Lee's Musings: 2015

12/24/2015

Crawl in Bed with Lilah Suzanne #authorinterview #pridepromotions

Crawl in Bed With Lilah Suzanne & Grady Dawson from Broken Records.

Important things first, are these sheets silk or cotton? Can I be honest? I didn’t even buy these sheets, my assistant did. Knowing Spencer they’re probably high-thread Egyptian something or other. I just need my sheets to be comfortable, I don’t care much otherwise.

What are you wearing? Since we don’t know each other all that well, let’s just say: A lot more than what I usually wear to bed!

What are we snacking on in bed while we read tonight? Well I definitely have a sweet tooth...

If I open this nightstand drawer, what will I find? Probably a knitting project and some guitar picks and scraps of paper with bits of songs written on them. Sexy, right?

Do you roll up in the blankets like a burrito, or kick the covers off during the night? I’ve been told I sleep like a barnacle: close and clinging!

Can I put my cold feet on your calves to warm them up? How about I knit you some socks instead? I’m good with my hands.

What are we reading? Broken Records

Release Date: December 17, 2015

Blurb:

Los Angeles-based stylist Nico Takahashi loves his job—or at least, he used to. Feeling fed up and exhausted from the cutthroat, gossip-fueled business of Hollywood, Nico daydreams about packing it all in and leaving for good. So when Grady Dawson—sexy country music star and rumored playboy—asks Nico to style him, Nico is reluctant. But after styling a career-changing photo-shoot, Nico follows Grady to Nashville where he finds it in

creasingly difficult to resist Grady’s charms. Can Nico make peace with show business and all its trappings, or will Grady’s public persona get in the way of their private attraction to each other?

Categories: Bisexual, Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt:

Grady presses his lips flat, looks up at the ceiling again to gather himself, sniffs and nods, then tugs Nico’s foot closer by his ankle. “Do you think... If we’d met at a bar. Or through a friend of a friend. Or the gym.” Grady’s thumb strokes the tender skin of Nico’s calf beneath the hem of his pants. “If we had just been two regular guys? We really could have been something.”

There’s a question in his voice, a hesitancy that maybe Nico would have rejected him eventually anyway. Nico scoots across the cramped bunk, crowds against Grady, shoulder to shoulder. “Well, we never would have met at the gym because I would have taken one look at you and gone home to mourn the body I’ll never have by consuming gallons of ice cream.”

Grady bumps his shoulder. “Shut up, you’re gorgeous.” He tips his head against the wall and grins. “If I’d first seen you at a bar I probably would have humiliated myself by trying to win you over with bad karaoke and shameless flirting.”

Nico’s eyebrows raise. “You mean to tell me you’ve been holding back on me? You have a level of flirting that’s even more shameless?”

“Oh yeah. You ain’t seen nothin’, sweetheart.”

“That is truly terrifying.”

Grady laughs, bright and uninhibited. Nico is so relieved to hear it, a moment of light in the darkness. Grady’s hand rests on Nico’s knee, Nico watches his own hand brush his fingers there, but he doesn’t linger.

“We aren’t, though. Just two random guys.”

Grady’s fingers flex, curving over his kneecap. “No.”

Nico exhales harshly. “I have never wanted to be a groupie so badly.”

Grady shoves at his leg. “Come on, you didn’t really think that I would do that to you—”

“In my weaker, more insecure moments?” Nico scrunches his face, embarrassed. “Yeah, I did.”

“You think that little of me, huh?” He says it with a teasing grin, but Nico’s heart sinks.

“No, Grady. I think you’re…” A million adjectives flash through his head: beautiful, amazing, stunning, compassionate, kind, generous. A supernova. He settles on, “Really special.”

Grady gives a skeptical lift of his eyebrows. “Uh oh. I’m really special, huh?”

“I’m so, so into you and it’s…” He cringes at the words but it’s true, “It’s not you, it’s me.”

“Oh lord.” Grady laments with a laugh. “Not that, please.”

“I’m the guy on the sidelines. I’m the one who makes everyone else shine. I don’t belong there, in the spotlight. I like that at the end of the day I can go home and just walk away from the cameras and the red carpets and the scrutiny. And you—you’re a star. And you can have anyone.”

Grady turns, the cramped space of the bunk making his limbs bump and nudge and curl around Nico’s body. During Grady’s shows, in the moment just before he starts singing the opening line of “Broken Records,” there’s this pause, this moment suspended in the air when the audience is silent and waiting and doesn’t even dare to inhale because in that moment, Grady’s soul is laid bare. He looks at Nico just like that and Nico can’t breathe around it.

“I don’t want anyone,” he says, voice low and serious. “I want you. How do you not get that?”

Buy the book:

Interlude Press Web Store Amazon Smashwords All Romance eBooks Apple iBook Store

Meet the author:

Lilah Suzanne has been writing actively since the sixth grade, when a literary magazine published her essay about an uncle who lost his life to AIDS. A freelance writer, she has also authored a children’s book and has a devoted following in the fan fiction community. She is also the author of Interlude Press books Spice and Pivot and Slip. Broken Records is Book One in Lilah’s Spotlight Series.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: Facebook.com/lilahsuzanne

Twitter: @lilahsuzanne

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26223139-broken-records

Publisher: Interlude Press

Cover Artist: Victoria S. with CB Messer

Tour Dates & Stops:

17-Dec: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Hearts on Fire, Cheekypee Reads and Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Velvet Panic, Michael Mandrake, Mikky's World of Books

18-Dec: My Fiction Nook, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, All I Want and More Books, Nautical Star Books, Havan Fellows

21-Dec: Prism Book Alliance, It’s Raining Men, V's Reads, Bayou Book Junkie

22-Dec: Books A to Z, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Cathy Brockman Romances, MM Good Book Reviews

23-Dec: Unquietly Me, Sassygirl Books, The Day Before You Came

24-Dec: Love Bytes, Lee Brazil, Happily Ever Chapter

25-Dec: Divine Magazine, Inked Rainbow Reads

28-Dec: QUEERcentric Books, Alpha Book Club, TTC Books and More

29-Dec: BFD Book Blog, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, : Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews

30-Dec: Jessie G. Books, Molly Lolly, Just Love Romance, Moonbeams Over Atlanta

Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press Web Store Gift card plus five multi-format eBooks to runners-up

a Rafflecopter giveaway

12/21/2015

Welcome KC Wells and Parker Williams with Dom of Ages #pridepromotions

Welcome everyone! Please enjoy the excerpt, and KC and Parker are offering readers a chance to win a copy by commenting on the blog tour posts. Comment here, and visit the others blogs for more chances to win!

Author Names: K.C. Wells & Parker Williams

Book Name: Dom of Ages

Series: Collars & Cuffs

Book: Seven

Release Date: December 21, 2015

Blurb:

Eli may only be thirty, but he has had enough of pretend submissives. He wants a sub who truly knows how to submit. So when he spies Jarod in a BDSM club, everything about the man screams submission. It doesn’t matter that Jarod has to be about twenty years older than Eli. What does age matter, anyway? Not one to miss an opportunity, Eli moves fast and takes Jarod home with him, without thinking things through. All he can see is what he’s always wanted – a sub who wants to serve.

Jarod spent twenty-eight years with his Master, until Fate took Phillip from him. Four years on, and Jarod is still lost, so when a young Dom takes charge, Jarod rolls with it and finds himself serving again. But he keeps waiting for the shoe to drop. Because there’s going to come a point when Eli realizes he’s a laughing stock in the club. Who would want to be seen with a fifty-year-old sub? And when the moment of humiliation does arrive, Jarod flees. He’d be better off with Phillip.

Despite several missteps, what happens forces Eli to understand that Jarod needs him as much as he needs Jarod. But he knows in order to find happiness, they need friends who will understand. A friend keeps telling him Collars & Cuffs is what they need. Eli finally goes to visit, refusing to risk Jarod being hurt again, and finds everything he's heard about the club is true. When he takes Jarod, he watches as his sub is met with open arms. As they settle in to their new life, Eli begins to see things differently. And he dares to think he can have it all. Until the phone call that shows him he didn't realize what he could lose.

Pages or Words: 92,000 words

Categories: BDSM, Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance, May-December Romance

Excerpt:

Jarod

I eyed the other subs enviously as they preened for the Doms, each hoping to spend an hour in a private room with one of them. I felt like a kid again, always the last one picked for sports. The looks I got ranged from amused to withering. I couldn’t believe I’d subjected myself to this. What was worse, I’d actually expected a different outcome.

I sighed deeply. Who was I fooling? I wasn’t twenty anymore. Hell, I wasn’t even twice that. The Doms wanted someone younger, someone trainable, or, failing that, someone who could give them a hot fuck. I had talents in that department from the many years I had served Master Phillip, but since he died, I’d been a submissive who had no one to serve.

“And what are you supposed to be?” a voice near my ear snapped.

“My name is Jarod, Sir,” I answered quietly, my heart thumping so loudly I was certain he could hear it.

There was a low growl. “I didn’t ask your name. I asked what you think you’re doing here.”

Heaven help me, I told him the truth. “Searching for someone to serve, Sir.”

His braying laugh mocked me. When he saw I was serious, he sobered. “No one is going to take you. No master is going to have you.” Then in a softer voice he added, “Go home. You don’t belong here.”

He was right, of course. It was time I admitted that to myself. This was a world that wasn’t like the one I’d been part of. When Master Phillip and I went to the clubs, there was an understanding. People were respectful, even if they weren’t interested in whatever was going on. This club was awful. It was full of young men strutting around like peacocks, each trying to show off more plumage than the next.

It was time to stop kidding myself. There was no reason for me to stay any longer. I’d be on my way, and then everyone would probably have a good laugh at my expense. At least in that, I would have made someone happy. I was about to stand when I felt a hand on my shoulder and smelled the leather.

“What is it you want?”

His breath smelled of mint. It wafted over my face and made my stomach clench with nerves. “To serve, Sir.”

Silence. I waited for it, the inevitable comeback, the jeer, the insult….

“That’s a very good answer, boy. Very good indeed. Stand and turn.”

I rose to my feet and faced the man whose voice gave me butterflies. When I saw him, my heart dropped and crushed them all to dust. The man was handsome, I would never say otherwise, but he was a child. I wanted a Master to serve, not to be a toy for a youngster who would grow bored with me the next time a pretty pony boy pranced by.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Jarod, Sir,” I replied, cursing my cracking voice.

He held out his hand and took mine. His grip was firm and warm, and a jolt of electricity ran through me at his touch.

“It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Eli.”

His name was like a caress. There was a gentleness to his voice that had me feeling as though everything might be okay after all. I tried to be surreptitious about it as I looked him over, and he laughed.

“You don’t need to hide anything from me. If you want to look at me, go ahead.”

I raised my head and marveled at how his green eyes shone in the bright lights. His short, spiky hair was dark, but with the colored lights flashing, it was hard to tell what color it was. I had the insane urge to run my fingers through it. He was about my height, and the way those black leather pants clung to his muscular thighs, I really wanted to see his legs. He was slender, but with good definition: it wasn’t a six-pack, but I wouldn’t have minded running my hands over it.

“Aren’t you a bit old for this, Jarod?” His voice was deep, and my skin pebbled at his tone. With a shock I realized he wasn’t mocking me; he was genuinely curious.

Once more I felt compelled to speak the truth. “No, Sir. I-I don’t believe I am.”

His fingers traced along my neck, running gently across my throat. I swallowed hard. It was so different from the treatment I’d received from everyone else here.

“Would you like to play?”

And with those words my heart dropped. “No. I’d rather not.” I was shocked to hear the words come from my mouth. Never before had I told a Sir no, but it seemed to be a night for honesty. Of all the times to be honest, though…. I remained still, awaiting his imminent departure.

“Good. I’m glad. I’m not here to play either.” He was quiet for a moment. “I want you to come home with me. Would that be okay?”

My breath caught. What the hell? He was so different from everyone else in this club. My heartbeat sped up. “Yes, please.” My damn voice squeaked again.

I felt the smooth leather against my throat. “This doesn’t come off until I say so. Is this agreed?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

I cursed myself for forgetting. “Yes, Sir.”

Buy the book:

Dreamspinner Press eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7217

Dreamspinner Press Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7218

E-BOOKS 1 – 6 are on sale at Dreamspinner for $1.00 each! http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=907

Meet the authors:

K.C. Wells:

Born and raised in the north-west of England, K.C. Wells always loved writing. Words were important. Full stop. However, when childhood gave way to adulthood, the writing ceased, as life got in the way.

K.C. discovered erotic fiction in 2009, where the purchase of a ménage storyline led to the startling discovery that reading about men in love was damn hot. In 2012, arriving at a really low point in life led to the desperate need to do something creative. An even bigger discovery waited in the wings—writing about men in love was even hotter....

K.C. now writes full time and is loving every minute of her new career.

The laptop still has no idea of what hit it... it only knows that it wants a rest, please. And it now has to get used to the idea that where K.C goes, it goes.

Parker Williams:

Parker Williams began to write as a teen, but never showed his work to anyone. As he grew older, he drifted away from writing, but his love of the written word moved him to reading. A chance encounter with an author changed the course of his life as she encouraged him to never give up on a dream. With the help of some amazing friends, he rediscovered the joy of writing, thanks to a community of writers who have become his family.

Parker firmly believes in love, but is also of the opinion that anything worth having requires work and sacrifice (plus a little hurt and angst, too). The course of love is never a smooth one, and Happily Ever After always has a price tag.

Where to find the authors:

KC:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCWellsWorld

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/KCWells/223608907761521

Twitter: @K_C_Wells

Parker:

Connect with Parker on: Twitter: @ParkerWAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parker.williams.75641

Or you can visit his website: http://www.ParkerWilliamsAuthor.com

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27878173-dom-of-ages

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

Photo Credits: Joey Flyfoto, Model: Dirk Caber

Tour Dates & Stops:

Rafflecopter Prize: One of three $10 ARe gift cards, plus K.C. and Will are going to be stopping at each blog and picking a winner from the comments to receive a copy of 'An Unlocked Heart' (or one of the other first six books in the series).

Rafflecopter Code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Huge Sale, Collars and Cuffs, $1 Dreamspinner #writestuff #caffeinateme #readstuff

Good morning friends! Not much going on today. *sips coffee* But I did want to make sure and point out to you that there is a huge, must read sale going on at Dreamspinner right now. I have a message here that I stole from Parker Williams on Face book about it:

K.c. Wells and I would like to invite you to get in on a great series and save some money while doing it! December 21, 2015 is when Dom of Ages releases everywhere. To celebrate, Dreamspinner Press will be having the first six Collars & Cuffs books on sale for ONE BUCK EACH!

You can get An Unlocked Heart. You can get Trusting Thomas. You can get Someone to Keep Me. You can get A Dance With Domination. You can get Damian's Discipline. You can get Make Me Soar. All for one dollar each. J

Then don't forget to grab Dom of Ages, which is on pre-sale now at DSP now, too.

It doesn't get much better than that, now does it? Go, click over and enjoy!

Find Books By Lee Brazil at

39 Titles available on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/author/lee-brazil/id465270430?mt=11&bookPage=1#bookPage

33 Titles Available at Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/search?query=Lee%20Brazil&fcsearchfield=Author

12/17/2015

Crawl in Bed With Haven of Parker Williams Haven's Creed #characterinterview #pridepromotions

Crawling Into Bed With Parker Williams

And a Good Book

Important things first, are these sheets silk or cotton? When you're used to sleeping in the hills, abandoned buildings, or even the fucking sewer, you're grateful when you get to sleep in a real bed. I special order my linen from Parachute bedding. It's amazing. They're more expensive, but when you make $250,000 a kill, you can afford the finer things in life.

What are you wearing? Right now? Seeing as how I just got home from an operation, I took a shower and put on my Luxe robe. Sammy always wants me squeaky clean before we make up for lost time, if you know what I mean.

What are we snacking on in bed while we read tonight? Hell, I don't care. Kelly's got to clean it up. And after his little joke, the more crumbs, the better. Throw in some peanut butter and jelly. That shit stains real nice.

If I open this nightstand drawer, what will I find? That drawer? My Desert Eagle .50 caliber with muzzle brake is near the front for easy access. Even though I keep my guns locked away, I want something close at hand in case it's needed. In my line of work, you're either ready or you're dead.

There's also a garrote, a Richmond Laser 240 mm kitchen knife – yeah, I know. I've got a set of them, but Kelly keeps this sucker so sharp, I have to have it nearby just in case someone tries to break in, or if I get the munchies in the middle of the night.

Oh, and lube, too. Lots and lots of lube.

Do you roll up in the blankets like a burrito, or kick the covers off during the night? Sammy makes a blanket fort. It makes him feel safe when I'm not home. When I am, the walls come down, and he snuggles with me.

Can I put my cold feet on your calves to warm them up? Well now that depends. I've been teaching Sammy to use the stuff I keep in that dresser drawer. Exactly how lucky do you feel?

What are we reading? Haven's Creed by Parker Williams

Blurb:

An act of violence destroys his family and ends the life he knows. To escape his haunted past, he joins the military, where, as a sniper, he is trained to kill with precision and detachment. When a covert organization offers him a new purpose, he becomes Haven, an operative devoted to protecting the innocent when he can and avenging them when he cannot.

After ten years of battling the evil in the world, the life no longer holds the attraction or meaning it once had, and he’s ready to walk away. Then he meets Samuel, a young man forced from the age of twelve to work as a sex slave. If ever a man had a need for Haven, it is this one.

Yet nothing about this growing relationship is one-sided. Sammy gives Haven a stability he’s never known, and Haven becomes the rock upon which Sammy knows he can depend.

When Sammy reveals something about the enemy Haven has been hunting for months, Sammy fears it will destroy what they’ve built and he’ll lose his home in Haven’s heart.

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Decades of grime, caked and baked in the summer sun, crusted the filthy rooftop. I shuddered at the thought of what I might be crawling around in. Either way, considering the eddies of snow and ice swirling around in the bitter cold breeze freezing my exposed skin, I almost wished for the heat of summer now. Better to be up here sweating my balls off than freezing them.

Winds off Lake Michigan could be brutal, but they were even worse at the top of the building I’d selected. I’d chosen a tight spot, especially for a man my size. Still, it offered me the best possible vantage point. My muscles cramped as I slithered forward on my stomach, and the gravel bit into the skin where my shirt had pulled free from my vest. The edge of the roof held a myriad of pipes and ductwork. Great for cover, not so good for aiming. I pulled myself in between two pipes that gave me line of sight of the house where the deal would go down. It would be an awkward shot, especially given the weather, but I’d taken worse. My breath fogged the lenses of my goggles a bit, but not enough to matter. At least not to my target.

My fingers stiffened as I slid the chamber into the rifle, the fingerless gloves providing little protection against the elements. It reminded me why I didn’t live in Chicago anymore. I hated winter with a passion. Give me my home in Florida or the one I kept in Arizona and I would be much more content.

The car pulled up a few moments later, drawing my attention back to my assignment. I glanced at my watch. Early. I hated when targets didn’t stick to a timetable. It was very rude. The driver ran around and opened John Dunkirk’s door, allowing the dead man walking to slide out of the backseat and step onto the sidewalk where he waited as Kenneth Alamo came out of the modest house. My fingers itched. Alamo had been in and out of prison for possession and distribution. His name should be next to Dunkirk’s, but he wasn’t my target. There would certainly be a reckoning for him at a later date. Maybe this event would set him on the straight and narrow. Unlikely, but in my line of work, stranger things happened.

While Alamo and Dunkirk exchanged handshakes and a brief bro hug, the driver closed the car door then pulled a case from the trunk, placed it on the hood and stepped away. I took note of the briefcase he carried and I tensed. The poison housed in the innocuous looking satchel was the reason I’d been sent. Twenty-seven people had died, that we knew of. Almost half of them were school kids, some as young as seven.

My employer frowned on that and had sent me to get the justice their families wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. The fact Dunkirk had avoided prison was reason enough he had to come our attention and had gotten his name on a death warrant.

Dunkirk cracked the lid just enough so the other guy could look into it. I imagined the buyer being gobsmacked at the amount of crap crammed into the small case. Enough to make him a shitload of money, and at the same time, give people on the streets their last fix.

While they were both occupied, I took aim. No one noticed the red dot on Dunkirk’s back. I squeezed the trigger in one fluid, practiced motion. The explosion of air that echoed off the rooftop announced his imminent death. The moment his chest exploded, chaos filled the streets. Men swarmed from the nearby building like so many cockroaches. The listening device I’d planted in Dunkirk’s car allowed me to hear the barked orders to find whoever was responsible and deal with him. By the time they got their shit together, I would be back in the shadows and on my way home.

I pulled out my phone and tapped out a quick text message.

“It’s done. Next?”

The reply came back a moment later. “Police converging. Go now. Talk later.”

I slipped the phone back into my pocket. I could hear the sirens in the distance. They’d arrest the trash, but the man responsible for all the death through the poison he sold on the streets would never have been taken to prison. His lawyers would have guaranteed it, just as they had the last four times he’d beat the rap the government put together. Dunkirk had enough dirt on a handful of key politicians to ensure he’d live to spread his filth on the streets again. That was why they’d sent me in. If there was one thing I knew with absolute certainty, dead men told no tales and, in Dunkirk’s case, sold no drugs.

You Can buy Haven's Creed at

Amazon

All Romance

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

And in Paperback via Createspace

Meet the author:

Parker Williams believes that true love exists, but it always comes with a price. No happily ever after can ever be had without work, sweat, and tears that come with melding lives together.

Living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Parker held his job for nearly 28 years before he decided to retire and try new things. He enjoys his new life as a stay-at-home author and also working on Pride-Promotions, an LGBT author promotion service.

Where to find the author:

Connect with Parker on: Twitter: @ParkerWAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parker.williams.7564

Or you can visit his website: www.ParkerWilliamsAuthor.com

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28017836-haven-s-creed

Publisher: Parker Williams

Tour Dates & Stops:

14-Dec