Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: Medley by Layla Reyne

With Medley, Layla Reyne combines love, self-discovery, swimming, and the excitement of the Olympics in to one stellar event. I loved Jacob and Bas’s story. --Anna Zabo, author of Syncopation

Will the race for gold cost them their hearts?

Medley (Changing Lanes #2) 
by Layla Reyne

Self-published

Release Date: April 30 (Print & Ebook)
MM Romance, Bisexual Romance, Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, New Adult Romance

Sebastian Stewart was never Mr. Dependable; he was more the good-time guy who only wanted to swim, party, and ink tattoos. Until he cost his team the Olympic gold four years ago. Bas is determined to do right this time around—by his medley relay team and his rookie mentee.

Jacob Burrows is in over his head. The Olympic experience—from the hazing, to the endless practices, to the unrelenting media—makes the shy nineteen-year-old’s head spin. He’s trying to be everything to everyone while trying not to fall for his gorgeous tattooed teammate who just gets him—gets his need to fix things, his dorky pirate quips, and his bisexuality.

When Jacob falters under the stress, threatening his individual races and the medley relay gold, he needs Bas’s help to escape from drowning. Bas, however, fearing a repeat of his mistakes four years ago, pushes Jacob away, sure he’ll only let Jacob down. But the only path to salvaging gold is for Jacob to finally ask for what he needs—the heart of the man he loves—and for Bas to become the dependable one.

“How can you be your best when you’re not sure if your best will measure up? That’s the dilemma facing Bas and Jacob, as they deal with the immense pressure of swimming for Olympic gold while also trying to sort out their tangled hearts.” --Layla Reyne

Get your copy;

Amazon

B&N

iTunes

Kobo

Excerpt

Lawyer, priest, shrink.

Maybe bartender.

Ask someone to name their confessor and those were the usual suspects.

Bas would argue tattoo artist for the last spot in the top five. Humming needle in hand, he’d heard more than a few confessions over the years.

From the second a client stepped into his shop, they told a story. The design they picked. How much liquid courage it took. The tale of joy or woe that spilled from their lips after the first shock of the needle. Their reaction when it was done—relief, pain, regret, pleasure.

He’d heard almost every story.

In love, in lust, in rebellion, in hate, in freedom, in chains.

But he still couldn’t figure out the story that’d nagged him most the past ten days. He swiveled on the stool in the rented studio, droplets of dark ink splattering his worn jeans. “You gonna give me something to go on, Pup?”

Straddling the fancy tattoo-massage chair, Jacob laid a cheek in the cradle and glanced to his side. Mint green eyes, tequila-hazy, peered out from under long burnished lashes. “This was your idea, not mine.”

Maybe there was the start of a story. Why did his nineteen-year-old teammate have a fake ID, and why was he so friendly with Mr. Cuervo? Was it the same story as countless other college undergraduates?

Bas didn’t think so.

Jacob’s eyes slipped shut again, lips turning up in a faint smile. “You said you needed to get out of there and work.” He shrugged his bare left shoulder, the one closest to Bas. The breaststroker’s upper back was wide, like most swimmers’, his delts and lats hard and lean beneath suntanned skin. Not yet fully developed, given his age, but stronger than most. “So do what you need,” Jacob said. “Work it out.”

There.

There was the start of the story.

About Layla Reyne:

Author Layla Reyne was raised in North Carolina and now calls San Francisco home. She enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline-fueled suspense and heart pounding romance. When she’s not writing stories to excite her readers, she downloads too many books, watches too much television, and cooks too much food with her scientist husband, much to the delight of their smushed-face, leftover-loving dogs. Layla is a member of Romance Writers of America and its Kiss of Death and Rainbow Romance Writers chapters. She was a 2016 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist in Romantic Suspense.

Connect with Layla Reyne: Twitter | Instagram | FB Page | FB Group | Newsletter | Goodreads | Pinterest

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Wrap Up

Here's my original TBR post for the readathon, but now it's time to wrap it all up (and to witness just how much I deviated from the original TBR).

First of all, I'm very pleased with myself; I managed to read 688 pages which is enough for me, as I started pretty slow. On Saturday, I read Peter Pan, The Traitor and a few chapters of Lock Nut. On Sunday morning I finished Lock Nut and read twenty pages of Jason and Medea. And I had a blast doing so!

So here's the readathon in pictures:

Closing survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

First one was daunting, because I was feeling sleepy and cranky in the morning before the readathon started. So I spend the first hour watching The Great British Bake Off instead of reading.

2. Tell us ALLL the books you read!

I started with Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, which was a bit slow paced read, and then dived into The Traitor by Allen Zadoff, which I flew through. After that I read remaining half of Lock Nut by JL Merrow, which I had started before the readathon. Last twenty minutes of the readathon I spend reading twenty pages of Jason and Medea by Apollonius of Rhodes.

3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners?

Based on this and last year, I flew through Allen Zadoff's, Rick Riordan's and V.E. Schwab's books. Big and fast paced books with adventure and engaging plot, that's what I recommend as it's easy to immerse yourself to the story and fly through it.

4. What's really rad thing we could do during the next Read-a-thon that would make you smile?

Well, this time I followed the twitter account quite closely, and the photos of pets made me smile every time, so I'd say continue to do that!

5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep?

I'll definitely participate as long as it doesn't clash too badly with university. Sadly, October usually isn't ideal with all the assignment deadlines, but we'll see what it is like closer to the date. I'm interested in volunteering to help, if I'm not too swamped with uni.

Stacking the Shelves (74)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
Purchased

Free

For Review

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon TBR

This is the second time that I can participate on Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon; last time was a year ago. I'm usually unable to do this on October, when university is so hectic with assignments. Luckily I was able to clear my Saturday and Sunday morning this time participate, because I really like this readathon.

Dewey's site has already some warm up posts up, and there's plenty of information about the readathon. To sum it up, the readathon is pretty chilled and there isn't any challenges that must be completed and not really rules - but plenty of good tips!

The important part is that the readathon will run from Saturday 28th April to Sunday 29th April. The start and end time of the readathon depend on which time zone you live, and you can check yours from the website.

In UK time zone the start is 1pm on Saturday and then it ends 1pm on Sunday.

Besides this TBR post, I'll do a wrap up on Sunday when the readathon is over.

I'm not the fastest reader and my usual amount for 24 hour readathons is somewhere between five hundred and six hundred pages read. That's why I'll keep my TBR short, however, as I'm a mood reader, I might change something on a whim during the readathon. Right now my priority will be starting and finishing The Traitor by Allen Zadoff, and then continuing with the Scots version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stane and The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab. Jason and Medea is around fifty pages, so it'll be a nice break from longer novels. Although, nothing in the TBR is too long and mostly books I should be able to fly through.

I'm not the best one to post updates during readathons but I'll try to be active on Twitter and post on my reading updates. So if you want to follow those, you're more than welcome to check out my twitter page - and hopefully you'll say hello and join the readathon! :)

Review: The Three Theban Plays by Sophocles

The Three Theban Plays: Antigone / Oedipus the King / Oedipus at Colonus
by Sophocles
Published by Penguin Classics
Classic, play, drama, mythology

The heroic Greek dramas that have moved theatergoers and readers since the fifth century B.C. 

Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, the three plays that tell the story of the fated Theban royal family - Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus - are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles's authoritative and acclaimed translation conveys all of Sophocles's lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters.

I love ancient Greece; the history, the mythology, and the literature which combines the myths, legends and history. So I'm slowly reading the Greek classics, and decided to start with the plays that are perhaps the best known.

These three plays by Sophocles has one overlying theme that applies to Greek tragedy: fate is unavoidable. If a prophecy or gods announce your destiny, you cannot outrun or outsmart it. What has been fated will happen, no matter the road you take in order to avoid it. Oedipus's parents tried to avoid their fate by abandoning their son, who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, and Oedipus later tried to avoid the same fate only to fulfill it by his actions. Oedipus the King is all about that, while Oedipus at Colonus shows the consequences and Oedipus's life as blind old man. Antigone is the ending, of what happens to Oedipus's children after his demise.

The plays were good. The flow was just right and the word play phenomenal. It's not a surprise that there are some of the best Greek tragedies! This Penguin Classics edition also had very helpful introduction to each play, which helped to open up the concept of the play and set in the context. I enjoyed reading the introductions as much as I enjoyed the actual plays. Of the three plays, my favourite has to be Antigone. It was intriguing to see the aftermath of the unavoidable fate, how tragic it was, and it gave an interesting insight to Greek burial culture.

Starting with these plays was definitely the right decision for me, because this experience just encourages me to read more ancient Greek plays!

4 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Book Blitz + Giveaway: Wings of Flesh and Bones by Cathrina Constantine

Review: Coffin Road by Peter May

Coffin Road
by Peter May
Published by Riverrun
Crime, mystery, thriller, contemporary

In his latest mystery set in Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, award-winning author Peter May spins a tale about three disparate cases that may or may not be linked... 

On the remote Isle of Harris in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a man washes up on a deserted beach, hypothermic and completely disoriented. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his condition is a map of the island showing a desolate, ancient path called the Coffin Road. With a sense of dread and no clear idea what lies at the other end, he knows he must follow the trail if he has any hope of discovering his identity. 

Meanwhile, homicide detective George Gunn makes the rough ocean crossing to a remote, sea-battered lighthouse on a rock in the northern Atlantic, twenty miles west of the Outer Hebrides, to investigate a brutal murder. Despite its isolation, the tiny island has seen its share of tragedy: more than a century earlier, three lighthouse keepers disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. And now there is a new tragedy, and Gunn must figure out what happened.

At the same time, a teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her father's death. Two years after the discovery of the pioneering scientist's suicide note, Karen Fleming still cannot accept that her father would willingly abandon her. And the more she discovers about the nature of his research, the more she suspects that suicide had nothing to do with it.

Coffin Road is a second Peter May crime novel, which I have read, and I've grown to like his writing style and atmospheric setting. What definitely draws me in is the location; this time it's Isle of Harris in Scotland. The life on the western isle has it's own idyll but also dangers, because the storms are merciless and the waters treacherous. For me, it only adds to the mystery and thriller aspects of the story. Some parts of the story is also set in Edinburgh, which is one of my favourite cities and I loved to see the characters roam around the city.

Coffin Road was a captivating mystery. Switching point of views and even timelines at times kept the mystery going, and every time I thought I had it figured out, something new and surprising came up and mixed it all again. It's almost impossible to see who is the bad guy here - or if everyone is a bad guy and no one particular is truly good and righteous. May writes beautifully flawed characters in that way, and it just feels so real. And a nod to the cameo from the Lewis Isles trilogy: Detective Gunn is a familiar face from them and it was nice to see him as a lead detective in this case. Overall, I just liked Neil, the man who wakes up on a beach without memories of who he is. It was fascinating on following his journey and his struggle to figure out who he is and what has he done.

If you're yearning for some Scottish crime fiction, then I recommend to check Coffin Road out. I'm not an expert on crime fiction, but the story was thrilling, complicated and captivating, and as such, I do recommend it.

4 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: Squared Away by Annabeth Albert

When a SEAL medic inherits three young children, he must battle to keep the family together and keep his long-held feelings for the man challenging him for custody at bay.

Squared Away (Out of Uniform #5)

by Annabeth Albert

Published by Carina Press

Release Date (Print & Ebook): April 16. Print, ebook, and audio all available.

Length (Print & Ebook): 80,000 words

Subgenre: m/m military romance

Includes: military romance, insta-family, hurt/comfort, angst, interracial, heroes-with-kids, gay romance, demisexual/gray ace hero, first time, loss, reunion, forced proximity

In the wake of tragedy, SEAL Mark Whitley rushed stateside to act as guardian to his sister’s three young children. But a conflicting will could give custody to someone else—someone Mark remembers as a too young, too hot, wild party boy. Even after six years, Mark can’t shake the memory of his close encounter with Isaiah James, or face up to what it says about his own sexuality.

Isaiah’s totally over the crush that made him proposition Mark all those years ago. In fact, he’s done with crushing on the wrong men altogether. For now, he’s throwing himself into proving he’s the best person to care for his cousin’s kids. But there’s no denying there’s something sexy about a big, tough military man with a baby in his arms.

As the legal details get sorted out, their long-buried attraction resurfaces, leading to intimate evenings after the kids are tucked in. A forever future is within reach for all of them, if only Mark can find the courage he needs to trust Isaiah with his secrets—and his heart.

Amazon

Paperback

Audible

iBooks

Kobo

B&N

CarinaPress

What Annabeth Albert has to say about this book in her Out of Uniform series:

“I wanted to write a book about the nature of family and how loss and tragedy can shape family, mold it into something stronger, force growth and change. I’m enormously proud of SQUARED AWAY as a result because how I fell in love with this little family.”

“When Wizard first appeared in ON POINT as a secondary character, I was intrigued by him, but it wasn’t until I let myself get into his head that I really saw how complicated he was. I feel honored and privileged to have been able to tell his story.”

“No book gets written in a vacuum and this one is no different. I owe a huge debt on this book to my sensitivity readers who really encouraged me to dig deep.”

Excerpt

To his surprise, Mark didn’t laugh. Instead, he looked thoughtful. “What if I asked you to?” he said softly.

“To put out?” Isaiah’s throat had never seemed drier.

“We’re sitting here. Talking. Like adults. Just a couple of guys. And I can’t quit thinking about your lips, and I don’t know why.” Mark’s voice had a sleepy, dreamlike quality to it, and Isaiah was fully prepared to wake up any second because he’d been dreaming about Mark saying shit like this for years.

“I do.” Moving slowly as to not bang heads or—more likely—spook Mark, Isaiah moved so that their faces were level, inches apart. “You want to kiss me.”

About Annabeth Albert:

Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers. Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a multi-published Pacific Northwest romance writer.  The #OutOfUniform series joins her critically acclaimed and fan-favorite LGBTQ  romance #Gaymers, #PortlandHeat and #PerfectHarmony series. To find out what she’s working on next and other fun extras, check out her website: www.annabethalbert.com or connect with Annabeth on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify! Also, be sure to sign up for her newsletter for free ficlets, bonus reads, and contests. The fan group, Annabeth’s Angels, on Facebook is also a great place for bonus content and exclusive contests.

Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her favorites both to read and to write. Annabeth loves finding happy endings for a variety of pairings and is a passionate gay rights supporter.  In between searching out dark heroes to redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two active children.

Connect with Annabeth:

Twitter | Facebook  | Facebook Group | Newsletter | Instagram | Website

Giveaway: win 1 of 2 ecopies of any back catalog book by Annabeth Albert

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ARC Review: Blow Down by JL Merrow

Blow Down (The Plumber's Mate Mysteries, #4)
by JL Merrow
Published by Riptide Publishing
eARC
LGBT, romance, contemporary, mystery

Death is what happens while you're making other plans...

The Last thing newly engaged plumber Tom Paretski needs is to stumble over another dead body. He's got enough on his mind already as the reality of his impending marriage sinks in. Not only is his family situation complicated, but his heroism at a pub fire has made him a local celebrity, and now everyone knows about his psychic talents - and wants a piece of them.

Hired to recover a missing necklace, Tom and his fiance, private investigator Phil Morrison, find themselves trying to unmask a killer. And there's no shortage of suspects, including the local bishop.

As Tom and Phil try to uncover the truth, they're pulled in all directions by the conflicting pressures of their families and their own desires. But the murderer they're up against is a ruthless schemer who won't balk at killing again. If Tom and Phil don't watch out, their love - and all their plans for the future - could be blown down like a house of straw.

The Plumber's Mate Mysteries continues to be a series that I love, and each installment surprises me positively, Blow Down included. It was engaging all the way around, the mystery was ever so captivating - in fact, there were so many viable suspects of who the murderer was that it was hard to guess who it was, which makes it a great mystery. And of course, Tom and Phil's relationship developed even more and there were so many moments that just made my heart flutter! It was impossible to put the book down and it made me loose a lot of sleep, because I kept turning the pages instead of sleeping.

I love how Tom and Phil compliment each other, both in their relationship and in the story. Tom's humour, witty and friendly approach is balanced with Phil's more reserved and cynical approach in life. It's a great mix that works so well for them, but also for the story as it makes everything so complete. Phil's also more confident compared to Tom, who has anxieties about setting a wedding date, deciding about surnames and choosing living arraignments. That's also the aspect that makes the story feel so real, because life is not a fairy tale where some anxieties don't go away just because a couple is happily engaged. And of course the complicated family relationships, especially on Tom's side of family, makes it harder for him to actually make plans for the wedding.

Blow Down was everything I was expecting it to be; a brilliant installment to a series that I love. It's a page turner mystery with a huge dash of romance and relationship developed with humour and witty characters. It's simply a stunning story, which left me yearning for more. I can't wait for the last book of the series!

5 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Thank you, Riptide Publishing, for giving me a chance to read and review Blow Down!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Book Blitz + Giveaway: A Skin of a Dragon by Frances Jones