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Rainbow Snippet June 29-30

6/29/2019

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

Today I decided to share a snippet from The Spymaster's Secret, which will be out from NineStar Press this fall, since I just turned in my edits. The Spymaster's Secret is part of my Chronicles of Tournai series but, like all the books in the series, stands alone. If you've read other books in the series, you may have met the main characters: Alexander, the young, flirty royal cousin with hidden depths, and Marcus, the older, serious widower with secrets. It was fun seeing how these two opposites fit together. Plus, there's lots of romance, family (supportive but meddling!), magic, and intrigue.

​Since I've been doing first kisses for snippets, here's Alexander and Marcus's first kiss. They're both attending a masked ball at the palace, and Alexander convinces Marcus to slip away to meet him.
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​Everything inside Alexander went warm, a delightful sense of anticipation replacing his uncertainty. “Will you kiss me?”


Marcus watched him for one breathless moment before reaching up and removing his mask. He moved slowly, deliberately, toward Alexander and stretched a hand out to cup his cheek. Alexander leaned into that big hand and let his eyes flutter shut on a sigh. He wanted more, but being touched this way was lovely. He wouldn’t mind much more of it too.

“Alexander.” His name came out in an almost resigned tone.

Before he could open his eyes to look at Marcus, to try to see what he was feeling, Marcus’s lips were on his. It wasn’t a sweet kiss. It was too demanding, too greedy for sweetness. It was as if Marcus wanted everything from Alexander in that one moment. And Alexander reveled in it.

I'll have more about The Spymaster's Secret as we get closer to release day, but if you'd like to spend some time in Tournai and meet the main characters in advance, check out The Merchant's Love (Faelen, Alexander's twin, is one of the main characters in this book, and Alexander plays a big supporting role, though he first appears in The Dragon's Devotion) and The Dragon's Devotion (Marcus gets pulled into the mystery plot in this one, though his first appearance is in The Artist's Masquerade). You can also get The Merchant's Love and The Dragon's Devotion 40% off at NineStar with code PRIDE through June 30th. Thanks for reading today!
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Release Blitz: The Dragon's Rebel by Jacqueline Rohrbach

6/24/2019

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Title: The Dragon's Rebel

Author: Jacqueline Rohrbach

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: June 24, 2019

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 62100

Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, magic, slavery, dark, gods, enemies to lovers, royalty, dragons, shifters

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Synopsis

Cheron, former rebel leader and newly crowned king, comes to Wren Gardens on a holy mission to free his goddess from exile and bring peace to his kingdom, but he’s distracted by an unholy and very beautiful concubine, Ekos. Ekos may be more than a simple love slave, though. The King of Wren Gardens seems afraid of the strange and often blasphemous concubine and swears the man is cursed. Cheron agrees, especially when Ekos mocks and taunts Cheron’s sense of honor. But the urge to distance himself from Ekos can’t compete with the desire to remain close. Nor is it as strong as the urges in his body—urges he hasn’t felt in years. As Cheron tries to refocus on his mission, Ekos throws him off again—this time by offering to help him in his holy quest. Cheron knows he shouldn’t trust a man who’s in the employ of a rival king, particularly not one who seems to know all Cheron’s deepest secrets. But he can’t ignore the signs from the goddess telling him to entwine his fate with this tricky, captivating man. He prays the signs aren’t simply wishful thinking, manifestations of his very unholy desires. Time is running out, and Cheron is falling deeper for Ekos—and deeper into danger of another betrayal. One that could cost him his life.

Excerpt

The Dragon’s Rebel Jacqueline Rohrbach © 2019 All Rights Reserved Chapter One Half parted in invitation, the concubine’s painted red lips teased the possibilities for Cheron’s sole benefit, for his sole pleasure, for his sole use. At least that was the intended impression, but who knew the actual number of men the concubine had truly pleasured? Many, Cheron assumed. Undeniably gorgeous, the pampered little house pet had all the markings of a palace favorite. Jewels hung from his earlobes, fine silks concealed his thin but muscular frame, and his body had been rubbed down with musky oils. Minus the golden, diamond-studded collar at his throat, he appeared to be a member of court. “Is Ekos not to your taste, Majesty? He is personal stock, in case you are worried. No low-born has touched him.” The emphasis had Cheron grinding his teeth. While Sinnac politely used the proper title while addressing him, there was always a lilt to his pronunciation, a gentle reminder that Cheron had only recently became a king. Before, he’d been a lowly soldier—a servant. To men like Sinnac, men who’d been born into power, he would never be anything other than a lucky usurper playacting at greatness. Sinnac continued, “Perhaps His Majesty would like to see him from a different angle?” King Sinnac tilted the concubine’s face upward to give Cheron a better look. Ekos lowered his crystal-blue eyes demurely, as was proper, but Cheron swore he saw a flash of mocking defiance in the depths before his lashes lowered. In a second, the brazen glare vanished. Ekos bowed his head, allowing his golden-yellow hair to fall over his shoulders. The posture gave Cheron a clear view of the concubine’s long back and the enticing dip of his ass. Suppressing his disgust, Cheron kept his response to King Sinnac formal. “He is most pleasing. I am recently sated and do not require sexual services just now, Your Excellence. Perhaps later.” “I heard you Northern men needed no pause between sessions. That you were an insatiable lot.” Sinnac, a severe man who resembled a long tendril of smoke with his long white body, steel-gray hair, and gray eyes, raised his bushy eyebrows and took a drag from his hookah. Foul-smelling mist coiled around his head, momentarily canceling out the masculine, sweet smell of the concubine’s body oils. Cheron gave the characterization a breathy laugh. “I’m afraid all men must submit to biology.” “Of course. Of course.” Truthfully, Cheron’s carnal needs hadn’t been satisfied recently or even in the past year. His aversion to touching Ekos had nothing to do with lack of desire. Perhaps the young concubine served freely now, but at some point in his life, he’d been brought here in chains and trained in the arts of pleasure. The very thought made Cheron’s skin crawl. Not too long ago, he’d been enslaved under the reign of a cruel king who raped and tortured to stay in power. He had no intentions of following the same path. After he took control of Broken Maw, servants continued to exist, but they were compensated for their work. No one was compelled to offer sexual services. Those who sold themselves demanded money, certainly, but also equal pleasure. Ekos’s circumstances were much different. Sinnac, as if stressing those differences, commanded the concubine to attend to Cheron’s needs. “Show our guest your skills, my pet. Seduce him.” The concubine pouted. In a spoiled voice, he said, “My treasure, I do not believe he wants me.” A hard glint in his eye, Sinnac returned, “Nonsense. Help him settle in to Wren Gardens. I’ll not have my guests frustrated. And if the rumors I hear are true, he is quite congested with lust.” Gossip between courts wasn’t uncommon. Certainly, Cheron heard his fair share of stories from Sinnac’s lands, especially tales of the financial troubles of Wren Gardens. It didn’t upset Cheron to learn he was the subject of discussion among Sinnac’s people, but his temperature rose at being so directly contradicted by another monarch. “What do you know of my frustration, Excellency?” His laughter croaked as he took another puff from the hookah. “I hear you haven’t had any pleasure since Aethel. His betrayal must still sting, yes?” Honesty roughened his voice to an almost inaudible, harsh whisper. “Betrayal burns more than it stings, Excellency. Afterward, the smoke blinds us.” Sinnac raised an eyebrow. “Dramatic. Betrayal also chokes us, apparently, though I heard your lover made good kindling for fire.” Cheron swallowed down the memory before it overwhelmed him. Sometimes, in the dead of night, he still woke to the sound of his lover’s screams as he twisted on the pyre and the king’s executioner’s grim pronouncement that justice had been done. Now that Cheron had overthrown the king in a successful rebellion, there would be no such burnings. Never again. Cheron kept his voice level. “His crime was nowhere near as severe as the punishment.” “Hm,” Sinnac responded. Supposedly, the price for his displeasure ran higher. This marked Cheron’s first time visiting Wren Gardens, but his father told tales of a ruler obsessed with revenge to the point of madness. If the stories were true, Sinnac’s gardens grew on human blood. Cheron tried to smile. “At any rate, that is in the past.” “Well, then. My pet can make you forget the traitor existed. Perhaps he can make you forget your own treason.” It would be unwise to answer the bait, so Cheron kept quiet on the matter. “I have no doubt of Ekos’s skills, but they are wasted on me at the present.” “We’ll see.” Sinnac waved his graceful fingers, an order for Ekos to proceed. The concubine’s crystal-blue eyes lowered again. Looking into their depths was akin to jumping into ice-cold water. One could drown, but he’d feel the sting of cold as he sank. Just the same, Cheron barely kept from gasping out loud as Ekos’s long fingers stroked the outer folds of the long robe he wore. Beneath the clothes, his body was taut, ready for a lover’s touch. “Majesty,” Ekos simpered, his full, round mouth set in a pout. “I can’t please you through so many layers of clothing.” In Wren Gardens, sex servants weren’t allowed to remove the clothing of nobility. Such a task was reserved for only the most trusted of servants, those who’d been with households for generations. Poisons that seeped through the skin were common here; the precaution made sense. Ekos’s own dress confused Cheron. Station required servants to wear only thin scraps of fabric that advertised their wares and marked them as slaves. The concubine was swathed nearly head to toe in a loose-fitting, semitransparent silken frock that was embroidered along the hem by a skilled hand. Somehow, this enticed Cheron’s interests far better than any scant loincloth. As if sensing his increasing desires, the concubine formed his full mouth into an aware smirk. The arrogance took Cheron aback and made him worry for the concubine’s safety. The man’s voice was strong and confident when he said, “Perhaps His Majesty would like to undress me first?” Sinnac guffawed at Cheron’s horrified expression. “Forgive Ekos, my royal brother. He is overeager to prove his affections.” Once again, Cheron ignored the overt slight. For now, Cheron had to be content another monarch had even stooped to meet with him. Smiling, he said, “He hasn’t been tested already?” Sinnac’s countenance darkened. Without thinking, Cheron had insulted the other man’s virility, which he touted with great pride. In the short time Cheron had been a guest at Wren Gardens, Sinnac boasted as many as fifty lovers, all of whom couldn’t get enough of their lord and master. “My apologies, Excellency.” Cheron spread his hands in contrition. “I understand your prowess is legendary.” Sniffing, Sinnac got to his knees and began undoing the knot keeping his robe together. Seconds later, he was nearly naked except for his white linen undergarments. Covered in a network of impressive scars, his body flaunted a lifetime of war. “Turn around,” he commanded Ekos. Immediately, Ekos obeyed. Cheron swore he saw a flash of disgust in the man’s crystal-blue eyes. Soon enough, the meaningless and practiced smile fell back into place. The young man dipped forward, raising his hips. “Enter if you dare,” he mocked. Sinnac growled at the challenge. Stomach lurching, Cheron realized the other monarch’s intent. Baring witness to rape immediately quashed his previous desires. He knew it was a typical practice in Wren Gardens, but Cheron failed to control a wave of pity. This was no way to treat another human being. “Excellency,” Cheron said, interrupting the looming sexual encounter. “I have been an ungracious guest. I would love to indulge in Ekos’s sweet attentions privately. But how can I enjoy him if you put me to shame? Will he even consider me adequate after you?” “I’m sure I would, Majesty,” Ekos softly assured him. “A man as magnificent as you must be bliss to touch.” Sinnac ran his hands up and down the length of the concubine’s body, slapping and prodding as he went, but eventually sat back against the cushions without penetrating, much to Cheron’s relief. His gaze hooded, almost fully concealed, Sinnac said, “Please retire to your quarters, Majesty. We’ll attend to matters of state after dinner. I will have Ekos sent to your rooms. Treat him gently. I paid a high price for him.” As equals, they stood and formally bowed. The concubine, head still bent toward the ground, his expression concealed by a long flow of honey hair, remained prostrated. His fists clenched and unclenched. When he lifted his head, he smiled serenely and said, “You have yet to pay the full price for me, Excellency.”

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

Meet the Author

Jacqueline Rohrbach is a 36-year-old creative writer living in windy central Washington. When she isn’t writing strange books about bloodsucking magical werewolves, she’s baking sweets, or walking her two dogs, Nibbler and Mulder. She also loves cheesy ghost shows, especially when the hosts call out the ghost out like he wants to brawl with it in a bar. You know, “Come out here, you coward! You like to haunt little kids. Haunt me!” Jackee laughs at this EVERY time. She’s also a hopeless World of Warcraft addict. In her heyday, she was a top parsing disc priest. She became a paladin to fight Deathwing, she went back to a priest to cuddle pandas, and then she went to a shaman because I guess she thought it would be fun to spend an entire expansion underpowered and frustrated. Boomchicken for Legion!

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Rainbow Snippet June 22-23

6/22/2019

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

Continuing with a first kiss theme, for this week's snippet, I have Loriot and Savarin's first kiss from The Sorcerer's Guardian. Loriot is a loyal guard captain ordered to accompany arrogant sorcerer Savarin on a mission for the princes during with they clash constantly while falling in love. This snippet finds them trapped at an inn during a bad storm, and, why yes, there is only one room left at the inn. They barely made it to the inn in time, and Loriot blames Savarin.
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​He stalked closer to Savarin. “Then why are you being so arrogant and ridiculous about this?”

​
“Ridiculous?” Savarin’s voice went quiet, and he stood in the tub, long legs unfolding beneath him. “Did you just call me ridiculous?” 

“I see you have no objection to my calling you arrogant.”

“I’m arrogant? You need to listen to yourself. You arrogant, smug—” Loriot had no idea which of them moved first. Maybe they moved
together; he didn’t know. What he did know was that one second Savarin was hurling a litany of insults at him and the next they were kissing. Only kissing was too tame a word for what they were doing.

He and Savarin were devouring each other. 


You can find more about The Sorcerer's Guardian here. And there's still time to enter to win a copy of The Merchant's Love over here. Thanks for reading today!
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Happy Anniversary to Faelen and Maxen! (And a Giveaway)

6/18/2019

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The Merchant's Love has been out in the world for one year today! It's part of the Chronicles of Tournai series but stands alone just fine, and is the story of a demisexual, bookish royal and the bisexual merchant who is awkwardly, endearing enchanted with him as they fall in love over books and baked goods.

I love this book, gang. It's my first published book with a demisexual characters, which makes it special to me, and it's the book I absolutely needed while I was writing it with the way the world has been the last few years. It's basically a warm hug in book form. I hope you love it as much as I do.

To celebrate Faelen and Maxen's anniversary, I'm giving away a copy of The Merchant's Love. Since Faelen has quite a sweet tooth, comment below with your favorite dessert, and I'll pick a random commenter to win on June 25th. 

About The Merchant's Love:

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Faelen, cousin to the prince and son of a diplomat, has finally come home to Tournai after years away. The pull to return was almost tangible, and the sense of rightness at being back is absolute. He wants nothing more than to put down roots and build a life among family while pursuing his linguistic studies. Becoming involved in magic meant to protect Tournai isn’t part of his plans…and falling in love is even more unexpected and unfamiliar, but he finds himself doing just that as his friendship with Maxen deepens into something more.

Maxen, second son of a wealthy merchant family, longs to leave Tournai and visit everywhere he can. All his life, he’s found places on maps and dreamed, planning out routes to get to them. For now, he’s tied to Tournai’s capital city by family obligations and his position in their shipping business. Someday, though, he’ll be able to travel. His sudden attraction to Faelen shocks him, but their friendship soon becomes a necessary part of his life. Love, however, has no place in his plans, especially not love for a royal cousin with secrets who wants nothing more than to stay in one place.

For Faelen and Maxen to build something real between them, they must resolve their differences, but when magic goes awry and all Faelen’s secrets are revealed, will Maxen remain at his side?
​

Buy The Merchant's Love:

NineStar Press
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
​
Kobo

Use coupon code PRIDE to get 40% off The Merchant's Love (and the rest of your order!) at NineStar through June 30th.
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Rainbow Snippet June 15-16

6/15/2019

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

​Today, I'm sharing a snippet of Cathal and Flavian's first kiss in The Artist's Masquerade. Flavian is an artist who is on the run disguised as a woman. Cathal, an overly proper duke's heir, has no idea Flavian is actually a man at this point. This is from Flavian's perspective.
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​Flavian froze,
his mind going utterly blank the instant Cathal’s lips touched his.

​
Because Cathal was kissing him.

Cathal was kissing him. Flavian never, ever, expected it to happen, or for it to be like this. A passionate, uninhibited kiss with Cathal’s firm body pressing against his, pushing him into the unyielding surface of the door. Who would have thought that a man like Cathal would kiss like that? And for an instant Flavian drowned in it—the feel of Cathal’s smooth lips on his, the firm grip of his hands on Flavian’s waist—as Cathal devoured him.

But then reality came back in a flood. “We can’t do this.” 


You can find out more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today!
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Release Blitz: Tales from Ardulum by J.S. Fields

6/10/2019

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Title: Tales from Ardulum

Series: Ardulum. Book Four

Author: J.S. Fields

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: June 10, 2019

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 57800

Genre: Science Fiction, LGBT, aliens, bonded, criminals, religion, science, smugglers, space, spaceships, telekinesis, telepathy

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Synopsis

One year after saving the Neek homeworld and redefining the people’s religion, the crew of the Scarlet Lucidity returns to the Charted Systems for a much-needed break. For Nicholas and Yorden, the Systems will always be home, but for Emn and Atalant, too many memories compound with Emn’s strange new illness to provide much relaxation. TALES FROM ARDULUM continues the journey of Atalant, Emn, Yorden, Nicholas, and Salice as they try to define their place in a galaxy that no longer needs them while battling the artifacts of Ardulan colonization. Other stories include Yorden’s acquisition of the Mercy’s Pledge (and his grudge against the galaxy), Atalant’s exile from her homeworld, Ekimet and Savath’s romance, and many others.

Excerpt

Tales from Ardulum J.S. Fields © 2019 All Rights Reserved Mercy’s Pledge 2030 CE “Scrub it down. Start with the cockpit, then work your way back. No toilets on this thing, of course, because the astronauts used diapers way back when and most of these old models were just for animals, so that’s a bright side.” The museum curator—a short, thin woman with wavy, brown hair and pinkish skin—produced a half-hearted smile. She tapped a white panel on the starboard flank of the old decommissioned Soviet shuttle. Housed in the warehouse section of some museum in Kaluga, the ship was a Buran model, although it’d been modded so many times since its initial flight that Yorden Kuebrich doubted its insides looked anything like the historic photos. “Yeah, I got it. No worries.” Yorden ran his fingers through his beard in what he hoped was an endearing gesture rather than a creepy one, smoothed out the wrinkles on his too-tight coveralls, grabbed his cleaning kit, and walked up the shaky platform steps to the entrance of the shuttle. Cleaning the inside was going to take days, which was just fine. After the year he’d had in the Gaza Strip, not to mention the little heist he was planning, a bit of mindless cleaning while he worked out the details was exactly what he needed. He grimaced at the rank smell of old oil and deteriorating plastic as he squeezed through the narrow walkways of the shuttle. Either the Soviets had been a lot smaller back then or Yorden had put on more weight in the past decade than he’d realized. Didn’t matter. Muscle, fat, facial hair…it was all the same when you woke up every morning from nightmares of a friend killed, a family home destroyed, or a passive-aggressive act of one angry government against another. Who was right, who was wrong—it didn’t matter then, and it didn’t fucking matter now. The world was full of old decay. Religious cousins were still at each other’s throats, although now they used words instead of bombs. And it was all stupid because there were actual aliens, turns out, flying around in space. Aliens! Yorden snorted as he entered the tiny cockpit and set his cleaning kit down on a metal case. For ten years now, Earth had been part of the Charted Systems. For ten years, fucking aliens had been showing them how to use wormholes and cellulose tech and weird biometals, and here Yorden was, standing in a metal bucket containing a throttle-lever thing and analog controls after having fled yet another country he’d wanted to call home. His first home, Poland, he’d left because fuck communism and fuck his early memories of the exorbitant price of meat and his family never getting a condo because the lottery was never in their favor. And fuck the lines. He was glad he’d never had kids, never needed to wait in line for twenty-four-plus hours just to buy a damn doll. Anyway, toilet paper was a goddamned miracle he never wanted to live without again. Things got better in the nineties—but he’d been done. Naturally, Yorden had just managed to trade one tortured ideology for another. Israel. Gaza. He was Jewish, in that ham-eating, post-Soviet way. Still, birthright. Homecoming, sort of. It was enough to pull him in. Enough to convince him to try out settling there. That had failed miserably. It was just a different kind of death out there: a faster one, from bullets and bombs. That was all over now, though, because of Charted-fucking-Systems-mandated peace, but nothing could erase his memories. Thus, Yorden was back in Eastern Europe, on a dilapidated shuttle, preparing to install the Cell-Tal components hidden under his cleaning kit and in his bag, so he could fly this hunk of metal off Earth and get into the Systems proper. Yorden grinned. Off Earth, out of this solar system, and away from the crush of history. Away from his history. Away from the politics and the false smiles and the lovey-dovey crap everyone spewed now instead of the thinly veiled racist ideology of the past. People didn’t change—Yorden didn’t believe they could, not for a hot minute. Humans sure as hell didn’t change. Aliens might have brought technology based on turning trees into spacefaring biometals, and they might have brought peace, but neither of those came without a price. If he was going to live a lie, then better if he did it on his terms, in space, where it was a hell of a lot easier to avoid everyone. So, forget Earth. Forget Mars, even. He’d take “diaspora” to a whole new level. “You doing okay, then?” The curator’s voice reverberated within the metal, making Yorden wince. “Some of that stuff up in there is pretty delicate.” “Yeah, I got it! I’ll do the gun turret last since it’s not part of the original structure and looks like it wasn’t put on well to begin with. I don’t know what you guys thought you’d need to shoot with this, other than the peace-toting Risalians that came knocking at our solar door ten years ago.” He paused and considered the walls and his very heavy gear bag stuffed with Cell-Tal tech. “I’m going to have to take the wall panels off, too, to clean. I think you’ve got mice.” An expletive came from the curator, although Yorden wasn’t certain what language it was in. Not Russian or Polish—he was sure of that. Definitely not Yiddish. Since she was already upset but clearly not willing to come in and inspect the “damage,” Yorden added, “Probably best to strip her down to the floor and walls anywhere I can. If you’ve got one nest, you’ve got ten, and I don’t think you want to pay a guy to redo wiring, right?” “Do what you can and just…make it look right on the outside, okay? No one is ever going to look under the panels. It’s not like this Buran is ever going to fly again. That laser was never even fired, from what I know. It was attached quickly. Apparently, humans didn’t want to give up their guns when the peace treaty was signed. Not that it does any good on a ship that can’t fly.” “Oh, she’ll fly,” Yorden muttered. He waited until he heard the door to the hangar slam shut, followed by the screeching of the wide bay doors to the warehouse closing, and then peeled a clump of old metal and coated wires from the wall. He would put it all back together again, snug as a bug. He just needed to make a few modifications of his own first.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

J.S. Fields is a scientist who has perhaps spent too much time around organic solvents. They enjoy roller derby, woodturning, making chain mail by hand, and cultivating fungi in the backs of minivans. Nonbinary, and always up for a Twitter chat.

Website | Twitter

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Rainbow Snippet June 8-9

6/8/2019

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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

​I'm enjoying revisiting first kisses in my books, so I'm continuing today with Rhys and Gaz's first kiss in A Harmony of Fire and Earth. (I went over the sentence count! Sorry!)
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Rhys turned to him as they stopped near the stables, just outside the circle of lantern light near the door. He watched Gaz for a moment, nerves making his stomach churn. Could he do this? “And what if what I want to do is kiss you?”

Gaz’s indrawn breath was sharp and loud in the quiet of the night. “Do you?”

“I do.”

“It might not be a good idea.”

“I know. But it might be a very good idea too.” Laughing a little, Gaz shook his head.

“Do you not want me to kiss you? If so, just say, and I’ll
never mention it again.” He silently recited every prayer he knew that Gaz wouldn’t say it.

“It isn’t that I don’t want you to. It’s just—”

Rhys didn’t let Gaz finish, and maybe that was wrong. He didn’t even consciously make the decision to close the distance—only a step or two—between them and press his lips to Gaz’s. It was a whisper of a kiss at first, light and soft. But Rhys was stunned to be kissing Gaz after all this time. Just that fact was glorious. 



If you'd like to know more about A Harmony of Fire and Earth, you can find it here. And through June 30th, you can buy Harmony and my other NineStar Press titles (and lots of other great books too!) at NineStar with code PRIDE. Thanks for reading!
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May Reading

6/7/2019

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Somehow, we're a week into June already, which I still have not fully realized, but it at least means it's time to talk about last month's books. I spent a week of May on the beach in South Carolina, which means some of these are my beach/poolside reads for the year. Here are some books I enjoyed last month:

Proper English by KJ Charles: Proper English is a romance/English country house murder mystery and was absolutely delightful. I enjoyed every minute of it and wished for more at the end, not because the story wasn't complete but because I wanted more time with these characters. This is a prequel to Think of England (which I went back and reread after because I wanted more of Pat and Fen and because I've always loved Archie and Daniel) and shows us how Pat and Fen ended up together. I loved the romance between them and how their characters fit together. And, as for the mystery, let me tell you, never has someone so deserved to be murdered.

Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness: Time's Convert is an addition to Harkness's All Soul's Trilogy, which I enjoyed very much (Did anyone else watch A Discovery of Witches? I thought it was so good!). This books flips between present and past, showing us Phoebe's transformation into a vampire, giving us Marcus's history, and catching us up with the Bishop-Clairmont family since we last saw them. I'm eagerly awaiting more books and season two of the show!

Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas: My favorite Kleypas book is still (and probably always will be—I love Sebastian and Evie) Devil in Winter, so it was lots of fun to read Devil's Daughter, which has Sebastian and Evie's oldest daughter as its heroine. I really enjoyed the story on its own, but the scenes with characters from that earlier book made me so happy. I also listened to Devil in Spring (about Sebastian and Evie's eldest son) on the car ride home from South Carolina to round out the vacation. I might have to reread Devil in Winter too.

Hooked by Claire Cullen: I really enjoyed the latest in the Siren Cove series. The shifter/merman series as a whole is really good, and this one gave us more background on the history of wolves and sirens plus set up what I think will be the final showdown, while also giving a lovely romance. The series is probably best read in order.

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian: I'm just realizing how much of my reading was historical romance last month! The latest Cat Sebastian gives us an illustrator who has epilepsy and finds out he's the lost heir to a duke (and really doesn't want to be) and the bisexual radical bookseller who is his best friend (and the woman he loves). This is the second book in this series, but they can probably be read out of order (though Unmasking the Marquess is excellent, so you should go read that too).

What have you read and loved lately?

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NineStar Press Coupon!

6/6/2019

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Celebrate Pride Month with new books! Get 40% off your purchase at NineStar Press with code PRIDE through June 30th. It's a great time to catch up on any of my books you might have missed or pick up lots of other great books to add to your TBR.
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Dreamspinner Coupon

6/4/2019

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Use coupon code JUNELOVE to get any Dreamspinner book published before 2019 for 99c through June 5th! All of my Dreamspinner titles qualify, if you need to catch up, along with lots of other great books. Don't miss out!
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    Antonia is a writer and a reader and a copy editor/proofreader. She loves books, travel, art, photography, baking, pasta, and shoes.

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