Monday, February 26, 2018

Tuesday Tales - Cabinet




 It`s time for Tuesday Tales.



Today we have an excerpt from A Star-Crossed Christmas, which is a Cayuga Cougars short story being written for a hockey holidays anthology coming out later this year!

Our word prompt today is “Cabinet”. In today’s scene, we see the heat between these childhood friends starting to increase. 

This story may have gay erotic scenes, strong social issues addressed and mature language. If those things offend now is the time to move onto another Tuesday Tales blog. Thanks for stopping by!




There were rails and jumps built into the yard. The rails set in concrete, the jumps made from old picnic tables and then manicured after the snows fell and buried the tables. Exiting the Subaru, I smiled at the sight. Kirk and Adam were ripping around the yard on four-wheelers, Kirk, a senior at Liberty High – Go Liberty Lions! – was pulling Adam, a freshman, back up to the driveway on a snowboard. A long length of rope was the towline. It was crazy dangerous, and it was exactly what Shaun and I had done for years.
I looked at Shaun as his brothers raced past, shouting obscenities.
“How soon can we hit those pipes?” I asked.
He opened the hatch on the car and handed me his famed yellow board. “Soon as you get a board under you.”
“Dude, no. That’s your baby.”
“I insist. She’ll do you good.” He shoved the safflower board into my chest and we went inside to find some boots that fit me. Mrs. Sandbeck met us at the door with a hug for me and a warning for her two youngest boys to be delivered by Shaun.
“Tell them that I do not want to see them towing without helmets,” she said to Shaun, while patting my cold cheeks. She was so pretty and smart. She was also the first black woman to hold the title of Mayor of Liberty.
“He can tell them, but they won’t listen,” Mr. Sandbeck tossed out as he passed by with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. “Good to see you, Mitch.”
“You too, Mr. S.” I slid into the massive closet just inside the front door. It was packed with coats, boots, boxes of bindings, skates hanging off hooks, skis, a sled, several hockey sticks, and a baseball bat and several wet softballs making a puddle on the stone floor. There were cabinets packed with gloves, hats, and scarves.
“Well, at least I’ll have done my motherly duty by warning them. This way when they end up concussed I can say, ‘I told you so’. Seems all I do is tell these boys the same things over and over. ‘Please use Febreze in your room’ or ‘I dislike crusty socks in my hamper’ or ‘If you’re in the same room that I am there will be no hands down the front of your pants’. Take the blue ones, Mitch, they’re Shaun’s old ones and should fit you.”
“Right, I’ll tell them.” Shaun said to his mother while I toed off my snow boots and wiggled my feet into Shaun’s old board boots. I was having major fuzzy feelings. The memories of doing this very thing for years ran over me like a warm summer rain.
“You are coming over tomorrow afternoon, right?”
I glanced up at Mrs. S while trying to get the liner in place so I could lace. “Oh, uh, sure, yeah. I’d love to.”
“Good.” She smiled warmly at me, gave Shaun a look that I did not grasp, and then went off to do mayorly things, I guess.
“She’s the best,” I told Shaun and bent over to lace up the heavy boots.
“Yeah, she’s great. I’m glad you’re coming over. I have something for you.”
“I have something for you too,” I whispered, feeling awkward and fat-fingered.
“Cool but not necessary. Now hurry up and lace. I’m anxious to see if you remember how to spin a one eighty.”
“Please. I knew how to spin a one-eighty when we were in third grade.”
An hour later I was back in snowboarding 101. It was embarrassing how much I’d forgotten. I’d kind of bitched about Shaun lecturing me, but after I wiped out after a simple Ollie, he’d put his boot down. We’d manage to work up through five or so simple tricks that I now had good control of. Muscle memory or something, maybe? Or maybe it was my awesome teacher.
“Okay, so, now that you’re back to where you were when we were like four,” Shaun teased, giving me a hard shoulder bump, “I want you to try something easy but will grab you some short air.”
Snow was falling at a steady but slow rate. Kirk and Adam had gone inside to eat lunch, leaving the yard for us to enjoy.
“Your body awareness is good, so let me see you try an indy grab,” Shaun said.
“Okay, yeah, I remember doing those.” I pulled my knit hat down over my ears. It kept moving up my head. Maybe my big, dumb ears were pushing it up
“Good. Come into the jump with some speed, but not too much. They’re super straight forward, so when you get some air, bend your knees and reach your backhand down to grab the board.”
“Right. Got it.” Shaun grinned and pounded on my back. Then he stood back and motioned me to head down the yard and hit that first jump. “If I nail this, and I will because I’m the boss of backyard boarding, you’ll owe me at least an hour on the ice before I go home.”
“Mitch, if you hit this trick, I’ll give you two hours on the ice and I won’t even wear skates.”
I nodded and placed the board in my hand on the snow and fastened my boots to it. The blue boots kind of clashed and were a bit tight, but who cared?
“Now remember about pressing and ollies, and keep your weight distributed on the board,” Shaun reminded me.
I rolled my eyes and edged to the slope. Down I went, the wind bitter cold in my face, my eyes watering, and my heart thumping fast as I picked up speed. I hit the jump way too fast, I knew it as soon as I cleared the snow-covered picnic table, and when I bent my knees to reach for the board, I threw myself off balance. When I hit the ground, the edge of the board dug into the snow instead of the flat bottom, and I went face first into the snow. My chin caught the brunt of the crash, and I bit down on my lower lip. Blood filled my mouth. I started to snicker.
Shaun was bellowing my name, the shouts getting closer. I rolled to my back, nose and eyes packed with snow, lip bleeding, laughing softly.
“Mitch, man, are you okay? Shit, you’re bleeding.” He dropped down beside me, kneeling on my arm then quickly apologizing and sliding his knee off my bicep. “Dude, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I brushed at the powder on my lashes and sneezed a time or two as I sat up and freed my boots from the board. “Just busted my lip, it’s good,” I snorted in amusement.
“Shit, you look rough,” he said, his voice losing the panic it had held a minute ago. “Here.” He pulled off a glove, dug around inside his thick coveralls, and pulled out a hankie. Resting on his calves, he pressed the red square of soft cotton to my lip. I winced but continued sniggering at myself. The humor of talking shit and then wiping out so royally amusing me to no end. He pulled the hankie away, leaning in to study my lip at close range. His sleek eyebrows knotting then smoothing out. “Okay, it’s just a small gash. Don’t think it needs stitches. The moms will be upset.”
He placed the hankie tenderly to my lip again. I blinked some wet from my lashes, and met his look, intending to say something about moms and worrying. Instead, I found myself fixated on a perfect little flake of snow landing on a cheek the same color as sunbaked driftwood. The flake rested on his warm flesh for a second and then turned into a small droplet of water. I watched, spellbound, as it ran down over his stubbled jaw.
“Mitch.”
My gaze moved up to meet his. His touch was still gentle on my lip, the cotton held in place with two fingers. I reached up to pull the square aside. All I wanted now was…something. Maybe to have him press his mouth to mine again. There was a smoldering fire igniting in his brown eyes.





Copyright 2018 ©by V.L. Locey

*~*~*

Click on the link below to return to the Tuesday Tales main blog for more great reads from the Tuesday Tales authors.



Wednesday, February 21, 2018

MM Goodness Review - Dead Things by Meredith Russell






#MM #PostApocalyptic #SciFi

KU Exclusive


Some of you may not know this, but I am a HUGE fan of zombies. I love the heck out of books/shows/movies about survival in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with shuffling dead folk. There’s just something about watching those last survivors working out how to go on, how to live and love, in a world gone mad that I find wildly appealing. Hence my devotion to The Walking Dead, why I went to see Max Brooks speak at our local college (he was fab by the way), and why I penned an MM series about just such a thing a few years ago. I’m big on the zombies.

So, when I find a great book in this genre with gay leads, I want to shout about it, because they’re few and far between. Or at least I’ve not come across many. Dead Things is a wonderful tale of loss, pain, recovery, and love. The world building is superb, the plot perfectly paced and suspenseful, and the dialog crisp. And then we have the romance, which is done so well and with such regard to the horrors both men have endured, I just wanted to weep in sympathy and joy.


Ms. Russell has done an excellent job and I cannot wait to leap into the next book in the series.


5 out of 5 stars


Monday, February 19, 2018

Tuesday Tales - Cozy




 It`s time for Tuesday Tales.



Today we have an excerpt from A Star-Crossed Christmas, which is a Cayuga Cougars short story being written for a hockey holidays anthology coming out later this year. This short brings Mitch Adams, the new Cougars goalie back home to Conneticut for the holidays. 

Can Mitch and his childhood friend, Shaun Sandbeck, an Olympic snowboarder, untangle the riotous emotions that a shared kiss two years ago left Mitch feeling? Or will they remain star-crossed and lonely during the most joyous of seasons?

Our word prompt today is “Cozy”. In today’s scene, we get to see inside the head of our new goalie. It’s always interesting inside a goalie’s mind, isn’t it?

This story may have gay erotic scenes, strong social issues addressed and mature language. If those things offend now is the time to move onto another Tuesday Tales blog. Thanks for stopping by!




All that aside, it was an amazing job because I was doing what I loved, what I had dreamed of since I was old enough to stand on skates.  They were big on winter sports back home. Hockey, skiing, figure skating, snowboarding. Liberty Springs – which was located near the base of Mohawk Mountain - had a great rink as well as killer ski trails. We also had an incredible snowboarding park that the Sandbeck clan had been instrumental in getting built.

Shaun Sandbeck was an old friend of mine. Maybe more than a friend if I were being truthful with myself. What we were to each was kind of up in the air yet though. We’d been inseparable as kids until college had led me to Boston U. while Shaun had taken his ability to hit a perfect half cab quadruple back-flip and turned it into Olympic snowboard slopestyle gold. Shaun had been one of three openly gay athletes at the games last year. Him, a skier, and a figure skater. They’d all gone on to win medals and the hearts of the world – or most of the world - for being out and proud.

It had been a couple of years since I’d seen Shaun in person. He kind of haunted me. Not in that classic Scooby-Doo ghost sort of way, following you around while you and Shaggy checked out creepy rooms while nervously eating Scooby snacks. More in the way that we’d been so close and then we drifted apart and then came back and got super close and then we lost each other again. It was as if the fates were making it purposely difficult for us to come together as adults. Adults who might have some sort of attraction thing maybe? Or maybe not. It was such a --

“Mitch, are you done in here?”

I glanced up from the sweater in my hand to see my roommate on the road, Sander March, our first line center, standing in the doorway, shoulder on the jamb, eyebrows raised in expectation, clad only in his boxer briefs. The hotel bathroom was still steamy from my morning shower. I’d pulled on some underwear and my jeans and then had a long walk down memory lane. I’d been doing that a lot lately, mentally slipping back to that last time Shaun and I had been together. Maybe my meandering mind was due to the knowledge I’d be back in Liberty Springs soon. Walking down Main Street, stopping at the Liberty Springs Café for coffee, and then heading to Sashing and Scrim, the cozy quilt shop that Shaun’s grandmother ran. We’d both worked there every summer as kids, helping with the heavy bolts of material, and being fed Grandma Sandbeck’s cinnamon butter cookies. If I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could smell cinnamon and vanilla and hear Shaun’s mischievous laughter. Shaun and I had our first and only kiss in that quilt shop basement…

Sander cleared his throat.

       “Sorry, yeah.” I tugged the sweater over my head, rammed my fingers through my hair, and called it good.




Copyright 2018 ©by V.L. Locey

*~*~*

Click on the link below to return to the Tuesday Tales main blog for more great reads from the Tuesday Tales authors.



Saturday, February 17, 2018

Saturday Story Spotlight - DJ Jamison's Hearts and Health Volume #1





#MM #Medical #Romance #Contemporary




Hearts and Health: Volume 1
DJ Jamison 

Three full-length novels in a m/m romance series have been boxed up for one price! Sexy nurses with trust issues, overconfident doctors coping with reality checks, and hard-working students come together to find their hearts and health in small-town Kansas. 

HEART TROUBLE – BOOK 1

Fresh off his latest heartbreak, nurse Ben Griggs is wary when one of his patients shows an interest in him — especially when that patient showed up in the ER after a motorcycle accident. Ben isn’t the kind of guy who can hold the interest of an adrenaline junkie like Gage Evans for long. If he can’t find a way to trust Gage with his heart, they may be destined to have a fling that goes nowhere.

BEDSIDE MANNER – BOOK 2

Dr. Paul Johnston can’t get a set of dark, somber eyes out of his head, and the timing couldn’t be worse. Zane Kavanaugh came through the ER, a victim of a hate-fueled assault, and Paul can’t forget him. But under review after a complaint, he also can’t afford to fall for a patient. Paul is afraid to start a relationship, and Zane can only handle so much more rejection. Paul may have to make a choice: His career or the first man to capture his heart.

URGENT CARE – BOOK 3

Dr. Trent Cavendish made a huge mistake when he walked away from the love of his life at age 18. When his best friend suddenly dies 12 years later, it rattles Trent into seeing how empty his life has become. He returns to his hometown, hoping to make amends to the man he left behind. Instead of the sweet but tame guy he remembers, Trent runs into a smoking-hot Xavier James dressed in bits of lace and silk at a gay nightclub. His plan to earn Xavier’s forgiveness immediately shifts to lust, and love’s not far behind.

Each of these books was previously published individually as part of the Hearts and Health series. 

TO BUY - Universal amazon link: mybook.to/heartsandhealth

My Website: ReadingDj.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/djJamison
FB group: DJ and Company: www.facebook.com/groups/djandcompany
Newsletter sign-up: www.tinyurl.com/djandcompany




Wednesday, February 14, 2018

New Release News -Poke Check Railers #4



Happy Valentine’s Day!


Today is a special day for lovers and this post is filled with hockey romance and goalie love. That’s right, the long-awaited fourth book in the Railers series written with RJ Scott, is now live! You can grab your copy of Poke Check today and experience Stan and Erik's whirlwind romance this evening. Or earlier if you wish!






#MM #Hockey #Romance #SecondChance #Baby #Railers #StanTheMan

One scorching summer in each other’s arms could never be enough.

Stanislav “Stan” Lyamin is happy playing for the Railers. The towering goalie is well-loved, respected, and making a home for himself even though that home only contains him, his cat, and his growing Pokemon trading card collection. Stan prefers it that way.
He’d given his heart to a man in a secret affair, and that man walked away, leaving Stan shattered. Now Erik is back in his life, and he has the same tumultuous effect he had on Stan’s heart as before. This time it’s not just a kissable mouth and sweet blond curls that Erik has brought to Harrisburg, there’s a soon-to-be ex-wife and a precious baby.

Despite the vow Stan made to hate Erik forever, he’s now finding it harder and harder to turn away.

Erik Gunnarsson’s dream had always been to play in the NHL, he just never imagined he’d land a contract with the Railers. Who would have thought that fate would put him on the same team as Stanislav Lyamin; the man whose heart he’d callously broken?

Secrets and lies had defined their summer relationship, and the choice that Erik made to end it all haunts him still. In the middle of a messy divorce and with a baby in tow, Erik finds himself back in Stan’s life. Now all he has to do is be the best dad he can be, prove to the team that he deserves the chance to stay on the roster and try his hardest to get Stan to forgive him.

Is it possible to persuade a man who hates you to give love a second chance?






Monday, February 12, 2018

Tuesday Tales - Picture Prompt




It`s time for Tuesday Tales.



Today we have a snippet from Overtime which is book #4 in the Cayuga Cougars series. In today’s snippet our three men, and Mat’s mother, are out celebrating Mateo’s birthday.

This week is our picture prompt and all snippets must be 300 words or thereabouts.

This story may have gay erotic scenes, strong social issues addressed and mature language. If those things offend now is the time to move onto another Tuesday Tales blog. Thanks for stopping by!



The restaurant Noah had chosen was a family-style sort, because that was pretty much all there was in Varick, New York. The food was good, classic American fare. I had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Mat and his mother had fried chicken, and Noah had ordered a Chef Salad and then spent most of the meal picking out bits of stuff he didn’t like.

“Why shredded carrots?” Noah complained as he lifted a thin strip of carrot out of his huge bowl of greens with his fork then dropped it into the pile of carrot strips on his napkin.

“You could just eat them,” Mat pointed out, sitting back, and sipping coffee as we waited for dessert to come. Noah, with his need to pick carrots, was still working on his meal when the cake, a round one with pink flowers, candles, and icing, was placed in the middle of the table. Mat glanced at the waiter.

“Sorry, we thought the name was Maria. You’re not a Maria, are you?” the server said, his face as pink as the sugary flowers on Mat’s cake.

“Nope, I’m a Mateo, but it’s all good,” Mat smiled warmly at the flustered young man. “I can totally eat pink frosting.”

“I hate carrots,” Noah grumbled and continued carrot hunting.

“My sister used to tell me that carrots give you good eyesight because you never see rabbits wearing glasses,” I interjected then lifted my hot coffee and took a wary sip.

“What do your parents do for a living, Sander?” Mrs. Castillo asked, stirring some Splenda into her black coffee.

A deadly veil of silence dropped over the birthday table. Mat and Noah both stopped doing what they’d been doing. They knew all about my past, the horrors with Wade, and of course the prison time he was serving. How could they not? They’d witnessed me freaking out that night, flailing and screaming about Wade. They knew it all. They were the only ones who did aside from Dan Arou. 







Copyright 2018 ©by V.L. Locey

*~*~*

Click on the link below to return to the Tuesday Tales main blog for more great reads from the Tuesday Tales authors.



Saturday, February 10, 2018

Saturday Story Spotlight - Seth & Casey by RJ Scott





#MM #Contemporary #Romance


Seth Wild is a fire fighter who has lost everything. Nearly dying in a building collapse, he is scared and angry and chases away the only good thing in his life—school teacher Casey McGuire.
When a sudden and violent snow storm hits their town he receives a message Casey and ten kids are trapped in an education center with no way out. There is no one else who can help, he’s the last fire fighter in town with his bum leg and his icy heart.
He doesn’t hesitate. He always promised he would be Casey’s hero, but will he ever again be Casey’s love?
This book was originally published three years ago with MLR. It has had 9000 words added to it and has a new cover by the talented Meredith Russell.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Tuesday Tales - Angry




 It`s time for Tuesday Tales.



Today we have another excerpt from Overtime, Cayuga Cougars #4, an MMM hockey romance book.

Our word prompt today is “Angry”. In today’s scene, our new lovers begin walking that pleasurable road of discovery with each other.

This story may have gay erotic scenes, strong social issues addressed and mature language. If those things offend now is the time to move onto another Tuesday Tales blog. Thanks for stopping by!



Noah brushed a stray curl from Mat’s brow. Mat sighed dreamily.
“So, Sander, we have some delicate things to discuss before your hand slips any further up my pantleg,” Mat said. My fingers paused on his ankle. “Noah and I are sero-negative and have been in a monogamous relationship for two years…”
“I know where you’re going,” I quickly stated.
“Are you angry?” Noah enquired, his fingers slipping through Mat’s hair.
“Nope, not at all. You’d be insane not to ask. I’m negative as well, take PrEP, and always use condoms.” My hand continued moving up Mat’s leg, eagerly seeking out his muscular calf.
“Okay, cool. So, Noah and I don’t use condoms anymore, but we will with you for the next six months just to be over cautious. Then, we’ll all get tested together and make a call on things when we have results back?” Mat asked, pushing up to his elbows to look me in the eye. I gave his calf a squeeze. They were saying six months. Six months. As if this would work out. God, please let us still be together in six months…
“That’s fine. I’m sorry to bring that kind of uncertainty into your relationship,” I confessed, rubbing his leg roughly.
“Not an issue. We asked you to hang out with us and were aware that would mean some time booting up. We all have past lovers. As I said not an issue.” He reached for me, his fingers sliding around the back of my neck once I shimmied up a bit. Noah held Mat’s head gently on his lap as I slithered up over Mat, my dick stiff as a sledgehammer. It had been that way the entire ride home.
I threw a look at Noah before allowing Mat to draw me down to his mouth and got a demure head nod. Then, Mat was pressing his mouth to mine, and someone’s hand was on my ass, and my cock was nestled next to Mat’s and my brain sort of had a meltdown on a Chernobyl scale.
Fuck, Mat could kiss. He was one of those aggressive kissers, taking no quarter, jabbing at your tongue with his until you responded. I gave as good as I got, sucking on his tongue then sweeping deeply into his mouth. Two hands moved over my lower back, cupping my ass. Mat’s hands. A third swept over my shoulder, pulling on the collar of my dress shirt, then plucking at the love mark Mat had left there earlier. The twinge of pain made me hotter and harder. I started gyrating against Mat, frantic now to find release.
“God,” Mat huffed breaking the kiss then tipping his head back. Noah bent down to taste Mat’s mouth, his fingertips twisting the marked area of my neck. I scooted up a bit more, gaze on Noah’s long neck. Mat dug his fingers into my ass, trying to keep our cocks side-by-side. My teeth grazed Noah’s neck. He gasped into Mat’s mouth, broke the wet seal of their lips, and let his head roll to the side to give me access. I suckled hard, pulling on that sweet skin with my teeth until I got a low moan from Noah that raced to my balls.
“Oh man that’s…ouch,” Noah hissed when I nibbled a bit too hard.
“I need…more,” I panted against his throat. Mat lifted his ass from the couch, jabbing his dick into mine, his grip on my ass bordering on painful. I kind of fell back over Mat, small fissures of pleasure dancing up my spine from my nuts. “More of that,” I grunted beside his cheek, his teeth finding an earlobe. A shudder rolled through me.
Noah, of all people, was the one who got things past some hot frot. He shoved his hand between us, located my belt, and started working on the buckle. Mat was on the same thought train because as soon as Noah had my belt loosened, Mat was jerking on my pants. The zipper popped, and down the dark gray material went over my ass, baring it to the room. Mat came alive under me, gyrating and rolling around like a live wire.



Copyright 2018 ©by V.L. Locey

*~*~*

Click on the link below to return to the Tuesday Tales main blog for more great reads from the Tuesday Tales authors.



Saturday, February 3, 2018

Saturday Story Spotlight - Blue Line Collection #1






#MM #Hockey #Romance 



Four must read re-released M/M erotic hockey romance stories in one reasonably priced collection from best-selling author V.L. Locey! 

There’s no sport quite like ice hockey. The speed, the action, the physicality, the blood, and the rabid fans. Add in sizzling hot M/M romance and you’ve got the setting for some amazing romance tales! In the four stories contained in this collection, you’ll experience the ups-and-downs of finding that one true love through the eyes of four different men, ranging in age and experience, from collegiate players to the pros. 

Readers should be over 18 due to mature language and gay sexual situations. The set includes:

Crashing the Crease 
Long Change 
Shutdown Pair 
Heir Apparent 



R-rated Excerpt: (From Crashing the Crease)

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm secretly harboring lustful desires for you and so I hide them by hurling cutting comments at you."
I spun around to find his dark eyes latched onto me. While the acidity of his words could have eaten through a Sherman tank, the lust in his gaze was anything but corrosive. The knowledge that this man actually wanted me made my blood thump in my ears. My shoulders tensed.
 "What are you, five years old or something?" My fingers tightened around the hand sanitizer.
"If you had pigtails I would dunk them into an inkwell," J.D. countered. We stood facing each other. Something was crackling in the four feet of space that separated us. "Or maybe I should just jack you up against that tree and kiss you until you beg me to fuck you. You do know that's how it will be, right? This antagonistic 'I hate you!' crap is just a cover that we're both using because we want to get at each other. Yeah, you know. I can see it in those blue-green eyes of yours."
My breath hitched. I took a step in reverse. J.D.'s mouth curled into a predatory smile then he stepped closer.
"I have a boyfriend." It rolled out of me before I could think properly. The sensual smile that had been playing over his lips disappeared. "And you are not my type."
"You're lying," he said as he reached up to stroke my cheek. The feel of his fingers moving over my whiskers made my skin prickle. "I just can't figure out if I should pretend to believe that you don't like men who take charge or if you're just scared about meeting the first man to ever tell you just how shit will be."



Friday, February 2, 2018

Hat Trick of Questions #2









We’re back for more questioning and answering. Before we get rolling I’d just like to say that I really like the look of Book Antiqua and wish I could write everything in it all the time. Okay, my font fantasies aside, let’s do another three reader inspired questions!




Will you ever write/release anything other than sports romance?


Yes! For sure. I’m currently working on getting my MM Lake Erie shifter books packaged up into a collection for release around Halloween. I’m also toying with an idea for a paranormal MM romance about a monster hunter with very famous genes who must work with the king of vampires to defeat a powerful enemy to both man and vamp. Along the way the two enemies just sort of fall into bed and probably into love. 

There is also a story about a gay fallen angel that's been whispering in my ear for some time now, so either one of those might just be my NaNoWriMo novel this year if I can keep my fingers off them until November.




Who are some authors who inspire you? And why?


Oh boy, there are plenty. One that I always list is J.R. Ward. I simply love the way she writes her males. I like how she doesn’t feminize the Brothers in any way and yet they’re tender and loving to their mates. Realistic men appeal to me. Which is why in my hockey books the guys sound like guys. The curse, they spit, they scratch their balls, and they say things that are sometimes offensive in the locker room. Yet when these men are with their lovers, they’re besotted and sweet. Yes, Victor, that goes for you too.

Another author that I find quite inspirational is Armistead Maupin, who wrote the ‘Tales of the City’ books many a moon ago. They remain one of my most beloved series of books to this day. I read them before I started writing gay romance and I found them wonderfully appealing and so helpful in beginning to understand the lives and challenges of gay men in this country. They were amazing reads, filled with laughter and heartbreak, and I just adore them still.



What do you use to write with?


I write on a HP laptop and use Word. Yep. That’s it. I’m old-fashioned and incredibly tech dumb. Truly. Ask my daughter. Ask my co-author. I’m the Wilma Flintstone of technology. Other authors are using this app and that app, setting up fancy folders and using color-coded hootenditties and then there’s Vicki plodding along with her trusty old Word program, her paper day planner, and a bag filled with Bronto burgers for Hubster.



Do you have any questions for me? Feel free to leave them in the comments section and I’ll answer them next time around!





Thursday, February 1, 2018

MM Goodness Book Review - The Hockey Player's Heart by Jeff Adams & Will Knauss





#MM #Hockey #Romance



What a wonderfully delightful book! And I’m not saying that because one of the leading men just happens to be the Rangers captain. That tidbit only added to overall appeal of this romance for me. I was swept up in this book and found myself cheering for Caleb and Aaron throughout.

This is a well-written read, with a lovely laid-back pace and a slow-burn romance between two old friends who are reunited after an injury sends our hockey player back home to recuperate. I loved the tenderness of the book, and the low angst as well. Both men acted maturely and faced their difficulties and differences head on.

The secondary characters were warm and engaging (I hope we get a second book for Caleb’s best friend on the Rangers because he really intrigued me) and the ending everything that I was hoping for. The hockey action was brisk and right on mark for accuracy. Oh, and the sex is nice and spicy!

A lovely read from start to finish and if I may? GO RANGERS!


5 out of 5 stars