Category: Uncategorized

New Release Blitz for 2230: The Perfect Year by CM Corett (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: 2230: The Perfect Year

Author: CM Corett

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: August 6, 2018

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 30600

Genre: Science Fiction, time travel, research lab, scientist, aliens, fated mates

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Alex Coulson spends his days as a lowly laboratory assistant. At night, he watches movies in his lonely apartment and dreams of exciting adventures and handsome leading men.

When an electrical fire breaks out in the lab, an experimental machine malfunctions and Alex is caught in the explosion. He awakens, injured and confused, to learn he has traveled two hundred years into the future—to the year 2230. Under the care of the gorgeous Doctor Baylin Davies (a definite contender for a leading man) Alex recovers quickly, and his feelings for Baylin deepen each day. Baylin is handsome, sexy, caring, and a verified genius—everything Alex could ever dream of. Add in the whole concept of living in the future, and Alex soon decides the year 2230 is the perfect year to begin his new life.

But then there’s the major…

Whenever the intimidating military man, Major Marcais, is near, a strange power overcomes Alex’s senses, clouding his mind and weakening his desire to be with Baylin.

When the major reveals he is an alien and declares Alex to be his life mate, Alex must find the strength to resist him. And while fighting for the man he truly desires, Alex just might discover he’s the leading man in his own adventure.

Excerpt

2230: The Perfect Year
CM Corett © 2018
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One
Alex Coulson’s sports shoes made a loud squawk on the polished floor. His step faltered. Had anyone heard? He scanned the cavernous office foyer. With gray marble floors and clusters of expensive couches, it looked nothing like a scientific research center and more like an exclusive hotel. An empty hotel. Of course it was empty; only the truly dedicated work on Sunday. Actually, the dedicated and people like him—sad, pathetic losers without a life. He shook his head.

Okay, Alex, quit the self-pity party. No one likes a whiner.

After another quick glance around the foyer, he strode forward and headed down the long corridor lined with identical doors. The small panes of glass in each one allowed him a glimpse inside the research labs—all empty. He appeared to be the sole, sad, pathetic person here today. At the end of the corridor, he stopped in front of the door labeled “Authorized Personnel Only.”

One wave of his security pass over the sensor and the lab door slid open. The sharp smell of smoke and plastic invaded his senses. His nose twitched. Crap! Electrical fire! No doubt about it. As the wire’s plastic coating melted, it gave off a distinct smell. He scanned the room, searching for the source, but everything appeared normal. He dashed through the main room and into the smaller lab.

Like an early morning fog, a veil of smoke hovered near the far wall, centered over the control panel. In seconds, his heart rate hit full throttle. “Crap! Crap! Crap!” The Accelerator control panel! His focus flicked to the partition wall protecting the experimental machine from prying eyes. Good. No sign of smoke there. That would be bad. Very bad. He dashed into the thickening cloud of smoke and headed toward its source.

With short, gasping breaths, he swallowed and choked on the thick acrid air. What about the fire alarm? Why hadn’t it triggered yet? He slammed his hand onto the control-panel power button and then stepped back. No shutdown. Nothing. Like ocean buoy lights viewed through the fog, the faint glow of backlit buttons and switches remained. He blinked rapidly as his tear ducts reacted to the invasive smoke, creating a torrent of tears. From beneath the watery veil, he focused on the computer screen embedded in the wall. What the hell? Why was the program running? Had he forgotten to close it the previous night? His boss would have his—

A flame erupted behind the control panel.

“Oh, God!” Coughing, he stumbled backward. What should he do? Brave the flames and try to turn off the program? Call the fire department? Fire extinguisher?

Yes! Fire extinguisher.

He spun around and grabbed the red cylinder hanging on the wall. Maybe he could put the fire out before it caused too much damage. Maybe it wouldn’t even come to the attention of management. He ripped off the safety guard thingy, pointed, and pulled the trigger. The white substance spewed out toward the flames, dousing them in a cozy blanket of white powder. “Ahhh, yes. Against all expectations, Alex Coulson saves the day!”

His boss would be pleased with him. Okay, not pleased exactly because he had most likely left the Accelerator program running, but pleased because a major fire would have brought their unauthorized work to the attention of management. “And that would be bad.”

With a few short blasts of the fire extinguisher, he completed the blanket of white over the control board. He frowned and contemplated the scene. A little more wouldn’t hurt. Better to be safe than sorry. Crouching down, he directed the nozzle under the desk and pulled the trigger. Just in case.

He stood up and surveyed the room. Okay, it could have been worse. The whole lab could have gone up in flames, destroying countless hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. Not to mention the oh-so-secret data his boss guarded as if it held the answers to the universe. Yes, it could have been much worse.

He drew in a deep breath…and doubled over with the force of a violent coughing fit.

Crap. Smoke. Not a good idea to take deep breaths.

Fire extinguisher still in hand, he stumbled back to the main lab. His breath rasped in his throat, forcing its way past raw, inflamed flesh. At least the air in the main lab remained relatively smoke-free. In a few minutes, he would re-enter the inner lab and clean up the mess. With a bit of luck, the damage would be minimal. Maybe he could fix it himself. Clean up the fire retardant, replace a few wires, and—hey presto! Good as new with no evidence of the program he left running—no cause to fire him.

The shrieking of an alarm pierced the air, assaulting his eardrums with shrill vibrations. He closed his eyes and mouth, scrunching and squeezing his face as if trying to block the sound from entering any other orifice. A millisecond later, a deluge of water erupted from the ceiling sprinklers like an unexpected shower of summer rain. The muscles in his jaw slackened, and his mouth fell open.

Oh, crap!

Water drummed on his head and shoulders, seeping under the collar of his jacket. Mini rivers flowed across computers and desks before cascading to the shallow lake forming on the floor. The fire extinguisher hit the ground beside his foot with a waterlogged clunk.

I’m a dead man. Not to mention fired!

His shoulders slumped. Could his life get any worse?

The floor shook, sending vibrations up his legs and into his queasy stomach. Oh shit. Rule number one: never ask if it could get any worse. What the hell? An earthquake? Light exploded from the inner lab, propelling bright sparks through the doorway like tiny shooting stars. Water sloshed around his feet as he stumbled backward. The Accelerator! “Oh, shit, shit, shit!”

So. Not. Good.

A loud humming joined the vibrations. It pulsed through his body, loud enough to be heard over the sprinklers and fire alarm, shaking him to the core. Paralyzed, he stood transfixed. The inner lab glowed with a pulsating green light, matching its beat in harmony with the tremors running through the building and his body.

The vibrations were so intense he couldn’t move his legs. His head hurt and numbness crept over his face. He clutched his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Vibrating, pulsating, and humming. Could his brain explode? Would they find his gray matter splattered all over the lab and floating in the newly formed lake?

As he opened his eyes, a fresh shower of sparks shot toward him. Burning! His arm burned, stinging like the devil at a precise spot on his forearm. He slapped the sleeve of his jacket like a maniac until the pain receded to a dull ache.

Okay, time to run.

In his mind, he stumbled toward the door, but his body refused to cooperate. He looked down. His legs were—

What the hell? His body appeared pixelated and a few sections were…missing? Whoa! There was some weird, scary shit happening.

The humming intensified, sending a wave of nausea through his stomach. He couldn’t feel his legs. Were they still attached to his body? The world tipped and then faded around the edges. No, no, no! He’d seen the experiments, and he had no way to stop the Accelerator from frying him—like those rats.

So. Not. Pretty.

At least no one would miss him.

Oh, God, that’s a sad and pathetic fact.

Searing hot pain exploded in his head like a—

“Ahhhhh!”

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

CM Corett is an Australian author of M/M romance who has given up on trying to limit herself to one sub-genre. She writes contemporary, historical, sci-fi, and time travel… and she may have a few paranormal drafts hidden under the bed! An avid writer and reader of love between men, she has lived in the USA and traveled the world gathering inspiration for her stories. She loves movies, superheroes, and video games with awesome graphics. She hates housework and anyone who expects her to notice (or care about) the dust on top of the fridge.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway

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

Blog Button 2

Series Recap Blitz and Giveaway for the Montana Series by RJ Scott

 

Montana Series now Available in Kindle Unlimited

 

Book #1 – Crooked Tree Ranch – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 – The Rancher’s Son – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #3 – A Cowboy’s Home – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #4 – Snow In Montana – Amazon US – Amazon UK

Book #5 – Second Chance Ranch – Out August 28 – All Info Here. 



Crooked Tree Ranch (Montana #1)

The Cowboy and the City Slicker.

On the spur of the moment, with his life collapsing around him, Jay Sullivan answers an ad for a business manager with an expertise in marketing, on a dude ranch in Montana.

With his sister, Ashley, niece, Kirsten and nephew, Josh, in tow, he moves lock stock and barrel from New York to Montana to start a new life on Crooked Tree Ranch.

Foreman and part owner of the ranch, ex rodeo star Nathaniel ‘Nate’ Todd has been running the dude ranch, for five years ever since his mentor Marcus Allen became ill.

His brothers convince him that he needs to get an expert in to help the business grow. He knows things have to change and but when the new guy turns up, with a troubled family in tow – he just isn’t prepared for how much.


 
 
The Rancher’s Son (Montana #2)
 

A man without memories, and the cop who never gave up hope.

When he wakes up in the hospital, the victim of a brutal beating, John Doe has no memories of who he is or who hurt him. The cops can find nothing to identify him and he can’t remember anything to help… except the name Ethan and one recurring place from his dreams. Two words, and they’re not much, but it’s a start: Crooked Tree.

Detective Ethan Allens has never stopped searching for the two boys who vanished. When a report lands on Ethan’s desk that may give new leads, he jumps at the chance to follow them up. The man he finds isn’t his brother, but it’s someone who could maybe help him discover what happened twelve years ago.

What neither man can know is that facing the very real demons of the past could destroy any kind of future they may have together.

 
 
 
A Cowboy’s Home (Montana #3)
 

One burned and broken man finds his way home. Can he find peace in the arms of a man easy to love?Justin made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, battling domestic terrorism, never the man he really was, using hate to avenge the death of his best friend. The friend he’d killed.

What he doesn’t count on is getting shot, and if he’s going to die he wants it to be on Crooked Tree soil. Home.

Sam is as much a part of Crooked Tree as any of the families, and the offer to buy into the ranch is a dream come true. But falling for a hidden, secretive, injured man isn’t the way to keep his head in the game.

 
 
Snow In Montana (Montana #4)

An actor in the closet, a sheriff in love, and memories that won’t stay hidden.

Jordan Darby is known as the King of Christmas. The star of eight made-for-TV Christmas movies, the leading man who always gets his girl. Filming at Crooked Tree Ranch in Montana, in the ice and snow, Jordan is fighting to make a go of his new company and dealing with fears of exposure over one huge secret. After all, who the hell would buy into him being a romantic straight lead if rumors about him being gay were proven to be true?

Sheriff Ryan Carter is advising on the new movie being made at Crooked Tree. He hoped this would be one day of work and nothing more. Until, that is, he meets the hero. But while Jordan is sexy, he’s also very much stuck in the closet—everything that Ryan doesn’t need in his life. And then lust becomes part of the equation, and Ryan’s quiet life is thrown into turmoil.

Their story unfolds against the chaos that overtakes the ranch, with Adam regaining memories that terrify him and make him look at Justin differently, and Justin leaving the ranch to make things right. Only through trusting in love and friendship can Justin and Adam learn to look to the future instead of letting the past destroy everything. But will they ever see clearly enough to do that?

RJ’s goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

RJ is the author of the over one hundred novels and discovered romance in books at a very young age. She realized that if there wasn’t romance on the page, she could create it in her head, and is a lifelong writer.

She lives and works out of her home in the beautiful English countryside, spends her spare time reading, watching films, and enjoying time with her family.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit and has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

She’s always thrilled to hear from readers, bloggers and other writers. Please contact via the following links below:

Email RJ (rj@rjscott.co.uk)

 

 

 

Giveaway

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

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

 

A MelanieM Release Day Review: Mammoth! (Repeating History #3) by Dakota Chase

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

In what might be their most dangerous adventure so far, Grant and Ash are sent back in time ten thousand years to recover a mammoth talisman for their teacher, Merlin. Life is a struggle in the Stone Age, and if they want to eat, they’ll have to learn to use spears, track animals, and build fires without the benefit of matches.

Most importantly, they must recover the artifact so they can get back to their own time, but it won’t be easy. They’ll need to reunite two warring tribes, help a boy around their age prove his worth, and demonstrate their own courage on a deadly mammoth hunt. In this harsh and unforgiving world, hate and suspicion are as prevalent as they are in modern times, but understanding and acceptance can also be found if they know where to look.

Well, this series just keeps getting better and better.  This time Merlin sends the boys, Grant and Ash, back 10,000 years in pursuit of a bone carving worn around the neck.  This time the boys face the most dangerous challenges of their lives and just find out how resourceful they can really be when their lives depend upon it.

Dakota Chase just absolutely amazed me here.  The author took meticulous research about the Ice Age, cultures, flora and fauna and these resilient young men and turned it into a heartwarming, sometimes hair-raising adventure that truly belongs up on the big screen.

From the moment Ash and Grant tumbled onto the sandy beach in Virginia and realized belatedly that their outfits belonged  not in cosplay or a carnival but in an era where the passing giant sloth lived, we were off on an incredible adventure into the past.  Chase brings Ice Age Virginia, the tribes that lived there, their daily lives as the author imagines it (beautifully and vividly) to life.  You walk with Rabbit, Ash, and “Grass” through every aspect of the Bison Tribes lives. You see how precarious it is and yet how real it feels.

Like the boys who get caught up in the Tribe’s politics, drama, and need for survival which includes a rivalry with another tribe and  a hunt for the mighty mammoths, a big element in the storyline.  This was a story I couldn’t put down.  Told from Ash’s pov, again the author’s stays perfectly within Ash’s age and yes, character.  He’s far from  perfect.  Stubborn, argumentative, sticking his foot in his mouth, and blurting out the wrong thing at the very worst time happens far too often.  And Ash knows it.  And isn’t happy that’s a trait of his.  Lack of self control is something he’s working on.  Both boys have their issues but together they make quite the team.

That’s the other thing.  Each of them show personal growth, they support and communicate with each other, and even find time for an occasional stolen kiss.

This story, this series and these two young men have me totally hooked.  I can’t wait to see where Merlin send them next.

Cover Artist: Tiferet Design.  Once again, an excellent job.  Recreates the feel of the old time covers of the old adventure books and pulls you in with the design and feel of the graphics.  love it.

Sales Links:   Harmony Ink Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 180 pages

Expected publication: August 7th 2018 by Harmony Ink Press
ISBN139781640806719
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Repeating History :

In the Spotlight: Brave For You by Crystal Lacy (author guest blog, excerpt, and giveaway)

 

What is the hardest thing about writing? What was the hardest thing about writing Brave For You?

The hardest thing about writing is finding the time and the headspace for it. Since Brave for You is my first book and I’m kind of a new no-name author, I still have to work a day job. I’m lucky enough to have my own business that I’m able to do from home, but I also have an almost-two-year-old who makes life tiring and difficult, as much as I love him. It’s tough juggling everything else and making time. I often have to make do with super quick writing sprints throughout the day. While these can be great, drafting so quickly can make it difficult for me during the editing stages.

The hardest thing about writing Brave for You in particularly was finding a way to make all the characters sympathetic. I think it’s easy to make your antagonists clear-cut villains, but I tend not to like doing that. It doesn’t always work in romance anyway. It was difficult to balance the writing so I created adversity for the characters while portraying the antagonists in a way that allowed them to be real people, with motivations that aren’t necessarily evil or bad. It was a challenge, but hopefully the extra fiddling around with my writing paid off.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 86,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Natasha Snow
 
Blurb
 

Less than a year after moving to Hawaii, construction foreman Nate Ellison’s wife leaves him and their infant son for another man. Months into single-fatherhood, Nate meets Andrew “An” Hoang and is slowly drawn into An’s life. Through An’s friendship, he finds himself finally enjoying his new home in paradise.


An Hoang hasn’t had a real relationship in years. With his pediatrics practice and a niece to care for on his days off, he doesn’t have the headspace for more than a simple roll in the sack. But when he meets Nate—who just happens to be the gorgeous construction worker he encountered in the lobby of his apartment building—something about Nate makes it impossible for him not to care. When Nate needs An’s help with his son, An doesn’t refuse.


What happens when Nate’s past and An’s old-fashioned parents interfere just as the two men begin to fall for each other? Will they find the means to be brave and give their love a chance to flourish?

 
Excerpt

They were on their fifth or sixth round when the subject of Andrew’s love life came up. Nate had finished telling Andrew about how he’d met Olivia his freshman year of college and they’d had a long courtship followed by three or four years of a happy marriage.

“After that it all got a little… stale, I guess? We loved each other, but we didn’t spend as much time together. Then we got pregnant, and things were even crazier. Now she’s gone.

“But let’s not talk about me and my depressing shit, man. Tell me about you. Got anyone in your life? A girlfriend or something?”

The doctor was tapping his fingers against his half-empty beer bottle. He had a glazed-over expression in his eyes, as if he was feeling the alcohol more than Nate was. He smiled, but it was a self-deprecating one. “No, no girlfriend. I’m not really a girlfriend kind of guy.”

“Oh, not into commitment?”

Andrew shook his head. “That’s not quite it. Although most of my relationships have been fleeting. I’d love to be able to commit. With work and my family, it would be difficult, but it would be nice to have the chance. It’s just that I’d have to have that conversation with Dai. Coming out to my parents wasn’t a great experience. I guess I’m afraid of what will happen.” I don’t want to lose her, he didn’t say, but Nate got the idea.

“It must be tough, having parents who care about that kind of thing. My sister came out when she was in middle school and my parents just made her watch a video on safe lesbian sex.”

This startled a laugh out of Andrew. “I would give anything for parents like yours.” He seemed to think more about it, and revised his statement: “No, I guess not anything. Not Dai.” He met Nate’s eyes and smiled. “Thank you for being so kind. Some guys I know would balk at the thought of having drinks with a gay man. And you left your son with me, too.”

“Well, I didn’t know you were gay at the time,” Nate said jokingly, nudging the back of Andrew’s arm with the tip of his beer bottle. He hadn’t known, but Amy suspected, hadn’t she? And he still invited Andrew to stay for dinner, despite all of Amy’s jokes about Andrew’s staring at him. ‘Like he wanted to melt you down and drink you up like a martini.’

“You know now,” Andrew said. “I hope it doesn’t change anything between us.”

“Why would it?” Something about Andrew was so comfortable. Nate didn’t know why, and he didn’t really need to. “It’s not like I’m all that straight, y’know?”

He didn’t realize what he’d disclosed until Andrew stopped tapping on the glass of his beer bottle and instead tilted his head so he could peer right into Nate’s eyes. “Oh?”

“Well, yeah. There’s Amy, for one thing.”

“Ah, I see.” Amusement crinkled the corners of Andrew’s eyes, but he was still looking at Nate in that unnerving way, as if he could see right through to Nate’s core. “You do realize that doesn’t count?”

Nate laughed, to ease the sudden tension tightening his chest. He had told no one other than Amy about this, and since they shared a roof as teenagers and Amy was his bisexual sister it was almost unavoidable. “No, there was a thing, too, with this guy when I was in high school.”

“Oh?” Andrew repeated. Nate thought he would say something else, or maybe even drop the subject now that he’d confirmed he wasn’t the typical homophobic straight-guy. But Andrew looked like he expected Nate to tell him more. And it must have been the alcohol, or just that it was Friday night and he was drinking with someone other than Amy for once, but he continued.

“His name was Colin Ingles, and we were in the hiking club together. There was this big year-end camping trip, and I had a big tent, so Colin asked if we could share. We were pretty good friends, y’know? Real close. Used to talk for hours on the phone and we’d spend all the breaks in-between periods hanging out.

“So of course we shared a tent, and stayed up late talking, and then before we were about to fall asleep he turned over and asked me if I wanted to jack each other off. Well, his words were, I think, something along the lines of, ‘Let’s help each other out, yeah?’”

Andrew’s voice was a little weird, low and thick, when he cut in. “And did you? Help each other out?”

Nate nodded. He remembered the way Colin’s hand had felt, slipping under the elastic of his waistband and closing around his dick. How they’d pressed closer to one another, skin slipping against sweaty skin, and Colin had placed his mouth on Nate’s neck when he came. “It was just the one time. The next day he refused to talk about it, and he gradually stopped hanging out with me. We went off to different colleges and never saw each other again.”

He realized he was flushed, could feel the heat on his face and neck. Shit, what a lightweight he’d become, to let all of this stuff slip after only a few beers. He rubbed at his face for a second, closing his eyes to let himself process all this stuff he’d half-forgotten. It had hurt a little, that abandonment. He’d thought they were friends, and could have been more. But then he’d met Olivia his freshman year, and it’d helped him forget that brief interlude with Colin Ingles.

Well, that sure turned out well.

When Nate looked up, Andrew was still staring at him, his eyes glittering like dark pools of water that had been recently disturbed. “I wish you hadn’t told me that,” Andrew murmured, so soft Nate almost couldn’t make out the words.

“What?” He felt unsettled by Andrew’s gaze, but also oddly entranced. He attempted a smile. “Too pathetic of a story, right?”

“No,” Andrew said, still in that strange, low voice, like he was gritting his teeth. “Not a pathetic story. But it does make me want to touch you, the way this Colin was allowed to. I wonder if you blushed this prettily for him, too.”

“Oh,” it was Nate’s turn to say. And it should have put up red flags in Nate’s mind when Andrew leaned in closer, should have put him on the defensive, but Nate was distracted by the heat of Andrew’s tone, and before he realized it was happening, they were kissing.

July 27 – Au Boudior Ecarlate, Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, Valerie Ullmer, Nicole’s Book Musings, July 28 – MM Good Book Reviews, July 30 – Cupcakes & Bookshelves, July 31 – Love Bytes, August 1 – Gay Media Reviews, August 2 – Gay Book Reviews, August 3 – Katie’s Book Corner, Wicked Faerie’s Tales & Reviews, Abbey’s Fully Booked, Jim’s Reading Room, Making It Happen, Wicked Reads, August 4 – My Fiction Nook, August 6 – Drops Of Ink, The Geekery Book Review, August 7 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, August 8 – Mirrigold, Engaging Secrets, Reading In Sarah’s Corner, Bonkers About Books, Bayou Book Junkie

Crystal Lacy lives with her loving family in Hawaii, where it is always either drizzling or sunny and never snows—which is a shame, because she prefers being cold to being damp and hot unless it’s for Very Good Reasons. She writes queer romance, mainly M/M, but also some F/F. She has aspirations to one day write a YA novel about cats.


Crystal is a long-time fangirl and writes slash fanfiction for the Harry Potter and NBC Hannibal fandoms. She has a deep love for fandom culture, and can be frequently spotted on Twitter and Tumblr reblogging pretty fan art.


Join Crystal’s readers group on FB for sneak peeks, bonus content, and ARC opportunities or subscribe her newsletter for monthly book giveaways, recs, news, and more! You can also follow Crystal on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. 

Giveaway

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

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

 

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Risk Taker (Mixed Messages #3) by Lily Morton

Rating: 5 stars out of 6

Henry goes through men faster than his friends can count. None of them have been worth an effort to get to know, and he doesn’t need them anyway, because he loves his best friend, Ivo, maybe more than he should. But his other friends (from Rule Breaker and Deal Maker) are so happy together, settled, with plans for children and a long-term future that it makes him yearn for stability. He decides to give up casual sex and look for the real deal. Of course, his friends are full of suggestions, and so begins a parade of calamity dates that Henry most definitely isn’t interested in.

In the meantime, Ivo has come home, but he’s wounded and knocked down, suffering from nightmares and PTSD and wanting nothing more than comfort from his best friend, Henry, the man he loves. Yes, this is one of those stories with unrequited best friend love. I would normally think, ho-hum, not my cuppa, but the author has injected humor with the angst and provided readers with a heartwarming story of two emotionally damaged, yet sweet and perfect for each other, young men. The characters are well-developed and each has enough unique charm to hold readers’ interest on their own. But together, they make a terrific package deal.

The story progresses through the time Ivo is recuperating at the home they share, and he and Henry are growing closer, yet each still thinks he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship by going one step further. Ivo steams as he awaits Henry’s return each time he goes on a blind date, but he still can’t take the first step to stop him. Though this portion of the story could have dragged, it actually went quickly because some of the dates were hysterically funny.  The author also wove Henry’s and Ivo’s back story in by opening each chapter with a note or letter from one to the other, most from the time they were schoolboys separated by holidays or vacations.

The revisits from characters featured in the earlier stories will be appreciated by those who’ve read the series, but their presence does not take away from this story being a standalone. In fact, the highest praise I can give this story is to say that I am going to purchase the first two books in the series so I can catch up because the author’s writing style, sense of pace, and touches of humor have dug into my subconscious, which is now begging me for more.

This story was, in a nutshell, an unexpected gift, and I highly recommend it to those who love MM romance with a touch of humor and a very happy ending.

The cover by Natasha Snow features a handsome young man wearing a suit coat and glasses with an intense look on his face. The coloration is a faded black and white with some gold and purple splashes. It ties nicely in with other books in the series.

Sales Links:    Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 288 pages
Published July 22nd 2018
ASINB07FM48TW5
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesMixed Messages #3

New Book Release Blitz for Death Days by Lia Cooper (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Death Days

Author: Lia Cooper

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: August 6, 2018

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 70000

Genre: Paranormal, college, teaching, magic, dark, slow burn, age gap, vampires, shifters

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

By day, Professor Nicholas Littman works as an itinerant professor at a small college in the Pacific Northwest. He teaches seminars on mythology and the intersections of folklore and magic in the ancient world. By night, he’s the local necromancer, a rare magical talent that has left him alienated from other practitioners.

All Nick wants from life is to be left alone to run his magical experiments and teach kids the historical context of magic without anyone being the wiser. Unfortunately, his family is sworn to sit on the council of the Order of the Green Book—a group of magicians dating back to the Crusades—and they aren’t willing to take Nick’s no for an answer.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, a coven of Night Women has arrived in town, warning Nick that there are wolves at his door he had better take care of. But what can one necromancer do when every natural and supernatural card seems stacked against him?

Excerpt

Death Days
Lia Cooper © 2018
All Rights Reserved

One: The Professor
“Today we’re talking about the elision that occurs between Thoth worship in pre-Ptolemaic Egypt and early Greece. Let’s break into four groups for seminar,” Professor Nicolas Littman said, eyeing the half-empty teaching theater. He divided the room with a sweep of his arm and glanced at the clock on the back wall.

“We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes to discuss your thoughts as a group. And I want every small group to come up with a question to pose to the rest of us.”

He felt gratified at the way they began shuffling together into little clusters without further prompting.

“One of you should go use the lounge outside,” he said, waving absently at the small group at the very back of the room.

He didn’t care if they took the direction or not. He trusted in every student’s desire to escape the four walls of the classroom given a millimeter of freedom. All that mattered was that he now had thirty minutes of his own time in which to play hooky.

Nick grabbed a book and the vape out of his bag, and slipped out of the left-hand exit.

Why someone in the administration had decided to give him a corner theater for this class was beyond him. Four credits on Hermetic Mythologies and Cosmologies was hardly in demand. Especially when it was offered as a four-and-a-half-hour option on Saturdays. But if it meant they got a spacious room and the otherwise empty SEM II C building to themselves, he shouldn’t complain. His students could spread out to their hearts’ content, leaving him to steal outside to smoke without anyone around to gripe at him.

“Not even a proper smoke,” he muttered, flicking the round silver device on, warming the metal under his hand.

Nick sat on the concrete with his back to the building’s cement exterior and his knees bent, pressed the tip of the vape between his lips, and held down the button for a long, comforting drag. He closed his eyes to the bright sun and tipped his head back against the wall. Vapor streamed out of his pursed lips in a thick, fragrant cloud and pooled in the air above his head.

“Hiding from the students again?” an amused voice asked from above.

“I’m not hiding,” Nick grumbled.

A thin body lowered itself down onto the ground next to him, all long spidery limbs that folded with the kind of soft careless agility Nick hadn’t felt in a decade or two.

He looked over at his—teaching assistant wasn’t the word. Technically, Josiah didn’t work for him at all. He was just an independent contract student working on an eight-credit history project, but he let Nick use him like a TA so that’s how he always thought of him.

“What do you call this?” Josiah asked, knocking their shoulders together.

“Seminaring.”

Josiah’s face crumpled up with amusement. His flexible mouth stretched into a laugh while his shoulders shook. Nick held out the vape on offer and waited for Josiah to notice.

“Is it peppermint?” he asked.

Nick nodded.

“No thanks.”

“I’m not buying cake or whatever it is you like.”

“Are you trying to say there’s something wrong with cake?” Josiah returned Nick’s stony look with a nonplussed expression.

“It’s unna—”

“First of all: I don’t remember tobacco ever coming in ‘peppermint flavor’ before, and second: everything you do is unnatural, so that’s not a valid argument coming from you, Professor Littman.”

Nick grimaced. “Don’t call me that.”

“Nick.”

He sighed and took another long drag off his vape, waiting for the nicotine to soothe the flutter in his heart that Josiah’s words had kicked up. Nothing he did was natural. The kid had no idea just how right he was. Nick glanced down at his empty hand, automatically checking his nails for pesky traces of dirt, but there was nothing unusual to see. He’d scrubbed up hard the night before. Done a thorough job not to leave any of those unnatural traces that might have given Josiah a better-formed picture of what his professor and academic adviser got up to in his free time.

Shit, even in his head, he sounded like a pervert.

“You’re wrong. Some things I do are perfectly natural.”

“Like what?”

Nick gave the young man a slow look. “You have a very active imagination, Mr. Wexler.”

“The imagination is a hungry organ, seeking perpetual nourishment. I like to think that it’s not so much I’ve got an active imagination, but rather a well-fed one.”

“That you feed on thoughts of me?” Nick smiled, playing the comment off as a joke even though it left something low and hot in his body to sit up with interest. A curl of amused interest that quivered at the thought of a bright young man captivated by thoughts of him, even if they were merely frustrated or prurient or the passing whim of childish fancy, as he suspected was the case.

“Sometimes,” Josiah admitted, looking away.

The two of them sat in companionable silence until the phone in Nick’s pocket hiccupped its alarm to let him know that the requisite thirty-minute small group had passed, and he had to return again to face the lethargy of his classroom.

“Did you need something?” he asked, using the wall to push himself to his feet, and slipped the vape back into his pocket.

Josiah pulled out a sheaf of printouts from his backpack and held them up for Nick to take. “Two new chapters. I wanted to get your thoughts on them before I continue. It took a—the narrative took a direction we haven’t discussed before.”

“All right. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you want to come in?”

“Nah, I’ve got to meet Jen. Talk to you next week?”

Nick nodded.

Above them, the sky had dimmed as sure as if someone had taken a dimmer switch to the sun. Dark clouds cast a clear, watery gray light over campus, the edges of the quad hemmed in on all sides by towering dark trees that only helped to feed into the illusion of night creeping over them. The air smelled as though it were about to rain, bitterly cold and damp.

“Do you think it’s going to snow?” Josiah asked, climbing to his feet.

Nick shook his head. “Not a chance.”

He filed back into the teaching theater behind the stragglers. Sixty minutes for discussion and in-class readings, and then he’d be free for the rest of the weekend. Nick perched his feet on the edge of his desk, saw the streaks of mud clinging to his shoes, and dropped them again. He cleared his throat and looked out at the crowd for the first person to meet his eyes.

“Ah, Amelia, why don’t you start us off with a brief summary of what your group discussed.”

He folded his arms over his chest and listened with half an ear while his focus strayed repeatedly to the darkening sky and the promise of rain.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

Lia Cooper is a twenty-something native of the Pacific Northwest, voracious reader, pop-culture addict, and writer. She cultivated an early interest in writing through fandom and completed writing her first full length novel with the help of NaNoWriMo.

In the years since, she’s dabbled in catering, barista-ing, and working as a pastry chef before finally returning full time to the thing she loves most: storytelling.

When she’s not glued to Scrivener, Lia enjoys playing video games with friends and reviewing books for her booktube channel.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Giveaway

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

Blog Button 2

Blog Tour: Hard to Hold ( Haven’s Cove # 2) by Jaclyn Quinn (excerpt and giveaway)

Hard to Hold Tour 

HARD TO HOLD

HAVEN’S COVE SERIES BOOK 2

JACLYN QUINN

M/M ROMANCE

RELEASE DATE: 07.24.18

 Hard to Hold Cover 

BLURB

Perfect, happy, “Jonah the Savior”, that’s how most people see Jonah Taylor. What they don’t always see is how incredibly overwhelmed he is with his new business or how lonely he is. When a painfully shy man enters his wellness center, all Jonah wants to do is help break him out of his shell. The problem is, the attraction he feels to the nervous, timid man is undeniable.

Cameron Vaughn has let most of his life be decided for him. A traumatic event from his past has caused him to doubt every decision he makes. When he’s forced into a new, anxiety-ridden situation, his first instinct is to run. So, what is it about the owner of the wellness center that has him questioning everything he’s ever been told?

Can one man convince the other he’s worth saving? Can the other realize he’s strong enough to save himself? Together, can they prove that what they’ve found is worth holding on to?

US: https://amazon.com/dp/B07FTCRFZZ/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FTCRFZZ/
CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07FTCRFZZ/
AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07FTCRFZZ/

Hard to Hold Teaser 3

Hard to Hold Teaser 4

 

EXCERPT

It was still pretty light outside, but Cameron was standing in mostly darkness, the only light now coming from the stairs. Taking a deep breath, he once again reminded himself of the promise he’d made to Dr. Sampson and to himself to face things head on. Time to find out what the hell I did wrong. He took the stairs slowly, steadily breathing in and out as he got to the landing in front of Jonah’s door. He glanced down the stairs to the exit, then took one last chest filled breath, lifted his hand, and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Jonah called out and with a shaking hand, Cameron opened the door.

Hesitantly, Cameron walked in, scanning the small space for Jonah who was standing across the room by a table with his back to the door.

“Don’t tell me the lock is sticking again. I’ll have to complain to my land…” Jonah turned around, and the smile left his face, “lord. Cameron… Sorry, thought you were Gabe, who also happens to be my landlord.” Jonah gripped the back of his neck and gave a small laugh. Was he nervous?

Panic flooded Cam. What the hell he was thinking? The uneasy look on Jonah’s face reminded him, though. He cleared his throat, rubbed his palms on his jeans and said in a shaky voice, “Didn’t mean to bother you so late. I just… Well, I have a question.”

Jonah plastered the fake smile on his face that Cameron was starting to hate. “What’s up?”

Cameron looked back toward the door, his need to find the exit in any situation like a thorn in his side and a comfort at the same time. He opened and closed his trembling hands, took a deep breath, and finally asked, “What did I do?”

Jonah was clearly confused. “I’m sorry?”

Balling his hands into fists, Cameron drew strength from the tightness and asked again. “What did I do wrong?” He looked down at his fists, slowly uncurling his fingers, and began fidgeting with his hands. “I mean, I obviously did something wrong because you’ve been really weird with me for days. In fact, you’ve been pretty quiet, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what I did.” Holy shit. Did all of that really just come out of his mouth? It suddenly hit Cameron that Jonah treating him differently was bothering him more than he realized. Enough to actually speak up for once in his goddamn life and ask why.

Jonah’s look of shock confirmed that…yes, he really had just said all that. He ran the hand that had been gripping the back of his neck up through his blond hair then back down to his neck. Jonah walked over to the couch and sat down. Slowly, he leaned over, resting his elbows on his thighs then looked back up at Cameron. The desperate sadness in Jonah’s gaze definitely threw Cameron off.

“Shit, Cam, I’m sorry. I was trying to not make you feel uncomfortable, and instead, I went completely to the other end of the spectrum.”

“Huh?” Jonah had used his nickname, the same one Ali had used only days before. He hadn’t liked when Ali called him Cam, but when Jonah said it, it made him feel warm. It felt…intimate. Jonah patted the cushion next to him, and Cameron found himself walking over and sitting down without a second thought. “Why would you think you were making me uncomfortable?” he asked, still completely confused.

“Because you’re always so nervous around me. You… Do you know you barely look at me? I thought― Ah, it’s so stupid when I think about it now. Just ignore me. You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong…a bit of a distraction…but nothing wrong.”

32531858_371057093414136_548962524838494208_o

I have been an artist from a very young age. From drawing cartoon characters and evolving into portraits, making jewelry, photography, and now writing. I have an amazing support system in my family and friends and couldn’t be more grateful.

I live in central New Jersey, love summers at the Jersey Shore, rock music, wine, sexy men, and laughing a lot with my amazing friends and family. Sunday dinners at my parents’ house are crazy, hysterical and you can count on a movie quote…or ten…being thrown out. Insults between siblings is how we show our love for each other!

When I’m not creating, you can find me reading books from my favorite authors. I’m a hopeless romantic, starving for passionate characters and always craving that happy ending, whether in reading or in writing my own books.

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

GOODREADS

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Vibrant Promotions Logo