Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Moved By You by Ann Lister: Release Day Review and Giveaway

March 8, 2019 by Denise

Vance feels trapped. He never cared about his family’s wealth and prestige, but he finds himself pinned in place by the weight of his father’s expectations. Vance would much rather sweat in his studio creating metal sculptures with his blow torch than take any kind of position at the family firm. When pressure from his father mounts, Vance is torn between going with the flow or making waves. But everything changes when Vance hits a bike messenger with his car.

Kyle has drifted through his life with a massive chip on his shoulder against the privilege that’s always been just out of reach. His job as a bike messenger doesn’t help. He’s stuck delivering packages to the very elites he loathes. When Vance crashes into Kyle, they’re suddenly thrust onto different paths than they ever expected. But can they take this new path together, or will egos and societal privilege create too many obstacles to overcome?

Moved By You is a 67,000 word MM novel with an enemies to lovers theme, and a HEA.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

I am normally a fan of Ann Lister. But this story was a disappointment for me.

What should have been an opposites attract kind of love story was, in fact, 2 guys bickering all of the time, misunderstanding each other, making assumptions, walking out, etc etc etc.

Their first encounter was expected. Hot office guy oogling the bike messenger. The second encounter- when hot office guy hits the bike messenger, literally, was a bit jarring. The bike messenger was just. so. mad.

Then he flips and he is nice. But wait, now it is time for the other guy to be a jerk.

Back and forth they go until Kyle, the messenger. gets devastating news and then ALL OF A SUDDEN Vance, hot office guy, is there acting like the best boyfriend in the world. When they could barely hold a conversation without sniping at each other.

So there’s this huge conflict before they are even a couple that they have to navigate. Which they don’t do well. So they stomp off again.

But then totally convoluted and rushed ending toward a HEA.

The time lines were messed up, the verbiage was off putting (a blue collar guy isn’t going to say things like “The moment I arrived at your door…”), conflicts resolved quickly, characters we never met playing a huge roll…. it was just a bit of a mess for me.

2.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

Ann Lister is a native New Englander currently living on the island of Martha’s Vineyard with her husband. She has pulled details from her years living in the New England area and uses many local settings and landmarks in her novels. After graduating art school, marrying, and raising two daughters, she established her own video production company. Her nearly two decades working in video production included work within the music industry and won her a coveted Telly Award.

Her ‘behind-the-scenes’ exposure to the music world and her love of rock music is the inspiration for her erotic rock star romances. Her rock star romance, “Fall For Me”, Book One in The Rock Gods series, was a Finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Award and Book Three, Make You Mine, established her as an Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. Each book in The Rock Gods series brings her two favorite elements together: musicians and the love between two men.

Her stories focus on what it truly means to love; love unconditionally, love without restrictions or labels, love without fear or judgment – to just simply love.

Website |Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

a
Rafflecopter giveaway

How Not To Sin by Susan Hawke: RDB, Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

March 6, 2019 by Denise

One regular guy who happens to be a preacher…

Reverend Dr. Gabe Samson doesn’t think he’s better than any of the people in his church, so please don’t put him on a pedestal. While he’s never hidden the fact that he identifies as bisexual, he’s never acted on it either. Gabe isn’t happy to learn that the sole reason he was hired to pastor the LGBT-friendly church was that the ruling elders wanted a safe poster child for inclusivity—in other words, they wanted the rainbow flag without letting it fly.

Plus one easygoing, new age kinda guy…

Seth Thomas owns Holistic Healing, a metaphysical shop and yoga studio. He’s never really been a relationship kinda guy, but only because he hasn’t met the right man yet. Seth is laid back and goes with the flow. When fate drops a hot preacher in his lap, why wouldn’t he accept the gift?

Equals a pair of men who click from the start.

The two men find it almost too easy to get together, especially Gabe, who is fully embracing his bi side for the first time. Nothing in life is simple though. While Gabe and Seth are busy falling in love, they face an anti-gay hate group, a divided church, and a ruling elder who is hell-bent on sowing discord. Between Gabe’s patient wisdom and Seth’s snark, the pair fight the growing drama with the strongest weapons in their arsenal: love and humor.

This is the third book in the LOVESTRONG series about finding love and being yourself in a small town, and the third in series. Intended only for 18+ readers, this is an mm romance full of all the fun, fluff, and feels you’d want from an S. Hawke book.

Note: This isn’t a trigger warning, but please be prepared for a few instances of ignorance and hate speech, and mentions of violence. This is a romance, not a sermon—but please keep in mind that the main character is a pastor dealing with real-life issues in his church and these truths are reflected in Gabe.

How Not To Sin

LOVESTRONG Series, Book 3

Susan Hawke

M/M Romance

Release Date: 02.20.19

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

“Come on, you know you want to try it.” Gabe’s eyes danced as he tried to get me to take a bite of his Rocky Mountain oysters. “Are you really going to sit there and pretend you’re not adventurous enough to take just one itsy bitsy taste?” His fork danced in front of my mouth, as if he were trying to tempt a baby into taking a bite.

“It’s not a matter of being adventurous so much as solidarity. A bro just doesn’t eat another dude’s balls—at least, not like this. Trust me, preach. There are far more fun and less gory ways to enjoy your ball-eating fetish.” I shuddered dramatically as I leaned my head back and to the side while I batted at his hand to push it away.

Gabe snorted then brought the fork to his mouth and made a big show of pulling the meat from the fork with his teeth. His moans were almost pornographic, especially when combined with the total sex face he was making—complete with his eyes rolling back into his head while his lashes fluttered like crazy.

“You do know that people are staring, right? You’re like that chick in that movie, you know the one… where that chick’s faking an orgasm in the middle of a crowded diner?” I thought for a second, trying to remember. Once I got Meg Ryan’s face in my mind, I was able to recall the movie. “When Harry Met Sally. Yeah, you’re totally pulling a Sally.”

He took a moment to casually blot his lips with a napkin before leaning forward with a raised brow. “Were they staring at me, though? Really? Or was it maybe the look on your face while you watched that caught their eyes, hmm?”

I shifted in my seat, trying to ignore the sudden tightness in my pants. “Definitely you. I guarantee you that I wasn’t looking turned on while I watched you nosh on testicles.” I pointed to the side of his mouth. “You’ve got a little sauce right there that your napkin missed.”

My pants grew a little tighter when that tongue darted from the side of his mouth to lick it away. I shook my head. “Nope, a little down and to the left.” I couldn’t help but grin at the facial contortions he was making as he tried to get rid of it. Shaking my head, I reached over the table with my own napkin and wiped his cheek.

Gabe caught my hand as I started to pull it away. Turning it over, he kissed the pulse point of my wrist while gazing up at me from under his ridiculously long lashes. When he spoke in a low rumble, I could swear that deep voice was liquid sex. “Will you promise to wipe me clean every time I get messy?” I blinked away a vision of me licking splatters of cum from his bare chest, then feeding it back to him as we kissed. Yeah, that imagery didn’t help the tight pants issue at all.

Note to self: don’t wear skinny jeans when going on a date with a sexy clergyman.

Pulling my hand back, I made a show of rolling my eyes. “I hope you enjoyed that, Pastor Babe. After watching you eat that foul food, I’m pretty sure that’s the only part of my body you’ll be kissing tonight.”

A corner of Gabe’s mouth twitched as his eyebrows shot up. “Are you really talking about kissing body parts in the middle of dinner? Shame, shame, Seth. I’m starting to think I can’t take you anywhere. Although, as first dates go? This is definitely one for the record books.”

Okay, I have to go get the first book in this series, because I was loving this one! I wasn’t sure how this one was going to work, a bisexual preacher? How unheard of, right?
Growing up Pentecost myself, literally every church I went to told me how wrong any of those letters were. My parents weren’t hateful like the Danvers in this story, but they believed very much the same thing, so I heard it a lot in lifetime. My father used to call me a “sympathizer” because I didn’t say the bad words against minority groups or people who believed differently than we were supposed to. He’d sneer as he said it, and often make fun of me for it, but, now, as a 33-year-old mom with a gay 13-year-old…. I only wish my family would’ve had a church to belong to like Gabe’s.

Other than being a love story, which it very much was between Pastor Babe and crystal healing, hippie, yoga instructor, Seth… I enjoyed everything else about it just as much. When Gabe was hired into a LGBT friendly church, they kind of thought he’d just represent the lgbt members but not actually practice it… stupid right?

So, when he meets and falls for Seth, he runs into some trouble from one man who is set to ruin the church and their love and acceptance of the LGBT community and church family. The guy will make you sick. His antics and all the hatefulness he spreads, it made me sick because I’ve seen it first hand, and I know it’s not just something I’m reading about in a book. It happens all the time, where people hide behind their religion to spew such ignorance. I mean, we see it way too often. Turn on the news at any given point in a day, and you’ll see something to do with this very topic. It’s sickening, and sad, and I was so glad to read a story where it was brought to light and had such a big impact on all involved. It was real and sometimes hard, but with love and strength and faith and friends…. love will always win. Period.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

I love love love that quote, and it sums this story up perfectly.

I cannot wait to go back and read Andy and Corbin’s story…. hello single dad, why haven’t I read about you yet? I love Gam’s, and Gray, and Dottie, and Shaw and his crazy love triangle, and Larry…. I want stories from them all!

And if you read any of my reviews, you’ll know that I love when the bad guy gets his dose of karmic justice. I am proud to say that Mr. Danvers gets his in this one, so fear not and keep reading!! I’ll admit that I almost gave up a time or two myself but I’m glad I didn’t.

And of course we get our HEA. Such an amazing story, I’m so glad I read it. Definitely recommend.

4 pieces of eye candy from me

As an avid reader and big romance fan myself, I love sharing the stories of the different people who live in my imagination. My stories are filled with humor, a few tears, and the underlying message to not give up hope, even in the darkest of times, because life can change on a dime when you least expect it. This theme comes from a lifetime of lessons learned on my own hard journey through the pains of poverty, the loss of more loved ones than I’d care to count, and the struggles of living through chronic illnesses. Life can be hard, but it can also be good! Through it all I’ve found that love, laughter, and family can make all the difference, and that’s what I try to bring to every tale I tell.

I’m a happily married mom with one snarky teenage boy, and three grown “kids of my heart.” I’m more widely known for my mpreg writings as Susi Hawke; this new name is a departure from that. Whether written by Susan or Susi, the books are filled with that all-important love, laughter, and family I mentioned; the only difference is that this name has no male pregnancy. I look forward to sharing my stories with you, and to bringing more romance and laughter into this world that needs it so very badly.

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSusanHawke/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Redeem (Under My Skin Book 4) by Christina Lee: New Release Review

March 5, 2019 by Denise

Successful financial analyst Michael Walsh leads a picture-perfect life that anyone would envy—unless they caught a glimpse beneath the surface. Haunted by failed relationships and self-doubt, Michael harbors a soul-deep loneliness that no number of casual hookups can fulfill. So why can’t he stop thinking about his New Year’s fling with a man whose quiet desperation matched his own?

Barista Stewart Jenkins has an abysmal track record with relationships, and no matter how hard he tries to keep things tightly under wraps, his life is spinning out of control. His hookup with the gorgeous Michael was only supposed to be sex—hot, dirty, uncomplicated—but that small taste leaves him yearning for more.

Every no-strings encounter that follows between Michael and Stewart peels away more layers, blurring the lines, until they’re left with a raw tenderness and acceptance they both crave. A relationship seems out of the question—they come from drastically different lives and are plagued by inexcusable sins. Being vulnerable is sure to reveal old wounds, and forgiveness seems out of reach, unless they can find a way around their fears on the road to redemption.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

If you read the previous 3 books in the series- well, just books 2 and 3- you know Michael and Stewart. And you hate them. They are assholes and we wished them flesh eating bacteria starting on their asses.

And then Christina Lee made us like them. Dammit.

What was a bonus scene (and not an excerpt from an upcoming book) was in fact, the opening scene in book 4. Michael and Stewart both proverbially licking their wounds on New Year’s Eve and having a hot hook up in the bar’s bathroom.

And then these bastards worm into our hearts. Gah!

We find out way more about Michael and Stewart and what makes them tick. What makes them they way they are. And after both of them lost great men because of their douchebaggery, they realize that maybe they should do a bit of self reflection.

It is slow going, but these guys grow on you more and more. And as they are growing on you, they are growing on each other. Not that they will ever admit it, but still. The whole no strings thing is oh so convenient to men who are afraid.

It isn’t easy to redeem (see what I did there) characters that you previously wanted to punch in the throat, but Christina Lee did it. And she gave us a sweet, sexy romance of two guys who really needed each other.

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Broken by Colette Davison: RDB, Excerpt and Release Day Review

March 5, 2019 by Denise

Rule #1: Keep running.

Jag’s rules have kept him safe and free since he escaped conversion therapy, but that was before he walked into Heaven and Hell. A no-strings fling with the club owner, Michael, turns into so much more as Jag finds himself breaking one rule after another.

Michael hasn’t been able to commit to anyone since his partner died, until Jag walks into his club. Falling in lust with the elfin young dancer is easy, and his heart is quick to follow.

Michael gives Jag a reason to stay, but fear rules Jag’s heart more than love. Despite his deepening feelings for Michael, Jag knows he can’t stay. Can he?

**Contains adult themes, content, and language.**

Book Title: Broken

Author: Colette Davison

Cover Artist: Colette Davison

Genre/s: MM Contemporary Romance

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

“I need to say a few things,” Michael said, pausing as he felt Jag stiffen. “I need to be honest with you.”

“No.” Jag’s hand pressed against Michael’s mouth, no doubt transferring silver smudges to his lips. “I’m happy with the lie you told me last night.”

Well, at least Michael knew he definitely hadn’t fooled Jag. Gently, he moved Jag’s hand away from his mouth. His hand became coated in a sparkling silver sheen.

“I’m not.”

Jag clenched his teeth.

“I care about you,” Michael said. “And I can’t pretend otherwise.”

“You don’t know me,” Jag hissed.

“Don’t I?”

Jag became even more rigid, his muscles so hard beneath Michael’s fingers he felt like a statue as well as looking like one.

“I don’t have to know about your past to know who you are now.”

I went all in on this book because I love angst. But, this was kind of meh.

The whole premise is that Jag is running from his family because they had him in conversion therapy as a teen. BUT HE IS NOW A GROWN ASS MAN. What is he still running from? Ugh

Michael hires Jag and gives him a place to live with no proper id, no real name and no references at all. Mmmmkay. And even though his partner died years ago, he hasn’t been able to move on. Until Jag. Now all of a sudden he is hot to trot. And he seemed to kind of be a stage mother. Dressing Jag up for the stage in paint and wings. It was just odd.

I didn’t get any chemistry at all between the two men. And it seems the only big trauma for Jag going through conversion therapy is that he can’t watch gay porn. But he is totally fine having sex with strangers.

Big disappointment that left a lot to be desired.

2.5 pieces of eye candy

Colette’s personal love story began at university, where she met her future husband. An evening of flirting, in the shadow of Lancaster castle, eventually led to a fairy tale wedding. She’s enjoying her own ‘happy ever after’ in the north of England with her husband, two beautiful children and her writing.

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

Twitter

Facebook Group: Colette’s Cosy Corner

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card OR a signed paperback copy of Broken (winner’s choice)
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6f12da1594/

Step Up With Me By Kris Jacen: New Release Review

March 2, 2019 by Denise

Richard “Tank” Martin was a big boy from the start. Born weighing over 11 pounds, he didn’t stop growing. When he was in middle school, a football coach took him under his wing and finally explained to him the mystery of calories in, calories out and from then on it was all good for him. At least he thought. Being called to meet with his platoon sergeant and told that he was now part of the Army’s overweight program, sent him into a spin that only his crews can help him out of.

Dr. Jack Dillon thought his life was good and finally settled. Part of an active veterinarian practice, volunteering with a service dog organization, spoiling his sister’s triplets and training in sports jiu-jitsu…the only thing missing was a partner. He never thought that his world could be shattered with just a phone call even after being around his military friends.

Tank and Jack have been dancing around each other for months until Tank takes a chance and kisses Jack at their friends’ wedding moving their slow dance into a heated bump and grind. Can these two survive the changes coming their ways together or will all the changes break them apart?

Amazon

Okay….so… hot guys – military guys at that – and guys with babies? Uhmm.. yes, please!

In saying that, I will say that I had a little bit of trouble in the beginning… So many different people, I didn’t know who was who, who was babies, who was puppies, who was related, who was married… it was a lot. I kept wondering if I had come into a series or something where I should’ve read up on all the people beforehand. I had, actually, so, if you’re thinking of starting with this one, just know that it was really hard to follow along….especially because I had to read a few lines at the beginning of a paragraph in order to know who’s POV I was getting at the time…

However, Tank and Jack together, were really cute. I liked how sweet they were and their transition to friends to more than friends was realistic and felt genuine to me. I really liked Tank, and I loved the way Jack was with his sister’s babies…. Both of them really, even though wow… triplets….My heart broke for them and for the baby’s at one point, and I hated the family that tried to give them trouble, but…all’s well that ends well.

I adored the little family that they all made and wished that I knew more about the secondary characters that I’ve seemed to have missed out on…. If you enjoyed this series, this seems like a great addition!

3 pieces of eye candy from me

Pros & Cons Series by AE Wasp: Exclusive Guest Post, Blog Tour and Giveaway

March 1, 2019 by Denise

There’s nothing like being blackmailed by a dead man to really bring a group of cons together. And what a group we are: a hacker, a thief, a con artist, a thug, and a Federal agent with an axe to grind. The deal is simple, we do the jobs and Charlie’s lawyer wipes the slate clean for each of us, one at a time.

Since job number one calls for some muscle, it looks like I’m up first. I’m Steele Alvarez, ex-Special Forces Close Protection Specialist (aka, a bodyguard for some not so nice guys).

After learning what the job is — taking down a seemingly untouchable senator with a penchant for beating up young male prostitutes — I’m in. No questions. A bullet ought to do the trick.

Then I met Senator Harlan’s latest victim: Breck Pfeiffer, the gorgeous hooker with a heart of gold and the soul of a fighter. One look at him and I’m gone. That kid laid me out harder than any punch ever did. I’ll do anything to protect Breck, even kill for him. But Breck doesn’t want the senator dead, he wants vengeance.

If we’re going to find a way bring down the slimebag and get the blackest mark on my record erased, I’m going to need all the help I can get.

Like it or not, we’re all in this together.

BOOK 1

Book Title: Pros & Cons of Vengeance

Author: A.E. Wasp

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Angsty G

Genre/s: MM Romantic Suspense

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: approx 83,000 words/ 331 pages

Release Date: January 18, 2019

Add on Goodreads

It is a standalone story

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Mapping out a series – pantser or plotter?

Having jumped into my third series with Pros & Cons (First was Veterans Affairs, then Hot Off the Ice) I’d say a combination of both. I’m pantsing the series arcs and specific details but I like to have a nice outline before I start writing the individual books.

My outlines are basically my first drafts. I start with bullet points and just go up and down the outline expanding things and thinking.

But the series just kind of…happen. Sometimes I know who the next pairing will be, sometimes I don’t. In Paper Hearts, in the Veterans Affairs series, I was writing a scene and realize, oh man, these other two characters, who I’d had zero intention of hooking up, had been hooking up behind my back the entire book. Writing their book, Bronze Star, was frustrating because I had to write around the events I had already set in motion and the actions I had had those two guys do in all the previous books1

Pros & Cons has the most fully thought-out series arc. I started thinking about the idea around Christmas and quickly realized that it would a five-book series with each character getting their own book. I had a vague idea of the characters and the feel of the books and where I wanted the entire series to end up, but that’s about it. I’m not even 100% sure what I’m doing for book three, Pros & Cons of Desire. I know who it’s about and there are elements I want to put into it. But I’m not even sure of the ending!

Sometimes I throw in lines as I’m writing like “His parents had met on a Disney cruise when they were twenty five” and I don’t even really notice I’m doing it. Series continuity is very hard for me! If anyone is looking for a job, I know authors could really use someone to do book bibles for our series!

I’m trying, with Pros & Cons, to be more deliberate with what I say and to keep track of those details because I know that I will be using the same characters for all the books. I’m loving that aspect of it. It gives me a chance to build these characters over a series of books instead of trying to cram everything about them into one book. If there are questions say about Wesley’s (in Pros & Cons of Deception) family, I don’t have to answer them right now. It can come out at a more natural time.

Thank Christ someone had been bright enough to leave the air conditioning on in Charlie’s mansion. Dead men paid no electric bills, I guess. Fucking Florida.I’d been gone too long and had somehow forgotten how truly miserable the humidity could be. Sure, it could hit a hundred and fifteen outside of Baghdad, but it was dry heat.

I thought about taking off my suit, or at least my tie, but until I knew what the hell was going on here, I wasn’t going to let my guard down.

Besides, I looked good in a suit.

“Nice house, huh?” Wesley said from my behind me, as I was busy assessing the layout of the house and cataloging any possible pinch points. Like I said, I didn’t know what I was doing here, and I wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’ve seen bigger.” In my most recent incarnation as close protection specialist and hired muscle to some very rich and very bad men, I’d been in mansions that made this place look like a pool house. Not that this place sucked. Not at all. The cabin I’d grown up in could have fit in the foyer with room left over.

We followed Ms. Miranda Bosley, Charlie’s attorney, single-file down the tiled hallway of the big house like a line of ducklings. Wesley was the only guy I knew and consequently the only one in the group I trusted enough to walk behind me. Even Ms. Bosley looked like she wouldn’t hesitate to stab me in the kidney if she felt she needed to.

Seeing Wes at the funeral had been a surprise. A quick, stilted conversation had revealed that he was here for the same reason I was – we were both being blackmailed by Charlie.

I couldn’t imagine what Charlie had on the kid. I’d only worked with Wes twice before, but he was more a gray hat than a black hat hacker; the kind of person who didn’t mind doing the wrong things for the right reasons. A cross between MacGyver and Anonymous, the kid had probably been on an FBI watch list since he was twelve.

Wesley had triggered my protective instincts from our first meeting, but he’d never really needed much help beyond muscle. Sure he could take of himself with that jujitsu or whatever, but sometimes some people just needed their faces punched, and I was more than happy to do that for him. It was satisfying.

Now Angel-Face, as I’d taken to calling the gorgeous blond kid who’d been sitting a few rows ahead of me at the graveside ceremony, hetriggered other instincts in me. Made me think things I probably shouldn’t be thinking at a funeral. But then again, Angel-Face hadn’t seemed exactly consumed with grief either. I hadn’t been completely surprised to see him following Miranda after the funeral along with Wes and me. Very interesting. What had that choir boy done to be in such bad company at such a young age?

I’m Bond. Wesley Bond. (I can’t resist saying it that way. Blame my dad, if you can find him.) You could call me a hacker. I redistribute wealth – moving it from rich slimebags to poorer but infinitely more deserving people – and make a tidy profit as I do. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to bring down some modern-day slave traders.

I definitely choose to accept it.

With the life of the one person in this world I love on the line, I can’t afford any screw ups or distractions. Unfortunately, my biggest distraction is also my biggest asset – Danny Monroe. Danny is a leftover complication from our first job; a victim of the vicious senator we’d gotten locked up. He’s a smart, funny, gorgeous, ex-prostitute, who can’t seem to keep his clothes on. I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut around him. But I need a fake boyfriend, and Danny is the only option.

Fooling the world into thinking we’re in love will be easy; fooling myself that I’m not might be impossible.

BOOK 2

Book Title: Pros & Cons of Deception

Author: A. E. Wasp

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Angsty G

Genre/s: MM Romantic Suspense

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 80,000 words/ 300 pages

Release Date: March 1, 2019

Add on Goodreads

Amazon US

Amazon UK

“Hey, can anyone explain why my shirt drawer is empty?” Ridge Pfeiffer demanded, appearing on the patio where the rest of our little band had congregated. Our resident retrievals expert (read: thief) was naked from the waist up and scowling beneath his blue eyes and blond curls like the world’s most overgrown, pissed-off Botticelli angel.

I pulled down my sunglasses to look at him, then slid them back up so I could focus on my phone screen. Right now, I was engaged in a long-term bout of spear phishing at Campbell Enterprises, and I was about to close the deal. This was way more interesting than anything Ridge was likely to share.

Janie, I typed, I’m on a plane with Dal Anderson and he wants a four-paragraph summary of Thursday’s press release so we can prepare talking points for the investors!! Can’t access the secure server from here and I’m fah-reaking OUT!! Send me something? – Becks

There. That ought to do it.

Becks, aka Rebecca Frankel, Junior Executive Assistant to the VP of Human Resources at Campbell, according to her LinkedIn profile, was adorably naïve and helpful. For example, when a friendly IT man had called the other day and asked for her credentials to verify a “suspicious login” from her site, she’d provided all the necessary info. Hell, if I’d asked for her astrological sign and social security number, she’d probably have given me that too.

Once I’d accessed her email, I’d had the keys to the castle. It had been easy to copy her writing style – hyper-friendly, with way too many exclamation points for a person over the age of thirteen – to learn that she was going on a business trip with her boss this week, and to find that she was smoke-break buddies with Jane DeVoor, Assistant to the CFO. As soon as Jane emailed back a summary of Thursday’s press release to help her pal out, I’d make a few quick investment decisions like I’d somehow learned to predict the future.

Hint: Ditch your psychic friends and go phishing instead.

“Um, would we say the drawer is really empty, though?” Breck, Ridge’s identical twin, asked from the lounge chair where he was stretched out in the sun practically on top of his boyfriend, Steele Alvarez.

“Close enough. The only things left are a pink tank top that says I Would Bottom You So Hardand this Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt.” Ridge held it up. “Neither of them is mine, and frankly I don’t feel comfortable wearing either.”

A dreamer and an idealist, Amy writes about people finding love, family, and magic in the everyday world. From professional hockey players to professional thieves, her boys work hard, play hard, and love harder. She invites readers into her characters’ lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, and living with the same hopes and fears we all have.

Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in a town suspiciously like Red Deer, Colorado.

Author Links

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win a $15 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SERIES REVIEW TOUR SCHEDULE