RELEASE DATE: February 4, 2014
Format: Novel • Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance • Length: 106,308 words
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Series: Special Delivery #1
Characters: Sam Keller, Mitch Tedsoe
BLURB
Book One of the Special Delivery Series
When your deepest, darkest fantasy shows up, get on board.
Sam Keller knows he’ll never find the excitement he craves in Middleton, Iowa—not while he’s busting his ass in nursing school and paying rent by slaving away in a pharmacy stockroom. Then Sam meets Mitch Tedsoe, an independent, long-haul trucker who makes a delivery to a shop across the alley. Innocent flirting quickly leads to a fling, and when Mitch offers to take him on a road trip west, Sam jumps at the chance for adventure. Mitch is sexy, funny and friendly, but once they embark on their journey, something changes. One minute he’s the star of Sam’s every x-rated fantasy, the next he’s almost too much a perfect gentleman. And when they hit the Las Vegas city limit, Sam has a name to pin on Mitch’s malady: Randy.
For better or for worse, Sam grapples with the meaning of friendship, letting go, growing up—even the meaning of love—because no matter how far he travels, eventually all roads lead home.
This book has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.
Buy links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Smashwords, Apple, 24 Symbols, Goodreads
4.5 Stars!
Somehow I'd missed reading this series until I was asked to review Hooch and Cake and 12 Days of Randy, so I bought Special Delivery and Double Blind and decided to do a series review, this is the first part and the second will come in 2 weeks.
I don't usually read all that many kinky or BDSM stories, even if once in a while I've come across some intriguing blurbs and I've read them. While I am not overly fond of some of the kinks explored in Special Delivery, I have to admit that Heidi Cullinan is a very talented writer and even if they're not my cup of tea, I was all hot and bothered by almost everything that Mitch and Sam got into. I really feared my Kindle was going to catch on fire during some of the scenes! *fans self*
Mitch and Sam's relationship is atypical, I guess. They have a lot of chemistry and while it starts off as one-time sex in the back of Mitch's truck, it quickly deepens into more. Sam has desires he thinks he'll never be able to fulfill until he realizes Mitch might be just what he needs to make those desires a reality. Mitch provides Sam with a safe environment to explore his sexuality, be it with him directly or with others, since Mitch likes to play the voyeur. It's an intriguing dynamic for sure, but it works for them, eventually.
So, if you're into kinky reads, Special Delivery is top-notch. Steamy, angsty and with Heidi Cullinan's brilliant writing, what more do you want? Very recommendable!
RELEASE DATE: December 5, 2017
Format: Novel and paperback
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Length: 30,000 words
Publisher: Heidi Cullinan
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-945116-23-0
Print ISBN: 978-1-945116-26-1
Series: Special Delivery #1.5
Characters: Sam Keller, Mitch Tedsoe, Randy Jansen
BLURB
Where there’s a Randy, there’s a way.
Mitch Tedsoe isn’t an expert on many things, but he’s pretty sure getting married shouldn’t be this hard. A justice of the peace, some hooch, some cake—all Mitch wants is to walk down the aisle with Sam Keller, have a party, and live happily ever after. But every day of wedding planning brings a new set of handicaps, legal, logistical, and emotional…until he brings in his best friend, Randy Jansen.
Randy loves being the third point in Sam and Mitch’s kinky triangle, and nothing would give him more pleasure than to thumb his nose at small-town snobbery and give Iowa the most fantastic gay wedding it’s ever seen. But as his plan comes together and his friends prepare to sail off into the sunset, Randy begins to consider the unthinkable: that maybe, just maybe, he wishes he could have a little hooch and cake of his own.
AMAZON • KOBO • BARNES & NOBLE • ITUNES • SCRIBD • SMASHWORDS
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
It was small.
Randy hadn’t expected the pharmacy to be a sprawling retail giant, and yet as he came through the door, the bell above his head tinkling to announce his arrival, all he could think of was that the place was tiny. Little, and so throwback it was almost creepy. A makeup counter—seriously, a makeup counter—stood to his right, and what had once been a soda fountain was on his left, now a display for electric razors, hairdryers, and curling irons. A glance at their stickers confirmed they were twice the price they would be at Walmart or any other store.
“May I help you?”
The woman who’d appeared at Randy’s elbow was decidedly not Sam’s famously sour-faced aunt Delia. The female next to him was young, bright-eyed, and smiling. Randy smiled back as he caught a glance at her name tag. “Emma. Yes, you most certainly can. I’m looking for some condoms.”
She blinked, her smile not falling but growing more guarded. “Sure. I’ll be happy to show you, sir.”
Emma led him to the back of the store, and Randy took inventory as they walked. The floor squeaked under their feet, thin planks of polished wood that had to have been laid over one hundred years ago. Above his head suspended fluorescent fixtures buzzed, casting the narrow aisles in a sick yellow glow. A pungent bouquet of staleness and detergent assailed him, like a nursing home without the bodies. Silence rang about his ears, crowding out the hum of the bulbs. Ahead of him he saw the pharmacy counter, a raised dais walled off with fiberglass except for a narrow delivery/counseling station, filled with towering, crowded shelves and bathed in an even harsher, brighter set of overhead lights.
He tried to imagine Sam working here and shuddered.
The condoms were in a locked cabinet on the shelf just beneath the counter, and Emma had to ask the balding, white-coated man at the computer terminal to pass her a key. This would be Sam’s uncle Norman, without question.
Emma unlocked the cabinet and pushed open the glass door. “Go ahead and help yourself.”
The selection was paltry, and after watching Emma perform the dance of the lock, Randy assumed the pharmacy didn’t sell condoms very often. How many people were brave enough to ask for prophylactics? Probably the only reason Biehl Drug carried them at all was because the single thing worse than having to sell condoms would be discovery as a less-than-full-service pharmacy.
Finding a brand and size that were adequate and rolling his eyes inwardly at the price markup, Randy slipped three packages off the metal peg. “Rather sad display of lubricants, Emma.”
It was kind of fun, though depressing, how his essentially basic request for sexual paraphernalia flustered her. Wasn’t Emma supposed to be Sam’s designated fruit fly?
She glanced around the case as if seeing it for the first time. “Well, there’s that tube of KY. Oh no. It’s out of date. I’m sorry. I wonder if we have more in the back.”
“That’s all right. I’m not looking for her pleasure anyway. And while I’m giving you a critique of your sexual supplies, they’re not always family planning aids.” He pointed to the peeling label on the cabinet’s rim.
She wasn’t simply flustered now, she was awkward, clearly wishing Randy would go away and end her torment. “Um, sorry. I just work here.”
This—this—was the woman who’d applauded Sam’s alley fuck? Though as Randy recalled Sam’s retelling of his journey from Middleton to Vegas, he remembered Emma was the friend who had tried, repeatedly, to call Sam home.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to decide if he should explain who he was and give her a chance to defend herself. Except Randy started to wonder if Sam had even told Emma about him.
She smiled, the stretch of her lips declaring her someone who seriously wanted this confrontation over. “Is there anything else you needed, or should I ring you up?”
“Nope, pile of condoms ought to do it.”
As she checked him out, Randy scanned her one more time, taking in the last few details that were her tell, and they made him sad. She wasn’t a prude, and she had the trappings to let go and have fun, but she was, in so many ways, a symbol of all that held Sam back. As she totaled his purchases, engagement ring glinting in the overhead light, Randy could feel the hint of wildness before him taming under the weight of bridal catalogs and the promise of a house in a nice development, possibly with a whirlpool tub.
This, he reminded himself, was what Sam’s wedding juxtaposed. This was the version of himself Sam couldn’t have. Never mind Sam shouldn’t want it. Emma didn’t really want it either—but she wanted to belong. She wanted security and safety and solidity.
So long as Sam wanted to take it up the ass with another dick in his mouth instead of politely pounding a pussy, he couldn’t belong. Not here. Not ever. Any wedding Sam planned in this environment wouldn’t just be an also-ran. It would be nothing short of a total disaster.
“Emma, when you’re finished with the customer, I need to see you in my office.”
Randy turned toward the back of the pharmacy and saw a thin, pinch-faced woman with severe hair and cold, dead eyes looking back at him. She raked her gaze over Randy, mouth flattening in a line of disapproval.
Randy bit back a laugh. Sam’s aunt, in the flesh. Oh, Delia Biehl, it’s lovely to meet you.
He winked at Emma and picked up the brown paper bag—seriously, a stapled brown paper bag—with a flourish. “Thanks, sugar. I’d say I’ll think of you when I use them, but you’re seriously not my type. Catch you around.”
A ray of hope bloomed in him as Emma narrowed her eyes, dropping her reserve and studying him as if he were under a microscope. “Wait. Do I know you?”
“No, but we share a friend. I’ll give Sam your love.” He waved at the back of the pharmacy. “Stay sexy, Deils.”
Randy strode out of the pharmacy, smiling as Delia sputtered indignantly behind him. He ambled up the street to the apartment, letting a plan unfold in his mind.
Sam and Mitch wanted to get married. Sam—hell, both of them—wanted to belong, but nobody could truly belong here. Middleton, Iowa, was a quiet anvil pressing slowly but effectively in the center of his best friends’ chests, crushing out their joy.
But Sam had to get married in Iowa. Even if Nevada had marriage equality, Randy acknowledged that getting hitched in Sam’s home state was a symbol for Sam, a kind of stepping stone before he bloomed in a brighter future.
It was going to take some research. It was going to take some time, and more than a little creativity. And it required one more minor yet crucial element.
Randy backtracked to the Mexican general store and stuck his head in, waving as the owner greeted him with a smile. “Hello again, sir. What can I do for you?”
Randy nodded at the bulletin board beside the cash register. “Do you happen to know of anybody looking to sell a car?”
4 Stars
Hooch and Cake is set just after Special Delivery ends, Mitch and Sam are trying to juggle Sam's classes, Mitch's work, real life and trying to plan their wedding and it isn't working all that great, until Randy comes to the rescue.
This was a fun, passionate and hot addition to the series. Randy is his over the top self and provides the comic relief to counteract Mitch's more serious personality and Sam is just adorably kinky. I really like how these three men's personalities mesh together and how they all understand their roles in their very unconventional relationship. It was awesome so to see Randy going well and above to give his lovers the wedding he felt they deserved and that they, in turn, give him what he needed while setting up things for the next installment in the series. Very recommendable!
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
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