Its a Cocktail of Love with Dirty Martini 2: The Screwdriver by G.R. George (Renee George) (giveaway)

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Dirty Martini 2: The Screwdriver (The Other Team #8)
Author Name: G.R. George/Renee George
Release Date: March 7, 2016

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/Renee_George
Publisher: Book Boutique
Cover Artist: Renee George

 

Blurb

Marty Lincoln and Chris Lawson are only happy when they’re in each other’s arms. Unfortunately, their relationship remains long-distance as Marty completes his final months in the Army. Chris has a new and challenging job that keeps him busy, but he yearns every day for Marty. Marty suffers from PTSD and needs Chris as his anchor. Time apart feeds the doubts each man harbors as they deal with their tragic pasts and try to hold on to the love blooming between them. Will fear make them give up before they even get started? Or will love find a way?

 

Pages or Words: 76 pages, 19,000 words
This book should be read after Dirty Martini, but it is suggested that the series be read in order as character recur throughout.
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt

Mid-August…

Marty pulled up into the parking lot of Chris’s apartment complex in his mid-sized rental car. The evening heat and humidity clung to his skin. He and Chris had talked at least three times a week since that first phone call a month earlier, but he’d really wanted to see the man again. They’d decided to meet up on Chris’s first weekend off since becoming day manager at the bar. Marty had the jitters. What if they didn’t have the same chemistry? The same spark? All their intimacies since June had been via phone.

Chris had suggested video chat, but Marty had been too much of a chicken. Living in the military made a man paranoid about privacy. He pulled his tee shirt at the collar to let in some air, mustering his courage. The heat exacerbated the oily scent of the recently tarred parking lot. He smiled, remembering the choice words Chris had about the tar sticking to his tires. The outside steps leading to the second floor were concrete. Marty gripped the metal railing. His leg ached as he walked the flight to apartment 3B.

He bit his upper lip, running his fingers through his hair, as he stood at the door. His stomach ached with a misery born of anticipation and fear. His impulse was to bang down the door, but instead, he simply knocked. Twice.

The door opened. Chris smiled. “You made it.” Chris wore a kiwi-green tee shirt that brightened the green in his hazel eyes and a pair of low-slung jeans that hugged his narrow hips. His chestnut hair was neatly combed, and his narrow, angular face was clean shaven.

“You look nice,” Marty said.

Chris stepped back inside his apartment. “Come in. You’ve had a long trip. The bathroom is the door across the way.” There were two doors off the living room. Chris pointed the nearest one. “If you need to use it.”

“I’m fine,” Marty said. The living room and kitchen were combined in the small apartment. Chris had a blue couch, a coffee table, a recliner, and a small flat screen on a stand across the room from the couch in the living room. The kitchen had a three-by-three wooden table, four chairs, a fridge, dishwasher, sink, stove, and limited counter and cabinet space. The place wouldn’t win any decorating awards, but it was clean.

“Do you want to sit down?” Chris asked.

“Sure.” Marty felt let down by Chris’s mild reaction. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but this congenial greeting hadn’t been it. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” Chris said. “Can I get you a drink? Beer? Wine?”

“Sure. I’ll take whatever beer you have.” He watched Chris open the fridge and heard the telltale clinking of bottles.

Chris brought two beers into the living room. The bottles hissed as he popped the tops with an opener. He sat on the couch next to Marty. “Here you go.”

The cold bottle sweated against his hot, clammy hands. He swigged the beer, glad to have a reason not to talk for a moment. They’d talked so much on the phone over the past month that he’d assumed they’d never run out of things to say.

“So,” Chris said. “Long drive, huh?”

Wow, this conversation really was going nowhere. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “Yes, of course. Why? Is everything okay with you?”

“Sure.” Marty scratched at the small hole near the knee of his jeans. “Good.” Why was this so goddamn hard? He turned to Chris and waited for Chris to meet his gaze.

They both laughed nervously.

“Maybe you should kiss me,” Marty said.

Buy the book: Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA

Meet the Author

G.R. George is the pen name for USA Today Bestselling author Renee George’s GLBT urban fantasy, paranormal romance, erotic romance, contemporary romance, and romantic comedy books that highlight varying themes including ménage, gay and bisexual relationships. A published author since 2005, she has written and published over 30 books in the past decade. Accolades include: EcataRomance Award for Best Paranormal Erotic Romance and Best Gay Erotic Romance and a Literary Nymph Blush Award for Best Paranormal Romance.

Where to find the author:


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, BFD Book Blog, Gay Media Reviews, Happily Ever Chapter,

Inked Rainbow Reads, Bayou Book Junkie, For the Love of Bookends, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words,

The Hat Party, A.M. Leibowitz, MM Good Book Reviews, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews,

Full Moon Dreaming, V’s Reads, Alpha Book Club, Open Skye Book Reviews, Attention Is Arbitrary,

Up All Night, Read All Day, The Jena Wade, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Charley Descoteaux,

Mikky’s World of Books, Outrageous Heroes, Cheekypee Reads and Reviews

Dirty Martini

Giveaway

Enter to win. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

 

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A MelanieM Review: Mantled In Mist (SoulShares #6) by Rory Ni Coileain

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Mantled in the MistIn the sixth novel in the Rainbow Award-nominated paranormal M/M SoulShares series, Fiachra Dubhdara is a Fae living a stolen life, in a body that isn’t his own. He’s also the most junior detective on the D.C. Vice squad, assigned the task of infiltrating and shutting down Tiernan Guaire’s Purgatory.
Peri Katsura is the newest and hottest masseur at Lochlann Doran’s Big Boy Massage, inexplicably drawn to the gorgeous cop assigned to bust him but needing to hide a dark secret of his own.
And the owner of Fiachra’s body has a plan to get it back – a plan that may cost Fiachra his SoulShare and close the doors of Purgatory forever. Unless the Marfach gets there first…

Mantled in the Mist by Rory Ni Coilean takes one of my favorite series and with this story made it even deeper and more fantastical.  The author has added several new magical beings, ones we have never heard of before, to this tale of pain, loss and magic.  We are now introduced to races that played major roles in the ancient war that sundered Earth from the other dimension the Fae now reside in.  The price for one race?  They became the subject of mockery, bullying, and deep outright cruelty by the purer fae on the other side for their racial bloodline and past history.  The price paid by the others on Earth? Well, I’ll leave that for the story.

By overlaying such emotional elements, one you can interpret by modern standards so many ways, Ni Coileain has elevated this series to new heights.  The overlays and  similarities can be made for the aboriginal races around the world today and their treatment at the hands of the “superior” races that followed, or to the nature/earth religions who suffered at the developing cultures that encroached and exterminated them.  There is a richness of interpretation here that makes the enjoyment of reading the story swell along with the tale of romance, suspense and yes, horror that follows.

Fiachra, dark skinned, dark haired, tormented, Fiachra thought it better to fade than continue his existence as it was.  But fading did not go as planned and he ended up in another’s body.  Tall, gorgeous, blonde, everything a pure fae looks like.  I love the comparisons and problems this poses here when Fiachra meets his SoulShare and wants him to love the real Fiachra.  The problem of getting his body back was a maze of pain and problem solving that I loved  watching play out over the story.  Actually one than one problem, something else I will leave for the story.

Peri Katsura is another one of those damaged souls that Rory Ni Coileain does so beautifully.  Drag queen, masseur, Peri has many faces and a inability to trust, especially the big blond cop that threatens to bust him.  The two of them together are so engaging in their painful pasts and colliding confusions of the heart.   To help them/blockade them are all the other SoulShare couples from the previous stories still working together to stop the horrific Marfach from their planned assault on the Fae world, a task making the Fae ruthless on both sides.

The characterizations here are vivid, believable and have staying power.  I can pick up these stories and remember exactly who is who.  The terror engendered by the Marfach just grows with each story, something I had not thought possible given some of the past scenes of torture that are rendered somewhat graphically in previous books. Here it is more of the imagination because we know what it/they are capable of.

It ends, as they all do, far too quickly, setting us up for the next in the series.  If I am reading the author right, it should be an entirely different take on the SoulShares element.  Could be wrong, but I can’t see to see it play out.

Here is a series that has it all.  Fantasy, romances, bdsm, horror, mythology, beautiful world building…and six books and growing. I highly recommend it to lovers of all of the above and more.  But don’t read them out of order as they build on each other.  New to the series?  Start with the first, keeping up with me?  Pick this one up and  continue along.

Cover art is lovely, I like the celtic elements and its very different from the ones before.

Sales Links:  Amazon | All Romance eBooks | Riverdale Avenue Books

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 334 pages
Published January 20th 2016 by Riverdale Avenue Books
ASINB01AVNC1N4
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesSoulShares #6

SoulShares Series in the order they were written and should be read (add them to your Goodread list):

A Paul B Review: Love Simplified (Game, Set, Match #2) by Teegan Loy

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Love SimplifiedJalen Marten met the love of his life Austin Suter one day during high school when Austin Suter hit a tennis ball into Jalen.  A few months later, Austin made his professional tennis debut at the Australian Open.  Instead of immediately going on tour, Austin returned to high school and Jalen.  As graduation approaches, Austin leaves for Europe and to play in the French Open and Wimbledon.  On graduation day, Jalen’s mother surprises him with a ticket to Paris to join Austin at the French Open and the summer tennis season.

Although welcomed by Austin and his mother, Jalen’s appearance is not accepted by everyone.  Austin’s father and his publicist are afraid if word got out that Austin has a boyfriend touring around with him.  They do everything to make sure that Jalen is as marginalized as possible.  They ask Jalen not to sit in the player’s family box.  They ask him to disguise his appearance as much as possible.  However, the young men do everything possible to spend as much time together as they can, thanks in part to Austin’s mother.  She runs interference as much as she can.  The tipping point is when Austin has a fashion shoot with a famous designer.  A male model does not show up and the photographer drafts Jalen to fill in for him.  The photograph that is the center of the campaign ends up being one of the two men in a smoldering pose.

Austin does well at both the French Open and Wimbledon.  His tennis star is clearly rising.  Jalen’s presence on tour worries not only Austin’s father but Jalen himself.  As the pressure from Austin’s father increases, Jalen knows his presence is causing tension in the Suter family.  Jalen leaves right before the biggest match for Austin—the final of the US Open.  He first heads home to talk with his mother, the leaves for Los Angeles to pursue his passion—music.

When he arrives in LA, Jalen meets a young man who finds him a job as a barista at a friend’s coffee shop and a place to crash if he agrees to help with general maintenance of the apartment complex he manages.  It appears that Evan has issues of his own to work through.  While Evan has his business ventures, the relationship he has with his father influences most things he does.  However, Evan proves to be a friend to Jalen and provides help by introducing him to a record producer.  However, the greatest assistance Evan provides comes at a holiday party for the complex.   With Evan’s help, Jalen’s previous doubts disappear and seems to head toward a happily ever after.

While I enjoyed this book, it was not quite the book that I expected.  The first quarter of the book started just about how I thought it would go.  But once Jalen leaves Austin behind in New York, the story diverted into more of a character study of both Jalen and Evan.  While being mentioned in passing several times, Austin does not reappear until the last 15 percent of the book.  Although its mentioned by Jalen’s mother or Austin’s mother that Austin’s game is suffering because of Jalen’s absence, it would have been nice to have some scenes of Austin while on the tennis tour without Jalen.

The book does portray the over-involvement some parents take in their children’s tennis careers that we have heard about in the media.  Personally, I would have preferred more time on tour with Jalen and Austin and a little less time of Jalen’s self-discovery in Los Angeles.

The cover art by Maria Fanning is perfect for the book.  It depicts Jalen and Austin above a tennis net and the Eiffel Tower.  It is well done.

Sales Links:   Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details

ebook, 286 pages
Expected publication: March 4th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634770460
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series:  Game, Set, Match

Love Complicated (Game, Set, Match #1)

Love Simplified (Game, Set Match #2)

A Lila Review: In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

In the Middle of Somewhere coverGrad student, Daniel Mulligan is the youngest of four brothers. They were raised by their father after their mother’s death. The oldest three followed their dad’s path, working with him in the family’s car repair shop. Daniel knew at an early age that he wanted to do something different in order to escape everyone’s shadow. He’s working on his dissertation by the time the story starts.

 After applying to multiple jobs across the country, including in his home state of Pennsylvania, he gets an interview in Holiday– a small college town in Michigan. After the interview, faith intervened and he meets Rex Vale. They have great chemistry from the moment they met and a second chance encounter gave them the opening to reconnect and explore a possible relationship.

Their time together allowed them to learn more about themselves and how they work together. We get to see how real life interferes with the relationship they are trying to build and how events out of their control morphed their perceptions of what they had achieved until that point.

Even so, we get a strong HFN that can be considered the start of a HEA.

 In the Middle of Somewhere is a book that showed on my friends’ newsfeeds almost every day when it was first published. Most reviews were grouped into two camps, like it or hate it. I’m in the middle, no pun intended. It was a hard book to read and rate. I didn’t no connect with Daniel or Rex until the seventy percent mark. If I had to rate the book up to that point, I’d had given it two stars– a DNF was a very real possibility early on. For me, the last part of the book redeemed the characters and their love story. Perhaps, a solid four for that part.

 Getting used to the book’s POV, first person present tense, didn’t take much. After a couple of paragraphs, I had no trouble with it. Unfortunately, the POV created a distance between the narrator and the reader. As a narrator, Daniel felt younger than his thirty years. His internal dialogues were repetitive and all over the place. It was easy to get annoyed by him and miss important parts of the story.

 It took me longer than normal to finish reading it because the middle part is longer than necessary. The day-to-day events became monotonous and the time lapses too wide. One thing I enjoyed about this story were the secondary characters. They saved this part of the story giving us a welcome distraction.

 The first rays of love between Rex and Daniel are what make this book worth it. The MCs come from different backgrounds and have different ideas of what they wanted from life, but when they are together, nothing else matters. Their slow built and quiet companionship let the reader see how two damage boys became smart and loving men against all odds.

 As the first book in the series, we didn’t get all the answers we would want about particular events or the MCs’ future, but there’s enough information to entice the reader into reading the next book.

 The cover by AngstyG works well with the story setting and the characters. I just wish the model representing Rex was a little closer to the book description, though.

Sale Links: Dreamspinner | Amazon | ARe

 Book Details:

 ebook, 350 pages
Published: July 10, 2015, by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN: 9781634768702
Edition Language: English

Series:  Middle of Somewhere
Book #1: In the Middle of Somewhere
Book #2: Out of Nowhere

A Stella Review: Drawing Love by Tully Vincent

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Drawing LoveYears ago a childhood trauma ripped away Taylor Elliot’s confidence and made leaving his own home a struggle. Now a senior in high school, he finally has his life back on track. As head of the decorating committee for the Cupid Dance, he’s determined to showcase his creativity by dazzling his fellow students with glitz and glamour they won’t soon forget. But when his committee’s resident techie bails at the last minute, Taylor’s chance to shine is slipping through his fingers, and he’s on the verge of a panic attack.

Can the unexpected appearance of a real-life cupid help Taylor create something special after all?

Drawing Love is a short young adult story about Taylor, a high school student who suffers of agoraphobia and lives in a small town. He is planning the Cupid Dance, the yearly Valentine dance but something is going wrong.

What a surprise! I have to say I’m always in awe of authors who can write story so short and do it right. Just like this one. In so few pages (just 19!) I was able to know the main characters pretty well, especially Taylor. The author gave me all the important things about his life, his thoughts, his wishes, his fears. Plus she gifted him a tenacious best friend, Drina, a powerful mum and a sweet kindergarten friend, someone who is now back to join Taylor in their adult life.

It’s a quick story, short of course but well done, with unbelievable well defined characters and an unexpected ending. Can I tell you the truth? I wanted more and this is the only reason I didn’t give this review five stars. Still Drawing Love is a lovely read. I highly recommend to everyone who wants to spend half hour with a sweet and well thought read.

The cover art is simple, clean and fitting, I like it.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details;

Kindle Edition, 19 pages
Published February 17th 2016
ASINB01BW8K4P4
Edition LanguageEnglish

Two Lovers Take a Leap of Faith with J.L. Merrow’s Lovers Leap (author’s blog and contest)

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Lovers Leap by J.L. Merrow
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Lou Harper

Goodreads Link

Purchase/Read an Excerpt

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have JL Merrow here today to talk about Lovers Leap, her latest novel.  Welcome, JL.

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Hi, I’m JL Merrow, and I’m delighted to be here as part of the blog tour to celebrate the release of Lovers Leap, my fast-paced romantic comedy with a leap year theme set on my beloved, native Isle of Wight. Lovers Leap features two very different young men—each of whom will need to take a leap of faith if their love is to survive!

About Lovers Leap

If they looked, would they ever leap?

Good-looking, confident, and doted on by his widowed mum, Michael is used to thinking only of himself. Getting shoved off an Isle of Wight pier by an exasperated ex ought to come as a wake-up call—but then he meets Rufus and he’s right back to letting the little head take charge. Rufus is cute, keen, and gets under Michael’s skin in a disturbing way.

Would-be chef Rufus can’t believe his luck when a dripping wet dream of a man walks out of the sea on his birthday, especially when Michael ends up staying at the family B&B. Life is perfect—at least until Michael has to go home to the mainland.

Rufus can’t leave the island for reasons he’s entirely neglected to mention. And though Michael identifies as bi, breaking his mum’s heart by coming out and having an actual relationship with a guy has never been his plan. With both men determined to keep their secrets, a leap of faith could land them in deep water.

Lovers Leap is also available in audio from Amazon and Audible!

About J.L. 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.  Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and mysteries, and is frequently accused of humour.  Her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy, and her novella Muscling Through and novel Relief Valve were both EPIC Awards finalists.

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

Connect with JL:

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Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win $29 in Riptide credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 5, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Go Nutty Over Love with Rise of the Alpha Squirrel by Kate Lowell (guest post, excerpt and giveaway)

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Rise of the Alpha Squirrel (Nutty Romances #2) by Kate Lowell
Release Date: February 25, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Kate Lowell
Cover Artist: Ana J. Phoenix

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Kate Lowell here today. Kate is the author of Rise of the Alpha Squirrel and has brought some lively excerpts for us. Welcome, Kate!

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The following excerpts are taken from the best-selling series ‘A Were’s Guide to Living in the Human World’ by Finnley Lakewood, Ph.D, and Gardenner Monk, Ph.D. Please don’t tell anyone where you got these excerpts—I had to take ridiculous risks to get my hands on these books and if they found me, they’d probably eat me.

Appendix B: marking your territory–long-standing tradition or unsightly behavior?

In the were community, scent marking is a common and generally understood occurrence. The differences in styles are generally overlooked, and scent-marking itself is generally encouraged in mixed population areas.  However, the human’s weak scenting capabilities often result in misunderstandings with particularly uncomfortable consequences.

For example, the typical carnivore uses specific pheromones found in urine to mark the perimeter of their established territory. In situations where many weres are living in close proximity, this is an essential step to preventing inter-were violence. However, humans and their essentially inoperative noses will inevitably fail to notice scent markers. Not only does this cause them to invade territories on a regular basis, but the necessary actions required to establish scent boundaries (peeing on fences, doors, walls, furniture, etc) often take on an entirely different appearance and, within their relatively uneducated culture, occasions various, but generally unpleasant, reactions.

In cases where your roommate or another human has caught you in the process of leaving scent pheromones in place, and in the situation where it causes an undesired reaction on the part of the human, your first line of defense should be…

Now more about Rise of the Alpha Squirrel….

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Blurb

Nathan’s met Vince’s family, but Vince hasn’t met Nathan’s, and Nathan would like to keep it that way. Holy smoked almonds, what else do you do when you know how completely nuts your relatives are?

Why, you ease your man into it, by introducing him to normal shifters. Assuming you can find any.

But with a gossipy werehummingbird spreading the news, and a pair of young red pandas wreaking havoc with their fainting goat friends, Nathan’s about ready to climb into a pine cone and pull it in after him.

Then the local playboy weremoose hears about Vince, and Nathan has to find his inner alpha or the consequences will be worse than moldy hazelnuts.

 

Pages or Words: Approximately 24,000 words
Series should be read in order for maximum enjoyment
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Excerpt

“Breakfast,” Vince said and waved a hand toward the table.

It was a squirrel’s wet dream. Or it would have been, if good-enough-to-lick-all-over-then-eat Vince hadn’t been sitting on the other side of the table. Maybe he could say it was any other squirrel’s wet dream—whatever, it was the breakfast of Roman squirrel emperors.

A pile of thick, deep brown pancakes waited for him in the center of his plate. Raspberries and shaved almonds sprawled seductively over the side of the stack, glistening with sweet, sticky maple syrup. Some of the less audacious ones hid decorously beneath the edges of a heavy daub of whipped cream, but Nathan knew they were there, waiting for him to discover them. He could see them peeking diffidently out, uncertain whether they wanted to attract his attention or not.

And the best part—the most gorgeous massage therapist in the world was sitting across the table from him, watching him with eyes that were dark in more than just the usual way. He looked at Nathan like Nathan was a maple walnut ice cream with a peanut dip. Like he wanted to lick him all over and suck bits of him deep inside his mouth…

Buy the book: ARe  | Amazon

 

Meet the Author

Kate Lowell lives on the east coast of Canada, in an old farm house that has way more personality than it has any right to. During the winter, she spends her time dreading snow, cursing at snow, shoveling snow, and scheming ways to shove it down the kids’ necks. During the summer, she prays not to have snow. 🙂

Kate likes to play in ALL the sandboxes. While her main genres are paranormal and contemporary suspense, she is also interested in science fiction, fantasy and–weirdly–romantic comedy. She’s willing to pay large amounts of money to anyone who can come up with a Time Turner, or find her an agreeable Time Lord to sort out her scheduling problems.

You can contact her at katelowellbooks (at) gmail.com . If you think you’d like to try writing gay romance, come visit her critique group (Link can be found at http://katelowell.com). New members are always welcome.

Where to find the author:

 


BannerTemplate Tour Dates & Stops:

25-Feb: A.M. Leibowitz, Hearts on Fire, Velvet Panic, Nautical Star Books, MM Good Book Reviews

26-Feb: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Inked Rainbow Reads, KathyMac Reviews

27-Feb: Happily Ever Chapter, Molly Lolly, Love Bytes

29-Feb: Nephy Hart, Man2ManTastic, Bonkers About Books, Open Skye Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook

1-Mar: BFD Book Blog, Dawn’s Reading Nook, V’s Reads, Boy Meets Boy Reviews

2-Mar: Bayou Book Junkie, Jessie G. Books, Alpha Book Club

Divine Magazine

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Giveaway

Enter to win a  Rafflecopter Prize: http://www.stuffedsafari.com/Plush-Ruby-throated-Hummingbird-Audubon-Bird-p/wr-83900.htm.   Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prize provided by the author and Pride Promotions.
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Its Back to Foothills Pride with When Adam Fell by Pat Henshaw (excerpt and giveaway)

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When Adam Fell by Pat Henshaw
Release Date: February 24, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: AngstyG

 

Blurb

When his lover Jason’s drug addiction spiraled out of control, TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from him. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.

Five years later Adam is battling the conservative leaders of Stone Acres, California, to open a new restaurant in historic Old Town when Jason turns up on his doorstep—a recovered Jason, now going by the name David and claiming he’s overcome his addictions. What’s more, he begs Adam to take him back and says he’s ready for their happily ever after.

Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. And now he’s having a hard time deciding which to follow—his head or his heart.

 

Pages or Words: 29,800 words
Categories: Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt

I watched Jason rise from the stoop.

He looked good. His golden hair sparkled in the day’s first light. A happy smile tinged with nervousness spread across his lips. He was wearing a silver-gray Bogner jacket, some sort of expensive pants, and sturdy boots. Hanging from his shirt collar, his sunglasses looked like those high-priced titanium ones. All in all, the guy standing in front of me could easily have fit into the young, hip app crowd now flooding the valley. Too much money and no idea where to spend it. He looked like a guy who’d eat at the Bistro and then fucking strut up to me after dinner, put a wad of Franklins in my pocket, and whisper, “Quit this job and come cook for me.”

Nothing tempted me, especially not the hundred-dollar bills I’d thought were Monopoly money the first time I’d seen them. Nothing had moved me like this, seeing Jason rise straight up in front of me like a fucking miracle.

Standing there in my scuffed clogs, beat-up jeans, and ratty Stanford Cardinal T-shirt, I felt underdressed for this particular dream. Shouldn’t I at least be wearing my chef’s regalia, toque and all? Shouldn’t I have a Henckel in one hand and a Wüsthof in the other? Or maybe clutching a shield made of my cooking classics, which I’d written with an angry, tormented mind but a clear eye to royalties?

“Cat got your tongue?” the vision asked.

“Fucking A, man. Is it really you, Jason?”

“Sorta. Who else would come knocking at your door looking like me?” He flung his arms out like he wanted me to hug him or some shit.

I backed away and kept my hands to myself, though my dick perked up immediately. Did Jason have a twin or a younger brother, somebody who resembled him? I didn’t think so. All I’d thought for five years was nobody—and I mean nobody—could ever have come back from where my Jason had buried himself. At least I never thought so.

There’ve been moments in my life when I was sure I was losing my mind. When I knew whatever tenuous grasp on reality I thought I had was really smoke up my ass. This moment smacked of those. As the legendary John Fogerty sang and the great Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, it was like déjà vu all over again. Only not.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked. Suspicion tasted bitter on my tongue.

Slowly his arms came down, and he gave me a pained but understanding look.

“Yeah, well, it was too much to hope we’d just kiss and make up.” His husky croak had once made me roll over and do anything he asked, but not now. “Can I come in? It’s a little chilly out here.”

I wasn’t cold, but then I’m tall and stout, a real cliché chef image. Fuck, I guess somebody’s got to be the cliché, right? It’s how clichés are born.

I shrugged at his question, swiped at the sweat rolling from my forehead, and moved aside. “Kitchen’s downstairs.” I gestured to the steps.

He walked past me, letting his hand trail over my groin. Once I would have nearly come at the gesture. Now I ignored my dick because my mind was numb and had been for years. He might think he could reawaken my love and lust, but I was pretty fucking sure that ship had sailed and gotten lost at sea.

Buy the book:

Dreamspinner Press | Amazon |Amazon UK  | Barnes& Noble

Meet the author

Pat Henshaw, author of the Foothills Pride Stories, was born and raised in Nebraska where she promptly left the cold and snow after college, living at various times in Texas, Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. Pat enjoys travel, having visited Mexico, Canada, Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and Europe, including a cruise down the Danube.

Now retired, Pat has spent her life surrounded by words: Teaching English composition at the junior college level; writing book reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helping students find information as a librarian; and promoting PBS television programs.

Her triumphs are raising two incredible daughters who daily amaze her with their power and compassion. Fortunately, her incredibly supportive husband keeps her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away while writing fiction.

Where to find the author:


Tour Dates & Stops:

FEBRUARY 24, 2016 – RELEASE DAY BLAST

Parker Williams, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Divine Magazine, The Hat Party, Happily Ever Chapter. BFD Book Blog, Bayou Book Junkie, KathyMac Reviews, Velvet Panic, Unquietly Me, 3 Chicks After Dark, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Tasty Wordgasms, My Fiction Nook, Making It Happen, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Molly Lolly, MM Good Book Reviews, Kirsty Loves Books

 

VIRTUAL TOUR: FEBRUARY 25 – MARCH 9

25-Feb: Velvet Panic, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

26-Feb: BFD Book Blog, Book Lovers 4Ever

29-Feb: Jessie G. Books, Kirsty Loves Books, Hearts on Fire

1-Mar: Inked Rainbow Reads, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

2-Mar: MM Good Book Reviews, Open Skye Book Reviews, KathyMac Reviews

3-Mar: V’s Reads, Divine Magazine, Love Bytes

4-Mar: Making It Happen, Unquietly Me

7-Mar: Havan Fellows, Happily Ever Chapter

8-Mar: The Novel Approach, A.M. Leibowitz

9-Mar: Bayou Book Junkie, Alpha Book Club, Rainbow Gold Reviews

 

Giveaway

Enter to win a Win one of THREE $10 Starbucks gift cards.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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In the Spotlight: Charley Descoteaux ‘Torque’ (character interview, excerpt and giveaway)

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Torque by Charley Descoteaux
Release Date: February 23, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Cover Artist: Kanaxa

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Charley Descoteaux author of Torque! Hi Charley, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about your current book.

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Torque is a Romance featuring a bisexual man, a man on the ace spectrum, and a trans woman with no plans to transition surgically. Most of it takes place in a working wrecking yard, so no glitz or glamor, but a lot of angst. Thank you for inviting me to visit, I’m thrilled to be here! Instead of hogging the spotlight, I’m turning it over to Mick, the main character of my novella, Torque.

  • What do you find attractive in a man?

Mick: Confidence. I like that in women too. 😉

  • The first thing that went through your head when you saw Scotty Bell.

Mick: How much trouble I was in. Same with Mercy. Both of them turned my crank in ways I never expected and didn’t think I’d be able to resist.

  • Do you think you’ll insist the author visits you again?

Mick: I don’t know. It was hard enough making it through the one story, not sure I’m up for being tortured like that again. I already have more than I ever thought to want, so I’ll probably let her move on and drag another poor sucker through the mud and the grease instead of calling attention to myself again.

  • Before you met Scotty, what was your ideal man?

Mick: Before I met Scotty I didn’t think there was such a thing as an ideal man. I also thought it didn’t matter—I’d never have a man anyway, so what good would it do to think about what kind I wanted?

  • You’re going out for dinner. What’s your favorite food?

Mick: One I didn’t cook! Ask Scotty, I can’t cook for shit, even with instructions right on the box. Seriously, though, I love Mexican food and could live on burritos. And pizza.

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Blurb

Sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure it all out.

Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.

Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.

Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship.

But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.

Warning: Contains references to abuse, subversive ideas about sexual identity and gender expression, and a free-range bisexual on a mission.

 

Pages or Words: 47,337 words
Categories: Bisexual, Contemporary, Fiction, Ménage/Poly, Romance, *Trans, Asexual, LGBTQ+ Fiction

Excerpt

Copyright © 2016 Charley Descoteaux
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

Mick slept on the couch for two weeks before Scott let him get dinner. Mick brought a pizza, hot wings and a six-pack. When he offered Scott a beer, Mick thought for a second he was about to get decked.

“No thanks, I don’t drink. But you go ahead.”

Mick put five bottles in the fridge and popped the top on the sixth. The long pull of rich beer felt like cool water after he’d been walking for weeks in the desert.

“Never?”

“Nope. I got enough of that before I was even born, I don’t need any more.”

It only took half a beer for Mick to get past the uncomfortable feeling he should’ve asked Scott to tell him more, or that he should’ve switched to Mountain Dew. Scott rented an On Demand movie, something forgettable with vampires, and they sat in their places on the couch and divided their attention between the movie and the pizza for the next two hours. Tom camped out in his usual spot between their thighs, graciously accepting all the chicken and pepperoni tributes offered to him.

After the movie was over they watched another one on HBO, but didn’t pay much attention to it. Mick had a nice buzz going and was happy to sit back and listen to Scott talk about his project—the VW Microbus he was converting into a flatbed. A warm, fuzzy feeling Mick almost didn’t recognize as happiness set up camp in his gut, and life was good.

He thought, more than once or twice, that Scott leaned toward him in a way that was a little more than friendly, but it had to be the beer.

Too bad.

Mick jerked in surprise when he realized he’d started to lean toward Scott. He had no right to be “more than friendly” to Scott. None at all.

Scott reached out to grasp his shoulder. “You okay, Mick?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Are you ready for bed?” Scott kneaded his shoulder, sending a current through his body.

“The movie isn’t over.”

“It’s not very good. If you don’t want to finish it, that’s okay with me.” Scott smiled and sat back against the couch, releasing Mick’s shoulder.

He couldn’t help himself, he leaned forward. Only a little bit. He didn’t want to lose Scott’s touch. In that moment, he couldn’t think of anything more important than Scott touching him, not even self-preservation.

Mick Randall wasn’t a stranger to self-medicating with alcohol but before he found Bell’s he hadn’t had a lot of money to spare, and lately he hadn’t had the time. Together, those circumstances had turned him into a lightweight. That had to be the explanation for why he saw a come-on in every glance and heard innuendo where surely Scott didn’t mean any. He’d have to be a lightweight to want so badly to respond to Scott’s touch with an embrace.

Maybe I should quit drinking.

Mick wasn’t capable of walking in a straight line by the time he hit the can, but it didn’t matter. Four beers was plenty and he’d take the other two out of Scott’s fridge the next day and remember not to bring more. If he wanted a drink, he wouldn’t have to drive far. When he left the bathroom his thoughts centered on that warm, happy feeling, and what he could get up to the next day. Before he knew what was happening, Scott had him backed against the wall, both hands spread across his chest.

All that fuzzy warm happiness disappeared, replaced by a tiny shiver of panic mixed with a side of relief. The relief tangled with a mix of “fucking finally” and “what the fuck” that made Mick dizzy. Or maybe that’s just the beer.

“Scott. Maybe I should sleep somewhere else tonight.”

“Yeah. Like in my bed with me.”

“I was thinking like my car, or a motel.”

Scott frowned and pushed him back against the wall harder, caressing his chest and shoulders as he did. The contrast of the unyielding wall against his shoulder blades and the man in front of him spun Mick’s head around once. “You don’t feel anything like Mercy. I knew you wouldn’t.”

“Don’t you think Mercy would—”

“She wouldn’t care. I’m not the only one she fools around with.” Scott leaned against him, chest to chest, close enough to kiss.

“Let me go.” Mick took hold of Scott’s shoulders and tried to push him back, but Scott was stronger than he looked.

“No. I don’t want to.”

“What am I supposed to do now?” Mick couldn’t see a clear path to the door. Panic reared up in the back of his mind—he had no game plan for this, no idea what his part should be.

“You can let me blow you. Or you can blow me. I don’t care who goes first. You want me, don’t you?”

Mick tried to speak but couldn’t. He couldn’t get a decent breath either, not with Scott’s hands on him. He nodded and tried to pull himself together.

“Haven’t you ever hooked up before?”

“Yeah.” Liar.

“Well, so have I. I’m not a little kid. You don’t have to—”

“I know you’re not.” Mick squeezed Scott’s shoulders, anxious to learn how his skin felt over those hard muscles, how those muscles looked when he moved. “I know.”

“So why—”

“I’ve hooked up before.”

“So why not with me?”

“Because it’s different with you. I mean, it would be— I can’t…”

“You think I’m an idiot? Too dumb to know what to—”

“No! No. That has nothing to do—” Mick saw something in Scott’s eyes that made the rest of that sentence turn to dust in his throat. He swallowed hard and was about to—no idea what he was about to do, but he couldn’t stand there forever—when he saw something else that stopped him. “You’re shaking.”

“Yeah.” Scott’s voice had a hard edge so when he surged forward, his erection pressing against Mick’s thigh, it was unexpected.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m trying to keep from punching you in the face.”

“Why do you want to punch me in the face?”

“Because you’re pushing me away. I thought you liked me.”

“I do like you. But—”

“Don’t say it’s not right. I’m dumb but I’m not—”

“I didn’t say you were dumb. You’re not dumb.” Mick could barely speak past his desire, so his last few words came out as breathless as he felt. He’d started panting and the sound filled the short hallway. “Please don’t punch me in the face.”

Scott frowned, but fear and pain was mixed up with the anger and desire showing in his light bottle-green eyes. Mick felt it all right along with him.

“Maybe I should go.”

When Scott didn’t respond Mick slid against the wall, sideways. In just a few steps, Mick wasn’t supporting all of Scott’s weight anymore, didn’t feel his tense muscles or his heat. Mick gingerly pushed off from the wall and walked backward, toward the living room.

“You don’t have to.”

“I think I do.” Mick sat on the sofa to pull on his boots and Scott dropped onto the cushion beside him. Mick straightened, one boot on and one off, and Scott grabbed him and kissed him.

Buy the book: SamhainAmazon USAll Romance eBooks

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Meet the Author

Charley Descoteaux misspent a large chunk of her youth on the back of a Harley, meeting people and having adventures that sometimes pop up in her fiction. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a drought, and found her true home in the soggy Pacific Northwest. Charley has survived earthquakes, tornadoes and floods, but couldn’t make it through one day without stories.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

23-Feb

Boy Meets Boy Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Book Lovers 4Ever, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Posy Roberts

1-Mar

The Novel Approach, Velvet Panic, Three Books Over The Rainbow, Hearts on Fire

8-Mar

Louise Lyons, Foxylutely Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, the Twins: Talon ps & Princess so, Inked Rainbow Reads

15-Mar

Full Moon Dreaming, Elin Gregory, Alpha Book Club, Bayou Book Junkie

22-Mar

Butterfly-O-Meter, Kirsty Loves Books, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Unquietly Me

29-Mar

Jessie G. Books, QUEERcentric Books, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, BFD Book Blog, Love Bytes

5-Apr

Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Divine Magazine, Prism Book Alliance, Molly Lolly

12-Apr

Nephy Hart, Happily Ever Chapter, MM Good Book Reviews

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $20 Amazon gift card.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prize provided by the author and Pride Promotions.
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Take Another Adventure into The Escape Universe with The Unicorn by Delphine Dryden (author guest post/giveaway)

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The Unicorn by  Delphine Dryden
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist L.C. Chase

Release Date: February 22, 2016
Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Delphine Dryden here today to talk about her latest novel, The Unicorn.  Welcome, Delpine.

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Hi! I’m Delphine Dryden, touring the internet to talk about my latest book, The Unicorn. It’s a geeky, kinky M/F/F romp, it’s part of Riptide’s “Escape” universe, and it’s a much-expanded version of an earlier story called Roses and Chains. Thanks so much to all the blogs hosting the tour! Be sure to comment on tour posts for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate and your choice of two books from my backlist.

The Story of The Unicorn: Fun with Do-Overs

So a funny thing happened to me a few years ago—an author friend who’d also written some things for one of my early publishers mentioned she’d decided to ask for her rights back. She only had a few titles there, and her sales had never been crazy high, so she got the books back pretty quickly. The whole process was smooth and she was happy with the result. I also had some books there I thought could have sold better—a series, in particular, that I felt had never been marketed as well as it might have—and I’d since moved on to other larger publishers so I knew what my numbers could be. So I asked for reversions on all my books, in two big batches, figuring it couldn’t hurt to ask.

I got one book back immediately, a clump of them six months later, and another chunk a few months after that—leaving only two titles that I had to buy back (for a sum I felt was reasonable). Easy-peasy. Except I suddenly had 13 titles to re-sell or self-publish, to get them back out on the market. Four were novellas—I self-pubbed those as an experiment, and it didn’t suck nearly as hard as I’d feared it might! So I self-pubbed my five-book series Truth & Lies, too, and that also went just fine. Nine down, four to go. Three of those are still in limbo, but the fourth, Roses and Chains, is what eventually became The Unicorn.

My friend Christine d’Abo* and I had both contributed to a multi-author universe at the previous publisher, so we both had these reverted, loosely connected, kinky queer books to shop around. And we’d been under a strict word limit with the original novellas, something like 30K? Both of us felt we had longer stories to tell in these books. So we decided…hey, why not revamp them, expand them, start a new universe of our own? And Riptide was hip to buying it, fortunately. Christine’s book Controlling Acquisitions became the delightful Dom Around the Corner to kick off the new series (“Escape”). And Roses and Chains got almost 100% longer and became Escape #2, The Unicorn.

So a cool thing about this book was that I got a do-over, but with five more years of writing and publishing experience under my belt, and the freedom to ignore word count. I saw the story I’d written to the original series guidelines…and saw where I could expand and improve on that. But I also saw how far I’d come as a writer in those five years. Back then I had some good instincts but knew very little about craft from a structural standpoint. I was pretty much a straight pantser, and because the original book was supposed to be borderline erotica, not erotic romance, I had completely ignored anything like a black moment or any kind of character development for two of the three main characters. Those were all things I got the chance to layer into the revised story—along with some tweaks to heighten the conflict and align the expanded plot (okay, “the plot,” since it really hadn’t had much of a plot at all to start with) to the structure I’ve developed and over the intervening five years of writing. In going through that process I realized I’ve become a hybrid or perhaps even started leaning slightly toward the “plotter” side of the whole pantser/plotter thing (and as a side effect I came up with a great idea for a conference workshop).

It’s so rare we actually get opportunities like that—to live out that feeling of if only I had known then what I know now. We always hope we’re learning, growing, improving at our jobs, but this time I got to see exactly how I’d changed for the better, and apply those improvements to an older project to give it a whole new life. I liked the original book and readers also seemed to…but I like the new version even more, and I hope readers will feel the same way!

How about y’all? Have you ever had a chance at a “do-over”?

*Full disclosure: As part of my “day job” I do freelance editing for Riptide Publishing; I happen to be Christine d’Abo’s editor for her books there, including Dom Around the Corner. However, in this case I’m mostly pimping her book with my author hat on, as a series-writing partner in crime 😉

About The Unicorn

Delia and Daniel have a picture-perfect life. They like their jobs. They love their house. Everything is coming up roses . . . but in private, they’d rather have the thorns. Their recent forays into kink have brought them closer than ever, but there’s still something missing, and they can’t quite work it out.

Mara knows what she’s missing: a significant other. She tried vanilla, and it was a total bust. But when she and her last girlfriend took things out of the kink club and into the “real” world, they fizzled. Even their friendship is on the rocks now. Mara feels like a lost stray, looking for a forever home.

When the three of them meet up at the brand-new club Escape, their connection is instant. And surprising—none of them were expecting more than a few hot nights. But now they might be ready to bring their kinky threesome into the light of day and build a life together.

Publisher’s note: This title is a heavily revised re-issue of a prior story, Roses and Chains, originally released in 2011.

This title is part of the Escape universe. But can be read as a standalone.

About Delphine Dryden

Delphine Dryden probably should have gone ahead and become an English professor like she planned. Instead, she took a detour through law school, another detour through the wonderful world of working in special education, and took an extra fifteen years to end up where she belonged: writing kinky romances.

Del’s writing has earned an Award of Excellence and Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times Book Reviews, an EPIC Award, and a Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence.  When not writing or editing, she can be found binge-watching television shows, playing tabletop games, and tweeting to excess.

Connect with Delphine:

 

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Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate and your choice of two books from Delphine Dryden’s backlist. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on February 27, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!