We’re so pleased to have author Lisa Oliver dropping in today to celebrate the release of her latest novel, Bound by Blood, a spinoff novel in the Cloverleah series. She’s sharing an excerpt from the book as well as a giveaway, so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget below for details.
Welcome, Lisa!
Hello Lisa, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today. I am so excited to tell you a little bit about the characters in my recent release, Bound by Blood which is a standalone, Cloverleah Pack spin off story.
Max is a centuries old vampire who is currently in charge of the Atlanta coven. He was given the job by his friend Vadim, who some of my regular readers will recognize as the main character In Watching Out for Fangs (Cloverleah Pack series #7). I had a good feeling about him when he first appeared – calm, good looking and because of his age, unlikely to let anything or anyone faze him. He must have made an impression, because after his run in with Tobias (Cloverleah Pack series #8) I had a ton of emails from readers asking me to give Max his own HEA.
Lyle is a little different. Where Max is smooth and sophisticated, Lyle is simplistic. He doesn’t see the need for the fancy trappings in life that Max enjoys and has a refreshing honesty, which it turns out the coven really needed. In fact, at one point Lyle calls the coven a cult and as I was writing the scene I could understand what he meant.
What I really loved about these two men is how they grew throughout the story. Lyle was raised on a rural farm by a wonderful mother and rather narrow-minded step-father. Max lives the high life but has his roots in responsibility and honor. All his life Lyle had believed his opinions and even his life didn’t matter, whereas Max was used to being listened to and obeyed by everyone around him. Max’s sense of duty does get in the way of their HEA, but that was necessary in part because it allowed Lyle to realize he did have worth and to speak up about those values that meant something to him. Here’s a wee snippet so you can see for yourself.
About the Book
Series: Standalone spinoff from the Cloverleah Series
Author: Lisa Oliver
Publisher: LisaO Books
Release Date: Friday, September 28, 2018
Is This Book Romance?: Yes
Word Count: 59k approx
Cover Artist: Lisa Oliver
Genres: true mates, paranormal, vampires
Pairings: MM – vampire and cat shifter – other pairings mentioned but not the focus of the story
Tropes: true mate, age difference, species difference
Keywords/Categories: gay males, true mates trope, paranormal
Warnings: some violence including a scene of a man looking as though he was trying to hang himself, but as he’s a vampire, he would never die of it.
Blurb: Maximillian “Max” Lipovsky has been Regent of the Atlanta coven for the past six months. His days are full of meetings and paperwork as he does his best to straighten out the mess left during the disastrous reign of Vadim’s brother Ermine. With Vadim now happily living in Cloverleah with his mate Josh, it’s up to Max to keep his friend’s coven happy and safe. Easier said than done. When it is pointed out to him it’d been more than six months since he’d fed from a willing donor, Max decides a night out is exactly what’s needed.
Lyle Roberts is tired of being scared, tiny, and alone. But mostly he’s tired. When a tall, strong man with flashing red eyes stops him getting beaten up in an alley, he thought he might have found a momentary reprieve from his rotten life. Finding out the man was a vampire, something he’d only seen in movies, Lyle decides to take a chance and asks the man to remove his curse. Only, it turns out Lyle isn’t cursed after all – unless you consider having a workaholic mate as a curse.
Lyle’s arrival at the coven seems to have brought out the worst in people. As soon as one threat’s dealt with, another one rears its ugly head. With the Alpha of the Atlanta pack pushing for a meeting, and vampires turning rogue within the coven itself, Max has his hands full. The only problem is, with his hands full, he doesn’t have anything to hold his beloved with. Will Max and Lyle ever find their HEA or will the mating curse strike its cruelest blow of all?
Bound by Blood is a complete standalone spin off story from the Cloverleah pack. Regular Lisa Oliver readers will remember Max from Watching Out for Fangs (The Cloverleah series #7) but it’s not necessary to have read that book, to understand this one. Intimate situations and some violence means this book is suitable for adults only.
#MMPNR #MMRomance #MMTrueMates
The Excerpt
“Jesus,” Jason said, and Lyle couldn’t work out if he was being sarcastic or not. “What tree did you fall out of? Haven’t you ever watched gay porn? Don’t you know anything about the shifter world or sex?”
Ooh, I’ve had enough of you. Jumping to his feet, Lyle advanced on the spiteful individual, the ends of his fingers tingling as though his claws wanted to emerge. “I didn’t fall out of a tree, I lived in a barn. I couldn’t watch porn if I had no access to a computer, television or wherever else porn is available. And no, for your information, until Max found me and saved me, I wasn’t aware anyone else could change into an animal at will. This world is all new to me and Max has been the kindest sweetest man in existence. He made a mistake, not telling me he wanted to fuck my ass to claim me fully, but that isn’t any business of yours. If you’re so damn sure I’m not his beloved, then explain to me why he wears the scar from my bite on his neck. Because from what I can see in this god-forsaken cult of yours, all of you guys are blemish free and heal fast. So why did my bite leave him with a scar? Why?” Lyle poked Jason’s chest for emphasis and to his surprise the taller man stepped back.
“You know if you want to hang around in a coven, you’d better learn not to call it a cult.” Jason didn’t seem as cocky as he did before.
“I call it how I see it,” Lyle wasn’t going to back down. Max’s explanation had helped in part, but that didn’t mean Lyle wasn’t going to yell at him later. In the meantime, Jason made an easier target. “Max gave me the tour, and do you know I what I saw? A bunch of overdressed, superior assholes all lounging around as though getting their hands dirty was a sin. I heard endless complaints about there not being enough donors in the coven – what the hell? Is it impossible for anyone of those lazy hoes to get off their asses and find their own blood? But no, they sit around gossiping about how they could run the coven so much better, which is a joke. I’m surprised they haven’t employed someone to wipe their asses.”
“Lord Max….”
“My Max works his ass off for this coven and I’m sure as hinky he’s being taken advantage of. He told me about Ermine who did nothing but try and pull this coven into war with Cloverleah to steal a living being from his home which is disgusting. Vadim, the regent before that barely had anything to do with the coven on the day to day side of things, probably because most of the people here are petty nuisances. But I bet it was you who set Max up like this, wasn’t it? You filled his days with appointments over silly shit grown people could handle by themselves, just to make yourself seem more important. Who gives a shit if Duke Pettigrew couldn’t get the right seeds for his garden, or if the Duchess Vale was snubbed at a human-owned store? They’re generations older than me and they don’t know how to lodge a formal complaint with the management or place another order for the right seeds?”
About the Author
Lisa Oliver had been writing non-fiction books for years when visions of half dressed, buff men started invading her dreams. Unable to resist the lure of her stories, Lisa decided to switch to fiction books, and now stories about her men clamor to get out from under her fingertips.
When Lisa is not writing, she is usually reading with a cup of tea always at hand. Her grown children and grandchildren sometimes try and pry her away from the computer and have found that the best way to do it, is to promise her chocolate. Lisa will do anything for chocolate.
Lisa loves to hear from her readers and other writers. You can friend her on Facebook, catch up on what’s happening at her blog or email her directly at yoursintuitively@gmail.com. Twitter || Goodreads || QueeRomance Ink || Amazon
The Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Hosted by Other Worlds Ink