Blog Tour: As Big As The Sky by Amy Aislin #Review #Giveaway

Thank you for hosting me today on my blog tour for my newest novella, As Big As the Sky, my second book from MLR Press.

Today, I’m talking web comics and manga!

In As Big As the Sky, there are several references made to Bo’s favourite web comic, Scythe and Swords. The inspiration for Scythe and Swords, believe it or not, came to me in a dream (I’m not even kidding). Bo has just taken over running his sister’s animal rehab centre while she’s away taking a course for a few months, and he’s all alone in a new town, with no family or friends. Scythe and Swords, and other comics, are his way of escaping, just like books, for me, are my way of escaping.

My favourite web comic is an m/m one called Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It’s funny and sweet and will keep you hooked for hours. It’s about a figure skater turned college hockey player who loves to bake pies. There’s lots of hockey, lots of banter, lots of friendships, and an adorable romance between said figure skater turned hockey player and one of his teammates.

Another favourite is The Young Protectors. Think X-Men but with a gay lead.

As for manga, I will admit to not having read much, so if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears! One that I love is Cardcaptor Sakura, which is funny and full of magic.

One day I will write the novel based on Scythe and Swords…but that day is very far away :)

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Length: 37,000 words

Publisher: MLR Press

Blurb

Sam wants nothing to do with his irresponsible, sarcastic neighbor...or does he?
Sam McAuley is having a rough start to the summer: Not only is he being sued, but the new guy running the animal rehabilitation center next door has no idea what he’s doing and his runaway chickens constantly end up in Sam’s pristine yard.

Everything is temporary for Bo Novak. For as long as he can remember, it’s been one town to the next, one school to the next, one job to the next. Even his current job—running his sister’s animal rehab center while she’s away on a four-month leave—is temporary. And he does know what he’s doing, thank you very much. Sure, things don’t always run smoothly, but the stick-in-the-mud next door could be a little nicer about it.

One overheard conversation, an olive branch, and a baseball game might show these guys that being at odds isn’t really what they want, and that what they want might just be each other.

Review

As Big As The Sky begins with two characters who couldn't be more wrong about each other. Their discovery of who the other really is is a fun, sweet and sexy journey.

When we meet Sam McAuley, he is not having a great day, a great summer really. He is being sued and has a very pesky chicken in his prized garden. He lives next door to an animal rehabilitation center that is temporarily being run by the owner's brother. 

Bo Novak is running his sister's animal rehabilitation center for four months while she's away furthering her education. Bo is at a crossroads in life, has been for awhile now. He's moved or been moved around all his life. Everyone may see him as a flake, but Bo is just finding his way. The grumpy neighbor next door to his sister isn't helping. Bo was hoping to make a new friend, but all he made was a bad first impression.

Sam overhears Bo one night and realizes how lonely he is and extends the offer of friendship. The two start spending time together, share meals and Sam takes Bo to his first baseball game. These two find out that they genuinely like each other and that sometimes first impressions are wrong. Sam is still dealing with being sued and Bo with being treated like a flake by his sister. Life feels a little easier and a lot sweeter when you have someone on your side though. Bo and Sam will each have some decisions to make when summers over. Luckily, these two might just want the same things.

I found myself really caring about Sam and especially, about Bo! These guys are so sweet to each other and so sexy together. It's so nice to read a book that has so much heart. 5 stars for me.

August 4 - Xtreme Delusions
August 7 - The Geekery Book Review
August 8 - Bayou Book Junkie
August 9 - Millsy Loves Books, Cupcakes and Bookshelves
August 10 - MM Good Book Reviews
August 11 - Au Boudior Ecarlate, Sarandipity, Making It Happen
August 14 - Diverse Reader, Books Lovers 4Ever, Bayou Book Junkie, Nicole's Book Musings, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wicked Faerie's Tales & Reviews, Jessie G Books
August 15 - Love Bytes
August 18 - My Fiction Nook

Author Bio

Amy started writing on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class was forced to stay inside for recess. Tales of adventures with her classmates quickly morphed into tales of adventures with the characters in her head. Based in the suburbs of Toronto, Amy is a marketer at a large environmental non-profit in Toronto by day, and a writer by night. Book enthusiast, animal lover and (very) amateur photographer, Amy's interests are many and varied, including travelling, astronomy, ecology, and baking.

Amy loves connecting with readers! You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter or sign up for her infrequent newsletter at www.amyaislin.com/signup

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

Blog Tour: A Single Heartbeat by Morgan Elektra ~Guest Post #Review #Giveaway #Excerpt

Title: A Single Heartbeat

Author: Morgan Elektra

Page number (approx): 46

Publisher: MLR Press (mlrbooks.com)

Publication date: 12/29/16
Reviewed by Meredith

Synopsis

Nature made them adversaries, but one glance ignites a lust stronger than the need for blood.

After 200 years, the nightlife has lost its allure for Reese. A leader among his kind, owner of a nightclub that serves as a banquet of nubile flesh and hot blood, he is bored out of his mind.

His heart hasn't stirred in over a century.

Born to a line of vampire hunters, Will ventures out every day after dark to track down those creatures who have crossed the line from feeding to murder, and destroy them.

All he wants is one night off to drink and dance and maybe get laid.

Too bad it's not his lucky night. Or maybe it is?

Not even witnessing Will stake one of his brethren is enough to quell the lust that Reese feels from his first glimpse of the gorgeous hunter. And though Will knows how dangerous it could be to take the sensual invitation in Reese's dark eyes, he can't resist.

Why fight when they could fuck instead?

Buy Links

Amazon * B&N * Kobo

Review

A Single Heartbeat is an enemies to lovers novella. Reese and Will are the MC's of this story. Reese is an ancient vampire who's very over the whole vampire thing. Currently, he's running a nightclub called Sang and just trudging through eternity.

Will is a vampire hunter who decides to spend a night out with friends and just let loose. Of course it's to the nightclub Sang. Will and Reese have an insta-lust situation going on but, but how can that work, right?

I found this novella to be fast paced and tons of fun. It's extremely sexy and Will and Reese embracing their sexual desires is the reason for that.

I never mind novellas, going in I always know it's going to be on the short side. For this, I felt like there was so much more story left to tell. I hope this is just the beginning and that there will be more of these two in future books. It's really very entertaining and I enjoyed it a lot.

Excerpt

Someone’s eyes were on him, caressing his body like a sensual touch. Will let that feeling fill him as he twisted and swayed to the throbbing music. His skin tingled and heated, but he didn’t open his eyes, didn’t seek out that velvet gaze.

Not yet.

Every gyration seemed to shake off another layer of tension and exhaustion. The heat and press of so many bodies made him feel less alone. He basked in that, sweat prickling at this temples and trickling down his throat.

He let it all build inside him, thrumming in his blood and brain and gut. His cock thickened in his pants, pressing against the zipper.

When he couldn’t stand it anymore, Will opened his eyes.

He didn’t have to search the crowd for even a second. As soon as he lifted his lids, he saw him. Half in shadow, his voyeur leaned against a wide column, arms crossed over his chest. His black suit was perfectly tailored to his long, lean body. The crisp, blue shirt underneath complemented the ebony hair and porcelain skin. He looked expensive and elegant, despite the scruff of stubble on his cheeks and chin.

But it was the look in his dark eyes that went right to the base of Will’s spine like a bolt of lightning.

It was feral and hungry and needy. Dangerous.

Just Will’s type.

Guest Post

Hi, my name Morgan, and I’m a bookaholic.

This is the absolute truth, and the secret to my desire to become an author.

Before I learned to read on my own, my father used to read to me. He had a big, ugly, daddy chair in the living room that was covered in this scratchy plaid (brown, beige, and green) fabric, and every night before bed he would read me a story while we sat in that chair. Mostly Dr. Seuss. I remember loving The Butter Battle Book in particular. And The Sneetches and Other Stories.

There was a room in the house we called the den, that had a woodstove and couches and bookshelves built into the walls. My parents had a decent book collection, including a shelf full of Andrew Lang’s colored fairy books and two entire shelves of original Nancy Drew hardbacks that belonged to my grandmother. Once I learned how to read on my own, I became obsessed with Nancy and her crew, and the Lang tales from so many different cultures and places in the world.

Books cracked open my skull and poured in all these fantastic, beautiful images. Mysteries, ghosts, jungles full of bright green leaves and tigers who could speak. I welcomed it, the way earth craves rain.

And when things get stressful, as they so often do in life, I still retreat into a book for a bit of R&R.

We don’t have a den in our house, but the advent of ebooks means I can have 500 titles at the tips of my fingers without taking up a whole room. My Kindle is full of a lot of romance and erotica, especially. While I’m willing to read just about anything, I crave my sexytimes and Happily-Ever-Afters.

There are a few series that I go to time and time again, that hold my heart and mind.

I have an incredible soft spot for Richelle Mead’s Georgina Kincaid series. A bit of a modern day Nancy Drew, Georgina solves a mystery each book, but the world Mead created is incredibly vivid and peopled with characters I just love. Every time I read it, I still get that kick & clench in my chest when something bad happens. My heart still hurts when things seem lost. I cry at the Happily Ever After the succubus eventually gets.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is another that I never get tired of, no matter how many times I reread it. More recently, I discovered Nora Sakavic’s All For the Game series & C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince Trilogy (thanks, Tumblr!) and have fallen in love with them as well. I sense they will become reread staples as well.

One of the things about each of these series that I adore so much is the way they treat love and sex. Each author makes the characters these whole beings. Even when I don’t agree with their actions, or get frustrated by them, it comes from a place of belief. I believe in these people. In their existence and their emotions, their wants and needs.

The authors treat them with the that belief and with respect, and it makes their stories real. It makes the sex they have resonate so deeply and passionately to me, whether it’s Georgina feeling some sort of connection with a certain nephilim because of their individual brokenness, Neil & Andrew’s slow exploration and constant reaffirmation of consent, or Claire and Jamie copping a quickie after a raid.

It all fires my blood.

When I was little and  I started to grasp what amazing things could be found in the pages of book, that was when I started wanting to do that. To share those things that began to sprout in my mind each time I read something new. To give others what I got. Gorgeous new worlds and flawed new people.

I love characters who are snarky and guarded and gorgeous. Or tender, quiet, and overly anxious. Characters who become real. And I like to see them get both sexual satisfaction and emotional fulfillment. Often, and with a lot of lube.

Now, after years of writing and sharing my work with with only friends and family, I finally have a novella out and it is every bit as fantastic as I could have imagined. Knowing people are reading my words, seeing the world that grew in my brain, it is one of the best feelings in the world. Will and Reese were meant to be shared.

I hope you enjoy them as much I do.

About the Author

Born in the artists' community of Woodstock, NY, Morgan Elektra discovered her passion for writing at a young age, penning stories of witches, vampires, and monsters at the dining room table. After years working day jobs and moonlighting as a reviewer for popular genre website Dread Central, Morgan left the comfort of an office to follow her dreams of writing fiction. She spent the early twenty-teens as a freelance ghostwriter of erotica, but has now put aside the masks to write under her own name.

She currently lives near Savannah, GA with her husband, their cat Harlequin, and—if the rumours are to be believed (and she sincerely hopes they are)—an awful lot of ghosts.

Author contact info:

Twitter - @MorganElektra

Facebook- facebook.com/ByMorganElektra

Email - morganelektra@gmail.com

Giveaway

I’m giving away 3 ebook copies of A Single Heartbeat! Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter (up to 13 possible entries per person). Winners will be announced here and on my various social media outlets on Wednesday March 22nd, 9pm eastern.

Thanks for listening to me ramble, and thanks to Meredith and Diverse Reader for having me! If you want to drop me a line, you can find me at bymorganelektra.wordpress.com, or on Twitter @MorganElektra.

a Rafflecopter giveaway