Have you ever heard Dan Seal's Everything that Glitters? The story follows that song pretty well. I've loved that song since junior high. I have. Luke Bryan sang it a few years ago at the Houston rodeo, and I cried and cried I was so happy. I miss Dan Seals..
I have a blog tour coming up for Sparkle and Shine. I'll come back and give y'all the links as they go live!
Book news! Rerelease of MMF menage Lovers of Her Dreams is up! Saw not a dime from this from Ellora's Cave, but it's mine again and has a spiffy new cover from Kris Norris, my cover art heroine!
Tattoos, werewolves, dreamwalkers and the woman they love!
And coming Friday from Changeling Press my brand new demon lover romance, Fairweather Fiend
House flipping gets tough when demon ghost hunters get involved.
And yes, there's demon sex!
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Julia
Also, a short history of M/M romance.
People have been writing slash fiction for decades. Spock and Kirk, anyone? In 2000 a group of authors who decided to stop writing fanfic and write original slash formed a following on Livejournal. In 2003, Torquere Press opened its doors. By 2005 Loose Id was accepting m/m and so was Changeling Press. In 2007 the amazing Dreamspinner Press came along and taught us old timers how to change with the times. Many others have come and gone or come and stayed, but one thing is sure. I love romance, and I'm sick to death of having to defend it. I also have lots of feels about publishing, having run a company for 12 years before I screwed up and sold to a thief, but I'll leave those alone for now.
Romance. Alive and well. Just sayin'.
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Julia
Packmate for Hire is out! It's the second Alpha Tales book, but it can stand alone, as well.
Brendan Gray has no idea why he stopped in at a tiny Colorado mountain town to have lunch. He's supposed to be in Wyoming, tracking wolves. The place called to him, though, and he figures out why when he realizes his old pack mate, Rand, is now an Alpha in the cutest little wolf pack ever. Then he meets Shon, who's also just passing through, and decides he might need to stay for a bit. especially since Rand seems willing to pay him to be a pack guardian.
Shon has a history of making bad decisions and is on the run from his most recent one when he meets Brendan. They're smoking hot together, but Shon wants to go slowly so they can get to know each other. He decides to hang around in Nowheresville for a while. and he hopes Brendan is staying for his benefit. Trouble follows Shon everywhere, though, and between that and Brendan's uncertainty about their relationship, they might just lose each other before they know what they have.
Leona says you’re in cabin 3. Be there at 2 to take you to lunch
Shon grinned at his phone. True to his word, Brendan had only texted last night and this morning. Last night he’d gotten a picture or two, nothing raunchy, and today he’d received, “Let’s do lunch.”
He’d sent back, “You buying?”
The notice of when he was being picked up was Brendan’s response, and Shon sniffed his pits. He had forty-five minutes to shower, and he needed it. Whoo.
Shon hopped in the shower, scrubbing up with the soap the owner had left. Very sage and sandalwood. He had to admit, the cabins were spotless, and the linens were soft. He would hang out here for a good bit if he needed to.
What a difference a day made. Yesterday, he’d found it impossible to be upbeat about anything. Today, Shon was ready to flirt. Maybe have a one or two-night stand. It could never be more than that, but Brendan was hot as hell and clearly into him, so why not play?
He dressed in jeans and white button-down shirt, a look he knew went well with his dark hair and warm skin tone. God, he was so queer.
Once he was ready, he texted Brendan. You can show up before 2 if you want
On my way
Now, that was gratifying. He would definitely be teasing. And inviting. And maybe giving out some. Maybe not. He had standards. Well, he did now, after his last break up, which was causing no end of grief. Okay, maybe he would pump the brakes a few times.
The knock on the door came maybe five minutes later, at fifteen minutes to two. Nice.
He opened the door, Brendan stepping through quickly.
“Here.” Brendan thrust a bouquet at him.
“I like carnations. Thank you.” He really did like them, with their cute, crinkly selves. They made him smile.
“Wooing, chapter one. Flowers. Check.”
“So romantic.” Shon found a big glass in the cupboard to put water and the flowers in.
“Hey, I’m a werewolf. I get most of my romance in bars at the end of the night.”
“Ew.” He winked back over one shoulder.
“I’m pickier than that.” Brendan was laughing, clearly not at all offended.
“Well, that’s good to know, since you practically jumped me in the restaurant.”
“Nah.” Brendan was pushing up behind him before he could even blink, hips against his ass, reaching around with one hand to press at his zipper placket. “This is all over you. That was nothing.”
“Oh.” He arched his back, his toes curling up. Brakes. Pumping. “That’s not allowed yet.”
“Bummer.” Brendan nipped at his neck, but then backed off. “Well, I don’t want to cross you on your rules.”
“Uh-huh. Just leave me with a hard on.”
“I can fix that.” One dark eyebrow rose. “But you keep telling me no.”
***
I hope you'll give it a look!
The first book, Alpha in Sheep's Clothing, is .99 right now!
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Julia
In the meantime, start off with An Alpha in Sheep's Clothing, Alpha Tales 1
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Julia
I'm writing Dragons again! I should be done. I'm not. However, I'm close.
Here's a snipped from Dragon Mesa 1, Kept.
A flash of light caught his eye, and that interloper was watching him, at least it seemed like it.
Damn it. He pressed back into the lee of a fissure in the rock, turning his back enough to protect Chaya.
Sister?
Kaya, stay down!
Bar-D?
Why? Why did Kaya have to show up now? Unlike her sister Chaya, she wasn’t bonded to Bard, and therefore didn’t always listen to him.
Sister? Sister? Kaya came swooping through the air, spinning headlong down the arroyo. Sister, is that you?
Kaya! Be good. Good. No sparkly man!
He heard her pull up, but it was too late, she crashed into the man down there, hitting him hard enough to send them both winding.
Shit. Fuck a doodle doo. Bard wasn’t sure what the hell to do, but Kaya was his Chaya’s twin. He couldn’t just leave her to be caught.
So he ran.
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Julia
This is my favorite line from the Stand, wherein Mainer Stephen King takes up for country folks all over who might talk slower or come to things from an angle that city folks don't think of.
That's what happens in Two Cowboys and a Baby by my amazing and talented wife, BA Tortuga.
Hoss McMasters finds a baby on his doorstep. What ensues is a tropetastic romp from a Deep east Texas perspective. Hoss is a cowboy's cowboy, just like the guys I grew up with, and I adore him. Bradley is a redneck boy who will do anything for a job, and he makes me laugh. These two are stubborn, clueless and amazing.
Read without prejudice! These boys are country, but they're a wonderful ride!
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Julia
Damon Suede doesn’t write comfortable books.
Hey, don’t worry, he knows I think that. We talk about it often.
When I offered to do a review for his upcoming release Lickety Split, I wasn’t sure what I would be getting. The cover says cowboy book. The blurb says all the tropes are there: city mouse country mouse, enemies to lovers, May-December.
With Damon Suede, nothing is ever so simple.
Here’s the basic idea. Patch left deep southeast Texas years ago, out and proud and headed for New York. When his folks pass away, he returns to his hometown to sell the family farm. Complication comes in the form of Tucker, much older and proven enemy of Patch. Or is he? Tucker turns out to be on Patch’s side, and the two find some smokin’ hot reasons to be together, but can any relationship like this really work?
Now we get to the meat, so to speak. Patch Hastle might just be the living, breathing embodiment of you can never go home again. He lives the kind of life that, growing up in Southern New Mexico, I could only imagine by watching it on TV. New York dwelling, sophisticated DJ, jet setting off to Ibiza to do a gig… People only do that in movies, right? Except Damon Suede knows this guy. I think he’s been this guy. So, when Patch comes home to Texas, as readers, we can feel how much he doesn’t want to be there. At all. Not one bit.
Then there’s Tucker. He’s about as down on his luck as a guy can get, and when we first meet him, we only see what Patch wants us to see. There’s a lot of deep East Texas in Tucker, a lot of redneck. I grew up with guys like him, and in order to understand them, you have to see how they connect to the land. There’s more to him than first meets the eye, though, and that’s the best part of this story. How Patch learns to love Tucker, and through him, regains some perspective on the farm, and on how he feels about the Texas dirt.
I think Lickety Split has a lot to say about Texas, and about the people who live there, good and bad. It’s not always comfortable in that sometimes you have to fight to like Patch, and fight to believe he and Tucker will ever make it. Now, it also has the farmboy fantasy in spades, and yeah, the sex left me squirming and flushed, which is just what I want in a book.
Read it.
I bet it surprises you with how it turns all those tropes right on their heads.
It will be available March 13 2017
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Julia
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Julia
