Category: Rainbow Snippets

Rainbow Snippet July 13-14

7/13/2019

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 from A Dance of Water and Air, the first Elemental Magicae book. Edmund is demisexual and the heir to the throne of Thalassa, and has to make an alliance marriage with the queen of a neighboring kingdom. Arden is bi and trans and the queen's brother. He and Edmund absolutely should not fall in love, but of course they do. Then Edmund is accused of trying to assassinate the queen, Arden frees him from the dungeon, and they both run. But before any of that happens, this is when Arden first sees Edmund.

The tall doors, polished wood with silver and gold set in a fluid pattern over the entire surface, were pulled open, and Prince Edmund stepped through.

Arden hadn’t expected the punch of instant attraction and didn’t much care for it. He had certainly been attracted to people before and had a couple of discreet liaisons when he’d found a potential lover he could trust, but he’d seldom felt an attraction so sudden and visceral, one that had him wondering what it would be like if he dragged Edmund off to bed.

But this was his sister’s intended—for an alliance marriage that was meant to secure the safety of their kingdom.

Still, Arden understood his own reaction. Edmund was breathtaking.

You can find out more about A Dance of Water and Air here. Also, A Dance of Water and Air (along with its sequel!) is 50% off at Smashwords this month, so it's a good time to give it a try. Thanks for reading today!

3 Comments

Rainbow Snippet July 6-7

7/6/2019

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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+.

This week's snippet comes from The Prince's Consort. Completely unintentionally, my first published book was left for last as I worked my way through first kisses in my books (and now that I'm done snippeting first kisses, I have to figure out what to snippet next. I might need a new theme!). In The Prince's Consort, Amory is the son of a merchant and Philip the Crown Prince. They meet when Amory's horrible father tries to barter Amory for extra time to complete a commission for the prince. Even though they're both disgusted by Amory's fathers proposition, Philip and Amory are attracted to each other as well. Here's their first kiss.

The prince’s smile lit the room, like the sun appearing, and Amory was dazzled looking at him. When he stood and held out a hand, Amory didn’t hesitate to take it and let the prince draw him to his feet. They were close together, so close Amory could feel the heat of the prince’s body. The prince leaned down the few inches separating them and brushed his lips over Amory’s.

The kiss was light and quick, but utterly stunning. Amory knew his eyes were wide as he stared at the prince, his breath coming faster, a tingle of warmth shimmering over his entire body. All from one chaste kiss. He wondered what would happen when they really kissed.

The prince’s eyes were wide as well as he watched Amory. Had it felt the same to him? It had barely been a kiss, but it felt like a start. Maybe even a promise.

You can find more about The Prince's Consort here. Also, four of my books are 50% off this month in the Smashwords sale. (The Prince's Consort isn't one of them, but two that are set in the same world are.) Thanks for reading today!

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Rainbow Snippet June 29-30

6/29/2019

5 Comments

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.

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!

5 Comments

Rainbow Snippet June 22-23

6/22/2019

4 Comments

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.

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!

4 Comments

Rainbow Snippet June 15-16

6/15/2019

5 Comments

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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Rainbow Snippet June 8-9

6/8/2019

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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!

5 Comments

Rainbow Snippet June 1-2

6/1/2019

6 Comments

Against all of his better judgment, which was screaming at him unheeded from some small part of his mind, he grabbed Tristan, pulled him close, and kissed him.

The kiss was rough—passionate but rough and almost violent. All lips and teeth and grasping hands. Not at all how Etan usually kissed or liked to be kissed. Not at all how he’d envisioned a first kiss with Tristan to be, back when he’d imagined such things, before he put aside the possibility of anything between them. A shame, since this kiss was likely to be their only one. But he couldn’t change it now. All his anger and frustration, his thwarted passion and hurt, every feeling that had accumulated over years of loving Tristan and grieving what might have been, was being poured out into the kiss, and Etan was helpless to stop it.

Tristan froze in his arms.

If you'd like to know more about The Scholar's Heart, you can find it here, and I'm running a celebratory anniversary giveaway for a copy of the book over here. Thanks for reading!

6 Comments

Rainbow Snippet May 25-26

5/25/2019

7 Comments

“Edmund,” Arden gasped. “Are you all right?”

“Arden—”

Arden rushed forward and pulled Edmund into a kiss, a kiss that tasted of fear and desperation and a brilliant sweetness underneath the rest. The suddenness of it, the impulsivity of Arden’s kissing him in front of others—in a dungeon of all places—froze Edmund for half a second, but then he was kissing Arden back, and he never wanted to stop. Edmund brought his hands up and held on to Arden’s arms with chilled fingers, anchoring Arden’s slim, strong body to his. The feel of it went a long way toward warming Edmund through.

You can find more about A Dance of Water and Air here. Thanks for stopping by and reading!

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Rainbow Snippet May 18-19

5/18/2019

4 Comments

Faelen just looked at him for a couple of moments and then took a breath. “I want to kiss you.”

Maxen froze. He wasn’t even sure he breathed for a moment. Had he heard what he thought he had? Had Faelen said...? He stared at Faelen, who looked as surprised as Maxen felt and just a bit dismayed. That was enough to help Maxen shake off his paralysis. “Faelen?”

“I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“But you meant it?”

“Yes.” It was a breath of sound, which became stronger. “Yes.”

Maxen watched him for another moment. “Then you should do it.”

Faelen drew in a sharp breath. “Maxen?”

“If you want to, you should kiss me.”

Faelen was utterly still as they stood in silence. Then he moved, slowly coming closer to Maxen. He reached out almost carefully and rested his hands on Maxen’s shoulders lightly and then more firmly. His hesitance did something to Maxen, a swirl of emotions he couldn’t quite put name to, except for the sudden need to protect, but he stayed still, letting Faelen do as he would. Finally, Faelen stretched up and brushed his lips lightly over Maxen’s.

If you'd like to know more about The Merchant's Love (which I always call my warm-hug-in-book-form book), you can find it here. Thanks for reading!

4 Comments

Rainbow Snippet May 11-12

5/11/2019

8 Comments

“Bastien.”

The word was little more than a whisper, but Bastien turned to him all the same, faint surprise coloring his features. He parted his lips, but whatever he was about to say was lost when Corentin bent and touched his mouth to his in a gentle kiss.

Gentle, yes, but no less stunning for all that.

Bastien made a small sound in his throat, and Corentin feared he might pull away, but he only stepped in closer, bringing one hand up to clutch the front of Corentin’s jacket. Corentin put his hands lightly on Bastien’s hips and continued the caress of his lips over Bastien’s, coaxing reactions out of him with delight, and drowning in the sensations himself.

You can find more about The Dragon's Devotion here. And if you like, you can get The Dragon's Devotion (and lots of other great books including the rest of mine) 50% off at NineStar Press with coupon code Narrative0503 through May 17th. Thanks for reading!

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Rainbow Snippet July 13-14

Rainbow Snippet July 6-7

Rainbow Snippet June 29-30

Rainbow Snippet June 22-23

Rainbow Snippet June 15-16

Rainbow Snippet June 8-9

Rainbow Snippet June 1-2

Rainbow Snippet May 25-26

Rainbow Snippet May 18-19

Rainbow Snippet May 11-12

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