We are very excited to be participating in the GLBT Madness Hop, hosted by The Romance Reviews. This hop will run Sept 27 - Sept 30. To check out the rest of the sites that are participating, click on the logo above.
Here are some new releases this week that we thought you might be interested in checking out.
Danny and Mike
by Valentina Heart
Sometimes in the most unlikely places love can be found, or so Danny discovered once he found himself in a bar brawl. With a life of abuse behind him, he's more than ready for a new, happier start and Mike seems to be exactly what a damaged guy needs.
With a completely different background Mike is close to a ray of sunshine. Always optimistic and happy, he anchors Danny and shows him life can be about love instead of hate.
But chapters of the past are rarely completely closed, and once Danny's nightmares come back into his life he has to make a choice -- to fight or to save the one who showed him life was worth living.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This title contains a HFN ending and rape or near rape scenes.
READ AN EXCERPT HERE
Splintered Lies
by RJ Scott and Diane Adams
Joe Christie is consumed with grief, and when new information about his wife and baby comes to light his first instinct is to kill.
Nick Alexander is first and foremost Joe's best friend. When Joe met Mara, Nick stood to one side and respected Joe's decision to settle down, despite being in love with the man who was his lover. Now, in the middle of a case that is murder and betrayal, he has to fight his love for Joe and the people that are trying to kill them both.
EXCERPT:
Joe Christie changed from wolf to man in a single fluid move and lay
naked in the long grass at the back of his yard. The run in the forest
behind the house had been exhilarating and adrenaline pumped through his
system. Finally, for a few short minutes, he would be at peace. The
cool air wrapped around his body and he stared up. The sky was a
brilliant blue and the air smelled clean this far from the city. The
branches of the large oak tree--one of many that formed a natural
barrier between the open lands and the yards--were twisted and gnarled
in a jigsaw of shapes. It was easy to lay here and imagine he was in a
time with no death and no loss.
The kids next door were playing, it sounded like a party. His
neighbors, neither of them wolves, had a mix of human kids and juvenile
wolves in their backyard. Probably on paper this was a recipe for
disaster but so far he didn't scent anything other than popcorn and
barbecue. No fighting. No shouting.
That was what Mara had wanted for their baby. To have a place for their
children in both societies--wolf and human. She even wanted their son
or daughter to go to a mixed school. Joe hadn't argued. He never did
with Mara. She was a pureblood like him but she was progressive and
sought the ideal of perfect integration.
"No pretend growling!" Joe recognized the male voice as that of his
neighbor as he reined in the behavior of a particularly rambunctious
child. Children didn't shift before puberty, but the knowledge they
would one day added a hint of danger to preadolescent friendships for
human children. A young shifter pretending to be a wolf, chasing and
growling as the human kids ran away squealing, was a favorite game of
kids everywhere. Joe rolled over on his front to look down on the lower
yard. "And put your T-shirt back on, Thomas James!"
Thomas James was clearly the kid jumping athletically on the monkey
bars. Focusing on the parents, Joe read indulgence in their expressions.
The exciting game of being chased by a wolf curtailed, the children
returned to what appeared to be a more conventional game of tag. Secure
in the knowledge he couldn't be seen by those in the other yard, Joe
continued to watch the children interact. He was lost in thought about
how easily human children were able to accept the presence of the young
wolf as opposed to most adult reaction. The kid couldn't change into a
wolf, but his agility and balance were more highly developed than a
human child of the same age. There were other differences as well but
the children didn't seem to notice or to care.
He hadn't argued with Mara about the school, because he agreed. There
would be a lot less violent crime between wolves and humans if kids were
brought up to understand and accept one another. The idea of total
integration in schools wasn't a popular one. The youngsters would begin
shifting in Jr High and High School, an idea that made many parents
uncomfortable. Mara had believed with her whole heart the only way to
true acceptance laid in understanding. He and Mara had been compatible
even on such a controversial issue.
Mara.
Returning to his position on his back, Joe scented the grass as his
body crushed the fragile stems. He could lie there all day and think
about how she wanted a garden with flowers and vegetables, everything
that would make their child's home a good one. Monkey bars, wading pool,
trampoline, and access to the miles of open land beyond. Their first
child would have had the best and so would their next babies. All of
them.
Only it didn't happen that way, Mara. Joe's voice was only in
his head. He didn't want to speak the words aloud. He'd done all that at
the funeral. Six months and he had done so damn well at keeping it all
in, he didn't know why the past week or so he'd started to feel like he
might come out of his skin.
"Joe?" The sound of someone calling his name drifted from the house and Joe closed his eyes. Nick.
Over the last few weeks he had avoided running with Nick. Though no
longer Joe's partner on the force, and busy with fostering Mark, Joe's
best friend still made time to check on him every day. Joe knew Nick
cared about him and he felt ashamed of the way he'd treated Nick over
the last few months. But to run in the open spaces with the one person
who could see right through him was a challenge he couldn't rise to. Joe
had been so close on acting on the attraction he had felt for Nick.
He'd been closer to him than anyone in the world for a long time. Best
friends for so long and sometime lovers, Joe had entertained thoughts of
turning their relationship into something more serious when Mara had
happened. Mara with her soft skin, deep brown eyes, and her promise of a
family. He had made a choice, and never regretted it. The decision had
been a good one. Mara had been his other half for nearly four years, and
at the end of last year they had celebrated her becoming pregnant.
She'd had difficulty conceiving but fertility treatment at a new office
in town, had been their savior. The day Mara announced she was pregnant
was the best day of his life.
"Joe?" Nick had walked around the house into the backyard and could probably scent Joe now. In a few seconds he would find him.
God. Suddenly Joe had never felt so damn vulnerable. Nick kept touching
him, only trying to reassure, but if Nick laid hands on him one more
time with his strange mix of emotion and raised pheromones, Joe was
going to lay him out flat. He sighed. There was no way he was going to
betray Mara by acting on instinct. He wasn't some freaking wild feral
wolf. He was urbane and cultured. Yes, he was naked, but he and Nick had
seen each other post-shift a thousand times before. There was no need
to suddenly feel vulnerable at the lack of clothes. Reluctantly he stood
and walked the few steps to meet Nick on the patio. Nick didn't look
good.
"You look like shit," Joe observed. Pushing past him and ignoring the
familiar surge of lust that hit him with a powerful punch, Joe stalked
into the house. Nick would scent the arousal. Joe couldn't hide that any
more than Nick could. They hadn't acted on the attraction between them
in years, since Mara came into the picture. It didn't matter what Joe
had once imagined might have been between him and Nick; he had chosen
Mara and he was loyal to the core.
"You been running?" Nick ignored the statement about how he looked.
"Are we asking the obvious now, Zander?" Joe slipped into using the
shortened version of Nick's last name that had been their childhood
custom.
"Making conversation is all."
Joe stopped in his trek towards the shower. Nick had something about
him that didn't speak of good news. A scent, the way he held himself,
even the forced smile added to the effect.
"Nick?" Joe faced his childhood friend and saw fear in the other man's eyes. Fear and sorrow.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" What the hell had Nick done? Why was he sorry?
Anxiety gripped Joe and he stumbled back until he could feel the solid
work surface in the kitchen behind him. "Nick?"
"It's about Mara. Rob asked for her death to be re-examined--and the baby's."
"Why? They died because she was hit by a car." Grief, so visceral it took his breath, cut into him.
"Her toxicology panel was clear. The baby's showed signs of the inhibitor drug. The one they used on Sam and the other wolves."
Joe would have stumbled back if he hadn't had the hard surface to grip
on to. How could their baby have been exposed to that drug? Why? What?
Why was Nick standing there and telling him this? Why would he do that?
It had to be a joke. Nick took a step closer but the confusing scents of
shared pain and the need to comfort were all too much.
"No." He forced the single word out. "Don't touch me." He couldn't bear
to be touched. It would fuck with his brain and he needed to think.
"Joe, I am so sorry."
"Sorry for what? I don't understand. Why did Rob ask for this? What made you all think that her death... Nick? What happened?"
Tears choked his throat. Fuck. He thought he had dealt with the agony
of losing Mara. Imagined he had actually made his way past some of it.
His beautiful wife, her belly swollen with his son. His. Son. Joe lifted
his gaze and Nick held up a hand.
"Sam, the wolf from the first part of the inhibitor case, the one with no memory, that hooked up with Doug--"
"I know who the fuck Sam is. What does he have to do with Rob and reopening Mara's death?"
"He had information. Files. Last week he found evidence that there had
been experiments on pregnant she-wolves using the same inhibitor that
had been used on Sam."
"What evidence?"
"Nothing black and white, just an email from Quent to an unnamed
senator. Quent was reassuring..." Nick stopped talking, like suddenly it
was too hard to continue.
"Reassuring? Spit it out, Nick."
Get to the point where someone hurt my wife.
Find out more about this author:
http://www.rjscott.co.uk/
This is a two part giveaway. One winner will get a $25.00 Silver Gift Certificate for
Silver Publishing's site. A second winner will get their choice of
RJ Scott's backlist or SPLINTERED LIES.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
We'd like to thank
Silver Publishing and authors
RJ Scott and Diane Adams for joining in this hop with us and making this giveaway possible.
