Review: Into the Gray by F.E. Feeley Jr.

Life after college is not what Aaron expected. Isn’t he supposed to have what he wants to do figured out by now? David never expected his marriage to be rocky, let alone about to end. How is he supposed to move on from this? December in Detroit is normally unforgiving, but an unexpected blizzard puts David and Aaron on a course toward each other. Despite the frozen ground and battleship gray sky, these men find heat together. It’s intimate and illicit, stretching what was supposed to be a one night stand into something more. Sometimes the touch of a stranger, however forbidden, is just what we need when we enter the gray.

I’ve been a big fan of this author’s stories since The Haunting of Timber Manor and if you haven’t read Objects in the Rearview Mirror, please do yourself a favor and go get it now. So, when I saw that he was writing an erotic romance I was anxious to get my paws on it and get his take. It was honestly what I wanted and expected considering how he writes and how much his style appeals to me. In short, I’m a big fan of this new venture and I plan on following along for every story he releases.

I love me some fluff now and again, but it can also drive me a little nutters because too much can just be too much. It just doesn’t read realistically to me and I have to take it in small doses. Now, give me some fluff with a side of snark, good natured ribbing and a willingness to acknowledge relationship roadblocks and I’m in. Into the Gray gave me all of that.

Into the Gray is a character driven romance between two lonely men who are both at crossroads in their lives. What starts as a one night stand turns into a snowed in weekend full of bonding both physically and emotionally. Reading about grinding of tingly parts is fun and I like fun, but when you add an emotional connection, the sex elevates to something so much more and Aaron and David have this connection in spades. Once you add in where they both were in their lives and their weekend together became even more meaningful.

Aaron is coming off a bad relationship and getting his bearings and David is in the process of divorcing his wife and is finally going to be able to live an authentic life. They both have a lot to navigate and a new relationship, in theory, is probably not ideal, but I have to take a sentence to say how much I appreciated the author making the idea of a new relationship an opportunity and not a burden.

Sometimes stories take the flux that characters are going through as a chance to have them deny themselves and the manufactured angst of it all can be distracting and I feel like those characters are cheated because of “reasons”. I don’t need extra angst, life has plenty as it is, and it’s the same for MCs (well, it’s usually more for them). Let them take their happiness in a meaningful way, let them talk about and acknowledge what they are going through and then provide one another with support and orgasms. THAT is what I love and THAT is what Into the Gray gave me.

Aaron and David complemented one another so well and it was obvious they were both smitten from the beginning. It started with them being all lusty with lust but when they were snowed in together for a weekend (and I do love the “snowed in” setup very much) and they got to know one another with no outside pressure or influence, just homemade chicken soup, baths, movies and cuddles. I’m a fan of all of those things and when Aaron and David do them all it’s even better.

I read that there could be more coming for Aaron and David and I can’t wait for that to be a thing. I really enjoyed the direction the story is taking and I hope to read more of these guys and meet new characters. Also, major love to the secondary characters, they are fully fleshed out and they added a lot with a minimal amount of page time which says a lot. I’m adding Into the Gray to my reread list, it’s my flavor of erotic romance and I’m anxious to read more.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Once Upon a Wolf by Hurri Cosmo

Once Upon a Wolf blog tour visits today! Celebrate with author Hurri Cosmo and Other Worlds Ink, learn more about the paranormal romance and enter in the $25 Amazon gift card.





Hurri Cosmo has a new MM paranormal shifter tale out: Once Upon a Wolf.

Hawk is alone, hiding from the world, living in a tiny, rickety cabin his grandfather built. He has few supplies and fewer yet of the skills needed to survive on his own, but because of what he did, because of what his father caused him to do… well, there’s just no other choice.

But then one day “Ghost” shows up. A large lone wolf who begins to “take care of” Hawk. He brings him game, he protects him from predators, and he even pulls him from a raging river. He is Hawk’s only friend and Hawk begins to talk to ghost as if he is human and can understand.

Except Ghost isn’t human.

Yes, Ghost has filled a void in Hawk’s life, and he is very grateful, but he is a wolf and Hawk needs the company of a human. In fact, Hawk is desperately lonely, to the point he even tells Ghost he longs for the touch of a man, the first time he has ever said such a wicked thing out loud.

Then one full-moon night a large, beautiful naked man breaks into the cabin and grabs Hawk, looming over him like he wants to eat him alive. At first Hawk is terrified, but then he realizes the stranger has Ghost’s amazing golden eyes...


Painted Hearts Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | QueeRomance Ink | Smashwords | Goodreads

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Giveaway

Hurri is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:

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Excerpt



Taking care of the man was proving to be a little more intense then Ghost first thought it would be. Comical, too. Feeding him was no challenge but keeping him from killing himself with his eagerness for life certainly was turning out to be.

His own readiness for something just out of reach every time he was with the man was also a huge trial. Something quite unusual had happened in the river this morning. Something unexplainable, even by Ghost’s standards. For a moment in time, a time of great desperation, he had been able to hang on to his human with more than just paws. He couldn’t see, the water and the situation too demanding for that. But Ghost had been able to wrap something around the man’s hips, and he knew his paws were not capable of that.

Something in his very being had changed in him ever since the human had come into his life.

He had always been attracted by the man’s aroma, always wanted to mix it with his own. His desire to taste him was overwhelming at times. Making the human his was easy enough since there had been no challenge, but it was claiming him that seemed impossible. If the human had been a wolf, Ghost would have mated with him. He didn’t care Hawk was very obviously a male of his species. How could it matter? Except, the fact Hawk was human, and Ghost was not, did.

However, there was something else that was just at the surface and with the full moon this very night, he was more aware of it than ever.

He could feel it. It was coming.

Tonight.

He loped into the woods, quickly finding and killing a fat rabbit. He then trotted it back to the cabin and laid it on the doorstep. He yipped and scratched at the door, but he heard no movement inside. Appeared the man was sleeping. Good. After this morning’s ordeal there was no doubt he needed it. But frustratingly, this door was proving to be a real problem. He had watched how the man opened it, with those marvelous hands of his. He lifted a paw to examine it. Similar. He also had fingers of a fashion. They weren’t long like the man’s, but he had claws, which he liked. Something the man didn’t have. Still, those fingers…

And he couldn’t help but think that was exactly what he had when he grabbed hold of the man in the river. Hands and fingers.

But it didn’t matter at the moment because, even if he had somehow, miraculously, sprouted hands this morning, they were gone now. And he had no idea how to get them back. Ghost jogged into the woods and gathered more game for the man, laying it all at his door. He would wait patiently for the man to wake up.


***
Hawk woke with a start. Had he heard something?

He threw his cover off, jumped to his feet and ran to the door. It wasn’t until he had flung the door open, expecting to find Ghost standing there, that he realized, not only was he well rested again but his feet no longer hurt. At all.

And there was quite the array of game lying at his feet. Seemed Ghost had already been and gone a number of times.

Hawk lifted one of his feet to examine the bottom. Once scratched and cut, now it appeared completely healed. He could still make out scabby scars but that was it. How could that be? It was only hours ago he had done the damage and these wounds seemed days old. He remembered how Ghost’s wounds, too, had given the impression of being days old once he had him in his cabin and near the fire. The large wolf had hardly needed his care. He recalled joking about Ghost’s magical skin. Was there something truly enchanted about Ghost? Could it be when he had licked Hawk’s wounds the wolf had not only stopped any kind of infection from taking hold, but also healed him like this?

Hawk pulled in a long breath as he examined his other foot and found the same thing. He could see where the cuts had been but that was it. Then, checking the minor scratches on his arms and legs and even thinking about the ant bite on his ass, he marveled that they were all completely healed. Was this proof magic existed? His father had believed in it. So did most of the townspeople. Not only did they believe in magic, but in monsters. Growing up, Hawk had witnessed more than a few times his father picking up his gun and heading out the door to meet up with any number of the townsmen, all crashing together into the dark woods after drinking themselves into false bravado and whipping themselves into a murderous frenzy. “Hunting the monsters,” he would sometimes yell out at Hawk if he caught him staring at him. Hawk never asked where he was going. Not when March was like that, all wild-eyed and smelling of liquor. He learned quickly asking his father anything in that state would as soon receive a fist to the face as it would an answer. If March offered up any kind of explanation, ever, Hawk knew to be content with it.
As far as hunting monsters, Hawk was never invited to go. “Too fucking stupid,” had been the reply, accompanied by a hard palm to the back of Hawk’s head when, one time, a friend of March’s had the audacity of asking why. “Don’t care if the dumb sonofabitch shoots himself, but I don’t want him shooting me!”

No, Hawk never went on those excursions into the deep wood where evidently the monsters lived, although it had been a favorite pastime with the men in town. However, Hawk thought those forays were more often about getting naked and drinking till dawn. Oh yes. He couldn’t help but hear the hushed stories. It was why Hawk wasn’t invited. No wives or kids. “Hunting monsters” was messy business and was no place for the squeamish. True enough since they were all old men, ugly and fat and wrinkly. But Hawk thought about the naked part anyway. He thought about it a lot. Especially these last several days because the moon was nearly full, and it was on these nights that the town’s menfolk would go about “protecting their village.”

Did he believe there were real monsters in the woods? Absolutely, but nothing more than the normal grizzly or black bear. However, he was beginning to believe in magic. All his wounds were healed, and he held the magic had to have come from the wolf. And now, because of that magic, running out to check on his traps was possible.

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Author Bio

I live in Minnesota where I hold tight to the idea that here, where it’s cold a good part of the year, I won’t age as fast. Yep, I avoid the truth as much as I avoid mirrors. But one of the reasons I love writing is reality doesn’t always offer up a “happily ever after” and being able to take control of that is a powerful lure. Being a happy ending junkie, writing just makes them easier to find. Oh, I don’t mind “real life” and I do try to at least keep it in mind when I write my stories, but I truly love creating a wonderful couple, knowing they will fall in love and have their HEA. Every - single - time. And, of course, that is exactly the reason I love reading this genre, too. Give me a glass of red wine, some dark chocolate, and my computer, whether I’m reading or writing, and I’ll be entertained for hours. The fact I actually get paid to do it is Snickers bars on the frosting on the cake.

Author Website: http://hurricosmo.com

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/hurri.cosmo

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/OfficialHurriCosmo/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/HurriCosmo

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6466687.Hurri_Cosmo

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/?s=hurri+cosmo&search_type=book_search

Guest Review: A Cordial Agreement by Ryan Loveless

Can a wealthy but frustrated CEO and a guilt-ridden stripper find what they need in a consensual, nonsexual whipping boy arrangement?

Billionaire mogul Grant Jessup, fifty-three, buries his sexual tastes and the reasons behind them—the stresses of his business empire and family. In contrast, Jim Sieber understands the regret that makes him seek pain and penance. As an asexual averse to erotic touch, Jim sets strict boundaries. But as the relationship evolves, Grant struggles to respect them, and both men realize for their association to continue and perhaps grow into real feelings, they’ll have to explore new ways to satisfy each other.

Reviewer: Annery

This is a bit difficult to review and rate for two main reasons:
a) the novella length, which doesn’t really allow for a richer character development
b) IMO it’s miss-tagged as BDSM

I’m not a super stickler for rules in BDSM stories. In fact I love it when characters are sort of stumbling through what they like, what works for them, what their particular rules are going to be etc. But this is not a BDSM story. Generously it can be called a spanking story, save the spanking is not in the service of any kind of sexual or emotional gratification for either of the parties.

Jim Seiber is a dancer at a strip club in upper Manhattan, occasional construction worker, and apparently asexual, though he just says he doesn’t want to be touched. Is there’s a term for that? I found haphephobia which is a term that applies to folks who have a fear of being touched, and I think fear or disgust might more accurately represent how Jim feels, though we never get too much into that. I know that asexuality, like most things, is on a spectrum, however Jim does feel sexual attraction and gets sexual gratification by his own hand when fantasizing about encounters with those he’s attracted to and their imaginary hands. So maybe not asexual? In any case he finds himself in a BDSM club looking for someone to hurt him. He looking to do penance for … let’s just say he feels guilty for something he shouldn’t and has come up with this cockamamie idea. Luckily the club owner, Tanya Wyatt, who is also a domme, recognizes his special needs and hooks him up with Grant Jessup, a man who needs a whipping boy to let off steam and not sexual gratification.

I like Grant very much. Maybe he’s fantasy captain of industry, a good guy who does and says the right thing, who respects other people’s boundaries, and diligently tries to learn what he doesn’t know. What I wasn’t too on board with was him using someone to vent life frustrations. It seems to me that that can be a pretty dangerous edge to walk on. As for Jim I couldn’t muster up much feeling for him. Sorry. He’s this Narcissus like beauty, tall, strapping, and smart. He seems to make good money as a dancer/stripper; he works construction and yet somehow he’s living in a dilapidated apartment with his friend Shannon. I feel that writers, sometimes, use this notion of economic precariousness as ploy to make characters sympathetic. It’s not necessary or believable. Also Washington Heights as some awful neighborhood in which buildings have hallways strewn with garbage is a bit dated and inaccurate. Just saying. And where was this strip club? Don’t get me going on NYC geography.

Ultimately I didn’t understand what Grant saw in Jim, besides his physical beauty. Yes, he’s a nice guy, but what do they share in common. Do I see Jim becoming Grant’s companion and going out with him socially? Grant who owns a media empire? We’ll say nothing about how Grant’s adult children accept the relationship without much fuss (not likely), but how is this relationship going to work out in the long term, socially, sexually, emotionally? Too many threads were left up in the air for me to trust in the long term viability of this pair.

I didn’t hate it. I think the writer is putting forth characters who don’t always get much play but good intentions do not a good romance make. Maybe this could be a good beginning for Grant & Jim and maybe others will get better mileage out of this.

Giveaway + Release Blitz: Love Kills - Criminal Delights: Serial Killers by Michael Mandrake

Join author Michael Mandrake & Signal Boost Promotions in celebrating the release of Love Kills - Criminal Delights: Serial Killers. Find out more & enter in the giveaway to win an ebook copy of your very own!

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link - Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited.

Length: 56,600 words approx.

Cover Design: Natasha Snow

Blurb

Deranged birds of a feather flock together… leaving trails of blood in their wake.


Holland has fantasies most can’t accept. When potential mates discover Holland’s bloodlust, it’s too late for them to refuse. Determined to get what he wants, Holland continues to seek a man to fulfill his deepest desire and he won’t stop at anything


Archer is inspired and aroused by the tales he’s heard from his boyfriend. Still, he’s greedy for something that pushes him over the edge. Although this might drive him and his partner apart, Archer’s dark want won’t disappear.


Clint’s love for his job has slipped for years, and he’s pondered change. These days he’s cared more about how to please his man, than the rigorous position of solving murder cases. Clint thinks his attitude will eventually get better, thus prompting him to stay aboard. Still, the constant worry of Archer finding someone new niggles at him.


Putting sketchy characters behind bars had always been Clint’s forte, but when new feelings arise, Clint’s conscience is tested. Furthermore, what will happen if Clint is forced to choose between the love of his life, his career, and his morality?


This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.


Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.

About the Author

Michael Mandrake pens complex characters already comfortable with their sexuality. Through these, he builds worlds not centered on romance but rather the mainstream and/or obscure plots we might encounter in everyday life and beyond.


Website: https://michaelmandrake.wordpress.com/

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMichaelMandrake/

FB Profile: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004610177001

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/MichaelMandrake

Follow me on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/michael-mandrake

Triad Newsletter – https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z7f2c7

Triad Fangroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/275083546529760/

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Giveaway + Blog Tour: Reverb (Twisted Wishes #3) by Anna Zabo

Join author Anna Zabo & A Novel Take PR in celebrating the release of Reverb (Twisted Wishes #3) which is out now! Find out more about this contemporary rockstar romance, read an exclusive excerpt & enter in the giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card & a backlist ebook from the author! Good luck!

Exclusive Excerpt for BMBR:

Now David was here. Compact, intelligent, handsome David, with his bell-like voice. Seemed pretty damn mature.
“How old are you, anyway?”
She’d asked right as he’d taken a bite of his Italian sub. David rolled his eyes and chewed, taking his time. She chuckled and went back to eating her own food.
When he finished, he took a gulp of water and met her gaze. “I’m forty-three.”
She nearly choked on her sandwich. No fucking way he was ten years older than her. She couldn’t say anything because her mouth was full. Payback.
David’s eyes danced with amusement. “I know. I look younger.”
She finally swallowed, and with a rough voice answered, “Much.”
He made one of those amused sexy grunts guys could do. Damn him. But he slipped into serious with an apologetic shrug. “You shouldn’t be kept out of the loop. I can show you the stuff Adrian’s been getting and explain the situation, if you’d like.”
Fucking at last. “This gonna throw me off practice?”
“Yes,” Ray said. “Mish…don’t. Not now.”
David inspected his food, then met her gaze. “It’ll probably piss you the fuck off, so I’d recommend later. And maybe a beer or something stronger after that.”
Well, fuck. “You do realize that I’ve been an opinionated woman on the internet, right?” She’d kept a low profile after joining Twisted Wishes, but before that—well. She’d had some choice words thrown at her. Different name back then, though, so nothing to connect her to Twisted Wishes unless you knew where to look.
His brows furrowed. “It’s not rape threats or someone yelling whore or cunt or trying to doxx you.” He took another bite—a small one—and chewed. Stalling technique? Probably.
“So after practice, then. Go out for drinks?”
He shook his head. “Somewhere private.”
Well, there was only one place that would fit the bill. “Hey, David, wanna go home with me?”
He had the decency to blush. Granted, it was faint, a hint of color on his cheeks and under his beard, but a victory nonetheless. “Sure,” he answered. “I’ll even walk you.”
Her very own bodyguard. “Suddenly I feel like I’m in a Whitney Huston musical.”

Reverb by Anna Zabo

Series: Twisted Wishes #3

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date (Print & Ebook): May 6th 2019 (E-only at the moment)

Length (Print & Ebook): 105,000 words

Subgenre: Contemporary Rockstar romance, LGBT romance (m/f with a queer trans man and a pansexual cis woman)

Warnings: Plot revolves around the stalking of a rockstar. Two scenes in a hospital. Short flashback to the start of attempted sexual assault of a minor that is quickly interrupted.

Universal link: books2read.com/u/mgLQD7

Book synopsis:

Twisted Wishes bass player Mish Sullivan is a rock goddess—gorgeous, sexy and comfortable in the spotlight. With fame comes unwanted attention, though: a stalker is desperate to get close. Mish can fend for herself, just as she always has. But after an attack lands her in the hospital, the band reacts, sticking her with a bodyguard she doesn’t need or want.

David Altet has an instant connection with Mish. A certified badass, this ex-army martial arts expert can take down a man twice his size. But nothing—not living as a trans man, not his intensive military training—prepared him for the challenge of Mish. Sex with her is a distraction neither of them can afford, yet the hot, kink-filled nights keep coming.

When Mish’s stalker ups his game, David must make a choice—lover or bodyguard. He’d rather have Mish alive than in his bed. But Mish wants David, and no one, especially not a stalker, will force her to give him up.

Anna Zabo talks Reverb:

Sometimes protectors need protecting, and there’s no shame in that. It doesn’t make you weak. Sometimes you have to let go of the expectations you’ve carved into yourself to be with someone. Also that the love of family and friends is just as important as romantic love.

About Anna Zabo:

Anna Zabo writes contemporary and paranormal romance for all colors of the rainbow. They live and work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which isn’t nearly as boring as most people think.

Anna grew up in the wilds of suburban Philadelphia before returning to their ancestral homelands in Western Pennsylvania. They can be easily plied with coffee.

Anna has an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, where they fell in with a roving band of romance writers and never looked back. They also have a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Anna uses they/them pronouns and prefers Mx. Zabo as an honorific.

Connect with Anna:
https://twitter.com/amergina
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AnnaZabo/
https://annazabo.com/
https://www.instagram.com/amergina/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6571479.Anna_Zabo
https://www.facebook.com/AnnaZabo/
http://eepurl.com/1QCZ9 (newsletter)

Win any back-catalog e-book by Anna Zabo + a $10 Amazon gift card. Open internationally. Must be 18 to enter and win.

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Release Blitz + Giveaway: Prisoner Of Shadows (Lords of the Underworld #2) by Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes

Prisoner Of Shadows (Lords of the Underworld #2) is out! Celebrate with authors Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes and Signal Boost Promotions! Discover more and enter in the Prince of Death (Lords of the Underworld #1) giveaway!

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link - Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited

Length: 70,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Natasha Snow

Lords of the Underworld Series

Prince of Death - Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Blurb

For more than five thousand years, Prometheus has been chained in the underworld. Every day, an eagle tears out his liver. Every night, he heals. When Hermes releases him in a gambit to save himself from his father’s wrath, Prometheus must adjust to a world that’s forgotten him. Hunted by the twins, Artemis and Apollo, he finds help in an unexpected place.


Julian Bell is a vampire lost. He left his Louisiana home in 1936 and hasn’t settled since. Ten years ago he followed his best friend to New York, but the country they came to wasn’t the America he left. After losing his friend, he found himself unmoored in a strange land. As he nears his hundredth birthday, he’s realizing how truly alone he is.


When Prometheus and Julian’s paths cross one fateful night, they find in each other a safe path through the shadows.

About The Authors


Sam Burns wrote her first fantasy epic with her best friend when she was ten. Like almost any epic fiction written by a ten year old, it was awful. She likes to think she’s improved since then, if only because she has better handwriting now.

If she’s not writing, she’s almost certainly either reading or lost down a Wikipedia rabbit hole while pretending to research for a novel.


Facebook

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Goodreads

Pinterest


W.M. Fawkes is an author of LGBTQ+ urban fantasy and paranormal romance. With coauthor Sam Burns, she writes feisty Greek gods, men, and monsters in the Lords of the Underworld series. She lives with her partner in a house owned by three halloween-hued felines that dabble regularly in shadow walking.


Website: https://www.fawkeswrites.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fawkeswrites

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FawkesWrites

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Giveaway + Blog Tour: The Nature of the Game (Stick Side #2) by Amy Aislin

Join author Amy Aislin & A Novel Take Promotions in celebrating the second in the Stick Side series, The Nature of the Game! Find out more about this second chance romance, read an exclusive excerpt & enter in the giveaway that includes signed paperbacks & swag! Good luck!

Thank you for joining me to celebrate the release of my newest m/m sports romance, The Nature of the Game, and thank you to Boy Meets Boy Reviews for having me!

The Nature of the Game is a second chance romance. Six years ago, the main characters—Ash and Dan—were in a relationship that didn’t end well. They haven’t spoken since then and now, all of a sudden, they’re back in each other’s lives.

Today, I’m sharing a sexy tease of an exclusive excerpt. Check it out below!

“Should we have dessert now?” he asked.

Ash reached for his hand and drew him those last few inches closer. “Does dessert involve kissing?”

“Yes.” Dan rose onto his toes, arms threading around Ash’s waist. “Definitely yes.”

He kissed the corner of Ash’s mouth. Ash hummed in frustration. Chuckling under his breath, Dan placed another tiny kiss on Ash’s jaw.

“No more of that,” Ash growled, chasing Dan’s lips with his own, hands clamping onto Dan’s hips.

Finally, their smiling mouths met, clinging with no sign of hesitancy. Dan tasted faintly of the beer they’d had with dinner, and his mouth was alternately hard and soft on Ash’s. One of Ash’s hands found Dan’s lower back, fingers spreading wide onto the top of his ass; the other carded through those amazing curls Ash had been dying to touch for weeks.

Perhaps they’d never kissed men before, but they got with the program fast enough.

Kissing Dan wasn’t unlike kissing a woman. Except where Ash might’ve hesitated before biting a woman’s lower lip, thought twice before cupping an ass and squeezing, banked the desire to just let go and fucking take…

He didn’t do that with Dan.

And Dan groaned and bit back, and his nails dug into Ash’s shoulders through his T-shirt, and he gave and took with as much enthusiasm and desire as Ash.

They separated, but only for a second to catch their breaths. Dan cupped Ash’s face with a hand, thumb brushing along Ash’s lip. Ash sucked Dan’s thumb into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it, enjoying the rough edge of a nail against his tongue so much it tantalized his senses. Dan’s eyes went so hot, his cheeks flushing with hunger, and Ash growled in the back of his throat.

Then they were kissing again, harder, messier, teeth clicking, tongues sweeping in to take control. Clenching hands and hungry moans. Dan’s leg wound around Ash’s hip, bringing them even closer, nudging their erections together.

Breathing hard, Ash tore his mouth away. “Fuck.” He dropped a kiss to the corner of Dan’s mouth, on the underside of his jaw, down to his collarbone.

Dan’s head fell back with a gasp and he clung to Ash’s shoulders.

Ash’s hands had somehow found their way up the back of Dan’s T-shirt, and he ran them along heated skin, brushing the tips of his fingers along Dan’s spine, making him tremble.

“Fuck,” Dan breathed, echoing Ash’s sentiment. His own hands clenched on Ash’s shoulders. “Fuck, Ash, I don’t…”

“Don’t what?” Ash mumbled into Dan’s neck. He bit the soft skin between Dan’s neck and shoulder, making Dan shudder so violently that he buckled. Ash caught him, then stumbled onto the love seat behind him, taking Dan with him. Straddling Ash’s thighs, Dan rested their foreheads together as they got their breaths back, both hands cupping Ash’s face.

“Don’t what?” Ash asked again.

Dan’s low laugh was self-deprecating. “I don’t know what to say to you right now.”

Ash ran his hands soothingly up and down Dan’s sides. “Hopefully not That was awful, let’s never do it again.”

“No. If anything it’s let’s do that again. And again. As often as possible.”

So they kissed again. And again. As often as possible.

***

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek! The Nature of the Game is out now and is available for purchase at Amazon, iBooks, B&N, and Kobo.

Amazon: https://geni.us/NatureoftheGame

iBooks: https://geni.us/NatureoftheGameApple

B&N: http://bit.ly/NatureGameBN

Kobo: http://bit.ly/NatureGameKobo

The Nature of the Game by Amy Aislin

Series: Stick Side #2

**PLEASE NOTE: Book 1 in the Stick Side series, ON THE ICE, will be on mega sale at only 99¢ May 6 - 13!

Get it now: https://amzn.to/2Vd1Bbr

Publisher: self-published

Release Date (Print & Ebook): May 7, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): 87,000 words / 330 pages

Subgenre: m/m contemporary romance

Tropes: second chances

Warnings: N/A

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https://amyaislin.com/books/the-nature-of-the-game/

Book synopsis: Six years ago, an ultimatum forced Dan Greyson to make a choice that cost him everything he loved most. One of those things? His boyfriend, hockey player Ashton Yager. Now that they’ve crossed paths again, Dan isn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. Ash’s reappearance in his life is just the catalyst Dan needs to escape the rut he’s fallen into…and win back Ash’s trust and love.

Ashton Yager, once burned and now a little bit shy, didn’t mean to publicly come out as bisexual. But now that he has, he’s got to deal with the consequences, including the fact that it might’ve cost him his NHL contract. With his job on the line, he needs to keep his head down, work hard, and play the best hockey of his life. Rekindling things with Dan? That’s not exactly keeping a low profile. It’s also never going to happen, not after Dan walked away once without an explanation.

When a hurricane forces Ash to seek shelter out-of-state, he and Dan find themselves in the same B&B, where old feelings resurface. But with everything Ash has on the line, does he dare play with fire again?

About Amy Aislin: Amy started writing on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class was forced to stay inside for recess. Tales of adventures with her classmates quickly morphed into tales of adventures with the characters in her head. Based in the suburbs of Toronto, Amy is a marketer/fundraiser at a large environmental non-profit in Toronto by day, and a writer by night. Book enthusiast, animal lover and (very) amateur photographer, her interests are many and varied, including travelling, astronomy, ecology, and baking. She binge watches too much anime, and loves musical theater, Julie Andrews, the Backstreet Boys, and her hometown of Oakville, Ontario.  

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Website: https://amyaislin.com/  

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/amy-aislin  

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Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyAislinAuthor   

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16693566.Amy_Aislin   

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/amyaislin     

QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/amy-aislin/   

LoveRomanceReads: https://www.loveromancereads.com/amyaislin.html   

Release blitz/blog tour giveaway: Win a Stick Side prize pack, including signed paperbacks of books 1 and 2 in the series, as well as some Stick Side swag! Contest open internationally. Enter via Rafflecopter. Contest ends at 12:00am May 12.

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Release Blitz + Giveaway: Breaking His Spell by Foster Bridget Cassidy

Celebrate with author Foster Bridget Cassidy and IndiGo Marketing for the release of Breaking His Spell! Learn more today and enter in $10 NineStar Press credit giveaway!

Title: Breaking His Spell

Author: Foster Bridget Cassidy

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: May 6, 2019

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 38800

Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, mages, magic, fantasy, match making, romance, Familiars, dragon, assassination attempt, magicians, royalty, spells, gay, immortal, true love

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Synopsis

Klint doesn’t believe in true love. As an Alma, an immortal magician, he knows such feelings can’t last forever. The death of his mortal lover almost a hundred years ago proved it. But Klint’s resolve gets put to the test when he’s tasked with saving a prince from a dark spell. With Carishina, his friend and fellow Alma, in tow, he sets off for Terius.



Carishina’s ideas for breaking spells differ greatly from Klint’s. While he tries potions, Carishina tries kisses. Only one of them will succeed.

Excerpt

Breaking His Spell
Foster Bridget Cassidy © 2019
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One
True love. There were no other words in all the world as deceitful as those.

In my youth, I had believed.

I sought to find that one person to complete me. As a newly trained magician, the Alsa Alma sent me to tutor the third youngest prince of the Farlerotna Kingdom. In the palace, I watched Prince Vulten grow. I was his constant companion in study and in play. The prince had a devious mind, and we spent hours thinking of ways to trick his older siblings.

And on the day he turned eighteen he’d confessed his love for me. Shocking, to say the least, because I’d come to love him too.

True love. Or so I thought. Except, how could anyone truly, irrevocably love an immortal?

For the early years, we were happy. We took trips to foreign nations. We hosted lords and ladies. We played tricks on his siblings, even Rillik, who had taken the crown by then.

But as the years stretched and Vulten began to age, the love in his eyes lessened and faded, replaced by envy and jealousy. As an immortal Alma, my magic kept my body youthful.

He’d died, cursing my name.

For decades, I mourned. Not just the loss of his life, but the loss of his love.

“That,” Alma Carishina said at the end of my monologue, “is why you don’t have relations with mortals.” She leaned forward, her chin resting on her palm. She’d magicked her hair green, and the curls appeared serpentine, a gorgon with her snakes.

“No,” I countered, “that’s why you don’t have any relationships with anyone. If love could not last for eighty years with a mortal, how could it last forever with an immortal? It’s not possible.”

“And so,” Alma Franik added with a toothy grin, “you’ve turned into a grumpy old man at the tender age of two hundred.”

“I’m a hundred and ninety-five,” I fumed. “And I’m not grumpy. I don’t see the point in romance. There’s no such thing as true love.”

“I heard,” Franik stage whispered to Carishina, “he moped in the Farlerotna Palace for a hundred years before they asked for him to be taken away.”

Carishina laughed and the red in my cheeks was not all anger. Maybe I had moped, but my broken heart was understandable. I’d lost my lover, and at the same time, my childish ideas of the world. It had wounded me. I needed to reflect and get a grip on my life.

Had I really been there a hundred years? Rillik’s granddaughter—Simmone—had assumed the throne. How long had I wandered those halls, haunting them like a ghost? It couldn’t have been more than forty or fifty.

“The Alsa Alma had to fetch Klint himself,” Franik concluded with a smug smile.

“Ha-ha,” I told him sourly. “I’m not sure you have room to talk, Franik, as you’ve never even been sent outside these walls. What was it the Alsa Alma said? You ‘lacked any and all ambition’?”

Carishina snorted and Franik glowered. “As if I wanted to mingle with the mortals,” he said, drawing himself up. “I don’t ever want to get mixed up in their insignificant affairs.”

I allowed myself a small grin as Franik directed the conversation onto a new topic.

At times, I still missed Vulten. Our connection had been the one real thing in my life. As a wizard, I used unexplained solutions, backward thinking, magicking anything into reality. But with Vulten, the emotions had seemed more than magic. Better than magic.

At least I’d learned my lesson young. The pain prepared me for my lonely future.

The afternoon light shone in through the stained-glass windows, throwing splashes of color around the room. I adored the place, my favorite in the Alma Palace, a mixture of library and meditation room. Most of the time, no occupants filled the tables. Or on the occasions when they did, other magicians knew enough to leave you to your thoughts. Well, not today. Franik and Carishina had bombarded me with questions the moment I walked in.

They were young—Franik just turned ninety, and Carishina was a mere forty-six. Of course, they were curious about the gossip around the palace, and my experience in Farlerotna continuously made the rounds. Plus, many of the older practitioners didn’t have the time or inclination for dealing with the young ones. Apparently my years in the mortal world had tempered my patience.

“I hope I get an assignment soon,” Carishina said. “I’m ready to travel and see something besides these Mylforsaken windows.” The curse using the goddess’s name sounded odd in her cheerful voice.

“They won’t let you out for a least another twenty years,” I told her.

“Why not? I heard you were sent out at forty-five. I’m older now.”

I shrugged. “The world’s a much more dangerous place now, even to a trained Alma. Dark wizards are the least of our concerns.”

Her lips puckered in displeasure. “I heard there’s a prince in Terius who’s fallen under an evil spell. I want to be the one to rescue him.”

“What did I say about mixing with royalty?” I asked, exasperated. What was the point in telling them my tragic past if they didn’t heed my warnings?

“Oh, Klint,” she said fondly, reaching out to grip my hand. “Just because a relationship didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for everybody. Or, maybe your prince was an ass who really didn’t love you at all.”

My mouth fell open. So did Franik’s. Carishina casually went on smiling at me, unaware of how tactless her words had been.

“Klint,” called a voice from behind me. I turned in my seat. Alma Peter leaned through the doorway. “The Alsa Alma would like to speak to you.”

I wrinkled my nose. It’d been awhile since I’d been summoned by the old man. After he’d come to Farlerotna and informed me I was creeping out the current royals, I’d kept my distance. Now, I hoped he had good news for me.

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Meet the Author

Foster Bridget Cassidy is a rare, native Phoenician who enjoys hot desert air and likes to wear jackets in summer. She has wanted to be a fiction writer since becoming addicted to epic fantasy during high school. Since then, she’s studied the craft academically—at Arizona State University—and as a hobby—attending conventions and workshops around the country. A million ideas float in her head, but it seems like there’s never enough time to get them all down on paper.



 For fun, Foster likes to take pictures of her dachshunds, sew costumes for her dachshunds, snuggle her dachshunds, and bake treats for her dachshunds. In exchange for so much love and devotion, they pee vast amounts on the floor, click their nails loudly on the tile, and bark wildly at anything that moves outside. Somehow, this relationship works for all involved.



While not writing, Foster can usually be found playing a video game or watching a movie with her husband. While not doing any of those things, Foster can usually be found in bed, asleep.

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