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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Details:

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

Review: My Favorite Uncle by Marshall Thornton

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Links: Wilde City Press Amazon My Favorite Uncle

Book Details:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tour Dates: 8/8/14

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

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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Excerpt NSFW:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Of course, darlin’.”

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

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

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

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

“Twenty-five.”

“Gay, straight or bi?”

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

“Excellent. Top or bottom?”

“Both.”

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

“Nine inches.”

Eduardo raised his eyebrows. “And girth?”

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

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

“No.”

“Finally, do you know your HIV status?”

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

“Please don’t go.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Details:

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

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

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

Review: Delsyn’s Blues (Vasquez & James #2) by Lou Sylvre

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

After the deranged events of last summer, things should have gotten better, less complicated for fiber artist Sonny James and security specialist Luki Vasquez. Instead, it all sort of imploded. Sonny sent Luki away while his nephew Delsyn recovered from his ordeal at the hands of his kidnapper. And while Luki roamed Chicago wondering where it all went wrong, Sonny hid in his house, haunted by guilt and plagued by his fears. Both separate, alone and missing each other.

Then the unthinkable happens and Luki is called back to Port Clifton, to help Sonny deal with his grief, and a police investigation that points to Sonny as their main suspect. Sonny is drowning under the depths of his feelings of guilt and remorse. He has raised a barrier between himself and Luki that Luki is finding hard to pull down. But just as those barriers seem to be shattering, a man from Sonny’s past comes between them and their future.

All around Luki and Sonny is shrouded by the mists from their past and the uncertainties of their present. As more violent acts occur and the investigations widen, Luki and Sonny aren’t sure who they can trust, even each other.

A voice singing the blues points the way, but will Sonny and Luki hear the sad refrains in time to save them all?

Delsyn’s Blues is the second book in the Vasquez and James series from Lou Sylvre. The first story, Loving Luki Vasquez, pulled me into these amazing characters with their haunted pasts and complicated lives. Each character is so different from each other and others that I have read about. Especially Sonny Bly James, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama and a fiber artist whose weavings are highly sought after. The minutiae of Sonny’s craft is intriguing, especially his dyes. It gives him an unexpected depth of background and unique quality to his character. Sonny is grounded by his art, his mind awash with colors, designs and fibers of all types. He is a person who seems scattered by those who don’t know him. And Lou Sylvre is slowly revealing Sonny’s depths and complications book by book. What an amazing journey we are on with these characters.

But Luki Vasquez, of Basque and Hawaiian roots, is Sonny’s equal with his Hawaiian ethnicity a large measure of Luki’s personality and family support system. Luki’s past is one he wears on his face, but the scarring inside goes much deeper than the one that bisects the side of his face. He too has a past full of pain and trauma, only some of which we know about. Both men find strength in their native heritage and that is so important here in Delsyn’s Blues where both Sonny and Delsyn are/were tribal dancers each in their own manner of style and dance. This element of Delsyn’s Blues and the series are one of its highlights for me. Luki and Sonny’s close connections to their heritage provides a foundation for each man and a support system if they choose to use it.

Around these two multidimensional characters flow plots of great intricacy and deceit. And it reverberates from one story to the next, the past like a river who continues to overflow its banks and cover all the events to follow, its dirty waters touching everything and everyone in its path. Delsyn’s Blues opens one year after the end of Loving Luki Vasquez. The men are separated and Delsyn is in a wheelchair due to his prior blood loss. What a painful beginning for all, readers and characters alike! From that moment on, we are in for one shock after another. And it won’t stop until the book is over.

Are there things here readers will have issues with? Certainly, but Sylvre’s books have always had that element of realism and sometimes life just sucks to put it bluntly. And once you get past the first shock, the rest of the story is gripping, suspenseful, and yes, frustrating. I had a few more issues with this story than I did with Loving Luki Vasquez. One issue? I figured out almost immediately who one of the villains of the story is. While I wish the author had made that a little harder to guess at, I found the anticipation she built around that person’s identity reveal rewarding.

But my honest issue here? Totally inconsequential but it bugs the heck out of me. A drug dealer’s dog appears and goes along for the ride for about 1/3 to 1/4 of the story. He becomes a real character. He’s important until he totally disappears from the story, at least as much as I can figure. He’s there then he’s not. What happened to the darn dog? Continuity! It makes even the smallest things important when it is flawed. So, if someone out there can tell me what happened to Bear, please I beg you tell me. Did I miss something or did he really disappear? (Note: I heard from the author, the dog is still around and latched onto Luki. We will see more of him later.)

Disappearing dog notwithstanding. I still highly recommend Delsyn’s Blues. It’s an absorbing story and its characters continue to grow in depth and backstory. I love it when that happens. Now on to Finding Jackie (Vasquez & James #3)! Remember, please to read all these books in order. It’s important for character development and for understanding the events that occur.

Cover art by Reese Dante. I love these covers, so beautiful and perfect for the stories and series.

Buy Links: Dreamspinner Press All Romance eBooks (ARe) Amazon Delsyn’s Blues

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 309 pages
Published January 1st 2012 by Dreamspinner Press
ASINB006SBC6KM
edition languageEnglish
seriesVasquez & James #2

Books in the Vasquez and James series to date in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and events that transpire:

Loving Luki Vasquez (Vasquez & James, #1)
Delsyn’s Blues (Vasquez & James, #2)
Finding Jackie (Vasquez & James, #3)
Saving Sonny James (Vasquez & James #4)
Yes (A Vasquez and James Novella)
Because of Jade (Vasquez & James #5)

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

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Details:

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

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

On Tour with Laura Harner’s Prevailing Winds (contest)

Love the first 3 books in Laura Harner’s

Separate Ways Series? Well, look whose back in

Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4)!!!

Remy and Jamie Have Returned

and

Things Are Hotter Than Ever!

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Laura Harner, a terrific author and STRW favorite, is here with her latest story in her Separate Ways series, Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4). Laura Harner and Pride Promotions have a fabulous tour prize to offer. A complete set of the Separate Ways series….that’s four books total for your reading enjoyment!!!!

Contest: To enter to win the complete set of Separate Ways books, you must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Visit this Rafflecopter link for the entry form and further details!! The Rafflecopter contest runs from 8/6 – 8/13.

Book Name: Prevailing Winds
Author Name: Laura Harner
Cover artist: Laura Harner

Series: Separate Ways (contemporary m/m)

Continental Divide (Separate Ways, #1)
Oceans Apart (Separate Ways, #2)
Moving Mountains (Separate Ways, #3)
Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways, #4)

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Author Bio:

Raised in California, Laura likes it hot, which explains why she ended up in Arizona via such diverse places as Japan, Maine, and Florida, and many more places in between. After retiring from the US Navy, she found a niche working for land management agencies, including the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Though she has held many jobs around the world, her favorite was working and living in Grand Canyon National Park.

Working (and eating) in New Orleans was a close second. You will find many of her books are set against the rich backdrops provided by coastal Louisiana and northern Arizona. When asked how she started writing, Laura tells of waking on Boxing Day a few years ago, with a woman named Elena MacFarland yammering in her dreams, demanding her story be told. Despite never attempting to write fiction before that morning, Laura ignored all of the holiday visitors and the Highland Destiny series was born. She doesn’t believe it was a coincidence that the great grandmother who died when Laura was just a baby was named Elena MacFarland. Destiny does play a hand.

Laura became a full-time writer in 2012, and now she spends her time writing, watching her Arizona Diamondbacks, and working on her very own version of the Willow Springs Ranch in northwestern Arizona. She is a multi-published author of erotic romance, mystery, and urban fantasy and her books can be found at all major online retailers.”

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Author Links. You can contact/follow Laura Harner at the following links:

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Cover Artist: Laura Harner

Publisher: Hot Corner Press

Sales Links: Amazon All Romance eBooks (ARe) Smashwords iTunes

Prevailing Winds Blurb:

Two years ago, Jamie Mainwaring and Remy Remington had nothing in common except missing boys and a blazing hot mutual distraction. When the case was over, so were they. Although they went their separate ways, life—and death—keep the men connected. After another deadly tragedy touches both their lives, the men say what they believe must be their final goodbyes—only to have their worlds collide once again. This time they end up in Las Vegas, one man for work, the other to try to mend a very personal pain.

Although Jamie and Remy once excelled at mixing business with pleasure—this time, the stakes are much higher—they’ve got forever on the line. When they discover Jamie’s case has an unexpected connection to Remy’s son, they must put everything aside to find Toby before the young man makes a decision that will change all of their lives. One thing is positive, time is running out.

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Prevailing Winds Excerpt:

“I don’t know if I can do this, cowboy,” Jamie whispered. Even while his heart was busy trying to put on the brakes, his traitorous hands slid to Remy’s waist. He leaned up to steal another kiss. The slide of slick tongue, the wet heat, familiar taste all insistently telegraphed the same message. This is right.

Jamie arched toward Remy, tugging at his shirt, sliding hands along the hot flesh, pulling him closer. Returning the kiss, Remy made a noise halfway between a groan and a growl, then took a commanding control, forcing his head back, their tongues dancing in an addicting blend of white-hot urgency.

Just like the first time they’d kissed, the effect of Remington’s kiss was like no other. It wasn’t just a kiss, it was an assault on his senses that left his head spinning and his lungs desperate for oxygen. Even his toes tingled. Intense. Passionate. Perfect. They fit together in a way he’d never been able to duplicate with any other man. Yin and Yang. Black and Tan. Fish and Chips. Breaking their kiss, Jamie nearly snorted with laughter.

Immediately, Remy dropped his hands to his sides and took a giant step backward. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I didn’t mean to—” His eyes were heavy, the lush lips swollen from their kisses, the dress shirt untucked and rumpled. Jamie wanted to finish undressing him, to use his mouth to ravish that beautiful body.

Trying to focus, Jamie said, “No—it’s not that. I was thinking—”

“Always dangerous with you,” Remy interrupted.

Jamie laughed again. “Too true. I was thinking about how perfectly our kisses seem to fit together. The things you do to me are like no one else…then I lost the thread.” He repeated his thoughts.

“Like fish and chips? Seriously?” Now Remy was laughing, too. “How do I go from being your best kiss to being compared to a piece of cod?”

Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know. Nerves, maybe?”

Remy nodded. “I’ll go back to my room.”

“No,” Jamie practically shouted. Remy tilted his head and blinked. The man probably thought him mad. Maybe he was.

“Jamie, help me out here. What can’t you do? How can I help?” Remy took Jamie’s hand and started to lead him toward the couch. Jamie tugged him to the bedroom instead.

“I don’t want you to leave, Remy. Really, I don’t. Let’s go to bed.”

“Jamie, you don’t have to do this. In fact—shit, I can’t believe I’m saying this—but I’d rather we not do anything if you’re not sure.”

“That’s just the trouble, Remy. I’m sure I want this.” He used two fingers to point back and forth between them. “What I’m afraid of is what happens afterward. I’m not sure I can…survive watching you walk away again. And God, I’m so sorry. I know it’s way too soon for both of us—too soon after Miggy—too soon for this to be something you can commit to. That’s what scares me.”

Remy pulled Jamie so they both sat on the edge of the bed. Their hips touched, but Remy leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, the position he always assumed when he needed a bit of self-protection. “I get that. I’m scared, too, you know. It nearly killed me to watch you walk away in Phoenix. And you’re right, it’s too early to search out Elvis and put on wedding bands. But Jamie, I don’t think it’s too soon to say we can try.”

Jamie’s stomach twisted, and his heart thudded erratically. Remy turned his head, and gave him a half smile. “Miggy…his death was ugly, beyond senseless. It was a fucking bomb, set two years ago by that asshole Cortez. And we never knew. We all went about living our lives—never once considering we were running out of time. All of us, Jamie—not just Migs. But here’s the thing…I don’t regret the journey, even if I hate the ending. But I have to wonder, what other time bombs are waiting for us? What regrets would we have if one of us died tomorrow?”

The words released the binds around his heart. As if someone opened the starting gate, Jamie surged forward, knocking Remy back onto the bed with an oomph. Like the crazed man he was beginning to suspect he was, he fumbled until he managed to get Remy’s shirt and slacks open. He was making splendid progress until he was distracted by the warmth of the big hands that slipped under his shirt and the roll of Remy’s hips. Even through their remaining clothes, hard length pressed against hard length.

“Jamie,” Remy said his name like some sort of incantation, weaving a spell with his voice. Jamie cried out when he was flipped over, his back landing on the mattress with a thud, and he was pinned by the weight of Remy’s body. His mouth was plundered as Remy tasted and pulled back before tasting again. So much like their first time.

Breaking their kiss, Remy rose to his knees and tugged his shirt over his head, then stood and gave Jamie a long look. Jamie remembered the taste of those finely pebbled brown nubs, the scrape of the coarse brown chest hair, the heat of the golden skin. Still Remy waited, thumbs hooked inside his waistband, the zipper unfastened, more than a hint of cock showing, since he’d obviously gone commando. Jamie licked his lips and glanced up to meet Remy’s heavy look. Only then did Remy finally let his slacks drop to the floor. Jamie unfastened his own pants, but Remy pushed his hands aside and finished undressing him, adding his clothes to the growing pile. Then they were pressed naked together and Remy’s mouth found his once more.

“Say my name,” he demanded.

Jamie smiled. “Remy,” he mumbled against the warm lips that branded him as claimed. “Remy. Remy.”

“Fuck, Jamie. I love the way you say my name,” Remy whispered.
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Tour Dates: 8/6/14 Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Cate Ashwood,s,Love Byte Havan Fellows, SA McAuley, MM Good Book Reviews, EE Montgomery, Iyana Jenna, Emotion in Motion, Amanda C. Stone, My Fiction Nook, Lee Brazil, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wake Up Your Wild Side, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Jade Crystal, Rainbow Gold Reviews Prism Book Alliance Fallen Angel Reviews Smoocher’s Voice

Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway Contest is for all four books! Don’t miss out on the chance for the entire series!

Jump On Board for a Quick Look At The Flesh Cartel’s Last Episode! (contest)

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Hello all, and welcome to the Oh Thank God It’s Finally Finished last-episode blog tour for the Flesh Cartel! 🙂 Episode #19 has just released, and thus concludes the serial whose first episode released nearly two years past. We’re so excited to be sharing the boys’ happy endings with you, and to be with you here on this last look at the nearly 400,000 word journey into and then out of the darkness of human trafficking. We’ve done our best to make this tour fun and interesting both for folks who haven’t yet read the books but might be considering doing so, and for folks who’ve already begun (or already finished!) the series. Plus, there’s some very cool prizes up for grabs at the end of the post!

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Blurb:

In the exciting final season of the Flesh Cartel . . .

With the help of the FBI, Mat Carmichael has let himself be re-taken by the Flesh Cartel. Objective? Rescue his brother, exact revenge, and destroy the entire organization from the inside.

FBI Special Agent Nate Johnson will be playing backup, of course, but to get Dougie out alive, Mat will need to make sure his brother is out of Allen’s clutches before calling in the troops. Now that Mat’s back in bondage, though, there’s no way he can do it alone. He’ll have to ask for help from the only man within the Cartel who cares about Dougie’s welfare: Nikolai. And even knowing it will destroy him, Nikolai delivers.

Bringing down the Cartel should have been the hardest part, but it doesn’t take long to realize that the real challenge has only just begun. Dougie doesn’t know how to be free anymore, and Mat is forced to admit that he may no longer be strong enough to help himself, let alone his brother. But with loved ones in their corner and their love for each other banked but not extinguished, Mat and Dougie learn that you can come home again, no matter how desperate the circumstances you’ve left behind.

Sales Link: Riptide Publishing

From Rachel Haimowitz and Heidi Belleau…

Thank you all again so much for sharing the experience of the Flesh Cartel with us, and for being a part of our farewell tour. Thanks also to our host for having us!

♦♦The Contest♦♦

If you follow/have been following the tour, you’ll see that one of our tour stops features art by the exceptionally talented Ariaa (y-gallery link). As a special treat for one lucky commenter on our tour, we’re commissioning one more Flesh Cartel-themed image from them . . . and the blog tour grand prize winner gets to pick the scene of their choice! So if you have a favourite scene from the series that you’d like to see brought to life in gorgeous art, now’s your chance! The lucky winner will also receive a $25 gift certificate to Riptide Publishing.

Haven’t read the series yet? We’re also giving away a copy of the first season to five lucky commenters! That’s six fantastic prizes in total! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on any stop on the tour. Each comment (up to one per tour stop) counts as its own entry, so the more you comment, the more chances you have to win.

About the Authors

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in Alberta with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write.

She has a degree in history from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!)

Her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms.

Connect with Heidi:

Blog: http://www.heidibelleau.com
Twitter: @HeidiBelleau
Goodreads: goodreads.com/heidibelleau
Email: heidi.below.zero@gmail.com

Rachel Haimowitz is an M/M erotic romance author and the Publisher of Riptide Publishing. She’s also a sadist with a pesky conscience, shamelessly silly, and quite proudly pervish. Fortunately, all those things make writing a lot more fun for her . . . if not so much for her characters.

When she’s not writing about hot guys getting it on (or just plain getting it; her characters rarely escape a story unscathed), she loves to read, hike, camp, sing, perform in community theater, and glue captions to cats. She also has a particular fondness for her very needy dog, her even needier cat, and shouting at kids to get off her lawn.

Connect with Rachel:

Website: rachelhaimowitz.com
Tumblr: rachelhaimowitz.tumblr.com
Twitter: @RachelHaimowitz
Goodreads: goodreads.com/metarachel
Email: rachel@riptidepublishing.com

Check Out All The Books in The Flesh Cartel Series at Riptide’s Flesh Cartel Series Page:

The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture
The Flesh Cartel #2: Auction
The Flesh Cartel #3: Choices
The Flesh Cartel #4: Consequences
The Flesh Cartel #5: Wins and Losses
The Flesh Cartel #6: Brotherhood
The Flesh Cartel #7: Homecoming
The Flesh Cartel #8: Loyalties
The Flesh Cartel #9: Trials and Errors
The Flesh Cartel #10: False Gods
The Flesh Cartel #11: Permanent Record
The Flesh Cartel #12: Paradise Island
The Flesh Cartel #13: The House Always Wins
The Flesh Cartel #14: Independence Day
Twenty-Five (The Flesh Cartel, #15)
To the Victor (Flesh Cartel, #16)
Boxed In (The Flesh Cartel, #17)
The Flesh Cartel #18: The Long Road
Promise (The Flesh Cartel, #19)
The Flesh Cartel, Season 1: Damnation
The Flesh Cartel, Season 2: Fragmentation
The Flesh Cartel, Season 3: Transformation
The Flesh Cartel, Season 4: Liberation

Visit Carol Lynne’s Cattle Valley with Snake Charmer, her latest CV Release! (contest)

There’s a LGBTQ Town Out West

Calling Your Name! Meet

Carol Lynne’s Cattle Valley and it’s newest story, Snake Charmer!

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Join Carol Lynne on her blog tour to celebrate the release of Snake Charmer. Find out more about her and her writing as each day she reveals answers to more questions.

Contest: Don’t miss out on the fun by entering for your chance to win a bundle of eBooks from Carol’s backlist with Totally Bound Publishing here. The competition will run from the 28th July-12th August to celebrate the launch of this new title Snake Charmer, with winners being announced at the Totally Bound facebook release party on 12th August.

Five facts about Cattle Valley You Didn’t Know About Cattle Valley!

1. The main threesome in Cattle Valley started as secondary characters in the Good-Time Boys series.

2. Cattle Valley is a fictitious town west of Sheridan, Wyoming. Shhh, don’t say that out loud because some people still like to believe. It’s kind of like Santa Claus.

3. I have yet to talk to a reader of the series who does not wish the town was a real community.

4. The Grizzly Bar is actually a real bar that I visited in Roscoe, Montana. Visited, drank in, it’s all the same thing. Oh, actually, I believe I also played slots in the back.

5. After Obama was first elected President of the United States, I received numerous emails from readers around the world asking how the residents felt about the outcome. It truly broke my heart to inform readers that Cattle Valley was not a real town.

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Blurb for Snake Charmer:

Sometimes it takes finding an opposite to show us the beauty within ourselves.

When security consultant and ex-mercenary, Gabrielo ‘Snake’ Barbas, thwarts an attack of one of his co-workers, Riley Banks, he takes it upon himself to keep the smaller man safe. His job is made harder when he discovers the attacker is actually Riley’s ex-boyfriend, a ruthless man from a very wealthy and powerful family.

After a night of passion, Snake decides to take Riley far away from Richmond, Virginia to a town in Wyoming for the annual Cattle Valley Days celebration. He should have known that sex with Riley wouldn’t be enough, but he feels he has nothing else to give such a nice guy. Riley is the sexiest man Snake’s ever taken to his bed despite Riley’s claim otherwise.

Riley knows he’s average-looking at best, so why does Snake continue to flatter him? It’s obvious he’s not going to kick Snake out of bed, even after Snake informs him that sex is all he has to give. Why does Snake see him so differently than the rest of the world?

While Riley is busy trying to figure out the man who touches him like no other has before, Snake is busy trying to protect him from a monster in a business suit.

Like the sound of Snake Charmer? You can purchase from Totally Bound today right here!

Carol Lynne Bio:

An avid reader for years, one day Carol Lynne decided to write her own brand of erotic romance. Carol juggles between being a full-time mother and a full-time writer. These days, you can usually find Carol either cleaning jelly out of the carpet or nestled in her favourite chair writing steamy love scenes.

Find out more about Carol Lynne and her books at her Author Page at Totally Bound

Virtual Book Tour: A Kate Paddington Interview on her book, “Platonic” and Writing (contest)

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Kate Paddington is here today to climb into ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWord’s author armchair for an interview. I am happy to have Kate here today to talk about her latest release, her thoughts on writing and inspiration. Plus Kate has brought along a contest to celebrate Platonic’s release.

Contest: Kate will be awarding a $25 Barnes & Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Barnes & Noble GC and a print edition of Bleeding Heart (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn host. A free download of an Interlude Press eBook title or an author/book swag pack (US ONLY) will be awarded to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter at each stop during the tour.

My interview with Kate Paddington on writing, Platonic and inspiration:

STRW: What was the inspiration behind Platonic?

Kate P: It started as an idea I had for fan fiction. The relationship between two characters in a TV show hadn’t developed the way I wanted it to – their relationship on screen eventually devolved into a cheating storyline and a break up. I was frustrated and wanted to write a love story where high school sweethearts broke up, then grew up and really figured themselves out, and then came back together to try again as adults. Ultimately I wanted a happy ending love story for two flawed, young individuals and to do that with the original characters I came up with, I had to have them apart for almost a decade.

STRW: How much research do you do for a story?

Kate P: It is more a story of imagination and storytelling than research and fortunately, the settings were very familiar to me. I know the two main settings, London and New York, as I’ve lived in the former while working at Imperial College and have accumulated several months in the latter. The world of academia and study is familiar as well, although I had to spend quite a while figuring out the US college and legal systems.

STRW: Which do you choose? Hero or Antihero?

Kate P: Antihero, I think, though I am grimacing at the idea. I don’t write the kind of conflicts that need heroes, no epic struggles or evils. I tend to be more interested in character stories about normal people so it’s hard to imagine any of them as heroes. They’re just people, good and bad, and I’ll admit my favorite character in the book probably is more bad than good and that’s why I chose antihero, but I don’t really see my characters or my experiences in the hero/antihero sphere.

STRW: What genres inspire you?

Kate P: I read a lot of young adult and fantasy/adventure, which seems strange now that I’m writing erotic romance. They’re the genres I grew up with and I’m more comfortable taking ideas from there, turns of phrase or character traits, and working them into my own stuff than I am being inspired by other peoples’ romance fiction—I never want to accidently take someone else’s work and write my own too close up against it!

STRW: What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?

Kate P: Finding time, definitely just the finding of time. And I envy anyone who has a problem that isn’t temporal. In the last six months I’ve completed this novel and moved through all the editing processes, I’ve spent two months in the US, some of which was for science conferences. I’ve written up my PhD as well as three or four scientific papers. No one at my day job suspects I’m juggling more than just the usual academic/PhD workload. So right now, I don’t have enough time to write as much fiction as I want. I look forward to the day when I might discover what else I will struggle with!

STRW: Write what you know or does that even matter?

Kate P: I think it should be something more like ‘Don’t write what you don’t want to figure out’. I think that’s less limiting and less obviously fallible. I don’t know what a Stanford law degree entails, or fashion design, or gay sex, or how to cook as well as Mark, or the kind of romance my characters experience. That might not be my world, but I’ve put in the time to figure it out. I research where I need to. Direct experience isn’t the only way of learning, and I think limiting authors to what they know can limit literature. But I think what you are writing you need to be interested in and keen to learn about. Otherwise what’s the point?

STRW: Have you always written M/M?

Kate P: I actually only started writing m/m about three years ago. Before that I wrote hetrosexual erotica and before that I wrote het romance. Most of this was in fan fiction form, based off of relationships (or relationships I wanted to see) in TV shows and they just happened to all be between a man and a woman (or a male alien and female alien that one time…). In my mind, romance is romance and I can write both without much bother. There are things that make writing or reading two men together better than a straight couple but then there are things I like about writing straight couples, too.

Thanks so much for the chance to chat today! I am very excited to have people reading my novel and happy to talk about it as much as anyone will listen!

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“Platonic” BLURB:

Mark Savoy and Daniel O’Shea were high school sweethearts who had planned their forevers together. But when Mark goes to college in California rather than following Daniel to New York, he embarks on a decade-long search for independence, sexual confidence and love.

When Mark lands a job in New York and crosses Daniel’s path, they slowly rebuild their fractured friendship through texts and emails. If they finally agree to see each other, will they be able to keep it platonic? Or will the spark of a long-lost love reignite just as Daniel accepts a job overseas?

Platonic is a story of trials, growth, and knowing how to learn lessons from the past to build a future.
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Platonic Excerpt:

“Why did you ask me?” Daniel asks, genuinely curious.

“That’s unfair. I’ve been asking you all night why you came.”

Daniel holds his gaze. “You know that night in the bar, when I ran into you?” Mark tilts his head—he remembers. “You asked me to email you and your eyes were wide and pleading and there was no way I was going to be able to say no to you. I remember wondering if you used the same face on juries, to get your way in court. I guess what I’m saying is that I still don’t know how to say no to you. I still don’t know how anyone does.”

Time stops around them, stutters and then kicks back in when their eyes slip away from each other. Neither one of them knows what this is or what to do with it. Neither of them walked into this dinner tonight thinking “seduction” or “relationship” or “date” or anything like that. They were far too busy not thinking it.

“Did you want to say no?” Mark asks.

“Of course not. I wanted to come. Of course I did, Mark.” And then somehow they’re touching. Without giving it any conscious thought, Daniel has reached across the space between them and caught one of Mark’s hands in his.

The realization that they are touching comes slowly to Mark; his nerves feel sluggish, his brain has trouble processing the simplicity of the touch, just skin on skin, not intimate or unwelcome or leading to anything. But Daniel is touching him—and not briefly, not fleetingly, he’s holding on—and suddenly it all rushes back through Mark and he never, ever wants to let go.

Not ever. This is it. Daniel is it. He always was.

“You broke my heart.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kate Paddington wrote her first work of fan fiction at age 12. Today, at age 26, she has degrees in philosophy and chemistry, and is currently completing a PhD in biophysics. A native of Australia, she has published numerous academic papers as part of her research. Platonic is her first novel.

You can contact/follow Kate Paddington at the following links:

Buy link: Interlude Press

Contest Details: Kate will be awarding a $25 Barnes & Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Barnes & Noble GC and a print edition of Bleeding Heart (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn host. A free download of an Interlude Press eBook title or an author/book swag pack (US ONLY) will be awarded to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter at each stop during the tour.

Visit the Rafflecopter link here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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