Tag: Riptide Publishing Blog Tour

Running Wild by SE Jakes – Virtual Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway

Posted July 11, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Running Wild by SE Jakes – Virtual Blog Tour, Review and GiveawayReviewer: Tracy
Running WildSeries: Havoc series #1
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Publication Date: June 30th 2014
Genres: Suspense, M/M
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Embrace the danger.

Sean Rush is an adrenaline junkie. That's why he was in the Army, why he steals and races classic muscle cars...and why he can't stay away from bad boy Ryker, a Havoc Motorcycle Club lieutenant. Fortunately, Ryker can't seem to stay away from Sean — he's spent the last eight months breaking into Sean's apartment and stealing into his bed, leaving Sean physically satisfied but increasingly restless.

Sean has always avoided relationships. He likes to come and go without being controlled. And Ryker is possibly the most controlling man he's ever known. Still, he finds that he wants more from Ryker than their silent nighttime encounters.

Then one of Sean's thefts goes bad, and Ryker's protective instincts kick into overdrive. He takes Sean to the Havoc compound, determined to keep him safe. But Sean's past threatens the safety of Havoc — and everything Ryker holds dear. Worse, Ryker's hiding secrets of his own. Soon it's obvious that the adrenaline rush can't keep them together anymore. But maybe love can.

Thanks so much to Tracy’s Place for hosting me on the tour for Running Wild: Havoc Book 1. This is the start of a brand new series, with different heroes for each book and HEAs at the end of each book. Sean Rush and Ryker stole my heart a long time ago, and I’m excited for you guys to meet all of them.


Here’s a snippet from a scene toward the middle of the book. Ryker has just proved to Sean that he doesn’t mind his MC knowing they’re together — by kissing the hell out of him in front of everyone. And then he tells Sean to get on the back of his bike, so he can take Sean home. Sean has objections…


Still, I kept my voice down so no one could hear when I told him, “I’m not riding in the bitch seat.”

He was trying not to grin, but failing. “Why not?”

“I know exactly what it means when you ride on the back of a guy’s bike.”

“Really?”

“It means you fucking own me, Ryker.”

“Don’t I?”

His words were a low rumble that shot straight to my dick and holy fuck . . . I had no answer. Well, obviously I did, but I refused to put voice to it.

I was out—that wasn’t the issue. And obviously being out wasn’t an issue for him either. But the MC shit, we’d never talked about it, what it meant for us. All these men knew about our relationship, knew he was looking out for me. Knew he considered me his.

I swear I had to remind myself to breathe.

“Get on the bike, Sean.”

This time, Ryker’s tone left no room for argument. If anything, it made me harder. I stopped thinking—par for the course when I was around Ryker—and I got on the bike behind him.


RUNNING WILD: Havoc Book 1

Read an excerpt
Order Running Wild


FYI, I’m also writing a m/f MC series under the Steph Tyler name—the first book of that series, Vipers Run is out now as well. And there’s a very light crossover in that you’ll see names of MCs that are main characters in my Vipers series—namely Vipers MC, along with the Heathens. Havoc’s friendly with Vipers, not so much with Heathens (they seem to be everyone’s enemy at the moment).


SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life. She lives in New York with her family and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…

You can contact her the following ways:

• You can email her at authorsejakes@gmail.com.
• You can post to her Facebook page: Facebook.com/SEJakes
• You can tweet her: Twitter.com/authorsejakes
• You can post on her Goodreads Group: Ask SE Jakes
• You can follow her Tumblr page: sejakes.tumblr.com
• You can follow her on Instagram: instagram.com/authorsejakes
• Truth be told, the best way to contact her is by email or in blog comments.
She spends most of her time writing but she loves to hear from readers!

SE Jakes is the pen-name of New York Times Bestselling author Stephanie Tyler (and half of Sydney Croft) — please go to my media kit to learn more!

Tracy’s Review:

You got the blurb earlier so I’ll just head into my part of it all. 🙂

I’ve been a fan of biker boys since time immemorial. There’s just something about the rough, not so lawful attitude that they exude. Most of the time they’re not all that lawful so to me that’s a bonus. lol When I saw this story and read the blurb I knew it was one I didn’t want to miss.

Sean’s a bit messed up about Ryker. He loves the fact that the guy is breaking into his house to have sex with him and then Ryker always does something sweet the next day – like a courtship…almost. The fact that Ryker is one tough motherfucker is just an added extra bonus for Sean. Sean is an adrenaline junkie who thrives on stealing cars and street racing. He’s gotten himself into trouble in the past and is trying to keep himself and his best friend Noah out of trouble but things don’t always turn out as planned. When Noah gets himself into deep trouble I loved that Sean was right there to help him out. He didn’t even have to stop and think about it – he just did it. That’s a true friend, right there.

There’s some info that comes out about Ryker and his MC as the story goes on that makes Sean doubt Ryker’s feelings for him and I thought it added a slightly softer side to the whole story. Sean just wasn’t as tough as Ryker or as tough as he portrayed himself and that was okay by me as I like the dichotomy of it all.

The whole story was pretty riveting and once I started it I didn’t put it down til I was finished.  There are a plethora of reasons to pick up this book and my advice is to read it and find out what those are.  You just can’t understand it’s pull until you read it…so read it. 🙂

Rating: 4 out of 5

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

four-stars


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Saugatuck Summer by Amelia C. Gormley Virtual Book Tour, Giveaway and Guest Review

Posted May 27, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Saugatuck Summer by Amelia C. Gormley Virtual Book Tour, Giveaway and Guest ReviewReviewer: Tracy
Saugatuck Summer by Amelia C. Gormley
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Publication Date: May 19th 2014
Genres: M/M, Contemporary Romance
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars

One summer can change everything.

Hi, I'm Topher Carlisle: twenty-one, pretty, and fabulous. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. But let's get real. Walking the fake-it-til-you-make-it road to independence and self-respect isn't easy. Especially since my mom's a deadbeat alcoholic, and most of my family expects me to turn out just as worthless. Oh, and I'm close to losing my college swimming scholarship, so let's add "dropout" to the list.

My BFF has invited me to stay at her beach house on the shore of Lake Michigan. That'll give me one summer to make money and figure out what I want to do with my life. So of course I decide to have an affair with my BFF's married, closeted dad. Because that always works out.

Now I'm homeless, friendless, jobless. Worthless. Just like my family expects, right? Except there's this great guy, Jace, who sees it differently. He's got it all together in ways I can only dream of — he's hot, creative, insightful, understanding. He seems to think I don't give myself enough credit. And if I don't watch out, I may start to believe him.

Hi, and welcome to the Saugatuck Summer blog tour! Thank you to Tracy’s Place. You’re very welcome!  I’m happy to have you!

Reviews for hosting me today! For those of you who have seen me talking about it on social media for the last nearly year and a half, you know that Saugatuck Summer was a labor of love far beyond what I would normally claim for one of my books. Of course I love them all, but Saugatuck Summer came from my very soul. Actually, I’m not certain it came from me at all.

Basically, here’s what happened: One day I was driving along, running errands, and Topher Carlisle whispered one line of dialogue in my ear. Just one. When I asked him what I was supposed to do with that, he promptly took over my brain for fifteen absolutely insane days and at the end I had the first draft of Saugatuck Summer.

Topher’s story of recovery, hope, making mistakes, and growing up just told itself, and the experience of being the conduit for that was at times grueling and heartbreaking, but also euphoric and wonderful. It was one of those experiences that, as a creator of some form of art, be it musical, visual, or literary, you have once or twice in a lifetime if you’re extraordinarily lucky, when you know you’re creating something magical. I’m not sure it will ever happen to me again, but I feel absolutely blessed that this book has come of it.

This week on the Saugatuck Summer blog tour, I’ll be sharing some bonus content from the book and a sneak peek at another upcoming book in the Saugatuck universe. I’ll also be having a heart-to-heart discussion with Marie Sexton about our experiences as adult children of alcoholics and how they translated into writing our ACOA characters from Saugatuck Summer and Family Man, giving you a peek at some of “Jace’s” art, and I’ll be sharing the official Saugatuck Summer soundtrack from a brilliant singer/songwriter of my personal acquaintance, Casey Stratton.

And finally, all week long I’ll be asking trivia questions from Saugatuck Summer and this week’s blog tour articles, and each correct answer emailed to me offers you a chance to win your choice of any of my backlist titles!

So put on your sunscreen and let’s go!


HOW TO WIN YOUR CHOICE OF ANY SINGLE BOOK FROM MY BACKLIST (all-in-one volumes not included):

At each stop along the blog tour I’ll be asking a trivia question from Saugatuck Summer. Yes, this means some familiarity with the book is required, whether you purchase a copy, have an ARC, or employ the Kindle or B&N lending programs. If you visit some of the other blog tour stops, you might also find the answer in some of the excerpts.

PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS. Instead, send the answer to me privately by using this contact form. Each response will enter you into the drawing and three winners will be picked. The more questions you answer, the more entries you get. You can choose from any of the following titles:

Inertia (Impulse, Book One)
Acceleration (Impulse, Book Two)
Velocity (Impulse, Book Three)
The Laird’s Forbidden Lover
An Inch at a Time (The Professor’s Rule #2)
Inch by Inch (The Professor’s Rule #3)
Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule #4)
To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5)
Strain

(Note: Giving an Inch (The Professor’s Rule #1) is already available free at Riptide, and my pre-Saugatuck novella, The Field of Someone Else’s Dreams, is available for free at Amazon, All Romance eBooks, and elsewhere.)

Again, please do not post your answer in the comments, but submit it to me privately.

To give people time to read and respond, the contest will remain open for one month after the release of Saugatuck Summer. It will close on June 19, and the drawing will be held on June 20.

Today’s Saugatuck Summer trivia question:

Chapter 25, what major event happens to Ling, Geoff, and Robin?


 

Guest Review by Judith of Dr. J.’s Book Place 

I don’t often read and review M/M novels but I was asked to do so and was happy to do so. This is a very emotional story that is written in the first person so that the reader has an opportunity to enter more fully into the experience of the main character—Christopher Carlisle—more often known as Topher. It is not a format I normally like very well and perhaps that is because I prefer to be a distant observer to the action in the novel. That is not possible here. The author has done a stellar job of drawing the reader into the personal angst of the characters and believe me, there’s lots of hurt and anxiety here, more than enough to go around.

At first glance Topher seems to be a young man who is merely hoping to find a summer job so that he can make up for the shortfall in his finances for the coming college year. As a student on an athletic scholarship he must still meet some of his expenses himself and so far he has been able to do so without going into debt with school loans. It appears that his very best friend Mo has offered him lodging and some of his meals at her family’s summer home in Saugatuck, Michigan, located right on Lake Michigan, thus saving him a good deal of money on lodging and such. However, Mo has ended up as a camp counselor all summer and Topher is left with only the company of Mo’s dad, Brendan.

Here it is important that the reader understand that Topher is a 21 year old gay man who appears to be making his way through college with his life reasonably together emotionally. Nothing could be further from the truth. What begins to emerge as the story progresses is that this young man has had his self-esteem systematically dismantled by family members throughout his growing-up years. He was taken from his mom along with his sisters at a young age. She was an alcoholic and proved unequal to the parenting task. Yet the very people who should have supported Topher in his emotional and psychological development were the ones that abused him repeatedly. Not physical abuse, mind you, but the kind of wounds that hurtful words cause. His family appeared to accept his gender preferences yet they undercut his belief in himself with long lectures about all his perceived faults, his behavior that caused embarrassment to them and the family, and his culpability for any and all negative occurrences in his and their lives.

Because of Topher’s need to be understood and valued for who he is, he is grateful for the understanding and friendship that is extended to him by Mo’s dad. Brendan was a professor who was writing a textbook over the summer, but the times he and Topher shared meals or relaxing times in the evening were so very important to Topher. It turns out that Brendan is a closet bisexual who has never allowed himself to express his attraction to men. Now, for the first time ever, he draws Topher into a sexual affair that both know is wrong on so many levels but which each man seems to be either unwilling or unable to curtail. Not only does Topher lose a safe place to reside over the summer when the affair ends, but he also loses the warmth and personal encouragement that had meant so much to him in the early days of his friendship with Brendan. He is also terrified that he will ultimately lose Mo’s friendship.

It is important that the reader not get bogged down by this affair as in the long run, it serves as a wake-up call for Topher and brings him into the circle of several local individuals who are in a long-term committed gay relationship and whose maturity and experience give Topher stability at a difficult time. He also meets an artist from Chicago who travels to Saugatuck frequently and show art is displayed and sold through the local art gallery, one of the owners of which is one of the gay partners who have become mentors to Topher. It is Jace who gradually begins to challenge Topher to see his early life experiences honestly and to identify them as abuse that has effectively diminished his sense of self and engendered the attitude that he is unworthy, lacking true talent, and is really a person who has nothing anyone can find valuable.

This is a story that is full of the realities and insights regarding the damage friends and relatives do all in the name of “saving someone from themselves.” While Topher’s family never overtly tried to reorient him to being straight, they almost did the same thing covertly as they dismantled his faith in his ability to make good decisions about friendships, discouraging his friendships with other boys all in the name of saving him from embarrassing situations. It is a story that allows the reader to walk this summer journey with Topher and to experience his joys and his disappointments in others and in himself, to share in his struggles and to learn as he eventually does that there really is someone “out there” who sees him for who he truly is and who has the patience and loving care to stay the course with him.

The book is beautifully written and constructed by an author who appears to know what she is doing when it come to putting a good story together. It was really an enjoyable reading experience as the story flowed and was edited well. The characters were all well-developed and I had the feeling that they were iconic—symbols of people who populate all our lives in one way or another. It turned out to be a very good novel and one that I was glad I read. Readers who like M/M romance fiction will like this book. Those who are just discovering this genre of romance fiction would do well to add this book to their “to be read” list. It’s a very fine novel that deserves to be read and appreciated.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5***

Be sure to check out the Saugatuck Summer soundtrack by singer/songwriter Casey Stratton!

Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot m/m erotic romance while her son is at school. When she’s not writing in her Pacific Northwest home, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.

Her self-published novel-in-three-parts, Impulse (Inertia, Book One; Acceleration, Book Two; and Velocity, Book Three) can be found at most major online book retailers, and be sure to check Riptide for her latest releases, including her Highland historical, The Laird’s Forbidden Lover, the The Professor’s Rule series of erotic novelettes (co-written with Heidi Belleau), the post-apocalyptic romance, Strain, and her upcoming, New Adult contemporary, Saugatuck Summer, available now.

You can contact Amelia on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookLikes, Tumblr, or contact her by email using the form at http://ameliacgormley.com/about/

four-stars


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When All The World Sleeps Blog Tour with Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock + Review +Giveaway

Posted March 27, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 10 Comments

When All The World Sleeps Blog Tour with Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock + Review +GiveawayReviewer: Tracy
When All the World SleepsPublisher: Riptide Publishing
Publication Date: March 24th 2014
Genres: Suspense, M/M
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books

Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper's house — with Kenny inside it — after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.
Like the rest of Logan, local cop Joe Belman doesn't believe Daniel's absurd defense. But when Bel saves Daniel from a retaliatory fire, he discovers that Daniel might not be what everyone thinks: killer, liar, tweaker, freak. Bel agrees to control Daniel at night — for the sake of the other townsfolk. Daniel's fascinating, but Bel's not going there.
Yet as he's drawn further into Daniel's dark world, Bel finds that he likes being in charge. And submitting to Bel gives Daniel the only peace he's ever known. But Daniel's demons won't leave him alone, and he'll need Bel's help to slay them once and for all — assuming Bel is willing to risk everything to stand by him.

Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock, authors of When All the World Sleeps. We’re touring the web talking about our influences, our crazy ideas, this new book, and even giving you a sneak peek or two! And of course there’s a giveaway involved! Leave a comment to win!

Thanks so much to Tracy’s Place for having us, and to everyone following the tour. Here’s today’s look at When All the World Sleeps:

When we were writing When All the World Sleeps, we wanted to give Daniel Whitlock a past he couldn’t escape, so we made him a killer. Daniel is guilty, and guilt ridden, but there’s a big question mark hanging over his culpability: Daniel claims he was sleepwalking when he killed a man.

The law doesn’t always get it right, because there is a massive difference between the way the law is applied in courts and in actual justice. And you can take that any way you like. Either Daniel shouldn’t have gone to jail at all because he was sleepwalking when he burned down Kenny Cooper’s house with Kenny inside, or he should have rotted in there for the rest of his life because he took a life.

It wasn’t self-defence. Daniel was frightened of Kenny, and he was angry as well. He was holding a well-deserved grudge against the man who’d bashed him so bad it put him in the hospital. And wherever in his subconscious that Daniel buried his anger and his fear, one night it all boiled over while he was sleeping.

I think there’s one passage in the book that really sums up the reality of the situation where Bel, a cop, is talking to one of Daniel’s tormentors:

 

“The law is done with Whitlock. You oughta be done as well. And if you ain’t, then next time we talk it’ll be at the station. You understand me?”

Brock’s mouth tightened.

“You understand me?” Bel asked again.

“Yeah,” Brock said, scowling. “I got you loud and clear, Officer. Kenny’s dead, Whitlock’s walking around, and I gotta let it go. That’s the fucking law.”

“Yeah, that’s the law.”

Brock stared at him for a moment. “Ain’t no wonder people take it in their own hands then, is it?”

Yeah, Bel thought as he watched Brock slink away like a stray cat. Ain’t no wonder.

There were no winners here. Not Kenny, not Daniel, and not the law. They were all wanting, every one of them.

Nobody in the town of Logan trusts Daniel. He’s shunned and hated and feared. And Daniel doesn’t trust himself either. He’s afraid he’ll kill someone else. He’s so afraid of this that he makes some bad decisions. He thinks he can keep himself contained. Then he thinks he can trust some guy he met on the internet to do it for him.

Bel makes some bad decisions too. In his reactions to and interactions with Daniel, he echoes some of the prejudices and victim-blaming tendencies held by most of the town. He initially believes that gay men in Logan should stay closeted and that Daniel could have prevented his bashing by not hitting on Kenny. Yet he’s drawn to Daniel, and the better he gets to know him, the more he wants to help. Except Bel’s a cop, and in a small town like Logan being on Daniel Whitlock’s side means having the rest of the town turn against him. Bel can’t cure Daniel, and he can’t erase the past. Nobody can do that.

Daniel can’t escape his past. Neither can Bel. All they can do is try and figure out a way to live with it.

Contest

Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away a great pair of prizes! Up for grabs is an ebook of our last co-release, Mark Cooper versus America, and a $20 gift voucher from Riptide. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your twitter, or a link to your facebook or goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! On APRIL 2, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win this awesome prize!

 

Tracy’s review:
Daniel Whitlock has lived in Logan all his life and he was always known as the freak but when he got older the term changed…to murderer. You see, Daniel sleepwalks. Only, when he does it, he is more than functional and capable of holding a conversation but yet remembers none of it in the morning. It started when he was a kid but he never quite understood why it happened. During the course of the book we even see him thinking back to see if there were triggers but it didn’t matter if good or bad things happened during the day, he’d still sleepwalk and still do things – sometimes bad things.

So Daniel grows up and goes off to college and when he comes home he is beaten up by former high school friends who find out he’s gay. They beat him almost to death but Daniel tells the cops he can’t remember who it was. Everyone in town knew it was Kenny Cooper and his friends Clayton, RJ and Brock but no one is arrested. Months go by and then one night while sleepwalking Daniel wakes up, heads to the store for a candy bar, a soda and a lighter and sets Kenny’s house on fire – with Kenny in it .

That was three years ago. Kenny served 8 months in prison for the arson and murder and returned to Logan to finish his parole. He tries to be an upstanding citizen but everyone thinks he’s a murderer and a meth head because when he sleepwalks that’s the way he acts. No one believes that he was actually sleepwalking when he set the house on fire and thinks he just made it all up to get out of it.

Joe Belman was always attracted to Daniel – even back when he was in Jr. High school. Now Joe, or as he’s known in the book, Bel, is a cop and has his eye on Daniel again. He believes like everyone else that Daniel’s a liar and that he really knew full well that he was killing Kenny – until he saves Daniel from his house when it’s set on fire and he finds Daniel chained to his own bed.

Bel gets more interested in Daniel and he starts to volunteer to sit with Daniel while he sleeps so that Daniel doesn’t have to feel so fearful after the fire. As Bel gets to know Daniel he starts to see another person than the one he always thought he saw. Now Daniel’s not perfect by any means but he’s what Bel wants and Bel’s not gonna let anyone tell him he can’t have Daniel – no matter what.

When All The World Sleeps is a very emotional book. Daniel is thoroughly messed up because of his sleepwalking and believes he needs the pain of BDSM to exhaust himself enough to sleep. Now Bel does some light BDSM – super light – but even that seems to work for Daniel. Bel takes care of Daniel when he wakes in the night and keeps him under control and out of trouble. I have to say that I SO admired Bel. He was only 23 years old but had a great job, a house and seemed much older than he was. He wasn’t perfect either but he was kind and compassionate and his love was big enough to encompass all the baggage that Daniel came with and it was a shit ton, lemme tell ya.

Daniel I liked but wow was he an emotional roller coaster. He was up then down then wanting pain but not wanting it. It must have been so exhausting having to keep yourself up constantly for fear of what you would do when you were sleepwalking. I can’t imagine the fear he must have felt. If that fear’s not enough, he had Kenny’s friends threatening him constantly which only made his bouts of sleepwalking worse. It was a vicious cycle.

Did I love Daniel and Bel together? Yes, they were cute together, I must say, but it was definitely a different kind of love story. The book seemed to focus on the same issues – pain, exhaustion and dealing with it – and it did seem a bit repetitious at times. It was a very long book and felt at times that I was reading the same scene over again just worded differently and in a different setting. The same went for Clayton and his friends who never had anything new to say so it kind of got old.

Despite my issues with the story I really liked it. It was dark and angsty and sad because of Daniels constant dark inner thoughts and messed up mental state, but it was written well with compelling characters and a wonderful love theme. The book didn’t end with a twist and a ridiculously happy ending that made me wonder where the hell it came from. The story is REAL and gritty and definitely made me think for a long time after reading it and that’s always a good thing in my book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read an excerpt and purchase When All the World Sleeps here. 

About the Authors

Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa her website, at Goodreads, or on Facebook or Twitter.

J.A. Rock has worked as a dog groomer, knife seller, haunted house zombie, standardized patient, cashier, census taker, state fair quilt hanger, and, for one less-than-magical evening, a server—and would much rather be writing about those jobs than doing them. J.A. lives mostly in West Virginia, and always with a beloved dog, Professor Anne.

You can visit J.A. at her website, her blog, or on Twitter or Facebook.


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Book Spotlight/Blog Tour: Christmas Kitsch by Amy Lane (+ a Scavenger Hunt & a Giveaway!)

Posted December 11, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Blurb:

Sometimes the best thing you can get for Christmas is knowing what you really want.

Rusty Baker is a blond, rich, entitled football player in a high school full of them—just the type of oblivious jock all the bullied kids hate. And he might have stayed that way, except he develops a friendship with out-and-proud Oliver Campbell from the wrong side of the tracks. Rusty thinks the friendship is just pity—Oliver is very bright, and Rusty is very not—but then Oliver kisses him goodbye when Rusty leaves for college, and Rusty is forced to rethink everything he knows about himself.

But even Rusty’s newfound awareness can’t help him survive a semester at Berkeley. He returns home for Thanksgiving break clinging to the one thing he knows to be true: Oliver Campbell is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

Rusty’s parents disagree, and Rusty finds himself homeless for the holidays. Oliver may not have much money, but he’s got something Rusty has never known: true family. With their help and Oliver’s love, Rusty comes to realize that he may have failed college, but he’ll pass real life with flying rainbow colors.

20% of all proceeds from this title are donated to the Ali Forney Center in New York, whose mission “is to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) youth from the harm of homelessness, and to support them in becoming safe and independent as they move from adolescence to adulthood.” To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit http://www.aliforneycenter.org/

Bio:

Amy Lane has children, pets, consuming hobbies, an amazing spouse, and a very dirty house. The only time she does housework is Christmas, so that children, pets, spouse, hobbies, and home may exist in peace on hearth for at least once a year.

Feel free to visit Amy in the following places:
Blog: www.writerslane.blogspot.com
Website: www.greenshill.com
Twitter: @amymaclane
FaceBook: Amy Lane
FaceBook Fan Group: Amy Lane Anonymous
Or to contact her at: amylane@greenshill.com

The Scavenger Hunt– (from Amy)

In addition to the Riptide giveaway, I’m having a scavenger hunt on my own blog. At the beginning of the blog tour, I’ll publish the tour dates on Yarning to Write. For every stop on the tour I’ll have a “phrase” for the scavenger hunt. At the end of the tour, I’ll put up a post for the people who have found the phrases. If you comment — and then send me an e-mail with six of the twelve phrases and your address!– I’ll send you some Christmas Kitsch swag. The post collecting the winners will go up on the 13th (the day of the last stop on the tour) and you will have a week to go read all of the tour stops and collect your phrases. The hunt closes on December 21st, at the end of the day and I’ll get your swag into the mail between Christmas and New Years! (Hopefully after I get my own Christmas cards out in the mail. I’m not known for my punctuality, I’m afraid;-) Look below for today’s phrase! 

Today’s phrase:
And don’t forget to collect “Backroads Boogie” for the scavenger hunt on Amy’s blog on December 14th!
 
Riptide contest details: 
Enter your details in the Rafflecopter below to gain entry in the Home for the Holidays giveaway! This week of the tour closes at midnight, EST, on December 13th. Then, one grand prize winner will be contacted at the end of the Home for the Holidays tour on December 16th. Contest is valid worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Blog Tour Book Spotlight (+ 2 Giveaways!): Lost and Found by ZA Maxfield

Posted December 6, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Lost and Found Blurb:

Lost: one dog and two men in need of each other. Found: love.

RV resort security chief Ringo never believed in love at first sight . . . until he saw Gavin playing his sax on the beach for the tourists. But their on-again, off-again affair—even counting all the great makeup sex—doesn’t come close to the relationship he wants. All he really wants for Christmas is a commitment from Gavin.

Instead he discovers that Gavin has had surgery without telling him, so he lays down a relationship ultimatum while Gavin recuperates. Complicating matters even more, Gavin’s beloved dog Bird runs away, and Gavin blames Ringo for the disappearance.

While Ringo throws every resource he has into finding Bird, he learns deeper truths about Gavin—how hard it is for him to trust and how little faith he has in love. Maybe if Ringo can find Bird, he can salvage Gavin’s faith. Maybe this Christmas, they can all find each other.

You can read an excerpt or purchase Lost and Found HERE. Remember, when you purchase Lost and Found in either ebook format, which you can find HERE or in the print anthology format, which you can find HERE, you’re helping to support the mission of the Ali Forney Center

Author Bio:
About Z. A. Maxfield: ZAM started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”

Readers can visit ZAM at her website, Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr

Lost and Found contest details:

To recap, you can find all the blog tour information you need at the Riptide Website, HERE. Be sure you attend all the stops and follow the Rafflecopter instructions for the chance to win a $20.00 Riptide Publishing Gift Certificate and all the songs on my Lost and Found Playlist! (Winner to be drawn on December 8th at 5pm EST. Contest is valid worldwide.)
 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Riptide contest details:

Enter your details in the Rafflecopter below to gain entry in the Home for the Holidays giveaway! This week of the tour closes at midnight, EST, on December 6th. Then, one grand prize winner will be contacted at the end of the Home for the Holidays tour on December 16th. Contest is valid worldwide.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 


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