RELEASE TOUR: Burning Demons by Mina Elwood (Excerpt)

RELEASE TOUR – Burning Demons by Mina Elwood

Length: 101,000 words
Series: Burning Torments, book 1
Prior Reading: n/a
Genre: MM, Contemporary, Small-town, New Adult romance
Tropes: Stepbrothers, fish-out-of-water, friends-to-lovers, opposites attract, history of abuse, recovery from abuse, bullying, slow-burn, new adult, MM romance.
Trigger/Content Warnings: Taboo: Stepbrothers. Triggers: Off page childhood abandonment and sexual abuse of a minor, remembered loss of a parent, manipulation abuse, bullying, passive-aggressive bullying, depression and mental instability, homophobic language and aggression, underage drinking.
Designer/Publisher: Magic Lane Publishing

Tate is running from his past and Wren is running from himself. Together, can these stepbrothers burn their demons and build a new life from the ashes?

Tate
I don’t know what I thought I’d find in the slow, sultry heat of Hickory Bend, Alabama, but it’s got to be better than the hell disguised in money and privilege I’ve been living in, wrapped in a twisted bow my mother and her husband call love. But at eighteen, they can’t stop me from going to the father I barely know and the stepmother and stepbrother I’ve never met. All in the hopes of… what? Making a life for myself? A family? I’m not sure, but I have to try.

Wren
I’ve spent my entire life hiding in the shadows, hiding behind the scars I’ve carried since the day my daddy died. I’ve never wanted a brother, never gave a thought to my stepdad’s estranged son either. When Tate shows up, in my face day and night, he turns my life into chaos. But somehow, he turns the lights on, too, and chases me out of the dark. Now, I just need to figure out what he wants—what I want—and if we can stop running long enough to catch each other.

Burning Demons, Book One in the Burning Torments series, is a sexy new adult story set in a small town with two stepbrothers who make the mistake of falling in love, because their lives weren’t complicated enough.

EXCERPT:

“You thirsty?” he asked.

“Sure. Water?”

Wren stomped on the parking brake that was an extra pedal on the floor in this antique and smirked. “Just water?”

I chuckled. “Orange juice and champagne?”

He only smiled in answer, then got out. With the truck not in motion, it was too hot to sit in the cab, so I got out with him and leaned against the door while he pumped gas.

He toed the back tire, pink tinting his cheeks for some reason, then asked, “Ever had boiled peanuts?”

“Bold peanuts?” I repeated what I thought I heard.

“Boiled, like, in water.”

“Oh. You’re saying boiled.”

“Yeah. Boiled peanuts.”

I snickered. “No. I’ve never had bold peanuts, Country Boy.”

The pump stopped, and Wren replaced the handle. “I’ll be back,” he said, then crossed over to the store.

I headed to the shade of a tree and smoked. A couple of minutes later, he came out with a brown sack tucked against his chest by one arm, two small cardboard boxes in one hand, and was using his teeth to dig a Twizzler out of a bag in his other hand. I took a quick second to finish the last drag and admired his body, highlighted by the sun. His calves were big and tanned. When his arms moved, the lines under his T-shirt showed he rarely went without it. I supposed no one cared about a farmer’s tan down here.

We got back in the truck. Wren handed me a bottle of water, then one of the boxes and the open bag of Twizzlers.

“No champagne?” I asked, not that I expected any.

“Nah.”

“What is this?” I asked as I opened the box. “Pizza? From a gas station?”

“It’s good.”

I closed the lid and sat it on the seat between us with everything else.

He didn’t say anything more as he pulled into traffic. Not long after, he turned down an unmarked road that hadn’t been paved in a while. It was rough and loud. The grass and weeds were encroaching on the asphalt. After another turn, he came to a stop in an empty parking lot.

The place was deserted. A yellow metal building sat off in the distance. Brown streaks ran from the roof and down the sides. It was fenced off, but some of it had fallen and was never repaired.

“What is this place? You going to kill me out here?” I joked, but it had that feel to it. Perfect horror flick location like the butcher shop. The South was kind of scary.

https://getbook.at/burningdemons-tour

about the author:

Condensed version in the back of the book: (Or maybe this is a full version. I write fiction. Facts about me are really hard!) Hi there! I’m Mina Elwood. I love reading adult romance, and so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve got so many ideas for more books and series, but finding the time to write is the issue. My husband helps a ton or this might not have ever been published.

Born and raised in the South, I now live on the face of the sun (feels like it anyway). I love cats over dogs, sorry. I do like dogs, but they just stick their noses everywhere. I’m horrible at remembering birthdays, or any special dates. I dabble in poetry, all unpublished because it’s not great, but I like it. I tell myself stories to help me sleep at night, and sometimes those end up in print.

Instagram: @authorminaelwood
Website: www.magiclanepublishing.com
Newsletter: www.magiclanepublishing.com/newsletter