Happy Gay Friday & A Slightly Changed Look

So, last night, instead of spending the first free night I had this week reading, I made some changes in my blog design. It was necessary because apparently my Artisteer background was giving problems with downloading the pages. We can’t have that now can we. :)
So, I went with one of Blogger’s templates and adjusted the html a bit here and there. I’m fairly pleased with it now. I hope you agree…

Review: A Chip In His Shoulder by L.A. Witt

L.A. Witt
A Chip In His Shoulder
Riptide Publishing, November 7, 2011 | 78 pages

Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
“Contract killer” is a fitting job for a vampire, and it suits Liam just fine. Cast down from the wealth and status of the Sky for taking a human lover, Liam lurks in the poor and pollution-choked Gutter, killing to survive. Between his natural strengths and his Cybernetix mods, no mark has ever escaped him.
Liam’s ex-lover Daniel is the heir to Cybernetix—and its greatest threat. Horrified by people less man than machine and the exploitation of Gutter factory workers, he’d rather destroy Cybernetix than inherit it . . . if his father doesn’t destroy him first.
Years of anger and a heap of mods have kept Daniel and Liam apart. When Liam is hired to slaughter a man in his glass Sky tower, he walks right into a Daniel-shaped trap. Daniel’s father has betrayed them both, and only by working together can Daniel and Liam survive the coming day. They have no reason to trust each other, but as the dawn looms, a bargain that began with the simple urge to live soon reminds them of the love they once shared. Can they find each other again, or will the Cybernetix assassins find them first?

Genre & Keywords:
M/M, Romance, Urban Fantasy / Paranormal, Action, Cyberpunk, Enemies To Lovers, Interspecies, Contract Killer, Hacker, Future, Vampire

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2.5 out of 3
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A Chip In His Shoulder is a thrilling read thanks to the fast paced and action filled plot. Combined with a good suspense arc and an engaging and interesting world building it makes this novella a page turner. Add two memorable main characters and one would think we have a winner. Well, yes, I can definitely recommend this story, but I have a few niggles as well. I'll get to them later, first the good stuff.

Winner Carina Press Giveaway

The winner of the 6 Carina Press ebooks (from authors Kim Knox, Erastes, Ava March, Dev Bentham, Larry Benjamin and KC Burn) is:

Lyra L7!

Congrats Lyra! I'll email you. Enjoy reading the books!

Many, many thanks to Kim Knox for being my guest and talking about her story Bitter Harvest! And to everyone who left a comment here and on Goodreads, thanks for playing! Here's a little consolation eye candy for all of you. :) His name is Bernardo Velasco.

Happy Gay Friday & Captcha frustration

How happy I am that it’s Gay Friday again! I’ve had a couple of crazy busy weeks at work. I’ve been organizing a series of events with performances around art and religion, which drew quite a public and also the attention of the media (even from national television *gasp*). This week we had the last in the series of event days and now I hope to get my life back *g*.
By that I mean my book and blog life of course. ;)
Speaking of blog life and blog hopping: Sophia from Fiction Vixen has a post today, ‘Why I’m not commenting on Your Blog’, that could’ve been written by me (if I were as eloquent as her, that is), lol. It’s about being a comment slacker, which I definitely am, as you might know.

Giveaway Carina Press M/M Week & Guest Post Kim Knox

As part of the Carina Press M/M week blog tour we’re pleased to have Kim Knox as a guest today. And what’s more, she is also giving away an ebook bundle of all 6 books that Carina Press is releasing this week. Yes – all six! All you need to do is comment on this post to be entered into today’s giveaway.

Finding love in strange places

Following the collapse of civilisation isn't the first place you'd think of to set a romance...but since it is 2012, I found it hard to resist.
It was the chance to play with 'what if', something I love and why I write science fiction romance practically all of the time. What if...with the knowledge that we'll soon have, we tried to rectify an animal's extinction with the latest in nano-technology? Save it and save ourselves. What could possibly go wrong with a drastic human intervention into nature? Nothing, obviously. We know exactly what we're doing...
In Bitter Harvest, the scientists who develop the nano-forms get it exactly right. Their technology works. Perfectly. But then the computer, the AI controlling the project, after 'fixing' one animal makes a corrupted leap and decides to 'save' another. The first wave of nano-forms it sends out cures every human disease. But its template is twisted and in trying to perfect the human race, it sends out the second wave. And kills millions. Only a few survive, and they're under constant threat from the voracious 'infected'.
Into this I dropped Robert Sutton and Nicholas Rider, two men trying to make order in a world gone to hell. Well, Sutton is. Rider is more interested in pushing every hot button Sutton has. Mostly, just because he can. Rider is...evil like that.
Bitter Harvest is my first post-apocalyptic romance. It was fun to play in a world where two men find love, even when the rules of civilisation no longer apply.

A little add on to my post. I got into a conversation with Janna about Bitter Harvest, being my first m/m. It is. I've written a fair amount of m/f over the last few years, but something about the characters in this book wouldn't allow me to create an m/f romance. Sutton and Rider were men. I couldn't escape that fact. (Rider absolutely refused to be a woman :) )

Carina Press M/M Week Blog Tour

Starting tomorrow Carina Press will have an entire week of releases from some of today’s hottest authors in m/m romance, as well as some newcomers to the genre. In celebration of the first ever Carina Press M/M week, the authors are going on a blog tour. At each stop along the tour, you can enter to win an ebook bundle of all 6 book releases!
The bundle of 6 contains: A Brush With Darkness by Erastes, Bitter Harvest by Kim Knox, Brook Street: Thief by Ava March, First Time, Forever by KC Burn, Moving in Rhythm by Dev Bentham and What Binds Us by Larry Benjamin.

Wednesday author Kim Knox will stop by here at my place to tell something about writing her first post-apocalyptic romance, which had to be a m/m romance. :) Don't miss her guest post and your chance to win her book Bitter Harvest together with the other 5 Carina Press titles!

The complete Blog Tour schedule is:

3/19 - Dev Bentham at Fiction Vixen
3/19 - Ava March at The Macaronis
3/20 - Larry Benjamin at Joyfully Jay
3/21 - Kim Knox at Rarely Dusty Books
3/22 - Erastes at The Macaronis
3/23 - KC Burn at Babbling About Books, and More
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Lis’ Review: An Unsettled Range by Andrew Grey

Andrew Grey
An Unsettled Range (Range, #3)
Dreamspinner Press, January 9, 2012

Links: Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
The last thing Liam Southard expects when he flees his abusive father is to be taken in by a couple of gay ranchers. Soon he has a new job and a new perspective on his sexuality, and his life starts to turn around. Then someone pulls a gun on him.
In Troy Gardener’s defense, the gun thing was a mistake. Between his marriage falling apart and living in his uncle's isolated hunting cabin, he's been a little edgy. He wants to make it up to Liam, and once he discovers how much they have in common, he wants even more. But with Liam's father popping in unexpectedly and a mining company threatening the ranch’s water supply, the only guarantee is that life is never going to be boring.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Contemporary, Cowboys, Farm, Coming to Terms with One’s Sexuality, Mining, Parental Abuse

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3
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Reviewed by Lis:

You all know how I can’t refuse a book with hawt cowboys in it, and An Unsettled Range, the third in Andrew Grey’s Range series, was no exception. Characters from the previous books also feature in this story and that is a definite bonus.

This third instalment features Liam and Troy, both from very different worlds. They meet up at the Range. Liam after having been found by Wally and Dakota, half dead along the road and out of work and no place to go. Troy after his marriage falls apart because he can no longer deny he’s gay and needs some time for himself to come to terms with everything that has happened.

Lis’ Review: A Troubled Range by Andrew Grey

Andrew Grey
A Troubled Range (Range, #2)
Dreamspinner Press, March 25, 2011

Links: Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
The neighboring Holden and Jessup ranches are anything but neighborly—Jefferson Holden and Kent Jessup loathe each other. But despite his father’s long-held grudge, Haven Jessup just can’t bring himself to hate, especially after Dakota Holden takes him in during a violent storm and Haven meets Dakota’s friend, Phillip Reardon.
Phillip accepts Haven for who he is, seeing through the mask Haven uses to hide his attraction to men, but their tentative and secret relationship will be under a huge amount of stress. Sabotaged fences, injured animals, unsavory plans, and Jessup family secrets will threaten Haven’s new found happiness and his hopes of a future with Phillip.

Author's Note: This is the follow up to A Shared Range.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Contemporary, Cowboys, Bigotry, Secrets, Coming Out, GFY, Virgin hero

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2 out of 3
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Reviewed by Lis:

Yihaaaaaaa! Here I thought I was deep in the reading slumps – which I was – until this book demanded it be read! And what a book it was! It sucked me in from the first page right to the last. It is actually a sequel (to A Shared Range), something I noticed a few chapters later, but it can be read separately.

Happy Gay Friday & Sort of On Hiatus

Just a quick note to say that Rarely Dusty Books is going on hiatus for a week. It’s going to be busy at work next week and instead of trying to keep up with blogging I’ll rather try to get some blog hopping in when I can. Because I’ve been an awfully bad blogfriend lately. It has been ages since I’ve left any comments on all the blogs I love to visit. It’s not that I don’t read the blog posts, I do, but it seems I can barely find the time or inspiration to leave a comment. I feel really bad about that and I’m truly sorry!
So, no blogposts next week. I’ll be back on March 12.

Happy Gay Friday!

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March m/m releases I look forward to

A new month means new releases. Yay! Looks like the most m/m releases I look forward to will be out in the first week of the month. Although, I have to wait a bit longer before I can buy this month’s most anticipated book:

Thief by Ava March

It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Ava’s writing and Thief sounds great. But there are more books by wonderful authors I want to read. Here 's my wishlist for March:

	Unexpected Demands by Kaje Harper Release Date: March 1 When Aaron took down a crazy dominant wolf and inherited half a pack, he knew the Alpha job wasn't going to be easy. A week later, he's finding out what an understatement that was. Having a gay wolf i...more
	Laurel Heights by Lisa Worrall Release Date: March 3 Detectives Scott Turner and Will Harrison are sent undercover after an apparent murder/suicide in Laurel Heights, an exclusive gay housing community. Will the two closeted officers be able to hide the...more
	Finally His by Shawn Lane Release Date: March 3 Jay Anderson lives next door to the ruggedly handsome man of his dreams, detective Drake Hanover. He wishes their friendship could turn into more, but there's a problem -- Drake's ex-boyfriend, who ha...more
	Mine by Mary Calmes Release Date: March 5 Trevan Bean has a job that’s going from illegal to frightening, a boyfriend who may not be in his right mind, and a guardian angel who might actually be evil incarnate. Add to that the reappearance of...more
	The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper Release Date: March 6 Losing nearly everything leaves room for the one thing they can’t live without. A few excruciating minutes pinned in a burning building cost Ryan Ward his job as a firefighter, the easy cam...more
	Thief by Ava March Release Date: March 19 London, 1822 It was only supposed to be one night. One night to determine once and for all if he truly preferred men. But the last thing Lord Benjamin Parker expected to find in a questiona...more
	Orion Rising by S.A. Meade Release Date: March 26 Michael and Paul fight to survive in a land frozen by endless winter. Will the ice between them thaw once and for all? Michael Wright has given up thinking he’s anything more than a number-...more

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