3.75 and a 4.5 for the stories individually (you can guess which is which). That averages out to a 4 rating overall. I do recommend picking this anthology up! It’s stories are fun to read, highly sexy, and some will definitely leave you giggling and wanting more.

Cover art by Anne Squires. I love that cover. Great design and yes, what a great bottom!

Buy Links: Torquere Press All Romance eBooks (ARe) Amazon Designated Bottoms

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 253 pages
Published July 29th 2014 by Torquere Press
ASINB00M8Y421Y
edition languageEnglish

Review: My Favorite Uncle by Marshall Thornton

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Martin Dixon lives a life of quietude and certainty. Having reached the age of almost 50, Martin has his job and his friend Ricky, his condo, a failed love affair in his past which continues to torment him (as he often tells others), and not much else. But he is content or at least he thinks he is. Martin has not kept in touch with his family since his coming out, so no one is more surprised than him when his 18 year old nephew, Carter, shows up unannounced on his doorstep. Carter is hungry, dirty, and in need of a place to stay and Carter intends that place to be with his Uncle Martin.

Martin doesn’t know what to do. He hasn’t seen his nephew since he was in the single digits and he has never been all that fond of kids, no matter whose they are. Then Martin finds out that his brother turned ultra Christian conservative and when Carter was discovered with another boy, Carter’s parents turned him over to a mental hospital hoping to “cure” Carter of his “gayness”. With that fact in his possession and his gay nephew eating in his kitchen, Martin knows he can’t turn Carter away. But what is he to do with Carter, someone who has always been home schooled and kept away from society at large?

And the situation is further complicated because both uncle and nephew irritate the heck out of each other. But they are more alike than they know when each decides the way to the other’s heart is to provide them with a boyfriend and romance. Can things get more complicated? Why yes, they certainly can!

How I wish I liked this book half as much as I love its cover. By all accounts, I should adore My Favorite Uncle. The premise is priceless…almost a guaranteed shoo in to my affections. The writing by Marshall Thornton? Wonderful. He has a way of writing snark that will have you smiling, the narrative flows with a rhythm that works with dry comedy and that cover? Hell to the yes, I am almost singing the Brady Bunch song just looking at it. So why the long face, girl, as they say? Well…that would be the characters who I like about as much as they like each other. And that’s not a lot.

Basically Martin is an old codger at 50 (almost). His life is as dry as a Texas gulch in summer. He works on close captioning for a profession at home, he has a friend with whom he goes about a limited schedule of things he wants to do and places he wants to go. He’s intelligent and semi happy with his life. And when his nephew pops up unannounced at his door, expecting sanctuary, or at least a shoulder to cry on and a place to live, Martin is profoundly unhappy. That’s not the problem. Who would be thrilled under those circumstances? That’s a typical human reaction to a stranger, albeit a relative, arriving needing help. Thornton even has Martin aware that his reaction to his nephew is as small hearted and cold as it appears to Carter and the readers. But this reaction continues throughout most of the story, and while I was waiting for Martin to warm up to Carter, I was equally aware that I was unable to warm up to Martin. I could understand his reactions and predicament. Martin didn’t want his orderly life upset. Got it. I just couldn’t find it in myself to like Martin who continued more out of guilt than a sense of compassion.

Carter too is a special case as far as a character goes. He’s a naif who finds himself in a sort of gay Disneyland or in this case Long Beach. Want sex because everyone knows gay men have sex like a gazillion times a year? Get told to stand outside a gay bar at closing time and take your pick and do it! Carter’s assumptions about what it means to be gay are both hilarious and sad. I really liked Carter. His unformed personality actually made sense. Thornton kept that persona true to a teenager isolated in a conservative Christian household (or any ultra religious household, doesn’t matter what religion) where any connection to society and modern cultural milestones is kept at a minimum. His family’s reaction to finding out Carter is gay? Send him off to a mental hospital to be “de gayed”. How true and horrific that this continues to be legal. But that’s another issue for me here. What happened to Carter is undercut by the manner in which it is brought up and brushed off for most of the story. Only towards the end does that segment of Carter’s life get the appropriate attention. And by then its almost too late. But Carter is that character who won’t be suppressed and he bounces back and right into the reader’s heart.

Is this a light, dry comedy? Realistic family drama? Bit of both, as it should be. But for that to work in a story it has to flow seamlessly and realistically between the two, incorporating it into the plot as just one more thread amongst many in a tapestry. Instead both are highlighted here by the author’s treatment and it feels more jumbled than a realistic messy whole.

I liked the end. All were family although not friends. Some things don’t change. Never did enjoy being in Martin’s company, I had hope for Carter and his furture, and liked his adopted group of friends/family. Ernesto, his mother, Ricky, and all the rest. That was nice and even familiar. That’s how I feel about My Favorite Uncle. It was mostly nice, while parts of it were wonderful, consistently funny and dry. Other segments are so detached that the reader is kept at arm’s length away from any emotional attachment to the characters and their fate.

If you need to feel intimately connected to characters and their stories, then the almost indifferent air to the narrative here might make My Favorite Uncle not the story for you. But if you find that fine writing, interesting characters, no matter how detached or impartial you might feel about them, and a terrific premise are all you need, then My Favorite Uncle is right up your Kindle! I will leave the choice up to you.

Cover art by Wilde City Press. OK, I love that cover. Shear perfection!

Buy Links: Wilde City Press Amazon My Favorite Uncle

Book Details:

ebook, 220 pages
Published June 25th 2014 by Wilde City Press
ISBN139781925180176
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-mainstream/my-favorite-uncle/#.U61yfLG4O8Q
charactersMartin Dixon, Carter Dixon
settingLong Beach, California (United S

Booking it with Richard Longfellow’s Private Practice! (contest)

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Richard Longfellow has stopped by today on his Private Practice book tour with a contest to enter and an excerpt to heat up your day!

Book Name: Private Practice
Author Name: Richard Longfellow
Author Bio: Richard Longfellow resides in London, Great Britain. He’s tall, dark and handsome and currently unattached. When he’s not tending to his patients, he enjoys stroking cats, films with happy endings and opening the very best champagne, although not necessarily in that order. He has absolutely no connection with the school described in the text and his father never wore a Rolex watch. This is his second novella of quintessentially British, gay erotica.

Author Contact:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008178612072&fref=ts
Twitter: @RickLongbow

Title: Private Practice by Richard Longfellow
Cover Artist: 3 Rusted Spoons
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Buy Links: Dark Hollows Press
Blurb:

Mark has film star looks, a body to die for and a successful career as a gynecologist, but he’s
lacking something – like a boyfriend, for instance. He’s also a porn star on the side with a
hundred DVDs to his name and a libido to match. Then, along comes a patient who seems all
set to destroy everything. Will he be able to talk his way out of the mess this time? Perhaps
he’ll need to call on divine guidance from Holy Joe, the school chaplain, who already knows
so much about his past…

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Tour Dates: 8/8/14

Tour Stops: Parker Williams, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Prism Book Alliance, MM Good Book Reviews, Love Bytes, The Hat Party, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Jade Crystal, Amanda C. Stone, Cate Ashwood, My Fiction Nook, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, Hearts on Fire, 3 Chicks After Dark, Fallen Angel Reviews, Iyana Jenna, Smoocher’s Voice

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Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest: Use the Rafflecopter link provided to enter and for additional contest details. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Rafflecopter Prize: E-book copy of Private Practice.

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Excerpt NSFW:

The venue for Mark’s screen test was in the swankiest part of Notting Hill and the stucco-fronted house looked straight out of the eponymous romantic comedy. He walked up the steps of the porticoed entrance and just knew there’d be a butler. The guy who answered the door addressed him like a butler, but his topless uniform and knowing smile definitely broke the mould. The ornately-framed pictures lining the stairs hinted at wealth and nubile youths featured prominently; in fact, some were almost three dimensional in their prominence. The sound of talk and laughter trickled down from the first floor.

Following where the noise was coming from, the room Mark entered wasn’t like that of a typical party. Aside from the lavish buffet set out to one side, it looked like a plush home cinema, with reclining chairs arranged in rows and a huge flat screen TV at the end. Curiously, there was a dais to the right of the screen on which a cello stood waiting to be played. Most of the guests were men but there were a few women as well. Mark fleetingly wondered whether he was on the menu for their entertainment.

Someone kissed him on the cheek. “Doc, it’s good to see you again!” Mark was pleased to see it was the irrepressible Steve fully recovered from his operation and looking exceedingly handsome in a tuxedo and bow tie, his rebellious spiked hair complementing his conservative garb.

“Shush! Remember I’m here incognito.” Mark stepped back to inspect his night-time lover. “You look incredible! How come the tuxedo? I thought you’d be entertaining everyone in your jockstrap.”

Steve smiled. “Ah, that might come later, but first I’ve got something more serious to attend to.” He started walking towards the dais. “They’ll call for you when they’re ready,” he said over his shoulder.

Steve walked up to the dais. Mark decided he must be the master of ceremonies in charge of the evening’s delights. Instead, Steve sat down behind the cello and lifted the bow. He smiled at Mark, as if to say, “Hey, this is the real me.” As the prelude of J. S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 cast its spell, the guests stopped talking and moved to the chairs. Mark found himself thinking back to the comment made by his registrar. He wished the bigot could see Steve now: a dancer, porn actor and amazing musician who probably brought more meaning into the world than any third rate surgeon. A tap on Mark’s shoulder brought him back to the here and now.

“They’re ready for you, sir,” said the semi-naked waiter with a wink.

Mark followed the waiter to a corridor on the left just past the buffet. The guests were entranced by Steve’s playing and barely cast him a glance. He was glad he hadn’t eaten anything as butterflies were busy at work in his stomach. An open door with bright lighting beckoned. He’d expected something like a smart bedroom. Instead, it was a sizeable photographic studio with centre stage appropriately given to a super king size bed with black sheets surrounded by all the paraphernalia of filming.

“Hey, posh boy, long time no see,” said someone to Mark’s right.

Mark turned to look at the guy. He was the same height as himself and had blond hair that flopped into his eyes. He was grinning broadly. He was also naked and his dick and balls had been freshly shaved.

“Christ! I don’t believe it!” exclaimed Mark. “You’re the one who gave me a blowjob! And you’ve had your tooth fixed!”

The guy ran his tongue sexily across his teeth. “Yeah. That’s one of the perks of this business.”

“So, how long have you been doing porn?”

“Just over a year.” He looked long and hard at Mark. “You know, I sort of wondered whether I’d see you again. I mean, that dick of yours is quite something.”

e cupped Mark’s groin. “Yup, still there.” His own dick was getting more erect by the second. “Mm, I can’t wait…”

Mark looked surprised. “So, it’s us together, then?”

“Of course, darlin’.”

Just then, someone who seemed to be in charge came over to greet Mark.

“I’ll be on the bed waiting for you,” said the naked guy, walking back to the bed with his dick bouncing energetically. Mark realised they still hadn’t exchanged names.

“You must be Mark,” the man said, shaking his hand. “I’m Eduardo and BritSpunk’s jack of all trades and master of none – in other words, Talent Manager and Assistant Director.” He was a bit short but had a nice, engaging smile and was nothing like the sleazy character Mark had imagined. “I see you’ve met Frank. He’s clearly keen to get on with the shoot. But let’s run through some preliminaries first.”

They found a couple of chairs and Eduardo started checking items on a clipboard. “So, Mark, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five.”

“Gay, straight or bi?”

Mark was initially surprised by the question but remembered some guys were gay-for-pay. “Gay, although I’d probably be okay with bi.”

“Excellent. Top or bottom?”

“Both.”

“That’s even better. Flexibility is a big help when we’re casting. Now, what about your dick size? Steve’s a size queen, so it must be big.”

“Nine inches.”

Eduardo raised his eyebrows. “And girth?”

Mark had measured that before he came out as he thought he’d be asked. “Six and a half.”

Eduardo looked surprised. “Really? That’s impressive. Have you done any sort of porn before?”

“No.”

“Finally, do you know your HIV status?”

“Yes, I’m negative. I’ve got my test results if you need them.”

“Fantastic, Mark. I think that’s everything we need for the moment. If you’d like to take your clothes off and join Frank on the bed, we’ll get on with the shoot.”

As Mark was undressing, he could hear Steve’s cello. He found it surreal but also comforting, as the music seemed to bridge one world he knew and another he was just about to discover.

Continue reading “Booking it with Richard Longfellow’s Private Practice! (contest)” →

Review: Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4) by Laura Harner

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

“Please don’t go.”

Words that would haunt Lord Jamie Mainwaring long after he boarded the plane departing Phoenix, Arizona. After the deaths and destruction of the past events, Jamie feels that leaving is his only recourse, even if it means leaving once more the man he loves, Det. Remy Remington. Jamie watched Remy’s mouth form those words at the airport as he went through the doors to get on the plane. But it was too late for them and for the love that had followed them across oceans and continents for the last two years.

Brokenhearted and grieving, Remy watches Jamie leave him once more. But returning home, he finds that Jamie isn’t the only person leaving him. Toby is confused, shattered and angry…at Remy and the world. Toby flees his home and safety looking for answers to his past. What Toby finds in Las Vegas is nothing but trouble,

Fate has a way of pulling Jamie and Remy back together. Jamie’s is asked to get involved in one more case for the British special agency he used to work for. Remy leaves home looking for Toby and both paths intersect in Las Vegas where a corrupt prince, the lost boys from London, and Toby are intertwined in a mess of abuse, pain and potential death. Jamie and Remy must put all their past issues aside and come together to find and rescue Toby before the prince can destroy them all. Will Remy and Jamie finally prevail and find a future together for them as a family? Or will the coming storm destroy them once and for all?

Prevailing Winds, the Separate Ways series finale, is that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the icing on the cake and the cherries on top of the sundae! This is the story that is the salve for the wounds left behind by the tumultuous events and anguish of the last three books and I couldn’t be happier. For three bloody, suspense filled, painfully frustrating stories, Laura Harner has been developing her rollercoaster ride of a relationship between Lord Jamie Mainwaring and Det. Remy Remington.

From the moment they connected in London over missing boys, to the betrayals on the ocean cruise and the devastation of the events in Phoenix, the relationship dynamics between these two has been fascinating to watch as the men connected, fled, reconnected, and separated again and again. What has made it so endlessly addicting is that we understood why the separations had to happen, the mental and emotional changes each character had to undergo in order to make a relationship (any relationship) work, and all the obstacles that life and their jobs as well as nationalities placed in their paths. It wasn’t just one thing that kept them apart….but a boatload. Harner carefully built up wall after wall between these two wonderful characters. Walls made up of Remy and Jamie’s childhood issues and abuse, requirements of their individual jobs, and even personal outlook on long term relationships and ties. Throughout each story we waited for the barriers to start to fall. And they would start breaking down, a few bricks here and there. Only for us to watch the walls firm up again at the end of each story. Frustrating, authentic, and it made great reading.

And as skillfully as Harner built up those barriers, then she had to slowly and realistically break them down. And that took time. And three, no four books to accomplish that because Remy and Jamie are still working on their problems and expectations for each other and a long term partnership well into Prevailing Winds. This time, its Toby on the run and Remy following in his wake. And their paths intersect with Jamie on a mission in Las Vegas.

The point of view flows back and forth between Toby and Remy and Jamie. Toby’s scary predicament is heightened by this format as the danger increases the deeper the investigation goes and the closer the men get to finding Toby. Gut wrenching at times, the anticipation is overwhelming towards the end as we rush towards the denouement! Plus there’s not just one, but several here. Loved this part of the story. In fact, loved it all! So will you.

The writing is taut, smooth and fluid. The plot’s mechanisms are lovingly orchestrated for maximum excitement and anticipation. Oh, and for our total satisfaction as well. But you must read these stories in the order they were written, in order for the character development and situations to make sense.

This is one heck of a series and a great way to end it! Love the book, love the characters, and Las Vegas was the perfect place to bring it all to a head!

I highly recommend this story and series to all lovers of action, adventure and a long denied romance that finds it’s happily ever after!

Buy Links: All Romance eBooks (ARe) Amazon Prevailing Winds

Cover Art by Laura Harner. This cover is very different in design from the other three but it works great for the story.

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 198 pages
Published July 23rd 2014 by Hot Corner Press
ASINB00M3AV0YA
edition language English
url http://lauraharner.com/series/separate_ways_series/
seriesSeparate Ways #4

Separate Ways Series in the order they were written and should be read:

Continental Divide by Laura Harner and Lisa Worrell
Oceans Apart (Separate Ways #2) by Laura Harner
Moving Mountains (Separate Ways #3) by Laura Harner
Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4) by Laura Harner

Review: Moving Mountains (Separate Ways #3) by Laura Harner

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Lord Jamie Mainwaring isn’t sure what the future holds for him. The devastating betrayals of the last mission aboard the Caribbean cruise have left him feeling emotionally battered and shaky. The closer Jamie looked at the events that caused the death of his lover and almost his life, the more deceit he uncovered. Soon Jamie realizes that he has been manipulated and lied to for most of his life. Shattered and uncertain, Jamie realizes that there is only one man he can trust and turn to in this web of manipulation and deception….the man he left behind twice, Detective Remy Remington.

Detective Remy Remington and Miguel “Miggy” Rojas have moved forward in their lives together in Phoenix, Arizona. Their security business has taken off, and so has their relationship. Partners in everything, from a business to adopting one of the unfortunate boys from the London mission, Remy and Miggy are happy together. But all that is about to change.

Remy’s former chief at the PD is dead, Remy’s name scratched in the dirt by his body. Miggy was once an addict as was his twin sister. Now she reappears on their doorstep and trouble is following her. And on top of all that, Jamie arrives needing support and assistance from Remy, a situation that leaves Miggy unsettled and more than a little jealous.

With so many problems needing investigation and personal issues unsettled, the danger is just beginning for all three and it might just cost them their relationships and their lives.

If you are anything like me and fell in love with all three main characters in the Separate Ways series…Lord Jamie Mainwarring, Det. Remy Remington, and Miggy Rojas…then this is the book that will leave you feeling as devastated as Jamie did at the end of Oceans Apart. Make no mistake, this is as outstanding a story as it is emotionally wrenching. And that fact alone will have people hurling their books at walls, howling and bawling buckets here. Why? Because Laura Harner puts us and her characters through the proverbial wringer in Moving Mountains, a book you will hate to love.

In Continental Divide and Oceans Apart, we watched the dance of attraction and deep connection that developed between Lord Jamie Mainwaring and Detective Remy Remington. First in a case in London involving missing young boys and murder in Continental Divide (Separate Ways #1), then on a gay cruise on an ocean liner in Oceans Apart. On each occasion and mission that brings them together, the timing is off although the attraction remains white hot. Both characters (and satellite ones) are superbly written. These are nuanced, layered personas, easy to believe in and even easier to love and connect with.

And with each story, Laura Harner builds our frustration and anxiety over their relationship and personal obstacles in between them. One of these “obstacles” is Miguel “Miggy” Rojas. And old friend of Remy’s, he appears early in the series in need of drying out and support. Which he gets from Remy. Theirs is a deep, complicated relationship but the more you see of Miggy the more you come to love him as well. That’s a nifty feat for a character that by his very presence keeps our two main characters apart.

The tag line of Moving Mountains is “It’s easier to move a mountain than escape the past.” That is certainly true of the story here. Harner’s excellent plot has as many layers and complications as its characters. There are mysteries and murders to solve, connections you will never see coming, and events that will leave you in tears, just devastated at the turn of events. Yes, parts of this book are hard to experience. But the choices that Harner makes here as an author are also logical and necessary. For some fans and readers, that will be their hardest obstacle to overcome with this story and perhaps even the series.

The past certainly comes back to haunt all three characters here and as the sequence of events plays out, Laura Harner is setting the stage for the final story in the Separate Ways series, Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4). As we sail towards the finale, I can say that this has been a moving and memorable voyage. I have come to love these men through each intricately plotted and beautifully written story. I have loved and cried with them. And then cried some more. And wouldn’t have missed a page of it, even with all the turmoil involved.

If you are new to the series, then please start with Continental Divide to see how these two men meet and separate the first time around. Then onto to Oceans Apart and here at Moving Mountains. Then you will be prepared for Prevailing Winds, just like me. Or at least I hope we will be prepared. With Laura Harner you never know. It will be a wonderful rollercoaster, that is for certain. Consider this story and the series, highly recommended!

Cover art by Laura Harner. The simple restrained design works beautifully here.

Buy Links: All Romance eBooks (ARe) Amazon Moving Mountains

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 199 pages
Published October 29th 2013 by Hot Corner Press
ASINB00GAQGH00
edition languageEnglish
seriesSeparate Ways #3

Separate Ways Series in the order they were written and should be read:

On Tour with Meredith Allard and That You Were There Book Tour (contest)

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Meredith Allard has stopped by on her That You Are Here book tour to answer some questions and talk about her book. In addition she has a contest for you all to enter and a couple of prizes to give away. One grand prize winner for a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card will be chosen at the end of the tour. And the runner up will receive a ebook of That You Are Here! Use this Rafflecopter link to enter and for additional contest details! Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

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An Interview with Meredith Allard on Inspiration and her latest release, That You Are Here!

STRW: What was your inspiration for the story?

Meredith Allard: I was visiting my cousin in Portland, Oregon when the announcement of the Supreme Court decision overturning DOMA was made. The idea for That You Are Here occurred to me shortly afterward in some random daydream. On the outside, I don’t have much in common with Andrew and Mark since I am most definitely not a gay man. I’m not even a gay woman for that matter, but I believe that people who are in love should be able to get married, and suddenly I saw the characters from the story, Andrew Whittaker and Mark Bryce, so strongly, like they were standing in front of me. I had the idea for the story from beginning to end in a matter of days. I could see Andrew and Mark’s love for each other, and I could see how they struggled. I wrote the first draft as the challenge for National Novel Writing Month. I had 62,000 words written in 30 days, which is super fast for me.

STRW: Do you work on one project at a time or many?

Meredith Allard: Just one. My limited brain capacity tops out at one story at a time.

STRW: Hero or Antihero? Who would you chose and why?

Meredith Allard: I’ve always preferred the hero. I like to see people rise above their baser nature to become their best selves. I like characters who make brave choices to do the right thing.

STRW: People say write what you know. Do you think that is right or even important?

Meredith Allard: This is a really interesting question because “write what you know” can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, I never write what I know in the sense that my stories are fiction and the characters and the plot are creations from my imagination. Yet there are aspects of myself in every character, so then I’m using what I know to create someone who is otherwise fictional. On the surface in That You Are Here, I’m not writing about what I know because I’m not a gay man. Yet I know what it’s like to have to learn to feel comfortable in my own skin. Whenever I write I’m trying to find the universal aspect of the story that anyone can relate to, so in a sense it’s something everyone knows. Everyone has to learn how to feel comfortable in their own skin in one way or another. I also don’t think there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to writing, and writers can write about whatever they want. If it’s something they don’t know, then they can use their imagination to fill in the gaps.

STRW: What is the first book you read that really meant something to you?

Meredith Allard: This is going back to when I was eight years old, but Charlotte’s Web is the first book I can remember reading that showed me the power of a well written story. I was so touched by Charlotte and Wilbur’s story, and after that I wanted to read every book I could get my hands on.

STRW: What do you find sexy in a man?

Meredith Allard: A sense of humor is first and foremost. It’s great if he’s smart, and it certainly doesn’t hurt if he’s cute.

STRW: What’s next up for you?

Meredith Allard: I just got back from London where I was researching for my next novel, an historical story set in Victorian London that’s inspired by Downton Abbey.

STRW: Thanks, Meredith, for stopping by and taking a moment to sit in our author interview armchair. That was wonderful! Here is some That You Are Here details, including where to get your copy:

THAT YOU ARE HERE
by Meredith Allard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

On the outside, handsome, successful attorney Andrew Whittaker has everything in life. On the inside, he has everything too, only he doesn’t know it. He hides the love of his life, Mark Bryce, from his family and everyone else where he lives in Portland, Oregon. Soon the weight of the secret becomes too much for Andrew. After wrestling with himself and his place in the world, he must decide how he’s going to live—with or without Mark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Andrew’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He put his lunch bag on the counter, nodding at the message from Lisa Bloom, his secretary. He scanned his e-mails and grimaced at the phone. “I have to go.” He left at a sprint through the kitchen door to his silver Mercedes in the attached one-car garage. He didn’t even like the car, but that’s what the senior partners at his firm drove, so that’s what he drove too. Andrew opened the garage door, got into the driver’s seat, slid the key into the ignition, started the car, and jumped at the knock on his window. He shrugged sheepishly, opened the window, and took his lunch bag.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m a little distracted today.”

“Today?” A sigh. “That car is such a gas guzzler. You need a hybrid. This is Portland. You’re supposed to be green.”

“Kermit the Frog green?”

“Any kind of green you want to be.”

Andrew looked at the person watching him with such open-hearted love in those soft gold-brown eyes.

“Mark?” Andrew said.

“Yes, Andrew.”

“Thank you.”

Mark Bryce leaned his head through the open window and kissed Andrew’s cheek. “Anything for you, beautiful boy.”

When Andrew stopped at the red light on Bancroft Street he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled his phone from his pocket, saw the screen and cringed, peering at the nearby drivers as though they were reporting his every move to some great eye in the sky. The text was from Mark.

Stop looking at your phone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Meredith Allard is the author of The Loving Husband Trilogy, That You Are Here, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle (Copperfield Press). She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Northridge. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, The Maxwell Digest, Wild Mind, Muse Apprentice Guild, Writer’s Weekly, Moondance, CarbLite, and ViewsHound. She has taught writing to students aged ten to sixty, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction seminars at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Website – http://www.meredithallard.com/
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/copperfield101
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/authormeredithallard

Buy at Amazon link

Review: Home the Hard Way by Z.A. Maxfield

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

Dare Buckley has returned home to Palladian, Washington a far different person than the one he was when he left. Dare left Palladian, a teenaged golden boy who, along with his mother, was mourning the loss of his father who had committed suicide. The man who returned? That Dare Buckley is a disgraced former Seattle P.D cop. A man who’s poor judgement and even worse actions have made him someone only a hometown police department would give a job too. Dare Buckley knows this is his last chance for redemption and he needs to make good. It also gives him a chance to investigate his father’s death and reconnect with someone who used to idolize him, Finn Fowler.

Finn Fowler, son of the local tramp, is someone who Dare protected when they were in school when the bullies saw Finn as an easy victim and outsider. But that young boy who followed Dare everywhere, who thought Dare was his hero is gone. Now there’s an adult Finn Fowler to content with, one who wants little to do with Dare Buckley. Or so it seems.

Palladian has always been a town of secrets, only Dare never realized that before now. And those secrets contain the answers that Dare needs to find closure and the ability to go forward. But what happens when someone doesn’t want those secrets to come out? Who can Dare trust when even the man he thought he knew might be keeping the biggest secret of them all?

✍✍✍✍
Two things right off the bat. One, I love Z.A. Maxfield. Her stories have an originality and life about them that I find irresistible. So many of them are must reads and highly recommended books on my shelf. Two. Home the Hard Way is probably not one of those stories, at least for me.

Home the Hard Way is more of a mixed bag for me narratively speaking than her other tales of angst, broken men, and love. For most of this tale, I was engrossed in the complicated but resoundingly lifelike plot. That includes the small town Sheriffs office and its police officers, the town beauty parlor and its clients as well as all the other denizens of a town that’s seen better days and knows it. And there’s a local golden boy who left a hero and came home a failure. Those parts all work here and work extremely well. The resignation, humiliation, and indignation of the returned “past his glory” boy and the people left behind who idolized him…all rang true. It is just one well conceived and well drawn character portrait after another here.

Other plot threads that worked seamlessly throughout the story were the old mysteries floating up from the past to haunt and threaten those involved in their present lives. That these secrets were kept hidden by agreement and association feels like an integral part of authentic small town life instead of part of a fictionalized culture. I liked that too. Even the behavior that can be institutionalized under such a society felt real. Bullying, harassment, all can be excused given the right circumstances and people involved, and that’s the shared history in a small town that makes that an ordinary happenstance. Everything I just mentioned worked beautifully in the story and made the narrative flow slowly along.

So what didn’t work for me? The manner in which one main character is introduced to bdsm and a D/s relationship. And that aspect of the story was enough, in its treatment, to almost derail this book for me.

I love it when using BDSM components or a D/s scene or lifestyle makes sense for a character or a situation. I think that it’s important that it be explained or incorporated in a way that lets the reader into the scene and understand why its necessity for both characters to participate. It shouldn’t, in my opinion, make you start questioning about the “rightness” of the scene or the judgement about the author’s handling of her characters in such a scene. Or even if the segments that bothered me are acceptable to the leather or bdsm community in general (if you can answer this please let me know), I do know that those scenes were problematic enough to keep me awake trying to see it from all angles because it bothered me enough to jar the flow of the story.

My issues here? That anything consensual can happen with a drunken or judgment impaired character and not be addressed in the narrative. That’s at the core of my dissatisfaction with this story. It’s a sticking point with me although it might not be for other readers. But here’s my thinking on the issue.

For starters, that a drunk character, on an unplanned, inebriated visit to another sober character (under strained circumstances) gets pushed /involved into a D/s BDSM scene with little dialog or discussion between the characters. Unless the lack of consent is part of the storyline, an inebriated or alcoholic person (fictional or not) can’t be seen to give consent to an action or behavior, even an implied consent without some discussion going on. The impaired judgement of that main character is not addressed. It wouldn’t have mattered even if they are getting a tattoo while on a binge or other similar actions.

Secondly, then this character is ushered into an act of submission, and by a Dom/character who has complex feelings about the other person. This includes a long standing grudge (feelings of abandonment) against this character. For me, it just felt well less a scene between consenting adults and more like an action of aggression and implied revenge. Again that would be fine if that was the intent of the scene. But it’s not. And the character made to submit? A virgin so to speak about D/s play and BDSM in particular. This happens more than once. Is this typical D/s play? Don’t know. I have been informed by some in the lifestyle that such scenes need to be worked out in advance, rules and limitations agreed to, things of that nature.

Again, it’s not the D/s or BDSM play that I mind, but the manner in which the characters use it to sexually interact with each other and work out old issues. This guy is a mess to begin with and it only gets worse. I wish the whole aspect of this story would have been handled a little differently. Even the slightest change would have affected how I feel about this story. I kept trying to see my way around this element but I could never resolve it satisfactorily enough to get by it.

This element aside (which admittedly was hard for this reader), Home the Hard Way is a story that many readers will enjoy and feel deeply about. Why? Because there are so many wonderful elements at work here. Z.A. Maxfield’s characters and small town descriptions are just incredible. Just the way in which the town of Palladian and the rank river that it got its name from are depicted. The river, dank,and sluggish, full of trash pooling at its edges, waits for a storm to flush the stagnant waste and foul waters away. Much the way the town has an overlay of old secrets, hidden antagonisms, and barely contained jealousies and rivalries. It’s that aroma of neglect that reflects the stagnant feel that small town can get as if the life is seeping slowly out of them a drip at a time. Everyone knows everyone else or thinks they do because of a shared history that can reach decades into each family’s life. This element of the story made Home the Hard Way for me. I recognized those people and the town they lived in. I knew them from their all-too-human actions, petty and otherwise, The small town parlance and activities speak for themselves as an authentic part of small town USA.

Will the issues that bothered me here bother you? Not sure. That’s for you to decide. If not,then you might feel that this is just the story for you. As I said, so much about this book is quite wonderful. I enjoyed parts of Home the Hard Way, just not enough to read it again and that’s the benchmark for a 4 star rating for me. Let me know how you feel about the book and this issue. This inquiring mind wants to know.

Cover art by Amber Shah. I loved it and vote it one of the best of the month!

Buy links: Riptide Publishing All Romance eBook (ARe) Amazon <a href=” Home the Hard Way

Book Details:

book, 350 pages
Expected publication: July 28th 2014 by Riptide Publishing
original titleHome the Hard Way
ISBN139781626491458
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://riptidepublishing.com/titles/home-the-hard-way

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