Melting Darkness is Complete!
Mar 10, 2024 3:55 am
Hi everyone! Welcome to the weekend. I've had a very productive week so far, and hope that continues. I'm trying to get everything all finished before I leave for vacation on the 19th. My friend and I are going on a bus tour in Europe for twelve days. We've done a one day bus tour but nothing like this, and we're really looking forward to it.
The Smashwords sale is still live but it ends today and I'm not sure when, so please check before you buy. This is only on Smashwords.
I did an early release for Dead Things through my Payhip Shop. You'll get a little discount and you'll get to read it early. Details are below.
Since Melting Darkness has ended I'll be starting a new weekly project after I return. I was thinking I'd expand on the short story Cookie that's in Love and Hope Anthology. Either way there will be another one starting soon.
I'm going to list more Blind Date With a Book on my Payhip store too. These will only be available until March 15 so I have time to ship them.
Thanks everyone!
Melting Darkness! https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ta3rk60ta1
Smashwords Sale! March 3 - March 9
THIS ENDS TODAY!Happy Read an Ebook Week! To help you find a book to celebrate, you can find my entire collection for half off at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BLMaxwell862
#ebookweek24 #Smashwords
Includes:
A Beach Far Away
Stone Under Skin
Blood Beneath Stone
Stone Hearts
Cake Clash
Check Yes or No
Ghost Hunted
Ghost Haunted
Ghost Trapped
Ghost Hexed
Ghost Handled
Ghost Shadow
Haunting Destiny
Ride
Six Months
Ten or Fifteen Miles
The Slow Death
The Ultimate Sacrifice
The Final Salvation
The First Twelve
The Snake in The Castle
Try To Remember
EARLY RELEASE!
BUY DIRECT AND READ TONIGHT! For a limited time you can purchase Dead Things on my Payhip store for 20% off. This ends on March 13, and the release will continue as posted. https://payhip.com/BLMaxwell
Preorder for March 14th Release!
Dead Things (Spirit Boys Book One)
https://books2read.com/DeadThingsSB1
Since Bran Tanda started working at the morgue, his life has changed. He’s spent most of his life denying his necromancer abilities, but now he knows there’s no other choice but to embrace it and learn as much as he can about it. No matter how much he hates it.
Jordan Amid is becoming more comfortable being around the dead. But they still overwhelm him and terrify him. The coldness and the heavy emotions he associates with being near a spirit are nearly too much for him to take. But for Bran, he’ll try.
Bran and Jordan soon realize there is more going on than they understand, and even Janis isn’t sure how to handle what she knows is coming for them. Mysterious markings continue to appear and unless they can learn more from the journals Bran finds at his house, there may be no hope for anyone.
New Release
Divided
https://books2read.com/BLDivided
The four Stroud brothers were all born into magic, and when they all come of age their powers will be revealed. It all sounds like a fairytale, but not all magic is good. Their mother embraced the darkness and paid with her life.
Finn Stroud was happy working on the family farm until the day his father announced it was time for them all to go out and find their place in the world, and their magic. He and his four brothers knew this was the tradition of the Imagi people who were meant to wield elemental magic, but Finn soon finds how ill prepared he was for the real world.
Alwin travels from town to town using his own brand of magic to get what he can from anyone that crosses his path. His luck runs out and he’s left along the side of the road in a rainstorm. Finn offers him shelter and Alwin offers to guide him in the ways of magic, but everything has a price. A dark fairytale retelling of The Four Clever Brothers.
#mmromance #mmfairytaleromance #mmfairytaleretelling #magicalrealism #gayromance #darkfairytale #darkromance
Get Ready for Spirit Boys Book One
Just Another Day At The Morgue
https://books2read.com/JustANotherDay
Seeing spirits is one thing, but feeling the pain of their death is an experience best left alone. Restless spirits, a ghost dog, and two men connected to the spirit world. What could go wrong? Bran Tanda works at the hospital morgue despite the fact he can see and hear all the spirits that tend to congregate there. He wants to help them, even if they terrify him with their aggressive tactics to get him to acknowledge their existence.
Jordan Amid is Bran’s assistant. He’s reluctant to interact too much with the dead since he can feel all the pain from their death and the confusion they’re left with. But he’s drawn to work there with Bran, and his ghost dog Buddy. Bran and Jordan are thrown into a world where things are changing, and without their help everyone will suffer the dead. Stronger together than separately, they’ll both need to face their fears and find the strength they’ll need to fight the evil forces that threaten them and all of humanity. #MMParanromal #UrbanFantasy #Necromancer #PsychicEmpath #GayFiction
COMING SOON!
Preorders!
Arriving June 21
Below Deck
https://books2read.com/BelowDeck
JJ Carrington was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He’s used to flying in business class and spending all his holidays at the nicest resorts in the world. But lately he’s tired of the same vacation over and over again, and the one-night stands that seem to plague him.
Cory Wynn has been working on a cruise ship for the past year. He’d never traveled before that, and now he’s seen more of the Caribbean than he even knew existed. He hoped to meet someone to fall in love with while at sea, but so far all he does is work.
When JJ ends up partying late into the night with some of the passengers from a cruise ship, he follows them onboard. But when Cory finds him sleeping in a deckchair after the ship has sailed, he takes him to his cabin. JJ is used to getting his way in everything in life, but he may have met his match in the cruise worker who can’t wait until the next stop to get him off the ship. #oppositesattract #smalltown/city #vacationromance
https://books2read.com/NutsANDBolts
Part of the Foggy Basin Series Smalltown Gay Romance.
I don't have a blurb yet, but this will be the story of a city boy who has to returned home to run his family's hardware store. He's a fish out of water but lucky for him the one employee of his father's that offers to stay is an expert in all things hardware.
He's nearly a decade younger, but far more experienced and more than willing to help teach the new guy how things work around town, and maybe help him after work too.
Series Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLKWB51K
Welcome to Foggy Basin. Just passing through? No problem. Here to stay, well, better find your place. Sit back, relax and get to know the townsfolk. They love hard and play even harder. Each book is a standalone but why not stay and get to know us and read them all.
Author News!
Irish Collar Series Box Set
Brina Brady
Narrator: James Talbot
https://books2read.com/u/bw9D2Y
BDSM Camp (PREQUEL)
💚Innocent sub 💚Fake Dom 💚Friendships 💚Real Dom 💚Spankings 💚Bad Decisions 💚Hurt and Comfort 💚Lessons Learned
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDTTBVWG
Broken Trust (Irish Collar Series Book 1)
https://books2read.com/u/4Xe6L5
❤️Kind Dom ❤️Wounded sub ❤️Light BDSM ❤️Newfound Family
❤️Uncovered Lies ❤️Hurt & Comfort ❤️New Opportunities
❤️Irish Romance
Clancy’s Collar (Irish Collar Series Book 2)
https://books2read.com/u/3RYkRR
Keywords: 💚Age gap 🤍light BDSM 🧡bookstore owner 💚hotel co-owner 🤍jealous ex-lovers 🧡hurt and comfort 💚Irish romance 🤍spankings and 🧡new friendships
Trusting Tristian (Irish Collar Series Book 3)
💙Age gap 💙Light BDSM 💙Mysterious Spanish Dom 💙Insecure sub 💙Hurt and comfort 💙Irish romance 💙spankings 💙Found biological family
https://books2read.com/u/bPzv6R
Brina Brady
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD9MN9W
International: https://books2read.com/u/bW8Xvx
On KU
❤️ 🐾 🧡 🐾 💛 🐾 🏳️🌈 🐾💚 🐾 💙 🐾 💜
Keywords: Age Gap, Hurt to Comfort, Forced Proximity, Gay Pride Cruise, Cabin Boy, Cruise Captain, Opposites Attract, Workplace Romance
❤️ 🐾 🧡 🐾 💛 🐾 🏳️🌈 🐾💚 🐾 💙 🐾 💜
Luka trades the short-term approval of his lover by helping with a home robbery for the gilded cage of Captain Clarke’s cruise ship. A year of servitude, a court-mandated reprieve from prison, all thanks to his influential father’s deal. Sadly, Luka’s immediate future includes scrubbing the decks and hauling suitcases, a stark contrast to the prison sentence he could have faced alongside his lover, Maleko. Haunted by the ghost of his lover’s absence and his own guilt, Luka grapples with newfound tenderness coming from the least expected person.
Captain Westly John Clarke, an experienced maritime hardliner, enforces the court’s contract with grim adherence. Beneath the surface, something shifts. Luka’s boyish charm chips away at the older man’s icy exterior. Still, he keeps Luka at arm’s length, unable to forget the bitter memories of the young man’s past. As the Captain battles his own awakening heart and hidden secrets, his compass spins out of control, adding to the chaos.
As the love story etches in the shadow of a criminal past and the unforgiving grip of duty leaves them both adrift in unchartered waters. Only time and the churning sea will tell if they admit what’s in their hearts.
❤️ 🐾 🧡 🐾 💛 🐾 🏳️🌈 🐾💚 🐾 💙 🐾 💜
Pride Cruise 2024!
Where the water is crisp, the men are HOT, and the party has started! Each book is a standalone but feel free and dive in and binge them all. You won't want to miss a second of their naughty antics. If you think they're silly when the sun is up, just wait until it goes down.
Other books in the series are here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLKWB4JJ
Why did Brand think having a vampire boyfriend would be easy? As if keeping up with his college studies and best friend wasn't challenging enough, his dominating boyfriend Gage seems determined to push him to his limits (in the best possible way). But it's not all burning hot nights and surprisingly tender aftercare...
When Gage leaves town on business, the punky vampire's past comes back to haunt them with a vengeance.
Now Brand's life is on the line - and if Gage wants to save him, he must confront the monster within
****
an MM vampire/human romance featuring lots of spice - part two in a series, best read with Dark Attraction first.
#punkygothvampire #instalovekinda #consensualkink #spankinghappens #spicygames #justalotofrope #pwpkinda #liketheresomeplotbuteh #somewhump #Kidnappingbybadguys
Brand goes through the wringer in this book, but there's a lot of comfort after
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CSXX3FLP
Ahoy Daddy!
Covers by Covers by Jo
Releases 6/14/2024
https://www.books2read.com/AhoyDaddy
Pride Cruise 2024 Series Page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLKWB4JJ
Get a job on a cruise ship, they said. It will calm you down.
Highly unlikely.
I’ve been hyper all my life and the only one who knew how or cared to deal with me was my mother. I’d put the poor woman through hell and the best way for her to get a long break from me was to take a job that included travel. Vale Harper, two weeks at sea, should do the trick and give mom the rest she more than deserved.
What I hadn’t expected to find was a much-needed outlet for my endless energy. Pet Play, where have you been all my life?
Lonely. Confused. Tired of listening to myself complain. Jack Barrett, master of absolutely nothing. My hands were in more pots than I could keep track of. Thankfully, the managers I had in place took care of everything and now all I had left was…me.
Boy after boy passed through my life, but none stuck. Was I too much for them? Too controlling? Not controlling enough? No one had the answer. Not my therapist, not my last boy, and certainly not me.
Ahoy Daddy! is an MM, Pet Play, crazy monkey, sweet Daddy tale of two lost souls whose paths cross in the most unsuspecting of places.
Welcome to Pride Cruise 2024!
Where the water is crisp, the men are HOT, and the party has started! Each book is a standalone but feel free and dive in and binge them all. You won't want to miss a second of their naughty antics. If you think they're silly when the sun is up, just wait until it goes down.
#gayromance #MMromance #readmoreromance #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #romancebookaddict #summer #bookdragon #cruise #readerlife #onceclick #mustread #QueerRomance #MMRomanceBooks #QueerBookstagram #QueerBooks #GayBookstagram #lgbtqromance #readingrainbow #readqueerallyear #romancestagram #RomanceBooks #booksta #QueerReads
Coming 4/19/24
Strike A Chord
Chaotic Abyss book 1
https://www.books2read.com/Chaotic1
Cover model: Logan Blackthorn
Photographer: Wander Aguiar
Cover artist: Morningstar Ashley
Josh Gray has made bad decisions and regretted them all, but it’s the rock ‘n roll lifestyle, so no problem, right? However, karma is a bitch.
Mistake one…sleeping with the then boyfriend of the lead singer of one of the top bands, Social Sinners, which leads to Josh being fired as Ryder Hampton’s backup guitarist.
Mistake two…signing on with Nicholas Shane Management, who promises a new band that’s the perfect fit. It turns out Nick is dealing dirty, and his company collapses when he’s sent to prison.
Josh’s world is in ruins and starting over is next to impossible. Word gets around that he’s screwed over rock ‘n roll’s poster children, and he can’t get an audition. The future is now an endless stream of empty whisky bottles, and a surly server that no matter how hard Josh tries, refuses to sleep with him.
If you’ve read the Social Sinners or Maiden Voyage series, you’ll understand the tough road that lies ahead for Josh. Is redemption possible, or should he just throw in the towel and walk away once and for all?
Strike a Chord is book one in the Chaotic Abyss rockstar romance series featuring hurt/comfort, second chances, and a bartender who just wants to be left alone.
#Rockstar #redemption #MM #lgbtq #loveislove #hurtcomfort #secondchances #kindleunlimited #mustreadseries #romance #booksarelife #booklover #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #books #booknerd #romancebookaddict #bookobsessed #bibliophile #bookhoarder #bookdragon #bookworm #readerlife #onceclick #mustread #readmoreromance
https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rogue-Wave.../dp/B0CQFFYFB9
Ronan is a human who loves video games and any activity that can be played in and around the water.
Kush is water. Well, more specifically, he's a Nixie, which makes him a water elemental, and guess what, he loves video games too.
Wet and wild adventures take place after the Monster Match app brings them together... but will a vengeful family member be the one who tears them apart?
Silya finally has everything she always wanted. She's the Hencha Queen, head of the Temple, and is working to master her newfound talents. So why does the world pick now to fall apart?
Her once-nemesis Raven is off riding dragons, and their mutual friend (and her ex) Aik is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, a new threat menaces the Heartland from the East, and if she can't convince a reluctant Gullton city council to prepare for the worst, she may lose everyone and everything she's ever cared about.
As she uses her magic-like abilities, wit and sheer determination to try to save the city, she's joined by Raven and his new friends. Will their help tip the scales? And will they finally find out what happened to Aik as a dark storm threatens to sweep them all away?
Forget messy. Things just got apocalyptic.
Series Blurb:
The Tharassas Cycle is a four book sci-fantasy series set on the recently colonized world of Tharassas. When humans first arrived on planet, they thought they were alone until the hencha mind made itself known. But now a new threat has arisen to challenge both humankind and their new allies on this alien world.
First Two Books On Sale (& Get a Free Book)
Use the included tharassas-sale.jpg graphic with this section.
Books 1 & 2 are on sale through March 31st for just 99¢ each (eBooks, all vendors). And if you buy one (or all three) of the main series books, email scott@jscottcoatsworth.com</a> and let him know and he'll send you a free copy of Tales From Tharassas, the prequel.
Sale Details: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/the-hencha-queen-pre-release-deals/
Non-Exclusive Excerpt:
A sharp crack filled the wine cellar. Kerrick swung the heavy mallet back and then assailed the flopwood boards that blocked the tunnel entrance again. The ancient wood splintered under the blow, sending shards clattering across the stone-paved floor.
It felt good to work out his frustrations. Still, the stubborn wood held out against his assault.
He rested the mallet on the black-tiled stone floor, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Even after a hundred years, the barrier was strong. He’d tried to pry the boards out of the solid stone, but they’d been fastened in too tightly. Brute force it is.
“You’re doing great!” Cor’Lea’s voice was artificially bright, and she was as tall as he was, maybe a little taller, peering over his shoulder at the sealed tunnel entrance.
Silya had tasked her with bringing him down here to check out these hidden caverns under the Temple, in preparation for the coming war. Important, sure, but also clearly an excuse to get him out from underfoot while she prepared for her official Raising.
He grunted. “Thanks. These boards are hard as iron.” And hard as Silya’s will.
One day things would be different between them, once this crisis was over. I just have to be patient.
Coral laughed. “I’m sure a big, strong man like you can break through them easily.” She squeezed his bicep appreciatively.
He shrugged her off. He wasn’t sure if the gawky initiate was flirting with him or just trying to encourage him to get on with it, but either way, he wasn’t interested. “Stand back.” He hefted the hammer again, and she scurried out of his way.
He suppressed a smile, swinging the mallet around for another heavy blow.
Craack.
This time the board buckled inward visibly. Another few hits should do it.
He pulled back the heavy iron hammer again and hit the same spot with blow after blow. Craack. Craack. Craack.
The mallet broke through and a board fell away into splinters, clattering across the stone floor. One down, three more to go. “Why did they seal this cavern up?”
Cor’Lea gestured at the natural chamber. “There was a winery here before the Temple. Sister Dor said they used to use it for extra wine storage.” She looked around the natural chamber, which was now filled with wooden shelving holding a variety of bottled food stores. “When Jas ordered the Temple to be constructed, they kept this wide cavern and blocked off the rest of the tunnels.”
“Just in case the gully rats got in?” That thief Raven had apparently made his home in one of the underground tunnels. Who knew who else—or what else—lived down there?
Cor’Lea snorted. “Maybe.”
Are tunnels all connected, somehow? That was one of Silya’s most urgent projects, to map out the network of caverns beneath the city. Another reason she sent me down here—to get me out from under her robes.
A few more whacks at the next board served to both break it and let out his frustrations at the situation preventing him from doing his sworn job and keeping them apart. And at what she said was coming.
Craack. Craack. Craack.
The board snapped in half, and he judged that he’d cleared enough space to step through into the blocked-off tunnel. “Hand me that lantern?
Cor’Lea complied, taking the opportunity to brush his hand.
He rolled his eyes. I should be flattered. But his heart was already taken.
It was times like these he wished his brother Enrick were still alive. He’d know what to do. He’d been absurdly confident about everything, even though he’d been younger than Kerrick.
Kerrick wasn’t great with women.
He took the lantern and stepped over the bottom board, holding it in front of him. The bright light temporarily blinded him as he sought to get his bearings.
“What do you see?” Cor’Lea peered through the hole behind him.
His sight adjusted, and the tunnel’s walls came into focus.
He whistled. Stacked along the side of the tunnel were hundreds of crates, all strapped together in groups and sealed. “It’s… I don’t know what it is. But I’ll bet Silya will be surprised.” They’d have to find a place to put all this stuff—whatever it was, it was likely rotten after all this time. Silya needed somewhere to store people, not ancient goods.
Cor’Lea stepped carefully over the splintered boards to join him. “What do you think’s inside them?”
The long row of crates disappeared into the darkness. Who knew what the ancients had considered valuable enough to stash down here. Coin? Lost treasure? “One way to find out. Does the Temple have a crowbar?”
Universal Buy Link: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/book/the-hencha-queen/
BOOKFUNNEL PROMOS
Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale (General LGBT) (Begins March 3-9 All my books on Smashwords are half off) https://books.bookfunnel.com/smashwords_sale_lgbt/cg0yq0qikx
OfficeRomance https://books.bookfunnel.com/officeromance/j2rd95fkfo
March - Romance books with green covers https://books.bookfunnel.com/marchgreencovers/n535584f19
