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historical

Contraband Hearts by Alex Beecroft: Spotlight Tour with Giveaway

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His future depends on bringing the smuggler to justice. His heart demands to join him.

Customs officer Peregrine Dean is sent by his patron to investigate rumors of corruption in the Porthkennack customs house. There he is tasked by the local magistrate to bring down the villainous Tomas Quick, a smuggler with fingers in every pie in town. Fired with zeal and ambition, and struck to the core by his first glimpse of Tomas, Perry determines to stop at nothing until he has succeeded.

Tomas Quick is an honest thief—a criminal regarded by the town as their local Robin Hood. He’s also an arrogant man who relishes the challenge posed by someone as determined and intelligent as Perry. Both of them come to enjoy their cat-and-mouse rivalry a little too much.

But the eighteenth century is a perilous time for someone like Perry: a black man in England. Two have already disappeared from the wrecks of ships. Tomas and Perry must forsake their competition and learn to trust each other if they are to rescue them, or Perry may become the third victim.

Amazon

 

Welcome to Porthkennack, a charming Cornish seaside town with a long and sometimes sinister history. Legend says King Arthur’s Black Knight built the fort on the headland here, and it’s a certainty that the town was founded on the proceeds of smuggling, piracy on the high seas, and the deliberate wrecking of cargo ships on the rocky shore. Nowadays it draws in the tourists with sunshine and surfing, but locals know that the ghosts of its Gothic past are never far below the surface.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by five award-winning, best-selling British LGBTQ romance authors: Alex Beecroft, Joanna Chambers, Charlie Cochrane, Garrett Leigh, and JL Merrow. Follow Porthkennack and its inhabitants through the centuries and through the full rainbow spectrum with historical and contemporary stand-alone titles.

Alex Beecroft is an English author best known for historical fiction, notably Age of Sail, featuring gay characters and romantic storylines. Her novels and shorter works include paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary fiction.

Beecroft won Linden Bay Romance’s (now Samhain Publishing) Starlight Writing Competition in 2007 with her first novel, Captain’s Surrender, making it her first published book. On the subject of writing gay romance, Beecroft has appeared in the Charleston City Paper, LA Weekly, the New Haven Advocate, the Baltimore City Paper, and The Other Paper. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association of the UK and an occasional reviewer for the blog Speak Its Name, which highlights historical gay fiction.

Alex was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and grew up in the wild countryside of the English Peak District. She lives with her husband and two children in a little village near Cambridge and tries to avoid being mistaken for a tourist.

Alex is only intermittently present in the real world. She has led a Saxon shield wall into battle, toiled as a Georgian kitchen maid, and recently taken up an 800-year-old form of English folk dance, but she still hasn’t learned to operate a mobile phone.

She is represented by Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Literary Agency.

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To celebrate the release of Contraband Hearts, Alex is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card and an ebook from her backlist, your choice! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on May 5, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

 

 

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Captain Merric by Rebecca Cohen: Exclusive Excerpt, Blog Tour and Review

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A tale of pirates, lost love, and the fight for a happy ending.

After he’s set adrift and left to die by his mutinous crew, the last person Royal Navy officer Daniel Horton expects to come to his rescue is Captain Merric. An infamous pirate, Merric is known as much for stealing his victims’ hearts as their jewels. Daniel’s world is about to be turned upside down when he recognises Captain Merric as none other than Edward Merriston, someone he thought he’d never see again.

Edward can’t believe Daniel Horton is aboard his ship. While Edward is willing to do anything he can to get a second chance at their happy ending, Daniel isn’t interested in digging up the past. But Daniel is one priceless treasure Captain Merric isn’t about to let go of without a fight.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

Length: 55,000 words approx.

Amazon

Exclusive Excerpt

Edward chewed thoughtfully on a hunk of bread before speaking. “I admit I was surprised to hear Captain Horton was unmarried. I thought your father would have pushed for a good match.”

“Oh, he has tried several times, but me being at sea so often had been an inconvenience to his plans. Henry had it far worse, but as older brother and next baron he was always the priority.”

“Marriage is not about love when you are a member of the peerage, it is about allegiances and power,” said Edward with a sneer. “You could have married someone and lived at opposite ends of country and no one would have thought it strange.”

“Perhaps so, but I at least would wish to try and be a good husband if I were to marry—but alas I have not the disposition to make even the most patient woman happy.”

Edward laughed. “Don’t think I will be cowed by your disposition… I have already seen you soften a little in a few days. I imagine you would be a different man after a few weeks. Well, not different, but more as you were.”

“I fear you will be disappointed if you expect to me to revert back to the boy that I was. In the same way life at sea has changed you, it has changed me. You cannot have the blood of men on your hands and not be affected by it all. I have been in sea battles, raids, and skirmishes—none of them pass without leaving a mark. I have seen good and bad men die, come close myself at least once, and every event has in some way made me who I am today.”

Edward placed a hand on his thigh. “I understand that. And I do not challenge it. We are all the reflections of a well-lived past. I want to know the Daniel of today, not then, but you will not persuade me that the fundamentals that were deep in your core aren’t still there.”

“I am still stubborn and argumentative, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good to know. Do you still have a desire to stack coins by size order?”

Daniel laughed, remembering the times Edward had teased him over it. “There are some habits that I will never break. That and ensuring my books are always in alphabetical order by author. You were always an unruly sod—used to mess up my system just to get a rise.”

“I have always loved getting a rise out of you.” Edward leaned closer and raised an eyebrow.

 

 

After 15 years, pirate Captain Edward Merric and naval Captain Daniel Horton come face to face again. After a misunderstanding perpetrated by Edward’s father, Daniel has believed Edward to be long dead, while Edward believed Daniel no longer wanted to be with him. The misunderstanding is quickly uncovered but these two still have some issues to overcome if they are going to be together.  After the pain of losing his first love, Daniel locked his heart away and became a successful, if not cold and unapproachable, captain in the British Navy. Edward has to decide if he can give up the carefree pirate’s life he’s led and thrived in since he last saw Daniel. Edward is determined to win Daniel back, while Daniel will struggle with what he has to give up in to be with his great love. Count on smexy times at a tropical waterfall, which I think is a requirement for a Carribbean pirate story (or at least should be).

I love pirate stories and second chance stories, but this book was just ok for me. I liked the plot fine, the writing itself just fell flat with paragraphs of dialogue, but no indication as to what else the speaker might be doing as he says a bunch of words or how he might sound as he’s saying them. Which leaves the reader to guess at what the speaker is feeling. The pace was therefore just a bit fast, as reactions to a conversation just sort of happen with no lead up. There’s also a number of typos that can be sort of jarring.

A cute read when you get past the blemishes.

3 pieces of eye candy

Rebecca Cohen is a Brit abroad. Having swapped the Thames for the Rhine, she has left London behind and now lives with her husband and young son in Basel, Switzerland. She can often be found with a pen in one hand and a cup of Darjeeling in the other. Blog: http://rebeccacohenwrites.wordpress.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rebecca.cohen.710

Twitter: http://twitter.com/R_Cohen_writes

April 6 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

April 9 – Open Mind For A Different View

April 10 – The Novel Approach

April 11 – Cupcakes & Bookshelves, Making It Happen

April 12 – Diverse Reader

April 13 – Two Chicks Obsessed

April 14 – MM Good Book Reviews

April 16 – My Booked Filled Life, Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings, Velvetpanic, BooksLaidBareBoys, Bayou Book Junkie

April 17 – Love Bytes

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Count the Shells by Charlie Cochrane: Quick Review

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A standalone Porthkennack historical novel

Michael Gray returned from World War One injured, but at least he returned. Others were not so fortunate, including his first and greatest love, Thomas Carter-Clemence, with whom Michael had parted bitterly before the conflict began.

Broch, the Carter-Clemence home in Porthkennack, was an integral part of pre-war holidays for the Grays, the two families drawn together in the wake of their sons’ friendship. Returning to the once-beloved Cornish coast for a break with his sister and her family, Michael has to find the courage to face old memories . . . and dare new relationships.

When Thomas’s brother Harry makes an unexpected appearance, Michael is surprised to find himself deeply attracted to Harry for his own sake. But as their relationship heats up, it unearths startling revelations and bitter truths. Michael must decide whether Harry is the answer to his prayers or the last straw to break an old soldier’s back.

Word count: 66,000; page count: 246

Amazon

Riptide Books

Kobo Books

 

This book is part of a series that take place in the English seaside town of Porthkennack. Other authors in the series include Joanna Chambers and Alex Beecroft. This book wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite, in the series or otherwise.

Michael is a WWI veteran who’s returned to the summer home his family has stayed at since he was a child. While he has returned mostly unscathed physically, he’s haunted by both his experiences during the war as well as the fact that many of his former lovers and friends were left behind on the battlefields of Europe. He is especially broken over the wartime death of his first lover, Thomas, who died before the two could make amends after a falling out 10 years before. Understandably Michael is filled with regret over the unfinished business between them.

Enter Thomas’ younger brother Harry, whom Michael hasn’t seen in many years and who he remembers as the pesky kid that followed him and Thomas around every summer. But Harry is now older, wiser and considerably more attractive and the two embark on a friendship that quickly turns to more. Secrets involving both families are revealed leaving Michael reeling as he learns that perhaps his relationship with Thomas wasn’t mutually meaningful.

Most of the angst in this story is internal to Michael, as he tries to reconcile what he thought he knew about Thomas and what he’s learned about Thomas from Harry. Michael is also afraid that he may experience the same heartbreak with Harry.

I love that the setting is post-WWI; there aren’t enough gay romances during that time period. I also love that the books in this series take place in the same town at different points in time. The supporting characters are okay; the heroes don’t change much from begin to end. It was a sweet story, but I tend to prefer more external angst and action than the hero having to work things out in his own head before giving me an HEA (which this one does.)

2.5 pieces of eye candy

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From Upstairs to Downstairs by J.P. Bowie: Quick Review

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When everything is taken from you, including the memory of who you are, what possible chance is there for happiness?

Edward Lazenby has it all – a rich grandfather, a beautiful home, days spent riding his favorite horse in Hyde Park. What he doesn’t have, and feels he never will, is handsome Thomas Marsden, a man who, at first, seems repulsed by Edward’s forwardness when they meet. Dalliances with members of the same sex in Victorian England can lead to scandal or even imprisonment, so Edward and a few close friends have formed their own Club where they can meet without fear of persecution.

When Edward’s grandfather dies, Edward is heir to his estate but before he can lay claim to it, he is brutally assaulted, his injuries resulting in complete memory loss. Months later, Thomas Marsden finds him working as a stable boy on a country estate. Thomas takes him back to London, hoping to find a way to have Edward’s memory restored to him, and remind him that just before he disappeared, they had declared their affection for each other.

Can the two men build a life together or will Edward’s disability be too much of a hurdle to happiness?

General Release Date: 24th October 2017

ISBN: 978-1-78651-610-7

Imprint: Pride Publishing

Pairing: MM Book

Length: Novel

Genre: Erotic Romance, Gay, Historical

Amazon

Pride Publishing

Kobo Books

This is a historical romance about Edward, his wealthy grandfather’s heir, and Thomas, a new friend that Edward is wildly attracted to but is unsure if their preferences are aligned since Thomas is engaged to be married. Fear not, the two do in fact have a mutual attraction and just when things begin to look promising for the pair, Edward is brutally attacked by thieves and left for dead. We later find him on a country estate with no memory of who he is or how he got there. Edward’s friends are left grieving after his disappearance as evidence of the crime point to Edward having been killed, and Thomas just can’t get over him. Eventually Edward is found and brought back to his home. It’s a long, slow recovery as he attempts, with the help of Thomas, to remember his former life, and solve the mystery of who tried to have him killed and why.

This book is pretty smooth sailing as far as the romance goes. These two like each other, aren’t afraid to tell each other so, they find each other again and while Edward doesn’t exactly remember Thomas, they start on sexy times right away. Which may or may not squick you out, but I was fine with that. There is some mystery as to the reason for the attack but everything is solved rather speedily. A perfectly easy, quick read that has some nice love scenes and won’t cause too much angst for the reader.

3 pieces of eye candy

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Count the Shells by Charlie Cochrane: Blog Tour, Exclusive Guest Post, and Giveaway

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Michael Gray returned from World War One injured, but at least he returned. Others were not so fortunate, including his first and greatest love, Thomas Carter-Clemence, with whom Michael had parted bitterly before the conflict began.

Broch, the Carter-Clemence home in Porthkennack, was an integral part of pre-war holidays for the Grays, the two families drawn together in the wake of their sons’ friendship. Returning to the once-beloved Cornish coast for a break with his sister and her family, Michael has to find the courage to face old memories . . . and dare new relationships.

When Thomas’s brother Harry makes an unexpected appearance, Michael is surprised to find himself deeply attracted to Harry for his own sake. But as their relationship heats up, it unearths startling revelations and bitter truths. Michael must decide whether Harry is the answer to his prayers or the last straw to break an old soldier’s back.​

Amazon

Riptide Publishing

Kobo Books

 

Count the Shells is the story which completely astounded its author in the telling. I had no idea when I sat down to write it that the straightforward historical romance I’d envisaged would turn out to have a plot twist which transformed the story into possibly the best tale I’ve ever crafted.

 

The Great War – where do I start to research it?

If you were to say to me, “Charlie, old thing, I’m interested in finding out more about World War One. Where should I begin?” I’d respond, “Whatever you do, don’t start with a history text book!” Not unless you’re really interested in what battle took place where and which regiments were involved or which governments did what and when. That may be precisely your cup of tea, but I can’t say it’s mine. For me, the bigger picture is just the setting for the characters, and those details are only relevant when they impact on part of an individual’s life story. It’s the people who interest me: what they did, the experiences they lived through, and the effect these things had on them.

When it comes to finding those things out, there are a wealth of resources and some of the very best get as close to the source material as possible. All history is clearly seen at one or more removes, and as it reaches us it’ll have gone through one or more filters, as people relate the things they want us to hear and which support whichever view they’re taking. You have to remember this with whatever material you look at or listen to, but the fewer steps between you and the “eye witness”, the better.

So, here are some of my top resources:

  • War poetry. All of it from the jingoistic to the deeply cynical, and other poems written by notable poets of the era. (When we studied Wilfred Owen at school, nobody mentioned his homoerotic works, some of which are stunning and which put a new context on his more famous war poetry.)
  • The “Voices from…” series of books which uses testimonies from men and woman who lived/fought/sailed/flew in the era. The detais this provides is staggering.
  • Biographies, but not just of the big political or military names of the era. There are some great books about army chaplains, ordinary soldiers, even real war horses!
  • Diaries, letters, artwork from the era. One of the most moving books I’ve read is “Scrimgeour’s Scribbling Diary” which are the wartime writings (made strictly against protocol) of a midshipman. The abrupt end of entries is the most poignant reminder of the terrible loss of young lives.

 

About Porthkennack

Welcome to Porthkennack, a charming Cornish seaside town with a long and sometimes sinister history. Legend says King Arthur’s Black Knight built the fort on the headland here, and it’s a certainty that the town was founded on the proceeds of smuggling, piracy on the high seas, and the deliberate wrecking of cargo ships on the rocky shore. Nowadays it draws in the tourists with sunshine and surfing, but locals know that the ghosts of its Gothic past are never far below the surface.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by five award-winning, best-selling British LGBTQ romance authors: Alex Beecroft, Joanna Chambers, Charlie Cochrane, Garrett Leigh, and JL Merrow. Follow Porthkennack and its inhabitants through the centuries and through the full rainbow spectrum with historical and contemporary stand-alone titles.

Check out Porthkennack! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/universe/porthkennack

 

As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.

Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.

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To celebrate the release of Count the Shells, one lucky winner will receive a goodie bag from Charlie Cochrane, including postcards (new and vintage), a recipe book, bookmark, pencils, a fridge magnet and various other doodahs! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 21, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

 

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