Fridays at Ofelia’s | Wandering a Luminous Sea

Interview

Today, Kayleigh Sky is here on a visit, and she’s gonna answer some questions for us 😀 Welcome, Kayleigh!

Which writers inspire you and why?

Off the top of my head, I can name Cormac McCarthy and Ernest Hemingway. Both use a spare, clear prose that just sings to me. Ernest Hemingway has one of the most exquisite first paragraphs (in A Farewell to Arms) I’ve ever read, and Cormac McCarthy has one of the most emotional and heartbreaking last paragraphs (in The Road) I’ve ever read. Both wrote down to the bone in terms of the truth about the human experience. Neither one shied away from the hard stuff, and I love both their works.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

So many things! Lol. Most of what I do actually fuels my writing in one way or another. I love to meditate and practice yoga, and I’m a huge advocate of walking. I also really love photography, and I read tarot. I don’t think I could function without my bullet journal. Other times, I enjoy getting together with family or friends, playing with my cats, and reading, of course!

As a writer, what would choose as your mascot/spirit animal?

My forever cat, Sammy. I lost him two and a half years ago, but he was with me day and night as I wrote. And he was the sweetest, happiest, most loving animal I’ve ever known. I write to him everyday in my journal, so I like to think he’s still a part of my journey.

How do you select the names of your characters?

Mostly by osmosis. I’m only half joking. If I don’t get the name right, the character won’t speak to me clearly. I wrote the first draft of A Vampire’s Heart with the wrong name for Jessa. I just couldn’t get his character down. I kept looking through books and online for the right name, and then I saw Jessamine, and thought, yes! I rewrote all his parts, and he just came alive in all his sunny sweetness. For Doll Baby, I instantly knew the character’s initials, but not their full names, so I had to go looking again. Sometimes the name just comes to me without any problems. Jody in Wandering a Luminous Sea was Jody right away. In my WIP, I had so much trouble with one of MC’s names, I finally just said, fine, be a dick. In fact, that’s what I’ll call you. Dick. So I did and realized not far into the story, that that was his name! So anyway, it’s always a challenge, and I come to their names in many different ways.

Wandering a Luminous Sea

Wandering a Luminous Sea

Happy ever after, pearls, and murder—what else is true love made of?

After escaping his cold fish of an ex, Jody Knox had everything—a new career, his goofy dog, and the love of his life, Merik. He couldn’t believe his luck…

Until it changed. In the worst way.

After stumbling onto the love of his life, Merik Lighthouse had a dilemna—solve the mystery of the missing mer and return to the sea, or confess his secret identity and risk losing Jody. He couldn’t decide…

Until someone decided for him. Permanently.

Or maybe not…

Wandering a Luminous Sea is for you if you love paranormal contemporary fantasy, gay love stories, fairytales, and suspense.

Oh… and a loveable poodle named Ellery Queen.

Buy now or read on Kindle Unlimited today!

Please note: this is an intense love story with a happy ending, but it is not a traditional romance. It is a paranormal fantasy with a central love story.

Excerpt:

Soft kisses dragged sparks across his jaw, glowing like hot coals against his neck. He groaned and hugged the strong body in his arms.

Why not believe in magic and happy endings? What if all it took was Jody opening his eyes and letting the pixie dust be real? Not telling himself it wasn’t? Not playing along with what everybody else said?

What if he believed?

And Merik’s words were as though Jody had written them. “I came back for you.” From the ends of the earth. From the deeps of the sea. From across time. “For you.”

For me.

Buy link:

https://smarturl.it/LuminousSea

Wrap-Up Wednesday | July

It’s time for the monthly Wrap-Up Wednesday post, and I have to admit the list of read books is embarrassingly short. I’ve had a lot to do, and when I’ve had some time on my hands, I’ve spent them on the sofa watching Netflix with my darling husband.  

So here is what I’ve read this month: 

Okay, Then

Okay, Then by Addison Albright – a story about Henry and Sam from Til Death Do Us Part (which I haven’t read) got together. This is just a short little thing – hot flashes always are – where we get to know Sam and Henry who are working together. They’re going on a smoothy-accompanied date. 

42934232._sy475_Prequel to ’Til Death Do Us Part

Okay, then…that’s what Sam said after Henry convinced him he was interested in dating, not merely a fling while together on a research trip to the Solomon Islands. And so they embark on their first date, but the conditions are not ideal.

Henry is desperate to convince his crush of his sincerity but second guesses his every move. He’s thrilled to discover Sam is just as anxious to impress him. Can these two work through their first-date jitters or are they destined to drift apart?

https://books2read.com/OkayThen

Iron & Velvet

Iron & Velvet (Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator 1) by Alexis Hall – This is F/F, and I normally don’t include the F/Fs I read in my wrap-up, just like I don’t include the M/F stories I read. Today I do since I’m so low on books LOL. I love the cover – LOVE! Did I love the story? It felt like I’ve read it before. I wasn’t a big fan of Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, and it was as if I was reading it again. Maybe I should’ve read some reviews before starting it, but I was blinded by the cover LOL. 

And I only now realised, there’s a new cover 🙄

 

I like my women like I like my whiskey: more than is good for me.

Name’s Kane, Kate Kane. I’m a paranormal private investigator, which is like a normal private investigator except—and stop me if you’re having trouble following this—more paranormal. This business comes with a few basic rules: don’t start drinking before noon, don’t get your partner killed, don’t sleep with the woman who killed him.

Last year I broke all of them.

The only rule I didn’t break was the one that said don’t work for vampires. But then a dead werewolf showed up outside the Soho shag palace of Julian Saint-Germain—a bloodsucking flibbertigibbet who’s spent the last eight centuries presiding over an ever-growing empire of booze, sex and hemoglobin.

I shouldn’t have taken the job. The last thing I needed was to get caught in a supernatural smackdown between a werewolf pack and a vampire prince. Even if the vampire prince was dangerously my type. But what can I say? I was broke, I’m a sucker for a pretty face and I gave up on making good decisions a long time ago.

This book is approximately 77,500 words

https://books2read.com/VelvetIron

Brand New Patch of Sky

Brand New Patch of Sky By Yolande Kleinn – a short story about a pilot and his captain looking for a ship. A good distraction if you have a cup of coffee and a slice of time on your hands. 

51op8xk-36lStarship pilot Mitch Kato doesn’t make a habit of pining for the impossible. He’s always kept tight hold on the inconvenient feelings he harbors for his captain, Solomon Finn. But when a close scrape grounds Sol’s ship and threatens to scatter the crew, Mitch finds himself making an unexpected promise. As he and Sol consider a different trajectory, Mitch wonders if their longstanding friendship might be the beginning of something more.

https://books2read.com/ABrandNewPatchOfSky

Taking Flight

Taking Flight (Contemporary Celtic Myths) by A.L. Lester – A short contemporary story based on the tale of Brânwen in the Mabinogion, which I do not know, but you don’t need to know it to enjoy the story. Gwyn is trans, and it causes a bit of a problem for him when his bigoted co-worker finds out. I think the original tale is about a woman being trapped, and Gwyn is too since he doesn’t have any means to leave the Kings of Ireland Hotel where he is. Sweet story! 

Cover Taking FlightGwyn’s an idiot. Mal made it clear from the start he’d like to get Gwyn in his bed at the Kings of Ireland Hotel and after a couple of weeks of pursuit, Gwyn gave in. Mal was hot and pushy and just the kind of dangerous to pique Gwyn’s interest. He honestly thought Mal knew he was trans.

Since that horrible night, Mal has had Gwyn ‘work-shadowing’ Chef in the deeply unhappy kitchen. He doesn’t want to go home and make a fuss that might cause the sale of the hotel to his family company to fall through; but when a huge row breaks out over a flour delivery and Mal backhands Gwyn across the face, he finally decides enough is enough. With the help of one of the line-cooks with whom he’s formed a tentative friendship, he leaves.

During the two-day journey home from the middle of Ireland to Wales, Gwyn and Darren have plenty of time to exchange confidences. Could the delicate pull of attraction between them grow into something stronger? Is it safe for Gwyn to out himself to Darren? Will Darren want to go out with a trans guy? And how will his brother Brân take Gwyn’s arrival home with a stranger?

A 14,000 word short story in the Contemporary Celtic Myths collection.

https://books2read.com/TakingFlightALLester

Cover Reveal | Deadly Lies

Cover-RevealWe have another cover! I’ve had it for a week or so, but I thought I’d space them out a little 😊 Deadly Lies is the sequel to Deadly Sugar, and I don’t recommend reading it unless you’ve read Deadly Sugar first. 

I don’t know what to say about these, really. They’re not romances. 

In Deadly Lies, we get Josh’s point of view. Josh is Jett’s husband, and Jett is the main character in Deadly Sugar. We’re five years later in time and a few years back, they adopted their son. So we’re now looking at a married couple with a kid and a locked root cellar only one of them knows what it contains. 

Things go to hell right at the beginning with Josh finding out about Jett’s secret, and Jett trying to kill him. A healthy, loving relationship, don’t you think? 

This is the last story in the series, and I would claim a happy ending, even though… people die, so I guess it’s not really a happy ending LOL 

Want to see the cover?? 

deadlylies

Blurb:

After being betrayed by his husband in the most unimaginable way, Josh Thompson has only three things on his mind; grab his son, find help, and get out. When Josh can’t get to his son, the plan to save them both becomes a little more complicated. 
 
Injured and afraid, Josh doesn’t know where to turn. When he finally gets hold of the police, the bodies he could’ve sworn he saw are gone, and no one believes him. Did he see them? His husband, Jett, tells him he’s been in an accident and is imagining things, but Josh doesn’t trust him. He has to get out of there before it’s too late, but how to get his son away from Jett when he guards their every step?

Pre-order link:

Gay horror: 19,639 words

JMS Books