Pieces of Me

Title:  Pieces of Me

Series: Spectrum Nights, Book 1

Author: Melanie Hansen

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: January 16th

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 89800

Genre: Romance, Photographer/photojournalist, hurt/comfort, step brothers, friends to lovers, model (ish), reunited, family drama, angst

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Synopsis

 

Deep in the heart of the Florida Panhandle, Scott Ashworth’s bleak life stretches out before him with not much hope for the future. His hardscrabble days are brightened by the arrival of a new stepbrother, Rylan Mahoney, who quickly becomes the friend Scott so desperately needs. Their relationship has just started to deepen into more, when during the course of one terrible night, what Scott overhears sends him fleeing from his home, never to return. Flash forward six years, and Scott is now the hottest club host on the Phoenix gay scene. He takes what he wants, does what he wants, and does whom he wants. It’s a good life, but the journey to local popularity and fame wasn’t an easy one.


For all that Scott’s looks are a blessing, at the same time they’re a curse—the source of his alcoholic mother’s inexplicable hatred. Rylan dreams of photojournalistic glory. He’s in Phoenix looking for the story of a lifetime, but the project isn’t coming to fruition. Needing rent money, he accepts a gig at Phoenix Pride hawking lewd lollipops and edible condoms…all while wearing gold lamé hot pants and a matching bow tie.


When Rylan’s house keys and street clothes go missing after his shift, he’s desperate, until a stranger in a convertible stops to help. The man is absolute sex on legs, and Rylan is jolted when he recognizes him—his stepbrother Scott Ashworth, long missing but suddenly larger than life. Reunited after six years apart, Scott and Rylan are determined to put their past behind them, but fate intervenes and leaves their future in jeopardy once again.

Excerpt

Rylan trudged to the bus stop, and after an uneventful thirty-minute ride, he stood in front of Spectrum Nights, gazing around in awe.

Within sight of the glitzy stadiums and high-rise condos of downtown Phoenix, Spectrum was housed in an old-style movie theater. Rylan couldn’t help but pull out his camera and photograph the stonework of the building, the retro-looking marquee with flashing colored lightbulbs around the edges proclaiming Fantasy Friday! The hottest night in the Valley of the Sun!

Velvet ropes held the teeming queue at bay, and inside an old-fashioned glass ticket booth under the portico, a fabulous drag queen held court, taking patrons’ cover charges and stamping hands while delivering comical insults. Beefy-looking, shirtless bouncers flanked the entrance, and each time one of the heavy padded doors swung open and shut to admit a new arrival, the thumping bass of the house music floated out and washed over the senses.

Fully clothed male and female go-go dancers worked the crowd in line, moving with fluid grace up and down the sidewalk, dancing alone and with each other to the sound of the music, keeping everyone engaged while they waited for admittance.

Rylan was captivated. While he was in college, he’d spent quite a bit of time in Miami’s South Beach, but the vibe here, the energy, rivaled anything he’d seen there. It was obvious that Spectrum on Friday night really was the hottest place in town.

Eyeing the long queue, Rylan slung his camera around his neck and strode past them, right up to the ticket booth. The queen inside stared at him with narrowed eyes, waving her hand at him, flashing an immaculate manicure and several large, ostentatious rings.

“Way to make friends and influence people, darling,” she drawled, sarcasm dripping from her husky voice. “Around here, cutting the line is verboten and a good way to get that cute little ass kicked. Away you go.” She made a shooing motion, but Rylan stood his ground; journalism school didn’t make for a shrinking violet. He held up the Nikon.

“Scott Ashworth invited me here to take pictures―”

Rylan must have said the magic words, because the drag queen widened her eyes and pursed her lips up in a sexy moue. “Oh my God, darling! Why didn’t you say so?” She looked him up and down. “Scott told me to expect a little photographer boy tonight, but he didn’t tell me you would be so cute! Mmmm, sexy baby with glasses. I love it.”

Rylan couldn’t help but blush, and she winked. “Tell me, picture man, do you have a long, hard lens, just for me?” She put the tip of her finger to her bottom lip and peered up at him through her eyelashes.

Rylan grinned, held up his camera, and leaned in close, letting his voice drop to a growl. “The longest and hardest of lenses is right here, beautiful. All for you.”

 

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords

Meet the Author

Melanie Hansen has spent time in Texas and Florida prisons…for work. She’s been in a room with a 17-year-old mass murderer who was also one of the most soft-spoken and polite teenagers she’s ever met. After a 13-year career as a court reporter, she can tell many stories both hilarious and heartbreaking. She grew up with an Air Force dad, and ended up marrying a Navy man. After living and working all over the country, she hopes to bring these rich and varied life experiences to her stories about people finding love amidst real-life struggles. Melanie left the stressful world of the courtroom behind and now enjoys a rewarding career transcribing for a deaf student. She currently lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.

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Tour Schedule

1/16     Boy Meets Boy Reviews

1/16     Gay Book Reviews

1/17     My Fiction Nook

1/17     Outrageous Heroes

1/18     MM Book Escape

1/18     Happily Ever Chapter

1/18     Dog-Eared Daydreams

1/19     Stories That Make You Smile

1/19     MANTASY: ManLove for the Grown and Sexy

1/19     Bayou Book Junkie

1/20     Urban Smoothie Read

1/20     Alpha Book Club

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Review: A Collision with Reality

Series Title: In Like Flynn

Story title: Collision with Realty

Author: Storm Duffy

Publisher: Nine Star Press

Length: Short – 7,100

Genre: BDSM themed, contemporary, bisexual

Blurb:

Flynn’s new boss is so hot he can’t wait to get home to tell the chatroom how much he wants Dom’s cock down his throat. By Friday, he’s shared quite a few thoughts on what he’d like his boss to do to him. But he’s not as anonymous as he thinks, and Dom’s intent on disciplining him for breaching company policy on social networking. Dom gives him a choice of put up or shut up: he can play out the fantasy in real life, or he can walk out of the office without a word to HR as long as he never talks that way about Dom again. Flynn chooses “put up”—but he’s forgotten about one of the things he said he wouldn’t mind doing.

Review:

 A Collision with Reality has great promise.  The concept for the story was brilliant. Even though it’s a really short tale, I found myself laughing out loud sometimes, which is a good thing. BDSM isn’t generally my thing, but I have researched the topic for a couple of years now because I was curious. In stories, I don’t mind it as long as the participants are adults and go into it willingly. I would gladly read a book with some raunchy sexy mixed with BDSM—after all, a good book is a good book.

 So I was looking for BDSM when I started reading this story. Even though this is book one of a series, I really didn’t get a good feel for the characters.

The story seemed all about Flynn and there was very little in the way of Dom.  Reading that the story was BDSM themed I expected Dom to be this, dominant force that makes Flynn fight to keep control—I expected him to teach Flynn a rather sexy lesson or two. I didn’t get that. 

The first impression I had of Dom through Flynn’s eyes was amazing.  But as the story wound down, Dom lost his dom.  He didn’t exhibit much control of the situation and at times I thought he was detached from the whole situation.   I wanted Dom to take charge, to gently remind Flynn of his current position then use it and Flynn’s willingness to “put up” and make Flynn do some seriously naughty (in that sexy all manlove kind of way) things to Dom's very delectable body.

My biggest problem with the story is the BDSM. While I don’t write BDSM, I have friends who both write and live it. Over the years I’ve spoken to them in length on the subject, visited a few um—establishments that caters to the community and I’m lost as to where it plays a part in this story.  I feel Collision with Reality is more of an erotica with some kink—but perhaps this is just a gateway to the other stories.

A Collision with Realty is a good little read, if you ignore the BDSM label you will enjoy it.  They say first impressions are everything, right? Perhaps Dom needed to put a much more controlled foot forward. Still, I'll be checking out the other stories in the series to see the progression of these men.

Review: BOY - A journey by James Stryker

Boy: A Journey by James Stryker

Luke may never have been close to his father, but he feels like he knew him. Jay was a frustrating parent – always urging Luke to go to mortuary school, disapproving of his Broadway aspirations, and favoring his other children. He even had the audacity to die mid-argument, forcing additional guilt on Luke for never meeting his expectations.

However, Luke’s assumptions about Jay are thrown into turmoil at the funeral when an enigmatic stranger, Tom, expresses gratitude that Jay finally shared his past with his children. When Luke can’t hide his confusion, Tom realizes his mistake and bolts. Riddled with questions, Luke confronts his family. He is shocked to discover that everyone guards the truth that Jay was a transgender man who’d been raised as a female. Practiced at keeping his father’s secrets, they’re unwilling to reveal anything further at Luke’s demand. Devastated by Jay’s lack of trust in him, Luke feels forced to abandon the family who deceived him although leaving them behind won’t answer his questions.

To discover the reason his father hid his gender identity, Luke seeks the only other person with answers, Tom. In Luke’s eyes, he is owed an explanation, even if it’s a difficult one. However, Tom harbors a deep protective devotion to Jay, a loyalty he feels the truth would betray. Additionally, as a man suffering with terminal cancer, he has no desire to drudge up painful memories by playing Luke’s Virgil. Luke must earn his trust before the secret past of both men dies with Tom.

My Review

This was my first foray into the mind of James Stryker, and let me be honest. I find it heart wrenching, twisted and strangely hilarious. Boy: A Journey will take you to some places you probably don’t want to be but will have no choice but to stay on the ride. The darkness and the inner thoughts of the characters will break your heart in one instant and make you laugh out loud in others.

The family—oh lord.  There are dysfunctional families in the world but this one takes the cake. The secrets that lurk beneath the surface will have you all stunned and though one of the major one is given away in the blurb, you will not be prepared for the confession of it within the pages of this book.  The emotions that fill these pages tore me apart in so many marvelous ways that, I never expected any of that. From the overwhelming heartbreak of loss, to the euphoria of finding beauty—simply magnificent.

The characters are whole, deep and seriously, seriously flawed. They often times do the wrong things for the right reasons and a good ninety nine percent of the time, it comes from a place of love. For me, throughout this book I went from wanting to take him over my knee, to wanting to punch him in the throat then cheering, literally sitting on a streetcar cheering, at his growth. Mr. Stryker has a way of writing so that you seriously dislike a character one sentence and rob you of that hatred in the very next line - I love that!

This book also added to my healing of losing a friend to suicide a few years ago. I always wondered why and how and where and who and how much—to have an idea of the vivid thoughts that goes through someone’s mind as they contemplate ending it all—although a fictional character—I have a few more answers than I did before.

James Stryker has a gift, a dazzling gift of turning things dark and morbid into lessons we all should learn and it feels like I am better person for reading Boy: A Journey. So, if Mr. Stryker will allow it, I would be very proud and humble to journey into his mind again.


To get your copy of BOY: A Journey, please visit Nine Star Press or just click here
To stalk er I mean, see what James Stryker is up to - please click here.