Monday, February 24, 2014

Red Dirt Heart by N.R. Walker


We are happy to to show you new release Red Dirt Heart by N.R. Walker! Make sure you go down to the bottom to check out the review and a chance to win a copy of Red Dirt Heart for yourself!



Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how; the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

Excerpt: 
Just on sundown, I got off the motorbike, kicked the stand down so the bike stood upright without me and closed the gate. I’d been out all day in the South paddocks doing a final check of fences and water trough pumps before we bought the cattle down from the North. I’d seen the ute back at the homestead as I came in so I knew George was home.
George was my leading hand. He was in his fifties, with greying hair and sun-hardened skin. He’d worked here for as long I could remember, but he was more than a loyal employee. He was my friend, and in a lot of ways, more of a dad to me than my own old man ever was.
He’d been out all day, left before sun-up and headed into Alice Springs. We were a good three hours from the nearest town, and with a list as long as his arm from the Station cook, Ma—who also happened to be his wife—he needed a few hours in town before heading out to the airport to pick up the real reason for his trip: an American agronomy student by the name of Travis Craig.
When my father ran this farm, or station as we called it, every year we’d have people from another country come and spend a couple of weeks as part of some Diversification exchange program. My old man always said it was a good way to source out what other countries were teaching, but really I think he just liked the extra pair of hands at the finish of the dry season. And when we’d had a phone call back in July to ask if we’d be interested in hosting another student, and given it’d been a few years, I thought it seemed like a good idea. Now I couldn’t help but wonder if this Travis Craig would be a help or a liability.

I rode the bike into the yard and pulled up in the shed. I figured they’d know I’d arrived, having heard the bike, so I headed straight for the house. Like most homesteads built almost a hundred years ago, it was a weatherboard home, with an old iron roof and a veranda around four sides to try and keep it cool.
I kicked the red dust from my boots on the veranda steps and tried to brush the same from my jeans, took off my hat before I opened the door and walked inside. There was a suitcase and a duffel bag near the front door and voices at the back of the house.
“In the kitchen,” George called out.
I followed the sound of chatter and the smell of something good to find a meeting of sorts in the old country-style kitchen. The worn, solid wooden table that graced the middle of the room was covered with plates of scones and trays of cups and tea, and three people were in chairs around it—my right-hand man, George, his wife the cook, Ma, and a stranger with short light-brown hair and pale blue eyes.
George was the first to his feet, and the man beside him soon followed. “Here’s the boss, Charles Sutton,” George said, introducing me formally. “Charlie, this is Travis Craig.”
Travis looked about twenty-two years old, not much younger than me. Whereas I was a stockier build, with dull brown hair and boring brown eyes, he was taller than me by a few inches and muscular and lean. He held out his hand and smiled. “Mr Sutton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” His accent was strange to hear at first, but his smile was warm and wide.
I wiped my hand on my shirt and held it out for him to shake. “Travis,” I said with a nod. “Please, call me Charlie.”



Contact Information:
Website: nrwalker.wordpress.com.
Facebook Fan Page: N.R. Walker Author
Twitter: @NR_Walker

About N.R. Walker
Who am I?
Good question…
I am many things: a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer.
I have pretty, pretty boys who live in my head, who don't let me sleep at night unless I give them life with words.
I like it when they do dirty, dirty things… but I like it even more when they fall in love.
I used to think having people in my head talking to me was weird, until one day I happened across other writers who told me it was normal.
I've been writing ever since…


Book Whores Review!

While this book started out a bit slow, it picked up and delivered a quality read. The the struggles are trying on the heart of the main character, Charlie, as he grapples with his being gay in a environment that sees who he has in his bed a weakness and the undeniable attraction to Travis. There are moments that you really see the power for love and kindness between the characters in times when things are going down even in the supporting characters, especially in times when lives are on the line and they all pull together as a family. Overall, great read, well written and definitely worth a read. 

4½ Smooches for Red Dirt Heart. You can find it here.


Make sure you enter to win a copy of Red Dirt Heart!



a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Giveaway & Special Guest - Azalea Moone!

We are happy to have special guest author Azalea Moone on our blog today to talk about her new release For the Long Haul and where her inspiration comes from!

Finding Inspiration in Strange Places


Hiya guys! Glad to be here at Book Whores United to celebrate my new release “For the Long Haul”, a coming out story about a trucker and his chance meeting while on the road. Now you might be wondering where the heck do authors get their inspiration from. Or maybe not, but if you are, I can only tell you one thing: strange places.

No, it’s true. It’s common to find inspiration in a song, a book, a movie, or other kind of media, from life’s events, a name, etc. But sometimes the inspiration hits like a damn sledgehammer from out of the blue.

It doesn’t take much, a simple drive to the grocery store or a work shift, when it hits you. That guy over there... he’d make a great character in my next book! Or there’s an accident over there, hey, that’s a good idea, two men come together after a car accident. Or even something as simple as a conversation can bring story ideas galore.

Sure, I’ve seen plenty of cute guys when I’m out running errands that I’ve based some characters on. I’ve used my experiences working different jobs for different story scenarios. And I’ve even had story ideas pop up from things my boyfriend likes, such as television shows and video games.

But the strangest instance I’ve ever gotten inspiration was for this story. It was a conversation with my mother about a guy she knows, who happens to be a truck driver, and he carries a loaded weapon on his rig in order to shoo the lot lizards away. That, right there, triggered story mode right away.

After she left, I went right to work on researching and writing. If I remember right, I told her about it, too. Can you imagine that conversation? “Hey mom, you know that convo we had about what’s his name? Yeah, I’m writing a story about a truck driver.”

Hehe. Now she does know what I write, but I wonder if she’ll ever tell me anything again. I’m just waiting for the day when she says, “You’re going to use this for a story idea, aren’t you?”

Oh mom, you know me all too well.

Excerpt:

A woman stood, scantily dressed in a dark low-cut top and bright pink, short ruffled skirt. High heels raised her a few more inches, but not nearly enough to reach the full height of the rig’s window. Her plump, red lips moved. “Hey.”
Gunner groaned loud. He reached above the seat to a compartment, fiddled with the tie, and pulled out his defense.
“Ya’ll lookin’ for commercial company t’night?” The woman batted her eyelashes and licked her lips. Her accent was definitely Southern.
He rolled down the window a crack. “No, thank you,” Gunner replied, holding the pistol to his side out of sight.
“Oh, come on, baby,” she said. “I’m cheap. Twenty dollas’ a blow.”
Of course you’re cheap. Damn, but these lot lizards never took “no” for an answer.
“You speak English, right? I said ‘no’.” He flashed the gun a moment.
The woman stepped back, waving her hands in the air. “Ugh, no need for that.”
“So get your ass out of here.” He waved her away and rolled the window shut.
Lot lizards were a common occurrence for this place, as well as drug peddlers and gang activity. Those women would come around every time he’d park there, and every time he’d flash the gun, the skanks would leave.


Have you ever had inspiration hit in the strangest ways? Tell me about it.

Enter my giveaway for a chance to win a free copy of “For the Long Haul.” Comment below, and remember to leave your email address. Winners will be drawn February 22nd on Azalea Moone’s blog – that’s release day, by the way!


http://azalea-moone.blogspot.com/ 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Cute, Cuddly and Clockwork Tangerine!

The Bookwhores are happy to have Rhys Ford sneaking by our blog today to share some cute, some cuddly, and her new release Clockwork Tangerine!







The British Empire reigns supreme, and its young Queen Victoria has expanded her realm to St. Francisco, a bustling city of English lords and Chinese ghettos. St. Francisco is a jewel in the Empire’s crown and as deeply embroiled in the conflict between the Arcane and Science as its sister city, London—a very dark and dangerous battle.

Marcus Stenhill, Viscount of Westwood, stumbles upon that darkness when he encounters a pack of young bloods beating a man senseless. Westwood’s duty and honor demand he save the man, but he’s taken aback to discover the man is Robin Harris, a handsome young inventor indirectly responsible for the death of Marcus’s father.

Living in the shadows following a failed coup, Robin devotes his life to easing others’ pain, even though his creations are considered mechanical abominations of magicks and science. Branded a deviant and a murderer, Robin expects the viscount to run as far as he can—and is amazed when Marcus reaches for him instead.

You can find Clockwork Tangerine here!

You can find Rhys here!