Erica Pike's Blog, page 5

Hot in Fall Winner

The winner of the Hot in Fall Blog Hop is Pam! I've contacted you about your prize :)

Cold Hands: Very Sweet and Touching.

Cold Hands received a 4-star review from The Romance Reviews. Here's a snippet:
"As much as Casper wasn't ready to forgive, neither was Jaime. He knew what he had done and was therefore very patient and understanding. He was willing to wait for Casper to be ready to move further in the relationship, or not. He was also okay with things staying the way they were, as long as he was able to be with Casper. It was all very sweet and touching and I loved every minute of it."
Thank you, Breann at The Romance Reviews :)

Black Hurricane: Party Boy Who Doesn't Believe in Love.

Embry Carlysle gave Black Hurricane 5 stars along with a very flattering review. Here's a snippet:
"This book far exceeds my expectations. She has given the good time party boy who doesn't believe in love a story that made me laugh and cry. I also wanted to seriously punch his lights out from time to time. Erica Pike has shown a vulnerable side to Jazz that I never dreamed he possessed. I am so blown away by this book that it will be on my re-read list forever [...]"
Thank you, Embry ^.^

Black Hurricane: Marvelously Entertaining, Emotional and Heart-Tugging.

Black Hurricane has been reviewed by The Romance Reviews. It received 5 stars and a wonderful review. Here's a snippet: 
"...just having Jazz telling the story is powerful and Erica Pike manages so effortlessly to do the wonderful character building of all the other players in the story. Dean of course is someone we get to know really well, then Eric, Alex, Cal-Al, Benji and many others are so wonderfully drawn and each have their own personality to add to this marvelously entertaining, emotional and heart-tugging story."
Thank you, Susan Mac Nicol at The Romance Reviews :)

Looking for the Hot in Fall blog hop? Here's a direct link :)

Black Hurricane: "Beautiful character driven story."

Black Hurricane received 4.5 peas from Mrs. Condit & Friends Read Books along with a stunning review :) Here are snippets:
"When I read the blurb for Black Hurricane, I thought, “Oh great! Another rocker-dun-me-wrong book!” Boy, was I wrong! Erica Pike has taken that old plot bunny and blown it clear out of the water!!"
"This is a beautiful character driven story, with a smooth plot flow. Erica has given us characters that are vivid, three dimensional, and that are anything but your stereotypical rock star or jilted lover. Even the secondary characters are solid, with all the unique quirks that make us individuals."
Thank you, Pattycakes ^.^

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Looking for the Hot in Fall blog hop? Here's the direct link :)

Black Hurricane: 2013 Rainbow Awards Finalist!

Wow, what a pleasant surprise when I checked my Facebook notifications today. Black Hurricane is now a finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards among other fantastic books. It's in the Gay Contemporary Romance category. Here's a special shout-out to my buddies Cherie Noel, Z. Allora, Clancy Nacht and Thursday Euclid who also made it to the finals ^.^
Black Hurricane is already a winner after having come this far. Thousand hugs to the judges :)

Hot In Fall Blog Hop (M/M Hop)

I'm going to keep this short, because you have other m/m authors to visit ;) You want to know what's hot this fall? These covers made by Scarlet Tie Designs:
Twenty-three year old Jasper Jones fell in love with Dean McQueen at fourteen, but after a disastrous relationship, Jazz would like nothing better than to see the rock star choke on his own vomit.
After a catastrophic reunion, Dean seems bent on destroying Jazz’s life. It all started when an impromptu bar performance ended up on YouTube and Jazz became an internet sensation overnight. The name “Jazdean” keeps popping up in headlines and the paparazzi stalk his every move. To make matters worse, Jazz is about to end up on the streets for the second time in his life. 
In a desperate attempt to keep his home, Jazz signs a deal with Dean’s band, Black Hurricane, to perform at a couple of concerts. It feels like one of Dean’s feeble attempts to get Jazz back, but painted into a corner like he is, Jazz has no choice.
Available at MLR Press, All Romance eBooks, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Kobo.
For weeks, college student Casper has been the victim of sail-by goosing and groping. The problem is that Casper would very much like to get more than groped by those wonderful, big, hot hands. With a journal full of clues, he sets out to discover who his mystery groper is. He may, however, be in serious trouble once he discovers the ominous identity.
Hot Hands focuses on the effects of high school bullying for being gay.
FREE on All Romance eBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, B&N, and Goodreads.
And then there are these below. If you leave a comment and a way for me to reach you, you might win a copy of one of these bestsellers:
“Hot-Hands” and Casper have been dating for a month, but their relationship is about as smooth as shattered glass. It doesn't help that Hot-Hands is racked with guilt over his high school bullying of Casper, or that Casper darts away whenever his boyfriend gets a little too frisky.
Desperate to hang onto Casper, Hot-Hands tries to earn back the trust he destroyed years ago, so they can face their disastrous past and have a chance at a happy future.
Cold Hands focuses on high school bullying for being gay. This is the sequel to Hot Hands and contains big spoilers if read first.
When College professor Daniel Corrigan was brutally kicked out of his home after revealing his true sexuality to his wife, he had to make a whole new life for himself. For the first time in two years Daniels main heartache isn't the none-existent relationship with his two kids, but the fact that the grade-A-sex deal with his student Troy Anderson is about to expire. After a whole semester of office fun, Troy has managed to squeeze his way into the core of Daniels soul. Daniel, however, is positive hes nothing more to Troy but a teacher who can modify a grade.
Grade-A-Sex Deal focuses on depression after ostracism.
Short and scrawny college student Harley Santos has a strange relationship with the guy on the other side of his bedroom wall. For weeks, the two have been masturbating to each other’s voices, but they have never met in person. In fact, he doesn't know a single thing about his wall-mate except that he looks and sounds incredibly hot.
When Harley’s roommate, Ryan, is asked on a date by one of his neighbors, Harley is devastated that his wall-mate mistook not-hot Harley for super-hot Ryan. Helping Harley through his heartache is Tasha Novokov, the other neighbor, who is tall, dark, and impossibly handsome.
The Walls Have Ears focuses on insecurities of first-time dating: Is the guy I like gay or straight?
College student Coby is being stalked by a young guy and has no idea why until someone suggests that the stalker may have a crush on him. The idea both excites and terrifies Coby, who is so deep in the closet he can barely manage to think the word “gay” without freaking out.
Little Stalker focuses on the deep, dark closet and internal homophobia.
When arts student Kyler Morris applies for membership to The Nova Britannia Brotherhood, he's immediately floored by their intimidating leader, Hunter Kingsley. Fellow arts student Hunter, however, isn't the bad-ass he's made out to be and takes Kyler under his wing.
While Kyler struggles to keep his crush under control and his sexuality hidden from the Brothers, Hunter battles daemons of his own in the form of two Brothers who aren't playing by the rules.
Welcome Brother focuses on acceptance in college and gay bashing.
Here are the other m/m authors taking part in this blog hop :) 

Six-Pack Winners

Thank you, all, for participating in the Sick-Pack Stud-A-Thon Giveaway :) I've drawn the winner and he/she is...
Jbst!!
Congrats ^.^ I will contact you.

Little Stalker and Welcome, Brother Reviewed

Little Stalker and Welcome, Brother have been reviewed by The Romance Reviews :) Both received four stars and great reviews. Here are snippets:
Welcome, Brother:"Kyler and Hunter were very cute together. I loved reading about their blossoming relationship that, really, wasn't sexual at all in the beginning. They were truly just friends who enjoyed each other's company before any romance began."

"LITTLE STALKER is a very emotional read. This series has been so light and fun that I didn't expect to get teary-eyed, but I did. Some things came out about Grayson that were terribly sad, and since he's so darn loveable, it made it all the more heartbreaking to read about."
Thank you, Breann at The Romance Reviews :)

Six-Pack Stud-A-Thon Hop

Well, there's a plethora of sexy guys in gay romances and a lot of not one but TWO (or three, or four, etc.) great male models end up on our covers. Some get their heads cut off and their bodies are shown off, but I prefer the heads on IF I can find a model that looks similar enough to my characters. It can take me hours upon hours to find the right models for these covers (my publisher lets me be a part of the selection process because I'm so fussy about the covers). I often start looking even before I send my manuscript to a publisher.
I have a huge crush on the guy on my first novel-cover (Adam). I mean, he's just gorgeous. He also cost way more than the other stock photos I could have chosen from, but I was adamant about using this one (my poor publisher...). In my head, he looks exactly like this even before I found this picture:

Jesse, in this cover, is just a body. A weird body (kind of looks like someone took a bite out of his side - probably Adam in one of their heated moments ;)), but the back turned to Adam has to do with the story.
I'm also in love with artwork made by Zathyn Priest at The Scarlet Tie Designs. He made all the covers for my College Fun and Gays books and most were pre-made, meaning I had no say in them (those are usually his best!).  (Hot Hands is free on All Romance eBooks)
In fact, I'm offering up an e-copy of A Life Without You AND one of my College Fun and Gays books (you can read about them here). All you need to do is comment below with a way for me to reach you to be entered into the drawing pot. 

There's more! To enter the grand prize draw, you'll have to use the below Rafflecopter. If you want to be included in my personal contest, then you'll have to make a comment to this post - using the Rafflecopter has nothing to do with my prize. This is what's up for grabs in the grand prize:

*Sigh* Just look at them...
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the others taking part in this hop :)