Honorary Blogger Post

Blog Tour Serial: That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe (part 3) by Rhys Ford + Giveaway!

Posted on September 13, 2016 by thebloggergirls

That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe (part 3)

by Rhys Ford

Thank you for following the Mad Lizard Mambo tour. My name’s Rhys Ford and well, we’re going back to the first character I wrote for this genre, Kai Gracen.

When I first began to write seriously, I went with an urban fantasy featuring a bisexual elfin character named Kai Gracen. The first book was Black Dog Blues and to make a long story short, DSP Publications approached me about publishing it after I’d self-pubbed it following my publishing a few books with Dreamspinner. DSP Publications hadn’t started yet but it suited their catalog and well, it’s a Dreamspinner Imprint so of course I was on board.

Now, after a few years, I would like to introduce to you Kai’s second adventure, Mad Lizard Mambo. It takes place a little bit after Black Dog Blues and well, life’s just gotten more complicated for Kai. I hope you enjoy it as well as the three short pieces I’ve done for this tour.

The first, When Kai Fell in Love, is written a little bit after Dempsey took him in. He’s young in this section and while his Singlish isn’t great, he understands a lot of what he hears. This is two parts.

The second, When Kai Discovers He Does Not Bounce, is when he’s about in his early teens(ish) and he’s on a disaster of a hunt with Dempsey. This is in four parts.

The third, That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe, is a few months after Dempsey retired and he’s moved into his warehouse in San Diego. This is in three parts.

Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to enter the giveaway on this blog! Follow the stories as they unfold on the tour and enter to win a $20 USD Gift Certificate at the e-retailer of your choice at every stop! See below for more details.

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That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe (part 3)

The newt was huge. Larger than a lot of dragons stomping around the lava fields in Pendle pretending to be apex predators. Okay, it might not have been that big but it was certainly bigger than a standard tiger. Not one of the saber toothed ones, just a standard.

One thing for sure, the tiger would be a lot prettier.

Cave newts were somewhat see-through, mottled geckos who waddled at alarming speeds and preferred to spend their time partially submerged in muck and water. Normally, they were harmless, inedible blobs of gelatinous meat without much interaction with the human world, hibernating much of their life away.

Until they woke up and then an insane hunger drove them from their happy little mud packs and up towards the surface where they feasted on pigeons, rats, fish and the occasional bunny. It was a cyclic life of sleep, raging hunger, frenzied feeding then more sleep.

Problem was, they grew while they slept, using up their energy reserves so when they woke again, their only instinct was to consume everything in their path. And if they’d eaten something particularly large, they doubled or sometimes even tripled their size during their slumber. Continue reading →

Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT | Tags: DSP Publications, Mad Lizard Mambo, Rhys Ford, Series - Kai Gracen, The Blogger Girls | 30 Comments

Honorary Blogger Joseph Lance Tonlet: Strength in Submitting + Giveaway

Posted on September 5, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Strength in Submitting

by Joseph Lance Tonlet

Merriam-Webster defines submission as:

An act of submitting to the authority or control of another

The most important word in that definition, as it applies to this article, is act. As a submissive, I believe that act of giving is a gift, and it’s something I take enormous pride in. Indeed, nothing that I can see within the definition implies something being done to me (without my consent) or being taken from me (without my consent). Additionally, there’s no implication of weakness – which is another important point.

I’m going to veer off for a bit, but I promise to return to the topic. *smiles* I don’t’ know if it applies to all authors, but the often repeated I’m a reader first, and an author second definitely rings true for me. Books are my passion, they’re my entertainment, my escape, and they’re my hobby. Throughout my life books have offered me a safe place. In my teen years they allowed me to escape a strictly religious home life and venture into worlds where being gay wasn’t an unequivocal sentence to a fiery place of damnation. Later, as an adult, they offered a level of entertainment, with their gay content, no television show or trip to the movie theatre could even come close to matching. And, now they’re the vehicle I use to tell my own naughty stories.

When I pick up a book, I’m filled with hope. The hope that I’ll meet characters I can relate to, hope that I’ll ‘see’ places I might long to visit, and hope that I’ll experience stories that will stay with me long after those dreaded The End words are read. My challenge in finding those books has grown as, over time, who I am has changed. Of most significance is my self-identification as a submissive.

Phetra H. Novak, of the review site Seduce Me With Words, said something in her review of Grif’s Toy that so matches my feelings they could’ve been my own words. I found her entire review stunningly beautiful, but I’ve placed the (paraphrased) comment which struck me hardest here:

“…[so often] the submissive is portrayed as a person who has to be convinced by the more dominant partner of what they need; like a child who needs a parent to explain why it’s important to brush their teeth. That aspect, that hint of “parent/child” behavior (for the lack of a better comparison), drives me absolutely bonkers.”

Another phrase I often hear is It takes more strength to kneel before than it does to stand over. Although I certainly appreciate the intended compliment toward submissives, I’m not sure there is more fortitude in either role. I’m not a Dominant and, therefore, I have no concept of the strength required to assume that position or mindset. However, I can surmise it’s simply a different type of courage. Neither is better, or stronger, or more valuable. In Wes’ Denial, one of the main characters, a younger Wes, is on a journey and finds himself under the tutelage of a far more experienced Dominant. Below, we join Wes, Thomas, and his sub, Henrik in a teaching moment:

“Henrik climbed onto the table and assumed a hands-and-knees position. Thomas, with a tap to Henrik’s inner thigh, silently ordered his legs wider apart and then ran a finger over Henrik’s exposed hole.

“Why are you here, Pet?”

“My sole purpose is to please you, Mirus.”

“You see, Weston, the important thing is his gift.”

I looked at him, perplexed. “His gift?”

“You said you were here to learn, is that right?”

I nodded. “Yes. Absolutely.”

“Then the first thing I’d like to share is my philosophy on The Gift. That philosophy is what everything else is based on.”

He was talking to me, looking at me, but his finger never ceased its gentle strokes over Henrik’s exposed hole.

“He gives me—all subs give us—a gift; a gift of self. He has no idea what I’m going to do to him this evening; it could be toe-curling pleasure, or pain so intense he’ll be screaming and begging me to stop. Or perhaps both.” His hand abandoned Henrik’s ass and softly ran up the man’s tight back. “Isn’t that right, Henrik?”

His muscles tensed and his torso arched slightly at the soft touch. “Yes, Thomas. I am yours to do with as you please. To use in the way which offers you the most pleasure.”

I stood slightly to their side and had a clear view of Henrik’s refined profile. “The desire to please aside, do you hope for something in particular tonight, Henrik?” I asked.

Thomas’ hand moved down his back, past the puckering hole, and gently palmed Henrik’s low hanging balls. “Yes, Wes. I do. Mirus knows exactly what pleases me. Of course I want that, desire that. But if he decides I’ll not have it then I’ll find my pleasure in knowing I’ve served him well.”

“He does this because he knows—because I’ve communicated, on the most basic level—how deeply I appreciate what he’s giving me.” Thomas steadily rolled and massaged Henrik’s nuts in his palm. “There’s no doubt in his mind how much I value him. Without their gifts, Weston, we’d be alone without an outlet. There are those who quite mistakenly judge submissives as less than, and us Doms as better than. That we, because we’re the aggressors—because we’re male and assertive—that we somehow hold a higher position, or that we’re somehow better. This can be a costly mistake. One I hope you’re never guilty of making.”

In my experience, most submissives freely relinquish control to a Dominant not because they need to, not because they seek a parental figure, and not because they are broken and require fixing. We offer the gift of kneeling because it brings us pleasure. And, we are thankful for the gift given to us when a Dominate accepts our offering. My partner and I have been married for nearly thirty years and maintain a self-styled D/s relationship. I won’t go into specifics, but like Wes and Grif, we have very distinct Vanilla and Chocolate times. Thus, when I kneel I’m not kneeling for my husband, rather I’m kneeling for my Dom. A Dom who respects me. A Dom who accepts my gifts. A Dom who offers me his gifts in return.

If you’re an author and you happen to be reading this, know I appreciate – beyond words – reading your portrayals of strong, healthy, fully fleshed out submissives. If you’re a reader and you also enjoy these types of characters, perhaps Grif and Wes might just be your thing.

Peace,
JLT
#pleasurethroughdenial blogger_bee_trans

About Wes’ Denial

23211354 Wes has spent his life looking for that one special guy who will understand and love him—all of him. From his tender vanilla side, to his darker debauched side.

Throughout high school, his successful career in the Marines, and as a BDSM Dom, he’s remained confident his partner is out there waiting to be found.

However, several events shake his normally unflappable self–assurance.

And, even after he finds Grif, will his past catch up with him and possibly drive his soul mate away?

Available at: Payhip, Amazon, Smashwords and ARE

About Joseph Lance Tonlet

JOSEPH is a born and raised Southern Californian—with a twenty-year stint of living in the Midwest. He loves the laid-back lifestyle of San Diego and considers himself lucky to live where people dream of vacationing.

A lifelong reader of m/m fiction, he began his writing career one night sitting at his MacBook and has never looked back. He writes to bring the characters he dreams about to life.

Blog_Tour_Giveaway

As part of this blog tour, Joseph is giving away several awesome prizes!! To enter, just click the link below!

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.

Don’t forget to check out JustJen’s review of Wes’ Denial to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!

Categories: Book Promo, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: Joseph Lance Tonlet, M/M, Self-Published, Series - Tease and Denial, The Blogger Girls, Wes' Denial | 6 Comments

Honorary Blogger Alicia Cameron: Inherent Cost – Behind the Scenes

Posted on August 8, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Inherent Cost – Behind the Scenes

by Alicia Cameron

Writing Inherent Cost was utterly exciting and exhausting! More than any other book I’ve written, this one has stretched out over time, location, and setting in ways that none of my other books have done. My normal book-writing process looks a little like this: get some inspiration, come up with a loose plot, write a little bit of an outline, and then start filling in, almost from beginning to end. The first book in the series, Inherent Gifts, was written from the first to last page over about four months, without ever taking a break. For Inherent Cost, the process was turned on its head. I started with a handful of scenes, written when I wrote the first two books, and put aside because they just didn’t fit yet. That handful of scenes sat, untouched, for the better part of a year before I returned to them, giving them the love they rightfully deserved. I wrote the majority of the plot for the first draft while I was at a local hospital, visiting a friend who had a mysterious growth in her stomach. I have no doubt that the medical setting influenced much of what I wrote.

As much as I loved parts of the story, there was just something “off” about it. It didn’t flow, it didn’t always make sense, and the transitions from one scene to another were sort of “blah.” Two editors and about eight hundred revisions later (okay, I think it was closer to 18, but you get the point), I am proud to say that it is “on!” If I went back in time and told my previous self that I would not only write a third book in this series, but that I would spend so long editing and refining it, I would have told me that I was out of my mind! I think current me agrees. This book has always come in leaps and bounds—my record for a single day’s word count was just over 12,000, but I’m guessing a lot of those words got cut. Normally, I write with some sort of plan; for Inherent Cost, it was more of a passionate explosion. The stories were just so alive, so vivid in my mind, and I dumped them out as quickly as possible. Even during rewrites, I would spend hours or days thinking, plotting, planning, and discarding, only to come upon a wonderful plot idea, which I would type out as quickly as my fingers could jab the keyboard.

This book, more than the others, also required a good deal of research. If anything, I needed a better understanding of politics. I had a lot of guidance from the team at ForbiddenFiction in this process, which was vital, because my last encounter with politics, government, or history was back in the tenth grade. I also spent a lot of time researching online, trying to find societies to model mine after. In the process, a lot of the social justice and disease-related elements seemed to meld into one issue, and the Ebola Virus epidemic in 2014 helped me to structure a lot of my medical thoughts. I created the “rotting disease,” loosely based on this epidemic. The public panic and the human rights offenses that were committed in the name of stopping the spread of Ebola seemed fitting, and placing it in a world where human life was already undervalued seemed the perfect opportunity to say more about the story but also about our world.

About Inherent Cost

A train wreck outside Hojer injures Jere and Wren, destroying their anniversary bliss, and thrusting them back into the dangers of their home, where slaves like Wren are treated as animals. While Jere struggles for consciousness, Wren is seized with the other slaves. When Jere comes to the rescue he is furious to find Wren kenneled, neglected, and abused.

For the last two years, Jere has been using his status as a healer to protect Wren and his second slave, Isis. Wren’s controversial fire talent is getting harder and harder to hide, Isis is desperate to escape to her family in a free state, and Jere’s compassion is making enemies of powerful slave owners. Meanwhile, upcoming elections are stirring political unrest. Jere supports a reformation that could improve the lives of Arona’s slaves by treating them in human clinics like Jere’s, instead of sending them to animal healers. But the slavers are only motivated by the threat of an untreatable infectious disease spreading inexorably towards Hojer.

The more Jere becomes involved in politics, the more his clinic and his household come under scrutiny, prompting the Arona slave regulation board to harass Jere, questioning his ability to manage his clinic, and threatening to take away Wren and Isis. The two slaves are preparing to be evaluated, when Jere stumbles upon information that could separate the three of them forever.

Available at: Fantastic Fiction Publishing

Check out what Jen’s review of Inherent Cost to see what she thought of it!

About Alicia Cameron

Alicia Cameron has been making up stories since before she can remember. After discovering erotica during a high school banned books project, she never really turned back. She lives in Denver, Colorado with two tiny dogs and a rabbit who conspire regularly to distract her from doing anything productive. By day she works in the mental health field and is passionate about youth rights and welfare. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, glitter, and punk rock concerts.

Categories: Book Promo, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: Alicia Cameron, Fantastic Fiction Publishing, Inherent Cost, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger R.J. Scott: Do You Want Another Book? + Giveaway!

Posted on July 8, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Do You Want Another Book?

by R.J. Scott

So, Montana 2 released and the emails and posts began. The end of M2, The Rancher’s Son, has an ending that intrigued (thank goodness it worked!) and I’d added at the end that the next book would be out in October 2016.

That didn’t go down so well. That was a long time, but I said that I was writing Legacy, and Sanctuary, and that Montana would happen on time.

And then I listened to the readers, to the ones who emailed me, and being an independently published author I have wiggle room in my schedule (which is planned through to Jan 2018 now – my editor is crying). So I pulled M3 forward, A Cowboy’s Home became my new focus, and the book flowed really nicely.

Only I didn’t know it was going to be quite so dark, but then, how dark could I go before offering Justin redemption.

The thing I love most about being an author – apart from the fact stories and writing are my first love outside family – is the emails I receive, or the comments in reviews.

If you love a book, tell the author. I know I do, in fact I fan girl Jordan L Hawk, Marie Sexton, Charlie Cochet, Avery Cockburn, and more! I would love to hear from you, and I promise I always reply!

Do you write to authors you like?

About A Cowboy’s Home

One burned and broken man finds his way home. Can he find peace in the arms of a man easy to love?

Justin made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, battling domestic terrorism, never the man he really was, using hate to avenge the death of his best friend. The friend he’d killed.

What he doesn’t count on is getting shot, and if he’s going to die he wants it to be on Crooked Tree soil. Home.

Sam is as much a part of Crooked Tree as any of the families, and the offer to buy into the ranch is a dream come true. But falling for a hidden, secretive, injured man isn’t the way to keep his head in the game.

Available at: Love Lane Books & Amazon blogger_bee_trans

About R.J. Scott

RJ Scott is the bestselling gay romance author of over ninety MM romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

RJ also writes MF romance under the name Rozenn Scott.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

You can check out more about RJ on her Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Library Thing, Goodreads, Pinterest or email her at rj@rjscott.co.uk.

Blog_Tour_Giveaway

As part of this blog tour, RJ is giving away a $25 Amazon or Are Giftcard, multiple Ebooks from RJ Scott’s Backlist!! To enter, just click the link below!

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Don’t forget to check out Susan65’s review of A Cowboy’s Home to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!

Categories: Book Promo, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: A Cowboy's Home, Love Lane Books, M/M, R.J. Scott, Series - Montana, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger Nalini Singh: Future of the Psy-Changeling Series + Excerpt

Posted on June 23, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Future of the Psy-Changeling Series

Is Allegiance of Honor the end of the Psy-Changeling series?

No, it’s not. 🙂 I ADORE this world and the characters and I have so many Psy-Changeling stories yet to tell. (I’ve often joked that I’ll be writing this series until I’m ninety-eight!)

Where do you see the Psy-Changeling world going from here? Who is the next book about?

(Slightly spoilery answer to follow if you’re just starting the series).

Allegiance of Honor sets up a lot of possibilities for the future. There are many avenues I could take. However, for me, this arc is all about what happens not just to the Psy, but to the world, now that Silence has fallen and all the rules have changed.

We’ve had the immediate aftermath books, both of which focused on the Psy race (Shield of Winter & Shards of Hope), but what about the wider long-term future? Because Silence existed for a reason. The Psy still have these incredible abilities that have the potential to drive them murderously insane, and the world is still a fractured triumvirate. And there are players about whom we know very little, like the falcons and BlackSea.

As for who’s book is next, I’m not ready to announce it yet because I want to be certain this character is ready – but I think you’ll be pleased. 😉

About Allegiance of Honor

26089799 A staggering transformation has put the Psy, humans, and changelings at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: old enemies, new allies, wary loners.

But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten, and it threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: a child who is both Psy…and changeling.

To find the lost and protect the vulnerable—and to save Trinity—no one can stand alone. This is a time of loyalty across divisions, of bonds woven into the heart and the soul, of heroes known and unknown standing back to back and holding the line. But is an allegiance of honor even possible with traitors lurking in their midst?

Available at: Amazon

Don’t forget to check out Nikyta’s review of Allegiance of Honor to see what she thought of it!

An Excerpt from Allegiance of Honor

Lucas had had to chase Naya around the aerie at bedtime last night—her walk might still be a little shaky, but she was a rocket when it came to crawling. Dressed only in a diaper, she’d laughed uproariously and said a loud, firm “No” each time Lucas caught her and put her in her crib.

After which she’d clamber out—she’d figured out how to escape a month earlier—and the game would begin again. Of course, since Lucas was a cat, he’d been having just as much fun as their daughter. Sascha, meanwhile, had sat in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate and just indulged in the sight of her mate playing with their cub.

She’d had to pretend to be stern when Naya ran over and pleaded her case with loud sounds and wild gesticulations of her hands. “No, Naya,” she’d said, biting her tongue in an effort not to laugh. “It’s time for bed. Go with Papa.”

At which point, Naya had growled at her, eyes sparkling with mischief.

And Sascha had cracked, laughing so hard she’d had to put down her hot chocolate before she spilled it. Lucas had shaken his head as Naya plopped down on her diaper-covered butt and joined in, clapping her hands at having made her mommy laugh. “No discipline.” Lucas had mock-growled at her before picking up their misbehaving baby. “And you”—a growly nuzzle that made Naya laugh harder and pat his stubbled cheek—“time for bed.”

He’d finally got her to sleep—by walking around with her pressed up against his bare chest.

Today, their cub was playing in the living area just outside the kitchen nook. Sascha had locked the aerie door to ensure Naya wouldn’t undo the latch and go out onto the balcony, and Lucas had childproofed the entire main area of the aerie, so Naya was free to roam as she liked. A lot of the time she practiced her walking skills. And no matter how often she fell down, she started back up again after a little break.

Stubborn, determined baby.

Peeking out from the kitchen, Sascha found her concentrating on stacking the colored alphabet blocks Faith and Vaughn had given her as a gift. Beside her sat a more than slightly ragged wolf plush toy, aka “The Toy That Shall Not Be Named.” Hawke had given that to Naya when she was a newborn, and it remained her favorite snuggle toy, much to her father’s despair.

Though Lucas did enjoy it when Naya went leopard on the toy, growling and “fighting” with the wolf. Then he’d smile and say, “That’s my girl.”

About Nalini Singh

NEW YORK TIMES AND USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a hot and wickedly tempting rock star. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.

Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. Once Rock Addiction is out, swing by the site to check out the special behind-the-scenes page, complete with photos of many of the locations used in the book.

Find Nalini online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Excerpts, Honorary Blogger Post, M/F, Published in 2016 | Tags: Allegiance of Honor, Berkley, m/f, Nalini Singh, Series - Psy-Changeling, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Blog Tour Serial: Applejack Shots and Beer (Part 6) by Rhys Ford + Giveaway!

Posted on June 18, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Thank you all for following the Absinthe of Malice blog tour! This is the fifth novel in the series and well, is a different kind of book. This is a beginning of sorts, a resurrection for most of the band members and the first step in a journey they will take together. Miki, Damie, Forest and Rafe in a van. Together. Cross-country and playing their hearts and souls out.

With a bit of trouble and love along the way.

I hope you enjoy it and like Applejack Shots and Beer, the story I’ll be telling across the blog tour.

OH! And the giveaway! Because we always need a giveaway. And there will be ONE winner for EVERY blog tour stop!

Scroll below to find out how to enter to win!

See you on the Other Side.

Applejack Shots and Beer

Part Six

Sliding around in my dreams

Your inky black kiss

Staining my life

With something I’ll never miss

You pushed yourself into me

Down deep into my soul

Wish I could dig you out

Burn you till I’m whole

— Ink Black Kiss Continue reading →

Categories: Book Promo, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Special Treat | Tags: Absinthe of Malice, Applejack Shots and Beer, Free Story, Rhys Ford, The Blogger Girls | 53 Comments

Honorary Blogger Marie Lark: Small Towns + Excerpt & Giveaway!

Posted on June 15, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Small Towns

by Marie Lark

Hello, and thank you so much for hosting me, Blogger Girls! I’m excited to be in such good company and to gab a little bit about my newest book, The First Morning After! This is my fourth release and my second M/M romance, and it kind of feels like coming home. While I love ALL the love stories, there’s something about M/M that calls me back—and I think it’s how playing with the dynamic between two men allows for a new look at many of the tropes and archetypes that feel so worn in and comfortable in het romance. In this case, the small town.

The First Morning After is set in the tiny, fictional town of Peach Blossom, PA—a farming community with a motel, a fire department, plenty of churches, baseball, and not much else. For the heroes of the book, Danny Rojas and Mitchel Finch, their home town means radically different things to each of them. For Mitchel, it’s his entire world, the source of his identity and validation as a person. It’s become so comfortable that it holds him back. For Danny, Peach Blossom has only ever been a prison—not just restricting, but dangerous.

I grew up in a town very similar to Peach Blossom. Peach Blossom is, in fact, modeled after my own. Like Danny, I could not wait to get out, and I enjoy urban-set romances a lot for that reason. There’s something liberating and exciting about the anonymity of the big city and finding connections amongst all the strangers buzzing in and out of view, living their own lives.

By contrast, the intimacy of the small town can be suffocating. Sure, the churches and bakeries and flower shops are charming. Everyone knows everyone and is invested in everyone. The farms are idyllic, and the air is sweet compared to the city’s. But there’s an underbelly, too—the endless grind of the small business unable to compete with larger economic interests, depopulation, sub-par schools, and that small-town mindset that pushes away, ridicules, or rejects anyone labeled “other.”

In The First Morning After, I wanted to capture that dual sense of the small town—the simple beauty of early summer in farm country, and the closeness of the community, right alongside the forces of prejudice and ignorance that make life for so many minorities difficult, particularly LGBT kids of color. Mitchel had to hide who he was in school, but Danny didn’t have that luxury, and that shapes what kind of men they are at the start of the book, how they love, and how they expect to be loved.

I attended a rural high school with a number of students who, after graduation, came out as queer. People I’d known for twelve years and never would have guessed had identities and desires entirely secret from everyone else. There was also the gay boy who had no hope of disguising himself and who suffered for it.

The First Morning After is the story of coming back to that pressure cooker for a weekend, having the courage to confront your past, confess your feelings, and discover what had been hidden there the whole time—ugliness and beauty and hope all together.

About The First Morning After

ml_thefirstmorningafter For as long as he can remember, Danny Rojas has wanted All-Star first baseman, Mitchel Finch. And he could swear that in high school, Mitchel was interested, too. But the baseball team made Danny’s life a living hell back then, and the moment he was able, he got out. Five years later at a friend’s wedding, Danny finally has the chance, and more importantly, the courage, to act on his years-long crush.

Mitchel Finch used to have it so good—a brilliant athlete with lots of friends, a gorgeous girlfriend, and a place of importance in his home town. All he had to do was play it straight. But when an injury ends his baseball career, and his best friend’s wedding reminds him of everything he lost, Mitchel jumps at the opportunity Danny gives him—a night to be honest with himself. A night to finally feel wanted for exactly who he is.

The trouble is, neither of their circumstances has changed by morning. Mitchel is still closeted, and Danny is still the town pariah. Can a connection, building for years and forged in one night, survive the first morning after?

Available at: Loose Id & Amazon

An Excerpt from The First Morning After

Danny had been sweating pretty much the whole day, but he felt almost smothered as he strode into the parking lot. Should he head straight for his room? He hadn’t given Mitchel the number. Curious looks or no, Mitchel had never said a word to keep his teammates from making Danny’s life a living hell.

If worse came to worst, he could run. Even in these shoes and pants, Danny Rojas could always run.

Walking right past his room, Danny kept his hands loose at his sides. What the hell had he been thinking making a pass at Mitchel Finch Jr.? No boost of confidence fueled by righteous fury at the injustices of his youth could justify that kind of foolishness. His mother had raised him better than that. His mother had tried to teach him to disappear, and this was the opposite of disappearing. Even though Mitchel himself had never taken part in any of the team’s cruelty, that didn’t mean he—

Danny rounded the corner of the building to find Mitchel standing in the shadows, leaning against the bricks like something out of a movie. He glanced up at Danny’s arrival, straightened from the wall when Danny walked right past him.

“What’re you—”

“Just checking something,” Danny called as he jogged to the back of the building and peered down the line of rooms. No Clarks lurked there either, with or without bats. When he turned back around, Mitchel had his hands shoved deep in his suit pockets and his shoulders hunched. Danny slowed his approach until they stood a few paces apart. The nighttime breeze blew dust and grit across the parking lot, and Mitchel appeared to be dug in. He’d made the first move. The ball was in Danny’s court.

“You still in, Fincher?” Danny asked, throat dry for the amount of liquid in his stomach.

Mitchel shook his head, and Danny exhaled sharply, unsure if he should be relieved or disappointed.

“Don’t call me Fincher,” Mitchel said. “That’s my old man’s name.”

“All right.” He said it like a question.

“And, yeah, let’s do this. Last thing I want’s one of Liza’s twenty-eight cousins running into us at the ice machine.” He glanced around, expecting a different kind of audience than Danny had.

“You bet.” Danny tilted his head toward the rooms on the front side, working with everything he had to maintain his cool. “I’m in 7, right here on the end.”

Mitchel gestured for him to lead the way, so Danny went. He dug in his pocket for the room key and tried not to tense up at the feeling of Mitchel at his back. Hands still shaking a little, Danny managed to turn the key in the lock and let them into the drab little motel room. He flipped on the light and jumped when Mitchel shut and bolted the door behind them.

They both shed their jackets, and in the dim orange light of the room, Danny could see where Mitchel’s dress shirt was damp with sweat. Mitchel eyed the queen-size bed with what looked like skepticism, as if he couldn’t believe what they were about to do. Danny himself was having trouble picturing the two of them on it—without clothes, just skin and breath and friction.

“I’m gonna—” He nodded toward the bathroom and escaped there, though he left the door open as he ran the sink and rooted through his shaving kit for the strip of condoms and lube he’d packed. When he’d found them, he washed his hands. Then, spotting Mitchel in the mirror, he shut off the faucet and turned to face him.

“I’m not reading this wrong, right?” Mitchel leaned his shoulder into the door jam. “You weren’t thinkin’ we’d just catch up on local gossip.”

When Danny shook his head, Mitchel came the rest of the way into the bathroom. Danny shuffled back a half step and bumped up against the sink counter. “Well, I would like to do that, but I think we should fuck first. This was your idea though, so. Whatever you want.” His pulse skyrocketed as he said it. He was stalling, of course, to make space for the full realization, Mitchel Finch picked me up at his best friend’s wedding. Seeing Mitchel in the doorway put the fire of adrenalin in his veins. He looked Mitchel right in the face and dared him to make the first move.

Mitchel looked Danny up and down where he stood at the sink—let his gaze linger in a way he never quite had in school. “College was good to you, Rojas. You look good.” He came a step closer, his eyes stuck about waist-level—right where Danny’s cock had begun to chub up under Mitchel’s scrutiny. Christ, all Danny had ever wanted was for Mitchel to look at him like this.

“Thanks for noticing. You know you’re still fucking gorgeous.” Even in a suit that looked like it had belonged to his dad when he was twenty years younger and thirty pounds lighter.

Mitchel smiled like he did know but hadn’t heard it in a while. He licked his lips, pinched the bottom one gently between his teeth, and closed the last few inches between them, sliding one foot between Danny’s. “How long you been sweet on me, anyway?” Bracing his hands on either side of Danny’s hips, Mitchel boxed him in. They were the same height now, and Danny felt like he’d always wanted Mitchel Finch.

“Since I learned what dicks were for,” he answered. “Watched you play ball in middle school and wanted to get you all flustered behind the bleachers. I’d’ve had no idea what to do, but that’s what I wanted.”

Mitchel breathed in sharply and made a quiet, desperate-sounding noise before he grabbed Danny’s elbows and squeezed. The fierceness of Mitchel’s grip startled Danny enough that he instinctively drew back. He’d taught himself not to do that once he’d left home for college, but being back in Peach Blossom, every bit of muscle memory had returned. Mitchel dug his fingers into the meat of Danny’s triceps, dragged his shirt sleeves up, and just—he just looked at Danny for a minute.

Luckily, Mitchel didn’t seem to notice Danny’s flinch. “You know what to do now?” Mitchel asked, gaze stuck on Danny’s mouth.

“Yeah, I do.” He wet his parched lips. “Do you?”

Mitchel huffed an unhappy laugh. “You’d be surprised what I know.” Then he leaned in and kissed him.

It…wasn’t a nice kiss. Mitchel pressed into him until he was bent back over the counter, until all he could do was grab hold of Mitchel to keep from falling backward into the sink. Mitchel clutched at him, hands clumsily groping up his arms to his shoulders, closing briefly around his throat, and slipping down to his waist. Danny tried to keep from closing his eyes so he wouldn’t miss a moment of Mitchel’s desperate touches, but when Mitchel bit a trail of kisses from his mouth to his collarbone, he couldn’t keep from tipping his head back and groaning.

“Yeah.” Mitchel kneaded his hands at Danny’s waist. “Want me to fuck you? Get inside you, make you feel it?”

The heat in those words shook him to his bones, and Danny slouched against the sink a little as his knees turned to soup. “You think I’m gonna say no to that, Mitchel Finch?”

He couldn’t help superimposing the carefree, gifted kid Mitchel had been over this version of him—still handsome as hell but edged with bitterness. Whiskey instead of Coke. And apparently well past the sidelong-looking stage of his interest in guys. Maybe he hadn’t been saving himself this whole time for a straight best friend.

Mitchel’s hands tightened on his waist a moment before he spun him around and pushed him against the sink. He grabbed both Danny’s hands and braced them on the counter as Danny grunted his surprise, scrambling to fit himself in the narrow space Mitchel left for him.

Gaze lifting to their reflection, a part of him was prepared for Mitchel in a Sharp Shin’s uniform, but that warped, false memory flickered and died when Mitchel bent his head and bit a kiss over the first bump of Danny’s spine. Nerve endings fired all down his shoulders and back, and he shivered hard, breathing out a laugh.

“Jesus. You want—right here?”

Mitchel nodded without breaking the kiss. He rolled his hips, the shape of his cock thick and obvious against Danny’s ass. Thick, obvious, and yet somehow more than Danny could comprehend after so many years of imagining it. He watched them in the mirror, reached back when Mitchel finally let one of his hands free, and rubbed his palm through soft, sand-colored hair. Fucking against a motel bathroom sink might not be the most romantic way of acting on his years-long crush, but the way Mitchel touched him, put him where he wanted, Danny didn’t think this was about romance or tenderness.

Well, that was all right. Danny wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway.

About Marie Lark

Marie Lark is a part-time teacher and rest-of-the-time writer. She lives in New York with her very respectable husband and tiny dog. She writes contemporary New Adult and LGBTQ romance, but loves love stories of all kinds. Romance is like kung fu—it’s in everything. Jackie Chan said that, right?

Find out more about Marie at her Website, Twitter or Facebook.

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Marie has graciously offered up an eBook copy of The First Morning After to one lucky winner!! The giveaway starts now and ends June 21st, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. To enter, just click the link below!

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Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway, except to verify your Rafflecopter entry.

Don’t forget to check out Susan65’s review of The First Morning After to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!

Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: Loose Id, Marie Lark, The Blogger Girls, The First Morning After | 13 Comments

Honorary Blogger A.J. Truman: 5 Movies That Inspired Out on a Limb

Posted on April 18, 2016 by thebloggergirls

5 Movies That Inspired Out on a Limb

by A.J. Truman

I’m a movie lover. Always have been. Even though I love reading, I probably love movies a little bit more. Many of my bursts of inspiration come from watching movies. I’ll be sitting there, gorging myself on popcorn, getting sucked into this very specific world, and wondering how I can bring these characters and scenarios into my orbit. From there, my mind will wander and brainstorm away.

For Out on a Limb, four movies in particular inspired me. Now, it’s a long road from watching a movie and getting inspired to finished book. These films may have provided some sparks, but from there, it took the hard work of writing and figuring out my characters to get this book completed.

1) Trainwreck. I had had an idea for Out on a Limb for a little bit, but this movie kicked it into overdrive. It helped give birth to Cameron’s personality. Amy, the titular Trainwreck, parties and drinks and sleeps around without shame. That is, until she meets the upstanding good guy Aaron. That’s how I pictured Cameron and Walker. Cameron was a loveable trainwreck. Like many college students, he was proudly into partying and casual sex. He didn’t believe in relationships, and Walker was the upstanding, uptight good guy who made him reconsider. That contrast motivated the tension and humor in the book.

2) Big Daddy. What would freak Cameron out the most? A little kid. I loved in Big Daddy how Adam Sandler’s character Sonny finds his own unorthodox, immature, yet ultimately responsible way for parenting Julian. I kept coming back to their relationship when writing scenes between Cameron and Walker’s six-year-old son Hobie.

3) Overboard. I’ve seen this movie about 30,485,094 times on cable. Goldie Hawn is the heiress with amnesia who’s tricked into being the mother to Kurt Russell’s four rambunctious sons. (A concept that sounds really creepy when I write it out.) Only one scene inspired Out on a Limb, the one where Annie tells off the sons’ teacher. That stayed in my mind for the gymnastics scene where Cameron has a similar confrontation with Hobie’s instructor. For him and Annie, we see for the first time how much they care about these kids that were total strangers to them once.

4) American Beauty. One of my favorite movies. I didn’t realize how much this inspired me until a recent rewatch. Cameron awakens Walker from the doldrums of his cubicle life in much the same way that Angela Hayes brings the fortysomething Lester Burnham back to life. Of course, Cameron and Walker have a much different, and far less creepy, relationship. And Walker’s ex does bear some similarities to Lester’s wife Carolyn, played by the incomparable Annette Bening.

5) The Devil Wears Prada. While Cameron’s adventures in LA were inspired by real life, this wonderful movie inspired his struggle between professional and personal success. He, like Andie Sachs, had to choose between an all-consuming job in an all-consuming industry and following his heart. Sadly, there is no fabulous makeover montage in Out on a Limb.

Have you ever been inspired by a movie? Share in the comments!

OUT ON A LIMB comes out April 18, 2016. Want to see what else A.J. is up to, as well as get exclusive updates on his upcoming books? Became an outsider. Sign up at ajtruman.com/outsiders.

About Out on a Limb

No looking back. That’s the motto of college senior Cameron Buckley, whether he’s kicking his latest hookup out of bed or plotting out his future as a hit screenwriter. With only a few weeks until graduation, he’s ready to put Browerton University in his rearview mirror and start the life he’s been dreaming of ever since he was a kid. But a chance meeting with a sexy stranger in a bar throws a wrench into his Hollywood plans.

For Walker Reed, no looking back is hard to do when you work minutes away from your alma mater and share child custody with your college sweetheart. Almost fifteen years after graduating from Browerton, he can’t stop wondering how he got here. He has an ex who can’t stand him, a five-year-old son he can’t connect with, and a dead-end job he can’t escape.

When Cameron and Walker first meet, they know the rules. They know their friendship has an expiration date, yet it begins changing them in ways they never expected. As graduation looms, they both know things can’t go anywhere, but they can’t keep denying the feelings pulling them closer, even as an offer from Hollywood threatens to tear them apart forever.

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and All Romance Ebooks

About A.J.

A.J. Truman remembers his college days like it was yesterday, even though it was definitely not yesterday. He writes books with humor, heart, and hot guys. What else does a story need? He loves spending time with his pets and his partner and writing on his sun porch. You can find him on Facebook, Goodreads, or at his website ajtruman.com.

Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT | Tags: A.J. Truman, Out on a Limb, Series - Browerton University, The Blogger Girls | 1 Comment

Honorary Blogger Lynn Kelling: Bringing FCI Sheridan to Life + Giveaway!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Bringing FCI Sheridan to Life

by Lynn Kelling

By far, the toughest part of writing Caged Jaye wasn’t capturing the emotionally charged moments Jaye had to live through, but the place he was forced to live in.

Writing a story almost entirely set in prison is a daunting, challenging task. I haven’t personally been to prison, though I have family members and friends who have. The particular place I needed to capture was beyond the experience of those in my circles.

Jaye is arrested in Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaskan penitentiary system is different compared to the rest of the United States. Many of their inmates are transferred down to the lower 48 because they simply don’t have the facilities in Alaska to hold them all for the full length of their terms, especially if the sentence is a long one.

One of the facilities they do actually transfer these inmates to is called FCI Sheridan. Small disclaimer: my version of FCI Sheridan is not in any way intended to be an accurate depiction of the actual place. I used its name and created its form within Caged Jaye for my own purposes. But first, I did one hell of a lot of research about it.

I combed through the websites of some of these facilities used by the Alaskan penitentiary system in order to understand their procedures, systems, laws, buildings, staff, etc. I downloaded copies of their orientation documents and read them cover to cover, taking all sorts of weird notes about the specific programs offered to the inmates, the hierarchy of the administration and staff, the organization of the facilities, the contents of the cells, what specific inmates are permitted to possess… the list goes on and on. It was wildly fascinating stuff and I highly recommend digging in yourself if you find it to be of any interest.

They get very detailed in the A&O Handbooks, one of which Jaye would have received before his arrival. Cells are to be cleaned daily – baseboards dusted, windows washed, walls cleaned of spills, shoes neatly arranged under the bed with the toes pointing outward, floors swept and mopped. Pictures are not to be attached to the walls. No cardboard is allowed in the cells. There’s a distress button located inside each cell. Television hours are from 6 a.m. until work call. Health care Rights and Responsibilities are specified (e.g.: Right #5 is you have the right to be treated with consideration, dignity and respect. Responsibility #5 is you have the responsibility to treat the staff in the same manner.)

The more I knew about the inter-workings of basic, daily things, the more Jaye’s world came alive. I tried to add in realistic detail wherever I possibly could when it added to the story, but not in a way that was overwhelming or unnecessary for the reader.

Some plot points demanded specific research into certain things. One was the utensils provided to inmates, and the carefully controlled way food trays and utensils are distributed as well as manufactured. I found information and discussions between people who have been incarcerated about a special type of brown plastic that’s used for the utensils, which will not break but only bend, so that it’s not used to create weapons.

I researched the ways contraband tattoo machines are created and the parts procured, as well as ways the supplies have been hidden from guards, and the social effects and benefits of being a tattoo artist in prison. I’m a big fan of prison documentaries, so I was fascinated to get to see some actual contraband tattoo machines built piece by piece from parts acquired through illicit barter systems.

It wasn’t just the prison facility I needed to understand. I looked into the way Jaye would have actually been processed at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and the way he would have been transferred down to Oregon.

To help me better understand the human factor of what Jaye was facing during his time served, I read the Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man’s Prison by T.J. Parsell, which is about a seventeen-year-old gay kid who is sentenced to four and a half to fifteen years in prison after attempting to rob a Photomat with a toy gun. The level of T.J.’s terror, the heartlessness of the way he was treated by the people who were supposed to be taking care of him, the danger of every moment when he was locked away with other inmates who only saw his weakness with the ravenous lust of the hopeless and cruel – it all informed my knowledge of what Jaye went through as well. Being incarcerated, especially at such a young age, is a fundamentally transformative experience. Those who come out of prison are not the same people who went in. Their ingrained survival and mistrust of everyone around them, the importance of trade, value and respect, the inability to take care of themselves in practical ways all adds up.

Some moments in our lives are more vivid than others. They stay fresh, sharp and huge in our minds, long after they’ve occurred. To do Jaye justice, and everyone like him, I knew I needed to shape all of those layers so the reader walked away with a good sense of the endurance and strength of character required just to survive with some degree of sanity and physical health in tact. Those of us who are fortunate enough to avoid doing time ourselves still owe the rest of our fellow humans at least a basic understanding of what we’re putting them through by locking them up together for large spans of their lives. I hope that by reading Caged Jaye, you’re left with a greater appreciation for the suffering of these men and women, and a desire to see their circumstances improved. They’ve more than earned it.

About Caged Jaye

51Yeh6sGLdL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_ It’s Jaye Larson’s nineteenth birthday, and all he wants is to spend time with his boyfriend, Kris, and his mother — the people he loves most, who make life worth living. But faced with his mother’s demons, the imperfections of his relationship with Kris, and dangerous, homophobic strangers, one by one, all of Jaye’s dreams are soon derailed. Plunging into a waking nightmare, shortly after going to bed alone, Jaye wakes in an alley, pinned down by two men with slow, bloody rape and murder in mind. It’s just the start of Jaye’s fight for his life, and his sanity, as time and time again, he’s forced to make impossible choices to survive, no matter what it costs.

Available at: Forbidden Fiction & Amazon blogger_bee_trans

About Lynn Kelling

Lynn Kelling began writing in order to tell stories that aren’t afraid of the dark, don’t hold anything back and always strive to be memorable, forging lasting attachments between character and reader. Her inspiration comes from taking a closer look at behaviors and ideas lurking at the fringes of life—basically anything that people may hesitate to speak of in mixed company, but everyone wonders about anyway. Her work is driven by the taboo in order to expose the humanity within it. Lynn is an artist, designer and lover of any form of creative self-expression that comes from a place of honesty and emotion, whether it’s body art or opera. She has had multiple novels published, has written over seventy works of erotic fiction of varying lengths, and always has several novels in progress.

Find out more about Lynn on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or email her at lynn@lynnkelling.com.

Blog_Tour_Giveaway

As part of this blog tour, Lynn is giving away an ebook copy of Caged Jaye to one lucky winner!! To enter, just click the link below!

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Don’t forget to check out JustJen’s review of Caged Jaye to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!

Categories: Book Promo, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: Caged Jaye, Forbidden Fiction, Lynn Kelling, The Blogger Girls | 4 Comments

Blog Tour Serial: Dirty Bits (Part Four) by Rhys Ford + Giveaway!

Posted on March 20, 2016 by thebloggergirls

I’ve written the start of this post about five times and I still don’t know what to say. Some writer, huh?

How do I put into words the whole of this journey? This series was the start for me. These characters—Cole and Jae—have taken me to places I never thought I’d go, met people I am so very thankful to have known and most importantly, enriched my life beyond measure.

So how do I say goodbye to the beginning?

I can’t. And honestly, I won’t. As this story arc ends, I am grateful for so many readers joining me along the way. I can promise that as we close out this series, Cole and Jae will be back some time in the far future. But for now, this is goodbye.

And yet a hello of sorts… to a happiness and a life these characters deserve to have.

Because God knows, I’ve run them through the ringer.

So please enjoy this final Dirty tour as I present short scenes from Jae’s POV. Many are from instances in the books and a couple are in-betweens but I tried to find places where Jae really needed to speak. I hope you enjoy them.

And a tour cannot be a tour without a giveaway! So…. Here goes.

See below for details on how you can win a $20 gift certificate from an e-tailer of your choice BUT that is not all. From these winners, I will randomly select ONE person to be a character in my other Los Angeles series, Murder and Mayhem. So hit up every blog, enter to win! ONE winner per blog!

Don’t I sound like I’m trying to sell you a used Buick? *grins*

Most of all, and please know this comes from the bottom of my heart where I keep my love for coffee and music, thank you. Thank you for reading the books and thank you for supporting me along the way. I cannot come up with the words strong and deep enough to express my gratitude.

Saranghae-yo.

Dirty Bits 4

It would have been so easy to simply fold over the edge of nuna’s balcony railing and hit the street far below. There were problems with that plan. One, I would probably end up landing on someone and killing them while living through the experience or perhaps ending up in a hospital bed for years where my mother could then come by and cluck at me. Two, nuna would feel horrible and she would never be able to go out onto the balcony again. If she didn’t ask hyung to move.

I didn’t want to be the reason nuna and hyung had to move.

It was late afternoon…maybe. I’d lost track of time. I’d lost track of so much; time… Cole…my younger sister. I could still hear her…her broken voice filled with shock and horror and the terrified look on Cole’s face when he realized the person he was hugging from behind wasn’t me.

I don’t know what startled me more… my baby sister’s horrified gasp or seeing him with his arms around her. Tiff’s disgust was hard to swallow but I’d nearly choked to death on the anger I had well up inside of me watching Cole with someone else.

“God, what am I going to do?” I rubbed at my face and my elbows scraped across the railing. The sky had no answers when I looked up at the clouds gathering overhead. My stomach was a knot, squeezing out every drop of bitterness and loathing I had in me.

There wasn’t any choice. Not really. Ha-Eun, Hyun-Shik’s mother already had me wrapped up tight with her poisonous words and hatred. I was my mother’s only support and one word from her would send my already struggling family into poverty.

“She might not say anything, dongsaeng.” Nuna came up behind me, setting a tray with glasses of iced tea onto the long table in front of the couch. Her face was a curl of worry, a line creasing the space between her eyebrows but nuna’s smooth face was as beautiful as ever. I was as envious of her serenity as I was of my sister being hugged by Cole. “Get away from there and come sit with me. We can talk through this.”

“What is there to say?” I sat but my nerves were too torn for me to settle. “Mother finds out I like men—want a man—and she will turn her back on me. Then where will she and the girls be?”

“We will help,” she replied softly. “You are all family to us. She should—”

“You and I both know, Mother won’t allow herself to be helped. Too much pride, even when her children are starving,” I cut through Scarlet’s kind words. “Tiffany’s already spoken to Aunt because she thought it would help.”

“That is like asking a cobra for a goodnight kiss to make you feel better,” Scarlet grumbled. “Ha-Eun will use this to pressure you. She cannot help it. She is that scorpion asking the frog for help across the river. With Grace in prison and Hyun-Shik dead, she has no one to manipulate.”

“Especially since Uncle refuses to live with her.” I swallowed a bit of tea, hoping the cold liquid would calm my hot stomach. “Ha-Eun told me I need to do right by the family and break it off with Cole. She’s still angry Uncle might accept Jae-Su as his son and all she wants to do is hurt my mother.”

“She is not the only one,” Scarlet said, toasting me with her glass. “I am the last person to tell you what to do with your heart, Jae-Min—”

“But you are going to anyway,” I teased.

“I have to.” She shrugged. “Because I am your nuna and I know what is like to love from behind smoked glass. Do not let go of Cole-ah. Refuse to give in to your family’s pushing at you. You deserve to be loved. You finally found someone who suits you, who loves you for everything you are and understands what you are not. No one will love you like Cole-ah does.”

“No one has ever loved me like Cole-ah,” I acquiesced. “But love doesn’t feed a family, nuna, and it won’t protect them from Ha-Eun’s anger. She is looking for something to use against Mother and she has me. I am the perfect knife to sink into my mother’s heart. And now that Tiffany told her what happened, Aunt has a perfect opportunity to tell Mother I am…” I couldn’t say the word, not out loud, not yet. “She can leave Hyun-Shik out of it and saves herself from shame while setting me on fire. Mother won’t look to you or hyung for help and Uncle isn’t ready to give money to Mother or Jae-Su. I can’t let my family starve and they will if Mother disowns me.”

I knew what I had to do. And I hated myself for it. I would be breaking Cole-ah’s heart because I couldn’t be less of a son. Nuna understood—even as she disagreed with me—I knew she understood.

“You will kill him with this, musang,” she whispered. “Are you ready to do that? Are you able to carve his heart out and kill him like his friend did to him back then?”

“He has other people—Bobby and Mike,” I protested but it was weak. I had a pain in me I couldn’t make go away and I was growing more numb with each passing second. There was salt in the tea and I wiped at my face only to find I was crying. “He won’t be alone this time, nuna.”

“That won’t make it any better, Jae-ah,” Scarlet murmured as she leaned over to dab at my cheeks with a napkin. “You are still going to break his heart and devastate his life. No friend will ever fill his soul like you do. No matter how hard you wish it.”

Follow the Dirty Bits Tour at these fantastic blog sites:

Mar 16 — Boy Meets Boy
Mar 17 — Love Bytes
Mar 18 — MM Good Book Reviews
Mar 20 — The Blogger Girls (Hey, that’s us!)
Mar 21 — It’s About The Book
Mar 22 — Sinfully Gay Romance
Mar 23 — Joyfully Jay
Mar 24 — Prism Alliance
Mar 25— The Novel Approach

About Dirty Heart

unnamed Former LAPD detective Cole McGinnis’s life nearly ended the day his police partner and best friend Ben Pirelli emptied his service weapon into Cole and his then-lover, Rick. Since Ben turned his gun on himself, Cole thought he’d never find out why Ben tried to destroy him.

Years later, Cole has stitched himself back together. Now a private investigator and in love with Jae-Min Kim, a Korean-American photographer he met on a previous case, Cole’s life is back on track—until he discovers Jeff Rollins, a disgraced cop and his first partner, has resurfaced and appears to be working on the wrong side of the law.

As much as Cole’s fought to put the past behind him, he’s soon tangled up in a web of lies, violence, and death. Jeff Rollins is not only trying to kill Cole’s loved ones, he is also scraping open old wounds and long-forgotten memories of the two men Cole loved and lost. Cole is sure Rollins knows why Ben ruined all their lives, but he isn’t looking for answers. Now Cole is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a cold-blooded killer with the key to not only his past but his future.

Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon

About Rhys Ford

unnamed-1 Rhys Ford was born and raised in Hawai’i then wandered off to see the world. After chewing through a pile of books, a lot of odd food, and a stray boyfriend or two, Rhys eventually landed in San Diego, which is a very nice place but seriously needs more rain.

Rhys admits to sharing the house with three cats of varying degrees of black fur and a ginger cairn terrorist. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, a Toshiba laptop, and an overworked red coffee maker.

Find out more about Rhys on her Blog, Facebook, Twitter or her books can be purchased, folded and first chapters read at Dreamspinner Press.

Blogger_Giveaway

As part of this blog tour, Rhys is giving away a $20 gift certificate on each blog post as well as one of the winners will be a character in the next Murder and Mayhem novel! The giveaway starts now and ends March 26, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. To enter, just click the link below!