Posts Tagged With: Riptide Publishing

Book Review: Two Man Station by Lisa Henry

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Two Man Station
Author: Lisa Henry
Series: Emergency Services #1
Heroes: Gio Valeri/Jason Quinn
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 273 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 22, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Gio Valeri is a big city police officer who’s been transferred to the small outback town of Richmond with his professional reputation in tatters. His transfer is a punishment, and Gio just wants to keep his head down and survive the next two years. No more mistakes. No more complications.

Except Gio isn’t counting on Jason Quinn.

Jason Quinn, officer in charge of Richmond Station, is a single dad struggling with balancing the demands of shift work with the challenges of raising his son. The last thing he needs is a new senior constable with a history of destroying other people’s careers. But like it or not, Jason has to work with Gio.

In a remote two man station hours away from the next town, Gio and Jason have to learn to trust and rely on each another. Close quarters and a growing attraction mean that the lines between professional and personal are blurring. And even in Richmond, being a copper can be dangerous enough without risking their hearts as well.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Author Q&A: L.A. Witt + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Please welcome L.A. Witt to The Blogger Girls! For readers who haven’t read Anchor Point, tell them a little about it. Can Going Overboard be read as a standalone or would you recommend readers start at the beginning of the series?

Anchor Point is an 8-book series set in a fictional Oregon town – Anchor Point – which is home to NAS Adams, a naval air station. The stories are loosely tied together by the setting and by characters who appear in multiple books, but each book can absolutely be read as a standalone.

Tell us a little about the characters, what are they like? How do they differ from the other characters in Anchor Point?

Chris and Dalton are in their mid-30s, a couple of Navy coxswains who are trying like hell to hold onto their careers. They both need to get promoted this year, or else they’re done. They’re also best friends, and though Dalton is out and proud, Chris is closeted, even from Dalton (well, for now).

Most of the other couples in Anchor Point have either been May-December or 40+. These guys are a little younger (well, older than Brent and Sean, the Mays of their respective May-December relationships), and they’ve got an established friendship. Their relationship is a little smoother sailing too; the story’s conflict largely revolves around their careers and an attempt cover up an accident that nearly killed Dalton, and their relationship being used against them. So it’s a bit less angsty in that respect than the other books (though not completely angst-free, don’t worry!).

What’s your favorite scene of the series so far?

Oh man. One scene? I’m a sucker for Black Moments and reconciliation scenes anyway, so for this series, (and without giving any spoilers) I’d have to say the Black Moment in Chief’s Mess and the reconciliation scene in Once Burned. Also the hot wing challenge in Rank & File. Just because. And the first kiss in Going Overboard. And….SEE?? I can’t pick ONE!!

You’re writing in quite a few series right now, is it hard keeping them all separate or do you find yourself mixing characters/storylines sometimes?

Not really. My characters/worlds stay pretty separate in my head. To me it’s kind of like following multiple TV shows—I can keep all the characters/plots etc., from Lucifer and Chicago PD from blurring together. Same goes for my own characters and stories. It does make my dreams a little weird, though…

How do you decide what book to write next?

Whatever is on a deadline takes priority, but if there’s a plot bunny refusing to be ignored, it’ll get bumped to the top of the list too, which means I’m usually working on at least two books simultaneously.

And add to that, what else do you have coming out soon and what are you currently working on? 

The next two Anchor Point books are coming soon – Once Burned in April and Wash Out in May. After that, my Cruising trilogy – Adrift, Ashore, and Afloat – will be out this summer. That one is kind of a fluffy contemporary trilogy about two dudes who meet on vacation. There are also some co-writes in the works, but no dates for those yet. Stay tuned!

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , | 15 Comments

Book Review: Going Overboard by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Going Overboard
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Anchor Point #5
Heroes: Dalton/Chris
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 259 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: February 5, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Second-class petty officers Dalton Taylor and Chris Ingram have been best friends since coxswain’s school. Now they’re stationed together in the harbor patrol unit of NAS Adams. They’re content as friends, but secretly, they both ache for more. Neither makes a move, though; while Dalton is out and proud, Chris is closeted—even from his best friend.

Then another coxswain’s negligence nearly drowns Dalton. After a taste of how easily they could lose each other, neither man can keep his feelings hidden anymore, and it turns out love and sex come easy when you’re falling for your best friend.

Things aren’t just heating up between the friends-turned-lovers, though. The Navy is investigating the accident, and the harbor patrol chief isn’t going to let his star coxswain go down for dereliction of duty, even if saving him means throwing Dalton under the bus.

As the threats and gaslighting pile up, Chris and Dalton need each other more than ever—as shipmates, friends, and lovers. But if their chief prevails, the only way they can save their careers is to let each other go.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Wet Heat by R.D. Hero

Reviewed by Morgan

Title: Wet Heat
Author: R.D. Hero
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Heroes: Cain/Lee
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 2 Hours, 41 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 2, 2018
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Most omega werewolves want a mate and pups, but Lee Aung prefers an unconventional party-boy lifestyle. Yet at forty-two, he’s stopped going into heat, which means he’s expired goods—no longer a fertile, young omega that alpha wolves drool over. So Lee uses Wet Heat, a synthetic pheromone, to reel in the alpha hookups.

After losing his job at the bank, Lee can’t afford to keep up his Wet Heat habit. His solution: scam free samples by pretending to be a happily mated test subject at Wet Heat headquarters. There, Lee spends two years being interviewed by the reserved alpha scientist, Cain, who at thirty-two is unmated and—up until this point—content with that.

Cain never really felt his alpha instincts, nor took part in the usual alpha/beta/omega social dynamics. But after discovering that Lee has been lying about his unmated status for two years, Cain finally admits that for the first time, he wants to court an omega. Unfortunately, he’s picked the one omega who doesn’t want to be courted.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Author Q&A: Cordelia Kingsbridge + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Thanks for checking out the blog tour for Trick Roller, the second book in the Seven of Spades series!

We rejoin Levi and Dominic three months after the events of Kill Game. Although most of Las Vegas believes the Seven of Spades is dead, our two heroes know better. It’s only a matter of time until the killer resurfaces…

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Please welcome Cordelia Kingsbridge to The Blogger Girls! Tell us a little about yourself, what prompted you to start writing?

I actually got my start writing Harry Potter fanfiction! After many years in the fandom, I decided to branch out and try my hand at original fiction as well. I created a new pseudonym, distinct from my fandom identity – it’s always been important to me to keep the two separate – and began publishing an original WIP called Close Protection on sites like LiveJournal and Fiction Press.

Close Protection took off pretty quickly, and after that, I focused all my creative energy on original fiction. I wrote five original novels online, posting at a rate of a chapter per week, for years before I landed my first professional publishing contract with Riptide. Those early novels have been removed from the internet now, but I look back fondly on those times!

Tell us a little about the Seven of Spades series, how did you get the idea?

The Seven of Spades series started with the final line of the first book in the series, Kill Game. That line struck me out of nowhere and sunk its claws into me so deeply I couldn’t shake it. From there, I developed the Seven of Spades’ identity and motivation before any other element of the series, including the protagonists. Once I had established who the Seven of Spades was and why they behave the way they do, the rest of the concept for the series kind of unfolded organically.

What made you want to create a series out of it instead of one or two books?

The Seven of Spades’ story – as well as the story of Levi and Dominic’s relationship – could never have been told in only one book. In fact, I knew from the very beginning that the story I wanted to tell would require exactly five books.

I plot all of my novels using a classic three-act structure. That’s true for the books in the Seven of Spades series as well, but I also used a three-act structure to form a framework for the series as a whole. Each book in the series plays a specific role within that structure: Kill Game is Act I. You’ve got your setup, the inciting incident, and the first major turning point that forces the protagonists into a brand new world. Trick Roller is the first half of Act II – the protagonists are making progress and things seem to be going well. Then comes Cash Plays, the midpoint climax, the point in every narrative arc where things start going off the rails. This leads into One-Eyed Royals, the second half of Act II, where the problems get thornier, the stakes grow ever-higher, and the consequences for failure are increasingly dire, until the story barrels headlong into A Chip and a Chair, the climactic finale.

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? If so, did you base certain aspects of the story on the Sin City or did you create your own places for your series?

Unfortunately, I’ve never been to Las Vegas! As such, the series has required a ton of research, as I do include plenty of real-world settings. In Trick Roller, for example, the characters visit places like The Mirage and The Fremont Street Experience. Resources like Google Earth have proven invaluable!

The Seven of Spades series also includes several locations of my own invention, however – such as Stingray, the LGBT nightclub where Dominic bartends, and McBride Investigations, the elite PI firm introduced in Trick Roller.

Explain Trick Roller in five words or less!

Badass couple hunts criminals!

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , | 18 Comments

Book Review: Trick Roller by Cordelia Kingsbridge

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Trick Roller
Author: Cordelia Kingsbridge
Series: Seven of Spades #2
Heroes: Levi/Dominic
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 299In Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 29, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  It’s the height of summer in Las Vegas. Everyone believes the serial killer Seven of Spades is dead—except Levi Abrams and Dominic Russo—and it’s back to business as usual. For Levi, that means investigating a suspicious overdose at the Mirage that looks like the work of a high-class call girl, while Dominic pursues a tough internship with a local private investigator. The one bright spot for both of them is their blossoming relationship.

But things aren’t so simple. Soon Levi is sucked into a dangerous web of secrets and lies, even as his obsession with the Seven of Spades intensifies. Dominic knows that Levi isn’t crazy. He knows the Seven of Spades is still out there, and he’ll do anything to prove it. But Dominic has his own demons to battle, and he may be fighting a losing war.

One thing is certain: the Seven of Spades holds all the cards. It won’t be long before they show their hand.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Author Q&A: Cari Z. & L.A. Witt + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Please welcome Cari Z. & L.A. Witt to The Blogger Girls!! Tell us about the Bad Behavior series, where are you getting the inspiration for each book?

Cari: The Bad Behavior series is romantic suspense, with an emphasis on suspense and police procedure. There aren’t a lot of hot and heavy moments, but we managed to find time to develop the relationship in between the cases. The cases themselves are totally different in each book, which was part of the fun of it. We kind of picked a crime and then built the plot around it—for example, the first book deal with taking down police corruption, the second one has a serial killer, the third one is a kidnapping. It helped keep things interesting for us.

L.A.: What Cari said. And we did still want the romance, but we didn’t want their jobs to take a backseat to their relationship because it just doesn’t work that way with cops. Especially when they’re in the middle of a major case. So we started with the crimes, and let the relationship between the guys – both professional and romantic – develop alongside the cases they were working. Which means getting interrupted at inopportune moments, and stealing fleeting moments whenever they can. Which in turn frustrates the hell out of everyone, so color me happy. Hehehe

Is it hard co-writing a series? Does the process take longer or is quicker than writing alone?

Cari: It was so easy to write with Lori! That hasn’t been the case with, well, any of my other co-authors, but this collaboration was just kismet, as far as I’m concerned. Lori is a pro at working with others, and very adaptable, so I knew I was in good hands, so to speak. And for me it was a LOT faster than writing alone.

L.A.: Definitely not hard! Cari is amazing to work with. I love co-writing in general, and I hope to do a lot more with Cari.

Tell us a little about Romantic Behavior, what are the characters like and how have they changed since the start of the series?

Cari: Aw, this story is the sweet resolution 😊 Darren and Andreas are finally ready and able to commit to each other, and they’re serious about making it work for the long haul. It’s definitely the book with the cutest moments in it. The guys are totally in love, they rely on each other, they have no doubts (well, almost no doubts) and they’re looking forward to a happy future together. *sigh*

L.A.: I’d say Andreas has had to get his priorities straight, both regarding his family and his boyfriend. By book 4, he’s mellowed considerably across the board, and as I said, he’s gotten his priorities straight. As for the Romantic Behavior, it’s basically a chance for the characters to finally have their hard-won happy ending. That’s not to say there aren’t bumps in this one, but no one’s getting shot at or anything this time.

What’s your favorite scene from the book?

Cari: My favorite scene is either the very first one, where Darren is nervous because Andreas is acting weird, or the one where he finally loses it and tells off someone who, quite honestly, really deserved telling off at that point. It felt cathartic.

L.A.: The wedding. Definitely.

And lastly, where do you see the series going from here?

Cari: This is the end of the Bad Behavior series! It’s done, finished, fini, finito, and all the other f-words that mean the end. I’m really proud of how it’s turned out, and hopefully now that it’s done readers who were reluctant to start something without having an end in sight will feel ready to dive in.

L.A.: Yep. I’m not opposed to the boys showing up as secondary characters in other books, but their story is done. We deliberately set out to make this one a trilogy with a well-deserved extended epilogue, rather than making it go on and on. Ongoing series can be fun, but not this one. Even though I am going to miss Darren and Andreas something fierce.

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , | 13 Comments

Book Review: Romantic Behavior by L.A. Witt and Cari Z.

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Romantic Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #4
Heroes: Andreas/Darren
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 118 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 16, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Detective Andreas Ruffner is no fool—he’s found a man who loves him, puts up with him, and has stuck with him through hell and back, and it’s time to put a ring on it. Darren Corliss is the love of his life, and he wants the whole world to know it.

Now the fun part—the wedding!

Well, after the not-so-fun part of planning the wedding in between dealing with overbearing and impossible-to-please family members. With future mothers-in-law driving them both up a wall, the guest list growing out of control, and the wedding getting ever more complicated, Darren and Andreas have to wonder if they’re in over their heads.

But they’re going to make it to the altar if it kills them . . . and at this rate, it just might.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Author Q&A: Joanna Chambers + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Hello, book lovers! I’m Joanna Chambers and this is the blog tour for Tribute Act, my new romance which is book #8 in the Riptide’s Cornwall-set Porthkennack series. I’ll be sharing thoughts on writing my first full length contemporary, writing Christmas songs as an extreme form of authorly procrastination and my love of men with sad eyes. Please join me for a chance to win a copy of the book and a $25 Riptide gift card!

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Please welcome Joanna Chambers to The Blogger Girls! Tell us a little about yourself, why did you start writing?

Hi, it’s great to be here – thanks for inviting me!

I pretty much always wanted to write. My first writing endeavour was to try out for my writing badge in Brownies (UK version of girl scouts for little girls) but Brown Owl (troop leader) said my story wasn’t up to the mark! I was 7 years old – my first one-star review! That experience put me off for a while, lol, but the itch was always there. I made a real proper go of it after I had my first child. Something just clicked at that point 😊  

Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?

Oh, from all over – I have a constant flow of ideas – the challenge for me is deciding which ones to take forward. I have finite writing time and I’m not a particularly fast or prolific writer. I’m best known for my historicals and a lot of my ideas come from tiny snippets I’ve read – little serendipitous facts that I come across and that intrigue me. Also situational stuff. For example, when I signed up to write A Gathering Storm, my first Porthkennack book, I picked a character to write about (Sir Edward Fitzwilliam) that meant I had to set the book in the 1850s. I ended up researching that period in lot of detail and a lot of the plot was driven by the events and news of 1850-52.   

Why the Porthkennack series? How did you get involved with this series?

Sarah Lyons asked me and when she told me Alex Beecroft had created the universe and written a detailed story bible, I was in – that was even before I knew who the other authors were. Also, it’s set in Cornwall which is an amazing setting.

Is it hard writing in part of a series with other authors even though the stories are standalone?

I imagine it could be, but honestly, Alex’s bible was so thorough, that it was fine.

Now for the story, tells us a little about it in three sentences or less. 

Nathan and Mack meet at a nightclub and hook up for the night. They part in the morning, but less than a day later, they meet again when Mack turns unexpectedly in Porthkennack. Nathan’s a fixer by nature and when he learns more about Mack’s history, he desperately wants to fix things for him, but to do that, he has to overcome Mack’s fear of intimacy.

How does it differ from the other stories in the series?

It’s probably a bit more standalone than some of the other stories in the series as the main characters are all new characters.

And lastly, what else do you have coming out soon or what are you currently working on?

I’ve been plate-spinning a few drafts recently but my new year’s resolution was to put everything else aside and work on my main project, which is a pair of werewolf books with historical settings. I’m wildly in love with this project right now!

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , | 22 Comments

Author Q&A: Layla Reyne + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

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

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Please welcome Layla Reyne to The Blogger Girls! Tell us a little about yourself, what prompted you to start writing?

I wanted better endings. The first time I gave writing serious consideration was twelfth grade, when I wrote an epilogue to Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse. Presumptuous as hell, I know, but I didn’t like the ending. That trend continued as I dove into writing fanfiction. I was not waiting nine seasons for Mulder and Scully to get together. Ditto Damon and Elena. Now in my original fiction, I write romances where everyone finds love and happiness at the end of their journey. Those are the better endings I want.

Are you a plotter or do you fly by the seat of your pants for ideas?

Plotter. I have to be for the romantic suspense series that I write; the structure also helps with contemporary romance. If there’s not enough structure, I fret that the story is too plotless, regardless of the subgenre. I also adhere pretty strictly to a plotting diagram that follows three act structure. I used to write screenplays, and I watch A LOT of TV, so that flow and pacing is familiar for my brain.

How did you come up with your characters’ names?

Cantu is a nod to my best friend who helped me brainstorm the series. Alejandro is a personal favorite. As for the rest, I’ve been known to raid my phone contacts list for combinations, snag a name off my twitter timeline, or pull names from street signs 😉

How did you get the idea for the Changing Lanes series?

My best friend and I were on our way back from a baby shower (my idea of hell), and she basically talked me down by forcing me to brainstorm this duology. I knew I wanted to do a sports romance, and that I wanted to play with my favorite tropes – second chance romance and enemies-to-lovers for book one, a bit of an age gap and friends-to-lovers for book two. I also wanted to feature a sport that’s not as commonly written about. Thankfully, there are a lot of swimmers in my life, including said best friend.

And last question, describe Relay in three words or less!

Can I have four words, please?! Because it’s perfect… Swim Your Heart Out!

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments