Thursday, June 12, 2025

Apocalypse and Hope – #SciFi #Dystopian #GiveAway

Misguided Trust tour banner

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.

Misguided Trust book cover

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

Author image

 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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Wednesday, June 11, 2025

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

Pride Month banner for Margins of Madness

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 banner

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!



Tuesday, June 10, 2025

The hottest, most frustrating man she’s ever met – #RomanticSuspense #Mafia #Giveaway

Perfect Vengeance tour banner

Blurb

Trusting him could save her...or destroy her.

Robin Hood meets the Sopranos…an insanely dangerous scheme Gina Perot and her friends hatched to steal from the mob and donate the loot to a worthy cause. Successful Wall Street investment banker by day, cat burglar by night, Gina leads a double life. But she's never forgotten how the mob and the FBI destroyed her family and ripped her life apart. Now it's time for payback. Charity and revenge all rolled into one. Perfect. Until Gina's scheme sends her crashing headfirst into a major FBI investigation and facing heavy-duty federal obstruction charges. And, the hottest, most frustrating man she's ever met.

Stop stealing from the mob or else…is the order FBI Strike Force Special Agent Jack Gates gives Gina. But Jack quickly learns he can no sooner control a force of nature like Gina than he can control where a tornado sets down. Facing a court-ordered deadline, Jack needs Gina's cat burglar skills to help him bring down a powerful Mafioso. He makes her an offer she can't refuse: go to jail or work for him as an FBI cooperator. When the mob learns Gina's been ripping them off, Jack is determined to keep her safe at all costs. Even if that means confessing his terrible secret and losing her forever.

Excerpt

She did not just do that. He actually had to squeeze his eyes shut for a second. When he reopened them, the view was the same. Creamy swells of the most perfect breasts peeked out of the laciest, sexiest black bra he’d ever laid eyes on.

His heart beat a little faster, and he prayed he didn’t get a colossal boner. Adding to his discomfort, that intoxicating scent of hers mingling with her natural body heat was like a warm vanilla-sugar bath. One he was on the brink of drowning in.

What?” At her question, he snapped his eyes from her chest to her face. “I don’t have any pockets on this thing.”

Yeah,” he muttered. “I see that.”

From the hallway, Kinsey snickered. Way too much amusement at his expense.

With the unsteady fingers of his good hand, he gently pressed the com kit’s power supply box against Gina’s taut abdomen. Heat from her bare skin seared his fingertips as he adjusted the box to fit into the hollow beneath her rib cage. “Hold that.” His voice sounded like someone had rubbed his vocal cords with sandpaper.

She held the box in place while he tugged her zipper up. With each tug, he had to reach inside her suit with his injured hand to keep threading the ear wire out the top of the material so it would reach to her ear. With every touch of his fingers on her soft skin, his body temp went up a degree. The same way it had yesterday when he’d gotten a good view of her shapely legs…those same legs that made him dream about dragging those incredible stockings off them with his teeth.

With a final tug, he yanked the zipper up to her neck and began hooking the earpiece around her ear. More sweat beaded on his forehead. If things got any hotter, his Glock would go off on its own. The woman didn’t seem to notice the torture she was inflicting on him. Or maybe she did, and that was part of her diabolical plan to exact revenge.

About the Author

Tee O'Fallon author image
Tee O'Fallon is the bestselling, award-winning author of the K-9 Special Ops, Federal K-9, NYPD Blue & Gold Series, and FBI Strike Force Series. Tee spent twenty-three years as a federal agent conducting complex, long- and short-term criminal investigations, including undercover operations, across many agencies at the federal level, and four years conducting multi-state investigations as a police investigator. It felt only natural to combine her hands-on experience in the field with her love of romantic suspense. Tee has lived in New York State most of her life with a five-year stop in Colorado. When not writing, Tee enjoys cooking, gardening, chocolate, lychee martinis, and all creatures canine.

Buy Link: https://teeofallon.com/perfect-vengeance/

 

Perfect Vengeance book cover

Website: https://teeofallon.com

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

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TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@teeofallonauthor

Tee O'Fallon will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.


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Monday, June 9, 2025

The Soul of the Tale – #WomensFiction #BlockIsland #Giveaway

Only in September tour banner

By Cynthia Flowers (Guest Blogger)

Why this book?

From the moment I first set foot on this teardrop-shaped island called Block Island 27 years ago, it claimed a piece of me—one I’ve never been able to reclaim. My alter ego has been chasing that dream ever since, searching for a way to make it home, grasping at every possibility, every longing. Though reality kept me at a distance, my imagination refused to surrender. In its boundless landscapes, I found a way to reside there, weaving stories that let me stay—not in body, but in spirit. It's not just a setting, it's the soul of the tale, a living, breathing character that transforms all who embrace its magic. It reveals its essence only to those willing to surrender to its enchanting aura.

Blurb

When Jacqueline follows her trusty Labrador Bailey down a hidden path to the beach, she's unaware that her vacation plans on a small island off the New England coast has already taken her life in a new direction. Running into an unassuming local beach comber stirs new thoughts, desires, and a self-determination she never knew she possessed. Jacqueline will need to trust her instincts and make the most of what fate has in store if she wants the future that, until now, she has only dared to dream of.

Excerpt

With the sun barely over the horizon, Jacqueline awoke to Bailey licking her face and the best morning smell ever. Michael had the coffee pot simmering over the fire pit.

Jacqueline wasn’t ready to give up the warmth of her sleeping bag, so she managed to sit up while still inside it.

"Looks like you’re in a cocoon. Did you sleep well?” he asked.

Surprisingly, yes. I was snug as a bug,” she said with a yawn.

Well, one of the other reasons for camping out is to see the first rays of the sunrise, so let’s get you up so you don’t miss it.” He helped Jacqueline to her feet while she was still inside the sleeping bag. To remain steady, Michael had to hold her. She was all right with that.

I hope this sunrise viewing lasts a while.

Consumed by the beauty of the moment, Jacqueline felt a swelling from inside that took her nearly to the brink of tears as she looked out at the bright yellow rays that made the ocean glisten.

We have a few clouds, which is a good thing,” he said. “It helps make the sunrise a bit more dramatic.”

I bet you’ve seen lots of these,” Jacqueline replied while trying to compose herself.

Yes, but I never get tired of it. It’s like seeing it for the first time every time,” he shared.

They both grew silent and took in the beauty of the early morning sky, and the warm connection of being so physically close to one another.

Only in September book cover

About the Author

Cynthia Flowers, a recently retired advertising professional, now grant writer, resides with her husband and four-year old Labrador named Eddie, at their “sanctuary” in Upstate New York, Although previously published, this is Cynthia's first book of fiction. Early on in grade school, Cynthia looked forward to creative writing class and enjoyed reading her stories aloud to her eager classmates.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Only-September-Cynthia-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0DWT79L6N/

Cynthia Flowers will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

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Thursday, June 5, 2025

An unquenchable need that consumes them both - #UrbanEroticFantasy #NewRelease @tinadonauthor.bsky.social

Stolen Desire banner

Blurb

One touch is never enough.

Her freedom depends on one man. A criminal to his realm…

One minute, Paige Ross is outside a Seattle bar, grieving a failed engagement. The next, she jerks awake in a weird, candlelit room with velvet walls, black silk sheets, and a man who motions for silence.

Paige has little choice but to trust the powerful stranger who promises a way out of what looks like Satan’s brothel. And pray his promise to keep her safe is as real as the heat burning in his eyes.

Banished from E2’s ruling elite for supposed crimes against the realm, Zekin risks everything to rescue those brought to E5 for the guards’ carnal pleasure. Paige will be leaving this inhospitable realm of fire and ice—if he can somehow forget the way she melts in his arms.

Safe—temporarily—in an underwater world populated by strange creatures, Paige’s sexual awakening explodes into an unquenchable need that consumes them both. But the guards will be looking for her. And Zekin’s plan to send her home is a dangerous journey she cannot—will not—take without him.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Desire-Outlawed-Realm-Book-ebook/dp/B0F9LP3TFZ/

Stolen Desire book cover
 

Excerpt

Thick gray clouds rolled above them, heavy with more snow. A sliver of bluish-white light poured through a gap in the cloud cover, as though the moon were trying to bleed through. Its rays swept across the land, which shimmered in the frail glow, sparkling like thousands of diamonds. The effect lasted only a moment, and then the light receded, with shadows once again taking over the hostile terrain.

As though that worried him, Zekin increased his already fast pace, pausing only once to shove her clothing into a snowdrift, burying it.

Why?

Paige wasn’t able to ask. She struggled to keep up, gulping air. It should have been icy, hurting her throat, but wasn’t. The transparent mask no doubt heated it. How was that possible? Desperate for answers, she cried out, “Where are we going?”

Zekin looked over. “A colony where you’ll be safe.”

Paige dug her fingers into his hand. “Where are we? What is this place?”

E5.”

What in the hell was that? A government installation where scientists conducted classified studies and had pleasure slaves on the side? That made absolutely no—

Wait a sec. Suddenly, Paige recalled Zekin mentioning E1 when he’d first come into her room.

I’ll do all I can to bring you back to E1,” he’d promised her then.

Instinctively, she held back. Just as quickly, Zekin yanked her forward.

Don’t fight me,” he warned, “or you’ll end up like the others you saw outside the guards’ outpost.”

Paige shivered so badly, her voice shook. “Did those bastards throw the bodies out there after they murdered those people?”

Only some. The others they pushed out there to die.”

Why?

They weren’t useful any longer.” Again, he glanced over. “When one of the guards found you and brought you here, they got rid of the other woman. That’s what they do when they tire of females from your realm, or the pleasure slaves they haven’t already killed.”

Paige was about to pepper him with more questions. Instead, her mind snagged on one word—realm.

You mean country?” Maybe she’d been wrong about his nationality. It wasn’t Greek or Middle-Eastern but Russian. Could be this was Siberia. In a weird sort of way, that made sense. “Is that what you meant—my country? The USA? America?”

He regarded the landscape past her. “We have to hurry before the other guards return and see us.”

Paige couldn’t imagine how that was possible. The material covering them was the same tint as their surroundings, making them virtually invisible…unless the guards had some kind of special eyewear, like night-vision goggles, that allowed them to see what the naked eye couldn’t. “How far is the colony?”

Past that body of water.” He gestured toward what appeared to be an enormous frozen lake ringed by drifts.

As Paige scanned the area beyond it, searching for some sort of building, a flock of birds flew over the lake. At least she thought they were birds. Their thick feathers were an ashy white, their wingspans enormous, like nothing she’d ever seen.

They flew in an odd formation, not the usual V pattern, but in a perfect circle. Paige couldn’t help but stare at the phenomenon. How in the world did they do—

A thunderous crackling sound interrupted her thoughts, and the again screeching wind.

She flinched. Zekin released her hand and moved in front, his body pushing hers back, shielding Paige as something shattered the ice from beneath the center of the lake. Within seconds, a creature pushed through, hurling its milky body upward. The waves that followed it froze instantly in the raw air, the ends of the water curled over like a fine crystal sculpture. As massive as a blue whale, the creature surged from the lake, a horn protruding from its snout, no doubt what pierced the ice. With blinding speed, it penetrated the circle made by the birdlike creatures.

Shrieking wildly, they scattered, but it did no good. The whale-like thing swung its monstrous head back and forth, gulping several of the creatures before gravity pulled it back down to the water. A thin sheet of ice formed instantly, hiding its exit. Harsh winds toppled the frozen waves as easily as if they’d been a house of cards, then pushed them against the snowdrifts, returning the scene to the relative calm of a few minutes before as though none of the carnage had occurred.

Paige continued to hyperventilate. What kind of fucking nightmare had she stumbled into? Was it possible she’d been drugged and was hallucinating? If not… Aw crap, she didn’t want to think about that.

Stolen Desire teaser

 

Other books in the series:

 

BOOK ONE – OUTLAWED REALM

AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/2p8t73s

Blurb

His hunger for one woman will make him a traitor to his world…

From a portal in his lab on E2, one of the five dimensions of Earth, quantum physicist Nikoli Zorr gazes on everything forbidden to him. Passion. Desire. The exquisite pleasure of running his hands over the lush curves of a young woman he should have stopped watching weeks ago.

His duty is to close the portals that keep the monsters out of E2—and never interfere with the inevitable fate of those on the other side. Yet he can’t bring himself to abandon the woman who has captured his soul.

Psychologist Regina Page is trying to focus on her client, and off the mysterious, unbearable sexual cravings that consume her when she’s alone in her bedroom. The next moment she’s attacked by vampires, then swept into another realm by Nikoli, a stranger whose touch awakens that same raw desire. Whose eyes are already filled with farewell.

Yet beneath their undeniable carnal lust, something else stirs. The beginnings of illicit love. The unexpected need to protect him. Even if it means risking body, blood, and soul to defeat the merciless horde…for a future that was never meant to be.

 

BOOK TWO – OUTLAWED REALM

AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/yamzv7k9

Blurb

Pleasure that destroys all thought. Love that shatters all barriers.

Marked for extermination, Lukan has miraculously escaped E4’s Pleasure Palace. There, sex slaves satisfy the cravings of E2’s rulers for voyeurism, bondage, dominance, submission, punishment, and more. However, his freedom is not enough.

He left behind Arez, who once saved his life and captured his heart. Within her fragrant, heated caress, he knew everything denied him…rapture born from yearning, contentment fueled by tenderness and love. Determined to deliver Arez from certain death and have her for his own, Lukan embarks on a rescue he may not survive.

Arez has known only carnal submission and loneliness before Lukan. She aches for his strong arms, his fevered kisses. Upon his return, he offers danger and hope for a future. How can she resist? Never fully tamed, she wants Lukan more than life. But to flee from this twilight dimension to another, to find freedom and their destiny, they must first outwit this plane’s human predators and its monsters.

 

BOOK THREE – OUTLAWED REALM

AMAZON: https://shorturl.at/Y7gsO

Blurb

Passion without limit. Carnal hunger that knows no bounds.

Within Earth’s five dimensions, nothing is as it seems…and desire is never far away.

In E4’s jungle, Kuma’s the Alpha werewolf bent on revenge against the hated guards. Swept with them from that dimension to E1, he prowls Seattle at night, stopping the thugs from abducting women for use as sex slaves in E4’s Pleasure Palace.

On her way home from her nursing job, Gwen senses danger in the night’s shadows. A stranger attacks. Clinging to consciousness, she watches the impossible, a wolf fighting him off…protecting her. She wakes in her own bed, convinced it must have been a dream until she sees Kuma in human form. Virile, intense. A man like no other.

Within his powerful embrace, Gwen experiences rapture she didn’t believe existed. His unrestrained lust and burning need end her loneliness, though not the menace they face. The guards are a constant threat in their hunt for women and their determination to see Kuma dead. Together, he and Gwen must fight—for his life, her freedom, their future.

About Tina

Tina’s an Amazon and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance for every taste – ‘heat with heart’ – for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. She’s won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. She’s featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.

On a less serious note: she’s an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, brakes for Mexican restaurants, and has been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while wolfing down tostadas. She’s flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and is horribly shy despite the hot romances she writes.

MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/tinadonahue

Bluesky: @tinadonauthor.bsky.social

Website/Blog: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/

Newsletter: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/p/newsletter.html

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tina-donahue

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146988.Tina_Donahue

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/tinadonahue

Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/1ChWFkO

Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: https://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/AuthorTinaDonahue 


Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Meet-Cute for Pride Month – #LGBTQ #OppositesAttract #MFRWHooks

Burn Baby Pride Month Banner

Happy Pride Month! In celebration of the rainbow of gender diversity, I plan to be posting from my LGBTQ fiction during all of June.

My excerpt today is from “Rush Hour”, part of my lesbian short story collection Burn, Baby.

I’ve seen other authors post excerpts they described as “meet-cute”. I’ve never exactly understood what that means or where the term came from. However, when I picked out this snippet from my opposites-attract FF romance, it struck me that this scene might qualify. What do you think?

The Hook

Nothing is impossible, optimists will say. Have they ever tried to get a cab during rush hour? In the rain? I’d been standing on Fifth Avenue for twenty minutes, my briefcase clutched precariously under the same arm that held up my umbrella, waving at the taxis filing by in slow motion. Every one was full.

The clock was ticking. I was due at Cipriani in less than two hours to welcome the board of directors. I had to get home. A motorcycle roared through the streaming gutters, nearly knocking me over. A tsunami of dirty water rose to soak my pants. Thanks, buddy. Now I really had to get home.

I should have taken the subway. I didn’t want to ruin my suit in the rain, but that hardly mattered now. I was just about to give up and walk when I saw a cab with his light on, halfway up the block. Juggling briefcase, purse and umbrella, I scrambled through the crowd on the sidewalk. He might be my last chance.

He was stuck in traffic. I prayed that the signal didn’t change. Just as I reached him, a black-clad figure pushed past me and wrenched the door open.

Hey! That’s my cab!”

No way, lady. I got here first.” The girl grinned at me, pale makeup and purple lipstick giving her a ghoulish quality. She started to climb into the vehicle but I grabbed her sleeve.

I’m late. I need this cab. It’s terribly important. You can take the next one.”

You think that I don’t have important places to go?” She pulled her arm from my grasp, further stretching her already misshapen sweater. “I’ve got rehearsal in half an hour. Now get out of my way.”

She tried to elbow past me. Desperate, knowing I’d feel bad later, I snatched her shoulder bag and threw it on the sidewalk.

You bitch!” As she ducked down to pick it up, I slid into the taxi. Before I could slam the door, though, she pushed in after me, jabbing me in the ribs with her umbrella. The door closed just as the traffic light turned green.

Where to, ladies?” The cabbie was torn between annoyance and amusement.

Ow! 32nd and Lex, please.” I could barely get the words out.

No, don’t listen to her. Houston, near Varick. Step on it!”

Ignore her. I was in the cab first. If you don’t take me to Murray Hill immediately, I’ll report you.”

A truck cut in front of us. The driver stomped on the brakes, hurling our bodies forward. The girl let out a wail as her forehead hit the plexiglass partition. I was smothered by sudden remorse.

Are you all right? Miss?” She slumped down in the seat, looking dazed. A bruise was already reddening above her left eyebrow. “Can you hear me?” She nodded vaguely.

You should be wearing your seat belts,” the driver commented. I fastened mine, then reached around the young woman’s slight figure to secure hers. From her drenched garments rose a funk of damp wool and marijuana. Multiple steel rings pierced her earlobes. On her pale neck, below her right ear, was a neatly etched tattoo of a skull. Under her shapeless sweater she wore a snug black V-necked jersey. Guilt tightened its grip on me when I realized I was admiring her cleavage.

I leaned toward the driver. “Go ahead to Houston as she asked. She needs help.”

No, that’s okay.” Her voice quavered a bit. “I’m all right. You can stop at 32nd first. I’ll be fine.”

Are you sure?”

Yeah, no problem.” She fingered the swelling on her forehead. “The band can wait. I’m the lead singer. They can’t start without me.”

Look, I’m sorry about grabbing your bag. That was really rude.”

She grinned, showing an even line of white teeth that contrasted with her livid mouth. “Yeah, it was. Not what I’d expect from a fancy executive like you.”

I really do want to apologize. I don’t know what came over me.”

No sweat. Sometimes this city makes you crazy, right?”

 

New York taxi

Image by Rahul Pandit from Pixabay

Find the buy links for Burn, Baby at https://www.lisabetsarai.com/burnbabybook.html

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


Tuesday, June 3, 2025

A slice of medieval life -- #ReviewTuesday #HistoricalFiction #Giveaway

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Blurb

When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemies in Northern Wales, he expects his life to return to normal farming in the Midlands, overseeing his few tenants, evening walks with his beloved Selia an idyllic life, far from the power-mongering of King Cnute's court. But the king has other plans for Harald and his wife—he grants them a large landholding, a gift they cannot refuse.

On arriving at their new holding, Ravens Hill, Harald and Selia receive a tepid welcome from belligerent housecarls, a conniving steward, an uncompromising abbess, bitter at not adding their estate to her abbey lands, a priest with roaming hands, and a grieving daughter of the previous landholder, who has entered the nunnery.

Harald and Selia wish to improve the lot of their tenant farmers but they face obstacles at every turn, and Harald’s generosity is seen as weakness. They also learn the lands come with an unexpected millstone—an unsolved murder.

And then the trouble begins.

Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Ravens Hill—part of the award-winning Atheling Chronicles series.

Excerpt

Later, when Selia and I were alone in our bed-chamber, I shared my thoughts.

I feel as if I have crossed a bridge without knowing it.”

Sitting on the bed in her linen under-dress, Selia unpinned her braid from where she had it wound upon the crown of her head. She untied the braid and taking up the walrus-ivory comb I had given her, began combing out her long fair hair. “And do you feel there is no way back across the bridge?”

No. I feel the bridge has been swept away.” I pulled my tunic over my head.

Then you know what that means.”

I gazed at her for a moment. “That we must move forward.”

Selia combed.

We have not had time to properly discuss the king’s grant,” I said. “Are you pleased, despite what Godwin told us about Queen Emma’s interest?”

Selia stopped combing. Her chest rose with the intake of breath. “It pleases me to see you honored and valued.”

But?”

I am pleased that it keeps us in Engla-lond. Though if we had wanted to manage a large estate, we could have stayed in Frisia. I love our steading at Copt Hewick and our life there, Harald. And I have just got you home.”

I sat upon the bed and took her hand. “I love our home, too. And all the time I was away, I longed to be returning to you. But with this estate, this tún or túnland, we will be together. We will appraise it together, and decide whether to leave it under management or to work it ourselves.”

It’s as you say— ‘the bridge has gone.’”

And there is the king’s hand in this. The wealthier and more influential we become, the stronger we will be to withstand the storm when my father passes.”

When your brother, Harthacnute, assumes the throne.”

I unfastened my soft-leather shoes, slipping off one, then the other. “We can still live in Copt Hewick and have property elsewhere, as we do with your Frisian estate providing we have a trustworthy steward on the new property. We can decide after we have ridden the túnland.”

I undid my drawstrings and worked my linen breeches down my legs.

Selia pulled loose strands from her comb. “Then I look forward to seeing the estate. Perhaps there are improvements we can make on the land. And perhaps we can help the tenants prosper, perhaps we can even charm the neighboring abbess.”

I stood and tossed my breeches over a storage chest. I gazed at my lovely wife, appreciating her support and partnership, and wishing I could heal the sadness that sometimes gripped her. “My thoughts as well,” I said, and then leaving all thoughts of the future aside, I drew Selia to me and then, in each others’ arms, we lay back on the bed.

Raven's Hill book cover

Review by Lisabet Sarai

Prince Harald, second son of King Cnute the Danish conqueror of England, has little interest in power or politics. All he wants is a quiet, comfortable life with his beloved wife Selia, managing a land holding sufficient for their relatively modest needs. When you have royal blood, however, it’s impossible to escape your destiny.

Called to court, Harald and Selia learn that the king has given them a spacious and profitable new estate called Raven’s Hill. The grant is simultaneously a recognition of Harald’s services to the crown and an attempt to hold the ambitious Queen Emma, Harald’s step-mother, in check. The couple find that indeed, the holding is rich and pleasant, but fraught with conflicts. When the previous lord died, two nearby abbeys—under Queen Emma’s patronage—had hoped to add the productive area to their own lands. Mysterious disasters occur with increasing frequency, supporting the theory that hostile forces are trying to drive the couple from Raven’s Hill. With his fairness as well as his combat prowess, Harald impresses the peasants working the land and the retainers employed by the estate, but he, Selia and their allies find themselves increasingly threatened by hidden enemies. Meanwhile a promising young man and a meddling priest have both been murdered. As the lord of Raven’s Hill, Harald has responsibility for determining the culprits and bringing them to justice.

Raven’s Hill is the third book in the Atheling Chronicles series that I’ve read. Like the other two, it offers a rollicking story with admirable and appealing protagonists. In addition, the book provides intriguing insights into daily life in twelfth century England. Historical fiction often fails to convey the realities, both positive and negative, of the period it addresses. It’s hard to escape from the modern perspective. I greatly enjoy the way Garth Pettersen immerses the reader in the details of medieval English society, reminding us that for his characters, this was modern times. Furthermore, there’s much to admire in that society, in which the ties of community and the contributions of tradition were strong.

This book focuses less than previous installments on the politics and power struggles of the realm and more on microcosm of Raven’s Hill. Indeed, it has many aspects of a classic who-done-it. To be honest, I missed the larger context offered in the earlier books. Also the final resolution of the mystery was surprising to the point of straining belief. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to watch Harald and Selia fulfill their roles as master and mistress of their domain.

Selia is an important participant in this tale. We get a very clear picture of her: intuitive, intelligent, strong-willed, devoted to Harald but still willing to disagree with him. Indeed, Mr. Pettersen excels at creating dynamic female characters who stand out as distinct individuals and who are not shy about expressing themselves or taking action. If we are to believe this series, the period was far more egalitarian than you’d expect.

Overall, Raven’s Hill is exciting, entertaining and educational, a worthy addition to Harald’s ongoing saga.

About the Author

Garth Pettersen author image

Garth Pettersen is a Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC. When he's not writing, he is riding horses or working on his acreage. Garth's short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and in journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine. His story, River's Rising, was awarded an Honourable Mention for the Short Story America 2017 Prize, his fantasy novella River Born, was one of two runners-up for the Windsor Editions (UK) Short Fiction Prize, and his novel The Sea's Edge won a first place Incipiere Award in 2024. Garth Pettersen's historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available on most online outlets (The Swan's Road, The Dane Law, The Cold Hearth, and The Sea's Edge). The fifth book, Ravens Hill, will be released in April, 2025. Print editions are available on Amazon.

Social Media

Website: https://www.garthpettersen.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/writeandride/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/garpet011

Buy Links

Tirgearr Publishing: http://www.tirpub.com/gpettersen

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ravens-Hill-Atheling-Chronicles-5-ebook/dp/B0DZPGNVXZ

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/author/garth-pettersen/id1292516225

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ie/en/series/the-atheling-chronicles

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Garth%20Pettersen

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/gpettersen

Garth Pettersen will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card.


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