Spotlight & Giveaway: Lost and Found by Z.A Maxfield

Blurb:
Lost: one dog and two men in need of each other. Found: love.

RV resort security chief Ringo never believed in love at first sight . . . until he saw Gavin playing his sax on the beach for the tourists. But their on-again, off-again affair—even counting all the great makeup sex—doesn’t come close to the relationship he wants. All he really wants for Christmas is a commitment from Gavin.

Instead he discovers that Gavin has had surgery without telling him, so he lays down a relationship ultimatum while Gavin recuperates. Complicating matters even more, Gavin’s beloved dog Bird runs away, and Gavin blames Ringo for the disappearance.

While Ringo throws every resource he has into finding Bird, he learns deeper truths about Gavin—how hard it is for him to trust and how little faith he has in love. Maybe if Ringo can find Bird, he can salvage Gavin’s faith. Maybe this Christmas, they can all find each other.

You can read an excerpt or purchase Lost and Found HERE. Remember, when you purchase Lost and Found in either ebook format, which you can find HERE or in the print anthology format, which you can find HERE, you’re helping to support the mission of the Ali Forney Center.

Author Bio:
About Z. A. Maxfield: ZAM started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back.  Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”Readers can visit ZAM at her website, Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.


Giveaways:
Lost and Found contest details:
To recap, you can find all the blog tour information you need at the Riptide Website, HERE. Be sure you attend all the stops and follow the Rafflecopter instructions for the chance to win a $20.00 Riptide Publishing Gift Certificate and all the songs on my Lost and Found Playlist!  (Winner to be drawn on December 8th at 5pm  EST.  Contest is valid worldwide.)

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Riptide contest details:
Enter your details in the Rafflecopter below to gain entry in the *Home for the Holidays* giveaway! This week of the tour closes at midnight, EST, on December 6th. Then, one grand prize winner will be contacted at the end of the Home for the Holidays tour on December 16th. Contest is valid worldwide.

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And the Winner Is...

CHARLEY

*Winner of week #2 of A Book A Week, Bad Idea by Damon Suede. Congrats, and thanks to to all who entered still many more upcoming chances to win.*

Review: Biochemistry by Andrew Grey

Reviewed by SinChan
Biochemistry (Chemistry #2) by Andrew Grey
Dreamspinner Press
Novella: 158pgs
3 Pants Off

Blurb:
When his college biochemistry class turns out to be much more difficult than star quarterback Freddie Samuelson imagined, his lab partner, Kurt Maxwell, agrees to help. They’re very different: a rich kid athlete and a hardworking openly gay scholarship student. But Kurt slips past Freddie’s defenses, and little by little—despite Freddie ignoring his own sexuality in the past—Freddie realizes he wants to get to know Kurt, especially when Kurt helps him through more challenges than their science class. But it isn’t long before rumors begin to fly, and the obstacles Freddie will face may block him from both the future he planned on and the future he didn’t know he wanted.

Review
This is the second book in the Chemistry series, however, it can be read as a standalone. For readers that have read Organic Chemistry, it'll be a pleasure to see Brendon and Josh again.

Kurt attends college through a scholarship sponsored by Freddie's father. Freddie, the star quarterback, needs some help from Kurt to pass his biochemistry class. When they realized they are falling for each other, they have to overcome negative opinions from their friends, the football team, and Freddie's father.

The build up of Freddie's and Kurt's romance is well written and filled with obstacles, mostly on Freddie's side. Freddie is unsure of his own sexual orientation and insecure in his identity as a football player and college student. He faces difficult decisions on how to come out to his family, his team, and the school. His father also gives him a lot of pressure (and threats) to be a football star, instead of succeeding academically. No one believes in him or encourages him to discover his potential beyond playing football until Kurt.

Kurt, on the other hand, is out and pride. The only struggles he deals with in the book are rejections from Freddie and the threat of Freddie's father revoking his scholarship. Kurt's troubles all stem from Freddie. When Freddie is still unsure of their relationship and wants to hide their relationship from the public, Kurt says no. Kurt is the stronger person and I think Freddie needs Kurt more than Kurt needs Freddie.

The only character that I was confused about is Freddie's father. He switched personalities too fast. Originally, he is against gay relationships, threatens Freddie with stopping Kurt's scholarship, and just thinks about his son as the football star. At the end, Freddie's mother "talked" with him and then he become so accepting. The resolution to Freddie's family tensions comes too easily and too fast.

Overall, the story is very predictable. The theme is very similar to the first book, Organic Chemistry. I still enjoyed the story and reading about Freddie coming out of the closet, but I liked the first book better.

3 Pants Off

Review: Brokenhearted by Cate Ashwood

Reviewed by Whuppsy
Brokenhearted (Hope Cove #1) by Cate Ashwood
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 210pgs
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Hope Cove: Book One

Oliver Parrish has been alone in the world since he was born. So when Sheriff Owen “Mack” Macklin shows up on his doorstep to deliver the news that Oliver’s sister has died, he’s beyond surprised. Still, Oliver returns with Mack to Hope Cove, Maine, hoping to get to know the sister he never knew he had. As he tries to snap these new elements into his solitary life, he’s not sure how they might fit.

His life is shaken up further as he falls in love with the irresistible town of Hope Cove, and with Mack, its equally irresistible sheriff. But when he receives devastating news about his sister's cause of death, Oliver doesn't know whether to stay and fight for love and a good life, or cut his losses and run.

Review
Oliver Parrish has been alone his entire life. He’s living alone and works as a sous-chef in Seattle. He has wants to own his own restaurant and is working to learning everything that he can to accomplish this dream of his. He wants to move ahead, however, as he’s not gone to culinary school and hasn’t the degree behind him he can’t get an executive chef position. But he’s still hopeful that something good can come of this.

As he’s walking home one night from work, he sees a guy on his doorstep. As he gets closer, a sleeping man wake up and says his name. This begins the events that will change his life. From what he thought his life would entail to what his life will be.

Sheriff Owen “Mack” Macklin comes to explain to Oliver that he had a sister named, Maggie. That recently she’s passed away and since he’s her only surviving relative, he gets everything. Maggie owned her own bakery and her apartment. What Mack also tells Oliver is that Maggie was his very best friend.

That Mack and Maggie had been best friends since childhood. He offers Oliver a one-way ticket to Hope Cove, Maine to see what Maggie’s life was like and who she was. Oliver takes the night to think it over and calls Mack and agrees to go back with him. Thus the adventure begins. Oliver had never been on a plane before, he’s lived his entire life in Seattle and this is wonderfully new to him. Once arriving in Hope Cove, Mack offers Oliver to stay with him. Oliver accepts.

Now that Oliver is in Hope Cove, he goes to Maggie’s bakery and upstairs to her apartment and gets some of her journals to read. He hopes, as well as Mack hopes that by reading Maggie’s journals, he can get a sense of who Maggie was. He meets Hadyn, who was talking with Maggie about a business partnership. Hadyn owns the video rental shop next door, who also becomes friends with Oliver.

Not only does Oliver start to fall in love with Hope Cove, he and Mack start falling in love with each other. Slowly but surely, the two men get closer and closer. This is a new thing for Mack, falling for a man. Oliver has been gay his entire life, so this wasn’t new to him. But what was new to him was falling into a relationship. The guys start to get closer and closer and then….They find out why Maggie died. To make matters worse, it might be hereditary. The news floors Oliver. Oliver runs back home to Seattle and tries to get his life back that he had before leaving for Hope Cove.

I will say that I really liked this story. There was Love, Hope, Angst and Happily Ever After. The pace of the story flowed along and I was never bored. I didn’t feel the need to slap any of the characters for being silly and not talking things out. There were of course miscommunication issues, but they actually talked about them and managed to work them out. The characters rang true to what their back-story implied they would be. This book was a great read and it didn’t take long at all. I enjoyed the falling for my boys and only wanting the very best for them and you will too.

I’ve read that this is going to be a series and I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Cate seems to love writing about romance and falling in love and having actual plotlines going, which works for me in a BIG WAY!! Read this book and fall in Love with Mack and Oliver.

4 Pants Off

A Book A Week Giveaway: Week #3 (Fraternal Devotion)

Blurb:
When you pit knowledge against emotions, there's the no-man's land in between those two opposing forces where taboos lie. Incest is one of the untouchables, a taboo that even in alternative cultures is often still looked on negatively. But how can something that feels so right be wrong? In Fraternal Devotion, the focus is on brotherly love--in every sense of the word. These are tales of love, lust, devotion, and passion as real as any other romance. Why should the fact that the two men are brothers take away from that? This collection may challenge your assumptions and beliefs, but may also melt your heart. Not to mention steam up your glasses.

Keith is a Humanist Corpsman, sworn to protect society from the mutated ranks of the Infected. When his own team betrays him, however, it's his long lost brother, Riley, who takes him in and makes him choose between War and Peace and Brotherhood. After nineteen months apart, Brandon Patrell, of Analgesia, is convinced it will take more than a home renovation to keep his playboy brother, Ethan, from running away again. But as Ethan resumes his old mind-games, Brandon is determined to tease back for once, even if it means risking everything in a game of all or nothing. A dozen years after discovering his father's suicide, Cale returns home and finds his older brother Derrick showing the same signs of melancholy. But as much as he wants to help his brother, he fears being sucked back into that world of Depression, Love, and Swimming Pools.

Jeremy has been On Clouds of Obsession since long ago glimpsing his brother, Matt, naked in the locker room. Years later, with Matt due to be married in a week, Jeremy takes a chance after Matt's bachelor's party that could jeopardize their relationship, not to mention the impending wedding. Songwriter Andrew lives life On the Edge, using drugs to quiet his uncertainties about his ongoing relationship with his twin, Ben. Disheartened by Andrew's empty promises, Ben begins to pull away, forcing Andrew to choose between letting go and finally finding the strength to stop running.

Check out my review for Fraternal Devotion

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