Alexa Piper is back on the blog, yay! Welcome, Alexa 😊

 

Hellbound grew from a prompt and my desire to make the Devil anything but a horned and hoofed bad guy fond of any and all debauchery. Well, Lucy is still very fond of any and all debauchery, but he isn’t the god featured in Judeo-Christian myths.

Instead, he’s a death god who uses his mother figure as an excuse to befriend humans. And he has really nice hair.

Lucy, maybe not surprisingly, is the one readers want for themselves, and believe me, he enjoys all that attention. But from my perspective, as the writer, I was focused on Lionel–Nelly–the necromancer the Devil falls in love with.

Lionel gets to change the most during the course of the Hellbound series. He is in a very different place at the end of The Devil’s Lover than we find him in at the beginning of The Devil’s Necromancer. He is in a place where I could have ended the series and be done with it.

But that would be sad, and it would close the door on a world with a host of interesting people in it. For instance, there is a trickster god who hasn’t even been on the page yet, but who wants to be, badly. There is Mr. C, someone we get to meet in The Devil’s Lover. I don’t want to talk about his story on account of spoilers, but it’ll be interesting.

And of course, there are always the Devil and his necromancer. With Nelly growing into his own, Lucy had to adapt, whether he wants to or not. It leaves him in a place he’s not quite comfortable in, and for me, that’s an interesting place worth exploring.

So what does that mean? Well, I am taking a break from writing Nelly’s and Lucy’s story–mostly because my brain demands that things be written in chronological order, and other stories need to happen in the universe now. But the Devil and his necromancer will be back. They will get their season 2, a new series all about how their story progresses. They already have their happily ever after, but that doesn’t need to be a boring thing where nothing ever happens. They’ll have more adventures. In the second season of their epic love story.

The Devil’s Lover (Hellbound 5)

Just when loving the Devil started to look easy, Lionel will have to learn that true love never is.

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B678S4RF

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bOzONK

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-devils-lover-alexa-piper/1141754175

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-devil-s-lover

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6443137667

Thalia: https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1064258317

Changeling Press: https://www.changelingpress.com/the-devil-s-lover-hellbound-5-b-3388

#paranormalromance #romancereaders #paranormalbook #devil #demonromance #bdsm #LGBTQromance #urbanfantasy #mmromance #gayromance #demonromance #necromancerromance

Blurb:

Lionel and Lucifer are drawn deeper into a murder case, but they are set on solving it together.

Just when Lionel’s love life has gone back to normal — normal meaning the kinky Devil making his ownership known — Lionel’s murder case gets stranger. Lionel’s birth father seems to have his hands in the mystery, and Lionel finds himself in the sights of Eris, goddess of discord.

Lucifer used to be a prime example of a powerful underworld deity with all the knowledge and skill to take care of a lover in the bedroom. But that was before Lucifer fell properly in love and won over his necromantic boyfriend, who also happens to be a demigod. Lionel’s innate magic, magical skill, and stubborn nature make it exceedingly difficult for Lucifer to be the alpha god he wants to be for Lionel.

Lucifer is set on finding a way to provide for the man he loves and to fulfill Lionel’s every desire. But before he can focus entirely on his necromancer, the two of them must solve the case, prevent primordial deities from being raised and destroying the world, and learn to communicate better. It’s what relationships and crime solving are all about.

About Alexa Piper:

Alexa Piper writes steamy romance that ranges from light to dark, from straight to queer. She’s also a coffee addict. Alexa loves writing stories that make her readers laugh and fall in love with the characters in them.

Website: http://www.alexapiper.com

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gRJq3T

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexaPiperWrites/

Fb group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/255026848996374/?source_id=106711636486332

Twitter: @ProwlingPiper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piperthewriter/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alexa-piper

Hiya! I’m here as Holly today! I have a new book out called The Book Dragon’s Lair, and I’ve been looking forward to telling y’all about it! 😁

I wrote it to celebrate Bookstore Romance Day, and when I planned my year, it was one of the few days I’d decided I was gonna write. Normally, I don’t look too far ahead. My goal is to have one release a month, and while I have days I want to do, most months are open for changes. Not all. Like in December, we’ll have a story for Crossword Puzzle Day, I knew I was gonna do that back in the spring. Not because I solve a lot of crosswords, I don’t, but I had an idea 😊

It was the same thing with this story. I saw Bookstore Romance Day, and I instantly thought of a romance developing in a bookstore. I saw an evil dragon hoarding books – a book dragon 😆 – and then another more pleasant dragon taking over.

Ryu the Ravenous is a sought-after bachelor in the dragon realm. He’s close to royal and he has a lot of gemstones, but he’s jealous of Draken the Dreadful. Draken the Dreadful is a dreadful dragon, and he doesn’t appreciate what he has, so when he’s killed in battle, Ryu pretends to be him. He’s injured in the same battle Draken is, so he pretends he’s the one who was killed and takes Draken’s place in the human realm.

There he has to learn to be a book dragon, which isn’t easy since books aren’t really treasures – they don’t sparkle! And how is he to take over Draken’s human mate? The man does his best to avoid Ryu and he wants him to stop.

I had so much fun writing this one, sooo much fun! 😄

The Book Dragon’s Lair

Egil Olsen is running The Book Dragon’s Lair, a bookstore on Dragon Row, while Draken the Dreadful, his mate, is away fighting a war on the other side of the veil. The relief of not having Draken around is great. For the first time in years, Egil doesn’t have to watch every move he makes. When word reaches him that Draken is on his way home after having been injured, he considers running away. 

The dragon stepping over the threshold to The Book Dragon’s Lair isn’t Draken, though. He claims to be, but Egil knows his mate, and while all dragons are dangerous, the male standing before him is nowhere near as cruel as his mate. Ryu never wanted to be a book dragon. Books don’t sparkle, but if it’s the price he has to pay to be in the human realm, he will pay it. He’ll take over Draken the Dreadful’s treasure, and he hopes he can take over his mate, too. Egil doesn’t want to be mated to a dragon, but without a mate, he’d be homeless and without a job. 

A few hours after having met Ryu, Egil thinks being mated to him might not be too bad, but how will they be able to fool the people around them into believing Ryu is Draken? And what will happen if the real Draken comes back? 

Buy links: 

Gay paranormal romance: 33,671 words 

JMS Book :: Amazon :: books2read.com/TheBookDragonsLair

Excerpt:

Ryu stared at the tall building. The old gray bricks reached toward the sky. The arched mullioned windows had to be from floor to ceiling on the ground level. On the other floors, the windows were smaller and sparser except for one in the tower room large enough for a dragon to get through. Ryu smiled. It was so he could shift and fly.

Filling his lungs, he focused on the bottom floor again. A large sign above the door announced he was looking at The Book Dragon’s Lair. He snorted. Book dragon. Pathetic. Then he shook himself. He was Draken now, which meant he was a book dragon.

The cold light of dawn gave the building a magical, almost sinister look. He stepped forward. The key burned in his pocket, and he longed to unlock the door and step inside.

He’d been terrified someone would’ve figured out he wasn’t who he claimed he was these last few months while he’d been treated for his burns. Wincing, he hesitated. What if he disgusted Draken’s mate? His mate. How would he fool him? The nurses back home had told him the scarring wasn’t too bad on his face. He stared at a monster whenever he looked into the mirror, but they claimed he still was handsome. Though they wouldn’t dare say anything else. No sane dragon would risk upsetting his mother. They didn’t know he was Wyvern the Wicked’s son, though. So why would they lie? Nurses tended to be kinder than other dragons.

Ryu snorted. More than once, he’d cursed his looks. Now he’d do anything to see the familiar face when he looked at his refection.

He walked up the wide stairs and noted a few green leaves on a vein planted in the gravel. The human realm lacked the lush greenery of his home, and if this was what the soil was like, he understood why everything was gray and dull instead of rich and fertile. How could anyone live here?

Doubt seized him. Perhaps this was a mistake. He’d given up his treasures and the beauty of the dragon realm in exchange for escape, but would his soul wither here?

Knocking on the door, he waited. When no one opened, he knocked again, harder this time.

Soon after, a small human man with hair the color of spun gold appeared on the other side of the window. His eyes widened, and he took a quick step back, fear visible in every line of his face before he looked down toward the floor. Ryu tried not to wince. He shouldn’t have listened to the nurses.

He looked like a monster.

The man on the other side of the glass straightened his back, unlocked the door, but didn’t look up from the floor. “Hello?”

“Egil?” Or was it Eskil? The last few minutes in the watchtower were a blur, but he believed Draken had said Egil. “I’m back.” His tongue was unwilling to form the lie, but when Egil only nodded, his gaze still locked on the floor, he believed it had sounded plausible.

A second or two went by before Ryu realized he was waiting for an invitation. A male didn’t need an invitation to his own home, so he took a step forward. Egil quickly scurried out of his way, which made Ryu frown. He might not be pretty to look at, and scars licked at his cheek and lower lip, so he understood if Egil was hesitant to kiss him, but didn’t you at least embrace your mate when he came home from war?

Ryu ached for a hug.

Apart from the impersonal touches of the medical staff, Ryu couldn’t remember when he had been touched last. He longed for closeness, needed it, but Egil increased the distance between them.

“Reverend Goodwin will be pleased to see you.”

Ryu blinked before focusing on Egil. He had yet to see his eyes properly.

Reverend was a profession unless Ryu was wrong—something to do with religion. He wasn’t sure which religion. Humans were funny beings, making up several deities instead of praising the old deity like normal people.

“He will?” Was he the right pronoun or was the reverend female?

“He’s been asking for you.”

Ryu nodded; glad he hadn’t made a mistake in assuming the reverend was male. “And what does he want?”

“The Bible, of course. I told him you won’t sell.” He flinched as if he’d been hit. “I mean, I’m not telling you what to do. I only meant… You’ll of course do whatever you want to do.” His voice grew softer and softer with each word, and he ended the sentence with a bow. Strange. Was it human custom?

He hummed in reply since he feared whatever he’d say would give him away.

“Had I known you’d arrive today, I’d made sure we had more food in the house.” He flinched again. Could it be nerve damage or something? Draken wouldn’t have told him if his mate was flawed. And he had hinted at something, hadn’t he? Ryu had suspected there was something wrong with Draken’s mate, but he’d been too eager to fill his place to consider what it might be.

He’d taken the place of a lowly dragon, and now he had to suffer the embarrassment of a poorly chosen mate despite not being the one who made the choice. With his disfigurement, they’d never be taken seriously among other dragons, but he didn’t plan on returning to his homeland, so it mattered little. Heaving a sigh, he repeated that to himself.

He couldn’t scent Draken on Egil, but the smell of books was strong, and he’d never been close to a human before. Since they had no flame of their own, the scent might fade if it wasn’t replenished regularly. It was most likely the explanation.

“There is coffee and… erm… toast.” The wince was there again as if it hurt him to speak.

Ryu didn’t know anything about human foods, so he nodded.

“I’ll go shop as soon as the market opens.”

“Okay.”

A spasm went through Egil—had to be some nerve damage—then wide blue eyes the color of his favorite topaz stared at him. Ryu couldn’t breathe. Magnificent. He’d had no idea eyes could come in that color. Heat filled him from within. The flame burst to life, and fire built in his veins. He reached for Egil, who quickly sidestepped his hand and dove in behind one of the many bookshelves.

A treasure. Pretty gemstone. His. Egil was his mate now. His precious. Ryu swallowed a purr.