Tag Archives: Ava March

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Worn to a little nub from a crazy week, I still attempt linkity!

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Congrats to Courtney, who won Breathe by Sloan Parker!

Congrats to Marie, who won Mistletoe and Submission by Kim Dare!  Mistletoe and Submission will be released by Total-E-Bound on December 6.

Congrats to Brenna and LadyM, who won His for the Holidays by LB Gregg, Harper Fox, ZA Maxfield, and Josh Lanyon. His for the Holidays will be released by Carina Press on Monday, December 6.

Contests

Bookity

  • Author newsletters: Kim Dare (news, free story, and a contest) and Heidi Cullinan (I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I’m sure it’s filled with awesomesauce).

Ebookity

  • Have you been to Brief Encounters yet? It’s a new blog from Tam and Jenre, devoted entirely to reviews of short m/m stories. Congrats, you two! Were you concocting this in San Francisco?!

Think, Do, Learn, Make

Gluten Free

Gift Ideas

Holiday

Cool

Huh

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Unspeakable Words by Sarah Madison. ebook. Excellent paranormal m/m romantic suspense about a very precise San Francisco-based FBI agent who’s been shuffled around a lot because he’s not easy to deal with. He gets assigned a temporary partner from Quantico because of a new lead in an old case. When his temporary partner ends up sleeping on his couch, his orderly world is disrupted and things start to get interesting. I’m definitely hoping for more books about these two!!
Beyond Reckless by Ava March. ebook short. Very good steamy short m/m Regency romance about two men who enjoy the thrill of nearly being discovered…
Idaho Battlegrounds by Sarah Black. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a small-town Idaho sheriff who’s also a lieutenant in a National Guard unit that’s been in Afghanistan for the past four years. He’s now up for reelection against the corrupt interim sheriff, while at the same time getting to know a local dairy farmer who has a few secrets of his own…

Pretty Ugly (Petit Morts #6) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m story about a photographer who describes himself as “plug ugly”. He’s shooting an event when he encounters the elusive chocolatier Chance, who gives him a very special chocolate…
Sort of Stranger than Fiction (Petit Morts #7) by Josh Lanyon. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance about a small-town bookstore owner who’s quite intrigued by the scarred guy who owns a nearby dojo.
One Less Stiff at the Funeral (Petit Morts #8) by Sean Kennedy. ebook short. Very good short m/m paranormal story about a guy who helps family members plan services for their freshly deceased relatives.
Critic’s Choice (Petit Morts #9) by Josh Lanyon. ebook short. Very good short m/m paranormal m/m romance about a film critic who gets the chance to work on a dream project and does so, even though he’ll be working with his cheating ex-boyfriend.
Wishink Well (Petit Morts #10) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Excellent short paranormal m/m romance about a man in a hospice, dying of COPD, who runs into the mysterious and alluring Chance stocking vending machines. This Petit Mort has sharper edge than the others.. and we find out a tiny bit more about Chance.
In a Wolf’s Eyes by Cassandra Gold. ebook short. Good short paranormal m/m romance about a guy who gets lost in the woods and found by a strangely intelligent wolf…
Copper Country Gold by Taylor Lochland. ebook. Good short paranormal m/m romance about a bobcat shifter in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula who’s been limiting himself to one-night stands because there aren’t any other gay shifters in the area and he knows his clan leader will never accept an outsider.
WHAT by Missy Welsh. free ebook short. Good free short paranormal m/m romance about a tattoo artist who has a crush on his straight boss.
Dinner and a Movie by Beth Wylde. ebook short. Steamy short m/m encounter about a couple out for dinner and a very unusual movie…
Strings Attached by Nick Nolan. ebook. Good but uneven m/m romance about a high school senior who discovers, after his alcoholic mother ends up in treatment, that his dead father’s family is wealthy. His transition to a life of privilege while he tries to figure out who he is and what he wants does not go smoothly. The author’s afterward reveals numerous references to the story of Pinocchio, only a few of which I caught. I’d suggest including a forward with an abbreviated version of that story to help the reader…
Double Bound (Strings Attached, Book 2) by Nick Nolan. ebook. Ok m/m romantic suspense that was all over the place. This book focused on the butler/bodyguard from the previous book. Unfortunately, especially the closer to the end of this book I got, it felt like the heir (the main character from the previous book) was back to being Pinocchio, with others deciding things for him.
The Christmas Wreath (Tales from the Bell End Cafe, Book 1) by Fabian Black. ebook short. So-so short m/m holiday romance about a young man who fancies himself in love with the older man who saved his life. I think this is the first installment in a serial story… and those drive me nuts. I’d rather read an entire story, not wait for it to be eked out.
The Perfect Tree (The Forbidden Room, Book 3) by J.P. Barnaby. ebook short. Steamy short kinky holiday m/m romance, after which reading you’ll not look at Christmas decorations the same again!
Twinkle, Twinkle by Josephine Myles. ebook short. DSP Advent Calendar. Good short holiday m/m romance about a doctor who, when treating an electrician shocked while checking the wiring for Christmas lights, realizes that the hunky electrician was the fat kid everyone beat up in school.
Biting the Christmas Biscuit (Broken, Book 1.2) by Dawn Kimberly Johnson. ebook short. So-so short holiday m/m romance in which the couple from Broken go to spend the holidays with one’s dead boyfriend’s family. The ending on this was odd – it just sort of stopped.
Storm on the Mountain (Mountain #7) by P.D. Singer. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance continuing the story of Mark and Allan, this time with a Valentine’s Day blizzard.
On Call: Crossroads (On Call #3) by P.D. Singer. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. Very good short m/m romance continuing the story of veterinarian Dante and doctor Keith, as Keith tries to come to grips with losing a patient.
Housesitting by M. Durango. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. Good short m/m romance about a guy who’s housesitting for his uncle for the summer, next door to the now-resident who was his teenaged crush.
Little Fishes by Syd McGynley. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. Ok short kinky m/m romance about a master taking his slave to meet his family, who aren’t aware of the nature of their relationship.
How Did I Lose My Passport – And Find My Love by JM Cartwright. ebook short. Doctors Without Borders Charity Sip Blitz. So-so short m/m romance about an absent-minded medical researcher who misplaces his passport while traveling and is surprised when his nemesis, the hospital’s COO, turns up to get things sorted out.

“That was tasty. I’m glad Mom left those crackers near the edge of the counter while she was getting something out of the fridge!” -Chaos

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Beyond Reckless by Ava March [CONTEST CLOSED]

54 Comments

Today is a two-contest day! Make sure you go enter for your chance to win one of three recent books by Devon Rhodes!

Many thanks to Ava March for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming kinky m/m Regency romance, Beyond Reckless, for a lucky commenter to win! Beyond Reckless will be released by Amber Quill Press on November 28.

It’s the eve of Mr. Rys Palmer’s 25th birthday. A significant birthday, for it’s when he’ll come into his majority and gain full control of the inheritance from his obscenely wealthy grandfather. But the promise of a fortune isn’t what gets Rys’s blood pumping.

Mr. Martin Trent’s well aware of his lover’s propensity for thrills. After four years together, he knows just how to indulge Rys without risking either of their reputations or their necks. But clearly Rys’s taste for more than a hint of danger has rubbed off on him. Beyond reckless to ask Rys to meet him at a formal ton ball to give Rys his gift. Yet Martin can’t resist the opportunity to give his lover a birthday he’ll never forget…

Excerpt (scroll down)

Other Books

About Ava

Ava March is an author of Regency-set m/m erotic romances. She loves writing in the Regency time period, where proper decorum is of the utmost importance, but where anything can happen behind closed doors. You can visit Ava online at her website or her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Friday, November 26.
  • 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!

“I’d like to get my paws on that naughty squirrel who ate part of the wiring on Mom’s car!!” -Mayhem

Make sure you enter the contest for Tooth & Nail (Warder, Book 2) by Mary Calmes! Contest closes 7 pm CST, November 23.

Don’t forget to enter the contest for Handcuffs & Trouble (Rawlings Men, Book 4) by Kim Dare! Contest closes 7 pm CST, November 23.

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity. Linkity. And more Linkity.

40 Comments

Congrats to Kris and Anne B, who each won a copy of The Cat and the Cradle by Jay Bell!

Congrats to Courtney S, who won In the Crease by Stephani Hecht! In the Crease will be released by Total-E-Bound on September 13.

Contests

Bookity

  • An amusing post at Deadline Dames about dating for novelists. My favorite line: “People with book-worthy personal stories are not necessarily the best people to date.”

Ebookity

Learn, Make, Do, Think

Cool

  • Behold, Cyclisk! Can’t you just hear the theme song from 2001: A Space Odyssey in the background?

Huh

  • How… lumpy. And I can just imagine what this will look like after a dog who enjoys chewing gets hold of it…

LOL

  • Just can’t come up with anything for dinner? This site might help inspire you…

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Trinity Trespass by Val Kovalin. ebook. Excellent paranormal m/m romance about two demonic agents who have been sent to keep a unique demon-angel hybrid out of the hands of an evil angel. After the world “clicked” for me, both the fast-paced storyline and the complex relationship between the two agents kept me enthralled.
Talker by Amy Lane. ebook. Powerful m/m romance about a physically and emotionally scarred college student who befriends a much quieter student on the bus to track meets. If you’ve ever been, or known, someone who needed to be saved from themselves, this book will have a strong impact. (And I would say that even if I hadn’t had an influence on the music mentioned throughout the book!)
Bewitched by Bella’s Brother by Amy Lane. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a chronic graduate student and his best friend who spend the summer staying with her divorced brother and his young son, saving money to continue their graduate studies out of state in the fall.
Gayday! Gayday! (G-A-Y, Book 11) by Kim Dare. ebook. Steamy cute m/m romance short about a bratty submissive who keeps getting himself in trouble and calling his dominant straight friend to rescue him.
Night Watch (A Story of The Telling) by Eden Winters. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance that takes place about a year after The Telling, on the Fourth of July, as Jay tries to minimize the noisy holiday’s impact on Michael, who suffers from combat-induced PTSD. (Your purchase during September helps support the the GLBT Bookshelf.)
Cross the Mountain by P.D. Singer. ebook short. Cute short m/m romance about the guys from Fall Down the Mountain out cross-country skiing.
Pleasures of Somerville Park (Object of His Desire, Book 2) by Ava March. free ebook short. Very good free short historical m/m romance following up on Arsen and Henry from Object of His Desire.
Anagama Fires by Sarah Black. ebook. Very good short m/m romance about two potters, both nearly fifty, who’ve been together most of their lives… until the past five years. The more famous, who was the one who left, sends his nephew to his former lover to learn more about firing pottery. I did have a niggle about this one – the story took place over about a week. On the first day, puppies were born. A few days later, the same puppies were running around and getting underfoot! Whoops.
Indigo Knights 1: Squire by Jet Mykles. ebook. Very good m/m romance spin-off from the Heaven Sent series, about the straight singer who filled in for Brent in Heaven Sent while Brent’s wrist was broken, and who is now staying with Brent, Hell, and Brent’s intriguing cousin Izzy while he works on getting a new band together.
Just Desserts by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about a famous French chef and the equally famous British food critic who seems to have it in for him.
Unexpected Guest (Patient Eyes, Book 2) by Andy Eisenberg. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a recently divorced guy who’s staying in his mother’s old house and fixing it up to sell it for her when a gay couple (the guys from Patient Eyes!) move in next door. Getting to know them reawakens thoughts and feelings he’s buried for a long, long time. I enjoyed finding out how life was going for the guys from Patient Eyes and enjoyed that this book felt more cohesive than did Patient Eyes.
You Can Go Home Again by Drew Zachary. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a guy who’s back in the small town of his childhood after being away for college and vet school.
Raven by Dakota Rebel. ebook short. Good short paranormal m/m romance about two vampires who own a gay nightclub (Raven) together, but have never gotten together themselves… (I wish I’d realized this was in Naughty Nooners, which I already owned, before I picked it up! Whoops.)
Masked by Lissa Matthews. free ebook short. Short kinky m/m story that sets up an intriguing situation between a dominant and a mysterious masked submissive… From a comment the author left elsewhere, it seems she does plan to write a follow-up story.
A Lesson in Truth by Sloan Parker. free ebook short. Cute short free m/m romance about a grad student with a crush on his advisor.
Thirty Days (Book 1) and Forever (Thirty Days, Book 2) by Shayla Kersten. ebooks. Good kinky m/m romances about a Dom whose beloved partner/sub died from cancer. As he starts to get back into the scene, his friends introduce him to a sub who had been badly abused and tortured (almost to death) by his previous master. These were hard for me to read at times because they kept reminding me of a friend, although I don’t think things got quite that bad for him before he got out…
Captive by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook short. Huh. So-so m/m romance in which something seems to be happening, but that might not be what’s happening at all. I got annoyed by that.
Green Lake by Anna Marie May. ebook short. So-so short m/m romance about a guy who takes a research assistant position in Alaska to get away from his wealthy, controlling family. Way too much story for the length of the book and, as Jenre noted in her review at Jessewave, the book was all telling, no showing, which made it impossible to connect with the characters.
Golden Boy (Book 1) by Claire Thompson. ebook. So-so kinky m/m romance about a handsome young mechanic so deeply closeted he doesn’t realize he’s gay until he sees an extremely compelling guy while out clubbing with a lesbian friend. That compelling guy turns out to be a prestigious Dom who slowly helps the mechanic discover his submissive side. I had some issues with this one. I really disliked the Dom. And the book pissed me off by ending in what felt like the middle.
Golden Man (Golden Boy, Book 2) by Claire Thompson. ebook. After it felt like the first book stopped in the middle, this book picks up… six months later. Some of the characters feel more like caricatures than like people, which was a problem in the first book, too. But ultimately, I didn’t like or trust the Dom after the first book and nothing in this book managed to change my mind. (Also, I think the cover is really weird.)

“I found this book on the floor, so it’s my book now and I say you don’t get to read it, Mom.” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Extremely extreme linkity

31 Comments

Contests

Bookity

  • If you love to scribble in books and feel constrained when you borrow books or check them out from the library, check out NoteTabs, which are combo Post-its/book flags.
  • Rich also has a post on what he calls the WYSIWYG Conundrum – how it can be hard to edit (and particularly hard to edit our own words) because  we see what we expect to see when we read.

Ebookity

Learn, Make, Do, Think

  • Lifehacker has a nice comparison of Google Docs and Microsoft’s free Office Web Apps. (High level: Microsoft shines in dealing with highly formatted Office documents, but doesn’t have collaboration. Google Docs doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but I definitely agree it’s great for real-time collaboration.)
  • Raise your hand if you thought the FDA had the power to recall dangerous food. Yeah, I thought the same thing. We’re wrong.

Gluten Free

  • D’oh! French Meadow Bakery is four blocks from me and I haven’t tried their gluten free muffins yet!

Not that Interested in the Post, But Holy Crap that Picture Is Scary

Huh

LOL

  • Poor Franklin reveals the nasty rash of lace charting symbols on his chest and arm.
  • I think I’m glad that all spiders are eaten here before things get to this point. (Eaten by the kitties, not me, just to clarify.)

Teh Cute, It Burns

  • Be honest – who, besides me, is tempted to catnap Melly?

Reading Update
Phonebook by Amy Lane. ebook short. Fun’n’steamy m/m romance short about a guy on a business trip who calls his boyfriend, but is too embarrassed to have phone sex… directly, at least.
Gay Man Seeks Same (G-A-Y, Book 8 ) by Kim Dare. ebook. Sweet’n’kinky m/m romance about a serious guy who has a crush on his fickle coworker and places a personals ad in an attempt to get the coworker off his mind.
Bound by Deception, Bound to Him, and Deliberately Unbound by Ava March. ebooks, plus free ebook short. Very good kinky Regency m/m romances about a minor aristocrat who’s been in love with one of his well-to-do friends for years, but only recently realized that his friend was also gay. Will his deceptive scheme to take the place of his friend’s usual whore, while remaining anonymous, ultimately backfire? (And check out Ava’s post Story Behind the Story – Bound by Deception.)
The Cross of Sins (Fathom’s Five, Book 1) by Geoffrey Knight. Say you had five gay Indiana Joneses… you’d have Fathom’s Five and a rollicking romp of a read. 🙂
The Landlord by Jeff Erno. ebook. Ok kinky m/m romance that was a really mixed read for me. It’s about a brand-new college grad who gets his first job, rents his first apartment, and, via his landlord, discovers his submissive side. While I enjoyed the story, I didn’t enjoy the writing; who thinks in the passive voice?!

The following are all part of Dreamspinner’s Midsummer’s Nightmare Daily Dose:
Love Among the Stacks by Andi Deacon. ebook short. Enjoyable paranormal m/m short about a guy who’s doing research among the library stacks late one evening when he meets a very intriguing library worker.
Becoming the Spoils by J.L. Merrow. ebook short. Very good, fun paranormal m/m romance short about a journalist who gets gothed up and goes clubbing in an attempt to get the scoop on vampires, but who gets a little bit more than he bargained for.
The Scenic Route by Chrissy Munder. ebook short. Spooky short m/m paranormal romance about two guys driving through Lower Michigan on their way to the UP who stop at an extremely rustic motel for the night…
The Wounds in the Walls by Heidi Cullinan. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a day laborer who’s hired by a paranormal psychologist to, supposedly, do some work on an old house with a tragic past. Be aware that there are some menagey bits, but, as with Special Delivery, Heidi Cullinan makes it work.
Wishes by Moria McCain. ebook short. Short paranormal m/m romance about werewolves living in a society that doesn’t believe there can be mating bonds other than male-female. This started out strong, but too much story was crammed into far too little space and the ending felt rushed.

“Maybe they’ll forget how crabby I was yesterday, coo about how cute I look today, and try to rub my tummy. Bwa-ha-ha!” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

It’s far too late to come up with a remotely clever linkity title

38 Comments

Congrats to Jase, who won the copy of Gay Pride (G-A-Y, Book 7) by Kim Dare!

Contests

Books & Reading

  • Both Kris and Katiebabs have posts about the difference between comfort reads and rereads.

Learn, Do, Make

  • If you’re not exactly sure how a cell phone call works, check out this infographic.

Wow

Huh

LOL

  • Oh oh… If you’ve been following Brigitte’s quest to not alert Atticus that he’s going to the vet… there’s been a dark turn of events.

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Icing on the Cake by Shayla Kersten. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a guy who’s the man of honor for his best friend’s wedding. She puts him in charge of getting the cake… and oh, that baker is hot. (I wish Shayla Kersten wrote more m/m, because I’ve really enjoyed what she does have out… *hint hint*)
Gaps in Your Soul by Shayla Kersten. ebook reread. Um, yeah, so after reading the previous book, I felt the need to read some more Shayla Kersten. This is a pretty good m/m romance about… Hmm. Having trouble with a summary. At its most basic? I’d say it’s about how the US military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy messes with people’s minds and ultimately messes them up.
The One That Broke Free (One, Book 4) by T.C. Blue. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a soldier who was discharged ten years ago after his leg was permanently damaged. Since then, he’s been living alone in the small, closed-minded Southern town where he grew up, but after being in Boston for his brother and brother-in-law’s wedding, he’s rethinking his life. (I was lucky enough to win this from the author! Thanks, TC! And hey, TC will be giving away an ebook here at SOC tomorrow…)
Out of Balance by Stephani Hecht. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a banker who’s been going through a rough time when a hunky customer asks him out.
Two Man Team (Team, Book 2) by Jet Mykles. ebook. Do I hear bodies hitting the floor out there?! 🙂 Sarah reviewed this book and I was intrigued. (No, it wasn’t because of the Candy Cane Guy cover!) It’s an m/m romance that starts as an m/f/m romance and I’m not a fan of menagey books. But this one managed to avoid the big issue I have with menagey books, so it actually worked pretty well.
Vindaloo and the T-Bird by Sarah Black. ebook short. Good m/m romance about an eye surgeon who buys an old T-Bird so he has an excuse to spend time with the mechanic he used to date. There’s one thing that bothered me about this, but it’s a spoiler – we can talk about it in email if you’ve read the book!
Object of His Desire by Ava March. ebook. Good m/m Regency romance (I’ll give you a minute to recover) about a young man who’s been at a debauched house party for a week. He hasn’t participated because he’s been pining for the lord who’s hosting the party. Alas, he knows his affections won’t be returned, as the lord is ostensibly using the week to audition for his next mistress… (And yes, that’s Underwear Guy on the cover!)
Convincing Arthur by Ava March. ebook. Another good m/m Regency romance! It turns out that I don’t mind (and actually enjoy) historicals if they aren’t overburdened with historical details. I know that some love reading elaborate details of the clothes, the furnishings, the food… but that’s what turned me off of historicals in the past. Anyway! Leopold’s been waiting for Arthur to be free from his long-term and unfaithful lover. Now that Arthur’s free, will Leopold’s own debauched reputation keep Arthur away?
Fantasies: Christmas by Cassandra Gold. ebook. Good m/m romance about a guy who’s had a really bad week (he gets laid off, his beloved old cat dies, and his boyfriend dumps him by email) until he wins a Hawaiian vacation at the liquor store and invites the helpful guy next in line to go with him.
Cutting Cords by Mickie B. Ashling. ebook. Good m/m romance about two young men who end up as roommates in NYC because their dads were pro baseball teammates once upon a time. One guy is going blind but in denial (about more than just going blind *ahem*). The other is dealing (not so well) with crippling self-esteem issues. This story is told in alternating first- and third-person point-of-view, but I think it would’ve worked better if it had been entirely in third-person.
Poker Night 5: Full House by Carol Lynne. ebook. Well, I had to know how it all ended, since the story of Kent and Marco has been building through the previous four books! I enjoyed it, but I’d recommend reading the rest of the series first.
Theron’s Return (Campus Cravings, Book 11) by Carol Lynne. ebook. Um, I sort of pick these m/m romances up randomly as the descriptions strike my fancy, so for me, this is a completely nonlinear series. This one’s about a guy living in BK House who’s had a really, really bad year and simply can’t deal with it any more. It was ok – exactly the sort of read I needed at the time.
Calendar Boys April: Out of the Storm by Jamie Craig. ebook. Good m/m romance about a meteorologist who’s just been dumped by his boyfriend on a weekend getaway when a hunky ranger shows up at his cabin door, stranded by a surprise storm. (Wait, just how many dumped boyfriend books did I read this week?!)
Calendar Boys August: Scorched by Jamie Craig. ebook. Another good m/m romance – this one’s about a NYC firefighter who returns to Utah to help fight an out-of-control wildfire and runs into his former best friend’s kid brother.
Apotrope by Chris Owen. ebook short. Huh. This paranormal m/m romance about a vampire trying to impress a guy just never came together for me. (It’s part of Torquere’s Spice It Up series and the spice in question was garlic.)
Murder by Design by Jade Falconer. ebook. Um. Well, this m/m romance about a cop investigating the murder of a slutty model’s sugar daddy might’ve been better if half of it was cut out – I’d recommend the extremely repetitive scenes in which our two heroes gushed lovingly at each other over and over and over, ad nauseum.

So my friend CJ went to RT and all I got was… dang. A lot of goodies! Thank you, CJ! And thanks to all the authors who signed stuff for me. 🙂

“Mom, I’m truly alarmed by the large number of naughty boys and utter lack of black kitties.” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: From Afar by Ava March [CONTEST CLOSED]

30 Comments

Many thanks to Ava March for donating an ebook copy of her recent m/m paranormal Regency romance, From Afar, for one lucky reader to win!

Some rules are destined to be broken.

Loneliness. A concept with which Raphael Laurent is very familiar. He’s lived a solitary life for thirty-six years, shunning the excesses of the local vampire clan – until he spots Lord Aleric Vane, the handsome and dissolute third son of a duke. For three years Raphael has watched from a distance, for only when he is near Aleric does the hollow, empty ache in his chest ease.

Cut off from his family for refusing to follow his father’s dictates, Aleric’s nights are filled with vice. But after three years in London, the city has lost all appeal. Desolate and penniless, his future appears bleak until a mysterious man drops from the shadows to drive off a trio of murderous thieves.

When Aleric awakens, he finds himself forever changed. The itch for more that drove him to London is gone. In its place is the feeling that he’s known the beautiful Raphael all his life.

But to save Aleric, Raphael had to break the rules, giving him a chance to love the one man he never thought he could have – a chance that could be ripped away by Aleric himself…

Warning: This book contains hot m/m action with a new vampire with a ramped up sex drive, and a dash of voyeurism of the m/m, m/f, and m/m/m varieties. Definitely not your traditional Regency romance.

Excerpt

Reviews

Other Books

About Ava

Ava March is an author of Regency-set M/M historical erotic romances. She loves writing in the Regency time period, where proper decorum is of the utmost importance, but where anything can happen behind closed doors. You can visit Ava online at her website or at her blog.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, May 3.
  • 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 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!

“I bet if I lived in the Regency era, I’d have an actual throne instead of this crummy towel-covered ottoman. Hmph.” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Pink fluff of linkity (I have no idea what that means, either)

32 Comments

Thanks to Ralph at The Dancing Dove, where I won a copy of Journey To Compromise by Mira Ismine, and to Kim Dare, at whose blog I won a copy of one of her books for only being a sort of bad guesser.

Contests

  • Authors Bronwyn Green and Paige Tyler gracefully dealt with both having released books called Just Right based on Little Red Riding Hood by having a joint contest! Visit both blogs by March 29 for your chance to win copies of both books.

Books & Reading

  • Really excellent post about DRM over at An American Editor. My favorite quote from the post: “Right now Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and publishers are able to ignore the consumer in the nascent ebook market. But the backlash is coming.” (As an aside, I’ve chosen to reward publishers and bookstores that make and sell DRM-free books and avoid those that don’t have DRM-free offerings.)
  • Nice post over at Dear Author reacting to the complaint that ebooks and “the loss of the public nature of the physical artifact will result in the loss of culture.”
  • Gizmodo had a blurb about “online music industry giants” making a plea to stop music piracy. I couldn’t help but read the following sentence while thinking about the publishing industry and authors: “…it’s tough to take an earnest plea for buying music seriously when it comes from business middlemen rather than, you know, musicians.” So, authors, keep spreading the ebook anti-piracy message, because you are the people most likely to be heard.
  • Emily candidly discusses that topic we all avoid – book addiction (and there’s a great comic included!).

Learn Stuff

Moment of Silence

Knitting

Things That Amused Me

Cute Burns

Reading Update
Reading Update Update: I’m slowly working on adding my wee reviewettes to my LibraryThing. (Would that I had thought of this quite some time ago…) Depending on the tone and formality of said reviewettes, they’ll either be in the Reviews or the Comments field. When you view my LibraryThing, click on the various available styles until you find one that shows the comments. (Which letter that will be varies by browser, weirdly.)
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (Nightside, Book 10) by Simon R. Green. PI John Taylor’s back in another dark noirish urban fantasy; what else is there to say?
Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. Excellent m/m romance told in epistolary style about two boys (a nerd and a jock) who fall in love in high school and then lose touch with each other after going to college. I’d heard nothing but good about this book, yet I still wasn’t prepared for how it sucked me in. Highly recommended.
Hideout by Katie Allen. ebook. This excellent m/m romantic suspense is about a cop who’s guarding one of the characters from Private Dicks for seven months until he can testify in a trial. Really, why aren’t there more witness protection books that include remodeling the safe house? 🙂 Highly recommended. Hopefully, now that Katie’s writing full-time, she’ll give us some more of her excellent m/m romance soon. (Oh, and you really need to read Private Dicks first to get the most out of this book! I promise, it won’t be a hardship.) As if you hadn’t guessed, highly recommended.
Sex and Sexuality by Willa Okati. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a professor who went through “homosexual deprogramming” when he was younger and is now trying to follow the straight life, complete with evil bitch fiancee (more caricature than anything else). Published in 2007, this is definitely not one of Okati’s stronger books.
From Afar by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical paranormal m/m romance about a vampire obsessed by a young lord who has to change the lord into a vampire to save his life. The ending was a bit abrupt – perhaps there’s to be a sequel? (I know, I know, another historical!)
The Hit List by Anne Brooke. ebook. This m/m romance was a mixed read for me. I found the first third very frustrating, not really knowing what the heck was going on. In fact, I put the book aside and read the previous two books. When I returned to The Hit List, the middle third wasn’t quite so frustrating, and the final third was quite good. In fact, I started to suspect that the first third was meant to put the reader into the very confused headspace of the narrator.
Paul’s D’Marco by Leiland Dale. ebook short. Ok short m/m romantic suspense about a police detective and the psychic that’s called in to help the police find a serial child killer. A titch more editing and fleshing out the story would’ve moved this from ok to good.
Persistence Pays by Mara Ismine. ebook short. Very cute m/m romance about a martial artist who’s been trying for years to avoid spending too much time with his irresistible but slutty best friend.
Emergency (A City Hospital Novel) by Drew Zachary. ebook. Typical sweet’n’steamy m/m romance from Drew Zachary about an EMT who’s good friends with a doctor going through a divorce and questioning his sexuality. Very low angst.
Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux. ebook reread. Good m/m romance about two guys who went to high school together who are now teaching and coaching at that same school. (I noticed headhopping this time, but don’t remember noticing it the first time I read the book.)

“Pink fluff, I devour you!” -Mayhem