Tag Archives: Andrea Speed

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In which there are links and such

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Congrats to Nette, who won her choice of Left in the Darkness (Haven Coffee House Boys #2) or Tagged and Bagged (EMS Heat #14) by Stephani Hecht!

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  • Have you checked out the new online knitting magazine The Sock Report yet? (Thanks, Jeanne!)

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Teh Cute

Reading Update
Life After Death (Infected #3) by Andrea Speed. ebook. Very good m/m paranormal romantic suspense following up on Roan as he moves on from the shattering event in the previous book. I had some niggles about the timeline that I tried to ignore, but they just kept poking at me.
Freefall (Infected #4) by Andrea Speed. ebook. Very good m/m paranormal romantic suspense in which Roan has a particularly rough time between his excessive use of painkillers and his increasingly frequent migraines. On the plus side, he finally makes some progress in his personal life.
Shift (Infected #5) by Andrea Speed. ebook. Excellent m/m paranormal romantic suspense in which Roan’s abilities continue to develop in new and inexplicable ways and he and Dylan face some hard truths about themselves and their relationship.
Worth the Wait by Lori Toland. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a scientist who inadvertently turns an old cell phone into a time machine and decides to go back to encourage his younger self to be more social. Loved the twist to this one!
The Chimera Affair by Keira Andrews. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about a spy who uses a young man’s naivete in his pursuit of keeping a biochemical weapon out of the hands of terrorists, but then feels sufficiently guilty that he rescues the young man in the nick of time. And then things started to get interesting. 🙂
The Hanged Man’s Ghost (The Night Wars #1) by Missouri Dalton. ebook. reread. I started the second book, then realized I’d forgotten everything about the first book, which I read in… February. D’oh! Very good paranormal m/m romance about a Chicago police detective with a drinking problem and a crush on his straight best friend. When he realizes he can see ghosts, his life spirals quickly out of control. Sloppy proofing and a storyline that needed to be reined in just a bit kept this from being a five-star read.
Poisoned Spirits (The Night Wars #1.5) by Missouri Dalton. ebook short. Good short historical paranormal m/m romance in which a cop in Chicago’s paranormal division discovers his boyfriend’s been poisoned.
The Night Shift (The Night Wars #2) by Missouri Dalton. ebook. This m/m paranormal romantic suspense would’ve been rated higher, but it ends on a cliffhanger, basically midscene. I can’t recommend that anyone read this until the next book is available. Very sloppy proofing in this one, too.
Fiends in Low Places (The Night Wars, maybe #2.5?) by Missouri Dalton. ebook short. reread. Good short paranormal m/m romance about a guy who works for the MC from The Hanged Man’s Ghost and The Night Shift. This takes place a couple of years after The Night Shift.
Taxes and TARDIS by NR Walker. ebook. Cute m/m romance about an electrician who has to take his shoebox full of receipts and tax stuff to a new accountant after his previous accountant retires. He’s not usually attracted to slim, geeky men, but there’s jut something about that new accountant…
Cost of Repairs by AM Arthur. ebook. Good m/m romance about a beat cop who moves to a small town to escape tragedy in his past and becomes intrigued by the prickly, prideful cook at the local diner.
Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) by LA Witt. ebook. Good m/m romance about a bar owner who’s having a really rough time – his bar is losing money, he’s having trouble paying his mortgage, and he has chronic pain from an injured shoulder. Having his straight acupuncturist rent part of his house should help his budget crisis, but he doesn’t anticipate how sexually frustrated he’ll be seeing the guy wandering around half-dressed all the time… While I enjoyed this, I had a couple niggles. First, the relationship just didn’t make complete sense to me – I think there just wasn’t enough time spent on it. Second, the financial problems didn’t make sense to me, either – they were amorphous and started to feel unrealistic. If things were that dire and nothing really changed other than business slowing down for the summer, it doesn’t seem as if he’d be able to stay out of foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Holed Up (Holed Up #1) by Hank Edwards. ebook. reread. Pretty good m/m romantic suspense about an FBI agent protecting a man who overheard information about a terrorist attack.
Shacked Up (Holed Up #2) by Hank Edwards. ebook. Pretty good m/m romantic suspense continuing the story of the FBI agent and the guy he was protecting, who are now living together but not communicating very well.
Beach Balls (Balls to the Wall #3) by Tara Lain. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a closeted lawyer who heads to a friend’s beach house on weekends to hook up with anonymous guys… and then while diving, he meets someone he doesn’t want to be anonymous with.

Mayhem, napping on a nip toy…

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Work ate my brain; linkity might be lame

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Congrats to Matthias, who won The Chimera Affair by Keira Andrews!

Congrats to Melissa E, who won Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) by L.A. Witt! Where Nerves End will be released on June 3 by Amber Allure.

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Reading Update
Brushback (Evan Austin #1) by Jamie Scofield. ebook. reread. Excellent m/m mystery about a Seattle private investigator hired to find an about-to-be heir by the mother who abandoned the boy and his father years ago. However, things aren’t quite as straightforward as that… This ends on an HFN and was published three years ago, so hard to say if there will be more books…
Prey (Infected #1) by Andrea Speed. ebook. Very good m/m paranormal romantic suspense containing two novellas about a private investigator who was born with the werecat virus. His partner (personally and professionally) was infected with a particularly virulent strain of the virus when he was in college. Either the first story had fewer unclear pronoun references than the second or I noticed them less. 🙂
Bloodlines (Infected #2) by Andrea Speed. ebook. Excellent m/m paranormal romantic suspense that I can’t say much about other than make sure you have tissues and the next book at hand. *sniffles*
Absolutely Eric (Boston Boys #2) by Erica Pike. ebook. Good m/m romance about an unrepentantly slutty college senior who decides it’s time for him to have a boyfriend; unfortunately he makes a very poor choice. At times this was difficult to read, but it was due to things that happened as a result of that poor choice and not because of the writing!
Floods and Drought (The Wranglers #3) by Zahra Owens. ebook. Pretty good western m/m romance about a guy freshly paroled from prison who’s given a job as a ranch hand at the same ranch he went to prison for stealing from. But the handsome wrangler supervisor he once shared a kiss with is vouching for him, so he’s stuck.
Rock and a Hard Place by Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow. ebook. Good m/m romance about two business rivals who are at each other’s throats to such a degree that their boss sends them on a vacation together so they can work through their animosity… and then their plane goes down into the ocean. I wish I’d skipped the last chapter (18, if you’re so inclined).
Island of Temptation by Claire Thompson. ebook. reread. Ok m/m romance about two guys, one bi, one straight, who end up stranded on a desert island after their cruise ship sinks. I had a strange compulsion to reread this after finishing Rock and a Hard Place.
Belly of the Beast (ES Peters Investigations #2) by AM Burns. ebook short. Meh short m/m paranormal story about an investigative mage and his werewolf partner who are trying to find a teenage werepuma missing under suspicious circumstances. The verb tense wandered and the story was completely uninvolving. I only finished reading because it was so very short.

NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa, Bat Cat!

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Linkity leaves you in the lurch as SOC prepares for reduced services during vacation

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Congrats to Juliana, who won Vessel (Cutting Cords #2) by Mickie B. Ashling! Vessel is being released by Dreamspinner Press today.

Congrats to Paula, who won Marked Yours and Together Bound (Sentries 1-2) by Elizabeth Noble! Together Bound will be released October 10 by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to SusieQ, who won RSVP (Pushing the Envelope #2) by Kim Dare! RSVP will be released by Amber Allure on October 9.

Brace yourselves. This is the last linkity post until October 28, as I’m heading out on vacation in a couple days.

Several contests each week will appear automagically. I’ll announce contest winners. I may or may not post some pictures from vacation. You’ll just have to stay tuned to see what happens. Or doesn’t. 🙂

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Cookity

  • So, The Kitchn pretty much went nuts with recipe lists this week. Brace yourselves.

4 sweet potato-centric meals

5 Asian-style pumpkin recipes

5 savory fall apple recipes

5 non-cabbage slaw recipes (plus runner bean coleslaw)

8 recipes for cabbage

8 recipes for beet and radish greens

40 recipes for fall vegetables

15 recipes for fall vegetables

4 more recipes for fall vegetables

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  • Both Chaos and May love to play fetch. Sadly, May’s special gift is always dropping the fetch toy just out of reach…

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Song of Oestend by Marie Sexton. ebook. Excellent kinky scifi m/m romance with cowboys. Weirdly, I’m not a big fan of scifi and even less of a fan of cowboy books, but this just completely worked for me. It’s about an artist who takes a job as a bookkeeper for a ranch on the other side of the world so he can get away from his past at the university. He finds himself unprepared for his new life, but he slowly finds his way and makes his place at the ranch as he befriends the reclusive foreman.
Once a Marine by Cat Grant. ebook ARC. Very good m/m romance about a waiter who’s always been really attracted to Marines, although it’s never turned out well for him. But when an extremely handsome guy (obviously a Marine) sits in his section, he’s drawn to the guy despite himself. There’s more to both of them than what meets the eye – will either of them be able to overcome their previous bad experiences to find love this time?
Mummy Dearest (The XOXO Files #1) by Josh Lanyon. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about a professor of archeology who visits a dime museum in Wyoming to study its mummy, only to find that there’s a reality/documentary show there filming the same mummy. I was a bit disappointed that the main characters felt awfully familiar from other Lanyon books I’ve read.
Whitetail Rock by Anne Tenino. free ebook short. Very good short kinky m/m romance about a defensively snarky grad student who meets a hunky motorcycle cop when he’s home from school for the summer. It features this laugh-out-loud funny quote:

“Sam. I’ve got news for you. Not every childhood trauma can be healed by finding the right penis.”

Sam looked devastated. He opened and closed his mouth, eyes wide, then suddenly slumped back against the railing, unable to support himself anymore. “You mean,” his voice was barely a whisper. “All those romance novels lied?”

On This Day… (Stand Alone Short Stories #2) by Kim Dare. ebook short. Sweet and steamy short m/m romance about a dom who arrives home from work to discover his sub has things set up for an anniversary celebration… but he’s not sure what anniversary it is they’re to be celebrating.
Coming Out Wolf by Julia Talbot. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance about a werewolf who’s decided that he wants his roommate (also a werewolf) as his mate… but his roommate doesn’t seem to be aware of him sexually.
Sucks & Blows by Storm Grant. ebook short, ARC. Punny short m/m paranormal story about a perpetually horny dentist who, in order to convey his sense of humor, mentions on his business cards that he does vampires, too. He doesn’t expect an actual vampire to show up in his office…
The Little Death by Andrea Speed. ebook. Good noir-styled m/m romantic suspense about a hard-boiled PI who’s hired by a “homme fatale” to find his missing twin brother… but nothing’s really adding up in the case, except the bodies. I suspect the references to classic noir detective stories will be obvious to those more familiar with the genre – I thought I was doing well to catch a Maltese Falcon reference!
Fixed by Tristram La Roche. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a guy who’d been living in the south of France with his boyfriend until the economy went bad and he lost everything – home, business, money, and boyfriend. He moves back to Yorkshire in reduced circumstances and isn’t particularly pleased to run into a guy he recognizes from his school days…

“Must. Not. Fall. Asleep…” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: The Little Death by Andrea Speed [CONTEST CLOSED]

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Many thanks to Andrea Speed for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romantic suspense, The Little Death, for a lucky commenter to win! The Little Death will be released by Dreamspinner Press on October 5.

Jake Falconer, a hard-boiled detective in Echo City, is struggling with his love of booze, a square ex (and a cop, no less) he can’t get over, and a murdered partner. In sashays Sloane, an homme fatal whose twin brother has gone missing. The search leads them to a sex club used for blackmailing the city’s most powerful, and soon Jake finds himself hip deep in sex and danger – it’s a good thing he’s no stranger to slogging through either.

About Andrea

Andrea Speed was born on parole in Seattle, Washington, way before it became hipster heaven and enslaved by the Starbucks Corporation. She always wanted to grow up to be Shaft, but she soon realized there were some flaws in her plan. A total nerd, she somehow stumbled into writing, which she enjoys very much, and hopes you’ll forgive her occasional typos. She lives in a nicer part of Tacoma, Washington, and knows more about fixing toilets than she ever thought she would. Also, if you’re ever at the Emerald City Comic Con, you’ll probably see her in a red plastic coat, asking people silly questions. Feel free to say hi, although don’t make any sudden moves around the guy in the Chewbacca costume; he’s kind of squirrelly.

You can find out more about Andrea on her blog, Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, October 4.
  • 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 ritual dust bunny sacrifice 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.)
  • Winners 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!

Long May is long.

“Well, duh, Mom.” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway ~ Infected: Prey by Andrea Speed [CONTEST CLOSED]

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Congrats to Cassie, who won Bewitched by Bella’s Brother by Amy Lane! Bewitched by Bella’s Brother will be released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to PD Singer, who won Unconventional (Conventions, #3) by TC Blue! Unconventional will be released today by Torquere Press.

Many thanks to Andrea Speed for donating an ebook copy of her recently released paranormal m/m romance, Infected: Prey, for a lucky commenter to win!

In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was “cat” obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli.

Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind… and occasionally worships them.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

About Andrea

Andrea Speed was born on parole in Seattle, Washington, way before it became hipster heaven and enslaved by the Starbucks Corporation. She always wanted to grow up to be Shaft, but she soon realized there were some flaws in her plan. A total nerd, she somehow stumbled into writing, which she enjoys very much, and hopes you’ll forgive her occasional typos. She lives in a nicer part of Tacoma, Washington, and knows more about fixing toilets than she ever thought she would. Also, if you’re ever at the Emerald City Comic Con, you’ll probably see her in a red plastic coat, asking people silly questions. Feel free to say hi, although don’t make any sudden moves around the guy in the Chewbacca costume; he’s kind of squirrelly.

You can find me at my blog, where I post serial fiction mostly, but occasionally I do something weird. You can also find me on Goodreads, twitter (@aspeed), and on comixtreme.com, where I’m the Editor-In-Chief. I’m also one of the book reviewers over at Joe Bob Briggs’ site.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 16.
  • 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 ritual dust bunny sacrifice 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.)
  • Winners 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!

“It’s about time you gave away a book about kitties, Mom! But how come the kitty is in the background and the naughty boy is in front? That’s not fair!” -Mayhem

If you read m/m romance, you should definitely join the M/M Romance Group on GoodReads. It’s a great source for reading recommendations, discussions, eye candy, author news, giveaways, and more.