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Blog Tours

A New Life (Loving Again Book 2) by Mel Gough: Exclusive Interview, Blog Tour and Review

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New apartment, new job, new love – Ben and Donnie’s life in Atlanta is everything they dared to hope for. And when Zac, a baby in need of a home, comes to live with them, their family is complete.

But caring for a little one is hard work, and Donnie’s fragile health soon suffers. And then certain criminal elements from Donnie’s past turn up again. Ben and Donnie fight hard to preserve their little piece of heaven, but the destructive forces are determined to pull their happiness to pieces.

Can the two men prevail, or will they lose their baby son and everything they’ve fought for?

Book Title: A New Life (Loving Again Series, Book 2)

Author: Mel Gough

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Black Jazz Design

Genre/s: Contemporary romance

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 49,000 words/188 pages

Release Date: February 22, 2019

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Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Amazon UK – Kindle Unlimited

  1. What one thing happened as you were writing this book that you absolutely weren’t expecting? (No spoilers needed here!)

To be honest, I hadn’t expected this to become a series. As most readers know, the three books started as fanfic. I wrote the first one with no intention for it to be more than a long-ish story on AO3, but found that I loved the concept so much that I wanted more from Ben and Donnie. And I think that Book 2 is the best out of the series, in terms of suspense and action. A lot of drama happens, but there’s such sweetness too, which also was somewhat of a surprise.

  1. Do you have any strange writing habits (like standing on your head or writing in the shower)?

I first write all my books and stories by hand, into an A5 notebook. I can write on the train that way and in fact do so most days. I used to carry one notebook with my current story, but now tend to carry two, one that’s exclusively dedicated to my current new novel and one for other things (like short stories or rewrites of other projects).

  1. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?

I’m not usually very excited to write the sex scenes. I can write them ok I think, but they’re not my forte. And I don’t particularly enjoy reading sex, either. It’s not that it bothers me, and sometimes it’s needed, but I find it hard to come up with new ways to make those scenes interesting. For the Ben and Donnie books, at least the sex had the added bonus of being something that’s not easy for them, so I used thoe scenes to explore some of their hang-ups and difficulties.

  1. What does your next project look like?

Which one? 😉 I have a lot right now. I’m writing the first draft of a reverse harem story, which I’m hoping to finish sometime in the middle of the year. Then I have a short story that I want to submit to an anthology. I also have a five-part MF romance series I’ll publish after the Ben and Donnie tour de force is over. They’re currently in a slightly chaotic editing stage.

  1. Always my fun one! A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?

Ha! It probably got on the wrong train at Victoria and is looking for the zoo. Here in London sometimes the pigeons take the train, and I’m not entirely convinced they don’t know exactly what they’re doing because they’re always super chill and hop off when they get to the stop they wanted!

The story continues with Donnie and Ben, only now it’s a couple of months later and things are settling in with them quite well. They’ve got a new place together, Ben’s got a new job, Ben and his ex are getting along, and he gets to see his daughter, though she doesn’t have much page time in this one either. He’s very much a sometimes dad to her, which sucked in my opinion, because in this one, he and Donnie get a baby and he’s all kinds of a dad to him!

Okay, so I’ll explain. A woman at the shelter Donnie works for is staying there with her baby, and once Arthur (love him) helps her find a job, the baby, Zac, stays in the daycare with Donnie. He forms a quick bond with him, wanting to protect him from the life he knows they live.  He’s familiar with it, having lived it himself as a child and he wanted to protect him. He’s also positive, like Donnie, so it seemed to just kind of bond them in a way that was easy and genuine and really sweet, though very sad…He’s good to the core like that, Donnie is. I really grew to like him a lot in this one.

I also liked the realness of the stress and sleepless nights and irrational frustration with people, when they’re only trying to help. Having a new baby around is stressful and I like that things were portrayed the way they would be in real life. Although, some things still irked me….. DCFS, would not take the word of someone saying their a baby’s real father without a blood test to confirm, especially going so far as to show up at a foster carers house without warning and take the child from their carer. There are guidelines and protocol’s that have to be met; the dad would have to have several meetings with the baby, his house to be inspected, paperwork galore and it wouldn’t happen in 10 minutes… more like weeks. Also.. why in the world were Ben and Donnie trying to give a 6-month-old baby, tea? I can’t be the only one who noticed that.

And seriously? I have never, in my life, called a boyfriend “buddy” unless he was in trouble and I needed him to hear my words before someone got hurt… i.e. him…. “listen up, bud.”…. but as far as endearments go…. Buddy is a terrible one. I hope that gets fixed for the next book, which I’m not sure I’m looking forward to if it’s called “A Broken Promise”… I think Donnie’s had enough brokenness in his life, he doesn’t need more and I’m not sure I can handle any more for him.

Also, prepare for random flashbacks that make a little bit of sense in the end, but otherwise were just random, confusing and there is on page sex with someone other than the boyfriend. Some don’t like that… I didn’t mind it because it eventually made sense… kind of. But warning, it’s there.
You’ll also see the word “summat” a few times, if anyone knows what that means, please let me know.

So, in this one, there are more hospital visits, (seriously, they should rent a wing, they’re all there so much), we meet new friends, there’s a new baby (and you all should know by now how I feel bad hot dads), ever patient boyfriends (Ben), loving daddy’s (Donnie) and a cute HFN. I suspect we’ll see more from these three in the future.

3 pieces of eye candy from me

Mel was born in Germany, where she spent the first twenty-six years of her life (with a one-year stint in Los Angeles). She has always been fascinated by cultures and human interaction, and got a Masters in Social Anthropology. After finishing university she moved to London, where she has now lived for ten years.

If you were to ask her parents what Mel enjoyed the most since the age of six, they would undoubtedly say “Reading!” She would take fifteen books on a three-week beach holiday, and then read all her mom’s books once she’d devoured her own midway through week two.

Back home in her mom’s attic there’s a box full of journals with stories Mel wrote when she was in her early teens. None of the stories are finished, or any good. She has told herself bedtime stories as far back as she can remember.

In her day job, Mel works as PA and office manager. No other city is quite like London, and Mel loves her city. The hustle and bustle still amaze and thrill her even after all these years. When not reading, writing or going to the theater, Mel spends her time with her long-time boyfriend, discussing science or poking fun at each other.

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BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE FOR A NEW LIFE

Skin and Bone (Digging Up Bones: Book 2) by TA Moore: Blog Tour with Exclusive Guest Post and Giveaway

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TCO is very excited to have TA Moore here today with Chapter Three of her short story for the blog tour of Skin and Bone, Digging Up Bones: Book Two. I can’t wait to read this book! Make sure you check out the entire story, on all six blogs, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Digging Up Bones: Book Two

Cloister Witte and his K-9 partner, Bourneville, find the lost and bring them home.

But the job doesn’t always end there.

Janet Morrow, a young trans woman, lies in a coma after wandering away from her car during a storm. But just because Cloister found the young tourist doesn’t mean she’s home. What brought her to Plenty, California… and who didn’t want her to leave?

With the help of Special Agent Javi Merlo, who continues to deny his growing feelings for the rough-edged deputy, Cloister unearths a ten-year-old conspiracy of silence that taps into Plenty’s history of corruption.

Janet Morrow’s old secrets aren’t the only ones coming to light. Javi has tried to put his past behind him, but some people seem determined to pull his skeletons out of the closet. His dark history with a senior agent in Phoenix complicates not just the investigation but his relationship with Cloister.

And since when has he cared about that?

Title: Skin and Bone (Book 2 of the Digging up Bones series)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Release: 26 February

Cover Artist: Bree Archer

Amazon

Dreamspinner

First of all, thank you so much for having me! I’m thrilled to be here with Skin and Bone, the second book in the Digging up Bones series. Authors should probably be like parents in that they never admit any book is their favourite, but I love this series. It was great fun for me to revisit them in Skin and Bone and I hope you guys enjoy seeing them again too!

For this blog tour I have written a short story called ‘Sticks and Stones’ where you can see what Javi and Cloister were up to between books!

Sticks and Stones – Chapter Three

The light bounced over the rutted path as Cloister half-jogged, half-skidded down the loose shale covered hill. Scrub grew long and stringy at the side of the road, dried out and noisy as wildlife moved through it.

Bon’s ears swivelled in response to the rustle of fat bodies through the grass and the squeaky mews of something that was either a cat or a baby racoon, but was definitely interesting. Despite the distractions she kept her nose down to the trail as she sniffed out Judge Buchanan in the dirt and stones.

“Good girl,” Cloister told her. “It would just bite your nose anyhow.”

Bon wagged her tail in response to the ‘good’ and ignored the rest. The nylon weave of the leash rubbed at Cloister’s fingers as he kept her fairly tight to him. He’d grown up in a area like this, a dozen old buildings scattered back along a country loop so minor it didn’t have an official name. Just a number and the nickname Trash Alley, because…well…Cloister’s family, cousins and uncles and friends, lived there.

People always drove too fast on roads like this, as if they assumed the whole stretch of concrete and dirt from their doorway to the freeway was for their use only. Cloister had lost a bike and the skin off his back one summer to their neighbor—you’d yelled at him for scraping up her Station Wagon—but never a dog. He didn’t intend to break that streak.

A stray branch caught on his sleeve and snapped up into his face, It caught under his eye with a sharp, scratch of pain and then flicked up into his eyebrow. He winced and rubbed his eye on the back of his hand, torch beam pointed into the scrub to catch the reflection from a pair of eyes a bit too high off the ground to be a racoon.

Cloister ignored the coyote—unless it was rabid a coyote wouldn’t be interested in picking a fight with a big dog and a human unless it was pushed to it—and studied the trees along the side of the path.

No broken twigs. No scraps of hair caught in the branches or bits of fabric pierced like flags.

Judge Buchanan had left the house on foot and at her own pace. No one had chased her down here, if there was anyone with her they’d not been in a hurry. No fresh scuff marks on the road, no signs of any spot where someone had dug in their heels or grabbed for something to try and slow themselves down.

Cloister had only met Buchanan once, a domestic violence case where Bon had dragged an angry, tweaking ex from under a neighbors porch. She’d not seemed the sort to be dragged off into the night without some mark of her left behind.

At the bottom of the hill the dirt road ended in a gate. Bon stuck her nose under it and snorted in frustration as she tried one gap and then another. Second time lucky and she squeezed through the bars. The leash pulled tight between them as she leaned against.

“Bleib,” Cloister told her. She whinged her disapproval of the stay order but flopped down on the pavement. Her tail tip twitched impatiently as she waited. Cloister let the leash drop and jumped up to grab the top of the gate. The metal–rough and untreated–scraped against his palm as he pulled himself up. He kicked one booted foot between the bars and boosted himself over the crossbar. Cloister dropped down on the other side and pulled the leash back through. Bon got a quick thump to the shoulders for being a good dog as she scrambled back onto her paws. “Such.”

On the other side of the was a well-paved concrete road. Bon veered sharply across to the left and then keep going onto the other side of the road. Security lights flicked on as they jogged past. On a few of the gates a camera, red light bright against the darkness, tracked him through its territory.

A bench, decorated with a divorce lawyer’s capped white smile and phone number, distracted Bon for a moment. She circled around it and then jumped up onto the seat and barked as she scraped at the sun-bleached plastic.

“She stopped here, huh?” Cloister said. He snapped his fingers and gestured down for Bon. She hopped down and wove between his legs, her weight solid as she butted her shoulder behind his knees. The leash tangled around his ankles in a snare. Cloister pinned a loop under his heel and stepped out of the knot. “Bon, enough. Sit.”

With a heavy, put-upon sigh Bon sat down. She hung her tongue out of her mouth, pink and dripping, while Cloister checked the bench over. Initials had been carved into the plastic with deep, ragged strokes and circled with lopsided hearts. No gang tags. No blood.

A flicker of something yellow beneath the bench caught his eye. He knelt down and reached in the grab the scrap of paper that had caught against a loose bit of rock. It was a sheet of lined, yellow paper with a list of times and locations on it. Home bookended the list, and in between included the courthouse, a cafe—ham on rye stipulated in brackets underneath, and a dry cleaners.

Someone had been paying a lot of attention to where Judge Buchanan went every day.

Although—Cloister glanced up the timetable posted in the metal pole—why they’d take her to get the bus he didn’t know.

19 – It’s About the Book

20 – My Fiction Nook

21 – Two Chicks Obsessed

24 – Boy Meets Boy

25 – Love Bytes

26 – Joyfully Jay

TA Moore is a Northern Irish writer of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance novels. A childhood in a rural, seaside town fostered in her a suspicious nature, a love of mystery, and a streak of black humour a mile wide. As her grandmother always said, ‘she’d laugh at a bad thing that one’, mind you, that was the pot calling the kettle black. TA Moore studied History, Irish mythology, English at University, mostly because she has always loved a good story. She has worked as a journalist, a finance manager, and in the arts sectors before she finally gave in to a lifelong desire to write.

Coffee, Doc Marten boots, and good friends are the essential things in life. Spiders, mayo, and heels are to be avoided.

Website: www.tamoorewrites.com

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

Twitter: @tamoorewrites

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Murder Most Lovely by Hank Edwards & Deanna Wadsworth: Exclusive Cover Reveal and Excerpt

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Today we have a fun treat! Hank Edwards and Deanna Wadsworth are here with the exclusive cover reveal and an excerpt to their upcoming mystery and romance, Murder Most Lovely. Just reading the first line of the blurb makes me want this book right now! 🙂 So check it all out and let us know what you think.

A killer at a small-town literary festival. Bumbling drug dealers. A kidnapped cat. Starting a romance among all this chaos might be the death of them.

Michael Fleishman is excited to meet his favorite mystery writer, Russell Withingham, at Lacetown’s Literary Fest. He is not expecting to cross paths with sexy hairdresser Jasper “Jazz” Dilworth—or become embroiled in a real-life mystery. As Lacetown’s only mortician and the county coroner, Michael is called to his first murder scene and is shocked to recognize the victim—Russell’s young lover.

Jazz only wanted to confront his ex, Russell, over his cheating. Instead, he meets the adorably awkward Michael and becomes a murder suspect. Soon Jazz is teaming up with Michael to clear his name. Along the way, they are helped and hindered by Michael’s sassy assistant, Kitty, the grumpy Sheriff Musgrave, Russell’s creepy PR rep, Norbert, and Michael’s lothario grandfather, who likes his manhattans strong and his women saucy. And of course, Mr. Pickles Furryton the Third….

Title: Murder Most Lovely
Series: Lacetown Murder Mysteries: Case One
Release Date: April 30, 2019
Category: Mystery/Suspense
Pages: 239
Cover Artist: Bree Archer http://www.breearcher.com

Dreamspinner Press eBook

Dreamspinner Press Paperback

After a third glass of chardonnay, Michael seemed much more relaxed, and Jazz had a nice buzz. They dropped their cups in the trash just outside the book cover photo booth and stood side-by-side, looking at the selections. There were many different themes, from romance to science fiction to murder mystery. As they perused the options, Jazz felt Michael’s shoulder brush against his own. He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, happy to see Michael smiling as he surveyed their choices.

“What do you think?” Jazz said. “Anything catch your eye?”

“They’re all pretty great,” Michael said. “What about you? Which do you like?”

“I think the bodice ripper cover is timeless.” Jazz pointed to the sample that showed a muscular man with an unbuttoned shirt blowing back from his amazing torso, and in his arms was a beautiful woman with long hair and a Victorian dress so tight her breasts practically popped out of it.

“What? No!” Michael’s nervous laugh made Jazz laugh himself.

“Okay, fine. But I bet the costumes would be fun to get into.”

“Be that as it may, I still say no.” Michael blushed and looked back at the samples. “How about the detective novel?”

Jazz frowned at the cover with a Dick Tracy–esque man and a woman with a gun.

Before he could think of a way to say “no” and not bring up his unfortunate spousal arrangement on a first date, Michael shook his head.

“Actually, let’s do one that doesn’t remind us of everything heinous in the last twenty-four hours.” Michael pointed to a cover with two cowboys on horseback. “How about that one?”

Thrilled once more to be on the same wavelength as his date, Jazz grinned at him. “A little bit of a cowboy fetish there, Mr. Fleishman?”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it just looks cool.”

“I’m teasing you.” Jazz bumped his shoulder against Michael’s. “Let’s do it.”

They pulled the loose-fitting costumes on over their clothes, and Jazz picked out a black hat for Michael, setting it on his head and taking a step back to look him over.

“Oh, my. Seriously sexy.”

“No, stop it.” Michael passed a white cowboy hat to him. “You’re definitely a white hat kind of cowboy.”

“Virginal?” Jazz said, batting his eyes. He did his best to look offended when Michael laughed. “You don’t think I’m a virgin?”

Michael touched the brim of his hat and nodded. “A cowboy never tells. Shall we mosey on out to the corral, pardner?”

“I’m liking this cowboy persona you just adopted,” Jazz said as he followed Michael out of the costume tent. “You might want to invest in a hat. And maybe a leather vest. And some leather chaps.”

“Hello! Welcome to Book Cover Magic!”

A black woman stood by a camera attached to a computer, her smile so big her cheeks nearly covered her eyes.

“I’m Doreen, and I’m going to be taking your picture today. From your costumes I can tell you selected the science fiction cover, right?”

Jazz exchanged a confused look with Michael, then said, “Um, no. We wanted the Old West book cover.”

Doreen winked and laughed. “Got you! Okay, let’s get the horses moved into frame and we’ll get started.”

“Horses?” Michael’s eyes were wide and his smile childlike. But when he saw that the “horses” were actually saddles on green padded sawhorses, his disappointment was evident. “Oh. They’re not real.”

“Oh, honey, I wish to all that’s holy and magical that I could afford to haul real horses around to all the small-town festivals I’m signed up for. Come on now, hop on your saddles. Go out there and rope those doggies! Woo-hoo! Ride ’em, cowboy!”

Doreen had them laughing and acting crazy as she took several photos. When she was finished, they gathered at the computer and looked through the options, laughing at their expressions. In the last picture, Doreen had captured them looking at each other and laughing, Michael with his black hat in hand and waving overhead, and Jazz holding up both of his plastic six-shooters.

“That’s the one,” Jazz and Michael said at the same time, then looked at each other and grinned. Their smiles faded a little as their gaze lingered. Jazz was overwhelmed with the sudden desire to gently take Michael’s glasses off so he could get lost in those chocolaty brown eyes.

Michael licked his lips and was the first to look away, still smiling.

Doreen smiled as she looked between them, and then she leaned in and asked in a quiet voice, “First date?”

“What?” Michael’s blush returned, redder than ever, which made Jazz want to kiss him right there in front of Doreen, her teenage assistant, and God and everyone.

“Oh, you don’t have to be scared of me, honey,” Doreen said as she clicked the mouse and typed a few things on her computer keyboard. “Love is love, that’s the only way. Now, what would you like the title of your book to be?”

“How about, Our First Date?” Jazz suggested.

Michael grinned and nodded. “I like it.”

“Me too,” Doreen said and her fingers tapped across the keyboard. “Okay, and who are the authors?”

“By Jazz and Michael,” Michael said.

“Oh, Jazz and Michael. I like that. And I’ll put a fancy ampersand in there to make it even better. Take a look at the monitor right there and tell me what you think.”

Jazz stood shoulder to shoulder with Michael as they looked at the large monitor. The picture was perfect: the two of them on horseback, with a stagecoach in the background, all done in a tintype style. The title and their names were in an Old West font that perfectly captured the feeling of it all.

“I love it,” Michael said and smiled at Jazz. “What do you think?”

“It’s perfect,” Jazz said, smiling back.

Hank Edwards has been reading books from an early age. Now that he’s an adult—or at least older than he used to be—he likes to write stories that revolve around gay characters. His writing crosses many sub-genres, including romance, rom-com, contemporary, paranormal, suspense, mystery, and wacky comedy.

When he’s not writing, Hank loves to read, go to movies, watch some TV, and because of Paul Hollywood’s influence, has recently been trying his hand at baking. He visits his mother once a week, not just for the free cookies, and enjoys spending time with close friends drinking wine and making up ridiculous things that sometimes show up in his books. Although he hates the process of travel, he does enjoy experiencing new places. His dream trip is to one day visit the country of Greece, and he is currently saving his nickels and dimes to make that a reality.

Back in the 90s, he met a man who understood and encouraged his strange, creative mind, and who made him laugh more often and more freely than anyone else. Today they are legally married and still laugh often as they live in a suburb just north of Detroit with their two cats who act as both muse and distraction to him while he writes.

Twitter: @hanksbooks
Instagram: hankedwardsbooks
Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/HankEdwards
Deanna Wadsworth might be a best-selling erotica author, but she leads a pretty vanilla life in Ohio with her wonderful husband and a couple adorable cocker spaniels. She has been spinning tales and penning stories since childhood, and her first erotic novella was published in 2010. She has served multiple board positions for different RWA chapters, including president of the Rainbow Romance Writers in 2017.

When she isn’t writing books or brainstorming with friends, you can find her making people gorgeous in a beauty salon. She loves music and dancing, and will often be seen hanging out on the sandbar in the muddy Maumee River or chilling with her hubby and a cocktail in their basement bar. In between all that fun, Deanna cherishes quiet times in her garden when she can let her wildly active imagination have the full run of her mind. Her fascination with people and the inner workings of their relationships has always inspired her to write romance with spice and love without boundaries.

Twitter: @DeannaWadsworth
Instagram: @Deannawads

Milo (Finding Home Book 2) by Lily Morton: Release Day Review

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Once upon a time a brave knight rescued a young man. Unfortunately, he then spent the next few years bossing the young man around and treating him like a child.

Milo has been burying himself at Chi an Mor, hiding from the wreckage of his once promising career and running from a bad relationship that destroyed what little confidence he had. For all of that time, Niall has been there for him. An arrogant and funny man, he couldn’t be any more different from the shy and once stuttery Milo, which has never stopped Milo from crushing wildly on him.

However, just as Milo makes the decision to move on from his hopeless crush he and Niall are thrown into close contact, and for the first time ever Niall appears to be returning his interest. But it can never work. How can it when Milo always needs rescuing?

From the bestselling author of the Mixed Messages series comes a story about a man who needs to write his own happily ever after.

This is the second book in the Finding Home series but it can be read as a standalone.

Content warning: There are descriptions of domestic abuse in this book.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

 

So, I had to go back and read Oz, because really… this is one series I’ll revisit often. I am so in love with all of these guys! I’m not sure anyone can top Oz and Silas, but I was so excited to know that we’d get Milo and Niall, and I honestly couldn’t put it down. (Literally, I got nothing done the entire day)

In the beginning we get to see what brought Milo to the estate. We get kind of the idea in Oz’s story, but seeing it and understanding what made Milo kind of, turn in on himself was so heartbreaking. He spent so long being dragged down by this ex boyfriend that it completely changed his view of himself. I really hurt for him.
Luckily, his brother’s best friend and friend of the family, Niall, goes to check on him when his brother Gideon can’t reach him for a couple of days and walks in on the abuse as it’s happening and gets Milo out of there.

Niall is amazing. There were bits of him that turned me off, most definitely, (like being friends with benny’s with Milo’s brother, Gideon…as short as a month prior, uhm, ewww)… but it was obvious to everyone, (except Milo), that he adored Milo and always had. He was kind of his self-proclaimed protector and he was like a little brother to Niall….. until he wasn’t. Until he started seeing him as a man instead of the little boy that used to follow him and Gideon around all the time…

When an accident takes Oz and Silas away for the week, they leave their baby with her uncle’s Niall and Milo… Watching their back and forth was just as entertaining as Oz and Silas’ was. Milo was getting himself back to the before the ex, self…. Milo and with the help of his friendship with Oz and Silas, and Niall giving him encouragement, endless patience and really just everything he needed, it was fun to see him come out of his shell and tap into his inner- Oz… they were really two peas in a pod. I loved seeing more of Oz and Silas, too…I’ll never turn down a chance to catch up with them…

And then Niall coming to the realization that Milo is a man…. And a man that makes him feel like no other man, or woman ever has before… he see’s him in such a new light, and he runs with it… albeit slowly… cuz hello.. he needed Milo to trust him and see him in the same way….

I will also say, I did not like Gideon (Milo’s brother) until the very end. He grew on me, but I haaaated the little tests and pettiness that he put Niall and Milo through, and I wanted so badly for Niall to tell him to just stop, I wanted him to stick up for Milo… I don’t feel like he ever did. He stayed loyal to him, but didn’t put a stop to the way Gideon treated him and the way he talked to him, all the snide remarks and hurtful comments and that drove me crazy. Especially when he told Milo that HE needed to try because he was his brother… UGHHH I’d have knocked Gideon in his teeth a time or two… BUT, I’m thinking maybe he might be next? I’m not sure about that one… he seems selfish and self-absorbed. It’d be interesting to read…. We shall see.

Overall though… I loved it. I love the series, I love the couples and I love their little families. I cannot wait to read more of all of them…. Even if it is Gideon up next. Best series I’ve read so far this year. Hands down.

5 pieces of eye candy from me!

Darkness Dawns by Zakarrie Clarke: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

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Darkness Dawns is a love story. It also tells the tale of one man’s war with himself, brought onto the battlefield of his blindness. Leo Ferrar suffers from diabetic retinopathy and lost his sight two years ago. Unable to bear the scrutiny of strangers or the impact of his blindness on those he loves, Leo has determined on shutting the world out ever since. This is the man Ben meets on his first day at work as Mr Ferrar’s care assistant.

A former heroin addict, Ben was sentenced to six months community service as punishment for his crimes by a judge entitled to condemn him to a seven-year stretch. Far too charming for his own welfare, Ben proves unaccountably brilliant at ‘bulldozing the blind’.

When fate sees fit to dispatch Ben to the home of the man he has dubbed Mr Ferrarcious;it is with the words of the last five unfortunates who’d dared darken Leo’s doorway ringing in his ears.  A door that is opened by a man who might be Lord Byron himself. Drop dead gorgeous and as hot as hell, Leo Ferrar hasthemost beautiful eyes Ben has ever seen.

Never has an irony seemed so cruel. Nor fate so fortuitous.

Author: Zakarrie Clarke

Title: Darkness Dawns

Publisher: MLR Press

Genre/s: Contemporary/Humour/MM/Disability (Blindness)

Length: 65 000 words/150 PDF pages

Release Date: February 1, 2019

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Amazon UK

Publisher – MLR

Smashwords

Topic: switching sub genres when writing (historical, contemporary etc)

Thank you for having me, and hello to you and your readers.

I wasn’t conscious of having switched sub genres for some time after I had. I only seem to distinguish things thus: Favourites/Stuff I couldn’t care less about. As long as I’m not required to pay attention to the latter in everyday life, I tend to ignore them. I’ve always been attracted to people regardless of gender, and feel likewise about genres. I mostly watch movies with actors I adore, and read books written by authors I admire. I suspect they’d have to release a quantum physics textbook before I registered their switch of subjects.

There were two stories rattling around my head when I started to write with real focus. Both were contemporary m/m romance, but my third was a love story set in a psychiatric hospital. Darkness Dawns was my fourth, so it seems I tackled two disorder/disability stories on the trot. In retrospect, I may have written Hangover From Hell (my first published novel) for a bit of light relief. A few months later, I began one of my historical binges. The Georgian/Regency period has always been my favourite era, so I re-read my biographies on The Duchess of Devonshire and Marie Antoinette (I love that their stories intersect). My stash replenished—overflowing with facts and steeped in imagery from The Duchess and Marie Antoinette—I began The Duke & The Dandy Highwayman.

For some unfathomable reason, this triggered a shapeshifter story based upon local legend. Looking back, this was my most significant switch—in theory—having fast forwarded a few centuries, moved from London to Cornwall, and entered the realms of fantasy. In truth, I found it far more tricky to segue from a sightless character to an artist. I had to interfere with my thought processes; lose a sense and maintain its absence, mindful of every word I weaved. Not-so sneaky sight references seemed to lurk in wait like landmines, everywhere I looked. Or couldn’t. In contrast, switching from a highwayman to a shapeshifter was more akin to slipping on a new costume. I lost my swishy cape but gained fur and super senses. That was fun. I did miss the cape, though.

The only time I’ve consciously tweaked my terminology was while writing The Duke & The Dandy. I wanted to include Regency colloquialisms, so I sourced the correct cant and entwined it into my ordinary writing. Ye olde English is my catnip, so it felt a very comfy fit. I just love words. I squirrel them away to snuffle…from Shakespeare to Sappho, Trollope to Tonlet. Then waft them about with gay abandon.

Leo knew heshould have opted to use the cane, instead of the arm Ben offered him for their unexpected walk.Should. Every time that word left someone’s lips, Leo wanted to scream; fists clenched in a screech of hopeless, helpless rage. The fact that everything he shoulddo was For-His-Own-Benefit, made it so much worse, which was as ludicrous as it was true. Independence was the only thing he had left to aspire to. So, why the fuck did should rub Leo so raw it obliterated any inclination he may have had to do whatever it prefaced? He ought to want to do the things he should. But what if he tried…and failed? What if Leo couldn’t master any of them? Then he would lose even the hope that he might, one day, be able to. Even more galling, that loss would be down to him, because he was so bloody useless. He didwant to show Ben that he was quite capable of managing…didn’t he? Very much, although why that mattered, Leo had no idea.

Why care what this latest in a long line of functioning eyeballs thought of him? It was probably more politic to say, ‘visually unimpaired’. Visually Impaired. Leo had to stifle the urge to punch people who described him thus. Impaired? Adj: weakened or damaged. Weak. Weakened. F’fucksakes. He was still chewing that particular wasp when Ben asked for his wrist.

Does he intend to lead me by it, as if I’m a toddler?

Leo found himself holding it out anyway. Christ knows why he was going along with all this. It was just that…being in Ben’s company was rather like sitting in the passenger seat of a snow plough driven by a drunk. Far preferable to standing in its path…and yet, somehow more appealing than staying behind, wherever the hell it was off to.

Nevertheless, he was still relieved when Ben clasped the proffered wrist—not to cart Leo off as he’d feared—but to plant his hand on top of Ben’s head. The fact that Leo could have changed the lightbulb without stretching a whole lot further, did seem to suggest he’d been addressing Ben’s nipples for the last half hour.

Quite how Ben then contrived to claim fault for something that was Leo’s mistake was less clear, but this was pulled off with such disarming charm, it would’ve been churlish to argue otherwise. Why the hell did the notion of calling Ben’s bluff feel as brutal a prospect as drowning his cat? If he had one, of course. Cat? More to the point…nipples?

“Thank you,” Leo managed to mumble, which was something of a result itself. Half an hour with Ben and he’d started to feel several sandwiches short of the proverbial picnic. He’d also begun to suspect that Violet had been a sweet little old lady—and quite sane—when she’d met Ben.

So off they went. The blindingly daft leading the blind off on a stroll around Camden.

In a bid to distract himself from well, pretty much everything he’d thought for the last five minutes, Leo decided to ask Ben to describe himself. For some reason he was intrigued, not only to know what Ben looked like, but to hear the picture he drew. Leo had an inkling this would prove more unmissable than an aural tour around the National Portrait Gallery. Unmissable?It was a bloody masterpiece. There most definitely were not any renderings of Steptoe’s six-four daughter there. The last two years might have felt a damn sight less soul-destroying if Ben had voiced Leo’s DVD visual descriptions.

Walking outside had lost all its appeal when the world became a giant landmine lying in wait to blow up in Leo’s face; every step into the unknown, a potential public humiliation. Despite this, and Ben’s partiality to lamp posts, they somehow arrived in Gloucester Crescent, alive and well. Even more shocking, was that Leo hadn’t fretted about…anything really, along the way. He’d just drifted along, listening to Ben weave words too beguiling to question where embellishment waved farewell to the truth. But who the fuck would want to, when that would feel as blasphemous as punching a fist through a Picasso?

When Zakarrie was little and dreamed big, she wanted to be a writer. Just like Enid Blyton. Or p’raps not…having been most remiss on the lashings of ginger beer front. After moving to London at eighteen and flitting about for far too long, she finally settled, as blissy as can be, by the sea. When her castaway dreams resurfaced, they were believed into being by the warm words of friends who breathed life into her own. Her one wish now is that someone, somewhere, might enjoy the misadventures of her miscreants as much as she adores writing them.

 

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Grounded by Teodora Kostova: New Release Review

by

A chance encounter.
A passionate night.
An intense connection.

When medical student Shane Sanford and RAF pilot Greg Becker meet the air between them sizzles with mutual attraction. There’s nothing holding them back as they give in to their desire. But once their paths lead them into a different direction, neither of them can forget the intense connection they’d shared.
When fate brings them together again a year later, they have a choice to make: try and make a long-distance relationship work or let this be a one-night stand again.With war, tragedy and fear standing in their way, can Shane and Greg overcome the challenges life keeps throwing their way?
Is their bond strong enough to survive?
Is love enough?

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

It’s been a while since Cookies (the precursor to Grounded) came out. Like almost 3 years a while. I had been waiting and it did not disappoint.

There are tons of military books out there. I don’t know if I have missed them or what, but it seems most are US military. This is set in England with Greg being an RAF pilot. He meets Shane at a bar and then again by chance a few weeks later.

What was so different about this book was that we witness this couple go through deployment and visits home, etc. So we get the highs of them reuniting and the lows of the separations. And with those, all of the emotions and feelings that go with them.

We also see the effects of PTSD while someone was still in the situation causing PTSD. War is destroying Greg. Following orders to bomb various places without regard to civilian casualties. His everyday job is giving him PTSD and he has to continue doing his job.

And even though this is the follow up to Cookies, there are parts that happened before, during and after Cookies took place. Again, it was different. And I like wandering from the beaten path.

All of these things together kept me really engaged with the story and the characters. The only thing I was missing was real closure with Greg and his parents.

Excellent book, you don’t have to read Cookies before this but you will want to because it is so good as well.

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

* Disclosure of Material: I received a copy of this book from the Author/Publisher with the hope that I would voluntarily leave unbiased and unsolicited feedback. I was not asked, encouraged, or required to leave a review – nor was I compensated in any way. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. *