S.E. Harmon

The Blueprint by S.E. Harmon: Exclusive Guest Post and Excerpt

March 15, 2018 by Denise

Kelly Cannon is satisfied with his life. He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.

NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. From his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career. From his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again. From the fans. From his agent. And from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.

When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay.

It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint—it’s time to draft a new set of plans.

Title: The Blueprint
Author: S.E. Harmon
Release Date: March 13, 2018
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 270

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Dreamspinner Press

Kobo

B&N

Thank you to Two Chicks Obsessed for hosting me today and a special thanks to all of you who stopped by! I’m here to talk about my newest release, The Blueprint. And what’s a story without your main characters?

Kelly and Blue are such strong characters to me in different ways. Kelly is pretty brainy guy who worked hard to get where he is. He has an awesome family who supports him in, as it turns out, all aspects of his life, and he knows exactly how lucky he is. If he could just get Blue to love him, everything would be perfect…but that’s just a pipe dream that’ll never happen. Right?

And Blue? Well, there’s just something so raw and elemental about football, and watching those gridiron giants do their thing. When I started watching some of the day-in-the-NFL videos in preparation for writing this book, I realized there was much more to being an NFL player than touchdown celebrations and cheering fans. There was a lot of practice and sacrifice and routine and hard work. That really helped me turn Blue from just an NFL stereotype into a real person with hopes and dreams and fears of his own.

Check out The Blueprint, and let me know what you think! I hope you love these guys as much as I do. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for the sequel, Darker Blue.

Just as I was pulling up the Uber app on my phone, a hand clapped on my shoulder. I turned to find Kelly, and he didn’t look pleased. His usually full mouth was flattened into a thin line. Right then and there, under the haze of the streetlights, I realized what my problem was.

I was attracted to him.

I thought he looked kind of sexy, especially in those clothes. The close-fitting black slacks and blue button-down shirt fit his lean swimmer’s form like they were hand tailored for him. It was such a different look from his usual “I’m a cool young hipster professor” vibe.

He wasn’t the type who spent an hour in the mirror before he left the house. He knew how to turn it on when he went out, but as soon as he got back home, he’d be in a holey tee and threadbare jeans. I liked that about him.

I liked a lot of things about him. That realization made my heart beat a little faster. I wasn’t upset that I was apparently crushing on a guy. I was freaked because I was crushing on Kelly.

“What gives?” he demanded. “Why’d you run out like that?”

I didn’t want to interrupt your date. “I need to get some rest. You don’t have to call it a night just because I do. We’re not attached at the… at the….” I frowned as I tried to finish what used to be a very simple metaphor.

“Hip,” he said dryly.

“Hip,” I repeated with a snap of my fingers. And for some reason, I said it again. “Hip.”

He squinted at me for a minute. When he spoke, his voice sounded less pissed off and more concerned. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you drive like this?”

“I wasn’t going to drive. I was going to call an Ubert. Ubert.” Fucking drinks had made my tongue thick and unwieldy. I scrunched my brows and tried again slowly. “Uuuberr.”

“You sound like an alien who just discovered a new word.” He sighed. “As adorable as you are, I still need to make sure you’re okay. You don’t usually drink that much.”

No, I was most definitely not okay. When did it become okay to fantasize about kissing your best friend? Especially when that friend was a fucking dude? Was it okay to interrogate a friend on exactly how far he’d gone with someone in a bathroom? Was it okay to ask if he let Connor fuck him over that sink? I didn’t think they were in there long enough to get the deed done, but maybe they’d already done it in the stalls. Maybe he was just rubbing against Kelly’s ass and remembering how good it felt to be buried balls deep.

I knew I had to be more than a little buzzed then. Because surely I didn’t leave a bar—a bar where I had a sure thing going on with a hot girl—to worry about my best friend getting some. Surely I didn’t storm out of the building like a pissy bitch—without my keys or any real plan for getting home—when I found out he had hooked up with someone. Surely that was the very definition of drunken, crazed behavior.

“Are you ready to go?” I finally asked.

“Yeah. We come together, we leave together,” he said, and he slapped me on the shoulder.

Oh. Well, maybe I’d been stereotyping a bit. Guess that was a good policy for everyone, young or old, male or female. Whatever. I was going home with Kelly, and Connor wasn’t. That was all that seemed to matter to my inebriated brain.

He hit the unlock button and the alarm chirped, and I got in the passenger side and sank down in the seat. I leaned the bulk of my body against the door and closed my eyes. I needed to get my head on straight. I had practice in the morning, and even though it was probably going to make me hurl, that was still a very good thing. The practice, that is. Not the hurling. I’d be out on the field where I didn’t question whether I was as straight as I’d always thought, where my best friend didn’t look hot, and everything made sense.

Sounded like a plan.

S.E. Harmon has had a lifelong love affair with writing. It’s been both wonderful and rocky (they’ve divorced several times), but they always manage to come back together. She’s a native Floridian with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Fine Arts, and now splits her days between voraciously reading romance novels and squirreling away someplace to write them. Her current beta reader is a nosy American Eskimo who begrudgingly accepts payment in the form of dog biscuits.

Website: http://seharmon.weebly.com

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

P.S. I Spook You by S.E. Harmon: Release Day Review with Giveaway

June 12, 2017 by Denise

SSA Rain Christiansen used to be the agency’s golden boy. It just takes one moment of weakness, one slight, tiny, itty-bitty paranormal sighting, and all of a sudden he’s the agency’s embarrassment. His boss gives him one last chance to redeem himself—go down to Brickell Bay, play nice with the local police, and leave the ghost sightings behind. Rain is determined to do exactly that, even if it kills him.

Cold-case detective Daniel McKenna’s latest investigation is going nowhere fast. Five years earlier, high school student Amy Greene went missing after leaving her part-time job and was never seen again. Daniel is glad to finally have the FBI help that his department requested, even if it does come in the form of his ex.

It doesn’t help that Rain is pretty sure he’s falling in love with Danny all over again—if he ever stopped. Add to that the frustration of seeing ghosts at every turn while he works a case that’s stalled in its tracks, and Rain is starting to wonder if second chances and happy endings are just for fairy tales.

Title: P.S. I Spook You
Author: S.E. Harmon
Release Date: June 12, 2017
Category: Mystery/Suspense, Paranormal: Ghosts/Spirit
Pages: 256

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

Kobo Books

I seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE S.E. Harmon’s writing. I read Stay With Me the day it published, and just loved Mac’s snarky sense of humor (probably because I “might” have a very similar sense of humor). So, when I saw P.S. I Spook You was coming out, I jumped all over it, and had to force myself to wait a couple weeks to read it. And yes, I loved it.

Poor Rain (his “real” first name is awesome, btw!) is having a tough time, with his seeing ghosts and all, and being sent back home to work on a cold case with his ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile Danny doesn’t exactly welcome Rain back into his bed with open arms, seeing as Rain walked away without a backward glance.

These two men have some serious communication issues. When they don’t want to talk about something, they just use a safeword, and move on. And whatever they were about to talk about ends up in no-mans land, possibly never to be spoken of again. Finding a real trust between them takes a lot of hard work, and some proof that they both wanted to make themselves vulnerable for the other again.

The mystery is well done, and weaves its way through the book, ending in a climax that you didn’t quite see coming, but was likely how many of those types of situations end. Through it all, into the aftermath, Rain keeps his snarky sense of humor (even if it has to be kept inside sometimes).

There were a few pieces that weren’t resolved-including one involving Danny that I would have liked to see how it was dealt with. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story, but I would have liked to see the secondary storyline firmed up.

There were also a couple scenes I would have enjoyed seeing expanded, or even addressed a little further. Rain’s mother making another appearance would have been fantastic. She was amazing.

But the best part is that this book ends with the possibility of either more of Rain and Danny, as a series, or possibly as secondary characters to future stories. I’d love to see that, and seeing more of these two men, and how their relationship develops would be fantastic!

I highlighted so many snarky little comments, that picking just one was nearly impossible. However, when I looked many were in context to the story, and therefore small spoilers. So, here are two of my highlights…they are not related.

“That’s what God made heated seats for, after all. That and keeping takeout warm on the way home.”

“Anything from my mother’s wellness store was guaranteed to be suspicious, and thus, subject to search and seizure.”

4.5 pieces of eye candy

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Hidden Gems List: Books you might not have read

June 10, 2015 by Denise

We here at Two Chicks Obsessed want to take some time to spotlight Hidden Gems, as we call them. These are books (in the case of this week’s post) or authors (next week’s post) that people have recommended that are not on the “most often recommended” list. We are all aware of the authors that are recommended when you want a paranormal, or a contemporary m/m, or even historical, and we love them, too. However, these Hidden Gems are books and authors you may not have heard of before…I know many of these, I have not! We will also spotlight, with a review, or an interview, one book or author during each post, so you can have a more in depth look at it.

So take a look at all the books, give us your thoughts, let us know if you have Hidden Gems, and they may be in a future edition of Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gem Spotlight:

Saving Kane by Michele M. Rakes (AKA Mikey Rakes)

Synop

sis:

A twenty-something paramedic suffering from PTSD and a failing relationship with his high school sweetheart becomes embroiled in the tragic life of a young, gay man brutally beaten, raped, and left for dead.Kane Abel can’t help falling for his caregiver, the handsome paramedic who saves his life, but he’s resistant. The one time Kane threw caution to the wind, he was left with a wired jaw and a tracheostomy. He can’t take much more hurt. But with his attacker’s promise to return, Kane lives in a constant state of fear, and with the ever-present paramedic, arousal.Garrett Young struggles with the question of his sexuality, unable to get Kane out of his mind even as he fights against the demise of his long-time engagement with his girlfriend Amanda. Every day is complicated by his ongoing battle with PTSD and alcoholism, compounded by his fear for Kane’s life.

I won’t lie. I was afraid to read this book. Like, big spider holding you hostage in the corner of your bedroom, scared. (Yes, that was a recurring dream for me as a kid…don’t ask…) I read Fourth and Long in March, but hadn’t read Saving Kane. I heard it was a not a light read. And although not all the books I read need to be light (Fourth and Long certainly isn’t), I just kept thinking I needed to mental prepare myself to read this book. I finally did, and I’m sorry I waited so long to read it! It wasn’t a light read, that is true, very heavy subject matter, but these men grab your hearts from the word go. I definitely had built up the fear in my mind, but found it was not as frightening as I had initially thought it would be! I mean let’s face it…it has an HEA, so what was I afraid of? 🙂

I don’t know how to describe the feelings throughout this book. Anguish immediately, as you see what Kane is going through. Hope, as he recovers physically, and Garrett is by his hospital bed every night, talking to him, despite Garrett believing Kane was asleep. Love, as they try to find a way to connect with each other, despite Garrett being straight. Heartbreak as Kane is a victim once again. And pure joy as they are able to connect with their families, after they have vanquished the evil that had lain before them.

In the end, their love began as a questioned emotion by these men, neither quite sure where they stood with the other. However, where they never failed to stand, was right by each others side. They were, without a doubt, loyal to ensuring that the other was safe and healthy, as much as they could be for not being in a relationship.

As a reviewer, I feel that something being an actual re-read, not just an “I hope to re-read this again someday”, but one that will be re-read with certainty is the highest compliment I can pay an author, and deserves a five pieces of eye candy rating. Their work is such a joy, or so emotion evoking, or whatever it is that catches each reader, that you are planning into your time to re-read a book that you don’t have to read, but that you are looking forward to re-reading. This book (as well as Fourth and Long) are both “must re-reads”, without question. Five pieces of eye candy.