Talon P.S.'s Blog, page 7
March 17, 2016
COVER REVEAL – TIME: Wounds All Heal
TIME: Wounds All Heal
The Skeptic: “If all this had truly been staged, people would’ve figured it out and demanded the government come out about it.”
The Journalist: “It’s easy to fool a person— It’s quite another to convince them they’ve been fooled.”
Even with the blanket of tattoos that covered both his arms and most of his upper chest, or the face hidden under the hair that constantly fell in it, Channing Maroussas was likely the most beautiful man Chris Sayer had ever met, and he was thankful they were as close of friends as they were. As it excused him for looking. Channing was a bird of brightly lit feathers perched in a world of darkness. But his gift wasn’t just about being beautiful; it was what he could see. He could be in a room full of people, a field emptied of life, reading a newspaper, or overhearing a conversation on the bus— and what was unseen and unheard by others spoke to him. Channing saw what the rest of us never slow down long enough to notice, though once told of it our furies and passion flourish. It’s voices like Channing’s that break the silence of ignorance. His just happened to be as a journalist for TIME magazine.
Chris Sayer has known Channing for years, except Chris’s government job is so secretive he can’t even tell his best friend who he works for, which doesn’t help his disagreement for Channing’s journalistic choices on global current events. He likes it even less when he finds out Channing left for Syria to do a story. After Channing accusing the leading presidential elective, Nolan Prumpt, of infecting hate monger and fascism, a trip through the greatest hot zone on the planet was like trying to wash a pill down with poison. But when news got out that Channing had gone missing, Chris knew better than to believe the accusations that his best friend may have changed sides and was now considered an enemy of the state. The one thing Chris did know was he needed to do everything in his power to find Channing before anyone else did. If for no other reason but to let him know how he feels about him.
Time— it’s not long enough — yet with enough of it, wounds all heal.
TO THE READERS: You’re not going to like this one. In fact, you might even hate it, because its theme is going to challenge your political beliefs— it’s going to make you question who is who— make you think about things you don’t want to think about. It’s going to mess up your pretty little organizer box of uncrushed bows. You’re not going to like it because it’s easy to fool a person— quite another to convince them they’ve been fooled—
In the end it will either piss you off or open your eyes, because its story is based on factual recorded statements of key members of the US Department of Foreign Policies.
A conspiracy is out there, it’s only a conspiracy because we haven’t the evidence to connect all the dots yet.
But don’t worry, this story isn’t all about politics and conspiracies, it’s about two men and how they live and survive in all that mess we call our country and the media. And how love manages to squeeze past all of that and find them.
March 16, 2016
March 15, 2016
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – The Gladiator’s Master by Fae Sutherland and Marguerite Labbe
~ 4 Stars ~
Review of THE GLADIATOR’S MASTER, by Fae Sutherland and Marguerite Labbe
Historical Erotic Romance / M-m / Enemies-to-Friends / D-s / Violence
*purchased on Amazon.com
Reviewed by Jaycee ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com
When Roman politician Caelius inherits a stable of gladiators, there is one who captures his attention above the others…one whose eyes gleam with hate, pride and desire.
Forced into slavery by Roman greed, Gaidres can barely conceal his contempt toward his new Dominus. Gaidres has a plan: kill Caelius and end the lineage of the Roman family that enslaved him. For his plan to succeed, he must make a show of respect and obedience—even when called on to service his master’s desires.
Gaidres is shocked to learn that in the confines of his quarters, Caelius doesn’t want to dominate his slave, but to be taken by him. The sex is explosive as they break society’s taboos and, to Gaidres’s dismay, they form a tenuous relationship. Even when Caelius learns of Gaidres’s plans for revenge, he knows he can’t live without his perfect lover. Is he willing to risk it all to tame his gladiator’s heart?
While this is, admittedly, history taken with a full lick of fictional salt, it is based on a way of life that lends credence to both the tangible setting and the really well developed characters. The authors read/researched a small blurb of an historical accounting, et voila! Muses took over, the researched event became the (totally unexpected) climactic event and a really, really good historical romance was born.
Gaidres is a Thracian, brutally enslaved to the arenas by a self-indulgent Roman named Craxus; his life and all those important within it, destroyed. Craxus’ entitlement was also his downfall and Gaidres managed to dispatch him in a blind moment, vowing to do the same to Craxus’ family as was done to Gaidres’. Enter Craxus’ nephew, Caelius, to assume his uncle’s political position, his household and all the property within…including Gaidres and his fellow enslaved Gladiators.
Divulging nothing of detail, suffice it to say Caelius is not his uncle nor even close. His acknowledged political ambitions would be more palatable to him did they not necessitate the owning of human beings and the requirement to use them for sporting entertainment. Gaidres interests him, and as his Dominus, pretty much has every and all right to him. He gets what he wants, but what he wants – and needs – is unanticipated, even to Gaidres.
Apart from being so well executed that it was easy to suspend disbelief, the thing I liked most about the story was that the dangers I expected to rear their heads, based on history, never really manifest as such, and yet the things that did provide the tension, suspense and climactic events of the story, were not even on my reader-radar. And I love a “Got’cha!”
This is definitely a down-and-dirty tale, in almost every way, and while I am usually not a fan of the liberties that fiction takes with history, this one got past my OCD-meter and just let a good story flow.
THE GLADIATOR’S MASTER also received the following ratings: –
ROMANCE FACTOR ~ 4 Hearts ~
HEAT FACTOR ~ 4 Flames ~
TWIST FACTOR ~ and a little child shall lead them, ~ the Top is the bottom and the bottom is the Top and…, ~ I didn’t see that coming ~
BONUS FACTOR ~ Fiction trumps History ~
March 11, 2016
Guest Spot with Author Kayla Jameth and her latest release A TESTED LOVE
Blurb:
Lured by seductive promises, Andreas risked his life to be with Theron, only to find himself betrayed. Abandoned and alone, Andreas resigns all hope of seeing his fierce warrior again and resumes his life as a helot.
All too aware of the harsh punishment Sparta demands of men who love other men, Theron reluctantly surrenders Andreas in hopes of keeping him safe. The warrior returns to Sparta to embrace his destiny in place of the helot he has grown to see as a man, not just a slave. Cold but honorable duty will be his new lover.
Duty proves to be a jealous lover when Sparta demands the final test of Theron’s loyalty. Sent to kill Andreas, Theron must find a way to come to terms with his burning desire for his handsome helot before their forbidden love destroys them both.
Buy links:
![TestedLove[A]](http://talon-ps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/TestedLoveA.jpg)
Chapter One
Andreas’ heart pounded. Time was running out. If he didn’t find Theron quickly, he would be too late. Somewhere out there his warrior lay injured and dying.
Fearing what he might find, Andreas roamed his klēros, searching his barren holding for his missing lover. His fields stretched as far as the eye could see, blackened stubble growing hazy in the remote distance. No matter how long he walked, he couldn’t find Theron.
He tasted ashes, bitter as blood, on his tongue. Gray smudges covered his once white chiton and discolored his skin. Andreas would never be free of the stain.
Sometimes he thought he’d been wandering forever. Racing against inflexible Atropos, the daughter of night, Andreas was driven to find the kryptes before she cut Theron’s thread short with her abhorred shears.
Night was coming, that time all helots feared—something terrible fast on its heels, death in its wake. Doom now stalked them both, flashes of scarlet in the growing gloom.
He’d never stood beneath any sky without the sun to protect him, protect him from the kryptes and any other monsters roaming the lightless night.
Soon. He had to find Theron soon!
But he was frozen in place, unable to move no matter how he struggled….
Andreas sat up with a shout. He whirled, eyes searching frantically for the red-clad peril pursuing him. His breath came in choppy gasps barely audible above the thunder of blood in his ears.
The stink of soot and fear clogged his nostrils. He took a moment to recognize his surroundings in the almost nonexistent light coming from his hearth. The fire had burned down to little more than a flicker.
Untangling himself from the sodden blanket, Andreas shivered, sweat prickling his skin. He scurried to the hearth. Scrabbling for small bits of wood to add to the fire before he lost any hope of rekindling the embers, he drove a splinter under his nail. “Hades!” But he didn’t examine his finger until the scraps of kindling began to smolder. If the flame went out, he’d have to go to Petros tomorrow and beg a coal from his hearth.
He plucked the sliver free with his teeth and spat it out on the floor. Sucking on the wound, Andreas kept watch as the fire took hold. The mix of coppery blood and wood smoke drew his nightmare back from the shadows.
But unlike in his dream, while awake he didn’t fear the darkness within. The dark without held all the danger for him. Like every helot before him, he’d been taught as a child to fear the kryptes who roamed the night, slaying all helots they happened upon. A helot’s only hope lay within the walls of his home once night fell.
Unfortunately nowhere was safe for any helot who the Spartans determined must die.
The sole requirement a kryptes had to meet in delivering their fate was to remain unseen by anyone other than their victim. Their ability to come and go undetected was part of their mystique, part of what made them so terrifying.
The flames blazed up, filling the single-room hut with light. Andreas sank down to the floor, at first unsure what had brought on the nightmare when he’d gone a month or more since the last one. All those thoughts and feelings he’d refused to give life had come boiling up.
Much too late now, the dream should no longer have the strength to haunt him. Theron was long past his help.
Andreas hadn’t seen the Hekate-becursed man since he disappeared months ago.
How many nights had he sat up worrying about the bastard? How many times had he endured that nightmare? He’d woken with a shout, covered in sweat, too many times to count. And what had he gotten for all his lost sleep? Not a cursed thing.
With his endless searching, Andreas had come to know his lands better than he’d thought possible, but the warrior eluded him, whether in life or in death, he didn’t know.
Andreas chose to believe Theron yet lived. But it was long past time for his fate to matter. Theron should have returned by now if he were still alive. Either his “lover”—Andreas snorted in disgust—had died without him, or more likely he’d left Andreas behind without a second thought. If Theron was alive after all this time, he had no intention of returning. Either way Andreas would never see him again.
Once Andreas realized this, he submerged his grief as best he could. In an effort to avoid his nightmares, he’d worked himself harder than he ever had before. He spent his days tilling his fields like a madman, channeling his frustration into the uncomplaining soil until he was too tired to think of anything while he lay in his bed. Or nursing the wine Myron gave him in exchange for helping expand his vineyard. And his plan had worked, mostly.
Staring into the blaze, Andreas wondered what had driven Theron from him and kept him away. He’d left once, soon after they’d met, but Andreas thought they’d resolved Theron’s concerns about being exposed. Theron had even proposed a solution to the problem of their being together, offering to claim him as his mothônes, his companion.
Theron must have changed his mind.
“He’s never coming back.” Something broke inside Andreas, admitting that. But did he actually want to see Theron again?
Reaching for the wineskin hanging from the head of his bed, Andreas was surprised to find it missing. Glancing around the room, he discovered the half-empty skin where he must have left it on the table when he had stumbled to bed. He needed to refill the flask in the morning.
Without wasting time finding a cup, he drank straight from the wineskin. But the familiar warmth didn’t lull him back to sleep this time.
Andreas rose and paced the short distance between the hearth and his bed. The quick temper he’d inherited from his father came spilling out like one of the plagues from Pandora’s jar. He’d thought he’d stamped the last embers of that smoldering resentment out, but maybe he’d never cared about anything deeply enough to have his belief tested. He punched the mattress a fevered Theron had lain on.
Yet another way he would have disappointed his mother had she been here to see him.
For a while after his father died, Andreas had been every bit as angry as his father before him. Father had spoken out against the annual “war” the Spartans had waged on the helots, so when Andreas had railed on about his father’s death, his mother had grown fearful.
“You’re too much like your father! And what did his anger gain him? Is it not enough I have lost a husband? I will not lose my only child as well!”
Even the tears spilling down her cheeks couldn’t keep him from insisting, “But killing someone just because you can is wrong. What did Father do to deserve death?”
“Never forget we’re what the gods made us—slaves. That is our lot in life, Andreas. What we were born for. We are not, and will never be, their equals. The Spartans can do whatever they want to us. A slave’s duty is to endure. Anything else is rebellion and results in many more deaths. Do you want to be responsible for bringing destruction down on us?”
“They murdered him!”
“The Spartans are very careful to avoid murder. They declare war on us instead.”
“It’s still murder.”
“Ah… Andreas, my heart, the gods agree with them.” Then as if to forestall him, she pulled him into her arms. “It’s hubris to think you know better than the gods.”
Hubris. That ultimate of all sins. There was no answer he could make to that.
Andreas had learned to force the anger down, hiding his feelings under obedience and hard work. And the mask had served him well, until the day a thieving kryptes arrived to set his world and his hard-won composure on its ear.
Now the anger and resentment worked their way to the surface like the fires in Hephaestus’ volcanic forge, ready to spew molten fury and rain down disaster on anyone who crossed him. If Theron were here now, Andreas would be tempted to do more than just yell at the kryptes like he had in the past.
“Foresworn godless bastard! He said he’d stand by me and protect me, but where is he now?” Andreas spat. “Oaths to a helot obviously mean nothing to a kryptes. Pretty little promises to get me to do as he wished.”
As he stomped back toward the fire, Ictis darted under the table to escape his feet.
“Couldn’t even be bothered to let me know.” Another turn back to the bed. “The coward said he’d be back and then disappeared, walked off and left me, letting me think he’d died.”
Once more at the hearth, Andreas glanced down at his gods and picked up the figurine of Apollo. “I can’t believe I asked the Lord of Light to watch over a kryptes, of all people!”
Andreas clenched the clay god tight. The terracotta form dug into his palm, Apollo’s bow pricking the skin. He stared at his fist. After a moment’s hesitation, he carefully returned the likeness to his hearth before he did something unforgivable, like crush it. He didn’t dare incur Apollo’s enmity.
“Still allowing that sneaking murderer to control me. Honorless warrior!”
The fire snapped, and a handful of embers cascaded to the dirt floor. One landed on his knee, flaring amid the scent of burned hair before he hurriedly brushed the cinder away. The small red patch stung and throbbed in reproach.
No longer hiding under the table, the ferret’s black bead eyes regarded him from atop one of the stools. Andreas pursed his lips, trying to expel all the bitterness in his mouth. “What was I thinking, Ictis? Theron would come and take me away with him?”
On the next swing, he flung himself down on his bed. “I’m a fool, aren’t I? To believe there can be anything from a kryptes other than a knife in the back.” He lay there, his harsh breaths slowing. Too angry to sleep.
Ictis pounced on him. “I know you like him. I used to like him. But that lying kryptes didn’t abandon you to your fate after placing you in danger.”
CHECK OUT THE REVIEW FROM BOOKS ‘N COZY SPOT”S BOOK REVIEWS
Kayla Jameth
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Kayla.Jameth
http://kaylajameth.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/KaylaJameth
March 10, 2016
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – A Tested Love: Spartan Love Book Two by Kayla Jameth
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – A Tested Love: Spartan Love Book Two by Kayla Jameth
5 ~ Stars!
Review of ~ A TESTED LOVE by Kayla Jameth
Historical Romance / MM / Fantasy
(copy provided by author for honest review)
Reviewed by Terry ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com
Lured by seductive promises, Andreas risked his life to be with Theron, only to find himself betrayed. Abandoned and alone, Andreas resigns all hope of seeing his fierce warrior again and resumes his life as a helot.
All too aware of the harsh punishment Sparta demands of men who love other men, Theron reluctantly surrenders Andreas in hopes of keeping him safe. The warrior returns to Sparta to embrace his destiny in place of the helot he has grown to see as a man, not just a slave. Cold but honorable duty will be his new lover.
Duty proves to be a jealous lover when Sparta demands the final test of Theron’s loyalty. Sent to kill Andreas, Theron must find a way to come to terms with his burning desire for his handsome helot before their forbidden love destroys them both.
I have to say this series, Spartan Love by Kayla Jameth, is one I am so glad I have had the pleasure of picking up. This Historical or as I like to call it Ancient Romance takes us back to a time that things are simpler, but our good authors have a way of taking the simple and throwing in some evil twist. In this story Kayla Jameth shows us her evil side.
In most romance stories you can choose a favorite main character in A Tested Love I really can’t choose between Andreas and Theron. The writing and character development for both of these characters makes it impossible for me to love one more than the other. When I started to think about my review for A Tested Love I had to go to the good ole Dictionary/Thesaurus because I didn’t want to use the word angst because so many times, I feel, that word puts a not so good label on a story or characters but what I found actually worked perfectly for our main characters. In Existentialist Philosophy it means, the dread caused by man’s awareness that his future is not determined but must be freely chosen. I truly enjoyed watching Theron and Andreas realize this and it does not come easy for them because their stations in life are very well defined, set in stone as some would say.
We also get introduced to a few new secondary characters as well as get to learn more about a few from the first story. As I say a good story needs strong secondary characters in whatever part they play, to help with character development or world building. In this story they play a part in both aspects of the story. I would be amiss to not mention we get to see the gods continue to play a part in the lives or our beloved characters *crosses fingers and flick them away from me to prevent any misfortune the gods may visit upon me for calling them secondary*
I am also enjoying learning more about the ancient gods as well. In all my brushes with them in classes in Junior High and High School never once can I remember any mention of their openness of sexual partners. We were told of their frolicking and ability to love but never can I remember it being mentioned that this love also included partners of the same sex. Maybe this has changed; it has been a while since I was in those classes. Hopefully they have taken a cue from the goddess of love Aphrodite who says “Who are they to say who can or cannot be lovers?”
Whether you like Historical Romance or are looking for something new I recommend this story for both. I will say you should read A Spartan Love first and for fun don’t skip the Lexicons in both books they are a treat. There will be at least one more story for Andreas and Theron maybe more. I am also looking forward to some of our other characters getting their own stories as well.
A Tested Love releases March 11th so preorder or give it a one click you won’t be disappointed. I will give you a little teaser I did enjoy the sex between our main characters there is not a lot of it but sometimes the story does not call for it to be a worthy read. Kayla Jameth also shows her evil author side as she has included a killer sex scene that rocks Andreas world in a way he or I never saw coming.
A TESTED LOVE also received the following ratings:
ROMANCE FACTOR ~ 3 Hearts
HEAT FACTOR ~ 2 Flames
TWIST FACTOR ~ 4 for plots and jealousy
BONUS FACTOR ~ NO!, I didn’t see that coming, broken trust, a new beginning
March 8, 2016
Blog Tour – Torque by Charley Descoteaux
Release Date: February 23, 2016
Blurb:
Sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure it all out.
Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.
Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.
Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship.
But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.
Warning: Contains references to abuse, subversive ideas about sexual identity and gender expression, and a free-range bisexual on a mission.
Pages or Words: 47,337 words
Categories: Bisexual, Contemporary, Fiction, Ménage/Poly, Romance, *Trans, Asexual, LGBTQ+ Fiction
Excerpt:
Copyright © 2016 Charley Descoteaux
All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication
Mick slept on the couch for two weeks before Scott let him get dinner. Mick brought a pizza, hot wings and a six-pack. When he offered Scott a beer, Mick thought for a second he was about to get decked.
“No thanks, I don’t drink. But you go ahead.”
Mick put five bottles in the fridge and popped the top on the sixth. The long pull of rich beer felt like cool water after he’d been walking for weeks in the desert.
“Never?”
“Nope. I got enough of that before I was even born, I don’t need any more.”
It only took half a beer for Mick to get past the uncomfortable feeling he should’ve asked Scott to tell him more, or that he should’ve switched to Mountain Dew. Scott rented an On Demand movie, something forgettable with vampires, and they sat in their places on the couch and divided their attention between the movie and the pizza for the next two hours. Tom camped out in his usual spot between their thighs, graciously accepting all the chicken and pepperoni tributes offered to him.
After the movie was over they watched another one on HBO, but didn’t pay much attention to it. Mick had a nice buzz going and was happy to sit back and listen to Scott talk about his project—the VW Microbus he was converting into a flatbed. A warm, fuzzy feeling Mick almost didn’t recognize as happiness set up camp in his gut, and life was good.
He thought, more than once or twice, that Scott leaned toward him in a way that was a little more than friendly, but it had to be the beer.
Too bad.
Mick jerked in surprise when he realized he’d started to lean toward Scott. He had no right to be “more than friendly” to Scott. None at all.
Scott reached out to grasp his shoulder. “You okay, Mick?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Are you ready for bed?” Scott kneaded his shoulder, sending a current through his body.
“The movie isn’t over.”
“It’s not very good. If you don’t want to finish it, that’s okay with me.” Scott smiled and sat back against the couch, releasing Mick’s shoulder.
He couldn’t help himself, he leaned forward. Only a little bit. He didn’t want to lose Scott’s touch. In that moment, he couldn’t think of anything more important than Scott touching him, not even self-preservation.
Mick Randall wasn’t a stranger to self-medicating with alcohol but before he found Bell’s he hadn’t had a lot of money to spare, and lately he hadn’t had the time. Together, those circumstances had turned him into a lightweight. That had to be the explanation for why he saw a come-on in every glance and heard innuendo where surely Scott didn’t mean any. He’d have to be a lightweight to want so badly to respond to Scott’s touch with an embrace.
Maybe I should quit drinking.
Mick wasn’t capable of walking in a straight line by the time he hit the can, but it didn’t matter. Four beers was plenty and he’d take the other two out of Scott’s fridge the next day and remember not to bring more. If he wanted a drink, he wouldn’t have to drive far. When he left the bathroom his thoughts centered on that warm, happy feeling, and what he could get up to the next day. Before he knew what was happening, Scott had him backed against the wall, both hands spread across his chest.
All that fuzzy warm happiness disappeared, replaced by a tiny shiver of panic mixed with a side of relief. The relief tangled with a mix of “fucking finally” and “what the fuck” that made Mick dizzy. Or maybe that’s just the beer.
“Scott. Maybe I should sleep somewhere else tonight.”
“Yeah. Like in my bed with me.”
“I was thinking like my car, or a motel.”
Scott frowned and pushed him back against the wall harder, caressing his chest and shoulders as he did. The contrast of the unyielding wall against his shoulder blades and the man in front of him spun Mick’s head around once. “You don’t feel anything like Mercy. I knew you wouldn’t.”
“Don’t you think Mercy would—”
“She wouldn’t care. I’m not the only one she fools around with.” Scott leaned against him, chest to chest, close enough to kiss.
“Let me go.” Mick took hold of Scott’s shoulders and tried to push him back, but Scott was stronger than he looked.
“No. I don’t want to.”
“What am I supposed to do now?” Mick couldn’t see a clear path to the door. Panic reared up in the back of his mind—he had no game plan for this, no idea what his part should be.
“You can let me blow you. Or you can blow me. I don’t care who goes first. You want me, don’t you?”
Mick tried to speak but couldn’t. He couldn’t get a decent breath either, not with Scott’s hands on him. He nodded and tried to pull himself together.
“Haven’t you ever hooked up before?”
“Yeah.” Liar.
“Well, so have I. I’m not a little kid. You don’t have to—”
“I know you’re not.” Mick squeezed Scott’s shoulders, anxious to learn how his skin felt over those hard muscles, how those muscles looked when he moved. “I know.”
“So why—”
“I’ve hooked up before.”
“So why not with me?”
“Because it’s different with you. I mean, it would be— I can’t…”
“You think I’m an idiot? Too dumb to know what to—”
“No! No. That has nothing to do—” Mick saw something in Scott’s eyes that made the rest of that sentence turn to dust in his throat. He swallowed hard and was about to—no idea what he was about to do, but he couldn’t stand there forever—when he saw something else that stopped him. “You’re shaking.”
“Yeah.” Scott’s voice had a hard edge so when he surged forward, his erection pressing against Mick’s thigh, it was unexpected.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m trying to keep from punching you in the face.”
“Why do you want to punch me in the face?”
“Because you’re pushing me away. I thought you liked me.”
“I do like you. But—”
“Don’t say it’s not right. I’m dumb but I’m not—”
“I didn’t say you were dumb. You’re not dumb.” Mick could barely speak past his desire, so his last few words came out as breathless as he felt. He’d started panting and the sound filled the short hallway. “Please don’t punch me in the face.”
Scott frowned, but fear and pain was mixed up with the anger and desire showing in his light bottle-green eyes. Mick felt it all right along with him.
“Maybe I should go.”
When Scott didn’t respond Mick slid against the wall, sideways. In just a few steps, Mick wasn’t supporting all of Scott’s weight anymore, didn’t feel his tense muscles or his heat. Mick gingerly pushed off from the wall and walked backward, toward the living room.
“You don’t have to.”
“I think I do.” Mick sat on the sofa to pull on his boots and Scott dropped onto the cushion beside him. Mick straightened, one boot on and one off, and Scott grabbed him and kissed him.
Buy the book:
Samhain: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5726/torque
All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-torque-1937773-149.html
Meet the author:
Charley Descoteaux misspent a large chunk of her youth on the back of a Harley, meeting people and having adventures that sometimes pop up in her fiction. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a drought, and found her true home in the soggy Pacific Northwest. Charley has survived earthquakes, tornadoes and floods, but couldn’t make it through one day without stories.
Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charley.descoteaux.3
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/CharleyDescoteauxAuthor/?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharleyDescote
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/charleydescote/
Blog: http://cdescoteauxwrites.com/
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27304313-torque
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Tour Dates & Stops:
23-Feb
Boy Meets Boy Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Book Lovers 4Ever, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Posy Roberts
1-Mar: The Novel Approach, Velvet Panic, Three Books Over The Rainbow, Hearts on Fire
8-Mar: Louise Lyons, Foxylutely Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, the Twins: Talon ps & Princess so, Inked Rainbow Reads
15-Mar: Full Moon Dreaming, Elin Gregory, Alpha Book Club, Bayou Book Junkie
22-Mar: Butterfly-O-Meter, Kirsty Loves Books, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Unquietly Me
29-Mar: Jessie G. Books, QUEERcentric Books, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, BFD Book Blog, Love Bytes
5-Apr: Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Divine Magazine, Prism Book Alliance, Molly Lolly
12-Apr: Nephy Hart, Happily Ever Chapter, MM Good Book Reviews
Rafflecopter Prize: $20 Amazon gift card
Rafflecopter Code:
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – Stray by Kari Gregg
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – Stray by Kari Gregg
~ 4 Stars ~
Review of STRAY, by Kari Gregg
M-m Romance / Paranormal-Shifter / D-s lite / Novella
* purchased on Amazon.com
Reviewed by Jaycee ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com
With a lycan father, a human mother, and the human side of his genetic makeup dominant, Luke left his birth pack to try living among humans, but he felt awkward and uncomfortable isolated from the culture that raised him. He’s still searching for where he fits in.
After losing his family in a vicious attack, Dean rebuilt his pack by accepting loners, rejects, other survivors, and even ferals. He and his ragtag group of strays made a warm and welcoming home.
Luke believes he’s finally found where he belongs. Meddling parents and a neighbor who isn’t as human as he seems won’t sway him. Luke wants Dean to take in one last stray…him.
I was thrilled to see Ms. Gregg is back with this new offering, one, because I am glad she is well and writing again. But also selfishly, because I enjoy her intense stories that seem to pull you in to what are very tangible reading experiences.
While novella in length, Stray is long in feel and emotion and world. Dean and Luke bring two very different backgrounds and life-experiences together despite their similar culture, as they struggle to traverse the fine line between instinct and emotion on the road to a life-bond. Strong secondary characters add depth and I must say, a very welcome, well-placed if unaccustomed humour to the story. It can be hoped w have not heard the last of them.
I have long been a fan of Ms. Gregg’s stories, both contemporary and paranormal, for their strong relationship components. There is always a simple beauty in the D/s core of her partnerships; in the opposing individual strengths making a genuine whole, and while there is always a process, the journey is, in some way, a recognizable one for each/all audience members. And again I marvel when an author can completely yet succinctly create a full-bodied story in a novella length. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have liked to read longer, escape more. But I got my cookie, and I will savour the indulgence.
STRAY also received the following ratings:
ROMANCE FACTOR ~ 4 Hearts ~
HEAT FACTOR ~ 3 Flames ~
BONUS FACTOR ~ Ms. Gregg is baaaack. ~
March 3, 2016
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – Oleander, Son of Drakkar by Leigh Jarrett
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – Oleander, Son of Drakkar by Leigh Jarrett
~ 4 Stars ~
Review of OLEANDER, SON OF DRAKKAR, by Leigh Jarrett
M/m Paranormal Fiction / Dark / Violence / Romance
*ARC copy provided for honest review; copy also purchased at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Jaycee ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com
The unrelenting seduction of Oleander’s cool, flawless skin—and deep, captivating eyes. The concern in his voice—the touch of his hand. The exhilaration and pride elicited by the sight of Oleander waiting for him after the visit with his family had left him feeling disappointed and unfulfilled.
Unfulfilled …pointless, insignificant—until Oleander.
Amidst the chaos of his sexual reckoning, Timothy is compelled to uphold an intimate pact struck between himself and Oleander, and chooses to follow him north to Drakkar Castle—the threat of war upon them. Grimmr Coven is advancing deep into Drakkar Coven territory, and only Oleander may know the reason why. He had lived amongst the Coven Grimmr for many decades with his human lover, Torkel, and fears that a far greater threat is coming, forcing Grimmr Coven south into Drakkar Coven territory.
Left behind while Oleander goes in search of answers, Timothy’s inner turmoil becomes unbearable. His only company enroute to Drakkar Castle, Alexis, a vivacious, blue-eyed seductress with a secret, intent on stealing him away for reasons that would launch the already fractured family of Drakkar at each other’s throats.
*Warning: These vampires do not sparkle. In fact, they are quite gruesome.
I was asked to review Oleander, book II in the Darker Coven series, and while I not only believe in the possibility of starting a series in the middle – – I am a serious practitioner of the same – – in this case I think there are enough subtleties and not-so subtleties from book one ( “Callum of Drakkar Coven” ) that a reader might wish to start at the beginning. The author graciously also provided me with book one and I like the series enough to have gone ahead and also purchased both volumes, but I am glad I started with book one.
So, Drakkar Coven. Vampire brothers of royal lineage. Distant. Dominant. And Deadly. This world reeks of doomed humanity, and helpless captivity; of currying favour for a chance to “live” another day. Of drained, pillaged bodies piling high without thought of appearance or disease; if any thought given it would be of success. Strength. Indomitable strength.
The Oleander of book I is the Enforcer of the Coven. The Procurer of the Feast from the local villages. Physically, the strongest and deadliest of the brothers, but, perhaps because his father despised him, with a duality of nature that comes as a surprise. It also comes with a richer character pairing than in book I, in my estimation, and quite pleasingly results in a deeper and deepening series plot. Enter the Oleander of Book II…
Timothy is the human who finds himself in Oleander’s sights; not as sustenance, or at least not in the food sense, but within the vampire world, in the highly imprudent sense of a lover. A human lover. This tome is as much Timothy’s coming to terms with his feelings for not just this male, but for this monster. For he’d seen, by accident, just how blood crazed his feeding vampire could be, and yet with Timothy, he was a caring if dominant lover.
It is that duality within Oleander that enriches this book, the relationship, and the world they inhabit. For despite being a deadly vampire with no trouble being true to his base nature, he is devoted to his human. The latter will no doubt bring him trouble in the future; a brother scheming to see that happen, and it may take the former to save them both.
I expect a lot out of the relationship angle of the stories I read and the chemistry or lack thereof can make or break them for me. I like this relationship a lot at face value, but almost more-so in the way it picks up from book I and sets up what I assume will be Book III and beyond. It is well plotted within the darkness of the world they inhabit.
I do not mean to underestimate that world, or to negate its part in the “feel” of the series, for it is quite tangible. Instead, I wish to intrigue and hope readers find their own unique experience as I have found. And I await the next installation, to see if it is as character driven as book II, or plot driven instead, because we are at that precipice and it can go either way. Quite successfully…
OLEANDER, SON OF DRAKKAR also received the following ratings:
ROMANCE FACTOR ~ 4 Hearts ~
HEAT FACTOR ~ 2 Flames ~
BONUS FACTOR ~ humans as a food group, family discord and what will a vampire war look like? ~
March 2, 2016
We’re Eroding Our Book Industry
Imagine you’re in a post-apocalyptic world and the most important thing is food. You and many others with you have done your best to build a farm, not just so you can eat now, but also to provide sustenance for yourselves over the long term. Now imagine a newbie coming along and picking all the food because the only thing they are concerned about is feeding their tummy right then. Guess what happens?
The next day they’re hungry again, and now, so are you.
THE FIRST EROSION: False Exacerbated Branding
This is how the book industry works as well. You can either market and plan your author career for a long and fruitful life or you can take the sales list by storm then crash and burn the party. Short books and underbidding standardize pricing will ensure some fast sales all at once. A writer can usually throw several of these out each year. But what about next year? And how long do you think your reader fans are going to continue to be fed junk food? But this type of writer doesn’t look at the long run, their motto is quantity, not quality. And Amazon has made this exceedingly easy for scammers and charlatans to take advantage of this kind of assembly line production of books. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program proves it. Amazon is starting to see that one come back to bite them in the butt. So what about you? Do you see it yet? If not, hopefully you will continue reading here to learn what has been done to the industry that we all want to thrive in.
Now while not all short stories are badly written or poorly edited, those that are done well and professionally are in the minority. The reason is due to the ability to self-publish so easily these days has also left the door open and unfiltered to junk books, fake books, and plagiarism. And they have been pouring in at a rate of one book every five minutes on Amazon. The book store selection has gone from 600,000 to 33 million in the last 5 years. Which explains why you may be finding it harder and harder to get your book noticed these days; it’s because you are swimming in a cesspool of books. Even more daunting for the reader is to pick through them to find the story that is going to best entertain them. Enter the first of many forms of erosion on our book industry:
Branding yourself as something you are not. I will just start this part with confessing I have pissed off an avalanche of writers with this one, but let’s get something straight and frankly some reality here, just because your book made it to the top 100 Bestsellers List for an hour or even a day doesn’t make you a best seller. Sorry, but Amazon’s Bestselling ranks are not indicative of a great author or book, it’s to mesmerize their multitude of buyers. The average consumer doesn’t scroll past the second page of anything. So in order to get readers spread out to encompass as many books and varieties as possible, Amazon devised a multitude of Bestseller Lists. From their perspective, this was an ingenious marketing design. It was never meant to blow smoke up your ass or for you to buy into and grab the trophy and run with it.
Imagine going to the Sports Hall of Fame of and instead of finding the likes of Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr, Joe Namath, Billie Jean King, and Tiger Woods you find a flood of names of rookies who only played one game in their entire career of sports, but here they are all over the trophies and plaques of recognition. Or maybe you pay a couple hundred bucks to go see your favorite bands in an all-star concert and instead find yourself clapping your hands over your ears to a band of first year recorder players. When you go to the Olympics you expect to see some of the best athletes around the globe participate. But go to Amazon today and there is a miasma of covers and blaring caps declaring they’re a *Best Seller*. If your book sat at the top for a couple of weeks that’s something different, but it still may not be enough reason to have plastered everywhere. I’m not trying to take your moment away from you, but there are a ton of authors out there that are wanting their trophies, but they have not produced a product that deserves such a title. To understand this some more there was an excellent article posted just the other day by Brent Underwood at the Observer. Worth a read [Behind the Scam: What Does It Take to Be a ‘Best-Selling Author’? $3 and 5 Minutes.]
THE SECOND EROSION: Price Undercutting
Another one of the biggies in the erosion is price undercutting. I met an author one time who had openly stated she priced all her books for $0.99 regardless of size because then buyers were more likely to buy her book over my brother’s that went for $7.99. And she would continue to underbid every author out there to pull in the sales.
Well that’s all fine and dandy, but when they are done with your 88-page book, that reader is going to be looking for another book to read. Eventually, they are going to pay the $7.99 for Becoming His Slave because the freaking thing is 800 pages thick and will last even the speediest of readers a few days.
But here is the thing, at $0.99 authors cannot earn back the cost they put into their books for editing, formatting, and cover art (unless you didn’t do any of those things – and there are plenty of books out there that didn’t, no editing, single photo covers w/title and no formatting). Now if all you wrote was 30 pages’ worth, sorry I side with the readers on this one and $0.99 is rather generous UNLESS you just happen to be one of those really great writers out there that know how to grab their readers by the seat of their pants, swing them around the galaxy, and return them back to from where you whisked them away by the end of the story then …okay… you deserve a little compensation. But how rare is it we see something like that? Very rare and when we do see them it’s from an author who knows their market and brand so well that 30-page galactic romp was most likely a free read to their fans. So let’s put them aside and just talk about the general population of books and undercutting. Here are a few problems it creates, the mass consumer begins to expect all books to fall under the same ‘cheap’ pricing. Amazon’s war against the Big 5 publishers to cut prices makes the consumer mob feel validated in this. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have seen ranting posts made by readers on Facebook about how they won’t buy any books over $2.99 and anything priced above that is unjust. While I have a list of comebacks for this sort of thing, I won’t go on about them here, because chances are if you are an author you likely share a few of them yourself. But the point here is the habit of cheap books has been created. Making it worse was Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program opening up with all you can read books for $9.99. After two years in the making, Amazon’s KU is biting them in the ass now and they are starting to see there is such a thing as too cheap.
The real victims in this are the novel authors. It’s now near impossible for an author to not only recoup any cost (and I assure you editing costs for a book 200k words plus is a pricey bill) but they can’t even make a little something extra for their time. I don’t know a single mechanic or waitress that will work for free but the whole world wants writers and artists to work for free. If you’re not buying my scientific erosion analysis take a look at the number of publishers that have been closing down. Many of the small ones just can’t hang, and recently the Romance genre has seen the announcement of two fairly large publishers announce they are closing their doors.
What really amazed me after reading the news is I got a couple of email requests for new book releases looking for guest spots. All books were with the same publisher and all shorts. I’m talking 35 pages. I can’t imagine a publisher ever making such a ridiculously stupid business decision. I am glad the publisher believes in their author’s work, but there isn’t a chance in hell they are going to be able to maintain a business on a slew of $0.99 books and they sure as hell won’t be able to justify a price that would to the buying market. So why would you put your business and the whole of all your authors at risk by printing flash reads?
And here we are back at our farm. A farm sustains a number of people, in this case it’s a publisher sustaining several authors, but if you market for the short run, you’ll be starving come winter and closing your doors and all those authors will get displaced for your idiocy.
THE THIRD EROSION: Piracy & Plagiarism
Sadly, authors are helpless to stamp this out. Making it worse is many of these thieves are trying to now sell our books, getting craftier about it each time. The laws for copyright just don’t do us any service and until the big publishers and the big retailers start taking back the fight, Indy authors don’t even have a high ground to weather the conditions.
So what can you do?
FIRST: Stop being a part of the problem. Leave the title of Best Sellers to the books that have sold thousands or stayed on top of the lists for a notable amount of time.
DO: Cheer the moment you hit a high point, blast it all over your Facebook wall and share with friends.
DON’T: Write it on every single book you produce or every product page if all you had was Best Seller for a day or so. If you only sold 3 books to get there you know damn well you didn’t earn the distinction.
DO: Take yourself out of the false market brouhaha to improve your relationship with buyers. They’ll trust you more if you don’t throw hype at them and not follow through when they crack that book open
DO: Want to really get that title? Then work towards it, write a book that will be remembered and will last.
SECOND: Price fairly. Consider the amount of time you put into your books plus the expenses. Then access accordingly to size.
DO: Leave the $0.99 price for the shorts (18k and less) and maybe for those books you put out 5 years ago that aren’t your biggest sellers.
DO: Novellas 30k-45k should usually fall around $2.99-$3.99 average (books coming from traditional publishers will often be a dollar up on these and most other price ranges)
DO: Novels 50k-70k should often fall around $4.99-$5.99
DO: Big Novels – anything from 75k-150k start to climb in these prices running anywhere from $5.99-$7.99
DO: Super Novels 175k and up tend to start at $6.99 and up to $11.99 (traditional publishers often jump the price grid on these books going as high as $14.99-$16.99) Indies unfortunately get snagged with a huge set back when it comes to Amazon, anything priced over $9.99 results in royalty percentages dropping from 70% to 35% The author doesn’t benefit, the reader doesn’t benefit, only Amazon does, so remember that tidbit when looking to set a price in the high range.
DON’T: Price all your books at $0.99 or at $1.99 just so you can underprice all your competitors, you aren’t winning a race by running in place here.
THIRD: Break the habit of making Amazon your go to buy link. Amazon’s monopoly works because we’ve allowed it, but you can stop that by not publishing exclusively with Amazon and don’t just post the Amazon buy link for your book. We all do this out of convenience and habit, but now we need to learn to STOP doing it. If you are published with a traditional publisher share their buy links first and foremost. It helps them get more sales and you get a bigger cut on royalties. Don’t forget to post Barnes & Noble and iTunes. These are the only two book retailers out there who have even a blink of a chance to compete with Amazon so let’s help them buy driving buyers to those retailers too.
FOURTH: Encourage reviewers to post their reviews to retailer sites other than Amazon or in addition to. This is another reason why Amazon does so well as a retailer, pick just about any book and chances are it has at least a couple of reviews. Go anywhere else, and only 2 out of 10 books receive reviews. Remember, the mass consumer does look at reviews even if it’s only to see you have several of them. So having a couple of reviews on your books at iTunes can help your sales over there in the same way it helps at Amazon.
Authors you planted your seeds the moment you sat down to start writing your books, now its time to start cultivating your crops for the future. After all WINTER IS COMING…
March 1, 2016
BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – A Caffeinated Crunch: A Cozy Mystery by Constance Barker
3.5 ~ Stars!
Review of ~ A CAFFEINATED CRUNCH by Constance Barker
Mystery / Thriller / Suspense / Short read
(copy purchased from amazon)
Reviewed by Terry ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com
Three dates, a golf cart with a shark fin on top, and a con man
Lily and her aunts find themselves with dates to the same function. Little do they know the event will end with some unfortunate soul staring into the great beyond. And as they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
We once again visit The Coffee Cabana for another shot of caffeine and a little bit of fun in A Caffeinated Crunch by Constance Barker. After I read the first story in this Cozy Mysteries Series I knew I would be reading the whole series. When the request came in for a review for this book I had to let them know I had already purchased it and the rest of the stories in this series.
If you are looking for a good fun read that includes a little crime and a few laughs I recommend these Cozy Mysteries from Constance Barker. I would suggest starting from the beginning of this series so you don’t miss out on any of the good stuff some of which is the eccentricities of some of the characters. As with any good series the character development is a treat that continues and makes you love them more with each story and I am going to enjoy each tidbit we get.
In this story we get to see another hot spot in Sweet Home, Florida. We are hitting the Police Fundraiser at the Recreation Center in the gated senior community aka the Sinking Springs Village. The rec center is one of the places the seniors gather to have pot luck dinners, games and go to catch up on the gossip. Trust me these seniors don’t slack on the quality of or desire for their gossip and when the gossip exposes lies and deceit that is when things get interesting.
So get comfy and follow Lily’s advice and live your live precariously through these elders’ lives. You will not believe the fun you will have.
A CAFFEINATED CRUNCH also received the following ratings:
TWIST FACTOR ~ 2 plot twists
BONUS FACTOR ~ Shark cart, gossip, plotting cat, what a way to go scream
Talon P.S.'s Blog
- Talon P.S.'s profile
- 188 followers
