Posts Tagged With: Less Than Three Press

Espejos by Michael War: Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway!

Blogger_Exclusive Excerpt

Exclusive Excerpt from Espejos

by Michael War

“Almost there,” the cab driver said, breaking Carlos’s train of thought. Carlos looked at the meter. It was high, but thankfully not as high as he’d thought it would be. With his funds now limited, he was counting every penny until he found his next job. 

The gate to the ranch was open, and the same sign still hung at the entrance: Arroyo Angeles. The long road to the front of house felt farther than Carlos remembered, however he just chalked that up to his anxiety. The old two-story house was also the same, though you could tell some improvements had been made here and there. There was a fresh coat of white paint on it, and the roof seemed newer.

Carlos smiled. He was glad that his mother was able to keep it up, even after his father’s passing. Though he always knew she would. The woman was warm when she needed to be, although that didn’t mean she ran her house that way. She was made of steel and was strict about how she wanted things. Outside of their longtime housekeeper Virginia, it was hard for the family to keep any of the inside help because of how tough their mom could be. She was the true essence of sugar and spice.

“Need help with your bags?” The cab driver asked.

“No, thank you. I don’t have much.”

Carlos paid him, and as much as it hurt, gave him a nice tip. The man did drive him all this way, so Carlos felt he had to thank him somehow.

Carlos climbed the steps to the main house, unsure of what he was about to face. He realized Beto wouldn’t be the friendliest of greeters, but what about the rest? Who would be behind those doors, waiting to sneer at him the moment he showed his face? The fear was overwhelming, and Carlos almost felt like running after the cab  to return home. 

As he was contemplating, a nice, cool breeze started brushing across his skin. It was a welcome relief from the blistering Texas heat that was common for the summer. Yet the odd thing was that up until that point, the air had been very dry and still. Not a cloud in the sky, or anything else that would signal such a breeze would occur. Carlos soaked it in as long as he could. He didn’t know when he would have another chance to feel this cool and calm. The small moment allowed him to relax, and he was able to gather the courage he needed to make his way up the steps and to the door.

Carlos picked up his bag and walked up, then lifted his hand to knock on the door. The doorbell was an option, but Carlos wasn’t quite ready to make his presence known just yet.  He had no control over how loud the bell would be, but he could knock as softly as he wanted. Before his hand could reach the large door with typical ranch décor, it opened.

Carlos expected to find Beto’s scowling face at the other end of it, but it wasn’t. Instead, standing in front of him was one of the most handsome, rugged men he had ever seen. Dressed in tight jeans and a plaid shirt that was unbuttoned enough to leave some of his seemingly perfect chest exposed, this man was every inch the kind of cowboy many fantasized about.

He was tall, probably around six feet two inches, broad shouldered, and with tan skin that signaled long hours in the sun. His chiseled jawline carried a smile, which was something Carlos had not expected to receive from anyone in the house.

“Hi there, you must be Carlos. I’m Eugenio. I’m one of the new ranch hands your mom hired.” Eugenio extended a large hand to Carlos, who took a second to realize it was there. He just didn’t expect to find someone so handsome and sexy opening the door for him. Carlos couldn’t recall anyone that desirable working for his parents before.

“Um, sorry, I’m a little dazed with the heat. Yes, I’m Carlos. And you are?” 

“Eugenio, like I said before.”

Carlos winced internally. He couldn’t believe he was acting so weird, and in front of Eugenio no less. The last thing he needed was for some homophobic cowboy to think Carlos found him attractive.t To be fair, if Eugenio did know about Carlos, his demeaner wasn’t expressing anything but kindness.

“That’s right, you did. I’m sorry, it’s the heat.”

“You mentioned that. I guess living up in Austin made you soft to the South Texas heat. No problem, your body will adapt again. Let’s get you out of the sun before you pass out or something worse.”

Eugenio reached for Carlos’s bag and motioned for him to walk ahead of him. Such a gentleman, Carlos thought. I could get used to this. Though it probably won’t happen again.

“Your brother is in the office. Do you remember where that is?”

“Yeah, I think so. How is he doing?”

Eugenio’s smile faded. “I’m really sorry about your loss. Your mom was a good woman. Tough but good. She always treated me with respect. Beto is taking this pretty hard. There are some things going on that he doesn’t want to share. I think it would be best if he explained it to you. I’ll take your bag up to your room. That way you can unpack and rest a bit before we eat.”

Carlos couldn’t help but smile at how nice Eugenio was being. “Thank you so much. It’s okay though, you don’t have to.” 

“Carlitos, is that you?” A voice shouted from another room. It was Virginia, the housekeeper. Footsteps could be heard running from upstairs to where they were.

“No worries, that’s what I’m here for. And it’s my pleasure too.” He stuck his hand out again, and Carlos immediately reached out to shake it. There was something about this handshake that felt different than the first one. It lingered a bit more, as if neither of them wanted to let go. Carlos could feel a certain spark emit from Eugenio’s hand and straight to his. He figured it couldn’t be what he thought. Though now the seeds of curiosity were firmly placed.

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Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2019 | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Heroes & Villains by Harper Kingsley

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Heroes & Villains
Author: Harper Kingsley
Series: Heroes & Villains #1
Heroes: Blue Ice & Darkstar
Genre: M/M Paranormal/Fantasy
Length: 130k+ words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: August 13, 2013
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: All Vereint ever wanted was to be a superhero, fight alongside the other great heroes of the city and beat down the villains that plague them. There’s just one problem: he sucks at it, at least according to the other heroes and the majority of the city. Instead of the greatness and glory of which he dreamed, Vereint spends his days alone, exhausted, and depressed.

When the mockery and derision finally go too far, Vereint decides he’s reached his limit. If he’s never going to be good enough to succeed as the hero Starburst, maybe it’s time to try the role of villain instead …
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Ge-Mi by Mell Eight

Reviewed by Nikyta

gemi400Title: Ge-Mi (Part One)
Author: Mell Eight
Heroes: Taylor & Nevada
Genre: M/M Scifi Fantasy
Length: 32k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: February 8, 2017
Available at: Less Than Three Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A hundred years ago evil scientists spliced human genes with those of animals, creating a genetic mutation passed on through the generations. Hated because of their differences, these Ge-Mis live on the fringes of society where they scrounge and scrape to get by.

Nevada is half Ge-Mi, and hides that fact behind baggy clothes and by keeping distance between himself and everyone around him. One day his peaceful life is shattered by an explosion and the arrival of a pack of wolves to sniff out the culprit. Wolves have excellent noses and as Alpha, Taylor can sniff out every one of Nevada’s secrets—and the harder Nevada tries to resist, the more difficult staying away from Taylor becomes.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Tell Me Something True by Kayla Bain-Vrba

Reviewed by Nikyta

22694467Title: Tell Me Something True
Author: Kayla Bain-Vrba
Heroes: Mikhael & Sawyer
Genre: M/M Scifi
Length: 26k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: September 3, 2014
Available at: Less Than Three PressAmazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When Mikhael is kidnapped by the very people who overran his home planet, and used as a test subject for their terrible experiments, he escapes the pain by focusing on thoughts of Sawyer, his team leader and the man Mikhael has secretly loved for years.

But when he is finally rescued by his team, a chance to return to normal life never arrives, because the testing he endured has left Mikhael permanently sick and slowly dying. Devastated, afraid of further heartache, Sawyer runs away, and Mikhael spends his rapidly dwindling time trying to find the man he loves…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Case of the Wandering Wolves by Mell Eight

Reviewed by Nikyta

thecaseofthewanderingwolves400Title: The Case of the Wandering Wolves
Author: Mell Eight
Series: Trickster’s Eye #1
Heroes: York & Latrans
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 18,000 words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: January 11, 2017
Available at: Less Than Three Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Six years ago Latrans found his mate—and had to let him go. Now York has returned pleading for Latrans’ help. His daughter has been kidnapped and Latrans is the only person York trusts to get her back. But a simple matter of rescue proves to be far more complicated than anticipated, and even having his mate at his side may not be enough to win the day.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Prince of the Moon by Megan Derr

Reviewed by Nikyta

theprinceofthemoon400Title: The Prince of the Moon (Second Edition)
Author: Megan Derr
Heroes: Solae & Millio
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 30k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: January 25, 2017
Available at: Less Than Three Press
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: All Solae wants is to be accepted and loved by the family that has always rejected him. But given it was his late mother who cursed the kingdom to eternal winter, the chances of that happening are minimal. If he can find a way to break the curse, however, surely that would be enough to change their minds regarding him.

But Solae is forbidden to practice magic because of his mother, which limits his ability to pursue solutions. Desperate for advice and new ideas, he contacts a famous curse breaker—and has no idea what to do when the man unexpectedly shows up, handsome and friendly and dangerously intriguing.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honorary Bloggers Kelly Wyre & AF Henley: The Character Discussion + Giveaway!

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The Character Discussion

by Kelly Wyre & AF Henley

Welcome to the Breaker (Exile, Volume 1) Blog Tour and Giveaway! We’re both super excited about this new release and thrilled to be able to share it with you. Throughout this tour, we’re going to be introducing many of the characters within, and associated with, Exile’s bizarre shores, as well as introducing Exile itself. Then we’re going to top that off with a quick little teaser.

However, before we get into any of that we wanted to remind you that we’ve got a couple of awesome giveaways going along with the tour so be sure to read through to the end to find out how you could win either a Silver-plated Starfish Anklet (just by leaving a single comment!), or the grand prize of a signed, print copy of Breaker, a coordinates bracelet with the Believe. Seek. Prove. reminder so you can always find your way back to the island of Exile, and a $20 gift certificate to the Less Than Three Press book market.

The Character Discussion

AF Henley: *looks up, petrified* What do you mean, “YOU start it this time?”

Kelly Wyre: I think I meant exactly that. And now I’m questioning my life choices. As usual. Ahem. HI EVERYBODY! We’re here to keep on discussing Exile: Breaker characters. Who’s up today, Henley?

AFH: Loaded question, Kelly.

KW: *eyes Henley* Hm. Do you need a second? Does today’s character just… do it for you?

AFH: Aw, Kelly. All our characters do it for me. But Mithra *is* a pretty cool one.

KW: I like her.

AFH: She does the thing… with the thing… that we wrote about.

KW: Yes. That thing. The give-the-Barrier-its-creepy-ass-vibes-thing. Mithra is one of the people who maintains the Barrier on the Island, which is the thing that helps guard it from the overly-militarized-completely-freaked-out-and-trigger-happy world. Unfortunately, it makes Eddie see the Kraken.

AFH: Damn. She’s good at what she does then.

A great big thank you to The Blogger Girls for hosting us today, and another to you for joining in on the fun. Best of luck with the giveaway and we hope you enjoyed the post!

Until next time,

Kelly Wyre and AF Henley ❤ Continue reading

Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Book Review: Breaker by Kelly Wyre and A.F. Henley

Reviewed by JustJen

32994138Title: Breaker
Authors: Kelly Wyre and A.F. Henley
Series: Exile #1
Heroes: Kaeva/Eddie
Genre: MM Paranormal/Sci-Fi
Length: 259 Pages
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  In the wake of several near-cataclysmic events, humanity created the Cure, a DNA-altering antidote to death by disease and old age. But all cures come with side effects: a small percentage of the population develops a wide range of powers, some of which are lethal to others, and some which are lethal to the wielder.

These people are called the Estranged, hunted and shunned, safe only on the Island of Exile. It is here that Kaeva and Eddie meet—and where they set a prophecy in motion, quite possibly sealing their own demise, and even the end of Exile.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Painted Crown by Megan Derr

Reviewed by Nikyta

thepaintedcrown400Title: The Painted Crown
Author: Megan Derr
Series: Unbreakable Soldiers #2
Heroes: Istari & Teverem
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 89k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: November 16, 2016
Available at: Less Than Three PressAmazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Prince Istari has spent his life reviled: his parents wish he had never been born, the royal court of Belemere avoids him for fear of angering the king, and everyone else is kept away by his notorious reputation as a deadly sharpshooter. Now a hostage of peace in Tallideth, he is subjected to their hatred as well—even that of Regent Vellem, who once considered him a comrade in arms.

Unexpected solace comes in the form of Lord Teverem, a sad, quiet lord who assumed the title when his brother was killed in the explosion for which Istari’s father is to blame. He is kind and sweet and a sorely needed bright spot in Istari’s life—until Istari meets his family and learns of a dangerous family secret with unexpected ties to Istari’s past, a secret that could drag Tallideth and Belemere right back into war…
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger Kenzie Cade: Writing Winter in the Summer

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Writing Winter in the Summer

by Kenzie Cade

Hey guys! Thanks for joining me today, and thanks to the lovely ladies here at The Blogger Girls for having me.

The beginnings of my idea for Reindeer Games came to me this past Winter, but I was already in the midst of writing Prickly Business. Then came a couple of M/M Goodreads stories and then Prickly By Nature, so actually getting this down on paper didn’t happen until July/August (mostly August because I’m really a procrastinator who tries hard not to procrastinate).  

Writing a Christmas story in the heat of summer calls for creativity, because in Arkansas in the hundred-degree heat, finding inspiration for cold and snowy and jingling bells is difficult. We all have our different ways of coping and of creating the inspiration if need be. For me, it was dropping the air conditioning down to sixty (because that’s all the cold I could take), wrapping up in a blanket, making hot cocoa, and listening to Christmas music.

Music makes up much of my means of inspiration. I love it all. So, seeing as we have hit the season where it is now acceptable, I thought I’d share with you my Reindeer Games playlist.

I have tons of favorites, but among these Straight No Chaser’s version of “12 Days of Christmas” is absolutely amazing (and really, I’ll listen to anything SNC sings). But nothing tops Leeann Womack and Harry Connick, Jr. singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Awesomeness is those two singing my all-time favorite snuggle by the fire song.

What songs do you listen to in order to get you ready for the season?

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About Reindeer Games

reindeergames400Dashing von Stride has one thing on his mind: winning the window display contest for the Miracle on Main Christmas Contest. His plans are set and ready—and then he walks into his toy store, Reindeer Games, to find a sleigh that shouldn’t be there. The mystery sleigh sparks a new plan, however, and now all Dash needs is the perfect Santa to model his display after.

This year, the pranks with his reindeer have gotten out of hand. Instead of preparing for the Big Day, Niklaus Kringle is hunting for his missing sleigh. Locating it should have been easy, but games easily won are seldom worth playing…

Available at: Less Than Three Press

Check out what Nikyta’s review of Reindeer Games to see what she thought of it!

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About Kenzie Cade

Kenzie Cade was born and raised in the South where she spends her days in the field of private medicine observing interesting people and committing them to memory for later use. When she isn’t reading, experimenting with recipes, or being distracted by social media, Kenzie spends time with her family, friends, and fur-babies who likes to keep her company while she writes. Writing to keep the fictional voices at bay, Kenzie enjoys the journeys her characters travel to find their happy endings, and she loves the challenge of writing a great love story.

Find out more about Kenzie on her Blog, Facebook, Twitter or email her at kenziecade.author@gmail.com.

 

Categories: Book Promo, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment