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Hurricane Reese by R.L. Merrill: Exclusive Guest Post, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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The life of Tony-winning musician Reese Matheson resembles a natural disaster, and caregiver Jude De La Torre is caught in the eye of the storm. But can the love of two opposites survive caring for an ornery octogenarian with wayward balls and a meddling family insistent upon tradition?

Fresh off the successful London run of his musical, the last thing Reese expects when he comes home is a house surrounded by paparazzi and his girlfriend throwing his stuff into the pool. All he wants to do is spend time with his beloved grandfather and musical mentor who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Reese knows he doesn’t have much time left before the elder Matheson forgets who he is. In classic “Hurricane Reese” form, he moves into the cottage by the sea and displaces Jude, the intriguing caregiver he hired two years before. When Grandpa proves too much for Reese to handle on his own, Jude comes to his rescue, taming Grandpa… and the Hurricane as well. Soon all Reese can think about is how to get Jude out of his scrubs and into his bed—permanently. Will Hurricane Reese destroy everything in his path, or will this odd couple learn to harmonize together?

Title: Hurricane Reese
Author: R.L. Merrill
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 205

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Dreamspinner Press ebook

Dreamspinner Press Paperback

 

Hurricane Reese is the result of many pieces coming together to create a funny and heartfelt romance. Those pieces include a beloved grandfather with Alzheimer’s disease, interracial dating in the LGBTQ community, musical theater, the Rat Pack days, and a new relationship with not only a power differential, but an age and cultural gap that threatens to halt any progress Reese and Jude make. Throw in an ex hell-bent on making Reese’s private life public, homelessness, a disappearing best friend, and a troubled younger brother and you have the natural disaster that is Hurricane Reese. Readers who enjoyed my self-published works like the Teacher trilogy and The Rock Season will find this new book a natural progression and new readers to my books will hopefully fall in love with Reese and Jude and the crazy families they bring along for the ride.

 

I haven’t read anything by R.L. Merrill before, but I knew when I read the description that I wanted to. And in a way I was not sorry, but more like I paid the price to read it. For the last six months, I’ve been dealing with something similar to what Reese was dealing with. My father had a couple of strokes, and has been left with some lingering effects that six months later we are still trying to manage, and cope with. So, reading about the deterioration of Grandpa and how Reese and Jude dealt with it, had me in tears more than once. I’ve felt some of the pain that Reese felt when my father didn’t recognize me. Or when he said things to me that were hurtful, because it was his disease talking and not him. So, I wasn’t sorry I read it, but my gosh, there were so many flashes of pain there, that it tells me that she hit me a little bit hard in the feels.

The story was well planned and thought out. The characters all written with such detail in their backstory, it really helped to understand things like why Jude struggled with coming out. The opposite side, you could see why Reese really didn’t give a fig about who knew what. There were pieces in the story that I certainly wasn’t expecting, but certainly made sense when you figure that stories like this don’t happen in a vacuum. As your characters are living their lives, so too are the other characters in the story living their own.

There were some areas that seemed a bit rushed, but I think that had more to do with the number of side stories rather than not wanting to hit those areas at all. It didn’t detract from the story, it just made me want just a little more length to some of the scenes where they are acknowledging and addressing their feelings.

In the end, I was happy to read this, and find a good way to address what has been a dark cloud looming over our family for a while. Reminding me that the world does continue to turn, and love continues to flourish, even during dark days was a great way to look at it overall.

4 pieces of eye candy

Once upon a time… a teacher, tattoo collector, mom, and rock ’n’ roll kinda gal opened up a doc and started purging her demons. Several self-published books and a debut gay romance with Dreamspinner Press later, R.L. Merrill is still striving to find that perfect balance between real life and happily ever after. She writes stories set in the places she loves most, such as Hollywood, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Northern California—and Iowa. Ro also loves connecting with other authors online, at the annual Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, and chapter meetings for the Romance Writers of America, of which she’s been a member since 2014.

A sucker for underdogs, Ro has adopted a wide variety of pets including cats, dogs, rats, a snake and fish. Her love of horror is evident the moment you walk in her door and find yourself surrounded by decorative skulls and quirky artwork from around the world. You can find her lurking on social media where she loves connecting with readers, educating America’s youth, being a mom taxi to two busy kids, in the tattoo chair trying desperately to get that back piece finished, or head banging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Connect with Ro:

Website: www.rlmerrillauthor.com

Twitter: @rlmerrillauthor

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rowritesrocknromance

And stay Tuned for more Rock ’n’ Romance.

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2001762376761722/

Spotify Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/rlmerrillauthor/playlist/79BaPjDRZXUwVr5tPI9FNC


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Dantès Unglued by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott: Double Release Day Review, Excerpt and Giveaway

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When private investigator, Shane Stephens, is hired by the mayor of Cincinnati to track down the hacker who has been threatening him, Shane is sure this is the opportunity to launch the Merleau Detection Agency into the big time. He even convinces Rowe Ward of Ward Security to loan him one of his best IT specialists, Quinn Lake.

Shane, a man who prefers casual intimacy, is surprised by his attraction to the moody computer geek, but when Quinn suggests they have fun for the month he’s on loan, Shane happily agrees. Both men are expecting nothing more than a good time.

But the investigation takes an unexpected turn and they quickly discover they are facing more than a hacker out to ruin the mayor’s re-election chances. And as they spend more time together, they realize their relationship may be a lot more than just a good time.

With only weeks until the election, Shane and Quinn race to gather the proof they need while dodging bullets and possibly…falling in love.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

 

 

After one quick knock on Rowe’s door, he stepped inside without waiting for him to call since he was already expected. But he stopped short when he saw the tall man standing next to Rowe’s desk, his hands on his slender hips as he grinned down at Rowe. Quinn couldn’t stop his eyes from quickly sweeping over his broad shoulders and chest that tapered into a narrow waist. His eyes snapped back up to find a pair of brown eyes that twinkled as they finished checking him out as well.

“Sorry,” Quinn mumbled, instantly taking a step backward. “I can come back.” Rowe rarely saw clients. He had customer representatives that handled talking to the clients. Of course, with Rowe’s lack of a filter, it was better if he didn’t talk to the new clients directly.

“No, come in, Quinn,” Rowe said sharply. He stood behind his desk, drawing Quinn’s gaze to his shorter but broader frame. His dark red hair stood up slightly as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Quinn never took that as a particularly good sign.

With a quick jerk of his head, Quinn stepped in and shut the door behind him. The other man was smiling at him, that assessing look still in his eyes, and Quinn didn’t want to think about the fact that he was dying to take another longer look at him, but not with the freaking boss in the room.

“Quinn Lake, this is Shane Stephens. He’s a private investigator with The Merleau Detection Agency,” Rowe introduced.

Shane extended his hand to Quinn and Quinn clenched his teeth, trying to hide his discomfort at taking Shane’s hand. His own palms were sweaty, making the momentary contact awkward. Why the fuck was he always so damn awkward around hot guys?

“Rowe tells me you’re the best,” Shane said, releasing his hand.

Quinn couldn’t help the skeptical look he shot at Rowe, who only shrugged as he sat down again. “Well, I said you and Gidget are the best.”

“Is this about a job?”

“Sit, Quinn.” Rowe absently waved toward the two chairs in front of his desk. He shuffled some papers around without seeming to actually look at them, placing them in piles at the edge of his desk.

Shooting one last uncertain look at Shane, Quinn moved to the farthest chair and sat, his tablet clenched in both hands. His mind raced as he tried to figure out why he’d been called into this meeting. Clients didn’t meet with Rowe, and Quinn didn’t meet with clients unless they’d already been assigned a bodyguard. And while they’d worked with some private investigators in the past, Rowe wasn’t usually involved. He had a company to run.

“Shane recently acquired a client who is the victim of a hacker,” Rowe started.

Quinn looked up at Shane, who was still standing beside Rowe’s desk, his mind finally turning away from too many questions to a problem he could understand. “Identity theft? Bank accounts drained?”

“No, not yet.” Shane shook his head, some of his dark curly hair falling forward against his temple. “At least, not that we’ve uncovered.”

“Then how do you know this client was hacked?”

“There are other signs…but I can’t go into it.”

Quinn frowned for a second. That certainly wasn’t going to make his job easier. “Well, do you just need improved protection? Alerts on accounts? We’ve got a comprehensive list of things we can do to help shore up the client’s account protection and privacy.”

“Shane isn’t looking for protection from the hacker for the client.” Rowe paused until Quinn looked back at him. “His client has hired him to track down the identity of the hacker.”

“Whoa…” Quinn said on an exhale, sitting back in his chair. That…that was not an easy task. Most hackers were pretty damn good at not being found. You had to be if you wanted to survive as one. If you sucked, you were usually snagged by the FBI pretty damn fast. Quinn would know. He’d started hacking at a young age—not stealing other people’s money but just breaking through security systems because he could. It took the feds a solid five years to catch him. But his boss knew all this. Rowe knew everything about the people working for him.

“We’re not equipped to handle this level of…” Shane frowned at Rowe’s computer as if he blamed it for his problems. “Well, we’re not staffed yet to handle computer things like this. I can do some of the forensic research in accounting matters, but I need a computer genius like you.”

“That’s why I agreed to loan you to Shane and his business partner, Ethan, for one month,” Rowe announced.

Quinn was out of his seat in a shot, hovering over the edge of the desk as he looked down at his boss. Pain shot through his chest, and he was suddenly having trouble catching his breath. Panic clouded all of his thoughts. He loved working for Ward Security. He’d been there for just less than two years, and he’d never found another place where he’d felt like he fit so damn perfectly. This was home. These people he worked with, they were his friends. He didn’t have to hide or pretend or feel uncomfortable.

And Rowe…Rowe had always been amazing. Sure, he could be cranky and a little crazy. He was always loud and tended to speak before thinking. But Quinn always knew exactly where he stood with Rowe. He always felt like Rowe had his back.

But this…

“Are you getting rid of me?”

“What?” Rowe snapped. “Where the fuck did you get that idea?”

“You’re hiring another IT person. I saw the listing. And this? Putting me ‘on loan’?”

Rowe groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. With a heavy sigh, he pointed back at the chair Quinn had just vacated. “Sit.” Grudgingly, Quinn followed direction while Rowe looked over at Shane. “Can you give us a minute?”

Sigh….I love this series.

In this one, we have Quinn… very cute, shy and insecure IT nerd who works for Ward security, and Shane, who works for a fairly new start-up PI company who’s been hired by the mayor or Ohio.

Someone’s been sending him threatening emails, signed by his ex-wife who had recently passed away. The mayor seems like an alright family man, with two daughters, so, Shane takes on his case and promises discretion. Because Shane and his friend don’t have the money or recourses for an IT guru like Ward does, Rowe loans Quinn for the month until reelection to help Shane out.

Of course, they’re attracted to each other, but Shane is a serial bachelor and not a bit interested in relationships or monogamy and Quinn is inexperienced and not all impressed with the experiences he has had.

A month of long nights in the office together, working side by side with a man you’re attracted to each other, leads to hooking up, of course it does… what neither guy was expecting was to fall for each other. But, as things heat u between them, they get more complicated with the investigation and its hard to figure out who’s the guilty one in the scenario. Things just aren’t making sense, and after some miscommunication and differences of opinion, the guys take time to get their heads together.

Although I loved Quinn and his blushing and backbone when it came to Shane. I liked how Shane seemed to do a 180 with his feelings of commitment and relationships once he got to know Quinn better. It wasn’t hard to break him of all that and he didn’t fight it.

I feel like both of these guys got to prove themselves and I kept hoping that the misunderstanding would get cleared u for Quinn. I honestly thought it was going to be forgotten about, but… nay, it made me love them both more. Quinn for being able to ask about it and Shane for being awesome about it.

I loved these two. Im gonna have to go back and reread about Frost and Jude, cuz… just their small appearance, made me remember how hot their story was together. LOL, I’m such a sucker for the guys in this series. I might just go back and read them all. I’m very much hoping for more about Royce. That’ll be a good one, I just know it!

If you haven’t, you most definitely should!

5 well deserved pieces of eye candy from me!

First off, you really need to read book one. I guess *technically* you could get away without reading it but that would be silly. Trust me. Would I lie to you?

We had gotten to know Quinn and Shane a bit in previous books. Quinn is one of the computer geeks at Ward Security and Shane is part owner of a private investigator agency- way more gumshoe than smoking gun. When he is hired to track down a hacker, he has to enlist the help of Ward Security and Quinn.

Quinn and Shane have immediate chemistry and fight it for a bit. Partly because Shane only does one time things and Quinn was built for relationships. But after a steamy kiss, they come to a compromise- a short term “relationship” while they are working on the case.

Quinn and Shane are HOT together. And even though it is Shane who doesn’t want a relationship- he is the one who seems to be super sweet and almost romantic. Those little touches, brushing Quinn’s hair back, staring at him across the room when they are supposed to be working. Just swoony.

That being said, I think Quinn was the more developed character. Shane could have given me just a little more.

Like in all of the previous books there is excellent banter between not only the main characters, but the supporting characters as well. And we see most of them- I think only Lucas was left out. He might have been in there though. Apologies Lucas if you made an appearance and I missed your arrogant self.

The overall story was a bit convoluted, but it was ok. I really expected more than what I got. With focusing on the “hacker” and how it isn’t something you just pick up and do, I wanted a bit more explanation of how the hacker did it. I hope that made sense. I hate spoilers so I am trying desperately not to spoil.

And I didn’t love the title. I get it, but meh. After Psycho Romeo, and Shiver, Shatter, Torch, it was a bit weak.

4 pieces of eye candy

Who are Drake & Elliott?

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

Author Links

Website: http://drakeandelliott.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrakeandElliott

Tumblr: http://drakeandelliott.tumblr.com/

Email: drakeandelliott@gmail.com

 

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Sound of Silence by Mia Kerick and Raine O’Tierney: Exclusive Excerpt, Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway

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High school senior Renzy Callen hasn’t uttered a word in years. He likes being invisible to all around him; it keeps life safe and predictable. In his attic bedroom, he experiences a world far from the drama of his family. He doodles, listens to music, and contemplates the troubled souls he observes when attending self-help meetings designed for people with problems he doesn’t have. Renzy lives his life like a spectator, always on the outside of life’s games, looking in at others.

Everything changes when Seven and Morning Moreau-Maddox relocate from their glitzy lives in Paris to boring, picturesque Redcliff Hills, Missouri. Tall, platinum blond, and as put-together as a pair of European high-fashion models, the sophisticated siblings befriend Renzy, drawing him in and then pushing him away. What starts as nothing more than a means to an end for Seven, however, quickly becomes something more. Could icy-hearted Seven be thawing for the silent, quirky charm of Renzy Callen?

Determined to find the cause of Renzy’s selective mutism, the three teens set off on a road trip, during which they discover that flawless physical facades can conceal the most scarred souls, and that sometimes silence is better than golden.

Title: Sound of Silence

Authors: Mia Kerick and Raine O’Tierney

Release Date: January 23rd 2018

Genre: MM Contemporary Romance

 

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Harmony Ink

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EXCERPT

Renzy

Maybe someone “like me” is supposed to feel shitty about himself. Maybe I’m supposed to feel small and broken and weak. But I never really did. When I was small, I thought of it like a superpower. It vanquished my stutter and got the other kids to ignore me. It was like turning invisible and even had a name, so sayeth the GP I saw when I was seven.

Selective mutism. Isn’t that amazing? Selective mutism is such a misnomer, at least to me. That makes it sound like seven-year-old Renzy could talk, but he chose not to. I promise you this, I wasn’t hoarding my words back then. I couldn’t speak. When I would try, I would become so anxious and get so dizzy, my nose would bleed. I even passed out a couple of times.

Does that sound like a dragon hoarding his prized words? No. I couldn’t speak.

So here’s the big Q. Can I speak now? Am I physically able to vibrate those ol’ vocal cords? Could I force a few words out if I were alone in the attic? I honestly don’t know, and right now, even thinking about talking makes my throat seize up. I rub my neck and the muscles there are tight. I was okay until the thing with Seven at the lockers, then I started to feel closed in. The gazelle to Seven’s cheetah—socially claustrophobic. In that moment, I felt more like the seven-year-old with selective mutism than the nineteen-year-old who doesn’t worry about these things. If it came down to vocal confrontation or taking a punch, I would gladly go home with the black eye.

It’s the questions.

It’s when I can’t get away from the questions.

Jesus, even thinking about it is making me crazy. I’ve got to get back to Heart Aflame. What’s going on tonight? Overeaters and a knitters’ prayer group, I think. That’ll do. No one will ask me anything. I can sit in the corner and design some tats. Everything will be fine.

 

 

Hmmmm, I did not expect this one. Not usually one for YA’s ,  I was intreiged by the premise of this story. Renzy, had his voice ripped away from him at a young age, for so long he couldn’t speak, but now that he’s a teenager, he just doesn’t. He doesn’t know if he can or not, he just knows that he doesn’t… It’s fine with the people of his house, though… they just seem to overlook him after all this time. My heart broke for him so much in the beginning, because imagine that, what it would be like to live in a home where nobody even saw you. You were just a shadow that lives in the attic…. Never fitting in anywhere, never belonging, but always wanting to. It was just…sad. Renzy though, he just keeps on, keeping on….

However, Renzy has a thing for group therapy… all kinds, any kinds, he doesn’t care. He just goes. The same building, different groups, he just observes….getting what he needs from all of them, even if he doesn’t quite know what that is. That’s where he meets Morning; at a rape survivor’s meeting. She’s annoyed with him at first, but, he kind of has a way about him. He’s charming and he doesn’t seem to let anyone get him down. Even mornings older brother Seven.

Seven…. Is something else… Have you ever seen the Ryan Phillipe movie, Cruel Intentions? He reminds me so much of that character. He’s arrogant and douchey and thinks mighty highly of himself because he’s so cultured and educated. He was annoying at first and I wasn’t sure I was going to like him. However, something tragic happened to his sister and with absentee parents, he had to take on the role of her mother and father, brother, friend, babysitter, ….everything. He was everything to her, and then she got hurt and he was everything times ten! He took that job very seriously and he liked being needed. He wanted to fix her, and in the beginning, she needed it. Upon meeting Renzy though, they turned their focus on him, on fixing him… and sure, Seven goes about it the wrong way at first and I really wanted to knock him out, but heart was always in the right place. He meant well and once he started caring about Renzy, he just wanted the two people in the world that he cared about, to be happy, instead of haunted. And they both were, they both were haunted by something tragic from their past.

So, here is where it gets tricky…. Trying to find out the reason Renzy didn’t speak. Trying to figure out the thing that happened to him, that caused him to lose his voice. After a big blow out with his parents, Renzy, Seven and Morning jump in the car with what little clues that have and set out about finding out what happened to Renzy. It’s crazy, the whole thing and just when you think you have it figured out…. You don’t.

It’s crazy because, with mysteries such as these, I often find myself bored and skipping to the end to figure out what everything was about… but this one, I was gripping every page until the end. Again, what you think you know…. You don’t.

The ending was a bit bittersweet for me. I hated how it ended so abruptly, just as things were finally okay with Renzy and Seven. It’s like… we went through this whole thing and get a tiny glimpse of their happy and BAM, it’s over. Didn’t like that.

What I loved through all of it though, I loved that Morning and Seven was there for Renzy when he needed someone most. I love how they took care of him and wanted to help him so much and just make him happy. And I loved the way in through all that, it helped Morning to heal. I loved how Seven and Renzy was there for Morning, in a way that gave her something to care about again. It was kind of surprising that these were supposed to be just kids, because their problems were so real and expertly handled. I never once felt like they were kids, in a YA situation.

I also loved Renzy’s dad. His family and how finally, after all the years of overlooking him, they truly did care for him. Especially his dad. I loved that. What a good dad he turned out to be.

Overall, it was a really good, emotional read. I’d definitely recommend it!

4 pieces of eye candy from me!

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—a daughter in law school, another in dance school, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and her lone son still in high school.  She writes LGBTQ romance when not editing National Honor Society essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to create dance bios, and reviewing English papers. Her husband of twenty-four years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about this, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on emotional growth in turbulent relationships. As she has a great affinity for the tortured hero, there is, at minimum, one in each book. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of said tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press and Harmony Ink Press for providing alternate places to stash her stories.

Her books have won a Best YA Lesbian Rainbow Award, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, and a Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, among other awards.

Mia is a Progressive, a little bit too obsessed by politics, and cheers for each and every victory in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com. Visit her website for updates on what is going on in Mia’s world, rants, music, parties, and pictures, and maybe even a little bit of inspiration.

Links: Facebook | Twitter

 

Raine O’Tierney loves writing about first loves and friendship. She believes the best thing we can do in this life is be kind to one another, and hopes her stories always reflect that. Raine loves encouraging people to write and has been known to repeat the phrase “I believe everyone has a story to tell” endlessly, until she breaks down even the most stubborn non-writer!

Raine lives outside of Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband, fellow M/M author Siôn O’Tierney. When she’s not writing, she’s either playing video games or fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom at her library day job.

Contact her if you’re interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about which dachshunds are the best kinds of dachshunds!

Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

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The Hockey Player’s Heart by Jeff Adams and Will Knauss: Exclusive Video Guest Post, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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I’m so super excited for you guys to see this vlog post by Jeff and Will, and if you haven’t ever watched their Big Gay Fiction Podcast, you need to. Love watching that! Their vlog below is all about their character inspirations. Check out the great giveaway, and congrats to Jeff and Will on the release of The Hockey Player’s Heart. Thanks for stopping by, gentlemen!

 

Hometown hero. Hockey superstar. Perfect boyfriend?

When hockey star Caleb Carter returns to his hometown to recover from an injury, the only thing he’s interested in is a little R & R. He never expects to run into his onetime crush at a grade school fund-raiser . Seeing Aaron Price hits him hard, like being checked into the boards. The attraction is still there, even after all these years, and Caleb decides to make a play for the schoolteacher. You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take, right?

Aaron has been burned by love before and can’t imagine what a celebrity like Caleb could possibly see in a guy like him. Their differences are just too great. But as Aaron spends more time with Caleb, he begins to wonder if he might have what it takes to win the hockey player’s heart.

Title: The Hockey Player’s Heart
Series: Hockey Hearts: Book 1
Author: Jeff Adams and Will Knauss
Release Date: January 16, 2018
Category: Contemporary, Dreamspun Desires
Pages: 226

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Many thanks to Denise for having us here at Two Chicks Obsessed today so we can talk about our new book The Hockey Player’s Heart. We’ve got a special video for this tour stop, so we hope you’ll have a look. Don’t miss the Rafflecopter below either for your chance to win an ebook, or maybe even a signed paperback!

 

Oh my, how I do love the Dreamspinner Press category romances. They just make me happy. And The Hockey Player’s Heart is no exception. Small town, famous hockey player, an MC who returned back to his hometown jaded and hurt. All adds up to a read just begging for an HEA, and Jeff and Will give us that.

I love that Caleb came back to their hometown, remembering the crush he had on Aaron in high school, and was determined to re-spark that, even if it was just their friendship, despite Aaron’s initial resistance. He allowed Aaron his space, yet continued to express his delight in spending time with Aaron. It allowed these men to build a trust between them, something that Aaron deeply needed in order to feel comfortable enough to ever begin a relationship with someone famous again.

There were so many “feel good” moments, that it allowed you to sit back and enjoy as their romance slowly unfolded. And the ending made a difference, it showed a heart, and such thoughtfulness, the reader has to end up with at least a few tears, even though you had a feeling what was happening. That didn’t matter, because the feelings, the trust, the caring and the honesty all shown through.

Oh, and I’m ready for one best friend of Caleb’s to show up in book 2, please. That one is going to fall hard and fast. Can’t wait! 😉

4 pieces of eye candy

 

Jeff Adams and Will Knauss are husbands, authors, and podcasters based in Northern California. They write gay romances, sometimes together and other times separately. Jeff also writes young adult LGBT fiction. Together they host Jeff & Will’s Big Gay Fiction Podcast, a weekly show devoted to gay romance literature and the pop culture they love.

Websites:

Jeff: JeffAdamsWrites.com

Will: WillKnauss.com

Podcast: BigGayFictionPodcast.com

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Relay by Layla Reyne: Blog Tour, Exclusive Guest Post, Review and Giveaway

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Welcome to the RELAY Blog Tour, presented by Layla Reyne and Riptide Publishing! RELAY, by Layla Reyne, is Book 1 of the Changing Lanes sports romance series featuring Olympic swimmers. RELAY is an enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance between Alex, the team captain, and his closeted ex, Dane, swimming’s biggest star. Read on to learn more about RELAY, Changing Lanes, and Layla Reyne!

Captain is not a title Alejandro “Alex” Cantu takes lightly. Elected by his teammates to helm the US Men’s Swim Team, he proudly accepts the role, despite juggling endless training, team administrative work, and helping out on the family farm. And despite his ex-lover, Dane Ellis—swimming’s biggest star—also making the Olympic Team.

Dane has been a pawn in his celebrity parents’ empire from crib to pool, flashing his camera-ready smile on demand and staying deeply in the closet. Only once did he drop the act—the summer he fell in love with Alex. Ten years later, Dane longs to cut his parents’ strings, drop his too-bright smile, and beg Alex for another chance.

Alex, though, isn’t ready to forgive and forget, and Dane is a distraction he doesn’t need on his team, until an injury forces Alex to accept Dane as his medley relay anchor. Working together, their passion reignites. When Dane’s parents threaten reprisal and Alex is accused of doping, the two must risk everything to prove Alex’s innocence, to love one another, and to win back their spots on the team, together.

Researching for Olympic Swimming

 Relay and Medley are contemporary sports romances featuring Olympic swimmers as they train for and compete in the Olympics. Relay’s Alex and Dane, and Medley’s Bas and Jacob, make-up the four-man medley-relay squad for USA Swimming.

While the Olympics are broadcast and we see what goes on at the meet portion of the event, training leading up to it isn’t as much of an open book. In researching and drafting Relay, which is focused more heavily on the training portion of Olympic competition, I gathered what information I could about past Olympic “training camps.” The teams do have domestic and international training camps, which are increasingly covered and attended by the media and fans. There are pictures, for instance, from the past camps that were very helpful in describing facilities and setting the scene.

As for what actually goes on at training camp, practice regimens, etc., that sort of information is not as widely available, so yes, some creative license had to be taken. That said, I have a number of friends who swam at the collegiate level, and I peppered them with questions—from diet, to pool versus dryland training, to swimwear and terminology. They were an invaluable resource to helping me get the details as close as I could.

Amazon

Riptide Publishing

 

About Changing Lanes

A chance at gold or a chance at love? Members of the US Men’s Swim Team fight for both in this sports romance duology following two couples on one medley relay team as they train and compete in the world’s biggest sporting event: the Olympics. To reach the top of the podium, they’ll need to depend on one another and be willing to change lanes—in their lives and hearts, and in the biggest race of their athletic careers.

Check out Changing Lanes!

Anything Olympics related, especially swimming and gymnastics (anyone on that one???) and I will snap it up right away, without question. So when I saw this up for preorder, it was with grabby hands that I requested this one, and I was not disappointed. The author did a fantastic job with this story.

It has to be difficult to write about an area of sports that is only really seen by the public every four years, but well done by the author to connect with those that have an inside track into how that world works.

Alex and Dane certainly had their work cut out for them to come back together. Lovers at 16, then Dane turned his back when his parents said he had to leave. The anger and hatred that burned between them was palpable from the first day they were back in each other’s orbits. With Alex as captain, he was able to make decisions, along with the coach, who would swim what group events, and he didn’t hesitate to use that power to push Dane to the side, even knowing there was a chance it could affect the team’s chances of bringing home gold. In the end, the choice was taken away from him, once their anger was so out of control, it affected the entire team.

It took time for Alex to come to terms with where Dane was at in his life that he would walk away from what was clearly love, and even when he began to, Dane found a way to make it worse, allowing Alex’s belief in him to falter, because he knew there would be no way he could save him otherwise.

They worked together to overcome the outside forces that worked against them as individuals and a couple, even overcoming a small twist I didn’t see coming.

I do like a book that doesn’t tie everything up neatly, 100%. That to me is real life. There were several unanswered questions, along with people who definitely needed more of a comeuppance, but that is how real life is sometimes. Not all the questions are answered, and not everything ties up in a neat little bow. And that works just fine for me.

These two got their HEA, and the reader gets a glimpse of the next book, and even through how the secondary characters react, what their issues will be. I’m looking forward to it.

4.5 pieces of eye candy

2016 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist Layla Reyne was raised in North Carolina and now calls San Francisco home. She enjoys weaving her bicoastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart-pounding romance. When she’s not writing stories to excite her readers, she downloads too many books, watches too much television, and cooks too much food with her scientist husband, much to the delight of their smushed-face, leftover-loving dogs.

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To celebrate the release of Relay, one lucky winner will receive a signed paperback copy of the book and a $25 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 13, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Reckless Behavior by L.A. Witt and Cari Z: Release Day Review, Blog Tour and Giveaway

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After too many years of putting his job first, Detective Andreas Ruffner is getting his priorities straight. He’s ready to spend some quality time with his adult kids, not to mention come clean about some things he should’ve told them a long time ago. And introduce them to his partner and boyfriend, Darren Corliss.

But in a heartbeat, a family dinner turns into Andreas’s worst nightmare. When the dust settles, one of his kids is hurt, and the other three have been abducted.

Andreas is going to find his kids, and nothing, not even a broken ankle, is going to stop him. Thank God for his sharp, level-headed partner . . . who has a crisis of his own pulling him away when Andreas needs him the most. As both men try to support—and lean on—each other, they get no closer to finding the kids. And the longer the children are missing, the less likely it is they’ll ever be found.

Amazon

Riptide Publishing

 

Sometimes, you sit down to read and want a wildly passionate, steamy story about two men falling in love. Other times, you need something… more. And that’s what you’ll get with the entire Bad Behavior series from LA Witt and Cari Z. Somehow, I’d completely missed the second book in the series, but that didn’t stop me from clutching Reckless Behavior, book three, in my greedy little hands as soon as possible.

I absolutely loved Andreas and Darren when I read Risky Behavior. They didn’t meet, fall in love, face issues, and live happily ever after. That’d be far too sweet for an ass like Andreas (and I mean that in the best possible way). He didn’t want Darren as a partner. Didn’t like knowing why Darren was there, but something made the rookie detective impossible to resist.

A lot of times, I get bored by series that continue with the same main characters. Once I’m certain they’re stable in their relationship and are going to make it through whatever comes after the end, it’s hard to keep my attention. Andreas and Darren are an excellent departure from this issue.

There’s so much I can’t say about Reckless Behavior because it’ll either spoil this book or the books before, but basically, it comes down to people holding grudges over that first big case, determined to teach Andreas a lesson. Again, it could’ve turned incredibly cliche, but the writing talents of this duo kept me turning from one page to the next until… I’m not going to admit how late it was when I finished and went to sleep. I’m a responsible adult who would never stay up until nearly sunrise in thedead of winter, all because she needed to make sure the couple was going to be okay. That everyone was going to be okay.

I can’t wait to see what comes next for Andreas and Darren. They’re one of my favorite couples of 2017!

5 pieces of candy (preferably the peppermint butter mints, because YUM)

About the Bad Behavior Series

It’s “hell no” at first sight for newly partnered detectives Andreas Ruffner and Darren Corliss. Darren is too chipper, Andreas is too gruff, and that whole “IA wants me to prove you’re a dirty cop” thing really doesn’t get them off on the right foot.

It doesn’t matter if they like each other. They’re partners and that’s final. Though Andreas is easy on the eyes. And Darren is kind of cute. And . . . okay, maybe they can make this work.

They’d better, because as their cases get more horrifying—and more personal—they’ll have to trust each other with their lives, and with their hearts.

Check out Bad Behavior!

About Cari Z

Cari Z was a bookworm as a child and remains one to this day. In an effort to combat her antisocial reading behavior, she did all sorts of crazy things, from competitive gymnastics to alligator wresting (who even knew that was legal!) to finally joining the Peace Corps, which promptly sent her and her husband to the wilds of West Africa, stuck them in a hut, and said, “See ya!” She also started writing, because some things she just thought she could do better. She’s still climbing that ladder, but can’t stop herself from writing, or from sharing what she creates.

Cari enjoys a wide range of literary genres, from the classics (get ‘im, Ahab) to science fiction and fantasy of all types, to historical fiction and reference materials (no, seriously, there are so many great encyclopedias out there). She writes in a wide range of genres as well, but somehow 90% of what she produces ends up falling into the broad and exciting category of m/m erotica. There’s a sprinkling of f/m and f/f and even m/f/m in her repertoire, but her true love is man love. And there’s a lot of love to go around.

Cari has published short stories, novellas, and novels with numerous print and e-presses, and she also offers up a tremendous amount of free content on Literotica.com, under the name Carizabeth.

Connect with Cari at http://cari-z.net/  or via her blog, http://carizerotica.blogspot.com/

About L.A. Witt

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut . .

L.A.’s backlist is available on her website, and updates (as well as random thoughts and the odd snarky comment) can be found on her blog or on Twitter (@GallagherWitt).

To celebrate the release of Reckless Behavior, one lucky winner will receive a $10 Riptide credit and their choice in an ebook from each of Cari and L.A.’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 6, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!