Review: Rules of Play (The Script Club #2) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 5 🌈

I really wondered about this story because of the character of George.

That’s tall, cape wearing, genius who’s been a bit of an enigma although he’s gotten a lot of page time within the series to date.

Nice trick. Very vampire like.

So who’s he’s paired up with becomes as much as a surprise as he is . And that makes this story more satisfying all the way.

Rules of Play helps fill in George’s important adolescence stage as well as advance the timeline for the focus group of friends. We get his past and see the entire group more settled into jobs or relationships.

Maturity is advancing,,,, somewhat…

But the person about to come back into George’s life is someone very familiar and close to George’s family.

Aiden is one of Simon’s best friends, and Simon is one of George’s older brothers. Aiden also spent much of his younger years at the Murphy house because of his parents dysfunction and love of alcohol.

A broken down car and a night rescue is all it takes to bring Aiden ,as a mechanic, back into George’s life. George’s boss’s unfortunate love life will keep him there as they plot a way for Newton to romance the girl of his dreams.

Close proximity and really heated libidos bring about all sorts of changes in their relationship, including ones Aiden never anticipated. One where he just might be bisexual.

Complicated characters, realistic situations, emotionally charged conversations about sexuality, and, friendship. All those elements wrapped up in a great romance.

Lane Hayes delivers a marvelous tale full of humor, lusty scenes, warmth and love.

This series continues to evolve and get better with each story.

Love this and everyone novel. Recommending them all.

The Script Club Series:

Following the Rules #1

Rules of Play #2

The Jock Script #3

Synopsis:

The genius, the ex-jock, and a new playbook…

George-

My brother’s friend is hot—if you’re into flannel-wearing lumbersexual former jocks who eat donuts for dinner and still scribble to-do lists on their palms. I’m not. I’m a serious scientist in my final year of grad school. Okay, I admit I have few quirks of my own. I also have a broken truck and a boss who thinks I can help him find love. I’m in over my head. Help!

Aiden-

A few quirks? Really? George is the weirdest dude I know. He wears capes in public, brings a book everywhere he goes, and loves all things spooky. He’s also the smartest person on the planet—who somehow thinks I can help him write a How-To-Get-A-Date playbook for his boss. Yeah, that sounds suspicious. I know baseball; I don’t know anything about love. But I can’t say no. The thing is…I’ve always had a soft spot for George. But falling for my best friend’s brother is against the rules, isn’t it?

Rules of Play is an MM bisexual awakening story where opposites attract and shenanigans ensue!

Review: The Blacksmith and the ExCon(Farthingdale Ranch #2)by Jackie North

The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con(Farthingdale Ranch #2) by Jackie North

Rating: 5🌈

One theme that became easily apparent among all three Farthingdale books is that each contains one man’s journey from an abusive, traumatic past into a new renewed bright future. His path , one we accompany him on, is marked by a series of obstacles of varying elements, from small sidesteps off the path to what might seem insurmountable boulders to scale before he can recover and get, along with his true love, their HEA.

As I’ve mentioned in my other reviews, I started with the third novel in the series, went back to the beginning, and now end here at The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con while I await the release of the next stories.

So I can say this is probably the one novel most guaranteed to bring out the sniffles, that box of Kleenex, and the carton of ice cream. With one spoon.

Because Ellis and his history is heartbreaking! What he’s been through, yes, including the extremely poor choices the man made himself and paid for, he’s in our hearts. From the minute we meet him, bloody, beaten, filled with fear, hearing his story….we’re connected to Ellis. Mute, brutalized from his time in prison,Ellis is perhaps the most broken of all the traumatized men we’ve met in all these stories.How could you not hurt for him?

Jackie North has written such a vulnerable, heartbreaking character here that you want to enfold him , wrap him up safely so as to keep him from further harm.

Jasper, our Blacksmith, who’s self isolated himself within his work and cabin has such tight boundaries to begin with. But from his past history , we understand what caused him to establish them to begin with…a need to protect himself. However nothing prepares him for Ellis. Jasper will come to feel that its Ellis who’s in need of protection and more. But it will take time and an adjustment of his mind and heart to get there. Something we get a window into.

Both men are incredibly complex, emotionally and mentally. Life has added so many more layers of trauma and pain filled history between them to navigate that each tentative movement towards each other is often over a minefield.

Yet in a small cabin by a slow flowing River it becomes a thing of physical poetry, raw and emotional and shy.

All interspersed with the heat of the forge, the stamp of horses hooves as they wait to be shod or for a carrot treat, or any of the other daily ranch duties scheduled that flows through their lives and story.

It’s a found family at this ranch and all the people there seamlessly move around this couple and on the ranch as to make the reader see and feel apart of a living, working guest ranch. And this amazing group of people.

When the showdown comes, and in the utter relief at the end , I was reflecting on how much Ellis and Jasper had been through and how far they had come, and us with them.

What a journey! I was almost crying. In joy. What a story and couple. I look forward to seeing more of them in future stories as I know I will.

Another true pleasure with this remarkable series. I highly recommend this and all the books in this series.

Synopsis:

“If anybody ever needed him, Ellis did. Ellis was broken. Jasper liked to fix things.”

Jasper has the perfect life. He’s a blacksmith at a small guest ranch in Wyoming. The last thing he needs is to have that perfect life interrupted by a shifty-eyed ex-con, but the ranch needs the tax benefits the ex-con program will bring.

Traumatized by his time in prison, Ellis can barely speak. He’s about to be offered parole. He knows he will hate working on the guest ranch, but what other option does he have?

It’s not love at first sight. It’s not hate at first sight, either, but something in between.

A gay m/m cowboy romance with age gap, hurt/comfort, opposites attract, forced intimacy, emotional scars, trauma leading to mutism, grumpy/grumpy, and baths. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA

Need a new series to read and love? Start here. I’m recommending them all.

Out now:

The Foreman and the Drifter #1

The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con #2

The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad #3

Coming Soon – The newest books in the Farthingdale Ranch Series! soon…..

The Wrangler and The Orphan #4

The Cook and the Gangster #5

The Trail Boss and the Brat #6

Review: The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad (Farthingdale Ranch #3) by Jackie North

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Once again I started a series in the he middle but I don’t think it will make much of a difference here. It’s easy to understand the couples and I’ll be going back to pick up on each of their individual romances after this one.

Why? Because I so thoroughly enjoyed my stay on the Farthingdale Ranch and felt as though I’d actually been there , walking the grounds, riding the trails and being a part of that found family.

This story was so moving. Both men experienced such growth, one in particular had undergone such a bad relationship that he’d been badly damaged emotionally and that had resulted in Erectile Dysfunction, a subject matter treated here gently, lovingly, and focusing towards healing the man . It was amazing.

Interwoven with recovery was a remarkable Father/daughter relationship. You can’t help but love Bea. She was a force of nature.

The core is Clay and Austin finding a way towards a healthy, happy HEA … a true family. It’s a slow tentative path but one made through communication and adjustments. And a respect for each other.

What a great story and remarkable universe. Great characters, marvelous setting, moving plot lines. There’s three more stories to come and two prior books. Oh what joy!

I love it when I fall in love with a series! I believe you will too.

Head over to the Farthingdale Ranch and grab up all the books!

Synopsis:

“If Austin has forgotten what love is, maybe Clay can show him the way.”

Happy-go-lucky Clay keeps busy with hookups at the local bar after working hard at the ranch. Those hookups used to be fun, but now they leave him empty.

Austin is reeling after a difficult divorce. His wife took everything, including full custody of his daughter, Bea, who is only nine.

Austin doesn’t know where his life is headed, but at least he’s got a roof over his head, and a new job as accountant at Farthingdale Ranch.

The job is exactly the kind of work he loves. The only problem is he’s distracted by Clay, who is gay. Austin is straight. There’s no way this can work.

A gay M/M cowboy romance with age gap, hurt/comfort, opposites attract, single dad, out for you, midnight rendezvous, friendship between men. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA.

Out now:

The Foreman and the Drifter #1

The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con #2

The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad #3

Coming Soon – The newest book in the Farthingdale Ranch Series! soon…..

The Wrangler and The Orphan #4

The Cook and the Gangster #5

The Trail Boss and the Brat #6

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsThe Ranch Hand and the Single Dad … – Goodreads

Love Sci-Fi with a Kink? Check Out the Review Tour for Served with a Twist by Jet Lupin

REVIEW TOUR

Book Title: Served with a Twist

Author: Jet Lupin

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: December 28, 2019

Genre/s: Sci-Fi D/s M/M Romance

Trope/s: Clash of Backgrounds, Opposites attract, Man in Peril, Meet My Dysfunctional Family, Size Difference

Themes: Kink, light BDSM, light D/s themes, collaring

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 74 000 words

It is a standalone story.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Amazon Link

Amazon US | Amazon UK

The pretty ones were always trouble…

Blurb

Cut Jones knows Samson from his work, but not really. He knows he’s got money, that he likes his whiskey sours extra sweet, but that’s where his knowledge ends. Samson’s come into the bar every few days for a year but has hardly said more than five words at a time, but Cut didn’t mind. Samson was out of his league. So imagine his surprise when Samson asks for his help with a very personal issue.

The pressures of owning his own company and the expectations of his father had Samson Ba walking a razor’s edge. It was only a matter of time before he tried to find a release, but when he does it’s in the worst way. And he’s found by the last person he wanted to see him this way. But things aren’t all bad. Cut offers to help him relieve his stress, and Samson’s sure he’s just being nice, but some opportunities are too good to pass up.

About the Author

Stories longing to have words put to them were in Jet’s heart from an early age. Jet enjoys exploring the connections and similarities between people whether they be shifters, vampires, or aliens, rendering the unknowable very knowable indeed.

Jet’s days are spent toiling away at a keyboard, slumped over a pen and paper hunting for those words, or playing around on twitter with a partner, and two rambunctious cats for company in the temperamental North Eastern US.

Social Media Links

Blog/Website | Facebook Page | Facebook Reader Group | Twitter

Instagram | Newsletter Sign-up | Pinterest

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here

Join us for the Release Blitz with Excerpt for His Fake Prison Daddy by Thursday Euclid and Clancy Nacht

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: His Fake Prison Daddy

Author: Thursday Euclid and Clancy Nacht

Publisher: Eine Kleine Press

Cover Artist: Clancy Nacht

Release Date: January 15, 2020

Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope/s: Forced Intimacy/prison

Themes: Opposites attract

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 62 000 words/ 249 pages

It is a standalone story.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Beauty and the Beast, but with more daddy issues and violence.

Blurb

When eighteen-year-old hacker Elias Stuyvesant ends up in a maximum security state prison, he’s woefully unprepared despite his time in juvie. On day one, he’s thrown in with a man known as the Santa Fe Slayer, Ambrose Hughes.

Hughes is quiet, disfigured, and weirdly urbane. Elias was so young when Hughes committed his crimes that he has only the faintest idea what Hughes is in for. However, Hughes makes clear that Elias is his ideal victim type…and there’s no one to protect Elias from the much larger man with his prison-jacked body and that hard gleam in his dark eyes.

Whoever paired them has it in for Elias; that much is obvious.

Elias is terrified of Hughes, but he soon realizes the other prisoners are worse. If Elias is going to survive, he’ll have to choose the lesser of the evils: To preserve himself, he’ll need Hughes for his Daddy. And given Hughes’s skewed morality, they’ll have to fake it till they make it.

Excerpt

Then the guard exhaled and stopped outside a heavily reinforced door set in a wall of solid concrete. It looked nothing like the cell blocks they’d passed earlier, with their steel bars or Plexiglas, open to the guards’ gazes and Elias’s curiosity.

“This is…” Elias searched the guard’s face for clues, unable to finish articulating his question.

“Yeah, this is it. You’re in with—” The guard licked his lips with what looked like legit nervousness. “Ambrose Hughes.”

Elias blinked at him, not grasping the gravity invested in that name. Who the hell was that?

The guard looked at Elias with visible pity. “The Santa Fe Slayer.”

Shit.

No.

Shit shit shit.

The Santa Fe Slayer was fucking crazy. Not that Elias knew precisely what Hughes had done beyond killing people, but if he’d been active in most other states, he’d be on Death Row. But motherfucking New Mexico abolished the death penalty, so Hughes was just waiting to die in prison, no hope of parole.

Which meant, Elias quickly grasped, that he really had nothing motivating him to behave. What was one more murder to him?

He was already serving like twelve consecutive life sentences. Was he one of those who ate people?

Elias didn’t have time to collect his wits or steel his bladder before the guard knocked politely at the door and then unlocked it, pushing it open to reveal a windowless room thick with shadow. It was somehow even smaller than Elias had expected, with nothing to look at but a sink, a toilet, a little shelf built into the wall currently stocked with what looked like battered novels, and a bunk against the far wall, its bottom bed stripped bare, waiting for the bedding Elias carried. It took him a moment to realize the big shadow up by the ceiling was his cellmate.

Hughes stretched languidly and started to slide off the top bunk with the predatory air of a panther. “Garcia, sweet man, who have you brought to visit me?”

“New cellmate.” The guard—Garcia?—stepped back through the door and quickly removed Elias’s cuffs before shoving him forward toward the Santa Fe Slayer’s approach.

Elias looked desperately back at the guard as the thick steel door clicked shut. It beeped as it locked. A small, barred hole at eye level revealed that Garcia had already turned away.

“Hughes,” the man said, his voice pleasantly deep and drawling but edged with something unpredictable. Excitable. “Welcome to Hell.”

Elias clutched the bedding to his chest as if it might ward off attack, or maybe just because he needed to hold something.

This was why Edward Snowden ran. The government clearly sent Elias here to be murderated. Well, if he was lucky, he’d be murdered before this dude started to eat him.

Though he wasn’t even conscious of moving backwards, his heels hit the closed door behind him, leaving him nowhere to run.

In some ways, it reminded Elias of his first day in juvie, when he’d been so terrified, but at least then he was of comparable size and flexible enough sexuality to avoid becoming a target.

Taking a deep breath, Elias tried to collect himself, put on a brave face, and lifted his chin proudly. “Do you prefer being called Hughes? I mean, if it was me, I’d want to be called Slayer. Or Hannibal or something. Not that you probably need a badass nickname, I guess.”

Rambling. Fuck.

Awkward since the man just kept watching him, Elias gathered his bedding in his left arm and offered his hand to shake. “I’m Elias or Stuyvesant, or, you know… whatever.”

Hughes stared at him, dark eyes glinting dangerously in the low light. Something was wrong with his face, though it was hard to tell with how dim it was, but the texture was wrong, too reflective, scarred. He cocked his head to the side and said, “Maybe I’ll call you Bitch. Do you answer to that?”

He didn’t take Elias’s hand. He just stood there, looming, radiating amused malice.

“Um, well, I guess I could, but… um…” Great. So they were already going there. He was being fed to this Freddy Krueger motherfucker and there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. “I mean, this is prison. Won’t there already be a lot of people responding to that name? Wouldn’t want to step on any toes or cause confusion.”

What am I saying?

On the bright side, if he pissed this guy off, he might die quick.

In the silence, Elias was aware of Hughes’s shoulders shaking as his breathing turned choppy. Then, with mingled relief and horror, he realized Hughes was laughing at him.

With him?

At him.

“Stuyvesant then. No one else will carry that moniker surely.”

About the Authors

Thursday Euclid

Thursday Euclid (he/him) is the m/m romance pen name of Rainbow Award winning author Will Craig, a thirtysomething disabled, fat, white, queer trans man from Houston, TX. For those who care, he is an Aquarius, and if you’ve met him, you probably can’t imagine him being anything else.

Proud da to two incredible queer, nonbinary kids aged 16 and 18 and honorary da to a 17-year-old black trans girl, Thursday spends a lot of time cooking vegetarian food in his Instant Pot while listening to Radiohead and dishing out advice and hugs to the younglings. Many of those scorching sex scenes were written or edited while obnoxiously loud teenagers danced to BTS in the living room.

When he’s not playing World of Warcraft with his handsome trans boyfriend, he’s probably watching horror movies or talking to his best friend and frequent collaborator Clancy Nacht.

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

Twitter

Clancy Nacht

Clancy Nacht is a bisexual genderqueer person who lives in Austin. Clancy has published several bestselling romances. Many of her books have been honored with Rainbow Awards; Le Jazz Hot won for Best Bisexual/Transgender Romance & Erotic Romance. In 2013, Black Gold: Double Black was a runner-up for a Rainbow Award. In 2015, Gemini won an Honorable Mention for Gay Erotic Romance and in 2016, Strange Times won an Honorable Mention for Science Fiction. Wyatt’s Recipes for Wooing Rock Stars was a finalist in the highly competitive William Neale Award for Best Gay Contemporary Romance. The Phisher King won second place in the Rainbow Award for Romantic Suspense, 16th for Gay Book of the Year.

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

Twitter

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Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here

Love Hockey Romance? Check Out the Reveal Blitz for Shots on Goal (Stick Side #3) by Amy Aislin (excerpt and giveaway)

Release Blitz: SHOTS ON GOAL by Amy Aislin

Series: Stick Side #3

Publisher: self-published

Release Date January 7, 2020

Length (Print & Ebook): 84,600 words | 330 pages

Genre: contemporary/new adult romance

Tropes: opposites attract, made family

Cover artist: Natasha Snow

Order now:

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shots-on-goal-amy-aislin/1134804933

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/shots-on-goal-2

Amazon: https://geni.us/ShotsOnGoal

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/shots-on-goal/id1487229069

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47968323-shots-on-goal

Book blurb:

Recently traded to the newly formed Vermont Trailblazers, professional hockey player Roman Kinsey needs to focus on helping the team win games and filling the stands, not on the blond, bespectacled part-timer who works at the library he volunteers at. He knows all too well that outing himself equals heartache and ridicule…or worse.

Cody Evans, psych major and grad school hopeful, notices everything and thinks too much. But he doesn’t know what to think when he sees Roman reading to kids. The rugged hockey player just doesn’t look like the type. But it stirs something in him, something he’s never felt before.

When the library is threatened with closure, Cody enlists Roman’s help. As they get to know each other better…much, much better…they realize that they have more in common than books. But Roman’s keeping a big part of himself from his team, and giving in to his feelings for Cody might be more than he’s willing to risk.

Reviews:

“With lots of hockey, delicious food, and the sweetest couple ever, Amy Aislin scores a hat trick with Shots on Goal.” — Kelly Jensen, award-winning author of Block and Strike

“Shots on Goal is a great wintertime read. Like a warm blanket and a mug of hot chocolate! Huddle up by the fire and enjoy this cozy story!” — Allison Temple, author of The Seacroft Stories series

“I love hockey romance, and this book delivered all the romance I needed alongside awesome hockey.” — RJ Scott, USA Today bestselling author

“I’m already a big fan of Amy Aslin’s Stick Side series, so I was thrilled to get an early read of Shots on Goal. Cody and Roman’s story didn’t disappoint. Shots on Goal is the perfect blend of the beloved sports and small-town romance tropes. Roman’s gruff, strained interactions with his ice hockey team play well against Cody’s heartwarming relationship with his fellow library lovers. As these two men inadvertently team up to help save the historic library, Roman realizes there just may be someone worth opening up to, and at the same time, Cody learns that sometimes falling in love brings with it tough choices. Shots on Goal is a strong addition to Aislin’s delicious world-building surrounding the sexy, competitive world of hockey. We get to visit old friends from previous books, but it is not necessary to have read them to enjoy Shots on Goal.” — Lucy Lennox, Bestselling author

Excerpt:

“You read?”

“Why do you say that like I’m an unintelligent jock who’s never seen a book in his life?” Roman asked. He didn’t sound insulted, merely curious.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Or was it? “I guess I figured you wouldn’t have enough time to read.”

“I’m a hockey player, not a doctor. I do get downtime.”

“Enough downtime to come watch my friend’s game sometime?”

Roman finished off his coffee and set his mug on the table. “I suppose. Don’t know why you want me to so bad, though.”

You look like you need friends was not the way Cody should answer. He tried for nonchalant and shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you? The Mountaineers are awesome, Glen Hill isn’t too far from Burlington, and it’s a great way to spend an evening.”

“The University of Vermont has a hockey team. I could just go watch them.”

Cody scowled at the mention of the Glen Hill Mountaineers’ rivals. “Traitor.”

It made Roman laugh and little creases formed at the corner of his eyes, which, for some reason, made Cody grin back at him.

Author Information:

Amy’s lived with her head in the clouds since she first picked up a book as a child, and being fluent in two languages means she’s read a lot of books! She first picked up a pen on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class had to stay inside for recess. Tales of treasure hunts with her classmates eventually morphed into love stories between men, and she’s been writing ever since. She writes evenings and weekends—or whenever she isn’t at her full-time day job saving the planet at Canada’s largest environmental non-profit.

An unapologetic introvert, Amy reads too much and socializes too little, with no regrets. She loves connecting with readers. Join her Facebook Group to stay up-to-date on upcoming releases and for access to early teasers, find her on Instagram and Twitter, or sign up for her infrequent newsletter here.

Website: https://amyaislin.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyaislin/ 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amyaislin

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/amy-aislin 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amy_aislin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amy.aislin  

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyAislinAuthor  

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ddvWFv 

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amyaislinauthor/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16693566.Amy_Aislin  

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/amyaislin    

QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/amy-aislin/  

Release blitz giveaway:

Winner’s choice of ONE signed paperback from Amy’s backlist!

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**The Nature of the Game (Stick Side #2) is on $0.99 sale from January 7-13, 2020!**

A Stella Review: What We May Be by Vivien Dean

RATING 3,75 out of 5 stars

Fashion is Jared Harvey’s life. Once a top model, now an aspiring designer, he never expects to be attracted to a man who wouldn’t know his Versace from his Valentino. But Rick Paulson makes him rethink everything he’s ever assumed he wanted in a man.

Rick’s generous, built like a brick house, and best of all, hungry to let Jared take control. Together, they ignite passions in each other neither wants to extinguish. So what if Rick doesn’t care about Jared’s Cavalli? Life’s more than a runway, especially with a man like Rick around …

If you love the “opposites attract” trope, you can’t miss this title. Jared and Rick can’t be more different, the first rich, ex top model now a fashion designer, the second one a nurse. They meet at a fundraiser for an AIDS charity and it’s clear they are made for each other. It’s not just lust at first sight, there’s so much more and, althought What We May Be is very short, the author did a great job and showed me how serious the main characters were about building a life together. The story is packed with feelings, quick to read, sweet and well written. I will definetely look out for more releases by Vivien Dean.

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is lovely and fitting, I like it.

SALE LINKS JMS Books LLC | Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 76 pages

Published September 21st 2019 by JMS Books LLC (first published February 8th 2009)

ASIN B07XW8LNS6

Edition Language English

In The Spotlight Tour and Giveaway:Counter Culture by JL Merrow.

Counter Culture by J.L. Merrow

Riptide Publishing
Published November 4th 2019

Cover Art: LC Chase

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo

Hi, I’m JL Merrow, and I’m delighted to be here today to celebrate the release of my new rom-com, Counter Culture, which features a clash of cultures between a socially conscious steampunk and a stressed-out department store retail worker.

About Counter Culture

Customer service has never been this personal.

Robin Christopher, beleaguered retail worker, isn’t having an easy November. His boss is raising stress levels planning a Black Friday to end all Black Fridays, his family doesn’t understand him, and his best friend thinks his new crush is a hallucination brought on by watching too many episodes of Doctor Who.

Archie Levine dresses in Victorian style and divides his time between caring for his young son and creating weird and wacky steampunk gadgets from bits of old junk—when he’s not looking after his mum and trying to keep on good terms with his ex. The last thing he’s got time for is a relationship, but the flustered young man he met while disembowelling a fridge is proving very tempting.

When his mum’s social conscience is roused by a local store with a cavalier attitude to the homeless, former rough sleeper Archie shares her anger. Little does he know that Robin works for that same store. When Archie finds out he’s sleeping with the enemy, things could cut up very rough indeed.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!

About JL Merrow

JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again.

She writes (mostly) contemporary gay romance and mysteries, and is frequently accused of humour. Two of her novels have won Rainbow Awards for Romantic Comedy (Slam!, 2013 and Spun!, 2017) and several of her books have been EPIC Awards finalists, including Muscling Through, Relief Valve (the Plumber’s Mate Mysteries) and To Love a Traitor.

JL Merrow is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers Association, Verulam Writers and the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Find JL Merrow online at: https://jlmerrow.com/, on Twitter as @jlmerrow, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jl.merrow

Giveaway

To celebrate this release, one lucky person will win a $10 gift card to Riptide. Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 9, 2019. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Don’t Miss Out on the New Release Blitz for Starting from Scratch (Starting From #2) by Lane Hayes (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Starting From Scratch

Series: Starting From, #2

Author: Lane Hayes

Publisher: Lane Hayes

Release Date: October 17, 2019

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 80k

Genre: Romance, Bisexual, Enemies to lovers, Rock and roll, Hurt-comfort, Opposites attract

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Charlie Rourke is an ultra fabulous human whirlwind on a mission to launch the next biggest band in the world. However, he might have taken on more than he could handle when he signed on to manage Zero. Promoting a rock band and finding gigs shouldn’t be hard. They’re a talented group with a ton of star power. If Charlie can find the right record label, he’s sure he can help them get to the next level. The only problem is the skater boy slash bassist with a quirky sense of humor. He’s annoying and silly, and he’s exactly Charlie’s type. Except he’s straight.

Ky Baldwin isn’t afraid to switch things up. He loves a challenge as much as anyone, but Charlie doesn’t make things easy. Zero’s manager is a force of nature with a razor sharp tongue, a quick wit, and a no-nonsense attitude. Ky can’t stop thinking about him. Winning over Charlie becomes Ky’s pet project. But when the ice between them thaws, neither is prepared for the intensity of going from enemies to lovers. They’ll have to decide if they’re willing to start from scratch and take a chance on the unexpected.

Excerpt

“I know that was random, but it’s not a bad idea if you think about it. Want something to drink?” Charlie asked as he moved toward the kitchen.

I grabbed his wrist before he got anywhere. “Hang on. What are you doing?”

He cocked his head curiously but didn’t pull away. “I’m being practical. If you read any further about Virgos you probably found out we’re known for being sensible. And polite. So, I’m politely asking if you’d like a beverage while sensibly suggesting that I help out with your skating lessons.”

“Okay. First up…I don’t want a fuckin’ snack and second, it’s not a skating lesson. We’re skateboarding,” I said, glowering at him.

“I’ve heard it said both ways. Skating, skateboarding. I looked it up in Urban Dictionary too, so I’m pretty sure I’m right.”

“No. There’s something in your tone that makes it all wrong. Like you’re purposely trying to sabotage this.”

Charlie opened his mouth in a perfect O. “Gasp! I wouldn’t do that!”

“Cut the crap. You’re doing it now. You don’t want to learn, and you don’t want Oliver to either. It’s a control thing. But you can’t control what you don’t fuckin’ get. So take a seat and let me teach him without you freaking out or—why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You’re doing something weird with your eyes, though. You look spaced out.”

“Mmm. I’m trying not to swoon. You look so fierce and you’re holding my hand, Ky. You should feel my heart. It’s beating out of my chest. Seriously.” He fluttered his lashes a few times and bit his bottom lip.

I chuckled softly and stepped closer. “Are you flirting with me, Char?”

“No, it’s the other way around. You’re flirting with me. Big macho displays really get my motor running. Medium-sized ones do too. I love it when…”

Okay, so I lost myself. I tuned out the sound of his voice and concentrated on him. The mischievous glint in his eyes, the proud set of his shoulders, and the way his mouth curled at the corner. He was doing it again. Owning the moment. Taking it over. Charlie looked for weakness in any form, then slyly made adjustments before moving in for the kill. No doubt he thought I’d back down fast and run away. I wasn’t going anywhere.

I fixated on his bottom lip and inched closer. He kept talking…something about dick size or muscles…I wasn’t sure, but I liked the cadence of his voice. The teasing lilt and easy humor. I let go of his wrist, brushing his fingers before setting my hand on his hip. He went perfectly still.

Before he could ask me what the fuck I was doing, I kissed him.

It was more of a press of lips than a grand gesture. And though it might not rank as the kind of kiss that would change the world, I immediately knew it would change mine.

Everything in me went on high alert. I’d never been so in tune with a moment. The flutter of his eyelashes, the brush of his nose, and the soft sweetness of his lips against mine. Fuck, it was amazing. Like mind-blowing amazing. He tasted like cherries and smelled like sunshine mixed with something exotic.

I couldn’t be sure over the roar of my heart attempting to beat its way out of my chest, but I thought he hummed in approval, so I angled my head slightly to deepen the connection and pulled him closer. If he was anyone else, I probably would have stuck my tongue between his lips and let my hands roam all over his body. I wanted to, but I didn’t want to scare either of us. So I stayed where I was until the need for oxygen became an issue.

Then I jumped back two feet and stared at him with my eyes bugged out. “Holy fuck.”

Charlie set his fingers on his bottom lip and blinked like he was coming out of a daze. “You kissed me,” he said softly.

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Meet the Author

Lane Hayes is grateful to finally be doing what she loves best. Writing full-time! It’s no secret Lane loves a good romance novel. An avid reader from an early age, she has always been drawn to well-told love story with beautifully written characters. These days she prefers the leading roles to both be men. Lane discovered the M/M genre a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Her debut novel was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist and subsequent books have received Honorable Mentions, and won First Prize in the 2016 and 2017 Rainbow Awards. She loves red wine, chocolate and travel (in no particular order). Lane lives in Southern California with her amazing husband in a newly empty nest.

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A MelanieM Review : Coast To Coast (Arizona Raptors #1) by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

When opposites attract, it’s not just the team that’s in for a shake-up.

When a stipulation in his father’s will throws Mark back into a family that disowned him, he has only two things on his mind; buying his way out of contractual obligations and running in the opposite direction as fast as he can. When neither option pans out, he finds he is now a one third owner of the struggling Arizona Raptors hockey team, and that is just about the worst thing he could have happened to him. Not only does he hate hockey, but the Raptors are a bottom-of-the-league team, rife with jealousies and anger in a locker room that only knows self-pity. How is he supposed to help turn things around when the only way to start fixing things is to form an alliance with the estranged siblings he’d run from fifteen years earlier?

Then there’s Rowen Carmichael, a stubborn, opinionated, irritating man with superiority issues and questionable taste in music. Butting heads with Rowen, who he’d never even wanted to hire in the first place, is one thing, but there is no way in hell that he will allow the growing attraction to the new coach become anything more. Until with everything on the line, he has to make decisions that will change his life forever.

After years of collegiate coaching, Rowen is given an offer that he simply can’t refuse, although perhaps he should. When he’s presented with the chance to take one of the worst teams in the league and mold them into a future cup contender, the challenge is just too alluring to pass up. He leaves his beloved Ontario behind and moves west to the arid city of Tucson where he is faced with a broken team, shoddy management, and players overflowing with resentment and bigotry.

Never in his twenty years of hockey has he ever seen such a raging dumpster fire of an organization. Yet there’s something about this team and this city that compels him to roll up his sleeves and start dismantling. He has his eye on a new associate coach that’s bound to makes waves, and several key players who should be sent packing. Now all he has to do is convince the new owners of the team that his choices are for the best. If only Mark Westman-Reid, one of three siblings who now own the Raptors, wasn’t so damned rock-headed, so damned snooty, and so damned appealing his job might be a bit easier.

The new series by RJ Scott and VL Locey picks up after the graduation of senior Ryker Madsen and his draft into the hated Arizona Raptors (Owatonna U series). You have to have read both the Harrisburg Railers series and the Owatonna U series to know exactly how loathsome this team is in just about every way. That’s the starting point and the road to redemption that Coast to Coast begins on.

It’s a huge thing to make the fans and readers like this team that we have frankly despised for so long and still do with some of the hateful players deeply embedded within the team. And now Ryker is there, the last place we and him want him to be. Yikes!

So how to dig the team out of the well of negative emotions the authors have dug for them? As the blurb says, it starts with a shake-up. In ownership and management and coaching. All around. The death of the team owner and his will reunites an estranged family with the son and brother that left years ago. Mark Westman-Reid’s presence is needed to help run the team, and that means staying in Arizona and leaving his business and life in NYC behind. The last thing he wants to do. And he clashes with the man his father hired. Rowen Carmichael,, there to turn the club around and given a certain carte blanche that irritates the sons that inherited the team and that, in his opinion, clearly don’t understand the game.

The strong personalities are set from the beginning. It’s a great opposites attract storyline that has it’s sexy, charismatic men snarling at it each from the beginning. And that’s so hot. The men push, pull, dance around, until the heat just explodes. The relationship dynamics just work.

Other threads includes the fractured family with revelations of its own. Some of the issues here were especially deep and involved some very serious elements, I thought perhaps some of the family secrets were either dealt with too quickly or smoothed over, but perhaps it was the length of the book. There was so much going on here, not just with Mark’s family but with the hugge elements on the team too.

That would be the defenseman,Aarni, who horrifically injured Ryker’s stepdad, the devil’s own thug on skates that has to be dealt with. Rowen has a great group of young players we meet while still managing with the sour leftovers of a team at it’s lowest. Here once more we get the writers best when telegraphing the inner workings of the locker room, skate practice, or the hesitate fumblings of a team trying to come together.

The last part of the story brings it all thundering together in a painful, thoughtful, and complicated ending that points the way to a more hopeful future for the Raptors and this couple. A definite surprise for all the longtime fans.And now I can’t wait for the next in the series. I would definitely recommend reading the first two series for all that added knowledge of the characters you will be meeting and the situations talked about in the stories. Plus look at all the great novels you will be reading. Win win.

Cover art:Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Boook Details:

Kindle Edition, 199 pages
Published September 29th 2019 by Love Lane Books Ltd
ASINB07Y6N1B3B
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesArizona Raptors #1

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Release Blitz: SHOTS ON GOAL by Amy Aislin

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Counter Culture by J.L. Merrow

Riptide Publishing Published November 4th 2019

Cover Art: LC Chase

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo

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Synopsis

Excerpt

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Riptide Publishing
Published November 4th 2019