Excerpt Tour ~ Cervena by Louise Lyons ~ (Review, Exclusive Excerpt + Giveaway)
Author Name: Louise Lyons
Book Name: Cervena
Release Date: July 22, 2016
Blurb:
When Joel Jones finds homeless Russian, Sasha, outside his gay nightclub in Prague, he cannot find it in his heart to turn him away, so he offers him a home and a job as a dancer and stripper.
Despite a fifteen-year age gap, romance develops between them, but is interrupted when Joel has to return to England for many weeks to deal with a death in the family.
Upon Joel’s return, he is horrified to discover his business partner, Karel, has gambled away the club’s money and put them all at risk. Joel buys him out of the club, but when Karel continues to gamble, the people he owes pursue Joel for the debt instead—and they’ll stop at nothing to get paid.
Suddenly Joel and those he cares about—especially Sasha—are in danger, and Joel finds himself with no choice but to seek the help of known criminal, Vincenc Jankovic. Ensuring a happy future for himself and Sasha will mean a struggle and some difficult decisions, but Joel is determined to protect what they’ve built together.
Pages or Words: 170 pages
Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance, Gay Fiction
Exclusive Excerpt:
“You were spending a lot of money you didn’t need to!” I growled. “I didn’t check anything while I was away, until yesterday. I’ve always thought I could trust you, Karel. Up to now you’ve proved I could. So what went wrong? I got an e-mail from Pavel saying he’d quit and that he didn’t like the ‘changes’ you’d made. I looked at the website and there’s a picture of Tomáš naked, inviting all the sleazy guys in Europe to have a taste, and while they’re at it, go fuck some nameless rent boy upstairs? And then I checked the bank and what did I find? What the hell did you do with ten million korunas, Karel?” I stopped, breathless, aware that I’d been yelling. I unclenched my fists and winced at the sting in my palms where my nails had cut into my flesh. “On top of everything else, you stole from our business. From me. Why?”
Karel sighed heavily and indicated his sofa. “Sit down, Joel.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“Please.” He looked defeated, and as inclined as I was to resist, I moved to the sofa and sat. My leg ached and I stretched it out. Karel sidled to one of the armchairs opposite and sank into it.
“Go on. I can’t wait to hear your explanation.”
“Everything else was incidental,” he began.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the pros and the security leaving—”
“You mean your firing the security.”
“Yes. I….” He hung his head and twisted his hands together between his knees. “I’m in trouble, Joel. I didn’t want you to find out. I thought I could put it right before you noticed. I didn’t think you’d come back yet.”
“I’ve been gone two months. I think that was long enough to bury my mother,” I muttered bitterly.
“I’m sorry. Look, you’ve every right to hate me for this. I hate myself. I just… I got in trouble—”
“You said. What kind of trouble? Drugs?”
“No!” He looked at me at last. “Gambling.”
Buy the book:
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*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***
Joel has been living in Prague for the last ten years and has a fairly successful gay club, Cervena, with his business partner Karel, although lately he's grown a bit disillusioned by how unhelpful his partner has been lately. When Joel finds a young man looking through their trash, he can't stop himself from helping him and hires Sasha to dance at Cervena. He's attracted to Sasha, and despite their 15-year age difference, his feelings are reciprocated, but when he has to go back to England unexpectedly for several weeks to take care of some family troubles, it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Thinking Joel won't be returning, Karel gambles away the club's money and turns it into some kind of sex club, putting their workers, including Sasha, at risk. When Joel finds out he goes back, and buys Karel out, trying to make things right at Cervena again and continue his relationship with Sasha. However, Karel is deeper in trouble than any of them anticipated and now they might all be in danger.
Joel and Sasha were very likable, although I would've liked the book to have dual POVs, since, in my opinion, it would've made the book richer to have Sasha's point of view. Still, they had chemistry, despite the age difference, and they worked well together.
The book was very enjoyable, it had romance, sex, suspense and it was thrilling to see how everything played out. There were a few twists and turns that I never saw coming and had me guessing for a good part of the book, which was good. Recommendable!
Rating: 4 Stars!!!
Louise Lyons comes from a family of writers. Her mother has a number of poems published in poetry anthologies, her aunt wrote poems for the church, and her grandmother sparked her inspiration with tales of fantasy. Louise first ventured into writing short stories at the grand old age of eight, mostly about little girls and ponies. She branched into romance in her teens, and MM romance a few years later, but none of her work saw the light of day until she discovered FanFiction in her late twenties.
Posting stories based on some of her favorite movies, provoked a surprisingly positive response from readers. This gave Louise the confidence to submit some of her work to publishers, and made her take her writing “hobby” more seriously.
Louise lives in the UK, about an hour north of London, with a collection of tropical fish and tarantulas. She works in the insurance industry by day, and spends every spare minute writing. She is a keen horse-rider, and loves to run long-distance. Some of her best writing inspiration comes to her, when her feet are pounding the open road. She often races into the house afterward, and grabs pen and paper to make notes.
Louise has always been a bit of a tomboy, and one of her other great loves is cars and motorcycles. Her car and bike are her pride and joy, and she loves to exhibit the car at shows, and take off for long days out on the bike, with no one for company but herself.
Tour Dates & Stops:
Joel has been living in Prague for the last ten years and has a fairly successful gay club, Cervena, with his business partner Karel, although lately he's grown a bit disillusioned by how unhelpful his partner has been lately. When Joel finds a young man looking through their trash, he can't stop himself from helping him and hires Sasha to dance at Cervena. He's attracted to Sasha, and despite their 15-year age difference, his feelings are reciprocated, but when he has to go back to England unexpectedly for several weeks to take care of some family troubles, it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Thinking Joel won't be returning, Karel gambles away the club's money and turns it into some kind of sex club, putting their workers, including Sasha, at risk. When Joel finds out he goes back, and buys Karel out, trying to make things right at Cervena again and continue his relationship with Sasha. However, Karel is deeper in trouble than any of them anticipated and now they might all be in danger.
Joel and Sasha were very likable, although I would've liked the book to have dual POVs, since, in my opinion, it would've made the book richer to have Sasha's point of view. Still, they had chemistry, despite the age difference, and they worked well together.
The book was very enjoyable, it had romance, sex, suspense and it was thrilling to see how everything played out. There were a few twists and turns that I never saw coming and had me guessing for a good part of the book, which was good. Recommendable!
Rating: 4 Stars!!!
Meet the author:
Louise Lyons comes from a family of writers. Her mother has a number of poems published in poetry anthologies, her aunt wrote poems for the church, and her grandmother sparked her inspiration with tales of fantasy. Louise first ventured into writing short stories at the grand old age of eight, mostly about little girls and ponies. She branched into romance in her teens, and MM romance a few years later, but none of her work saw the light of day until she discovered FanFiction in her late twenties.
Posting stories based on some of her favorite movies, provoked a surprisingly positive response from readers. This gave Louise the confidence to submit some of her work to publishers, and made her take her writing “hobby” more seriously.
Louise lives in the UK, about an hour north of London, with a collection of tropical fish and tarantulas. She works in the insurance industry by day, and spends every spare minute writing. She is a keen horse-rider, and loves to run long-distance. Some of her best writing inspiration comes to her, when her feet are pounding the open road. She often races into the house afterward, and grabs pen and paper to make notes.
Louise has always been a bit of a tomboy, and one of her other great loves is cars and motorcycles. Her car and bike are her pride and joy, and she loves to exhibit the car at shows, and take off for long days out on the bike, with no one for company but herself.
Where to find the author:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/louiselyonsauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/louiselyons013
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/louiselyons013
Website: www.louiselyonsauthor.com
Email: louiselyons013@gmail.com
Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/louiselyons
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Tour Dates & Stops:
22-Jul: BFD Book Blog
25-Jul: MM Good Book Reviews
26-Jul: MM Book Escape
27-Jul: Love Bytes, V's Reads
28-Jul: Alpha Book Club
1-Aug: Bayou Book Junkie
2-Aug: Havan Fellows
3-Aug: Molly Lolly
4-Aug: Gay Media Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads
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Best wishes for much success with your new release!
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