Tag Archives: YA

Ebook giveaway: Under the Stars by Geoff Laughton [CONTEST CLOSED]

Many thanks to Geoff Laughton for donating an ebook copy of his freshly released contemporary gay young adult novel, Under the Stars, for a lucky commenter to win!

Ethan Tanner is an out and proud, fastidious, and fashionable sixteen-year-old vegetarian who likes theater and musicals. This year, it’s his sister’s turn to pick the vacation destination, so he ends up on a dude ranch he knows he is going to hate. What with the dirt, animals, and germs, he can’t possibly be happy.

Jason McCoy is the closeted sixteen-year-old son of the ranch owners and is trying to find his place in a world that doesn’t seem to fit him. He takes an interest in Ethan, shows him around, and gets him to ride a horse. When he invites Ethan camping, Ethan thinks Jason must be joking. But Ethan takes a risk, and the two boys bond under the stars.

After that, Ethan and Jason are inseparable. Their friendship grows into something deeper as they begin to figure out what they want from life. But Ethan’s home is in Chicago, and the distance might be more than the two teenagers – and their blossoming relationship – can withstand.

Excerpt (scroll down and expand)

Other Books

About Geoff

Geoff Laughton grew up very near the locations he writes about. Raised in western Michigan, he attended high school outside Muskegon and Ludington. After college Geoff moved a lot, traveled a lot, and ended up living at one time on both coasts. He currently works for a major corporation and writes in his spare time. Together with his partner of almost twenty years, Geoff still travels, collects antiques, reads all kinds of old crap, and loves to get his hands dirty in the garden. He currently lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about Geoff and his books on Facebook.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, October 20.
  • 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!

“Go ‘way, Mom. Napping.” -Chaos

*zoning out* -Mayhem

Ebook giveaway: By the Creek by Geoff Laughton [CONTEST CLOSED]



Congrats to Emily, who won Show and Tell by Kate McMurray! Show and Tell is being released today by Loose Id.



Many thanks to Geoff Laughton for donating an ebook copy of his forthcoming contemporary gay young adult novel, By the Creek, for a lucky commenter to win! By the Creek will be released by Harmony Ink Press on January 15.

Soon-to-be high school junior David Harper hates his family’s move to the country. There’s nothing to do, and he misses his friends in the city. But he doesn’t have a choice. His mother’s job is in Mason County now, so David and his mom are too, and he has to make the best of it.

At first, the only redeeming feature of David’s new home is the swimming hole across the field from his house. Then David meets Benjamin Killinger, and suddenly life stops being so dull.

Benjamin is Amish, and cooling off in the swimming hole is one of the few liberties he and his brothers enjoy. A friendship with an English boy is not – but that doesn’t stop him and David from getting to know each other, as long as it’s on the neutral ground by the creek. After David risks his life to save Benjamin’s father, the boys’ friendship is tolerated, then accepted. But before long, Benjamin’s feelings for David grow beyond the platonic. Benjamin’s family and the rest of the community will never allow a love like that, and a secret this big can’t stay secret forever…

About Geoff

Geoff Laughton grew up very near the locations he writes about. Raised in western Michigan, he attended high school outside Muskegon and Ludington. After college Geoff moved a lot, traveled a lot, and ended up living at one time on both coasts. He currently works for a major corporation and writes in his spare time. Together with his partner of almost twenty years, Geoff still travels, collects antiques, reads all kinds of old crap, and loves to get his hands dirty in the garden. He currently lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about Geoff and his books on Facebook.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Monday, January 14.
  • 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!

“Jacket? What jacket? All I see is a new kitty bed in the hallway.” -Mayhem

Ebook Giveaway: Light Outside the Closet (Haven Coffee House Boys #1) by Stephani Hecht [CONTEST CLOSED]



Congrats to ShellBell, who won Waking Up Naked by Kim Dare! Waking Up Naked is being released today by Resplendence Publishing.



Many thanks to Stephani Hecht for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming young adult m/m romance, Light Outside the Closet (Haven Coffee House Boys #1), for a lucky commenter to win! Light Outside the Closet will be released by Devine Destinies on March 1.

Being a gay teen is hard enough, but when Christian’s strict father is transferred to a different city and Christian has to go to a new school, he discovers how much worse things can get. Fortunately, before he sinks into depression, Christian finds a new group of friends, who are also gay. Christian soon learns that his friends have their own problems, from desperately seeking attention to abusive family members.

This is the first book in an exciting new series that follows the high and lows of Christian and his friends through their senior year as they seek acceptance and love while dealing with hostility and homophobia. Will all of them survive to see graduation… or will they lose somebody along the way?

Also by Stephani

About Stephani

Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all things about the state, from the frigid winters to the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. Go Wings! You can usually find her snuggled up to her laptop, creating her next book or gorging on caffeine at her favorite coffee shop.

You can visit Stephani at her blog or her website.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Wednesday, February 29.
  • 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 you have an email account with AOL or Netscape, I will not be able to send email to you.
  • 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!

“See how cute I am??!” -Chaos

Neither snow nor bitter cold shall prevent bookity linkity!

As promised yesterday, part two of this week’s bookity linkity. Can you imagine yesterday’s post and today’s post combined into a single post?! You’re welcome. 😉

Dear Author’s giving away 31 different different forthcoming titles from Berkeley/Jove. Leave a comment with your top three choices and your favorite Berkeley/Jove title.

Smexy Books is giving away two copies of Kelly Meding’s new urban fantasy, Three Days To Dead. Contest runs through December 11.

Leave a comment for author Tina Donahue by 12/2 over at Babbling About Books for your chance to win a copy of her steamy romance, Close To Perfect.

Literary Escapism’s giving away a copy of Kelly Gay’s new urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness. Leave a comment by midnight on December 15 for your chance to win. Sara at Urban Fantasy Reader is giving away her ARC of the same book and her contest closes at midnight EST, 12/19.

BooksOnBoard and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are celebrating Hanukkah by giving away a Bookeen Cybook Opus ereader. Break out your creativity and follow the guidelines to write a 200-word pitch for a romance set during Hannukah (or any other Jewish holiday) for your chance to win. Contest closes at noon EST, December 18

Samhain’s having weekly contests throughout December. Prizes include four ebook readers (Kindle or Sony), free ebooks, and more. Head over to the Samhellion blog for details.

Voting’s open at All Things Urban Fantasy for the First Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards. Participate by December 30 for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card, along with some of the winning books.

Check out the free reads and giveaways that Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) and Jackie at Literary Escapism found.

Another great urban fantasy weekend report from SciFiGuy. Plus he lists the new paranormal, urban fantasy, and scifi/fantasy releases for December.

Anastasia found some great book-related links and posted them at her Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Feeling brave? You can read excerpts from all the contenders in the Bad S3x in Literary Fiction Contest. Jonathan Littell won for his description from The Kindly Ones.

Many thanks to Cecile and Kimber Chin for the copy of Kimber’s ebook, Released, that I won in their contest!


Gluten-Free Living magazine has (unsurprisingly) gluten-free gift ideas on their blog.

Looking for gift ideas for your book lover? Head over to the Love Romance Passion blog for their list. Smart Bitches has a list, too.

Wired magazine has an ereader gift guide. Or you could just read the ereader holiday shopping comic instead.

I would highly recommend not buying your coworkers the new book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction. Do you really want that annoying guy in the next cube to build his very own pencil crossbow?

Americans consume 34gb of data a day?! Hmm. Maybe not me, since I don’t watch tv or play computer games (anymore) or have a fancy phone. Of course, my music, book, and ebook consumption might help make that up.

After you absorb that statistic, head off to break your brain again over Gizmodo’s post “How Huge Is the Internet on an Average Day?”

Jenre wonders how people manage their TBR (to be read) piles and files.

Read a lot of ebooks on your iphone? This case/stand might be handy.

Do you have trouble determining when it’s inappropriate to use your iphone? This handy humorous flowchart might help!

This is a really cool (and cheap) laptop desk (although the directions are sparse, at best). In fact, I think I could use this even with cats on my lap…

Does your kitteh yearn for a Canadian cardboard cat chalet?

Black kittehs are looking out for what you read!

Poor little Tweety Bird

Chaos?! 😉

Free cute burns over at Pitter Pats of Baby Cats…

Reading Update
The Renegade Hunter (Argeneau Vampires 12, Rogue Hunter 3) by Lynsay Sands. Finally! Nicholas’ story can be told! Oh yeah, totally not an m/m series. 😉
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville. ebook. Holy crap. I kept hearing that this book was good, but I really wasn’t prepared for how good it was. This was very, very intense m/m romantic suspense about a hitman and a guy he’s supposed to kill. I laughed a little, cried a bit more, and am glad I started it early enough that I didn’t have to stay up into the wee hours to finish reading. Highly recommended.
Conventional Education by T. C. Blue. ebook. Well done m/m romance continuing the story of closeted actor Lucas and very out goth computer geek Trent that started in Conventional Wisdom. I was hoping things would be tied up a bit more at the end of this one, but now I’ll have to hope that for the next book.
Go Fish by H. T. Murray. ebook. This m/m romance was great fun! I laughed out loud more than a few times at some of the wonderfully clever bits, such as this: “He had no idea why he was thinking with dramatic pauses now. He just was.” Or this:

He was not pouting.

“Yes, you were.”

He was not doing a very good job of keeping his inner thoughts inner, either.

Teaching Him a Lesson by Brit M. ebook. Nicely done m/m romance about a professor and his teaching assistant, who has a psycho ex. Damn those psycho exes anyway! (And hey, contemplate the cover knowing that both guys had long hair…)
Horizons by Mickie B. Ashling. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a deeply closeted college football player with a homophobic family who finds himself falling (despite himself) for the very out ER doctor who cares for his broken arm. (Hmm. Sort of a weird cover, isn’t it?)
Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle. Steven’s a sophomore in a small Minnesota town who’s trying to figure out his sexual orientation. He just knows that he absolutely, positively is not gay. Right?
Near Life Experience by Alix Bekins. ebook. Very well done m/m romance about two friends whose friendship changes in interesting ways after one of them finds out an ex is HIV positive and goes in to be tested.
Beautiful Boys by Anne Cain. ebook. This is a fairly good collection of four interrelated m/m romance stories. (Not sure if I’d call any of the characters in the stories boys, or match them to the cover art, but…)
From the Heavens by Vic Winter. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance. When a stressed out paramedic needs to get away from it all in the mountains and is rescued by a handsome ranger, how will his life change?
Spare Parts (Romentics) by Scott & Scott. ebook. Ok m/m romance about that tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive…
Two In Two Out by G.A. Hauser. ebook. D’oh. I really, really need to remember not to get more books by this m/m author. The writing is awkward and simplistic and the characters… Well, if they were two preteen girls, their gushing internal monologues might be ok. Might be. Plus I think this book exceeded an allowable use threshold for forms of “adore”.


“I’m soooo sleepy… why are you bothering me? You must hate me.” -Mayhem