Antonia Aquilante
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Rainbow Snippet November 30-December 1

11/30/2019

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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 going to back to The Spymaster's Secret for a snippet this weekend before I switch off to other things. This follows directly after my snippet from two weeks ago in which Alexander and his twin, Faelen, are getting ready for a masked ball and dressing alike. (I went a little over the sentence limit—sorry!)
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Their clothing was identical down to the smallest detail of the rich, emerald-green velvet jacket and pants, the gold embroidered shoes. Alexander had insisted they put their hair up, securing it with gold combs, to disguise the slight difference between them. Their masks were exactly the same as well--intricate gold and green half masks with green- dyed feathers and a single white silk rose on the right side. They were secured with glossy green ribbons. Yes, Alexander was pleased with the effect. They looked wonderful, and no one would be able to tell them apart.

“Why is it the point?”

“Don’t be so serious! Just think of people’s faces when they don’t know who they’ve seen or how one of us can be in two places at once.” Alexander grinned. “You know it’s going to be fun.”

Faelen shook his head, but he was laughing. Trying to stifle it, but laughing. “Only you would decide this would be the most amusing way to spend a ball.”

“Well, I also plan to dance quite a bit. Perhaps flirt some.” Marcus’s face floated up in Alexander’s mind but he blinked the image away.Marcus would be at the ball--his name was on the guest list anyway, and unless something catastrophic happened, it was an assurance he’d attend.

“With anyone in particular?” Faelen fixed him with an arch look.

You can read more about The Spymaster's Secret here. And through Monday December 2nd, The Spymaster's Secret and my others books are all 40% off at NineStar Press with code BLACKCYBER.
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Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale at NineStar!

11/29/2019

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NineStar Press is having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale! Use code BLACKCYBER to get 40% off your order from November 29th through December 2nd. It's a great time to stock up on some new books! All of mine are included in the sale, including The Spymaster's Secret, so you can pick up any you missed. Happy shopping!
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Happy Thanksgiving!

11/28/2019

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating, and happy Thursday to everyone else! And big hugs and love to everyone for whom today is difficult. I just wanted to take a moment today to let you know how grateful I am for all of you.
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Release Blitz: A Broken Winter by Kale Night

11/25/2019

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Title: A Broken Winter

Author: Kale Night

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: November 25, 2019

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 81000

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, LGBT, Fantasy, futuristic, hurt/comfort, soul mates, re-incarnation, political terrorism, prison, religious extremism, scientist

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Synopsis

General Auryn Tyrus is tired of serving an emperor who turns political dissidents into expensive steak and claims to have swallowed Ankari’s sun. He is fed up with pretending not to know Emperor Haken is buying biological weapons and collecting taxes for a war that doesn’t exist. Auryn’s role in the entire mirage leads him to drastic choices, but unexpected news halts his plans. Seven-year-old Keita Kaneko, the son of a former lover, is captured by the emperor’s special forces. Auryn secretly intervenes and spares Keita from execution. Keita changes everything. Instead of feeling helpless and oppressed by a self-proclaimed living god, Auryn works to expose the emperor as a fraud. But he knows exactly will happen if he’s discovered, and the extent of Emperor Haken’s lies is worse than anticipated. If Auryn expects anyone to believe the truth, he’s going to need proof. And a lot of help.

Excerpt

A Broken Winter Kale Night © 2019 All Rights Reserved Freezing to death took longer than expected. Auryn hadn’t moved in over an hour, lying in the snow, staring up at the stars. His toes burned and his bare fingers prickled painfully, flushed red from the cold. He’d considered a variety of other options, including shooting himself in the head, but feared screwing up and adding a traumatic brain injury to his list of grievances. He thought about hanging himself from a peach tree in Building A, but the fruit was being harvested and there were too many people around, even at night. Forced to decide quickly, he hopped in a snowcrawler and sped off. He could’ve kept going, travelling beyond the oxygenated zone, opting for death by hypoxia, but he pulled over and picked a final resting place. The radio in his earpiece crackled. The Special Activities Division were getting closer. It wouldn’t be long before they reached their target, terrorist Reisen Kaneko. Auryn hadn’t seen Reisen in over a decade, but his fondness for the man remained intact, uneroded by the passage of time. He’d hoped they’d be reunited one day, despite how impossible it was. No chance of that now. Abandoning his delusions meant being left with nothing, crippled under the weight of reality and longing for oblivion. Countless stars illuminated the sky, radiant mothers to other worlds, a painful reminder of their own orphaned condition. His Holiness Emperor Haken swallowed planet Ankari’s sun centuries ago—punishment for widespread civil disobedience, or so the story went. While Emperor Haken’s fire-swallowing abilities were never questioned, it was whispered he may have simply taken credit for a dying sun’s disappearance. This explanation made sense to Auryn, but Reisen loved tearing it apart. “A sun like ours doesn’t die the way most people expect it to. It burns bigger and brighter, swelling like an infected gash, incinerating planets nurtured from their inception. The final act of a deranged mother. Ankari is close enough to the sun that we’d all be burned alive instead of freezing our asses off. “If the sun did disappear, it wasn’t due to natural causes.” The radio blared with activity. Target location reached. This was it. If he had any sense, he’d turn the radio off, but he needed to be sure someone hadn’t made a mistake. Entrance is clear. Living room clear. Kitchen clear. His heart pounded, chest constricting painfully. Door’s locked. We’re going to break it down. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. There’s someone in the bed. Auryn closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. The cold air choked him, scratching his throat and lungs like tiny, frozen thorns. It’s a fucking kid. We do not have Kaneko. Repeat. We do not have Kaneko. He struggled into a seated position, limbs stiff and heavy. Kid says he’s Kaneko’s son. We’re bringing him in for questioning. He pulled his hat and gloves back on, skin on fire. Reisen’s son would be sent to the capital and interrogated, treated not like a human being, but as an opportunity for promotion. Auryn extracted himself from the snowbank he’d intended to be his tomb. He knew where they’d send the boy when they were done with him. Exhibiting the motor skills of a two-year-old, he climbed into his snowcrawler and turned the machine around, heading back to the Farm.

Purchase

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

Meet the Author

Kale currently resides outside a small town in northern Alberta, where she works in a library. She’s an avid reader with an English degree from the University of Calgary. In her spare time Kale loves playing video games, making chain maille, watching anime, and cultivating a steadily expanding bonsai collection.

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Rainbow Snippet November 23-24

11/23/2019

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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 taking a little break from snippets of The Spymaster's Secret today to share something new. Yesterday I (finally!) submitted a new book in the Chronicles of Tournai series to my editor, and I thought I would share the first few lines with you. This book is a sort of adversaries/enemies to lovers romance with some mystery and magic and family (both blood and chosen) and dragon shifters. I've been excited to write more dragon shifters in this world, so much so that I'm now planning a dragon shifter spin off series. 
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​Griffen’s day had been utterly normal—boring, even—until the dragons arrived.


The only mildly interesting thing that had happened was Bastien actually being convinced to attend a family dinner at the palace. Griffen didn’t delude himself into thinking his persuasion and prodding had anything to do with his older brother’s decision. No, Philip’s order had gotten Bastien and Corentin, the man he would soon marry, here. The prince rarely ordered his family about—and never in this type of situation, so Philip’s edict had probably been at least half joking—but Bastien was too dutiful to ignore it, despite his preference to be something of a hermit.

I don't have more information about the new book for you yet, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you enjoy dragon shifters and want to know more about Griffen's older brother Bastien, have a look at Bastien and Corentin's book,  The Dragon's Devotion. Thanks for reading today!
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Rainbow Snippet November 16-17

11/16/2019

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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 have a little more from The Spymaster's Secret for you this weekend, though soon I may start sharing snippets from other books again. I've skipped ahead a little in the story a bit for this snippet. It's Alexander and his twin brother, Faelen, getting ready for a masked ball (I've wanted to write a masked ball for ages). Mischievous Alexander has convinced Faelen to go along with him in a bit of a scheme... (Sorry I went over the sentence limit!)
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“I can't believe I let you talk me into this.”

“What? We look wonderful.” Alexander stepped over to stand beside 
Faelen in front of the full-length mirror in his dressing room.

“We look identical.”

So they did, except for the little frown pulling at Faelen’s lips.

“That was the point.” Alexander bumped his shoulder into Faelen’s, 
watching as one of the figures in the mirror did the same.

It was always a bit surreal when they dressed alike, which wasn’t often anymore. Mother had preferred to dress them identically when they were children, but Father had decided it needed to stop as they got older. Afterward, they sometimes did it to switch places, almost alwaysat Alexander’s urging. He was just so amused to see if people would figureout which of them was which. Hardly anyone ever did, and they could getaway with so much. They hadn’t done it in a long time, which Alexander did understand--they were adults now.

Tonight was a masked ball though. Everyone would be in disguise.
They would dress in finery and cover their faces with fanciful masks and dance the night away. Why shouldn’t he and Faelen have a little fun?

You can find more about The Spymaster's Secret here. Thanks for reading today!
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Release Blitz: The Sun Still Rises by Laura Bailo

11/11/2019

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Title: The Sun Still Rises

Author: Laura Bailo

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: November 11, 2019

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 32000

Genre: Contemporary, LGBT, Spain, bull running, writer, foreign traditions, anxiety attacks, grieving, long distance

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Synopsis

Whenever his father asked Erik to accompany him to Pamplona for the San Fermín festival, he said no. Now his father is gone, and in a spur of the moment decision, Erik finds himself in another country to run with the bulls in his memory. Erik hasn’t booked a hotel, and he’s completely unprepared for a city bustling with people. No accommodations to be had, he’s resigned to sleeping in a park. Until help comes from an unlikely place. David works in the tourism office, and Erik is surprised but grateful when he offers him his spare room, despite being a complete stranger. Faced with the choice of sleeping on the ground or the friendly offer of an extra bed, the decision is an easy one. The two of them get to know each other as David shows Erik what’s to love about Pamplona. For the first time in a long while, Erik feels something for another person, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is only temporary and he needs to go back home, does it?

Excerpt

The Sun Still Rises Laura Bailo © 2019 All Rights Reserved Prologue “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Erik had lost count of how many times his dad had asked. “Dad, I’m sure. You go and enjoy yourself.” “You could enjoy it, too, if you just forgot about everything else for a while.” He had always been worried about him. Erik was pretty sure his dad thought he didn’t know how to have fun. Not having a lot of friends didn’t mean he didn’t get to enjoy himself. His idea of fun was simply different from his father’s. “Come on, Dad, you know I would only drag you down. I don’t like crowded places, and you can’t even walk in Pamplona during the festival.” “How could you know that?” His father sounded surprised Erik actually knew something about his destination. “You’ve been going there every year for the last—what? Twenty years? And you think I’ve never watched the running of the bulls, trying to see you? I’m not that heartless, Dad.” “I didn’t say you were. You’ve never seemed interested in any of it, so I didn’t imagine you’d have done that. But I’m glad to know you love your old man enough to care and watch just in case he gets trampled by a bull.” That would have offended Erik had his dad not been smiling while he said it. “Yes, yes, I do love you, which is why I want you to go alone and have fun without me tagging along. You deserve that.” And he was serious, as this was the only time of year his dad let himself forget the problems that troubled him at work during the rest of it. “Thank you, son. There’s no convincing you, I guess. I’m going to go pack. Remember you promised to drive me to the airport.” Erik couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Yes, like I do every year. Don’t worry; I’ll be ready. You know I will.” “I know, I know.” And with two pats to Erik’s shoulder, his dad left to pack his white and red clothes. Erik decided he should head to bed. The flight left at a ridiculously early hour, which meant he should go to sleep early if he wanted to be awake enough to drive. After his dad left, he’d have a week all to himself, and he was planning on taking advantage of it, writing nonstop. Not what his dad would consider fun, but putting words on paper was what made Erik happy, and he had a deadline coming up for his next book.

Purchase

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

Meet the Author

Laura Bailo is an asexual Spanish author of queer romance. She’s an anxiety-ridden writer who, when not writing or reading, loves exploring the narrow streets of Pamplona and thinking about all the stories she wants to write in the future. She has a penchant for writing sweet stories with a Spanish flavor, be it fantasy or contemporary, and she’s still dreaming about writing her first historical.

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Rainbow Snippet November 9-10

11/9/2019

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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 have more for you from The Spymaster's Secret. This snippet follows right after last week's, as Alexander deals with Marcus's sudden flip from hot to cold.
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“You need to watch where you’re going, Lord Alexander. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.” Marcus’s cool tone with its hints of condescension irked Alexander far too much after what he’d seen.

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“I can hardly control young idiots on horseback.” Alexander brought his chin up slightly, let his lips curve at the edges just a little in a hint of a teasing smile. “But I thank you for your rescue, Lord Marcus, and your advice. If I could have my hand back now?”

“Oh, of course.” Marcus let go immediately.

Alexander didn’t let his satisfaction at the hint of fluster in Marcus show. He had himself back under control—he’d kick himself later for ever losing it. For now, he nodded and took a step back himself, making the motion regal. For the most part, he left off the obvious trappings of royalty, since he was so far from the throne, but he knew quite well how and when to use them.

You can find more about The Spymaster's Secret here. Thanks for reading today!
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Cover Reveal: The Wolf and the Sparrow by Isabelle Adler

11/8/2019

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The Wolf and the Sparrow by Isabelle Adler

Cover created by Natasha Snow

RELEASE DATE: November 25, 2019

Available to Pre-Order at NineStar Press on November 22nd

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Derek never wished to inherit his title as a result of a bloody battle. With the old count dead and the truce dependent on his marriage to the rival duke’s son, Derek has no choice but to agree to the victor’s terms in order to bring peace to his homeland. When he learns of the sinister rumors surrounding his intended groom, Derek begins to have doubts—but there can be no turning back from saying I do. After the death of his wife, Callan of Mulberny never expected to be forced into another political marriage—especially not to someone like the new Count of Camria. Seemingly soft and meek, it’s only fitting that Derek’s family crest is a flighty sparrow, worthy of nothing but contempt. Another war with the seafaring people of the Outer Isles looms on the horizon, and the reluctant newlyweds must team together to protect those caught in the circle of violence. Derek and Callan slowly learn to let go of their prejudices, but as they find themselves enmeshed in intrigue fueled by dark secrets and revenge, their tentative bond is all that keeps their world—and their lives—from plunging into chaos. Blog Button 2
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My October Reads

11/6/2019

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It's November (somehow...???) and time to talk about books we read and enjoyed in October. I decided to try to stick to books that were either paranormal or felt otherwise seasonal for my reading last month, so that's what you'll find on this list. I reread a few favorites too, which I'm pretty sure I listed when I wrote about Halloween book recs, so I'm going to list the ones I read for the first time here:

Mastering the Flames by SJ Himes: This fourth book in the Beacon Hill Sorcerer series has a slightly different feel than the first three, which makes sense because we're seeing the world through Isaac and Constantine's eyes this time around. And it was really good. I loved their romance and seeing more of favorite characters and the paranormal world set in modern day Boston. I went back and did a reread of the first three books after and now I can't wait for more!

Defender by Claire Cullen: Defender is the first book in a new shifter series, The Lost Pack. I was intrigued by the world building and characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Beating the Bounds by Parker Foye: Beating the Bounds is a short novella set around Halloween and involving the fae. I could've wished for more (I almost always want more and longer stories!), but the setting and atmosphere were wonderful and the f/f romance was lovely.

Deosil by Jordan L Hawk: This is the 11th and final book in the Whyborne & Griffin historical fantasy romance series, and I can't believe it's over. It's been one of my favorite series and one of my most reread (I'd been doing an audio reread in the lead up to this book too). Though I'm sad it's the last book with these characters, it was a lovely and satisfying conclusion. The paranormal threat that had been building over the series is dealt with well, and the relationships are all handled beautifully, so we remember that family is one of the big themes of the series. I can only be grateful to the author for creating these characters and the horrible murder town that I would move to in a heartbeat. If you haven't read it, start with Widdershins and binge your way through it. I'm a little jealous of you getting to discover it for the first time.

Mainly by Moonlight by Josh Lanyon: This little paranormal mystery was definitely a fun romp—it also absolutely reminded me of the television show Bewitched, which was possibly deliberate, as we have a witch who doesn't seem to use his powers much marrying a human with no magic who doesn't believe/know about it. Here, the witch is accused of murder and the fiancee is the police commissioner, to add a bit of a wrinkle. I'll be reading the next to see what happens between these two. (As an aside, I never understood why Samantha was so willing to not use her magic in that show. I would never!)

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova: This young adult fantasy is about a bisexual Latina teenager who is also a powerful bruja refusing to use her powers. The world building is fantastic, especially the world of Los Lagos, where Alex has to journey to save her family. I'm definitely going to pick up the next book in the series.

Monster Till Midnight by EJ Russell: This short is so much fun! Set at Halloween, it has aspects of magic and time travel, and also a sweet romance. And while I would love to know more about what happens to these two guys, this story was so well done and well-realized, it didn't feel at all incomplete.

Love Spells (For the End of the World) by Alys Murray: This was a cute, quick read about a witch and the witch hunter who vowed to kill her when they were teenagers having to team up to save the world—and fall in love.

What did you read and love in October?

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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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