Hi guys, we have L.A. Witt popping in with her audio & ebook The Changing Plans Collection, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway where you could win a backlist title of L.A’s and we have Tams review of The Changing Plans Collection (ebook) so check out the post and enter the giveaway! ❤ ~Pixie~
Changing Plans Collection
(Narrator: Charlie David)
by
L.A. Witt
From EPIC Award winning author and multiple Lambda Finalist L.A. Witt comes the re-release of three hot contemporary novellas — Getting off the Ground, Infinity Pools, and On The List.
After being stood up at the altar, compulsive over-planner Elliott Chandler decides to turn his honeymoon on Oahu into a vacation for one. Fate puts a hitch in his plans, however, when the airport is snowed in and his flight is delayed.
In the terminal, the jilted groom catches the eye of another stranded traveler: the laidback and very sexy Derek Windsor. Derek breaks the ice and strikes up a conversation, and as the temperature drops outside, the heat between them rises. Pity they’re both going to different islands, but if their flight doesn’t get off the ground fast, Mr. Calm-and-Cool may just tempt Mr. Play-It-Safe into doing something reckless.
And that plane isn’t going anywhere any time soon…
Hi guys, we have L.A. Witt popping in today with the tour for Before There Were Three: Ethan & Rhett, we have a great excerpt and a brilliant giveaway so check out the post and enjoy! ❤ ~Pixie~
Before There Were Three: Ethan & Rhett
(The Distance Between Us 0.5)
Narratored by Charlie David
by
L.A. Witt
Before Kieran….
Seattle, 2000 – Ethan Mallory is counting down the days until he moves back to Toronto. He loves Seattle, but it’s time to go home.
So it’s just his luck that, with a month to go, he meets Rhett Solomon. Their chemistry is off the charts, and in bed, Rhett is everything Ethan’s been craving. He’s witty and charming outside the bedroom too.
Ethan’s not about to change his plans for a man he’s just met, but what could this become if they had a little more time? Is this just a sizzling hot last hurrah before he returns to Canada? Or is leaving Rhett behind a huge mistake?
Blurb: For the last year, Jay Warren has struggled to find the nerve to tell his wife he’s gay. Every time he gets the chance, though, he freezes up. He’s ashamed of hiding it all this time, he doesn’t want to hurt her, and the guilt has been almost unbearable.
When his wife dies suddenly, Jay’s conscience threatens to eat him alive.
Funeral director Scott Lawson deals with the bereaved every day, and he’s all too familiar with the inside of the closet. He offers Jay some much-needed compassion and understanding, and from that connection comes a friendship that quickly – perhaps too quickly – turns into something more.
But are grief, guilt, and loneliness the only things tying them together? Or, will Scott get fed up with being used as an emotional crutch before Jay realizes what he has?
Review: Not going to lie, this was a difficult book for me to get through. It wasn’t so much the story, I enjoyed the story and have enjoyed similar story lines immensely in the past. It is most like a combination of factors, which I will explain. I will try not to be too negative in my review because there was definitely a number of elements that I did enjoyed and allowed me to finish the book instead of just quitting.
For me L.A Witt is not on my go to author list, in fact her books are very much hit or miss and half the time if it’s a miss I can’t pinpoint exactly why. Unfortunately, For the living is one of those books.
What you read in the blurb is what you get in the book, so no big surprises there. One of the problems I had with this book was probably the amount of angst – I’m not a massive fan of angsty books – and another problem is that the story was a tad slow. I think normally I would have been ok with slow for the past part but combined with mid-level angst I was sorely tempted to skip parts (in fact, I will admit, I skipped the end of some chapters to move along a bit).
However, despite that, the story itself is more than pleasing for me. I liked reading about the sweet romance between Jay Warren and Scott Lawson. Jay has been battling his inner demons where his sexuality is concerned for some time now. When he had finally gathered the courage to tell his wife, he loses her. That is the tragedy at the center of this story and the grief and guilt is almost crippling. Scott is a funeral director, working in the family business. He meets and befriends Jay, but before anything can happen Jay has A LOT of baggage to work through.
In a lot of ways, the story is predictable and yet I don’t consider it a bad thing, it makes the difficult story line and feelings a lot easier to enjoy. Additionally, despite Jay being an (understandably) angsty arsehole at times, it was so easy to relate to him and Scott. In fact, Scott was such a sweetie and fell in love with him.
A quick note on the narration, it was, to put a fine point on it, wonderful. This was the first audio book I’ve heard narrated by Charlie David and I really enjoyed the different tones he was able to add to the book. I have to admit, if I had been reading this book it could have very potentially been a DNF. I’ve never heard any of Charlie David’s work before but he is certainly a narrator I wouldn’t mind hearing again.
Blurb: Ryder Daniels is all too familiar with rejection. His parents cut off contact because he’s gay and his boyfriend left him, choosing drugs over love. Aside from his rescued pit bull, his only joy is hanging out with his younger brother. Then his mother does the unthinkable and forbids them from seeing each other, leaving Ryder devastated and alone. His friends urge him to date, but Ryder would rather throw himself into working at the dog rescue and figuring out a way to see his brother again.
When Jason Mallory’s girlfriend gives him an ultimatum to get married, he shocks everyone by breaking up with her instead. He believes he’s too busy for a relationship now that the construction company he started with his brother is taking off. When he discovers a group of abandoned pit bulls and calls the local dog rescue group to pick them up, an uncomfortable encounter with Ryder causes Jason to question feelings he’s hidden deep inside for years.
Jason and Ryder build a friendship – until an unexpected kiss sparks the attraction they’ve been fighting. Jason gives Ryder unconditional love and helps him reconnect with his brother, while Ryder shows Jason the passion he’s always missed in relationships. Together, they must battle through their family differences and ugly prejudices. Only then can they prove that once you find the right person to love, there’s no turning back.
Review: A warm and fuzzy love story with very hot sexual content! Two great Characters, Ryder, who has paid the price for who he is, though afraid to put himself out there socially and romantically, his heart is wrapped around his animal rescue. Jason, afraid to step out of the closet, but bold and brash in every other aspect of his life, has met his match in Ryder. These two have great chemistry, the question is, can Ryder risk his heart for someone who doesn’t quite understand all he’s lost? I love Jason’s devious plan to find a way for Ryder to see more of his brother, the mother is a total bitch, and the other characters just add to the fun though sometimes unrealistic balance of the plot.
Plenty of interesting parallels here, Ryder is very much like an abused stray dog wary of humans who are there only to rescue it. Like the stray, Ryder’s heart has been abused, he’s been neglected and left behind by his family, and he’s very wary of trusting the love and relationship Jason is offering.
Charlie David always does a great job with narration, though some of the male voices get a little too close and create a teeny amount of confusion.
This story is excellent for animal lovers, those looking for a super sweet love story and HEA, with heaps of steamy topping!
Blurb: Opposites attract, but heaven help these two.
Tattoo artist Seth Wheeler thinks he’s struck gold when Darren Romero rents the apartment across the hall. The new guy is gorgeous, witty, and single, plus he’s just the right blend of bold and flirtatious. Perfect.
Except then Darren reveals that he moved to Tucker Springs to take a job as the youth pastor at the New Light Church. Seth is not only an atheist, but was thrown out by his ultra-religious family when he came out. He tends to avoid believers, not out of judgment but out of self-preservation.
But Darren doesn’t give up easily, and he steadily chips away at Seth’s defenses. Darren is everything Seth wants in a man…except for that one massive detail he just can’t overlook. Is Darren’s religion the real problem, or is it just a convenient smoke screen to keep him from facing deeper fears? It’s either see the light, or risk pushing Darren away forever.
This is a book four of the series but stands alone perfectly. Each book is a standalone set in Tucker Springs.
Seth is a tattoo artist has been single for several years and is an Atheist. He lives above his tattoo shop.
Darren is a minister that moved from Oklahoma across from Seth. Sparks fly immediately between the two men, but Seth has a very hard time dealing with his attraction to Darren. Partially because Darren is a minister which could cause all sorts of issues since ministers don’t do casual sex. Seth doesn’t do relationships and the biggest thing is the religious issue. But Darren is unlike any other minister or man he has met.
I have been eagerly awaiting Seth’s story and was not disappointed. Who would be a better match for the Atheist Seth than a minister? I loved both Darren and Seth. I loved the dynamics of their relationship. My only issue with the story is that they kept going back and forth over the same issues. I wish there had been a bit more to the story, just a little more action.
Charlie David did a good job telling the story. he showed great excitement and I loved how he conveyed Seth’s inner conflict. I do wish he had changed the voices of Seth and Darren a bit more. However, the story is written well enough and he narrates well enough you could follow along quite well.
If you like ministers, tattoo artists, good contemporary romance and some fairly hot man-sex you should love this. I also highly recommend this entire series.
Tams’ Review: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
E-book review April 2013
LA Witt is an author whose work I will grab regardless, I have yet to read a book by this author that I did not like. Witt has a keen eye for details and possess the ability to transform the reader directly into her world. Likeable characters, realistic situations and some of the steamiest sex scenes I’ve ever read!
For those of you that read book 1 in this series, Where Nerves End, you will immediately recognize Seth. The openly gay, laid back tattoo artist hasn’t always had an easy life. Shunned by his fanatical family when he came out to them in college, he had to learn to make his own way in life quickly when all communication and funding for college were abruptly cut off. He has a good life now with a good job, an apartment and a fantastic close knit group of friends.
When sex on a stick Darren moves into the apartment across the hall, the animalistic attraction between the two is instantaneous. Darren wastes no time getting Seth into his bed. When Seth learns that Darren is a minister he immediately withdraws from him. The pain of his past hasn’t faded and he subconsciously groups Darren in the same class with his family. But he can’t stop thinking about the minister with his dark hair and eyes and a dry, witty sense of humor that makes Seth laugh.
Seth tries very hard not to want Darren, but the fact that the two of them can’t be around each other for very long without ending up in bed doesn’t help his flimsy resistance. Unlike Seth, Darren knows exactly what he wants and what he wants is Seth. When Darren approaches the subject of taking their relationship beyond just the bedroom, Seth’s self-preservation mode kicks in. Will the harsh words he says create a rift between the pair that can’t be undone? Or will Darren forgive the man he’s fallen in love with, the man that’s also fallen in love with him, but won’t admit it, not even to himself.
The story flows effortlessly and before I knew it I was at the end. The characters are both flawed and carry some pretty serious baggage, but this only makes them more believable and likeable in the end. The sex is sensual, steamy and well conveyed by the author. This is a must read for any M/M fans.
Audio review May 2016
This story was already a favorite read of mine, now with Charlie David’s narration I love the story just that much more. David is not so much a narrator as a story teller. His changes in tone, nuance and inflection are slight from one character to the next, but he still does a great job of making sure the reader/listener is aware of whose voice they are hearing. Listening to Seth and Darren’s story actually brought things to the forefront that I missed when I read the book. The struggle Seth had with his attraction to Darren coupled with his disdain for Darren’s profession had more impact when I was listening to their conversations. As I stated 3 years ago after reading the book, these guys are inexplicably drawn to each other to spite their differences, both having some baggage that they automatically bring into the relationship. It’s Seth that really has to examine who he is and who he wants to be before the two of them can make a go at it.
Definitely worth the read or the listen, both even. I think that you will get something different from each version as I did, and both are well worth your time. A passionate love story about how opposites not only attract, they can make it work.
Title: For the Living
Title: Rescued
Title: Covet Thy Neighbor