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Ladies & Gentlemen: Jay Northcote

Thanks for hosting me today, Parker – I really appreciate it, especially at such short notice!

I’m here to talk about my new novel, Not Just Friends. It’s a coming of age/first love story about young man discovering his sexuality. It’s also a story of friendship and fun and student life. When Lewis leaves home to go to uni, he falls hard for his out-and-proud flatmate, Max, and is surprised by his feelings.

In the extract below, Lewis is already aware that his feelings for Max go beyond friendship but he’s still confused by them. Max has hooked up with someone else and Lewis isn’t too happy about it. He heard them having sex through their adjoining walls the night before and doesn’t understand why it bothered him so much. There’s nothing like a little jealousy to kick start the road to self-discovery, poor Lewis!

 ***

 Lewis heard Max’s door open and close, and the sound of voices in the corridor. He strained to listen, trying to work out if Max’s mystery guest was leaving, but he couldn’t tell.

Curiosity got the better of him, and Lewis got back out of bed, pulled a dressing gown on over his boxers and T-shirt, and carried his plate and mug back to the kitchen. He could do with another piece of toast and some more tea anyway, as the traces of a hangover were still pounding at his temples and making his throat dry.

He walked into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks at the sight of Max perched half on the kitchen surface, with a dark-haired guy standing between his parted thighs. They were kissing, utterly lost in each other, and oblivious to Lewis standing there. The guy’s hands were in Max’s hair and as Lewis watched, Max gave a little moan and moved his hands from the other boy’s hips to his arse, hauling him closer. Max changed the angle of the kiss; the wet sounds of their mouths were shockingly loud in the silent kitchen. Max’s eyes fluttered open, and Lewis tried to back away but it was too late. Max’s lust-filled gaze locked on him and his eyes flew wide open. He broke the kiss, and pushed the other boy away.

“Oops. Sorry, Lew.” His face was flushed and his lips were pink and swollen as he smiled, looking a bit shamefaced. “Got a bit carried away.”

Heat flooded Lewis at being caught watching. “No, it’s fine. I’ll just… um… go… elsewhere….” Somewhere, anywhere rather than here.

***

 

Leaving home to go to university is an exciting phase in anyone’s life. One that’s full of new places, new friends, and new experiences. But Lewis is not prepared for the sudden and intense crush he develops on his out-and-proud flatmate, Max—given that Lewis had always assumed he was straight. Max starts dating another guy, and Lewis’s jealousy at seeing them together forces him to confront his growing attraction.

 When Max’s relationship goes awry, Lewis is the one to comfort him and one thing leads to another. But after a night together, Lewis is devastated that Max wants to go back to being just friends. Lewis tries his best to move on and their friendship survives, but the feelings he has for Max don’t go away. He faces other challenges as he deals with coming out to his parents, and needs Max’s support more than ever. But Lewis isn’t the only one who’s conflicted. When Max finally admits he cares for Lewis too, Lewis must decide whether he dares risk his heart again on being more than just friends.

Not Just Friends is available at Dreamspinner Press

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her amazing, occasionally ridiculous husband, two noisy-but-awesome children, and two cats.

She comes from a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short story–just to see if she could–and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

Links

Website: www.jaynorthcote.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jay_northcote
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/dellamere
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/jaynorthcotefiction
Jay’s books: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_953

 

Giveaway – Jay’s offering an ebook copy of Not Just Friends to one lucky reader etc…Contest ends on Monday night, February 3, 2014 at 11:59 pm.

Leave a comment to enter!

Red Dirt Heart by NR Walker – Enter to win!

RED DIRT HEART

By N.R. Walker

BLURB:

Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might. 

Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how; the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

 

EXCERPT:

Just on sundown, I got off the motorbike, kicked the stand down so the bike stood upright without me and closed the gate. I’d been out all day in the South paddocks doing a final check of fences and water trough pumps before we bought the cattle down from the North. I’d seen the ute back at the homestead as I came in so I knew George was home.

George was my leading hand. He was in his fifties, with greying hair and sun-hardened skin. He’d worked here for as long I could remember, but he was more than a loyal employee. He was my friend, and in a lot of ways, more of a dad to me than my own old man ever was.

He’d been out all day, left before sun-up and headed into Alice Springs. We were a good three hours from the nearest town, and with a list as long as his arm from the Station cook, Ma—who also happened to be his wife—he needed a few hours in town before heading out to the airport to pick up the real reason for his trip: an American agronomy student by the name of Travis Craig.

When my father ran this farm, or station as we called it, every year we’d have people from another country come and spend a couple of weeks as part of some Diversification exchange program. My old man always said it was a good way to source out what other countries were teaching, but really I think he just liked the extra pair of hands at the finish of the dry season. And when we’d had a phone call back in July to ask if we’d be interested in hosting another student, and given it’d been a few years, I thought it seemed like a good idea. Now I couldn’t help but wonder if this Travis Craig would be a help or a liability.

 

I rode the bike into the yard and pulled up in the shed. I figured they’d know I’d arrived, having heard the bike, so I headed straight for the house. Like most homesteads built almost a hundred years ago, it was a weatherboard home, with an old iron roof and a veranda around four sides to try and keep it cool.

I kicked the red dust from my boots on the veranda steps and tried to brush the same from my jeans, took off my hat before I opened the door and walked inside. There was a suitcase and a duffel bag near the front door and voices at the back of the house.

“In the kitchen,” George called out.

I followed the sound of chatter and the smell of something good to find a meeting of sorts in the old country-style kitchen. The worn, solid wooden table that graced the middle of the room was covered with plates of scones and trays of cups and tea, and three people were in chairs around it—my right-hand man, George, his wife the cook, Ma, and a stranger with short light-brown hair and pale blue eyes.

George was the first to his feet, and the man beside him soon followed. “Here’s the boss, Charles Sutton,” George said, introducing me formally. “Charlie, this is Travis Craig.”

Travis looked about twenty-two years old, not much younger than me. Whereas I was a stockier build, with dull brown hair and boring brown eyes, he was taller than me by a few inches and muscular and lean. He held out his hand and smiled. “Mr Sutton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” His accent was strange to hear at first, but his smile was warm and wide.

I wiped my hand on my shirt and held it out for him to shake. “Travis,” I said with a nod. “Please, call me Charlie.”

 

Contact Information:

Website: nrwalker.wordpress.com

Facebook: N.r. Walker (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003907957620)

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.R.WalkerAuthor

Twitter: @NR_Walker

Email: nrwalker2103@gmail.com

 

About N.R. Walker

Who am I?

Good question…

I am many things: a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer.

I have pretty, pretty boys who live in my head, who don’t let me sleep at night unless I give them life with words.

I like it when they do dirty, dirty things… but I like it even more when they fall in love.

I used to think having people in my head talking to me was weird, until one day I happened across other writers who told me it was normal.

I’ve been writing ever since…

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A huge thank you!

When KC and I started out writing Someone to Keep Me, I fretted about how the book would come out. Not because KC isn’t an amazing writer, because she truly is. For me, it was more that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up with her energy and drive. She has everything laid out and I tend to wing it. Yet somehow we made it work.

Someone to Keep Me has stayed in the top 20 on Amazon for almost a month. We hit #1 in several countries and #2 in the United States. and were there for quite a while. We also hit the bestseller list on AllRomance and Dreamspinner. I can’t tell you how much that means to us.

To those who purchased our first joint effort, a huge thank you for getting on board. To those who wrote to say how much they loved Scott and Ben, we’re truly honored. To those who didn’t enjoy the story, we thank you for trying it and hope you’ll find something else we’ve written that will be more to your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

Cover release: Sid Love – Holding on to Hope

TITLE: Holding on to Hope
 
AUTHOR: Sid Love
 
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
 
LENGTH: 68 Pages
 
RELEASE DATE: 14th February, 2014
 
COVER ARTIST: Paul Richmond
 
BLURB: Bradley Parker has waited twenty years for Mr. Right, and on Valentine’s Day, he finally finds him. It’s love at first sight, and Brad even loses his virginity to the man of his dreams. But when he wakes up the next morning unable to remember anything—even what the man looked like—his best friend, Leslie, is convinced he imagined the whole thing. Brad knows he didn’t make up the best night of his life, but he has no idea of the danger he’s putting himself in as he struggles to recall the details of his perfect man. His search may lead him to parts of New York City he never dreamed existed and a war being waged in the shadows.
 

 

PRE ORDER LINK: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4724

AUTHOR BIO –
 
Sid Love grew up in one of busiest cities in the world, Mumbai, listening to the excerpts of Indian epics from his father every night. While it served as an inspiration back in time, he has always had an ambitious mind. In 2007, when he had just turned sixteen, he decided that he would make his lifelong dream come true—to become a well-known, respected author some day.

Ask him and he would refuse to accept that he is obsessed with books. Or movies. Or TV shows. Addicted may even be the right word. He is a die-hard fan of Jane Austen’s romance novels and loves to reread them time and again.

You can find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sid.love.16?ref=tn_tnmn or tweet him anytime: https://twitter.com/FatefulMercy, or simply e-mail him at sidlovethewriter@live.in.

Lee Brazil Presents: In From the Cold: Cold Snap

In From the Cold

Cover Reveal Blog Tour

Good morning all! Hey there Parker Williams! *hugs* *discreetly slips bribe into PW’s pocket* Thanks for letting me steal your platform for a few minutes. I’ve got a gorgeous new cover to share and an advance copy to give away. *sips coffee* For those in the audience who don’t know me, I’m Lee Brazil, author of m/m romance, and proud member of the Pulp Friction organization.

That’s what brings me here today.

What’s Pulp Friction? Well you might ask! It is about the most complicated undertaking I’ve attempted recently. 4 Authors, 4 series, 20 books, one fiery finale.

See, Laura Harner, Havan Fellows, Tom Webb and I create an interlocking web of mm romance serial fiction that culminates in a single story. Last year we took on Atlanta, and this year we’re moving into Flagstaff.

I followed a character I created, who kind of got nudged out of what was supposed to be his primary role last year.

Cannon Malloy, neurosurgeon, was supposed to be Chance DuMont’s partner. Things just didn’t work out that way. He was, as they say, too late to get the worm. *blinks* Er…early bird gets the worm, right? So being late, by about five years, means Cannon gets no worm. Not that I’m saying Chance was a worm, though I hear some people *coughs* called him a variety of names during his interactions with Rory Gaines, who turned out to be the genuine love of his life.

Well, since I allowed Rory to steal Cannon’s love, I figured I had to give him a second chance *hehe.  See what I did there?*

So Cannon picks up and moves to Flagstaff to get away from a memory of a love he really can’t have (among other things)…and that’s when the snow starts falling. Which makes this gorgeous cover absolutely perfect.

Look for

In From the Cold: Cold Snap

at eBook vendors on January 31, 2014!

 

About Pulp Friction 2014

Laura Harner ~ Lee Brazil ~ Havan Fellows ~ T.A. Webb

The Pulp Friction 2014 Collection. Four authors. Four Series. Twenty books. One fiery finale. Spend a year with an eclectic group of strangers brought together through circumstances, as they are tested by life, and emerge as more than friends.

The strongest bonds are forged by fire, cooled in air, smoothed by water, grounded in earth.

Although each series can stand alone, we believe reading the books in the order they are released will increase your enjoyment.

 

 

Now, I did promise to give away an advance copy- which will be available on January 30^th. Leave me a comment here telling me how you feel about snow and you’ll be entered to win!

3 copies will be given away- all comments on each blog will count as an entry. So, feel free to visit each stop and leave a comment! (Note – each blogs asks a different question, so read carefully!)

 

 

 

THE FINE PRINT: Please read: All prizes are ebooks, in pdf format. Prizes must be claimed by February 7^th. In order to win, you must provide an email address. If you do not provide an email, then you are ineligible. Although you may enter up to 7 times, you may win only one copy. Winner will be announced at http://leebrazilauthor.blogspot.com/ . Tour Hosts MAY choose to post winners but will not be obligated to do so.