Tag: enemies to lovers

An Alisa Review: Rough Edges by Cardeno C

Rating:  4.5 stars out of 5

 

Kyle has an unwelcome crush on his nemesis Brent. Brent has a welcome crush on his friend Kyle. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.

 

Born on the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong family, Kyle Potter has spent his life clawing his way toward a better future. When he gets the perfect job at the perfect firm in perfect Los Angeles, Kyle is sure there are only blue skies ahead. And then he meets perfect Brent Haralson.

 

Born with a silver spoon to a well-established family, Brent Haralson has never been interested in leveraging his connections. Friends, success, and dates come easily to Brent and rejection isn’t something he has to deal with in life. And then he meets perfect Kyle Potter.

 

Kyle despises his unwelcome crush on his lazy, arrogant nemesis. Brent welcomes his feelings for his stubborn, brilliant friend. As it turns out, the line between a friend and an enemy doesn’t have to be a line at all.

 

This was a great story that shows that quick assumptions aren’t always the most correct.   Kyle has had to work hard for what he has and has no respect for those who don’t contribute to society.  Kyle and Brent have been friendly enemies for years, but when Brent gets the opportunity to help Kyle when he needs it he jumps at the opportunity.

 

Kyle is one stubborn man, no matter what his other friends say he has never changed his views on Brent.  When he is down on his luck Brent takes him into his home and Kyle slowly sees that Brent may not be quite what he seems, but isn’t quite willing to back down from his original views completely.

 

I loved seeing both of these characters interact.  Even though Kyle is constantly trading barbs with Brent there doesn’t seem to be too much fight behind them.  Kyle is amazed when he does finally open his eyes to really see Brent.  I loved Brent’s attitude towards Kyle, knowing that he uses is attitude as a defense mechanism he slowly begins to break down his walls until they crumble.  Both of these characters are sweet deep down and really just want someone to love them.

 

Cover art is great and is a sweet picture of the characters together.

 

Sales Links: Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 70 pages

Published: 2nd edition, February 1, 2017

ISBN: 9781942184669

Edition Language: English

Its Love Times Three with ‘No Remedy (Bounty, #2)’ by Christine d’Abo (author guest post and giveaway)

No Remedy

No Remedy (Bounty, #2)  by Christine d’Abo
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist Lou Harper

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Christine d’Abo here today to talk  about the second novel in her Bounty series, No Remedy.  Welcome, Christine.

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Hello, my name is Christine d’Abo! Thank you so much for having me here on the blog today.

There’s something really enticing about a ménage story. Am I right?? Lots of hot, sweaty bodies all crammed together doing all sorts of things to one another. In the case of No Remedy, that crammed space is both in the cockpit and under the bedsheets.

Mace is on a mission to save her friend and captain, Faolan Wolf. She’s been working closely with Alec, a brilliant scientist who seems to be on the verge of a cure for the disease that’s killing Faolan. But when his ex-lover Byron shows up, Mace realizes that there’s more to Alec than meets the eye.

Byron is dominant in the bedroom and just as pushy outside. While she might put up with it for a few rounds of great sex, there’s no way she’ll let him put Faolan’s life in jeopardy. Too bad the lines get blurred and she starts to fall for both Alec and Byron. But she’s not sure if there’s room enough in their relationship for three.

If you would like to learn more about me, please pay a visit to my website www.christinedabo.com. I’m also very active on Twitter as @Christine_dAbo and have a monthly newsletter. If you’d like to sign up, simply click here to fill out the form.

About No Remedy

For months, Mace Simms has been seeking an antidote for the poison killing her mentor. Her only hope is Alec Roiten, a brilliant scientist hiding on a backwater planet. Posing as a research assistant, Mace offers the elusive genius all the help she can, ignoring the explosive chemistry between them. Soon they’re close to a cure.

But then Alec’s former love Byron shows up, attempting to claim a bounty on Alec’s head, and all that careful research gets left behind when they’re forced to flee. And when Byron realizes the tip-off about Alec was a ruse by his rivals to lure him out into the open to kill him, the bounty hunt turns into a three-person scramble for survival.

Byron wants his old lover back, Alec is consumed by a haunting secret about the poison he’s desperate to defeat, and Mace is caught between them. But she’s beginning to think that’s exactly where she belongs as the three are drawn together in their race against death.

Publisher’s note: This title is an edited second edition, previously published in 2011.

About Christine d’Abo

A romance novelist and short story writer, Christine has over thirty publications to her name. She loves to exercise and stops writing just long enough to keep her body in motion too. When she’s not pretending to be a ninja in her basement, she’s most likely spending time with her family and two dogs.

Connect with Christine:

NoRemedy_TourBanner (1)

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of the Bounty series, one lucky person will receive a $50 gift certificate to Riptide. Winner will be selected from across all three book tours (No Quarter, No Remedy, No Master) and as such, the contest is open until midnight, Eastern time, on July 2, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Comment to enter, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Bounty

Bounty hunters and pirates may contend for dominance in the vast reaches of interstellar space, but the heart of the conflict always comes down to who you know. Who you hate. Who you love.

Whether the prize is a priceless gem, political gain, the antidote to a rare poison, or a bounty big enough to secure any hunter’s future, the only way for a pirate or a hunter to come out ahead is by building alliances. One system, one planet, one person, one heart at a time. The distance between the stars may be infinite, but love doesn’t care about boundaries.

Publisher’s Note: While books #1 and #2 should be read in order, #3 stands alone and can be read without the first two.

No Quarter (Bounty, #1)  by Christine d’Abo

No Remedy (Bounty, #2) by Christine d’Abo

No Master (Bounty, #3) byChristine d’Abo

Love LGBTQIA Science Fiction? Check out Sunny Moraine on Writing, and her release, Fall & Rising (guest blog and contest)

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Fall & Rising by Sunny Moraine
This title is part of the Songs of Slipstream universe
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Kanaxa

Sales Link at Riptide Publishing

Welcome to the Fall and Rising blog tour!

I’m Sunny Moraine and Fall and Rising is a story I’ve been trying to make happen for some time. On finishing its predecessor Line and Orbit, I knew Adam and Lochlan’s story couldn’t be over. I knew, in fact, that it was just beginning. In Fall and Rising I wanted to continue to explore their journey, as well as the ways in which their tumultuous meeting and the battle that followed have affected the people they love. In short, this was a world I wanted to return to. I’m very pleased that I was able to do so, and I’m very excited to share the result with you.

On this tour I’ll be talking about the process of writing the book and what it taught me about writing in general, the trials and tribulations of passing through the world of the story, some of the tools I used to put me into a place where I could tell that story, and some of why I wanted to write it at all.

Giveaway

I’ll also be giving away a signed copy of the print edition of the book, along with a set of two hand-made (by me) agate, copper, and glass beaded bracelets inspired by the world of Fall and Rising. Additionally, you’ll have a chance to win one of two e-copies!

Every comment on this blog tour enters you for the giveaway. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 5th. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to leave your email so we can contact you if you win! 

FallAndRising_TourBanner

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It’s always interesting to return to a universe you’ve been away from for a while.

I wrote Fall and Rising over a period of months a couple of years ago. It was the second version of the book; I scrapped the first version because I didn’t think it worked and rewrote the thing mostly from scratch. So I wrote it, I was reasonably happy with it after some editing, and then I did two things: I put it away and didn’t look at it again for a bit, and I started sending it to places in the hope that they might offer to pay me money for it.

(It took a while for the latter thing to bear any fruit)

What that meant in practical terms was that I didn’t go back to the universe of Adam and Lochlan and their friends for a few months. I worked on other projects. I focused on other things. The universe was still there, rattling around in my head, and it was still accessible. I just didn’t go there for a while.

Then I (finally) sold Fall and Rising to Riptide – along with its followup and third book in the trilogy, Sword and Star – and I had to dive back in for the editing process to commence.

It felt strange. You know how you might have these places you know inside out, in which you feel very comfortable? But then maybe you leave them for a time. When you return, even if nothing much has changed in your absence, everything looks just a little bit off somehow. Your memory has shifted, and nothing quite matches what’s in your head. It’s almost like a kind of deja vu; you know you know this place, but you’re also not completely sure that you do. It’s familiar, but your feeling of comfort has been lost.

That’s what returning to this universe was like for me. I knew these places, these people, this history and this lore, but I didn’t walk back in with any particular ease. It took me some time to settle and feel comfortable again. I had to get reacquainted with the layout. I had to have conferences with some characters. So what’s up with you right now? What’re you doing? What’s your goal here, what are you hoping to get out of this?

It worked, it was fine, but there was a period of difficulty, and the only thing to do was soldier through.

I think this is something that often keeps writers from finishing long projects. I know it’s gotten in my way more than once. The fear that if you return to something you haven’t touched in a while, not only will it not be as good as you want it to be, but you won’t even recognize it. You’ll try to get back into that universe and you won’t know where anything is. You won’t know anyone. They won’t know you. You’ll get lost and no one will be inclined to help you out, and in the end you’ll just wander away having wasted your time, and feeling uncomfy.

I don’t think that’s an unreasonable fear. But as fears go, I try to remember that it shouldn’t stop you from trying. Because that universe is still inside you, and it is still yours. Your people will know you when you arrive. You’ll gradually remember where things are and how things work. It might not even be nearly as difficult as you imagined.

It might even feel like coming home.

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Book Blurb

Adam Yuga is on the run. Three months ago, a miracle saved him from the deadly genetic illness that threatens the entire population of his former home, the Protectorate. Now he and his lover Lochlan are searching for a way to heal his people. When they receive a mysterious coded message promising hope, they make a desperate grab for it, and are imprisoned—by the very race they want to save.

On Lochlan’s distant homeship, a young pilot named Nkiruka faces an agonizing choice: stay with her lover Satya and live a life of happy obscurity, or become the spiritual leader—and the last and only hope—for the Bideshi. Nkiruka doesn’t want to lose Satya, but worse, she fears she lacks the strength to carry anyone through the coming storm, let alone her entire people.

Threads of chance and destiny draw the three together. With the fates of civilizations in their hands, they prepare for a final conflict that might be their only chance for survival—or that might destroy them all.

Author Bio

Sunny Moraine’s short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Nightmare, Lightspeed, Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, and multiple Year’s Best collections, among other places. They are also responsible for the novels Line and Orbit (cowritten with Lisa Soem), Labyrinthian, and the Casting the Bones trilogy, as well as A Brief History of the Future: collected essays. In addition to authoring, Sunny is a doctoral candidate in sociology and a sometimes college instructor; that last may or may not have been a good move on the part of their department. They unfortunately live just outside Washington DC in a creepy house waith two cats and a very long-suffering husband.

Connect with Sunny:
Website:  “http://sunnymoraine.com/”
Goodreads:   “https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3149946.Sunny_Moraine”
Tumblr:   “http://dynamicsymmetry.tumblr.com/”
Twitter:   “https://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry”
Facebook:   “https://www.facebook.com/sunny.moraine”

 

Songs of Slipstream

The future isn’t an easy place to live. Humanity is split into two warring factions: one is determined to bring all of human-explored space under its control, and the other travels the stars in massive homeships, carrying with them the ancient stories and traditions their foes have rejected.

On the sparsely populated frontier, renegades, bounty hunters, and pirates maintain their own rule of law. Government is nonexistent. Ethics are a luxury. Greed is the order of the day.

And on the worlds unexplored by humankind lurk wonders and dangers beyond imagining.

One thing you can say for the galaxy, regardless of which faction you’ve chosen: life there is never boring.

Review: Battle of Will by Sasha L. Miller

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Battle of Will coverSkirfallan mage Ackley, newly deposed as one of Prince Taceo’s private guard, is attending the memorial service of those warriors and mages  of both nations killed during the Skirfall/Morcia war when he notices something very wrong.  One of Skirfall’s infamous Interrogators, Daralis Litwick,  is not where he should be, close to their Prince.  Instead the Interrogator mage  is hiding in the woods near the Morcian Royal Prince, Beorn Ealdwin, and his party.  The Royals and their entourages are present for the memorial to honor the dead of both nations and signal the beginnings of the temporary truce.   But Ackley knows Prince Taceo’s hatred of Morcia runs deep after the death of his brother and suspects that the Prince is about to attempt an assassination of the  Morcian Prince during the ceremony.  When the attempt is made by Daralis, Ackley intervenes by trying to block the killing spell.  He succeeds in preventing Prince Ealdwin’s death but the spell goes awry in a manner he never expected.

Now Ackley is not only magically bound to the enemy Prince whose land holds archaic beliefs about the use of magic ,he is also considered a traitor to his country.  With the assassination attempt, the truce is broken, Ackley must travel back with the Prince and royal party back to Morcia, a land that finds magic and its use abhorrent.  Now Ackley must try to break the spell that binds them.  But will success mean his freedom or his death?

The Battle of Will is an imaginative, expansive fantasy story from the mind of Sasha L. Miller.  Miller has created two conflicting nations, battling over everything from territory to their views of magic.  Ackley’s kingdom, Skirfall, has embraced magic in all its uses.  Whether the mage is a battle mage or one that sees to more domestic chores, magic forms the base of the Skirfallan nation. Their long-time enemy is Morcia, a nation that values physical endeavors over the magical ones. In fact Morcia fears the use of magic to the point of outlawing its uses in most instances which has culminated in only a few mages to counteract the battle tactics and mages of its foe.  From such a great foundation, Miller then creates two diametrically opposed characters and binds them together through an act of mercy and a spell gone wrong.  It’s a tantalizing plot and Sasha L. Miller uses it to bring us a whopping great tale of intrigue, misplaced loyalties, treason, magic and of course, romance.

Miller’s descriptions of her universe and warriors are both vivid and intricate in detail.  Her soldiers are rank, caked in blood and mud and her battles and action are as realistic as they come.  And that same rich, graphic narrative  carries over to the mages and the use to which their use their powers, both evil and good.  I love the way the author plays with several levels of her story at the same time, giving it a depth and texture that brings the story and the reader together in an intimate melding of fantasy, suspense, and romance.  On one level we have Ackley and Beorn dealing with not only a binding that ties them together in startling ways but also the fact that they are national enemies with philosophical differences.  It is such a pleasure to watch the men slowly adjust to their situation, learning about each other as their trust and attraction grows.  Beorn and Ackley are great characters, living, breathing warriors who are more similar in outlook than they appear. It’s a joy to watch suspicion and mistrust dissolve into friendship and then something more. Trust me when I say there is no instant love, no fast track to sex and the bedroom here.  For some readers this snail like crawl to the first kiss will be frustrating, but for me and many others when that kiss does occur, it is all the more satisfying for having been made to wait.

And while the men are making their emotional as well as physical adjustments to their state, Ackley and Beorn, as well as other trusted characters, must uncover the person or persons behind the treachery occurring within the Morcian castle as one death after another brings the court closer to shambles and the destruction of a nation.  Miller builds her mystery, with layer upon layer, each so dense that the true traitors are hard to pick out from those just invested in typical court politics.  The anticipation, the suspense is wonderful and the final denouement when it comes is as action packed as you could want.  I loved Miller’s ability to create a dangerous atmosphere everywhere the main characters go, whether to a dusty library full of vile tomes of poison and torture to a dark deserted hallway that should have been full of guards.  She keeps us as well as her characters tense with suspicion and stressed to the max.  There is such an amazing depth to her  plot and characters that all with stay with you long after the story has been finished.

My only quibble with Battle of Will is that I wished there had been a little more of a romantic connection between Ackley and Beorn, not flirting so much as perhaps a little more recognition of the building attraction to each other.  Everything else about this story is colorful, beautifully detailed and rich in layers.  I wish their romance had been equal to the power of the rest.  I highly recommend this story to all lovers of fantasy, magic, and epic battles for power.

Cover Artist Megan Derr.  The cover is the two heraldic flags of each nation, simple but effective.

Book Details:

Approximately 293 pages, 132,000 words

Originally posted as a serialized fiction
Published December 19th 2012 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original titleBattle of Will
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.lessthanthreepress.com/fiction.ph

Reviews: Refined Instincts (Instincts #5) by S.J. Frost

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Refined Instincts coverBroken and starving, vampire outcast Troy Raines has returned to Chicago where everything went all so wrong to die the final death. The death of his best friend and former lover Isaac,and their misguided revolution against the Tribunal and the Ancients cost him everything. Now all Troy wants to do is finish the job vampire Daniel Valente started when he threw Troy off a building.

Renart Bellerose has been busy since the ending of the rebellion repairing the damage caused by his young, misguided vampires.  Renart has tried to make amends by being the Master he should have been to those he Turned and now he is seeing the results in those around him.  But they also serve to remind him of what and who Renart has lost, specifically Troy Raines.  From the  moment Renart looked upon Troy, he wanted him.  And after Turning Troy, Renart gave him everything he thought Troy wanted, power, money, but those weren’t the things Troy craved. Troy wanted Renart’s love and attention and when he didn’t get those, his anger exploded into a rebellion that cost many their lives and has the Tribunal hunting him down for treason.

When Renart finds Troy in Chicago, their reunion erupts into a moment of passion and anger, reinforcing the feelings they had always had for each other.  But danger is all around them as the Tribunal closes in on Troy and Renart finds himself a target of the Ancients wrath.  Will it be too late for Renart and Troy to find the happiness they always wanted or will the laws of the Ancients cost both of them their lives?

Refined Instincts brings back two of the most confounding characters of this series, ones that the readers will have mixed emotions about, and unites them in a relationship full of regret, guilt, and passion.  Throughout the Instincts series, Lord Renart Bellerose has been a sort of prickly, charming and untrustworthy thorn in the side of Lord Titus Antonius  and his lover, now  Eternal Partner, Andreas Nikandros (Natural Instincts – Instincts, #1) .  Even more, his attitude those young men he Turned  and the shear number of Turned  earned him the scorn of other Ancients as well, such as Lord Ryunosuke Kimura and his Eternal Partner, Sir Daniel Valente (Enduring Instincts – Instincts #2).  Renart has always hovered around the edges of the action in the preceding stories, a lively persona that picked at our curiosity each time he appeared on the pages.

Troy Raines also has had a reoccurring role in the series and not a admirable one.  As the leader of the rebellion, Troy oversaw the capture and torture of  series favorite Daniel Valente as well as the kidnapping of Andreas, lover of Lord Titus.  I am sure that there are many readers who still retain some dislike for this character based upon his actions in previous books.  All it took was for Daniel to throw Troy off the roof to start his transformation from villain to misguided, tragic reformer.   S. J. Frost started Troy on his path to redemption in Enduring Instincts when it becomes evident that the rebellion and the power is Isaac’s, not Troy’s.  Then when Troy is injured and unable to care for himself, he becomes an object of pity.  Bit by bit, Frost takes this character apart until the reader is left with nothing but compassion for the person he has become.

I found both characters intriguing and loved the manner in which Frost brings them back together.  It completes the rebellion aspect of this series and does so by fleshing out two secondary characters in a charming and wholly satisfying way.  It is definitely a favorite of mine of the series.  I thought that instead of glossing over past issues, Renart’s part as the igniting factor of the rebellion due to his poor treatment of his Turned and Troy’s blindness over Isaac are given equal treatment to help flesh out the characters and past events.  Renart’s past history does give the character a much needed foundation for his actions and behavior towards others around him.

I did feel that the arrival of  all the other couples from the series, other than Titus and Andreas, was a element that needed a little different treatment.  It was if they arrived just so the author could please all the readers who had favorites, not really because the plot absolutely required it.  And of course the trial was over very quickly after so much was made of the Tribunal hunting them down.  I would have loved to have seen this aspect of the story given more dimension and depth.

Refined Instincts is a wonderful addition to a series many have come to love.  I am not sure how many more the author has planned for Instincts, but given the vitality of this story, the series is healthy indeed.  I recommend this story to all fans of the series, those readers who love vampire stories as well as fans of S.J. Frost.  But if you are new to the series, this is not a stand alone story.  It must be read as part of the series so go back to Natural Instincts to see how it all begins.

This is how it all starts:

The silence in the dark alley broke with the shuffle and drag of uneven footsteps. Troy slowly made his way, his keen eyesight picking out trashcans, litter, dips and holes in the pavement. He may bear an eternally broken body, but his other vampiric senses were still sharp, so much stronger than when he’d been human…those three short years ago.

Troy shook his head, wishing the motion would scatter his memories. But like his shadow behind him, they were dark ghosts that forever clung to him, never parting from him. Even when he couldn’t see them, just as a shadow waits for light to show itself, so his memories waited for a moment of weakness to bring him down.

He should’ve known returning to Chicago would strengthen them…and weaken him, but he needed to come back. This was where it all began. This was where he wanted it to end.

And he did want it to end. All of it. The memories, the regrets, the guilt, the pain—physical and emotional. He no longer wanted eternity. He wanted peace.

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

Natural Instincts (Instincts, #1)
Enduring Instincts (Instincts, #2)
Loving Instincts (Instincts, #3)
Adapting Instincts (Instincts, #4)
Refined Instincts (Instincts,#5)

Book Details:

Published October 31st 2013 by MLR Press
ISBN 1020130160
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=SJF_REFI
seriesInstincts #5

Get Personal with SE Jakes On The Dirty Deeds Book Tour and Contest

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have SE Jakes here today to talk about her outstanding new release Dirty Deeds, the first in the new Dirty Deeds series.

Hey everyone!!! Thanks to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for having me back here for my Dirty Deeds blog tour 🙂 Dirty Deeds is the first in this spin-off series of Hell or High Water. Dirty Deeds focuses on Cillian and Mal, two characters who’ve been in both Hell or High Water books 1 & 2 (Catch a Ghost and Long Time Gone.) Dirty Deeds # 1 captures a very specific moment in time for the Cillian (the spook) and Mal (the former SEAL in exile).DirtyDeeds_150x300
STRW: 1.  What was the first story you wrote?

SEJ:  I actually wrote the proposals for Bound by Honor and Bound for Keeps at the same time, and I wasn’t sure which one should go first. I picked Bound by Honor, because I knew Law would have a story, and then I realized that Bound for Keeps needed to wait a bit. I realize now I needed to wait for Prophet to introduce himself (since he shows up in Bound for Keeps)…

STRW 2.  What was the subject matter?

SEJ:   Bound by Honor is the first in my Men of Honor series. It’s the story of Tanner, an Army Ranger (who is training for Delta Force). His dying teammate made Tanner promise to go visit his Dom a year after his death. Damon, Jesse’s Dom, doesn’t want anything to do with that, but he decides to honor Jessie’s wish.

STRW 3. I love stories where the mc are undercover.  What made you decide to pair a Navy Seal with a British Black Ops?

SEJ  :They honestly paired themselves. It surprised the hell out of me. They showed up separately in the Hell or High Water series and halfway through writing Long Time Gone, out of nowhere I realized they were going to be together.

STRW 4. Which of the two characters was hardest to write?

SEJ: Probably Cillian, at least at first, because he didn’t really reveal himself to me right away. Definitely a mysterious spook. I found out things I didn’t know about him writing Dirty Deeds, and I think readers will be pretty surprised too. He’s definitely been a polarizing force in the books.

STRW 5. How many books do you have planned for the Hell or High Water series?

SEJ: There are four books for Hell or High Water, plus one short (all Prophet & Tommy as main characters). Dirty Deeds # 1 runs along the same timeline for the Hell or High Water series (all with Mal and Cillian as main characters), but for Dirty Deeds 2 & 3, they really have their own plot apart from the Hell or High Water plot.

Thanks, SE, for stopping by.  Dirty Deeds is part of the Extreme Escapes universe.  All the connected stories from Hell or High Water can be found here.  Dirty Deeds is one of ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords Highly Recommended Books/Must Reads of 2014.

DirtyDeeds_400x600Dirty Deeds: Dirty Deeds book 1:
Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.
Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.

Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.

Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.
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This title is part of the Extreme Escapes, Ltd. universe.

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Contest Rules and Other Stuff You Need To Know:

To enter the contest, visit http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/a31df32/

Prizes:

  •  1st prize: $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
  • 2nd Prize: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
  • 3rd prize: $10.00 Amazon Gift Card

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SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life.
She lives in New York with her family, and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…

Connect with SE:
• Website
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Email
• Goodreads author page
• Goodreads author group: Ask SE Jakes

Review: The Lightning Moon by Sylvia A. Winters

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

The Lightning Moon coverIt’s been five years since Quinn’s husband was shot and killed in the woods behind their house. Quinn’s love was a were and his killer was never caught.  And for all that time Quinn and mourned, unable to move forward with his life.  Quinn spends his days as a shop clerk at The Crystal Moon Emporium, a shop catering exclusively for witches.  Quinn’s brother Michael has just reappeared in his life, bringing along with him his new fiance Jade, a were herself.  Their happiness just reminds Quinn of all he has lost and how lonely his life is now.  But Michael and Jade are keeping secrets, the biggest of which brings danger to them all.

Arrow is good at his job, hunting and tracking for a fee.  And for some time Arrow has been hunting a couple on the run.  But in the last place they fled from, Arrow finds a letter, one that pours out the writer’s loss and pain.  It’s a letter that haunts Arrow and reminds him of a life he can never have.

Quinn and Arrow are on a collision course, one that will change both their lives forever and only fate know how it will play out.

The Lightning Moon is a quietly magical story, and not just literally. Sylvia A. Winters has created a narrative and characters  for her story that are so beautifully defined, so restrained in their emotionality and yet so appealing in their vulnerability that the reader is fully absorbed by these people and their futures from the very beginning.

I love this trope.  A character finds himself falling in love with a person by means of a portrait or letter before they have met the individual. It is a hauntingly emotional technique when used effectively and in The Lightning Moon, Winters uses it perfectly.  Quinn is the first character we are introduced to, still mourning the loss of his husband yet he is also starting to recover enough that he realizes just how lonely his life has become.  And on the anniversary of his love’s death, he writes a letter.  The reader is not privy to the letter’s content until later but already Quinn has engaged our sympathy with his quiet pain and acceptance.  Still he is not an object of pity, due to Winters textured characterization which gives Quinn a vulnerability as well as a sense of humor and loyalty.

Arrow, the other main character, is just as vulnerable although he will not realize it until later.  Arrow is a witch who fell into his profession by accident and by way of a dysfunctional past.  His constant need for travel, his lack of support and home is starting to wear on him as is the type of jobs he takes and the employers he works for.  Winters takes that cynical, world weary “bad man” character, twists it to her own  use and gives us Arrow, a man open to redemption and love.  Arrow becomes accessible emotionally to new possibilities for himself and, through her descriptions and dialog, Winters brings the reader along for his journey.

And what a journey it is.  Fraught with emotion, packed with suspense, the reader is still filled with pain for the characters at the inevitable clash although we have been anticipating it from the beginning.  The author tells her tale with a concise touch, moving the narrative along at pace that never feels rushed or bogged down.  It flows, gathering the necessary speed that excites our expectations as all the characters and events head into the dramatic climax.

I loved this story and only the author’s world building kept it from a perfect 5 rating.  I wanted Arrow and Quinn’s universe a little more fleshed out.  It holds humans, witches and weres, although not all are held equal.  I wanted to know more about their society and its attitude about the beings that lived in it.  Her world intrigued me, and a little more knowledge would have rounded out the story to perfection.

I highly recommended The Lightning Moon.  It’s an enthralling, enchanting story of love and redemption.  Don’t miss out, grab it up and start reading.  As for me, I am off to search out more stories by this marvelous author.  I can’t wait to see what new worlds and characters she brings to us next.

Book Details:

ebook, word count 31,000
Published January 8th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original title The Lightning Moon
ISBN13 9781620042991, buy it here at Less Than Press, LLC
edition language English