author BA Tortuga – Page 4 – Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Refired (The Recovery Series #1) by BA Tortuga
Release Date: January 18, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Bree Archer

Blurb

When Kris Cerny walks back into Two Spirits, the art gallery he owns with Josh McPhee, all he wants is a clean break. Austin’s booming real estate market means the building he bought years ago is worth a fortune, and with the sale, he and Josh can finally go their separate ways. They won’t be reconciling, right? Josh may be sober now, but an addict is always going to be an addict, and Kris can’t take that chance again.

Josh isn’t willing to sell. Not yet. He’s discovered a new artist in Santa Fe he knows will put Two Spirits in the black, and if he can just make a success of the gallery, maybe he can earn Kris’s respect, if not recapture his love. He needs Kris to give him time for one more buying trip, one more gallery show. Josh wants nothing more than a final chance to make things right. Kris agrees to let Josh have this last ditch effort on one condition– he wants to go along for the ride. On the way Josh hopes they’ll find the next big thing in the art world as well as peace, forgiveness, and a love he thought was lost forever.

Pages or Words: 65,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance, Western/Cowboy

Excerpt

Josh sat there in the office that had been his for seven years, two months, and three days, looking at the cowboy who he’d thought, once upon a time, was going to be his one and only, feeling a little like he was drunk.

He rolled the five-year-sober token between his fingers, letting it settle him. Not drunk. Not even a bit.

“What? What did you say to me?” He left off the you sorry son of a bitch part.

“We got a buyer for the gallery.” Kris stared at him, calm as could be, one hip settled on the edge of his desk.

“The gallery isn’t for sale.” He owned half, dammit. Still.

Kris nodded easily. “Frankly they just want the building. Quite an offer. I don’t see how we can pass it up.”

“The gallery isn’t for sale.” He was fairly sure the words were succinct enough for Mr. Business.

“The neighborhood has changed, Josh. It’s not a boho, arty area anymore. It’s all high-priced condos and tapas bars.” Kris’s expression softened just slightly. “I think it’s time to let it go.”

This wasn’t about the gallery. This was about them. Him and Kris.

“No.”

“Josh, please at least look at the offer.” Kris stood, straightening his fancy cattleman’s. God, he looked like a stuffed suit. Kris looked better in beat-up Wranglers.

“I’m not interested.” Josh felt like sitting down and pounding the floor with his fist. This wasn’t right. None of it. He knew he was a fuckup. Had been a fuckup. But he was working his shit out.

The gallery was back to breaking even, if not making a profit. Josh thought he deserved a chance to get some good new artists in for a show.

“Then are you going to buy me out?” Kris asked.

Fuck. Kris knew he couldn’t do that. The business finances were an open book. Josh wasn’t even taking a salary for another three years to pay back Kris’s initial investment.

“I don’t have to. We’re equal partners. All I have to do is say no.”

Kris frowned, dark brows drawing together over his bright green eyes. “Dammit, Josh, how long are you going to pretend this is going to work?”

He touched the coin again. Five years. Five years sober. Five years proving he could be trusted. Five years and it wasn’t enough.

“This gallery is my life.” Simple as that. He had no friends anymore, no one. He came to work and went to meetings. He hadn’t gone out to dinner with Kris since…. Christ. Christmas? Maybe? Had they even done Christmas?

“Then what do you want me to do? The building is really the only asset.”

“I’m going on a buying trip. Santa Fe area. Why are we even talking about this?” Why are you even here? Go find another project.

Kris was, like, the king of finance now or something. He had investments all over, could probably walk away from the gallery without even taking a money hit.

“Buying? With what? Your good looks?”

Buy the book:

Dreamspinner Press eBook & paperback | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Meet the Author

Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing porn sites in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife (still amazing to say that), Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.

Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has gone to the high desert mountains and fallen in love. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery ménages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batortuga
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/BATortugaBooks?fref=ts
Twitter: @batortuga
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/batortuga/
Other: http://batortuga.blogspot.com
Blog: http://www.batortuga.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/batortuga/

Tour Dates & Stops:

19-Jan

The Novel Approach, My Fiction Nook, Book Lovers 4Ever, Nautical Star Books, Boy Meets Boy Reviews, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Gay Book Reviews

21-Jan

MM Good Book Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Emotion in Motion, KathyMac Reviews

26-Jan

Velvet Panic, Havan Fellows, Bonkers About Books, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Decadent Delights

28-Jan

Open Skye Book Reviews, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, Boys on the Brink Reviews, Kiki’s Kinky Picks, A.M. Leibowitz

2-Feb

Louise Lyons, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Love Bytes, Bayou Book Junkie

4-Feb

Chris McHart, Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy, Unquietly Me

9-Feb

Caraway Carter, QUEERcentric Books, Joyfully Jay

11-Feb

Happily Ever Chapter, Molly Lolly, Nic Starr, Book Reviews and More by Kathy

16-Feb

Cathy Brockman Romances, Gay Media Reviews, Full Moon Dreaming, Prism Book Alliance

18-Feb

V’s Reads, Iyana Jenna, Parker Williams , Lee Brazil

23-Feb

The Hat Party, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Alpha Book Club, BFD Book Blog

25-Feb

Rebecca Cohen Writes, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Making It Happen, Charley Descoteaux, Nephy Hart

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: PDF of the The Terms of Release and Articles of Release. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Just released from the military, wounded warrior Eric Tremaine is trying to put his life back together like the doctors reassembled his shattered leg. He’s a man with no home, since his Louisiana family rejected him, so Eric winds up in Texas with his old Army buddy, Adam Winchester, and his lover, Sage.

When Eric decides to stop sitting on his ass feeling sorry for himself, he is introduced to trainer Troy Daniels, who lost both his legs in a teenage accident. Troy knows what it’s like to feel as if your body is your enemy. While Eric and Troy have a bumpy start, they soon find enough common ground to make a friendship, if not more. But taking it to the next level means finding out what they have to offer each other, and the world, before they can trust that the love they find together won’t cause more pain than pleasure.

Each of the books in BA Tortuga’s new Release series deals with a character grappling with a torturous reentry into society. The first novel, The Terms of Release, has Sage Redding dealing with being a ex-con returning to the small town that condemned him to close to 10 years of hard time in a state penitentiary at the age of 18. And for a crime that may not have been his fault. In that story, Tortuga bluntly describes the discrimination ex-cons face upon release, the terms of said release and the accompanying difficulties of losing so much of your life away from the “main culture” that you can feel alone and adrift once you are back trying to find your way inside a community once more. That same thread is picked up again in The Articles of Release, book two in The Release series.

Making the argument (and proving it) that there are more ways of separating a person from society and community, here its injured vet Eric Tremaine who is coming out of the army, trying to adjust to a new status and situation he never wanted or thought would happen. A explosion and severe body trauma ended Eric’s military career, leaving him full of rage, pain, and no direction to his life. A Cajun (a familiar and well loved region for Tortuga) bereft of family, their choice, Eric turns to the only person he can think of, Win Winchester (The Terms of Release), an old Army buddy.

When BA Tortuga is clicking on all cylinders with her writing, as she is here with this series, she not only creates these unbelievably realistic tough, wounded men, but makes us pull for them in their recovery by ushering us intimately into their thoughts and feelings. Doesn’t matter whether its their out of control “just throw shit” anger or feeling so helpless that they need to break down and sob, either way we are there with them 100 percent of the way because BA Tortuga has made them flesh and blood and vulnerable.

When Eric seeks the help and support of Win, he also gets Sage’s as well. Sage is still undergoing therapy for the operations needed in the aftermath of the events in The Terms of Release. Sage proves not only a sounding board for Eric but a curiosity of a man and relationship mentor. Sage is also his introduction to trainer Troy Daniels. Troy is a double amputee with a need to prove himself and everything sexy Eric finds in a man.

That’s four dynamic characters, although towards the end Win spends most of the time traveling so its down to Sage, Eric and Troy. No this is not a m/m/m. Its strictly friendship between the two couples which I appreciated. All three have been through horrific ordeals and hard times, and primarily in the case of Eric and Troy, still working their way through their physical and emotional issues. Again BA Tortuga handles their problems and the manner in which their pain and avoidance issues manifests itself authentically, sometimes with humor, sometimes with frustration and rage. Whatever the situation, my attachment to these men and their relationships is so deep that my attention never wavered. These four characters form such a strong foundation for this story that I could really have kept reading for another 100 to 200 hundred pages at least.

I love The Articles of Release. I got Sage and Win from the first story and a wonderful new couple in Eric and Troy. This story has so many layers to it. The wounded veteran adjusting to his new civilian life and physical restrictions, the double amputee growing up and dealing with his need to prove himself in risky situations, that being a amputee doesn’t end your sex life, along with Sage and Win’s new life, so many defining moments for each character and for the story itself.

I highly recommend this story and the series to date. I certainly hope BA Tortuga intends to continue it. She’s really onto something here and I hope to see what the next book in the series might bring.

Cover art by Bree Archer. I like the cover, yes its another torso, but at least it has the appropriate military garb and background.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon (coming soon) | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 220 pages
Expected publication: September 4th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634764582
edition languageEnglish
seriesThe Release Series #2

The Release Series Books:

Tag: author BA Tortuga

Cowboy Up with BA Tortuga’s ‘Refired’ Keep Me In Mind Tour and Giveaway (excerpt and giveaway)

Refired (The Recovery Series #1) by BA Tortuga
Release Date: January 18, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Bree Archer

Dreamspinner Press eBook & paperback | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Giveaway

A MelanieM Review: The Articles of Release (The Release Series #2) by B.A. Tortuga

Refired (The Recovery Series #1) by BA Tortuga Release Date: January 18, 2016

Goodreads Link Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Cover Artist: Bree Archer

Dreamspinner Press eBook & paperback | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Giveaway

Share this:

Share this:

Refired (The Recovery Series #1) by BA Tortuga
Release Date: January 18, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Bree Archer