BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Noblest Vengeance @NeilPlakcy #MFRWauthor

MFRW Author Neil S. Plakcy released The Noblest Vengeance (Have Body Will Guard #6),

a GLBT Romance, with Loose Id on May 13, 2014.

The Noblest Vengeance weaves together the heritage of Sephardic Jews and the tensions in modern-day Turkey with a sexy, fast-paced romance that tests the relationship of bodyguards Aidan Greene and Liam McCullough.

Does the threat they face come from a hidden secret tied to the Nazi invasion of the Greek town of Ioannina, a center of Sephardic culture? Or has it arisen because of plans to develop one of the last open spaces in Istanbul, Gezi Park?

The real danger to their relationship, however, may come from their very different ideas about family connections. Can their love withstand assassins with a deadly secret to keep hidden, a trip back home to New Jersey – and Liam’s foul-mouthed mother?

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Excerpt

Aidan Greene was so engrossed in the pictures on the laptop screen that he didn’t even notice his partner come up behind him. “What are you looking at?” Liam asked, looking over his shoulder. Their small mixed-breed dog, Hayam, hopped up from her place beside Aidan’s foot and snuffled hello to her other daddy.
“Pictures of my cousin’s son’s bar mitzvah.” Aidan pointed at the screen. “That’s my Aunt Sophia, my cousin Ellen, and her husband Gary.”
“Facebook,” Liam said, noting the heading on the screen. “For people with too much time on their hands.”
It was an argument they had been having for a while. Since they had moved to Nice, where they had regular, fast Internet service, Aidan had begun connecting with old friends and family online, mostly through Facebook. After nearly two years away from the United States he was feeling a bit nostalgic for his old life.
“It’s not a waste of time,” Aidan protested. With his parents both dead, all he had left were a mix of aunts, uncles, and cousins. When he lived in Philadelphia for a dozen years after college, he saw family often. Reading their online profiles and seeing their pictures made him realize that it had been a long time since he’d seen any of them in the flesh.
It made him sad to keep missing family events—an uncle’s funeral, the birth and bris of a cousin’s son, and so many other small rituals.
“All that social media stuff is for losers,” Liam said.
“So your sister Jeanne is a loser?” Aidan asked. “She’s on Facebook. Did you know that her dog died last week? And your other sister, Franny? She’s been posting videos of your nephew’s softball games on YouTube. Not to mention Joey Sheridan—he’s got a Pinterest page with photos of his workouts.”
“Why are you looking at my family and friends?” Liam demanded. “What they do is none of your business.”
“Excuse me?” Aidan said. “Joey’s not my friend too? You ever asked him that?” Joey was an old friend of Liam’s, still a SEAL. He had visited them when they lived in Tunis and contrary to Liam’s expectations been fine to discover that his old buddy was romantically involved with another man. “And your family has nothing to do with me?”
“My family doesn’t even know you exist. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
Aidan stood up from the computer and confronted him. “Why? Do I embarrass you? Am I too gay?”
Hayam scurried toward the bedroom, her toenails clicking on the tile floor. “You are when you act like a drama queen,” Liam said. “My personal life is my own.”
Aidan shook his head. “You really are clueless, you know that? I am your personal life. I cook your meals and do your laundry and suck your dick. It doesn’t get more personal than that, pal.” Aidan pushed his palm against his partner’s chest. Liam was wearing a cotton T-shirt, and through the fabric Aidan could feel the warmth of his partner’s skin, the sinewy muscle beneath it.
Liam grabbed his wrist and turned it—enough to immobilize Aidan, not to hurt him. But Aidan knew that grip and how to rotate his arm so that his elbow bounced against Liam’s six-pack, startling him enough to release it.
Then they were wrestling in the middle of the living room, knocking aside chairs and the coffee table, each of them struggling to master the other. Aidan knew he was doomed to lose; Liam was so much bigger than he was, more muscular, with years of SEAL training. But for the past two years he had been exercising and learning the moves Liam used.
Anger was always a good workout tool for them. The adrenaline coursing through Aidan’s veins made him stronger and more agile. And he wasn’t above playing dirty, either. He reached up under Liam’s T-shirt, caught one of his partner’s nipple rings in his fingers, and twisted.
Liam yelped and pressed his stiff dick against Aidan’s thigh. Liam knew Aidan’s weakness—he was a horn dog, ready for sex after a single touch. And Liam was quite willing to exploit that. As Aidan wiggled to escape, Liam leaned down and kissed him hard, and Aidan gave up, melting into his touch.
With one meaty hand, Liam reached around and slapped Aidan’s butt, hard. “That’ll teach you,” he growled when he broke the kiss. “Don’t fuck around with me.”
“Seems like that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Aidan said, panting slightly. “Fucking around.” He reached down and stroked Liam’s dick through his silky gym shorts.
Liam released his grip on Aidan and stepped back. “No, just teaching you a lesson,” he said. “Now come on, we’ve got to get ready. We have a client today, remember?”
“Liam,” Aidan said, dragging the name out. “You’re not going to leave me here like this, are you?” He pointed down to where his dick pressed against his own shorts. He could feel a wet spot growing on his boxers.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Liam said. He pulled his T-shirt up over his head, exposing his bulging chest and improbably narrow waist. Then he dropped his shorts to the floor, leaving him clad only in his white jockstrap. His dick, stiff as well, pushed the pouch forward. “You can stay here. Or you can join me.”
He pushed the jockstrap down, and his dick pronged out. He stepped nimbly out of the waistband and raised it to twirl on one finger.
“I’m right behind you,” Aidan said.

About Neil S. Plakcy
Neil Plakcy is the author of the Have Body, Will Guard adventure romance series:  Three Wrong Turns in the Desert, Dancing with the Tide, Teach Me Tonight, Olives for the Stranger, Under the Waterfall and The Noblest Vengeance, published by Loose Id.

WEBSITE:    www.mahubooks.com
BLOG:          http://mahubooks.blogspot.com
AMAZON:   http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JP4EL6
FACEBOOK:     https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy
GOODREADS:   http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/126217.Neil_Plakcy
PINTEREST:       http://pinterest.com/neilplakcy/boards/
TWITTER:           https://twitter.com/NeilPlakcy

QUICK & QUIRKY Chat with #MFRWauthor @VictoriaPinder

Today, we have a QUICK & QUIRKY chat with Victoria Pinder. 

Victoria grew up in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She always wrote stories to entertain herself or calm down. But her parents are practical minded people demanding a job, and Victoria spent too many years living other people’s dreams, but when she sat down to see what skill she had that matched what she enjoyed doing, writing became so obvious.

Here's what Victoria had to say when we asked her a few questions...       

If money were not an object, where would you most like to live? 

I just asked my fiance (husband to be this month) and he answered 'right here in Miami.' I am sharing because when asked why, it's because our families are here. And I do hate winters, a lot. When a Stark reminds us that 'winter is coming' I shiver from memories. So okay, we just made a deal with this question. We'll stay here in Miami, but move to the nice section of town. And we travel, a lot. 

If you were stranded on a tropical island, who would it be with? 

Well the fiance/almost husband better be there, and he would age like Clark Gable or Cary Grant, all dignified. Actually there is an old movie of Cary Grant stuck on an island running from the Nazis. Father Goose is the name. But let's leave the random children at home. (Says the one who wrote a book about chaperoning students and falling in love on the job.)

Tell us about the scariest thing that ever happened to you. 

I was a preteen brat with the junior rangers program. The national park service took us on a camping trip in Acadia national Park. My mother was a chaperone. Ranger Billy Bob and my mom are trailing in the back. Mom is slow, so I left my friends and trailed back to be with her. We then became slower and lost the crew. We had no flashlight and we were mountain climbing. Mom, Ranger Billy Bob and I were now lost and night was fast approaching. We stuck together and soon Ranger Billy Bob let a tree branch hit his head, blinding him. We stuck closer together and reached a bridge made of a tree. It was an old bridge, but we decided to go across to get down the mountain. Ranger Billy Bob went first, holding the rails. I went second and mom went last. I made it across and turned around. Then my mother fell on the bridge and would have fallen to her death if she hadn't grabbed onto the rails and her butt fell onto a rock underneath. We pulled her back up. Down the mountain, I remember hearing drums and strange thoughts about indians and someone chopping my head off came over me and made me run overtime. I found out later that a relative of mine did get scalped at night. We finally made it down the mountain, but there is no way I'm ever camping again. Not without a Marriott.

What’s your most embarrassing moment? 

Long question. The day I met sitting President Bill Clinton. As a high school brat, here I was one of eighteen teenagers about to meet the President of the United States. A nun who worked for the mayor of Boston lectured us on how we cannot bring up Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones. So as a bratty teen, I raised my hand then asked, 'Can I ask about Ginnifer Flowers?' Another student hit me off the back of the head and I turned around. There was Bill Clinton. And the entire room full of the press was there for the entire thing. (Clinton never said a word and asked me about college and voting.)

If you were on a reality show, what one would it be? 

I keep having nightmares of becoming Bridezilla. I stopped speaking to my sister for a year after her wedding , and it's not okay. I more fear that my wedding in June will be like the worst wedding in 4 weddings and my wish somehow is that David Tutera will show up and just take care of the whole thing. Is that enough? Weddings are a lot of work.

Which would you choose, city life or country life? 

I've only known city life. I'd like to experience country life for a year as a test, but I have a feeling I'd be a city girl. I like options.

Victoria's most recent release is Chaperoning Paris, a Contemporary Romance, with SoulMate Publishing on June 11, 2014.

Gigi Dumont never forgot how she walked away from the only man she ever loved.

She’s a teacher who has led her students to the finals of an international French competition to be help in Paris. The night before the trip, the Principal tries to cancel the trip before he, in turn, loses his job to her high school boyfriend, Sean Collins.

Sean Collins has survived cancer, a divorce , and Gigi having aborted their child back in high school. He assumed he’d hate her, if they ever crossed paths again. But he discovers she’s exactly what he wants.

When Gigi and Sean are stuck together for a week in Paris, Gigi feels she has lost all her control. How can she survive her attraction to Sean? The man’s sexier now than he was back in the day, and once upon a time, he’d had her heart. She finds herself falling for him, even knowing forever is impossible.

Connect with Victoria in any of these places...

Website: http://www.victoriapinder.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriapinder1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/victoriapinder

Blog: http://victoriapinder.com/?cat=6

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8120316.Victoria_Pinder

#MFRWauthor BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Defective @Susan_Sofayov

MFRW Author Susan Sofayov released Defective, a Mainstream New Adult Romance with Black Opal Books on April 26, 2014.

University of Pittsburgh law student, Maggie Hovis, battles an enemy she cannot escape—her own brain. Her family calls her a drama queen. Her fiancé, Sam, moves out after she throws a shoe at his head. Maggie knows there is only one way to get him back—control her moods. So she takes the step most of her family is against: therapy.

After a diagnosis of Bipolar II Disorder, Maggie begins to investigate her family tree—which is plagued by mental illness and hidden relatives—and develops empathy for her deceased Great Aunt Ella, who lived her life in a mental institution. But Maggie’s journey leads her into fear and insecurity, afraid she’ll end up like Ella and never get Sam back. But what about Nick, her super-sexy old flame, who wants to reignite their passion? Does it even matter, anyway? Won’t mental illness stop any man from loving her?

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Black Opal Books  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

EXCERPT

I knew I shouldn’t go, but this party was important. I had to see Sam. Why couldn’t I get a break, just once?
Saturday morning, after finishing a bagel and downing a cup of coffee, dread took up residence in my stomach and brain. Vacuuming the living room failed to help shake off the feeling, so I crawled back into bed, hoping to sleep it away. At about noon, I woke up with a pounding headache, an indefinable angry sensation, and no desire to leave the bed. Then for absolutely no reason, I started sobbing. Please, I begged the encroaching depression, go away; not now, not today. Please, let me make it to this party.
At six-thirty, I dragged myself out of bed and dressed in the costume. By seven o’clock, against my better judgment, I backed out of my parking spot and began the forty-minute drive to Julie’s house. Common sense warned me to turn around and go home, but I needed this chance to talk to Sam.
While driving down the main street of Zelienople, the absurdity of the costume smacked me in the face. I turned up the radio volume to drown out the horrible litany of adjectives reverberating through my brain, Ugly, fat, worthless, stupid…
As I drove west on the Ellwood-Zelienople Road, self-abusive thoughts replaced the rational ones, and the angry, evil woman living inside my head, who silences me during every episode, commandeered my thoughts. She taunted: Julie only invited you because she pities you. She knows Sam will never come back. You’re ugly and useless, Sam marry you? Ha, such a joke. Stop deluding yourself. No man would waste his life with you.
So absorbed in my masochistic thoughts, I failed to realize my car had drifted into the lane of an oncoming van. Frantic horn honking wrenched my attention away from the costume and back to the road. For a brief second, time slowed and every muscle in my chest constricted around my rib cage. My arms cut the wheel hard to get back onto my own side of the road. Once the van safely passed, I eased onto the shoulder, threw the gear into park, and collapsed forward onto the steering wheel. My hands flew to my head and squeezed. “Shut up,” I roared to the part of my brain telling me I should have let the van kill me.
Ten minutes later, I turned the key and put the car into drive. My heartbeat had returned to normal and air moved in and out of my lungs. I gripped the steering wheel with both hands and focused on the road, knowing full well I was driving in the wrong direction. Home was the other way.

About Susan
Susan Sofayov lives in Pittsburgh, PA with one husband, three children, and the most hated dog in the neighborhood. She and her husband operate a real estate development/management company.  She is a former vice president of child care for a large non-profit organization and holds a BA in English Literature and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and an MA in Teaching from Chatham University.
Susan loves pizza, babies, and gummy bears.  She readily admits to suffering from an acute fear of punctuation marks, especially the ever malicious comma.

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Reviews Say It All
TAYLOR JONES SAYS: In Defective by Susan Sofayov, Maggie is a young woman with bi-polar disorder who gets a serious wake-up call when her fiancé leaves her because, while he loves her, he can’t live with the scary person she becomes when her condition acts up and she has what she calls “episodes.” Willing to do anything to get Sam back, Maggie does the unthinkable, according to her family. She decides to see a shrink and get help.

I found the story extremely interesting as I knew nothing about bi-polar disorder. It is sobering to realize that sometimes people act crazy because they really can’t control their behavior. You simply cannot help but feel for Maggie as she struggles to live a normal life, knowing that she isn’t really normal, but not knowing why. And you rejoice with her when she finally finds a medicine that helps her control her symptoms and “quiet her noisy brain.” It is a warm, inspiring, and moving story and I enjoyed every word. I give Defective 5 Stars.

REGAN MURPHY SAYS: Defective by Susan Sofayov is the story of a young woman with Bi-Polar 2 Disorder. She knows that she has good days and bad days, but she doesn’t know why, and she doesn’t get help, or even realize how serious the problem is, until her boyfriend moves out after she has one of her scary bad days. Devastated, she takes a friend’s advice and decides to go see a therapist to get help, knowing that is the only way she can get her lover back.

Maggie spends the whole of the book trying to get Sam back, even when we begin to see that perhaps Sam is a bit of a jerk and doesn’t really deserve her. After all, instead of trying to help her, he just walks out on her. Which is why the ending is such a pleasant surprise. The book is touching as well as thought-provoking, giving us a glimpse into the daily life of someone whose own brain is her worst enemy. It may not be a page turner, but it is definitely worth the time to read and think about. It will at least make you realize how lucky you are to be normal, and perhaps make you a little more understanding of those who aren’t. I’m giving it 4.8 Stars.