DJ Jamison on Five wedding traditions that Appear in Surprise Groom (Marital Bliss #1) (guest blog and giveaway)

Five wedding traditions that make an appearance in Surprise Groom

When I first came up with the idea for my release, Surprise Groom — Book 1 of a new series called Marital Bliss — I didn’t realize just how much “wedding planning” I’d be taking on! But where there are weddings, there are wedding traditions. Here are five that make an appearance in the book. Keep in mind, Surprise Groom takes place on a wedding resort, so there are plenty of weddings to go around!

The bouquet toss!

Watch out. Those flowers don’t always end up where intended! Or maybe they do? You’ll have to read Surprise Groom to find out.

Toasts, so many toasts!

Don’t ask me why, but even when writing the toasts myself, I get all misty-eyed. I think they’re even better in fiction than real life. There’s just something so moving about someone sharing what’s in their heart with a room of full of people. Maybe I should start a tradition of holding toasts at my own family dinners!

Something borrowed…

And sometimes something lost. Caleb has mastered the skill of soothing panicky brides and grooms, though, so don’t worry.

Wedding favors!

And sometimes a whole lot of ribbons to tie around them. But hey, if you do it with the right partner, it can be fun. Maybe? Sometimes? Caleb and Julien thought so. Or maybe they just enjoyed what they did before tying those knots 😉

Wedding photos!

Gazebos bedecked with flower petals, burbling fountains, beaches with ocean views, horse stables, courtyards with gardens designed to bloom year-round. There’s no shortage of photo opportunities on Bliss Island.

I have at least three more books to write in this series, and many more wedding traditions to tackle! What’s your favorite tradition in a wedding/reception?


Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link – Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited
 
Length: 89,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
 
Blurb
 

Can two men fake their way to marital bliss?


Caleb Taylor is shocked to learn his family could lose Bliss Island Resort — their home and livelihood — unless he makes use of a clause to marry the child of investor Louis Chastain. Sofia Chastain is more like a sister than a love interest, and Caleb isn’t ready to sign over his future. But Sofia has a brother, and Caleb has a plan …


Julien Chastain was disowned at fifteen and has made a life as a go-go dancer in Miami, but he lives paycheck to paycheck. When his childhood friend proposes an outlandish marriage contract, he thinks he’s crazy. But it’s a chance at a future that’s tough to pass up.


Caleb and Julien must present themselves as an authentic couple for the legal loophole to work, but the lines between “fake” and “real” keep shifting as they navigate intimacy, public scrutiny, and sabotage.


Love isn’t part of the plan, but plans change. If they can outsmart Julien’s father and prove their love is worth more than a transaction, they just might find a true happily-ever-after.

Author Bio
 

DJ Jamison is the author of more than a dozen m/m romances, including the Ashe Sentinel series and the Hearts and Health series. She writes a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual, with a focus on telling love stories that are more about common ground than lust at first sight. DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love. DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that, and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, two fish and, regrettably, one snake.

 

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

 

Check Out the New Release Blog Tour for Want Me by Neve Wilder (excerpt and giveaway)

Want Me Tour Banner

Want Me

Neve Wilder

M/M New Adult Romance

Release Date: 05.08.19

Want Me Cover

BLURB

Two roommates. One calculus exam. A whole lot of extracurricular activity.

Nate

Living with four other guys, it’s bound to happen.

Every guy’s been caught taking care of business at least once, right?

It shouldn’t be a big deal.

But I don’t know Eric as well as my other roommates, and things are a little awkward now.

He’s a loner. A mystery. Quietly confident. Smart.

Sexy as hell.

I’ve been happily subsisting on the typical frat guy diet of booze and sorority girls.

But the way Eric looked at me that night?

There was something there.

Something that’s got me curious.

Something that’s stirring up feelings I thought I’d left behind for good.

Something that’s making me think I’m not as straight as I thought I was.

I can’t get him off of my mind.

I don’t think I want to.

So when he offers to help me study for a midterm I’m convinced I’m going to fail,

I take him up on it.

It’s innocent.

Probably. Maybe.

There’s no way I could’ve known what it’d start…

This is a super steamy standalone new adult/college mm romance with HEA that unfolds across six “episodes” following Nate and Eric. Now bundled up in one collection with a bonus episode for a seamless reading experience. 87,000 words.

Amazon US: http://bit.ly/WantMeNeveWilder

Amazon UK: http://bit.ly/WantMeNeveWilder_UK

Want Me Graphic 2

Want Me Teaser 2

 

EXCERPT

“You all right?”

“Yeah, stressed, as usual.”

“Calculus? I can help.”

“Nope, philosophy this time.”

He wrinkled his nose in sympathy, then laced his fingers behind his head. I turned my focus back to the page I was reading, then realized I’d read the same sentence three times in a row. I could feel him watching me, and when I turned my head to check, I was right. His gaze trickled down from the crown of my head to my lap, slow as a drop of water down the glass of the window behind me. My cock jumped in my pants, and I shifted my legs restlessly. The thing needed a leash.

“You want some stress relief?” he offered.

No. It was on the tip of my tongue to say it, because I was frustrated by the whole situation, but fuck, the way he was sitting there so casually, his legs sprawled, his thickening cock starting to push at his fly… I inhaled deeply through my nose, and as I exhaled, found myself saying, “Like what?”

“Not sure yet,” he mused, posture straightening. He moved to the edge of his seat, scooting his chair in closer so he was right next to me, and even though I kind of knew what was coming, I still flinched when he laid his hand over the top of my thigh.

“Not right here,” I said, lowering my voice. But fuck if I didn’t widen my legs in the same breath, a taboo thrill running through me at being in public. Shit, regardless of Eric, I was starting to think I really did have a thing for being watched—or the threat of getting caught, at least.

Eric palmed my crotch, spreading his fingers over the bulge in my gym shorts. His warmth seeped through the silky mesh fabric and woke my cock right the fuck up.

I glanced around. There was no one to either side of us, and behind me was just a bank of windows that looked over the main quad below. But there were a trio of heads in the carrels across from me. I could hear them when they whispered or turned a page in their books, and I had to muffle a growl when Eric tucked his hand behind the waistband of my shorts, grazing his fingertips over my swollen head.

“No?” It was practically a purr, and it rolled over my skin like warm oil and flooded me with furiously spreading heat that tightened my balls.

He took my silence for the assent it was, and I clamped my lower lip between my teeth as he wedged his hand deeper into my shorts and wrapped it around the base of my cock, giving it a sharp, pulsing squeeze that made me suck in a breath.

“Freeballing?”

“Yeah,” I stuttered out, my dick jumping in his hand as he squeezed again.

“Good deal.” He gave me a few light, feathery strokes that had my hips surging up into the contact, and then his hand tightened like a vice around my shaft, thumb tracing my head in a tantalizing sweep as he leaned in. His whisper washed over me like pure, searing desert heat, the ownership in it shooting straight to my core and making me dizzy. “I want that nut you’re working up right now.”

“Fuck,” I hissed so loud that when I glanced up, I could see the person in the carrel across from me trying to subtly peer over the divider.

I hunched over my desktop to conceal the view of Eric’s hand as it plunged deeper, scooping up my balls and kneading them.

“That sounded like a yes to me.”

“Not here,” I whispered again and yanked his hand from my pants. Even though by then, shit, I was definitely seeing the appeal in letting him get me off right there. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay quiet enough, and though the thrill of possibly getting caught was hot, the reality of a charge for public indecency was not. I needed some ninja skills for that, or a lot more experience, and the whole novelty of getting off with a dude who knew what the hell he was doing was still so keen-edged that I didn’t have a shot.

“Spoilsport. I was enjoying the challenge, but I guess you’re right.” Eric picked up his sucker again, stuffing the wrapper in his back pocket. “You’re a noisy fucker, so maybe a little more buffer is a good idea. Come on.”

wilder_logo_4_flat

Neve Wilder lives in the southern US, where the summers are hot and the winters are…sometimes cold. She is a mom to three rambunctious weebeasts who have joined forces in a mission to carpet the family home with toys and small items that really suck to step on at six in the morning.

She reads promiscuously across multiple genres, but her favorite stories always contain an element of romance. Incidentally, this is also what she likes to write. Slow-burners with delicious tension? Yes. Whiplash-inducing page-turners, also yes. Down and dirty scorchers? Yes. And every flavor in between.

She believes David Bowie was the sexiest musician to ever live, and she’s always game to nerd out on anything from music to writing.

And finally, she believes that love conquers all. Except the heat index in July. Nothing can conquer that bastard.

Web site: www.nevewilder.com

FB author page: www.facebook.com/nevewilderwrites

FB Reader Group: www.facebook.com/groups/WildersWildOnes

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Neve-Wilder/e/B07HY29JMG

Bookbub Author page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/neve-wilder

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18429115.Neve_Wilder

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nevewilder

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Vibrant Promotions Logo

Top Shelf Tour Banner

Top Shelf

A Seacroft Novel

Allison Temple

M/M Romance

Release Date: 05.20.19

Top Shelf Cover

Blurb

Martin is a ghost. Well, not really, but he might as well be. Job gone, home gone, self-respect gone, and no one even seems to notice. The only person who really sees him is Seb, the artist who lives above the used bookstore.

Seb haunts the edges of Seacroft in search of beauty. He knows how to excavate the hidden value in abandoned things—whether it’s in the pages of forgotten books or in Martin’s stuttering attempts to rebuild his life—and transform them into works of art.

Two lost souls, Seb and Martin discover the strength they need to face eccentric townies and their dysfunctional families together. But as friendship sparks toward something more, neither man wants to risk what they’ve only just found. It takes two to fall in love, but it will take the whole community to bring their beauty to life.

Top Shelf is an 81k slow burn friends-to-lovers MM romance. It features an anxious professor, a drama queen artist, a bookstore that might be haunted, and a full-blown heart-eyes HEA.

Amazon: http://bit.ly/Top-Shelf_

International: http://mybook.to/TopShelf

Top Shelf Teaser 2

Top Shelf Teaser 1

Excerpt

The distinct sound of footsteps had him freezing in place again. Martin’s breath went shallow, and he clutched at the phone. Was it inappropriate to call the police on his first day of work? There was someone in the store, and Martin was very sure he had not seen anyone come in since Cassidy had left.

He moved in between the shelves as his mind raced. What if someone had snuck in? Broken in?

Why would someone sneak in to steal used books?

Martin grabbed a cookbook off a shelf labeled ‘Everything is Better With Salt’ and hefted it, testing the weight. If someone was back there, and that someone was up to no good, Martin could use the book as a weapon.

There was a soft sound of someone humming, and it made the hairs on Martin’s neck prickle. He tripped at the edge of the next shelf.

“Cass, is that you?”

Martin froze with the cookbook half-raised to his shoulder. Every part of him went on alert at the sound of a man’s voice, much closer than he’d expected.

Another book dropped to the ground.

He peeked around a shelf. The first thing his brain registered was white, and it was almost enough to convince him that he was seeing a ghost. His fingers tightened around the cookbook.

A long pale arm reached up and lifted a book off the very top shelf.

It was a man.

He wore faded jeans and a gray T-shirt. His hair was bleached blond. If he was a thief, he was a terrible one, because he flipped through the book, then let it drop to the floor next to what must have been the other ones Martin had already heard fall.

He was a man though, whoever he was. Tall and solid. Not a ghost. Martin lowered the cookbook. Assaulting a customer on his first day would be a bad career move.

“Excuse me,” he said, but it was drowned out as the next book thumped to the floor. Martin hopped back a step, but gathered himself and tried again. “Excuse me. I’m closing up.”

“Sure thing,” the man said as he stretched up on his toes again, reaching for another book. His shirt lifted from the waist of his jeans, and the skin underneath was so pale it enhanced his ghostly appearance.

When Martin didn’t leave, the man glanced over his shoulder, and his face made Martin’s heart stop. He wasn’t a ghost or a thief, but whoever he was, he was handsome. Blue eyes flicked up and down once, like he was trying to decide the kind of threat Martin might pose.

As Martin inhaled to assert himself again, the man turned back to the shelf.

“You—” Martin swallowed hard, willing himself to stand firm. “You’ll have to go.”

Those blue eyes darted toward Martin again, like a wrist flicking at a fly. The man grinned, a slow sly grin that made Martin’s insides twist.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” the man said.

Martin’s ears burned. He knew a dismissal when he heard one.

“If—If there’s something you’d like to buy, I can help you cash out. Otherwise, we’ll be open again on Monday at—” What time did they open? It had been nine o’clock on Saturday. Was it the same time on weekdays?

The blond man frowned, and Martin’s heart lurched under the stranger’s scrutiny. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had really looked at him. For all his rising panic at the feeling of being alone in the store earlier, he very much wanted to return to that solitude right now. It was so much better than being the center of this man’s attention.

“How long have you worked here?” The strange man’s voice was soft and low, rippling through the space between them.

Martin shivered and had to focus to keep his feet planted. “We’re closing and—”

“Where’s Cass?” The man glanced over Martin’s shoulder, giving him a moment to breathe.

“Cassidy? She went home.”

“What’s your name?” Those eyes were on Martin again in an instant, making him light-headed.

“Martin.” Too late, he wondered if he shouldn’t have introduced himself, particularly when the other man made no effort to return the favor.

“Well then, Martin.” The man took a step forward. “It appears no one bothered to inform you—”

“I’ll call the owner.” Martin was losing ground and needed to fix this quickly. Calling Mrs. Green to resolve a grumpy customer was absolutely a bad idea, but he was on the verge of being run out of his own bookstore, so there weren’t many options left.

To illustrate that point, the blond man’s eyes widened and his lips formed into an ‘O’.

“No no. Please.” He held his hands wide, as his mouth pulled into another grin. Everything about it made Martin want to shrink into himself until he was nothing but a speck of dust on a bookshelf.

“I’m sorry,” he said, giving it one last go. “But we close at six and—”

The man didn’t appear to hear him. He toed through the pile of books at his feet.

Martin winced as pages bent under his shoes. “Please don’t—”

Thin fingers pinched the crumpled pages together and lifted them in the air, the book’s heavy covers flopping to the sides. There was the soft sound of paper tearing.

The man tucked the book under one arm. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll pay for it.” He put a hand in one of his pockets, then actually swaggered toward Martin, whose vision wavered as the man’s fingers brushed against his own. Martin gasped at the hard weight of something metal in his palm. The silence of the bookshop was broken by the sound of coins tumbling out of Martin’s frozen hand and onto the floor.

“That should cover it.” The man whispered it low. The feeling of his breath on Martin’s skin made him turn into a Martin-shaped statue, frozen in place as the other man slid past him.

“Nice to meet you,” the man said. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

It felt like hours, but it probably was only a matter of seconds before he trembled and broke out of his daze. The floorboards creaked as the man walked away. Martin knelt and collected the coins he’d dropped. They were all nickels and dimes, and they totaled up to just under two dollars.

A door closed and the shop fell quiet.

Martin wound his way back the way he’d come. Nerves boiled inside him, and he hesitated around every blind corner between shelves, half expecting the blond stranger to leap out at him like some deranged Jack in the Box. He stumbled into the open space at the front.

He was alone.

Martin went to the door. It surprised him that the hinges hadn’t made their booming wail as the man left.

His hand stopped as he reached for the deadbolt. It was still in position. The door was locked.

Where had the man come from? And where had he gone?

Aliison Temple Logo

Allison Temple has been a writer since the second grade, when she wrote a short story about a girl and her horse. Her grandmother typed it out for her and said she’s never seen so many quotation marks from a seven-year-old before. Allison took that as a challenge and has gone on to try to break her previous record in all her subsequent works.

Allison lives in Toronto with her very patient husband and the world’s neediest cat. She splits her free time between writing, community theater stage management, and traveling anywhere that has good wine. Tragically, this leaves no time to clean her house.

Newsletter (get two free shorts right now): https://allisontemplebooks.com/newsletter

Facebook Reader group: https://facebook.com/groups/allisonsalist

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07B7P5591

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/allison-temple

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17490635.Allison_Temple

Twitter: https://twitter.com/allitemplebooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisontemplebooks/

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Vibrant Promotions Logo

A Free Dreamer Review: The Incredible Real Life Monster Man by L.B. La Vigne

 

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Monsters are real, and everyone knows it. When Mikey, an employee at the US Department of Fish and Wildlife, is assigned to rescue an abused creature at Samuel’s Carnival Extravaganza, he feels drawn to the sympathetic thing. But, rescuing and nursing the creature back to health has some unforeseen consequences. Not only can Renin talk, but he has the same urges and needs as a human—urges and needs now set on his savior, Mikey. Ones which Mikey can’t say he doesn’t reciprocate. As a creature used to high levels of socialization, keeping him in isolation with little stimulation could be doing him more harm than good. For the second time, Mikey must break Renin out of captivity, bringing him home for…safe keeping. While ending up in Mikey’s home is one of the best things to happen to Renin, multiple forces threaten to tear them apart. Mikey’s boyfriend, for one, isn’t accepting of the creature making itself comfortable in Mikey’s bed. The government is desperate to get their creature back, and will stop at nothing to have him. And then, there’s what’s hidden in the woods—watching, waiting, ready to strike at Renin at the first opportunity. With everything seemingly against them, Mikey may not be able to hold on to his monster for very long.

I’m honestly not sure what to think of “The Incredible Real Life Monster Man”. So please bear with me as I try to muddle through my thoughts on this book.

I liked the rather unusual concept of monsters. They seem to be something between animals and humans, with different levels of intelligence and different species. Sadly, we only ever meet Renin and are only told that other monsters are out there. I really would have liked to know more about those creatures, especially since Renin seemed to be part of a very rare and unusual species. I think this seriously lacked world-building.

The relationship between Renin and Mikey left me a little conflicted. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with how it all started out. There’s cheating on Mikey’s part and somewhat dubious consent and while that is generally not something I mind reading about, in this case it somehow bothered me. And while Renin is just about as intelligent as a human would be, he’s very naive and innocent; a bit childlike, really. But it was obvious that the two of them worked together and really cared for each other. And the sex was definitely hot.

At times I was a bit annoyed by Mikey. His approach to getting Renin to his home was extremely naive and I thought it was really mean of him to not break up with his boyfriend. It was clear from the beginning that he’s not as invested in the relationship as Philip and it would have only been fair to break up once he developed feelings for Renin.

I’m not completely sold on the HEA, the epilogue felt rushed and didn’t make all that much sense to me.

But despite all my misgivings, something about the story just kept me hooked and I found it very hard to put the book down. It was a fast and overall quite enjoyable read. I just think it didn’t quite reach its full potential.

I’m not a big fan of the cover. The feathers look like a cape or something and not like they actually grow on Renin’s skin. And Renin is always naked, while the cover model is clearly wearing jeans. I know you can’t put a completely naked man on a cover, but it would have been better to just show him from the waist up.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book details: e-book, 194 pages

Published February 19th 2019 by Deep Desires Press

A MelanieM Review: Not Gonna Lie (#lovehim #4) by S.M. James

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Everyone has their secrets.

Last year Digi walked out on Webcon, on his fans, and on Gram.

Now he’s back determined to give what they had a real shot, but Gram is more prickly than ever, not willing to risk his heart again.

Despite trying to stay out of the spotlight, the anonymous Public Service Announcements draw Digi back in. As the secrets of the internet’s top celebrities are leaked to the world, it’s only a matter of time before Digi and Gram are next.

To get through it, they have to set their rivalry aside.

Will Digi handle the pressure of the bright lights long enough to find who is tearing their world apart? Or will the threat of full exposure be too much for him to handle?

LGBTQ Enemies to Lovers Romance

Not Gonna Lie (#lovehim #4) by S.M. James is the tale I have been waiting for since I finished To Be Continued (#lovehim 3.5), the so aptly named novella and the first part of Digi and Gram’s story.  At the end of that complex bit of storytelling, Digi walked away from everything, including Gram, in order to find himself after the escalating events of that story.

Now in Not Gonna Lie, we dive into back Gram and Digi’s lives a year later.  It’s not exactly what we expected to find for both of them.

One thing I will mention immediately is the length of this story.  It’s much longer than any other books in the series and because of that we get a story richer in layers, more plot threads throughout the novel, and on whole just a thoughtful, authentic, beautifully written story. James takes a deeply honest look into the “media culture” of vloggers and their fans, including the dark side of popularity and online mass bullying and attacks.  If you’re familiar with beauty vlogger James Charles, who is people forget only 19, and the current morass he finds himself the center of, then this story will resonate with you. One minute you’re 18 and your yearbook photo goes viral, then you’re a star with a Cover Girl contract and a popular vlog at 18, and then a feud and the loss of millions of followers.  All still at the age of 19.  Such is the fickleness of the media and popularity and James gets it.

And makes it painful and intimately more real for us when we fall back into the lives of Gram and Digi.

What the blurb is not saying is why Digi is returning to Webcom and that is as big a part of this story as his reuniting with Gram.  And yes, it has also to do with the media, and bullying in the worst way.  Everything that Digi thought he was getting away from and had found him again.  It’s hard to mention aspects of this story without giving away details that lead to spoilers because the blurb is so vague that I feel that anything I mention is a surprise and important element that the reader should find out for themselves.

There are so many large things here that S.M. James gets into because of the characters.  It’s not just bullying and cyberbullying but also bulimia and eating disorders, something that Digi has been fighting for a long time (and was brought on in To Be Continued).  Along with this in the story goes cutting and self harm, so if these are triggers for you, please sake note.    Again, I will say that the longer length of the book gives the author the time to delve into the reasons behind such actions and the treatment received. It will make your  heart hurt and hold out hope for others in Digi’s situation.

And still there’s more.  Along with Gram and Digi reconnecting and working through a strained and tumultuous past history (along with their mothers competition as well), we also get a mystery, and the stress and strain of Gram’s new ever higher level popularity and the effects its having on him.  And his crazy fans.

Oh the complexities of this amazing story and all the characters.  Yes, still a romance and oh, so much more.  A social commentary, and perhaps a subtle warning too.

After all the many stories I have been reading in this remarkable YA series, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how exceptional Not Gonna Lie (#lovehim #4) by S.M. James turned out to be. A beautiful continuation of Digi and Gram’s story from To Be Continued, a social commentary on the media, vloggers and the powers of popularity and its whims.  And even more, the stress these days of just being young.  That’s heartbreaking too.

So you can imagine how you feel when a romance posts a win, even a HFN, and it makes your heart soar.  If only for a while.  This is one you will want to read and cheer for the win.

I truly love all the stories that come with this series but this one?  Oh, this one is really something exemplary.  Pick up To Be Continued and then read it and Not Gonna Lie (#lovehim #4) by S.M. James together for an amazing reading experience.  I highly recommend them and the entire series which I have listed below.

Cover art: Story Styling Cover Designs. Brands the series and works for this story.

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon AU

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 430 pages
Published May 16th 2019 by May Books
ASINB07PSMHV8Y
Edition Language English
Series#lovehim #4

Series #lovehim

That Feeling When (Archie and Landon)

No Big Deal
To Be Continued(3,5) Digi and Gram
In Real Life(4.5)  Archie and Landon  coming soon, hopefully.

An Ashlez Review: T.A.G. You’re Seen (The Assassins’ Guild #1) by A.G. Carothers

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Attention: This book contains explicit sexual content between consenting assassins and not so innocent professors. There are depictions of masochistic masturbation, male chastity, breath play, watersports, humiliation, and torture by eighties hair bands with ginger sprinkles on top.

Phew! Now, that that’s out of the way, Hi. I’m Mr. No, your friendly communications agent for The Assassins’ Guild AKA T.A.G.

I’ve been authorized by the head honcho himself, Mr. H, to release approved records from the agent files.

Agent Code Name Mr. W was recovering from a near death debacle by way of an easy assignment in a small mountain town. Red flags sprang up immediately around the seemingly innocent English professor. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery Jacob Peters presented, Mr. W made plans to do what he did best, watch , wait , and then capture and interrogate.

But even the best laid plans can go awry…

Find out what brought Mr. W to his knees in this first release from the archives of The Assassins’ Guild.

Freaking hell I loved this so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
The beginning of the book intrigued me from the get go – Yoshi was an interesting yet slow paced character.  The first part of the book is from his perspective and you get a taste of who he is, how he thinks, what’s going on in his head, very interesting character.
When part 2 hit you really got a flip  in the script, you could tell it was a different characters thoughts/emotions than the previous part, which I loved, it’s normally pretty hard to distinguish certain characters and they all end up blurring, this did NOT at all blur.  And damn if he wasn’t darn adorable and sweet!!!!!!!!!!!
I was shocked at the comedy parts of this book, for such serious subject matter it was very entertaining – and one line particularly at the end was truly genius and amazing.
I honestly cannot wait until the next book in the series comes out, I want to see Oz and Con and Enrique .. the whole gang and how they’re going to settle down, etc.

Such a great book, such a great book!

Cover Artist: Amai Designs Samantha Santana– at first I didn’t understand it, but after reading the book and seeing it up close it fits – and man the guy on the cover is exactly who I pictured (maybe slightly more muscular)

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Amazon Link

Amazon US 

Amazon UK

Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 206 pages
Published May 21st 2019
ASINB07QCK8WX4
Edition Language English
Series The Assassins’ Guild #1

Love a Little Thrill in your Romance? Check out the Blog Tour for T.A.G. You’re Seen (The Assassins’ Guild #1) by A.G. Carothers (excerpt and giveaway)

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: T.A.G. You’re Seen (The Assassins’ Guild, Book 1)

Author:  A.G. Carothers

Cover Artist: Amai Designs Samantha Santana

Release Date: May 21, 2019

Genre/s: MM Thriller Romance MM BDSM Romance

Trope/s: criminals and outlaws, first time, forbidden love, hurt/comfort, rescue, thrill of the chase

Heat Rating: 5 flames

Add on Goodreads

 

 

 T.A.G. You better hope you’re not it!

Blurb

Attention: This book contains explicit sexual content between consenting assassins and not so innocent professors. There are depictions of masochistic masturbation, male chastity, breath play, watersports, humiliation, and torture by eighties hair bands with ginger sprinkles on top.

Phew! Now, that that’s out of the way, Hi. I’m Mr. No your friendly communications agent for The Assassins’ Guild AKA T.A.G.

I’ve been authorized by the head honcho himself, Mr. H, to release approved records from the agent files.

Agent Code Name Mr. W was recovering from a near death debacle by way of an easy assignment in a small mountain town. Red flags sprang up immediately around the seemingly innocent English professor. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery Jacob Peters presented, Mr. W made plans to do what he did best, watch , wait , and then capture and interrogate.

But even the best laid plans can go awry and what Mr. W discovered derailed his plan to kill Jacob.

Find out what brought Mr. W to his knees in this first release from the archives of The Assassins’ Guild.

 

 

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Amazon Link

Amazon US 

Amazon UK

 

Excerpt  

Shortly, after the cock cage incident, Dad sat me down to have The Talk. I knew by then that I liked dick. At first, I thought maybe it was because I was around men all the time and hardly ever any women, but one day I pulled up cameras from the women’s locker room just to see. Yeah, even the more masculine looking females did nothing for me. I got off my dad’s laptop quickly before he caught me and went back to my room to look at the gay porn I had smuggled from the sex shop. So, my dad sits me down and I’m worried. Even as isolated as we were on the compound, I had access to the outside world. I knew how homosexuality was viewed. Yes, there were changes being made and it was more accepted now, but I still worried.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when Dad came in with a dildo in one hand and a weird looking toy in the other one. It looked scary from afar. He put them down on the table along with a condom and a bottle of lube before he sat down. I was already blushing and ready to make a dash back to my room, but he pinned me with that look he got when he was dead serious and started his explanation. He showed me how to put a condom on, which I rolled my eyes at because duh. That was proceeded with a long talk on all STDs, how you can catch them in non-sexual ways, symptoms, and pictures. He pulled up pictures on his laptop. I was mortified, but damn if I was going to make sure I used condoms no matter what.

He then picked up the item that I had been avoiding looking at. It was multicolored and just weird looking. It turned out to be a big silicon asshole more or less. It was weird. Later, I found out why it looked so weird, but that’s just not something I want to think about. Although, I did end up buying a few dildos from the fantasy dildo company it was from when I got older. But back to my horrifying sex talk with my dad. He opened the lube and briefly went over the best kinds of lube to use and when. At this point, it hadn’t occurred to me how my dad knew all this stuff. He was my dad. He knew everything as far as I was concerned. He then showed me how, if I were to have sex with another man, how to prepare them or myself for it using the silicon asshole of course. He explained things like the prostate and other key erogenous zones of the male genitalia. By the end, I knew I was scarlet and dying of embarrassment. If my dad was embarrassed in anyway, he didn’t show it. He was very clinical about it. He used his instructor voice and could have been going over the parts of a P-90, he was so unphased.

He never once said anything about women. The next day, I went to his office and asked him, “How did you know?”

He quirked an eyebrow at me and said, “Yoshi, do you really think Mr. Th (that was his assistant) got you stuff from the adult store in town without my permission?”

I turned beet red and stuttered, “No, sir.” I thought I was in huge trouble and kept my eyes on my feet.

My dad pulled me into his arms and hugged me tight, surprising me. “I’m not mad. I’m glad that you went to him rather than try to sneak off on your own or do something irresponsible. I figured you weren’t ready to talk to me about those kinds of things and that’s okay. Just know that I’m always here if you need me and I’ll never judge you.” I nodded and hugged him tight, not realizing that I had started crying. I hadn’t really thought how much I was worried about it until I felt the relief his words brought me.

“I love you, Dad.” The words came out more of a whisper than I intended.

He pushed me to arm’s length, so he could see me and wiped my eyes. “I love you too, Son. Now, go out to the range. You have a test tomorrow.” I nodded and headed to the door. I had my hand on the knob when he spoke again. “Just so you know, I’m gay too.”

I turned my head in shock. The surprise evident on my face, my eyes wide. He furrowed his brows at me. “What? Did you not think I had a love life, too?”

I tried to pick my jaw up off the ground to answer. “No, Dad. Honestly, I never thought about you having a relationship much less sex.”

Dad burst out laughing then. “Well, I do.”

I stuck my fingers in my ears and started singing, “Lalalalala. I don’t want to know, Dad.”

My dad sobered then and cleared his throat. “Do you think if I found someone I really liked that you’d be okay if I brought him round?”

I took my fingers out of my ears and went back and threw my arms around him again and squeezed tight and then let go. “Yeah, Dad.” Before things could get any more awkward, I dashed out the door and closed it behind me. I hissed traitor as I passed Mr. Th’s desk and went out to the range.

 

About the Author

A.G. Carothers is actually a dragon very cleverly disguised as a human. They are a non-binary author of LGBTQIA Romance and Urban Fantasy, who enjoys writing original and entertaining stories. They are very excited to share the worlds they’ve created with you.


A.G. currently lives in Tennessee with their platonic life partner, who is not a dragon. They yearn to live back in Europe and will some day. In their spare time they are addicted to losing themselves in the lovely worlds created by other authors

A.G. is committed to writing the stories they see in their head without restrictions. Love is blind and doesn’t see gender, race, or sexuality.

 

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

Readers Group

Twitter: @ag_carothers

Goodreads

BookBub

Amazon

 

 

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

 

 

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

 

An Alisa Review: Lightbearer by LC Davis

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

 

Once upon a time, the devil knocked up a delivery guy.

 

Not your typical intro to a romance, but I promise, it is one. The devil in this scenario would be a sexy horned demon named Apollyon and the delivery guy would be me, Levi Curtis. Just an average guy who got in way over his head trying to keep his twin sister from selling her soul.

 

See, in order to do unleash Hell’s demonic wrath upon the earth, Apollyon needs a mortal vessel to contain the seed of his demonic army. It wasn’t supposed to be a literal pregnancy, but my overactive imagination has always caused problems.

 

Big problems, in this case. A whole Legion of ‘em.

 

I may low-key hate Apollyon, but we’re gonna have to learn to tolerate each other in order to keep our little bundle of infernal joy safe and hopefully not destroy both our worlds in the process.

 

But hey, on the plus side, you know what they say about guys with big horns.

 

Love, love, love, I can’t say it enough, I loved this story.  It was just sooo different from many others even those with the mpreg plot.

 

Levi’s snark was awesome and I love how he always had something to say, even if it might not be the right thing.  He always did what he thought was best, even if it ended up causing problems he found a way to fix it.  Apollyon pretty much seemed like a grump but we started to see cracks in his façade and really he was a good guy.

 

I hated that Levi and Apollyon didn’t get a lot of time together before everything happened but I loved that their daughter was able to find a way for them to be together.  I just feel if I say too much more I will give away the story but take my word for it, this book rocks and you should read it.

 

I love the cover art and that it is a take on all those darn maternity pictures that people post.

 

Sales Link: Amazon  

 

Book Details:

ebook, 318 pages

Published: April 15, 2019

Edition Language: English

A MelanieM Review: Running on Empty (Havoc #3) by S.E. Jakes

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

After years of running wild, Linc might’ve finally run out of road.

After a brutal capture at the hands of the Heathens Motorcycle Club, Linc is just trying to heal, mentally and physically. But he’s got men in his life who are complicating everything. There’s Mercy—a Havoc MC biker and the man he is falling fast for—plus an undercover ATF agent and a rogue Havoc member.

But Mercy’s keeping him at arm’s length, and Linc is spinning. In an attempt to regain his equilibrium, he heads to the bar where he first met Mercy. Night after night, he escapes Havoc bonds and continues down his merry path of mayhem . . . mainly in the hopes that Mercy will give chase.

Since Linc’s capture by his old MC, Mercy’s been dealing with the fallout of his guilt. He’s trying to give Linc space and still watch over him—all without Linc’s knowledge. But with Linc’s old job calling and a threat to Havoc MC heating up, can they make their way back together?

I have to admit that it has been a while since I have read one of S.E. Jakes stories, bothin this series and in the Hell or High Water series, but if this novel is any indication, I’m just not remembering them right.  I had anticipated coming into this a taut, well written,  somewhat kinky romance with some brutal and suspensful elements.

But instead Running on Empty (Havoc #3) by S.E. Jakes came full of errors in editing and continuity that I had to double check to see that I hadn’t been sent a pre-edited copy.   I hadn’t.   Ot just plain elements in the plot and characters that had me putting Kindle down in amazement, and not in a good way.  When you are stopping to think “who treats their main characters that way” mid paragraph, you know the story isn’t going well.  Perhaps that should be going down well.

Although, most of Linc’s torture in captivity is not described in graphic detail, you get enough details to know what happened to this man for months, months of relentless torture. Mental, physical, emotional abuse of the most horrific you can imagine, including gang rape, over and over.   He is hospitalized and then released.  Later he’s approached and agrees to resume his undercover work.  Now, he’s suffering from extreme nightmares, obviously has PTSD but has anyone, including his handler said he must come in for a Psych Evaluation?  Because perhaps he’s too messed up to continue as a agent let alone one ready for the mental and emotional rigors of undercover work? Nope.

Nor will we get into the relationship between Linc and Mercy coming off months of torture.

This is definitely not a standalone novel and should be read as part of the entire series.  So before you read this, make sure you have a foundation by reading the previous stories first.  That will get you into the mindset of the MC universe and these characters.  Then continue on if  you want. For me, this story just has far too many issues in it to be an enjoyable read.  Maybe I’ll return to the author’s Hell or High Water series, a group of novels I remember as being far more entertaining.

Cover art: L.C. Chase.  It’s a fitting cover for this story, motorcycle and all, although that’s about the only element.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 204 pages
Published April 29th 2019 by Riptide Publishing
Original Title Running on Empty
ISBN139781626498808
Edition Language English
Series Havoc:

Running Wild

Running Blind

Running on Empty

Kim Fielding Talks Writing, Research, and her new story Redesigning Landry Bishop (Stars from Peril #2) (author interview)

Redesigning Landry Bishop (Stars from Peril #2) by Kim Fielding

Dreamspinner Press
Published May 21st 2019
Cover Art: Alexandria Corza
Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press | Amazon

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Kim Fielding here today talking about writing, characters, and the latest story in her Stars from Peril series, Redesigning Landry Bishop. Welcome, Kim.

✒︎

Hi! Kim Fielding here to celebrate the release of my new novel, Redesigning Landry Bishop.

Do you feel there’s a tight line between Mary Sue or should I say Gary Stu and using your own experiences to create a character?

I think it’s often inevitable that fiction authors include some of their own experiences in their books―maybe those experiences even inspired some stories in the first place. The distinction here is that the characters should react to those experiences in a way that’s true to themselves and the stories, rather than reflecting what the author did or wants to do.  For example in my new book, as soon as Landry Bishop graduated from high school, he moved to California and created a more glamorous version of himself. I left my hometown as soon as I graduated college, but I’m no more glamorous now then I was then. And unlike Landry, I love opportunities to go back and visit the place where I grew up.

Does research play a role into choosing which genre you write?  Do you enjoy research or prefer making up your worlds and cultures?

I love doing research. It’s sort of an occupational hazard since my day job is university professor. But even if I didn’t enjoy it, I still believe that all genres―not just historicals―benefit from research. Readers bring various areas of expertise to their readings, and mistakes often pull them out of a story or cause them to abandon a book entirely. My new book is a contemporary that required me to look up lots of things about Los Angeles, men’s fashion, luxury cars, the Nebraska Sandhills, hip restaurants, and Seattle roadways, among others. For my sci-fi novel Astounding! I spent hours researching the physical layout and power output of Bonneville Dam and figuring out the amount of energy necessary to convert a noncorporeal alien to physical mass. (I hope no government agencies were tracking my Google searches during that process.) My Ennek fantasy series needed a lot of background work on geography and the Roman Empire. When I was working on my paranormal Bones series, I spent a lot of time reading about wolves (the real kind, not shifters). So even when I’m making up worlds and cultures, I find research critical for consistency and believability.

Have you ever had to put an ‘in progress’ story aside because of the emotional ties with it?  You were hurting with the characters or didn’t know how to proceed?

Not exactly, but I’ve certainly struggled to continue. Probably my worst time was when writing The Tin Box―a book I’m very proud of now. The problem there was twofold. First off, my protagonist, William, is really uptight at the beginning. He’s in denial about his own sexuality and, consequently, isn’t very warm to Colby at the start. Colby is out, proud, and a trifle flamboyant. I knew why William was like this, and I knew he’d grow as a person, but writing him was still difficult at first. Even worse, though, was writing the letters that William discovers in the former mental hospital. I hated what was happening to the man who wrote those letters, even more so because those things actually happened to far too many gay men during that era. I’m glad I soldiered on and finished the book, but it was hard going for a while.

Do you read romances, as a teenager and as an adult?

I rarely read romances as a teen. That was back in the Stone Age, and I found the depictions of women in most of those (het romance) books off-putting. Back then, I mostly stuck to fantasy, horror, and sci fi, although I enjoyed some of the gothic novels that sort of straddled romance and horror. Fourteen-year-old me adored Flowers in the Attic. My reading habits changed when I was older. For one thing, gay romance became widely available, and I fell in love with that genre. Also, het romance matured, and now I find the range of heroines much more relatable and sympathetic. I’ve also discovered that there are some truly excellent writers in both gay and het romance.

How do you choose your covers?  (curious on my part)

This varies a bit, depending on whether the book is self-published or released through a publisher. In either case, though, I generally have a vague concept that I give the cover artist. I’ll describe the characters and the tone, because the cover for an angsty paranormal should look very different from a light contemporary. Then I let the artist do their thing. I never cease to be amazed at how well these talented people can take my germ of an idea and nurture it into something amazing. I’ve even had a couple of my favorite covers made into posters and framed; they’re hanging on my wall right now. I consider myself hugely lucky to have worked with these artists. Sometimes I think it would be worth writing books just to score the beautiful cover art.

If you could imagine the best possible place for you to write, where would that be and why?

I can―and do!―write almost anywhere, although I do the bulk of my work sitting at the kitchen table. One of my favorite places to write is in hotel rooms, probably because there isn’t much to distract me. But I have a dream. I’m staying at a resort on the shores of a tropical sea. My private bungalow is set on stilts in the water. The glass walls open completely, allowing the warm breeze to ruffle the white curtains and carry the faint scent of flowers. Outside, dolphins frolic. Inside I have a huge bed, a big desk, and a comfy chair. At the press of a button, scantily-clad waiters bring me trays of fruit, pastries, and cold drinks. Aaaahhhh.

  

What’s next for you as a writer?

The third book in the Stars from Peril series, Drawing the Prince, will release in October. If you’re in the mood for something with more angst, the third Love Can’t book will come out early next year. That one is called Love Has No Direction. I’m also working now on the fifth novella in the Bureau series, plus I have projects going with Venona Keyes and with Shira Anthony. Busy!

**

Blurb:

Love never goes out of style.

Landry Bishop fled his tiny hometown and never looked back. Now his expertise in food, fashion, and décor has earned him all of Hollywood’s glittering perks. But with his husband deceased and his personal assistant retired, Landry has nobody to rely on—and no one to help him indulge his secret cravings.

Casual, plainspoken Jordan Stryker seems a dubious choice of a PA for someone as formal and self-controlled as Landry. Jordan’s questionable fashion sense and limited kitchen skills don’t exactly enhance his résumé. But as Landry soon realizes, Jordan has many attractive qualities too.

With a strong pull toward Jordan, new career opportunities on the horizon, and a persistent tug from family back home, Landry is in a quandary. He can advise others on how to make their lives special, but what should he do about his own?

Excerpt:

Half an hour later, while Landry was puttering around with an experimental tabbouleh recipe, Jordan and Elaine joined him in the kitchen. “Try this,” he ordered, handing them each a spoonful.

Jordan made approving noises, but Elaine frowned. “That’s not a grain.”

“It’s cauliflower.”

“For the love of God, why?”

“For people who want to eat grain-free.”

“If you don’t want to eat grains, you shouldn’t be eating tabbouleh.” She took Jordan’s spoon along with her own and washed them in the sink.

“I like it,” Jordan announced. “It’s kind of crunchyish.” He seemed sincere.

“Thank you,” Landry said.

“Hey, um, you didn’t really have an important phone call, did you?”

“No. That was Elaine rescuing me.”

“I kinda figured. Except… I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but why did you need rescuing? Those guys were hot. That whole thing was like the opening of a pretty good porno, you know? If they’d been all over me like that, I sure as hell wouldn’t have wanted rescuing.”

Landry pushed aside the interesting information that Jordan was attracted to men. His PA’s sexual orientation was irrelevant. He also pushed aside a stupid and inexplicable jab of jealousy. If Jordan wanted to fantasize about group sex with hunky furniture deliverymen, that was none of Landry’s business. So he focused on the question itself.

“Why do you think those extremely attractive men were so interested in me?”

“Um, because they were throwing themselves all over you.”

“Yes, I suppose they were. But why? Why me?”

“’Cause you’re damned hot too.”

Even as Landry’s face heated at the unexpected compliment, Jordan’s cheeks turned a charming shade of pink. Interesting. Their gazes locked so tightly that Landry wondered if either of them would ever look away. Or if he wanted them to.

About the Author

Kim Fielding is the bestselling, award-winning author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

Having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Follow Kim:

Website: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Instagram: @KFieldingWrites

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Email: Kim@KFieldingWrites.com

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bau3S9

BLOG TOUR – The Hierophant’s Daughter (The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy #1) by M.F. Sullivan

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: The Hierophant’s Daughter (The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy)

Author: M. F. Sullivan

Publisher: Painted Blind Publishing

Cover Artist: Nuno Moreira

Genre/s: LGBTQ Cyberpunk/Horror, Sci-fi/Fantasy (Adult)

Heat Rating: 1 flame (A romantic relationship between the couple but no intimate scenes or sexual situations are described in the book. The book fades-to-black before any love scene).

Length:  approx. 100k words/ 298 paperback pages

It is Book I of The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy

Release Date: May 19, 2019

Add on Goodreads

Dive into the first volume of a bleak cyberpunk tahgmahr you can’t afford to miss. What would you sacrifice to survive?

 

Blurb

By 4042 CE, the Hierophant and his Church have risen to political dominance with his cannibalistic army of genetically modified humans: martyrs. In an era when mankind’s intergenerational cold wars against their long-lived predators seem close to running hot, the Holy Family is poised on the verge of complete planetary control. It will take a miracle to save humanity from extinction.

It will also take a miracle to resurrect the wife of 331-year-old General Dominia di Mephitoli, who defects during martyr year 1997 AL in search of Lazarus, the one man rumored to bring life to the dead. With the Hierophant’s Project Black Sun looming over her head, she has little choice but to believe this Lazarus is really all her new friends say he is–assuming he exists at all–and that these companions of hers are really able to help her. From the foulmouthed Japanese prostitute with a few secrets of her own to the outright sapient dog who seems to judge every move, they don’t inspire a lot of confidence, but the General has to take the help she can get.

After all, Dominia is no ordinary martyr. She is THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER, and her Father won’t let her switch sides without a fight. Not when she still has so much to learn.

The dystopic first entry of an epic cyberpunk trilogy, THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER is a horror/sci-fi adventure sure to delight and inspire adult readers of all stripes.

 

Buy Links

Amazon US 

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

 

Excerpt

The Flight of the Governess

The Disgraced Governess of the United Front was blind in her right eye. Was that blood in the left, or was it damaged, too? The crash ringing in her ears kept her from thinking straight. Of course her left eye still worked: it worked well enough to prevent her from careening into the trees through which she plunged. Yet, for the tinted flecks of reality sometimes twinkling between crimson streaks, she could only imagine her total blindness with existential horror. Would the protein heal the damage? How severely was her left eye wounded? What about the one she knew to be blind—was it salvageable? Ichigawa could check, if she ever made it to the shore.

She couldn’t afford to think that way. It was a matter of “when,” not of “if.” She would never succumb. Neither could car accident, nor baying hounds, nor the Hierophant himself keep her from her goal. She had fourteen miles to the ship that would whisk her across the Pacific and deliver her to the relative safety of the Risen Sun. Then the Lazarene ceremony would be less than a week away. Cassandra’s diamond beat against her heart to pump it into double time, and with each double beat, she thought of her wife (smiling, laughing, weeping when she thought herself alone) and ran faster. A lucky thing the Governess wasn’t human! Though, had she remained human, she’d have died three centuries ago in some ghetto if she’d lived past twenty without becoming supper. Might have been the easier fate, or so she lamented each time her mind replayed the crash of the passenger-laden tanque at fifth gear against the side of their small car. How much she might have avoided!

Of course—then she never would have known Cassandra. That made all this a reasonable trade. Cold rain softened the black earth to the greedy consistency of clay, but her body served where her eyes failed. The darkness was normally no trouble, but now she squinted while she ran and, under sway of a dangerous adrenaline high, was side-swiped by more than one twisting branch. The old road that was her immediate goal, Highway 128, would lead her to the coast of her favorite Jurisdiction, but she now had to rediscover that golden path after the crash’s diversion. In an effort to evade her pursuers, she had torn into a pear orchard without thought of their canine companions. Not that the soldiers of the Americas kept companions like Europa’s nobles. These dogs were tools. Well-honed, organic death machines with a cultivated taste for living flesh, whether martyr or human. The dogs understood something that most had forgotten: the difference between the two was untenable. Martyrs could tell themselves they were superior for an eternity, but it wouldn’t change the fact that the so-called master race and the humans they consumed were the same species.

That was not why Cassandra had died, but it hadn’t contributed to their marital bliss. And now, knowing what she did of the Hierophant’s intentions—thinking, always, what Cassandra would have said—the Governess pretended she was driven by that ghost, and not by her own hopelessness. Without the self-delusion, she was a victim to a great many ugly thoughts, foremost among them being: Was the fear of life after her wife’s death worth such disgrace? A death sentence? Few appreciated what little difference there was between human and martyr, and fewer cared, because caring was fatal. But she was a part of the Holy Family. Shouldn’t that have been all that mattered? Stunning how, after three centuries, she deserved to be treated no better than a human. Then again, there was nothing quite like resignation from one’s post to fall in her Father’s estimate. Partly, he was upset by her poor timing—she did stand him up at some stupid press event, but only because she hoped it would keep everybody occupied while she got away. In that moment, she couldn’t even remember what it was. Dedicating a bridge? Probably. Her poor head, what did the nature of the event matter when she was close to death?

That lapse in social graces was not the reason for this hunt. He understood that more lay behind her resignation than a keening for country life. Even before he called her while she and the others took the tanque to the coast, he must have known. Just like he must have known the crash was seconds from happening while he chatted away, and that the humans in her company, already nervous to be within a foot of the fleeing Governess, were doomed.

Of the many people remaining on Earth, those lumped into the group of “human” were at constant risk of death, mutilation, or—far worse—unwilling martyrdom. This meant those humans lucky enough to avoid city-living segregation went to great lengths to keep their private properties secure. Not only houses but stables. The Disgraced Governess found this to be true of the stables into which she might have stumbled and electrocuted herself were it not for the bug zaps of rain against the threshold’s surface. Her mind made an instinctive turn toward prayer for the friendliness of the humans in the nearby farmhouse—an operation she was quick to abort. In those seconds (minutes?) since the crash, she’d succeeded in reconstructing the tinted windows of the tanque and a glimpse of silver ram’s horns: the Lamb lurked close enough to hear her like she spoke into his ear. It was too much to ask that he be on her side tonight.

Granted, the dogs of the Lamb were far closer, and far more decisive about where their loyalties stood. One hound sank its teeth into her ankle, and she, crying out, kicked the beast into its closest partner with a crunch. Slower dogs snarled outrage in the distance while the Disgraced Governess ran to the farmhouse caught in her left periphery. The prudent owners, to her frustration, shuttered their windows at night. Nevertheless, she smashed her fist against the one part of the house that protruded: the doorbell required by the Hierophant’s “fair play” dictatum allowing the use of electronic barriers. As the humans inside stumbled out of bed in response to her buzzing, the Disgraced Governess unholstered her antique revolver and unloaded two rounds into the recovered canines before they were upon her. The discharge wasn’t a tip-off she wanted to give to the Lamb and her other pursuers, but it hastened the response of the sleeping farmers as the intercom crackled to life.

“Who is it?” A woman’s voice, quivering with an edge of panic.

“My name is Dominia di Mephitoli: I’m the former Governess of the United Front, and I need to borrow a horse. Please. Don’t let me in. Just drop the threshold on your stables.”

“The Governess? I’m sorry, I don’t understand. The Dominia di Mephitoli, really? The martyr?”

“Yes, yes, please. I need a horse now.” Another dog careened around the corner and leapt over the bodies of his comrades with such grace that she wasted her third round in the corpses. Two more put it down as she shouted into the receiver. “I can’t transfer you any credits because they’ve frozen my Halcyon account, but I’ll leave you twenty pieces of silver if you drop the threshold and loan me a horse. You can reclaim it at the docks off Bay Street, in the township of Sienna. Please! He’ll kill me.”

“And he’ll be sure to kill us for helping you.”

“Tell him I threatened you. Tell him I tricked you! Anything. Just help me get away!”

“He’ll never believe what we say. He’ll kill me, my husband, our children. We can’t.”

“Oh, please. An act of mercy for a dying woman. Please, help me leave. I can give you the name of a man in San Valentino who can shelter you and give you passage abroad.”

“There’s no time to go so far south. Not as long as it takes to get across the city.”

It had been ten seconds since she’d heard the last dog. That worried her. With her revolver at the ready, she scanned the area for something more than the quivering roulette blotches swelling in her right eye. Nothing but the dead animals. “He’ll kill you either way. For talking to me, and not keeping me occupied until his arrival. For knowing that there’s disarray in his perfect land. He’ll find a reason, even if it only makes sense to him.”

The steady beat of rain pattered out a passive answer. On the verge of giving up, Dominia stepped back to ready herself for a fight—and the house’s threshold dropped with an electric pop. The absent mauve shimmer left the façade bare. How rare to see a country place without its barrier! A strange thing. Stranger for the front door to open; she’d only expected them to do away with the threshold on the stables.

But, rather than the housewife she’d anticipated, there stood the Hierophant. Several bleak notions clicked into place.

One immaculate gray brow arched. “Now, Dominia, that’s hardly fair. Knowledge of your disgrace isn’t why I’ll kill them. The whole world will know of it tomorrow morning. You embarrassed me by sending your resignation, rather than making the appearance I asked of you, so it is only fair I embarrass you by rejecting your resignation and firing you publicly. No, my dear. I will kill these fine people to upset you. In fact, Mr. McLintock is already dead in the attic. A mite too brave. Of course”—he winked, and whispered in conspiracy—“don’t tell them that.”

“How did you know I’d come here?”

“Such an odd spurt of rain tonight. Of all your Jurisdictions, this one is usually so dry this time of year! Won’t you come in for tea? Mrs. McLintock brews a fine pot. But put that gun away. You’re humiliating yourself. And me.”

 

About the Author

M.F. Sullivan is the author of Delilah, My Woman, The Lightning Stenography Device, and a slew of plays in addition to the Trilogy. She lives in Ashland, Oregon with her boyfriend and her cat, where she attends the local Shakespeare Festival and experiments with the occult.

Find more information about her work (and plenty of free essays) here. 

 

 

Author Links

Blog

Twitter

Amazon Author Page

Goodreads Author Page

 

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win one of two signed hardback copies of The Hierophant’s Daughter

or a $10 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

 

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions