Book Blitz & Excerpt: Holiday in Hiding + Giveaway

SECRET SANTA HOLIDAY IN HIDING

I am so excited that HOLIDAY IN HIDING by Lily Michaels is available now and that I get to share the news! If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book, be sure to check out all the details below. 

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a self-care box courtesy of Lily & Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, check out the giveaway info below.

Title: HOLIDAY IN HIDING: A Secret Santa story

Author: Lily Michaels

Pub. Date: December 6, 2022

Publisher: Pride Publishing

Formats:  eBook

Pages: 181

Find it: GoodreadsBooks2Read

FROM EXCITING AUTHOR OF LGBTQIA ROMANCE LILY MICHAELS

A Secret Santa story

Hiding from his past may wind up leading Liam to the merriest Christmas of his life.

Constantly looking over his shoulder has become Liam Carlson’ s norm after five years in witness protection. Living with his new identity has come with a major downgrade in lifestyle and a lack of any meaningful connections. But when he loses his minimum-wage job and the rundown apartment he called home, he finds himself in the middle of a Texas state park waiting for the marshal in charge of his case to help with relocation. A sudden, ferocious storm destroys many of his belongings, including the tent that offered him some protection, but it also heralds in a sexy-as-hell park ranger, Jax Gallagher, who taunts Liam’ s long-neglected libido.

Jax and his wife, Megan, have had an unconventional relationship from the beginning, with a military romance that blossomed into marriage. Their mutual desire to share their love with a third member resulted in several blissful years with another man that ended when they left the service and took on civilian careers. An unexpected visitor in the form of a drenched Liam is the first glimmer of hope since then that they can reclaim the happily-ever-after they thought they’ d lost. Their attraction grows with every second they spend together. While they become closer, another lifesaving rescue also manages to open the door to a career Liam never fathomed.

But the truth of the criminal world Liam grew up in threatens to destroy the still-tenuous bond the three are forming and the bright future Liam never believed possible.


Excerpt:

Prologue

Nate—Liam

A perfect circle of cold steel penetrated through my thin cotton dress shirt. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and fought to keep my hands from shaking. They’d found me…again. It was only a matter of time. I’d known that.

Fuck.

“Don’t move.” The gravelly voice behind me uttered the completely expected command.

I rolled my eyes toward the inky sky, barely noticing the full spectrum of stars. “Exactly how predictable are we going here, Joe? Full-on cartoon villain or just generic mobster? I want to make sure I keep my expectations realistic.”

A laugh, roughened undoubtedly by decades of smoking, was the response. “Name ain’t Joe, but I know exactly who you are, Nathaniel Cogliano.”

“Left off the middle name there, Joe. That’s how you really strike fear into the
hearts of your prey. Take a tip from my ma, since she’s the one paying you to be here.” I sucked in a lungful of air. “And I call all you guys Joe. No need to learn your name, since you pass through soon enough.”

The barrel pressed harder into my back and the man behind me growled. “You think you’re something special? I’ll have you back to the boss man, collect my money and send your ass to the bottom of the river before breakfast.”

That was the moment I knew I could smile. The banter had bought me enough time to center myself and call my nerves under control—a sad fact for ole Joe. I was exactly the protégé my mother had always hoped I’d be. “The river? Really? Can’t we do something just a little more creative? Maybe a warehouse in midtown or a cabin somewhere upstate that you set on fire to cover the evidence? Work with me here, Joe. Bring something to the table so I remember who the fuck you are five years from now.”

“I’m about done with your ‘Joe’ bullshit, and you ain’t gonna live to see another day, much less another year.”

My grin widened. Irritating the latest thug who’d been hired to kill me was almost too easy. Getting the other man frustrated and off his game was the first step to controlling the situation. “Give me your real name or give me a reason to remember you—otherwise I’m just gonna keep calling you Joe, right up until I don’t need to call you anything anymore.”

I wished to every higher being I knew that I could see the man’s face. It was certain to be mottled and reddened from frustration. Fucking with these guys—the ones who were always hiding in the shadows waiting to deliver me into the hands that would destroy me—was one of the few pleasures I could find in my world these days.

Even a night at a strip club didn’t hold the same allure as it once had, which was a damn shame. But surgically enhanced tits shoved in my face weren’t enough to hold my attention when I was looking over my shoulder, literally and metaphorically.

The goon pushed the metal deeper against my spine and I counted to three in my head. As soon as my internal voice whispered, ‘one’, I spun around, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting it behind his back until he let out a piercing scream and the firearm clattered against the pavement. I might be trying to claw my way out of the life of crime I’d been born into and live a more normal, law-abiding life, but the insidious part of my soul relished his painful cry.

The dark beast within me threatened to trample over all my good intentions, and a list of ways to break the hitman now kneeling before me in agony trickled through my mind. I tightened my hold on his arm just a fraction more and wrenched it back a little higher before I pulled my phone from my back pocket with my free hand and hit the number one contact on my speed dial.

Another anguished scream tore from the man’s mouth before I could utter a greeting. “Quiet, Joe. This is important business.”

“Fuck, Nate, what the hell did you get yourself into this time? You’re supposed to be lying low until the trial.” Deputy Xavier Brower’s frustrated and exhausted voice echoed across the line and managed to irritate my nerves that were still pulsing with adrenaline at the latest attempt on  my life.

The nearly animalistic howls ramped up another octave, and I sighed. He was going to wind up attracting a hell of a lot of attention that I wasn’t in the mood to deal with. I released his wrist, brought my knee up to his face and slammed it into his nose. Once he was flat on his back, I lowered my hand in a perfect slice against his carotid artery and he passed out before I’d even straightened my stance, grabbing my phone from the ground where it had fallen in the brief mêlée.

“Still there, Deputy X?” Although the assault had been brief, the events leading up to it combined with the actions to make my breathing slightly labored. It had been a long-ass time since I’d done any hand-to-hand combat, either in training or out in the world. I was clearly getting too soft.

An annoyed exhale was his first response, punctuated by a weighted silence. “Yeah, I’m here. Send your location and restrain the guy. If you’re going to live long enough to testify against your mother and her crew then we are going to have to hide you away.”

They were words I’d known were coming for a long time, but I’d deluded myself into believing I wouldn’t have to hear them until after the trial came, right on the heels of that statement. “Pack your bags, Nate. You’re going into witness protection.”


About Lily Michaels:

A medical professional by day and writer by night, Lily is a huge believer in love being available for everyone. Her novels always include an over the top happily every after for her characters. 

If you want to connect with Lily, find her on Twitter or Facebook and check out her website and book blog.

Website | Twitter | Instagram |TikTokGoodreads | Amazon | BookBub


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a a mystery gift box of self-care items perfect for a “book date night, US Only.

 

Ends December 17th, midnight EST.

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Cover Reveal: Wrath, by Ella James

WRATH-BANNERS-FB-banner (1)

 

WRATH by Ella James
Release Date: June 30th
Genre/Tropes: emotional, forbidden MM stepbrother romance,
New adult romance, sports romance
Cover Designer: Regina Wamba
Photographer: Michelle Lancaster
Cover Model: Lochie Carey

Blurb: 

Josh Miller.

That’s his name, but I just call him DG for Do Gooder.

This guy is relentless. All-American, baby-faced, blue-eyed band dork who’s not a band dork at all, because you can’t be a dork when you’re getting scouted to play college soccer. When he’s not busy being musical or sporty, DG is counting up his Boy Scout badges or front-rowing it at the First Baptist church.

DG is my new stepbrother. Little brother. I’m a whole year older, not that he knows. I don’t think he knows I’m starting senior year a whole year late. And he definitely doesn’t know why. I’ve got secrets I’m taking with me to the grave.

Everyone thinks I came to play varsity football, but I’ve got other plans, and DG’s trying to thwart them all. He’s making my life worse than it already is.

Having him around is a damn plague. But I can fight back. I found out a little secret about perfect Mr. Fairplay High School. He plays for the “other” team. That ball bat he’s got stuffed into his gray sweatpants—it swings “that” way. The best part about this twisted game is when I find out it gets hard for me.

The Do Gooder…he wants me. I don’t know why. But I know how to make him pay.

Wrath is the fourth standalone in the bestselling Sinful Secrets romance collection, where each book is inspired by a sin and centered around a devastating secret. Other Sinful Secrets standalones include Sloth, Murder, and Covet.

Add to Goodreads:

 

PREORDER WRATH

Wrath is an emotional, forbidden MM romance that will be the fourth standalone in the bestselling Sinful Secrets collection, where each book is inspired by a sin and centered on a devastating secret. Now available for pre-order.

 

START THE SERIES of COMPLETE STANDALONES TODAY!

SLOTH

MURDER

COVET

 

About the Author:

Ella James is the USA Today and Amazon Top 10 bestselling author of twenty teen and adult love stories. She’s an angst-a-holic who loves exploring difficult situations and the emotions of the people caught up in them. Also, smut. But always, always romance.

Ella is an Alabama native who makes her home near Boulder, Colorado, with her writer husband, three young children, and hyperactive dog. When she’s not writing, she can be found hiking the foothills, taking nature photos for her Instagram account, and swilling vanilla cream soda.

Connect w/Ella:
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Book Blitz & Excerpt: The Vanishing of Owen Taylor + Giveaway

Book Title: The Vanishing of Owen Taylor

Author:  Kyle Michel Sullivan

Publisher:  KMSCB

Cover Artist: JamTheCat

Release Date: April 28, 2016

Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Murder Mystery/Suspense

Trope/s: Anti-gay conspiracy, intolerance, corrupt legal system

Themes: Cost of unconditional love

Warning: References to rape

Heat Rating: 3 out of 5

Length: 121 070 words/ 355 pages in PB; 274 in HC

Is it a standalone book? Somewhat. Jake Blaine is the MC in this book, and it’s a semi-followup to Rape in Holding Cell 6, a book I wrote with his lover, Antony, as the MC…but it’s not absolutely necessary you read that book to follow this one (tho’ it might help, at the beginning).

Add on Goodreads 

Book 1 – Rape in Holding Cell 6

 

Buy Links

Author’s Blog   |   Smashwords

    

When his uncle disappears, Jake goes to Palm Springs to find out why only to get caught in a web of fear, hate, betrayal … and what looks more and more like murder … with Jake targeted as the next victim.

 

Blurb 

Was it murder? Suicide? Or did Owen Taylor vanish to avoid prosecution for rape? Everyone had their own idea, but the only note he left behind was sent to his nephew, Jacob Blaine, in Denmark … which was crazy, because Owen knew Jake was currently living in the States.

Of course this happened at the worst possible time for Jake. He was helping his lover, Antony, fight bogus criminal charges; his estranged, anti-gay mother was battling cancer; his job in Copenhagen wanted him to return there — now; and worst of all … Antony was pushing him away. It was tearing him apart.

But Uncle Owen had backed him up through some rough times, so Jake made what he thought would be a short trip to Palm Springs, to see if he could find out what happened. He re-connected with Dion, his first true love, and then he discovered other men had also disappeared. On top of that, an organization called PSALMS was spreading hate and distrust of the gay community as part of their plan to turn back gay rights.

The more Jake dug into Owen’s disappearance, the more he found lies, deceit and treachery by members of the police force, people in the DA’s office, and even some of Owen’s friends. And behind it all was someone who would do everything they could to keep their true motives hidden.

Even have Jake vanish, as well.

Excerpt

This is from the end of Book 1, Part 4, where Jake has Antony and their techie-roommate, Matt, do some research:

They read the message and Matt did some cross-referencing on his diamond-sharp laptop as I spoke, popping in with, “Okay, got that here,” and, “It fits.” He also found a chart showing Warren Philby had a ninety-five percent conviction rate and was talking about running for Riverside District Attorney in the next election. As a Republican with a Tea Party bent.

Already I hated the prick.

That’s when I noticed Tone looking at me with his quiet, wary expression, so I snarled, “You don’t believe my uncle’d molest a kid, do you?”

“No.” He frowned like he was insulted I’d even asked him that question.

“So what…is…it?”

“I dunno. It just doesn’t line up with…well, your father called your mother, asking about your uncle’s condos and — “

“Condos? He had more’n one?”

“Four. One he lived in; three he rented out. He also owns some other property.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, how d’you know my father called mom?”

“She…she told me.”

I nearly fell off the chair. “My mother called you?”

Tone blinked and looked away. “Uh…looking for you. I…I told her you were…you were out of the country.”

“When?”

“Day before yesterday.”

Man, I should’ve gone to see her the second I got back.

“What’d she say to you, Tone?”

He sighed. “She knows why you’re here. And she…she said stuff like, That’s just like you, to let people drag you down. Then she gave me her number and address — “

“I know that shit,” I said. “I’m goin’ straight over.”

“She’s moved, Jake,” said Matt.

“She sold her townhouse? She loved that place.”

“Just telling you what she told me,” Tone said. He gave me a slip of paper with a phone number and address.

“This is south side,” I muttered.

Tone shrugged. He wouldn’t know, but my mother was one of those types who only want to live around acceptable people. In her eyes, Southside was…borderline…at best.

“Matt, we’ll be right back.” I went around the counter, took Tone by the arm and guided him up into the bedroom, then closed the door, sat him on the bed and kneeled before him, looking hard into his eyes.

“Y’know, I had lunch with Mira. Is there anything you want to tell me?”

He hesitated then looked straight back at me, his eyes sharp as cut diamonds. “That therapist I’m seeing…that the state’s making me see. I…I asked him to talk with her. Told him she’s a psychologist and has a clinic in Paris and…and I wanted her to know everything that happened was on me. Not you.”

“She already knew that.”

“…Maybe. This verified it.”

“And you talk about me not tellin’ you things?”

“I…uh…I didn’t think she’d let you know.”

“Great defense. So what’s in those notes?”

He looked away. “You already know everything in them.”

I took a deep breath. “Tone…what. The fuck. Is goin’ on, here?” He just stared at the wall. No expression. I took his face in my hands and made him look at me. “Okay, whatever it was that my mother said to you — keep in mind…that bitch kicked me out of her home when I was seventeen. I haven’t seen her since, so what she knows about me and who I am is zero. Zip. Nada. Anything she says is just her messin’ with us.”

He shrugged me off and said, “But she’s right. You wouldn’t be here except for me.”

“You’re right, you little shit — I wouldn’t. I’d be fresh out of jail. Or still livin’ in Nana’s house. Barely existing. I’d never have met my brothers and sisters in Paris, or gotten to work with my Uncle Ari, or become a Danish citizen. I’d be an ex-con. But I’m here, alive, because of you. So what. Did. My mother. Say. To you?”

“Just…just what I told you.”

“Bullshit!” No response. I sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor. “You don’t wanna talk, don’t. But this is a woman who told her only child that she hates him bein’ queer.”

“Maybe…maybe you shouldn’t go see her…“

“I got to. Somethin’ is goin’ on with my uncle and the only way to get the truth of what she knows is a face-to-face.”

He ran his hand through my hair. God, I loved it when he did that. Then he whispered, “Should I stock up on alcohol?”

I sighed from the emotion in his voice and nodded. “Twelve-pack. No, fuck it — Tequila.”

“I’ll get some mixers and we’ll make a nice queeny night of it. A Christian, a Muslim, and a Jew had a party…“ He snorted. “Sounds like the setup for a joke.”

I made him look at me. “Hey, I’m half Catholic.”

His hand whispered over my cheek and his eyes grew hurt, again. “My all-American mutt.”

All I could think to say was, “Don’t let mom mess with us, Tone.” He ruffled my hair then got up and left the room.

I leaned against the bed. He’d lied to me. My mother’s crap comments weren’t bad enough to rip him up. There was definitely something else going on in his head, and he’d used them as a wall to hide behind.

Well…sitting on the floor wasn’t getting anything done. I got up, got dressed, and headed over to the insurance company where she worked. I wanted a professional environment around us, in case things got nasty, because she was damn well going to explain to me what the hell she was pulling.

Only it turned out she hadn’t worked there in nearly three years.

Man…I had a lot of catching up to do, with her.

 

About the Author 

Kyle Michel Sullivan is a writer and self-involved artist out to change the world until it changes him…as has already happened in far too many ways.

He has written books that range from sunshine and light (“David Martin”) to cold and dark (“How To Rape A Straight Guy”, which has been banned a couple of times) to flat out crazy (“The Lyons’ Den”) to mainstream (“The Alice ’65”). He has now ventured into SF-Horror-Suspense with “The Beast in the Nothing Room” and taken Capitalism to its logical extreme in “Hunter”.

He is currently working to complete “A Place of Safety”, his Irish novel; “Darian’s Point”, a gothic horror story set in Ireland; and “Dair’s Window”, about an artist trying to rebuild his world after the death of his lover.

Kyle uses Tolstoy as his guide, and is trying to build characters as vivid and real as possible. He has a lot of fun doing it mixed with angst, anger, and amazement… but that’s the lot of a writer.

Author Links

Blog/Website  |  Facebook  |   Twitter  |   Instagram

 

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win  a signed hardcover copy of The Vanishing of Owen Taylor or a signed paperback set of Rape in Holding Cell 6 & The Vanishing of Owen Taylor 

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Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

 

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