Category: Rainbow Snippets

Rainbow Snippets June 18-19

6/19/2022

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 decided to share a few snippets from The Merchant's Love this month because it's four year book birthday is June 18th. I always call this book a warm hug in book form because that's how it's always felt to me (and what I needed when I was writing it). It's the story of Faelen, a demisexual bookish royal, falling in love over books and baked goods with Maxen, a bisexual merchant who is utterly besotted with him from the start. There's also some family drama and a bit of magic gone wrong. I've skipped ahead quite a bit this week. I did some baking in honor of Faelen and Maxen's anniversary and thought this snippet the perfect one to go with the cinnamon rolls I made. (I went long again—I'm sorry! I promise I'll stick to the line requirements next week!)

Bundled up against the cold night, they walked hand in hand toward Maxen’s house. They didn’t stop in at any of the taverns along the way. By mutual agreement, it seemed they wanted something else. Faelen did anyway—to be alone with Maxen somewhere quieter. But Maxen tugged him into a bakery that was still open and bought two pastries, swirled through with cinnamon and spices and topped with sweet sugary icing.

Faelen hadn’t thought he’d be hungry after the filling stew, but the pastry was warm and smelled delicious...perhaps he might have room for something sweet.

Outside, Maxen grinned and pressed a kiss to his temple. “I know how you love your sweets. Go ahead.”

Faelen blushed, even as a delightful shiver traveled through him from the place Maxen’s lips had been so briefly. He ducked his head, letting his hair fall forward to shield his face.

“All right, Fae?”

At Maxen’s concerned tone, Faelen looked up at him. He didn’t want Maxen concerned for him now. “Fine. Should we go?”

Maxen looked at him for another few breaths and then nodded. He held his hand out and Faelen put his in it, letting Maxen tangle their fingers together.

You can find more about The Merchant's Love here. And don't forget The Merchant's Love and my other books are 40% off in ebook at NineStar Press this month. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're staying safe and well.

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Rainbow Snippets June 11-12

6/12/2022

1 Comment

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 decided to share a few snippets from The Merchant's Love this month because it has an anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks. I always call this book a warm hug in book form because that's how it's always felt to me (and what I needed when I was writing it). It's the story of Faelen, a demisexual bookish royal, falling in love over books and baked goods with Maxen, a bisexual merchant who is utterly besotted with him from the start. There's also some family drama and a bit of magic gone wrong. In this snippet, Faelen and his twin Alexander are at their cousin Etan's wedding to Tristan. Tristan's brother has been spending a lot of time looking at Faelen, and Alexander noticed. (I'm sorry this is a bit long!)

"Tristan's brother. Maxen, was it? He seems quite taken with you. Kept stealing glances through dinner.”

“He couldn’t be taken with me since he hasn’t met me.” He and Alexander garnered their share of attention, and Faelen supposed it was flattering. He just never knew what to do with it, had never felt quite comfortable, especially if attention turned into something with more intent behind it.

Alexander rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. He’s taken with the look of you. He’s certainly handsome himself. Did you see?”

He deemed it safer to ignore most of what Alexander said. “Then he’s taken with the look of you as well. Are you sure he wasn’t looking at you?”

“No, dear, he was very much looking at you.” Alexander covertly glanced around the ballroom as they walked inside. “He’s there. Talking with Tristan and Etan.”

Alexander hadn’t needed to point Maxen out. Faelen had seen him during the ceremony, and, objectively speaking, Alexander was correct— Maxen was a handsome man. His shining blond hair gleamed like antique gold, and he shared his older brother’s vivid blue eyes. Faelen glanced at him anyway, cataloguing those characteristics once more, taking in the brilliant smile and the crinkle at the corner of his eyes while he laughed at something Tristan said. Etan and Tristan held hands and seemed to be drawn toward each other by some invisible force, but Maxen didn’t look as if he felt like the odd one out. He just looked happy.

Faelen looked away before Maxen caught him staring.

You can find more about The Merchant's Love here. The Merchant's Love and my other books are all 40% off at NineStar Press this month, so don't miss out on a great sale! Thanks for reading, and I hope you're all staying safe and well.

1 Comment

Rainbow Snippets June 4-5

6/4/2022

3 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.

I decided to share a few snippets from The Merchant's Love this month because it has an anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks. I always call this book a warm hug in book form because that's how it's always felt to me (and what I needed when I was writing it). It's the story of Faelen, a demisexual bookish royal, falling in love over books and baked goods with Maxen, a bisexual merchant who is utterly besotted with him from the start. There's also some family drama and a bit of magic gone wrong. This snippet is the beginning of the book, when Faelen, his twin Alexander, and their mother and brother arrive back in Tournai after a long absence.

In the last decade since his father was appointed ambassador to the kingdom of Teilo, Faelen had been on the grounds of Tournai’s royal palace three times, if he included today. The relief, happiness, and utter sense of home flooding through him as soon as he stepped off the boat had been shocking in its intensity, but not surprising otherwise. Sometime in the middle of the journey, he’d been hit with the bone-deep certainty that he needed to be back in Tournai. He’d mentioned it to Alexander, who admitted feeling the same—which Faelen was happy to hear from his twin, even if it did make the whole thing stranger.

He tried not to dwell on it, which was made a bit easier because of his discomfort that they were arriving unannounced and uninvited.

Well, not entirely uninvited. Faelen’s cousin Etan was getting married in a couple of weeks, and the entire family had been invited to the wedding, but Faelen couldn’t imagine Philip, the crown prince, and Amory, his husband, expected them to descend on the palace for it.

He and Alexander would be staying in Jumelle longer than that if they had their way.

You can find more about The Merchant's Love here. The Merchant's Love and the rest of my books are 40% off at NineStar Press this month, so don't miss out on a great sale! Thanks for reading today and I hope you're staying safe and well!

3 Comments

Rainbow Snippets May 28-29

5/29/2022

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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 month, I'm sharing a few snippets from The Artist's Masquerade, which was released two years ago this month by NineStar Press with gorgeous new cover art. I feel like picking favorites among my books is like picking favorite children and I can't do that, but I do adore The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal and Flavian's story. This is an opposites attract romance between the uptight and duty-bound duke's heir and a sharp-tongued artist who is in disguise and on the run. There are also spies and intrigue and magic and an exploration of family. When the book begins, Cathal's father has informed him that he has arranged a marriage for Cathal with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn. When she arrives, Flavian is with her disguised as her female companion and prepared to slip away as soon as possible. Things do not go to plan. And then Cathal is an added complication—he's supposed to marry Flavian's friend (though the marriage was arranged before either of them met) even as attraction explodes between him and Flavian.

“What do you want?” he whispered to Cathal. “What do you need?”

“You.”

Flavian’s breath caught. Cathal had to only mean what he said at this moment, in bed, but staring into Cathal’s eyes, Flavian wanted it to mean more, wanted Cathal to need him for more than the physical.

“You have me,” he whispered back, trying to ignore the fear lancing through him because those words were true. He was Cathal’s. He didn’t know how it had happened or when, but he was. It was terrifying but also...joyful.

You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets May 21-22

5/22/2022

1 Comment

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 month, I'm sharing a few snippets from The Artist's Masquerade, which was released two years ago this month by NineStar Press with gorgeous new cover art. I feel like picking favorites among my books is like picking favorite children and I can't do that, but I do adore The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal and Flavian's story. This is an opposites attract romance between the uptight and duty-bound duke's heir and a sharp-tongued artist who is in disguise and on the run. There are also spies and intrigue and magic and an exploration of family. When the book begins, Cathal's father has informed him that he has arranged a marriage for Cathal with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn. When she arrives, Flavian is with her disguised as her female companion and prepared to slip away as soon as possible. Things do not go to plan. And then Cathal is an added complication—he's supposed to marry Flavian's friend (though the marriage was arranged before either of them met) even as attraction explodes between him and Flavian.

Cathal confused him. So much. His heart still beat too fast as he remembered the look in Cathal’s eyes, all simmering heat and impishness. And Flavian liked it, far more than was good for him. He liked other things about Cathal too--flashes of heart and humor that came through at the oddest times, past the outer shell of propriety and rigid adherence to duty. And his smile--not the practiced, polite smile Flavian had seen often, but the real one that had graced Cathal’s lips tonight...it had been beautiful.

You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're staying safe and well!

1 Comment

Rainbow Snippets May 14-15

5/15/2022

2 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.

This month, I'm sharing a few snippets from The Artist's Masquerade, which was released two years ago this month by NineStar Press with gorgeous new cover art. I feel like picking favorites among my books is like picking favorite children and I can't do that, but I do adore The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal and Flavian's story. This is an opposites attract romance between the uptight and duty-bound duke's heir and a sharp-tongued artist who is in disguise and on the run. There are also spies and intrigue and magic and an exploration of family. When the book begins, Cathal's father has informed him that he has arranged a marriage for Cathal with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn. When she arrives, Flavian is with her disguised as her female companion and prepared to slip away as soon as possible. Things do not go to plan. I've skipped forward a bit for this snippet. Cathal now knows who Flavian is and isn't shy about showing his attraction. (And apparently, I lied last week when I said I would keep to sentence limits this week—I'm sorry!)

“Cathal.” He meant it as warning, protest, but he couldn’t make himself step away. Why was Cathal standing so close to him? A hand came to rest on Flavian’s back, warm and large, fingers drawing slow, caressing circles Flavian felt all the way down to his toes.

He needed to move. He needed to step away from Cathal right this minute and go back to the party where there would be other people and he would be safe from himself. Yet he still couldn’t make his feet move. He just stood, staring up at the lights, while Cathal’s hand moved slowly on his back.

Mesmerizing. The lights swirling and sparkling above them, the slow movement of Cathal’s fingers...the rest of the world faded away. Beautiful though they were, even the lights couldn’t hold his full attention, blurring together in front of his eyes as his focus narrowed to Cathal’s touch. Those strong fingers drawing random patterns up and down his back, the heat of them burning through the layers of fabric separating them from his skin. He tried to make sense of those patterns, tried to anticipate where Cathal would move, but he lost even the attempt in the sensations, the heat shivering through him.

“Flavian...” It was a whisper of sound, and Flavian barely heard it over his own heart beating in his ears.

You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets May 7-8

5/8/2022

1 Comment

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 month, I'm sharing a few snippets from The Artist's Masquerade, which was released two years ago this month by NineStar Press with gorgeous new cover art. I feel like picking favorites among my books is like picking favorite children and I can't do that, but I do adore The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal and Flavian's story. This is an opposites attract romance between the uptight and duty-bound duke's heir and a sharp-tongued artist who is in disguise and on the run. There are also spies and intrigue and magic and an exploration of family. When the book begins, Cathal's father has informed him that he has arranged a marriage for Cathal with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn. When she arrives, Flavian is with her disguised as her female companion and prepared to slip away as soon as possible. Things do not go to plan. I have another snippet that is far too long, but I thought all of it was necessary for context—I promise I'll do better next time.

Flavian was beginning to feel as if the entire situation was getting out of hand. He hadn’t planned on spending even one night in Tournai dressed as Lady Flavia, and here he was, weeks later, still pretending to be her. And every day, he wondered if this would be the day someone discovered who he really was.

He tried to go unnoticed, to stay out of sight, but doing so wasn’t always possible. Velia insisted he accompany her as a real companion would, so he had to attend court social events. And it became increasingly difficult to fade into the background while at them. Prince Amory, who seemed too kind to be quite real, often tried to include him in conversations, even turning the subject to art since he knew Flavian enjoyed it. Not to mention Prince Amory had taken to showing him some of the palace’s art collection.
And then there was Cathal.

Cathal, who had spent time with him when Prince Amory was delayed and showed every evidence of enjoying the time. Cathal, who tried to dance with him. Cathal, who watched him when he didn’t think Flavian was looking. Cathal, who hardly smiled but was proper and courtly and charming when he wanted to be. Cathal, who was tall and strong and so very handsome.

Cathal, who didn’t know Flavian was a man.

You can learn more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're all staying safe and well.

1 Comment

Rainbow Snippets April 30-May1

5/1/2022

2 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.

Somehow, it's May and both the weekend and last month got away from me...so I'm very late posting this week's Rainbow Snippet, but at least I'm posting one! This month, I'm sharing a few snippets from The Artist's Masquerade, which was released two years ago this month by NineStar Press with gorgeous new cover art. I feel like picking favorites among my books is like picking favorite children and I can't do that, but I do adore The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal and Flavian's story. This is an opposites attract romance between the uptight and duty-bound duke's heir and a sharp-tongued artist who is in disguise and on the run. There are also spies and intrigue and magic and an exploration of family. When the book begins, Cathal's father has informed him that he has arranged a marriage for Cathal with a relative of the emperor of Ardunn. When she arrives, Flavian is with her disguised as her female companion and prepared to slip away as soon as possible. Things do no go to plan. Here is Cathal and Flavian's first meeting. (This is much longer than it should be...I'm sorry!)

The duke introduced him, but Flavian hardly heard any of it. He was too busy looking at Cathal. He was tall. Very tall. Without these stupid heeled shoes, Flavian probably would barely stand as high as his shoulder. Deliciously broad shoulders. In fact, Cathal’s whole body seemed well muscled, thick but not bulky. Flavian could only imagine the lines of those muscles hiding under his fine clothing. The thought made him yearn for a sketchbook or, better, a canvas and paints. He could see the lines of those muscles taking shape on the page...but he would never paint them. He couldn’t even let himself think of painting them.

The rest of Lord Cathal was just as nice. His hair was dark and thick and wavy, well ordered at the moment, but Flavian wondered if that was always true. It had the look of hair with a mind of its own. Cathal’s features were chiseled and quite handsome but set in serious lines. There was an easily identified resemblance to his father, but despite its seriousness, Cathal’s expression seemed to have less rigidity than his father’s. And his eyes...

Flavian nearly jumped to find himself the focus of Lord Cathal’s unusual gold eyes. Flavian had been so engrossed in studying the man that he must have missed the formal introductions making it around to him.

“Lady Flavia.” Cathal’s voice was deep and smooth, and Flavian shivered just hearing it. But the shiver was nothing compared to the heat flaring inside him when Cathal took his hand to bow over it. The heat rushed through his body and left him biting back a gasp. No. Not good. He could not be attracted to Cathal of all men.

You can find more about The Artist's Masquerade here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're all staying safe and well!

2 Comments

Rainbow Snippets April 16-17

4/16/2022

2 Comments

He had no idea where he was going once he started walking. While he’d spent some time staring out of his window at the garden in the early morning light, he hadn’t tried to understand how it was laid out or to plot out routes through the maze of paths. So instead of attempting to find his way anywhere in particular, he set off wandering. The neatly maintained paths led him deeper into lush gardens in the first bloom of spring. A riot of colorful, fragrant flowers filled flowerbeds. Neatly trimmed hedges lined paths and separated gardens. Fanciful statues peeked from behind trees and stood in the center of burbling fountains. None of it was gaudy or ostentatious--all of it elegant and beautiful. And serene in the hush of early morning.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets April 2-3

4/3/2022

3 Comments

He should go home, and he’d known it even before he saw Kirill sitting on a bench surrounded by blue irises--before the sight of him there in the sunshine, surrounded by flowers, took his breath. Kirill was alone, but he hadn’t been for long--Romilly was walking away from him, back toward the guest wing of the palace. Neither of them had noticed Griffen, and he had a moment to decide whether he should turn and walk away before Kirill did. Well, if he wanted to be sensible, he absolutely should walk away, and he should be sensible.

He wasn’t going to be sensible.

You can find more about The Envoy's Honor here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well!

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Rainbow Snippets June 18-19

Rainbow Snippets June 11-12

Rainbow Snippets June 4-5

Rainbow Snippets May 28-29

Rainbow Snippets May 21-22

Rainbow Snippets May 14-15

Rainbow Snippets May 7-8

Rainbow Snippets April 30-May1

Rainbow Snippets April 16-17

Rainbow Snippets April 2-3

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