Archive for Guest Blogger

New Book available

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Barefoot Dancing is available at all 3rd party sellers. 🙂 Also, I’m doing a blog tour for it.

I’m at ARe Cafe’s blog today. If you click here, you can check my post out.

I did one for Female First in the UK. Here’s the link for that one. 🙂

And if you want to know where else I’ll be the next four days, here’s a list:

Barefoot Dancing Blog dates

 

I hope you get a chance to stop by any of those places and check out what I have to say. If you’re interested…lmao.

Have a great Monday, everyone.

Guest Blogger: K-Lee Klein

Please make welcome a dear friend and fellow author, K-Lee Klein, who is here to tell us about her new book, Unbreak My Heart. 🙂

 

Hi y’all. I’m K-lee and this is the second to last stop on my book tour for my new release, Unbreak My Heart. It was released on August 25 and it’s my first work from Amber Allure. Before I get started bending your ear, I want to thank one of the sweetest people I’ve had the pleasure to meet online and in person. Big gratitude for letting me crash your blog, T.A.

Okay, I’ll start with the blurb so I make some sort of sense in what I’m saying.

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UNBREAK MY HEART

Brett Taylor has been doing just fine living in his own little world for the past three years, thank you very much.  Losing someone special is life changing, and Brett doesn’t understand why everyone and their damn dog thinks they can get all up in his business about him needing to move on. He managed to make the transition from musician to rancher without relying on anyone else’s opinion or help, and he certainly doesn’t need some city kid coming into his life to disrupt his routine–one that involves grief, isolation, and a whole lot of Jack Daniels.

Moving from one meaningless job to the next, JT Campbell is on a quest to escape his old life and figure out who he is and where he belongs.  He’s not looking to save anyone, let alone a secretive, hotter-than-hell rancher who wears his heart on his sleeve.  JT likes working for Brett, but Brett’s made it perfectly clear that any relationship between them other than a professional one will never see the light of day.

But when JT’s lust turns to love, and he gives in to his desire to find out what makes Brett tick, will his interest push Brett away?  Or will he, through his patience and support, be the one who can finally unbreak Brett’s heart?

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Brett Taylor and I have something in common that I didn’t realize until after I’d written Unbreak My Heart—we both communicate our feelings on paper more so than with the spoken word. I’m not saying I don’t tell people how I’m feeling, but emotional dumpage is how I began writing in the first place, at least over the past few years.

Before I delve into the mess that is Brett’s mind, I’ll let you in on another one of the characters who shares more than a dabbling of my own personality—Scott Weston from Lazy Sundays. When I wrote Scott I knew he had to be quirky and not most people’s definition of cool. He became an accountant with next to no social life, and the quirks or more aptly called, eccentricities, that he inherited from me were OCD and panic attacks.

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My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is on the mild end of the scale, but Scott’s panic attacks were sometimes true to life. I wrote them with vivid memories of how helpless, scared and embarrassing they can sometimes make me feel. It’s not that I think others look at raging anxiety as freakish or embarrassing to them, but in my head it does make me feel bad about not being in control.

That was also one of Scott’s biggest difficulties in accepting that Devon liked him for who he was and not some other impossibly obscure reason. In Scott’s mind it wasn’t only the differing appearances between him and Devon that got in the way, it was his brain telling him Devon was normal and he wasn’t. The mind is a hard thing to change on your own, but I think Devon’s support and love helped Scott realize there is no such thing as normal—everyone has their own quirks and insecurities, some people just hide them better.

I tell people that for me, emotions are the most important part of my stories. Of course, there’s characterization that I hope brings my characters to life on the page, and gives them distinctive personalities. There’s plot that obviously makes the entire story possible in the first place, and physicality that shows the reader the characters care about each other on the outside just as much as on the inside. But the thoughts and feelings inside a character’s head are always the piece de resistance for me.

In my toolbox of tricks, messing around in a character’s brain is called heart-writing because when I write, that’s the part of my body that provides the words. As I’ve already mentioned, I starting writing to unload some of my pent-up emotions, and I’m not shy about saying I’ve had clinical depression for over twenty years. Writing is my way of dealing with the waves of feelings that rant and rave and weep in my head with no place else to go.

Basically, instead of crying or fretting or pacing I write, and it doesn’t matter if I’m writing something publishable, dabbling in fanfiction or just recording something for myself. Writing is therapy and the best days I have are when I can share my emotions with the character I’m writing.

This leads me to Brett Taylor. What can I say about Brett? He’s beautiful but doesn’t know it, talented but prefers to ignore it, and his insides are torn to shreds from a loss that shattered his heart and turned him away from almost everything in his life. Brett tore me apart when I wrote him. He wrung me out like an overused dishcloth, left me in tears and broken in my own way, but he was also the most touching and therapeutic character I’ve ever written.

Saying it out loud like that makes Brett sound like he’s hopeless and unfixable which is so far from the truth. Part of Brett’s issue was his lack of awareness of just how far he’d fallen from being the man he once was, at least until he wrote his feelings down. Writing was therapeutic for Brett, as well, it was an outlet to dump all the churnings of his mind and heart in a way he didn’t have to share with anyone else. Unfortunately, before his brain would give up those feelings he had to be two sheets to the wind, at least at first.

I’m not sure I could write anything at all if I were overloaded with alcohol, or at least nothing comprehensible. But the overall result for both Brett and me was basically the same. We both use writing as a means to deactivate that time bomb in our heads. I won’t say it’s a cure-all or sure-fire means to ending my depression or Brett’s grief, but as an in-the-moment fix, writing lets me breathe.

On that note I’ll take my last breath—in this post—and invite you to check out Brett Taylor and his story. Unbreak My Heart is available in all ebook formats, and will be in print some time in the mid-September. I’ll have a few copies with me at GRL if anyone is interested in having me sign one. *blushes*

Buy Link http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/UnbreakMyHeart.html

For a chance to win one of three draws just fill out my Rafflcopter form below and you’ll be entered to win one of three prizes—two ebook copies of Unbreak My Heart, and one print copy. You can have another chance if you leave me a comment here—what’s your favorite trope or subject matter in what you read? Thanks for stopping by.

And before I really go, here’s an excerpt from Unbreak My Heart:

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The first shot went down like he was gargling with glass. The second burned just as bad, but by the fifth, the whiskey was smooth as silk. Brett pushed the bottle to the corner of the desk as he scrubbed his hand over his face. He should have gone to bed, or cranked up the hot tub and spent the rest of the night looking at the stars. Instead, the yellow pad of paper sat in front of him—the page still blank.

He knew he had something to say, but the words wouldn’t come. Usually the alcohol helped. Usually the fog in his head cleared and he was able to concentrate by the third shot, but he still felt stuck, still felt like there was something hidden in the gray of his brain—something important.

He picked up the pen, letting it hover over the page, twisting it between his fingers, willing the damn thing to write on its own. He didn’t know why he was so wound up. He’d even dropped his goddamn beer bottle in the sink because he couldn’t control the shaking of his hands or the force of the need to shut himself away in his office with a different bottle altogether, the photo in the frame, and his words on the page. He studied the happy couple staring back at him in the frame, barely recognizing himself as he purposely drew his gaze to Walt.

“Gonna help me out here, Darlin’? Don’t seem to have the mind to help myself tonight so I sure could use the assistance.”

Pulling the bottle so it sat smack dab in the middle of the daunting yellow page, Brett caressed the shape, fingers running the full length, then down again. He’d never even liked the damn stuff until Walt died. The first bottle he’d finished had been Walt’s, and he’d downed it in an attempt to feel closer to him—like drinking the damn stuff would somehow make Walt stick to his insides. But all it had done was send him running into town the next day to get another bottle, and only The Good Lord himself knew how many more there’d been after that.

His anniversary blues didn’t generally last more than the day itself, but today had been different. He’d already assured himself he’d been productive so it hadn’t been a complete waste, and he’d even made that damn phone call he’d been fretting about for over a week. Supper had gone better than he’d expected, too, and talking to the kid afterward had been pleasant enough, but something still felt unsettled inside him.

Maybe he’d revealed too much about himself when he’d actually been planning on saying as little as possible. But the kid was comfortable to be around, and the conversation hadn’t been one-sided by any means. They’d both talked and listened, and it had been nice.

Nice. Familiar. Safe. All those things were good, but there was still a leftover confusion in his head. He was generally a forthcoming type of man, not hemming and hawing about things that could be said outright, but now he couldn’t remember a time when he’d blatantly told someone he barely knew that he was gay. He didn’t consider it to be a secret or anything to be hidden…at least not anymore, but once JT started stealing glances at him, he’d suddenly felt like a trapped animal. 

The last thing he wanted was for the kid to get some weird idea in his head about seducing his boss, and Brett definitely didn’t want to lead him on. Not that JT looked the type to be interested in forty-year-old ranchers with bad dispositions. The idea would have been funny if it weren’t so damn nice to think about holding someone close again. Brett knew that person was not JT though, and he’d have to nip any ideas to the contrary in the bud before they flowered up into something neither of them could handle. 

By the time JT had run his eyes over him for the fourth time, Brett hadn’t been able to get the damn bottle in his hand fast enough. It just wasn’t right—not JT’s interest, not the alcohol, not the stir of warmth in his groin, and not the pang of guilt in his heart. It wasn’t something he’d given into with such determination in a while. Yet there he was with five shots under his belt, his mind still reeling and not a goddamn word written on the page.

He forewent the tumbler for his sixth and seventh swallows, the amber liquid finally warming his belly and washing away the fog in his brain. Unfortunately, it didn’t cloud the shame in his heart so once he’d screwed on the cap and shoved the bottle away again, he put the frame back in the drawer.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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BIO

 

K-lee Klein has lived in one part of Western Canada or another for her entire life. She’s a doting mother of three now-grown kids, and has had characters and plots running around her head for as long as she can remember.

She lives with a patient husband who totally does not get her thing for gay men, two spoiled but wonderful sons (who don’t get it either), and two also spoiled but beautiful cats. Her days are filled with texts and phone calls with her daughter who has already left the nest, and an abundance of fabulous gay men, large and small, bouncing off the walls of her skull, competing for their turns to tell their stories.

You can find all of K-lee’s books on her website:

http://www.kleeklein.com

And K-lee herself at

http://chaosinthemoonlight.blogspot.ca

https://twitter.com/Klee_Klein

https://www.facebook.com/kleemoon

 

Guest Bloggers: Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon

Here are Bonnie and Summer. Please give them a great welcome.

We—that’s Summer Devon and Bonnie Dee—wish to give our heartfelt thanks to T.A. for opening his blog to us today. We have enjoyed collaborating on several m/m historicals, two of which are releasing at Loose Id this year. Summer is easy to write with. She completes me. We bounce ideas off each other and rarely argue. If either of us think the other one’s latest idea sucks ass, we aren’t afraid to say so. And it certainly is easier to plot your way through a book with two brains working on it instead of just one. First I’d like to give a blurb for each of our releases and then I’ll throw some questions at Summer.

Seducing Stephen: Stephen is visiting the home of a friend during holiday from university when his bed is invaded by a late arriving, drunken houseguest stumbling into the wrong bedroom. From this dubious beginning, a romance slowly develops.

At first Lord Peter Northrup is only interested in the young man as a lusty diversion. He tutors him in the ways of most homosexual liaisons of the time—brief, light, and always temporary. But after he leaves, breaking young Stephen’s heart, he can’t forget him.

Both men grow during their time apart and when they meet again, their affair flames hotter than ever. Is there any possibility for a real relationship between a peer of the realm and a middle-class young man with heavy responsibilities on his shoulders? Will Peter accept the possibility of true love in his shallow life, and will Stephen risk everything and trust a man who’s already hurt him once?

Wounded Heart: Lad from the streets meets lord of the manor. Both men’s lives will be changed forever.

When Sir Alan Watleigh goes searching for sex, he never imagines the street rat he brings home for one last bit of pleasure in his darkest hour will be the man who hauls him back from the edge of the grave. Despite his harsh life in the slums of London, Jem is a bright, cheerful young man. He’s also witty, irreverent, glib, and makes Alan laugh–a rare occasion since war time trauma and the death of his family have made the man a ghost of his former self.

A single night of meaningless sex turns into an offer of permanent employment. Jem acts as Alan’s valet, but offers him so much more than polished boots and starched cravats. Just as the men are adjusting to their new living arrangement, news about a former soldier under his command sends Sir Watleigh and Jem on the road to save a child in danger.

The journey brings them closer together as they travel from lust toward love. They rescue the girl from the clutches of an insane surgeon, who is as interested in experimenting on the vulnerable human spirit as he is on physical bodies. Alan realizes his love for Jem when he nearly loses him, but is Alan’s love strong enough to risk society discovering the truth about him? And is he strong enough to finally accept his sexual identity?

Bonnie: Which of the two stories, or characters in either of the stories resonated most with you?

Summer: Whichever story I’m writing is the one that resonates for me. I tend to fall in love with characters, write them and then forget all about them with the next batch of characters. It’s fun to be fickle.

Bonnie: I’ll fully admit that while I like Seducing Stephen and find earnest, tender-hearted Stephen and rakish, heart-guarded Peter interesting characters, I love, love, LOVE Jem from Wounded Heart. I’ve had a thing for the Artful Dodger archetype since I was young and Jem is just such a witty and fun character.

Summer, you’ve not written m/m romance before now. How was the experience for you?

Summer: Since I knew Bonnie could write hot m/m scenes, I wasn’t too scared. I figured I’d been able to write books featuring dragons and aliens as figures in romance, regular people would be easy. I love writing about relationships. That’s the part I enjoy most.

Bonnie: Exactly. Relationships are what it’s all about for me, too. I think the sex part flows naturally out of that.

When I approached you to write with me, I have to admit part of my agenda included knowing you were an experienced historical writer who enjoys delving into period detail. Can you tell a little about the two time periods in English history that Stephen and Wounded deal with?

Summer: I know a bit about the times of the Prince Regent and Victoria and their governments, I’ve read bios of them–and I’ve read about the Peninsular War. But what I love are the details. The habits and tools of the day-to-day life intrigues me most about any period in the past. I spend hours reading menus and descriptions of the furniture and who bows to whom during introductions.

Bonnie: I’ll attest to that. She was always sending me links to articles with details of oddities of daily life back then. I’ll look up the big picture stuff but I don’t spend the time on detail work that Summer does. She wallows in it.

What are the major themes contained in each of these stories?

Summer: Why do I feel like I’m back in high school with this question?

I tend to write about characters inhabiting a world in which they don’t quite fit. I think Bonnie does, too, and she does it beautifully. Finding love means you find that place where you belong, love and a real home. During the Regency and Victorian periods in history, homosexuality was taboo, and so for our characters, finding love has that extra layer of difficulty. Hey, forbidden love is always more interesting and intense.

Bonnie: Yeppers. Outsiders trying to fit in. My favorite theme across the board in all genres of love story. In Seducing Stephen there’s an element of duty versus pleasure. Peter has lived a butterfly life and is feeling jaded and empty. Stephen is squarely middle class and has a strong work ethic. He’s responsible and I think all those qualities draw Peter like a moth to a flame.

In Wounded Heart we have one hero who’s so war-damaged and lonely that he’s about reached the end of his will to live. Along comes lively, “glass half full” Jem and shakes him up like a snow globe. Lovely dichotomy!

Thanks again to T.A. for offering us space on his blog. We greatly appreciate this opportunity to promote our work.

Summer and Bonnie

Almost the weekend…

Shoot..where did the morning go? I got to work and haven’t stopped since…except for right now, when I’m posting this…lol.

Let’s see…I have a book coming out this Sunday. Soothe the Burn, a sci-fi/futuristic about a man made of metal and a man made of fire. 🙂 I’ll post the blurb and an except on Sunday for everyone.

The dynamic team that makes up Jamie Craig is running a contest on their Live Journal for you to win a copy of Soothe the Burn. Drop in and leave a comment. They’ll draw a name on Sunday night and you’ll get a free a copy. This is something that they do to promote their publishers and it just so happens they picked my book to give away this week. 🙂

Also, I did an interview with Martha and she reviewed ND: Finding Love as well. Stop by her blog and check it out. Martha loved Finding Love

I just got word about another awesome review I received. This one from Holly at Whipped Cream Reviews. It’s for Tabloid Star and she gave me 5 cherries. Woo-hoo! I’m totally thrilled that she loved it.

oh, one more thing…and you’re thinking “Shut up all ready. I just want to stare at the eye candy.” lol. I have two guest bloggers coming up on Monday. Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon are going to be discussing their newest release, Seducing Stephen. A m/m regency available at Loose-Id with a marvelous cover by Anne Cain. 🙂

Hmmm…that’s all I can think about telling you today. I plan on writing as much as possible tomorrow, so I can spend most of the day on Sunday watching Super Bowl stuff. 🙂

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Guest Blogger-Vivian Arend





Vivian Arend is hosting a Cowboy Countdown Contest and she’s popped in today to ask us to join her in getting ready for her latest release, Rocky Mountain Heat coming August 31st to Liquid Silver Books. And she’s got a question for us:


Do you own a cowboy hat and boots?

T.A.: I’ll answer first. I have a cowboy hat. A very nice black one with a black and silver hat band. 🙂 No boots though. Hmm…wonder if I should get some chaps. lol






Welcome to the Six Pack Ranch, where one sweet young thing plus the Coleman boys equals trouble with a capital T.


Six Pack Ranch, Book 1


Blake Coleman is old enough to know that acting on impulse causes nothing but a heap of trouble. But when trouble’s a blonde wearing a cowboy hat with slim legs that go on forever, what’s a man to do? Wanting the sweet girl next door is just wrong. Hell, he was the one that taught her to ride a horse and now all he can think about is riding her. The responsible thing to do is keep his hands off.


Jaxi has other plans for his hands, and his heart. She may have considered Blake a big brother once but that was a long time ago. She’s all grown up now and ready to convince him that she’s just what he’s been waiting for.


Add the complication of two sexy younger brothers who have suddenly noticed Jaxi and things heat up fast. Blake’s gonna have to decide if a little trouble is worth fighting for.



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Answer the question in the comments to be entered to win the prize in the Cowboy Countdown. You can also visit Where Dreams Become Reality for more chances to win.












Another Friday….


Another Friday is here and the sun is actually shining…lol. We’ll see how long that lasts. 🙂

Got both sets of edits done for Tabloid Star and Dreaming of Dragons. Neither were too bad.

If you’re looking for something to waste time with, stop by DIK again today because I’m chatting about my heroes and heroes in general. There just might be a prize to be given away to one lucky commenter. 🙂

I hope you have a great Friday.

While you wait….

For all of you rapidly hitting the Refresh button to learn the newest update in the on-going saga of Travis and Eagle, there is something else you can check out.

Today is the first of three days where I hang out at DIK (Desert Island Keepers). Wave invited me. Today is a getting to know me day. Tomorrow and Saturday, I’ll be talking about heroes and music.

Don’t worry, Bitter Creek’s Redemption is on it’s way. I just have to add a little bit more to it. 🙂 So check out DIK and I’ll be back in a little while with the next installment of BCR.

Another new cover and more edits…


For all of you who are impatiently waiting for Dreaming of Dragons, I reveal my new cover. Makes it all so much more real, doesn’t it? 🙂 Another Anne Cain original. I think it’s a perfect match to Here Be Dragons. I just received my first set of edits for DoD as well. So I’ll be working on that within the next few days.

His Heart’s Home is coming along and so are a few others that I’ve been working on once in a while when I need a small break from HHH.

Hey you should stop by Wave’s blog. She’s having a big blog birthday party with some cool posts and awesome prizes. Also, I’ll remind you all tomorrow, but starting tomorrow, I’ll be hanging out at DIK (Desert Island Keepers) blogging about heroes and music. (maybe…lol.)

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday. 🙂

New Cover and Guest Blogging


I got the cover for Allergies yesterday. 🙂 This will be out April 5th at Amber Allure and then roughly two weeks later, it’ll be out in print. Woo-hoo! I got my first edits last night, so I’ll be doing those this weekend.

I’ve been working away on Nick of Time and His Heart’s Home, doing some writing on each story. Nick will be done first, more than likely, simply because I’m farther along on it at the moment.

I’m guest blogging over at the Erotic Muses again. I’m talking about Where the Devil Dances, my story in the Hearts Afire: January duet with Bonnie Dee. Stop by and say hi if you get a chance. 🙂

Hope you all are warm and safe today. Have a great weekend.

New Release


First off, for all of you who are stopping by to read the next installment of Nick of Time, I’ll be posting it tomorrow. I’m postponing it for one day to celebrate the release of my tenth book, Bound by Love, which is available at Samhain right now. 🙂

Blurb:

Two cowboys fall in love. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.


Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin’s shadow. It’s time he gets a life of his own—and maybe the man he’s always dreamed of, too.


Ren Alston’s always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man’s return as a sign of good things to come.


But first, they have to deal with Tyler’s twin, past indiscretions and Ren’s brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?


Warning: Explicit manlove. Hot naked cowboys, caramel sauce, spanking, whipping and a new twist on the old fashioned roll in the hay.

Check it out. It’s got a little of everything in it…plus a little BDSM. Not a lot, but Ren just needs to be in control and Tyler likes giving up control. 🙂

Also, I have another review up. This one by Jambrea who is my #1 Stalk…er…Fan…lol. Stop by here and hear what she has to say.

And Jambrea’s muse, Heather, interviewed my muse, Sam, and Ren (one of the main characters in Bound by Love), so if you want to see what my muse is like, stop by and read it here.

One last thing, I’m guest blogging over at Sloane Taylor’s blog today. She’s have a huge birthday party in the month of December with lots of guest authors and she’s giving away a free ebook every day to one lucky person who comments. I’m not sure when my post will go live, but I’ll post the link to her blog and you can check it out here.

Please check all those wonderful blogs out and let me know what you think. If you read Bound by Love, don’t hesitate to tell me what you think of it as well. I can take criticism…for the most part…lol

Have a great day and I promise the next installment will be up tomorrow. 🙂