Tag Archives: Mary Calmes

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Linkity for a dark and rainy and workity week

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Congrats to Em Woods, who won Handcuffs & Pretty Things (Rawlings Men #8) by Kim Dare!

Congrats to Jennifer V, who won Telling the Truth (Truth or Dare #2) by Lee Brazil! Telling the Truth is being released today by Breathless Press.

Congrats to Midia, who won Static by L.A. Witt! Static will be released on June 26th by Amber Allure.

It’s been a busy, busy week at work and I’m behind in reading blogs, replying to email, and pretty much everything else, too! But I’m definitely going to Twin Cities Pride at Loring Park this weekend – will I see you there?

Contests

  • Sweet Vernal Zephyr’s having a vacation reading contest! Take a picture of yourself reading “on vacation” and submit it to her by September 23 for your chance to win a box of books (US winner) or a selection of her favorite ebooks (international winner).

Bookity

  • Tor.com on books within books, such as Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager (which I can see on my bookshelf from where I’m sitting!). Read the comment to discover more titles.

Ebookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

  • Use vinegar to deodorize a room. (As someone who gets migraines and asthma attacks from air fresheners, potpourri, incense, and other highly scented things, I’m definitely trying this.)

Cookity

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Inside out (PsyCop #0.1) by Jordan Castillo Price. free online short. Very good free short m/m story about the first time Jacob saw Vic.
Sinnerman (Warder #4) by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a warder who’s not doing very well at all – he’s been taking too many chances ever since his hearth left him for another man. At least fighting with that pesky not-quite-a-demon’s been keeping things interesting…
Winterlude by Tam Ames. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about two guys who literally run into each other on a wintery Ottawa street and decide to get to know each other a bit better…
Deefur Dog by R.J. Scott. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a widower with a two-year old daughter and a giant, unmanageable dog who belonged to his late husband. Strangely, they’re having trouble keeping a nanny for longer than a few hours. 😉 Recommended if you’re looking for a sweet, non-instalove m/m romance with more story than sex.
British Flash by a whole lot of authors. free ebook collection. Delightful free collection of very short stories in a wide assortment of genres, united by the common theme of being British and gay (be it male or female). I did skip some of the stories that weren’t to my taste, but I really enjoyed the ones I read and wished many of them were longer – particularly the one about the rook shifter. 🙂
Sex, Lies and Edelweiss by J.L. Merrow. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy on holiday in the Alps with his adoptive mother who meets a cute waiter and misunderstandings abound.
Hot Head by Damon Suede. ebook. This book about two straight NYC firefighters, one of whom needs money so desperately that he does some gay porn, was a really mixed read for me. The first two-thirds of the book dragged enough that I kept wandering away to read other things. But I really liked the last third of the book – the pace felt better and the story drew me in so much that I couldn’t put the book down until I finished reading, well after my bedtime. 🙂
All Work and No Play by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a couple who are supposed to be heading out of town for a long weekend… Will the workaholic’s going in to work instead be the end of them as a couple?!
Vengeance Paid with Blood (Drone Vampires #13) by Stephani Hecht. ebook. Pretty good paranormal m/m romance continuing the saga of the Drone Vampires and their wizard allies as a small group road trips to take out a dark wizard. Alas, the scene with the dark wizard was rather anticlimactic. 🙁
Passing Time by Ash Penn. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a guy who’s back in England after 20 years because his mother’s in a coma and dying. He hooks up with a college student and keeps his emotions at bay by talking to his dead lover. This just never came together for me, particularly the whole ghost/dead lover thing.
Smashed into Pieces (Clear Water Creek Chronicle #2) by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook. My major problem with this book was that it basically just took the love of a good man and some hot sex to cure ten years of emotional, physical (broken bones, burns), and sexual abuse. Oh, hell no.

…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….. -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity lacks comprehensible weather

28 Comments

Congrats to Courtney S, who won Becoming His by Shawn Lane!

Contests

  • Lynn’s celebrating her blogiversary with a contest – your prize to be determined by whether you knit, quilt, cross stitch, or none of the above. Answer her question in the comments before June 12 for your chance to win.

Bookity

Ebookity

Think, Learn, Do

Cookity

  • Petri dish jello (probably guarantees you’ll never have to bring anything to a potluck again).

Crafty

Cool

  • Instead of carrying a separate little Swiss army knife on my key chain, I could just put my keys on this clever carabiner.

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

  • Cicada ice cream?! (No longer in production, due to health department concerns.)

LOL

  • What’s your unicorn name? Mine’s Poppy Celestial Pony: “Poppy is quick-witted and bright as a spark. She is as dark as the night sky, and she brings the sunshine and chases away clouds.”
  • xkcd on the cloud. (Make sure you hover your cursor over the comic for additional text.)

Teh Cute

Reading Update
What Happened to Larry Alan? by Dawn Kimberly Johnson. ebook. Excellent m/m romance about a guy who gets hit in the head with a soccer ball and has a chance to change some pivotal events from his past.
Any Closer by Mary Calmes. ebook. Feel-good m/m romance about a good-hearted guy who owns a construction company and finds out something sordid about the past of one of his employees/friends.
The Love of a Mate (Pack Discipline #4) by Kim Dare. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about the pack troublemaker, who’s incredibly suspicious when the beta’s brother begins a subtle pursuit.
The One that Counts by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a guy who’s feeling introspective after his father’s death and shares some things from his past that his partner didn’t know.
Just-You Eyes by Clare London. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a guy, accompanying his sister to a heterosexual speed dating night to even out the numbers of men and women, who meets a hotel employee and has an uncharacteristic one-night stand.
Cherries on Top by Rowan McAllister. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a guy who doesn’t do relationships, but finds himself unable to resist the sweet, previously straight bartender who takes him home.
Between Friends by Lou Harper. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about two guys who’ve been friends since they were kids. One’s closeted, in deep denial, and the other’s not willing to be his dirty little secret.
We’re Both Straight, Right? by Jamie Fessenden. ebook. Very good m/m romance about two straight college guys who have been best friends for years. When one of them learns how much money they can make doing a “straight guys’ first gay experiences” porn shoot, he convinces the other to do it with him.
A Deadly Kind of Love (Deadly Mystery #6) by Victor J. Banis. ebook. Very good m/m mystery in which Tom and Stanley head to Palm Springs to help a friend who found a dead man in his hotel bed. I must confess that it was refreshing to read a nearly angst-free installment of their story!
Long, Lonely Howl by Lyn Gala. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a YMCA youth counselor who inadvertently finds out about werewolves and has to make some life-changing decisions. Be aware that the ending’s a bit abrupt and is definitely HFN.
Shades of the Past (EMS Heat #9) by Stephani Hecht. ebook. Good m/m romance about an EMT whose partner and cousin died on the job because she wouldn’t listen to him. He blames himself for her death and isn’t doing very well at all. (I wanted just a bit more in each of the later scenes in the book.)
Bad Company by KA Mitchell. ebook. Good m/m romance about two guys who were friends when they were kids, but haven’t spoken for years… until one decides to piss off his homophobic father and “go gay”. Strangely, he wasn’t the person who needed to be smacked in this book.
About Damn Time by Elizabeth Jewell. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about two guys, close friends and both gay, who’ve never gotten together – but will a bet change that? I was doing ok the story until the sex scene – someone who’s just spent nearly six months restoring a classic car is probably not going to be ok with having sex on the car’s hood, especially with belt buckles flopping all over the place…
Hairy, Horny, and Over Here by J.L. Merrow. ebook short. Very funny m/m story about a photographer and a hunter out looking for jackalopes in the woods on the Isle of Wight. I’d suggest reading this book in conjunction with I’ll Tell You a Secret, Jackalope. 🙂
Pearls Before Swine by Vic Winter. ebook short. Very steamy short paranormal m/m romance about a guy who considers himself very civilized and proper, but has to reconsider after he runs into (literally) a shifter at the museum and invites him over for coffee…
What You Wish For: The Nine of Cups by Alex Marcus-Jacobs. ebook short. reread. Ok short m/m romance about a college student who gets a disconcerting tarot reading, just prior to a life-changing event. The conversations were my main reason for not rating this higher – they were awkward and didn’t feel realistic.
Obsidian (What You Wish For #2) by Alex Marcus-Jacobs. ebook. Ok kinky m/m romance continuing the story of the college student and his older lover/Dom. Like the previous book, this seemed stilted and awkward to me.
Layoffs by Dallas Coleman. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about two guys who get laid off from the same company because others took credit for their work.
Neon Yellow: Obsessive Adhesives by Andy Slayde & Ali Wilde. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a player who starts to see the appeal of the quiet guy from Accounting. Only… who keeps leaving those unnerving post-it messages on the guy’s computer monitor?! I would’ve rated this higher if there hadn’t been some real TSTL moments in it. You know there’s a stalker. You know he’s been following your new boyfriend; in fact, he broke into your boyfriend’s house and completely trashed it (besides leaving those increasingly threatening post-its at work). Why would you decide to get away from the situation and go camping (ie, isolated)? And most especially, why wouldn’t you be completely freaked out when the axe and other items disappeared from the campsite?!?!?
Rushing Towards Perfection by Mya. ebook. Ok kinky m/m romance about two guys who are rushing into a relationship without knowing a lot about each other. This one just didn’t quite work – it felt like sections were missing.
Run With Me by Eden Cole. ebook. Meh m/m romance about the son of a crime boss who keeps running away from his father, even though his father always sends brutes to beat him up and drag him home. But maybe the latest guy who’s tracked him down will be different…
Sex Scene: Take One by Lee Avalone. ebook. Incoherent trainwreck. Any sex scene that has “his large log” in it… no. Just no.

Mutant kitty!!!! O.O

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Sinnerman (Warder #4) by Mary Calmes [CONTEST CLOSED]

91 Comments

Many thanks to Mary Calmes for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming paranormal m/m romance, Sinnerman (Warder #4), for a lucky commenter to win! Sinnerman will be released by Dreamspinner Press on June 17.

As a warder, Jackson Tybalt is one of the good guys until he sees the man he loves kissing another. Betrayed and angry, Jackson tempts danger and death, ignoring the pleas of other warders to be careful. It’s a vile mood in which to start a romance, but that doesn’t stop the kyrie Raphael, who more than anything wants Jackson for his very own.

Jackson doesn’t want a hearth, he doesn’t want a lover – he just wants dark and painful, and Raphael will give him what he wants. But sometimes the sins of the flesh are just what a body needs to bandage the wounds of the heart, and Raphael will hide the tenderness he feels for Jackson for as long as the warder wears the guise of the Sinnerman.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

Other Books

About Mary

My name is Mary Calmes and I have been writing since I was in the seventh grade. One of my first stories ever was about Demetrius and Konor, two big strapping gorgeous knights and while it was not historically accurate in any way, hello, seventh grade, the one thing that became glaringly obvious was that the guys liked each other more than the damsels in distress they were trying to save.

“Boys don’t sleep in the same bed when they’re grown-ups,” my mother said when I read it to her.

“Men don’t talk nice to each other like that,” my step-father said that night.

They do in m/m fiction which I was destined to write.

I tried really hard to write a female lead but it just left me flat. I read all kinds of different books and I have favorite writers in every genre but I can only write about men. The dynamics between two men are more interesting to me and as a woman, I like men and the idea of two men together, two beautiful men… I don’t understand the question.

When people tell you that they’ve enjoyed something you’ve written, there really is no greater feeling.

You can find out more about Mary at her website or her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Thursday, June 16.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winner will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“I can’t help but notice that you are not throwing my orange mouse for me.” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity ah-choo!

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Congrats to Lea W, who won Impossible to Resist by Em Woods and Keeping House by Lee Brazil!

Contests

Bookity

Ebookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

Cookity

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Camwolf by JL Merrow. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a Cambridge fellow who becomes fascinated with one of the students – a student with secrets and a past darker and more painful than his own.
Lonewolf by JL Merrow. free ebook short. Good short m/m paranormal romance about Carl (who turned the main character from Camwolf into a werewolf) as he tries to find the man who turned him into a werewolf.
Riley’s Regret (Lost Shifters #11) by Stephani Hecht. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about Eagle shifter Riley, whose behavior has become increasingly unpredictable and erratic.
Heart in Hand (Warder #3) by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a hearth who’s in love with his warder, but doesn’t want to burden him and so hasn’t been completely open with him. And then it’s almost too late, as things take a nightmarish turn. This went way too quickly, but I didn’t want to put it down.
The Trouble With Angel by JM Cartwright. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a pro baseball player who suddenly has two kids to take care of, so he shanghais his agent’s assistant into helping him with the kids.
Back Home by RJ Scott. ebook. Very good m/m romance about an architect from Vermont who’s been living in London to avoid his brother’s boyfriend, even though his brother died two years ago. Then his dad gets sick and his sister begs him to come home to help salvage the family construction company…
Galaxy’s Heart (Sutter’s Bay #3) by Shawn Lane. ebook. Good m/m romance about an artist who moves to Sutter’s Bay with his traumatized brother, hoping it will be a good place for his brother to get better, and runs into someone from his past. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long for Leo’s book… 🙂
Language Lessons by Jay Bell. ebook short. Sweet short m/m romance about a promiscuous high school senior who doesn’t really understand what love is.
Trust in Me by Lori Toland. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy who unexpectedly runs into the first guy he slept with, and it brings up all sorts of memories and issues for him. (I did get a titch frustrated by the Big Misunderstanding.)
Remember Me? by Lynn Lorenz. ebook. Very sweet (occasionally a bit too) m/m romance about a doctor who recognizes a nearly dead man in the ER as his first love from ten years ago.
Cover Art by Caroline Stephens. ebook short. Sweet short m/m romance about a brutally shy romance writer who has a crush on the cover model who’s on all his books.
Off the Page by Ryan Loveless. ebook short. Cute short m/m romance about a writer who finds himself writing his interactions with his roommate into his historical romance. I had one niggle about the actual sex scene, which lacked any sort of prep, lube, or condom.
Doing Love Right (Beach Duo #2) by Diana DeRicci. ebook. Good m/m romance about a wedding planner, recently dumped, who wakes up after a party to discover a strange man in bed with him… a strange man who know an awful lot about him. This would’ve been better without the near-purple prose during the sex scenes. (Eyre, there’s an orphan!)
Man Whore (Personal Demons #1) by Pia Veleno. ebook. This so-so paranormal m/m romance consisted of two storylines that took way too long to converge, giving the book an incoherent and disjointed feel. The first storyline was about an artist who slept with a different man or woman every night. The second storyline was about a bunch of demons who seemed to be up to no good.
Cum for Now, Stay Forever by P. Lee. ebook short. Meh short m/m paranormal about a guy staying at a beach house who has a hot encounter with a mysterious stranger. The euphemisms, they hurt me.

“What? Can’t a girl hang out in her toy basket without being disturbed?!” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Heart in Hand (Warder #3) by Mary Calmes [CONTEST CLOSED]

103 Comments

Many thanks to Mary Calmes, who has donated an ebook copy two ebook copies of her forthcoming paranormal m/m romance, Heart in Hand (Warder #3), for a lucky commenter to win! Heart in Hand will be released by Dreamspinner Press on May 18.

Simon Kim is very much in love with Leith Haas, but Leith is a Warder. His job – hunting demons – is dangerous and important, and Simon doesn’t want to distract the man he loves more than life with the small stuff. But he doesn’t quite get that when a Warder takes a Hearth, the Warder gives his heart without reservation. When Leith claimed Simon, Leith bared his soul, leaving himself vulnerable before the only man he’s certain he’ll ever love.

When Simon is sucked further into Leith’s perilous world – and into an alternate dimension – Simon realizes that the only strength he can give his Warder is the strength of his love. Can Simon sacrifice the control he has come to treasure for the man who already owns his soul?

Other Books

About Mary

My name is Mary Calmes and I have been writing since I was in the seventh grade. One of my first stories ever was about Demetrius and Konor, two big strapping gorgeous knights and while it was not historically accurate in any way, hello, seventh grade, the one thing that became glaringly obvious was that the guys liked each other more than the damsels in distress they were trying to save.

“Boys don’t sleep in the same bed when they’re grown-ups,” my mother said when I read it to her.

“Men don’t talk nice to each other like that,” my step-father said that night.

They do in m/m fiction which I was destined to write.

I tried really hard to write a female lead but it just left me flat. I read all kinds of different books and I have favorite writers in every genre but I can only write about men. The dynamics between two men are more interesting to me and as a woman, I like men and the idea of two men together, two beautiful men… I don’t understand the question.

When people tell you that they’ve enjoyed something you’ve written, there really is no greater feeling.

You can find out more about Mary at her website or her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, May 17.
  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winner will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Hmm. If I open one of the cupboards and dump everything out of it and Mom isn’t there to see it happen, does it count as being bad?” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity from the land of ice and snow

37 Comments

Congrats to Harper Bell, who won Tono (the sequel to Loving Edits) by Mickie B. Ashling! Tono is being released by Dreamspinner Press today.

Congrats to Samantha, who won Tears of Blood (Drone Vampires, Book 12) by Stephani Hecht! Tears of Blood will be released by eXtasy Books on January 15, 2011.

Congrats to Marie A, who won the Saddle Up ‘N Ride anthology by Em Woods (and friends)! Saddle Up ‘N Ride will be released by Total-E-Bound on January 17.

Contests

Bookity

Ebookity

Think, Make, Learn, Do

Snowity

Craft

Cool

Huh

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Death by Misfortune by A.M. Riley. ebook. Excellent m/m romantic suspense/mystery about the murder of a “psychic to the stars” and a prominent Hollywood producer, filled with lots of complex twists and turns. The story is told from two alternating points-of-view: Jeremy, a production assistant, and Bill, the closeted cop first introduced in Amor en Retrogrado.
His Client by Ava March. ebook. Very good kinky Regency m/m romance about a prostitute who’s had enough to retire for a while, but stays on at the brothel because he’s fallen in love with one of his clients – a client who’s been pining for his straight best friend since they were at university together.
Trusted Bond (Change of Heart, Book 2) by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance continuing the story of Jin and Logan about six months after Change of Heart ends, complete with attackers, kidnappers, and assassins! As Logan comments more than once, life with Jin is never dull or predictable.
Taking You Home (Boys of Summer, Book 2) by Cooper Davis. ebook. This sequel to Boys of Summer was a very good m/m romance that continues the story of Hunter and Max as they deal with Max’s family and Hunter works to adjust to the idea of himself as not straight.
Pulling Apart (Pulling Away, Book 2) by Shawn Lane. ebook short. Good short m/m romance continuing the story of Noah and Charlie as Charlie pulls away and Noah has no idea what’s wrong or how to help.
Things I’ll Never Say by M.J. O’Shea. ebook. Very sweet m/m romance about two guys who’ve been best friends for years. One’s had a crush on the other for ages, but is so sure it isn’t returned that he plans to go to college out of state to get some distance.
Euphorbia by Glyn Soitino. ebook. Very good short m/m romance about a gardener who was burned by love and doesn’t plan to get involved beyond one-night stands ever again.
Black Gold by Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a glam rock superstar and the leader of a punk band. I would’ve rated this higher if there hadn’t been so damn much talking. These two talked and talked and TALKED. They had long, complicated, deep conversations during allegedly spectacular sex. Um. Yeah. *rolls eyes* Really, I just wanted everyone to shut up after a while. Love the cover, though! 🙂
Firm Touch by Christine d’Abo. ebook short. Steamy short m/m holiday romance about a couple whose lives have been so busy with work that they’ve been growing apart, even though it isn’t what either of them want. Will a drunken revelation that leads to a kinky surprise help bring them closer together or be the beginning of the end?
What He Wants by Eden Cole. free ebook short. Free so-so short m/m romance about two nominally straight best friends whose mutual female friend points out to each of them that they’re in love with each other.
Giving Chase (Seattle) by Jamie Hill. ebook short. Meh short m/m romance about a programmer who meets a gift store clerk and is instantly smitten. The whole thing felt forced and unrealistic.
Best Laid Plans by Cat Kane. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a disaster-prone wedding coordinator who gets involved with the groom of a wedding he’s planning. I might’ve liked this more had the whole reason behind the big misunderstanding plot made sense to me.
Rescuing the Librarian (New Horizons, Book 1) by Serena Yates. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a research librarian who agrees to help a porn star attempting to break into more mainstream acting get a better understanding of what a librarian’s job involves. Alas, I had some niggles about this one – the actor, from Scotland, must not have had any accent at all, since the librarian didn’t realize he was from Scotland. How likely is that? And what happened to the librarian’s assistant, who seemed as if he was going to be a critical player in the story, but vanished after a couple pages?
Naughty Nooners by Carol Lynne, Kaenar Langford, J.P. Bowie, Cian Fey, Jade Mason, & Dakota Rebel. ebook collection. Ok collection of m/m romance short stories about steamy lunch hour interludes and instalove.
Law and Ardor by Jack Greene. ebook short. Steamy short m/m romance about a cop who responds to a breaking-and-entering report and meets an adorable guy that he’d really like to get to know better. Small editing fail when counting fingers at one point…
Love Thy Neighbor by Jack Greene. ebook short. Steamy short m/m/m story about a guy who becomes fascinated by the two exhibitionist models who have an apartment across the courtyard from him.

“Why are  you taking my picture?!” -Chaos

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: The Servant by Mary Calmes [CONTEST CLOSED]

69 Comments

Congrats to Michael T, who won Another Enchanted April by Eric Arvin! Another Enchanted April is being released by Dreamspinner Press today.

Many thanks to Mary Calmes, who has donated an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m fairy tale romance, The Servant , for a lucky commenter to win! The Servant will be released by Dreamspinner Press on January 19.

After saving his younger brother’s child, Daemon Shar is cursed by a witch and runs far from home, a stray who will seemingly never be anything more. But destiny is hard to outrun, even for a man who is now more cat than man beneath his robes and cowl. A chance battlefield meeting between he and Ehron, a foreign lord, gives him purpose amidst the darkness of his accursed life. Soon Daemon finds that his true nature cannot be corrupted no matter the form he inhabits.

As Ehron’s consul, Daemon plots and plans to shape his new lord’s future so that he may leave it blessed when he runs away yet again. But he never counted on his soul hungering for Ehron’s brother Gareth or for his past to catch him by the tail at last.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

Other Books

About Mary

My name is Mary Calmes and I have been writing since I was in the seventh grade. One of my first stories ever was about Demetrius and Konor, two big strapping gorgeous knights and while it was not historically accurate in any way, hello, seventh grade, the one thing that became glaringly obvious was that the guys liked each other more than the damsels in distress they were trying to save.

“Boys don’t sleep in the same bed when they’re grown-ups,” my mother said when I read it to her.

“Men don’t talk nice to each other like that,” my step-father said that night.

They do in m/m fiction which I was destined to write.

I tried really hard to write a female lead but it just left me flat. I read all kinds of different books and I have favorite writers in every genre but I can only write about men. The dynamics between two men are more interesting to me and as a woman, I like men and the idea of two men together, two beautiful men… I don’t understand the question.

When people tell you that they’ve enjoyed something you’ve written, there really is no greater feeling.

You can find out more about Mary at her website or her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CST, Tuesday, January 18.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winner will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Well, now, that’s one very tough kitty up there with a sword! Hmm, he’s kinda cute… but those clothes have to go.” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Should auld lang linkity be forgot…

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Yup, linkity’s on Thursday because there won’t be a post on Friday this week. Happy New Year to all of you!

Congrats to Tj, who won The Stroke of Twelve (Perfect Timing, Book 6) by Kim Dare! The Stroke of Twelve will be released by Total-E-Bound on January 3, 2011.

Congrats to Susmita, who won Offside Pass by Stephani Hecht! Offside Pass is the first book in Stephani’s new hockey series and will be released by eXtasy Books on January 1, 2011.

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Belated Gift Idea

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  • Um. If it’s cold enough that you’re using the Nose Dialer instead of taking off your gloves to dial the phone, you’re probably going to get snot all over your phone…

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Ummm… So I’ve been on vacation since last Friday and have gotten rather a lot of reading done… and I read a lot of shorts. Don’t freak. 🙂

Life Changes Everything (Life, Book 2) by T.C. Blue. ebook. Very good m/m romance mostly about Ben from Life or Something Scary Like That as he goes on with, well, life after the events of that book. This book does a nice job tying up the loose ends, even if I was kind of cranky about one of them while it was in process.
Sno Ho by Ethan Day. ebook. Reread. Very good m/m romance about a guy staying at a ski resort whose boyfriend was supposed to join him there, but instead dumped him over the phone. Funny, yet touching.
Life in Fusion (Sno Ho, Book 2) by Ethan Day. ebook. Very good m/m romance that picks up exactly where the first book left off and continues the story of Boone and Wade during the six months Boone said needed to pass before he would move in with Wade. And like the first book, this manages to be both funny and touching.
Big Balls and Trouble by Sarah Black. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a pro football player who’s in Boise for the summer and ready to admit that he’s always loved the childhood friend he hasn’t seen for years. I found this story frustrating because it was so short – it felt more like a fragment from a longer story than something that could stand on its own.
Tooth and Nail (His Hearth, Book 2) by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a big, tough warder who takes too many chances because, according to the other warders, he doesn’t have a hearth (i.e., a mate). And then he rescues an angel…
Just One Bite (Volume 1) by Scarlett Blackwell, J.L. Merrow, Josephine Myles, Erik Orrantia, Nix Winter, & Stevie Woods. free ebook collection. Scarlett Blackwell: Very good, want more! Vampire. :: J.L. Merrow: Very good. Stone circle. :: Josephine Myles: Very good. Genie. :: Erik Orrantia: Pretty good. Mayan. :: Nix Winter: Ok. Fantasy. :: Stevie Woods: Pretty good. Vampire.
Delany’s Catch by Diana DeRicci. ebook short. Pretty good short paranormal m/m romance about a wolf shifter who walks into a bookstore to ask for directions and realizes that the proprietor is his mate.
Same Time Next Year by Eden Winters. ebook short. I’m not usually a fan of ghost stories, but this one, about a guy whose true love died when they were in college, worked pretty well, although I found it to be very sad.
Vanilla: The Dominant Ingredient by Andy Slayde & Ali Wilde. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a sub-for-hire, escaped from a bad situation, who is desperately trying to convince the man he’s staying with while he sorts out his life that he’d be the perfect sub. I want to read more about these characters!
Commanding Acquisitions (1-800-DOM-HELP, Book 2) by Christine d’Abo. ebook. Good kinky m/m romance about a dom, struggling not to lose his bookstore, who’s also lonely and needing something more than just casual encounters. He finds the mysterious 1-800-DOM-HELP business card in his office…
Floggers’ Holiday Sale by Stormy Glenn & H.C. Brown. ebook. Meh two-story kinky m/m holiday romance collection. The two stories were supposed to be about two different doms, each of whom purchased a sub at the Floggers’ (bdsm club) holiday auction, but things weren’t consistent between the two stories: in one, the dom’s not allowed to take possession of the sub until they both negotiate contracts; in the other, the club owner sends the virginal sub with the notoriously brutal dom and just tells the dom to bring the sub back to the club at the end of the week. Editing was consistently horrible across both stories, although perhaps a bit worse in the Stormy Glenn story – for the first part, “dominate” was substituted for “dominant” and “dominant” was substituted for “dominate”…
Hang a Shining Star by Ashlyn Kane. ebook short. Very good m/m holiday romance about a high school teacher who runs into a former student working at a Christmas tree lot and, discovering that the former student has no one to spend the holiday with, impulsively invites him over. My only complaint with this one was that the main characters were named Evan and Eric – I kept getting the names mixed up, as did the editor/proofer at least once! 🙂
Snow and Mistletoe by T.C. Blue. ebook short. Very good short m/m holiday romance about a guy with a really bad self-image who hasn’t had any luck finding journalism work. He starts finding mysterious presents outside his apartment door – he’s sure they’re from his friends, trying to cheer him up, because no way could he have a secret admirer…
Christmas with Danny Fit by Amy Lane. ebook. Very good m/m holiday romance about a guy who’s still living with his mother at 30, not really living his life, until his burgeoning friendship with his sexy assistant at work inspires him to start making changes.
You Can’t Choose Your Family by Zahra Owens. ebook. Very good holiday m/m romance about a couple who’s been together for 20 years. One guy’s family is fabulously accepting; the other’s was controlled by his fire and brimstone father. Now that his father is dead, will anything change?
Christmas Bells by Andi Deacon. ebook short. Very good short m/m holiday romance about an assistant professor, staying at his parents’ house for Christmas, whose brother brings home a very attractive friend from grad school who doesn’t have anywhere to go for the holidays.
Silver Thaw by Nora Catherine Price. ebook short. Very good short m/m holiday romance about next door neighbors who get the chance to know each other a bit better because of an ice storm.
Sharing Christmas by Shae Connor. ebook short. Steamy short m/m holiday romance about a guy, recently moved to Atlanta for work, whose next door neighbor invites him over to help put together packages for the homeless shelter.
The Santa Mug by Patric Michael. ebook. Very good m/m holiday romance about a guy whose boyfriend died four years ago and who’s basically retreated from the world since then, until a friend drags him along to a family Thanksgiving celebration.
A Very D Christmas by Jane Seville. ebook short. Very good short m/m holiday romance about D and Jack from Zero at the Bone, reconnecting with family, and being a bullied teenager. (Through 1/31/2011, a portion of the purchase price will be donated to the Trevor Project.)
The Christmas Visit by Marshall Thornton. ebook short. Good short m/m holiday romance about a guy returning to the small town he grew up in to see his dad at Christmas. He keeps running into the deputy who he’d had a crush on and who is now married…
Secret Santa by Deanna Wadsworth. ebook short. Steamy short m/m holiday romance about a guy waiting naked, blindfolded, and wrapped up with a bow as a present for his boyfriend, hoping to revitalize their fading relationship.
Well-Hung by the Chimney by E.M. Lynley, Ryan Field, & Chloe Stowe. ebook. Pretty good m/m holiday romance collection. I really liked EM Lynley’s story about the difficulties involved in mixing business with pleasure. Ryan Field’s story about a couple dealing with career changes and meeting family was ok. I found Chloe Stowe’s story about an Air Force colonel and a doctor at the Air Force base to be sort of confusing. I might’ve enjoyed Field and Stowe’s stories more had I realized they were about characters from a previous collection and read it first.
A Little Something for Santa by J.M. Snyder. ebook short. Ok short m/m holiday encounter about a guy waiting tables at an all-night diner who confesses to the cook that he has the hots for Santa.
A Christmas Eve Wish by Nicole Dennis. ebook short. So-so m/m holiday romance about a celebrity chef, planning to escape to his mountain cabin for a few days, who gets caught in a blizzard and discovers his cabin is trashed. This one didn’t work for me because of instalove and awkward writing.
All I Want for Christmas by Aeryn Traxx. ebook short. So-so short holiday m/m romance about a guy dreading his friends’ holiday party because his cheating ex will be there.
It’s a Calling by Mara Ismine. ebook short. Ok short paranormal m/m romance that I actually read in October, but I somehow managed to not write down the dates I read it or what I thought about it beyond “Huh.”
My Life in Your Hands by A.R. Moler. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about an ER doctor and an undercover detective who get together.
Eyes Wide Shut by Meredith Shayne. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a doctor and a miner who care deeply for each other, but that’s not enough, because the miner doesn’t want anyone to know they’re together. Part of this takes place in Perth!
Of Sound Mind by Elizabeth Brooks. ebook short. Good short futuristic m/m romance about a guy who has cancer and doesn’t want to telepathically bond with his destined mate because if he dies, his mate would die with him.

This is definitely a picture you need to click on to embiggen. 🙂

“Have a Happy New Year. Or else.” -Chaos

http://squee.icanhascheezburger.com/2010/12/28/cute-baby-animals-when-worlds-collide/
Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity limps along, even after another crazy week here!

36 Comments

Congrats to Sidney, who won Chasing Alex by Em Woods and A Special Christmas by J.P. Bowie! Both books will be released by Total-E-Bound on December 13 as part of the Yule Be Mine collection.

Congrats to Monica, who won Trusted Bond (Change of Heart, Book 2) by Mary Calmes! Trusted Bond is now available from Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Mellanie, who won Red Lights and Silver Bells (EMS Heat, Book 6) by Stephani Hecht!

Here’s hoping I catch up on Google Reader and commenting soonishly…

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Reading Update
Rescue Me by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook. Excellent m/m romance about a rich, angry, nasty homophobic guy who nearly dies in a car crash. When he’s eventually able to go home, he needs home nursing care and finds himself uncomfortably attracted to his male nurse. I’ll warn you that I suspect some people are probably going to hate this as much as I loved it – there’s a lot of angst, a lot of being stuck and not making any progress, a lot of lashing out at others because of how he feels about himself. And it all manages to feel more real to me than a lot of GFY tends to.
Foxe Tail (Skyler Fox Mysteries, Book 1) by Haley Walsh. ebook. Good m/m mystery about a young high school English teacher who stumbles across a dead body in the alley outside of a club. Be aware that this is first book in a trilogy and lots of things are left open at the end.
War Games by Kim Dare. free ebook short. Good kinky free short m/m romance about a geek with a crush on the forceful security guard at work. When they’re out doing a war games team building exercise, things get interesting.
Mistletoe & Submission by Kim Dare. ebook. Very good kinky holiday m/m romance about a guy who joined a bdsm club as a dom, but finds that his feelings for his extremely dominant friend confuse the issue for him. But since his friend seems to think so poorly of all submissives, it’s a moot point, right?
Eight Nights by Keira Andrews. ebook. Very good holiday m/m romance about a college student who ends up spending Hanukkah with his annoying dorm mate’s family after said dorm mate’s mother realized he didn’t have anywhere else to go for the holidays. How is it that his dorm mate’s brother isn’t annoying at all?
Daybreak (Eight Nights, Book 2) by Keira Andrews. ebook. Very good holiday m/m romance about the college student and the dorm mate’s brother, starting seven or eight months after the first book. A lot more angst in this one – I even got a little sniffly.
All I Want for Christmas by Linda Reilly. ebook short. Ok short parnormal m/m holiday romance about a med student, in denial about being gay, who’s visiting friends in New York City for the holidays. The paranormal aspect of the story took my completely by surprise, but I guess it makes the insta-love more acceptable…
Ice Around the Edges by Mary Calmes. ebook short. Good short holiday m/m romance about a guy who’s in the hospital recuperating from being shot and is very surprised when the ex who dumped him out of the blue ten years ago shows up at his bedside.
Better with Sprinkles by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Advent Calendar. Good short m/m holiday romance about a biochemistry major in study panic whose roommate finagles him into baking 20 dozen cookies for a charity event. Includes family sugar cookie recipe at the end! 🙂
Mariah the Christmas Moose by Andrew Grey. ebook short. Cute short m/m holiday story about a teacher, newly arrived in Alaska, who calls the police about a monster (er, moose) in his back yard and meets a very interesting police officer as a result.
All Snug by B.G. Thomas. ebook short. Good short m/m holiday romance about two guys who both show up at an antique store, trying to buy the same bed for their boyfriends. They come up with a multipart contest to see who should be able to buy the bed. It was, unfortunately, completely predictable.
GI Joe Holiday by Amberly Smith. ebook. Good m/m holiday romance about a guy in Navy SEAL training who gets picked to pose for a statue that will be displayed on a military base. Because of DADT, he can’t let on that he’s gay, but he finds himself very attracted to the sculptor. This had a strange, sort of paranormal twist to it that really took me by surprise.
The Hanukkah Surprise by Rebecca Lynne Fullan. ebook short. Good short m/m holiday romance about a couple, one of whom hates Hanukkah and the other of whom hates surprises, heading off on a Hanukkah surprise.
By the Chimney with Dare by Leigh Ellwood. ebook short. Ok short m/m holiday romance about a limousine driver who chauffeurs a very sexy Santa to a party…
Fun with Dick by G.A. Hauser. free ebook short. Meh short m/m holiday story about an established couple getting busy with the assistance of whipped cream, hot fudge, and more.

“I will never surrender, big kitty!!” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Trusted Bond (Change of Heart #2) by Mary Calmes [CONTEST CLOSED]

101 Comments

Congrats to Monica, comment #92!! Check your email, Monica…

Many thanks to Mary Calmes, who has donated an ebook copy of her forthcoming paranormal m/m romance, Trusted Bond (Change of Heart, Book 2), for a lucky commenter to win! Trusted Bond is the sequel to Change of Heart and will be released by Dreamspinner Press on December 10.

Jin Rayne is having trouble adjusting to the new life he’s supposed to love. Instead of adapting to being the mate of tribe leader Logan Church, Jin can’t get past the fact that his lover was straight before they met. He’s discovered the joy in belonging to Logan but fears his new life could disappear at a moment’s notice, despite Logan’s insistence that they are forever, end of story.

Jin wants to trust Logan, but that desire will be put to the test both by a rival tribe leader and by a startling revelation about Jin’s existence. At stake is Jin’s life and his place in the tribe. If he’s going to survive to see Logan again, he’ll have to release his fear and freely accept the bond, for only then can he truly trust.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

About Mary

My name is Mary Calmes and I have been writing since I was in the seventh grade. One of my first stories ever was about Demetrius and Konor, two big strapping gorgeous knights and while it was not historically accurate in any way, hello, seventh grade, the one thing that became glaringly obvious was that the guys liked each other more than the damsels in distress they were trying to save.

“Boys don’t sleep in the same bed when they’re grown-ups,” my mother said when I read it to her.

“Men don’t talk nice to each other like that,” my step-father said that night.

They do in m/m fiction which I was destined to write.

I tried really hard to write a female lead but it just left me flat. I read all kinds of different books and I have favorite writers in every genre but I can only write about men. The dynamics between two men are more interesting to me and as a woman, I like men and the idea of two men together, two beautiful men… I don’t understand the question.

When people tell you that they’ve enjoyed something you’ve written, there really is no greater feeling.

You can find out more about Mary at her website or her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CST, Thursday, December 9.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winner will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Hey. Whatcha doing?” -Mayhem