Join us for Charity Saturday, 29 June 2025 #CharitySundaySignup #Altruism #Marketing

Image by William Hayes from Pixabay

Since 2017, I’ve been devoting the last Sunday in each month to a post which features some worthy cause. Often, other bloggers join me in this effort, turning the event into a blog hop. This month’s Charity Sunday blog hop will take place this coming Sunday, the 29^th of June.

Charity Sunday is a meme designed to give authors and bloggers a chance to give back to the world, as well as to attract new readers.

How does it work? Each participant selects a favorite charity. Before the date, you should prepare a blog post that: 1) talks about the charity and why you support it; 2) provides a link to the charity; 3) includes an excerpt from one of your books; 4) includes the code to show links to other participating blogs.

It’s fun if you can make the excerpt relate somehow to your chosen charity, but this isn’t required.

For every comment left on your post, you commit to giving some amount to the relevant charity. The specific charity and the amount to donate are up to you. You can set an upper limit to your donation if you want.

If you’d like to participate in the next Charity Sunday on June 29^th, sign up using the Linky List below. Please be sure that the link you enter will lead directly to your Charity Sunday post, not just to the home page of your blog.

Please download the new Charity Sunday banner for 2025!

https://www.lisabetsarai.com/2025CharitySundayBanner.jpg

For an example post, check out this link from my last Charity Sunday:

https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2025/05/charity-sunday-playing-for-good.html

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Listening to her heart – #HistoricalRomance #ArrangedMarriage #Giveaway

Blurb

Miranda Harlake's only chance to escape the detestable match her parents are arranging is a sham betrothal to her best friend, Peter, who proposes solely to save her from a loveless marriage. She gratefully accepts, though both know they'll never wed.

Piqued by her parents' scheming, Miranda secretly attends a masked ball and dances with a fascinating stranger all night. Upon discovering her partner was the insufferable George Rockford, she tries to forget the romantic evening they shared.

George, lonely despite his popularity and roguish ways, is intrigued by Miranda but she's apparently immune to his charms.

Miranda must listen to her heart and find courage to be honest with everyone—especially herself—if for once she's going to fulfill her own dreams.

Excerpt

As Miranda approached the drawing room she heard men’s voices, and neither of them was her father’s. She guessed Mr. Tolwood had stopped by and brought someone with him, but when she strode into the room she nearly gasped aloud.

George and Ebenezer Rockford stood chatting with her parents, glasses of sherry in their hands. So this was why her mother had insisted she change. Nobody looked Miranda’s way when she entered the room and she wanted to tiptoe out and send Cassandra down with a message that she was ill. Very ill. She sighed. It would never work. Mentally preparing herself for an atrocious evening, she walked to her father’s side.

“Ah, here she is at last!” Mr. Harlake said, taking her arm.

Miranda fixed a smile on her face as he steered her over to stand beside Ebenezer.

“You remember Mr. Rockford, don’t you, Miranda?” Mr. Harlake asked, eyes twinkling.

“Yes, of course. Good evening.” Miranda hadn’t seen him up close in a long time. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a short beard. She’d never been fond of beards.

Mr. Rockford took her hand and kissed it. “Good evening to you, Miss Harlake.”

She went to pull her hand away, but he showed no sign of relinquishing it.

“Call her Miranda. So much friendlier,” Mrs. Harlake said with a wide smile.

“Then she must call me Ebenezer.” He motioned to George. “You know my nephew, George? Why, you two must have gone to school together.”

Miranda was glad to remove her hand from Ebenezer’s grip as she turned to face George.

About the Author

Kate Ellington grew up in a woodsy New England town where summer days at the lake seemed to last forever. She read her first historical romance at age eleven when a teacher challenged her to find a book in the library written by an author she’d never heard of. Thus began a life-long love of love stories.

After graduating from college with an art degree she settled in the Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides with her family.

Kate wrote her first romance when she was sixteen, then set her pen down for years until another story floated into her head out of the clear blue sky. She jotted it down, just for fun, but soon it took on a life of its own.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/29720924.Kate_Ellington

https://bsky.app/profile/kateellington.bsky.social

https://www.kateellington.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kateellingtonauthor

Kate Ellington will be awarding a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

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Love Erases Borders – #UNHCR #WorldRefugeeDay #FreeBook

What if you had no home? If you were forced to out of your town, or your country, by famine or natural disasters, war or political violence? Today is World Refugee Day, an observance by the United Nations intended to draw attention to the enormous problem of refugees worldwide.

According to UNHCR, there are currently more than 120 million individuals who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/statistics/

Many live in desperate circumstances, squalid and overcrowded camps or dilapidated city slums. Their flight from home has not necessarily made them any safer. In many countries refugees face discrimination, intimidation and the threat of being forced to escape yet again.

To mark World Refugee Day, I’m giving away a free copy of my refugee-themed romance story Refuge to anyone who wants it. To claim your copy, go to Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/945432), click on Buy and enter the following coupon code:

YP25L

The price will drop to zero and you will be able to download your book in your choice of digital formats.

In addition, for each download of the story between now and Sunday night, when the coupon expires, I will donate one dollar to UNHCR.

I hope you’ll join me in solidarity with the world’s refugees.

Thank you.

Blurb

Love erases borders.

I never wanted to be a soldier, especially a guard at the remote, dusty Mae La refugee camp, a thousand kilometers from my home. But these days there were no jobs in our village. My mother depended on the money I sent her each month. Still, she cried whenever I phoned her.

Until I met the lovely hill tribe girl Preean, though—until she asked for help I knew I shouldn’t give her—I never really understood what I was doing to my fellow human beings. How could she go on, one day after another in that desolate place, without any hope for change? Mae La was limbo—once you arrived here you were stuck. There was nowhere else you could go.

To love her was dangerous, a risk to my own life and freedom. But when she offered her body and her heart, how could I refuse?

Excerpt

“Excuse me, do you have a pencil?”

I jumped. I had been daydreaming about home, eating somtum and gai yang with Mum and my brother Daeng under the tamarind tree in the backyard. The light tap on my shoulder dragged me back to the smelly, dusty camp where I was supposed to be on guard.

“What?”

“A pencil? Or a pen?” The young woman gestured back towards a knot of kids gathered in the shade of the water tower. She held up a sheet of corrugated cardboard scavenged from some trash heap. “I’m teaching them their alphabet. I’ve got this but nothing to write with.”

She wore a faded teeshirt, baggy shorts and flip flops. Her hair hung down her back in a messy ponytail tied with an old shoelace. Still I could see that she was pretty, slightly built, with sharper features and paler skin then the girls back home. Her smile appeared genuine, though her eyes appraised me nervously. I guessed that it took some courage for her to approach me, a uniformed soldier with a loaded rifle—never mind that I was only a year or two older than she was, and wanting nothing more than to go back to my family in Yasathon.

I leaned my gun against my thigh. “I’ve got a pencil back at the barracks, but I can’t leave my post until my shift is over. Maybe you could postpone your lessons until after three? I’ll bring it to you then.”

Her face lit up. She grabbed and squeezed my hands. Hers were tiny, but strong. “Oh, thank you, sir! Thank you.”

I blushed at her enthusiasm. “Never mind. Now you’d better go.” I’d noticed Sergeant Chokchai headed my way. He didn’t approve of what he called “fraternization” between us and the camp’s inhabitants.

“Everything secure, Private Nu?” He loomed over me. I swallowed hard. He came from Bangkok. He had made it clear in his view, I was just a stupid hick from the Northeast.

“Yes, sir. Everything is normal, sir.”

“What were you doing, talking to that filthy Burmese cunt?”

I winced at his foulness. “Nothing. She wanted to know the time, that’s all.”

“Why should she care? She’s not going anywhere!” Chokchai gave a nasty chuckle “You should know better, though. Don’t talk to them. Don’t get involved in their affairs. Oh, they’ll act all polite and respectful, but they’re snakes. They’ll stab you as soon as your back’s turned. You remember what happened to Sakon, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” Sakon had been another sergeant. They had found him behind the mess hall with his throat slit. Everyone assumed that he was murdered by one of the refugees, even though he’d been a brutal man who had many enemies.

“Just remember, they’re animals. Ignorant, superstitious animals.” He looked over his shoulder in the direction that the girl had disappeared, shaking his head in obvious disgust, before returning his unwelcome attention to me.

* * *

120 million people – what a huge problem! But help begins with awareness and with compassion.

The Ladies’ Welcome Brigade – #LGBTQ+ #PrideMonth #MFRWHooks

It’s Wednesday once again, and I am continuing my celebration of Pride Month with another LGBTQ+ excerpt. This week’s hook comes from my F/F/F paranormal romance The Witches of Gloucester. Gloucester is one of my favorite places in the world; this story is very dear to my heart.

Blurb

It’s not about power. It’s about love.

The historic port of Gloucester, Massachusetts has a special charm, due at least in part to its resident witches. For decades, raven-maned Marguerite and red-headed Beryl have lived among its hard-working inhabitants, making magic and mischief. Love and sex fuel their supernatural abilities, but duality limits their power. To reach their full potential, they need a third witch to complete their circle.

Rejected as a nymphomaniac by her puritanical boyfriend, Emmeline escapes to Gloucester to work on her PhD thesis. From the moment she arrives, Marguerite and Beryl sense her erotic vitality and unrecognized paranormal talent. The platinum-haired beauty may well be the enchantress they have been awaiting for so long. Now they need to show Em that her prodigious libido is a gift, not a liability, and to persuade her that her destiny lies in the sea-girt town they guard, and in their arms.

The Hook

Bang! Bang! What the heck? Who could be knocking on her bright yellow door? No one but her mother knew Emmeline was hiding out here, and Mom had sworn to keep the secret safe. In particular, she didn’t want Timothy showing up, begging for another chance. Everyone had told them that they made a perfect couple, but she understood now just how false that perception was.

“Go away,” she muttered to herself. “Nobody’s home.” The banging continued, however. Maybe whoever was out there had caught a glimpse of her out here behind the building.

Bang, bang! The window rattled in its frame. Would they kick the door in if she didn’t answer?

“Okay, okay – I’m coming.”

The door didn’t have a peephole. Hiding herself behind the door, Emmeline peeked out through the wavy glass of the old windowpanes.

Two women stood side by side on the short path that led from the street to her door. Two very remarkable women.

The one on the left made Emmeline think of a lioness. A gleaming black mane framed her face, which featured high cheekbones and unusually plump lips. Her caramel-hued skin flowed over finely balanced muscle, alternately hidden and revealed by the royal purple cape that fluttered from her bare shoulders. Underneath, she wore a brief, sleeveless black dress that molded to her generous curves. As unlikely as it seemed on a steamy June day in New England, the dress appeared to be made of leather.

The one on the right was as fair as her companion was dark. A storm of red curls tumbled over her shoulders, catching glints from the afternoon sun. Her chin was perhaps a bit too sharp, her nose a little too prominent, for her to be called classically beautiful, but she had a sort of presence that drew the eye and the mind. Like the Amazon queen at her side, the redhead was taller than average, but she had a slighter build, compact and athletic rather than voluptuous. She was clad in a long Indian print skirt that grazed her instep and a green cotton halter top which made it abundantly clear she wore no bra. Brass bangles circled her wrists and her ankles, tinkling softly when she shifted her weight. Perhaps it was just her classic hippie image – though she could not have been older than thirty – but Emmeline thought she looked familiar.

Both visitors wore smiles of such warmth that Emmeline felt embarrassed. How could she be so suspicious and inhospitable? She unlatched the bolt and swung the door wide.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

“Good afternoon.” The redhead glanced at a scrap of paper she carried. “Ms. Emmeline Scott?”

Suspicion tugged at Emmeline’s spirit. She ignored it. “Yes, that’s me, though I can’t imagine how you would know.”

“Electric company records, Ms. Scott.” The lioness had a musical voice that soothed away all Emmeline’s concerns. Indeed, when the woman paused for breath, Emmeline ached for her to continue, to hear that melody again. “Forgive us for what may seem like an invasion of privacy, but we’re from the Ladies’ Welcome Brigade. When we heard through the grapevine that a young woman had rented old Flaherty’s cottage, we felt we should drop by and say hello.”

“Um – that’s very kind of you. Thanks very much.” Emmeline suddenly remembered how scantily she was dressed. Hot blood climbed into her cheeks. She was annoyed to realize that her nipples had beaded under her thin shirt and that her denim shorts had stuck to her skin.

“We wanted to make sure you have everything you need.” The copper-haired hippie picked up where the lioness left off. “We thought you might be lonely out here by yourself.”

“No, no, I’m fine. I need the quiet, the privacy. I’m working on my doctoral thesis.”

“Ah! That’s why you were looking for those old books. In my shop, over on Main Street,” the hippie added.

“Oh, right! I knew you looked familiar. I’m so sorry!” Emmeline had thought the proprietress acted a bit odd that day, but she’d put it out of her mind. Now she recalled how the inner itch had intensified to a near-unbearable level under the woman’s stare. In fact, she’d left the store without finding any of the titles she was seeking. She’d been too uncomfortable to stay.

Buy Links

Ebook

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DBB3ZTN/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DBB3ZTN/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/832808

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-witches-of-gloucester-lisabet-sarai/1128809847?

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-witches-of-gloucester-1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40234194-the-witches-of-gloucester

Audio

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/The-Witches-of-Gloucester/dp/B07MJQSS2X

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Witches-of-Gloucester-Audiobook/B07MQMS93Z

Be sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book Hooks hop!

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Ridiculous, oversized, loud-ass love – #RomCom #SportsRomance @jkentauthor

Blurb

I didn’t expect to fall for a Scottish footballer so annoyingly sunny you need shades to be around him. I didn’t expect to say yes to his heart-felt, if loopy, proposal while he lay injured on the pitch in front of forty thousand fans. What I definitely didn’t expect? For our engagement to explode into a paparazzi circus, our mothers to turn into wedding bulldozers, and for our wedding protector's perfectly reasonable elopement plan to spiral into a road trip escape.

Shopping for a Highlander’s Elopement is a romantic comedy that blends the worlds of four bestselling series by New York Times bestselling author Julia Kent:

- Shopping for a Billionaire

- Shopping for a Highlander

- Whatever It Takes

- Love You, Maine

If you love sports romance, surprise proposals, grand gestures, chaotic weddings, Scottish footballers, golden retriever/black cat energy, and characters who love too hard, mess up spectacularly, and always find their way back to each other with plenty of laughter (and lovingly-used scrunchies) along the way, then this is your book.

Other Books in the Series:

Shopping for a Booty Call (Prequel)

Shopping for a Turkey (Book 1)

Shopping for a Highlander (Book 2)

Shopping for a Highlander’s Elopement (Book 3)

Buy Links

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Shopping-Highlanders-Elopement-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DM3CR6M4

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shopping-Highlanders-Elopement-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DM3CR6M4

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Shopping-Highlanders-Elopement-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DM3CR6M4/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Shopping-Highlanders-Elopement-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DM3CR6M4/

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/shopping-for-a-highlanders-elopement/id6737852494

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/shopping-for-a-highlander-s-elopement

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shopping-for-a-highlanders-elopement-julia-kent/1146644693?ean=2940184489889

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Julia_Kent_Shopping_for_a_Highlander_s_Elopement?id=e3IvEQAAQBAJ

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/shopping-for-a-highlander-s-elopement-by-julia-kent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221247053-shopping-for-a-highlander-s-elopement

Excerpt

Shannon turns back to me, sliding into big-sister-who-knows-you’re-spiraling mode. A breeze catches her long, brown hair and lifts it across her eyes, warm concern radiating from them. Shannon got Mom's hair and Dad's eyes, while I'm the opposite, with Dad's auburn hair and Mom's bright blue eyes. Our faces are similar in shape, even if the genetic roll of the dice gave us different features. “You okay?”

I open my mouth.

Nothing comes out.

“Oh, boy.” She takes my hand and scoots into the row where Declan was sitting. “You’ve reached the blank-stare stage. That’s never good.”

We settle into two seats, my breath still shaky. Shannon nudges me with her shoulder.

“You know,” she says, “I’m not even sure where I’m supposed to sit. Jacoby side or McCormick?”

“You were born a Jacoby.”

“Sure, but I married into this madness. And now I’ve got a toe in each volcano.”

“Welcome to the lava pool.”

She laughs. “This is all still better than my proposal, though.”

Every little sister loves being reminded of her big sister's screw ups. I laugh. “You swallowed your engagement ring.”

She grins. “And launched us into a seventy-two-hour medical drama called #poopwatch. Honestly, this whole spectacle? Glitter cannon, megaphone, and Hamish's mom’s interpretive bagpipe routine? It's still less traumatic than giving birth to a diamond solitaire.”

“I had to text you for stool updates.”

“I color-coded the spreadsheet. It was efficient. But I don't recommend unexpected emergency room trips on proposal day.”

I crack a laugh, the pressure in my chest finally giving way. "Thanks for the warning. I have no plans to see the inside of an ER today, thank you very much."

Shannon takes my hand. Her expression shifts to that rare sister-serious look I only ever see in moments that count. I'm so lucky that she and Carol are good, solid, kind, smart adults. I need them at times like this.

Need them more than ever.

We can wisecrack and one-up. We can razz each other and needle. But when one of us is in the fear zone, we're there for her.

Always.

“This is love, Amy. Ridiculous, oversized, loud-ass love. It’s not perfect. It’s not quiet. It’s never going to be. But it’s real. Hamish is choosing you, all of you. And yeah, he’s doing it in a full stadium with a glitter fallout zone, but he’s doing it. He’s all in.”

I breathe.

“He’s just… so much.”

“I know. But he’s your much.”

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 2 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 21 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French, German, and Italian, with more titles releasing in the future.

From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men's room toilet (and he isn't a billionaire she met in a romantic comedy).

She lives in New England with her husband and three children where she is the only person in the household with the gene required to change empty toilet paper rolls.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com, on Twitter @jkentauthor, on Facebook at @jkentauthor, and on Instagram @jkentauthor. Visit her at http://jkentauthor.com

Social Media Links:

Website: http://jkentauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkentauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jkentauthor

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2PIBi9n

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkentauthor/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-kent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3238619.Julia_Kent

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Julia-Kent/e/B00A99V268/

Release blitz organized by Writer Marketing Services.

 

Apocalypse and Hope – #SciFi #Dystopian #GiveAway

Lisabet: Greetings, Lauren! Welcome to Beyond Romance. I’m delighted you’re stopping here as part of your tour.

So, I have a question for you. How do you write dystopian sci fi without feeling hopeless... and making the reader feel the same way? I struggle with this question in my own work.

Lauren: Writing dystopian sci-fi can feel overwhelming- sometimes even emotionally suffocating. I know that feeling well. You start with a “what if,” and before you know it, you’re building a world where everything’s broken: the climate, the government, the social fabric. Sometimes it feels like you’re just cataloging all the ways we could fall apart. Piece by piece, it’s like pulling blocks from a Jenga tower—one slight shift at a time. At first, things seem stable, but eventually the structure gives way, and everything collapses, leaving us with nothing but the wreckage.

But here’s what keeps me going: I’m not writing about the end of the world. I’m writing about what comes after. What people do with the pieces. Because in a dystopian world, it's not just the pieces that matter. It's about characters that pick up the pieces. It’s the ones who don’t give up—the people who keep going, even when everything’s falling apart. The ones who still choose love, even when the world around them feels like it's full of hate. They choose hope and they choose tomorrow. And even on the darkest night- they still try. Not because they’re brave or heroic in some big, cinematic way, but because something inside them refuses to stop hoping.

And honestly? I hope that’s a little bit of me, too. That’s how I want to hold on when things get hard—by writing people who remind me what it means to be human. Flawed, fragile, stubborn, and still choosing to care. When things feel overwhelming, in the world I'm writing or even in my own life, if I can imagine a future where things go horribly wrong… then I can imagine a future where we find our way back—even if it's slow, even if it’s hard.

That’s where I find hope—what I try to leave on the page.

Blurb

Following a catastrophic nuclear war, Sara lives in a town where the government controls every drop of water. Strict rationing tightly regulates residents’ lives, and to fall sick is to be executed. Sara’s life becomes more dangerous and complicated when she first hides and cares for a small boy who has fallen sick, then takes him in when his parents are taken by the authorities.

Determined to care for the helpless child while struggling to keep alive the memory of her long-dead best friend, Sara leans on her friend’s older brother, Josh, an employee of the domineering water company that controls the water rationing. But Josh is under suspicion, and the city’s enforcement unit begins to observe their daily activities. Despite knowing that she’d be executed if her actions were known, Sara finds herself deeply and distressingly attracted to the lead investigator, navigating a complicated romance and finding a glimmer of hope in a world long dominated by fear and control.

Excerpt

United Region Water Laws: Established May 2167

Water restoration and conservation laws formed with the intent to restore and maintain the physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters are our nation’s highest priority. Any ill citizens will be removed from government-proclaimed safety zones for the public’s well-being.

Black SUVs line the street, their dark tinted windows and their sparkling silver rims reflecting impending doom. But the windows cannot keep out the screams. Not the cries, nor the banging from inside the vehicles. It’s random health inspection day, and dozens of citizens have already failed, by the count of SUVs.

Josh stands to greet me with a kiss on the cheek, his silence speaking louder than words. I smile back and try to ignore the ominous SUV’s and to ignore what is happening.

“Sit down. Don’t draw any more attention to yourself than necessary,” Josh says.

My pulse is pounding, and my chest rises and falls quicker than I can control. Sweat drips from my brow. My stomach is tied in knots. I assess my body for early signs of illness. No sore throat. No muscle aches. No nausea. All I can do is wait in silence. Our words would be lost anyway, so I sit down at the table.

About the Author

 Lauren Wagner’s love for reading started as a young adult after discovering her town’s public library. After carrying out piles of books at a time, and re-reading them over and over again, she discovered her love for writing. She writes fantasy and science fiction as well as post-it notes about her future stories.

She grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago where she presently resides with her husband and two children. She currently teaches upper elementary students to love and obsess over written works of art.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LoloWags

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Misguided-Trust-Lauren-Wagner/dp/1962308340

Lauren Wagner will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

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Tell me that you forgive me – #ParanormalRomance #AgeGap #MFRWHooks #99Cents

Welcome to this week’s Book Hooks blog hop. As part of my continuing celebration of Pride Month, today I am featuring a hook from my gay paranormal romance At the Margins of Madness. I’ve dropped the price of this full length novel to only 99 cents for the month of June.

Blurb

Both power and love can lead to madness

Nineteen year old Kyle sees visions of disasters, visions that tear his world apart. Everyone assumes that he is schizophrenic, but Rob, the cop who picks him up off the street, knows better.

Rob's own experience has taught him that psychic powers are real, and potentially devastating. Since his telepathic sister's brutal murder, Rob wants nothing to do with "gifted" individuals like Kyle. Yet he can't deny his attraction to the beautiful, tortured young man – an attraction that appears to be mutual.

When a brilliant, sadistic practitioner of the black arts lures Kyle into his clutches, Rob faces the possibility that once again he may lose the person he loves most to the forces of darkness.

The Hook

Kyle’s mouth was so dry he couldn’t swallow. His ears rang. Ants crawled under his skin, creating an internal itch impossible to relieve. He recognized the side effects of Thorazine. Must have been a heavy dose. He groped through a fog, straining for consciousness. Anything was better than the smothering lethargy the drug produced.

He risked opening his eyes. A yellow halo surrounded the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling. The brightness made him squint. It was all familiar.

He didn’t remember checking himself in. He didn’t remember anything, really, after leaving Rob’s apartment. His chest ached at that memory. He’d been so naïve, imagining that Rob might be different. That he might actually care.

Despair closed in around him. I wish I’d never woken up, Kyle mused. I wish this was all over. He closed his eyes again, willing the blackness to swallow him, but his mind remained stubbornly aware.

“Kyle? Can you hear me?” That voice, soft but strong. What was he doing here?

Kyle turned his head, fighting the drug-fuelled tightness in his neck muscles. It was déjà vu. Once again, the sandy-haired cop sat at his bedside, fidgeting with his cap, his face sombre and worried. A tiny flicker of hope kindled in Kyle’s heart. He extinguished it immediately.

“Go away.” He rolled to his side, turning his back on the blue-clad figure.

“Please, Kyle. Listen to me. I’m so sorry. Really, I was so stupid…”

Resolute, Kyle closed his ears to Rob’s pleas. No one is going to hurt me again. Especially not you. He thought about razor blades and rat poison. Alcohol was too slow. He’d do what was necessary to escape from the madness, to spare himself—and Rob—any more pain.

An image of gleaming steel fluttered through his mind. Gradually the scene returned, the terrible vision that had sent him screaming into blind insanity. Enough of the drug lingered in his system that he could inspect his recollections impassively. The vivid and disturbing premonition had been atypical, a waking fit in which he personally experienced the predicted horrors. The patterns of his madness seemed to be shifting. What did it mean?

All at once, he remembered the images he had seen when he first met Rob, the pulse-pounding blow job, the joy of being on his knees serving the powerful older man. That dream had come true, at least in spirit. Saliva gathered in his parched mouth as he recalled the weight of Rob’s cock on his tongue, the solid force of the other man’s thrusts, the sharp flavor of his ejaculate.

Rob’s hand clasped his shoulder. Kyle’s cock stirred, defying the deadening effects of the medication.

“Forgive me, Kyle. Please. Look at me, baby.”

It was the endearment that did it, cracked Kyle open and let the pain and desire flow in. He allowed Rob to roll him onto his back. He gazed up into the cop’s sky-blue eyes, tears gathering in his own.

“Rob…” he began.

“I know. I know. I’m an idiot. I tried to push you away. I lied to you. Tell me that you forgive me. That you’ll give me another chance to be with you. To take care of you.”

“Why?” Kyle struggled to raise himself to a sitting position. Rob grabbed the thin pillow and tried to help. Kyle noticed the straps hanging from the chrome rails. Restraints. He must have been really crazy. “Didn’t you want me? We were so good together.”

“I was afraid.” Rob sat back in his chair, staring at his shoes. “Afraid of your powers.”

 

At the Margins of Madness (ebook version) is on sale for only 99 cents throughout Pride Month, at all outlets. Find the buy links here: https://www.lisabetsarai.com/marginsofmadnessbook.html

Be sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book Hooks!

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