Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway: Open House by Mickie B. Ashling

Please join us in welcoming author Mickie B. Ashling today on the tour for her newest release, Open House, book two in the Open series. Enjoy the teaser excerpt and then be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter Mickie’s giveaway.

Good luck!

Hi everyone! Thank you for stopping by to help me celebrate the release of Open House. I’m here to share an exclusive excerpt and give you a chance to win a few giveaways. Open House is the direct sequel to Open Seating. These books should be read in order to be fully enjoyed.

As always, I’d like to thank The Novel Approach for hosting today’s visit, and my wonderful publicist J for her excellent help in organizing my blog tour.

Mickie~

About the Book

Author: Mickie B. Ashling
Series: Open Trilogy #2
Release Date: October 24, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Gay Romance
Length: 200 pages
Cover Artist: Catt Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb: By the time Seth and Bryce return to Chicago, they’re halfway in love. They decide to move in together to see if their feelings can survive in the real world.

Seth receives word that a mandatory autopsy was performed on his late partner because his death was a suicide. The medical examiner’s findings are disturbing and leave some doubt as to the underlying cause of death.

Because of the suicide clause, life insurance benefits had been denied, but in light of these new findings, Seth’s lawyer advises him to appeal. The insurance investigator turns out to be the man who broke Bryce’s heart twenty-five years ago. The guy has fallen on hard times, and when he sees how successful Bryce has become—and how large Seth’s potential payout might be—he decides he wants a piece of the pie. Bryce and Seth’s new relationship is severely tested in this second novel in the Open Series.

Buy the Book: Dreamspinner Press || Amazon || All Romance eBooks || Barnes & Noble

The Excerpt

Seth was overwhelmed by everything he’d heard so far. Becoming financially solvent was a herculean task he was not prepared for. He had some funds in his savings account, but after paying off the bills he’d accrued on the trip and settling Mark’s funeral expenses and attorney fees, he’d barely have enough to scrape by until the house sold.

Seth hadn’t planned on moving out. He had envisioned living in this house until he drew his last breath. Thanks to Mark’s planning, he owned it outright, but everything had changed since taking the trip with Bryce. Selling the house had become paramount, a necessary step to moving on with life. He still hadn’t decided if he’d buy his own place or not. A lot depended on how things progressed with Bryce, but he wanted financial independence, if nothing else. Unfortunately, he hadn’t opened his laptop in a month, and the odds of getting an advance on a finished manuscript any time soon were zero to none. His last royalty check had already been spent, and the next one wasn’t due until the end of December, over two months away.

“What’s the matter?” Bryce asked, noticing Seth’s distress. “You look like you just swallowed a worm or something equally vile.”

“I feel faint,” Seth admitted.

Bryce put his arm around Seth’s waist and steered him toward the living room. Like the rest of the house, Seth realized it needed a face-lift. The sofa was upholstered in black and white, a geometrical design popular twenty-five years ago but out of place in this century. Thanks to his new outlook on life, he was seeing everything with fresh eyes. He’d walked past this sofa for years and never noticed how dated it was. Everything in the house was worn-out.

He leaned back on the sofa and shut his eyes, trying to gather his courage. When he did speak, he faltered. “I’m not sure how I let things get so bad.”

“What do you mean?” Bryce asked.

“The place is falling apart around me, and I never noticed.”

“You were busy writing,” Bryce said. “How many novels have you written in the last twenty years?”

Seth shrugged. “Several dozen, but that’s not the point, Bryce. I should have had a more balanced life, been a better partner. Mark often accused me of being removed from our marriage, so caught up in my fantasies I didn’t notice anything else.”

Bryce snorted. “It works both ways, you know. He could have picked up the phone and hired someone.”

Seth opened his eyes and stared into clear blue orbs looking down at him kindly. “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”

“Not at all,” Bryce said. “You’re creative and accomplished in your chosen field. Not too many people can say that. So you’ll never win a Good Housekeeping Award, so what. That doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“Since I was the stay-at-home partner, shouldn’t that have been my job?”

“Why? Were you watching soaps all day or burning up his plastic at the mall? No. You were busy writing, which is a job the last time I checked.”

Seth caressed Bryce’s face, running his thumb around the mouth he’d come to cherish in the last few weeks. “You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

Bryce kissed him softly. “Stop feeling guilty. You know how I feel about that useless emotion.”

About the Author

Mickie B. Ashling is the pseudonym of a multifaceted woman who is a product of her upbringing in multiple cultures, having lived in Japan, the Philippines, Spain, and the Middle East. Fluent in three languages, she’s a citizen of the world and an interesting mixture of East and West. A little bit of this and a lot of that have brought a unique touch to her literary voice she could never learn from textbooks.

By the time Mickie discovered her talent for writing, real life got in the way, and the business of raising four sons took priority. With the advent of e-publishing—and the inevitable emptying nest—dreams of becoming a published writer were resurrected and she’s never looked back.

She stumbled into the world of men who love men in 2002 and continues to draw inspiration from their ongoing struggle to find equality and happiness in this oftentimes skewed and intolerant world. Her award-winning novels have been called “gut wrenching, daring, and thought provoking.” She admits to being an angst queen and making her men work damn hard for their happy endings.

Mickie currently resides in a suburb outside Chicago.

Connect with Mickie: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads & Ask the Author | Website | Email

The Giveaway

Win a $20 Dreamspinner Press gift certificate or an ecopy of Open Seating by Mickie B. Ashling. Two winners! Contest open internationally. Must be 18 or older to enter.

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Follow the Tour

Oct. 24 – The Novel Approach
Oct. 25 – Love Bytes
Oct. 28 – Bayou Book Junkie
Oct. 31 – Prism Book Alliance
Nov. 2 – Sinfully
Nov. 4 – Diverse Reader
Nov. 8 – Two Chicks Obsessed
Nov. 10 – On Top Down Under Book Reviews
Nov. 11 – MM Good Book Reviews