Tuesday, November 11, 2014

BLOG TOUR: Screw It (It #2) by Nicki DeStasi




I’ve been screwed.

It started the day I was conceived.

When I was eleven, life crushed me into grotesque, mangled fragments. I glued the shards of myself into a mosaic fitting of a child. I learned one important thing from that experience.

Control.

Controlling your destiny keeps the vultures at bay. Control keeps my life from disintegrating. It keeps my life on the path to the woman I want to be.

Not who they say I am.

As time goes on, life hits and smashes and I take it. Every snide word, every crack in my heart, every self-righteous glance again and again.

Screw that.

I’m done.

It’s my turn to screw.


 





For the next hour, we play hide-and-seek. When I was a kid, I used to play this game with my parents. These days, I do it with both Jed’s and my sister, Christy’s, kids, but I’ve never had this much fun. That’s because Becca plays the game with more excited enthusiasm than the kids. She’s a totally different woman—throwing her head back and laughing, joking teasing, tickling.
It dawns on me that she didn’t have this growing up. I don’t know her whole story, but the bit I know tells me that smiling, laughing, and tickling didn’t happen often. So, now, she’s soaking it all up and giving it right back to these kids. It’s a thing of beauty.
This doesn’t take into account that, after a while, she pulls me into her fold. She grabs my hand and laughs without abandon when I do something goofy for the kids. Christ, she doesn’t stop smiling once, and it’s nothing but genuine, even when aimed at me.
It’s not just a thing of beauty. It’s beautifully sweet.
My girl—pure sweet.
Now, it’s Nick’s turn to seek, and he’s a speed counter, so as he fires off numbers faster than he eats jelly beans, Becca and I rush around to hide the other three. I pop Ashley in the shower and tell her to be quiet as Becca hides the other two somewhere in the room the girls share.
Nick gets to eighteen when I get out of the bathroom just as Becca emerges from the bedroom. My blood is pumping, and I’m grinning from ear to ear. Becca giggles as our eyes dart around, looking for a spot to hide.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
I spot a closet door, open it, and grab Becca’s hand to drag her in with me before closing the door, shrouding us in darkness.
Seconds tick by with our breaths coming out in heavy pants, the excitement still pumping through my body, when I realize that this closet is way too small for both of us. Her body is plastered against mine. Her face is at my chest, her hot breath seeping through my shirt, and it’s killing me. It’s not because I don’t want her exactly where she is, but because I don’t think she’s ready for what it’s doing to me. I can’t see a fucking thing, so every exhale and every movement is amplified in a way that’s making my dick hard.
“Thanks for the hiding spot,” she whispers against my shirt, making me grit my teeth.
“Don’t mention it,” I whisper back.
She smells so damn good, the scent of oranges and lavender permeating the air around us. I suck in a breath when she slowly, hesitantly snakes her arms around my waist.
“It’s more comfortable than having them squished between us.” She tenses her arms, accentuating her words.
“Mmhmm,” I mumble.
After a few seconds, she says quietly, “I forgot how good you smell.”
Fucking Christ.
Maybe I was wrong about her not being ready. My heart hammers, and my semi-hard cock jerks.
Tits sliding across my chest, she lifts up and gives my collarbone a touch of her tongue.
Fuck.
The feel of her tongue is soft, hot, wet. My chubby grows harder, and it takes everything in me not to drive my hands into her soft hair and take her mouth.
“Sweets, you sure you’re ready to go there?”
“I just wanted to see if you taste as good as I remember.” She glides back down.
The disappointment moving through me does nothing to stop my dick from throbbing. “Fuck, Becca. Don’t do that again if you’re not ready for that shit. There’s only so much a man can take.”
She’s silent.
I try to ease my dick down, but it’s pressed against her hard stomach, and I know she can feel it. There’s no way she could miss it, and the idea that she’s aware of my dick is not helping me find my calm. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s been six years, but I know how good she tastes, how well she takes direction in bed, how fucking phenomenal her tight pussy sliding up and down my cock as I hold her hands looks and feels.
Without thinking, I tangle both my hands in her hair, which is longer than before but no less soft. When she sucks in air, my hips jut forward, my dick rubbing against her tight abs.
A moan catches in her throat, so I tilt her head up. I move my head downward at a snail’s pace, giving her time to push me away.
A half inch from her mouth, feeling her heavy breath against my lips, I ask, “You sure?”
As her answer, she closes the distance, and the instant her lips touch mine, fire sweeps through me, and I’m all over her. With my tongue devouring and my hands on her ass, I take everything, and she gives it. Her nails dig into my shoulders as she moans.
The door swings open, and the light is blinding, even behind closed lids.
“Found you!”

Anna lives every day the best she can while struggling against the demons that threaten to consume her and drag her back into the darkness of her very troubled past. The last thing she needs right now is a guy, especially one as sweet and sexy as Jed. When the attraction becomes too strong to resist, she gives into it. Even when she knows it’ll only end in disaster and leave her even more her scared and broken than she was before.



Jed wants to find the right woman and he’s drawn to Anna by carnal magnetism, but she also brings out an Alpha side of him that he’s never known. When his alpha rears its head, it triggers memories in Anna and her carefully crafted wall of protection begins to show cracks.



When fate and misunderstandings threaten the already delicate relationship, can they survive? When Anna’s demons threaten to be unearthed and Jed’s inner alpha only seem to make them worse, can they overcome?



Is it even worth it?


Warning: This book contains graphic violence, sex, and adult language

 




Nicki DeStasi was raised in a small town in Massachusetts. She attended Fitchburg State College and studied Early Childhood Education. As a child, she enjoyed reading, but only recently began doing it again. She has always had an inventive imagination and finally decided to put those ideas on paper for others to enjoy. Worth It was Nicki’s first self-published book. A few personal facts: Sloth from The Goonies is her third cousin, she acted and stared in several plays throughout high school and college, and she can play four different instruments. Nicki’s philosophy is to appreciate the good things in life. If we didn’t make mistakes and have bad things happen then we wouldn’t know how truly wonderful the good things are. No matter how difficult life is sometimes, if we look to the people that love us, then we can get through them and on to the good stuff.












Saturday, September 20, 2014

BLOG TOUR: Outing The Quarterback By Tara Lain SPOTLIGHT+GIVEAWAY






Outing The Quarterback
(Long Pass Chronicles Series, Bk #1)
By Tara Lain


Blurb:


Will Ashford lives in two closets. He meets his wealthy father’s goals as both the quarterback for the famous SCU football team and a business major, but secretly he attends art school and longs to live as a painter. And he's gay. But if he can win the coveted Milton Scholarship for art, he’ll be able to break from his father at the end of his senior year.

In a painting master class, Will meets his divergent opposite, Noah Zajack. A scarred orphan who’s slept on park benches and eaten from trash cans, Noah carefully plans his life and multiple jobs so he has money and time to go to art school. Will's problems seem like nothing compared to Noah's. Noah wants the scholarship too and may have a way to get it since the teacher of his class has designs on him, a plan Will isn't happy about.

When a gossipmonger with a popular YouTube channel finds evidence that Will is gay, the quarterback’s closet doors begin to crumble. Hounded by the press and harassed by other players, Will has to choose. Stay in the closet and keep his family’s wealth, or let the doors fall off and walk out with nothing. Nothing but Noah.





Available for purchase at 


   




Excerpt

Will followed Noah up to the low-rise structure that looked more like a shed than a house. Clearly the thing had been built sometime early in the twentieth century without a single permit. Noah unlocked the door, although a burglar probably could have ripped down the walls and gotten in easily. 

Hell, Will couldn’t diss the place. He still lived at home.

Noah looked over his shoulder. “Home sweet home.” He walked in and Will followed.

Wow. He was kind of aware that he was in one medium-sized room, but pretty much all he saw was the huge, softly impressionistic painting of a nude man on the wall opposite the front door. Gorgeous didn’t do it justice. It or him. The model was more boy than man, with long brown hair falling down a lean, curved back. Only his profile showed as he gazed off into space with a look of pure longing. Though the face was perfect and Will had never seen such an expression, it could only be one person. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Holy shit, how did you know that?”

Will looked at Noah. The guy’s eyes were wide and a little horrified.

“It’s you the way you are inside. Maybe the way you were outside once. Full of hope and longing for joy.”

Silence.

Will glanced over and caught the fast blink wiping out the unshed tears. “The painting is gorgeous. You’re an amazing artist. Really. I should hate you.” He grinned at Noah.

Noah’s face never left dead serious. “Do you?”

“What?”

“Hate me?”

Oh shit, he couldn’t catch his breath. “Of course not.” Change. The. Subject. He looked around. “So this is your place. Doesn’t look like much outside, but you made it really cool.” That was true. Against one wall a daybed, actually made, looked like it could hold one person spaciously and two tightly. Okay, why the hell did he think of that? An old but very serviceable sectional couch divided off the sleeping area and curved underneath that gorgeous painting, with a chair opposite it. The rest of the room contained a kitchenette with a microwave, an under-counter refrigerator, and a few cabinets, plus a small table and two straight-back chairs. “You’re so neat.”

Noah shrugged. “You have to be in a place this small. Sit.” He pointed at one end of the sectional.

Will sat. “I wonder if I’m neat.” He grinned.

“You don’t know?”

“No. I’ve always had a maid.”

Noah flipped a hand at Will. “Jeez. How do you keep your bathroom between maid visits?”

“Messy.”

“There you go.”

“I don’t know. If I thought I had to pick up that towel myself, I might reform real fast.” He leaned back. “I guess I should start practicing.”

“Never too early to grow up. Want a beer?”

Coach would kill him. Plus, alcohol looked pretty crappy after last night. “No thanks.”

“I’ve got iced tea.”

“Yeah. That’d be great.” Noah walked over to the kitchenette. Jesus, watching the guy move in a confined space with nobody else around was too much for Will’s overtaxed, underserved cock. He put his hands in his lap.

Noah walked back with two glasses. They didn’t match. He handed one to Will and sat on the other part of the sectional. “So are you moving out soon?”

“Probably not until I finish school.”

“That’s a long time. You gonna be able to carry off the fiction?”

That was the question, but Noah didn’t even know how much. “I made it this far.”

“I’ll bet it gets harder all the time.”

Man, he had no idea. 

“What are your plans?”

Noah drank some tea. “Graduate school in art. I want to be able to teach as well as paint.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I’d love to go to Chicago, but I think UCLA will be good.”

“How will you do it?” He held his breath.

“Scholarships, I hope.”

“Milton?” He was turning blue.

“Sure. It’s the best. And I ought to be a contender. God knows, I can prove hardship.” He laughed.

“But it doesn’t depend on hardship.” Will swallowed hard.

“Sure. But who wouldn’t take it into consideration?” He frowned. “Besides, I hope I paint well enough.”

“Yeah. You’re a great painter. Like I said.” Will downed the cold, bitter tea. Shit, he didn’t want to compete with this kid. His evil voice asked the obvious question. Why, because you think he’ll win? “I should get going.”

“Sure.”

He felt weird. “I really like your place.”

“Thanks.”

He got up and took a few steps toward the door.

“Will.”

He didn’t turn around. Felt too strange. “Yeah.”

“You never answered my question.”

“What question?”

“Are you gay?”

Blood. Ice. “No. Why would you ask me that again?” He heard the couch cushion rustle, then footsteps behind him. Will turned around slowly, frowning. “What’s with you? Why would you think I’m gay?”



Noah stopped directly in front of him and looked up. Not far up. The guy was only a few inches shorter. Drowning in those eyes would be possible. “Because you look at me like you want to eat me.”





About the Author



Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 23. Her best­selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul­mate husband and her soul­mate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!



You can find Tara at

               

Giveaway

One signed print copy of Outing the Quarterback (US only)
One ebook copy of Outing the Quarterback (or any book of winner’s choice if book already purchased)
One $10 gift certificate to Amazon
One jewelry Outing the Quarterback bookmark (US only)






Presented By




Friday, September 19, 2014

BLOG TOUR: The Diamond Isles by S.Cu'Anam Policar SURPRISE REVIEW+GIVEAWAY


The Diamond Isles

Series: The Legend Begins Part 1

Saga: Legends of Xosha

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Author: S. Cu’Anam Policar

Publisher: Wolf Paw Publications

Cover Artist: Wolf Paw Designs (Jared Rackler)

Release Date: September 05, 2014





A strange white whelp found by The Gateway.


The winds tell her that destruction is coming.
That the horde can no longer remain in their home;
But no one will listen.


Rose has always been different.

Being mocked, abused, and shunned;
That's the story of her life.

The gods of her people whisper a dire warning to her.
An unknown enemy seeks The Diamond Isles.
She knows they must leave, to stay means their death.
She even knows where they must go.
She has seen their "xosha" in dreams and visions.

Will she be able to convince the Oni to leave?
Or will the things the winds spoke of come to pass?







Alright, so I read the sequel to this book The Rise of Xosha, which was supposed to come after this book, so naturally, I had questions that needed answered as to why the dragons really had to leave home and search for Xosha, and all of them were answered in this book! I do so adore that you get to see things from each dragon's view, if even a little, you can feel each emotion that the author puts into the scenes. I had a few moments while reading this book that were *gasp* and *squeal* but they were for AWESOME reasons! This book does have a few mildly graphic fight and death scenes, so if you're not okay with reading that, then don't grab this one. However... I was very pleased with how this book turned out and led right into the next story! I can't wait to see what happens next! 

**DISCLAIMER** 

I received this work pre-editing from the author and therefore cannot comment on the editing within.  



I didn’t ask to be what I am. 
I didn’t ask to be created. 
Everyday my very blood wars against itself. 
They don’t understand. 
They didn’t save me. 
They only turned me into an Abomination. 

Born a wolf, created to be a monster. Katalina DarkLaw, daughter of the DarkLaw pack alpha, finds herself losing more and more of who she is with every day that passes. Leaving behind a trail of murder and blood, she flees from her pack, right into the arms of Silver Von'Dyre, perpetual bachelor and alpha of Von'Dyre pack. 

Will his faith in her be enough to save her? Or, will she become the monster she fears she already is?




S.Cu'Anam Policar was born in Brooklyn, NY, but now lives in Washington State. The Mother of three she makes time to write, usually late at night.

An avid reader, she not only writes, but helps promote other authors with reviews of their books and sharing their special offers.


She is Pagan but respects all religions and believes everyone should celebrate their similarities and not worry about their differences.


When she has the time, she enjoys playing video games, horseback riding, singing, and writing things short stories.

As the founder of Wolf Paw Publications, she believes
quality work shouldn't cost an author an arm and leg. And while her prices are competitive, the quality of her work shines through.


She absolutely loves to make new friends so don't be afraid to come by and say hi on facebook!