Picks from the Bottomless List: August

Posted August 1, 2017 by Dale

Another month has gone by so it’s time again for our Bottomless Picks!

My favourite read of the past month was Close Quarter by Anna Zabo. I tend to read contemporary books almost exclusively, but I loved the Takeover series by this author so I had to pick this up as well – I’m really happy I did! It captured me from the first chapter and didn’t let me go until I had finished it. Both MC’s are equally interesting as individuals but even more so when together. And while the story is contained to a cruise ship there was not a boring minute. Review will be posted closer to the release date but I’d recommend you to put this on your to-read list!

On a transatlantic cruise to New York, sculptor Rhys Matherton struggles to piece his life back together after losing his mother, inheriting a fortune, and finding out his father isn’t his father after all. He spills a tray of drinks on a handsome stranger, then he finds himself up against a wall getting the best hand-job he’s ever had. And for the first time in his life, he feels whole.

Rhys enjoys the company of Silas Quint, but for the eerie way no one pays attention to them even while they kiss in a crowded bar. Silas explains he’s a forest fae able to glamor the room around them—and more importantly, that he’s on the cruise to hunt vampires. Rhys thinks Silas is full of it, until he discovers vampires are real, and he’s part of their main course.

Silas Quint can’t be distracted by a human lover, even one as lovely as Rhys. Stuck in the middle of the ocean, he has barely enough of energy to hunt the vampires he’s been sent to destroy. Rhys is full of the one thing Silas needs needs most—the element of living plants. Only sucking energy from Rhys would make Silas as soulless as the creatures he hunts. How can he keep Rhys safe, without becoming like the very monsters he hunts?

Goodreads / Amazon
Release Date: August 15th

It will come to the surprise of exactly no one that the book I’m most looking forward to in August is Permanent Ink by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn. I read this several times, as a draft then again as advance copy and I just adore this story, the characters and everything. Team Avaughn is a writing duo you should definitely not miss because they are explosive together – they just click and complement each other perfectly. And trust me when I say that you need Poe in your life! (I’ve reviewed it here.) Btw we have a giveaway for this still going on twitter so you might want to check that out. 😉

At twenty-three, Poe Montgomery is going nowhere. He still lives in his father’s basement and spends most of his time tagging with his friends. When an arrest lands him in debt, Poe accepts the front desk job at Permanent Ink, the tattoo shop owned by his father’s best friend, Jericho McAslan. Jericho is nearly twice Poe’s age, but with his ink and prematurely graying hair, he quickly takes the starring role in Poe’s hottest fantasies.

Jericho is known for his ability to transform poorly designed tattoos into works of art, but he was once as aimless and misdirected as Poe. Wanting to pay it forward the way someone once did for him, Jericho makes Poe his apprentice and is determined to keep things strictly professional. Easier said than done when Poe makes his interest—and his daddy kink—abundantly clear.

Jericho can’t resist Poe or their intense chemistry for long. But between the age gap, tension with Poe’s father, and Poe’s best friend calling him a sellout, they’ll need to ensure they’re both on the same page before they can rewrite their rocky start into something permanent.

Goodreads / Riptide Publishing
Release Date: August 7th

And to add a book I haven’t actually read yet and I’m looking forward to, I want to mention The One Thing I Know by Keelan Ellis. That cover? Rock stars on tour and a bit of hurt/comfort? SIGN ME UP!
(Edited to add that I am currently reading this, so the “haven’t actually read” bit isn’t true anymore. (I’m about halfway through and I’m really enjoying it so far!))

July was insane in my world. INSANE. So crazy in fact that I didn’t manage to read much that wasn’t an ARC for an upcoming book. I did do some re-reading that I loved: in anticipation of Lilah Suzanne’s Blended Notes, the final book in her Spotlight series, I went back to the first book in the first book, Broken Records. I loved it even more the second time; knowing the characters on a deeper level, after reading the whole series, I really felt like I knew the characters and felt them.

Los Angeles-based stylist Nico Takahashi loves his job—or at least, he used to. Feeling fed up and exhausted from the cutthroat, gossip-fueled business of Hollywood, Nico daydreams about packing it all in and leaving for good. So when Grady Dawson—sexy country music star and rumored playboy—asks Nico to style him, Nico is reluctant. But after styling a career-changing photo-shoot, Nico follows Grady to Nashville where he finds it increasingly difficult to resist Grady’s charms. Can Nico make peace with show business and all its trappings, or will Grady’s public persona get in the way of their private attraction to each other?

Grady Dawson’s future looks bright. He’s at the top of his country music career, has a close-knit group of friends who have become his Nashville family, and has found solid ground in his personal life as he plans his intimate, private wedding with Nico, his stylist turned lover turned love of his life. It seems Grady has finally left his difficult childhood and tumultuous youth behind. That is, until his past shows up on his doorstep, news of his upcoming nuptials is leaked to the media, and his record company starts issuing demands that challenge his integrity as an artist and as a person. The foundation Grady built his new life on begins to crumble and fast. Can he have his future if he’s haunted by his past? Can he continue making music if it means comprising his convictions? Must he make the ultimate choice between a private life with Nico and the public demands of his career?

Goodreads 1 & 3, Interlude Press
Release Date: August 17th

Upcoming books I am looking forward to: Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles — I cannot even with my excitement for this one! I am obviously super excited for Blended Notes to hit the shelves so to speak. I really hope our readers take a chance on this series (I know some people have been iffy because one of the main characters is a country music star but TRUST ME, this is a series to read). There’s so much good stuff coming out in the fall, I think that there will be a lot to review and to love in the coming months!

Archaeologist Saul Lazenby has been all but unemployable since his disgrace during the War. Now he scrapes a living working for a rich eccentric who believes in magic. Saul knows it’s a lot of nonsense…except that he begins to find himself in increasingly strange and frightening situations. And at every turn he runs into the sardonic, mysterious Randolph Glyde.

Randolph is the last of an ancient line of arcanists, commanding deep secrets and extraordinary powers as he struggles to fulfil his family duties in a war-torn world. He knows there’s something odd going on with the haunted-looking man who keeps turning up in all the wrong places. The only question for Randolph is whether Saul is victim or villain.

Saul hasn’t trusted anyone in a long time. But as the supernatural threat grows, along with the desire between them, he’ll need to believe in evasive, enraging, devastatingly attractive Randolph. Because he may be the only man who can save Saul’s life—or his soul.

Goodreads / Amazon
Release Date: August 3rd

MORE books we’re looking forward to:

Absolutely, Almost, Perfect by Lissa Reed; August 3
Weekend Getaway by Tamryn Eradani; August 7
Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan; August 8
Three Player Game by Jaime Samms; August 14
Controlled Burn by Erin McLellan; August 14
Runner by Karma Kingsley; August 21
The Tiger’s Watch by Julia Ember August 22
Ari by Nephy Hart; August 28