Friday, January 30, 2015

Another Submission Call from Totally Bound

MM Shifter Detectives

Fast-paced thrillers with demanding plots that see the heroes truly getting their claws stuck into the task at hand. These heroes are expert detectives with something else lying under the surface—an instinct to shift. Take a look at our submission image and let inspiration take hold. 10-100k words. Series or serials are also welcomed. Please send your submission, synopsis and series outline, if applicable, to submissions@totallybound.com.

Release Blitz for Cursed by Fire


Don't forget to enter the contest at the end of the post to be in the drawing for the print copy of Cursed by Fire & one of three e-copies of the book.
Release tour being sponsored by Rock Star PR.

Q/A with Danielle

How did you come up with the idea for this story?
I’m not entirely sure to tell you the truth. I think when I decided I wanted to write something this story just popped into my head because it was one I wanted to read myself. Overtime it took shape and changed drastically but the idea itself more of less popped in out of nowhere.

Where do you find your inspiration? 
I find my inspiration at the Library. There is something entirely exciting about walking through a room filled with books and looking at all of their covers that just inspires you to write more.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Finding the time to write is difficult. Between my day job, my blog, my home life and beautiful daughter, it all adds up. Time is something I definitely wish I had more of.

What are your current projects? 
Currently I’m working on Book 2 in the Blood & Magic series, and a side PNR project that is just beginning to take shape.

Tell us about your first book. What would readers find different about the first one and your most recent published work?
I don’t have any other published works.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Not particularly. If there is a message in my book then it is coincidence. I’m a story telling and don’t really look to add special messages in my writing but I do think Cursed by Fire may have developed one, can you guess what it is? 

Does music play any type of role in your writing?
Music is HUGE. I tend to assign a song to every scene. Music makes you feel something and I want my book to make my readers feel something as well. Music for specific scenes allows me to strive to draw that emotion into the scene.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your life?
No. Everything in Cursed by Fire is entirely fictitious.

What books have influenced your life most?
I feel like I should list the classics here but truth be told, Urban Fantasy novels such as those by Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs have inspired me to want to become a writer. Additionally, On Writing by Stephan King has been an extremely helpful tool in developing my craft.

Are there any new authors that have grasp your interest?
Yes. ML Brennan is not completely new but is newer and has caught my attention. Additionally, Sherry Palmer who wrote Life with Charley. Something completely outside my genre scope but so touching has grabbed my attention and held on tight.


Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
I hope you love my story as much as I loved writing it.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?
They can visit my website, www.Danielle-Annett.com and follow me on twitter @DanielleCRomero

Do you have a special time to write? How is your day structured writing-wise?
So not structured at all. I fit in time to write whenever I can. Sometimes I write all day and sometimes I don’t write until the weekend rolls around, every day changes.

Why did you choose to write [genre] stories?
I chose to write Urban Fantasy because its what I enjoy reading most. There is something about fantasy creatures living in todays society and dealing with everything it brings.

What is for you the perfect book hero?
My perfect book hero is someone you can relate to. Someone who goes above and beyond to help others but is not all that extra ordinary. I want to feel like I can be that person.

When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head or is it built progressively?
It starts progressively. I typically outline first but even my outline changes as I go. Cursed by Fire went through four different outline revisions and three major rewrites.

When and why did you begin writing?
I began writing passively about two years. I was just playing around with an idea and slowly it began to take shape. Only within the last year have I taken my writing seriously though and really buckled down to finish a book.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
That's tough, I suppose when I typed THE END. That was when I felt accomplished enough to say, I’m a writer.

List three books you have recently read and would recommend.
Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
The Kraken Kong by Meljean Brook
Archangel’s Shadow by Nalini Singh

Tell us something that people would be surprised you know how to do.
I crochet. I feel like it is a grandmotherly habit but I learned when I was young and recently finished a baby blanket for my niece.

Will you write more about these characters?
Yes. I have four books planned so far for this particular series.



Cursed by Fire
Blood & Magic Series Book One

It has been six years since the Awakening and peace in Spokane, Washington is still tenuous at best. The vampires and shifters are all vying for control of the city and the humans seem to be the ones suffering the consequences, or so it seems.



Aria Naveed has spent the last two years of her life fighting to make the many wrongs of the world right, but soon finds out that the humans aren’t as weak as they appear and may be a more terrifying foe than any of the other races combined.

When a stranger rolls into town with trouble on his heels, Aria finds herself trapped in the middle of a battle that could cost her more than she has bargained for as a fight for justice turns into an unexpected fight for her life.


Goodreads:


 Buy links:






Cursed by Fire - Annett, Danielle


SHORT EXCERPT

The light began to fade from his eyes as I crawled across the floor in an effort to reach my father. My nails were raw and bloody as I struggled to carry myself closer to him, digging into the rough wooden floors with each drag of my body.
      “I’m coming,” I panted in between breaths. “Just hang on, Papa, I’m coming.”
            I woke gasping for breath, drenched in a cold sweat, clutching the hilt of my dagger as if my life depended on it. I frantically looked around the room in search of our attacker while also taking stock of any injuries. I was perfectly whole.
            “It was just a nightmare,” I told myself, though that did little to ease the ache in my chest over the remembered pain. I miss you so much.
Rubbing my hands over my face, I pushed back the wet, loose tendrils of hair that had escaped my braid during my fitful rest and returned my dagger to its resting place beneath my pillow. Taking another deep breath I registered a hint of smoke.
Shit!
My eyes roamed over the room, frantically looking for the source of fire.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
I untangled my body from the sheets, tripping and falling into a heap on the floor before I was able to crawl out of my covers and retrieve an old shirt. I frenziedly swatted at the bedroom curtains with the old t-shirt but the flames continued to rise. Deciding there was no other choice, I ripped the curtains from the window and rushed to the kitchen.
Throwing the curtains into the sink and turning the faucet on all the way, I watched as the flames were snuffed and steam began to rise. The curtains ruined.
Turning the water off, I allowed my body to slide down the smooth wooden cabinets until my bottom met the cool tile floor. I folded my arms across my knees and rested my forehead against them. Closing my eyes I took several deep breaths, my heart still racing from the effects of the recurring nightmare. This was getting out of hand. I had thought the nightmares were fading, but something was bringing the memories back with a screaming vengeance and this was the third time this week they’d plagued me. I missed my parents but it’d been over six years now. They weren’t coming back and I needed to let it go. My subconscious needed to let it go and I needed to let Daniel’s death go. Not the case, no, I wouldn’t let that go. But his death was affecting me in ways I couldn’t allow to continue.
I breathed deeply in an effort to calm my nerves. Small tremors racked my body, the nightmare had shaken me more that I’d like to admit. My skin was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. A physical reminder that I needed to relax before I accidentally caught something else on fire.





About Danielle Annett


Danielle Annett is a reader, writer, photographer, and the blogger behind Coffee and Characters. Born in the SF Bay area, she now resides in Spokane, WA, the primary location for her Blood & Magic series.

Addicted to coffee at an early age, she spends her restless nights putting pen to paper as she tries to get all of the stories out of her head before the dogs wake up the rest of the house and vye for her attention.


You can learn more about Danielle on her website at Danielle-Annett.com or follow on on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDaniel... and on twitter @Danielle_Annett



Giveaway:

Print copy of Cursed by Fire and 3 e-copies

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Book Spotlight~ Desert Heat by Lucy Felthouse

Out Now – Desert Heat by Lucy Felthouse (@cw1985) #erotica #romance #gay #mm #military

Blurb:
Their love is forbidden by rules, religion and risk. Yet still they can’t resist.

Captain Hugh Wilkes is on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. The British Army is withdrawing, and Wilkes expects his posting to be event-free. That is, until he meets his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, who awakens desires in Wilkes that he’d almost forgotten about, and that won’t be ignored.

Please note: this book was previously published as part of the Unconditional Surrender bundle.

Buy links:

Excerpt:
Captain Hugh Wilkes sucked in a deep breath, steeling himself for the heat he was about to be subjected to, though he already knew all the deep breaths in the world wouldn’t help. Darkness had fallen on Camp Bastion, in the notorious Helmand Province of Afghanistan, but there would still be residual warmth left to seep away throughout the small hours. Then the sun would rise, and it would start all over again. It was a damn desert, after all. But, all being well, it would be his last ever tour of the godforsaken place. The British Army was already preparing to pull out. The manpower had been reduced drastically over the previous months. It was time to leave the Afghans to get on with it. They weren’t being abandoned—far from it—they would still receive aid, training and money for years to come. But the British Army was no longer needed, apparently. It was still a volatile place, which would no doubt be monitored very closely, in case strategies needed to be reconsidered.
None of that was down to Wilkes, though. He was here with his platoon for six months, doing whatever they were ordered to do by their Company Commander, Major Hunter. It was unlikely they’d be doing any fighting—they weren’t here for offensive operations. More probably they’d be accompanying their vehicles, weapons and ammunition across the country as it was transported to the air base to be sent back home, or patrolling towns and villages as a show of presence, to reassure and protect the inhabitants.
There was only one way to find out. Grabbing his kit, he headed toward the ramp of the huge C17 aircraft with his colleagues, and followed them out onto the airstrip. Immediately, he was hit by the overwhelming smell of aviation fuel. As he moved away from the airplane this was replaced by the dry atmosphere.
Wilkes imagined he could feel the grains of sand coating his throat and tongue. He’d soon get used to it—he always did. Plus, on the bright side, he’d end up with a nice tan at the end of his deployment. Mentally, he crossed his fingers for a nice, event-free tour of duty. Letting his guard down wasn’t going to happen, naturally, he just hoped it wasn’t necessary. Hoped the insurgents would play nicely. The country was completely different to how it had been when Allied forces had gone in after 9/11. Some fantastic progress had been made, but it still wasn’t completely safe. But then, where was? People died in picturesque villages in the English countryside—though generally not courtesy of IEDs, AK-47s or suicide bombers.

Author Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women's Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9


Book Spotlight & Giveaway~ Just in Time for a Highlander

Remember to enter the giveaway at the end of the post.


Title: Just in Time for a Highlander
Series: Sirens of the Scottish
Author: Gwyn Cready
ISBN: 9781492601937
Pubdate: February 3rd, 2015

From RITA winner Gwyn Cready comes a Scottish borderlands time travel romance perfect for fans of Outlander

For Duncan MacHarg, things just got real…
Battle reenactor and financier Duncan MacHarg thinks he has it made—until he lands in the middle of a real Clan Kerr battle and comes face to face with their beautiful, spirited leader. Out of time and out of place, Duncan must use every skill he can muster to earn his position among the clansmen and in the heart of the devastatingly intriguing woman to whom he must pledge his oath.

Abby needs a hero and she needs him now
When Abigail Ailich Kerr sees a handsome, mysterious stranger materialize in the midst of her clan’s skirmish with the English, she’s stunned to discover he’s the strong arm she’s been praying for. Instead of a tested fighter, the fierce young chieftess has been given a man with no measurable battle skills and a damnably distracting smile. And the only way to get rid of him is to turn him into a Scots warrior herself—one demanding and intimate lesson at a time.

Excerpt:

“Undine, do you see what your magic has wrought?” Abby stabbed a finger in Duncan’s direction.
The woman gave him a full look and her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, dear.”
“What magic?” Duncan demanded.
Undine regarded him thoughtfully. “He’s handsome, at least. And tall. That could be useful. But that hair…”
“If I wanted handsome, Rosston would certainly do. He at least wields a real sword.” She took Undine by the elbow and turned her away from Duncan. “The poor man appears to have no skills beyond his fists,” she said in a lowered voice. “And I think he’s addled in his head—like Hal the sheep shearer.”
“What were you thinking?” Undine demanded.
“What was I thinking?! ’Twas your herbs.”
“I mean when you opened the paper.”
“I didn’t open the paper. It was shot out of my hand.”
All of it?!” Undine paled.
“Except for the part that flew in my mouth.” Abby wiped the back of her hand across her tongue and made a sharp sound of disgust. “It tasted like burnt groats.”
Duncan had had enough of being ignored. “What herbs? What magic? What are you talking about? Did you bring me here?”
Undine considered. “You could try to make do with him.”
Make do?!” Abby cried. “You make do with him! Can’t you see this is the last thing I need with the clans right now?” She pulled herself onto the horse. “You need to get rid of him.”
The “get rid of him” made Duncan’s stomach tighten. “No. Wait—”
“Abby?” a voice called from beyond the trees. “Abby, are you there?”
“Oh, God help us, it’s Rosston.” Abby gave Duncan a warning look. “Don’t say another word.”
“No!” Duncan grabbed her pommel. “I want to go home! Send me home! I don’t know what you two witches have done.”
“Silence, you fool.” She jerked the reins in an effort to keep the beast from lurching. The arrow fell from her bow.
A kilted clansman crested the rise.
“You, there!” Duncan called to the man. “Help me. These women have—”
Duncan felt a thwack on the head, and the world went dark.

Buy Links:


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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Book Review- City of Stairs

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Speculative Fiction/Fantasy
Broadway Books
September 2014

My Book Review Rating for City of Stairs- 3.5 Stars

For the city of Bulikov, it was once a power to be reckoned with. It had divine protectors that gave them the power to conquest others, enslave and brutalize their enemies and from that mighty rise came a hard fall when the Bulikov protectors were killed. Now the history around this city is censored, even erased as its citizens are oppressed. But just by looking around you can see the legacy of the guardian’s miracles all around the city. But the time is coming when Bulikov’s guardians are going to rise again and this time, Bulikov’s cruel reign will not yet be over.

I got to admit this is the first book by this author I have read and holy moly, what a ride he takes us on. The world building is spectacular, the characters are very well defined and multi-dimensional and the story just flows like a river, full of twists and turns along side some jaw dropping moments that leave you breathless. The writing is excellent and this author delivers a story full of gods, intriguing characters, history and more for the reader to devour. What really enthralled me was how this author delivered such interesting plot hooks throughout the storyline. He kept my attention from beginning to end and I was enraptured with his prose. This is truly one of those stories you just can not get enough of.

CITY OF STAIRS is a story of not just a city broken and conquered but also about murder, secrets and more. In this book we meet Shara Thivani, a woman sent to Bulikov as a junior diplomat but in reality she is so much more. She has to solve a murder and as she pursues a killer, she finds out things about Bulikov that are not known, secrets that could change the course of history. I really enjoyed Shara a lot. She was resourceful, intriguing and kept me on my toes while I read CITY OF STAIRS. All the characters are well written, intriguing and quite enjoyable to read. The best part was there were not so many new characters being thrown at the reader that they needed a score card for them all.

CITY OF STAIRS is an enjoyable and entertaining read that will keep you glued to the pages till the very end. With Mr. Jackson’s world building, we get to see a world where conquest, magic and more play a strong part in shaping events and the future. That right there is the heart of CITY OF STAIRS in my opinion. The way this author captures and writes about this world is just magical. If you are looking for a different sort of book to explore on a cold day, then try CITY OF STAIRS. You just might find yourself drawn into a world of gods, magic and more to explore. Now all I can ask from this author is more please!

I got this book from Blogging for Books and is in no way an endorsement.

Book Blast & Giveaway for RJ Scott's The Bucket List


The Bucket List

When Andrew Craig dies, he leaves his brother Jason a list of places that he wanted to visit but couldn't. Attending a school reunion, London, Stonehenge, these are all on the list and Jason is determined to cross everything off and work through his grief at the same time.

Closeted soap actor Mark Wesley is shocked when a blast from the past looks him up, and devastated when he realizes he will never have a chance to make things right.

Together Jason and Mark agree to work on the list. But what happens when Jason and Mark grow closer, when passion and even love begins to grow?

Was this what Andrew wanted to happen all along between his brother and his friend?

Buy Links

All buy links will be available here: http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/bucket-list.html



Excerpt 1

“You should write to the studio, sir. Meanwhile, you may want to go stand over there. Some of the actors will be out later to see their adoring fans as per usual.” The guard sounded firm at first, but the second part of the sentence was dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m not a fan,” Jason protested. He looked over again at the chattering women. A couple were staring at him and pointing. Shuffling his feet and suddenly feeling uncomfortable, he wondered where to start to explain so he could get in. “I tried to find out where Mark lived and wanted to track down his family…” He stopped. I sound like some kind of creepy stalker fan. “Look, can you just maybe give him a note for me?”

Bill looked like he was ten seconds away from calling the cops on Jason. That would be just freaking great. How would he explain an arrest record for stalking to the education board when he was back at school? Finally Bill motioned toward a pile of books and notes and teddies that sat on the chair in his small hut.

“You can add a note to the pile.”

The pile? Jason didn’t have time for a note to be added to any kind of disorganized heap. He had exactly two days to get in, talk to Mark, and get him to agree to number one on his brother’s crazy-assed bucket list. The reunion is Saturday. We need to get home.

“If you could move away, sir,” Bill said.

Part of Jason wanted to take a stand and not move, but rebellion wasn’t really part of his makeup and he walked a few steps back. A voice to his side had Jason twisting on his heel.

“Excuse me, my friend made me come over.” Jason faced one of the women from the group. He forced a mask of civility into place. Never let it be said his mom didn’t raise him right. “She thinks you are that Scottish guy from Days. You know, the one with the stepparents who turned out to be practicing voodoo and who ended up kidnapping the sister with the twins.”

“I’m sorry—”

“I said you weren’t him and that you were actually a lot better-looking than the Scottish guy whose name I forget, Niall or Nick or something. Also, up close, you look way younger.” She tilted her head and let out a soft tinkling laugh, then placed a hand flat on his jacket. Jason instantly stepped backward. He wasn’t sure what Days was, but it didn’t sound like a good thing, not the way the rest of the group of women were staring at him like he was a side of beef on sale at the market.

About RJ

RJ Scott has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies. She was told to write a story and two sides of paper about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born.

As an avid reader herself, she can be found reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror. However, her first real true love will always be the world of romance where she takes cowboys, bodyguards, firemen and billionaires (to name a few) and writes dramatic and romantic stories of love and passion between these men.

With over sixty titles to her name and counting, she is the author of the award winning book, The Christmas Throwaway. She is also known for the Texas series charting the lives of Riley and Jack, and the Sanctuary series following the work of the Sanctuary Foundation and the people it protects.

Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

rj@rjscott.co.uk
www.rjscott.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/Rjscott_author
www.facebook.com/author.rjscott
www.librarything.com/author/scottrj
www.tumblr.com/blog/rjscott (some NSFW (not safe for work) photos)
www.pinterest.com/rjscottauthor/

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

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Disenchanted Blog Tour Stop

Welcome to the Month Long Virtual Book Tour 
for Disenchanted, the recently released YA 
Fantasy novel by Leigh Goff.


About Disenchanted:

A dark curse, a forbidden love, an impossible choice.

Orphaned sixteen-year-old Sophie Goodchild is an outcast among the ordinaries and her coven, but not because she’s untalented. Descended from a powerful Wethersfield witch, her spellcasting gift is awkwardly emerging, but that’s the least of her worries. The boy she’s forbidden to fall for, a descendant of the man who condemned her ancestor to hang, carries a dark secret that could destroy them both unless Sophie learns how to tap into the mysterious power of her diamond bloodcharm. 

Suspenseful, dark, romantic, and brimming with old magic, Disenchanted captures the intrigue of New England’s witchlore.

Book Details:

Title: Disenchanted

Author Name: Leigh Goff

Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Musa Publishing, LLC http://www.musapublishing.com/

ISBN: 978-1-68009-045-1

Date Released: 12/19/2014

Add Disenchanted to your Goodreads Shelf:


Purchase Your Copy at Musa Publishing:

Disenchanted by Leigh Goff

Purchase Your copy at Amazon:

Disenchanted


Top 5 Spooky Settings in Disenchanted

Wethersfield, Connecticut is a town rich in history and spooky stories. When writing Disenchanted, I wanted to link to that feeling. Puritans founded the town in 1634 and because of its religious roots, Wethersfield has been connected to witches and witchcraft ever since. The atmosphere of New England style buildings and old cemeteries makes for an amazing setting in a fantasy romance where magic rules. Here are some of my favorite spots.

The Rare Muse
The Rare Muse appears to be a regular bookstore, but the appearance is meant to deceive the ordinary shoppers. When Sophie, the sixteen-year-old white witch main character, stumbles into the shop with her magical currency, Celtic coins, she is able to trade them for access to the rare, rare book room. This room, with its theatrical movie screen framed by red velvet curtains, and tiers and balconies filled with book shelves was inspired by the real life El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a former Parisian-style theater turned bookstore, the largest bookstore in South America. Sophie meanders through the grand room until she finds the Book of Dark Spells. When she tries to return the nefarious tome to the shelf, the shop owner, a diminutive goblin, tells her she cannot. The book now belongs to her whether she wants it or not. When she opens the cover, she sees the list of previous and deceased owners, and her name has been mysteriously added.

The True Love Tree
The True Love Tree is an old mulberry tree growing in front of Sophie’s house where she lives with her quirky Aunt Janie. For the first time in three hundred-and-fifty years, the tree is bearing fruit. Long ago, beneath the tree, two lovers first met and exchanged promises. When this girl, a witch ancestor of Sophie’s, fell in love with Francis Mather, a cursed ordinary, she herself was cursed to die. After her death, the grief-stricken boy, drank a goblet of wolfsbane potion and dropped dead beside her grave, where he was soon after buried; ill-fated lovers resting for eternity. In the present, it is where Sophie’s true love, Alexavier Mather, goes to die when he falsely believes Sophie has died trying to break his family’s true love curse.

The Village Cemetery
Inspired by the real life Village Cemetery in Wethersfield, this setting is where Aunt Janie tells Sophie the story that sparks her curiosity about Alexavier Mather’s family secret. The story involves Judge Mather, Alexavier’s father, digging up one of their ancestors to have genetic samples taken so he can get to the root of a family medical problem. The judge learns the problem is not genetic, but rather a curse that has affected the Mather bloodline since his ancestor condemned Sophie’s ancestor, the witch, Rebecca Greensmith to hang at Gallows Hill. Very creepy!

Kingshill Detention Center
Kingshill Detention Center is a fictional setting inspired by the Crownsville Hospital Center in Crownsville, Maryland, which served as a hospital for the insane and was where patients died from shock therapy and botched lobotomies in the early part of the twentieth century. The hospital was closed decades ago, but looks eerily pristine as it sits off a main road outside of Annapolis. And ghosts have been known to haunt its empty halls. In Disenchanted, this detention center is on the outskirts of Wethersfield and where Judge Mather, taking revenge on the witches, locks them up for crimes of public mischief and con artistry when he spies them unleashing their magic around town. The old iron locks on the doors make it nearly impossible for the witches to escape. Nearly.

The old fairgrounds

The old fairgrounds are the fictional setting for the climax scene where Sophie comes into her power and shows her unsuspecting coven exactly what she can do. The haunted grounds are filled with dilapidated buildings and rusted amusement rides. There is a circle of white marble columns surrounding a stone basin that holds the witches’ fire for the Seeking ceremony, an event that happens to coincide with a very powerful eclipse and causes Sophie’s power to surge.

About the Author:


After taking several writing courses in college and attending professional writing workshops after I graduated from the University of Maryland, University College, I began writing young adult fiction with purpose. I joined the Maryland Writers’ Association and Romance Writers of America and became an approved artist with the Maryland State Arts Council.

My debut novel, Disenchanted, is now available, and I am working on my next, The Witch’s Ring, which will be set in Annapolis.


Tour Coordinated by Sapphyria's Book Promotions 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Talking with authors Racheline Maltese & Erin McRae

At the center of the Starling (Book One in the Love in Los Angeles series) are Alex and Paul, who get together in the course of the book. They’re back in the sequel, Doves, as they deal with the challenges fame, success, and growing up bring to a relationship.


Another central character in the LiLA story is Liam. He’s Alex’s co-star on the hit TV show The Fourth Estate. As of the end of Starling, he’s engaged to Carly, a completely awesome chick who also happens to be Paul’s ex-girlfriend.


Liam is also -- as of the beginning of Doves -- Alex’s ex-lover.

We were surprised when, in the reader response to Starling, we heard from a lot of people who said they really enjoyed the Alex/Paul/Liam love triangle. We absolutely adore the Alex/Liam relationship in all its forms, and to be entirely fair, Paul has some real issues about Alex and Liam’s history. But we hadn’t really ever thought of that relationship as part of a love triangle. After all, Alex ends Starling really solidly with Paul.  

But as we heard from more and more people about the awesome love triangle, we asked ourselves -- is that really what it is? In Starling, Alex and Liam’s relationship is a strong and emotional mid-game pairing, but Alex and Paul are endgame. Certainly, Alex isn’t torn in any conventional sense by having to choose between his love for Liam and his love for Paul.

But his relationship with Liam really is very intense, and in both Starling and Doves -- regardless of whether they’re spending time in bed with each other or not -- it makes up a very big part of both Alex and Liam’s emotional landscapes. It’s also complex, and defies categorization by Alex or Liam or indeed anyone else around them.

The Love in Los Angeles series as a whole is about all different kinds of relationships -- romantic friendship, platonic romance, relationships both sexual and nonsexual.  Throughout the series, Alex has to navigate his many relationships and what he wants out of them -- and what other people, Paul and Liam included, want from him. The series is also about conflict and choices, and the hard decisions that never really go away. Once you make those choices, you have to keep making them, over and over, as people and relationships evolve.

And Liam is one of the things Alex has to keep making choices about. Sometimes, that’s easier for him. And sometimes, it’s harder. But it’s always intense, always complex, and always full of possibility.

So, is Alex actually in a love triangle with Paul and Liam?

Without giving too much of the later books away -- Love in Los Angeles is eventually going to be a six-book series -- we can safely say that, as with so much in life and love, the answer depends on how you define it.


Doves
Love in Los Angeles Book 2
Torquere Press
Contemporary MM

Two years after the events of Starling, Cinderella story and star of The Fourth Estate J. Alex Cook is living happily ever after with his boyfriend, television writer Paul Marion Keane. But when Paul’s pilot, Winsome, AZ, gets picked up, the competing demands of their high-profile careers make them question their future together.

As Paul becomes increasingly absent from their relationship, Alex tries to regain control of his private life and establish a career path independent of Fourth's enigmatic, and at times malevolent, showrunner Victor. But the delicate web of relationships that connects Alex, Paul, and their friends — including Alex's excitable ex-lover Liam and his no-nonsense fiancĂ©e Carly — threatens to unravel.

With the business of Hollywood making it hard to remember who he is when the whole world isn’t watching, Alex is forced to confront major changes in the fairytale life he never wanted as he discovers that love in Los Angeles often looks nothing like the movies.

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Bio:

Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese are authors of the gay romance series Love in Los Angeles, set in the film and television industry (Starling (September 10, 2014), Doves (January 21, 2015), and Phoenix (June 10, 2015)), all from Torquere Press. Their gay romance novella Midsummer (Summer 2015), about a summerstock Shakespeare company, is from Dreamspinner Press. Racheline is a NYC-based performer and storyteller; Erin is a writer and blogger based in Washington, D.C. They write stories and scripts about the intersection of private lives, fame, and desire. You can find them on the web at http://www.Avian30.com.


Racheline’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/racheline_m


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