Fantasy Time: What does your dream home and dream neighbor look like?

Fantasy Time: What does your dream home and dream neighbor look like?

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Let’s play a game. Let your imagination run wild when thinking about this question.

What’s your dream home and who’s your dream neighbor?

In this scenario you’re free to live anywhere and have any kind of home your heart desires. And when you move into your ideal neighborhood, who would you be super happy to see living across the street?

(I wanna make some joke about the eye candy adding curb appeal but I don’t have it.)

Are you picturing a log cabin in the mountains with a sexy lumberjack? Or a palatial estate with an infinity pool, acres upon acres of land, and a classically handsome hottie with a square jaw grinning at you from his sports car?

Admittedly my head started somewhere around the latter but then I realized I’m a whimsical romantic sort. Cute, cozy, and a little quirky is much more my speed. So I started searching for fairytale-esque cottages.

The house is in Carmel-by-the-Sea California. Awesome name, and you don’t even have to ask if it’s near the sea because it’s right there in the title. The town apparently attracts artists and oddballs that want the area to retain its eccentric charm, so I’m guessing there’s no Chipotle nearby but otherwise looks like a nice place to live.

And since this is a fantasy I don’t have to ask myself who would water those plants and why I thought I could handle the responsibility of keeping them alive.

My ideal neighbor was a bit of a challenge because I wanted someone super good looking who also might be able to walk into a small cottage without bumping his head.

I went with Freddie Stroma from Bridgerton, though I recently watched him on Unreal where sometimes he looks nice and conventionally attractive and other times he grows a beard or gets this steely look in eye and goes from cute to dirty hot in a very appealing way.

The inspiration for today’s hypothetical question came to me based on my newest novel.

The book is a paranormal romance, so I suppose the scenario actually goes like this: What if your new home came with everything you desired, including a sexy new neighbor? What if your new neighbor was also a werewolf?

The Werewolf’s Heart is my new book that launches on May 9th. There’s a lot more to share with you soon, including the cover and special release day bonuses.

(No idea if this needs to be said, but in case you’re wondering, the book is of course M/M.)

Book Review: Witchfire by Austin Oakley

Book Review: Witchfire by Austin Oakley

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General Summary: Werewolves and a wayward hunter help one witch unlock his birthright. But starting fires and hunting the creatures who go bump in the night brings danger for him and everybody in his life.

Overall Impression: An intriguing first book with a keen sense of location. There’s an engaging love story and lots of potential for expansion.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Rainbow Roy unicorn plush toys

Is that a rusty sword in your pocket or are you happy to see me: Landon thinks he’s a regular guy in a small town, working to keep his family farm alive until a stranger asks Landon to sharpen his blade with witchcraft. Which is not a pickup line, though if it were, it would be a memorable one. Too bad it comes with the side effect of making the recipient wonder if you’re crazy.

Rousseau isn’t crazy. He’s a hunter tracking a werewolf, and this brings them together as they start an adventure bigger than one wolf. One of them is a plucky protagonist who makes wise cracks and flirts, the other is a tough guy hunter with a tragic past. While there are many serious and suspenseful moments, the romance is pretty much always adorable.

Your sex is on fire: there are all kinds of metaphors about steamy romance, being hot as fire, sizzling chemistry, etc. But in this book, the sex is literally on fire. Which is fun and makes for a memorable love scene.  

(I’m not a huge fan of this song, but I feel compelled to put it here anyway)

Titles are hard: If I were rating my ability to remember the title of this book, I would say 0 out of 5. There was fire on the cover and the dude wields said fire, so my brain decided the title was Firestarter and would not be dissuaded from this. I eventually realized that wasn’t the title and so somehow I started referring to it as Firebrand instead. It’s actually pretty simple. The main character is a witch. He makes fire. Witchfire. There ya go.

There were a fair number of typos and formatting issues, which bothers some people, so I should mention that. It has been a minute since I read the book, so it’s also possible this has already been corrected.

From from the novel

Witchfire

A small town boy. A dark stranger. And secrets that no one was supposed to uncover.

When cattle begin to turn up dead on the family farm, twenty four year-old Landon Winfield assumes it’s the usual culprits. But along with the string of mysterious deaths that threaten him and his mother’s struggling farm, the arrival of a handsome newcomer with strange tattoos brings Landon face to face — or more like face to frothy mouthed muzzle —with the real predator that stalks the forests of Rock Creek.

A werewolf.

Yeah, those exist. And apparently, so do people that hunt them. Crazy, right?

The shocking revelations continue as the attractive hunter Rousseau reveals that Landon is a witch and has the power to summon fire at his fingertips. But his hands aren’t the only thing that heats up as he and the hunter work closely together to rid the small town of its werewolf problem and Landon finds himself falling for the knife-wielding stranger from Texas.

As they get closer, so does the angry beast that’s stalking them and Landon must embrace his newfound power if he hopes to save the farm, his family, and the hunter that holds his heart.

Vampire Origin Stories

Vampire Origin Stories

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered why vampires are called vampires? It had never crossed my mind to ask where the name came from until I came across the origin when looking up what a group of vampires were called. (the answer is lots of things, but I like clan best.)

‘Vampire’ comes from the Greek word, are you ready for this, one who drinks blood. Yeah. Kinda anticlimactic. And literal. At least if you’re an ancient Greek.

Well, actually, this is what I thought vampire meant, until I saw the origin only meant ‘drink’ and apparently my brain just added the blood part after.

So now I know. Even if it only comes from a word meaning drink, it’s still not a very creative name for a very creative concept. Since, you know, vampires are fictional and only exist in imaginary form. Right? Yes.

 Yet I feel like I should keep the mystery alive and be all ~ooooglly, spooky, you never know~ because that’s more exciting, but I am a big wimp. True story, the only reason I’m agnostic about ghosts and aliens is because I am not ready for either to introduce themselves to me.

Since I learned this info when writing my M/M paranormal romance Vampires vs. Werewolves? I feel like I should mention it here. That feels like an authorly thing to do.

Vitality

Vitality

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, I wish to talk about my Kindle Vella novel, Invisi-bi-lity, but I’m not sure what to say. I had one image quote and post to make without having a plan for the content. This is always a dangerous situation, so let’s start with the easy stuff.

Description: John Hyde often feels overlooked. Even his best friend Cody doesn’t truly see him or that his feelings have changed from friendly to romantic. So he’s wondered before if anyone would notice if he disappeared, but he never thought he’d find out until he literally turns invisible. Is this the world’s worst superpower, a hex from a vengeful witch, or has bisexual erasure taken on new meaning? Whatever’s going on, if John can’t make himself seen soon he’ll vanish forever.

Hooray, I have now thought of either a terrible or perfect segue for the scene I’m sharing: in my novel, Cody and John go together like five ‘i’s in ‘invisibility.’ It’s vital! Yes, I admit this metaphor isn’t very catchy. (If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, check out this post about my titling woes for Invisi-bi-lity.)

In this scene, Cody tells John about his vitalness to Cody’s life. John is freaking out because he’s invisible for some reason?

~

I’d give anything to throw open the door and reassure Cody, but what will he find waiting on the other side? I’m afraid to look in the mirror again. There’s no way I’m invisible and yet… Whatever’s happening, I’m starting to believe the impossible. It’s terrifying.

 “What’s going on?” Cody asks quietly.

“Do you ever feel like you don’t exist? Do you worry nobody would notice if you were gone?”

“I’d notice,” he answers fiercely and immediately. “I would notice and I’m so glad you’re here. Don’t ever think of going anywhere.”

“I won’t,” I prom—say, because unfortunately, that might not be a promise I can keep right now.

“Besides,” Cody says. “How can I be myself without you in my life?”

Rising up with shaky legs, my head peeks over the bathroom counter—oh thank god. There I am.

After opening the door, I’m not sure who moves into who, but we wrap our arms around each other and don’t move for a long time. Things seem normal again. Normal enough. Feeling his burgundy wool sweater between my fingers makes me hold on tighter. In Cody’s arms, everything will be okay.

-Read more here!

M/M Paranormal Romance Novel Review: The Alpha’s Warlock by Eliot Grayson

M/M Paranormal Romance Novel Review: The Alpha’s Warlock by Eliot Grayson

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Quick summary: An amateur warlock must make an impossible choice: mate or die. The former doesn’t sound so bad when tying himself to a gorgeous tough alpha… who hates his guts. Is die still on the table? Possibly, if their enemies get their way.

Overall Impression: This enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance is right up my alley, so I LOVED IT SO MUCH and highly recommend. Lots of ‘I hate you but you’re hot’ and snarking at each other even during life-threatening situations, their need to bicker is so strong.

Rating: five out five magical socks (or ten if they’re in pairs)

The enemy of my enemy

Nate has lots of potential, but his father siphoned away and controlled his magic when he was alive. The young warlock is a relatively late bloomer, still learning to use gifts. The story starts when a fun night out got him kidnapped and nearly bonded to a member of the Kimball pack. He seeks help from their neighboring rivals, the Armitages.

Except their help requires more than borrowing a cup of sugar or hiding out in their territory. The mating bond process has already been started on his end and he needs to complete it or he’ll die.

Nate already knows his potential new mate, which is part of the problem. He is incredibly sure Ian despises him and has always despised him. Ian used to glare daggers at him when they were kids, and he’s drawn to yet also on guard against the tight-lipped wolf. And if you don’t know where this is going, you will probably be able to tell when you read it. So I don’t wanna spoil, and even if it is a bit predictable, let’s just say that when they clear things up I wasn’t surprised, but I still found it very satisfying and well-done.

At least buy me dinner first

This is an enemies to lovers story on steroids as the enemies are forced not only to have sex but bind their souls together. Undoing it is technically possible but not exactly easy or pleasant. The ‘fuck or die’ trope naturally comes with implied consent issues, though I would say both people don’t want Nate to die and are as on board as they can be given the circumstances.

In fact, the sex part is simple. Or should I say totally scorching hot and delicious because it is very damn good smut, a+ steamy scenes. The other parts give them more issues, as they’re suddenly living with a stranger who maybe hates you and they’re forced to get along and work together while sinister forces conspire against them.

There’s a fair bit of angst with their feelings, which I adored, but even if you don’t enjoy angst the main character Nate is full of humor and snark. Such a witty protagonist, he builds the drama one moment then has me cracking up. This was the first novel I read where sprinting through the woods and evading pursuers turns into a piggyback ride, which is honestly a travesty since this scene is delightful as hell. And Nate is lucky he barely has to search for shoes because he can craft the perfect footwear with his powers. It pays to be a witch with magical powers. How do I make this happen?

From the Novel

The Alpha’s Warlock

Cursed, mated, and in for the fight of their lives…

Warlock Nate Hawthorne just wants a cup of coffee. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. Because instead of precious caffeine, all he gets is cursed by a pack of werewolves who want to use him for his magic. Now the only way to fix the damage is a mate bond to a grumpy and oh-so-sexy alpha in the rival pack, who happens to hate him. This is so not how he wanted to start his day.

Ian Armitage never intended to take Nate as his mate. The Hawthorne family can’t be trusted. Ian knows that better than anyone. The fact that he’s lusted after the way-too-gorgeous man for years? Totally irrelevant. Ian’s just doing what is necessary to protect his pack. This whole mating arrangement has nothing to do with love and never will. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Nate and Ian will have to work together if they have any hope of staving off the pack’s enemies and averting disaster. That’s assuming they can stop arguing (and keep their hands off each other) long enough to save the day…

The Alpha’s Warlock is an explicit M/M paranormal romance featuring a snarky warlock, a brooding alpha werewolf, knotting, enchanted socks (long story), and a guaranteed happily ever after. This series does not contain mpreg.

The Mismatched Mates Series

The Alpha’s Warlock

Captive Mate

A Very Armitage Christmas

First Blood

The Alpha Experiment

Lost and Bound

How to be Luke, a thing Luke is wondering

How to be Luke, a thing Luke is wondering

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Luke is a regular guy living in a small town, and bisexuality is way too complicated for him to understand. Or at least, he’s having trouble understanding it. But that’s probably because he’s not bi. He’s only liked one guy before, his boyfriend Ryan. And Luke is currently avoiding his best friend Zach after catching the other guy making out with some dude at a party and being turned on. Anyway.

Anyway, Luke often inadvertently goes to the scariest teacher at his school for advice. Even though she’s super scary, she’s also smart and a lesbian. So this a deleted scene from One Little Lie where he does just that.

~

Luke

Overall, Ryan was probably a good influence in my life. But in this regard, he corrupted me as I completely skipped homeroom. I just didn’t feel like going. That was my story and I was sticking to it. Until I turned down a hallway and saw Zach heading my way and ducked into the nearest classroom before he saw me.

I looked around and found myself in Mrs. Sharp’s classroom. Okay, fine. This was an appropriate punishment; I deserved this. And while I didn’t have Zach to talk to at the moment, I had Ryan. Who I told everything, even though I wasn’t sure if this was the relevant information he wanted or not. And I felt weird talking about it, so I mostly explained through emojis, like two guys, lips, an eggplant, and a bunch of question marks. The important thing was that I tried to communicate. A for effort and all that.

So, I wasn’t being a coward. I was still making steps forward. I wasn’t hiding anymore.

I mean. I was hiding from Zach. Literally. I wasn’t metaphorically hiding.

And Mrs. Sharp had said she was around to talk. I couldn’t tell her the whole thing, but she probably had helpful advice underneath the scariness. She’d been a lesbian and living in this town for a long time. She didn’t have a class and peered at me dubiously after I barged in.

She seemed almost amused by my entrance at first until I just stared at her and she just stared at me and then I got the feeling every moment I wasted her time was a moment she would make me suffer for later, so I had to get right to it.

I meant to ask something helpful and important but instead I went with, “Do you like that drag race show?”

She paused for a moment, not expecting that. At least it was so unexpected she forgot about her wrath. I am such an accidental genius. “What kind of question is that?”

I sighed and hung my head. “Of course you like it.” Everyone gay liked it. And I—

She smiled. “Actually, I don’t.”

“Really?”

“My wife says I should love it.” She smiled just thinking about her wife, then her expression turned wry. “But it’s a bunch of grownups acting catty and immature. I already deal with a bunch of teenagers being catty and immature, why do I need more of that in my life?”

“But you’re—” I fidgeted. “I mean…”

“Luke, there is no one way to be gay.” She sounded way more patient discussing this than she did when trying to explain Gulliver’s Travels to our class. There wasn’t a lot of adults I could talk to about this so that was kinda nice.

“I know that,” I said because I’d heard that before. But maybe that was different than knowing it.

“You can know something in the abstract but the reality is different.” Yeah, what she said.

But I had to make sure that, “We’re still talking about the same thing right and you haven’t started on a lesson about the Lilliputians or Houyhnhnms? Because reading that once was enough.” Those were tiny people and talking horses in reality but in the abstract represented other things. It was satire, I got that, but couldn’t it just be a good story without having to mean something?

She raised an eyebrow. “Did you read the material or find a summary online?”

“Um, can we get back to the subject?” I totally started the reading… then I just found a summary online.

“Which is what?” she asked with a smirk. “Drag Race?”

“I guess.” I put my hands in my pockets and looked down. Oh hell. “I wanted to talk to an adult before my parents,” I admitted. “Someone who will tell me it’s all gonna be alright.”

“I can’t promise you that,” she spoke gently again and didn’t look scary at all. “But you will face whatever happens,” she said like it was a fact.

“How can I tell them when I don’t even know if I fit?”

“There’s nothing to fit.” When she saw I wasn’t sure about that, she thought about it and continued with, “Alright, how about this? Don’t think of it as adding something new to your life and trying to make room for it. It’s already part of you, so it already fits.” Now she might as well be talking about Gulliver’s Travels again.

I shook my head. “But it’s not, I didn’t even, um.” I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t tell her this whole thing took me by surprise. “I don’t know.” It hadn’t been a part of me until I pulled Ryan into my life.

She seemed to get enough of what I meant anyway. “When or how you discovered this part of yourself isn’t relevant. This aspect of your personality was something you haven’t noticed before, I take it, but that doesn’t mean it hadn’t been there all along.”

“Hmm.” That was… I don’t know. I guess that meant that this didn’t have to change who I was. Was that really possible? Or maybe some changes were okay, but they didn’t change who I was because this was who I was all along? That was kinda a nice thought.

I wasn’t disappointing anyone by being this way, I couldn’t do anything to change it. It was just who I was. Things had changed because I realized something about myself, but I hadn’t changed. I guess.

“That’s it?” She asked after a moment. “No denial, bargaining? Insults?”

“I can definitely insult you if you want,” I responded immediately before I remembered I was talking to a teacher about this and not Zach. “Uh, I mean… I don’t know just, yeah. That’s something to think about.”

I had so many thing to think about. Still, that wasn’t the worst conversation in the world. I didn’t know if I quite believed her entirely, but it was a little reassuring. I didn’t have to like drag queens who weren’t really racing. I didn’t have to start wearing feather boas. I could change, but I didn’t have to change.

Still, I felt like a blank canvas or maybe a chalkboard, everything else had been wiped away. What happened next was up to me. I could put the same stuff back on the board. Or do something new or some combination of the two. I could just be me.  The only problem was that I wasn’t totally sure who that was at the moment.

Titles are hard. Even when they’re easy.

Titles are hard. Even when they’re easy.

by fnmanning ♥ 1 Comment

When it comes to novel ideas, I’m fantastic. I can dream up ideas all day long, there’s ideas coming out the wazoo… you get the gist. The follow through, however, is where I start running into problems. And slapping a title on a finished creation that miraculously made its way from idea to publishable-novel? Ugh.

Damn, people still like titles? Yeah. It’s not easy.

I like short clean titles that are a word or two because this is easy and classy. And also I’m lazy. But often short titles can’t sum up the whole work on its own and also doesn’t really intrigue people as much as something more compelling and thought out.

But for my latest novel about best friends falling in love, magical hexes, and bisexuality, I thought I had the perfect title all set and ready to go.

Okay, here’s the premise:

Our hero John is an overlooked 16-year-old in Buffalo, New York. His quest to come out as bi and confess his love for his best friend becomes infinitely more complicated when he starts disappearing from view.

So what’s it called? Invisi-bi-lity.

Yes, still one word, but the way it breaks up provides two of the most important points: there’s invisibility and bisexuality involved. Truthfully, I wanted to call the book ‘invisible.’ I ran into my first snag when realizing how invisible was actually spelled.

‘Bi’ is not in ‘invisible.’ Now I know. Changing it to invisibility solved that.

My next hiccup came when putting the book upon Kindle Vella. I typed in Invisi(bi)lity and thought all was well. But not so! On the page where I input the info, it shows up correctly. But when I looked at the page others see it showed up as invisi(bi) lity.

Now maybe I shouldn’t care about the extra space in there. Maybe I should just let it go. But I’m not known for my ability to just let things go and move on. I’m not sure what I am known for but it definitely isn’t that.

I just don’t like the way invisi(bi) lity looked.

Maybe I should use invisi (bi) lity instead but I don’t love that either.

Maybe, definitely, I should have taken a screenshot of what I’m talking about. As this whole post proves, I make mistakes and things don’t always go my way. So this didn’t occur to me until now. Oops!

What did happen next was that I tried to fix the issue. I started over and typed the whole thing in again as I wanted it to appear. I copied and pasted the title in how I wanted it. I typed the whole word in then added the () later. Nothing worked!

At some point I gave up. And eventually settled on Invisi-bi-lity.

Or so I thought. Only later did I realize what I actually wrote was Invis-bi-lity and spell checker couldn’t help me because it doesn’t like any of these combinations where I break up the word, so I expected to see the red squiggly lines of wrongness. If you’re having trouble seeing my mistake (or if I’m imagining someone else might make the same error so I can feel better about myself?) then I’ll let you know there needs to be another ‘i’ after the ‘s’.

If you somehow saw and caught the spelling error that was definitely on the Vella page for I’m not sure how long, good job! You caught it before me. But look at us laughing at our mistakes now! Or okay, my mistakes.

And thus ends my comedy of errors where creating a simple title turned out to be anything but. Simple. Anything but simple. TL;DR I’m bad at spelling, titles are hard, and you should check out Invisi-bi-lity.

Mini Review: Witchin Warlock by Charity Parkerson

Mini Review: Witchin Warlock by Charity Parkerson

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

About: A witch in a small town runs a psychic parlor. He wants to stay under the radar, which means he shouldn’t fall for the sexy investigator who seems intent on getting his help or seducing him. Hint: it’s both. There may also be zombies.

(Fun fact: ‘psychic’ is a world I’m physically incapable of spelling right. Along with ‘physics.’ I think the two words existing in the same language is what trips me up. I always get confused about what order the ‘y’ and ‘s’ go in and all hell breaks loose when adding the ‘h’ in there somewhere.)

Witchin’ Warlock is a fun, fast read with a little heat. The trouble with shorts like this is if it’s halfway decent, people want more. And I thought it was really cute and interesting. So I would have loved spending more time in this world, and it feels very fast paced because it’s over before you know it.

If you like M/M paranormal romance and novellas, there’s no reason you won’t love this one. Otherwise I’d call it worth checking out for anyone who has Kindle Unlimited. Though it is only .99 cents if you want to buy.

Witchin Warlock

Caspian comes from a long line of witches. Brock is third generation F.B.I. They shouldn’t fit but they do.

A year ago, Caspian moved to a small town in Ohio. He hoped the lack of competition in the area would be good for his psychic business, Futures Untold. The last thing he expected was a sexy F.B.I. agent to show up and treat him like a missing person’s bloodhound. Even though Caspian keeps doing favors for Special Agent Brock Wray, his distrust of authority runs deep. After all, they used to drown witches in this area back in the day, and Caspian has no desire to end up on Brock’s missing persons’ list.

Officially, no one knows how Brock keeps solving so many huge cases. Caspian is Brock’s secret weapon. The man knows things no one should. That’s not why Brock keeps showing up and making excuses to see Caspian. Caspian fascinates Brock. Not only does Brock’s inner detective need to know how Caspian knows so much, but Caspian is also smoking hot. He is the single most gorgeous man to step foot in their tiny town in ages. Brock isn’t dumb. He has to take Caspian off the market as quickly as possible and he’ll use any excuse to get close enough to do it.

When Brock takes Caspian along for the ride on a case, things will get weird. Let’s hope Caspian isn’t forced to show why he’s the most witchin warlock around or Brock might run for the hills.

Relationship Expert

Relationship Expert

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Ryan Miller may be a science genius, but his relationship skills are put to the test when his boyfriend struggles to ditch his beard and come out of the closet in the coming of age love story One Little Lie. In this scene, Ryan uses his questionable expertise to figure out whether he’s about to go on his first double date. He is contractually obligated to freak out for all big moments like this. The contract is his life.

~

Ryan

“Why aren’t you more worked up? This is our first double date.”

The words first and date so close together made my heart speed up in anxiety. Ryan’s didn’t do well under pressure. Hey, wait. I pointed a finger at Luke. “I see what you’re doing.”

Instead of giving me his clueless, earnest gaze, he smirked. My boyfriend was secretly evil! I’d be upset about it, but it was a little hot.

“Is it working?” he asked hopefully.

“Why do you want me to be a nervous wreck like you?” I asked with a pout.

His smirk only intensified. “You’re fun when you’re a nervous wreck.”

“It’s not going to work,” I said haughtily. I did the teasing to Luke. It didn’t work the other way around!

Evil boyfriend continued to smirk. Had we ever been on a double date before? Oh, mother fu-

Wait! “No, we went to dinner with the girls earlier,” I realized triumphantly. I already defeated my first double date. Or a word less combative.

He frowned for a moment, then shook his head. “No, that doesn’t count.”

“You can’t decide that,” I decided. “Who made you the decider of all things?”

Relationships weren’t dictatorships! They were about give and take. God, I was one of those people who acted like an expert anytime I was in a serious relationship. I hated those people. Except when those people were me. Maybe I really was an expert.

Wait, I totally wouldn’t mind if we had a dick-tatorship…

-This is from One Little Lie, the second sweet and snarky M/M romance in the One More Thing series of contemporary YA novels. Grab the book here as part of the One Crazy Love Story box set, which features the first four books in the One More Thing Series.