What a **brilliant** title!  I couldn’t resist saying yes to hosting it here, because, well, brilliant title! And also because Julie is donating 10% of the royalties from this book to No Kid Hungry. (Visit nokidhungry.org for more information about this organization.)

What’s more, let’s do something different, I said. Interviews are a bit meh, so a post on drag queens maybe? A paean to men in bright red lippy? The role of small cuddly dogs in fiction? Maybe, if we want to be serious, tell us more about your chosen charity? Anything you like. Julie took me at my word.

I have a POEM. A for-real poem as written from one MC to the other. Poetry!! And that, my friends, is a first for this blog, and I am stoked that it’s happened. I’m delighted to welcome Julie here and to present to you the poem:

 

From Vinnie, to Ethan.

He came into my life, but I was blind,
Too blind to see how much he meant to me.
I acted like a dick, I was unkind,
And still he showed his loving face to me.
Afraid to trust, afraid to take a chance
On something I had never felt before,
He gave new meaning to the word romance
And filled my life with love, forever more.
He made me feel that I was worth his love,
He gave me value when I thought I’d none.
We fit together, like a hand in glove,
And when he kissed me, I did come undone.
He is my heart and soul, the air I breathe,
And with him now, I find my life complete.

 

 

Vinnie Delarosa and Ethan Thorne are partners—on and off the clock. Federal undercover detectives, they’re part of a covert task force designed to promote goodwill between the feds and local authorities. They lend an unobtrusive helping hand wherever it’s needed. No credit required.

Vinnie and Ethan work primarily in the Southeast region of the United States and live together in Richmond, Virginia. A mugger problem brings them to Roanoke, where Vinnie is thrown out as bait to catch the man who’s been snatching purses in a city park, but they end up with more than they bargained for. Why is Vinnie always the one who has to wear the dress? Ethan says it’s because Vinnie looks much prettier in a skirt. How can he argue with that?

Expecting to return to Richmond afterward, Vinnie and Ethan find themselves assigned a new case instead. They are to go undercover at The Stroll, one of the biggest gay nightclubs in Roanoke. Someone is terrorizing both the customers and the performers. Could they be dealing with a hate crime? Someone has to protect the drag queens of Roanoke, so it’s Vinnie and Ethan to the rescue!

Book Name: Bad Dogs and Drag Queens
Series: Rose and Thorne, Book One
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Release Date: May 25, 2016

 

Dreamspinner

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AllRomance 

 

“Remind me again whose stupid idea this lipstick was,” I huffed under my breath. Without thinking, I licked my lips. They felt greasy, and tasted even worse. I forced myself not to grimace, afraid it might crack the foundation I’d slathered on my face.

“Mine, you sexy beast,” came the smart-ass reply in my ear. “I think you got purty lips, mmhmmm.”

“Fuck you,” I growled. “You should be doing this, not me, and you know it. I did it last time.”

And the time before that. And the time before that. Wait, did I detect a pattern here?

“What I know is you look better in a skirt than I do. And you look damn good out of it too.”

My cheeks filled with heat at Ethan’s words. Luckily the darkness hid a multitude of sins, my embarrassment being the least of them. Hopefully, no one else was listening—I knew I’d never hear the end of it. Just what I needed—to be the object of ridicule of the Roanoke PD.

 

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Julie Lynn Hayes first began publishing short stories and poetry in the 1990’s, when it was a different ballgame altogether, and Ebooks hadn’t been dreamed of yet. That changed in 2010 with the acceptance of her first romance novel. She’s come a long way since that first book appeared, and is finding the journey a very educational one.

She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and her cat Ramesses. She often writes of two men finding true love and happiness in one another’s arms, and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She likes to write in different genres, to stretch herself in order to see what is possible. Her great challenge is to be told something can’t be done—she feels compelled to do it.

When she isn’t writing, she enjoys crafts, such as crocheting and cross stitch,  needlepoint and knitting, and she loves to cook, spending time watching the Food Network. Her favorite chef is Geoffrey Zakarian. Her family thinks she’s a bit off, but she doesn’t mind. Marching to the beat of one’s own drummer is a good thing, after all. Her published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, eXtasy Books, and Wayward Ink Press.

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23-May: Open Skye Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, Multitasking Mommas

24-May: Velvet Panic, Nephy Hart, Louise Lyons

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