Hi guys, we have J.T. Hall visiting today with her new release Forest of Thorns and Claws, we have a brilliant guest post, a great excerpt and a fantastic giveaway, so check out the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

Forest of Thorns and Claws

J.T. Hall

Donovan McGinnis, a veterinarian and conservationist at a research center in Sumatra, is fighting to save the rainforest from poachers and politicians alike. One day he discovers a tigress trapped by a snare, and while treating her injuries, she bites him. He becomes ill with strange symptoms that leave him feverish and dreaming of the jungle and blood.

Kersen and his family are part of the Siluman harimau, a clan of tiger shifters hidden away in a secret village near the rainforest. When Kersen’s sister is caught, he knows he must free her before she infects someone with their magic and reveals their secret.

But Donovan has already been turned, and only time will tell if he can control the tiger within. Kersen must help him, but will the fierce attraction between the pair bring ruin to them all? With the rainforest under threat from outside forces, they may be doomed anyway, unless Kersen and Donovan can find a way to defeat the danger from inside and out.

J.T. Hall!

Hello and welcome to the blog tour for Forest of Thorns and Claws! This M/M shifter (weretiger) romance is a standalone novel set in the rainforests of Indonesia. The book features a lonely veterinarian and wildlife conservationist from the UK, Dr. Donovan McGinnis, who meets a man from the local Sumatran village, Kersen, after rescuing a snared tigress. I hope you’ll read on to learn more about Donovan and Kersen’s adventures.

Also, remember to leave a comment on this post… one lucky winner will get a $15 Riptide gift card!

Social Media Poison of Choice

I try to be active in various forms of social media, including my blog, Twitter, and Facebook. I also have a Tumblr account but I never post to it. I’m not a huge fan of Twitter with its bite-sized posts. With Facebook it’s sort of a love-hate relationship because of all the ridiculous ads.

My favorite social media poison of choice is actually the group discussions on Goodreads.com.

Now some authors are scared of Goodreads—the website is designed for readers, not authors, and it is important to adhere to the rules of the group and discussion thread when posting. It’s not polite to promote your book, talk about your book, etc., outside of the appropriate discussions, and it’s NEVER wise to gripe about reviews or post responses to them. I’ve never had a problem there, and I love the website. I like being able to post to readers and other writers on every subject under the sun, and also to track progress on the books I’m reading as well. One of my favorite groups is the M/M Writers group, where I’ve met some lovely people.

On Goodreads I can find beta readers, conduct a giveaway, take part in read for reviews, and chat about politics and how they affect the LGBTQIA community. The site navigation is fairly simple, though I’m not loving the recent changes that made the homepage look more like Facebook. Still, that’s my poison.

Some of the groups I frequent include:

MMRomance (where I took part in the “Don’t Read in the Closet” event in 2015??)

LGBTQIA Fantasy Fiction

MM Romance Writers (an excellent resource for writers both traditionally and self-published)

BDSM

YA LGBT –this is the one where you can find quite a bit of social and political discussion.

What I suppose this says about me is that I like discussions more than funny memes, cat videos, or Twitter wars. Feel free to chat me up, and also check my blog for updates on my current works in progress, promotions, and general stuff going on in my life. http://jthallwriting.wordpress.com

Excerpt!

Gunung Leuser National Forest, Sumatra

May 14, 2013

As the five humans dragged the injured tigress away, Kersen watched from high up in a tree, safely out of sight. Claws dug into the hard wood as Kersen yawned, long canine teeth flashing, and then he snorted as he almost inhaled a mosquito. Stupid stress response! His heart was pounding in his chest and his gut was churning.

That was his sister down there.

Once the humans were out of sight, he climbed down, loping over to where they’d left the broken strands of the snare. Smelling his sister’s blood on the thin cords, he growled.

Why had he and Gemi been so careless? They both knew how widespread the snares were these days, how bold and clever the poachers were becoming. Bitari was going to kill him for letting humans take Gemi. Ever since their parents died, his older sister had been the guardian of the family, who were all members of the suka siluman harimau, their weretiger clan.

Where would they hide when the natural tiger population went extinct?

Kersen rumbled to himself, taking a moment to memorize the humans’ scents. He’d heard Gemi’s cries from across the valley, but he’d come too late. It should have been him cutting the ropes and freeing her. She must have panicked and gone too deep into her tiger mind. The only positive was she’d been taken by conservationists and not the poachers. But what if they decided to keep her? She’d be trapped in her tiger form indefinitely.

He couldn’t allow that. I have to free Gemi.

The area was layered with scents, but it was the leader’s that most interested Kersen. The man was a veterinarian or something. He’d likely stay near Gemi. Kersen could track him by his scent if he needed to.

Kersen took a deep breath, sniffing. At first he smelled only repellent. Uck. But beneath that, the man had a pleasant aroma. A touch of clove, or coffee, perhaps. Earthy smells. Kersen took another whiff, whiskers twitching. Cinnamon. Great Brahma, I could lick the fellow. He huffed. How can I think of sex when Gemi is in danger?

Well, the man was handsome, for one thing. White skin lightly tanned by the sun, brown hair in a cut close to the head, and a short, neat beard. The man had remarkable blue eyes that had held concern for a wounded animal—not something Kersen typically encountered.

Licking his chops and trying to dispel the pleasant warmth that had begun to stir within him, Kersen followed the trail. He kept low to the ground, mindful of any snares the conservationists might have missed, until he caught up with them near the Punjab trail. Where are they taking her? It was easy to stay out of the humans’ sight, easy to remain unheard with all the noise they were making. The leader was speaking in English on his radio set. Kersen’s English was rusty, taught to him by his grandparents, but he could make out most of it.

“What’s your estimated time of arrival? Has there been any sign of the poachers in this area?” The leader’s voice sounded tense. Again, that warmth spread through him, feeling like home, like safety. He wanted to run over there and rub his face against the man’s leg. Mark him.

That’s preposterous. He’s not of the clan. I shouldn’t entertain such thoughts about him.

Kersen huffed, falling back to make sure none of the men detected him. The jungle had been calm all day, so they probably wouldn’t be alerted to his presence by other animals.

If he could only free Gemi before she infected anyone, they could escape easily. The village where Kersen’s clan lived their human lives was to the west of here. There they’d be safe.

For centuries, the weretigers had lived hidden away in apparently human villages, but nevertheless were connected to the wilderness. They needed to shift at least a few times a month. This meant that it would be very difficult to hide themselves once the real tigers were gone; plus the tiger spirits inside were intimately linked to the land. Who knew what would happen to those tiger spirits if the forests disappeared? Of course, another danger to his kind was that a white foreigner like this leader might discover Kersen’s people and spread news to the world.

Kersen shuddered to think what might happen then. It was hard enough being different from the rest of the world, having both a human and an animal spirit dwelling inside. It could be wonderful and terrible at the same time.

As a youth, he’d only seen the good side of everything.

Read more at: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/forest-of-thorns-and-claws (just click the excerpt tab)

About J.T.!

J.T. Hall has been writing for many years under this name and others, and has appeared in magazines, anthologies, and online books. She earned her BA in creative writing from the University of Arizona, her Master’s in education from Argosy University, and works as an independent technical writer for state and federal programs. In her free time, she volunteers for the LGBT community and is active in the leather scene. She has a teenage daughter and a partner of over ten years. They live in sunny Arizona with three adorably cute dogs, three black cats, and a hamster who loves peanuts.

Connect with J.T.:

• Blog: wordpress.com
• Twitter: @JTHall7
• Tumblr: tumblr.com/blog/jthallwriting
• GoodReads

Giveaway!

To celebrate the release of Forest of Thorns and Claws, one lucky winner will receive a $15 Riptide credit!

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