Hop for Visibility, Awareness and Equality

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia,Transphobia, and Biphobia. To mark this important day in the fight against hate, I’m participating once again in the (formerly) HAHAB blog hop. While I enjoyed participating and supporting those dealing with homophobes and bigots, this is the first year that I’ve felt personally impacted by this.

As followers of my blog may remember from previous years, I define as asexual, a rare and misunderstood sexual identity. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to explain what it means, which led to this blog post in 2013. I’m not going to write about that again, since I think I did a pretty awesome job of it already. Today, in keeping with the theme this year, I want to talk about the visibility and awareness of asexuality.

Since my post back in 2013, I’ve noticed that asexuality is becoming more and more recognized. I’ve met and befriended several other people who either identify as being asexual, know someone who is asexual, or know about asexuality in general, even if they did not personally know someone who identified as such. I’ve found that I’m not having to explain as often as I used to when my sexual orientation comes up, and it’s nice to see how asexuality is becoming more visible.

So what’s the next step in increasing visibility and awareness? Books. The books we write, read, review, buy, and share. We are part of a community that prides itself on being inclusive and supportive, yet I’ve noticed that there aren’t a whole lot of books with asexual characters, much less main asexual characters.

                

I was at a convention two years ago speaking with a gay romance author about how I wanted to see more people like me being represented in novels. He agreed with me, yet told me that while he would love to write an asexual character, he wouldn’t because an asexual character wouldn’t sell. He told me that people wanted tons of sex scenes and wouldn’t buy a book with a main asexual character. When I raised the question in a panel later, I received similar responses such as this.

Needless to say, I was not only upset by this, but a bit angry as well. I knew these authors weren’t trying to insult me, they were just telling the truth as they saw it. Nevertheless, I felt like they were telling me that those who were asexual didn’t matter as much as others in the LGBT community because we weren’t sexy enough to be marketable. Like the world would end if an author published a book that didn’t contain explicit sex scenes. Like we couldn’t have romances that people would like to read. Like we didn’t really belong.

Why had no one wanted to write about the challenges of a relationship between someone who was asexual and someone who wasn’t? What if you had a werewolf who discovered his mate, only to find out that he couldn’t just seduce him into bed because his sexy, manly wiles didn’t really work on his mate? Why had no one written about the confusion and complications behind a character discovering that he or she was asexual? Why hadn’t anyone dug into this gold mine of potential stories?

Since then, I’ve found books with asexual characters. However, these have been few and far between, and many only had secondary characters who were asexual, or they had main characters who were asexual but didn’t focus on romance at all. Several authors have also told me they were either considering writing novels with main asexual characters or they had novels coming out with secondary asexual characters.  

While I’m glad that authors are willing to take the plunge and write asexual characters, I want to see people talking about this. Readers, let authors know you would be willing to buy books with characters with varied sexual backgrounds. Reviewers, be open to reading and sharing books with asexual characters (and for those of you who are sharing, please keep doing so!). Authors, there are readers out there who would be interested in these kinds of books.

I will buy books with asexual characters. I will buy books that focus more on the plot and the romance rather than the sex. I’ve been meeting and hearing from more and more people who will buy those books as well. There is a market for this, and more importantly, a need. It’s time to bring us in under the umbrella.

After all, we want happily ever afters too.

This year, instead of just giving away one prize, I've decided to give away 12. You see, when I find books that I like, I go and buy a second copy to either gift to someone or give away as a prize. And sometimes, I buy a copy forgetting that I already own a book, or that I've won it, etc. So I went through my list and chose some of my favorite books to give away to 12 lucky winners. Here are my 10 choices for M/M novels:

Called to Mate by Lynn Tyler - Amazon     |     ARe

Chaos Unchained by James Cox - Amazon     |     ARe

Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino - Amazon     |     ARe

Inherit the Sky by Ariel Tachna - Amazon     |     ARe

Jaynell’s Wolf by Amber Kell - Amazon     |     ARe

Love the Sinner by Avril Ashton - Amazon     |     ARe

Mannies Incorporated by Sean Michaels - Amazon     |     ARe

Old Loyalty, New Love by Mary Calmes -  Amazon     |     ARe

On Thin Ice by Jessica Lee - Amazon     |     ARe

Starling by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese - Amazon     |     ARe

And for those who enjoy M/M/F:

Felicity Jones by Dee Dawning - Amazon     |     ARe

Magic of Three by Jenna Castille - Amazon     |     ARe

To enter, just leave a comment and include the name of the book you'd like to win and your email. That's it! At the end of the hop, I'll do some fancy ordering and random generating (random.org is my friend in this) to find our 12 winners. Oh, and you have to have an ARe account as that will be where I am gifting all the ebooks. Other than that, easy peasy!

I hope you enjoyed my long post (yes, I did get a bit on my soapbox for this) and are having a great time hopping along and raising awareness about everyone under the QUILTBAG umbrella. To keep on going, click here to visit the other participating blogs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans! And for those of you who don't celebrate, Happy Thursday! Lol. I just want to take a moment to wish you all a blessed day, full of family, food, and fun. 

Also, don't forget that the Thankful For You blog hop is still going on, so come enter for your chance to win a $5 Amazon GC!

Thankful For You Blog Hop

It’s that time of year again (at least for those of us in the States). Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we are thankful for, and as part of that, I am participant in the Thankful For You Blog Hop hosted by The Herd Hops.

I am thankful for quite a few things when it comes to my blog. I’m thankful that even after 3 years, I’m still able to keep blogging. And not only am I able to continue doing something I love, but I’ve had even more opportunities come to me through my blog. Whether it’s winning gift cards through hosting tours (as well as entering them) to getting the opportunity to review awesome items for free when I might not otherwise be able to afford buying them myself. Plus, I have found an awesome community of authors, reviewers, and readers who I get to not only communicate with, but meet up with at conventions. I’ve even been able to be a panel participant at RainbowCon this year due to my being a blogger. I’ve been able to do great things that I had never imagined when I first started blogging…and it’s due to people like you. 

Yes, you, the person reading this post. Whether you are a first time visitor or one of my loyal followers, you are the reason why I am able to keep doing this. It’s true that I do a lot of the things I do because I want to. But having people read and follow what I post gives me a reason to do so. By reading, commenting, liking, and following, you have not only helped me build my blog up and made it noticeable, you have also encouraged me. 

I’ll admit, there were many times along the way when things got tough and I considered quitting. In the past few months alone, I’ve considered it since going back to school made spending time on my blog difficult. Yet seeing people comment, seeing that people actually read and cared about what I said is simply amazing. Knowing that I have loyal followers who have stayed with me through 3 years of trying to figure out what the heck I was doing is a huge confidence booster. You’re the reason I keep going. 

I know that sounds corny, but while I started this blog just for me, it has since grown to so much more than I could have ever imagined. I am truly thankful to all of you for sticking with me, as I couldn’t have done this for 3 ½ years without your support. And if you are just now visiting for the first time…I hope you consider sticking around and supporting me to year 4 and beyond. Thank you so much, and may you all have a peaceful week and a Happy Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate).

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3rd Blogoversary Day 4 - Blog Hops

I’ve participated in several hops throughout the years, but two of the most memorable were the first hops I ever participated in. The first hop I participated in was the Hot in Handcuffs Hop hosted by Under the Covers. I had recently won a pair of furry handcuffs I had no need for, and I got to talk about one of my favorite BDSM authors, Kim Dare, so it was great. But the most memorable part of this hop happened when I posted about it on my personal Facebook page. What I did not realize was that when I had recently friended my mother, she apparently somehow started getting emails whenever I did anything on my personal page. Can you see where this is going? Yep, my mother got emails about the Hot in Handcuffs blog hop, including one where her daughter mentioned giving away handcuffs…oh, and she didn’t tell me this until about halfway through the hop. Oh, and she dropped the “I’ve checked out your blog a few times” bomb at the same time, leaving me sweating what she’d seen or read. Yeah…talk about VERY awkward. Now I keep my blog related posts to the fan page, and let my mother know when there are safe-for-mom-to-read posts, and it works :)

The second hop I participated in was the Virtual Zombie Walk 2012 (followed shortly after by the Zompacolypse Blog Hop). However, this walk was fun, because I got to go all out sharing some of my favorite zombie reads and movies. Plus, I spent like an hour looking up humorous cat zombie photos. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun creating a post as I did then (though I’ve had a pretty fun time with my Wellness Wednesday posts lately…). And then a week later, I was able to participate in the Zompacolypse Hop, through which I met and befriended another great author who had previously been unknown to me.

So, while these were both the first blog hops (and walks) I was a part of, they are some of my fondest blogging memories as well. What about you? Have you participated in any of my hops in the past? Which was your favorite? (If you need help with looking them up, just click on the blog hop tag at the bottom of the post).

For today, I'm offering one lucky winner their choice of any of the books I've offered as prizes during a blog hop. So leave your book choice in your comment along with your email address for your chance to win! Also, don't forget to enter the grand prize giveaway!

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Christmas Wonder Hop

Celebrate the Wonder of the Season! Visit all of the blogs to see what they love most about the season and which books have made their Christmas wish lists! There's a giveaway at each stop so be sure to visit them all!

What do I love about the season? Everything except the consumerism. Seriously, I love the Christmas season. Winter break, end of a year, a new year to start afresh, time to spend with my family and friends just relaxing and enjoying being with them...the list goes on and on. I even like getting to break out my holiday earrings and music (so long as it happens after Thanksgiving, we're all good). The weather's getting colder down here in Florida, and while I'm not a big fan of the cold, it's nice to feel a change from insanely hot. And I love to see all the decorations up. I just love this time of year, it really is a magical time to me.

As for what books made my Christmas wish list? Where do I start? Pretty much every book already on my TBR. Plus, while organizing and setting up my holiday party, I got to catch up with a bunch of authors (and a few new), so now I have even more books added to my list! It's gotten to the point where I just started telling people to get me a gift card to ARE or Amazon, because that would be easier. But my top 5 books on my list right now are:

1. Fighting Instinct by Mary Calmes
2. Megan Derr's Princes of the Blood series
3. Horny by Anne Tenino
4. Capture by Annabelle Jacobs (and then if I like it, the other 2 in the series)
5. Hidden Gem by Lissa Kasey

I want to here from you. What do you like about the holidays and/or what's books are on your Christmas wish list? I'll be giving one lucky commenter one of the books on their wish list (though I may give out more as well, depending on how many comments there are).

Plus, not only am I doing this hop all month, I’m also hosting a Holiday Party! I’ve invited some of my favorite authors to stop by and share either what the holidays mean to them or else they're sharing how their characters celebrate the holidays all month long, and many are also offering their own giveaways, so stop by every day to meet a new author and enjoy some holiday fun! I'm also giving away a $50 Amazon gift card at the end of the month, so be sure to enter that giveaway as well!

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Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia

So, today marks the 9th annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and the 3rd Hop Against Homophobia. Last year, I talked about being asexual. This year, I decided to do something a little different and talk about why I support LGBT rights. When people ask me why I stand against homophobia, I tell them I stand against hate. 

I've never understood how people can be so hateful. I spent most of my childhood years being bullied. So, I know what it's like to be a victim, to feel alone and helpless. I still remember my 4th grade teacher telling me that there would always be bullies and I should just accept it.

That's one of the reasons I work with children. I refuse to believe what my teacher told me. Children are also the future. I teach my kids love, tolerance, and kindness. That it's okay to be different. That even if they don't agree with someone, they still should be civil and tolerant. I don't teach my kids that just to fight against homophobia, but to fight against hatred of all kinds. As the Beatles said, all you need is love. By teaching children to love rather than hate, we make the world a better place.

So, in a nutshell, I believe in freedom. I believe in equality. I believe in tolerance. And most of all, I believe in love, not hate. 

So, to celebrate this hop and IDAHAT, I'm giving away winner's choice of one of four ebooks. To enter, simply leave a comment about why you fight against homophobia and transphobia with your email address.

Congrats to Latona on winning your choice of book!

The Ivy League Rake by Ryan Field

Dex in Blue by Amy Lane

Chemistry by Lisabet Sarai

Blind Date by Emily Cantore

Seriously Shifter Blog Hop

So, I’m a huge shifter fan. Like, my favorite genre, want a shifter boyfriend, read 3 a day kind of fan. While I am partial to feline shifters, I’m not picky. Dragon, wolf, horse, T-Rex, heck, even snakes and rats. If it’s a shifter, I’m in. 

So, in honor of this hop, I want to not only offer a giveaway, but to recommend some free shifter reads so everyone can get seriously shifter.

Attracting Anthony by Amber Kell

Anthony Carrow never thinks to find the love of his life when he goes to a bar with his best friend Steven Dell. Getting over the death of his lover has been a hard task for Anthony. After two years he’s still broken-hearted and doesn’t have any intention of joining the dating scene. However, going with Steven to scope out a werewolf club to help his friend find a mate leads to unexpected consequences. 

Silver, alpha leader of the Moon pack, has been searching for his mate for a long time. Unhappy with the men he meets he’s given up searching for the man of his dreams until Anthony walks into the bar.

Can a man who’s already suffered a loss once be persuaded to give love a second try or will fear hold them back from finding the love they both deserve.

Black Cat by Cat Johnson

Lar has existed as a cat for a thousand years, with all the discomforts and indignities that go along with it. But when he is adopted by Belinda and gets a look into her life, can his curse finally be coming to an end?

A New Breed by Iris Deorre

Jack and David have a plan. Recreate their kind and take over the human race as they know it. With their plans set, Jack takes up a job as a lecturer at a local university in West Yorkshire. His goal; to get close to and impregnate Victoria who is the only woman to have untainted blood and is a thorough bred of their kind. 

But something unexpected happens, Jack meets Aiden, Victoria's husband. The man who makes such an impression on him that he falls in love. But his plans with David have already been set in motion and Jack realises too late that he no longer wants to be a part of the plan.

Jack must now choose his side. Will he change his direction and turn against David to be with Aiden or will he walk away from his first true love to stick with David?

What Jack doesn’t know is that Aiden is keeping a secret of his own; a secret that could help defeat David once and for all.

Also, just to let you know in advance, since the birthday bash last year was such a success, I will be repeating it again this year. So stop by all through April for your chance to win awesome prizes, meet some even awesomer authors, and have fun partying!

So, for this hop, I’m giving away winner’s choice of one of these two books:

Furry United Coalition Bundle by Eve Langlais

It started with an energetic bunny and a grumpy bear. It continued with a geeky swan and her playboy bear. And then we encountered an ornery croc who couldn't help falling for a foxy lady.

The three F.U.C. stories you've come to love are now available in one handy bundle. Hours of romantic and humorous entertainment. Contains previously released stories:

Bunny and the Bear

Swan and the Bear

Croc and the Fox

Isn't it time you got F.U.C.'d? lol. Find out what has readers giggling and get your Furry United Coalition bundle today.

Forgotten Menagerie, SMP Anthology

A shifter leads two lives: one as a human, and one as an animal. Sometimes these lives are intertwined, and sometimes they are not, but always the shifter has to find a way to reconcile one with the other.Forgotten Menagerie reminds us that not all shifters are werewolves or werecats, despite the preponderance of them in fiction. The stories in this anthology focus on shifters with animal forms other than canine and feline, building their own mythos for these non-traditional species.

In Nuts About You, Nathan's been crushing on one of his regular Bulk Mart customers for a while now. In squirrel form, he sits on Vince's bird feeders, munching on seeds and enjoying the eye candy. Until the day Vince notices him raiding the feeder... Then, in The Greatest of These, Daniel struggles to deal with his new-found sexuality and his Catholic faith. He's already overcome the question of how otter shifters fit into God's plans, but the next step is so much harder. After all, people don't picket about otters burning in Hell. Eber's shifting in Mirrors, the Moon, and the Boy is a curse carried by his family for nearly 500 years, but he's found a sexy side to it that makes him popular at the elite club "Conquistador" in Madrid. His legendary prowess inevitably leads to questions about why he's never there on the full moon. And when he begins to explore a budding connection with young American Miguel, the stakes get even higher if Eber's secret is ever revealed.

Dobson needs his Burdens Lightened, as he has a farm that's too big for one man and has to work construction to keep it paid for. The boss's nephew, Jim, is on the crew this summer—his father's idea to sweat the gay out of him. But Jim wants Dobson, and the feeling is mutual. To the point that Dobson is about to show a part of himself to Jim that no one has ever seen and that only the right person can see. Finally, Carter is eager to sever ties with the ignorant lout who married his sister and thereby owns half of the family ranch, but the only way to do that is to beat his brother-in-law to the cattle auction. That means a trip through Dangerous Territory full of hard terrain, venomous snakes, and flash floods. Fortunately, a deal with the local shifter tribe earns Carter a guide, the stern and humorless Rani, who has his own reasons for coming along.

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Share the Love Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to my stop on the Share the Love Blog Hop! It’s been a crazy year and a half since I started blogging, and in that time I’ve met tons of awesome authors and bloggers, too many to count. So when I was asked to pick just 4, it was tough. But these 4 authors/bloggers have gone above and beyond for me, and I absolutely love them to death, so I’m sharing the love with this awesome group.

First up, one of my favorite authors of all, Amber Kell. Not only do I love Amber’s books, but I love the gal herself. Why? Because she’s one of the most coolest, most giving authors out there. She talks to her fans daily, and she’s always running contests, offering sneak peeks at her books, writing blog stories, etc. on her blog, so I’m always excited when I get a new post message from her.

She is also the person who inspired me to do my big birthday bash on the blog to celebrate my 21st birthday, and she even agreed to participate in my bash. In case you didn’t know, she has a big party on her blog for her birthday in November, and in 2013, she did something amazing with it. She not only had awesome authors visit and giveaways galore, she also encouraged her followers to donate to different charities instead of sending her gifts, and she offered anyone who donated a free copy of one of her books. How awesome is that? You rock Amber, and so I’m sharing the love with you.

P.S. If you want to give her books a try, you can get book 1 of her Moon Pack series, Attracting Anthony free!

Another author who I absolutely love is Lisabet Sarai. I love visiting her blog and seeing what’s up, and she knows me as my email. :)  So, somewhere along the way, we got to emailing, and next thing I knew, she had invited me to visit her blog and do a guest post! So during my birthday bash, she stopped by my blog, and she let me do my first ever guest post on her blog. She was incredibly supportive and encouraging, and it meant the world to me, especially since she has since helped give me the courage to keep writing and not give up. So from the bottom of my heart, thanks a bunch Lisabet!

P.S. If you want to try her books, you can read New Wine for free!

And now, for my fellow bloggers. One blogger who I absolutely must name is Nikki from Close Encounters of the Night Kind. Nikki friended me on Goodreads when I first got started, and invited me to her blogoversary (which is where I got the idea from). And her Wicked After Dark Blog Hop was the first hop I ever signed up for, and she got me hooked on the idea of doing blog hops. But her most recent “claim to fame and awesomeness” is when I contacted her to get advice on how to create my own blog button like hers, she not only helped me, she volunteered to do it for me! Here’s the design she came up with (isn’t it freaking awesome!!). So yeah, most awesome-est person ever. She’s answered my stupid questions when I’ve asked, and has been a huge help in growing my blogger knowledge. Nikki, if you’re reading this, hopefully I’ll see you at Coastal Magic and get to meet and finally thank you in person for all your amazingness.

And last, but certainly not least is Danielle from Romance Book Junkies. I’d checked out her blog a few times, but never really knew Danielle until I signed up for the Coastal Magic Convention and commented that I was looking for a roommate. Danielle answered, and the rest is history. I’m super excited to be getting to meet her later this week as she has been a huge help. I’ve been a nervous, panicking newbie, and she’s calmed me down, reassured me, given me some awesome advice, and has pretty much been all-around, freaking amazing. She helped take away my worries, and has given me great blogging advice as well. So Danielle, if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be able to write this right now since I’d be too busy stressing over all the last minute details and worries you took care of, and you freaking rock.

So for this hop, I’m going to give away 3 prizes. I’m offering an ebook copy of William's House by Amber Kell, an ebook copy of Chemistry by Lisabet Sarai, and a $10 Amazon GC in honor of my fellow bloggers. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment and enter on the Rafflecopter, though if you want to spread the love and earn more entries, you can follow and visit the authors and bloggers on the Rafflecopter. Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you had a good time!

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Wicked Warriors Halloween Hop

Happy Halloween everyone! I haven’t been able to do much Halloween stuff so far this year, so I was super excited to get to participate in this hop! Things have been hectic and crazy over here, so I didn’t get to write up the lengthy post I was planning. So for now, I’ll just wish you all a safe, spooky, and wonderful Halloween!

So what can you win? Well, since I’m finally able to get in the Halloween mood, I’m going to be giving away some Halloween goodies! I will be choosing 2 winners. One winner (INT) will win a complete copy of the Legends Unleased series by Heather Beck (9 books), and one other winner (US only) will win a Halloween gift basket full of awesome Halloween goodness!!

And that’s not all. There’s also an awesome Grand Prize: A Kindle Paperwhite! And there are also 5 autographed copies of Unbound up for grabs as well.

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