Junk by Josephine Myles Release Blast, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway!

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Hi guys, we have Josephine Myles stopping by today with her new re-release Junk, we have a great excerpt, a brilliant giveaway and Aerin’s review, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

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Junk

(Bristol Collection 01)
by

Josephine Myles

He loves a good book, but he could love a good man more…

When an avalanche of books cuts off access to his living room, university librarian Jasper Richardson has to face up to the truth. His ever-growing heaps of books, magazines and newspaper can’t be classified as a collection any longer. Jasper is a hoarder, and he needs professional help.

Professional clutter clearer and counsellor Lewis Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but even he has to admit he’s shocked. Not so much from the state of Jasper’s house but from the attraction he still feels for the sexy bookworm he went to school with.

However, Lewis’s ethical code forbids relationships with clients, and besides, he’s determined to get over his habit of falling for unsuitable men he hopes to “fix”. But as Jasper continues to make steady progress the magnetic attraction between them is so strong even Lewis has problems convincing himself it’s merely a temporary emotional attachment arising from the therapeutic process.

Jasper is determined to prove to Lewis that this is the real deal. But first he’ll have to explore the root of his hoarding problem—and reveal the dark secret hidden behind his walls of books.

Warning: Contains a level-headed counsellor with a secret addiction, a bespectacled geek with a sweet tooth, a killer “to-be-read” pile, embarrassing parents, a van called Alice, and deliciously British slang.

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Excerpt!

The bus dropped Lewis off at the bottom of the hill, and it was a long walk up with the late afternoon sun beating on his back and the day’s stored heat radiating off the tarmac. By the time he reached number sixty-four, it was a relief to be able to slip under the cool green shade of those overgrown trees. Jasper could have a beautiful garden if he cleared the place up a bit.

As to how much of a challenge awaited them inside… Well, that remained to be seen. Lewis rubbed his hands together and knocked on the door.

No one came. Lewis checked his watch. Yep, he was on time. Just how long could it take Jasper to negotiate the junk in his house? He rapped on the door harder this time. He even tried stepping back to call to the upstairs windows, but one look at them made him realise the futility of Jasper hearing anything that way. Both sets of curtains were pressed back against the glass with the weight of whatever lay behind them. Mildew had stained the linings, and more of the green algae that coated everything in the garden grew up the glass.

This could end up being one of his toughest challenges yet. Perhaps an insurmountable one, if Jasper was too nervous to show for the appointments.

Unless he just couldn’t get to the door. What if he was trapped under a pile of fallen paper? It happened. Hoarders died that way every year. Admittedly, it was mostly the elderly who didn’t have the strength to dig themselves out again, but even a young and healthy man like Jasper could be in serious trouble if enough heavy stuff went over.

Paper was heavy stuff.

Keeping the panic at bay with decisive action, Lewis forced open the letter box and called for Jasper. He held his ear to the gap but couldn’t hear any response from within. He was just wrestling his phone out of his pocket to try the man’s mobile, when a voice from behind him made him jump.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. There were road works in town and a huge traffic jam, and I got stuck outside Cabot Circus for twenty minutes. I should have rung, I know, but I don’t like to use my phone in the car. I mean, I know everyone else does, but the law is the law, even when you’re not moving. I hope you didn’t get put off by what you can see through the letterbox. It’s better in the kitchen, I promise.” As he babbled, Jasper shuffled closer, his keys held out in front of him almost like a weapon he was afraid to use. Lewis realised what his pose must have looked like.

“I wasn’t looking; I was listening. I thought maybe you might…” His face heated as he continued. It sounded silly, with Jasper standing in front of him, all vibrant eyes and nervous twitches. “Sometimes people get trapped in their houses when things fall over. I wanted to make sure you weren’t in there, needing help.”

For a moment, he thought Jasper might bristle, might feel patronised, but instead a smile broke slowly across his face, tilting the corners of his eyes in a way that made Lewis’s heart flip. “Oh. Thanks.” The sincere way he said it suggested maybe he wasn’t used to having people look out for him, and once again, Lewis found himself wondering just how many friends the man really had.

“Not a problem,” he said gruffly, still a little embarrassed at having been caught out. “It’s just one of my recurring dreams. Being buried under an avalanche of stuff.”

“You have nightmares too?”

“Don’t we all?”

“I don’t know. I thought you seemed so…together. Not like me.” Jasper took a step closer, and Lewis could smell him then. A hint of soap mingled with a larger dose of sweat. But fresh sweat, so not unpleasant. Not by a long stretch.

Lewis’s eyes drifted closed for a moment to better concentrate on Jasper’s scent. Lulled by the drowsy heat and the distant buzz of traffic, he drifted for a moment, almost content.

Then his eyes sprang open. Jasper was closer now, staring down at him with a quizzical tilt to his left eyebrow. For a breathless moment, he held eye contact, and Lewis could make out the flecks of amber in his dark eyes. They were like a glass of dark rum held up to the sunlight, rich colours swirling within.

“Are you okay?” Jasper asked.

“Fine, fine. Sorry. I was up late last night. Probably should have got more sleep.” Now why did he say that? He didn’t want Jasper thinking he was some kind of party animal. “I mean, I was up playing Trivial Pursuit with my folks; then the heat stopped me sleeping.” What a wild life he led.

“Oh yes, I know. Sometimes I have to sleep in the hammock. Can’t open any of the windows in the house,” Jasper added, his eyes darting away again in their habitual dance.

The house. “Are you ready to show me the inside now?”

Jasper folded his arms around himself, and for a moment, Lewis expected a negative. But when it came, although quietly voiced, the “yes” sounded firm and sure.

It was only when Jasper stepped around him to unlock the front door that Lewis noticed the triangle of sweat turning the back of his faded shirt a darker shade of green. Nerves, or simply a result of the heat?

The lock seemed to give Jasper some trouble, but after a few muttered curses, it opened a foot or so, and Jasper slipped through the narrow gap. “Come on in,” he called from inside.

It was a good thing Lewis was slim. As it was, he had to brush against the table piled high with junk mail sitting just inside the door. A pile of envelopes slid to the floor. A floor that was carpeted with more of them. As Lewis raised his gaze, he commanded his face to stay expressionless. After the number of cluttered homes he’d seen in his eight years working with Carroll, very little still shocked him, but he’d learned to be careful.

He was glad he had.

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About Josephine!

Josephine Myles Author picEnglish through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.

Jo’s novel Stuff won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Bisexual Romance, and her novella Merry Gentlemen won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Romantic Comedy. She loves to be busy, and is currently having fun trying to work out how she is going to fit in her love of writing, dressmaking and attending cabaret shows in fabulous clothing around the demands of a preteen with special needs and an incessantly curious toddler.

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Giveaway!

Win a backlist ebook from Josephine Myles!

(Just click the link below)

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(Ends 28th May 2017)

Review

Josephine Myles - Junk CoverTitle: Junk (2nd Edition)

Series: The Bristol Collection #1

Author: Josephine Myles

Genre: Contemporary, Humor

Length: Novel (302 pages)

Publisher: Josephine Myles (25th May 2017)

Heat Level: Low – Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3.5 hearts

Reviewer: Aerin

Blurb: He loves a good book, but he could love a good man more…

When an avalanche of books cuts off access to his living room, university librarian Jasper Richardson has to face up to the truth. His ever-growing heaps of books, magazines and newspaper can’t be classified as a collection any longer. Jasper is a hoarder, and he needs professional help.

Professional clutter clearer and counsellor Lewis Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but even he has to admit he’s shocked. Not so much from the state of Jasper’s house but from the attraction he still feels for the sexy bookworm he went to school with.

However, Lewis’s ethical code forbids relationships with clients, and besides, he’s determined to get over his habit of falling for unsuitable men he hopes to “fix”. But as Jasper continues to make steady progress the magnetic attraction between them is so strong even Lewis has problems convincing himself it’s merely a temporary emotional attachment arising from the therapeutic process.

Jasper is determined to prove to Lewis that this is the real deal. But first he’ll have to explore the root of his hoarding problem—and reveal the dark secret hidden behind his walls of books.

Warning: Contains a level-headed counsellor with a secret addiction, a bespectacled geek with a sweet tooth, a killer “to-be-read” pile, embarrassing parents, a van called Alice, and deliciously British slang.

ISBN: B071Z4KPR8

Product Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071Z4KPR8

Review: I hate clutter, I can’t stand messes and I definitely can’t even begin to think about hoarding a bunch of crap I don’t need without feeling my eye start to twitch. I wasn’t sure I could get into this story since I had a pretty good idea Jasper’s hoarding was going to drive me insane. And it did, kinda, but the story behind his hoarding tendencies captured me to the point where I sympathized with him, plus the fact that he hoarded books instead of other gross alternatives made it easier for me.

Hoarding is no joke, and I shudder thinking about being in danger of dying buried under a ton of junk that can collapse at any time; and I know it happens in real life. I thought this book was going to be dark and depressing, yet the author’s use of mild humor managed to turn it into a somewhat hopeful message that everyone can turn their life around with a little (or in this case a lot) of help. 

One of the things I loved the most is that the characters are real (or as real as you can get in a fiction book); they’re flawed physically and emotionally, they’re sometimes selfish and they don’t always make the best decisions. The attraction between Jasper and Lewis felt real and it definitely wasn’t overdone. They’re relationship was a work in progress and not entirely ethical, because Lewis was Jasper’s counselor and Jasper was his client. Jasper and Lewis take their time, they get to know each other, they become friends first; but most importantly, they wait to start a serious relationship until Jasper is strong enough to cope with real life without regressing back to his hoarding tendencies.

Lewis works with his sister in the business they own together, as an adviser and psychologist. His degree in psychology helps him counsel people and help them overcome the need to hoard objects. I liked Lewis a lot; he was kind, funny and very likeable. I liked his relationship with his friends, but I especially liked his interactions with his parents.

Oh God, his parents!!!*cracks up* Lewis’s parents are the most unique and entertaining that I’ve come across in any book ever read. The conversations at the dinner table had me laughing out loud and their habits had me constantly shaking my head. I can just picture Lewis’s dad cooking in nothing but an apron…

Jasper has a lot of issues and what makes it worse, is that most of them are mommy issues. Every time he opened his mouth to talk about his mother I found myself cringing. This is the first time I disliked a dead character as much as I disliked Jasper’s mom. What a selfish, egotistical parent! I felt bad for Jasper for having to live with a parent like that; it also explain many of the coping strategies Jasper has. Any person who had to live like Jasper did, who was asked to do something as atrocious as Jasper did for his own mother, is going to be in need of a trip to the shrink. But Jasper is not a quitter, and with a healthy dose of determination, help and support from his friends, he manages to get his life back on track.

There’s only one sex scene (not considering the frottage) between Jasper and Lewis, but it’s so hot; yeah, sure, I wish there were more, but quality is better than quantity. However, when a book is as long as this one was, I expect a bit more. I needed to see more private moments between these two, I wanted more of that amazing chemistry they have in bed. My one true complaint is that I wish this book was about 60 pages shorter because at one point I felt like it was dragging and I couldn’t wait for it to end.

This was a very good book and I can’t wait to read Mas’s story next.

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