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Author Guest Post

Survive and Conquer by Andrew Grey: Exclusive Guest Post, and Release Day Review

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Newton DeSantis was on the ground when the towers collapsed on 9/11. Though he still carries the scars on his body and his heart, he’s determined to ease some of the world’s suffering. Now a social worker and father to two children with special needs, he’s doing his best. But when his son’s health takes a drastic turn, Newton knows he can’t do it alone.

Family law attorney Chase Matthews is a rising star, and he’s in high demand. Still, Newton is very persuasive, and Chase takes his case pro bono. Everything about the other man appeals to Chase, but he’s determined to keep the relationship professional—even though, after meeting Newton’s kids, he wants to be a part of their lives.

Chase’s job doesn’t always allow him to pick his clients, though, and a case that could make him partner will put him on the opposite side of the courtroom from Newton—along with everything he believes in and the future they could build together.

Title: Survive and Conquer
Author: Andrew Grey
Release Date: July 9, 2019
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 193

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I love top 5 posts. They’re fun and it isn’t me talking about my book and why I think you should read it. We all get enough of those posts and I get tired of writing them. 🙂 So I thought I would write about my Top 5 special places in the world. These are ones that have a very special meaning for me.
 
 
1) Willow Alaska – My aunt had a cabin there and I spent many happy hours boating and swimming in the lake. (The swimming was when I was a kid and didn’t know what real cold felt like)
2) Albuquerque NM – My dear friends BA and Julia live there and we always have an amazing time
3) S Lake Tahoe CA – A dear friend of my aunts lived there and she gave me a refuge of sorts when I was trying to figure things out as a relatively young adult
4) Ludington, Michigan – I spent part of my teenage years there, but this is before that, when my family used to vacation there. We camped, hiked, and basically learned to grow up under the trees on the shores of Lake Michigan.
5) Carlisle PA – This is home and where I have lived longer than anywhere else in my life. And its been with my husband. So much has happened int he 16 years we’ve been here that its hard a list them all.

Siiiiiigh, how I love this author and his way of writing the sweetest dads.

In this one, we meet Newton, who was on the ground when the towers were hit on 9/11, and he did his part to help in the way that he could and was injured from it, not only physically, but mentally as well. Having flashbacks is almost as bad as his scarred foot and constant pain, causing him to limp with a cane. He’s forty-two and has adopted two of the cutest, well-behaved kids, a boy and a girl that also has physical handicaps that made it harder for them to get adopted. Not with Newton, though, he loved them immediately and you can see it throughout the entire story. Love that.

Now, Newton is a social worker and he’s working a case with a woman who’s in-laws are trying to get her kids out of spite, and Newton knows just the person to help, although he’s very busy and turns him away at first… that’s how we meet Chase… a family attorney that has children’s best interest at heart not only because it’s morally right, but because of his own childhood that broke my heart for him.

Thankfully he has an amazing mother, which is more than I can say for Newton… which sucks, because she plays a side part in this story that was more annoying than anything. She’s a basketcase that uses her religion and Newton’s sexuality to cause trouble… I wish we’d have gotten a better karmic smackdown in her face, but I’m petty and vindictive and mother or not, that woman was awful. Prepare to not like her.

Now, Newton needing Chase’s help, he bribes him a little bit with a homecooked meal to meet the mother and two kids that need his help and that’s how things with them start. At dinner, a medical emergency with Newton’s son has them spending time together outside of the professional setting and it was just easy to fall for
Newton and his kids, especially seeing how loving of a father he is and how he’s willing to put himself on the back burner to make his kids happy. It’s sweet and admirable and Chase is smitten with them all.

Things get complicated when the guys find out they’re working on the same case, but they handle it like adults and though things are rocky for a minute, it gets resolved quickly. I like the low angst and the mature way things are handled in
Andrew’s stories…. Little drama, little frustration…. I like that the couple is a bit older and don’t play games or let their pride get in the way of not communicating and unnecessary problems….

Overall, it’s a cute read with adorable kids and a sweet dad who finds love for them all…. Perfect!

4 pieces of eye candy

Andrew grew up in western Michigan with a father who loved to tell stories and a mother who loved to read them. Since then he has lived throughout the country and traveled throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works in information systems for a large corporation.

Andrew’s hobbies include collecting antiques, gardening, and leaving his dirty dishes anywhere but in the sink (particularly when writing)  He considers himself blessed with an accepting family, fantastic friends, and the world’s most supportive and loving partner. Andrew currently lives in beautiful, historic Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Author Links

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For Other Works by Andrew Grey

(Please Be Sure To Stop by His Website to See All of His Works)

**** Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book from RBTL Book Promotions and the Author/Publisher with the hope that I will leave my Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”. *****

Home Improvement – A Love Story by TaraLain: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt and Release Day Review

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Romance on Aisle Sixteen—opposites attract amid the hammers and screws of the home improvement store.

Gabe Mason became a father at seventeen, and his daughter, Ellie, is the most important thing in his life. But being the parent the courts demand means Gabe has given up most of his dreams—education, making furniture, a gay social life—to be a model dad with a steady, reliable job in a home improvement store. Life’s predictable until Jerry, a shy, eccentric guy in a hat and sunglasses, begs Gabe to oversee the renovation of his run-down mansion.

Gabe loves the house and the work, and Jerry’s pretty lovable too, but when Gabe discovers Jerry’s secret identity, he fears their passion could overturn both their lives forever.

Title: Home Improvement – A Love Story
Author: Tara Lain
Release Date: July 9, 2019
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 192

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Favorite Tropes – What are Yours?

Welcome. I’m so happy to be here to introduce my new romance, HOME IMPROVEMENT – A LOVE STORY. This is a single dad, opposites attract, secret identity story. Funny how I use those words and we all have a solid idea what they mean in a book. In literature, we call them tropes. While the literal definition of the word trope has to do with figures of speech, in novels, especially genre fiction, tropes have come to mean the familiar themes that we find in stories– especially romances – that have thrilled us since the days of the Greeks, Shakespeare, and Moliere. These are themes like “secret baby”, arranged marriage, rich boy/poor girl (or boy!), friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, boy disguised as girl or vice versa, studly cowboy, dashing sheik, and on and on. Our love for these familiar plot devices unite and connect us through shared experience.

Tropes always remind me of the famous Star Trek The Next Generation episode called Darmok, one of the most praised shows of any scifi series. (Look it up.) The premise was that there was a planet that had been unable to join the community of nations because no one could understand their language. The reason? All the words and references were based on cultural norms and common experiences that other planetary societies didn’t share. That’s how we are with tropes. If we refer to a Romeo and Juliet story, virtually anyone vaguely familiar with the play knows just what we mean. Rich girl/poor boy suggest immediate conflicts that we all know, and friends-to-lovers means something to everyone who reads or watches any kind of popular culture.

What are your favorite tropes? I only have to glance at my books to know what mine are. Opposites attract has been way at the top of my list from my earliest novels. I love the immediate conflict that arises from two people who appear to be different in most every way like a blue collar guy and a fashion stylist, an NFL football center and a drag queen, or a guy who works in a home improvement store and someone rich and famous.

I also find I love single dad stories. It took me a while to get into this trope. Most of my early books don’t have kids in them. But once I dipped in a toe – I think it might have been in my short story, Trex or Treat, I was hooked. I’ve written lots of single dads since then, in Lord of a Thousand Steps, High Balls, Cowboys Don’t Come Out, and, of course, in HOME IMPROVEMENT – A LOVE STORY.

Shakespeare and I share a love of secret identities. Shakespeare constantly dressed his woman as boys and got them in all kinds of trouble. I tend to do the opposite, of course and dress my guys as girls, but I also like stories where the identity of one of the lovers is hidden for some reason. That’s true in my new book.

I hope you love reading HOME IMPROVEMENT – A LOVE STORY and that it captures some of your favorite tropes.

When he got to the end of the aisle, he looked casually to his left. Tight against a display of light fixtures, back turned to Gabe, stood the guy in the beanie. He had long legs in baggy jeans, an equally baggy sweatshirt that still stretched across really wide shoulders, all his hair covered by the cap, and still the total strangeness didn’t obscure the view of one world-class ass inside the jeans.

Gabe cleared his throat but didn’t get too close. “Can I help you find something, sir?”

“Wha—” He half turned, and Gabe saw he’d put on sunglasses after he’d withdrawn from peering around the corner.

“Can I help you, sir?” Gabe thought he should probably walk away, but the guy had become kind of a challenge.

The customer reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a drawer handle. He muttered, “Need handles this size.”

Gabe took it. “All right, sir. If you’ll come with me, we have the drawer pulls at the end of aisle sixteen.”

The guy nodded and turned but never raised his head enough to look Gabe in the eye. Still, his high cheekbones and full lips made his face striking, even when it was pointed at his shoes.

Gabe started walking, trusting from the soft scuffling of sneakers behind him that the man was following. Those footsteps slowed when they passed the woman with the kids as she gathered the last of her screws, but he sped up again after she dragged the children toward the checkout registers. In front of the rows of drawers containing handles and knobs, Gabe pointed to the samples attached to the front of each drawer. “See any you like?”

The guy’s head barely moved, so through the glasses, Gabe couldn’t see if he even looked. He shrugged.

“Do you like modern? Traditional?”

“Modern.”

“Brushed nickel, maybe? Or are you a chrome guy?”

The slim nose wrinkled.

“So no chrome. Nickel, then.” Gabe walked to the drawers and held out the sample the guy had given him to check for size and spacing center to center. He picked a couple of modern pulls he liked and took them from the drawers, then held them out to the man.

He looked at the pulls intently, cocked his head, and then ripped off the glasses somewhat impatiently, as if someone had made him wear them.

Gabe sucked in a soft breath. The guy’s eyes were two different colors, one a deep blue and the other light green. Startling and very distinctive. Maybe it affected his eyesight or sensitivity to light and that’s why he was wearing sunglasses in ImproveMart?

The guy reached out a long-fingered hand and tapped the handle that was Gabe’s favorite—a simple wide U-shape of brushed nickel. Gabe nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good one. How many do you need?”

“Uh, eight.” His voice was soft to the point of nonexistence.

Gabe pulled the drawer out farther and began counting out the plastic packages that contained the handle and necessary screws, piling them on the shelf beside him. “Need anything else?”

The guy had put his glasses back on by the time Gabe turned to him. Darn. Those eyes are something. The man nodded his head and pointed to some simple, ball-shaped drawer pulls. “Ten.”

“Oh, I hope I have enough.” Gabe pulled open the drawer and started counting.

The dude stepped closer to watch the counting, which turned out to be a bad idea for Gabe’s autonomic responses. What is that smell? Like some mix of orange and spice. Whatever it was, Gabe’s lower regions came out for a sniff. He shifted his feet and pressed his elbows against his work vest to be sure it covered his crotch. Down boy.

He forced a smile as he scraped the last package from the drawer. “There you go. We just made ten.” Gabe looked around. The guy had no cart. Not even a carry basket. What exactly was he planning on hauling stuff in?

The man seemed to realize it at the same time as Gabe. He grabbed his lip between his teeth, looked down, took hold of the hem of his giant sweatshirt, and held the bottom out like a bag.

Gabe chuckled. “Excellent save.” The problem with the dude’s invention was it raised the shirt from his narrow hips—and what might, just might, have been a half-mast condition thrusting out the front of his jeans. Don’t need to know that—if it’s true. Hell, just what he needed. To get turned on by weird customers.

Gabe’s life consists of two things… working at the homewares store and providing the best life he can for his teenage daughter. He puts everything else on the back burner, partly because he wants her to have the best life, but also because his ex-wife, depending on the man she’s with at the moment, is just itching to take him back to court to get custody of their daughter, even though she’s almost 17 and able to make those decisions for herself…..

I first want to say that I adored this story, but the whole storyline with the ex and all the trouble she makes, is ridiculous when at the end, she just kind of gets over it when the whole story she’s been this evil, bigoted, hate-spewing woman that causes both Ellie and Gabe nothing but stress and misery. Gabe even goes so far and spends his life alone, not dating….ever, just because she’d make trouble! Then all the sudden she calls, they go running and all is forgiven??? Uhm, no.

So, Gabe is excellent at his job and he’s probably the most experienced man there, so when a clueless and shy guy comes in for help, Gabe is sent to help him out. That’s when he meets Jerry.
I adored Jerry… Painfully shy and socially awkward, I knew there was something about him that he was hiding. It’s obvious from the beginning and though it was easy to figure out, I can’t believe Gabe didn’t before he did.

I loved how slow their relationship formed and progressed. It was sweet and realistic, watching them tip toe around each other and hope that the other was feeling the same way… you could tell they had feelings for each other but neither of them would come out and say it. It was a little bit annoying that Gabe kept jumping to conclusions and ran away when things got even a little bit tricky, but they always worked it out.

I also didn’t understand Jerry’s brother…. He seemed shady and bad news, and I thought for sure that Jerry would have it out with him, but he just kind of disappeared as well. Causing trouble one second and then gone the next. I’d have liked for Jerry to have told him off and not let him have all the say in his life anymore. I’d have liked the satisfaction… but meh, I’m petty.

It was tricky, being a celebrity and trying to be a normal person with a private life, as Jerry tried to do, and it proved a bit tricky to be the little piece of normal for the celebrity that so very much needed that, but they got there in the end.

Overall though, I loved how Gabe and Jerry was with each other, and I loved each one’s relationship with Gabe’s daughter Ellie. She’s sweet and helpful and she just wanted them both to be happy. Other than the ex-wife and Jerry’s brother… I really enjoyed it!

4 pieces of eye candy

 

Tara Lain believes in happy ever afters – and magic. Same thing. In fact, she says, she doesn’t believe, she knows. Tara shares this passion in her best-selling stories that star her unique, charismatic heroes — the beautiful boys of romance —  and adventurous heroines. Quarterbacks and cops, werewolves and witches, blue collar or billionaires, Tara’s characters, readers say, love deeply, resolve seemingly insurmountable differences, and ultimately live their lives authentically. After many years living in southern California, Tara, her soulmate honey and her soulmate dog decided they wanted less cars and more trees, prompting a move to Ashland, Oregon where Tara’s creating new stories and loving living in a small town with big culture. Likely a Gryffindor but possessed of Parseltongue, Tara loves animals of all kinds, diversity, open minds, coconut crunch ice cream from Zoeys, and her readers. She also loves to hear from you.

Author Links:

Website:  http://taralain.com/

Blog: http://www.taralain.com/blog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/taralain

FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/taralain

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tara-lain

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2ICPcCZ

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4541791.Tara_Lain

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/taralain/

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The Doctor’s Date by Heidi Cullinan: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt and Release Day Review

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The hospital’s least eligible bachelor and its aloof administrator hate each other… so why are they pretending to date?

Dr. Owen Gagnon and HR director Erin Andreas are infamous for their hospital hallway shouting matches. So imagine the town’s surprise when Erin bids an obscene amount of money to win Owen in the hospital bachelor auction—and Owen ups the ante by insisting Erin move in with him.

Copper Point may not know what’s going on, but neither do Erin and Owen. Erin intends his gesture to let Owen know he’s interested. Owen, on the other hand, suspects ulterior motives—that Erin wants a fake relationship as a refuge from his overbearing father.

With Erin suddenly heading a messy internal investigation, Owen wants to step up and be the hero Erin’s never had. Too bad Erin would rather spend his energy trying to rescue Owen from the shadows of a past he doesn’t talk about.

This relationship may be fake, but the feelings aren’t. Still, what Erin and Owen have won’t last unless they put their respective demons to rest. To do that, they’ll have to do more than work together—they’ll have to trust they can heal each other’s hearts.

Title: The Doctor’s Date
Series: Copper Point Medical: Book Two
Author: Heidi Cullinan
Release Date: June 18, 2019
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 300

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Hi there! Thanks for having me today. I’m here to talk about my new book The Doctor’s Date, available in ebook, trade paper, and mass market from Dreamspinner Press. It’s book two in the Copper Point: Medical series, and it’s the story of Erin Andreas, no-nonsense hospital administrator, and Dr. Owen Andreas, the cantankerous anesthesiologist.

When I planned out the Copper Point: Medical series, I set up two of the books to pair a doctor with one of the hospital administrators. I knew there would be a lot of built-in conflict by doing so, especially given that I wanted to show a younger, more diverse group of doctors and administrators trying to turn a flailing hospital around despite efforts by the old guard to keep everything the “same as it had always been” without allowing any change.

I see this power struggle play out in every aspect of the town where I live, which while it boasts a population of sixty-six thousand people, fully half plus three thousand of that is made up of the local state university. We’re a big small town that likes to pretend by turns it’s more than it is and also less. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life, and the things the school, hospital, and city planners find to fight about have yet to cease amazing me.

From listening to dinnertime stories from my husband for twenty years as he has worked in hospital pharmacy, hospitals play out this same kind of struggle internally as well. You don’t get that many people with differing goals placed into the same petri dish without growing some interesting side effects.

Owen and Erin were an absolute delight to write, not the least of which because they never ceased to snipe at one another, even when it was done with love. It’s so fun to write that kind of energy. And of course, a lot of that struggle plays out as they deal with each other at work.

I hope you enjoy The Doctor’s Date and the other books in the Copper Point: Medical series. May you have as great a time as I did exploring Erin and Owen’s adventure!

Owen had what Simon had said as well as what Erin had said ringing in his head all the rest of the day.

He was so agitated. He needed to blow off some steam.

He decided to look for Erin.

Owen moved on autopilot. He wanted a fight. He wondered if he’d get one. He wondered if he should get one. As he rode the elevator to the third floor, he fidgeted, unsure of what he was going to do or say when he arrived.

Maybe he shouldn’t go.

Probably he shouldn’t go.

When the elevator doors opened, he didn’t exit, allowing the three other passengers who had ridden with him to get off, and he remained on. Two new people got on, and the doors were starting to close to take him downstairs again when at the last second someone slipped inside—it was Erin, holding too many binders. On instinct, Owen reached for the stack.

Erin shifted and moved them farther away.

Owen glared at him.

“Would you press the first floor for me?” Erin asked.

Owen did, glancing at the stack. “You carry too much.”

Erin pursed his lips. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. You’re clearly straining. You’re going to get a hernia.”

The two women in the back of the elevator exchanged a knowing look. Owen thought one of them hid a smile behind her hand.

The woman closest to Owen turned toward him, and before she opened her mouth, he could tell what she was going to say by the look in her eye. He froze, ready for impact.

“Dr. Gagnon, the other night, when you played the violin—”

Stepping in front of her, Erin thrust the stack of binders at Owen. “Fine. Take them, if it will stop your nagging.”

Stunned, Owen moved cautiously to accept the folders. He was more surprised when Erin’s gaze lingered on him.

That had been on purpose. Erin had cut her off so she couldn’t comment on his playing.

He’d just been rescued.

Goddamn if Owen wasn’t about to blush.

After reading book 1, I had two thoughts. 1. I need more Owen and 2. Why is Erin named Erin and not Aaron? Usually in a series, the “bad boy” or super closed off one, or whatever you want to call him is book 3. So I was super happy to get Owen’s story this time. Sorry, Jared, you have to wait for book 3.

Owen is the lone anesthesiologist at the small town hospital. He has 2 life long friends he loves fiercely. And seems to hate everyone else. But Erin fell in love with Owen when he was 13. And now that they are working together, Erin hopes to get to know Owen better, but Owen just bickers and fights with him.

It’s obvious to all of us that the bickering and fighting is straight up flirting to Owen. But poor Erin has zero game. Or social skills. So he ends up bidding a ridiculous amount on Owen at a fundraiser bachelor auction. Erin just wants a date. But Owen thinks he wants protection from his over bearing father.

It was pretty funny because Owen and Erin were actually honest and truthful with each other. They just weren’t listening. After a few missteps, Erin says he wanted a date. But Owen needs to protect Erin. Because that is what he does.

Add in a ridiculously overbearing father, more missing money from the hospital, sexual tension and nosy friends and you get a good story! There was a bit of whodunit with the embezzlement from the hospital. Which was a little anticlimactic because there was embezzlement from the hospital in book 1.

But with that story line mixed in with Erin’s parental issues and Owen’s parental issues gave us a lot of story meat to sink our teeth into.

And I just loved Owen. I knew I would. The way he takes care of Erin, without taking over his life, is just the sweetest thing. He checks in with him, never once mocking him about anything- inexperience, clumsiness, shyness, etc. He never rushed him and never pressured him. He was just swoony.

There are a few sex scenes, but nothing over the top. This is definitely more story and character driven than sex driven. Which is fine by me. I love a good sex scene, but I hate when they are filler.

Bring on book 3!

4 pieces of eye candy

Melting For You by A.M. Arthur: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt, Blog Tour and New Release Review

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After his father’s heart attack, Isaiah Morrell gave up cooking in his own high-end Atlanta restaurant to return home to Reynolds, North Carolina, in order to help his father Thomas heal and to keep an eye on his business Neighborhood Shindig. A collection of food trucks and other small businesses, Shindig is a popular destination in this college town, but Isaiah longs for the fast pace of a big-city kitchen. Until he meets Joel…

Joel Fisher has been out of commission from a serious illness for the better part of a year, but now he’s ready to reclaim his life—except his apartment has been sublet, his partner is missing, and their shared food truck is stripped of everything not attached. In short, Joel has nothing. After an uncomfortable night sleeping on the food truck floor, Isaiah and Thomas Morrell give Joel an offer he can’t refuse: a rented room in their house, as well as their help creating a new food truck concept. Joel hates accepting charity, but he’s hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up.

Working with seemingly uptight Isaiah is actually pretty fun, and the pair bonds over a challenge to create a unique grilled cheese sandwich. Light flirting melts into a deeper connection neither man expects, but Isaiah isn’t in Reynolds for much longer, and Joel can’t get attached to the gorgeous professional chef. As Isaiah’s feelings for Joel strengthen and grow, he entertains the idea of staying in Neighborhood Shindig for good—but Joel hasn’t asked him to…

Welcome to Neighborhood Shindig, a friendly place where you can snack on a lamb kebab while getting your hair done, pick up your favorite herbal tea blend, and then go listen to live music under the pavilion. We’re happy to have you.

Melting For You

Neighborhood Shindig Series, Book #1

A.M. Arthur

Contemporary MM Romance

Release Date: 06.13.19

Cover Designer: Sloan J Designs/https://www.facebook.com/sloanjdesigns/

 

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Hey, y’all! Thank you for having me at Two Chicks Obsessed. I’m A.M. Arthur, and I write LBGTQ+ romance across the spectrum of both sexualities and subgenres. I’m here today to celebrate the recent release of my brand-new food truck-centered series, Neighborhood Shindig. The first book in the series, Melting For You, kicks it off with Joel Fisher, a young guy with a run of bad luck, and Isaiah Morrell, the spoiled son of a locally renowned chef. Together, the pair hatch a plan to open up a gourmet grilled cheese food truck, and naturally shenanigans ensue—and the pair falls in love.

Now Neighborhood Shindig probably sounds like an odd name for a romance series, and it’s named after the main location of the books. Set in the fictional down of Reynolds, North Carolina. Shindig is a fenced-in private lot with six stationary food trucks, eight small business shops (called pods), and a big open-air pavilion in the middle with picnic tables for guests. It’s an eclectic place with no two businesses alike, and also a safe space for people to come, enjoy live music while snacking on a bowl of gourmet nachos, and maybe get your nails done while you’re at it (after the nachos, of course).

One of my favorite aspects of writing series romance is being able to use a setting as a character in and of itself. To give a location its own personality and make readers feel as if they’ve visited it simply because the characters have. Heidi Cullinan did this so well for the town of Logan in her Minnesota Christmas series, and by the end of book one (Let It Snow) I felt like I’d been to Logan myself. K.A. Mitchell made Baltimore, Maryland, come alive in her Bad in Baltimore series (book one Bad Boyfriend) by featuring locations well-known to locals, while still putting a creative spin on things. Also, the town of Zebulon leapt to life in Keira Andrews’ Amish books (starting with A Forbidden Rumspringa).

I tried to make Neighborhood Shindig as a location come alive for readers by giving it fun characters, unique food truck concepts (admittedly some more than others), as well as interesting small business pods to shop in. I hope I’ve intrigued you enough to pay your own visit to Shindig and dive into Melting For You!

What are some of your favorite book series where the location is just as important a character as the people on the page?

Joel found a parking spot near his building and got out, grateful to stretch sore, aching limbs. Long car rides were more difficult for him now, and he’d tried to stop as infrequently as possible, so eager to surprise Steve. Joel scanned the lot for Steve’s hatchback. It was midday on Tuesday, so the Shindig lot was closed—it gave not only the small business owners who rented pods, but also the owner/manager one full day off a week. Didn’t mean Steve had to be home, though.

Their unit was on the fourth floor, no elevator, and Joel hated that he was panting a bit by the time he got there. Definitely needed to start working out more, get back into shape. He was already tall and lean, but he’d lost about fifteen pounds of muscle this past year.

Excitement rolled through his belly as he put his key into their unit’s lock and turned—except it didn’t unlock. He double-checked, but yeah, right door and right key.

That’s weird.

Maybe Steve had needed to change the locks for some reason? He pushed the doorbell and waited, trying to fight back a big smile. The knob rattled and a chain slid back. The door opened about a foot and a dark-haired woman stared at him. “Can I help you?” she asked.

Joel blinked hard. “Um, does Steve Winslow live here?”

Don’t I live here?

“Not since the first of the month,” the woman replied. “He had to move suddenly, so I’m sub-leasing it through the end of the month, until my place is ready downstairs. Who are you?”

“Joel. I live here.”

“Oh, right, you’re the ex he mentioned.”

“Ex?” Ex what? He’d texted Steve yesterday about frivolous things, and Steve hadn’t said a damned thing about sub-leasing their place. A place Joel had paid this month’s rent on. “What do you mean ex?”

“He said you guys broke up, so you moved back to live with your parents in Virginia, and he’s moving…somewhere, I don’t think he said where. But your stuff is still here. He packed it up and left it in the hall closet.”

Joel did not understand what was happening right now. “We didn’t break up. We have a business together for God’s sake. I don’t understand.”

“Listen, do you want to come inside and sit? You look pale.”

“Um, yeah, thanks.”

The apartment was small, one-bedroom and only about six hundred square feet. It had come furnished, so none of the big stuff was his, and he’d taken clothing and his electronics with him to Virginia. Those personal things were in his car right now, waiting to be unpacked.

He sat on the familiar sofa, legs suddenly trembling, and tried to wrap his brain around what was happening.

The woman appeared with a bottle of water. “Here. I’m Emily, by the way.”

“Joel.” Had he already said that? “Steve never told me he moved out.”

“Oh, wow, that’s harsh. He ditched your place without telling you?”

“At least the lease isn’t up until August.” It gave him time to plan, even if it meant a strange female roommate for a few weeks. He couldn’t really afford the place on his own, and he still had no clue what was going on with the food truck.

“Um…” Emily chewed on her bottom lip. “The lease is month-to-month. It’s over in, like ten days, and I have a document with the landlord stating I’m the tenant.”

Joel gaped. “But…this is my place.”

“My place, dude, and no offense, but I do not know you, and I make it a point not to live with strange men.”

“How the hell can he change the lease without me…signing…? Fuck.” Because he dealt with college students, the building’s manager had multiple lease options. Year-long, which is what Joel always signed, but also college-term leases that lasted the length of the college’s school year, and then month-to-month options for the summer, or for temporary tenants. When Steve said he’d renewed the lease last summer while Joel was sick, Joel had assumed he’d done another full-year contract.

Joke’s on me.

“If you don’t believe me, I can get a copy of the lease,” Emily said.

“I believe you. I just don’t understand why he’d do this. Why he wouldn’t at least call and tell me he was leaving, or that if I came back I’d be homeless.”

What a great start to A.m. Arthur’s Neighborhood Shindig series! Now, to be fair, A.m. Arthur is absolutely in the top five of my favorite m/m authors, so I’ll admit to a little bit of bias, but the world that A.m. Arthur has created in the Neighborhood Shindig is absolutely endearing!

Ok.. So, Melting For You, here are your characters. First, you have Joel, a 20-something young man who is just returning to Reynolds, North Carolina after spending a year living with his parents while he was extremely ill. Then, you have Isaiah who’s come home to help care for his estranged father, who just happens to be the owner of Neighborhood Shindig. When Joel arrives in Reynolds, it quickly becomes clear that his former business partner and casual lover, has stolen from Joel, left Joel homeless, and left their jointly run food truck a barren disaster. But all hope is not lost. Enter, Isaiah and his father.

Isaiah is not quite sure where he belongs anymore. He’s managed to work his way to the top of the restaurant business in Atlanta, but now that he’s back home in Reynolds he finds himself questioning whether or not Atlanta and the restaurant he co-owns is really where his passion is best served.

In Melting for You, Isaiah and Joel become friends first, then lovers, and together they begin a journey into finding a place that feels like home. As they work together to get Joel’s food truck back up and running, they begin to learn just what it means when a place feels like home. This is a sweet and simple story of two men, a lot of grilled cheese, and a city square full of food trucks and family. Welcome, my friends, to Neighborhood Shindig… Oh, and fair warning, this book will leave you hungry, lol!

5 pieces of eye candy to A.m. Arthur’s Melting for You.

 

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland.  She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Carina Press, SMP Swerve, and Briggs-King Books.

 

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder.  She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

 

Email: am_arthur@yahoo.com

Site: http://amarthur.blogspot.com/

Twitter http://twitter.com/am_arthur

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The First Step (Coastal Carolina Book 1) by Shira Anthony: Exclusive Cover Reveal and Guest Post

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Okay, I love this post so much! Shira Anthony is here talking about two of my most favorite places…the ocean, and the Wilmington, NC area. She brought a fantastic guest post below, even including a picture of her boat, Prelude, and her upcoming adventure sounds amazing! On top of it, the upcoming series sound pretty darn great! So, check out her post, the beautiful cover, and let her know your thoughts!

The first step is the hardest. After a scandal, New York political reporter Reed Barfield is lying low at the North Carolina coast, writing a story about the seafood industry. But it’s the harbor pilots on the Cape Fear River who capture his interest—men who jump across ten feet of open ocean to grab a rope ladder and guide huge container ships into port. Men like sexy but prickly Justin Vance.

After surviving an abusive childhood and a tour in the Navy, Justin isn’t fazed by his dangerous job—it’s certainly easier to face than Reed’s annoying questions. Justin isn’t out at work, and he doesn’t need Reed digging into his personal life or his past.

But Reed’s no stranger to using his considerable charm to get what he wants, and as he wears Justin down, they realize they have a lot in common—and that they like spending time together. Moving beyond that, though, will mean Justin confessing his sexuality and learning to trust Reed with his secrets—if Reed even decides to stay. Both men want a future together, but can they find the courage to take the first step?

Title: The First Step

Series: Coastal Carolina

Author: Shira Anthony

Release Date: September 17, 2019

Category: Contemporary

Pages: 229

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase    http://www.lcchase.com

Dreamspinner Press

Dreamspinner Press

My husband and I will be cruising for about two years aboard our 38 foot Admiral catamaran sailboat, Prelude, starting in December. The water is my Zen place, and the place where I’ve written a good deal of my books.

Over the years, I’ve imagined many stories set on the water. I’ve written mermen shifters in my Mermen of Ea Trilogy and even a story about a pirate movie being filmed at the Carolina Coast, Take Two. But the inspiration for my brand new series with Dreamspinner Press came from our many trips from Wilmington, North Carolina, down the Cape Fear River to Bald Head Island and beyond onto the Atlantic Ocean where we’ve come within a few dozen yards of the enormous container ships headed to and from the Port of Wilmington.

Prelude

It was on one of those trips that I learned those immense vessels—some up to four football fields long!—aren’t sailed into port by their captains (or “masters,” as they’re called), but are guided by local pilots who meet the ships out in the middle of the ocean and climb from a small pilot boat, up a rope ladder, and onto the container ships to sail them into port.

River pilots, or harbor pilots, as they’re sometimes called, get paid a lot of money for their work. Why? Because it requires a great deal of skill to sail a boat the size of several city blocks up narrow channels and their apprenticeship can take years. Not only that, transferring from pilot boat to container ship in the middle of the ocean incredibly is dangerous work. Every year, pilots are injured or killed doing their jobs.

Learning about the harbor pilots and their treacherous work inspired my Coastal Carolina series, which focuses on the lives of men who live and work at the Carolina coast. The first book, The First Step, is the story of closeted harbor pilot Justin Vance and the New York City political beat reporter, Reed Barfield, who decides to write a story about the Cape Fear River pilots.

The First Step is a sexy romantic adventure set against the backdrop of the beautiful North Carolina Coast. Life on the edge of the Atlantic can be beautiful, but it can also be deadly, as Justin and Reed discover while their weather a major hurricane and its aftermath. I love the gorgeous cover L.C. Chase created for this first series book with its backdrop of a stormy ocean, a tiny pilot boat, and the huge shipping vessel.

I can’t wait for you to read The First Step and I hope you enjoy stepping into the shoes of the working men of North Carolina! The book is now up for preorder at Dreamspinner Press and releases in September. Here’s the link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/coastal-carolina-10779-s Until then, have a great summer and, if you see one a container ship sail past you while you’re enjoying your beach vacation, imagine the man or woman who is guiding her way! -Shira

Shira Anthony was a professional opera singer in her last incarnation, performing roles in such operas as Tosca, Pagliacci, and La Traviata, among others. You can hear Shira sing an aria from a live performance of Puccini’s Tosca by clicking here: “Vissi d’arte”

Shira’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle. When she’s not writing, she is usually in a courtroom trying to make the world safer for children. Her favorite place to write is at the Carolina coast aboard Prelude, a 38’ catamaran sailboat, with her favorite sexy captain at the wheel.

Whether contemporary romance, high fantasy shifters, or time-traveling vampires, Shira writes what she loves and never writes a story without a HEA. Her Mermen of Ea trilogy book Into the Wind was named one of the best books of 2014 by both Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words and Hearts on Fire Reviews, and was a finalist in the 2014 Goodreads M/M Romance Member’s Choice Awards. Her Blue Notes series of classical-music-themed gay romances was named one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words’ best series of 2012, and the most recent book in the series, Dissonance, was named one of the best books of 2014 by Hearts on Fire Reviews. Her book A Solitary Man, coauthored with Aisling Mancy, won a 2016 Rainbow Award Honorable Mention for Best Gay Mystery/Thriller.

Shira can be found on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/shira.anthony
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/4641776.Shira_Anthony
Twitter: @WriterShira
Website: www.shiraanthony.com
Email: shiraanthony@hotmail.com

 

Prince of Killers (A Fog City Novel) by Layla Reyne: Exclusive Excerpt, Interview, Blog Tour and Giveaway

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No indiscriminate killing. No collateral damage. No unvetted targets.

These are the rules Hawes Madigan lives by. Rules that make being Fog City’s Prince of Killers bearable. Soon, he’ll be king—of an organization of assassins—and the crown has never felt heavier. Until the mysterious Dante Perry swaggers into his life.

Dante looks like a rock god and carries himself like one too, all loose-limbed and casually confident. He also carries a concealed weapon, a private investigator’s license, and a message for the prince. Someone inside Hawes’s organization is out to kill the future king.

In the chaos that follows the timely warning, Hawes comes to depend on Dante. On his skills as an investigator, on the steadiness he offers, and on their moments alone when Hawes lets Dante take control. As alliances are tested and traitors exposed, Hawes needs Dante at his back and in his bed. But if the PI ever learns Hawes’s darkest secret, Hawes is sure to get a knife to the heart—and a bullet to the brain—instead.

There’s no shortage of twists and turns in this new romantic suspense trilogy from Layla Reyne. Prince of Killers is book one of three. Fair warning: buckle up, cliffhangers ahead!

Prince of Killers by Layla Reyne

Series (name + # in series): Fog City #1

Publisher: Layla Reyne (Self-Published)

Release Date (Print & Ebook): June 10, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): 216 pages (52K words)

Subgenre: M/M Romantic Suspense

Warnings: Explicit sex including mild kink; explicit language; violence; instances and/or discussion of homophobia; off-page instances and/or discussion of PTSD, drug use, and abuse of minor characters.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Get to know more about Layla Reyne in this fun Review Tour Q&A!

  • Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any you’d recommend?

Yes! One of my day jobs is as a legal resource editor, and I always have an audiobook playing when I’m doing that work. The Tales of Verania series by TJ Klune, narrated by Michael Lesley, is an absolute treasure.

  • What are your five favorite words?

I just need one: Fuck, especially the way Tristan James says it narrating audiobooks 😉

  • Do you have a favorite cover from one of your books?

This one! Cate Ashwood who did all the Fog City covers sent me the cover concept for Prince of Killers first, and I screamed “Holy Shit!” so loudly that my dogs startled. And I kept repeating “Holy Shit” for like the next week. She deserves so much credit, as does Wander Aguiar for the gorgeous photos, and Patrick Sean (the model) for just being that damn gorgeous.

He was starting to think Dante was right. Whatever was happening now was connected to what had happened then, on the night Isabelle Costa died.

That fact acknowledged—and the anxiety and unease that came with it internalized—a calm settled over Hawes. He counted the panes in the windows, waited for his breath and heartbeat to slow, then dropped his arms and turned back to his condo full of visitors. “I’ll see what I can find out today at the pier.”

“I’ve got a hearing at ten.” Helena dumped her empty paper plate into the trash. “If I don’t go by the station beforehand, I’ll swing by there after. I can be at HQ by one.”

“No,” Hawes said. “Things need to appear as usual. I would normally be in this morning. You wouldn’t.”

“I’ll go in with you,” Holt said. He patted Lily’s back through the sling. “She’s having fun being out today.”

Dante pushed off the fridge. “And I’ll have their backs.”

Helena blocked his forward momentum with her arm. “Look here, Mr. Hair—”

“Hena,” Hawes chided, while Holt laughed.

Their sister, however, held the steak knife at-the-ready and had drawn nose-to-chest with Dante, though you wouldn’t know it by her stance. For all she cared, she was taller than Dante, not a good foot shorter. “You’ve gotta give us more before I let you walk into this with my family.”

“There’s a flash drive in my coat pocket.”

“I’ve got it,” Hawes said, saving Holt the trouble of reaching around the baby and laptop. He retrieved the flash drive—generic, drugstore model—and held it out to Holt.

Holt’s wary gaze split between him and Dante. “I’m not putting that in my computer without checking it for viruses.”

“I wouldn’t either,” Dante said. “Which was why I checked it before I put it in mine. No viruses, I swear.”

Holt still hesitated. Hawes slapped the drive into his hand with a firm, “Just do it.” They didn’t have time to argue.

Hawes moved behind Holt so he could view the screen as Holt disconnected from servers and wireless networks before inserting the flash drive. No blue screen of death appeared. Holt released a held breath, and Hawes put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. Then harder, unintentionally, when Holt opened the first unnamed folder and the screen filled with surveillance photos—of Hawes. From various spots around town, from the pier, from outside the family fort in Pac Heights, and in front of his condo. Each had a bull’s-eye drawn on his head.

About Layla Reyne: RITA Finalist Layla Reyne is the author of the Agents Irish and Whiskey, Trouble Brewing, and Changing Lanes series. A Carolina Tar Heel who now calls the San Francisco Bay Area home, Layla enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart-pounding romance. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and its Kiss of Death and Rainbow Romance Writers chapters. Layla is a 2019 RWA® RITA® Finalist in Contemporary Romance (Mid-Length) and 2016 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist in Romantic Suspense.

Connect with Layla:

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AMZ: https://www.amazon.com/author/LaylaReyne

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/layla-reyne

 

Enter to win 2 sets of signed backlist paperbacks (Trouble Brewing or Changing Lanes, winner’s choice); if international, signed book plates.

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