February Spotlight (#2): 5 Authors, 5 Questions, 5 Prizes #LGBT #Interview #RGRGiveaway #MMRomance

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For our second February spotlight, we are very happy to welcome A.M. Arthur, Kaje Harper, N.R. Walker, Shannon West and Tere Michaels on Rainbow Gold Reviews. They are amazing authors and we hope you will enjoy getting to know them and their books better. Check out our interview with all 5 authors below and don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the big giveaway. Details below. Good Luck!

Next month in our Author Spotlight on March 1st we will feature Amy Lane, Andrew Grey, Clancy Nacht, James Buchanan and Angel Martinez. 

In our second Author Spotlight that month on March 15th, we will feature Amelia Faulkner, Charlie Cochrane, Leta Blake, Jake Biondi and Dean Frech.

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[Question 1] RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS: 

What was the most romantic thing you ever did for someone to show them your love?

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A.M. Arthur: This is a tough question, because I’ve never been in love with a romantic partner (of which I’ve only ever had two). I’m asexual with strong leanings toward aromantic. My longest relationship was six months, and I can’t think of any specific romantic gesture I might have made (that stands out, anyway, this was years ago). I cooked dinner for him, we visited different places together, but…yeah. I write romance, but in my personal life, I’m very happy to be alone with my cats.

Kaje Harper: My husband is pro-love but anti-romance-gestures. He makes dinner for me almost every night, (I do dishes), and cleans bathrooms (romance at its finest, IMO), but he hasn’t bought a Valentines or anniversary gift in 31 years. So my most romantic, in his eyes, would be when I did this huge effort cleaning up cluttered spaces around the house (because I’m a keep-everything person, and he’s a clean-spaces person.) It was a bunch of work for something he values, and I don’t, and that was romantic in his opinion.

N.R. Walker: The most romantic thing I’ve ever done (or what some might find romantic) was write a book for them. And no, I won’t say which book.

Shannon West: The most romantic thing I ever did–hands down–was go to the Eiffel Tower at midnight with my husband. We had just arrived in Paris, were terribly jetlagged, but somehow got a second wind and decided to go out. We were fairly close to the tower so we went over there and went up to the top. (It was midnight our time, not Parisian time!) It was so beautiful and really romantic. It was my husband’s first and only time to go to Paris, so that made it really special.

Tere Michaels: To put it in perspective, my husband and I are practical romantics. LOL So – I threw my husband his first ever birthday party! The religion he was raised in didn’t celebrate birthdays or holidays so for his twenty-fifth birthday, I threw him a surprise party. (A reverse surprise party – all the guests showed up and rang the doorbell. :P) He was SO surprised and happy and yes, I bought him some Star Wars toys.

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[Question 2] RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS: 

Which of your books are you most proud of and why?

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A.M. Arthur: Can I cheat and pick a series? If so, it’s the books in my Perspectives series. Book one, The Truth As He Knows It, was a book I intended to be a tearjerker, and it’s a book that really seems to stay with readers a long time after. Then book two features one of my most popular characters, Tristan, who has short-term memory loss he must overcome to fall in love with Gabe. Book three has a mostly-deaf, agoraphobic character who’s drawn out of his shell by an exuberant porn star and an adorable gray kitten. And book four, Their Life As They Live It, tells the thirty-year love story of fan favorite supporting characters Richard and Bear. I’m very proud of the series as a whole, and I’m planning to release a fifth book this year.

Kaje Harper: Into Deep Waters. I was given a writing challenge to do the story of two men, from their meeting as teens in WWII to their wedding in 2011, and to write it in 45 days. I ended up with a freebie 64,000 word novel, that is my homage to the men of that generation. To the people who had to hide their love, but who—by living honest, loving lives, and coming out one conversation and one gesture at a time—paved the way for LGBTQ people to gain acceptance, step by step. It wrote itself so fast, (once I was able to tear myself away from the fascinating WWII research,) and it’s also my most highly-rated book with readers.

N.R. Walker: Proud of? Um, I’m really not sure. Probably Point of No Return, because it was my first attempt at writing original fiction and sending to a publisher. I’m also very proud of The Weight of It All because of the identity with body and image, and the response from readers has been overwhelming and very personal, and has truly touched my heart.

Shannon West: This is a hard one. I love all of my books, even the bad ones, lol. They’re still my babies. I suppose the first Dark Hollows Wolf Pack book, Alpha’s Pet, because it started that series, which was my favorite series. Or maybe Mate of the Tyger Prince, because I love the two mc’s in that books so much.

Tere Michaels: Ack! That’s like picking your favorite kid! I think I would go with Faith & Fidelity. It made a large impact on a lot of people, and honestly, it was the first book I ever actually finished. That was an accomplishment on a whole other level. I did it! I got it published! And it was good! Literally, my dream come true. 

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[Question 3] RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS: 

If you could have any superpower, which power would you like to have and what would you do with it?

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A.M. Arthur: You know the movie Liar, Liar? Jim Carrey’s lawyer character can’t tell a lie? How fascinating would it be if your superpower is to make people tell the truth? Not only could you figure out all the fake people in your life, but you could get a politician to tell the truth for once!

Kaje Harper: That’s a difficult question – superpowers would make someone a target for unscrupulous interests. Like teleporting. I’m always two minutes late for everything, so the idea of being able to just pop over to work or a meeting at the last second is wonderful. But imagine what uses criminal and military minds would have for a person able to teleport from one place to another, past any kind of barriers, walls, security? I like my nice quiet life the way it is, thank you.

Many powers could be used for good, but would you get that chance, and keep it that way? And how do you decide how to use it best, and not wear yourself out? (Incidentally, questions that made me write the Tracefinder series. Consider Superman – a hundred accident victims he might save every day, if he did nothing but fly around watching traffic, and swooping in at super-speed, instead of working as a reporter. He takes down-time with Lois, Lane and people die. Is that okay?)

N.R. Walker: My superpower would be the ability to stop time. That way I could read whenever I wanted, nap whenever I wanted, and just take time to decompress when real life gets hectic. The fact I could also stop time, walk into a bank vault, clean it out and be back home in my jammies reading a book before anyone noticed a thing, wouldn’t be a factor at all. LOL

Shannon West: If I could have a super power, it would be invisibility. Like most writers, I am a terrible introvert, though I fight it all the time and force myself to do things. If you ever see me somewhere at a conference, know that I am REALLY uncomfortable and I’m trying my best not to show it. I love to meet readers though. I’m a paradox!

Tere Michaels: The control freak in me says “mind control, and I would clean up the world’s messes” but you know, that is more a conversation I should be having with a therapist…

Let’s go with controlling the weather! Save the planet, end droughts, get everyone’s crops perfectly watered. That sounds slightly less super-villian-y.

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[Question 4] RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS: 

If you had to live on a deserted island and could only bring one book with you to read for the rest of your life, which book would you choose?

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A.M. Arthur: Watership Down by Richard Adams. It’s my favorite book, it’s a long book, and it has so many things going for it, from great mythology to drama to acts of brotherly love.

Kaje Harper: One book. That’s cruelty, you do know that? The Lord of the Rings is three books… Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind is a nice fat 662 pages, but it has an inconclusive ending. Maybe Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion, a fantasy in which a man broken in body and spirit finds strength, redemption, purpose, and love. I adore Bujold’s characters, with their inner core of integrity.

N.R. Walker: Only one book, to ready over and over, forever?? Then I would choose “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust. For the fact alone it is the world’s longest book with 1.3 million words hahaha

Shannon West: Oh gosh, so hard to pick one book to read for the rest of my life! I’m not going with a classic, because that would be a lie, lol. I adore the books of John Wiltshire, so I’ll go with his Aleksey’s Kingdom, book 2 in The Royal Affair series. I love that book and his characters. If anyone hasn’t read it, I highly recommend both books in that series, as well as his More Heat than the Sun series. Amazing books.

Tere Michaels: I am so stumped! I’m going to say The Alienist by Caleb Carr because it’s one of my favorite books. Or Pride & Prejudice. Darn it. I can’t decide!

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[Question 5] RAINBOW GOLD REVIEWS: 

What have you planned for your readers this year? Do you have any recent or upcoming releases you can tell us about?

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A.M. Arthur: I have so much going on this year! My most recent contemporary cowboy romance, WILD TRAIL, came out in December, and the second book in the series, ROPED IN, releases May 21. The third book in the series, SADDLE UP, is due in the fall. I’ve also released books 3.5 and 4 in my Omegaverse series, which has been a lot of fun to write. I’m re-releasing two paranormal novellas, plus a third never-before-read novella. These are set in a spooky world where demons walk among us and like to steal souls. I also have a fifth Perspectives series book set to release this spring, and so many ideas for future WIP’s. I’m pretty busy!

Kaje Harper: My most recent release was Don’t Plan to Stay,  a second-chances holiday novella. I’m working on a new novella about a cat-loving guy with Crohn’s disease and a veterinarian. I saw a reader once commenting how he loved the variety of main characters in M/M, but figured he’d never see one like him with Crohn’s. Which felt a bit like a gauntlet thrown. I’m also polishing and re-releasing Gift of the Goddess, and hoping to complete several half-finished books I put on hold last year.  2017 was not a good year – general stress and re-releasing my Samhain books derailed my writing. With luck, 2018 will include Tracefinder 3, and The Family We Keep, and one more Hidden Wolves book.

N.R. Walker: What I have planned for 2018 – Well, Finders Keepers came out February 2nd. I have Evolved due to come out early April, and my current WIP (still untitled) to come out in June. With audios, I have Breaking Point and Starting Point to come out in late April/late May respectively, and the Spencer Cohen Series in audio starts with Book One being out April as well. Also the audio of On Davis Row is scheduled to come out later this year, as the audio of the Thomas Elkin Series. Back to books though, I am aiming to have a release out every two months. What happens in the second half the year is up to my muse.

Shannon West: I have more of the Mate of the Tyger Prince series planned for this year. I’m hoping for at least 2 more books this year. I’m also working on some collaborations with Susan Scott (our Dragon series!) and T.S. McKinney. We will do another Hybrid for sure. And we are finishing one up now called Gods of War–a new series for us about soldiers and black ops and some interesting things that happen to them. It’s going to be a series. And as soon as we finish this first book of the series called Origins, Gods of War, I am planning another Supremacy of Wolves book. A lot planned and a lot I’d like to do!

Tere Michaels: Heir Apparent was edited (with new content!) and rereleased in October of 2017. This summer, the third book in The Vigilante series will finally be out! So happy about that. Then in September, for my tenth anniversary in publishing – and the tenth anniversary of Faith & Fidelity – there is a special surprise that I’ll be announcing soon. It’s going to be a fun year!

There’s a new series on the horizon but I’m not ready to share that – I’m just saying, stay tuned people!

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Wild Trail (Clean Slate Ranch #1) by A.M. Arthur is about 384 pgs long. The audiobook version was narrated by Greg Boudreaux and is 9 hrs and 17 mins long.

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Welcome to Clean Slate Ranch: home of tight jeans, cowboy boots, and rough trails. For some men, it’s a fantasy come true.

Mack Garrett loves the rolling hills surrounding his Northern California dude ranch. Leading vacationers on horse trails with his two best friends is enough—romance is definitely not in the cards. When a sexy tourist shows up at Clean Slate, he’s as far from Mack’s type as can be. So why is the handsome city slicker so far under his skin in less than a day?

Roughing it in the middle of nowhere isn’t anywhere near Wes Bentley’s idea of fun. Then he lays eyes on the gruffest, hottest papa bear he’s ever seen. But Mack is as hard to pin down as he looks—distant, sharp-tongued, and in desperate need of a shave. Until a campout gone wrong strands both men in the mountains with nothing to do but get to know each other.

Mack intends to keep his closely guarded heart out of Wes’s very talented hands. But for a seven-day cowboy, Wes is packing some long-term possibility. The cold country air can do wonders for bringing bodies together—but it will take more than that to bridge the distance between two men whose lives are worlds apart.

Buy Links: Amazon | Audible | Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

 

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Tracefinder: Contact (Tracefinder #1) by  Kaje Harper is about 518 pgs long.

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What could an undercover cop and a drug lord’s pet psychic have in common?

Brian Kerr has spent years hiding behind a facade of mental slowness. His brother and sister got all three of them off the streets and into a cushy life, under the protection of a dangerous criminal. But to keep that safety, Brian has to use his Finding talent to track down the boss’s enemies. Although he pretends not to know what he’s really doing, each Find takes its toll, and he’s trapped in a life he hates, losing touch with his true self.

Nick Rugo’s job is to protect and serve the people of Minneapolis as an undercover cop. He isn’t closeted, but he isn’t out at work, and there’s a wild, angry side to him that he’s managed to keep hidden until now. When he’s assigned to bring Brian’s boss to justice, he intends to use anything and anyone it takes to do that.

Nick initially sees Brian as a pawn to be played in his case, but he keeps getting glimpses of a different man behind the slow, simpleminded mask. As the two men get to know each other, it becomes clear they share secrets, some of which might get them both killed.

Buy Links: Amazon | Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

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Finders Keepers by N.R. Walker is about 220 pgs long.

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Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-coloured ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a nametag and a phone number.

Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. “I think I found your dog…”

Griffin and Dane start talking, and Griffin agrees to look after Wicket until Dane can collect him. With a few days left before his new job starts, Griffin takes Wicket on some coastal adventures and sends Dane photos of their fun, and so the start of something new and kind of wonderful begins.

Griffin might have moved to Coolum in search of a new life, but what he finds is so much more. What he gets to keep just might take some four-legged help.

Buy Links: Amazon | Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

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Inconvenient Mate (Mate of the Tyger Prince #6) by Shannon West is about 260 pgs long.

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Aaron is drowning. After coming out as gay, he lost his parents’ approval, his job, and his sense of identity. He feels like a freak who doesn’t fit in anywhere. His last hope was his brother Josh, but Josh can’t seem to forgive him for how Aaron treated him when they were teens. Not that Aaron can blame him, because he did treat Josh like crap. 

All Aaron wants is for someone to accept him, guide him, because he doesn’t have a clue. When sexy jiujitsu teacher Blake takes him in and starts mentoring him, Aaron has hope for the first time, even though he can’t understand what Blake sees in him.

Blake doesn’t do relationships. At all. He’s more than willing to help Aaron find solid ground under his feet, but that’s it. Until insecure, vulnerable, and surprisingly sexy Aaron gets under his skin, triggering all kinds of protective instincts that make Blake long for more. He wants to take care of Aaron, give him what he needs, but how can he convince Aaron of that?

When Josh’s friend-with-benefits Indy’s past finally catches up with him, it endangers them all—and leads to heartbreaking decisions for everyone involved. 

Buy Links: Amazon | Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

 

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The Heir Apparent by Tere Michaels is about 200 pgs long.

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The heir apparent to a vast international company, Henry Walker has focused his entire life on pleasing his cold and distant father, a futile effort that’s left him no time for life, love, or making his own decisions. He has just one friend—one dirty little secret—Archie Banks. Raised on the Walker estate alongside Henry, Archie is now Henry’s driver, bodyguard… and occasional lover. Archie is loyal, but he’s about to graduate from college and has plans for his life that don’t include living every moment at the beck and call of Henry’s father. Not even for Henry.

With no warning, a shocking kidnapping leads to tragedy and chaos, thrusting Henry and Archie into a dramatic struggle that threatens them individually and as a couple. Can they find a way to heal the hurt of the past, save the company that is Henry’s birthright, and find a future together?

Buy Links: Amazon | Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comment on this post for the chance to win one of the following prizes:

1| Three e-copies of Wild Trail by A.M. Arthur.

2| One US Audible code for The Rebuilding Year OR one e-copy of The Rebuilding Year book 1, 2 and 2.5 by Kaje Harper.

3| One $5 Amazon GC by N.R. Walker.

4| One $25 Amazon GC by Shannon West.

5| One e-copy of The Heir Apparent AND one winner’s choice eBook by Tere Michaels.

You need to be 18 years or older to participate in this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Etc.

Winners will be randomly drawn from all commenters on this post via random.org

This Giveaway will end on February 28th, 2018 at 11:59 PM CST

GOOD LUCK!!! ❤