Author: tessb

We’re closing in on a month away from pre-orders, and the reviews have started coming in! I am so excited — She whom I Love is sitting at 5 stars on Goodreads right now, and I couldn’t be happier! If you’re looking for a review copy, do let me know. SWIL is currently up on Netgalley, for those who have access there, and I have some ARCs that need to find good homes.

In the meantime, to whet your appetite a little have an excerpt! In this scene, Sarah (Sophie) is visiting Marguerite, and struggling with the feelings her best friend has inadvertently dredged up from deep within… (mildly explicit language, pining, apparently unrequited F/F lust).

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I’m poking at my cover copy for High Contrast this week. Here’s a first try at it:

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Jacob Shain is living the life of your average member of Generation Screwed in NYC. He has a boring internship, no cash flow, a tiny apartment that he has to share with his much-cooler tattoo-artist twin brother, and his romantic life is DOA. At least, until the day his brother’s shop hires on a new piercer, and Jacob’s boring life takes a turn for the weird.

Cody is gorgeous, funny and kind—he’s everything Jacob wants in a boyfriend. Except for the way he refuses to talk about his past, or where he lives, or anything about his personal life. And when Jacob’s brother is arrested, the bully at Jacob’s office steps up his harassment, Cody’s devastating secrets come to light and the mob gets involved, Jacob has to choose: stay the good boy forever, or dive headfirst into a world he barely understands.

Warning: Contains a good boy who wants to be bad, a bad boy who longs to be good, bodies that are canvases for living art and high-speed chases with police dogs.

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It’s not quite there yet, and I can probably get another short paragraph in there, but it’s a start. What do all y’all think?

I promised that I would announce it when the paperwork was done. I’ve just signed the contract for a new book with my publisher, Samhain.

The book will be called High Contrast, is an M/M romance, and is the first in a new series of New Adult romances: Evolution Ink. Subsequent books will follow the love lives of other employees of the titular tattoo shop, and keep the same sort of themes and feel as were explored in TCBHS.

This series will be queer in varying ways (not just white M/M, I promise you right here and now), with a racially diverse group of heroes and heroines. As a queer writer with longstanding roots in the North American body mod subculture, I can also promise to treat my subject with dignity and respect.

High Contrast will be released in Spring 2016. Stay tuned over the next few months for news, cover reveals and giveaways!

Now that She Whom I Love is off to the proofreader (ugh) I finally have a few free moments to crack back in to That Potent Alchemy. Can I say, first, how excited I am that Mosaic Stock is open now? (and they’ll be doing period shoots — ahhhhhh!) Just in time to maybe, somehow, find a decent cover for this one. The realm of choice in 19th-century Black couples is… probably not quite zero, but incredibly minimal. Hopefully this is the beginning of change.

In the meantime, have an unedited snippet from That Potent Alchemy. Isaac, stage crew at the Surrey Theater in London, the summer of 1811, sees Grace for the first time.

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Oh, oh, OHH! I also forgot to crosspost this here, which, spank me with a wet noodle. I have the cover for book two! She whom I Love will be out December 29th, so a perfect indulgence for those Christmas gift certificates and amazon refunds!

Check this out:

Isn’t it gorgeous??

I’m sorry — I’m such a slacker! I post all the time over on Tumblr, but I haven’t yet found a way to make the content mirror here effectively. I will do better.

(In the mean time, you can always follow me on tumblr: http://tessbowery.tumblr.com or twitter: http://twitter.com/TessBowery )

But yes! Things have been rocketing along over in Tess-land. She Whom I Love has gone back to my editor for the second round of edits, I have the third book in Treading the Boards puttering along, and I’m trying my hand at something New Adultish (contemporary) which may or may not see the light of day. I’m considering it a comfort zone challenge.

And speaking of my amaze-balls editor, she sent me this scan from June’s Romance Times, a 4-star review of Rite of Summer from a major industry mag. W00t!

Not quite a week since release day, and Rite of Summer is at 4.3 on Goodreads, 3.7 on Amazon.com! There have also been some amazing reviews that haven’t made it over to those sites yet, including some previously linked during the blog tour.

The Watch and Word Society posted their 5-star review today, and it’s a lovely one! 

“… the sex was HOT. The many sex scenes from M/M/M to M/M left me feeling “…mmmmmm.” They were great, and definitely fit the story…

“What was done in this book that really set it apart for me was the attention to historical detail and to a historical mindset.”

And it goes on from there!

Thank you very much, Danielle!

Did the blog tour only whet your appetite? Check out my final interview before Tuesday’s official release! I chat with Rita Lee Chapman, and give her an exclusive excerpt from Rite of Summer, as well as news on the next release in Treading the Boards, and a sneak preview of book 3 — That Potent Alchemy.

http://ritaleechapman.com/guest-authors

May 25: Archaeolibrarian – I dig good books! – review
May 26: Unabridged Andra’s – review
May 27: Booklover Sue
May 28: Prism Book Alliance
May 28: All I Want and More Books
May 29: BFD Book Blog
May 29: The Buttontapper

Click and comment to be entered in the rafflecopter draw! Even though today is the last day for the draw, don’t forget to check back on Monday for my interview with Rita Chapman:

June 1: Interview at www.ritaleechapman.com

And then back here again on Tuesday evening for the launch party and release day!

June 2: Launch party!

Here’s a quick recap of the first week of my blog tour! Every comment on one of the host blogs gives you another chance to enter the draw for a $20 gift certificate to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

May 18: Sharing Links and Wisdom – interview
May 19: Wickedly Wanton Tales Blog – interview
May 19: Living a Dream, One Word at a Time – review
May 20: The Reading Addict – guest post and review
May 21: Hearts On Fire Reviews – interview
May 21: The Blog of Author Jacey Holbrand – guest post
May 22: Anita’s Den – interview