Cover Reveal – Keeping Him Safe

Here’s the gorgeous cover for Keeping Him Safe, my new m/m novella which is released by Pride Publishing later in the year.

Keeping Him Safe is the story of Xander, a bodyguard tasked with protecting a man who’s being stalked by an obsessive ex-boyfriend, and the lines he crosses when duty and desire become entangled. Thanks to the lovely Posh Gosh at Pride for her superb work on the cover design (including finding a model with super-crunchy abs!), and more information about the story nearer the time of release…

Open Wide And Say Ah!

So I went for my regular scale and polish at the dentist’s today, which is about the least glamorous thing in the world. However, it turns out that my dental hygienist hails from Málaga, and if my mouth hadn’t been full of pointy hurty equipment I might have been able to let him know that part of my latest book release takes place in that city. See, there had to be a reason for my bringing this up…

Animal Passions, Book Six in the Lionhearts MM shifter romance series, is set in southern Spain, which is a beautiful (if occasionally way too humid) part of the world. I’ve tried to make all the books in the series very different from one another while still taking place in the same universe, and this time I’ve dabbled with a murder mystery, which was great fun, even if I did like the characters I was killing off. The book is now available for early download from Pride Publishing, ahead of its general release in July, and here’s the blurb to whet your appetite:

He’s destined to meet his mate on a killer vacation.

Horror author Mason Wells is having a midlife crisis. He’s burned out as a writer and he keeps falling for guys who are way too young for him. So when his agent, Nora, arranges a birthday getaway for him and a few close friends in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, it’s just the break he needs—until Nora is found drowned in the hotel swimming pool. It seems like someone has a hit list of victims, and Mason’s on it. Can the hotel’s gorgeous owner, Xavi, step in and keep Mason safe?

Lion shifter Xavi Bianco loves the peace and solitude of his boutique hotel in the mountains. It’s a shame the place still holds the memory of his ex, Ramón. When the group of brash Americans arrives for a vacation, he doesn’t expect to find himself falling for one of them. But everything tells him Mason Wells is his destined mate, bizarre as it may be, and when Mason’s friends fall victim to a series of horrific attacks, Xavi knows he must do everything to protect Mason, even if it means risking his own life…

 

Coffee Time Romance Loves Pride Under Fire

Pride Under Fire, the latest book in my Lionhearts m/m shifter series, has been reviewed by Coffee Time Romance, and they’ve given it a five-cup review! Reviewer Regina called it ‘one of those unique and fun shifter stories that just keep you on the edge of your seat’ and ‘one story you do not want to miss’. To say I’m delighted is an understatement, as I had such fun bringing lion shifter Connor and his human mate Andy together, and giving them the mystery of a malicious arsonist to solve.

You can find the full review by clicking on the dinky CTR image below, and you can learn more about Pride Under Fire and the rest of the Lionhearts series at the Pride Publishing site.

Book Review: It’s A Long Way To The Top by Cherry Cox

Acts of Insanity are the hottest up-and-coming band on the LA rock circuit. They’ve got the looks, the attitude and the musical ability – and with studio time booked to record the demo that could earn them a deal with a major label, all they need is a lead singer. When they manage to recruit frontman Harley Moore from a rival band, their problems should be over, but for Acts of Insanity’s guitarist, Jax Reed, they’re only just beginning. Jax is gay, but he keeps his true sexuality secret for fear of the reaction he’ll get. As a result, he’s been living a lie, forming relationships with women and numbing the pain of being in the closet with regular fixes of heroin. What he doesn’t know is that Harley has his own secrets, too. Aware of an unspoken attraction between Jax and Harley, and afraid of what will happen if they get close, Jax’s sister, Karen, who’s also Acts of Insanity’s manager, does everything she can to keep things apart. But some things are destined to happen, even if the results have the power to tear the band – and Jax’s life – apart…

It’s A Long Way To The Top is the first in a series about the exploits of Acts of Insanity, and Cherry Cox has woven a compelling story of sex, drugs and rock and roll. The book captures the raw energy and downright sleaziness of LA’s Sunset Strip in the mid-1980s, making it seem totally credible that Acts of Insanity could be moving in the same circles as the likes of Guns ’n Roses. Cox clearly knows a lot about music, and musicians, and that knowledge adds an authenticity to proceedings. And the sex scenes, often involving illicit backstage encounters, are hot and spicy. Of course, any book like this is really about the emotional connection between the characters, and while the traumas Jax and Harley have suffered in their life (gay-bashing, rough treatment by homophobic cops, the looming spectre of AIDS) could turn into horrible clichés, you find yourself hoping they’ll overcome all the setbacks and find love. The cliffhanger ending sets up the action for Part Two, so don’t expect an easy resolution to Jax and Harley’s problems, but if you like the thought of pretty boys in bands getting it on and you get nostalgic when you hear an old Motley Crue song, you’ll love It’s A Long Way To The Top.

You can find out more about It’s A Long Way To The Top and watch the Acts of Insanity music video at http://www.paperbackpleasures.com/acts-of-insanity-series.html, and the book is available from Amazon US.

I was given a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Cover Reveal: Pride Under Fire

A hunky firefighter who’s also a lion shifter. A hard-working detective with a disastrous love life. A small mountain town plagued by a series of life-threatening arson attacks. All those ingredients come together in Pride Under Fire, Book Five in the Lionhearts series, and here’s the fabulous cover for the book.

This one is seriously hot!

Bag A Steel City Bargain

Steel City Nights, the three-novella box set featuring the hot goings-on in a Sheffield nightclub, is currently available as an Amazon countdown deal.

Here’s the blurb on the three books in the set:

Steel City Seductions – Book One

Danny Rowan, head of security at Steel City, Sheffield’s hottest nightclub, is as straight as they come – or so he thinks, until he’s asked to chauffeur the club’s star turn for the evening, female impersonator Crystal Devine.
He’s intrigued by Crystal and when Crystal treats to Danny a night he’ll never forget, all his inhibitions are shattered, and he finds himself returning for more.
But who does he really want? Crystal or her male alter ego, Chris – and how will Crystal react, when she’s worked so hard to become everything Chris isn’t?

Steel City Secrets – Book Two

Having left Australia, and a father who doesn’t approve of his sexuality, Daryl Porter has settled into life behind the bar at Steel City.
He’s had some strange propositions in the course of his work, but none like the one he receives from Tommy and Louisa Blake. Tommy’s bisexual, and Louisa gets off on watching him with other men, and Daryl is more than happy to accommodate their request for a ménage.
But Tommy is also the captain of one of the city’s football clubs, and in an in an environment where professional players find it almost impossible to come out, he needs to hide his desires.
Keeping secrets is never easy, so once it becomes obvious that this is no one-time thing, how will he and Daryl stop the world from finding out how much they need each other?

Steel City Sins – Book Three

Scott Beresford has worked hard at making Steel City one of Sheffield’s hottest nightclubs; and a break-in at the club’s premises strikes him as only a minor setback, at first.
Fraser Adams is the detective in charge of the case, and a man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality.
When it becomes clear this isn’t a routine burglary, and someone appears to want Scott dead, Fraser’s fight against his own feelings becomes a fight to save the man who has awoken his desires.
But will giving in to those needs prove the ultimate sin?

You can get Steel City Nights at the special price of 99p on Amazon UK. But hurry, you only have four more days until the offer ends – and the countdown’s on!

Book Review: A Place To Belong By Hurri Cosmo

(A review copy was supplied by Indiego in exchange for an honest review)

Logan Perry thinks he’s found his dream job, working as a carer for wealthy widow Gail McFarren. Moving to Texas has helped him escape from a family who can’t accept that he’s gay, and brought him close to Gail’s grandson, Bradley, who Logan is harbouring an enormous crush on. But when Gail’s health fails, leaving her in a coma, Logan and Bradley have no choice but to summon her friends and family to pay their final respects. One of the visitors is Bradley’s brother, Clayton, who has a long-standing gambling addiction and is as cold and calculating as Bradley is warm and generous. Clayton’s outright hostility to Logan, coupled with Bradley dropping heavy hints about his own plans for the rest of his life, seem to threaten the end of Logan’s Texan idyll. Will he have to start the search for a place to belong all over again?

A Place To Belong is a quick read, simple and straightforward in its plot and intentions. The characterisation is very broad – Clayton is a pantomime villain, practically twirling a moustache as he treats Logan like dirt, while Logan himself is almost breathtakingly naive, unable to spot all the clues Bradley is parading before him. But the story is warm-hearted and ultimately uplifting. Even though the book has a four-flame rating, there’s only one real sex scene, though it’s a tender, sensual one that provides a perfect climax (in several senses of the word…). Fans of Hurri Cosmo will definitely enjoy this, and it should also bring her some new admirers.

The book is available from Amber Quill Press, and you can find out more about it at Goodreads.

Cover Reveal: Trickster

Here’s another beautiful cover courtesy of the very talented Aria at NineStar Press. Trickster is a male/make sci-fi story that came out briefly a few years ago, but certainly didn’t come in such an eyecatching package. It features a galactic bounty hunter in hot pursuit a very charismatic thief and con man – and when they meet, things get even hotter…

Find out more at the NineStar website.

I’m At Because Two Men Are Better Than One Today

I’m talking about the not so glamorous life of an up-and-coming film star, and how that’s an important aspect of the latest book in my Lionhearts series, Into The Arena. To read the post, just click on the cover image below.

Book Review – Compromised by Bailey Queen

Ben Diggs is an FBI Special Agent, based in Baltimore. His time serving in the armed forces in Iraq has left him traumatised and unable to get close to anyone, and the fact he’s still in the closet about his sexuality only adds another layer to his impermeable shell. An impulsive one-night stand with rancher Tanner Bagley in the small town of Middle Creek soothes his pain, and  he feels no guilt about running out on Tanner without even a goodbye note the following morning. After all, he reckons, he’s never going to see the man again. What he hasn’t counted on is a series of murders that shake Middle Creek – all the victims being gay men who have some intimate connection to Tanner Bagley. As the investigation progresses, and the deaths become more vicious, suspicion falls on Tanner. Ben wants to believe in Tanner’s innocence as much as he wants to keep him safe from harm, and volunteers for a protective detail in Tanner’s home. Tanner, however, can’t forgive Ben for treating him so shabbily, and the two circle each other in an atmosphere of deep mistrust and growing desire. Will Ben lower his guard enough to let the caring, compassionate Tanner into his life, and in doing so will he irreparably compromise both the case and his job?

Compromised is an intense thriller that mixes the a serial killer on the loose and a broken man searching for the lover who can make him whole. It’s very melodramatic – there’s barely a chapter goes by where neither Ben nor Tanner is yelling and/or in tears – and unless you’re a serious fan of heavy hurt/comfort fiction that can become a little wearying. But there’s much to enjoy in Ben’s  path to redemption, the sex scenes are tender and sensual, and even if you guess the identity of the murderer before the end, you won’t be expecting the chilling reasons for his behaviour. if you want a book to leave you feeling thoroughly wrung out, but still uplifted, Compromised is the one for you.

Compromised can be found on Goodreads, and is available from Amazon US/Amazon UK.

(A copy of this book was received in exchange for a honest review)