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All or None by Aurora Lee Thornton: Exclusive Author Interview and Excerpt

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In a world where everyone has a soulmate, uniquely powerful mage Royiora and reluctant assassin Kalo collide in the worst of ways.

Royiora Daralkaen, the only mage alive able to use all five kinds of magic, has a near idyllic childhood in the country of Porescalia – before war breaks out with their antagonistic neighbors, Kloria.

Kalo Porla, a naturally magic-proof individual known as a Null, is trained to be as an assassin by the authoritarian empire known as the Domain.

When Kalo and his partner assassin are sent to kill a mage and his apprentice, it starts a journey neither man was prepared to begin.

Author Name: Aurora Lee Thornton

Publisher: Self

Release Date: Friday, May 15 2020

Word Count: 87000

Cover Artist: Aurora Lee Thornton

Genres: Fantasy

Pairings: Primary: m|m, secondary: mf, ff, ffm, mm

LGBTQ+ Identities: ace, demi, bi/pan, gay, lesbian, non-binary, poly, trans woman

Keywords/Categories: enemies-to-lovers, soulmates, coming-of-age, slice-of-life, mages, assassins, queer, LGBTQ, fantasy

Goodreads

Amazon

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m a plantser, ha ha. I started off as more of a panster but I would keep running into the issue where I would forget where I meant to go with a story? So I started writing outlines – nothing too detailed, usually just a very basic ‘here is each major plot point’ or ‘this is what each chapter is about.’

My stories do tend to be character-driven over plot, so I leave plenty of wiggle room for change. And some stories I don’t have outlines for because I don’t know where they’re going yet – and that’s fine with me, too.

What are your favorite parts of publishing?

Getting my stories out there so other people can read them! I’ve only self-published, so it’s all very exciting to get everything together and get ready to go.

I love hearing what other people enjoyed about my story – little details, favorite characters, etc. I also love talking about my stories, though it can be hard to avoid spoilers in that case, ha ha.

What are your least favorite parts of publishing?

Again, I self-publish, so basically everything that isn’t the actual writing part – sending out review requests, planning advertising campaigns, all the other marketing aspects. Social media, copywriting, etc. It’s all just so much planning and work (and usually at least some money).

I also dislike querying, not that I know any authors that enjoy it. My latest story has an unconventional narrative structure, which made it hard to write a compelling synopsis/query letter when almost all the advice for how to do so is based on the three act structure or hero’s journey. I like meandering plots and slice of life, which don’t translate well, unfortunately.

Let’s talk to your characters for a minute – what’s it like to work for such a demanding writer?

Roy: “Demanding? Ha. Xe wasn’t even supposed to give us a story.”

Kalo: “Yeah… we were apparently ‘too interesting’.”

Roy: “Now xe has a whole series to contend with instead of one standalone. It’s kind of funny.”

Kalo: “It’s really not.”

Roy: “You’re only saying that because you’re a writer too.”

Kalo: “… true.”

Were you a voracious reader as a child?

Oh absolutely – I even got grounded from reading because I would read instead of doing my homework! (Though that was probably more the undiagnosed ADHD…

I feel lucky that I ran into some great fantasy written by women as a kid – I didn’t even realize how male-dominated the genre was until adulthood. Tamora Pierce is still a big favorite of mine.

Even though I know I’m not a woman now, it was still great to read fiction with complex heroines – I only wish I had known Kel was ace when I was a kid, then I might have found out I was sooner!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?

Trek, all the way. I don’t have a problem with Star Wars – I like it in its own way. But I prefer the cerebral, utopian future exploring socio-political issues – even though they don’t always get it right.

DS9 is my favorite series because it dealt with different issues than the other STs – mainly, how a utopian society interacts with a non-utopian universe. I found that kind of interplay very interesting, and it helped add a lot more nuance to the Federation and its place in the universe.

Is this our destination? Roy considered, but chose to wait to find out.

His assumption turned out to be correct, as Kalo sighed in relief when he saw it, leading the way right to the door and knocking.

A woman of Kalo’s race answered it, even with the same red skin and gray hair. She laughed and pulled his soulmate into a hug when she saw him, before pulling back and flicking his ear with something even Roy recognized as an admonishment.

The assassin replied something tiredly, walking past the woman with the slight limp he’d had for the past week or so.

Then she turned to the mage, and in perfect Porescalian said, “And you must be my brother’s soulmate. Hello, I’m Rela.”

Roy flinched in surprise, then cleared his throat and shook the proffered hand, “Yes, uh… I’m Royiora.”

“Do you shorten it?” Rela asked, ushering him inside, “I read most Porescalian men do.”

“Um, yes,” the Porescalian man replied, “I usually go by Roy.”

The horned woman nodded, half pushing him past high vaulted halls into another room, “You must be freezing – come on, let’s get you something warm to drink. I’m sure you have plenty of questions Kalo couldn’t answer.”

Roy didn’t get a word in until after Rela had taken the borrowed coat and replaced it with a surprisingly warm blanket, sitting him at a table in what appeared to be a study or classroom with the promised hot drink.

“There are warmth runes inside the stuffing,” someone said, and then a strange looking man with six arms and blue skin hung down from the ceiling. Unlike Rela and Kalo, he had purple glowing eyes, and held out one of his arms, “Hello, I’m Xia – Rela’s one of my soulmates, and this is our home.”

“Uh, hello,” the mage said, shaking as he looked up at the rest of the man’s insectoid body clinging to the ceiling, “I’m… Roy.”

“Nice to meet you, Roy,” Xia said, skittering over a bit to lower himself to the ground, “Rela and I took the trouble of learning your language some time ago, as our other two soulmates appear to be Porescalian as well.”

“And Kalo asked me to translate his soul writing when we were kids,” Rela said, sitting across from Roy, “He was so very excited to meet you, you know. Though, judging by the state of the two of you, I’m guessing it wasn’t under happy circumstances.”

“Not… exactly, no,” Roy said, feeling comfortably warm for the first time in a while. He took a sip of the drink – it was oddly nutty, but enjoyable nonetheless, “Uh… what… is Kalo?”

Rela snorted, “A bit of a pain in the ass, honestly.”

Xia laughed, and went over to the chalkboard in the room. He cleared it with a bit of arcane magic, and started drawing, “Kalo is what we call a ‘null’ – magic doesn’t affect him, and he can absorb it to fuel pseudo-magic abilities of a limited range.”

The strange insect man pulled back to reveal the celestial star, with words written underneath each point.

“Divine magic gives him self-regenerative abilities and invisibility,” Xia said, pointing to Radzmia’s crystal throne, then moved on to Pelzz’s obelisk, “Arcane provides mental acuity and teleportation,” onto Ruelop’s spring, “Physical resistance and enhanced senses,” Guulruf’s nine-pointed star, “Physical strength and shadow walking,” and finally, Forea’s whirlpool, “And physical speed and water breathing.”

“They identified him and our cousin when they were five,” Rela said, smiling, “We were all so excited – the government provided us stipends for their education and care. Us, a little provincial family of no repute.”

“So it’s an…” Roy struggled to keep up as the warmth and stillness worked on relaxing him to the point of drowsiness.

“That’s what they told us,” the woman snorted, taking a drink, ears flicking, “But when they were twelve, they went to the Institute.”

“Where they train them to be tools of the Trinity,” Xia sighed, coming back to the table.

“The… Trinity?” Roy asked.

“Our leaders, Frezians like Xia,” Rela supplied, then shook her head. She looked up at the mage, “Let me tell you about what happened to my brother.”

Aurora is a nonbinary, asexual writer with a new goal in life: to write the queerest books possible. (And yes, xe means gay, but also weird is good too.)

Xe loves dragons and fantasy, and someday hopes to complete a (soft) science fiction novel as well. Currently, xe lives with xyr two cats.

Author Website: https://www.auroraleethornton.com

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/AuroraLeeThorntonBooks

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aurora_T_Books

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auroraleethornton/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16358225.Aurora_Lee_Thornton

Author Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Eq3rOO

Wild Sky by Zaya Feli: Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

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Tauran Darrica has been retired from the Valreus Sky Guard for four years following the Battle of the Broken Wings that resulted in the death of his dragon. Now, all Tauran wants to do is spend his days forgetting the past and gambling his way to an unsteady income.

So when his old general from the Sky Guard hunts Tauran down to request his help with staving off the increasingly aggressive wild dragon population, Tauran refuses. But a fire ruins his rented room and leaves him without a place to stay, and Tauran finds himself on the road to Valreus, after all.

Tauran is determined to stay as far away from dragons as he can get, but a starry-eyed young man from Sharoani, land of the wild dragons, might just ruin his plans.

Kalai Ro-Ani has spent his life watching the stars, knowing he could never reach them.

With his wild dragon Arrow, he sets out for the city of Valreus in the hope of building himself a better future than he could have stuck at the foot of the Kel Visal dragon temples.

But nobody told Kalai that only the Sky Guard is allowed to own dragons, so when Arrow kills a guard in Kalai’s defense, it looks like his adventure might be over before it can begin. But a chance encounter at the old Valreus archive offers Kalai the future he’d been hoping for. In the span of a single day, he has a home, a job, and a purpose.

In Valreus, something much bigger falls into his lap – along with a tall and striking Valrean man with a rather strange disposition.

A new, LGBT+ fantasy story from Zaya Feli, featuring dragons, aerial battles and epic journeys through dangerous wilderness.

WILD SKY by Zaya Feli

Publisher: Self-published

Release Date: Ebook: August 24th | Print: TBD

Length: Ebook: 189,000 words

Subgenre: Fantasy/Romance

Warnings: mentions of symptoms of depression and PTSD. Medicine addiction and withdrawal.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

From the author, Zaya Feli:

The overarching theme is about how healing is possible despite severe damage. That some things may not be fixable, and that simply learning to persevere and find support and happiness where it exists can be enough.

It took Tauran two days to work up the courage to enter the guard grounds.

He knew he was being a coward. That this new place, these new recruits, and the Ground Guard had nothing to do with what had happened at the Solar Tower.

But Tauran’s nerves weren’t so easily convinced.

When he approached the steel gates, he was happy he’d skipped breakfast. He grabbed the string and rang the bell a little too hard.

The hatch in the door opened, and a thankfully unfamiliar face appeared.

“Tauran Darrica,” Tauran said, “here at General Falka’s request.”

The doors swung open with a groan.

And then he was inside.

The atmosphere was such a stark contrast to the gloom brewing in Tauran that he had to pause and take a moment to adjust. It was as if Tauran’s memory of the guard had frozen in the time after the Battle of the Broken Wings, that stunned period full of fear and sorrow and rage.

But in the four years since Tauran had last been surrounded by the guard, it had recovered.

Young recruits ran past him shoulder to shoulder on their way to the first lesson of the day. A pair of older men, captains, judging by their uniforms, sat bent over a table, spending their break playing a game of Isutagi. At a table behind them, a woman with her sleeves rolled up past her elbows focused all her attention on the pistol she was cleaning. Black and copper uniforms dominated the outdoor space. The Ground Guard had always outnumbered the Sky Guard, but the difference seemed even more stark, now.

A brief glimpse of silver caught Tauran’s eye here and there. Messengers, or perhaps weather specialists, on their way to delivering flight reports and air pressure charts.

Tauran took a deep breath of the air inside the grounds and found it didn’t sting as much as he’d feared.

This book (all 764 amazing pages) kept me reading until a ridiculous time in the early hours of the morning to finish. It’s been a while since I  was so engrossed in a story. It kept me glued.

Fantasy at its best, and a new to me author I’m thrilled to discover has a backlist.

Two men. One a washed up permanently damaged ex Dragon rider who’s own Dragon died in a terrible war, and one a young innocent-ish geek who happens to have his own wild dragon currently hidden because in their world, dragons are so rare only properly trained riders are allowed to keep them.

The world building is amazing, the relationship between them and their dragons are wonderful, but this isn’t just a sweet romance.

There is evil, betrayal, enemies where you least expect, a wild dragon egg about to hatch, and problems that seem insurmountable. And not everything is black and white. Expect surprises and plot twists.

This will appeal to fans of Mercedes Lackey, Megann Derr, and C.S. Pacat

Five “Dragon’s teeth” (Sounds better than stars)

Zaya Feli grew up in various small towns in eastern Denmark where she spent most of her childhood and youth daydreaming about strange and incredible fantasy worlds. In 2018, she moved to northern Denmark with her pet snake, Helix, to work as a web developer, and is now dedicating all her free time turning the fantasy worlds inside her head into words and illustrations on the page.

An avid sci fi and fantasy fan since childhood, she also has a deep love for history, archery, nature, language and art.

Zaya Feli released her debut novel, Stag’s Run, in November 2016, and has since released four more full length novels and a short story. Her favourite genres are fantasy and sci-fi with a sprinkle of romance.

Connect with Zaya: Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Website

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Natural Twenty by Charlie Novak: Exclusive Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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Plants are easier than people—that’s Leo’s rule of thumb. After all, nobody really wants a man who looks like he belongs in a biker gang but would rather spend his time buried in books and flowers. It’s just easier to be single. Until he meets the owner of the new book shop.

Jacob Morris knows two things: he’s really attracted to the man who runs the local flower shop, and he doesn’t date. Not when he’s still healing from a bad breakup, has a new business to run, game nights to organise, workshops to host, and a website to build.

When friendship blooms into something more, Leo and Jay must decide whether to roll the dice and take a chance on love or keep forging ahead on their quests alone. Will their roll yield a one or a perfect, natural twenty?

Natural Twenty is an 80,000-word contemporary MM romance featuring Dungeons & Dragons, secret flower language bouquets, a spoilt Staffy (or two), and a best friend who is basically a gothic prince. It is book one in the Roll for Love series and can be read as a standalone.

Title: Natural Twenty
Author: Charlie Novak
Length: 80k
Series: Roll for Love, Book 1
Genre: Contemporary
Tropes: Nerds, secret flower language bouquets, small-town vibe, shop owners, tattoos

Goodreads

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Jay

I was still half looking at Leo though, and the table slipped from my fingers and dropped onto my foot. “Mother fishcakes!”

I cringed, squeezing my eyes tightly as my toes throbbed. The table wasn’t the heaviest thing in the world, but it had landed awkwardly on my foot, and I was only wearing Vans. I’d always been clumsy as fuck, and my knees were covered in scars from falling over on the playground or out of trees as a kid. It hadn’t gotten any better as I’d gotten older, except these days it was more dropping heavy things onto myself or tripping downstairs. And there’d been one memorable trip to Accident and Emergency when I’d gotten glass in my foot.

“Are you okay?” Leo asked.

“’M fine.” I shoved the table off my toes. “Totally fine.”

“Sit down for a minute.” Leo’s voice was gentle but firm. I opened my eyes to see him standing right in front of me, looking down with eyes full of worry. It was moments like this, when we stood close, that I realised how much taller he was than me. I barely made five foot six on a good day because I was a complete short arse, and Leo must have been well over six feet. My face was eye level with his chest, and I was trying not to focus on the way his body sat under the thick, knitted jumper he was wearing, or how beautifully broad his shoulders were, or how I just wanted him to wrap his arms around me.

Leo put his hand on my arm, gently steering me into a chair before kneeling in front of me. “Is it okay if I take your shoe off?”

“You don’t have to. It’s really not that bad. It just stings a little.” I looked away, trying not to squirm in my seat while my face and neck grew impossibly hot. “I just banged it.”

“True, but I’d rather check they’re not bleeding or obviously broken.”

“Okay.”

Leo gave me a little smile and eased off my shoe. I probably should have been embarrassed I was wearing pink socks with little avocados all over them, but I thought they were cute. Apparently, so did Leo.

“Are those avocados dancing?” He sounded amused as he gently tugged at my sock, and I felt the warm, rough touch of his fingers against my skin. This should not be making me feel the way it did—embarrassed, awkward, and almost turned on. Apparently, my body had decided that any touch from Leo was a good one, even if it came from him trying to check for broken toes.

“Y-yeah. I’ve got another pair with doughnuts on.”

“They’re cute. Like you.” Leo stilled, and my heart stopped. I wanted to say something, but I had no idea what it should be. My brain seemed to have frozen, and all I was getting were fucking error messages.

So cute!

So, okay, I have a thing for big beefy tattooed guys who you think can squish you into little bits if you were to find them in a dark alley somewhere, but are actually romantic softies that wouldn’t hurt a fly. Well, we get that in Leo.
He’s big and intimidating and can be awkward when it comes to socializing and being around people, but he has a big ol soft heart and it’s impossible not to completely fall in love with him from the beginning. Owning a flower shop, he tends to stay behind the scenes when he can, but when a new bookshop opens up down the block, his employee Emily encourages him to take some flowers to the new owners to welcome them to the hood and congratulate them on their grand opening. That’s where he meets Edward and Jay.

Now, Edward, I will say, I was smitten with. I hope he gets his own story next, but Jay completely took Leos breath away and they bonded instantly over books and cosplay and dungeons and dragons. I will admit that I had to skim over all those bits, I haven’t a clue what any of that is, but it was cute to see how excited they all were over it.

The two of them, as well as Edward and Emily and her husband, they all become friends, having bi-weekly I think it was, game nights and stuff… I adored these secondary characters as well, so the fit so well in the stories, I could see where each guy needed them around. With their budding friendship though, it was impossible to not feel the connection between the two, though neither of them were ready for a relationship or to jump into anything. I was glad to see them take it slow, but I definitely wanted to shake them both a couple of times, Jay especially when he tried to push Leo away. He more than sweetly made up for it, but I was rooting for them from the very start.

Because Leo felt awkard and Jay was still healing from a toxic relationship where his ex cheated with his best friend and never even apologized for it, I could understand his hesitation. Being betrayed like that sometimes never heals, but Leo was patient and understanding and sighhh, he was just perfect.

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, I’ve been told recently that I do that and people straight come for me, so I’ll just say…. if you like a slow burn, with friends to lovers, good friends and cute puppy… you will adore this story. I know I did!
I really wanted that ex to get a peek at Jay and Leo and know what he lost and how happy he is without him, but I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next!

4 pieces of candy for me!

Charlie lives in England with her husband and a dachshund named Biscuit. She spends most of her days wrangling other people’s words in her day job and then trying to force her own onto the page in the evening.

She loves cute stories with a healthy dollop of fluff, plenty of delicious sex, and happily ever afters — because the world needs more of them. Charlie also believes that loves comes in all shapes and sizes.

Charlie has very little spare time, but what she does have she fills with cooking, pole-dancing, reading and ice-hockey. She also thinks that everyone should have at least one favourite dinosaur…

Connect with Charlie:

Website: https://charlienovak.com/
Newsletter https://charlienovak.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/charlienovakauthor/
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/charlie-novak
Twitter https://twitter.com/charlienwrites
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/charlienwrites/
Facebook Group, Charlie’s Angels https://www.facebook.com/groups/charlienovaksangels/

To celebrate Charlie’s new series release, we are giving 2 lucky winners the chance to win an e-copy of Natural Twenty or a $20/£20 Amazon Gift Card & a e-copy of Natural Twenty!

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!

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Sand-Man’s Family: An M/M Coming of Age Romance by CJane Elliott: RDB, Exclusive Author Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

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It isn’t easy to leave a family that hurts. But what if it’s the start of finding a love that heals?

High-school senior Sandy’s Catholic parents are furious to discover he’s had sex before marriage. But when he blurts out he’s bisexual, they go ballistic. To avoid conversion therapy, Sandy runs away from Rockford, Illinois to move in with his gay uncle in Portland and start a new life.

He leaves behind Jade, the fabulous out gay kid in their Catholic high school. They hooked up—once—to confirm Sandy’s bisexuality. Jade had never expected to get that far with star athlete and altar boy Sandy. But he was crushed when Sandy disappeared without even telling him.

A year later Jade and Sandy run into each other on the train going home to Rockford for Thanksgiving and form an alliance to help Sandy confront his parents. Will they keep building where they left off or will their spark turn to dust?

If you like coming of age stories, queer kids finding the courage to be themselves, and the comfort of found families, you’ll love Sand-Man’s Family.

Title:  Sand-Man’s Family: An M/M Coming of Age Romance

Series: Wild and Precious Book 3

Author: CJane Elliott

Publisher: CJane Elliott

Release Date: 8/24/20

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 36,800 words

Genre: Romance, New Adult, Young Adult, Coming of Age, coming out, family drama, bisexual, college, hurt-comfort

Goodreads

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

 

Book 1, Wild and Precious, is on sale for just $0.99 for a limited time.

Find the entire series HERE.

 

Hello there! I’m CJane Elliott and happy to be on the Two Chicks Obsessed blog today to share Sand-Man’s Family, the third book in my Wild and Precious series.

Sand-Man’s Family differs from the first two stories in the Wild and Precious series in the age of the main characters. In the first two novellas, those ages ranged from mid-twenties to late thirties. In Sand-Man’s Family, Sandy and Jade (and Dare, who Sandy dated before Jade) are seniors in high school (for the flashback scenes) and most of the action takes place the following year, when they are at the most nineteen years old.

I enjoy writing New Adult characters who are teetering on the edge of adulthood. They’re often still sorting out who they are in relation to themselves, their gender/sexual identity, and their relationships. Family still plays a big role, positive or negative. This is the age when people start living away from home and begin to create their families of choice. Some of them are lucky in their families of origin but many are not.

I’ve brought you a short scene that happens after Sandy’s parents bring the parish priest and a conversion therapy expert to the home when Sandy returns for Thanksgiving to continue to pressure him to give up his “sinful” bisexuality. Needless to say, they don’t succeed. Sandy is rescued by the arrival of Uncle Phineas, his partner Cody, and Jade. After confronting Sandy’s parents, they all go the Phineas and Cody’s hotel, along with Sandy’s younger brother Connor. I love that Sandy has found a loving, accepting family with his uncle, his brother, and his budding love interest, Jade.

Sandy lay on the big hotel bed, his head on Uncle Phinney’s shoulder while Connor rested on Phinney’s other shoulder. Jade snuggled in against Sandy’s back. Cody had declined the puppy pile in favor of providing soft soothing music on his guitar.

“I love you both so much.” Uncle Phinney patted them tenderly. “I’m so proud of my nephews.”

“Thanks, Uncle Phinney.” Connor’s voice sounded muffled, like he’d stuck his face into Phinney’s armpit or something.

Sandy soothed the emotions swirling inside by concentrating on the safety of Uncle Phinney’s sturdy shoulder and the soft touch of Jade’s arm around him. He didn’t want to think about his parents or his former home or his brother and sisters stuck there. He wanted to be here, warm and loved, with Cody playing softly in the background.

Cody paused. “We can cut our trip short, you know. We can come home with you if you want, Sand-Man.”

“No. I’m cool.”

“You sure?” Uncle Phinney’s frown was full of concern. “It’s really okay. Cody and I already talked about it.”

“I’ll be fine, Uncle Phinney. I’ll be where I want to be, in Portland. Blaine and Gemma are around if I need anyone.”

“And I’m only a few hours up the road,” Jade said softly into Sandy’s ear.

Sandy grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I know.” Then he peered over at Connor.

“Connor’s the one we need to worry about.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m sticking around till I graduate, then I’m out of there. I don’t want to leave the girls until I have to.”

“Call us. Anytime, day or night.” Uncle Phinney made an anxious sound. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I’m worried for you.”

Jade stirred and raised up on one elbow. “Papa’s aware of the situation. I sent him the video.”

When everyone looked at him funny, he added, “He’s got a lot of cop friends. He’ll keep an eye out. Connor, he said for you to call him if things get hinky.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

They all flopped back down, and Sandy relaxed completely. He found himself stroking Jade’s hand and wishing they had a room to themselves. As if reading his thoughts, Jade leaned up and nibbled his earlobe. Now Sandy really needed for them to get a room.

“Come to my house tonight?” Jade whispered.

“Um, Uncle Phinney?”

“Hmm?”

“Is it cool for me to go over to Jade’s? He’s gotta go to the airport tomorrow too, so I can get a ride to the shuttle with them. You guys could drop Connor off and be on your way.”

He saw Uncle Phinney smile and glance over at Cody, who smiled back. “Sure. As long as Connor is okay with his brother ditching him his last night here.”

“Whatever, man.” Connor yawned. “I’ll be here, cockblocking Cody and Uncle Phinney.”

After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, award-winning author CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane writes sexy, passionate LGBTQ romances that explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.

CJane is bisexual and an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality. In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her family supports her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.

CJane is the author of the award-winning Serpentine Series, New Adult contemporary novels set at the University of Virginia. Serpentine Walls was a 2014 Rainbow Awards finalist, Aidan’s Journey was a 2015 EPIC Awards finalist, and Sex, Love, and Videogames won first place in the New Adult category in the 2016 Swirl Awards and first place in Contemporary Fiction in the 2017 EPIC eBook Awards. Her contemporary novel All The Way To Shore was runner up for best bisexual fiction in the 2017 Rainbow Awards.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | eMail | Instagram | Bookbub

http://cjaneelliott.com/

https://facebook.com/cjane.elliott

https://twitter.com/CJaneElliott

cjaneelliott@gmail.com

http://instagram.com/cjaneelliott

http://bookbub.com/authors/cjane-elliott

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The Assistant by John Tristan: RDB, Excerpt and Giveaway

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Burned out ex-soldier Nick Kurosawa has drifted from job to job since he lost his family in a car crash. Lately, he’s been working on and off as a bouncer, barely managing to cover his bills; an opportunity for steady, well-paying work is just what he needs to get his life back in order.

Jacob Umber, a secretive philanthropist, gives him that opportunity. Umber has fibromyalgia and needs a personal assistant to help him with the tasks of daily living—someone strong, adaptable, and, most of all, willing to let Umber take the lead.

It seems a perfect opportunity for Nick. More than anything, he craves guidance and a purpose, and Umber gives him that in spades. When Nick starts craving more, it seems an impossible complication, but even the reserved Umber can’t deny Nick’s talent—and need—for following his orders. But Umber’s shadowy past holds secrets that could undo their fragile new relationship and any hope Nick has of a normal life.

Title:  The Assistant

Author: John Tristan

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: August 24, 2020

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 52900

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, contemporary, gay, Japanese-American, trans, interracial, BDSM, D/s, power play, slow burn, personal assistant, disability/ chronic illness, depression, age gap

Goodreads

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It was a clear autumn night, with the moon low and yellow above the city. Between its fullness and the lights, only a few stars could be made out, pinpoints in the raw black silk of the night. Nick stood with his fists balled above the man breathing hard in the gutter. A trickle of spilled beer ran into his hair, foaming like shampoo. He smelled sour, of sweat and fear.

“Jesus, man!” The man’s companion—a skinny young guy with a circular Band-Aid over one eye, like a discount pirate—crouched beside him. “Somebody call an ambulance! Call the cops!”

“By all means,” Nick said. He forced himself to take a step back, unclench his fists. “Let’s call the cops and tell them the whole story.”

Discount Pirate slit his eye at him and helped his companion to his feet. The man was dazed but seemed unhurt. Still—he could easily have a concussion.

Nick hesitated. “Maybe we should call an ambulance—”

“Forget it,” the man said thickly and spat into the gutter. In the neon and moonlight, the blood in his mouth looked black. His eyes met Nick’s, and this was the worst part: they understood each other perfectly. He’d wanted to start a fight, and Nick had taken the bait. Another night, it would have fallen out differently.

“Let’s get out of here,” Discount Pirate said, putting a proprietary arm around his companion’s waist and dragging him off into the darkness.

Nick let out a shaky breath. The street was empty, now; if he was lucky, this wouldn’t get back to Merritt, who owned the Hellhole. He hadn’t hired Nick to start fights but to stop them as gently as possible—de-escalation, not macho bullshit. The Hellhole was the only gay bar in Westerley, which meant it drew both the occasional snickering asshole and its share of ex-boyfriend drama. Merrick wouldn’t thank him for bad publicity.

“Jesus, Nick.”

Fuck. This was the last thing he needed. He turned toward the familiar voice. “Hey, Alex.”

Alexander Finn—his friend, once-upon-a-time fuck-buddy, and self-appointed social worker—had come up out of the Hellhole at just the wrong time. Sweat was still beaded on his pale forehead, cooling rapidly in the night air. “What happened?”

“Didn’t know you were down here tonight,” Nick said, affecting a breezy tone. “Must have been here before my shift started.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I know you’re not jealous, so you’re trying to deflect. What happened?” He took out his cigarette case—silver, engraved—and popped one into his bow-lipped mouth, then offered one to Nick.

He reached for it, then hesitated. “Haven’t smoked in months.”

Alex gave him a skeptical look. “Come on.”

“Vaping doesn’t count.”

He laughed softly. “I’ll give you that one.” He snapped the case closed and tucked it away. “Talk.”

“I don’t know.” Nick ran his hands through his hair. “The guy just. Got under my skin. It’s like he knew how to push my buttons.”

“You’re not supposed to have buttons while you’re on the door.”

“Fuck you. Give me a cigarette.”

He did; they smoked together in the neon-lit dark.

“This job…” Alex chewed on his thoughts for a moment. “It’s not good for you. This isn’t the first time you’ve let someone…push your buttons.”

Alex was right—he’d never let himself take it this far before, but there were more than a few times over the last few weeks when a sneer or a snicker or a muttered insult had gotten under his skin and launched him right in someone’s face, teeth bared, eyes glittering. His fuse frayed shorter every week he was out here. He took a long, slow draw from the cigarette and laughed bitterly. “Well. I still need the rent paid.”

“How long until your shift is over?”

Nick grinned sideways at Alex. “Why, you want to take me home?”

He sighed and shook his head, but it had raised a smile. “Just think you could do with a good night’s sleep. After that…” Alex hesitated a moment. “Can you take the next few days off?”

“I’m not back on shift until Monday evening.”

Alex nodded and took a card out of his pocket—his business card, Nick recognized—and then fished out a pen. “Turn around,” he said.

Nick did. Alex leaned on him, using his back as a desk to write on. He could feel the scratch of the pen through his shirt.

When Alex was done, he handed him the card. Nick frowned at it. There was an address on it, a place in the financial district, and a name: Jacob Umber. “What’s this?”

“Someone—someone I know is looking to hire. I thought…well, you already have a job, and I had someone else lined up, but—”

“You always have someone lined up for something, don’t you?” There was a slight edge of bitterness to Nick’s words. Alex networked—he always had a side hustle lined up for someone, for the washouts and burnouts, the ex-cops and ex-military, the bikers and drifters he seemed to draw into his orbit. His type: like Nick. “Is this meant to be charity? Because you can pass it on to one of your other tricks. I don’t need it.”

“Call it what you will. And you’re not a trick, Nicholas.” Alex leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, chastely. “You’re my friend.”

Nick swallowed a sudden lump in his throat and stuffed the card in the back pocket of his jeans. “Yeah, all right, fine. There’s no number on the card—am I meant to just show up?”

“I wrote hours on there,” Alex said. “Nine to three. Weekdays.”

“Right.”

“Nick…” He seemed to be struggling with his words. “This isn’t a guaranteed job. I can get you a way in, but you’ll have to impress.”

“Come on, Alex.” Nick flashed a smile. “Don’t you think I can pull out the stops when I need to?”

He laughed and shook his head. “I know you can. Good luck, Nick.”

“Thanks. No, really…thank you.”

He nodded and left him on the empty street. Nick took his vape out of his pocket and sucked down a nicotine cloud; he noticed his hands were shaking. There was a subtle ache in his knuckles, where they’d collided with the man’s cheekbone. He felt a tiredness deeper than exhaustion, something like lead in his bones, and on top of that, a thin hot skin of queasy arousal. He didn’t know if he wanted to sleep for a year or get fucked up against the wall of the nearest alley. Well, he told himself, right now it’s going to be neither. He smoked until his hands stopped shaking and then waited for the sky to lighten—for his shift to be over—so he could go home.

John Tristan is a multinational gay nerd, currently living in Manchester, UK. When he’s not writing, he works in the voluntary sector; when he’s not doing either, he’s probably playing video games or tabletop RPGs. After his mother banned books at the table during mealtimes, he read the backs of sauce bottles. His stories are sometimes romantic, sometimes erotic, often speculative, and always queer.

Website | Twitter

http://www.johntristan.com/

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The Experiment by Rebecca Raine: Exclusive Author Interview, Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

by

When a single kiss calls your sexuality into question, there’s only one sure path to a reliable answer: further research.

Patrick

I like to think I know myself outside and in. As a developmental psychologist, I’ve spent years exploring the true foundations of my identity. So, when losing a bet means kissing my best friend, Logan, I already know I’m going to hate every second of it. All the relevant questions regarding my sexuality were asked and answered years ago. The results were conclusive: despite the odd same-sex attraction, I dislike being touched by men.

That is, it seems, until Logan is the man doing the touching. The intense desire aroused by his kiss contradicts all my expectations and I have no idea how to integrate the new information. Thankfully, I know exactly how to uncover the truth about myself—once and for all.

Logan

I’ve put a lot of effort into keeping Patrick out of my fantasies and in the friend-zone. Our recent lip-lock may have unleashed my feelings for him temporarily, but I’ll get them back on their platonic track in no time. Falling for a friend, especially a sexually ambivalent friend, is a one-way ticket to heartache.

But, when the unforeseen impact of our kiss inspires Patrick to conduct an experiment into the extent of his bisexuality, I can’t resist volunteering to help. If any man is going to join Patrick on his journey of self-discovery, it’s sure as hell going to be me.

Book Title: The Experiment

Author: Rebecca Raine

Cover Artist: Bec Rivers

Release Date: Tuesday, 18 August (AEST)

Genre/s: Contemporary MM Romance

Trope/s: Friends-to-Lovers, Gay for You, First-time Gay

Themes: Friendship, Self-discovery, Self-experimentation

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 85 000 words/ approx. 210 pages

It is a standalone book.

Goodreads

Amazon US – Kindle Unlimited

Amazon UK – Kindle Unlimited

The prized possession you value above all others…

My phone. My entire life is organized through my phone. I would be completely lost without it.

 The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…

Buying a two-door car. I had no idea I’d be still be driving that car around after giving birth to two children years later. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fit a baby car seat into one of those things? Because I sure as hell do!

The temptation you wish you could resist…

YouTube. I love YouTube! There is soooo much to watch: fan-made videos of all my favourite couples; lessons from my favourite self-development gurus; tips for organizing my life, work and home. I can get lost in YouTube for hours. Some of my favourite channels include: Lessons from the Screenplay, Binging with Babish, and Primitive Technology Man. If I ever get stranded on a desert island, I with totally know how to build a hut.

The film you can watch time and time again…

A Room with a View. It was one of my favourite movies as a teenager. It’s everything I adore in a movie … beautiful, funny and romantic. I can happily watch Lucy and George fall in love over and over again.

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…

Graphic design. I started making graphics when I joined Instagram in February of 2019. The more I play with pictures the more I love trying new and interesting techniques. I’ve really enjoyed watching my own development over the past year and a half.

The poem that touches your soul…

Invictus by William Ernest Henley. I love the poem so much I incorporated it into one of my novels, All the Broken Pieces.

The song that means the most to you…

Uprising by Muse. It’s a kick-arse song that always gets the blood pumping.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…

Supporting my family with my writing income. That’s the big dream. I will keep whacking away at that thing until I conquer it. Or die trying. 😊

Your early recollections of writing fiction…

I was in Grade 4 when I wrote a story for school. It was a sweeping saga set during the American Civil War (I’d recently watched Gone with the Wind) and featured a brave and beautiful heroine. It had some minor historical inaccuracies (like the heroine finding out the war was over when she heard it on the radio) but I clearly remember getting lost in the telling of that tale. Then, one day, I arrived at school to be told I was supposed to have finished it over the weekend. I hurriedly wrote a ‘and then I woke up’ ending and handed it in. The teacher loved it… except for the disappointing ending. I don’t blame her.

The crime you would commit knowing you could get away with it…

I would absolutely rob a bank. Gimme the cash!

The philosophy that underpins your life…

You can’t fail if you never give up. I may not be fast, but I am bloody tenacious.

The character you enjoyed writing the most…

Oh no, that’s like trying to choose between children. I suppose the character I enjoyed most was Jeremy (from Everything We Need and All the Broken Pieces). Probably because, of all my characters, he was the most ‘real’ to me. He’s the character I never made up. Instead, he waltzed into my head, fully formed, and introduced himself.

The character you found difficult to write…

Harrison (also from All the Broken Pieces) because he hurt the most. He suffered from Major Depressive Disorder and went through a depressive episode during the book. Put that together with his painful backstory and… well, I shed quite a few tears spending time with Harrison.

The book you enjoyed planning/writing the most…

That would definitely be my latest book, The Experiment. I never felt like I had to plot this book. Instead, the whole story downloaded into my head fully formed and all I had to do was roll with it. There was still a lot of work involved in the actual writing part, but I always knew the story was there. That took a ton of the pressure off, leaving me free to have fun with it.

And the promo…

Tell us something about your new release, The Experiment.

The Experiment is a contemporary MM romance. It contains friends-to-lovers, gay-for-you and first-time-gay tropes and has a solid HEA. There’s plenty of fun to be had, a little angst, and hot sexy times.

At its core, The Experiment is a story of self-awareness. It’s the push and pull between what we believe to be true about ourselves, and the subconscious parts of us that lurk deep beneath the surface. What would you do if you uncovered a part of yourself—an intensely vibrant part—that you had no idea was there? Would you want to learn more?

Where did the idea for The Experiment come from?

I was at home, minding my own business one day, when a new idea came to me in a flash of inspiration. I could see a man trying to psyche himself up to kiss another man, even though he really didn’t want to. I knew they were in a bar, and that he was doing it to satisfy a lost bet, but other than that I had no idea what was going on.

Then the man turned to his friend, who was sitting beside him, and said, “You know, mate, this would be a hell of a lot easier if you’d quit laughing.” In that instant, I knew the friend was the man he would end up kissing, and he would be anything but reluctant by the end of it.

I loved the idea so much I grabbed a notebook and pen and spent the next hour furiously scribbling down every detail I could come up with. That scene became the opening of The Experiment and that one line of dialogue is still there, exactly the way Patrick said it the first time.

What makes The Experiment different from other novels?

One of the interesting quirks of this book is that it isn’t set out in chapters. Instead, it’s divided into the sections of a research experiment. Including the Research Question, Participants and Methodology, and Data Gathering, all the way through to the Conclusion. It was an idea I had early in the planning, and it grabbed me from the start. The more I wrote the more the idea seemed to fit. By the end, I couldn’t imagine setting it out any other way.

Are you more like Patrick or Logan?

My personality definitely shows up more in Patrick’s character. Like Patrick, my background is in psychology. And, while I’m not as obsessed with self-awareness as Patrick, I am well and truly an overthinker. There is nothing I like better than experimenting with new tricks and techniques to find better ways of doing things. They usually have to do with trying to figure out how to write faster.

“You can do your experiment with me.”

My heart pounds, as I wait for him to respond to my offer. The part of me that’s sure he’ll say yes is already weak with relief that he won’t go out looking for anyone else. I don’t want other men touching Patrick. If he’s only ever going to do this experiment with one man, I want that man to be me.

“I thought you wanted to go back to the way things were.” His gaze is wary, and he has yet to move a muscle. “We’re friends, nothing more. That’s what you said.”

“Yes, and it’s still true,” I assure him. “I do want to go back to being friends. But we can do it after the experiment.”

His breath has quickened and, when he speaks again, his voice is rough. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“It’s the best viable solution,” I tell him, as if coating my possessiveness with a thick layer of pragmatism will make it less obvious. “Don’t forget, it was my kiss that breathed life into your queerness.” My body reacts to the idea of doing it again… and again… and again. However many times he needs to be satisfied. I make a show of licking my lips, enjoying the way he watches with rapt attention. “How much do you want to bet I can get more than a boner out of you?”

With a start, his eyes narrow and he points a finger at me. “No more bets.”

Laughing out loud, I nod. “That’s right. How could I forget?”

He runs a hand over the back of his neck as he looks around the bar, before returning his gaze to me. “I’ll admit, when I decided to do this, my first instinct was to come to you.” He gestures at me with an impatient hand. “You’re the only guy I’ve ever enjoyed kissing and it totally blew my mind. Why do you think I’m doing this in the first place?” he growls, his frustration coming through. “It’s not just because of what happened when we kissed. It’s the fact I can’t stop thinking about it.”

He’s not the only one. I’ve rubbed my cock raw in remembrance. The urge to shove him back against the nearby wall washes over me. I want to give him something new to think about. Ignoring the impulse, I swallow hard and speak in a low voice. “When you’re thinking about it, are these analytical thoughts about what it all means? Or are they wanking thoughts?”

He glances away, trying to appear nonchalant. “Both.”

My muscles tighten at the thought of him with his hand wrapped around his throbbing dick, fantasising about kissing me while he pants and moans his way to orgasm. I want to know what he looks like when he comes. What he sounds like. How he feels.

“But,” he says, with emphasis, interrupting the lustfest going on in my head, “I decided against it because I know you don’t—” The words cut off and his eyes close briefly. “I don’t want us to stop being friends.”

“I don’t want that either but, Patrick, you’re playing with fire here and assuming no one will steal the matches. I’m the only one I trust to do this right.”

He’s still reluctant. I can feel the force of his doubts. But he hasn’t said no.

“Patrick, listen to me.” I slide a hand around the back of his neck, urging him to meet my gaze. “You need someone you can trust to stop when you say stop, no matter what’s happening when you say it. Someone who won’t get pissed at you and accuse you of being a tease when you leave them with blue balls.” Releasing him, I grin. “Besides, you tried looking for someone else to kiss. It didn’t work. You chose me and now you’re stuck with me for the duration.”

He huffs out an indignant sound. “I could find someone else to kiss,” he blusters, “if I looked really hard… for about ten years.”

I laugh out loud, knowing I almost have him convinced. “Yeah, but even if you did, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Why is that?” He leans closer, as if he’s looking forward to my response.

In that instant, I realise how badly I want this—him. I want to tug on every thread of his sexuality, freeing each strand for thorough inspection. I want to tie him in knots, before making him unravel for me. And I want him to know, every second along the way, I’m the one who is doing this to him. That I’m the only man to ever make him feel this way.

Licking my lips, I take a step closer and bring my face in next to his. “Because even if you did hit your limit with someone else, you’d always wonder how much further I could have taken you.” I lower my head, so he can feel my breath against his neck as I go in for the kill. “Patrick, my friend, I’m going to drag your arse so far down my end of the spectrum, you’ll have to claw your way straight.”

Sorry, nope. I was 5% and already had 3 notes written about eye rolling things. Two of them were questionable language/phrasing. “Tickling man tonsils”? Seriously? And “He comes across as a breeder”. Sorry, but I take offense with that term.

And the last was “We don’t hang out all the time because you rub me the wrong way.” Said from one friend to another. When they both want to sleep with each other. Who tells a friend that they rub them the wrong way?

After those I had to go to Amazon and look up the author to see if I had read anything else by her. Big nope. Why? I think all but 2 or 3 were traditional hetero romances. It just makes me wonder why she then decided to write gay romance. Because it is popular? Sorry, go back to what you know.

I read the whole thing. It wasn’t AS cringy as the first 5%, but it wasn’t great. So much stereotyping. So much just silliness. Patrick is in a master’s program for developmental psychology and to justify his feelings for his friend Logan (out of the closet gay) he wants to approach it as an experiment.

He decided as a teenager that he was straight. That’s nice, but a developmental psychologist focusing on human sexuality will KNOW that sexuality is fluid. So, duh.

Logan was already kept a secret by another friend and it ruined a life long friendship. And he is going to do it again?

I’m sorry, it was just not a good book at all. Get a good beta reader (or 5) who know MM romance. Because this wasn’t it.

Rebecca is a long-time lover of all things romance. Whether it’s a book, movie, or real life, she will always have more fun if there’s a love interest thrown into the mix. She lives in Queensland, Australia with her very own hero husband, two quirky kids and one big, black dog. Other than reading and writing books, her favourite things include loud music, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, organising everything in existence, and spending too much time on the Internet.

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