Release Blitz: Life is Good and Other Lies by Magdalena Di Sotru and Sophia Soames

 

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Life is Good and Other Lies

Authors and Publishers: Magdalena Di Sotru and Sophia Soames 

Cover Artist:  Sophia Soames

Release Date: October 15, 2022

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance with one MC being an FTM Transman

Tropes: Slice of Life, what happens after the HEA?

Themes: Finding your way back to each other when life gets tough. A holiday on a remote farm. Kids, family and Friendship. HEA.

Length: 120 000 words

Heat Rating: 4 flames

It is a standalone story.

This is book one in the series. 

Book two will release on December 1, 2022

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

When we no longer have the kids to keep us glued together, will there be enough left to make us stick?

Blurb

This is not a romance. This is what happens when life goes on, when people grow and fall out of sync. Not out of love; some people are just meant to be.

Thomas at least hopes that is the case, even though he sometimes feels like he’s clinging to his marriage by a brittle thread.

Frank clutches to the scraps that are left, knowing he’s the root cause of Thomas’ grey hairs, their kids being hormonal monsters and his own sanity being questionable at the best of times.

Gabriel needs to stop worrying and take control of his life, but with young kids and a body that refuses to do what it’s supposed to do—to sustain and nourish and build muscle to keep bones in place—his feels like a traitor, laughing in his face when he struggles to keep it together. He knows he is loved. His kids are everything. But his marriage feels like a distant memory, and he’s tumbling from one disaster into another. It’s just…life.

Bruno thought this holiday would bring them closer together as a family. Isn’t that what a trip abroad is supposed to do? Four weeks in the Swedish mosquito-infested countryside, sharing a farm with strangers. He should have known better.

Life is good. But the rest? Lies. All lies.

This is the first of two books following a lifelong friendship between two families. A slice of life from two established M/M couples, children galore, stray sheep, heat, sizzle and laughter, this is what happens after the HEA.

The second book, Life is Right Here, will be published in December 2022.

Excerpt 

“You know, Thomas, there’s no need to feel jealous,” Bruno said softly.

“I’m not.” Thomas laughed again, but it sounded fake. Hollow.

“Well, I am.” Bruno admitted with a touch of cockiness. “I’m fucking raging that he can talk to Frank, this dude he’s just met, about things he struggles to talk to me about. He should be talking to me. Shouldn’t he?”

“You just said I shouldn’t feel jealous!” Thomas almost shrieked, gripping the worktop until the wood creaked under his knuckles.

Bruno grinned. Classic psychology. Worked every time.

“You are jealous, and that’s the way it should be. You have a very, very handsome husband who loves you to the point that he can barely see through the love haze the two of you have going on. Frank adores you. You just don’t always see it, but that doesn’t mean he can’t talk to other people, have close friends, talk about things that he might not be able to talk to you about. It’s healthy and normal.”

“Bloody doctors, you’re all the same, talking a load of crap.” Thomas was smiling underneath the stiff pose he was still holding. Thank God.

“Yup, it’s all textbook doctor bullshit, mate.” Bruno laughed. “And I wasn’t lying about being jealous. But why would Gabriel even look twice at some random Norwegian dude when he has all this prime Italian quality stud at home?” He slapped his chest like some ridiculous alpha male, and Thomas chuckled and shook his head.

“You’re such an idiot.”

“I know.” Bruno smiled, taking a step forward so he could pat Thomas’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t make it a week without Gabriel. He keeps me going, sorts me out. Puts me to bed at night and gets me up in the morning. Without him, I would probably be dead.”

“Did you ever suffer from…you know. Stuff? Do you get it all? Like, do you understand Gabriel?”

“Let me tell you something.” He took a deep breath because this wasn’t something he’d ever talked about, and he didn’t know why he suddenly felt like sharing. “I don’t understand much, and let me tell you, I’ve spent years specialising in the human body and mind. Personally, I’ve made some horrible mistakes, huge mistakes, and there are things I’ve done that I will always, always regret. I still struggle to grasp how the human brain works. I learn new stuff every day. But I understand depression. I understand losing control of your mind, and you do too. I bet you’ve stood at the edge of a cliff in your head and wondered what it would be like to jump. I know I have. I’ve wobbled and struggled and bloody lost my mind more than once, but the difference between you and me and Frank and Gabriel…”

“Yeah?”

“There is no difference. We’re all human. It’s just our brains are wired differently. We still live, eat, sleep, fall in love, have families and die when our time is complete. Some of us have to try a little harder. Some of us struggle a little more. Fall a little harder and cry a little longer. Struggle to swim against the undercurrent, while the rest of the world seems to go with the flow. It doesn’t make us less human or worth less than anyone else.”

It was nice to see Thomas smile, despite his shoulders sagging and the way he shook his head like Bruno was talking nonsense.

“Seriously, dude. Don’t be jealous. Don’t create drama where there is none. Let Frank and Gabriel have this. They need it. Well, I hardly know Frank, but Gabriel does. We’re just a bunch of messed-up gay men on holiday. Take it for what it is. Nothing more.”

About the Authors  

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job. Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The dogs are too. She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in her native Scandinavia. Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever, and she hopes it may long continue.

Social Media Links

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Magdalena Di Sotru is an information security and data protection enthusiast from Norway. She is a mother of two and wife of one as well as a long-established fanfic writer. Her favourite food is (actually) salads (without mayo), her favourite guilty pleasure is fresh bakery goods (and that explains why everyone would think the salad was a lie). She knows her way around knitting, lock picking and skydiving (all at about equal skill levels – go figure). Life is Good and Other Lies is her first novel.

Follow Magdalena di Sotru on Facebook

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BOOK 2 COMING SOON

Release Blitz: Force Majeure by Sophia Soames

 

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Force Majeure

Author and Publisher: Sophia Soames

Cover Model: Rourke

Release Date: July 15, 2022

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope: Childhood friends to Lovers

Themes: Jealousy, Hurt/Comfort, Set in Berlin

Heat Rating: 4 flames   

Length: 32 000 words

It is a standalone story.

Goodreads 

Buy Links

Universal Link  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

Love is an earthquake that relocates the centre of the universe.

Blurb

Oakley Hoffman is a walking, talking natural disaster. Not only does he seem to be the only functioning adult in his family, but he also stomps around creating irrational earthquakes with every badly thought-out ridiculous move he makes. He barely survived lockdown, and with life returning to something that vaguely resembles normal, Oakley has landed himself an inconvenient infatuation with his former best friend. Well, if he’s totally honest, he’s probably nursed that crush for years. Yet, this time around, infatuation has brought a bad streak of jealousy to boot.

Force Majeure is a 32K novella featuring childhood friends to lovers in adulthood, with explicit content intended for mature readers. No trigger warnings.

Force Majeure refers to a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events.

Excerpt 

The clinking of the lock to the Demircis’ apartment kicks me out of my daydreams, and my heart jolts as I jump to my feet, almost tripping myself up in an effort to not look like I’m loitering.

“I could hear you a mile off,” Cem says, shuffling out into the hall, shivering despite the duvet draped around his shoulders like a royal cape. “You need to go to work and stop trying to scratch my head through the walls.”

He sits on the step. Too weak to fight the pull of his presence, I plonk down beside him, probably bruising my arse in the process, because I know I’ll get what I’ve been craving. Cem has always needed contact, and here I am, being squashed against the wall as he leans his body against mine and his head falls heavily on my shoulder.

“I’m a dick,” he says, bang on with the self-reflection.

“Yeah,” I want to shout at him, scream in his goddamn face, shake him until he gets his head in gear and sees how he has shattered my world. But I don’t. I can be a calm, reasonable person, and I have far too much self-control to fall apart in front of Cemil Demirci.

“I got carried away at the weekend,” he continues. “There was a party, and then I stayed over with friends, and time just kind of evaporated, you know?” Excuses. Always excuses.

“You have an exam today,” I say. If I sound angry, it’s because I can’t help myself.

“It’s under control.” He sighs deeply and turns his head so his nose is pressed into my shoulder. That’s something else he does to reel me in. Why do I let him so cheaply buy my forgiveness? “I studied all week, so I’m good. It’s all in here.” His hand pokes out of the duvet to point at his head. “I’m not worried about the exams.”

I’m not worried either. Cem is too clever for his own good. He’ll read a book and memorise every line, quoting it back at me in long, rambling sentences I barely understand. Nor have I ever seen him use a calculator. He scribbles down numbers at frightening speed on whatever surface he can find and then does the calculation in his head.

Cem knows stuff. Far too much stuff.

“I miss you,” I whisper without meaning to. Even shielded by all the jealousy and anger I feel, knowing I’m slowly, irrevocably losing him again, it’s the truth. He is the calm to my inner storm, and I will forgive him for anything and everything. And I hate myself for it.

About the Author 

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job.

Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs.

She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia.

Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever, and she hopes it may long continue.

Find me on social media @sophiasoames on all platforms

Christina Stern is a Russian based artist. Quick sketches and portraits drawn in pencil are what she likes to do the most. Her work can be found on @christinastern on Instagram

Aurelia Morris is a cover artist, photographer, Photoshop wiz and eternal fangirl. She works in many mediums under more aliases that she can keep track of.

Social Media Links

Facebook Group: Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour 

 Twitter  |  Instagram   | Newsletter Sign-up

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Release Blitz: TASTE (London Love #2) by Sophia Soames

Author Sophia Soames and Gay Book Promotions host today's blitz for the latest release in popular series, TASTE (London Love #2)! Read more about the contemporary romance today!

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: TASTE (London Love #2)

Author: Sophia Soames

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Christina Stern

Release Date: November 1, 2021

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope: Enemies to lovers

Theme: Hotel, London, Hurt/Comfort

Heat Rating:  4 flames   

Length: 91 000 words

It is a standalone story and the second book in the London Love series. 

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK 

There is a fine line between love and hate.

Blurb

“Emotional, funny, gripping, and heart-wrenching, Sophia Soames’ books pulled me in and stuck with me well after. Highly recommend.” —Jennifer Cody, author of the Diviner’s Game and Shattered Pawns universe.

Finn Christensen doesn’t do feelings. He doesn’t do relationships either and when he has an itch to scratch, there are always clubs and hook-ups. He works every hour of the day as the Front Office manager for the Clouds Westminster Hotel in central London. He's respected in the industry, and as senior management, deserves the reputation and fear his name carries.
Then award-winning restauranteur Mark Quinton swans in like he owns the bloody place, and Finn’s carefully managed world starts to fall apart.

Mark Quinton needs. He’s impulsive and stupid and childish and probably the last person in the world who should be allowed to run the Food and Beverage department at the Clouds Westminster Hotel, however many brilliant ideas he has and seems to manage to miraculously pull off. He needs. And he needs Finn Christensen.

It’s a match made in hell. A recipe for disaster. There will be a bloodbath one day. They all know. Everyone knows.

TASTE is the second book in the London Love series, following four extraordinary ordinary couples living real fairy-tales in the city of London. TASTE is a hurt/comfort, enemy-to-lovers romance set behind the scenes in a busy inner-city business hotel. 

Trigger-warnings for off-page mentions of domestic violence, kleptomania, depression, ADHD and culinary crimes involving cheese. HEA. 

Excerpt 

Finn Christensen, though, was just that. Textbook dull and insanely boring. The man only owned slick, grey suits, wore the same black tie every goddamn day and needed to learn how to grow a beard. Despite being well into his forties, he had a babyface and a crown of almost angelic blonde curls on the top of his head. He must have mislaid his halo at some point because there was nothing angelic about him.

He never spoke to me, apart from random snide remarks and the trademark eye-rolls he seemed to have honed on me. His thick curls were always a mess of natural perfection, his lips always pursed in a tight scowl, and there were definitely firm muscles showing through the fitted shirts that were his preferred attire. I’d caught him staring at me a few times during these meetings, just a glance, and then he would take a swig of his water bottle and look away. I knew he disliked me. Fuck that—he bloody hated me for some reason I didn’t fully understand.

The problem was, I couldn’t really peg him down, however much I wanted to. He was way above my league professionally, having worked himself up from the ground, gaining experience on the back of some posh hotel management degree. His office displayed an impressive wall full of hospitality diplomas from well-known establishments, and he always looked immaculate, in his bloody posh suit-and-tie combos, while I was happy to slum it in one of my favourite floral shirts and black jeans. I’d heard whispers he’d wanted the F&B gig, but I didn’t believe that. He was the front-of-house manager, which held a lot more clout in the management world than the dude who fiddled around with room service yields and made sure the breakfast service made a profit.

And still he hated me.

I knew he was gay. Everyone did, like they knew I was an equal opportunities kind of guy, swinging freely from having a hot girlfriend to being the man-whore of the moment when I felt that need. We didn’t hold back with those personal need-to-knows in the Clouds hotel world, so we knew most things about everyone in the company. I didn’t even have to fill people in or ask for the low-down because my wait staff were the biggest gossipmongers in the world and happily kept tabs on all the current drama, telling me before things got out of hand, which they did, on a daily basis. Not only did my happily bed-hopping staff shag like rabbits and fall in and out of favour at the drop of a hat, but I had to reluctantly admit to having caused some of that drama myself. My last bed partner had been a woman, but that little affair had conveniently come with no strings attached, like my thrusts usually did.

Hence there I was, staring back at him across the table, noting how his hair was, as always, on the edge of needing a trim. How his angular face lit up in a rare smile at a particularly complimentary comment. The squareness of his shoulders in that well-cut suit. The pout of those lips just made for, well. Ahem. Activities between the sheets, preferably of the kind where he was on his knees with my cock in his mouth. That thought had already been well and truly entertained and had made me ejaculate into my own hands more nights than not these days.

I couldn’t quite pinpoint the time when I’d realised I fancied him. Perhaps even a small part of me wanted him. Yet I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up whenever he was in the room. His voice grated on my nerves to the point where my teeth would grit, and his pompous PowerPoint presentations in these weekly meetings made me sigh a little too loudly.

Which made him stare at me with murder in his eyes. Yup, the feeling was mutual.

Instead of displaying my own totally professional PowerPoint presentation, I found myself standing up and throwing numbers off the top of my head because I was a cocky twat. And all the while, the almighty Mr Christensen sat scowling with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Christensen, don’t you agree?” I smiled at him. He didn’t smile back. “Was my prediction for the new lunch menu not right on track? You were the one who disagreed with the proposed changes. I’m pleased to see that, once again, I was right.” I sprinkled the words lightly, maintaining my pleasant smile as I took in the room, which was mostly amused stares. This showdown had become a weekly thing, and everyone was eagerly awaiting what would most certainly be a brutal comeback.

Right on cue, Finn Christensen raised his hands in a deliberately slow clap.

“Mr Quinton, congratulations on the one per cent profit you added from last week. Less than one per cent. I am more impressed with the massaging you must have done to come up with those figures, because according to Saffiya’s more truthful calculations, looking at last week’s accounting breakdown, you made a further 392-pound loss on the food side.”

Damn. Now Saffiya, our immaculate financial controller, was nodding as well. So yes, we’d made a bit of a loss, but I’d cooked the numbers well, and the reduced staffing figures and portion size reductions were more than covering those numbers for next week.

“Those losses are already considered, and we look forward to a profit-making food side next week with the introduction of our Incredible Desserts concept. The test customers were raving about them last week, and as always, we welcome visits down to our kitchen to sample our wonderfully talented head chef’s new creations. Ben and his team are truly an incredible asset to the chain.”

In another of his signature moves, he was on his feet before I’d even finished the sentence, showing his displeasure by going to stand against the back wall of the room. It made him look taller, angrier, more confident, as well he knew.

“Come on, Quinton,” he droned. “You’re deluded, and we all know it. Demand for in-house meals is high, but unless you want our customers to cross the square and grab McDonald’s from the corner, you need to up your game. We’ve had several complaints about the lack of comfort food on your menu, and Mr Proctor once again demanded we comp his bill due to the lack of fish and chips. You know how important our premium customers are, don’t you, Quinton?”

He banged his head back against the wall as he spoke, clearly annoyed with my dumbass attitude and overbearing confidence. But that was the way I rolled, and the fact that it seemed to annoy him just egged me on.

“No need to speak to me like I am a child.” I smiled demurely. “But if you want me to break down the figures for you…” I paused deliberately. “Then I can explain like I would my five-year-old niece’s maths homework. We made a profit overall and scored 4.92 on customer satisfaction. Seventy-two per cent of last week’s guests took one or more meals in our restaurant.”

“We offer free breakfast, mate,” he cut back. “Which means twenty-eight per cent of our clients couldn’t face our breakfast. Not a particularly good score.”

I hated him. I hated him so fucking much.

About the Author 

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job.

Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs.

She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia.

Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever, and she hopes it may long continue.

Find me on social media @sophiasoames on all platforms

Christina Stern is a Russian based artist. Quick sketches and portraits drawn in pencil are what she likes to do the most. Her work can be found on @christinastern on Instagram

Aurelia Morris is a cover artist, photographer, Photoshop wiz and eternal fangirl. She works in many mediums under more aliases that she can keep track of.

Social Media Links

Facebook Group: Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour  |  Twitter  |  Instagram 

Newsletter Sign-up

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Release Blitz: EXHALE (London Love #1.5) by Sophia Soames

The latest from the popular series, EXHALE (London Love #1.5) is out! Check out the promotion from author Sophia Soames and Gay Book Promotions!

 

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: EXHALE (London Love 1.5)

Author: Sophia Soames

Publisher: Self Published

Cover Artist: Christina Stern

Release Date: October 25, 2021

Genre:  Contemporary M/M Romance

Tropes:  Instalove, First Date 

Themes:  Fairytale sweetness

Heat Rating:  4 flames

Length: 29 000 words

It is a standalone story, but best enjoyed if you have read Breathe first.

Goodreads

Buy Links for EXHALE - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK 

A sweet tale of figuring out that the future isn’t always straight.

Blurb

What do you do when your relationship falls apart? Well, you bury yourself in a deep hole of grief, one you have so carelessly dug for yourself. Jamie Walters needs to find a way out of the mess his life has become, but the way forward is not as straight as he thought it would have been. What's the point anyway? Women are off the menu but Jamie still wants the entire textbook fairy-tale. The romantic dates and the flowers and holding hands in the dark, and Grindr certainly isn't the place to find your happily ever after..

Catch up with Jamie and the rest of the Walters family in this sweet little insta-love fairy-tale where Jamie finally gets his happily ever after, Originally published as part of the Love is All Anthology, Exhale has been reedited and extended to the quirky little fairy-tale it was always meant to be.

Exhale is a standalone novella but is best enjoyed after reading Breathe.

Trigger warnings: Brief mention of pregnancy loss.

BREATHE - 99c Promo Offer

Also Available in Kindle Unlimited 

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK 

Pre-Order Links for TASTE 

Releasing on November 1, 2021

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

Excerpt from EXHALE

“No, no, I’m not a virgin.” I dug my hands into my pockets. “I mean, I’ve hooked up with people before. I’ve had sex. It’s just, it never leads anywhere…”

And I was off again, jabbering so fast the cigarette flew from my lips and almost rolled off the platform. I didn’t know where to look as my mouth kept blurting more nonsense. I couldn’t look at him. Fuck. Talk about embarrassing. How did people do this? How did they get over themselves? I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

“…either they never call again, or they leave before we even get our clothes off. I’m just…hopeless at everything, apparently.” I rounded up my little Ted Talk, picked up the cigarette, then stood there not knowing what to do with it. I didn’t want to put the damn thing back in my mouth. There was no bin. Fuck my life.

Why the hell had I told him all that? Really, Leo?

Leo, Leo mon enfant terrible. I could hear my mother’s voice in my head, scolding me for my stupidity, although she’d probably have been laughing too much to tell me off. She’d moved back to France a few years ago, taken a lover, and then another. She was the queen of hook-ups. I had no idea where she met these men, but they were a new constant in her life—something she didn’t have when I was growing up. It had been just her and me back then, and we’d lived well. Stable. I’d had a good childhood, I honestly couldn’t complain. But there had been no one in my mother’s life and she’d obviously been lonely. Now she wasn’t. She was happily shagging around like a teenager, and secretly, I loved that she did. I loved that she was having fun. At least one of us was.

“Why am I intimidating?” he asked, shuffling his feet. “I don’t mean to be. We don’t have to do anything. We can just go for a coffee if you want?”

“I don’t like coffee,” I muttered like a petulant child. “Look, I’m French, and obviously wired wrong because I’m both lactose and gluten intolerant and I don’t like coffee. So, all that bread and cheese shit is out—”

“You don’t sound French.”

“Grew up here, didn’t I?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. That’s why I have a crap name. Leo Jacques Leblond.”

“I think your name’s great.”

“Try spelling it every time you give it to someone on the phone. It’s annoying.”

“Hmm.” He was staring at me again, like he had the world at his booted feet. Doc Martens, for fuck’s sake. All polished up and fully visible below his too-short, chequered trousers. He had some ripped, multicoloured rock band T-shirt showing underneath a knitted cardigan, the look completed by a super-cool, vintage long coat. Like some emo. Or not. He wasn’t wearing black but a mixture of beiges and reds. And a bright-blue rucksack. Nothing matched, yet… Yeah. Vogue called. They want their cover model back. The pretty one with the weird clothes.

He was talking again, and I’d totally zoned out.

“…and I said to myself, life is too short. So, I want to do this if you’re still up for it. But maybe do it right, kind of just hang out and get to know each other.”

“I want to have sex,” I stated. Why couldn’t I ever control my mouth?

“I’m totally up for that.” He grinned from under his curls. “That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? But we’ve been standing here talking for a bit, and it’s nice, and you’re nice, and I’m sure Costa Coffee over there do gluten-free biscuits, and I’ll buy you a bottle of water or whatever your poison is. I just need to sit down and get my head in gear because this is kind of freaky. I’ve never done anything like this before. To be honest, I’m a little weirded out, and now here I am—”

“On some dodgy council estate, meeting up with a dude who’s probably a drug dealer and will have you beaten up in a minute.”

“I hope not!” He laughed, and the world became a little brighter. “Are you a drug dealer?”

“No,” I giggled back. “I promise you. I’m a dull uni student, and I live in a tiny student flat. I haven’t got much to show for myself, but perhaps one day, I’ll have a nice job and a better place to live. That’s my plan. I want to teach French. Or perhaps move to Paris for a while, find my roots.”

“Don’t move to Paris. I’ll never see you again.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious, so I joked, “You might not want to once you’ve seen me naked.”

He blushed, and it was the cutest thing ever.

“You’re desperate for this coffee thing, huh?”

“Just to clear my head,” he said again. He sounded a little defeated, but I was grateful for a plan that didn’t involve taking him home. I wasn’t sure I could deal with that right now, however much I liked the idea of seeing him naked.

“Come on. Let’s go get you a large coffee—”

“I prefer espresso.”

“You sound like one of those posh kids,” I teased. I couldn’t help myself.

“Maybe once upon a time, I was posh. Not anymore. I still live at home with my siblings in a rundown council terrace in Thorpeton Green, and not the posh part. Like, backstreet-dump Thorpeton, near the industrial estate under the M4.”

“Working-class posh,” I blabbed on. “You look posh, you talk posh, and you look like you just stepped out of a fashion shoot.”

I regretted it even before I finished speaking because now he really looked freaked out, my beautiful, gorgeous man. I wondered how people survived having a partner who looked like him. I mean, he would be with someone amazing one day. Probably some big, rich, muscle bear of a man who would love him and spoil him, while I would be stuck alone in my dingy flat, dreaming of him. I was already jealous of the imaginary rich boyfriend, the one he would love forever.

“You’re deranged,” he said, smirking at me. I sighed, fiddling with my fingers. I’d heard that one before. Then he reached out and grabbed my sleeve. Tugged at me. Smiled as he led me down the steps towards the road. I followed him, thinking at that moment, I would have followed him anywhere. Blindly, desperately and, I think, a little bit in love.

About the Author 

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job.

Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs.

She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia.

Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever, and she hopes it may long continue.

Find me on social media @sophiasoames on all platforms

Christina Stern is a Russian based artist. Quick sketches and portraits drawn in pencil are what she likes to do the most. Her work can be found on @christinastern on Instagram

Aurelia Morris is a cover artist, photographer, Photoshop wiz and eternal fangirl. She works in many mediums under more aliases that she can keep track of.

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Facebook Group: Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour  |  Twitter  |  Instagram 

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Release Blitz + Giveaway: BREATHE (London Love #1) by Sophia Soames

Join author Sophia Soames and Gay Book Promotions in celebrating new release, BREATHE (London Love #1)! Discover more about the hurt/comfort romance and enter in the $15 Amazon gift card giveaway!

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: BREATHE (London Love book 1)

Author: Sophia Soames

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Christina Stern

Release Date: May 15, 2021

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope: Hurt/Comfort

Themes: Adult entertainment industry, Heartbreak, Found family

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length:  108 758 words/ 300pages

It is a standalone story.

It is Book 1 in the London Love series. 

A companion novella, EXHALE, will be released in May as part of the Love is All 4 anthology. 

Trigger warning/Author note:  This book contains an off-page description of a sexual assault.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link  |   Amazon US  |   Amazon UK

Blurb

Meet Ryan, aka, Joey Hole, disgraced former adult entertainer with more issues than he can keep track of. His boyfriend left him for an Instagram twink with 150K followers, his Mum wants him out of her spare room and then there's that idiot at college who just won't take no for an answer.

Meet Luke. He was once the rich kid who'd just been gifted his first car, and now he doesn't even own a bike. He's also slumming it in a house full of ungrateful siblings and his first trip to the Food-bank gave him some goddamn emotional scars. Life is getting better though, and he's acing it at college, as well as making some brilliant new friends. Well except for that stuck up twatwaffle Ryan who won't talk to him and refuses to like his brilliant social media posts....

The first book in the new London Series. This series will follow the ups and downs of three couples living extraordinary ordinary London lives.

My headphones blasted music as I walked down the college corridors towards the on-site gym, where our first session today would cover gentle workouts for the older generation, a topic I found intriguing. I liked the idea of giving something back. Not that I had any contact with any of my grandparents. All except for my maternal grandfather had long departed, and I wasn’t even sure he still lived in the country. Family could be an unwelcome obligation, but if there was one thing I would fight for to the death, it was that Olive would never be sent to some goddamn boarding school and would never, fucking ever be looked after by our parents again. That was like…fuck. I was sweating just imagining the horror my little sister would go through. In any circumstance, it would never happen. She had us in her corner now, and we would bloody protect her to the end of the earth.

The gym was busy as always, a few people huddled over by the water dispenser, and there was muffled giggling coming through from the weights room, where I could see all the girls in our class bent over staring at the phone in Danielle’s hand. Well, all except Bridget, who stormed out and barged past me without saying hello.

“What did you do to Bridget?” I asked, squeezing down on the last remaining place on the bench and huffing in disappointment when Danielle pressed the screen against her chest and glared at me like I’d interrupted something private. I probably had, but as always, I didn’t have the sense to care.

“You don’t want to see this,” she said, an odd mix of excited and horrified.

“Why? Is it porn or something?” I didn’t know why I said these things, but Inez looked like she was about to cry.

The other girl, whose name I momentarily couldn’t remember, whispered, “Go on, show him.”

It was a shitty thing to do. A shitty thing to show any human being. Danielle shoved her phone in my face, and right there, filling the entire screen, someone’s arse was being pounded by one of the thickest dicks I’d ever seen. The sound was off, but from the way the owner of the arse was shaking, it must have bloody hurt. Not that the guy attached to the dick seemed to care, letting his thing slide in and out of the slick hole, which gaped and then clenched before the guy brutally shoved his dick back in.

They were two guys, that was clear. A sculpted stomach came into view as the bloke on the bottom was flipped over, and a curved dick bounced against his stomach.

I realised I was blushing, my face flaming in embarrassment. Not for me, because…it was porn. Gay porn, admittedly, but still porn. I really wasn’t into this kind of stuff in public, and anyway, who watched porn with a bunch of girls?

“Put that shit away before Mr Greenwood comes in and has you thrown out. For fuck’s sake, Danielle!”

“You need to watch it to the end,” she insisted, thrusting the phone back in my face.

“I really don’t want to.” I got up to leave, but Inez grabbed my arm and pushed me back down.

“You should know,” she said, turning even paler. “I don’t agree with Danielle showing it, but someone needs to tell him.”

“Tell me what?”

“No, not you. Someone needs to talk to Ryan.”

“For fuck’s sake.” I was in no way a worldly guy, but seriously?

“Ladies, I’m sure as a gay man, Ryan knows where to find gay porn if he feels the need. I’m not going to go tell him that you girls found gay porn on the big ugly web and feel the need to warn him there are men out there who want to stick their dick up his arse.”

“Who wants to stick their dick up my arse?”

That was Ryan, thank God, because I didn’t want to explain this shit on my own.

“The girls found porn on the web, and it’s done something to their brains.”

I was expecting him to laugh, but instead, he turned around and left the room.

“What’s going on?” I called after him as Danielle once again thrust the phone back in my face.

And on the screen was none other than Ryan, sticking his tongue out with a cheeky wink before swallowing some guy’s dick down his throat.

About the Author 

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job.

Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs.

She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia.

Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever, and she hopes it may long continue.

Find me on social media @sophiasoames on all platforms

Christina Stern is a Russian based artist. Quick sketches and portraits drawn in pencil are what she likes to do the most. Her work can be found on @christinastern on Instagram

Aurelia Morris is a cover artist, photographer, Photoshop wiz and eternal fangirl. She works in many mediums under more aliases that she can keep track of.

Social Media Links

Facebook Group: Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour  |  Twitter  |  Instagram 

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Giveaway 

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win

a $15 Amazon gift card with newsletter signup. 

Enter here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1c2e23815/

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here

Release Blitz + Giveaway: Ship of Fools by Sophia Soames

It's the final day of author Sophia Soames and Gay Book Promotions' Ship of Fools release blitz! Read more about the kinky Christmas tale and enter in the giveaway to win a signed paperback copy of Ship of Fools!

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Ship of Fools

Author: Sophia Soames

Publisher:  Self-published

Cover Artist: Aurelia Morris

Release Date: November 30, 2020

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope/s: Finding love, Family Christmas, instalove, Set in the UK

Themes: This story contains descriptions of sexual roleplay and consensual violence, and elements of mild BDSM. 

Heat Rating: 5 flames       

Length: 50 000 words

It is a standalone story.

Goodreads

 

Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

 

 

Blurb

Andreas Mitchell is single, stupid and bored, and should have a good long think about the amount of bad life choices he has made lately. Instead he heads straight for the one guy he knows will become his worst mistake yet.

Luca Germano makes no choices at all, instead he lives quietly in the background, and prefers the safety of his own hand to risking his heart. And someone as pretty and fearless as Andreas Mitchell, is the last person on earth he should let into his life.

Especially at Christmas.


This is a work of fantasy and fiction. This story contains descriptions of sexual roleplay and consensual violence, and elements of mild BDSM, which are not intended to be taken seriously, or imitate real life. Please read with caution if these themes might trigger or upset you.

Find more stories from the fictional British town of Chistleworth, in Custard and Kisses (free to download from Prolific Works) and This thing with Charlie (part of the Winter Wonderland giveaway starting on Jan 1, 2021)



Excerpt

I barely finish that thought, before my office door opens. He doesn’t even knock, Luca Germano, before entering and walking up to me with determination in his steps.

“We are ready to deliver. I was just wondering if you would like to come down and look her over before I go home.” He grunts.

He’s wearing skinny jeans today, and a torn knitted hoodie. A speck of oil still lingering on his hand, and a polishing rag stuck in his back pocket.

“I trust you.” I say, taking the glasses off my nose, and placing them on the table in front of me. “The crew downstairs speak very highly of you. Thank you for helping us deliver on this one. I’m sure the car will be much appreciated by its new owner.”

I’m talking a load of shite, in a voice that belongs to someone like Mr Lambert. I do that, sometimes, when I speak with older clients. Try to make myself more mature, more sophisticated, and less of the twinkly brat I really am.

“Ahm…” He grunts, again. He’s a man of few words, Luca Germano. He still scares me, because he’s unpredictable. I can’t read him, not really. Sometimes he comes across as happy and carefree, at other times he seems almost terrified of me.

“Let me guess…” I tease. “Tonight you are working out, then you are going to go and have a nice glass of water at Club Eden. Am I right?”

“What?” he huffs.

“Yeah? That’s what you do, most weekends.” I giggle. I’ve immediately lost the stupid fake maturity. It doesn’t take much. Told you, I’m an idiot, and clearly a fool, because now Luca Germano is blushing and squirming, and looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Why would you say that?” He huffs out, suddenly back to being annoyed with me. Then he looks scared, breathing too heavily, running his greased hand through his cropped hair. He’s had it cut again. I bet it’s soft against his fingers.

I’m clearly losing my touch here, and I need a break. Luca Germano turned me down for a simple reason. He’s probably gay, because most people frequenting Club Eden, are… gay. Since it’s a gay club. Yet, I’m feeling less confident by the second here, sat behind my desk being... frankly, both rude and stupid with one of our freelance tech crew. Because I know what I am doing, I’m flirting, and why the hell I am flirting with him, of all people? I don’t understand myself anymore. Well, I do. He’s handsome, in a rugged way. A little bit scary, because the man clearly works out and is both tall, fit and muscular. The kind of man with big hands that would toss me around a bed with ease and completely dominate in the bedroom. He’s also staring at me like I have two heads.

Note to self, also the kind of man I should avoid, because I usually end up in a state like last weekend. Do I take any notice? No. Here I go again.

“You usually spend the evening stalking me around the club, and staring at me.” It’s a little bit of a lie, but I’m smiling and batting my eyelashes. I’m giving the guy a chance here. I wouldn’t mind a hookup with him. I would even let him do me, like a little good pick-me-up.

“Look, mate.” He says again, with surprising strength, as he walks up to my desk and leans his knuckles on the top. Leaning over me and staring at me with an intensity that scares me. I actually shuffle my chair an inch backwards, because... Yeah. Intense.

“Don’t mess around with me, I’m not into all that.” He’s serious too, enough for me to feel intimidated.

“Mate, it’s an invitation to fuck, not a bloody job interview.” I nip back, trying to blow my chest up like a bloody baboon. I’m not impressive, I realise that, as he smirks at me.

“Just leave it. Not interested.” He huffs. I just laugh, because as he stands back, he turns around far too quickly for a man not interested. He’s also sporting a semi in his jeans, unless he’s hung like a horse. He’s probably hung, but that bulge...?

“Look, Luke.” I try, but he cuts me off.

“Luca. Not Luke.”

“Luca, my bad.” I try a smile, but he doesn’t take the bait. Just stares, like he does. Maybe it’s just his thing, and perhaps I have read all this wrong from the start.

“I go to Eden for a drink at the weekend, because my best mate from school mans the bar. That’s why I go there. I hang out and shoot the shit with a guy who I have known since I was three. Is that clear?” He’s pissed off, and now he’s frightening me. Just a little. In a good way.

“Crystal.” I nip back.

“I’m not interested in being one of your fuckbuddies, okay? So leave it. I’m very happy to work for you, and you have a great team downstairs, so if you have a project you need me for? Ring me. If not? Then I hope you have a great Christmas... and all that.”

He’s lost his steam at the end, clearly not holding a planned-out speech. He would never make a salesman, because now he is twirling around in a circle again, almost tripping over his own feet as he walks out of my office, leaving the door wide open behind him.

I don’t go down and check out the car. I probably should, before the handover to the new owner this afternoon. I should probably be there to sign it off. Instead I lean back in my chair and let my eyes close. Just for a second to calm myself down.

What on earth am I doing? That? That display of complete and sheer unprofessionalism was ... staggeringly stupid. I could lose my job. It could be seen as harassment, on a grand scale. I need to stop, whatever it is I think I am doing.

In any case, I need to go home, grow up and grow a bloody brain, because the one I have at the moment? It’s fried.

About the Author 

Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over tv-shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamorous real-life job. 

Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs. 

She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia. 

Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever and she hopes it may long continue.

Find me on social media @sophiasoames on all platforms.

Aurelia Morris is a cover artist, photographer, photoshop wiz and eternal fangirl. 

She works in many mediums under more aliases that she can keep track of. 

 

 

Social Media Links 

Facebook Group: Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour  |  Twitter  |  Instagram 

 

Giveaway 

Free short story: Custard and Kisses on Prolific Works

Find Charlie’s story in This Thing with Charlie, set in the same universe

as part of the Winter Wonderland Giveaway on Prolific Works, coming Jan. 1, 2021

Join Sophia Soames’ Little Harbour Facebook group

for a chance to win a signed paperback of Ship of Fools.

Not on Facebook? To win a signed paperback copy of Ship of Fools, just enter here!

   

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

 

Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here