Shelter
Movie Review
Title: Shelter
Starring: Brad Rowe, Trevor Wright, Tina Holmes
Director: John Markowitz
Rated R
Genre: Contemporary
ML’s Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Draegan Lords Book III, Fires of Ballian
When Wave asked me to be a guest blogger today she hinted, nudged, and generally made me promise to talk about Fires of Ballian, the third book in my Draegan Lords series. Since I don’t want her to hurt me, I’m going to dutifully do as I’m told. *g*
The Draegan Lords series–which is about dragon shapeshifters and their struggle to win back their land and lives from the power-hungry sorcerer who nearly destroyed their race one-hundred years before–began in March 2007 as a longish novella entitled True of Heart (Click here to read a blurb and excerpt on my website). It was originally written to be part of an AmberPax collection at Amber Allure. All stories for AmberPax collections must be either short stories or novellas and are required not to exceed 40,000 words. Remember in my earlier post when I said it’s very difficult to write a complex plot in a novella-length story? True of Heart was a classic example of that. I got the idea for the story and immediately fell in love with the heroes, Gaige and Keiran, and the juicy plot I had planned for them. Honestly, I don’t even know what I was thinking when I assumed I could tell the tale in 40,000 words or less. I think my brain took a holiday that day. LOL! When I hit about 35,000 words, I knew I was in big trouble and there was no way in my wildest dreams I was going to be able to do justice to their story in 40K words. I knew I was going to have to write a sequel. So I tried to figure out a good stopping point that would give some resolution for the plot and characters and satisfy readers, but still leave it open to continue the story.
Long ones…too much of a good thing or just right?
Hey! Get your minds out of the gutter. I’m not talking about long ones of those. Although, that’s not a bad subject for another post. I’ve certainly come across my share of monstrous…er… parts in the M/M genre and wondered. But no, I’m not going there. At least not today. 
Today I’m talki
ng about long books (though I’m not averse to offering you a little eye candy while I do–heart-covered boxers on a hunky reader guy, yum!). You know, the big, thick ones (books, people…books!!) that you know’ll take you days, or if you’re a compulsively addicted reader like I am and can’t put down a good book once it’s started, long hours to read and savor. I’ve always liked long books myself, even as a kid. To me they’ve always offered the possibility of juicy and complex plots and characters, and the chance to really lose myself in another world.
iPhone apps?
I’m always on the prowl for new, fun apps for my iPhone, so drop me a comment and let me know what your fave apps are if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch!
ML
New Gay M/M release…Passion!
Hi everyone!
I’m psyched to tell you that I have a new release! This one’s called Passion. It came about kind of unexpectedly after I wrote The Elf and Shoemaker. There’s a scene in Elf and Shoemaker where a man goes into Logan Shoemaker’s store and talks to him. As I was writing that scene, I really liked this secondary character though he only had a small bit of page-time and decided I wanted to write his story…to tell what happened to him after he left Logan’s store. So, voila, the story Passion was born.
I hope you’ll enjoy it and fall in love with Robert and Jesse as much as I did! And, yes, there’s going to be a sequel. It’s called Satisfaction.
As the owner and CEO of his own company, Robert Bauer has spent the past fifteen years building his business into a multi-million dollar corporation. It’s taken all his time and energy, which hasn’t left much room for a personal life, especially a love life. That’s fine with Robert because he doesn’t believe in the L word anyway. Lately, however, every time he goes to his favorite bar, he can’t keep his eyes and thoughts off Jesse McIntyre, the gorgeous bartender with the soulful blue eyes. Even though Robert’s not looking for a relationship, and tries to shake the attraction, he can’t get the younger man out of his system. There’s just one problem…he believes Jesse’s straight.
Jesse’s been on the run from his old life for the past two and a half years. Even though he slings drinks at a gay bar, he has a hard and fast rule about never hooking up with customers. He’s been down that road before, and though his physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones aren’t so easy to forget. He lets his customers assume he’s straight because it makes it easier to keep his distance. That is until the businessman with the sexy smile starts coming into the bar. Jesse’s drawn to Robert, even though he knows there’s no way a wealthy, powerful man like that would ever be interested in a tattooed, college drop-out bad boy like him. But even if Robert weren’t his opposite, it wouldn’t matter anyway, because Jesse’s determined not to break his rules for anyone.
When fate throws them together, and they find themselves alone for a weekend, the passion that’s silently simmered for months ignites a firestorm that leaves them both shaken. Will it be enough, though, to convince Robert, who’s sworn to never fall in love, that he might be pushing away the best thing that’s ever happened to him? Or to force Jesse to face his fears once and for all and learn to trust his heart?
So there you have it! If you’d like to read an excerpt you can find one on my website here. And you can buy a copy of the story at Amber Allure.
Have a great week!
XOXO,
ML
New Gay M/M release…The Elf and Shoemaker
I have a brand new release…it just came out yesterday! It’s a contemporary fantasy called The Elf and Shoemaker. Here’s the scoop on it…
Logan Shoemaker is honest, hardworking, and loves what he does. Though he never expects to get rich, up until recently he’s fared well enough to stay comfortable with his quirky metaphysical store, Shoemaker’s Magick Shoppe. But when the economy comes on hard times, his store pays the price. As each month passes, slow sales turn into no sales, and soon Logan’s living off ramen noodles and sleeping in a freezing house during the cold winter nights as he struggles to make ends meet. His personal life isn’t much better—the worse business at the store grows, the more isolated and lonely he becomes. After a string of mishaps that wipe out the last of his small savings, he finally hits rock bottom the day he discovers the disconnection notice from the electric company hanging on his door. That night, desperate and in despair, he makes a plea to the universe, asking for help.
Needless to say, he never anticipates receiving a response so quickly. Not only does he wake up the next morning to find on his kitchen table four little bottles of a special potion labeled “PASSION,” but he keeps remembering the erotically charged dream he’d had during the night. A dream where a tall, gorgeous man with pointed ears comes to his bed and shows him just what kind of magick they can make together.
But was it a dream? All Logan knows is that his customers can’t get enough of the PASSION potion–an aphrodisiac–and he can’t stop thinking about the sweet seduction of the nighttime visitor who made it. As he tries to sort out what’s real and what’s not, he discovers there’s a much bigger world out there than he’d ever believed, and his true heart’s desire might come in a most unexpected form.
If you’d like to read an excerpt, you can check one out on my website or read an excerpt and buy a copy at Amber Allure!
For those of you who’ve enjoyed my Draegan Lords series…you might be interested to know this book is loosely related. A careful reader will find a few familiar things in this story. 
(And after you read it, if you want to email me and confirm or ask questions…go for it! *g*) But not to worry for those who haven’t read The Draegan Lords series…this book is fully standalone and you’ll be able to read it on its own merits.
I think it’s quite a good story and one I really loved writing, so I hope readers will love it, too!
Have a great week, everyone!
XOXO,
ML
New M/M paperback release…The Vertigo Chronicles, Vol. I
Check it out! It’s available now at Amazon.com! This paperback includes the first two stories in the series….Vertigo and Shattered.
I hope everyone’s having a great December so far!
XOXO,
ML
New M/M Release….Shattered!
SHATTERED
With a mysterious past he can’t remember, and special powers he can’t explain, Simon Saint-Saëns hunts the creatures of darkness others fear—beings that come through dimensional rifts into this world from a world called Vertigo. It’s a dangerous, desolate existence, and with only one exception from long ago that left him broken-hearted and riddled with guilt, Simon’s chosen to isolate himself and fight alone. But when the man he’d once loved and thought dead makes a sudden and shocking appearance, Simon finds himself torn between his self-imposed duty and the deeply entrenched feelings he still has for Jaden Cole.
Enslaved in Vertigo since childhood, Jade was one of the innocent lives Simon saved when he first began hunting. Simon took him in and nursed him back to health, but when their friendship grew into something deeper, he sent Jade away and cut him out of his life. Nine years later, when a new evil stirs to life in Vertigo and targets Simon as its enemy, Jade returns. He’s not the same innocent he was when he and Simon first met, though. The years as a slave in Vertigo left him with a permanent and savage affliction, one he must battle constantly in order to keep a tentative grip on his humanity. His reunion with Simon is emotional and complicated. But even though he’s now a creature of darkness, he’s never stopped loving Simon and will risk everything to protect him.
After a battle in which Simon is almost killed, Jade knows there’s only one being powerful enough to help them. He and Simon journey into the dark caverns beneath the city to an ancient realm of magic and illusion. There, Jade makes a deal that will help ensure Simon’s protection from the wraith that wants him dead. However, in a world where human inhibitions are stolen at the door, and primal passions reign, Jade quickly finds himself losing control not only of the beast that lives within him, but a dark dangerous secret he’s yet to share with Simon…one that could shatter everything.
You can read an excerpt on my website and buy a copy now at Amber Allure!
I hope you enjoy it!
XOXO
ML
Newest release…Under My Skin II
My newest release (well, kinda new…it came out July 6th) is Under My Skin II. Yep, the sequel to Sebastian and Dylan’s story Under My Skin. So for those of you who’ve been wondering what happens next…
Sequel to the Amber Allure #1 bestseller…Under My Skin!
Sebastian Keller’s lived with the label “the smart guy” most of his life. He hasn’t always appreciated it, and it certainly hasn’t worked to his advantage in most romantic relationships—for years it seemed he was destined to attract the wrong type. So the last thing he’d wanted this past spring was to fall for the hunky tattoo artist who moved his shop in next door to Sebastian’s thriving bookstore. Dylan Radamacher, owner of Rad Tattoos, was everything Sebastian loathed. Let’s face it…bookish geeks and counterculture bad boys weren’t made to mix. Something Sebastian knew from painful personal experience.
But when Dylan, with his teasing smile, hot, inked body, and come hither voice, set his sights on Sebastian, determined to prove that some bad boys could be very, very good indeed, Sebastian found the man impossible to resist.
For two months now things between them have been sinfully spectacular, so Sebastian hates to rock the boat. But the truth is…in spite of his own commitment issues, he’s fallen in love with the sexy tattooist. Dylan, on the other hand, seems determined to avoid the “L” word at all costs. As their relationship makes a turn toward the serious side, can the guys overcome their fears and take the steps that will bring them the kind of love that lasts a lifetime? Or will their old baggage come back to haunt them and tear them apart for good?
You want a copy…you know you do! LOL! If so, you can get it at Amber Allure or at All Romance Ebooks.
And for those of you who prefer paperbacks to ebooks…it will be out later this month in paperback! The paperback version will contain both Under My Skin part 1 and part 2!
I hope everyone’s having an awesome summer!
XOXO,
ML
Newest release…Vertigo!
And this was my late May release, Vertigo! It’s the first in a series called The Vertigo Chronicles.
#1 Bestseller at Amber Allure!
Book 1 in the Vertigo Chronicles!
Each night Simon Saint-Saëns hunts the creatures of darkness that others fear—beings that come through dimensional rifts into our world from a world called Vertigo. Simon has unexplained superpowers that help him fight, but his is a desolate existence, fraught with danger. He works by himself and never allows anyone to get too close to him because his powers come at a terrible cost—a secret he’s never revealed to anyone. Better to be alone than jeopardize the life of someone he cares about.
Enslaved in Vertigo for years, Jaden Cole was one of the innocent lives Simon saved when he first started hunting. Jade had almost forgotten what it meant to be human…until Simon found him and brought him back to this world. But when their friendship turned into something more, Simon sent Jade away and cut him out of his life to keep Jade safe.
Nine years later, when a new, powerful evil stirs to life in Vertigo and targets Simon as its enemy, Jade returns. He’s not the same innocent he was all those years ago, though. Now he has his own secret, one that could turn Simon against him, even force Simon to kill him. But Jade’s willing to risk everything, even his life, to save the man he’s always loved.
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M.L. Rhodes
