Author Visit: Trevor Project Book Sale - 'tis the season to help donate to a worthy cause

Christmas is right around the corner...wouldn't you like to donate to a good cause by reading?

Piqued your interest?

PACKAGE NAME:  Hot Reads For The Trevor Project

Get ready to lower your thermostat because your winter is about to get hot! For a limited time only, get SIX great reads by some of the hottest authors in M/M! A guilt-free guilty pleasure at an incredibly low price with all proceeds going to The Trevor Project!

ABOUT THE TREVOR PROJECT:

Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

THE BOOKS:

- ROAD RUNNER (ENCHANTMENT #1)

By Rain Carrington

In the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, lives a man who has secrets. Levi Kape watches people at a bar nightly, writing things in his notebook and trying to blend in with the locals. His secrets keep him from getting close to anyone until Bobby Dawes comes off the road after a long haul in his 18-wheeler. After getting to know Bobby, he realizes he’d never been close to anyone. That was about to change.

Levi can’t settle down and not because he doesn’t want to, but because it could endanger his life. Bobby is a gentle, loving and strong man who doesn’t do commitment. He’s also a man that Levi wants more than anything, including his own safety.

Danger causes Levi to leave but he can’t forget the truck driver that drove into his life, changing everything. When Levi leaves, Bobby goes back onto the road, trying to forget the “Golden God” he’d fallen for, but with some help from friends with connections to dark people and places, Bobby finds his man and swears never to let him go again.

Can they save each other not only from the men who want Levi dead but from years of never seeking or finding the love they found in one another? Will the ultimate betrayal cost them the trust they need to make it work between them? Can Bobby save him, or be lost in a dark world alone…

- CAGED: LOVE AND TREACHERY ON THE HIGH SEAS (BAAL'S HEART #1)

By Bey Deckard

Sheltered and lonely, Jon's life changes drastically when a strange ship sails into the harbour of his small port town one day. Trapped between the possessive pirate captain and his murderous first mate, he must learn to adapt or he will lose himself completely. An epic tale of love, treachery and revelation, this first installment of the Baal's Heart trilogy brings you into the lives of three men so bound together by jealousy and lies that they must sail to the very ends of the earth to find forgiveness.

Deckard's first novel is a masterful portrayal of sorrow, hope, and passion, with a narrative that twists the reader through a world set in the Golden Age of Piracy. A thrilling look into the darker side of human nature, Caged effortlessly melds serious historical fantasy with five star erotica.

- DANGEROUSLY HAPPY

By Varian Krylov

Aidan has always played it safe. Instead of pursuing his dream of creating innovative music that makes his soul sing, he settled for a degree in software, a job in a cubicle, and a spot in a generic band with his buddies.

And he's always been straight. But when he's seduced by magnetic local literary luminary Dario, Aidan must decide whether to keep playing it safe, or succumb to a ravenous passion and a nourishing love unlike anything he's experienced before. Will he find the courage to go after real happiness if it means admitting he's in love with a man?

Their journey together isn't easy. Sometimes it isn't safe. Even if Aidan has the courage to admit he's in love with Dario, can he endure the repercussions of the traumatic event in Dario's past?

- LUXURIA: THE OSWALD WITCHES

By Mathew Ortiz

Duncan Blackthorne carried a heavy burden for one so young. One of the most powerful witches of the Earth Clans, his singular ability to control fire was both blessing and curse. The wallflower of his family, they had no idea of what turbulent waters churned under his calm surface. Never expecting to find love, he trudged through life, expecting nothing. Until the man in his dreams became more real and insistent, Duncan realized his dream lover was so much more than expected. Suddenly he had a real world dominant that rocked his body and a dreaming ghost lover who captured his heart. Now what the hell was witch to do?

- GRIF'S TOY (TEASE AND DENIAL #1)

By Joseph Lance Tonlet

Grif believes he’ll live his life as a virgin. After all, who would want him? How could anyone find him, a guy who came with less than man-sized equipment, worthy of their love?

What he hadn’t counted on were the two amazing men who would change his life. After entering college, he meets Tate, his fun-loving roommate. While years later, with Tate now just a memory, Wes, a handsome, rugged ex-marine who runs his own security firm enters his life.

Both men lead Grif through a twisted mesh of pleasure, pain, and denial, as they force him to see his value, despite his size and insecurities.

- SAM AND DEREK: THE WHOLE STORY

By Brad Vance

Sam Bradford is a down-on-his-luck former Special Forces soldier when he meets Derek Constantine, sexually confused billionaire. Together the two men will play a series of games that bring them ever closer together…and which in the end may be the death of them…

Sam’s Reluctant Submission

Sam's down to his last five dollars when he meets Derek, who makes him an offer - come to my estate for a manhunt, evade me for two days, and you'll make ten grand...but if I catch you, you surrender your ass to me! Sam's got SERE training and he's pretty sure his straight ass is safe, but anything can happen when the hunt is on...

Sam’s Reluctant Submission II: Urban Manhunt

In Part I, Sam lost his ass to Derek, but kept something more important – Derek submitted him, but didn’t break him, and that’s what Derek really wanted. Now Derek wants a rematch – fifty grand for an urban manhunt, if Sam evades Derek’s crew…if he doesn’t, it’s four on one and Sam’s ass is toast!

Sam’s Reluctant Submission III: Search and Rescue

In Part 2, Sam lost his ass to Derek again – and loved it! Which left him wondering if he was gay after all. Maybe a three way with Jake and Eddie will help him figure that out… And when Derek calls Sam to get his help with a search and rescue effort, what sexual sparks might be generated if they clash again in a “threematch”?

Sam’s Reluctant Submission IV: Avenging Devils

The epic conclusion to the saga of Sam and Derek! When Derek’s dark past rears its head to jeopardize the couple and their friends Jake and Eddie, Sam will have to call on his old Special Forces buddies to do battle with The Factory, a malevolent cartel bent on revenge. Will Sam and Derek rescue Eddie from his kidnappers? Will seeing Sam explore his top side with Eddie make Derek jealous…or make him want Sam to do that to him? Most frightening and dangerous of all, will Derek finally say the L word!

BONUS STORY - Eddie’s MMA Submission – the story of Sam’s friends Eddie and Jake

Eddie works across the street from Downtown Fight Academy. And he can't stop thinking about Jake, the hot MMA fighter he ran into at the store. When Jake offers to train him, Eddie's ready to throw down in the Octagon. But when Jake has him submitted, and pulls out a weapon you won't see on TV, will Eddie tap out...or take the punishment?

Here's the purchase link!

More information about these awesome authors giving back:

- Rain Carrington

When she isn't taking out gay bashers with her mean right hook she is at her desk writing steamy stories of man on man love. Rain also spends time with her beloved family and friends and in her spare time maybe sleeps for a few hours.

Rain is an ally in the gay rights crusade, she also loves animals and tries her best to stop animal abuse.

She is at her desk now getting some of her other stories ready for publication and will let them out as she they are ready so keep an eye out for Cabin Fever next!

- Bey Deckard

Born and raised in a small coastal town in northern Québec, Bey spent his early summers on his uncle’s boat and running wild on the beaches of the surrounding islands, lighting fires and building huts out of driftwood and fishermen’s nets. As an adult, he eventually made his way to university and earned a degree in Art History with a strong focus on Anthropology. Primarily a portrait painter and graphic artist, Bey sat down one day and decided to write about the two things that he felt most passionate about: sex and the sea.

Bey currently lives in the wilds of Montréal with his best buddy, a spotty pit bull named Murphy. Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas is his first novel.

- Varian Krylov

Since her girlhood in a sunny coastal town in California, Varian Krylov has nurtured a love of words and a curiosity about the deep, dark forces at work in human nature, especially sexuality, and how they often paradoxically twine with our tenderest impulses. Her stories tend to explore the sometimes fine line between what arouses, and what frightens, what we’re driven to, and what we’re ashamed of.

As witty and seductive as I am sarcastic and self-deprecating, I spend as much time as possible thinking and writing about sex. No, not dense, inscrutable post-feminist texts on media representations of gender and the body--that was grad school. I write stories--short stories, novels, and starting a few weeks ago, screenplays--most of which poke and prod and the dark little corners of human sexuality. In a sense, nothing's taboo, anymore. There's no act, no fetish that hasn't been made utterly banal in the proliferation of porn. What intrigues and excites me is the exploration of the conflicting impulses, the twisted psychology and turbulent emotions of people who find themselves unable to resist desires that lie beyond their own moral boundaries.

- Mathew Ortiz

Mathew Ortiz was born in Nuremburg Germany in 197O, the son of a quiet Army man and his loud Hungarian wife. Spending only two years in Germany, his family relocated to Fort Smith, Arkansas where he spent his youth in exile. Here is where he attended primary school and college, obtaining a degree in Nursing. He moved to Phoenix and met the bane and love of his life, Tim. When not on his laptop watching Are You Being Served or Keeping Up Appearances, Matt can be found either napping or reading with gusto.

- Joseph Lance Tonlet

Joseph is a born and raised Southern Californian--with a twenty-year stint of living in the Midwest. He loves the laid-back lifestyle of San Diego and considers himself lucky to live where people dream of vacationing.

A lifelong reader of m/m fiction, he began his writing career one night sitting at his MacBook and has never looked back. He writes to bring the characters he dreams about to life.

- Brad Vance

Brad Vance writes gay romance, erotica and paranormal stories and novels, including the breakout hits "A Little Too Broken" and "Given the Circumstances." Keep up with Brad at BradVanceErotica.wordpress.com, email him at BradVanceErotica@gmail.com, and friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/brad.vance.10

If you're interested about this awesome package - 6 titles for an unbelievable price of $10, check out the buy links on this page. The sale ends January 1st, 2015!!!

Review: Bad Things by Varian Krylov

Xavier makes a lot of people nervous. The rest, he flat-out scares. More than his hulking, tattooed body, it's his predator's gaze that makes people feel vulnerable, as if he had the power to read their thoughts and see their soul. For his lovers, it's Xavier's ravenous appetite for all things carnal—for the taste of flesh under his tongue and the feel of a trembling body under his control, for whispered pleas and muffled cries—that makes him dangerous. 

But recently, driven by a festering rage against the men who attacked his sister a decade ago, Xavier has developed a taste for a different kind of hunt and conquest: stalking men who do truly bad things and punishing the predators he sniffs out. The problem with vigilante justice, though, is sometimes the man in your trap is innocent. 

Carson suspects he's playing a risky game with dangerous men. But the lies are convincing, especially when they're slipped to him among hundred dollar bills. He never guessed how big and dark the secret hidden under all the lies and money could be. And he has no idea he's not the predator, but the prey, until it's too late. 

And you can't beg for mercy when there's a gag in your mouth. 

But when Carson escapes from Xavier's trap, he's forced to accept that Xavier is far from his most dangerous enemy. Xavier may even hold the key to overcoming the painful past that has kept Carson prisoner for almost two decades.

This book… I swear to all the deities… It did things to me. Nice things. Not nice things. All kinds of things.

“The humiliations and defeats, given with a primitive honesty, end not in frustration, despair or futility, but in hunger, an ecstatic devouring hunger-for more life.”

~Anais Nin

Cards on the table. Bad Things won't be for everyone. It's intense, full of angst and… it's completely fucked. Seriously. F-U-C-K-E-D. The subject matter, Xavi and Carson's relationship, the situations they find themselves in, their reactions to those situations, all completely fucked. Yet, I totes loved them. I was enchanted from the start by Xavi in Dangerously Happy. I’m fairly certain that alone cements my depravity.

Xavi is an antihero. He gets things done using unorthodox methods, but he is loyal to those he loves. He'll do anything for them which is how he winds up in this clusterfuck of a situation. His sister, Elena, was gang raped at 18 which was the catalyst for a suicide attempt and her subsequent decision to enter law enforcement. At the beginning of Bad Things she witnesses a gang rape which dregs up the past for her and Xavi. For Xavi this translates into going undercover and isn't strictly legal. He sets out to right a wrong on a human trafficking case of Elena's that got dismissed on a technicality and ends up as a bouncer at Gomorrah where he meets Carson, the bartender, along with a cadre of unsavory characters. 

Xavi is a tattoo artist and a sadist, but more than that, he's one of those people that have perfected the art of reading others. Not in that weird prescient way which is so populations in romance fiction-"the perfect dom", all-knowing, all powerful, precognitive… total bullshit. He watches, learns, looks for signals and isn't always right. Just 90th percentile. All of which makes him exceptional at the mindfuck and he mindfucks the bejesus out of Carson.

Carson is a naive, somewhat desperate young man who gets caught up in a situation that is bigger than him and through a series of events lands him in Xavi's basement naked, bound, gagged and terrified. The trouble is he's desperately, perhaps foolishly attracted to Xavi. An attraction he's denied since he was a boy thanks to some vile parents who decided to eviscerate a nine year old. The shame and humiliation that wafts off Carson feeds directly into Xavi’s sadistic nature.

Does Xavi go too far?

Probably.

Possibly.

I'm of the opinion that the ends justify the means which isn't a popular opinion, but there you have it. I told you. Depraved. *shrugs*

I think Carson needs Xavi and all the "scary" to face himself and the demons of his past. I also think Xavi needs Carson to bring some light into all that dark and to give him someone that's his. They've both been alone for far too long. Their relationship is unconventional in both its genesis and evolution, but it is one that I’ll not soon forget.

Cuffed to the bed (because Carson still needed that, not to surrender to Xavier, but to surrender to himself), and carefully (which didn’t necessarily mean gently) palpitate his soul, find his dark, empty places, and fill them all, one-by-one.

What I like about Ms. Krylov's writing style is her uncanny ability to plumb the depths of the human psyche. She is exceptional at illustrating how complex and unpredictable humans can be. She turns her characters inside out and gives you all of them, even the distasteful and irrational. She excels at illustrating the duality of weaknesses for what they are as well as strengths and individuality. The healing but not transformative power of love seems to be a constant in her work which is something I appreciate over magic cocks.

She has the erotica gift. Damn. She does for erotica what Jake Jaxson does for adult films-shows you the beauty of it. She captures the total experience from the emotions to the enivironment in such vivid detail it becomes visceral. As you can imagine, to achieve this takes words, but I'll give latitude when the author is painting a picture this gratifying. 

“Holy Christ, the look on your face,” Xavier growled. “I want to fucking devour you. Like parents have that urge to eat their young.”

Word. <---pun intended.

This wasn’t the book I was expecting. I expected a more conventional romance between these two with more sadomasochism and traditional scening. What I got was more complex, and ultimately, more satisfying.

It’s not perfect. There are editing issues and I concede the story is not everyone’s cuppa, but it was perfect for me and probably some kindred depraved souls out there.

An  ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more on Goodreads

Review: Dangerously Happy by Varian Krylov

Aidan has always played it safe. Instead of pursuing his dream of creating innovative music that makes his soul sing, he settled for a degree in software, a job in a cubicle, and a spot in a generic band with his buddies.

And he's always been straight. But when he's seduced by magnetic local literary luminary Dario, Aidan must decide whether to keep playing it safe, or succumb to a ravenous passion and a nourishing love unlike anything he's experienced before. Will he find the courage to go after real happiness if it means admitting he's in love with a man?

Their journey together isn't easy. Sometimes it isn't safe. Even if Aidan has the courage to admit he's in love with Dario, can he endure the repercussions of the traumatic event in Dario's past?

This novel has mature content and is intended for readers over the age of eighteen. Although this is a story about two men falling in love, there are extended, explicit sex scenes, including some BDSM, m/m/m and m/m/f scenes. There are references to sexual violence which may be a trigger for some readers, although there is no graphic depiction of rape in the book.

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review - however I already owned a copy of it....the review will still be honest though!

Every now and then I come across a book that I find really difficult to rate and this is one of them. It took me a lot of pondering to decide on a 4 heart review, and I will explain my reasoning for it.

You may, or may not know, that very often I don't look at a book's blurb - while I can stay away from handbags and shoes, and happily live in supermarket clothes, I am a compulsive book buyer (notices the nods, you too huh!), well, this was one of those books. The cover is PRETTY, the hype on FB etc good, I had no idea what it was about and purchased it. Then a request came in to the blog and, as I already had it, I thought why not, I'll review it - but I still hadn't a clue what the book was about. In fact I only discovered what the book was about as I was reading it.

This book is a mish-mash of romance and erotica and I'm not sure which bit dominates. I'm not against a bit of BDSM in my novels but it certainly isn't the staple of my literary diet. This has BDSM, menage (M/M/F & M/M/M). Now, I'm a romance girl through and through. For some reason I found the M/M/F scene harder to read...maybe I'm just to used to reading about the men at the moment, maybe I have deep-set psychological issues. Who knows. That isn't to say though, that the scene wasn't well written, it was, as were the M/M/M scenes. I think perhaps I have to be in a certain mood for the more erotic end of the romance scale and trying to read it in the holidays with the children asking questions every couple of minutes isn't really the way to set that mood. So I guess that's a convoluted way of saying it wasn't really what I was looking for to read at this moment in time. However it was very well written so I shan't knock of any marks for my own personal hormonal response.

The romance though, well that was something that I could get on board with. That first moment between Aiden and Dario, hells bells, now to me, that right there is SUPER hot. I adored the way we saw them fall in love through the obstacles and difficulties. And they really did fall in love. Krylov's writing style is very unique to her, it took me a few pages to get into it but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed the first person narrative, the long poetic sentences and I felt as though I understood Aiden completely. We saw Dario through Aiden's eyes, with Aiden's insecurities, but it was still very easy to understand him as a person, I very much liked both MC's.

I found the traumatic event in Dario's past hard, I also found the way he dealt with it hard. That is not just an issue with this book, it's something I've found in other stories of the same nature. Just because I have difficulty understanding the way he deals with his trauma doesn't mean that I think it was written badly or dealt with wrongly. I think when we empathise with characters in books it's often because we recognise our own traits/thoughts in them. In this case Dario is very opposite to me but I could empathise with him because the character was so clear - I just couldn't understand it on a personal level.

I think my thoughts on this really are, Varian Krylov is a wonderful writer and I love her writing style - her content though is not my preferred read. It's definitely a case of it's not you, it's me. I will say, if you have any potential triggers, please read the warnings before you choose this book. If BDSM, menage & romance are your things, then this book really could be for you.