Totally Bound Publishers (formerly Total e-Bound)

Tales From The Edge from L.M. Somerton:Book Tour/Contest

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Have you been to the Edge yet?  L.M. Somerton is here to act as your guide with four sensual stories to entice you right to the Edge… and has brought along a contest/giveaway as well.

Contest: A signed paperback copy of ‘Tales From The Edge) which contains book one and two, posted anywhere in the world.
Prize: An e-copy of A Double-Edged Sword. Visit here to enter and for contest details.  Must be over the age of 18 to enter.

Book Name: Tales From The Edge (Reaching the Edge, Living on the Edge, Dancing on the Edge, A Double-Edged Sword)

Author Name: LM Somerton
Cover Artist: Emmy Ellis
Publisher: Totally Bound

adoubleedgedsword_800dancingontheedge_800livingontheedge_800reachingtheedge_800
Blurb(s):

The Edge is a training company with a difference. Its weekend clients come for classes in bondage and domination, not team building and problem solving.

The management, staff and customers of The Edge do not lead boring lives. In fact they have a habit of getting themselves into all kinds of trouble. Put Dominant, possessive alpha males together with bratty, loveable submissives and sparks are bound to fly. These Tales from The Edge are their stories.

reachingtheedge_800Reaching the Edge:
When you reach the edge, you can’t avoid taking a leap of faith.

Joe Dexter leads a complicated life. In one world he is a consultant criminal psychologist—in another he runs The Edge, a successful corporate training company. He’s also an active Dom in the London BDSM scene.

A social call to The Underground, a club owned by an old friend, turns into much more when Joe is introduced to a prospective sub. Falling hard for the boy’s tumbling blonde curls, huge blue eyes and desperate need for protection, Joe carefully coaxes him out of his shell. By the end of an intense weekend, unbreakable bonds have been forged and Joe is well on the way to becoming Olly’s Master.

Joe knows that there is trauma in Olly’s past, but it is not until his professional and private lives collide that Joe discovers the truth. He knows he shouldn’t have let Olly out of his sight but it’s too late—Olly’s old Master is back on the scene and he’s not in the mood to forgive and forget.

With Olly’s life on the line, Joe risks everything to save him. Has Joe found his perfect submissive only to lose him in a horrible twist of fate, or will love win the day? They’ve reached the edge and there’s no avoiding a leap of faith.

livingontheedge_800Living on the Edge:

Sometimes it takes willpower to resist temptation but courage to give in.

Aiden Keller is a brilliant and intriguing young man. When he’s convicted of hacking, his sentence takes him to The Edge, a high-end corporate training company with a mysterious sideline. There he is given into the custody of its owner, the enigmatic and demanding Heath Anders, and his business partner Joe Dexter.

From the moment Heath takes charge of Aiden he recognises the boy’s submissive nature, even though it is well hidden beneath a veneer of snarky attitude. But for twelve months, Aiden will be his responsibility and Heath cannot allow himself to get involved whilst the boy is obliged to obey him.

Aiden settles into his new life with the help of Olly, Joe’s pretty, submissive boyfriend, who is very perceptive when it comes to noticing the sparks of attraction flying between Aiden and Heath. Slowly and gently, he teaches Aiden that submission is not a weakness and to accept his desire to be dominated.

Unable to resist, Heath starts to test Aiden’s willingness to be obedient, and against all the odds, love (and lust) start to bloom. Aiden, however, is not quite what he seems and his past is about to endanger all their lives.

dancingontheedge_800Dancing on the Edge:

Life is a dance. Whether you lead or follow, the passion of it should sweep you away.

Carey and Alistair have the kind of relationship that is the envy of their friends. Carey is an old-fashioned Dom who appreciates quiet obedience. Alistair is a sub who is comfortable in his skin and finds peace in his submission. Needless to say, their happiness is too good to last.

When Alistair’s powerful father chooses his reputation over his son, all hell is let loose. Forcibly committed to a clinic for reversion therapy, Alistair can only hope that his lover will save him.

Carey calls on his friends from The Edge and they band together not just to rescue Alistair but also to protect his future. They’ve all flirted with danger in the past—but friendship is worth any risk. As the tension mounts and the stakes get higher, new bonds are forged but will Carey and Alistair’s love survive?

adoubleedgedsword_800A Double-Edged Sword:

How do you stay standing when the ground is torn from beneath your feet?

Becket and Christian are taking the first, tentative steps towards the committed D/s relationship they both crave when the world literally explodes around them. In a frightening reversal of roles, Becket has to deal with his own vulnerability and Christian must find the strength to take care of his Dom. With the help of their friends at The Edge, the two men come to realise that dominance and submission cannot be switched on and off.

Events that could have ended in tragedy provide the catalyst that affirms their trust in each other, but there are still questions to answer. Is the safe path always the right one to take? Is control simply a state of mind?

One thing’s for certain, life’s too short for compromise.

Buy Links:          Amazon                Totally Bound           

Exclusive Excerpt:

Excerpt from L. M. Somerton’s Reaching the Edge:

What did Angel see when he looked at him? Joe knew that he was considered handsome. He wasn’t vain—it was just a fact of life. He didn’t obsess over the way he looked, but he was a little concerned that he might seem cold and intimidating to someone as young as Angel. He did have a habit of schooling his features into an emotionless blank. It helped in his job to appear completely calm and neutral and it had rubbed off in his private life. Experienced subs seemed to like the hardness but Joe was concerned that Angel was far more sensitive and vulnerable than the boys he usually played with.

He rubbed a hand through his short blond hair and softened his expression from icy to mildly frosty. There was a definite twinkle of amusement in his blue eyes—eyes that looked faded compared to Angel’s startling bright blue ones. He shook his head wryly—Angel was everything he looked for in a partner, and he was already feeling intensely possessive and protective.

He finished up and headed back to the room, half wondering if Angel would be gone. He hid his relief well when he opened the door to find him placing their empty mugs on the side table. He took his seat on the sofa and waited to see whether Angel would join him again. To his delight, a slender body was soon squirming in his lap, getting comfortable. Soft golden curls tickled his neck as Angel nuzzled closer, and Joe felt his dick harden in response. Joe wrapped an arm around Angel’s waist and held him tightly. He positioned his other arm higher up, which allowed him to slip his hand inside the folds of the fluffy robe that concealed Angel’s body. For a moment he just rested his open palm against a warm, smooth chest, enjoying the slow rise and fall.
Gradually he moved his hand until he found the small rise of a nipple. He waited again, giving Angel the chance to protest or pull away. Feeling more secure in his exploration, he rubbed slowly, delighted at the instant response. The little nub peaked and hardened instantly under the pads of his fingertips. He moved again and found its twin, already hard for him. He rolled it carefully between his thumb and forefinger before flicking it hard. That got him a whimper and more nuzzling. Joe took that as a signal that more would be welcome and began to twist and pinch, getting a little rougher each time he moved from one hot bud to the other. He was still holding Angel firmly in place and the boy made no attempt to get free as Joe slid his hand down to stroke his flat belly in slow circles, gradually working his way lower.

 

Author Bio: L M lives in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. She started writing to fill time between jobs and is now firmly and unashamedly addicted.

She loves the English weather, especially the rain, and adores a thunderstorm. She loves good food, warm company and a crackling fire. She’s fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and her stories contain some subtle (and not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM.

Author Links: http://pinterest.com/lmsomerton
Twitter: @lmsomerton

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TheEdge Tour Badge Tour Dates: June 20 – July 6WillPride
Tour Stops:
June 20: Kimi-Chan
June 21: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
June 22: Nephylim, Amanda C. Stone, Jade Crystal
June 23: 3 Chicks After Dark, Love Bytes, Rainbow Gold Reviews
June 24: The Hat Party
June 25: Hearts on Fire
June 26: Michael Mandrake, LeAnn’s Book Reviews
June 27: Prism Book Alliance
June 28: Iyana Jenna
June 29: Tara Lain
June 30: Velvet Panic
July 1: Wake Up Your Wild Side
July 2: Elisa Rolle
July 3: MM Good Books
July 4: My Fiction Nook
July 5: Cate Ashwood, Parker Williams
July 6: Book Reviews and More by Kathy

 

Contest: A signed paperback copy of ‘Tales From The Edge) which contains book one and two, posted anywhere in the world.
An e-copy of A Double-Edged Sword.  Visit here to enter and for contest details.

Review: Powerless (The Borders War #3) by S.A. McAuley

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Rating: 5 stars out of 5

He was built to be invincible.

Powerless coverMerq Grayson and Armise Darcan return to the States, their mission to assassinate the remaining Committee members unfinished.  Why?  The President of the Revolution is in need of their services to protect the Revolution’s most important proponent for freedom, the President himself.  But all is not stable within the Revolution’s leadership and factions within are looking to supplant the President with another.

When the unthinkable happens and headquarters is breached,  relationships, friendships even old rivals are torn asunder.  In the wake of the devastation, Merq faces the ultimate of challenges and decisions forced on him by the very people he trusted. Armise, Simion and Neveed. And each with a different and explosive impact on Merq and his future with the Revolution.

When everything and everyone around Merq is falling apart or disappearing, it is only one man, Armise Darcan, that he wants at his side.  But Fate or something worse has other plans in store for Merq and Armise. Events are coming that neither man may survive, with or without each other.  What happens when the invincible turn out to be anything but invincible?

 

Powerful, intense and emotionally scorching….these are the words I would use to describe Powerless, the third story in the Borders War series by S.A. McAuley.  The complexity of and relationship between these two genetically modified warriors is only exceeded by the intrigue and deceit that McAuley has built into her elaborately layered plot.  And it all happens on a world that has been defiled, corrupted by three hundred years of war that has turned its seas into acid and its air into toxic clouds.  The author’s powerful world building elements are delivered in slivers of descriptions throughout the stories, that compiled,  present a stunning atmosphere of bleakness and despair in which these men live and operate.

With each story, S.A. McAuley offers up more of Merq and Armise’s back history.  In Powerless. we enter the story in February, Year 2539 Singapore—The Outposts. Merq Grayson is 15 and in the middle of Lim2—Limitation Elimination training needed to become a Peacekeeper.  The trials aren’t just arduous, they are deadly and only the strongest will survive.  And although Merq is a teenager in years, he is far older mentally and emotionally.  Already he is being stripped of his feelings and his humanity and he is aware of it happening.  Powerful stuff indeed because as we watch Merq’s younger self push himself to his physical limits we also see him internalize and hide his conflicting emotions. And as we read we are already aware of what that boy ultimately becomes…an almost invincible dehumanized soldier for the Revolution.

All of McAuley characters are such densely layered constructs, believable and flawed, even with all their genmod strengths and abilities.  They don’t know what they are capable of and neither does the reader.  It’s a gripping process of continual shocks and revelation that flows through all the stories, especially  this one.  What new discoveries are uncovered concerning their genmods?  What new insights into their pasts will surface with each treacherous twist and turn of McAuley’s intricate plot?  Will they be able to keep enough humanity to save each other and the rest of the world? Stellar questions all even as McAuley miserly doles out clues to the answers.

Merq Grayson is such a compelling and contradictory personality.  Although he appears so tough, almost superhuman in the first two stories, Powerless, starts the process of breaking him down into a person who is questioning everything about his life and his role in the  Revolution.  It’s painful and realistic.  And the scenes of Merq shattering (emotionally as well as physically)  are so vivid that McAuley makes his pain and fall almost visceral in its impact.

Armise Darcan is Merq’s equal in every way and he has to be to hold his own as a character and believable partner to such a warrior as Merq.  Armise has had as interesting an upbringing as Merq, although in different ways.  Both are genetically modified and yet Armise has held on to more of his humanity and ability to love than Merq.  How and why that is possible is also slowly coming to the surface in these stories too.

There will be no excerpts here as even the smallest paragraph might point to spoilers.  McAuley’s narrative is as paired down as the men themselves.  At times as stark as the landscape, it is fast paced and explosive as the Borders War reignite with horrible implications for the people we have come to know and the world population that still exists.  Some aspects of this story are absolutely chilling and the dread they conjure up for Merq and Armise as well as the future for all nations will be hard to dispel.

Some readers will ask if this is a romance and I am not sure how to answer them.  The connection and feelings between Merq and Armise are almost cellular in their need for each other. Love, yes, but at a level and intensity that speaks of blood and loss not flowers and hearts.   Romance can’t exist in this world and it doesn’t.  But a hard fought for love?  Even if they can’t say the word or even know if they trust each other? That you will find here at the core of this story and within the men themselves.  The only thing powerless about this book is the title.

One Breath, One Bullet (Borders War #1) and Dominant Predator (Borders War #2) were on my Best of 2013 list.  Now I add Powerless to this year’s list too.  This is an amazing series.  And with each new story, S.A. McAuley’s plot and her plans for Merq and Armise intensify and become more convoluted.  McAuley plans five books for this series.  The fourth book,  Falling One by One (Borders War #4), will be out later this year.  I, for one, can’t wait to see how where this talented author will take this series and these incredible characters next.

Cover art by Posh Gosh.  Strong cover, although I would wish for a little more of a science fiction feel to it.

Books in the Borders War series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the men and the universe building:

One Breathe, One Bullet (Borders War #1)
Dominant Predator (The Borders War, #2)
Powerless (The Borders War #3)
Falling One by One (The Borders War #4) to be released later on this year
Fifth Book as yet unnamed.

 Book Details:

ebook, 185 pages
Published March 28th 2014 by Totally Bound
ISBN139780857156839
edition languageEnglish
seriesThe Borders War #3

Buy Links:     Totally Bound Publications       Amazon        ARe

Review: It’s Only Make Believe by Havan Fellows

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Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Its Only Make Believe coverDyer Cambell learned early that escaping into make believe was the only path to survival for him.  Life with an abusive father taught him to hide his true nature  behind a facade, the pretense of being something he wasn’t kept him alive if  not always able to  duck a fist or boot.  And once stuck in that behavior Dyer never came out of it so the profession of actor was the perfect one for a man who never stopped acting.

Dyer tries out for the role of a lifetime becoming one of two actors in the running. But when the producers of the new gay dramedy decide to cast only gay actors in the lead roles, Dyer sets out to  make sure they see him as a gay man even though he is straight or is he?

Dyer’s best friend brother is the solution to all his problems.  Derrick Verns is gay and has know Dyer for most of his life.  Surely Derrick won’t mind playing along with Dyer’s scheme by pretending to be his boyfriend?  Derrick reluctantly agrees but with one provision, one that will have a profound impact on both their lives.  Is Dyer up to the challenge of letting Derrick see the man behind the mask?

Havan Fellows’ short story packs an emotional punch in only 34 pages. Dyer’s abusive upbringing has taught him to escape deep into himself while leaving only a mask to face his father and real life.  Fellows’ narrative slowly introduces Dyer’s painful childhood, bringing the abuse into stark relief as it recounts the broken bones, bruised body and face that came with life with a violent drunk as a father.  It’s a sharp contrast to the glib, scattered young man that the rest of the world sees, with the exception of his best friend Harry.  Harry is the only one who knows the extent of the abuse Dyer took at home.  His casual acceptance of Dyer’s crazy schemes is telling for only a friend who can see past the mask would put up with the front Dyer presents to the world.  Havan Fellows descriptions and dialog  presents the reader with not only a young man hiding from himself but a portrait of a long term friendship.  It becomes easily not only to identity with Dyer but to understand how Harry has been his only support….at least up until now.

Enter Derrick Verns, gay older brother of Harry and struggling artist.  Derrick is a startling change from Dyer and Harry.  He is bold, openly gay, and sure of himself.  The contrast between Dyer and Derrick is both needed and well defined.  Dyer who has hidden so long he is no longer sure of who he really is inside versus Derrick, the self assured, self confident gay man.  And once Dyer is presented with someone who is everything he wanted to be, it is no wonder he starts to crumble.  A terrific choice by the author in choosing how to define the main characters of her story.

I loved this story.  Havan Fellows introduces us to this damaged young man and then proceeds to show us not only why we should care for him but how he became the man he is.  It’s troubling and painful, especially when you take into account how many young gay youth have trod the same path as Dyer.  The need to hide their true sexuality, even from themselves, in order to survive a childhood of hate, abuse and bullying.  How can we not love him?

Derrick too comes into his own as a multidimensional character.  He is older, artistic and self assured.  And he is also compassionate.  So we get it that while he is affronted by Dyer’s offer he also sees something in the man before him that makes him want to help Dyer too, just not in the same capacity as Dyer plans.  The author’s plot is a dramedy itself, veering from a slight comedic scene to one of gravity , then moving on to one of compassion and total sexiness.

I only wish that the story had lingered a bit longer at the end so we could see a little more of what the future holds for this pair.  But it’s still such an amazing story piled into 34 pages that I heartedly recommend you pick it up immediately and start reading.

Cover Art by Pamela Sinclair.  The cover is delicious and I love the subtle inclusion of the film reels down at the bottom of the graphic.  Great job.

Book Details:

Reader Advisory: This story has been previously released as part of the 50s Mixed Tape anthology by Totally Bound Publishing.
ebook, 34 pages
Published December 13th 2013 by Havan Fellows
ISBN 1781848971 (ISBN13: 9781781848975)
edition language English