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  • Uncategorized

    RELEASE TOUR: Kicking It With The Billionaire by Riley Long (Giveaway)

    January 8, 2024 / No Comments
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    MUSIC MONDAY: 2001 by Foals

    June 6, 2022
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    RELEASE TOUR: Kicking It With My Best Friend by Riley Long (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    October 9, 2023 / No Comments
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    NEW RELEASE: OBO: Or Best Offer by Sundae Leighton

    September 23, 2024
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    RELEASE TOUR: Kicking It In Vegas by Riley Long (Giveaway)

    August 7, 2023 / No Comments
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    RELEASE TOUR: Kicking It With the Best Man by Riley Long (Giveaway)

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    MUSIC MONDAY: Denmark (2023 vs 1999 version) by The Ocean Blue

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    RELEASE BLITZ: Swimming Against the Tide by Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood (Giveaway)

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    COVER REVEAL: Out and Kickin’ Series by Riley Long (Giveaway)

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    FLICKer: Leanne is Gone

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    RELEASE TOUR: His Heart Knows by Riley Long (Excerpt & Giveaway)

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    NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Secrets of Ishtabay by Mark David Campbell (Excerpt & Giveaway)

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    RELEASE BOOST: Bona Fide Fake by Rebecca Raine (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    January 29, 2022
  • Uncategorized

    LAST YEAR I WAS READING…(December 29, 2021)

    December 29, 2021 / No Comments

    This meme was created by Reading Marie. It’s a great meme because it’s nice and easy to do.

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    BLOG TOUR: All The Right Places by Wayne Goodman (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    August 29, 2020
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    RELEASE TOUR: Blood On Tap by Riley Long (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    March 7, 2021 / No Comments
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    NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Buried by Lizzie Strong (Excerpt & Giveaway)

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  • book,  Uncategorized

    AUDIO REVIEW: Shot In The Dark by Riley Long

    December 25, 2020 / 4 Comments
    55507652. sy475

    Shot In The Dark – Riley Long

    If you win the bet, we’ll let you disappear. If you lose, you’ll be trapped on stage forever.

    Charlie
    I’m definitely straight, but when rock god Eli Steele offers me the opportunity of a lifetime in exchange for being his fake husband for a year, I can’t say no. That’s how I find myself sharing a bed – and more than a few kisses – with the lead singer of Blood Money. All I have to do is stay focused on my work and pretend to be in love with him. Easy, right?

    Eli
    I took a stupid fucking bet and now I have to convince Charlie to fall for me without using mind control. He’s straight, but the bigger problem is that he’s human and I’m not. Once he finds out I’m really a vampire, will he be able to look past my fangs and see what’s in my heart?


    Shot In The Dark grabbed my attention because of several things. We have a rock star who’s also a vampire who wrangled a fake husband in order to win a bet. If he wins, he gets to hang up his guitar and fade into oblivion a.k.a. retire. What he didn’t count on was falling in love with his fake husband who is straight.

    The rock star in question is Eli, 290 years old, the youngest in a band of vampires known as Blood Money. He’s tired of his current life and wants to leave it all behind. The band made a deal with him that they would end their life as a band if he falls in the love with the first person who walks in the bar.

    Eli is my favorite vampire here. He’s got that intense vampire charisma down pat. He’s also gentle, sweet, caring, and generous. He closed his heart, determined not to fall in love again, after his human lover was killed by a coven of vampires many, many years ago. That’s why the band came up with the bet.

    The other members were Drew, Rudy and Zach. The one who stood out the most was Drew, mostly for being an ass. He was right about a lot of things but did he have to be so goddamn obnoxious about it?

    Charlie was the lucky man who came in at the right place, at the right time. He’s an aspiring filmmaker who wanted to create a documentary about Blood Money. Meeting the great Eli Steele, he couldn’t help but feel things even if he was as straight as they come. And to his amazement, the rock star offered to let him secretly document the notoriously private band in exchange for pretending to be in love and becoming his husband. They had to convince the band their relationship was real.

    At this point, I was left wondering, how come nobody questioned that Eli was suddenly married despite knowing Charlie for only a couple of days? I would assume Drew was sharp enough to pick up on that suspicious timing.

    That little niggle aside, Eli and Charlie went about this fake husband thing in the most spectacular way. Right off the bat, the chemistry between the MCs was palpable and gave the story sparkle and zing. The way the romance was pulled off, in that delicious journey from uh-oh there’s only one bed to I can’t he’s straight to so very gay for you right now, was the best thing about the book.

    And alongside of the romance, the friendship that blossomed between Eli and Charlie was a beautiful thing too. It highlighted how good they are for each other. Charlie is lovely! I loved his open-minded approach to their relationship and how he just naturally fell into place in Eli’s life.

    I also liked many of the concepts presented in the story. However, they were as not fully explored as I would have liked. The world building was minimal, just enough to give paranormal color. We get only a small glimpse of the larger vampire world but that is already at the latter part. The secret documentary could have been an interesting issue, especially with vampire identities needed to be kept on the down low but that went nowhere. I also wished we get a more fleshed out backstory for Eli and his friends. Majority of the book was spent with the band on tour but I didn’t get a strong grasp of the other personalities apart from Eli, Charlie and Drew.

    Too bad we only hear about Eli’s fierce fighting skills after Charlie was captured by the bad vampires. That would have been one heck of a climactic scene had it been shown. Instead we get a ridiculous separation period that was totally unnecessary. Although, I get that the book was going for conflict but it could have been done differently.

    The audiobook is narrated by Andrew Morrison. He is a new-to-me narrator. He brought Eli, Charlie and their friends to life with distinct personalities, recognizable voices and accents. Although, there were a couple of dialogues where the accents bled a bit into another character, specifically Eli’s British accent and Charlie’s American accent. Nonetheless, I greatly enjoyed his performance. I was able to listen to the story in one sitting because he made it flow so easily.

    Shot In The Dark is a sweet, low-angst novella, focusing primarily on the romance with the paranormal elements mostly low key. If vampire-flavored fake husbands, gay for you tropes tick your boxes too, this one is definitely worth a shot.

    P.S.

    Thank you to Gay Romance Reviews and Audible for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

    Rating:
    3.5 Stars – that place between like and love

    Soundtrack: One Shot In The Darkness
    Artist: Joshua Hyslop
    Album: One Shot In The Darkness


    If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to get your copy of Shot In The Dark. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.

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    SHOT IN THE DARK

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    AUDIO TOUR: Shot In The Dark by Riley Long (Excerpt & Giveaway)

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🌈boy's love manga | MM romance | music | giveaways and more 🐾

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
10 Jun

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲—𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.

COVER REVEAL: Shaken and Stirred by Lilly Atlas



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/10/cover-reveal-shaken-and-stirred-by-lilly-atlas/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
10 Jun

NEW RELEASE BLITZ: The Spy by Mell Eight (Excerpt & #Giveaway)


https://books2read.com/the-spy

https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/10/new-release-blitz-the-spy-by-mell-eight-excerpt-giveaway/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
9 Jun

Unrequited love can make you blind.

COVER REVEAL: Doink by Crea Reitan



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/09/cover-reveal-doink-by-crea-reitan/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
9 Jun

Sometimes growing up means growing apart in this queer take on As You Like It featuring first loves and friend breakups, from award-winning author Julia Drake.

BOOK TOUR: Lovesick Falls by Julia Drake



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/09/book-tour-lovesick-falls-by-julia-drake/

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