Message of Love, excerpt: Naked Handstand

Ah, new year's resolutions. We resolve to cease some behaviors and start others. The night had a special meaning in the previous book, Every Time I Think of You. And again, what happens a few years later on the same holiday reflects how Reid and Everett's relationship has grown, and changed.

I resolved to break a literary rule once again, as I did in Message of Love. One of the main conceits of the romance novel is the idea of monogamy; one love between two people. But what if the rules are changed because of a variety of reasons, or just one reason?

In this excerpt, set after a New Year's Eve party in Pittsburgh, boyfriends Reid and Everett push their own boundaries of honesty, faithfulness, and fidelity. Critical reviews have called it "cheating," but others who know how love works, and that sexuality between young men isn't always the magical happily ever after.

Reading Down Under: Scattered Thoughts' Aussie Special!

Longtime followers know that I got some great reviews for my last two books from independent reviewers. Their prolific blogs continue to amaze me by the sheer number of books they promote, and the reviews are often thorough and heartfelt. You can click on the "Reviews" links on this blog on the right column to read them all.

But one of the most outstanding sites is Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words. Not only did I enjoy expansive praise-filled reviews for both Every Time I Think of You and its sequel Message of Love; I was also honored with a guest author spotlight, where I rambled on about why I decided to write the sequel. Every Time I Think of You was also among those chosen as one of the Best Books of 2014!

So it was without hesitation that I decided to help promote Melanie M.'s latest endeavor, a January special all about Australian authors!

Best/Worst of 2014

I was happy to see that my latest novel, Message of Love, was listed on the Boys in Our Books blog's Best of 2014. 

The companion novel Every Time I Think of You, was also listed, since the reviewer gave both books a write-up, even though that was published in late 2011.

This keeps me going, along with my internal sense of tenacity, considering a few odd and unpleasant things that happened. 

Another author outright stole my book title, and the mini-flame war on GoodReads proved that while (according to my book stats on that site), while 95% of readers liked or totally loved my recent books, a few vicious harpies went on the warpath when I dared to reply to an inane profanity-spewing post that wasn't even a review.

Capricious and catty alternated with glowing gushes of praise. You can enjoy a dozen delicious cupcakes, but if just one has a rat turd in it, you tend to remember that one more than others. Some wasted hours spent on GoodReads proved that my attackers do this day in and out to multiple other authors, and there's no pleasing a professional crank.

Treed

One of my favorite holiday traditions included everything about the Christmas tree, from shopping for one, choosing a size and shape, getting it home, in through the porch door after trimming the sap-bleeding trunk and screwing in the base, and then carefully getting it into the same corner of our living room each year.

Nowadays, with a smaller and dispersed family, getting a tree for my apartment doesn't really make much sense. Our ornaments are no longer the massive multi-generation collection. In fact, the whole ritual of 'gathering 'round the tree' doesn't really work when you're single. I did check out a few very reasonably priced wreathes.

Deal-cember - celebrate the season and Rainbow Awards finalist Message of Love

Get fifty percent off print and Kindles!


Message of Love is a finalist in the 2014 Rainbow Awards' Gay Contemporary Romance category.

Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up.

So, we're #8! Whoo-hoo.

Decemberdeals await. 
There are separate links for each book.

Message of Love (paperback)
https://www.createspace.com/3934263
code: H8YLCCRK

Every Time I Think of You (paperback)
https://www.createspace.com/3663047
code: 5K9CLT8S
 
Here's a Kindle Countdown deal on
Message of Love  for only 99 cents, December 9-16.

Print orders of Cyclizen are 
50% off through the publisher:
 
Happy holidays, and thanks for reading.


And thanks to the blog Loving Without Limits for sharing my Deal-cember offers.