Tag Archives: M/m romance

Review: Acrobat by Mary Calmes

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AcrobatNote from Ellis: This week Mary brings her dark, gritty, sexiness to Boxer Falls, the free serial drama soap over at the M/M Romance group on Goodreads. Old wounds are opened, vengeance is inflicted, and a little smexing happens, too. Check it out, here.

Acrobat by Mary Calmes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a truly gorgeous love story, and I found everything about it to be a notch better than what Mary Calmes usually brings to the table, which is really saying something. The banter is easy and witty, the pacing kept me turning pages, and the slow-burn sensuality between the two heroes finally erupts into amazing, explosive sexual chemistry.

So you have Nate, a divorced, mid-40′s professor who is handsome and liked by many but has built sort of bubble around himself and his family. He hasn’t dated in awhile, but he does have this great neighbor kid who reminds him a little of his own son when his son was younger. The neighbor kid’s mom is dead and his guardian uncle works a lot so Nate helps to take care of him, even to the determent of the rare chance he gets at going on a date. All-around good guy, that Nate.

Enter Dreo, the neighbor kid’s guardian uncle who happens to work for the mob. He’s a big, sexy Italian man who uses lots of sexy Italian dialogue and has been quietly digging on Nate all this time that the hot professor has been helping his nephew with his homework after school. As Dreo works on getting himself out of “the family” and into a respectable profession, circumstances keep throwing the two men together and the the danger and tension climbs higher.

There’s an age differential here between the guys, but it really worked for me. Dreo is all alpha, and what he lacks in chronological years he more than makes up for with life experience. Nate, with his wisdom and education, matches Dreo equally and stands up to him when the situation calls for it in a way that a less educated man Dreo’s own age might not.

And oh God, did I mention how hot the sex was?

Loved it.

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Love Bites: New M/M Free Read

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So awhile back my critique partner suggested I try to enter a short story contest–you wouldn’t know it, but my thing is writing novels. Still, with my busy schedule novellas and short stories have turned out to be the bulk of my work thus far. With my busy schedule, it’s just easier. And I seem to be okay at them. So I entered this paranormal-themed contest, knowing it was a long-shot to enter with a gay romance story, but figuring I’d at least give it a shot. The story didn’t final,  and after sitting around in the proverbial drawer for awhile, I decided to post it as a free read. It’s very short vampire/shifter story (there was a word-count limit), and you  can check it out on Goodreads.  I should warn that there’s not really any smexing in this one, there just wasn’t enough room with the allotted word count–but since I tend to often write high heat level, I figured maybe it couldn’t hurt to write a story without any, for a change. ;) I hope you enjoy.

Soap Up and Get Down!

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This week’s episode of Boxer Falls, our free soap opera-style serial drama is up! The last episode of each month one of the head writers takes a turn at the wheel, either Damon Suede, Poppy Dennison, or myself. This week was my turn, and I decided to bring everyone’s favorite “it” couple back together. Here’s an excerpt:

…Quinn found his fingertips digging into the arm of his chair at the wistful tone in Oz’s voice when he talked about Yoshi, not to mention the reminder that the guy could have been killed not too long ago. Fuck it all to hell. He sank lower in his hair and rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Look, Oz, I—“ I’m sorry I was a dick that morning you wanted to hang out in bed. I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse in that wreck. I’m being a tool right now because the thing is I keep thinking an awful lot that maybe I was wrong when I said no second dates. Only, it’d be nice if I actually thought you’d be willing to be seen with me in public and stuff. Looking around this huge-assed office and your dad’s massive fucking mansion, I don’t see how I’ve got the first thing to offer that would possibly make you wanna do that. Sure as hell I ain’t gonna magically grow a set of bangin’ D-cups. “I think it’s real manly sounding when you talk about sports equipment like that.”

Oz laughed. A real, deep, rumbly laugh that Quinn liked the sound of more than he should have. He stood and it was like the office had gotten smaller and darker. His clothes rubbed and constricted uncomfortably. He wanted his T-shirt and his kilt and his boots back.

He jerked a thumb toward the door. “I’d better get back out there. Thanks for patching me up, Oz.” He held out a hand, an effort to be well-mannered and civil.

When Oz slid his palm against Quinn’s and blue eyes met green, the spark between them was back again. Undeniable.

“You don’t have to go yet do you?” Oz’s voice was almost a whisper. A dangerously low, guttural, sexy as all fucking hell whisper…

Read the rest and catch up on the other episodes at the M/M Romance Group, on Goodreads.

Loving Kindness…

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Thanks for joining me on the Hop Against Homophobia! Leave a comment at the end of this post to be entered to win a copy of my contemporary short story “Feeling Neighborly” as well as a never before released vampire/werewolf short story called “Under the Full Moon.” Contest open to adult readers 18+ only.

I wrote and re-wrote this post several times. I wrote sad posts and angry posts, posts about religion and politics and personal opinions. I erased it all, because I truly believe that at the bottom line is that anger and fear are destructive and I didn’t want to write a destructive post.

I am many things. Mostly these days I’m an author and a mom. I don’t sleep very much, and I frequent the local Starbucks like they’re gonna put my name on a table. I get stressed. Through all of that my life revolves around love. Falling in love is what I write about. As an at-home parent, teaching, guiding, and loving my kids is what I DO. My job as a parent is to make it so that they can go out into the world someday and be good, kind, functional citizens who don’t need me any more.  My fondest wish is for them to grow up healthy and happy–and that they someday fall in love.

Period. If my boys are lucky enough to find someone who loves and respects them half as much as I, their extremely biased mother, thinks they deserve? I’ll be thrilled, regardless of who that person is, so long as they’re good to my kid.

When they look at me over their chocolate chip waffles in the morning and thank me for taking care of them, I can’t imagine wanting anything else.

I used to do a daily yoga and meditation practice. It’s a little more sporadic these days due to business, but I find when I make it back to the mat that the foundations are still with me. One of the things I learned, was a loving-kindness meditation: The gist is, you start out by offering loving-kindness to yourself, and then to someone you respect, someone you love, someone you feel neutral about…then someone you hate (for more info on this, you can go here). The idea, I think, is to help you keep an open heart. In the face of a thing like homophobia, I admit that can be difficult to do.

So that’s what I want to offer here today, on this International Day Against Homophobia. Loving kindness. To myself, to those of you who are friends, and those I don’t know. To those of you whose minds I hope with all my heart will soon be changed for the better. More than anything, to all the innocent babies, children, and young people out there who will someday need help and support in navigating your way through the confusion and questions you may have about your sexual orientation–I pray you will have the support that you need, and that you will always know you’re perfect just the way you are. That you deserve love and respect.

Love is love. It’s something everyone deserves.

(There are over 250 authors and bloggers participating today in the hop against homophobia, lots of really good thoughts on the subject and lots of prizes being given away. You can find the full list, here. Also, for a chance to win my latest vampire novella, Immortal Valentine, or another chance to win the free vampire/shifter short story, check out the HAH post over at Books Make Me Happy.)

Drowning

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and i’m so sad
like a good book
i can’t put this day back
– Tori Amos

There’s debate about whether an author should create a character in their own likeness. Certainly, there are reasons why it can be a no-no–or why it should at least be handled carefully. And even though I am aware of those reasons, I walked right into that trap recently. Generally speaking I can shake off critique okay, but recently I put a great deal of myself into a character and then took it way too hard when a person whose opinion I treasure told me how annoying he was.

WAY too hard.

I know I shouldn’t have, but…tricky word, that “should.” And it’s one of the pitfalls of using too many of your own attributes in your writing. We writers aren’t necessarily all that interesting. ;-)

The realization hit me midway through plotting my next book, a contemporary novel entitled Drowning. One of the heroes suffers from depression–something I’ve been struggling with lately–and it certainly gave me pause. And I don’t know if this will make me change course yet or not. Amor Prohibido featured a hero with a history of abuse which I also have some experience with, and I’ve gotten great feedback about that book. That said, my abusive relationships are a decade-plus in the past, so maybe perspective is the key.

Probably.

Anyway, I’ve gotten a ton of questions about what I’m working on next–thank you SO much for asking everyone. :) So the short answer is, I’m not entirely sure. I’m on the fence about Drowning–whether I should shelve it until I feel more “ready” or plow ahead and see what comes of it. I *know* I want my next thing to be a contemporary novel. I’ve gotten a lot of AWESOME feedback about the free short story Yes, Sir that I wrote for GayRomLit 2011. I may try taking Nate and Gray out of the dream world and into the real world to see how their relationship progresses. Or maybe it’ll be something else entirely…we’ll see what the new year brings, I suppose. :)

NEXT THOUGH! I just turned in my Valentine novella, Immortal Valentine, to Amber Allure!! It’s a sexy little boy-meets-vampire story about a one-night stand that turns into forever, and I’ll be editing that through the holidays. Keep an eye out for that just before Valentine’s day.

Hot Angels and Cool Demons Blog Tour, Day 2 (Win Free Books!)

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Just a quick note, Amor Prohibido is being read as the book of the month in the Goodreads M/M Romance Group! After you’ve read the book, come join the discussion, here!

What do you think of, when you think of an Angel?

In Amor Prohibido, Pakal is an immortal spirit guide. .. An angel, of sorts.

Once mortal, he was bound and ritualistically drowned a thousand years ago to honor the Mayan rain god. Unlike the angels that we think of in Biblical terms, Amor Prohibido deals with Mesoamerican mythology, and Pakal now walks the earth as a man of flesh and bone. He is able to interact with others. He’s able to help mortals with their problems, he’s able to have sex, and he’s got some very major flaws. As angels sometimes do, he falls…in love with the mortal Jacob, for which he risks banishment to the Mayan Underworld, where he would confront…

The demon gods.

Best I was able to find out the Mayan Underworld is seen as a large city beneath the earth. And it is overseen by twelve powerful demon gods called the Lords of Xibalba. Hell itself has nine levels, the worst of which is Mental. Word is, when healers would pray to banish diseases, they sent those bad boys to Mental. And that level of the underworld was overseen by Ah Puch, a demon god with the head of an owl and a decaying corpse for a body (hot, huh?).  In Amor, Ah Puch has a teensy bit of a crush on Pakal.  *shiver*

And these demon gods, they like to play with mortals the way a cat likes to play with a mouse before devouring it. When a mortal gets banished to the Underworld, the demon gods make them fight through six deadly houses of fear: the Dark House which was pitch black inside, the Cold House which was full of bone-chilling cold and rattling hail, the Jaguar House full of hungry jaguars, the Bat House full of shrieking bats, the Hot House full of fires, and the Razor House full of knives that moved about on their own.

Sounds impossible, right? But hey! If they make it through, there’s a chance these folks will be allowed to be free of the underworld. If not? Well, cue the sad trombone music. They may experience the kind of permanent death that banishes them to one of the nine levels of the Mayan Hell for an eternity of demon torture.

So, what about the immortal Pakal and the mortal Jacob? Do they fall in love? Of course they do, it’s a romance. So do they confront the Lords of Xibalba and fight through the houses of fear? And how?

Here’s an excerpt:

Their interactions were so comfortable and easy that Pakal had to remind himself repeatedly that Jacob was his spirit charge, not a friend. Not a lover. Every now and then Jacob’s warm, chocolatey gaze found Pakal’s, and it was as if he were a better man just for having borne witness to that soulful stare. Gods, what he wouldn’t give for them to be just two ordinary mortals. Pakal shoved the foolish longing aside, but it was insistent, like a hungry stray dog.

Eleven hundred years was a long time to be alone.

The gentle breeze playfully ruffled Jacob’s hair while he chatted about his favorite music (techno), his feelings about animal cruelty (con), his feelings about American football (pro), and his favorite foods (Chinese pork buns, and Swiss cheese fondue). Pakal, in turn, discussed the local culture, the history, and the cave formations. Many times he caught himself assisting Jacob in a far too friendly manner, and each time their bodies touched Pakal was overcome by the sensation of their being so…in tune, with each other. He would almost swear their pulses beat in the same rhythm. Yet through it all, Jacob’s posture was still overly controlled. Tight.

They were plodding carefully through a large corridor of stalactites and stalagmites that gave the appearance of a giant shark’s mouth, when Jacob stepped absently and slipped. Pakal grabbed Jacob from behind, just narrowly preventing him from being impaled on the business end of a sharp, vertically jutting piece of rock. Many a tourist had landed at the nearby clinic for such accidents.

“Shit.”

“I warned you to be careful of where you stepped. It’s slippery in here.” Pakal’s breath was heavy, and he was panting right in Jacob’s ear. His heart thudded against the thinner man’s back. Their bodies vibrated together as if they shared the same skin. They were dangling over a great precipice just then, and for the life of him Pakal was too caught up in the thrill to truly care about the consequences. He tightened his grip around Jacob’s naked waist and his light slipped from his fingers into the water. It was stupid. It was dangerous.

It was too late.

The thought was interesting, but fleeting, as Pakal’s hand dipped inside of Jacob’s loose, surfer-style swim shorts.

“Holy, Jesus. What are you doing?” The words held a note of obligatory protest, but even as he said them Jacob’s ass pushed into Pakal’s crotch, and his forearm and head came to rest against the curve of the cave wall. Both men breathed heavily, totally in sync.

“Keep it down,” Pakal whispered. Gods, Jacob’s cock was smooth. Deliciously soft and hard at the same time. “You’re so tense. I’m helping you to loosen up.”

Jacob’s breath hitched. “Someone could come by here any minute.” Yet even as he said it, Jacob’s hard length fucked faster into Pakal’s wet fist. His dick was perfect against Pakal’s skin; it was long and thin, with only a small amount of soft hair at the base. Pakal’s fingers strayed for a moment to roll Jacob’s weighty sac in his hand, and he longed to feel it inside of his mouth.

“Better be fast, then,” Pakal breathed.

For a chance to win a FREE copy of Amor Prohibido as well as books from each of the other fifteen authors in the Angels and Demons blog tour, leave a comment below! And be sure to stop by all of the other authors on the tour for more chances to win! Jay Di Meo has the schedule, here.

Can’t wait to see if you’ve won? Amor Prohibido is available for purchase at Amazon.

Review: Tipping the Balance by Christopher Koehler

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Tipping the Balance
Tipping the Balance by Christopher Koehler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nutshell: Out and proud gay guy falls for younger man so deep in the closet he can’t even see the door and they go into business together. Cuz yeah, that’s what you should do when you have an impossible crush on someone. ;-)

I loved this story so much I read it twice. Even more than Rocking the Boat, and I rather enjoyed that one as well. Of all the “out for you” / gay for you / late bloomer / whatever you wanna call it plots I’ve read, this was hands down the best written that I’ve come across. And I entered into it cautiously, because I always do, but it was clear that the author took his time with it. With the exception of a minor detail or two it really rang true for me and I thought that was particularly impressive because the author’s own coming out story is on his blog, and he clearly knew that he was gay from a young age so it isn’t as if this late discovery was something he had first-person knowledge of.

The roller-coaster ride of emotion and the sexual tension between the two characters was fantastic. Frustrating, at times, but I think it was supposed to be. And the buildup was so good, that when the hotties finally got down to having sex the connection and heat between them was great. And I really enjoy the way this author writes his sex scenes. They’re sensual and hot, and a little bit inventive, and work really well as an extension of emotion between the two characters. It’s not just two people getting it on because the page count demands that something hot and heavy finally has to happen. And again, working the nervous formerly straight guy around to being ready for sex with a guy was tricky, but done well, and I found it to be very believable. It was a darker story than Rocking the Boat, and it touched on harder more painful issues. There was more inner and outer conflict for both characters. It made for a better, stronger, more well-rounded story all in all. Really delicious. You. Go download now. S’okay, I’ll wait here. ;)

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Free Reads

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Yes, Sir - A New Orleans vacation takes an interesting turn whenYes, Sir cover Grayson Harper lets a friend drag him along to see a voodoo priestess for a love spell. Suddenly he’s having very vivid dreams about a mystery man that seem all too real, and doing things in them he never thought possible. But what will become of the man of his dreams once he leaves the magic of the French quarter?

It Was Supposed to be a Fun Game – Part of Thousand Word Thursday over at Cryselle’s Bookshelf, this is a sweet contemporary flash fiction (1000 words) piece I wrote inspired by a picture that Cryselle posted on her site.

Hot Nerds and Hot Angels

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Today I’m guest blogging for hot, sexy erotica author Louisa Bacio about the men of Amor Prohibido! I dig just a little deeper than I have before into their back-stories, especially into Jake’s past with his ex and what brings him to Puerto Morelos, where Jake and Pakal meet. I invite you to come check it out, here.

Today’s Quickie: Rock It, Baby!

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Hey all! The M/M Romance Group on Goodreads  is having their monthly book of the month group reading poll, and someone was lovely enough to nominate my novella, Amor Prohibido. As I’m still a new author, it could use a little help in the polls, and I’d be SUPER appreciative if y’all could pop over there and help me rock the vote!

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/55830-which-book-would-you-like-selected-as-our-november-book-of-the-month-gro

Also, I was giving away a free short story at GayRomLit and I ran out of copies. If you wanted one and didn’t get it, please email me at EllisCarrington@Gmail.com. Thanks, everyone!

Where’s My Happy Ever After, Beeyotch?

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Recently a Twitter buddy wrote an amusing and insightful blog post entitled “Screw Your Ever After.” This is a sort of rebuttal to that post.

In recent memory, a stone’s throw from where I live, a woman threw her young granddaughter off of a bridge. No one knows why. The girl, 2 years old, died. Another woman accidentally ran over her two children with her own car. The youngest was killed. A man forgot his sleeping infant son in their vehicle carseat, and that child died from hyperthermia. Because the boy was adopted and because of the nature of the child’s death, this couple may never get to have another child. We just passed the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I was not far from where the plane struck the Pentagon on the tenth anniversary of that ugly day, which was quite a stunning reminder of the hateful attacks that occurred. And as I write this, we are a day away from the anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, a beautiful young man whose murder was so horrific and heartbreaking I can hardly stand to think about it.

What’s my point here? Life can be beautiful, but it can be terrible and ugly and tragic, and unpredictable. It can be depressing as hell. If I allow them to, things around me can begin to look very bleak–something I can’t afford, as my day job is raising two children who haven’t yet been touched by all that ugliness to go out into the world and be good citizens.

The thing is, when I read, I read to escape. To find that proverbial happy place. I read to be taken on a journey, to feel that “good ache,” and to experience the highs and lows along with my protagonists–I don’t want to read a story that’s nothing but 300 pages of my characters skipping through daisies. I do want that happy ending to be earned. I want them to have to battle bad guys or demons or maybe even each other. But at the end of the day I want them to kiss and make or up make love and I want to close the book (or turn off my Kindle, more likely) and know that things are probably going to work out okay. Is it realistic? Maybe not, but hell, that’s why we call it fiction.

In a couple of days I’ll be leaving for the GayRomLit retreat. Could. Not. Be. More. Psyched. And I owe a huge thank you to the M/M Romance group on Goodreads for holding a contest to give away the plane ticket that’s allowing me to attend this shindig. I’m a survivor of abuse and assault, and M/M romance is my escape from all the ugliness that I mentioned, not to mention the stuff that’s in my own head. The opportunity to meet with the writers who have created those stories and other readers who love M/M as much as I do, is such a thrill. THAT is how much the Happy Ever After means to me. I once wrote a 1300 word flash fiction story, and still made sure it ended happily. THAT is how much the ever after means to me.

I grok that not every writer wants to write romance or happy endings and not every reader wants to read it, and that’s totally fine. Diversity, it’s what makes the world go ’round. But in an uncertain world, some of us need to know once in awhile that things turn out okay. We need the romance.

So…where’s my ever after, bitch? ;-)

Today’s Quickie: Who’s The Weak One In A Gay Relationship?

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It’s one of the many stupid, evil, awful questions born out of misunderstanding and misinformation–who’s the man and who’s the woman in a same-sex relationship? Who’s the weak one? And it was a conversation about that, and the very real issue of abuse in same-sex relationships that helped spark inspiration for my hero Jacob in Amor Prohibido. I guest blogged about it for Jadette Paige this week, hope y’all will go check it out.

Today’s Quickie: It’s All In The Touch

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The lovely, talented, and sensual Jo Peterson was kind enough to invite me to be interviewed for her blog! Stop by to find out more about my latest release, what I’ve got coming next, and a little something that some folks might be shocked to know about me!

Check it out here!