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Devil Take Me Anthology: Exclusive Author Guest Post – Rhys Ford, Blog Tour

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Devil Take Me Blurb:

Temptation lurks around every corner in worlds sometimes dark, sometimes lurid. Giving in is both dangerous and satisfying, though never in the ways one expects. While these enticements offer a vast range of benefits and boons, the cost is a soul and the devil expects his due. Sometimes suave and charming or calculating and cruel, these devils have schemes and desires of their own. They can be creatures to run away from… or toward.

Join the most unique and celebrated authors of LGBT urban fantasy and paranormal fiction for a fast-paced and unpredictable ride, from a city on the other side of reality, to a world suspended in dusk, to a twisted version of the 1960s and 70s.

Meet devils in top hats and waistcoats, a defrocked motorcycle-riding priest, and a genderfluid antihero—among many more. Full of humor, romance, horror, action, intrigue, and magic, these stories have one common element….

They’re one hell of a good time.

Wonderland City Blurb

Author: Rhys Ford

When Xander Spade went through the Looking Glass, he wasn’t looking for salvation. He’d been running from the devil who took his soul, only to fall prey to the greatest monster in Wonderland City, the Queen of Hearts. Years later, the Queen is dead and Xander has a chance to go through the Looking Glass and back home where he belongs.

Xander’s devil wants him to find a little girl who escaped into Wonderland City, before her presence brings down an apocalypse of uncontrollable chaos to the already mad world. Along with Jean Michel, the former Knave of Hearts, Xander now is in a race against time to find the missing child before all Hell breaks loose and he loses his chance to go home.

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I love Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. I found these books when I was younger and devoured them. I can’t even tell you how many times I bought them because they didn’t survive me or were lost in one of my many moves. I currently own four copies, including the Kindle version because why not.

So when we started to talk about doing the Devil Take Me anthology, I knew I wanted to dive into that world but not during the timeline of the books. Especially since I wanted to explore what would happen to Wonderland after the Queen of Hearts fell and how a little girl — a very human little girl — would affect the chaotic carousel of Wonderland’s infrastructure.

Because nothing can mess up chaos more than a little girl.

But I didn’t want to write one.

Instead, I wanted to introduce a new take on the Queen’s deck of cards. A sort of Battle Royale situation where she pitted people against one another to become her favourite and right before she was taken down, that position was held by Xander Spade, a human who’d traded his soul to the devil in order to escape the life he was living on Earth.

This change up allowed me to expand on Wonderland, evolving it from the place Carroll left it to a post-industrial revolution sprawl where magic might be king and any inventions have to be cobbled together by whatever technology is brought through the Looking Glass. So in essence, I had a sort of Victorian-influenced society with bits of modern touches populated by Wonderland’s creatures as well as a couple of humans I tossed in for good measure.

I wanted to keep this in a more noir vein, a bit of that language and tone because I felt that smoky, metal taste in the words would enhance Wonderland’s current state.

And well, there’s always the fun and dabs of violence and horrific to play with.

I had a lot of fun writing this somewhat familiar world with a different twist to it. I loved figuring out the machinery and tech brought into the world, extrapolating how Wonderland City would adapt things like cars and landlines to the reality and also what was the realm’s normal.

Telling the story from the POV of a human who’d been there a while was a great challenge because he was rooted in the familiar of an Earthen perspective yet still be able to function in the Looking Glass world without being overwhelmed by the fantastical.

Because we had a lot of room to play with word wise, I was able to introduce Xander as a character and establish a bit of the world before plunging directly into the main part of the story. Since I always view the environment as its own character in the story, it gave me some time to play with the surroundings and at the same time, embed Xander into the space.

Also, I could have a really great time playing with the Looking Glass characters and explore how Xander would fit into it. And since he really just wants to go home, explore how he could get out of the crazy realm he’d been thrust into after signing his name on that dotted line.

I hope you all have as great of a time reading Wonderland City as I had in writing it. I am beyond honoured to be included in this cast of great writers and the anthology was a fantastic project for us to let loose and stretch our wings, letting us take our imaginations to places for a brief jaunt and delve into storylines we hadn’t yet explored.

Thank you for having me along for the ride and I hope you enjoy your trip through the Looking Glass.

Rhys Ford

 

Tour:

10/10/18 – My Fiction Nook: Jordan L. Hawk

10/11/18 – It’s About the Book: TA Moore

10/12/18 – Love Bytes Reviews: Ginn Hale

10/13/18 – Joyfully Jay Reviews: C.S. Poe

10/15/18 – Two Chicks Obsessed: Rhys Ford

10/16/18 – The Novel Approach Reviews: Jordan Castillo Price

 

Rhys Ford is an award-winning author with several long-running LGBT+ mystery, thriller, paranormal, and urban fantasy series and is a two-time LAMBDA finalist with her Murder and Mayhem novels. She is also a 2017 Gold and Silver Medal winner in the Florida Authors and Publishers President’s Book Awards for her novels Ink and Shadows and Hanging the Stars. She is published by Dreamspinner Press and DSP Publications.

She’s also quite skeptical about bios without a dash of something personal and really, who doesn’t mention their cats, dog and cars in a bio? She shares the house with Harley, a grey tuxedo with a flower on her face, Badger, a disgruntled alley cat who isn’t sure living inside is a step up the social ladder as well as a ginger cairn terrorist named Gus. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird and enjoys murdering make-believe people.

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The Spy’s Love Song by Kim Fielding: Exclusive Guest Post and New Release Review

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For a singer and a spy, love might be mission impossible.

Jaxon Powers has what most only dream of. Fame. Fortune. Gold records and Grammy awards. Lavish hotel suites and an endless parade of eager bedmates. He’s adored all over the world—even in the remote, repressive country of Vasnytsia, where the tyrannical dictator is a big fan. The State Department hopes a performance might improve US relations with a dangerous enemy. But it means Jaxon’s going in alone… with one exception.

Secret agent Reid Stanfill has a covert agenda with global ramifications. Duty means everything to him, even when it involves protecting a jaded rock star. Jaxon and Reid’s mutual attraction is dangerous under Vasnytsia’s harsh laws—and matters get even worse when they’re trapped inside the borders. Romance will have to wait… assuming they make it out alive.

Title: The Spy’s Love Song
Series: Stars from Peril
Author: Kim Fielding
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Category: Contemporary, Suspense, Dreamspun Desires
Pages: 205

Amazon

Dreamspinner

 

Hi! Kim Fielding here, and I have a new book out. Yay! The Spy’s Love Song is the tale of a jaded rock star and a State Department operative who end up in deep trouble in a country with a repressive totalitarian government. And there’s romance.

Much of this book takes place in Starograd, the capital of the fictional country of Vasnytsia. I modeled Starograd (but not its current politics) on several real cities in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of Starograd’s architecture was inspired by Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And lucky me! I just returned from my second visit to Sarajevo, so I have photos to share.

Sarajevo’s buildings reflect its three major historical eras. The city was founded in the 15th century, when it was part of the Ottoman Empire. So the oldest part, Baščaršija, has a definite Eastern feel. In fact, it was the commercial center of the city—the bazaar—and there are still coppersmiths who do beautiful work. There’s also a  gorgeous mosque, a Sephardic synagogue from the 16th century, a lunar clock, and some of Europe’s first public toilets. 

In the 19th century, a fire destroyed half of Baščaršija. By then, Sarajevo was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The replacement buildings have the same architectural style you can find in Vienna. The transition from Ottoman to Austro-Hungarian architecture happens suddenly, as you cross a narrow pedestrian street. 

After World War I (which began, actually, in Sarajevo, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Baščaršija), Yugoslavia was formed. Although it was not part of the Soviet Union, it was a communist country; locals tell me Yugoslav communism was a softer sort than the Soviets had. During this time period, the city built lots of the big cement apartment buildings that were common throughout communist countries. You can see one in this photo. These buildings are ugly, but a local told me they were appreciated during the long siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996) because they were so solidly built that they better withstood the constant shelling and sniper fire. 

And this brings me to my last architectural point about Sarajevo. During the siege, I’m told, every building in the city was at least damaged. You can still see this damage everywhere, although Sarajevo’s now a vibrant, safe city. I took that final photo while waiting for my tram in the middle of what was known during the war as Sniper Alley. Again, very safe today (unless you’re careless about crossing in front of a tram), but during the war, it was a brutally dangerous place to be.

As you’re reading The Spy’s Love Song—and you are going to read it, right?—you might recognize bits of Sarajevo in Starograd.

Wow! This was not quite what I expected at all. I do love Kim Fielding’s work, and one of the things I enjoy most is she doesn’t write the same version of the same character’s doing the same thing. This book is a great example of that.

The MC’s in this were very different people but set up well, and the location…well, you can’t get much better than what was provided for you in this. The book covered everything from regime type politics, to a rock star who mentally complained about his beach chair being uncomfortable by not having arm padding to a gruff government agent.

As with all Dreamspun books though, there is always romance sprinkled throughout, and without it being too much, it was just enough for two men who had themselves placed in a tenuous situation.

And of course a happy ending, as all the category romances must have.

4 pieces of eye candy

 

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her husband, her two daughters, and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Follow Kim:

Website: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Email: Kim@KFieldingWrites.com

 

For the Love of Luke by David C. Dawson: Exclusive Guest Post and Giveaway

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A handsome naked man. Unconscious on a bathroom floor.

He’s lost his memory, and someone’s out to kill him.

Who is the mysterious Luke?

British TV anchor and journalist Rupert Pendley-Evans doesn’t do long-term relationships. Nor does he do waifs and strays. But Luke is different. Luke is a talented American artist with a dark secret in his life.

When Rupert discovers Luke, he’s intrigued, and before he can stop himself, he’s in love. The aristocratic Rupert is an ambitious TV reporter with a nose for a story and a talent for uncovering the truth. As he falls deeper in love with Luke, he discovers the reason for Luke’s amnesia. And the explanation puts them both in mortal danger.

Title: For the Love of Luke
Author: David C. Dawson
Release Date: October 9, 2018
Category: Mystery/Suspense
Pages: 196

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

Universal buy link

Thank you so much to Two Chicks Obsessed for letting me stop by!

For the Love of Luke is a story of love, and has been a work of love for me. Not just the wonderful heroes Rupert and Luke, but also the British locations they visit in the book.

One of them is Adie’s All Day Breakfast Bar in Little Portland Street in London. Now I have a confession to make. Little Portland Street is indeed a narrow street just down the road from the BBC’s headquarters. And there is a café on the street called Little Portland Café.

But Adie’s All Day Breakfast Bar? It’s a fabrication. I created it so that I could introduce the name Adrian Such into the book. He’s the guy who runs the breakfast bar. Adrian is a real person. He’s from Australia originally, and was very keen to appear in one of my books.

In real life Adrian doesn’t run a breakfast, or any kind of restaurant. He’s a very clever digital media expert. But he loves the idea of running an all day breakfast bar in London! These kinds of small restaurants are numerous across the city, and I often go to eat there. The very best ones are usually family-run, noisy, bustling, and serving excellent comfort food. Whenever you visit London, find your nearest all day breakfast bar. You won’t be disappointed!

The leathers Rupert brought for Luke were a snug fit. They clung tight to almost every part of his body. Luke admired himself in the full-length mirror. He turned side on. They felt good. He had to admit it. They looked damn good. Tight, black leather jeans enhanced the bulk of his thighs and the narrowness of his waist. They sagged a bit in the ass, but Rupert explained that was necessary to allow Luke to sit comfortably on the motorbike. Luke turned up the collar of the black leather jacket and closed the zips on both sleeves. Kevlar protective panels in the back, sleeves, and shoulders of the jacket filled out the upper part of his torso, adding bulk to his hours of work in the gym. He crossed to the bed and sat to pull on the reinforced bike boots, fasten their zips and Velcro covers.

Luke smoothed his hands across the surface of the leather stretched tight across his thighs and grinned at a stirring in his groin. The sensation both surprised and pleased him. He stood, and the rigid shape of the boots forced him to lean forward, like a skier about to descend a black run. He attempted to stand straight, the upper part of his body compensating for the enforced bend in his knees. The jeans pulled tight against his crotch, and his cock rose to the stimulation of the leather hugging his body.

“Sexy man.” Rupert’s voice came from the doorway. Luke turned. Rupert wore a one-piece racing suit made of red leather. White leather panels stitched into it enhanced the shape of his torso and legs. He crossed the bedroom to stand behind Luke at the mirror and placed his hands on Luke’s thighs. “I’ve not worn those leathers for a long time.” He studied Luke’s reflection in the mirror with an admiring grin. “They fit you really well. How do they feel?”

Luke took Rupert’s hands in his and pulled them to wrap around his waist. “They’re making me horny,” replied Luke. “I was getting a hard-on just standing here, even before you came in.”

Rupert slipped his hand down and caressed the front of Luke’s leathers. “And now you’re rapidly outgrowing those jeans. By the second, it feels like.”

He placed both hands on Luke’s shoulders and pulled him gently forward. He bent his head and kissed the side of Luke’s neck, slowly and tenderly, his tongue warm and moist against Luke’s skin. “I want you right now, the way you look and feel,” breathed Rupert. “But we’ve got to get moving. It should take us only an hour and a half to get there. Come on.”

 

David C. Dawson writes contemporary thrillers featuring gay heroes in love. His debut novel The Necessary Deaths is published by DSP Publications and was described as “a real page turner”. It won Bronze for Best Mystery & Suspense in the FAPA awards. Rainbow Reviews called it “an exciting read with complex characters”.

The Deadly Lies is the second book in the series and came out last December.

For the Love of Luke is David’s third book. His fourth comes out in 2019.

David lives near Oxford in the UK, with his ageing Triumph motorbike and two cats.

Website: www.davidcdawson.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.c.dawson.5

Twitter: https://twitter.com/david_c_dawson

Answer this simple question and you’ll have the chance to win a digital copy of For the Love of Luke! Email your answer with your name to: david@davidcdawson.co.uk. Competition closes on midnight October 19, 2018.

Question: In For the Love of Luke, what’s the name of the man who runs the breakfast bar in Little Portland Street?

When Love Surprises by Christi Snow: Exclusive Excerpt and New Release Review

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Raised in a religious household, being gay was never an option for Steven, but when an injury left him incapacitated, he was forced to face those urges that he’s been able to ignore for the last thirty-eight years of his life…

Lost…

Three months ago, Major Steven Hardesty’s life sat on the precipice of perfection. Now he’s trying to come back from a life-threatening injury and a devastating romantic loss all while trying to figure out what he’s going to do after separating from the Air Force.

Alone…

Billy Starr never planned on running his family ranch by himself. He was supposed to be doing it with his sister, Whitney. But when she died in a freak accident, it sent his life in a tailspin of despair and alcohol.

Healing…

Steven and Billy were friends. Billy offered the ranch as a good, private place where Steven could recover, but as their friendship deepened, so did other feelings. Is it possible that a love affair between the two of them could heal them both? Or break them even more?

Amazon

Exclusive Excerpt from When Love Surprises:

After a long walk late that afternoon, Steven rounded the corner of the back porch to find Billy working out in the home gym, shirtless, and gloriously sweaty.

Steven’s mouth dried up, and is breathing grew labored, which had absolutely nothing to do with the very slow walk he’d just taken.

No, the buzzing awareness under his skin could only be attributed to the beautiful, sexy man on the other side of the window. Steven need to look away, but he just couldn’t. With the windows between them, it seemed safe to look his fill.

Billy lay on an include bench, pushing up a bar filled with weights. His entire torso flexed with each repetition, his muscles rolling under the effort to push up the weight. A bead of sweat dripped down his breastbone, traversing the dark hairs that lined his pecs and narrowed to a trail that disappeared down into the waistband of his shorts.

Steven watched the one little drop of moisture travel the length of Billy’s torso, and Steven ached to follow it with his tongue, his fingertips. Then it disappeared behind the low-riding waistband of Billy’s thin workout shorts. Steven could suddenly imagine its invisible path from there. It would continue to slide southward, directly to Billy’s cock and balls in a trail that Steven desperately wanted to follow.

Steven’s groin grew heavy. He swallowed, trying to get some moisture back into his mouth, his throat. He needed to look away but just couldn’t. He searched Billy’s rippling body for another drop of sweat to focus on.

Instead he found himself gripped in Billy’s intense gaze. He’d been caught.

This is book 6 in a series, but I believe the only MM. Which is why this is the only one of the series I have read. There is definitely some back story I missed, but the author fills it in quite well so that you don’t really miss anything.

Steven was shot in the previous book by an apparent stalker. So this book picks up with him in the hospital. Because of where the gunshot is, he needs someone to help him as he recovers.

Billy, owner of the ranch where Steven was shot, steps up and offers. I’m not going to get into how this all came about, but like I said, the author did a good job of filling in the blanks.

Although there were issues to be dealt with- alcoholism, crazy religious family, first time with a man, repercussions of being shot by a stalker, etc… the story line itself I didn’t feel was very angsty.

After fighting his attraction to men his whole life, Steven just jumped right in without hesitation after the first taste. So, good for him, but really? No introspection of “oh god, what have I done”?? This happens with his family as well. I am all for him owning his truth and making himself happy, but a little anxiety would have been nice.

There were a few twists and a lot of different plot points which kept the book moving, but it was a little cluttered. Not cluttered enough to annoy me, but just a little too much.

It was a nice little book. I did enjoy that the characters weren’t 25 years old and were mature. I think that age group is way under represented. Billy broke my heart with everything he has been through in his life, so I was happy that he found Steven.

3.5 Pieces of Candy

Sadistic Sherlock (Ward Security #4) by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott: EXCLUSIVE Excerpt, RDB, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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Ten years ago, Dominic Walsh faked his own death. With no true identity, it wasn’t hard. But if he’d stayed, he would have been drawn further into a life he’d never chosen. He has friends and family at Ward Security now and has managed to escape his dark past. There is only one thing he truly wants.

Abraham Stephens.

When Dom was first tasked with watching over his friend’s father, he didn’t expect to fall so hard for the gorgeous silver fox. But Abe is interested in friendship only. He’s at a point in his life where he wants something permanent, not a romp with the sexy redhead who happens to be the same age as his son.

But Abe finds himself drawn deeper into Dom’s life when cryptic messages start appearing—ones that frighten the skilled security specialist. The more Dom tries to hide what’s happening, the more Abe wants to help him.

And maybe, just maybe, he’ll find a way to trust the strength of the bond Dom understood from the start.

Title:  Sadistic Sherlock

Series: Ward Security Series #4

Author: Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott

Publisher: Drake and Elliott Publishing, LLC

Release Date: September 28, 2018

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 64k

Genre: Romance, Thriller/Suspense

Goodreads

Amazon

 

Abe Stephens set down his phone and pressed his forehead against the wall. He groaned long and loud. Flirting with danger seemed to be his M.O. more and more these days. It was getting too damn hard to resist Dominic Walsh. He was hands down one of the sexiest men he’d ever met. One chime from his phone and he was hurriedly pulling up the app, hoping it was Dom with his funny texts. Some of which left him feeling faintly sweaty and tempted to go back on his vow to start looking for someone who’d be interested in a more permanent arrangement rather than the wild, string-free fling he was sure Dom was looking for.

It was worse when they actually spoke.

Fuck, he loved Dom’s voice. Warm, scratchy, and always tinged with humor. The kind of voice that made him think of sweat pants Sundays, curled up on the couch in front of an action movie. Or low, gritty murmurs and moans of pleasure in a dark room.

As usual lately, whenever he let his mind go there, he lost track of anything else he was doing. He had a feeling that voice would sound so good in the dark, it would make him lose his mind. He blinked at the wall, desperate to swing his imagination away from that.

Why the hell had he agreed to go to Dom’s house? His home!

Abe snatched the towel off his shoulder and wiped at the sweat over his brow. The late-June heat was making the humid air thick. He began unplugging tools in his garage. If he was going to continue to work here, he should probably think about putting in air conditioning. He’d taken up creating hand-carved chairs as a hobby, then moved into whimsical window frames after a neighbor had commissioned one for his daughter’s eighth birthday. Nearly every parent who’d attended the little girl’s party had called to order more, and several had gone on to order chairs as well. Word had spread.

At this rate, he could quit the accounting he did part-time altogether.

Though that was his profession, he hadn’t truly enjoyed it since the financial world had gone to shit in 2008.

With his workshop put to rights, he walked through his house for a shower, telling himself with every step that he was just getting clean to be polite after sweating his ass off in his garage most of the day. He wasn’t hoping that Dom would put his hands on his clean skin. Or press his face into his clean neck. Or nibble his way along his jaw to his lips while sliding his hands down his chest to his…fuck, he was going to need to take care of something else while he was in the shower.

Still calling himself a liar forty minutes later, his headlights lit up the cute white brick house he’d been to only once before. The place had surprised him. He’d expected to find Dom in an apartment or an in-town rental. Instead, Dom had invested in an older fixer-upper with lots of personality. Just like the man himself.

Set back in the trees, the house offered privacy on the quaint, heavily wooded street in Mount Airy, not far from the Mount Airy Forest. Dom had told him he bought the place for the old brick-arched doorway leading to the deck and for the backyard full of trees.

Dom surprised him every time he saw him. He came off as a jokester, but there were layers to the man Abe ached to explore.

He parked in the driveway and sat another moment to mentally put up thick walls around his heart. Tonight, it would be more difficult than usual because Abe had a big birthday coming up. The dreaded five-oh. He’d been dealing with a lot of deep thoughts about his life and where it was going. With his son happily settled down, he felt like he was drifting, and he wasn’t sure why. He had everything he could possibly want. Happy son. A home. A fulfilling hobby. Steady income. What more could he possibly need?

His restlessness was at an all-time high, and Dom’s determination to move beyond friendship was starting to wear him down. Not that he was that resistant—he wasn’t—it was just…he couldn’t get why someone as insanely hot as Dominic Walsh wanted him so badly.

A lot of those deep thoughts lately had been the “What would naked with Dom be like?” kind…

It’s always so fun when a couple who are obviously attracted to each other in one book finally get their own book. Sadistic Sherlock is for Dom and Abe.

Abe is nearing 50 and although he always felt that he was bisexual he never got a chance to act on it. I don’t know if this is “officially” a trope, but I really like it. Because you still see the insecurities that the character feels, but you also get the excitement without him wondering why he is all of a sudden attracted to men.

Dom wants Abe bad but sees his hesitation, so he goes about it slowly. Becoming his friend. Texting, hanging out, until, FINALLY. Yes, finally.

The storyline also involves Dom’s twin brother finding him 10 years after he faked his own death. I don’t think we ever really found out how his brother found out that he hadn’t really died. It kind of sounds like he knew all along, but then why did he wait 10 years?

Anyway. This is a very fast paced book. There always seems to be a lot going on. And I really enjoy that. I like not having lulls in the book where I want to skip paragraphs or even pages.

Fixing the problem, as it were, seemed a bit far fetched- especially because it was Abe’s plan. The accountant. But, hey, whatever. It was still fun and exciting and I loved Abe and Dom together.

We do, of course get some Rowe and even some Noah. I miss the other guys though. But I also like that the authors don’t fall back on those characters to keep us interested.

4 pieces of eye candy

This one seemed so different than the others, but no less intense, and no less amazing. This one centers around Dom and Shane’s (who’s with Quinn) dad, Abe. Dom isn’t the broody, ill-tempered, confused BAMF that the rest of the guys at Ward seemed to be in their books, and I liked that. He’s funny, he laughs, and like the rest of them, he’s just an all around good guy.

He’s also had a crush on Shane’s dad for as long as he’d known the man. A little advice from the movie star he was working to protect had him realizing that he’d never get what he wanted unless he went after it…. So, he did… unfortunately, working for that same movie star is what had Dom in the limelight and called attention to a past that he went to great lengths to get away from. So, when that past comes back in the form of an identical twin psychopathic brother, Dom isn’t sure what to do, to keep Abe safe.

Here’s where my problems come in. Dude…you work for a BA, bodyguarding company. You ARE one of them… and yet, you don’t tell them when your psycho brother comes around threatening you and you hot daddy?? Why not??!! It’s literally ALL of your jobs… that didn’t make sense to me. I mean, I guess, I get it.. you didn’t want these people to know where you came from or whatever, but… not even Rowe, who knew the whole story? He just kind of ignored it, hoping it would go away or something, when he knew that it wouldn’t. I didn’t understand that part. It took well over half of the book for anyone to find out, and it was because of Abe, not Dom. It was already too late for him. Thank goodness Abe done something first!

Now, Abe… I loved Abe…having a son the same age as the guy he’d been crushing on, he thought maybe it was a mid-life crisis… That and the fact that Dom liked to play the field, he didn’t want to jump into his bisexuality with a guy who didn’t want the same thing he wanted…which was a relationship. Had he been paying attention, though, he’d have known that all Dom wanted was him…

Unfortunately, before all the cards were on the table, Dom’s brother showed up…

Y’all…this guy was a legit psycho…talkin’ about wolf packs and a crazy life of crime lol, he just didn’t seem all there for me. He spent the last decade doing whatever he wanted, not caring about the consequences…and honestly, I’m surprised he hadn’t gotten caught until the end, because he didn’t seem very smart to me. How he didn’t realize that he was being played at the end, was beyond me…but, meh, whatever worked. It all just seemed like a badly acted B rated movie, if I’m honest.

I of course, loved all the guys from Ward security… I’m so obsessed with this series, and all the guys in it; and I’m so glad we get another HEA…and aww, the expanding family with Lucas and Andrei… hope there’s more to that… I’d love it!

But, this one just wasn’t my favorite of them all so far, but I’ll definitely be waiting for more! Maybe even from Trent, or the awkward numbers guy, Daniel was his name?? I don’t remember… but, yeah… I’m all in for more!

4 pieces of eye candy from me

Who are Drake & Elliott?

Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott have teamed up to combine their evil genius to create intense gay romantic suspense stories that have car chases, shoot outs, explosions, scorching hot love scenes, and tender, tear-jerking moments. Their first joint books are in the Unbreakable Bonds series.

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Glacier Gold by Crystel Greene: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt, and Giveaway

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Up in the Alps, a single night can change your life.

Struggling college student and self-taught graphic artist Justin Bennet isn’t the most self-confident guy, but he knows he’s good at two things: snowboarding and sex. Why does Andi, the hot instructor at the Tyrolean ski resort, pretend Justin doesn’t exist?

Justin becomes all but obsessed with the idea of scoring with the young Austrian. Because for all the man’s reserve, he made it quite obvious he likes Justin—at least from the neck down.

When Justin books a private heliboarding trip with Andi as his guide, he thinks he’s one step away from striking gold.

But then the forces of nature take over, trapping the men in a snowstorm, and things get real. What was supposed to be about some freeriding fun and inviting a closeted guy to start exploring his options suddenly becomes about survival—and the hidden truths of the soul.

World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.

Title: Glacier Gold
Author: Crystel Greene
Release Date: September 21, 2018
Category: Contemporary, New Adult, World of Love (Austria)
Pages: 113

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Dreamspinner Press

Hi everybody, I’m Crystel, and I’m so happy to be here at Two Chicks Obsessed today. Thanks for helping me celebrate the release of my m/m romance novella GLACIER GOLD!

I’m going to talk about the fun of looking for beautiful guys to cast for my two main characters, snowboarders Andi and Justin, online.

I love surfing the net on the lookout for cute men who could star in my stories (or be on my covers). I try not to do it before I’ve written the first draft, though: my characters tend to develop in unexpected ways during the writing process, inside and out, and while pictures can be inspiring, I’ve found they can also limit the imagination. And then there’s the problem of procrastination: you can kind of lose track of what you’re supposed to be doing once you embark on that google search for “black-haired blue-eyed actors”…

It’s funny with these searches; sometimes you find a picture of a guy who’s one of your heroes to a T, looking exactly like you dreamt him up. From the cool smirk to the color of his shirt (if minus the glasses, but maybe he just took them off for the photo). It happened to me with Andi from GLACIER GOLD. I’m sharing the picture here, to give you an idea what it was like for Justin to see Andi behind the hotel reception for the first time, looking all sleek and trim and perfect. A little arrogant, a little enigmatic, and his eyes this hypnotic mix of ice and fire… (I’m so in love with Andi!)

Only when I was knee-deep in the process of editing GLACIER GOLD and needed a break from the hunt for stray commas, continuity errors and the like and treated myself to an update on a few celebrities’ private lives did I realize that my protagonist, Justin, actually looks a lot like a younger, shorter Chris Hemsworth in the movie “Thor”.

I love Chris with the long blond hair and the extra twenty pounds of muscle. And the way he plays Thor, the way he lends the character that certain purity, that cheerful energy and charming simplicity of soul? I love that even more. His Thor could be Justin’s older brother any day.

Chris is a lovely sports guy to stalk online too: he does all kinds of sports, including snowboarding, looking great in any gear. It’s a safe guess he’d look nice in the sauna too.

I invite you to lean back and imagine him as Justin relaxing all alone in the vapor bath in this scene from GLACIER GOLD, the moment when it all started…

Leaning my head back against the wet wall, I close my eyes to soak up some warmth and think of the guy from reception for a bit.

A. Fankhauser. That’s what it said on his shirt pocket. It’s A for angel, in all likelihood. Honest to God, this man is the most beautiful guy I have ever laid eyes on, so beautiful I had trouble wrapping my head around it. I had expected a nice Austrian lady in a dirndl to book us in, the kind that was on the hotel home page. Not a supermodel.

God, he looked so damn trim in his black button-down and his horn-rimmed glasses and with his shiny dark hair slicked back over his pretty head.

I’ve moved my hand too close to my cock. It’s what happens when you’re relaxing on your own in a cozy place while being bare-ass naked. And I’ve got to stop this now. I’ve got to think of something else, and quickly.

Opening my eyes, I see another sign mounted to the wall opposite me, right above two bowls on a shelf. Squinting through the vapor wafts, I look for the part in English and learn that this is pine honey and rock salt, and that a honey-and-salt peeling will give me baby-soft skin.

It can never hurt to have baby-soft skin. I get up, slipping a bit on the melting ice cubes, and start slapping generous amounts of honey onto my chest, stomach, and back with a long wooden ladle. For good measure, I sprinkle a couple handfuls of salt onto the mess.

It quickly spreads everywhere, and I mean everywhere, causing a nasty itch where I need it least.

I still sit down and try to hold up for the sake of the promised effects, but after a minute or so I can’t take it anymore. Quickly I get up again, grab for the hose that’s attached to the wall next to the door, and switch on the water. Putting a foot onto the bench, I aim the jet straight at my ass to try and rinse the biting stuff away.

Phew, my blood pressure doesn’t seem to like this. And the tiles are even more slippery now with the honey-salt mix all over the place. Oh man, I need something to hold on to—

The next moment I’ve crashed to the floor in one smooth, curved motion.

As I struggle to process what just happened, I’m hit by a flash of brightness and a cool draft.

“Everything okay?”

Someone is in the doorway.

Through the vapor and the sweat running into my eyes, I can make out a tall figure looming above me. Must be Jay who came to look for me.

I rub at my eyes.

“It’s fine,” I say, looking up at Jay.

Only it isn’t Jay. It’s the angel from reception, without the glasses. …

 

 

The first man Crystel fell in love with was Beauty’s Beast. Next came Robin Hood, then Mr. Darcy. Two decades of married life later, she still loves fictional men—especially when there are two of them who are meant to be! She likes it best when she can create their plights and fights herself, and she can always be counted on to throw in some sizzling hotness and a lot of feels. Here’s her author promise: no fade-outs when things get steamy or emotional, and an ending that will leave you smiling.

Crystel is a lawyer by training, a lover of pastry, and a believer in Happy Ever Afters. Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, and a North Sea girl at heart, she lives in the beautiful Austrian Alps with her husband and four kids.

PS She loves reader mail!

crystelgreene@gmail.com

https://www.crystelgreene.com

https://www.instagram.com/crystelgreene/

https://twitter.com/CrystelGreene

https://www.facebook.com/CrystelGreene/

https://www.goodreads.com/crystelgreene

https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/authors/crystel-greene-1081

https://www.amazon.com/author/crystelgreene


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