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A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Starting New by S.C. Wynne

Rating 4 stars out of 5

StartingNew_600x900Francis Murphy has been working the streets to survive on his own for years. By doing everything from scrounging through dumpsters to pickpocketing to hooking, he’s managed to survive. Good-looking but overly thin, he’d do almost anything for food, including entering a church reception looking for the goodies from the meeting being held there. It’s been worse for him since the homeless shelter was vandalized and closed down their operation, but Francis has always attempted to maintain cleanliness so he doesn’t stand out as much in a crowd as some others he knows.

When he’s just about to reach for a plump muffin, he’s hailed by Randy Wright, the pastor’s son. Immediately drawn to Francis, Randy engages him in conversation. But Francis knows just how long he can afford to linger, and as soon as he’s done scoffing down the muffin, he’s out of there.

Unfortunately, his good luck takes a turn for the worse when he barely escapes with his life a few days later after a John goes crazy on him with a knife. Subconsciously, Francis seeks comfort at the Grace and Light Church where he met Randy, and Randy happens to spot him lurking in the shadows. Shocked at Francis’s condition, Randy gets his mother, and then his father involved, and before he knows it, Francis awakens in a bed in their home. There, despite his best efforts to shun their help, he finds support and friendship and finally agrees to work for them by helping to repair the shelter in exchange for room and board.

Over time, he and Randy are attracted to each other, shocking Francis because he never gets involved with anyone and shocking Randy because he thought he was straight. But good things don’t seem to last for Francis and he bolts.

Will he ever find peace? And what about Randy? Will he want Francis in his life as more than a friend? Will the pastor and his wife be as accepting as they verbalize they are? And what about the crazed John with the knife? Is he gone for good? 

This was a very interesting story. Dark in some ways, light-hearted and hopeful in others. It’s the first I’ve read from this author, and I was impressed by the character development. And it’s not “preachy” about religion, though it does explore Randy’s beliefs, which are somewhat influenced by his religious family, though in a church that is more liberal than many. I also enjoyed the slow awakening of feelings by and between both Francis and Randy. This is a good slow burn/UST story for those who prefer that theme. It’s also a good story for those who like their stories to feature MCs who seem to have no hope for the future.

Cover by: G.D. Leigh

Sales Links

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Book Details:

ebook, 192 pages
Expected publication: August 8th 2016 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleStarting New
ISBN 1626494304 (ISBN13: 9781626494305)
Edition LanguageEnglish

When Talk is Cheap & Life Tough, Can Someone Believe in Love? Find out with Starting New by S.C. Wynne (tour/giveaway)

StartingNew_600x900

Starting New by S.C. Wynne
Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by G.D. Leigh

Release Date Aug 8, 2016
Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have S.C. Wynne here today to share her latest release Starting New with our readers.  Don’t forget to leave a comment at the end to be entered in the giveaway. Welcome S.C.

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Hi, I’m S.C. Wynne and I write M/M romance with a little humor and generally a healthy serving of angst. Welcome to my blog tour for Starting New!

For the next week I’ll share some posts about writing and my story Starting New. Join in the fun by leaving comments and enter to win a $30 Riptide gift card!

About Starting New

Life hasn’t been good to Francis Murphy. He’s survived twenty-one years of homelessness by hooking and taking handouts where he can find them. When the local shelter is vandalized, he’s forced to seek food at the Grace and Light Church, where he runs into the pastor’s son, Randy.

Randy Wright believes the best in others. He’s immediately drawn to Francis, even though Francis is hardened and wary. When Francis is attacked by one of his johns, Randy and his family take him in and offer him temporary work. Randy always thought he was straight, but something about Francis has him yearning for more than just friendship, and realizing he might be bisexual.

Francis is attracted to Randy too, and Randy and his parents say they’ve always believed in gay rights. But talk is cheap. What are the odds that these Christian parents will remain open-minded when it’s their own son in a relationship with another man?

About S.C. Wynne

S.C. Wynne started writing m/m in 2013 and did look back once. She wanted to say that because it seems everyone’s bio says they never looked back and, well, S.C. Wynne is all about the joke. She loves writing m/m, and her characters are usually a little jaded, funny, and ultimately redeemed through love.

S.C loves red wine, margaritas, and Seven and Sevens. Yes, apparently she is incredibly thirsty. She loves the rain and should really live in Seattle, but instead has landed in sunny, sunny, unbelievably sunny California. Writing is the best profession she could have chosen because she’s a little bit of a control freak. To sit in her pajamas all day and pound the keys of her laptop, controlling the every thought and emotion of the characters she invents, is a dream come true.

If you’d like to contact S.C. Wynne, she can be found amusing herself on Facebook at all hours of the day, or you can contact her at scwynne@dslextreme.com.

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Starting New, S.C. is giving away $30 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on August 13, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Stella Review: ROADSIDE RESCUE by Caitlin Ricci

Rating: 3,75 out of 5 stars

Roadside RescueAfter her girlfriend leaves her for an ex, Kelly takes off with her mustang, Shoni, and as many of her things as she can pack into her truck. The flip of a coin has her going west along I-70 from her home in Missouri, sending her toward Colorado. While driving through Dove Creek, she gets a flat tire on her trailer. She has a spare, but in his panic, Shoni manages to jerk the trailer enough to damage the wheel.

Her salvation comes in the form of sexy mechanic, Brigid, who owns a shop nearby. With a few days to wait for the wheel, the two get to know each other. A bit of fun isn’t all Brigid wants from her, but Kelly isn’t ready to jump into anything new so soon after her break up, and when Brigid offers her a job, Kelly doesn’t want to tie her life to someone so completely again.

Kelly is in need of some stability, and that’s exactly what Brigid is offering her. If she’s willing to take a chance on letting another woman into her life again, Brigid might be just who she needs. 

Roadside Rescue was my first Caitlin Ricci work I read, plus it was the first FF story I tried. And I have to say it was a success.

Kelly is travelling with his mustang gelding, Shoni with no idea where to go. She just wants to leave Missouri behind and she has no intention to be back. Until her truck stops in Dove Creek, population 291, where Brigid, a beautiful mechanic, lives. The attraction between the two women is clear from the first sight.  But after a bad break up with a cheating exgirlfriend, it is too soon to Kelly to be involved with someone and trust that person, right? Still, Brigid is a force of nature and pretty impossible to resist.

Roadside Rescue is very short, just 35 pages, but really well done. I liked the writing, easy to read and the characters were enough developed and with enough background, just to make the reader enjoy the story. And the little sex scene was the icing on the cake. It was sexy and lovely and real too. I liked it a lot and I’ll surely read more by Caitlin Ricci, maybe another FF.

The cover art by Natasha Snow is well done, great colors and the artist is a favorite of mine.

Sales Links

NineStar Press

        

BOOK DETAILS

ebook, 35 pages
Publication Date June 27th 2016 by NineStar Press

ISBN13 9781911153610
Edition Language English

A BJ Audiobook Review: Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn and Narrator Craig Beck

Rating:    3.5 stars out of 5

PatchworkParadise_AudiobookOliver and Samuel’s relationship is fairy-tale perfect. They share a gorgeous house in Antwerp, go out with their friends every weekend, and count down the days to their dream wedding. But their happy ending is shattered one late night, and just like that, Ollie is left bereft and alone.

The months that follow are long and dark, but slowly Ollie emerges from his grief. He even braves the waters of online dating, though deep down he doesn’t believe he can find that connection again. He doesn’t think to look for love right in front of him: his bisexual friend Thomas, the gentle giant with a kind heart and sad eyes who’s wanted him all along.

When Thomas suddenly discovers he has a son who needs him, he’s ill prepared. Ollie opens up his house—Sam’s house—and lets them in. Ollie doesn’t know what scares him more: the responsibility of caring for a baby, or the way Thomas is steadily winning his heart. It will take all the courage he has to discover whether or not fairy tales can happen for real.

Usually a blurb is a taste of what happens in the book at the beginning, but this blurb seemed a bit misleading as it pretty much tells about the whole entire book. For instance, Thomas’s son does appear until well past the halfway point in the story, perhaps only in the last third it seemed.

The first third of the story was a total tearjerker, so very, desperately sad and hard to listen to. I felt so awful for Ollie and for Samuel. The aftermath of his death I felt was handled well as far as the grieving process, but I found it interesting that he had no real interest in seeing justice served on the man who had killed his fiancé.

In the second third of the story, I began to feel bad for Thomas as well. I also found myself wondered what it had been about Ollie that had him fall in love when he first met him on what he’d thought was a date, so deeply that it lasted all those years. Thomas was an interesting character, and I especially liked that he was unabashedly bisexual. Although I did connect with him and feel for him, I felt his history and backstory was a bit sketchy. And his messing around with everyone, and I do mean everyone… even a friend, and then hooking up with a guy on a trip even though he still obviously was not over Ollie rather bothered me as well.    

Aside from the moments of joy at the beginning, there was mostly angst, pain and grieving, loss and unrequited love, and problems coming from right and left for the first full two thirds of this story. Not only for Ollie (and Sam), but also Thomas, as well as their friend Chloe. Also I felt awful for Peter, the nice vet who Ollie hooked up with and used as his first sex with another man (ever) after Sam’s death. He seemed such a sweet guy, and he obviously cared. When little Milo arrived on the scene, things begin to lighten up just a bit, but even then, it was interspersed with yet more problems, drama, and angst. 

Despite that, I enjoyed this audiobook. The writing was good, and I felt that the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, making me feel their individuality and emotions. It was also easy to listen to and understand, which is not always true when there are accents. The narration was consistent, sounded authentic to the area, was easy to listen to and held my attention. I would be glad to pick up other audios narrated by Craig Beck.

I liked the cover by Lou Harper, although the guy with the darker hair who is Thomas doesn’t seem to be larger than the other guy as described in the book.

Sales Links

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Book Details:  6 hrs, 42 mins

Published July 14th 2016 by Riptide Publishing

An Alisa Review: Tagging Mackenzie by LM Somerton

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Tagging MacKenzieAchieving a Dom’s undivided attention can have unpredictable consequences.

Steele Denton’s business doing custom paint jobs for fast bikes is booming. He’s in demand and has a reputation for being a perfectionist. Tattooed and intimidating, Steele is also in demand as a Dom at his local BDSM club, Chain of Thorns. He requires perfect submission from any sub he deigns to play with.

Mackenzie Soames is desperate for Steele to notice him, but he might as well be invisible. He has no idea how to get invited into the VIP members’ area that Steele rarely strays from, so he concocts a plan to get Steele’s attention. Kenzie is a talented graffiti artist with a secret identity, known only by his tag, a pair of handcuffs. He spray-paints a BDSM scene on a wall at the side of Steele’s workshop, hoping Steele will see the security footage and track him down. However, Steele is working late and catches him in the act.

Steele recognizes Kenzie from the club and demands twenty-four hours of sexual slavery as penance for the graffiti. Kenzie has no choice but to agree and soon discovers that being Steele’s sub will either make him or break him.

Publisher’s Note: This book has previously been released as part of the His Rules anthology with Pride Publishing.

Mackenzie has been pining for Steele from afar at the local BDSM club. He feels that Steele doesn’t know he exists and takes matter into his own hands to get his attention. Steele has noticed Mackenzie, but was afraid that he would be too harsh for him has stayed away.

Seeing both of the characters points of view helps to understand their feelings, Mackenzie feels invisible while Steele feels overwhelmed with his business. When Steele catches Mackenzie he knows that the time has come for him to claim his sub even if Mackenzie doesn’t know it yet. This story gives a small glimpse into what Mackenzie and Steele’s relationship could be and the end leaves it open for their relationship to continue.

The cover art is nice and catches your eye.

Sales Links

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Book Details:
ebook, 34 pages
Expected publication: August 9th 2016 by Pride Publishing
ISBN139781786514455
Edition LanguageEnglish

 

An Ali Audiobook Review: Tigers on the Run by Sean Kennedy and Narrator Dave Gillies

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
tigers-on-the-run audiobookYoung Australian Micah Johnson is the first AFL player to be out at the beginning of his career. Retired professional football player Declan Tyler mentors Micah, but he finds it difficult, as Micah is prone to making poor life choices that land him in trouble. Nothing Dec can’t handle. He’s been there, done that, more times than he’d like to admit. Being Simon Murray’s partner all these years has Dec quite experienced in long-suffering and mishaps.
As usual, Simon thinks everything is going along just fine until his assistant, Coby, tells him a secret involving an old nemesis. Simon and Dec’s problems mash together, and to solve them, they must undertake a thousand-kilometer round trip in which issues will have to be sorted out, apologies are finally given, and a runaway kid is retrieved and returned to his worried parents.
I was kind of worried from the blurb that this was going to be more about Micah with only bits of Simon and Declan but thankfully I was wrong. This story picks up a bit later, the guys have been together 8 years now. The are stable and strong and as great together as always. This book is again told by Simon in his snarky way:

“……and those people will always be bitter fucking arseholes.”

“Have you ever thought of becoming a life coach?”

“No, but maybe I could write kid’s books.”

“Yeah, Life Sucks, and Then it Sucks Some More by Simon Murray.”

“It’ll prepare them early.”

Not a lot of angst here like in the first two books but that is good in my opinion. I was glad to see a continued story that lets us revisit a couple we love without drama. The story moved along quickly, the gang was all there, there were some laugh out loud moments and some beautifully sweet moments between Simon and Declan. These two remain a favorite m/m couple for me. And yay for the ending. Looks like we’re going to get more stories.

I’ve done this entire series on audio and have loved all of them.  The narrator is the same for all three books and I think he does a good job.  There’s something about doing a series on audio.  I think it makes the characters come alive more.  It’s almost like listening to a story by a friend.
Cover art by Catt Ford:  I like the cover by Catt Ford.  It fits the others in the series in the trademark style they all have.
 Audiobook Sales Links
Audiobook Details:
Release Date Jun 21, 2016
Type  Contemporary Novels, Series
Length 7:35

A Jeri Review: Fight the Tide (Kick at the Darkness #2) by Keira Andrews

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Fight the TideYou really, really must read Kick at the Darkness first as this is the follow up book. And I am guessing (hoping?) that there will be a book three.

Fight the Tide picks up right where Kick at the Darkness leaves off. Adam and Parker are aboard a sailboat trying to survive. They have no idea where they are really going or what to do. But they want to survive. One day while Adam is on shore getting supplies, Parker is victimized by modern day pirates. Feeling like less of a man, a broken person, he puts on a brave face for Adam. When they hear a distress call, Parker absolutely does not want to help, fearing the worst. But Adam can’t leave these people with 2 children when they are sinking. And so we meet Craig, his daughter Lilly, and Abby and her so Jacob.

This installment is no longer a romantic love story, but one of survival and making your way in an unknown world. In book 1 it was Adam who was untrusting of the world. In book 2, it is Parker. That flip kept this book very interesting. Adam has a whole new “coming out” when he admits to the others that he is a werewolf.

While I really enjoyed this book, it was a bit of a hybrid of The Walking Dead and Waterworld.  There were tears, gasps, sighs and oh my gods. At times I was a bit lost in the sailing jargon, but then on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. We still get moments of romance between Adam and Parker, but this is far from a love story.

I admit I like book 1 more, but book 2 was a necessary bridge to the story coming for us in book 3. A story I cannot wait for.

The cover is gorgeous and a perfect representation of Parker and Adam and their sailboat, seemingly alone on the open seas.

Sales Links

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Book Details:

ebook, 250 pages
Published July 26th 2016 by KA Books
ISBN139781988260068
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series: Kick at the Darkness – add it to your Goodreads here

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Fallow (Whyborne & Griffin #8) by Jordan L. Hawk

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

FallowFans of the Whyborne & Griffin series will love the fact that this story is principally about Griffin and his relationships in his hometown of Fallow, Kansas, especially his relationship with his mother, Nella.

As the story opens, Whyborne is still struggling with what he learned about himself a few months before when he touched the Maelstrom and realized he is an otherworldly being, and he’s worried about Griff’s reaction as much as he’s worried about not being human. Refusing to tell Griff, he becomes cool and aloof and actually causes Griffin more worry than if he had simply told him the truth.

When a visitor from Griff’s hometown arrives and seeks out Whyborne at the museum, they never get to find out the real reason behind the visit as the man is slain before he can even speak. And he’s slain by a man Griffin recognizes from his hometown. The mystery gets stronger when they discover the man’s roommate, also from Fallow, seems to be afflicted by the same malady as the other man. It’s quickly evident that the couple has to travel to Fallow to find out what’s really going on, and there’s no way Christine and Iskander will allow them to go alone.

In Fallow, they discover a plot to pave the way for the return of the Masters. There’s a mysterious disorder that seems to be spread by the well someone drilled on the land for which the town was named. Due to his gift of second-sight, Griff is the only one who can see the people affected by this malady, and he’s shocked to discover that the woman who married the man he once had sex with is now married to his cousin and is very definitely infected. And—she lives in his mother’s home. The mystery is even deeper than the foursome at first fear, but it appears Whyborne’s usual talents are not able to be used to rid Fallow of the menace. What happens to the foursome, as a group and individually, kept this reader riveted to the book to the end.

A nail-biter like others in the series, this story is highly intriguing, and at the same time, it’s very revealing of Griff’s past relationships and the reasoning behind his eviction from the town. How the author manages to weave such interesting, interwoven, and twisted mysteries always astounds me. In this case, I can only say that I am once again in awe.

Cover art is by Lou Harper who just took over the cover art and is redoing the series. I like it in that it’s colorful, and I like the depiction of Whyborne, though I always liked the previous images which seemed to suit his tall, gangly, awkward personality better. But I don’t like the look of Griffin at all. He seems too slight and too homely to be the man I’ve been reading about for years.

The eighth book in the Whyborne & Griffin series, I very highly recommend Fallow as I have others in the series. Those who haven’t started should pick up Widdershins and catch up to this fascinating series—as soon as possible!

Sales Links

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Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 210 pages
Expected publication: August 5th 2016
Original TitleFallow
ASINB01I2DQORO
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWhyborne & Griffin #8