Padme's Library: 05/02/18

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Release Blitz: Forged in Fire by Ari McKay

Title: Forged in Fire

Author: Ari McKay

Series: Asheville Arcana #2

Genre: M/M Romance, Paranormal, Shifters

Release Date: May 1, 2018

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Summary:
The magic touch.

Ever since Harlan Edgewood was bitten by a possessed werewolf, his monthly shifts have been agonizing. When he meets Whimsy Hickes—a mage who specializes in transformation—the attraction is mutual. But Harlan believes his curse is too great a burden to inflict on any romantic partner.

Fortunately, Whimsy thinks he can help.

When Harlan is provoked into an unexpected change, Whimsy uses his magic to help ease Harlan’s pain, but with an unexpected consequence. While he’s shifted, Harlan’s wolf claims Whimsy as his mate.

As they draw closer, suspicious events in the Asheville magical community escalate. Shifters are disappearing, others are murdered, and Harlan’s curse makes him an obvious target. It will take all of Whimsy’s magic to force back the rising evil—and if he fails, Harlan will lose not only his life, but his very soul.

Out of the Ashes #1
Summary:
In their differences, they’ll find strength—and love.

Alpha werewolf Eli Hammond returns from a fishing trip to discover a nasty surprise—five members of his pack murdered and the rest missing. He needs help locating and rescuing his pack mates, but the supernatural council in Asheville, North Carolina, turns him away.

Except for one man.

As they work together, Eli is stunned—and not especially thrilled—to discover half-elf Arden Gilmarin is his destined mate. But as Arden and his friends struggle to help Eli in his quest, Eli surrenders to the demands of his body—and his heart. They’ll need to bond together, because the forces opposing them are stronger and more sinister than anyone predicted. The evil has its sights set on Arden, and if Eli wants to save his mate and the people he is entrusted with protecting, he’s in for the fight of his life.

Author Bio:
Ari McKay is the professional pseudonym for Arionrhod and McKay, who collaborate on original m/m fiction. They began writing together in 2004 and finished their first original full length novel in 2011. Recently, they’ve begun collaborating on designing and creating costumes to wear and compete in at Sci Fi conventions, and they share a love of yarn and cake.

Arionrhod is an avid costumer, knitter, and all-around craft fiend, as well as a professional systems engineer. Mother of two human children and two dachshunds who think they are human, she is a voracious reader with wildly eclectic tastes, devouring romance novels, military science fiction, horror stories and Shakespeare with equal glee. She is currently preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

McKay is an English teacher who has been writing for one reason or another most of her life. She also enjoys knitting, reading, cooking, and playing video games. She has been known to knit in public. Given she has the survival skills of a gnat, she’s relying on Arionrhod to help her survive the zombie apocalypse.

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / FB FRIEND

WEBSITE / NEWSLETTER / AUDIBLE

PINTEREST / DREAMSPINNER / B&N

GOOGLE PLAY / TUMBLR / KOBO

iTUNES / AMAZON / GOODREADS

Forged in Fire #2

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / B&N

KOBO / BOOKS2READ / GOOGLE PLAY

DREAMSPINNER / GOODREADS TBR

Out of the Ashes #1

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / B&N

KOBO / iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY

DREAMSPINNER / GOODREADS TBR

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Brought to you by:

Book Blitz: The Enchanted Garden Cafe by Abigail Drake

Title: The Enchanted Garden Cafe

Author: Abigail Drake

Series: South Side Stories #1

Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 1, 2018

Summary:
For her sixth birthday, Fiona Campbell’s mother, Claire, made her a peace sign piñata filled with wishes for a better planet instead of candy. When she got her period, her mother held a womanhood ceremony at their café and invited the neighborhood. On her sixteenth birthday, they celebrated with a drum circle.

Fiona grew up trying to keep the impulsive Claire in check, and their struggling café afloat. She plans to move out, but first must find a way to stop a big corporation from tearing down their business and destroying her mother’s livelihood.

Claire thinks karma will solve their financial and legal problems. Fiona prefers a spreadsheet and a solid business plan. The last thing she has time for is Matthew Monroe, a handsome complication who walks through their door with a guitar on his back and a naughty gleam in his eye. But when disaster strikes, and Fiona’s forced to turn to him for help, will she learn to open her heart and find she can believe in something magical after all?

A group of tea ladies, full of good food and tea, came in, ready to shop. One of them, a sweet, little old thing in a blue dress with a matching hat, approached us. “I’d like to buy some of that tea we had today. It was wonderful.”

“The Tea of Love?” asked Mom with a warm smile. “I’ll get some for you.”

When Mom went to get the tea, Old Blue Hat pulled me aside. “I have to know, how does she do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Her teas are incredible. I’ve never tasted anything like them. And they work.”

“Work?” I frowned, confused.

“When I first started coming here, my joints ached constantly. She gave me a tea that took all the pain away. I can walk and bend and even do a little dancing.” She demonstrated with a little wiggle of her hips. “And after she gave us the Elixir of Youth tea, I honestly feel ten years younger.”

“That’s nice,” I said, not sure where this was going.

“Today’s Tea of Love was fantastic. I feel . . . romantic. I know you must have had some too. I saw you cry when the nice young man played his guitar.”

“I had dust in my eye. And a bug.”

She looked unconvinced. “Your mom has some kind of special magic. I’m sure of it. I can spot someone with the gifta mile away.”

I wanted to groan but controlled myself. “She knows a great deal about herbs, and some teas have anti-inflammatory properties . . .”

“Then how do you explain the inflammation to my libido? My Harry is going to be a happy man this evening.”

The idea of Old Blue Hat and her husband getting it on was more than I could handle. I wanted to erase that image from my mind forever.

“And you have to admit he is a looker,” she said.

“Who?” I hoped she wasn’t talking about Harry. I didn’t want to know what Harry looked like. The name was enough.

“The boy with the guitar. If I were forty or fifty years younger . . .” She fanned herself with a white-gloved hand.

Mom brought out the tea, and I rang up her order. We packaged the specialty teas in sheer silk bags tied with satin flowers like pretty little sachets.

I decided to clarify things. “There is nothing going on between the guitar guy and me. Nothing at all.”

Old Blue Hat gave me a knowing wink. “It didn’t look that way.”

“I have a boyfriend, and I’m happy, so happy I can barely stand it.”

“You’re a lucky girl.”

“Yes, I am. Thank you. Have a nice day.” I forced a pleasant smile onto my face. Old Blue Hat meant no harm, but she annoyed me.

When I turned to restock the shelves, I slammed right into a wall of solid muscle. Matthew stood there with a strange expression on his face. “That guy last night was your boyfriend? The suit?”

“His name is Scott.”

Matthew looked like he was about to speak, but one of the women came up with a stone phallus. “Is this a dildo?” she asked in her sweet little-old-lady voice.

Matthew choked back a laugh and walked away, leaving me to answer her question on my own. I found nothing humorous about the situation. “No, ma’am, it’s a fertility charm.”

“Oh,” she said, comprehension dawning in her bright-blue eyes. “A virilitycharm. I’ll take two.”

Author Bio:
Award winning author Abigail Drake has spent her life traveling the world, and collecting stories wherever she visited. She majored in Japanese and International Economics in college and worked in import/export and as an ESL teacher before she committed herself full time to writing. She writes in several romance genres, and her books are quirky, light, fun, and sexy. Abigail is a trekkie, a book hoarder, the master of the Nespresso machine, a red wine addict, and the mother of three boys (probably the main reason for her red wine addiction). A puppy named Capone is the most recent addition to her family, and she blogs about him as a way of maintaining what little sanity she has left.

Abigail, who also writes young adult fiction under the name Wende Dikec, is the winner of the prestigious 2017 Prism Award for her book Traveller, and the International Digital Award for her young adult book, Tiger Lily. In addition, she was a finalist in the Golden Pen, the Golden Leaf, the Dante Rossetti Book Award, and the Cygnus Award for Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction.

For more information about Abigail, visit her website.

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / WEBSITE

AMAZON / GOODREADS

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / GOODREADS TBR

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Brought to you by:

Release Blitz: Whisper by Garrett Leigh

Title: Whisper

Author: Garrett Leigh

Series: Skins #2

Genre: M/M Romance

Release Date: May 1, 2018

Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Summary:
Standalone second book in the Skins series.

Lonely physiotherapist Harry Foster has the world at his feet. A full client list, a six figure Instagram following, and a publishing deal for a book he doesn’t have time to write until his agent offers him a break—a retreat to the wild south west coast.

Cornish horseman Joe Carter is lonely too. Rescuing horses and managing Whisper Farm takes up most of his days, and by night he plays chicken with the farm’s perilous bank accounts.

At his sister’s unwelcome suggestion, he rents his only bedroom to a bloke from the city, and when Harry arrives, he’s everything Joe isn’t—calm, patient, and gorgeous enough to be exactly the kind of distraction Joe doesn’t need.

Harry doesn’t have time for distractions either—even shirtless farmers riding bareback past his bedroom window—but his moody host proves impossible to ignore.

On paper, they have nothing in common, but Joe is beautiful…glorious, and when an accident puts his life in Harry’s healing hands, the whisper of true love is inevitable. If the trouble that put the farm on its knees in the first place doesn’t get in the way.

Dream #1
Summary:
I can’t sleep…

When unrequited love leaves Dylan Hart sleepless and nursing his wounds, instinct draws him to the one place he's found mindless respite in the past—Lovato’s. It’s a place for every fantasy — for crazy-hot encounters — where a night of insane NSA sex brings relief to Dylan’s fragile feelings.

It should be a perfect escape, and for one magical night it seems that way, but then worlds collide, and reality bites when his hookup desperately needs a friend. Surely Dylan can’t trust his instincts when friendship has bruised his heart so badly before?

It’s burying me alive…

The deck is stacked against former ballet dancer Angelo Giordano ever finding real love. At least visiting Lovato’s offers respite from a life defined by illness; a glimmer of light in the dull grey of his so-called life without dance. But then he encounters Dylan — a glorious ray of the brightest sunshine — who makes his heart pound once more with purpose.

Angelo’s mind is blown by this man, but the disease that ended his career won’t let him bask in new love. He’s drowning, and Dylan can’t save him while insecurities swamp them both. The only way to make it means confronting their demons.

If Dylan can turn his back on the past, and Angelo can face his uncertain future, maybe they can chase their dreams together.

Author Bio:
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at Black Jazz Design, and co-owns the specialist stock site Moonstock Photography with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.