Blog | Parker Williams

Burning Up Book Tour

Author Bio:

Silvia Violet writes erotic romance in a variety of genres including paranormal, contemporary, sci fi, and historical. She can be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like “Do you write children’s books?” She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she’s actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinfully delicious treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading to her incorrigible offspring.

Where to find the author:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Silvia_Violet

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/silviaviolet

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Photo by Dan Skinner, Cover by Meredith Russell

Blurb(s):

Bryce has been a firefighter for ten years, but when a horrific house fire leaves him reeling, he moves to a new city, hoping to shove those memories behind him. As he adjusts to his new station, Bryce keeps to himself until Matt and Toby, two hot young men in his unit, throw temptation in his path. Bryce knows better than to mess around with men he works with, especially two newbies who are in the closet. But after a difficult day, Matt and Toby offer him compassion and friendship, which slips so easily into sex Bryce finds the combination irresistible.

Matt and Toby want to expand their relationship to include a third, and they’ve set their sights on their sexy bear of a lieutenant. Their first night together is a scorcher, and, more than that, it feels right, to all of them. But since Bryce refuses to hide who he is, and dating men on his shift is against the rules, all three men are going to have to make some tough choices if they want to stay together.

Categories: BDSM, Contemporary, Menage/Poly, M/M Romance, Firefighters, Romance

Excerpt:

“They’re watching you again,” Mason spoke in a low voice as he whizzed past Bryce, carrying drinks to the opposite end of the bar.

“You’re imagining things again.” Ever since Mason swore that Toby and Matt, who’d become regulars at the bar after Bryce started working there, were gay and interested in Bryce, he’d been teasing Bryce about their interest.

Bryce told himself not to look, but he couldn’t help glancing toward the corner booth where they always preferred to sit before going back to wiping down the bar. Did they sit there because it gave them a good view of the bar? Bryce scowled. No way in hell were his hands shaking. No way in hell was he letting himself get his hopes up. Even if they were gay, even if they were interested in him, starting something with two guys from work would be the pinnacle of idiocy. Hell, getting involved with more than one guy was insane from the start. Just because Mason and his boyfriends had made a threesome work didn’t make it realistic for Bryce. There was an exception to every rule.

“You’re wrong,” Bryce said as he passed Mason on his way to take a customer’s order.

Mason snorted in reply.

Bryce was glad to see the bar was filling up. He did not need to spend the next hour telling himself not to look at Toby and Matt. He did plenty of that at the firehouse. Toby’s smile could heat up and entire room and Bryce never wanted to look away from it, unless it was to contemplate running his hands through Matt’s wavy brown hair while staring into his dark eyes.

But if Mason was right and they were gay, maybe they really were lovers. If so, he had no business approaching them, whether they were watching him or not. Just because they liked to look didn’t mean they wanted to play. They didn’t need him fucking up whatever they had going.

Plus, they worked together. They were a team, with people’s lives on the line.

The line at the bar grew long, and Bryce got busy taking orders, making drinks, and ringing people up at the register. When things finally slowed down, he needed a bathroom break. As he headed to the back, he noticed Matt and Toby playing pool with a couple of guys he recognized as regulars. Toby waved and he waved back, hating the way his pulse accelerated. What the hell was wrong with him?

He pushed open the door of the restroom but failed to check his instinct to glance back over his shoulder. Toby’s eyes were glued to his ass. There was no doubt about it this time. He whirled back around before their gazes had a chance to meet.

So Toby wasn’t straight. Bryce had to admit that now. He was gay or at least bi, but he was just appreciating the scenery. That didn’t mean anything. Bryce appreciated guys’ asses all the time.

When Bryce left the bathroom, Toby and Matt were leaning in close, talking, arguing actually based on the angry expressions on their faces. Bryce hurried back to work, glad he didn’t have to decide whether to speak to them or not. Several minutes later, Toby appeared at the bar. Mason, the little bastard, wasn’t busy, but he made no move to take Toby’s order.

“What can I get you?” Bryce asked.

“Just cashing out our tab.” Our? Maybe Toby was just buying that night.

“Sure.” Bryce looked Toby’s name up in the register, ran his card, and handed him the receipt to sign.

“Thanks,” Toby said, flashing a smile that made his eyes twinkle. How was it that he made that single word sound flirtatious? Bryce was supposed to be the one who flirted, the one in control of a situation, but despite Toby being so much younger, Bryce ended up flustered every time they spoke.

Pages or Words: 45,000 Words

Interview

Questions for the Burning Up tour

1 – Of all your books, which has been the most difficult to write and why.
Denying Yourself because I thought I was going to write a fun summer fling story and it turned out to be so much darker, probably my most angsty book so far.

2 – In Fitting In, Grey was the definite top in the relationship, but you also made him depend on his partners to keep him whole. Where did the ‘flaw’ in his character come from?
Grey simply enjoys being in control and always has. He avoids situation where he doesn’t feel like he’s the one in charge. If there’s a deeper reason for this attitude, he’s not sharing it with me.

3 – Of the three books in the Fitting In series, which one has been the hardest for you to write? Why?
Burning Up because writing another threesome and keeping it feeling fresh was hard work. Also I needed to do a lot of research about firefighters. Luckily thanks to the amazing ET and Christy Thomas that part was nowhere near as difficult as it could have been.

4 – Do you see more books in the Fitting In world?
I have plans for a book about Gray, Mason and Jack from Gray’s POV and possibly one more after that.

5 – If you could mix two of your worlds, which would they be?
If Wishes Were Horses and the Unexpected series. Fortunately since they are both contemporaries with suspense elements, they could crossover in the future.

Tour Dates/Stops:

23-Feb

24-Feb

25-Feb

Cathy Brockman Romances

26-Feb

27-Feb

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

BFD Book Blog

Love Bytes

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

Emotion in Motion

As The Pages Turn

MM Good Book Reviews

Sales Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T72LTOS

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-burningup-1740463-340.html

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/517111

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Inclination Book Tour

Author Bio:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, Cool Dudes, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.

Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mia.kerick

Twitter: @MiaKerick

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/miakerick/

Publisher: Cool Dudes Publishing

Cover Artist: Louis C. Harris

Blurb:

Sixteen-year-old Anthony Duck-Young Del Vecchio is a nice Catholic boy with a very big problem. It’s not the challenge of fitting in as the lone adopted South Korean in a close-knit family of Italian-Americans. Nor is it being the one introverted son in a family jam-packed with gregarious daughters. Anthony’s problem is far more serious—he is the only gay kid in Our Way, his church’s youth group. As a high school junior, Anthony has finally come to accept his sexual orientation, but he struggles to determine if a gay man can live as a faithful Christian. And as he faces his dilemma, there are complications. After confiding his gayness to his intolerant adult youth group leader, he’s asked to find a new organization with which to worship. He’s beaten up in the church parking lot by a fanatical teen. His former best pal bullies him in the locker room. His Catholic friends even stage an intervention to lead him back to the “right path.” Meanwhile, Anthony develops romantic feelings for David Gandy, an emo, out and proud junior at his high school, who seems to have all the answers about how someone can be gay and Christian, too.

Will Anthony be able to balance his family, friends and new feelings for David with his changing beliefs about his faith so he can live a satisfying life and not risk his soul in the process?

Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Christian, Spiritual

Excerpt:

I’ll pass on the Kool-Aid, thank you

It sounds like a joke, but it’s all true. Every student who volunteers his or her time on a weekly basis at an animal shelter, a hospital, or a home for the elderly receives a free lunch on the last Monday of the month, putting to rest the veracity (got that word on the last SAT practice test I took at my desk in my bedroom the other day) of the old idiom, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” And as I spend every Sunday afternoon patting and playing with cats at the Centerton Humane Society, I qualify. If nothing else, it gives Mom a day off from making me lunch.

“It was so disgusting.”

I drop down into my usual seat in the cafeteria beside Laz, my tray with the bowl of free macaroni and cheese, a slice of bread, and milk, sliding onto the lunch table in front of me. “The mac and cheese?” I ask. “Last time I had it the stuff wasn’t too bad.” It’s not one of Mom’s gourmet lunches, but it gets the job done.

“No, Anthony.” Emma Gillis rolls her eyes and swallows her bite of free mac and cheese she earned by reading classics to the elderly on Saturday mornings at the New Horizons Elderly Center. She gulps in a breath and informs me with her usual haughtiness, “I was telling everybody about these two old men I read to last Saturday who think they are some kind of couple. They actually kissed each other.” She fake-gags.

“I threw up a little in my mouth when I saw that!”

For my own personal reasons, I gasp, while everybody else snickers.

“Those old dudes must be losing it, as in, they could have Alzheimer’s or something, and they forgot that dudes belong with ladies, not other dudes.” I glance over at Lazarus, who abruptly stops babbling to suck down the first of three cartons of chocolate milk. “But seriously, that’s messed up.” Laz wrinkles his nose in distaste and runs his hands through his shaggy dark hair, before moving on to carton number two.

I’m basically frozen, my hand still hovering over the slice of wheat bread on the corner of my tray, my mouth hanging open. I might even be drooling.

“It’s not their fault, Emma.” Elizabeth-the-devout always takes the case of the underdog. It’s how she’s wired. “They’re just sick in their minds.” She sends Emma a you-ought-to-be-ashamed-of yourself sort of frown. “We, as Catholics, are called to compassion.”

Everyday single day at lunch since freshman year, I’ve sat with the kids from the Our Way youth group. In fact, the other kids in my grade have long referred to our lunch table as “Our Way to Survive Cafeteria Food”, which somewhere along the line got shortened to the “OWSCF Table”, which eventually morphed into “awe-scoff”. I have always felt safe and secure sitting at the awe-scoff table. These are the kids I’ve prayed with three times a week at Our Way, and the ones who I was confirmed with in ninth grade. I’ve collected toys for the poor with these kids—in fact, for three years running we’ve made sure that no child in Wedgewood missed out on having a small stack of Christmas gifts, and that brings about some major bonding. We’ve shared weekends camping in the Maine woods, singing and holding hands and sometimes crying when the Spirit moved us.

This is my safe spot at school, like my tiny room is my alone spot at home.

“If you ask me, all fags deserve to die for going against Christ and everything that’s natural. They should be forced to drink poison Kool-Aid, like those cultists had to do down in Jonestown…’member that?” Is that Rinaldo Vera who just suggested mass murder as the “final solution” to the gay problem?

Sweet, passive Rinaldo—the gentle giant. Um, not so much.

“I saw a TV movie called the Jonestown Massacre.”

“I caught that too…those people were warped.”

The conversation drifts away from the vileness of homosexuality, toward the disturbing personal stories of the few survivors of the Jim Jones Cult Kool-Aid Massacre. But I’ve heard more than enough, in terms of stuff that pertains to me.

Feeling as if I’m going to lose what little lunch I ate, I jump up off my chair and race toward the boys’ room in the hall near the cafeteria.

Maybe there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Pages or Words: 70,000 words

Interview

What was the impetus for this story? Is there a story behind the story, or was it something that snuck up on you and said, “WRITE ME!”?

Religious guilt—the feeling that I am just not doing the right thing by God—had become a lingering part of my emotional life. It had been there for so long that I almost accepted it as part of my personality.

Having been raised strictly as a Roman Catholic, and having remained with the church until I was about forty years old, I knew what was expected of me. I knew the rules of the church very well but knowing is different than doing, and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t be the perfect Catholic. I broke rules, I went to confession, I did my Penance. And then I broke rules again. And no, I wasn’t murdering people. No one but God and I knew much about my sins. They really didn’t affect anyone else.

For years I’d struggled to be perfect and failed, and for years after that I tried to rationalize that I was a “good enough” Catholic. But this didn’t work for me, though, as I have always been a very black and white type of person, and being “pretty good” at something so important was a shade of gray that just didn’t work for me.

So I gave up formal religion but I didn’t give up on the right path. I may have stopped going to church with my family of six but I endeavored to raise my children to be people with loving and giving hearts. I reminded them to listen to the dictates of their conscience and having good “karma” was a goal we strived for. But I thought that since I couldn’t follow the rules well enough, formal Christianity was lost to me, and by extension to us.

I have recently had some life experiences that have led me to believe that I have not, in fact, lost God at all. I have grown to trust that by loving others and serving those in need, someone can still be a child of God. Without following every rule to a tee. And as I wrote novel after novel about the struggle of LGBT young people to accept and embrace themselves as people, I couldn’t help but consider how it must feel for a gay Christian teen to believe he is alienated from God. In fact, this story didn’t sneak up on me, but it did scream “WRITE ME!”

Tour Dates/Tour Stops:

23-Feb

24-Feb

25-Feb

26-Feb

27-Feb

2-Mar

3-Mar

4-Mar

5-Mar

6-Mar

9-Mar

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

10-Mar

Hearts on Fire

11-Mar

Cathy Brockman Romances

12-Mar

Love Bytes

13-Mar

Rainbow Gold Reviews

Sales Links:

https://gumroad.com/l/Inclination1

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The Librarian Book Blast

Author Bio:

Somewhere in a small town in up-state New York are a librarian and a second grade teacher to whom I owe my life. That might be a touch dramatic, but it’s nevertheless one hundred percent true.

Because they taught me the joy of reading, of escaping into worlds crafted of words.

Have you ever been nine years old and sure of nothing so much as that you don’t belong? Looked at the world from behind glasses, and wondered why you don’t fit?

Someone hands you a book, and then you turn the page and see… There you are, running from Injun Joe in a dark graveyard; there you are fencing with Athos; there you are…beneath the deep blue sea- marveling at exotic creatures with Captain Nemo.

I found myself between the pages of books, and that is why I write now. It’s why I taught English and literature for so many years, and it’s why my house contains more pounds of books than furniture.

If I’d had my way, I’d have been a fencer…or a starship captain, or a lawyer, or a detective solving crimes. But instead, I am a writer, and I’ve come to realize that’s the best thing in the world to be, because as a writer, I can be all those things and more.

If I hadn’t learned to value the stories between the pages, who knows what would have happened? Certainly not college…teaching…or writing.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lee.brazil

Twitter: @leebrazil

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/leebrazil/

Publisher: Lime Time Press

Cover Artist: Laura Harner

Blurb(s):

A rash vow of celibacy puts Valentine Michaels in the path of seduction.

Val is at a crossroads in his life. A college dropout, he’s gone as far as he can in his career as a cosmetologist, owning his own style salon. He no longer finds satisfaction in it, though he’s put years into proving to his bigoted parents that a college degree and the veneer of straightness aren’t the only roads to success. They’d turned their backs on him, and he proved he didn’t need them to make it.

His love life is no better than his working life. His relationships always start with a bang and fizzle into boredom, or worse, anger.

Adrian Grey has his own agenda for helping Val: he’s been in love with Val since they were freshmen. The intervening years of listening to Val’s gossip about his lovers and relationships have taught Adrian just what it was he did wrong all those years ago, and he thinks this time around he now knows exactly how to get—and keep—his man.

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance

Excerpt:

Impatiently, Val flipped his powder-blue locks over his shoulder, tapping the little whisk broom against the counter where his supplies were arranged neatly. “Derek, you left me standing around at Paul’s for an hour, a place I totally hate by the way, without even a phone call to say you weren’t coming, and then I walk past you playing ball in the park with your friends on the way back here. I’m not overreacting!”

He ran a swift eye over his supplies. Scissors, combs, spray bottle with water, gel, mousse. Everything in order. While he prepared his workstation, he listened with half an ear to the deep voice on the other end of the phone, trying to explain or rationalize or whatever, but he wasn’t into hearing what Derek had to say. The guy was an immature jerk who put his own wants ahead of everything, even if it meant leaving Val standing in a group of young college kids he barely knew, in a bar he usually avoided like the plague. He’d gone to the party in the first place for Derek. Being stood up while doing something so selfless pissed him off. Just once in a relationship, Val wanted to find a guy who put him first, who loved him more than sports, friends, and all the other temptations the wicked world offered. “Just forget it, Derek. You don’t get it. It’s not just last night; it’s the whole last few months.”

More rumbling and babbling in his ear. He ran a dust cloth over the client’s chair and then adjusted its height. Prepping his station at the salon was second nature and required little of his attention. Kind of like listening to Derek. Why the fuck do I listen to this shit? Derek had all the emotional understanding of a two-ton truck. Cute as hell, but clueless about what would melt Val’s heart. In fact, Derek might accurately be called dense altogether. A little consideration, a romantic gesture or two, would go a long way. Hell, an apology instead of an excuse would probably have gotten him a second chance even this morning. Eh. Who are you kidding? Derek is a symptom, not the illness itself. “Fuck off, Derek. It’s over. Do me a favor and lose my number, okay?”

Flipping the phone shut, he shoved it into the pocket of his smock and busied himself cleaning up his workspace. A quick spray of glass cleaner to the mirror, a swipe or two with a rag, and he was done. Done with Derek, done with men, done with romance and love and sex, and fuck it all. He could be celibate. Masturbation didn’t count as sex, did it? He’d need something if he wasn’t getting any.

Pages or Words: 22,000 Words

Interview

1 – What is your secret indulgence?

Well… um… I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be a secret then, would it? Okay, fine. Olives. Those green ones that are loaded with sodium.

2 – Favorite way to unwind at the end of the day?

Music + Tequila

Tour Dates: February 24, 2015

Tour Stops:

Parker Williams, Havan Fellows, Divine Magazine, Amanda C. Stone, Molly Lolly, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, My Fiction Nook, Bayou Book Junkie, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Kimi-Chan, Inked Rainbow Reads, Bike Book Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, BFD Book Blog, The Hat Party, Cate Ashwood, It’s Raining Men, Michael Mandrake, Andrew Q. Gordon, Velvet Panic, Iyana Jenna, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Fallen Angel Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook

Sales Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T8G2IKC

Smashwords : https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/517097

All Romance : https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thelibrarian-1740464-149.html

Direct From Author Via Payhip : https://payhip.com/b/tz3n

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Here Without You Book Tour

Author Bio:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.

Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Where to find Mia:

Blog: www.miakerick.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mia.kerick

Dreamspinner Author Arcade: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/mia-kerick/bio/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6474518.Mia_Kerick

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiaKerick

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Paul Richmond (Photograph by Dan Skinner)

Blurb(s):

With all of his scratched and dented heart, Nate DeMarco wants to be two places at once, but he’s been forced to make an unbearable choice. Having barely survived high school, Nate and his boyfriends, Casey Minton and Zander Zane, are ready to move forward in life. Casey and Zander have left home to attend Boston City College. Nate remains in New Hampshire to protect his volatile younger sister from their increasingly violent, alcoholic uncle. Nate suffers with anger, resentment, and loneliness as he battles what he wants against what he feels he must do.

Now separated, the young men fight to stay in contact. However, they’re each faced with their own separate issues. Casey must cope with residual fear from having been bullied in high school. Zander obsesses over the establishment of One Voice, the new gay-straight alliance at Boston City College. Nate fights for his sister’s very survival. Meanwhile, the intensity of the boys’ relationship increases, both sexually and emotionally, as happens in long distance relationships.

Nate’s futile effort to live two lives leads to tragedy, which blasts Nate, Casey, and Zander apart. Can the three young men find their way back to a united path before it’s too late?

Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Menage/Poly, New Adult, Romance

Excerpt:

2 NATE’S DIARY

August 23 (they only been gone about half a week now)

SO MAYBE this is a bit fucked up, but I’m gonna put it down on paper in black and white, and maybe when I read it back to myself, it’ll seem more normal.

Here’s the thing. Like Casey says, us three is a throuple. Three dudes in love. Whatever. Cuz I sure as shit love them guys, and nothin’s gonna change that. So, yeah. There’s two dudes in place A and one dude, alone, in place B. I just figured them two would be gettin’ busy in bed in their fancy dorm room whenever they had a chance—cuz that’s what guys do, right?

Well, apparently not so much. Last night they Skyped me. There them two were, sittin’ all cozy on Casey’s rainbow-colored bedspread. The floppy stuffed unicorn that me and Zander gave him for Christmas junior year was propped up behind ’em, starin’ at the computer, like it was lookin’ right at yours truly. I felt real alone and a little like a loser (fucked-up fact is they only been gone a couple days), but I leaned back on my bed and acted like I didn’t give a shit.

Casey said, in this adorable proper voice, “Nate, there’s a topic Zander and I feel it’s imperative we discuss. It’s a matter of great importance.” He already sounds like a doctor, and he’s only a freshman in college.

Zander was just starin’ into the computer at me, sorta studyin’ my I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-nothin’ expression.

“What’s such a big friggin’ deal, babe? Lay it on me.” That was pretty cool soundin’, I thought.

“Well, Zander and I want to have a discussion about…. Nate, we want to discuss physical intimacy. In that….”

Even on Skype I could see that two spots on Casey’s cheeks had turned bright pink. Looked like he was having trouble spittin’ this out. And he was the talker in our throuple.

“Zander and I are here together, without you, and we’ve talked about this—”

“I expect you two’ve been goin’ to town on each other every night since you got to college and are prob’ly itchin’ to strip each other down right now.” Both of my guys’ eyes popped open wide when I said that.

“Actually, Nate.” Zander spoke up cuz it seemed that Casey was suddenly at a loss for words. “We haven’t, and we’re not gonna.”

“Huh?” That just kinda flew outta my mouth. “Come again, guy?”

Casey found his voice. “We aren’t going to sleep together unless you’re with us. We discussed it, and neither of us think it would feel right.” He glanced at Zander, and them two nodded at each other. “We aren’t going to do anything in bed together until you’re here for a visit.”

Pages or Words: 216 pages

Interview

On a scale of one to ten, how much of an emotional toll did this book take on you and why?

Thank you very much for hosting me on your blog today, I am so pleased to be here on my Here Without You book tour. This is a very interesting and maybe slightly complicated question, as Here Without You is the first sequel to Us Three, in the series that is called The One Voice Series.

I hope it is okay that I backtrack a bit, and start by discussing Us Three. I did some intense research on bullying in order to write Us Three, which was a YA novel. And great deal of the bullying tactics I included hit quite close to home because I focused on the ways females bully. Although in this story one of the female bullies escalates to violent physical bullying, much of the girls’ (the Queen Bees) tactics were emotional. They encouraged others to gang up against Casey and make him feel isolated, they employed social media to harass him, and they even used simple dialogue to humiliate him. And having personally experienced some of that kind of treatment in the past at the hands of other girls, it took a toll on me to write about it because it brought me back to high school and all of the feelings of rejection and isolation. In addition, to apply this pain this to a very sweet character like Casey who I had grown to love in a short period of time, was not easy to do. I would rate the emotional toll Us Three took on me as a 7-8. The first scene of the book, however, I would rate as a 9.

Here Without You does not focus on bullying, but instead it centers on physical and emotional abuse in a domestic relationship. Fortunately, I have not experienced the kind of physical and emotional abuse that Nate and his younger sister, Cindy, face at the hands of their guardian, Uncle Rich. Nate was finally in a position to leave his dangerous home; he had made it through high school and had an opportunity to go with his boyfriends to Boston to study culinary arts. But he was trapped in that he felt he could not leave his volatile younger sister in the hands of his more volatile alcoholic uncle. Cindy’s insolent behavior led to merciless beatings—not of her but of Nate, by their enraged uncle. And as the story progresses, the assaults on Nate become more and more frequent. This physical abuse and Nate’s inability to deal with it, was very difficult to write, as I knew Nate much better when writing Here Without You than I did while writing the first book in the series, and I had grown attached to him. I knew how deeply he loves Casey and Zander, how he is truly very needy for them but feels he must appear strong. In fact, in writing this story, I realized that his physical largeness also contributes to his sense that he must always be the strong one, but at times he is even more fragile than Casey, even. Nate doesn’t understand that his personal physical safety matters, too. He is only concerned with the safety and happiness of his younger sister.

In addition to the pain and fear he must live with, Nate must deal with his challenges alone. Casey and Zander have together relocated to their school dormitory two hours south, and Nate knows they have each other to lean on, while he has no one. At a certain point in the book, Nate is driven over the edge by a combination of these factors, and writing the scenes when Nate hits rock bottom, I will rate as an emotional toll of 9.5, bordering on 10.

Dreamspinner Press has purchased a third cover for the final book in this, the One Voice Series. I promise that in what I plan to title, Coming Into the Light, you will know I endured an emotional toll of 10, as Zander, who has always held the three together, tries to make his way out of the dark.

Tour Dates/Stops:

16-Feb

17-Feb

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

Velvet Panic

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

Amanda C. Stone

18-Feb

Fallen Angel Reviews

Cathy Brockman Romances

Because Two Men Are Better Than One

19-Feb

20-Feb

Sales Links:

eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6035

Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6036

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When in Bloom Book Blast

Author Bio:

Ever the quiet one growing up, Nicole Dennis often slid away from reality and curled up with a book to slip into the worlds of her favorite authors. Over the years, she’s created a personal library full of novels filled with dragons, fairies, vampires, shapeshifters of all kinds and romance. Always she returned to romance. Still, there were these characters in her head, worlds wanting to be built on paper, and stories wanting to be told and she began writing them down whether during or after class. She continues to this day. Only recently has it begun to become fruitful, spreading out to let others read and enter her worlds, meet her characters, and see what she sees. No matter what she writes, her stories of romance with their twists of paranormal, fantasy and erotica will always have their Happily Ever Afters.

She currently works in a quiet office in Central Florida, where she also makes her home, and enjoys the down time to slip into her characters and worlds to escape reality from time to time. At home, she becomes human slave to a semi-demonic tortie calico.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicoleDennis.Author

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nicoledennis.author/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nicoledennisaut/books-n-promo/

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nicoledennisauthor

Publisher: Totally Bound

Cover Artist: Emmy Ellis

Blurb(s):

Will the personal challenges of a former Army doctor and a brilliant florist get in the way of a chance at life and love?

Fighting type one diabetes since childhood, Jude Sebastian runs to prove he can live a normal life, until epileptic seizures begin to change his life. Even with Dawson, his medical alert Golden Labrador, at his side, Jude finds daily life difficult. He owns the floral shop Flowers in the Breeze, and designs everything from simple bouquets to elaborate themes for weddings and celebrations.

At the Shore Breeze Clinic, Jude comes across a man clearly suffering with a PTSD episode. A new arrival in the small town, Doctor Elliott Sheffield, a retired Army Ranger doctor, is looking for a second chance after what he saw in the Middle Eastern deserts.

Wanting a normal relationship, Jude tries to deny his disorder, but something is happening. He can’t regulate his sugars and his disorder worsens. When he returns to the clinic, Dawson alerts Jude to an oncoming seizure.

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes referencing PTSD, seizures and diabetes.

Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance

Excerpt:

Cursing under his breath as the sky turned orange with another incoming sandstorm, Dr. Elliott Sheffield hated the situation. Though they’d tried to tie down the damn tent, the ferocious wind tugged the straps, causing openings everywhere to expose the critical care unit to the elements. Why had he ever agreed to come to this desert hell in the Middle East?

After struggling through several storms like this one, he knew the clouds could turn the sky black for at least seven hours. Pushing out the noises of men calling out in pain and fearing for their lives, he concentrated to save the man on the operating table. His hands and forearms were covered in blood as he searched for the damned bleeder in the man’s belly.

“Come on… Come on… Where the fuck are you?”

As the winds howled, Elliott felt the grit of the fine layer of sand digging underneath the scrubs and within any openings of his uniform. Along with the sweat dripping down his nape, the sand mixed with the moisture and aggravated him. Damn stuff could get through any crack and crevice of tent, Humvee or building. This place sucked when it came to performing delicate surgery, but he didn’t have a choice. The soldiers were here. He needed to be nearby to care for them.

“Shit… Got it,” Elliott said and made the necessary stitches to close the nasty bleeder. He scrambled to put the soldier’s innards back in place, flushed everything with saline to cleanse, and stapled the exterior wound. “Cover him up tight. We’ll come back and make it nicer.” He stepped back to let the other physician and nurse finish. He peeled off and tossed the gloves. Removing the sweat-soaked mask, he left the curtained-off operating theater and went back to the main infirmary.

When the blasted Taliban insurgents had overrun the garrison stationed at the American base, Elliott had transferred with most of the surgical team to the Canadian–British combat hospital at the Kandahar airfield.

It wasn’t any better here.

Elliott shoved a weary hand through his hair. He scratched at the heavy bearded growth. Since his boots had hit the sand, he’d adapted to the crazy, never-ending situations, difficult in the best of conditions, but aggravated in the worse. He’d figured out ways to suture and clean some of the most devastating wounds he’d ever seen in his career. He could never get around the constant issue of infection from the damn sand.

“Fucking sand…”

The thump-thump-thump of helicopter blades surrounded them. Everyone within the base knew the meaning behind those blades. It was never good.

“We have incoming patients,” someone called out.

“They’re not friendlies! Take cover!” another soldier shouted as bullets flew through the sand and darkness.

Crouching, riveted as soldiers rushed around, Elliott thought about the patients. He knew their lives were at the most risk, unable to defend themselves. When dark figures invaded the tent, Elliott covered a nearby patient. Several loud blasts blew through the base as bombs went off in rapid succession. He called out when searing heat scored through his shoulder.

Blood and gore rose in front of his mind. Within seconds, all the time it had taken to save these patients was destroyed.

“Doctor…”

Elliott blinked. He tasted the fine grit of the sand.

“Doctor…”

“Dr. Sheffield? Are you okay?”

When fingers touched his wounded shoulder, Elliott screamed and pushed back until he hit something hard then plopped his ass on the ground. The intensity knocked Elliott out of the intrusive flashback from his five years spent in Kandahar. He was home in the States. Having left Afghanistan and his ten year military career, he had now lived and worked in Florida for the last nine months.

He lowered himself until his scrub-covered ass hit the floor. He pressed his hands flat on the cool tile of the emergency room to ground himself in reality. He looked around, goggled as other staff fought to save a patient with a vicious belly wound. Two others moved toward him. He held up a hand and hyper focused on the blood-covered blue latex.

“Are you with us, Elliott? Can you rise?” another doctor said in a calming tone.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here.”

“Where were you?”

“Kandahar.”

“Do you know what set you off?”

“Insurgents overran the base and hit the clinic and caused so much destruction among the patients and created more. It was the appearance of the wound. I took care of so many of them. Most were ruined by the fucking sand.” Elliott knocked his head against the wall.

“Easy. Can you stand? I’ll get you back to the lounge.”

“I’m okay, Harry, take care of the patient.” Elliott pushed himself to his feet and stripped the gloves from his hand. He wobbled out of the room and down the hall.

“Dr. Sheffield?” a nurse called.

He held up a hand. “Taking ten.”

“But…”

Something toppled with a harsh clatter. The broken glass caused Elliott to crouch again in a protective corner and cover his head.

“Dr. Sheffield!”

Lost again in the sand, heat and blood, Elliott stayed put in his cover position. What the hell was he doing here in civilian life? He couldn’t avoid the truth of how he suffered from PTSD.

“Dr. Sheffield… Major…”

He lifted his head at the sound of his Army title. Another doctor crouched in front of him. Through the haze of blood and sand within his memory, he almost didn’t recognize the fellow soldier. James was a friend, a psychiatrist and military officer with the Air Force.

“Major, are you with us?”

“Not an attack…” Elliott knew his gaze would be dead and haunted since he saw it so many times in the mirror after one of the dreams woke him.

“No, Major, a tray filled with containers crashed,” James said. “Major, I need you to stand and come with me. We’ll have a chat.”

“Yeah, guess I need to do that,” Elliott said as he looked beyond James. “I kinda lost it there.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time a soldier covered his ass,” James said as he rose.

Elliott followed James, who chose to find someplace quiet and separated from the chaos of the ER.

Pages or Words: 52,000 words

Interview

1 – What is your secret indulgence? When I can afford it, I splurge at Teavana. Oh, their Earl Grey is bliss.

2 – Favorite way to unwind at the end of the day? Cup of tea. Fat Cat on my lap.

3 – Favorite beverage (alcoholic or non) Tea!

Tour Dates: February 20, 2015

Tour Stops:

Parker Williams, Inked Rainbow Reads, Amanda C. Stone, Divine Magazine, BFD Book Blog, MM Good Book Reviews, Molly Lolly, Bayou Book Junkie, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Havan Fellows, Lee Brazil, Fallen Angel Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Andrew Q. Gordon, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Hearts on Fire, The Hat Party

Sales Links:

https://www.totallybound.com/when-in-bloom

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