My Favorite Reads of 2016! A Hodge-Podge of Excellence and Entertainment! #bookrecs

The rules for this list were simple: books I read in 2016, loved like whoa or found edifying in an important way, and (most importantly) didn’t beta read or edit.

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Seraphina & Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

These fantasy books featuring dragons and a wonderful, diverse cast of characters, including trans and gay characters, as well as a polyamorous end-game were simply wonderful. Highly recommended. I’d love to see more in this fascinating and well-drawn universe. My top reads of the year.

 

For Darkness Shows the Stars & Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

These fantasy books featured post-apocalyptic reimagining of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Baroness Orczy and Otto Penzler’s The Scarlet Pimpernel respectively. Unique world-building with descriptions that “roll film” before your eyes, these stories were addictive, new, and yet familiar all at once. Highly recommended. I’d love to see more in this universe, especially since a few threads are left dangling at the end of the second book. 

Backwards to Oregon by Jae

I both loved this book and found it frustrating, yet it’s making my Favorites of 2016 list. How’s that possible? I bought it expecting a lesbian Western and quickly realized that it was a trans Western more than anything else. Luke Hamilton is clearly a transman and I loved the aspect of the book that dealt with how stunted Luke’s life had to be to keep his secret. But, again, it’s advertised as a lesbian Western, and it consistently calls Luke “she” when written from Luke’s own point of view. Which, well, really made me uncomfortable. I started to replace the ‘she’ with ‘he’ in my mind just to ease the cognitive dissonance. I wish that the author would edit this book to reflect Luke as a transman, removing the female pronouns, because it was, otherwise, an excellent, well-researched, very engaging read that’d I’d highly recommend. It’s a shame that it’s so good and yet this issue makes it deeply uncomfortable at times. Or maybe that’s a good thing, too. It certainly made me think.

Rorschach Blots by RoughDraftHero

This book is short and you can pay whatever you like for it (including nothing at all) over at Smashwords. I can’t recall what made me pick it up. It’d been in my TBR for a long time, but this year I finally got around to it. I will say that this book is pretty problematic in that it covers a teacher and student getting involved in deeply inappropriate ways. It wasn’t even wildly well-written, but, dude, it’s free-ish, so let’s get our priorities in order here. It smacked of repurposed fan fiction, but I’m down with that, and maybe it wasn’t even and it just had that feel. BUT it’s on my Favorites of 2016 list for a reason and that is the really fascinating psychological stuff going on when you’ve got a young, uneducated, fledgling dom trying to assert himself over an older, not entirely educated sub who is resisting every step of the way because, duh, he’s the dom’s teacher. I’d probably sell a kidney to see a sequel to this book, to be honest. Okay, not a kidney. But I’d make statements like, “I’d sell a kidney” and hope the author would just simply deliver for me despite no kidneys being sold. Recommended if you enjoy twisted set ups with odd pay-offs and lots of spanking.

Blue on Black by Carole Cummings

Fantasy-Western with angry men who are desperately attracted to each other? Yes, please. Fascinating world-building with several unexpected twists that I didn’t see coming? Double heck-yeah! I’m always excited when a book surprises me, because, to be honest, it doesn’t happen a lot. So I was pleased as punch when I got to say, “Now, what? Didn’t see that coming!” while reading this book. I’m a sucker for fantasy books and this one was my cuppa all the way. Broody men with high-stakes and a mystery that kept me curious until the end. Recommended!

The Mystery of Nevermore by C.S. Poe

I adored this mystery by C.S. Poe. It had hints of Adrien English without all the almost unbearable angst. If you enjoy acerbic characters who are sexy while solving mysteries and who just can’t keep themselves out of trouble, then you’ll enjoy this one, too. This book felt like an old friend. It has the vibe of a cozy mystery despite being set in bustling New York City. Maybe it’s because of the heaps of snow? Regardless, this is a lovely read and I recommend it.

 

Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles by Eli Easton

I’ll just admit up front that I have a certain weakness for a younger/older book where the older character is the more flamboyant, over-the-top, dramatic one, and the younger character is steady and steadfast. This absorbing read hit that button hard and fast, and I loved it. Easily one of my all-time favorite Christmas reads, I lost track of time while reading this one and ended up staying up until 3:30 am. Not even on purpose! I was so absorbed, I didn’t even know what time it was! Highly recommended. Very cute. Loved it. Would read again.

Jake Bass Phase? Colby Keller Phase? What? Boy Meets Boy #free #gay

I’m over at Boy Meets Boy to help them celebrate their anniversary with a free giveaway from my back catalog and discussions of porn stars! LOL!

“To enter to win an ebook copy of your choice from Leta Blake’s backlist, please leave a comment on this blog post and let us know 1 your name and a means of contacting you e.g., email, Twitter handle, link to Goodreads account, etc. and 2 What are your Desert Island Keepers?The giveaway is open until 10:00PM Pacific time on November 9th. Shortly thereafter, we will contact a winner whom we will select using a highly scientific “names in a hat” method or, you know, an internet randomizer. Please respond to the winning notification within 48 hours or we will choose another winner.”

via Boy Meets Boy Reviews: Anniversary Shenanigans: Author Visit and Giveaway: Leta Blake.

“It’s a Leta Blake book so caring deeply for the main protagonists is a given.” The River Leith | 3 Chicks After Dark #mmromance #gay

“It’s a Leta Blake book so caring deeply for the main protagonists is a given. Along with the excitement of love and the hardship of sustaining harmony. The River Leith is a poignant journey with Leith and Zach. Their difficult task to find the high ground as the banks of their lives are flowing over and carrying with it the potential to drown them.”

RATING: BAD ASS BOOTS!!

via The River Leith by Leta Blake | 3 Chicks After Dark.

Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Fan Favorite The River Leith is on iTunes Now! #gay #mmromance #amnesia

Click on the pic to go to iTunes!

Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Montana Cowboy College, Or Everything I Know About Ranching #research #writing #extras

I would say the most helpful online resource when writing about Rob’s ranch in Training Season was the site Montana Cowboy College. It is full of fantastic information like Lessons in Ranching, which gives information on calving (needed for a scene that was deleted).

Another helpful page was the ranch hand job description. (Did your dirty mind read that the wrong way, too? No? Just me? Typical.) Which allowed me to figure out what would be some realistic activities for Rob and hands.

In addition, the Photo Gallery is full of amazing ranching and Montana pictures. Have a look to see some really cute pics of cows, some cool shots of ranchers, and some lovely scenery.

The absolute most helpful part, though, was the blog associated with the page, Millenium Cowboy . Basically, it helped with forming really realistic ideas of what a day of ranch work looked like, felt like, and, most especially, what terms were used in discussing the cattle or the work itself, because ranching, like all specialties, has it’s own little language.

Oh, and look at that, a new update on that blog shows there was knee deep snow on October 4th of this year! So, hooray, the snow in my book is possible! *gives self high five* I definitely made the right choice in changing the setting to Montana! *does a boogie*

Those of you looking into writing a book about ranching in Montana, definitely check out these links and buy his book! Extremely good stuff!

Training Season can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, ARe, and Smashwords. And also on iBooks.
Unquestionably talented figure skater Matty Marcus is willing to sacrifice everything for his Olympic dream, but his lack of discipline cost him the gold once before. Now the pressure’s on. He needs a coach who can keep him in line, but top coaches don’t come cheap, and Matty can’t afford to stay in the game no matter how badly he wants to win.
When a lucrative house-sitting gig brings him to rural Montana, Matty does his best to maintain his training regimen. Local residents turn out to be surprisingly tolerant of his flamboyant style, especially handsome young rancher Rob Lovely, who proves to be much more than a cowboy stereotype. Just as Matty requires a firm hand to perform his best on the ice, Rob shows him how strong he can be when he relinquishes control in the bedroom. With new-found self-assurance, he drives himself harder to go straight to the top.
But competition has a timetable, and to achieve his Olympic dream, Matty will have to join his new coach in New York City, leaving Rob behind. Now he must face the ultimate test. Has he truly learned how to win—on and off the ice—during his training season?

Driving to & Skating On Flathead Lake – Training Season Extras! #flatheadlake #montana #mmromance

I had to do quite a bit of research on Whitefish, MT and Flathead Lake to write Training Season. While I’m sure I got some things wrong, and I know I stretched some of the timing to work the way I needed it to work, the power of the internet has made learning details about an area so much easier.

For example, Matty goes skating on Flathead Lake. I couldn’t have him near the biggest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, where the bays sometimes freeze over, in the middle of winter, without making him skate on it, now could I? But I haven’t been to Flathead County, much less skated on the lake, so I had no idea what that might be like. I did a google search, and lo and behold! Someone had posted to YouTube with a video of them skating on Flathead Lake! For real! And the comments had some awesome information that I really needed to make sure the scene I was writing was feasible and correctly described!

Quotes from the comments:

Em Powers said: “What you can’t see because the I’m skating by it too fast, is that the cracks in the ice show that it is about a foot thick. There were lots of ice fisherman out that day too. It has to be pretty cold for a long amount of time (or really cold for awhile) and there can’t be wind which kicks up waves, or snow or sleet during the crucial time when the ice is forming. That makes bumps in the ice and then it’s impossible to skate on. If we get to skate on it every three years, we’re lucky. There might be some bays where it’s always smooth when it freezes, but I’m not familiar with them. It doesn’t always freeze over, but it is not uncommon. It’s pretty big (30 miles long by 16 miles wide) so sometimes it isn’t completely frozen. The year I took the video (2007), there was a lot of very cold weather and little wind, which makes for a nice smooth surface on which to skate.”

In addition, I found this great video of the drive to Flathead Lake, which allowed me to have a good idea of what it is like to drive around in that area of Montana. I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t find this video all that fascinating, but, man, this was a lifesaver to me! Thank you, Pat, for posting this!

How did writers actually write before the internet? It beats me! Thank God for it!

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No way! We’re on USA Today? Crazy! #mmromance #erotica

Cover by Dar Albert.

Apparently USA Today is hosting a blog called Happily Ever After and Love’s Nest was featured as a new release. They didn’t provide a buy link, so allow me to provide it for you now!

AMAZON BUY LINK

It might be an associated blog, and it might not be a review, and it might be that many other releases were also featured, but, dude, I’m still excited. *twirl* So, yay! That was super cool! I’ll definitely take it and call it a win.

In other news, this weekend was eaten up by swim team and that’s that. I am making progress on ’90s Coming of Age Novel. I’ve also determined how I want to release it and that has freed me up emotionally to start getting excited about it. Of course, it’s probably another nine months from a release, but slow progress is still progress.

I always look like a woman about to run a bunch of miles in the early morning sun when I’m writing. I’m just that determined and eager and open to the plodding step-by-step that it will take to progress from here to there, and open to the beauty that can be absorbed with each stride forward, too. Okay, so not always, but on a good day, for sure.

Reading: The Chimera Affair

Yikes! The long weekend messed up my mental week, and I failed to post yesterday. I strive to post on Monday and Thursday, but this week it will have to be Monday and Friday!

The Chimera Affair

My co-author and friend, Keira Andrews, has a new book out that I helped her edit this past autumn. It’s a traditional spy novel complete with a super-sexy spy and his very attractive mark-turned-hostage-turned-love-interest, but this novel’s all suped-up with plenty of ridiculously hot gay sex because this time the mark-turned-love-interest is another guy! Kyle and Sebastian have great chemistry and the book is a fun ride that feels like a movie. It’s been in the top five books sold through LooseID in the last few weeks and has a 4+ star rating at Goodreads. I find that I’m way too biased and invested to give it any kind of accurate review — but if you’re wanting a hot, fun, summer read that’s full of hot gay sex and a hate-to-love dynamic this is definitely a book that you’ll enjoy.

Also, also, also eeeeeeee! I love it! I love Keira and her book and editing for her and I love it!

Buy The Chimera Affair at LooseID and enjoy hot, gay, sexy spy goodness!

 

ETA: Lo and behold! Someone did all my work for me! A very accurate review of my friend Keira’s new book. I couldn’t have said it better myself. (I disagree about the Bond-like stuff being too much and almost snapping suspension of disbelief — because it’s not as though the spy had some secret car with weapons installed like Bond often has, but obviously this is a ‘to each his own’ kind of opinion. Otherwise I thought it was a fair and accurate review. )