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Knowing Me, Knowing You by Renae Kaye: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt and Release Day Review

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Can friends turned occasional lovers move beyond past mistakes and wrong assumptions to build something that can last?

Quiet bookworm Shane has a big secret—one he’s kept for fifteen years. AFL superstar Ambrose Jakoby grew up next door to Shane. They were close friends, and Shane supported Ambrose through school.

One night, everything changed.

Before Ambrose left Perth as a scared eighteen-year-old to head to Melbourne and take up his new footy career, Ambrose and Shane slept together.

For the next nine years, they continued a secret friends-with-benefits situation whenever Ambrose was in town. Shane never knew exactly where he stood or how to define Ambrose’s sexuality—and Ambrose didn’t know either. Then last Christmas, everything changed again, and a disagreement strained their friendship. Shane vowed to get over his unrequited love.

But Ambrose is back, recovering from an injury and hoping to make amends. He claims he’s ready for a real relationship. But Shane has to decide whether Ambrose means it and whether his Hufflepuff soul can take the chance.

Title: Knowing Me, Knowing You
Series: Loving You: Book 4
Author: Renae Kaye
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 238

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

Jay, Liam and all the gang are back for the fourth instalment of the Loving You series.

I really had a lot of fun writing them, and you will see that throughout the book, there’s an anonymous interviewer who’s asking each of them some questions.  You get another peek at some of their love stories.  It’s quite wonderful to write the whole gang again.

In this story we’re concentrating on Shane, the quiet one of the group.  Being quiet doesn’t mean you don’t have exciting things going on in your life – and Shane has a bloody big secret he’s been keeping from them all.  Not because he’s ashamed of it, and not because he doesn’t want to tell them, it’s more that he doesn’t think they will believe him.  Plus, it’s not his secret to tell.

You see, Shane’s been close friends with Ambrose Jakoby since childhood.  They grew up together and their mothers are best friends.  Ambrose has gone on to play football at the elite level, being drafted into a team on the other side of the country.  He’s known to the media and fans as Bro-Jak, yet maintains a close bond with Shane.  And when Bro-Jak comes home to visit, he and Shane have continued a friends-with-benefits relationship.

Now Ambrose is home, an injury halting his season.  He’s determined to make a real go of a relationship with Shane, but Shane is hesitating.  Who would believe that Wallpaper Shane and the mighty Bro-Jak are a couple?

I’ve prepared a short excerpt for you, where the entire gang have organised to attend a football game to celebrate the Pride Round the AFL has.  Ambrose has insisted on coming, along with another of his Hawthorn team mates, Daniel.  It’s the moment Shane’s friendship with Ambrose is revealed.

I hope you enjoy!

By the time we parked, there were a bunch of messages on the group chat—Vinnie telling us all he was at the gate and he had our tickets, Hiram saying he was running late, Liam saying they were arriving, Aaron complaining that he felt exposed by lingering outside the gate at a Dockers game and what if an Eagles fan saw him? Tate told Aaron they no longer hanged people for treason.

We arrived on time but were delayed by Ambrose, who couldn’t walk that fast on his crutches. It meant all my friends—apart from the running-late Hiram—had already assembled.

“Oh fuck. I’m going to be in so much trouble,” I mumbled as we approached the group. They were hard to miss. Vinnie and Jamie were holding rainbow flags. Tate wore a straw hat with a rainbow ribbon on it. Jamie’s sister, Jackie, was there too, dressed in a rainbow skirt with a rainbow bandana tied around her hair. One of Vinnie’s sisters was sporting two temporary tattoos of the rainbow flag on her cheeks as well as an equality shirt identical to the one Ambrose was wearing. Of those I could see, Kee, Tate, Vinnie, and Aaron were all wearing some sort of Pride T-shirt.

“Why?” asked Dan, confused about me being in trouble.

Confession time all around. “I’ve never even told them I’m friends with the mighty Bro-Jak. Now I’m turning up to a game with him and the famous Dan Egan?”

He looked shocked. “They don’t know about you and Ambrose?”

I was full of sympathy for his mistake. “Who would ever believe me?”

He couldn’t reply because we were upon the group. Kee was the first to notice me. “Shane’s here.”

They all turned. Vinnie, who was in the act of hefting a bag onto his shoulder, dropped the bag with a thump. It landed on Aaron’s foot.

“Ow. What the fuck, Vin? Why did you—? Holy shit.” Aaron obviously recognized Ambrose immediately too. And I thought Dan and Ambrose were well disguised wearing sunglasses and hats.

“Fuck me to hell.” That was Liam’s brother Ben.

“Oh my God!” That was Vinnie’s cousin Ricky.

“Seriously?” John looked amazed.

Some of the others evidently didn’t recognize my two famous tagalongs, but from the whispers in ears and the shocked expressions that filtered through our gathered crowd, they were quickly informed. I took a deep breath.

“Guys, this is my childhood friend, Ambrose Jakoby. We lived next door to each other when we were growing up, and our mothers are best friends. And this is Daniel Egan, his friend from Melbourne. When Dan heard I was coming to the game to cheer on Micah, he asked if they could tag along. You don’t mind, do you?”

They were all stunned to silence. It was awkward until Liam limped forward. “Of course they can join us. Welcome.” He stuck out his hand, and Ambrose shook. “You’re in good company. I spent close to three years on crutches of some sort. You’re just lucky you’ll get better.”

I pointed to everyone in the group. “Dan, Ambrose—this is Liam, Jamie, Kee, Tate, John, Jackie, Vinnie, Aaron, Ricky, Sandra, Tony, Lachie— no, sorry. That’s Lachie, and the little one is Tony. And that’s….” I had to stop while Patrice confirmed her name, because I always mixed her up with her cousin Linda. “Patrice, Mario, Frankie, Ben, aaaannd”—I pointed behind Ben—“that’s Hiram, who’s running because he’s late to meet us.”

Hiram raced up behind the group, some of whom were still staring at Bro-Jak and Daniel in shock. “Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late. I had to stop and—holy fuck. Who brought Bro-Jak?”

“Shane.” My name came in stereo from around the group.

Oh yes. I was going to cop so much shit.

I’ve enjoyed this series since I heard book 1, Loving Jay, on Audible when it first came out. And on top of it, it’s Renae Kaye, so that was a double yes to if I should read and review this book. 🙂

This one was a bit of a surprise, because it wasn’t your traditional friends to lovers, or even hookups to lovers. It was a combination of both, yet no one even knew they knew each other, other than their mothers, which created such an interesting family dynamic.

I always enjoy reading all the fun Aussie sayings and cultural references, and with the added Aboriginial references, it made this book very multi-layered. Then we have the group of friends that Shane has made part of his family, and you have a fun, but passionate book.

Shane standing up for himself after nearly 10 years of allowing himself to fall into patterns that could only continue to hurt him was good to see. He loved Ambrose, but knew that he would never be Ambrose’s love if he continued to allow himself to be at the beck and call of a man who barely acknowledged him. Shane was sweet, and quiet, with fantastic internal musings (e.g. “I helped myself to a piece of cake–free cake doesn’t contain calories.“) and hated his job, but loved his people. 🙂

Meanwhile, Ambrose finally opened his eyes and realized that as much as footy had always meant to him, and it gave him an avenue he would have been unable to achieve any other way, it was not something he wanted to be the catalyst to losing the person he cared about most.

With a little help from all those around them, and a little extra footy from the sidelines, they could finally connect.

What a sweet, fun, funny read.

Definitely recommend this one, in fact the entire series!

4.5 pieces of eye candy

Renae Kaye is a lover and hoarder of books who thinks libraries are devilish places because they make you give the books back.  She consumed her first adult romance book at the tender age of thirteen and hasn’t stopped since.  After years – and thousands of stories! – of not having book characters do what she wants, she decided she would write her own novel and found the characters still didn’t do what she wanted.  It hasn’t stopped her though.  She believes that maybe one day the world will create a perfect couple – and it will be the most boring story ever.  So until then she is stuck with quirky, snarky and imperfect characters who just want their story told.

Renae lives in Perth, Western Australia and writes in five minute snatches between the demands of two kids, a forbearing husband, too many pets, too much housework and her beloved veggie garden.  She is a survivor of being the youngest in a large family and believes that laughter (and a good book) can cure anything.

How to contact Renae:
Email:  renaekaye@iinet.net.au
Website:  www.renaekaye.weebly.com
FB:  www.facebook.com/renae.kaye.9
Twitter:  @renaekkaye
Instagram: @renaekayeauthor

Death of a Bachelor by M.A. Hinkle: RDB: Release Day Review, Excerpt and Giveaway

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Cathal Kinnery is an arrogant, overeducated jerk, and Damon Eglamore is not afraid to tell him so. But Damon married Cathal’s best friend, so they have an uneasy truce. Then she passes away. Now they’re stuck together in close quarters, trying to honor her memory without shouting at each other all the time.

At first, they have no idea how to move forward. Damon is a chef, but all his favorite recipes remind him of his late wife. Cathal would love to start tomcatting around town again, except for that annoying promise he made to his best friend about looking after Damon.

Then Damon’s son comes to them for help, convinced the only way to win over his first crush is a gender-bending Shakespeare production. After that, Cathal talks Damon into taking up baking as a new way to use his talents. Next thing they know, they’ve begun a new life working as a team instead of jumping at each other’s throats. But can they trust each other long enough to make it last, or will they fall into old bad habits again?

Title:  Death of a Bachelor

Author: M.A. Hinkle

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: October 29, 2018

Heat Level: 1 – No Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 75,200

Genre: Contemporary, contemporary, bisexual, enemies to lovers, grief/grieving, UST (unresolved sexual tension), teenage kids, family drama, humorous

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First Prologue: Cathal Crushes Olives and Damon’s Dreams.

December 31st, 1997

The man sitting at the end of the bar was older than Damon, maybe twenty-four. He had a thin, foxlike face and long, dark hair that he twirled around a finger as he wrote on a napkin, and he was wearing a Cherrywood College shirt under his suit jacket. A martini sat untouched in front of him, and his eyes were lost in thought. Definitely gay, but he wasn’t…intimidating. Unlike every other man who wasn’t on the dance floor or making out with someone else.

Damon sat next to him and gestured to the bartender for a beer. He was already a little drunk, but if he wanted to relax, he’d have to get a lot drunk. The other patron continued writing out a math problem. He finished his equation, considered it, and then scribbled the whole thing out, his brow furrowed. Scowling, he drank the martini at one go. Only then did he glance in Damon’s direction. “Fuck off,” he said, biting the olive from the swizzle stick. “I’m not looking for company tonight. I came here to get drunk.”

Damon colored, but he kept the embarrassment from his voice. “Why’d you think I came here for anything different?”

“There’s plenty of room, but you sat by me.” He looked at Damon, taking him all in, and his eyes narrowed further. The scowl fit his face too well, and Damon didn’t appreciate his scrutiny. “And guys like you don’t come here for the conversation.”

Damon didn’t care for the man’s tone. But he was the first to admit he didn’t know what he was doing—and, anyway, he was drunk enough not to care. “I wasn’t aware anyone came here for conversation.”

The man snorted. “It’s not the fucking sixties anymore. Gays can have meet-cutes as easily as everyone else.” He gestured to the bartender for another martini, rubbing his forehead.

Damon didn’t know what he meant, and he wanted to ask what kind of guy this man thought he was. But he had a feeling that would piss him off, and he was looking for a good time. Instead, he took another drink of his beer. “I’m Damon,” he said, without expecting much.

The man accepted another martini from the bartender and sipped it, looking at Damon over the top. “Cathal.”

Damon drummed his fingers on the bar, wondering if he ought to cut his losses and head to a straight bar after all. But he settled for finishing his beer in one long drink.

Cathal watched him. Not friendly watching. At this point, Damon didn’t know how to leave, so he signaled for another beer. “What were you working on?”

Cathal glanced at the napkin and made a face. “Bullshit. It doesn’t matter.”

Damon screwed the cap off his second beer and took a drink. “Who comes to a bar and does their homework?”

Cathal raised his eyebrows. His face was dangerous, but he couldn’t be that bad. Too scrawny. “Who comes to a bar already drunk?” He tilted his head to the side and smiled. Not a nice smile. Damon was starting to wonder if he had a nice smile, or if he always looked like someone had pissed in his drink. “Oh. I know. Guys like you.”

Damon frowned, feeling the first stirrings of anger. “You said that before. What do you mean?”

Cathal leaned toward Damon. His voice was calm, unhurried, but his eyes were full of fire, the sort that burns unnoticed and then flares up to take a tree down in seconds. “Guys like you. Guys who are maybe straight, maybe not, who come to one of our places for a little fucking fun and then go home to their wife or girlfriend or whatever. Never mind that it’s guys like you—guys with enough gay in them to be scared when they see one of us—who cause the goddamn trouble in the first place, because you’re not man enough to face down what’s inside you.” He drank the rest of his martini and bit off the olive again, viciously. “Don’t say you play for both teams if you’re only going to bat for one side.”

Damon blinked. It wasn’t only that he was surprised by the onslaught. He was hurt, too. “Are you this much of an asshole to everyone, or just me?” His temper was throbbing now, but he wasn’t drunk enough to punch Cathal. Even though he wanted to be, because he could never match him with words.

“Everyone,” said Cathal, like he was proud of it. He got up. “If you want a fuckbuddy for the night, that’s fine. So do plenty of guys here. But go find someone who doesn’t care if you’re throwing the rest of us under the bus, because I do.” He reached to tuck the napkin into his pocket; Damon grabbed his wrist, even though he had nothing to say. Cathal shot him a look that promised every possible bad thing in the known universe. And some unknown things.

Damon let go of him, scowling. “I’m not like that. I’m not.”

Cathal smiled that prim, insipid smile again. “Yes, you fucking are.” He walked off without another word.

Damon sat there, stunned. Then he turned around and finished his beer at a go.

I went into this book completely blind. I liked the cover, and the first sentence of the blurb, so I went with it, and I am so glad I did!!!! I loved this book!!!! I laughed through most of the first half of the book, and kept right on enjoying their banter to the end

How Cathal’s brain and snark worked was amazing. He said whatever he was thinking, and often things he should not have been thinking. His post-it notes were epic. And how he talked to his nephew made me giggle. Cathal was the person you want to hang out with when you just want to be catty and snarky, and just not give a sh*t what anyone thinks. 🙂

Meanwhile Damon, who’s heart was broken after his wife died (she was also Cathal’s best friend, and was equally devastated when she died) decided that cooking things he’d never made before for his wife was the way to work through each day as he grieved alongside his son, and his wife’s best friend. And the results were epic! Then you add Cathal’s snark of what was in the food? I couldn’t have enjoyed their banter more.

Felix’s teenage angst, I think, helped these two MC’s heal as well, simply because it allowed them to believe in love again, to have something and someone to focus outwardly on.

In the end, the “UST” as Felix called it was there, on a slow build, apparently for almost twenty years. I’ll admit, I would have liked to have a little bit of sexy times, rather than fade to black, but it absolutely did not ruin anything for me in this one. Great read!

4.5 pieces of eye candy

M.A. Hinkle swears a lot and makes jokes at inappropriate times, so she writes about characters who do the same thing. She’s also worked as an editor and proofreader for the last eight years, critiquing everything from graduate school applications to romance novels.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

http://maryannehinkle.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SkysongMA/

https://twitter.com/SkysongMA

 

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In the Pines by Laura Lascarso: Exclusive Guest Post and Excerpt

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Incredibly excited to have Laura Lascarso (whose When Everything is Blue was fantastic) with an exclusive guest post and excerpt from her new mystery book, In the Pines. I seriously can’t wait to read this one! 

 

When your high school crush is also your number one suspect, what’s a boy to do?

After the disappearance of Eastview High’s homecoming king, seventeen-year-old Charlie Schiffer must put his detective skills to work to help class heartthrob Dare Chalmers find his missing twin brother. From the gator-filled swamps of Paynes Prairie to the truck-stop strip club Café Risqué, there’s no situation too dicey for this amateur sleuth when he’s on the prowl for clues to this mystery.

Meanwhile, Dare is everything Charlie could want in a boyfriend—charismatic, handsome, polite—but as Charlie’s mother always says, the unlikeliest people can turn out to be criminals. When evidence surfaces revealing his suspects’ hidden motives, Charlie must dig deep to suss out who among them is innocent and who is guilty, even if it means betraying the man he cares for most.

Title: In the Pines
Series: Charlie Schiffer Mysteries
Author: Laura Lascarso
Release Date: October 23, 2018
Category: Mystery/Suspense, Bittersweet
Pages: 194

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

 

What are the key ingredients to a small-town murder mystery?

This is the question I asked myself at the outset of writing In the Pines, my newest M/M romance-slash-mystery novel. For me, I grew up reading Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew novels and watching Twin Peaks as an adolescent. I was obsessed with that show at the time it aired, and it was only in watching it as an adult that I realized how truly weird it was. (Also, my name is Laura and the murder victim’s name was Laura Palmer, which always kind of freaked me out but was also kind of cool.)

Through consuming my fair share of mysteries over the years, and trying my hand at writing one, there are a few elements that I’ve identified as key ingredients to pulling off a small-town murder mystery.

They are setting, senses, sidekick, and suspicion.

Setting is so critical to a small-town mystery, whether it be murder or something else. The author needs to know this town like the back of her hand—where the good restaurants are, who in town knows the gossip, where do the kids go to make-out. If your detective isn’t from your small town, then you’ve got to bring in a local yocal to give your story some character and flair. My story is set in Gainesville, Florida, so naturally I included a swamp, a strip club and a few raving environmentalists (my MC Charlie being one of them). These are all elements which you will most certainly find in and around Gainesville if you’re there for very long, and I tried to make them not just window dressing, but integral pieces to the plot.

Senses—all five of them must be present. One of the best things about reading mystery and suspense is the not knowing what’s just around the corner. To build suspense, the mystery writer has to really dial in on those key details—strange smells, creepy sounds, the curtain fluttering in the breeze. Every good detective is an observer at heart and the reader wants to know what our sleuth is sensing. My guy Charlie may not be the most friendly or outgoing, but he knows how to use all five of his senses to figure out what the heck is going on.

Sidekick. What’s a good mystery without one? In the case of In the Pines, Charlie has two—a sassy cheerleader named Tameka and his best friend of the canine-persuasion, Boots. The sidekick’s role can be adversarial or ally or both. In the case of Tameka, she serves as Charlie’s sounding board and has access to the gossip and rumors he does not. She also has the clarity of mind to remind Charlie when he’s letting his feelings get in the way of their investigation. Doh, Charlie!

Suspicion. Why, in mysteries, is everyone acting so shady all the time? Because people lie, in fiction and in real life. One of the most enjoyable aspects of writing In the Pines, was getting all of the characters to lie about something, even if it was small and seemingly inconsequential. Flawed characters are my favorite, and this story gave me an opportunity to give everyone a dark side.

And that’s what I’ve learned from writing about murder in a small town. I’ve included an excerpt below from In the Pines, where Charlie first meets Tameka. I wanted her to make an impression on both him and the reader. Hopefully she does. If you like it, I encourage you to check out more.

We assembled at the southernmost point of Newnans Lake, where Hawthorne Road met with 2082, just south of Kate’s Fish Camp. It was just before dawn as people shuffled out of their cars and trucks; several others biked there as well on the Hawthorne bike trail. Cups of coffee were distributed as folks mumbled greetings to each other in the violet wash of predawn. We watched the sun rise over the marsh like blood seeping from a wound and woke a flock of red-winged blackbirds that zigzagged away, chattering their complaints at the sky. If it weren’t for the somber mood, you’d almost think we’d gathered there for an early morning hike.

I thought we’d comb the swamps between 441 and I-75—the two most likely routes out of town—but Mom said this was where they’d determined the cell phone last communicated with the tower before the battery was removed or the phone died.

GPD told us we were looking for Mason’s phone; they probably didn’t want to say we were also potentially searching for a body.

Rangers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission passed out waders and snake boots for members of the search parties, but there were only enough for a fraction of the people who’d come out to help, especially since most of the upperclassmen of Eastview High were there. For those of us who didn’t have protection, FWC suggested we grab a big stick and knock the ground every couple of steps to “scare off the critters.” The word critters made it sound like soft, furry mammals, not venomous snakes or twenty-foot alligators with bone-crushing jaws. Literally half a gator’s length was its mouth.

My mother was with the operations unit, poring over aerial maps on a foldout table, so I joined the nearest group of classmates to form a search party. While we waited for supplies and further instruction from GPD, I overheard two girls talking about Mason’s disappearance.

“Bet he ran off with that stripper from Café Risqué,” one said. I recognized her as Tameka Thomas, a cheerleader from Daniela’s squad.

“Is that what the fight on Friday was about?” said the other girl. My ears perked up at the mention of a fight. According to my mom, Daniela claimed she hadn’t seen Mason since the pep rally, and she certainly didn’t mention an argument between them.

“Mmm-hmm,” Tameka continued. “Mason’s fine as hell, but you know he’s not faithful. Daniela just doesn’t know how to handle him. I’d keep that boy sat-is-fied.” Tameka made a slapping gesture and ground her hips in a motion that made my eyes go wide. The girls at my high school were more sex-crazed than the boys.

“When was the fight?” I asked the girls. They both turned my way and studied me like I was a bug and they were deciding whether to ignore me or squash me.

“Well, if it isn’t old Dick Tracy,” Tameka sneered. My SAT sting had burned a couple of the cheerleaders. They called me Dick for a while whenever they caught me in the halls. Hey, Dick. How’s it going, Dick? Screwed anyone over lately, Dick? One time a whole hive of them swarmed me outside the gymnasium. It was pretty terrifying. “Are you on the case then, Dick?” Tameka asked, hands on her hips, coppery brown eyes studying me acutely.

“If the fight really happened, it could help with the investigation,” I offered as my defense for being nosy. “I just want to help Dare find his brother.”

Tameka pursed her lips and glanced over at her friend, who only shrugged. “Well, not that it’s any of your business, but I saw them fighting outside the wrestling room after cheer practice. I didn’t hear what they were saying because I don’t put my nose where it doesn’t belong, like some people.”

I sincerely doubted that, but instead of arguing with her, I only sighed and waited for her to get in her digs.

“But, then again, a girl’s response to finding out her man’s been cheating is pretty universal, so if I had to take a guess….” Here Tameka paused for effect, curling her upper lip a little and bobbing her head. “I’d guess she was giving him the business for messing around.”

“What does that look like?” I needed more detail.

Tameka smiled at her friend. “Like this.” She stalked up to me and shoved me back by my shoulders so I stumbled a little. Then she stuck her index finger right up in my face and pointed at me accusingly. “You good-for-nothing, lying, cheating dog. You think I’m stupid? Do you think I’m stupid? I saw that text in your phone. I know you were with someone else last night. Who was she? Who the hell was she? Oh no, son, don’t you come at me now acting like you looooove me. You don’t love me. You love yourself, you selfish sonovabitch. I hope you get a disease from that ho Now, get out of my face before I beat you senseless, boy. I can’t even stand to look at you.”

She stuck her flattened palm in my face, spun on her heels, and walked back over to her friend.

“Wow,” I said, reeling from her very visceral performance. My heart was racing and my palms were sweating. “End scene. That was brilliant.” Where had I picked up that expression? Probably the drama department.

“Yeah.” She brushed her manicured nails against her shirt and blew on their tips. They were painted alternating green and white, our school colors, just like Daniela’s. I remembered the jacket Daniela was wearing during the pep rally—Mason’s letterman jacket.

“Was Daniela still wearing Mason’s jacket?” I asked Tameka.

She shook her head. “She took it off and shoved it at him, even though it was cold that day. That’s how I knew she was pissed. She loves that damn jacket.”

It was true. Now that Tameka mentioned it, I rarely saw Daniela without Mason’s jacket, even on warm days. It was like the skin from her kill—proof to all her rivals that Mason Chalmers had been claimed.

At that moment a sheriff’s deputy approached us and gave us all blue nurse’s gloves and several two-gallon Ziploc bags. “If you find anything—and I mean anything—put it in a bag, seal it, and radio in.” He glanced at the lot of us, seemed to have misgivings, and then shoved the walkie-talkie at me. “You’re the group leader,” he said.

I could tell from Tameka’s expression, she didn’t like that. “Because he’s a boy?” she asked, shoulders squared, head tilted like a parrot. I felt the need to correct her that I was a man, not a boy, but I didn’t wish to feed her ire. The deputy looked caught—he wasn’t much older than us. Likely this was his first experience with organizing a search party.

“No, it’s just because—” he started to say.

“You can be leader.” I cut him off and gave Tameka the radio. “You’ve got the biggest mouth anyway.”

Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened a little like she was about to retort. Then she smiled. “All right then, Dick. As team leader, I’m making you the gator getter. You walk ahead with that big stick of yours and scare off the critters.”

I chuckled at her impersonation of the ranger. “My name’s Charlie, by the way.”

She smirked and shoved my shoulder playfully. “Yeah, I know, but you look more like a Dick to me.”

Author Bio: Laura Lascarso wants you to stay up way past your bedtime reading her stories. She aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of storytelling to heal and transform a society. When not writing, Laura can be found screaming “finish” on the soccer fields, rewatching Veronica Mars, and trying to convince politicians that climate change is real. She lives in North Florida with her darling husband and two kids. She loves hearing from readers, and she’d be delighted to hear from you.
Twitter: @lauralascarso

Only You by Kay Doherty: Review Tour, and Excerpt

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Case Holden hates his life. Made rich at a young age, he slipped into a lifestyle of partying with multiple boyfriends who only wanted to be with him for what he could give them. After confiding to his aunt that he’s miserable, she extends an invitation for a visit. Case plans to spend the time in small town Clover City to reprioritize and plant his feet on the road to happiness. He does not expect the Clover City sheriff to step into his world and wreak havoc on his emotions.

Two years ago, after the death of his partner, Rawley Kane moved to Clover City, trading the painful memories and big city madness for a less stressful existence. Even as sheriff, his life is uncomplicated and quiet. That is until Case Holden rolls into town and reminds Rawley just how lonely he is, and of everything he’s been missing.

Case is everything Rawley shouldn’t want. The man has six boyfriends and a life back in Denver, not to mention he’s quite a bit younger than Rawley. No matter what he tells himself, he can’t get enough of the young man. And Case has made it clear Rawley is the only one he wants. Now if they could just get past Rawley’s guilt and Case’s insistent boyfriends, they just might stand a chance.

Title:  Only You

Author: Kay Doherty

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: December 18, 2017

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 51800

Genre: Contemporary, LGBT, PTSD, law enforcement, age gap, grief, men over 40, coming out

 

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Rawley had spent the past four days in his truck with his trusty radar gun, nailing speeders at various points across town. The past two days, he’d been sitting at the railroad crossing at the edge of town; a hot spot for teenagers speeding down the main road and over the tracks without looking. It had been a year since the last death occurred on these tracks and he intended to keep the streak going. He sighed loudly as he tore off the latest ticket and gave the seventeen-year-old boy behind the wheel his usual speech about safety. He’d given out half a dozen the past couple of days, but if it saved a life by making the kids think twice, it was worth the mind-numbing boredom.

Rawley climbed back into his truck, shut off the emergency lights, and drove back to his parking spot partially hidden by the wall of the feed store near the tracks. It had been the usual quiet on the crime front the past several days, which was typically a welcome occurrence for Rawley, but ever since Case Holden’s arrival, Rawley’s thoughts had been plagued by gray-blue eyes, dark hair, and a perfectly toned body. He spent his nights tossing and turning, imagining Case in any number of different scenarios, every one of them sexual. The whole situation was frustrating him. He took the edge off every night with his hand, but it didn’t satisfy the deep need he had for another man’s body—Case’s body in particular.

Rawley shifted on the bench seat and adjusted himself. He seriously needed to get a grip. The moment Case climbed into his truck, drenched from the rain, Rawley had suspected he was gay, but after running into each other several times around town the past few days, Rawley was now certain. The knowledge only worsened his predicament because he knew if he wanted Case badly enough, he could have him. The man didn’t even try to hide his sexuality or his attraction to Rawley. When they’d seen each other the day before at the general store, he’d been wearing a dark-blue T-shirt that had “Out and Proud” stamped across the chest in rainbow lettering.

They’d found themselves face-to-face in front of the dairy display — Rawley in his tan police uniform and Case looking like a model in his skintight T-shirt and painted-on jeans. Conversation had been polite but stilted. Rawley knew it was his fault because he was too busy noticing every little dip and curve of Case’s body to speak coherently.

Knowing Case was gay and that he wouldn’t make a play for the younger man had Rawley short-tempered and sniping at everyone. That was why he was sitting alone on the outskirts of town, doing traffic duty; no one wanted to be around him, including himself. Rawley stared into the distance, wondering what the hell he’d done in this life or a past one to earn him this level of torture, when a vehicle he would’ve been hard-pressed to miss caught his attention. The bright-gold Mustang roared past him, registering ten miles per hour over the speed limit.

“Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me,” Rawley muttered. He turned on the emergency lights and siren as he pulled onto the road.

There was only one person in Clover City who drove a Mustang. He caught up to Case quickly, and they pulled to the side of the road, Rawley coming to a stop a few car lengths behind Case. Rawley exited the truck and walked up to the driver’s side of the car to find Case had rolled down his window and held out his license and insurance card. Rawley took them, willing his body not to react to the beautiful smile Case offered him. Rawley couldn’t help but notice that Case wore a black shirt that made his hair seem even darker and those gray-blue eyes brighter.

“Get pulled over a lot, do you?” Rawley asked, averting his gaze to Case’s papers.

“My car tends to draw attention,” Case answered. Rawley rolled his eyes at Case’s nonchalant shrug.

“Your car draws attention,” Rawley muttered.

Everything about Case drew attention, or at least Rawley’s. He put his mind to the task at hand, making sure Case’s license and insurance were up-to-date before handing them back through the window.

“I didn’t get pulled over driving my aunt’s Jeep.”

“Did you speed in the Jeep?”

Case shrugged. “It was a manual with no oomph.”

“Slow down,” Rawley said as he turned on his heel to return to his truck.

Having only read Blind Date (which I really liked) by this author, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this one. However, I had a hard time getting into this one.

I didn’t have a problem with the age gap. And Rawley seemed like a great person, even if he had some issues with being in the closet. I think it was because I felt like Case was very spoiled, and although he wanted to get his life together, he didn’t seem to understand the space he was in to do it. He mentioned several times about it being a small town, etc, yet I didn’t get the feeling he loved or respected it from the beginning. I had a hard time connecting to Case.

I was also confused about the PTSD. At the beginning of the book there is an author’s note about PTSD, and how it is different for everyone, etc. So, I was expecting that the book would have a lot of angst around PTSD, but there really wasn’t much in the story about it at all. In a way, it threw me out of the story by not having much in there, as it was an expectation.

3 pieces of eye candy

Kay lives in Colorado with her husband and their animal children. Family is important to her, so there are weekly visits to her parents and frequent text messages with her brothers. She has a severe addiction to coffee and Mexican food. She loves to read and write and can easily become consumed by it for hours, much to the dismay of the husband and dogs. On occasion, she can be convinced to venture out into world of the living.

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Tour Schedule

10/23 –  Amy’s MM Romance Reviews

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Operation Makeover by DJ Jamison: Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

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At TCO, we love having author’s stop by and bring our readers excerpts and giveaways. Today DJ Jamison has kindly dropped in to give us an advanced look at Operation Makeover which comes out tomorrow, along with a giveaway. So check it out, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Will a makeover bring his fantasy to life or lead him to a love he never saw coming?As a professional X-ray tech, Ridley has come a long way from the geeky kid Jace took under his wing in high school. Not that his best friend has noticed. Tired of pining, Ridley decides to show Jace what he’s missing. And what better way than with a newer, more sophisticated look?

Cole’s clients at the salon where he works love him dearly. Men? Not so much. He has dated one mistake after the next, and he’s beginning to wonder if a guy exists who can handle his fabulousness. Then Ridley lands in his chair.

Cole agrees to be Ridley’s makeover guru, and they click effortlessly. But when Cole offers to help Ridley with his sexual confidence, passion flares and boundaries blur.

Ridley’s had his heart set on Jace a long time, but when he’s with Cole it feels too real to deny. Now he has a choice to make: the friend he’s always wanted or the man who’s given him a whole new lease on life.

Operation Makeover is part of the Hearts and Health series, but it can be read as a standalone.

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Ridley, dressed in blue jeans and a loose T-shirt, looked terrified when he saw the contents of Cole’s closet. Bright colors, sequins, slinky silks, and even some lacy things crowded the rack, and underneath was a jumble of shoes, everything from Chucks to knee-high boots.

Cole grabbed a pair of maroon jeans off the hanger. Well, they looked like jeans but were made of a stretchy, clingy material that made them a cross between jeans and tights. Holding them up against Ridley’s waist, he eyed him.

Hmm, not bad, but he wasn’t sure if Ridley was ready for maroon. Maybe a dark green …

“Uh, those will never fit me,” Riley said. “Also, they’re very red.”

Cole flicked up his eyes, hands still pressing the pants against Ridley’s waist. “I’m just visualizing, sweetie. We’ll buy you clothes in your own size. And hello? They’re maroon, and I own them, so they’re fabulous!”

“Sorry,” Ridley mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.

Cole drew back. “Take off your shirt.”

To his amusement, Ridley jerked his arms up across his chest like a shy virgin. “Why?”
“I want to see what I’m working with. Pants too, down to your undies.”

“No way,” Ridley said quickly, backing up a step and hitting the bed. He promptly fell onto his butt, bouncing once. “I can’t.”

Cole wasn’t sure if he should be offended by Ridley’s modesty. “Is it me? I know I’m flirty, but this is strictly business.” He drew an X over his heart with one finger. “I solemnly swear not to molest you.”

With my hands. My eyes are another matter.

Ridley chewed his bottom lip. “It’s just, I’m probably not what you usually see. You’re so… you probably date really hot men. And, um, I don’t manscape or anything.”

Aw, he was so precious. Ridley needed a major self-esteem overhaul. In some ways, Cole and Ridley weren’t so different. Anita gave Cole hell for undervaluing his self-worth, too, although in his case it was less about his physical appearance and more about the way he let people treat him.

He should work on himself, but it was a heck of a lot easier to focus on Ridley. He was determined to show Ridley the gem waiting to be polished under those clothes.

“You overestimate my fabulousness,” he said. “And besides, this is a makeover. If you want to wax, we can add it to the list. But between you and me, a hairy man is sexy! A little grooming is nice, yes, but—”

“Okay,” Ridley blurted. “Just don’t talk about it. No comments on my body.”

“Consider me your makeover doctor. I’m here to help, not judge.”

DJ Jamison is the author of more than a dozen m/m romances, including the Ashe Sentinel series and the Hearts and Health series. She writes a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual, with a focus on telling love stories that are more about common ground than lust at first sight.

DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love.

DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that, and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, two fish. one snake, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.

SOCIAL LINKS Newsletter: www.tinyurl.com/DJandCompany Website: ReadingDJ.com Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/DJandCompany Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/dj-jamison

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14205328.D_J_Jamison

Twitter: @dj_jamison_

Leave a comment for DJ and you could win your choice of any of the first six Hearts and Health books.

 

One Step Back by Edie Danford: RDB, Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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After landing my dream job at a prestigious PR firm, I’m ready to leave my past behind and hit the ground running. But when I meet my new work partner, I smash headlong into a six-foot-five, two-hundred-pound bad memory named Joe.

In high school, Joe Beneventi had been my almost-best friend. My almost-first lover. My almost-stepbrother. The only thing that wasn’t “almost” about Joe? When he ripped apart our families and then ghosted me for twelve years.

Or two steps back

Now I need Joe’s help to land a career-making deal, but he’s distracting me with hot-as-sin smiles, working me over with flirty lines, baiting me with his rock-hard body.

I’m not buying any of it. Except…

Working together 24/7 is showing me sides of Joe I’ve never seen before. And when we touch, all those bad memories seem to fade away.

Title:  One Step Back

Author: Edie Danford

Publisher: Edie Danford

Release Date: October 23, 2018

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 85,000 words

Genre: Romance, Enemies-to-lovers, coworkers, workplace, stepbrothers

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I take a deep breath. Gotta prepare myself for being up-close and personal with the force of nature that is Joseph Vincent Beneventi.

“Hey, Joe,” I say, my voice cracking. Not how I’d wanted to sound.

His sexy mouth curves, and I get hit with the full impact of his attention-sucking energy. It zaps across the entryway. Through the guesthouse and the five-acre yard. All of Chicagoland. The state of Illinois, the entire Midwest…

Yeah, you get the picture. Joe has <em>it</em>. Chemical hoodoo-voodoo oozes from his pores and makes you forget whatever it is you’re doing, whatever happened to be on your mind. And all you can do is stand there and stare at him. And listen to the ridiculous shit that comes out of his gorgeous mouth.

I’ve had to cope with this Joe-phenomenon for three years now, as long as his mom and my dad have been dating. Weekends and vacations together at first, and then mostly full time as of last year, after Kim and Bernie got engaged and bought this monstrosity of a property together.

Wedding-planning and “a home where we can be a family” was supposed to bring us stability. Wishful thinking, because things between my dad and Joe’s mom—between all of us, really—seem rockier than ever.

“Hey, you.” Joe leans against the door jamb, killer smile flashing.

He’s a big, glossy beast, and he lights up the night that I’ve tried to darken. I look away from his shining eyes, but his jacked chest and abs, his maybe-too-tight board shorts, his legs, his feet, aren’t any easier to ignore.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d be home tonight?” he asks. His deep voice has a slight throb, like he’s actually hurt. “You didn’t answer my message. Any of my messages. I get why you didn’t want to show for my amazingly fucking boring graduation, but… I was hoping to hear about your plans. For the summer.”

He reaches up to brush damp hair from his face, the movement popping every muscle from shoulder to wrist. Matty actually sighs from behind me. I try not to notice how the longer hair and the scruff on his chin make Joe look hotter than his usual smoking hellfire.

He spent his senior year at a therapeutic high school here in the Chicago area and the place didn’t demand buzz-cuts the way the military school did. The longer black waves do amazing things for his cheekbones, his squared-off chin, his sin-dark eyes.

I’m supposed to be saying something. So I open my mouth and a lame excuse comes out. “I wasn’t sure about flight times. Until the last minute. Storms in New York.”

He nods, head tilting as he scrutinizes my features. He wants to believe me even though it’s obvious I’m lying. The sky had been clear when I’d jetted away from LaGuardia, my freshman year of college complete.

I’d been avoiding all contact with Joe since Christmas break. I’d figured he’d understand why I didn’t respond to any of his messages today. Or at least take the hint. Hey, Joey, after I don’t answer your two-hundredth-and-seventieth voicemail, maybe that means I don’t want to communicate with you. But Joe is thick in more ways than one.

His dark eyes get warmer as they take me in, the dimple in his right cheek popping. His thumb traces the sand-dollar tattoo under his left nipple, a move I’m sure he’s making unconsciously. I do the same thing sometimes. I have a matching tattoo; we’d gotten them in Mexico during Christmas vacation two years ago. The ’rents had been very confused when both of us suddenly wore rash guards 24/7 for the rest of the break. Joe had come up with a BS-but-brilliant excuse about stingray sightings and the angle of the sun and the chemicals in sunscreen lotion killing off coral reefs.

And, okay. I’m not being fair. Joe isn’t thick. He’s probably smarter than me. He just doesn’t know how to rein in a lot of the bad shit that constantly roams his head. I’ve actually tried to help him figure out some stuff, given him some pointers about how to focus and prioritize—

There’s a crashing noise from the pool area. More shit breaking.

“Fuck,” he mutters, looking over his shoulder.

“You better get back there. Broken glass. Blood. Nastiness. It’s all gonna happen.”

He sighs—a shudder wracking his six-five frame. “Should’ve never invited anyone over.” His smile is crooked. “Your fault. I wouldn’t have had to get up to shenanigans with Bran and Troy if I’d known you’d be here tonight.”

And, there it is.

The reason why he always, always manages to piss me off. I’m not responsible for him. Not responsible for his feelings, for his actions. I refuse to be.

“Not my fault,” I say, my voice cracking again, damn it. I take a step backward, my hand pulling the door closed.

“Asher, come on. You know I didn’t mean it like that—”

I shut the door in his face. Then I pull the blinds closed, blocking out his beauty, blocking out his hurt expression. Maturity can go fuck itself, because literally closing off Joe from my senses will be the only way I can survive the summer.

“Wow,” Matty says.

“Yeah,” I agree.

#

It’s probably a few hours later when something jolts me awake. It’s Joe looming over me. I must’ve passed out after Matty left. I’m sprawled on the big chaise in the guesthouse’s living room, Joe standing so close his knees are touching the cushion’s edge.

There’s only one light on, a yellow glow coming from the glass-fronted cabinet that displays Joe’s shell collection. It creates weird, streaky shadows across his super-defined chest and abs.

His shorts are dry now, not as tight on his thighs or his package, but I can see he’s erect, a righteous bulge that’s impossible to miss. And, when I look up into his face, my gaze snags on his parted lips, his heavy-lidded eyes .

The house is quiet. No more party outside. When Joe inhales suddenly, I can feel the sharpness of his breath in my own lungs.

I sit, swinging my legs to the side of the chaise, planting my feet on either side of his. He takes my face in his hands. His fingers are warm, familiar, his touch so tender it makes me want to cry.

And, God, when our gazes connect, and I immediately fall into that dark brown and gold I dream about, tears clog my throat, for real.

“Ash,” he whispers, his voice so hoarse I can barely hear it. The pad of his thumb passes over my lower lip. I lick away the taste of him and he sighs. “Damn, I missed you.”

I nod. I can’t speak. It hurts.

Holy book hangover….

I was not ready for this one to end, and praying to get to the end, to make sure these guys got their happily ever after’s, both in equal measure. If there was ever a couple that I was rooting for, it was Ash and his Joey.

Told from both guys’ point of view, we get a first glimpse of their relationship as teenagers, back from their first year at college, staying in the guest house at their parents house. From the very beginning, you can feel how much these guys care about each other. I thought for sure, that this was going to be your typical bad boy leaves and breaks the younger guys heart, kind of story….. but it wasn’t like that at all.. I mean, it was, in a teenie tiny small way…. But it was so much more than that.

They were so different, in just about every way two people could be different, and even though they cared about each other so much, they were both so young and I feel like the time they spent apart was kind of needed, to figure things out for themselves and who they were as people. It hurt, and it sucked in the worst way, because you could tell how much they missed each other, that even after 11 years apart they still loved each other so much.

Thrown together on a job, across the country from each other, but meeting back in their home state… how is that not fate? …. But, both of them had hurt feelings and so much history between them, that it was hard for both of them to forget. My heart broke for Asher, of course, because he loved Joey so much, but for Joe, Asher was the other half of him. I can’t even explain how rare that it is to find in a story. Honestly…. And I read, A LOT… and very few grip me to the point that I’m hurting with these fictional people. Things are not easy, and even though they still love each other, it’s angsty and hard, and emotional… kind of like real life, eh?

Bravo to this author, who I’ve only read one other book from but will be changing that, immediately.. But, I’m so happy to report that not only did these two find a way through all the obstacles they had standing in their way that made things feel impossible, possible. They fought fr each other, and Asher fought for Joe, which he needed to do, I feel like. Everyone should’ve fought for Joe, he was so worth it. I kind of fell in love with him too a little bit. He was complicated and complex, but he was perfect…. More than that, he was perfect for Asher.

And in a totally selfish fashion, I’m gonna request we get more of these two! I wasn’t ready for them to end!

Sighh…. It probably seems so confusing, so you should probably just go on and read it… You’ll be happy you did…. Even though it’s a bit angsty, and I’m not big on angst… I can promise that it’s 100% worth it. 100%

5 stars from me!

This is a new to me author, so I was going in blind. But I really like second chance love, so I jumped in. Good call on my part.

Asher and Joe are soon to be step brothers who fall in love. But Asher isn’t willing to come out to his bigoted father. Until the issue is forced. But then everything falls apart and Asher and Joe don’t see each other for 11 years.

I loved Joe. Loved him. I think part of it is that I see someone I love in him, but also because of his big heart. This kid comes off as a dumb jock- but he is really anything but. No one really sees that though- except Asher.

The story is told going back and forth from present to past. And some times that really bothers me- but in this case it worked really well. And going into the past wasn’t even linear. We went from 11 years ago, to 15 years ago, back to 11 years ago. And it worked.

The story was a little bit drawn out, but not overly so. I didn’t get bored reading. And I could have used a good fight between them. Because Joe always runs and Asher doesn’t always stand up for himself.

Even though they were *almost* step brothers, the story wasn’t really told from a family point of view so I never felt that it had that taboo thing, and I don’t think it was meant to.

The sex scenes were incredibly hot (although, yes a bit plentiful) and well written. You could feel the love between these guys.

A solid read with good characters who I really cared about.

4 pieces of eye candy

Edie lives in Vermont with her husband, two sons, and random creatures that might or might not be pets. She loves libraries (where she’s found play, work, and love since she was a kid), long walks (unless ice is involved), lewd language (in the right context), luscious romance (of any variety), and alliteration.

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http://www.ediedanford.com/

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ediedanford@gmail.com

 

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