Antonia Aquilante
  • Home
  • About Antonia
  • Books
  • Coming Soon/In Progress
  • Blog
  • Contact

Rainbow Snippets December 24-25

12/24/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
​​​​
​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.

​Since it's December, I've decided to share some snippets from the closest thing I have to a holiday romance so far. The Merchant's Love is a cozy fall/winter fantasy romance in which a bookish demisexual royal and a bisexual commoner (who is utterly besotted with him from first sight) fall in love over books and baked goods. In this snippet, Maxen is giving Faelen a Midwinter gift.
Picture




​Maxen cupped his cheek, stroking his thumb over it lightly. “Just open 
it.”

Faelen turned his head and kissed Maxen’s palm. Then he began to 
carefully work the wrapping free. He could tell Maxen was smiling without looking at him, but Faelen had always been deliberate in opening presents. Not that Faelen wasn’t eager to know what this package held—he just liked the anticipation.

Finally, the colorful paper fell away to reveal a velvet box. Jewelry? Slowly, he lifted the lid, and gasped. Inside, on a pad of more dark velvet, lay a set of combs. The intricate silver filigree was set with little pearls and sparkling peridots. Faelen didn’t know what to say for a moment. The way he wore his hair wasn’t the fashion in Tournai, but Maxen had given him something he knew Faelen would love. A token perhaps, as were all gifts exchanged at Midwinter, but one he’d use happily.

“Maxen...” Faelen finally looked up to find the worry back in Maxen’s eyes. “They’re beautiful. I love them.”

You can find more about The Merchant's Love here. The Merchant's Love is 50% off at Smashwords, along with my other books, through January 1st. You can also find a bunch of LGBTQ books on sale or free at Smashwords here. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well. And Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!
1 Comment

Smashwords End of Year Sale

12/15/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

It's time for the Smashwords End of Year Sale! My books are all 50% off there through January 1st, so it's a great time to treat yourself to some fantasy romance reading! 

And check out this Smashwords Year-End Sale promo over on book funnel for links to a bunch more LGBTQ books that are free or on sale through the end of the year.
0 Comments

Cyber Monday Sale!

11/28/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

NineStar Press is having a great Cyber Monday sale today! Get 50% off your order with code CYBER22, and if you haven't read them yet, all of my books are eligible for the promotion. Don't miss out—you deserve to treat yourself to some new books!
0 Comments

Rainbow Snippets July 2-3

7/3/2022

3 Comments

 
Picture

​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 sharing a few snippets from The Scholar's Heart this month because it has a book anniversary on the 13th. The Scholar's Heart is an estranged friends to lovers romance. Etan is a scholar and cousin to the Crown Prince of Tournai, and Tristan is the oldest son of a prominent merchant family (the older brother of Maxen from last month's snippets from The Merchant's Love). Etan and Tristan were close friends, and Etan had fallen for Tristan, but Tristan broke his heart when he chose to marry the person his father chose for him. This is probably the angstiest thing I've ever written, but they do manage to find their way to each other eventually. This snippet is the very beginning of the book, before things come crashing down.
Picture



​“There you are!”

​Tristan’s musical voice made the simple sentence something spe
cial, or perhaps Etan’s feelings made it seem so. Etan smiled as he looked up from his book, a glow of warmth and welcome lighting him up inside.

Tristan strode into the small room Etan had claimed for his own in the palace’s labyrinthine library. He had a desk in the university library as well, but these days, out of necessity and preference both, he conducted most of his work in this cozy little room. Obscure history books filled the shelves lining the walls. The table in the center of the room held Etan’s notes on his studies and projects, all neatly organized so he could find anything he wanted quickly. But this morning he slouched on the comfortable couch instead, book propped in his lap.

He sat there, book forgotten as he watched Tristan, the morning sun streaming in through the window and glinting off Tristan’s bright gold hair. Tristan seemed to bring the sunshine into the room with him, brightening what had been an ordinary morning until that moment.

You can find out more about The Scholar's Heart here. And, if you want to give it a try, it's 50% off at Smashwords this month, along with my other books. Thanks for reading today, and I hope you're staying safe and well.
3 Comments

Big Smashwords Sale!

7/1/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

If you missed NineStar Press's Pride Month sale, you're in luck--the big Smashwords Summer/Winter sale started today, and all of my books (and lots of others) are 50% off there through July. Go grab something to new to read!
0 Comments

Rainbow Snippets June 25-26

6/25/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
 ​​​​​​
​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. Here's another moment between Faelen and Maxen to finish out the month.
Picture





​When Maxen got to the bedchamber, he kicked the door shut behind him—the servants may have witnessed his playfulness, but they would see no more—and carried Faelen to the bed. Maxen tossed him down among the still mussed blankets. Faelen laughed, his cheeks flushing a delicate pink, his eyes dancing with mirth. Maxen went still and just looked at him, marveling that someone so beautiful inside and out wanted him—was, perhaps, his. He was beginning to realize how completely he belonged to Faelen.

​
He wouldn’t think about how terrifying that was.

“Maxen?”

“I just needed to look at you for a moment.” He lowered himself to the bed over Faelen, feeling Faelen’s arms come up to hold him, his legs lift to cradle him. “You take my breath away.”

You can find more about The Merchant's Love here. And don't forget that The Merchant's Love and my other books are 40% off at NineStar Press through the end of June. Thanks for reading today and I hope you're staying safe and well.
1 Comment

Pride Month Sale!

6/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

NineStar Press is having a big sale this month. Lots of books, including all of mine, are 40% off. Go get some reading for Pride Month and beyond!
0 Comments

Smashwords End of Year Sale!

12/17/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture


It's that time of year again—the Smashwords End of Year sale started today! There are so many books on sale, including all of mine. My books are all 50% off at Smashwords through January 1st, so if you haven't read any of them, now is a great time to pick them up. Happy reading!
0 Comments

The Dragon's Devotion on Sale!

10/22/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture

The Dragon's Devotion is part of a fantastic Queer Halloween promo on BookFunnel! There are a ton of paranormal, SFF, and horror books listed, many on sale, so you can grab some new reads for Halloween and beyond. The Dragon's Devotion is just $1.99 at many retailers, which, I believe, is the cheapest it's ever been. So if you've been waiting to try this dragon shifter romance, now is a great time! Find all of the books included in the promo here.
0 Comments

Book Recs for Pride Month

6/30/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I had planned to post an LGBTQ book on social media day in June for Pride Month—and hope I could remember to do it every day!—but I didn't even manage to get started. I decided to do a blog post with some favorite books instead. This was supposed to go up a couple of weeks ago...but my blog seems to have made the post I put together disappear. I almost gave it up until next year, but I decided to try one more time to share some books you might want to add to your TBR. In absolutely no particular order (and certainly not the order I'd written them in last time):

Charm of Magpies series by KJ Charles: I had a lot of trouble deciding which KJ Charles to put on this list—since she is a favorite author and I didn't want to just list all her books—but I adore Lucien and Stephen and the world she created in these historical fantasies, so I went with these. 
Proper English by KJ Charles: I'm adding this one too because this Edwardian country house murder mystery plus f/f romance was delightful, and it starts a series of interconnected books that are all delightful too.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas: YA in which a Latinx trans boy wants to prove he's a brujo to his family but summons the wrong ghost...and falls in love with him. 
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson: Another YA, this one a contemporary f/f romance in which a Black girl is competing to be prom queen (because of the scholarship that comes with it) and falls for a competitor.
Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk: A longtime favorite of mine. Historical paranormal in which an introverted comparative philologist and an extroverted private detective fall in love and build a life in this series, surrounded by magic and mystery and monsters. Plus found family, including a wonderful lady archeologist, and a town I'd love to live in (despite the monsters).
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall: A lovely rom com with lots of depth in which two guys decide to start fake dating and it becomes very real. My other favorite by this author is Waiting for the Flood, which is shorter and has a very different tone but lovely as well.
Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian: Post World War II cozy mystery set in an English village with an m/m romance between a country doctor and a spy.
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite: And the first book in the series, The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, as well. Both fantastic f/f historicals. (The third in the series is out, but I haven't read it yet.)
Peter Darling by Austin Chant: A really lovely Peter Pan retelling in which Peter is a trans boy who escapes back to Neverland.
A Little Familiar by R Cooper: Set around Halloween, this is warm and cozy and autumnal and witchy and full of pining. This is my favorite in the series, but the other two books are lovely too. 

I think I listed three times as many books in the original post, but unfortunately, I don't have time to reconstruct it all this time around. I hope you find something new for your TBR, and if you're looking for any of my books, they're 50% off with code PRIDE2021 at NineStar Press through today and will be 50% off at Smashwords in July if you miss the first sale. Happy Pride and Happy Reading!

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Antonia is a writer and a reader. She loves books, travel, art, photography, baking, pasta, and shoes.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    A Dance Of Water And Air
    A Harmony Of Fire And Earth
    Autumn
    Baking
    Blog Tour
    Bookstores
    Christmas
    Chronicles Of Tournai Series
    Cover Art
    Dragons Of Ivria
    Elemental Magicae Duology
    Events
    Giveaway
    GRL
    Guest Post
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Inspiration
    Libraries
    My Books
    New Year
    NineStar Press
    Rainbow Awards
    Rainbow Snippets
    Reading
    RWA Conference
    Sales
    Spring
    Thanksgiving
    The Artist's Masquerade
    The Dragon's Devotion
    The Envoy's Honor
    The Merchant's Love
    The Prince's Consort
    The Scholar's Heart
    The Sorcerer's Guardian
    The Spymaster's Secret
    To Love The Dragon King
    Travel
    Turn The Page Anthology
    Winter
    Writing Updates

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly