Blog Tour and GiveAway: Love Rampage by Alex Powell (Geek Out Anthology) (t/f)

Hello everyone!

My name is Alex Powell, and I'm bringing you a blog post to promote my story Love Rampage, which is being released with Less Than Three Press. This story is a contemporary urban fantasy story about a trans woman protagonist.

To tell you a little more about this story, I would like to go into Maíra's character, and the setting for this story.

Maíra, as you might imagine, is not an English name. I actually took this name from a girl I met from Brazil, who was working in Vancouver, Canada at the time. The character of Maíra the protagonist is not like the Maíra I met, but I do take names a lot from people I have met in real life.

The story takes place in Vancouver, Canada, which is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. It is not unusual to work with people from many different backgrounds, some of whom are in Vancouver on a visa, and are here as students, or for work. It is a place for global interaction, and many people speak two or more languages. One of the reasons I chose Vancouver as the setting was because of this multicultural setting.

Another reason I chose Vancouver was because of the prominent LGBTQ+ community. There is a vibrant queer community all over Vancouver, focused mainly in the West End. It is entirely possible that both Maíra, and her love interest Carol, were part of the community, and went to queer youth meetings. It is a generally accepting place, and also one of the only cities in Canada that have doctors that diagnose Gender Identity Disorder and can start a person on the road to transitioning.

Vancouver is also a beautiful place, surrounded by the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. North Vancouver, where Maíra lives, is on the slopes that give way to the North Shore Mountains. It is a place of mild temperatures, making it possible for all sorts of flowers, trees, and wildlife to live.

I wanted to give Maíra a beautiful place to live where the main source of her troubles was not worrying about people who might want to hurt her. She is mostly an ordinary teenager, whose main worry is whether or not she can get the attention of her love interest, which is a source of stress for a lot of teenagers, whatever their background and gender.

If you're interested in this short story about love and bravery, you can pick up an ebook copy of Love Rampage with Less Than Three Press, or a copy of Geek Out, which has all eight stories in either ebook or print.

Preorder the individual ebook [here] (http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_bookx_info&cPath=106_130&products_id=826)

Preorder the Geek Out anthology ebook [here] (http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_bookx_info&cPath=106_130&products_id=842)

You can find me here at my website:

alexpowellauthor.com

or on Facebook and Twitter

www.facebook.com/alexpowellauthor

twitter.com/aa_powell

Leave a comment below, including your email address, to take part in Alex Powell's Geek Out giveaway! The prize is a $10 gift code for Less Than Three Press!

Review by Niki: Breaking Free by Cat Grant

Title: Breaking Free

Author: Cat Grant

Publisher: Cat Grant Books

Rating: 5/5 Hearts and 5/5 Kinky, Hard-won Smooches

Blurb:

Richard Carr has the kind of life most people would envy. Partner in a major Los Angeles law firm, married to the man of his dreams, Richard seems to have it made – except for the lie he’s been living for the past forty-odd years.

On special nights, in the company of kinky friends, Richard disappears inside Renee, his sexy, dominatrix alter-ego. Strong, sassy and flirtatious in her red and black corset, Renee is who Richard truly is on the inside – and who he longs to be outside of the dungeon.

But starting his – her – transition doesn’t provide the relief Renee had hoped for. Her business partners demand that she go back to dressing as a man at the office, while Robert, her husband and fellow Dominant, can’t conceal his shock as the man he married disappears a little bit more every day.

Their one true point of connection remains in the dungeon – in the person of Jase Hewitt, the submissive they both share. But when a devastating tragedy shatters Jase and sends him running to his Masters for comfort, it quickly becomes apparent that Robert’s love for Jase extends far beyond their Dom/sub roles…

And Renee faces a choice – abandon her journey toward becoming the person she truly is inside, or risk losing the man she loves.

Nicki-O’s Down-low on Breaking Free by Cat Grant

Rating: 5/5 Hearts and 5/5 Kinky, Hard-won Smooches

There can be no doubt that Cat Grant fights the good fight with words, a whip in one hand, velvet glove on the other, and a thoroughly satisfied muse chained to her kinky cross of love. What you may not be aware of, however, is her unabashed bravery in pursuing romance and character growth across the vast reaches of balls to the wall research. Cat also quite clearly spends a good deal of time in the sweat shops of word crafting. All of these things come together in a terrifyingly brilliant novel called Breaking Free.

Terrifying? Yes. Because there is so much perfection here you’ll be holding your breath, wondering if your heart can take the next turn of the page. Wondering if Renee will win, be allowed to breathe and live free, or if she’ll be forced back into the choking confines of Richard’s finely tailored suits. Ms. Grant weaves a story that will keep you poised on the very edge of your seat from start to finish, at least if you’re anything like me. She does not attempt to write the story of every transwoman, nor does she give vague generalizations. She tells one transwoman’s story, guides you through the enormous gamble that Renee takes with her life and her love…and allows you to watch each of the characters muddle through, make beautiful, humanly flawed choices, and then scramble to correct their mistakes or learn to live with them.

I loved this book, and I’m betting that you will as well. Go on. Get you some.  

I promise, Ms. Grant will take you on one hell of a ride through the pages of this book.

Buy Links:

Amazon

Review by Cam: Static by L.A. Witt

Title: Static (2nd Edition) 

Author: L.A. Witt

Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Rating: 4.5/5 Smooches

Blurb:

After two years together, Alex has been dreading the inevitable moment when Damon learns the truth: that Alex is a shifter, part of a small percentage of the population able to switch genders at will. Thanks to a forced implant, though, Alex is suddenly static—unable to shift—and male. Overnight, he’s out to a world that neither understands nor tolerates shifters . . . and to his heterosexual boyfriend.

Damon is stunned to discover his girlfriend is a shifter, and scared to death of the dangers the implant poses to Alex’s health. He refuses to abandon Alex, but what about their relationship? Damon is straight, and with the implant both costly and dangerous to remove, Alex is stuck as a man.

Stripped of half his identity and facing serious physical and social ramifications, Alex needs Damon more than ever, but he doesn’t see how they can get through this.

Especially if he’s static forever.

Review:

I read this book when it first came out with the original publisher. I loved it then. I still love it, now that it’s gotten a new cover and been re-edited. This book touches on many of the issues of transgender, and the prejudices that one must face, often by their own flesh and blood.

Granted, Alex is a shifter, able to shift into both male and female forms, and not a static transgender person. This both comes with advantages and disadvantages. Alex lives, works, etc… as a female. When Alex’s parents force him into an unauthorized surgery, Alex is suddenly male, which is hard to explain to her job, and more importantly her boyfriend.

I think the biggest thing that I love about this book is the message that love is love. Damien is in love with Alex, and even though he was uncomfortable at first, he grew to accept Alex’s male form, and love the male form because it was Alex. I think that is an incredibly powerful message, that it is the person INSIDE the body that matters, not the outside trappings.

To say I loved this book is putting it mildly. It’s won as many awards as it has (or at least been a Finalist for them) because it is an incredible book, written with a great amount of compassion and forethought. I HIGHLY recommend picking this one up.

**I’d like to thank Riptide Publishing and Netgalley for providing the digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.**

Buy Links:

Ripdtide

Amazon

AllRomance Ebooks

Barnesand Noble