Caitlin Ricci's Blog, page 12

MM Good Book Reviews gave Almost Paradise 4/5!

The original review is on Goodreads here along with MM Good Book Reviews here.




Liam is running an errand for his Alpha when the scent of a man gets his attention. Even without his shifter senses, he can tell the other man is down on his luck. But, being a shifter he is keenly aware that the other man is just as attracted, if not a tad leery of Liam. But attraction isn’t enough to make Travis accept Liam’s invitation to lunch. Fortunately, Travis’s daughter, Hannah, has no reservation about getting to know Liam better.


I’m not sure how Almost Paradise is going to be received. I personally loved it. There was enough of a break from the same ole same ole paranormal shifter stories that flow through my inbox that I was hooked from the beginning. There’s enough back-story to hook me, but enough left unsaid for me to look forward to the next book. And as I know that Book 2 is about the Alpha, who came off like Don Corleone, I can’t wait to see how he redeems himself. Not to mention the Alpha’s sister, who is a rather scary woman.


Anyway, back to this book. We are introduced to Liam first and I wasn’t sure if I was even going to like him. I got that his position was similar to a traditional pack’s beta, but because of the dynamics, he came off as more of a mob errand boy. But, as he interacted with Travis and Hannah, he shifted, in my mind, from paid lacky to more like Tony Soprano. And not just his character, but all the shifters. They have a clannish elitism that just reminded me of New York mafia family. Which might not mean anything to you, but I’ve always found authoritative men with an air of mystery uber hot. The fact that he’s all about the pack and family only made him that much sexier.


And as much as I loved Liam, I loved Travis more. He’s been through hell, trying to retain custody of his daughter. Now that everything is pretty much settled, he’s broke and unemployed, yet trying to maintain some level of normalcy for his child. Sue me, but I’m a sucker for real daddies. And, as much as he wants Liam, he is no pushover. He makes Liam work for their mating bond, like a first-rate trial attorney.


I really applaud Ms. Ricci for creating a shifter world that is both interesting and different. I look forward to reading Samson’s story and getting to know Liam, Travis and Hannah more in the future. I’m recommending this title to readers who believe that men can handle a bit of courtship, patient shifters and far-sighted little girls.

Out in the Rockies Blog Hop

Welcome to the Out in the Rockies Blog Hop! 
For those of you just tuning in or needing a little reminder, eight Colorado M/M authors are teaming up to bring you excerpts, interviews, flash fiction, free books and a $120 gift card to Amazon or All Romance Ebooks. Comment on this post to continue on in the hop. 
Now I'm handing this day over to George Seaton. Enjoy!
Thank you so much for having me over, Caitlain. The little snippet I've provided is from an un-edited WIP entitled, "Saving Skylar Hand." This is a story--that I'm hoping my publisher will look kindly upon--about two boys from west-central Texas cow country, one of whom forsakes college for the land and the critters of his daddy's ranch,  while the other heads off to matriculate at Texas A&M. They grew up best friends, discovered their mutual societally unacceptable sexual identity together, and now find themselves living their chosen fate. It is also a story about family, and familial interactions that cannot help but affect a young man's life journey. In some ways, this story harks back to my novel, "Big Diehl - The Road Home." Some have wondered where the sequel is to "Big Diehl..." Well, all I can say is that it's coming. Slow but sure. To thank our readers for peeking in on us, I'd like to offer a free copy of either "The Loss of Innocence Store" or "The Palisade." to one of them in the electronic format of their choosing. Guess I'll put all the comments in a hat and choose one. Again, thanks for having me, Caitlain.
George Seatonhttp://georgeseatonauthor.blogspot.com/

Chapter Five - Karma

Skylar didn’t see Pete. Didn’t matter. Pete was just about good for nothing except
company. Skylar didn’t really want company right now. Felt a weight, oppressive and dark,
hanging just out of reach above his head. Replayed the morning’s image of Cody Pinnt spread-
ass and rock hard, moaning with the pleasure of receiving his dick up his ass as the distinctly
cum-smell aroma of pancakes browning on the griddle wafted into his bedroom from the kitchen.
He didn’t know why, but there was a sadness to the image he couldn’t really explain. Maybe
he just missed Cody. Maybe he just missed fucking—and the vice versa of it—now that Cody
was gone. Hell, maybe he just missed having some other goddamned thing in his life besides the
mess he’d gotten himself into.

Skylar stared at the John Deere, its green and yellow paint job now as faded as its
utility. “You fucking piece of shit,” he said, knowing he’d have to pamper the sonofabitch long
enough to get him, a load of steel posts, barbed wire, and implements for fence mending to the
northernmost edge of the Iron Hand. “Fucking, sucking piece of shit,” he repeated,
understanding that if he hadn’t been feeling oppressed right now he’d probably talk sweetly to
damned thing. Believed there was merit to some notion he’d heard talked about before he’d left
high school. Karma was what they’d called it. Even though it was some my-shit-don’t-stink kid
who wore Dockers to school—for Christ’s sake!—and whose daddy owned the feedlot who’d
brought it up, it did make a little sense. The kid had actually applied it to hunting rifles that, if
you stroked them just right up and down the barrel and talked to them with respect they’d shoot
all the more straight and true. The kid had said it worked the same for anything: cars,
lawnmowers, blenders. “Maybe even cows,” he’d said, but wasn’t completely sure about that.
Karma, it was. Skylar didn’t know, hadn’t been told that good karma contributed to a nice
outcome for the next life he might live—maybe born to the owner of a feedlot who’d dress him
in a brushed cotton and wool blend of trousers. As it was, he just knew karma was something
that soothed the soul of machinery…or rifles, maybe cows.

He’d lost his ire, didn’t even kick the tires. He gently sat himself upon the ragtag seat
held together with duct tape and gently turned the key. Gave it a little gas. Goddamned thing
fired on the first try. “Karmalicious,” he said without even thinking about where that had come
from. He’d touched the soul of the John Deere.

Here's the full schedule for the Out in the Rockies Blog Hop

June 11: Marie SextonJune 12: Coffee and Porn in the MorningJune 13: Cryselle’s BookshelfJune 14: Edward KendrickJune 15: Cryselle’s Bookshelf, reduxJune 16: P.D. SingerJune 17: Caitlin RicciJune 18: Michelle L. MontgomeryJune 19: Amara’s PlaceJune 20: Brannan BlackJune 21: Joyfully JayJune 22: George SeatonJune 23: Live Your Life, Buy the BookJune 24: Carter QuinnJune 25: Top 2 Bottom Reviews
Tomorrow we're hopping over to Michelle L. Montgomery's site where I'll be a guest.  See you there!

Yes!

Almost Paradise is listed as number 3 on Silver Publishing's Best Seller list! Yes!

Release Day!

Almost Paradise is officially out! This whole experience has been amazing. I giggle over my cover every time I see it and I hope those of you who have read it, are reading it or will be reading it enjoy it. Thank you all for your support, your kind words and the comments and notes that I've received telling me how much you like the book. I love an appreciate each and every one of them. Thank you!

Tomorrow the Out in the Rockies Blog Hop continues here on my blog and I'm hosting George Seaton whose book, The Card, came out today! Congrats to him on his release day!

Almost Paradise!

My book comes out in less than two hours! For some of you it may already be out. Some of you may be reading it right now. And the review for Almost Paradise along with my interview should be up on MM Good Book Reviews sometime this weekend. The ladies were great to work with and this experience just keeps getting better and better.

And in case you've missed it- Buy here from Silver Publishing

As more reviews start coming in, I'll post them. If you have a review site and did not receive a copy of Almost Paradise to review and would like one- please let me know. I'd be happy to send you one.

The Little Crow

This is my free read that was posted on Cryselle's Bookshelf in case anyone missed it. I had a blast writing this story and got the idea for it from Michele L. Montgomery's cover for her new release of Dammit! 


Detective Jamison Landry crept quietly through the ransacked house on Lightwood Terrace. The smell of incense was thick in the air and he had to consciously hold his breath to keep from choking on the sweet stench. Behind him he heard the other members of his team struggling with it as well. They’d been sitting on the house for weeks and finally had the search warrant  to go in and seize was Jamison was sure would be a large cache of illegal drugs hidden somewhere in the nineteen fifties ranch style house.

The dirty linoleum creaked under his boots as he and the team moved into the kitchen. Surveillance had told him that the upper portion of the house was hardly ever used and that the people taking up residence in what had at one time been a nice home spent much of their time in the basement. He hated basements, hated that feeling of being exposed and bottlenecked as he went down the stairs to invade people in their holes. But when no one had come to the door after he’d banged, yelling that they had a search warrant and would be coming in, he had gotten a sick feeling that their search would lead to this.

His gaze caught on an occult symbol in front of the closed basement door, nothing that he was familiar with but the dark rust stain was something he was more than acquainted with, and not by choice. He bent down, shifting the pistol to his holster for just a moment as he took a scraping of the dried blood just in front of his blood. It was old, the stain clear on the floor even after he’d bagged a small sample of it and the bitter smell of iron had long since left the substance. He marked the bag with a pen, balancing the small bit of plastic on his knee as he scribbled the date, location and his initials on it before shoving it and the pen back into his pocket. He took his gun in his hands again and rose to his feet. Around him the team seemed anxious, some even bouncing on the balls of their feet as he slowly pulled the door open.

He shouted that he was entering the basement a second before he and his team rushed down the stairs, guns up and ready to fire at anyone who happened to get in their way. What he met in the brightly lit cement room though was far different than anything he had expected as the acrid smell of sulfur assaulted his nose and tightened his throat. He’d raided meth labs, crack houses and people growing pot in their bathtubs and he’d never once expected to find the large circle of people dressed in bright red robes, sitting cross legged on the floor as they held hands and chanted in low voices. In front of them was a row of white candles, all lit and in front of that row of dancing flames stood large object covered in black cloth.

Jamison couldn’t tell what it was, wasn’t even sure he wanted to know as he stood dumbfounded with the rest of his team, his gaze fixed on the circle of people that seemed to be in a trance.

Then one of them looked up, his eyes slowly focusing on the small group of intruders with their guns drawn on them. He shouted and broke apart as he tried to make a run for it. His actions spurred Jamison out of his own startled daze as he tackled the man rushing at him. With practiced movements that he could do in his sleep, the man was quickly put on his stomach, his hands handcuffed behind him and then sat up against the concrete wall. Jamison wasn’t as gentle as he could have been but the safety of his team mattered more to him than the robed man’s comfort as the rest of them began breaking apart. Some ran, some stood still, too in shock to do much else. Within minutes they were all handcuffed and placed against the wall, joining  the idiot that had tried to rush past him to get to the only exit.

Jamison gave each of them a critical once over. There were men, women and some teenagers, all different ages and races. None of them seemed to have anything in common except for that they each had that same occult symbol marked in what appeared to be candle wax on their foreheads.

He was about to question them about the location of the drugs when a noise behind him got his attention. He hadn’t really expected anyone to be honest about it. In his experience no one ever was. But he believed in giving people first chances to hang themselves with their own words.

Regardless, he turned toward the source of the soft shuffling sound, leaving his team facing the seated robed figures. The black blanketed object was moving. He approached it cautiously as nothing good ever seemed to be hidden under sheets and his mind even drifted to some of his favorite horror movies as he stepped closer. The toe of his boot knocked over one of the candles and he gingerly picked it up even as the murmuring began behind him.

“No! Don’t touch him!” one of the men said behind him.

“Him?” Jamison snarled as he turned to face the suddenly quiet man. Could the red faced, obviously angry person sitting across the room from him be serious? Did they really have a man under the sheet? And if so, why wasn’t he moving?

“You mustn’t go closer! He’s dangerous!” a woman screeched.

Jamison had to cough against the thick smell of sulfur that had seemed to flare up at the woman’s words. That was just his imagination playing around though. Sulfur was a chemical, it didn’t do anything in response to anyone directly. He shook his head to clear the silly thought and turned back to the sheet. With one sure movement he grabbed a handful of the worn cloth and yanked it down and away, tossing it clear of the disrupted circle of candles.

“Holy fuck....” one of his team said from behind him.

He forced himself to swallow back his own curses as he stared down at the bound figure of a man in front of him. The dark haired, pale skinned body in front of him seemed to have gone still as he was exposed. Jamison knelt down next to him, quickly assessing his condition and having to bite his tongue as he fully saw why the man hadn’t moved under the sheet. He had a wrap around his mouth made of hard leather that connected to the chains around his wrists and then attached to a hook buried deep in the cement.

Though he was unable to speak, the man’s eyes told him plenty as he turned his head slightly to look at Jamison. He was furious as he narrowed his gaze on him. Jamison had to look away first. Something about his eyes, the red circle rimming them like fire, had gotten to him.

When he looked back the man was still looking at him but some of the anger had seemed to dissipate along with the smell of sulfur. “Easy,” Jamison said as he quickly undid the chains. He could hear the people yelling at him to stop, to not let him go, that he was dangerous. He ignored him the best he could as he unwound the chains. He touched the man as little as possible but each touch still sent warm electricity through his fingertips. He did his best to ignore that sensation as well as the chains fell away and he reached behind the man’s head, the soft strands of his dark hair teasing his hands as he undid the mask that had kept him from speaking.

Freed, the man rose to his feet and Jamison found his nose only inches from the tattoo of a crow that flew against the man’s navel. Though his mouth was dry he swallowed thickly as he followed the trail of the intricate tattoo until the bird’s tail feathers disappeared under the waist of the man’s jeans.

“Mal,” the man introduced himself, his voice hoarse as he stared down at Jamison.

“Demon! You shall not escape!” a man cried out from against the wall.

Jamison didn’t pay them any attention as stood up next to Mal.

“You’ve freed me,” he said as Jamison took a step back, giving him some space. For being held captive he
looked to be in remarkably good condition. Jamison let his gaze roam over Mal’s muscular arms and defined stomach. He licked his lips, realizing a second too late that Mal had caught the movement.

Mal smiled at him. “You wish a kiss for your reward?”

Jamison’s mouth fell open as he felt the heat rise in his cheeks. “Uh...”

Mal’s hand was impossibly warm as he cupped his cheek. Seared and not minding one bit, Jamison leaned into that touch. It’d been so long since someone had been affectionate with him. He heard his team shuffling around behind him, waiting for orders, but he couldn’t be bothered with them as the fire in Mal’s eyes seemed to dance with his smile as he leaned forward.

Jamison met him halfway, maybe even more than halfway, his lips open and ready for this man’s kiss. He’d never been so obvious, so reckless before in his life and he’d certainly never made it known to the department that he was gay.

And yet, as the warmth of Mal’s mouth opened for his searching tongue and his arms came up to grip Jamison’s shoulders, something about it felt right. Mal pulled back first, leaving the taste of warm spices on Jamison’s lips.

Suddenly wary and uncertain Jamison looked up to find the ring of fire nearly consuming Mal’s dark gaze. What had he done? He was in the middle of a drug raid and he’d kissed a man that these crazy people in robes were holding prisoner. His captain would have his badge. He’d be suspended. Terms like unprofessional actions unbecoming of an officer would be thrown at him.

“You stupid man! You can’t imagine the gravity of what you’ve done!” one of the crazies yelled at him.

Mal moved in front of him, facing the long row of people. Jamison watched in shock as they quickly quieted, dropping their gazes from him.

“You are a pure soul,” Mal whispered to him, almost as if he was in awe. “You couldn’t have freed me otherwise.”

Jamison had no idea what the man meant. He hadn’t been considered pure since high school. “Yeah right,” he said. He took a breath and forced himself to think. “Let’s get you to the hospital. You need to get checked out.” The reminder of work helped as he stepped away. “Mark, start leading the suspects up and make sure they’re all read their rights. Three of you stay down here with me and help search for the narcotics.”

Mal spun on his heel, the motion more graceful than what Jamison would expect his big body able to produce, as he turned to face Jamison. “If I tell you where they are, will you give me another kiss?”

Jamison wasn’t sure he heard right. “You... wha...”

Mal’s smile spread until Jamison could see the faintest points of the man’s white teeth. “The drugs for a kiss. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Jamison felt himself nod before his brain had fully caught up to what was going on.

Gleefully Mal clapped his hands together and seemed to skip on bare feet over to a pile of cardboard boxes stacked neatly in the corner. With one swift kick the empty boxes fell noisily to the floor and plastic wrapped parcels quickly followed in their wake.

Mal was back in front of him before the last one had hit the ground. “I’ll take my kiss now,” he said as his mouth descended on Jamison’s, his warmth engulfing him as Jamison moaned against his lips.

Cryselle's Bookshelf: Flash Fiction for the Blog Hop from Caitlin Ricci

Cryselle's Bookshelf: Flash Fiction for the Blog Hop from Caitlin Ricci

My flash fiction for the Out in the Rockies Blog Hop is up now on Cryselle's Bookshelf. It was a fun little story to write and Michele has been encouraging me to continue it into something larger so we'll have to see if it makes it into the WIPs section.

First review of Almost Paradise

The original review from Valentina Heart can be found on Goodreads here 


This review was originally written for Hearts on Fire Reviews and can also be found there. 


Almost Paradise drew me in with its interesting cover and intriguing blurb. Most of us, when we see the main character is a parent, jump right into the story, and lately we just hope for the best. This one also has shifters and financial trouble that in my experience tends to make things interesting, so I pretty much had to read it.


As the blurb says, Travis has been through a lot as he fought for the custody of his daughter, and after two years, with no money to his name and no place to stay, he still has his daughter in his arms. When looking for a job he meets Liam, a Shifter who sees something appealing in the desperate father and offers him a chance he needed.


This is a sweet and short story with one of the cutest kids I’ve read about. Hannah is just adorable and fit into the book much better than the two main characters. Liam came off as cold and bossy for the bigger part of the story. His pushy attitude and the lack of any background made it hard for me to know him let alone like him. But Travis seemed a rather nice man in the beginning. Dedicated father who only wanted what was best for his daughter and who needed some loving. He disappointed me toward the end, where this story sort of lost any romantic tone it had for me and turned into a business arrangement.


I could have swallowed the lack of sex, something I do look forward to in m/m romance, if the actual relationship between the two characters ended up being strong enough to keep me interested. How that didn’t happen and the ending seemed more like a beginning of something greater, I’m left to wonder if the sequel will continue this story or move on to the other men in Pine Hollow. After all, they are Pine Hollow Wolves.


I liked the charming side of this book I don’t stumble upon often enough and while the characterization and the plot needed some work I do hold high hopes for this author’s future work.

Silver Publishing's Free Friday E-Book is.... Almost Paradise!

Enter here for a chance to win a copy of Almost Paradise. Each week Silver Publishing gives away a free e-book so enter often for a chance to win lots of great books!

Also, MM Good Book Reviews  has read Almost Paradise. I won't know their review for a few more days but I'm sitting here, anxious and excited to find out what they thought.

It's less than a week now until my book comes out. Of course I'm excited. Lots of things are happening right now and I'm looking forward to all of them.

Out in the Rockies Blog Hop Schedule

June 11: Marie SextonJune 12: Coffee and Porn in the MorningJune 13: Cryselle’s BookshelfJune 14: Edward KendrickJune 15: Cryselle’s Bookshelf, reduxJune 16: P.D. SingerJune 17: Caitlin RicciJune 18: Michelle L. MontgomeryJune 19: Amara’s PlaceJune 20: Brannan BlackJune 21: Joyfully JayJune 22: George SeatonJune 23: Live Your Life, Buy the BookJune 24: Carter QuinnJune 25: Top 2 Bottom Reviews♥♥♥Participating authors:George SeatonCarter QuinnMichelle L. MontgomeryP.D. SingerBrannan BlackEdward KendrickCaitlin RicciMarie Sexton