Book Blast + #Giveaway - Toy Soldiers [When We Were Young, bk 2] by Maggie Blackbird @BlackbirdMaggie #youngadult #mmromance @gaybookpromo

BOOK BLAST

Book Title:  Toy Soldiers 

[Book 2, When We Were Young series]

Author:  Maggie Blackbird

Publisher:  Devine Destinies

Cover Artist: Martine Jardin

Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance, young adult, multicultural, LGBT

Trope/s: Friends to lovers

Themes: Coming of age, coming out

Heat Rating:  1 flame   

Length: 70 349 words/ 244 pages

It is NOT a standalone book.  Book 1 needs to be read first.

Goodreads

Buy Links 

Amazon US |  Amazon CA |  Amazon UK | Amazon AU

Publisher | Kobo | B&N |  iBooks

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 Once a thief, always a thief, and if he can’t win the heart of the boy he loves, he’ll steal it.

Blurb

Billy Redsky’s made one of his biggest dreams come true, but there’s a problem. Even though the boy he loves is mere footsteps across the hall from his bedroom, they might as well live a country apart because claiming René Oshawee’s heart is more difficult than Billy anticipates.

Much to Billy’s disgust, René can’t accept his true self, so he’s incapable of loving someone else. And all he cares about is living a life the chief and his wife foresee for their youngest son.

If Billy is to finally have what he truly desires, he must stop René from running away from who he really is and face the man in the mirror, or what they share will never blossom into true love

Excerpt

Stuart lived past the recreation center. Billy huffed down the road. Sure, he’d be interrupting dinnertime, but big deal. He couldn’t stay in Castle Oshawee any longer.

The boiling heat of anger beneath his clothing stopped him from freezing under the clear, cold sky. Darkness was fast approaching. The sun on the horizon was bursting with colors of mauve, scarlet, and pumpkin.

The big door at the recreation center opened. Billy’s old buddies, Lonn and Dylan, strolled outside to probably have a cigarette. When they strutted away from the doors and beelined for the road, Billy stiffened. They knew he could beat their asses—especially since he outweighed them by a good fifteen pounds now.

“’Sup?” Lonn called out, slyly grinning.

“Not much.” Billy stopped. He wasn’t going to keep walking like a coward afraid of the neighborhood bullies. “Heard you both got kicked out.” Because neither rode the school bus anymore.

“No biggie.” Lon shrugged. “Y’know we were bailing when we turned the big one-six.”

A direction Billy had been heading before dumb ol’ René had turned him into one of The General’s toy soldiers in Oshawee Army.

Splashes of rebellion bubbled under Billy’s skin. He might’ve blown off telling Mr. and Mrs. O where he was going tonight, but he’d been heading for Stuart’s, and later going home right on the button of his curfew time, like a good little grunt.

He folded his arms. “What’re you doing?”

“What else? Heading for the old house.” Lonn dropped another sly smile.

Dylan nodded, also grinning.

When Billy had used to party there, they’d burned stuff in the woodstove to keep warm during the winter.

“You coming, or are you still hanging with the geek twins?” Lonn elbowed a chuckling Dylan.

“Sure, why not?” Nobody at Castle Oshawee had given a flying fuck Billy had left the house. As for René, screw him. All he cared about was following the rules and obeying the orders coming from everyone seated in the living room.

About the Author

An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. When she’s not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sister’s house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.

Author Links

 Web Site | Facebook Page | Twitter 

BookBub | Linked In | Amazon Author Page 

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Giveaway 

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Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here

Release Blitz - Desert of Destiny by Debbie Cassidy @amoscassidy #HighFantasy Host @agarcia6510

Title: Desert of Destiny (Sleeping Gods book 2)

Author: Debbi Cassidy

Genre: High Fantasy

Cover Artist: DC Creations

Editor: Read Head Editing

Hosted by: Lady Amber’s Reviews & PR

Blurb

...Priya was overcome by a longing to know him, to understand him, this man who had given her life. But her life was soon to end and she would never know anything ever again. Her vision blurred and she wiped at her eyes.

“Do not be afraid, Priya,” he said.

“I’m just a girl, in the face of death I don’t know how else to feel”

The answers dwell beneath...

The capital has been taken and the streets run crimson with the blood of the innocent. The only hope to end the butchery lies in finding the Fist, a duty which rests heavily on Priya’s delicate shoulders. A responsibility that she believes will be shared by her allies, until the moment the illusion is shattered...

Suddenly Priya is on the run.  With the shadow of betrayal over her heart, Priya must step onto a perilous road. One that will test her limits, and throw her into the path of a danger from which there may be no return. As alliances are tested and secrets are revealed, Priya must decide whether the bonds of blood will serve to define her, or whether her destiny can be hers to forge alone.

To save the Isle, Priya must first save herself...

Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Debbie has been writing for eight years under the pen name Amos Cassidy with her best friend, Richard Amos, but the Sleeping Gods Series is her first solo venture, and Desert of Destiny the second book in a four book high fantasy saga.

You can connect with Debbie via her website at amoscassidyauthor.com. Check out her personal page and her other books under the pen name Amos Cassidy. You won't be left without a great read while you wait for the next installment in the series.

Sign up to Debbie's newsletter to get updates on her new releases

Buy Links:

Forest of Demons

Blood Blade (Novella)

Desert of Destiny

ARYAN

He was wide awake and on his feet before he knew why. The interior of the barn was warm and humid from the exhalations of the five men and cattle, yet he knew what had awoken him lay outside.

“What is it chief?” Bojan whispered.

“I’m not sure. Maybe nothing.”

Bojan’s lips turned down. “You don’t believe that.”

“No. No I don’t. Wake the others, quietly.”

Bojan snorted. “And Fen?”

“A swift kick up the ass and a hand over his mouth to staunch his yelp should suffice.”

The two men exchanged a conspiratorial look. Fen was, and always had been, a heavy sleeper. Aryan recalled a time they had dressed him in female robes and painted his face with rouge and kohl, all while he slept. The horror on his face when he had realized what they had done still brought a chuckle to his throat. Right now the chuckle was ominously absent. Fen, more than the rest of them, was struggling with what they had become, and Valesea’s position as the source of all evil didn’t aid him in coping. She was the woman Fen had loved.

Aryan strapped on his weapons belt, shrugged on his furs, and moved on stealthy feet toward the barn doors. The gaps in the planks that made up the entrance were wide enough to gain a good view of the outside.

He scanned the yard; the tall tree in the center standing majestically, its naked arms a dark map against the moonlit sky; the small farmhouse, silent and sleeping. It was strange, the darkness, the moonlight. It made everything seem so . . . peaceful. His brows met; maybe he had dreamt the disturbance. He made to turn away, preparing his apology to his tired men when a figure broke from the shadows surrounding the farmhouse and moved low and fast toward the barn. More shadows came to life, breaking away from the mass one by one and stealing across the open stretch of ground.

Aryan stepped back, reaching for his sword and grasping air. Crud! He’d forgotten he’d lost his sword to a possessed tree.

“Chief?”

Aryan looked up as Bojan drew his sword and handed it over. Aryan hesitated a moment but Bojan simply grinned, reaching over his shoulder to draw his mace.

Aryan matched his grin, taking the proffered sword. Around him the barn had come to life. His men were ready and if they went down they would do it fighting.

“How many?” Fen asked rubbing his backside absently, all sleep chased away by the imminent threat.

“Seven, maybe more,” Aryan said.

“Crud!”

“We can take them,” Cadoc said with a conviction that made Aryan’s chest swell with pride.

“Guru. Climb up to the loft and hide. Do not come out until one of us comes for you,” Bojan instructed.

Guru’s face had drained of color, yet he swallowed and held his ground. “Give me a weapon, I want to help.”

He was no coward this one, but his valor would serve no purpose in this fight. His slight body would be mere kindling to their attackers.

Aryan offered a smile to soften the rejection. “Thank you friend, we respect your courage, but we need you alive if we are to find our destination.”

Guru’s jaw jutted in defiance. Aryan stared him down. Guru’s shoulders slumped and Aryan turned back to the doors knowing at least one battle had been won.

There was only one way in or out, no windows except the one high in the loft.

“Brace yourselves,” Aryan said.

Blog Tour #Giveaway Holding on to Mrs. Right [Romantic Destinations 2] by Debbie White @dwhiteauthor

Holding on to Mrs. Right
[Romantic Destinations, Book 2]

Family feuds and love don’t mix. 

Twenty-one-year-old Ryan knows it’s only a matter of time before he is destined to take over the family wine business. The recent college graduate finds his best-laid plans thrown for a loop when he falls for the girl next door—who should be off-limits for more reasons than he cares to think about. 

Beautiful and intelligent, Francesca is a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. That is, until a long-running family feud threatens to keep her and the man she finds herself falling for apart. 

Francesca and Ryan find themselves in a web of duty, family, and love in this heartwarming coming-of-age contemporary romance by bestselling author, Debbie White. 

Amazon Link

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About the Author

Debbie currently lives in northern California where the jagged coast meets rolling hills dotted with vineyards.
 
When she’s not writing the next best-selling romance novel, she’s spending time with her family, traveling, wine tasting and anything to do with the outdoors.

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