BLURB: Chief of Police John Dakota is in a world of trouble. His peaceful town of Seaside, Oregon, has been rocked by a wave of unsolved murders. The bloody deaths are eerily reminiscent of ones that occurred in Seaside years ago. Back then John worked hard to make sure the truth about the killer was never revealed. Now he’s afraid the past is coming back to haunt him.
Trevor English, the nosy reporter who occasionally shares John’s bed, is demanding information about the crimes. He also wants more of John’s affections. But John can’t afford to give in to either demand without risking the revelation of Seaside’s biggest secret: the town is a haven for shifters, and John is one of them.
To solve the crime—and prevent more victims—John must delve into the past. Many members of Seaside’s shifter community are involved, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which residents can be trusted. Even John’s family isn’t above suspicion. The body count is rising, and it looks like John is the killer’s next target.
REVIEW: I’m not a fan of mysteries in general, murder mysteries in particular but every now and then, one will pique my interest. This story just happened to have been one of them. This is due to it having one of my favorite things: shifters.
This is the second book I’ve read from this particular author and I must say that I really enjoy the way he tells his stories.
John is a bear shifter, chief of police in the peacefully little town in Oregon when a series of murders rocks the town.
Trevor is an ambitious and pushy reporter who determined to be the one to get the scoop as to who is exactly behind the murders and why. And because of this, he starts demanding answers.
I love the dynamics between the two men in this story. You have John who’s trying to balance trying to catch whoever’s behind the murders and keep the town’s secret while trying to keep his relationship with Trevor strictly casual. The relationship between John and Trevor intrigued me. Trevor clearly wanted more than just the casual set up they had and you know that John did as well but he was fighting against it so hard. After a while, John realized his feelings for Trevor ran a lot deeper than casual sex. It was just his secrets that held him back from opening himself up to Trevor completely. I actually like the fact that it wasn’t this Insta – love that you see in many shifter stories. Yes, they were mates however they had to build up to the love, the relationship had to develop between these two men. That to me, made it that much better. that to me felt a lot more realistic than the insta- love trope.
You get a bit of everything with this story: you get the paranormal, a murder mystery with a bit of romance thrown in. I liked that the author stepped outside of the box with this as it could’ve easily been a run of the mill murder mystery and I think Stone made a very wise decision adding the paranormal element to it. There were also added a wide variety of very interesting peripheral characters added. The dialogue, plot, storyline and editing were fantastic.
I really enjoyed this story. There were no plot holes and the story didn’t lag or or drag along anywhere. The pace was perfect; it grabbed and held my interest from the very beginning. The editing and dialogue was perfect. The author did a lovely job of developing these characters, plot and storyline. There were several times in the story that I thought I had it figured out who the murder was only to find out that I couldn’t have been more wrong. The culprit definitely wasn’t who I suspected! This book will keep you engaged and at the edge of your seat until the last page. This is a definite must read and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Blurb
The world ends not with a bang, but with a downpour. Tornadoes spin through the heart of London, New York cooks in a heat wave that melts tarmac, and Russia freezes under an ever-thickening layer of permafrost. People rally at first—organizing aid drops and evacuating populations—but the weather is only getting worse.
In Durham, mild-mannered academic Danny Fennick has battened down to sit out the storm. He grew up in the Scottish Highlands, so he’s seen harsh winters before. Besides, he has an advantage. He’s a werewolf. Or, to be precise, a weredog. Less impressive, but still useful.
Except the other werewolves don’t believe this is any ordinary winter, and they’re coming down over the Wall to mark their new territory. Including Danny’s ex, Jack—the Crown Prince Pup of the Numitor’s pack—and the prince’s brother, who wants to kill him.
A wolf winter isn’t white. It’s red as blood.
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
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In my novel Dog Days, ‘the world ends not with a bang, but a downpour’. It’s the opening days of a frost-covered dystopia, and I had so much fun with it. As a writer, I love dystopias. I think there is no better way to expose the architecture of a society than how it collapses under stress. It’s not the only thing I write, but creatively I definitely veer more towards the dystopian than the utopian. Let’s be honest, I’m Northern Irish and my family’s motto is ‘we laugh at bad things’, I wouldn’t know what to DO with myself in a utopia.
Other than probably get kicked out for bad behaviour.
Dystopias have so much more scope to wallow in, so many more questions to answer. Is it survival to keep on breathing, or to hold onto the encultured morals of the world before? Can you justify morality in a world where those depending on you pay the price for your values? Flee to the hills to hermit your way through the bad days, or hunker down and go tribal in your suburbs?
Of course, part of the reason I love dystopias is that I am never going to see one. Not because I have any great faith in things turning out for the best, but because I’d be one of the first to die. Probably not in the first or second wave of deaths, but after that I’d be done for.
First wave of deaths in an apocalyptic/dystopian scenario are going to be down to trauma: zombie attacks, injuries, totalitarian soldiers, corn weevil bites. I live in a small town with no majorly attractive assets to seize, so it’s likely I’ll avoid that. I mean, I might not but I think the odds are in my favour as far as digging in and weathering the storm here.
Second wave is probably going to be medical. People with long-term medical conditions that depend on machinery or drugs to maintain their lives/mobility will start to die off here. Diabetics, for example, or people dependent on dialysis. As access to treatment/hospitals gets more difficult, they’ll fall by the wayside. I’ll still be ok at that point, but I will have lost family members (we are not a healthy people).
So, barring bad luck, I’ll more likely than not to weather the first few months. After that, though? It’s not looking good. I’m short-sighted to the point of being helpless if my glasses are stolen or damaged, I have asthma so a brisk run through a field might well kill me, and I have food allergies that will make scavenging more difficult for me.
Plus, I’m just generally not hardy. I have limited survival skills — I mean, I have a huge stash of survival hints and tips in the cloud, but can I depend on internet access at this point? — and I’m not good in stressful situations. You know the way people are meant to have fight, flight, or freeze instincts? I’ve just got flight. I was once caught rearranging a neighbour’s gnomes into a ‘signalling the mothership’ shape, and — despite the fact I was a: staring right at the man, and b: my house was right behind me — I ran down the street and hid in a bush.
That’s not going to cut it when the corn weevils come, is it? Inner gerbil instinct like that are great in the first wave, but eventually you need to stand your ground.
I figure I have a few months of dystopian experience in me, just the overture of it. Once things start to really fall apart, my general lack of fitness to survive in this situation will demonstrate itself. Unless it’s a very cosy dystopia, I will mouldering in a shallow grave before people even start debating the ethics of cannibalism.
Which kind of makes me feel like a bit of an under-achiever. At least two of my friends are probably going to be warlords at that point, through a mixture of organisational skills, the willingness to field dress dead things, and sheer bloody-mindedness. So I make up for it with my own controlled dystopias, spreading lurgy and ice across the world and writing characters that are far, far better suited to deal with it than me.
Trust me, Dog Days Jack and Danny are much better at dealing with the various indignities of the end of the world than I am.
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Bio:
TA Moore genuinely believed that she was a Cabbage Patch Kid when she was a small child. This was the start of a lifelong attachment to the weird and fantastic. These days she lives in a market town on the Northern Irish coast and her friends have a rule that she can only send them three weird and disturbing links a month (although she still holds that a DIY penis bifurcation guide is interesting, not disturbing). She believes that adding ‘in space!’ to anything makes it at least 40% cooler, will try to pet pretty much any animal she meets (this includes snakes, excludes bugs), and once lied to her friend that she had climbed all the way up to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, when actually she’d only gotten to the beach, realized it was really high, and chickened out.
She aspires to being a cynical misanthrope, but is unfortunately held back by a sunny disposition and an inability to be mean to strangers. If TA Moore is mean to you, that means you’re friends now.
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When Finn Ryan’s family moves from Austin, Texas, to quiet Woodland Park, Colorado, the summer before his senior year, Finn struggles to adjust. Even the altitude is hard to get used to. But when he meets Ivan Dubovasky at a farmers’ market, all that changes. Finn begins volunteering at Ivan’s family business, High Mountain Wolf and Wild Dog Center, where he forms a bond with both Ivan and the wolves they protect.
Soon Ivan’s best friend, Adrian, who’s asexual, joins their small pack, and the three of them become inseparable, even after Ivan and Finn begin dating—until a bully’s torment of Adrian goes too far. When Adrian disappears, Ivan and Finn will do anything they can to rescue their boyfriend, including relying on a special wolf to bring Adrian home.
Reviewed by A. T. Weaver
I read an article online after finishing this book about how you sometimes don’t finish a novel for various reasons. Had I not been reviewing this book, it would have been one that I put aside after a chapter or two. However, I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.
It starts rather slowly, but then gets better. Drama builds when Adrian disappears and the families of the three boys learn of the bond they have with each other. The families’ acceptance of the bond is to be commended.
Two things bother me about the plot. The rapid turnaround of Channing, and the fact we are to accept that three seventeen-year-olds will spend the rest of their lives together. Of course that may be cynicism on my part as a senior citizen who has seen too many such dreams be dispelled.
Kaje Harper Writes Too Many Series… or maybe not enough.
Someone once asked me, “What’s the most interesting criticism you’ve had, as a published author?” I told her probably the one in the title. It was in a lovely, rambling discussion of my work. The critic praised my writing, bemoaned the wait for follow-up series books, then asked for sequels to half my stand-alone novels and novellas. I think the actual, flattering translation was “Kaje Harper should give up her day job, and maybe sleeping and eating, to write.” It was a wonderful affirmation from someone tangled up in all the lives of the guys I create.
I do sympathize. When I started publishing five years ago, I put out quite a few different M/M novels, in a range of subgenres. Some were always meant to be series books, some were supposed to stand alone… except the guys would not shut up in my head. So I ended up with Mac and Tony in the Life Lessons mystery series getting three shorts, and four novels instead of two, John and Ryan from The Rebuilding Year getting an unplanned sequel three years later, a little coda for Into Deep Waters, because someone said there was nothing left for Daniel and Jacob to do but die of old age. (I growled at that, and immediately wrote the two pages of Can’t Hurt to Believe, because life isn’t over until you’re actually dead… or maybe not even then, if you’re Xan in Nor Iron Bars a Cage…)
Eventually, I found myself juggling those series with Finding Family contemporaries, Hidden Wolves werewolf stories, and now Tracefinder paranormal thrillers. As a result, some sequels have been a longer time coming. (Sorry!)
I do try to write solid Happy-For-Now endings in my books. The idea is that, although there are still dangling threads, and relationship stuff yet to work through, a reader can walk away from one of my series installments with a contented sigh. The two (or three) guys are together, at least for now. No one is in peril. The main thread of the plot has some resolution. The next book is hopefully anticipated, but not urgently needed.
In my most recent series, I may have underestimated what that contented HFN would require for some readers. Tracefinder: Contact begins with Nick as an undercover cop, and Brian as both brother-in-law and useful, reluctant employee of the drug lord who is Nick’s target. They are effectively enemies. Brian also has issues of dyslexia, and trying to hide who he is, which work against them getting together. The romance is a slow, slow burn, as a backdrop to the action story. The book does end with them in a far more positive place, if you look back at where they began. But it clearly wasn’t as solid as some people wanted, for that “sigh” moment as they set it down.
In my series-juggling at the time, I had the next Hidden Wolves book underway, plus Travis, Rick, and brother Sam, waiting to find out how they’ll move on from the events I put them through in The Family We Make. But Nick and Brian, and the readers intrigued by them, began urgently tugging on my mental sleeve. So after finishing the draft of Unsafe Exposure; Hidden Wolves Book 4, I turned back to my Tracefinder series.
I think Tracefinder: Changes will satisfy most readers with the progress Brian and Nick make through the book. Brian addresses the issues that make him a controversial romantic main character, and Nick deals with the fallout from starting a relationship on the wrong side of the law. It was great fun to write their adventures, especially when big brother Damon popped up to wreak havoc halfway through. So for once, I got a second series book out in just six months. I love the fact that readers are already looking for the third (and yes, there will be a Book 3.)
I hope that Tracefinder: Changes will now leave readers with that happy sigh moment, and a breathing space while I write a couple other stories. The Wolves will release in a month. Travis, Rick, and Sam and their Family are calling. But I will be back with more Nick and Brian, probably in early 2017.
…“Kaje Harper writes way too many series. But Full Circle really needs a sequel. And so does Nor Iron Bars…”
I can’t imagine any nicer back-handed compliment.
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For those who have read book 1 – Tracefinder: Contact – or who are just intrigued by the sound of the series, here’s a small, fairly spoiler-free, excerpt from Tracefinder: Changes, Book 2.
Brian urgently wants to use his psychic Finding talent to do good, even though his almost-boyfriend Nick is scared of the risk. When suburban mom Emily Stewart is reported missing by her loving husband and three kids, Brian is willing to expose his ability to the cops, to help Find her. But although Officer Quentin fetches a possession of Emily’s for Brian to track psychically, he is not convinced…
Quentin pulled out a white terrycloth headband from his pocket and held it up. “This is hers. She went running every day. But if we’re going to do this, it’s going to be under my control.”
“You can drive my car,” Nick suggested.
“No.”
“I’ll do it in the cop car,” Brian said.
Nick tugged on Brian to pull him aside. “You don’t have to. He’s hooked on the idea. Say no a few times, and he’ll change his mind. That squad car’s got a dash cam, sound recording. You don’t want to do this.”
“Come on.” Quentin dangled the sweatband. “Let’s either start, or I’ll head back to the real search.”
Nick winced, and sure enough, Brian said, “All right.”
Nick fell in next to Quentin. Under his breath he muttered, “You’re a paranoid fucker, and if anything bad happens because you couldn’t handle one psychic without your toys, I’m coming after you.”
“What? Can’t pull off the fake in a squad car?”
“He’s no fake.”
Brian was waiting impatiently. “Nick, you get in back. I’ll sit up front.”
Quentin popped the locks, walked around, and got in the driver’s seat. Brian scrambled in beside him, and Nick reluctantly got into the back. The safety divider between them meant Brian was out of reach, isolated up there with Quentin. Nick tried not to let that shake him. He leaned forward, close to the bars. “No recording devices, Quentin. Got it?”
“Nothing’s on.”
“Better not be or—” Right, don’t threaten the cop inside the squad car. “Ready, Brian?”
“Give me her band.” Brian held out his hand to Quentin.
Quentin dropped the sweatband onto his palm. “There.” He made his voice all quavery. “Now tell me you see… trees, and… grass, right?”
“He doesn’t do vague images,” Nick said, watching Brian’s face. There’s that inward look, the way his eyes unfocus.
Brian turned the band over in his hands, stretching it, and running his fingers inside it. He suddenly squeezed it in a fist. “This is hers? You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
Nick leaned closer to the partition. “Quentin, if you’re playing games—”
“I’m not. Don’t have the time for that.”
Brian closed his eyes and pressed the fabric to his forehead. Nick winced, because if you didn’t know how rarely he screwed his face up like that, you might take it for fake-medium behavior. “It’s faint. Maybe she didn’t use this a lot yet.” But his hand eventually rose. “Yeah. That way.”
Quentin turned to Nick. “That way what?”
“Go where he points. Think of it like a compass, or a string with her at the end of it.”
“Really?” Quentin shifted out of park and started driving. For a few minutes, he turned corners, glancing over as Brian’s index finger swung back and forth, always settling to the southwest. After another series of turns, he said, “That’s the direction we found her car.”
“So? It makes sense, right?” Nick braced himself against the sway. The hard back seat was slippery, and echoes of some of his worst teen moments came back to him, sitting here behind the protective screen.
“Easy to fake,” Quentin muttered.
Brian’s eyes stayed closed in concentration, and his raised hand trembled. He whispered, “She’s that way. The mom.”
“Okay.” Quentin hit a faster road.
Suddenly, Brian shrieked, “No!” His voice was ear-splittingly shrill, and the car swerved as Quentin reacted. “No, no, no!” Brian collapsed forward, huddled over, head buried in his arms.
Quentin pulled to the shoulder and stopped. “What the fuck! Don’t do that while I’m driving!”
“She’s dead.” Brian dropped the headband to the floor at his feet and rocked, hands locked in his hair. “It’s gone. She died. She’s dead.”
“Ooh, yeah. Very convincing.” Quentin’s acid tone was more confident than his expression. “Nice save, psychic boy. It’s a decent bet she’s gone by now, and when they find her, eventually, you can be all, like, ‘I knew it. I couldn’t find her because she was dead. I’m so psychic.’ Should I clap now?”
“Shut up!” Nick pressed his hand against the divider. Brian was sobbing, harsh deep cries that gained volume and pitch. Nick turned to get out, but of course he was locked in. “Let me out of here.
He’s not faking it.”
“Sure he’s not.” But Quentin put the car into park and opened Nick’s door.
Nick yanked open the front door and put a hand on Brian’s bowed back. His muscles were rock hard under Nick’s touch, and his whole body shook. Nick patted him awkwardly. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not!” The last word rose into panic territory.
Nick met Quentin’s gaze over Brian’s doubled-up form. Quentin’s mouth twisted. “Well, isn’t this exciting? But not helpful.”
“Fuck you.” Nick wanted to punch that smug sneer off his face, except he felt Brian jolt at the harshness of his tone. Brian hated violence. “Money where your mouth is, asshole. I’ll bet you five hundred bucks they find that she died, right about now, right along a line from here to…” He pointed, more or less the direction Brian had. “Out there, somewhere. On this line.”
Quentin glanced that way. “Since that points to her car, sure. Sucker bet.”
“Time of death—” He glanced at the dashboard clock. “—four twenty-three. Money. Mouth.”
Brian sobbed harshly. “Can we just go? I want to go home. My head hurts. Can we please go?”
It wasn’t Bry’s thick, slow voice, but there was a hint around the edges of the way Brian would retreat into Bry under stress. “Sure,” Nick told him. “Quentin will drive us back to the car right now, so we can go home.” He tried to drill his gaze out the back of Quentin’s head. No more harassing Brian.
“Might as well,” Quentin muttered. “Not like this is helping.”
Nick held back his anger. Brian was clearly on the edge of losing it— well, losing it worse— so he kept his tone soft and even. “He can’t Find the dead, just the living. I’m sorry we were too late.” Even that made Brian cry harder. Nick patted his shoulder. “You want to get in the back with me?” Brian shook his head, so Nick closed the door and slid into the back seat. “Turn it around, Quentin.”
The drive back to the café was like nails on a blackboard, each minute raking over Nick’s taut nerves. Brian was clearly holding back as much as he could, but he stayed hunched over and shaking. The occasional wracking sob got past his resistance. Every time, Quentin huffed a breath like he couldn’t wait to dump Brian out on the street. Each delay for a stop sign or traffic light made Nick want to hit something. He clenched his fists until his hands hurt…
Kaje Harper grew up in Montreal, and spent her teen years writing, filling binders with stories. But as life got busy, the stories began to just live in her head. The characters grew, met, endured, and loved, in any quiet moment, but the stories rarely made it to paper. Her time was taken up by work in psychology, teaching, and a biomedical career, and the fun of raising children.
Eventually the kids became more independent and her husband gave her a computer she didn’t have to share. She started putting words down in print again, just for fun. Hours of fun. Lots of hours of fun. The stories began piling up, and her husband suggested if she was going to spend that much time on the keyboard she ought to try to publish one. MLR Press accepted her first submission, the M/M mystery Life Lessons, which came out in May 2011. Kaje now has many novels and short stories published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year, and a selection of free short stories and novels in a variety of gay romance genres, available at most ebook retailers. She currently lives in Minnesota with a creative teenager, a crazy omnivorous little white dog, and a remarkably patient spouse.
SUMMARY: Life for Dexter J. Daley has never been easy, but he’s always found a way to pick himself back up with a smile on his face. Taken from his home, and the arms of his boyfriend and THIRDS partner, Sloane Brodie, Dex finds himself in a situation as mysterious and lethal as the Therian interrogating him. Dex learns what he’s secretly believed all along: his parents’ death wasn’t an accident.
Discovering the whole truth about John and Gina Daley’s homicide sets off a series of events that will change Dex and Sloane’s lives forever. As buried secrets rise to the surface and new truths are revealed, Dex and Sloane’s love for each other is put to the test, with more than their relationship on the line. If traversing the waters of murder and secret government agencies wasn’t enough, something inexplicable has been happening to Dex—and nothing will ever be the same.
REVIEW: This is the seventh book in this wonderful, action packed series featuring Destructive Delta. Dex is taken and his kidnapping unlocks the mystery and revealed the truth surrounding his parent’s murder. This revelation not only changes Dex and Sloane’s loves forever but strangely gives Dex and Maddox a bit of closure.
We learn quite a bit more about who’s behind the kidnapping, more about the facility where Sloane, Ash and other First Gen. Therians were experimented on. As the story unfolds, even more secrets and plots are revealed. There is so much that goes on in this book, basically a lot of Dex’s questions are answered and the truth of it all hits him hard. But I think that deep down, Dex on some level knew that the story surrounding his parent’s deaths was a lie.
This book is tamer than the six previous books. Tame in the way of seeing Dex and Sloane in their home; their everyday home life. This is a side of Sloane that I truly enjoyed. Yes, these men are constantly out fighting crime, being shot at, being attacked, explosives and being the super elite team but there’s more to their lives than that. You see the more domestic side to these two. You can tell that Sloane and Dex are extremely happy together.
You also get a glimpse into the love lives of the other team members: Seb and Hudson (I am most eager to read their story) and even Sarge. I am also looking forward to Austin and Zach’s stories.
There’s not a lot of sex in the books but that is totally fine as the storyline, dialog, plot and character development more than makes up for it. This book, this series is absolutely magnificent and will keep you enthralled from the very first page to the very last. Oh, and the covers are to die for!
1 wedding, 2 best men, one hell of a love story!
Declan Ramsay’s brother Oliver was marrying Annabelle Aiken at a fairytale castle on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland. The bride and groom decided, so that he didn’t feel left out, that Annabelle’s gay younger brother could share the best man duties with Declan.
Declan had never met the kid who was to be his joint best man. Sam Aiken was abroad, working as an interpreter and finishing his studies. He wouldn’t meet Declan until a few days before the wedding, so the best men communicated and planned their speech by email for more than a year. But on meeting Sam Aiken, Declan is surprised to realise the kid isn’t a kid at all, but a tall, blond and athletic young man. Declan is sure he’s straight, so he’s alarmed by the ferocious attraction he feels for Sam. And as the attraction is reciprocated, the events at Dunloch Castle change everything Declan has ever believed about himself. But, is Samuel Aiken all that he appears to be?
As an author, I truly love writing and exploring the paranormal. In the world of fantasy, an author is able to create and let their imagination run free. I can honestly say, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write. I began when I was in fourth grade. Back then it was teen mystery stories. I believe my first little series was entitled, “The Hunt Sisters Mystery Series.” I was a real Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys fan. Till date, I’ve written numerous lesbian books under my penn name, Fallon and just recently, as of a year ago, dipped my pen into the M/M genre. I was hooked with the first story I wrote. It’s entitled Hunted and is published with Wilde City.
Some people have asked, how do you do it?
My answer: first I come up with my characters names, plot of the story, location, villains, lovers, ect. I open a blank Word doc, turn on my YouTube music list and began. My favorite writing muses to listen to are, Marianas Trench, Ed Sheeran and old school soft rock.
When I’m not writing, I’m spending time with my girlfriend of eight years and our demanding Chow-Chow, Blaqk. Readings is also one of my beloved pastimes. I tend to think all authors are avid readers.
As a member of the LGBT family, my future goal is to open a home for discarded LGBT teens. It saddens me, the plights that many gay and lesbian teens have to face due to ignorance and hate. If in my lifetime I can help some of those who are discarded. Find their way in life, then I feel truly blessed.
I can be contacted on Facebook, Lourdes Skye Author most days. Feel free to add me and whenever you can, check out one of my amazing M/M Romance or Paranormal books.
Donali Lyons eyes the perfect piece of man candy headed his way. He’s stumped when he discovers that the man is his mate…and has a date.
Drugged, Lance Stark wakes up naked, tied to a chair…and married to the wrong man.
Can his cat shifter mate save him from a delusional groom or will it be discovered that cats don’t have nine lives???
Deceptions, crazy assassins, government conspiracies and a romance so hot it melts off the pages, all tie into this epic shifter tale.
Lourdes Skye has been writing fiction since the fourth grade. First she started with tween mysteries then later progressed to paranormal and lesbian books. Being a fellow member of the LBGT Family, Lourdes loves to write about the beauty of love without limitations. Till date, she’s dipped her pen in the exciting world of m/m romance. She cites, “There’s so much beauty in two guys risking it all, public scorn, family abandonment, unfair job treatment, just to hold hands and say ‘we are’.” Love truly has no gender and in her work, Lourdes conveys that wholeheartedly. Lourdes currently makes her home in the state that she was born and raised, Atlanta Georgia.
Hello, Internet! Iím Lex Chase and I want to thank Kimi-chan for having me here today for the Chasing Sunrise Blog Tour!
Chasing Sunrise is a story I’ve carried in my head for years. It’s a high fantasy horror that challenges readers to think outside the box when it comes to heroes and villains. Our hero, King Sevon MaratÈ, ruler of a cannibalistic†aisa is trapped in a domestic violence situation while amidst trying to save his dying people. When the solution presents itself by conquering and exterminating the†windigo race, Sevon is challenged with what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s a tale of war, genocide, and love making monsters of us all.
And the question you’re all wondering right now is†where you come up with this?†It’s a bit of a long story.
Really.†Really long.
The world of Chasing Sunrise I created when I was 13 years old. Yeah really. In fact, it was Valentine’s Day 1992. Yes. The story is that old. Now the story†now is not the story it was†then. There was a particular breed of†aisa that didn’t make the cut (but still might!) There was an entirely different cast, a different main character (who was kind of a completely unlikeable douchebag if you ask me), and would you believe Chasing Sunrise once existed in a†cyberpunk†setting? Cannibals in cyberpunk? Well. I might have to write that book after all.
I elaborated on the DSP Publications blog of why have a hero who happens to be a cannibal. And like I mentioned there, when I was a kid, I suffered†some pretty horrific night terrors. And it’s no secret I live with mental illness. Writing about characters who†we†know as monsters as heroes was kind of my way of dissecting my nightmares. Making sense of the jumbles of images. Putting the feelings in some semblance of order. I was my way of laying out these monstrous things and saying “I see you for what you are, and you can’t scare me anymore.”
But it’s in writing these monstrous heroes, or these people who by†all†of our real world standards we understand as reprehensible and morally bankrupt, what if in the concept of†their world they aren’t at all? What if they too are law abiding citizens with their own form of government? From an outsider perspective anything could be considered “savage” or “evil.” I was explaining to my mother the other day, that as Americans, our country was founded as an act of treason. To my hostess Kimi-chan in the UK, waaaay back in 1776, that was a pretty barbaric act to the British. Now we hold hands and sing Kum-By-Yah. Save when 4th of July rolls around. Um…er…uh…sorry? 🙁 Awkward.
Now, I’d love to say the story of Chasing Sunrise came to me full formed and just magically one day here it is. Of course not. It took many†many iterations. The world of the Darkmore Saga and only five of the characters remain in some form. One of them, Dominic Ravensgrove is the villain. I’ve tried a million times to come up with a different name for him. Because…. Ravensgrove? Are you†kidding me? But it just stuck. Its a perfectly douchey name for such an asshole.
Sevon, his love interest Jack, and the world of the shifters are a completely new invention. The shifters once lived in a tree city. And then James Cameron’s Avatar stole my thunder. (Horrid movie by the way.) Now they live in a highly bastardized land mimicking ancient Rome with a kind of Roman Legion.†Legit, am I right?
Sevon is a funny little bird in I’ve only ever seen the name written. So I say “Seven” like the number. My editor says “Seh-VAWN” like “Dawn” which is actually correct. I say my own character’s name wrong. And I have for years. I’d like to apologize to my readers onto eternity because I’ll probably keep flubbing his name. I’m doing a reading over at Sinfully Gay Romance tomorrow, so you can all gaze in awe and wonder of my flubbing!
Question to you! What was your childhood dream? Did you want to be an astronaut? An archaeologist? A ballerina? (*raises hand to all the above!*) What was it? No matter how absurd, tell me about it.
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Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Paranormal Series: The Darkmore Saga: Book One Length: Novel Published: April 5, 2016 Publisher: DSP Publications ISBN: 978-1-63476-355-4 Buy: DSP Publications†| Omnilit | Amazon |†Barnes and Noble†
Blurb:
The once glorious aisa kingdom of Darkmore lies in ruins, and King Sevon MaratÈ is trapped. Sevon endures unrelenting abuse and is used as a scapegoat by Lord Dominic Ravensgrove, who rules Darkmore from the shadows. Coping by dressing in gowns and jewels, the effeminate king relishes the scraps of freedom he is given to be himself.
As a verkolai, Sevon possesses the ability to part the Veil separating his world from hundreds of others. His gift provides a chance for escape, but Dominic refuses to relinquish his tool for power. When Dominic forges an ambitious plan to invade the prosperous shifter land of Priagust, he manipulates Sevonís desperation for his peopleís survival. Out of options, Sevon has no choice but to cooperate.
On their foray into Priagust, Dominic’s men abduct a shifter named Jack. Despite being tortured for information, Jack’s loyalty to his kind never wavers. But Jackís knowledge about Darkmoreís history unsettles Sevon, and a curious bond begins to form. Despite Sevonís mistrust, Jack is determined to tame the beautiful kingís wild heart and perhaps earn his freedom.
As war looms, Sevon fears Jackís kindness is another trap. Conflicted, Sevon wonders if he should risk chasing the sunrise or remain Dominic’s compliant prisoner.
1st Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2014.
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Question to you! What was your childhood dream? Did you want to be an astronaut? An archaeologist? A ballerina? (*raises hand to all the above!*) What was it? No matter how absurd, tell me about it.
Come follow me on Facebook and Twitter for Blog Tour Updates!
About the Author:
Lex Chase once heard Stephen King say in a commercial, ìWeíre all going to die, Iím just trying to make it a little more interesting.î Now, sheís on a mission to make the world a hell of a lot more interesting.
Weaving tales of cinematic, sweeping adventureóand depending on how she feels that dayóLex sprinkles in high-speed chases, shower scenes, and more explosions than a Hollywood blockbuster. Her pride is in telling stories of men who kiss as much as they kick ass. If youíre going to march into the depths of hell, it better be beside the one you love.
Lex is a pop culture diva, her DVR is constantly backlogged, and unapologetically loved the ending of Lost. She wouldnít last five minutes without technology in the event of the apocalypse and has nightmares about refusing to leave her cats behind.
BLURB: Calvin Summers and Ethan Hobbs have been best friends since childhood, but somewhere along the line, their friendship evolved into something more. With the Therian Youth Center bombing, Calvin realizes just how short life can be and no longer keeps his feelings for his best friend a secret. Unfortunately, change is difficult for Ethan; most days he does well to deal with his Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety. Calvin’s confession adds a new struggle for Ethan, one he fears might cost him the friendship that’s been his whole world for as long as he can remember.
As partners and Defense Agents at the THIRDS, being on Destructive Delta is tough at the best of times, but between call-outs and life-threatening situations, Calvin and Ethan not only face traversing the challenges of their job, but also working toward a future as more than friends.
REVIEW: This is book six in the THIRDS series and it’s two hundred sixteen pages of full of action, shenanigans, action, crime and mystery and gummy filled goodness. The crew is back in the long awaited installment of Destructive Delta and the rest of the THIRDS units. While the story is focused on Calvin and Hobbs, the storylines of all members of the THIRDS is expertly maintained throughout the book.
This series in one word: Amazing. There is nothing about this book or this series that is boring. There’s humor, secrets, intrigues, crime and drama, super secret crime fighting unit stuff mixed in with love and romance with just a touch of steamy sexy tossed in. Everything about this book, this series is spot on perfect. Each character is individually crafted and they are divine; the dialogues and personalities of each of these characters will keep you entertained. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot that will keep you on your toes. These books are addicting reads. This book captured and held my attention from the very first word of the first paragraph on page one to the very last word, of the last paragraph of the last page.
In this book you can expect to see just how Calvin and Hobb’s relationship has developed through the years. How their families are close knit and the love they have for one other. You will see things revealed with the Hobb’s brothers that will warm your heart and bring them closer together. I can’t wait to read about Sebastian and Hudson, Zachary and Austen and even Nina and Rafe.
The book ended with a delicious cliffhanger and it will drive you crazy wondering what happens next. This book has so much going on that you will not get bored for one second reading this. I highly recommend this series.
Three hundred years ago, natural disaster reformed the face of North America, and the people who lived in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains would never be the same.
Now, the master/slave bond in New Colorado has become a sacred rite of service, protection, and, sometimes, for the lucky, love. Follow Nick and his beloved Master, Todd Ruger, a sentry of the territories, as they struggle to survive together amid the collision of old superstition, new beliefs, territorial war, and the ever-present danger of the natural and supernatural frontier.
Kimi’s thoughts:
First off, I’m going to come out and say it: This may be listed as BDSM, but it most definitely is NOT. It’s a literal master/slave relationship, with one human being purchased by another, with no choice in the matter. Other than some light bondage play (being tied to a bed post) and light playful spanking, there is nothing to suggest BDSM in the least. It is a well written alternative reality piece though that often reminded me of Supernatural, with hunters and ghosts, demons and what not, not to mention the snarky conversation, only this time, it’s mostly between the two lovers. It was an enjoyable romp that thankfully did not glamourise slavery (it dealt with a lot of the psychological effects of it, the demeaning attitudes, and so on and did so by weaving them into the story naturally).
Not that this was by any means a perfect read. The main niggle for me is that the final book ended on a note that left me expecting more, but apparently there isn’t. That doesn’t stop me from recommending this series though. Bought as a bundle, instead of spending nearly $35 on the individual titles, the cost is instead just under $10. Bargain! If you’re looking for a sweet romance with a meaty plot and mild angst, this may be just the set you’re looking for.
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About the Author:
