Saturday, December 21, 2013

Reader Appreciation Day: Cold Hands Giveaway


Hi guys :)

I'm taking part in the Reader Appreciation Day today. My price is an e-copy of Cold Hands (Hot Hands can be downloaded for free on ARe and Smashwords), but there are 20 other books to be won. What you'll need to do is have a yahoo account and leave a comment and email here: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TheSweetSpotMM/conversations/topics (I'll update with a direct link to the post once it's up - I'm about five hours ahead of USA >.<

Here's the blurb of Cold Hands:

“Hot-Hands” and Casper have been dating for a month, but their relationship is about as smooth as shattered glass. It doesn't help that Hot-Hands is racked with guilt over his high school bullying of Casper, or that Casper darts away whenever his boyfriend gets a little too frisky.

Desperate to hang onto Casper, Hot-Hands tries to earn back the trust he destroyed years ago, so they can face their disastrous past and have a chance at a happy future.

Cold Hands focuses on high school bullying for being gay. This is the sequel to Hot Hands and contains big spoilers if read first.

Monday, December 16, 2013

A Life Without You Giveaway


Hi guys. 

Yes, I've been MIA. Illness (my own and chicken pox for the boys). I probably won't be back in full action until the new year. 

However, I have a giveaway for you today. Actually, it ends just before midnight on December 18th. Just head on over to The Novel Approach and leave a comment there (not here, although you're always welcome to comment here!) along with a way for me to reach you. The price? Well, since this is a backlist bump, I'm giving away an e-copy of A Life Without You :)

Friday, November 29, 2013

Erica's Black Friday


All of my College Fun and Gays books will be available at 40% discount at All Romance eBooks - the anthologies as well. The sale will start today and end tomorrow. Grab whatever you can while you can!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Eric's Birthday Party


Hi guys :)

I'm taking part in Amber Kell's birthday month and my task was to pick a character from one of my books and describe what their birthday party would be like. There's no giveaway, but if you like these guys you may want to read about Eric's birthday :) I also believe that Amber is hosting a personal giveaway and you can get your name in the hat by replying.

This info is from Amber's blog:

This year we will be having the usual:

Visits by Author Friends: some of your favorite authors (besides me) and ones you might not have heard of are stopping by to share a bit about themselves and their releases.

Gift Card Giveaways: Leave a comment each day to be entered to win a $10.00 gift card (a winner will be picked daily). Each entry will also be entered into a weekly kindle giveaway.

Blog story: I will have a new story this month (I might even finish it LOL).

New This Year!

Month of Giving: Fans who donate a minimum of $5.00 in the Month of November to their favorite charity will get a coupon code for one free book at amberkellbooks.com, good for up to a year.

That’s right, give to your favorite charity in the Month of November and get a book. You will only need to send us the receipt or even a confirmation email to amberkellbooks@gmail.com from the charity saying thanks for the donation will suffice.

On top of that, I will match the charitable donations to the top five charities up to $1000.00 total, so it’s up to you to make sure I have to spend it!  If you donate to more than one charity only send me the info on your favorite. Only one free book per person. Also, if you don’t want a coupon code I will also be keeping a spreadsheet with everyone’s name and email for the charity thing to track amounts and I can just send you a free book when one comes up that you’d like.

Anyway, happy birthday, Amber ^.^

Saturday, October 12, 2013

GayRomLit 2013 SWAG!

Hi guys :)

I've been preparing for GayRomLit 2013 and the massive SWAG I'm bringing. You'd think I'd had months to do this but somehow I've left a lot of it to the last minute.

Curious about my SWAG? This is what I have from last year, minus the colorful one with the old covers:


Here's what I'm bringing on top of that (I don't have them in my hands yet, so I'm just posting the SWAG art:


Bookmark: 
 (front)
 (back)

Character Cards: 
 (front)
 (front)
(Sorry about Jazz's hair, I ended up doing it myself >.< I know he looks like a badly Photoshoped Fabio)
 (back)

Then I have individual postcards of all the Boston Boys novels and the College Fun and Gays short stories:



I have Icelandic candy again, only different this time.

Finally, I'm bringing about 50 paperback copies of Hot Hands to give away:


Yup. I figured it would be awesome SWAG and they're not that expensive to print in comparison to other things. For those who can't make it but want one, it's $3.99 on CreateSpace and Amazon. I have a copy in my hands and it's a cute little book of 32 pages of the story + some extra pages. I'm so pleased with it. I will probably make the other College Fun and Gays books available in print as well (in fact, I'm bringing a few copies of one as special prizes), but it'll take time. If people don't want them in individual copies, they can also be bought as a bundle.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Hot in Fall Winner


The winner of the Hot in Fall Blog Hop is Pam! I've contacted you about your prize :)

Monday, October 7, 2013

Cold Hands: Very Sweet and Touching.


Cold Hands received a 4-star review from The Romance Reviews. Here's a snippet:

"As much as Casper wasn't ready to forgive, neither was Jaime. He knew what he had done and was therefore very patient and understanding. He was willing to wait for Casper to be ready to move further in the relationship, or not. He was also okay with things staying the way they were, as long as he was able to be with Casper. It was all very sweet and touching and I loved every minute of it."

Thank you, Breann at The Romance Reviews :)

Black Hurricane: Party Boy Who Doesn't Believe in Love.


Embry Carlysle gave Black Hurricane 5 stars along with a very flattering review. Here's a snippet:

"This book far exceeds my expectations. She has given the good time party boy who doesn't believe in love a story that made me laugh and cry. I also wanted to seriously punch his lights out from time to time. Erica Pike has shown a vulnerable side to Jazz that I never dreamed he possessed. I am so blown away by this book that it will be on my re-read list forever [...]"

Thank you, Embry ^.^

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Black Hurricane: Marvelously Entertaining, Emotional and Heart-Tugging.


Black Hurricane has been reviewed by The Romance Reviews. It received 5 stars and a wonderful review. Here's a snippet: 

"...just having Jazz telling the story is powerful and Erica Pike manages so effortlessly to do the wonderful character building of all the other players in the story. Dean of course is someone we get to know really well, then Eric, Alex, Cal-Al, Benji and many others are so wonderfully drawn and each have their own personality to add to this marvelously entertaining, emotional and heart-tugging story."

Thank you, Susan Mac Nicol at The Romance Reviews :)


Friday, October 4, 2013

Black Hurricane: "Beautiful character driven story."


Black Hurricane received 4.5 peas from Mrs. Condit & Friends Read Books along with a stunning review :) Here are snippets:

"When I read the blurb for Black Hurricane, I thought, “Oh great! Another rocker-dun-me-wrong book!” Boy, was I wrong! Erica Pike has taken that old plot bunny and blown it clear out of the water!!"

"This is a beautiful character driven story, with a smooth plot flow. Erica has given us characters that are vivid, three dimensional, and that are anything but your stereotypical rock star or jilted lover. Even the secondary characters are solid, with all the unique quirks that make us individuals."

Thank you, Pattycakes ^.^


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Black Hurricane: 2013 Rainbow Awards Finalist!



Wow, what a pleasant surprise when I checked my Facebook notifications today. Black Hurricane is now a finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards among other fantastic books. It's in the Gay Contemporary Romance category. Here's a special shout-out to my buddies Cherie Noel, Z. Allora, Clancy Nacht and Thursday Euclid who also made it to the finals ^.^

Black Hurricane is already a winner after having come this far. Thousand hugs to the judges :)


Hot In Fall Blog Hop (M/M Hop)


I'm going to keep this short, because you have other m/m authors to visit ;) You want to know what's hot this fall? These covers made by Scarlet Tie Designs:

Twenty-three year old Jasper Jones fell in love with Dean McQueen at fourteen, but after a disastrous relationship, Jazz would like nothing better than to see the rock star choke on his own vomit.

After a catastrophic reunion, Dean seems bent on destroying Jazz’s life. It all started when an impromptu bar performance ended up on YouTube and Jazz became an internet sensation overnight. The name “Jazdean” keeps popping up in headlines and the paparazzi stalk his every move. To make matters worse, Jazz is about to end up on the streets for the second time in his life. 

In a desperate attempt to keep his home, Jazz signs a deal with Dean’s band, Black Hurricane, to perform at a couple of concerts. It feels like one of Dean’s feeble attempts to get Jazz back, but painted into a corner like he is, Jazz has no choice.


For weeks, college student Casper has been the victim of sail-by goosing and groping. The problem is that Casper would very much like to get more than groped by those wonderful, big, hot hands. With a journal full of clues, he sets out to discover who his mystery groper is. He may, however, be in serious trouble once he discovers the ominous identity.

Hot Hands focuses on the effects of high school bullying for being gay.


And then there are these below. If you leave a comment and a way for me to reach you, you might win a copy of one of these bestsellers:

“Hot-Hands” and Casper have been dating for a month, but their relationship is about as smooth as shattered glass. It doesn't help that Hot-Hands is racked with guilt over his high school bullying of Casper, or that Casper darts away whenever his boyfriend gets a little too frisky.

Desperate to hang onto Casper, Hot-Hands tries to earn back the trust he destroyed years ago, so they can face their disastrous past and have a chance at a happy future.

Cold Hands focuses on high school bullying for being gay. This is the sequel to Hot Hands and contains big spoilers if read first.

When College professor Daniel Corrigan was brutally kicked out of his home after revealing his true sexuality to his wife, he had to make a whole new life for himself. For the first time in two years Daniels main heartache isn't the none-existent relationship with his two kids, but the fact that the grade-A-sex deal with his student Troy Anderson is about to expire. After a whole semester of office fun, Troy has managed to squeeze his way into the core of Daniels soul. Daniel, however, is positive hes nothing more to Troy but a teacher who can modify a grade.

Grade-A-Sex Deal focuses on depression after ostracism.

Short and scrawny college student Harley Santos has a strange relationship with the guy on the other side of his bedroom wall. For weeks, the two have been masturbating to each other’s voices, but they have never met in person. In fact, he doesn't know a single thing about his wall-mate except that he looks and sounds incredibly hot.

When Harley’s roommate, Ryan, is asked on a date by one of his neighbors, Harley is devastated that his wall-mate mistook not-hot Harley for super-hot Ryan. Helping Harley through his heartache is Tasha Novokov, the other neighbor, who is tall, dark, and impossibly handsome.

The Walls Have Ears focuses on insecurities of first-time dating: Is the guy I like gay or straight?

College student Coby is being stalked by a young guy and has no idea why until someone suggests that the stalker may have a crush on him. The idea both excites and terrifies Coby, who is so deep in the closet he can barely manage to think the word “gay” without freaking out.

Little Stalker focuses on the deep, dark closet and internal homophobia.

When arts student Kyler Morris applies for membership to The Nova Britannia Brotherhood, he's immediately floored by their intimidating leader, Hunter Kingsley. Fellow arts student Hunter, however, isn't the bad-ass he's made out to be and takes Kyler under his wing.

While Kyler struggles to keep his crush under control and his sexuality hidden from the Brothers, Hunter battles daemons of his own in the form of two Brothers who aren't playing by the rules.

Welcome Brother focuses on acceptance in college and gay bashing.

Six-Pack Winners


Thank you, all, for participating in the Sick-Pack Stud-A-Thon Giveaway :) I've drawn the winner and he/she is...

Jbst!!

Congrats ^.^ I will contact you.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Little Stalker and Welcome, Brother Reviewed


Little Stalker and Welcome, Brother have been reviewed by The Romance Reviews :) Both received four stars and great reviews. Here are snippets:

Welcome, Brother:
"Kyler and Hunter were very cute together. I loved reading about their blossoming relationship that, really, wasn't sexual at all in the beginning. They were truly just friends who enjoyed each other's company before any romance began."


"LITTLE STALKER is a very emotional read. This series has been so light and fun that I didn't expect to get teary-eyed, but I did. Some things came out about Grayson that were terribly sad, and since he's so darn loveable, it made it all the more heartbreaking to read about."

Thank you, Breann at The Romance Reviews :)


Monday, September 23, 2013

Six-Pack Stud-A-Thon Hop


Well, there's a plethora of sexy guys in gay romances and a lot of not one but TWO (or three, or four, etc.) great male models end up on our covers. Some get their heads cut off and their bodies are shown off, but I prefer the heads on IF I can find a model that looks similar enough to my characters. It can take me hours upon hours to find the right models for these covers (my publisher lets me be a part of the selection process because I'm so fussy about the covers). I often start looking even before I send my manuscript to a publisher.

I have a huge crush on the guy on my first novel-cover (Adam). I mean, he's just gorgeous. He also cost way more than the other stock photos I could have chosen from, but I was adamant about using this one (my poor publisher...). In my head, he looks exactly like this even before I found this picture:


Jesse, in this cover, is just a body. A weird body (kind of looks like someone took a bite out of his side - probably Adam in one of their heated moments ;)), but the back turned to Adam has to do with the story.

I'm also in love with artwork made by Zathyn Priest at The Scarlet Tie Designs. He made all the covers for my College Fun and Gays books and most were pre-made, meaning I had no say in them (those are usually his best!). 
(Hot Hands is free on All Romance eBooks)

In fact, I'm offering up an e-copy of A Life Without You AND one of my College Fun and Gays books (you can read about them here). All you need to do is comment below with a way for me to reach you to be entered into the drawing pot. 


There's more! To enter the grand prize draw, you'll have to use the below Rafflecopter. If you want to be included in my personal contest, then you'll have to make a comment to this post - using the Rafflecopter has nothing to do with my prize. This is what's up for grabs in the grand prize:


*Sigh* Just look at them...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the others taking part in this hop :)


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Fun Facts with JL Merrow


JL Merrow is my visitor today. She's not going to share ten fun facts about herself, but about my country: Iceland ^.^ While I was "icepicking" her Fall Hard manuscript, I was blown away by her understanding of Icelandic people and the details to the land and buildings (and that first sex scene? Crazy HOT with those two Icelandic dirty words!).  

Warning: some may be more factual than others! ;)

1. Not only does Iceland allow same-sex marriage, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, its Prime Minister until earlier this year, is in one! She was the world’s first openly lesbian head of state.

And the best part is that nobody cared ^.^

2. Icelanders are highly literate. Around 10% (yes, TEN PERCENT) of the population will publish a book in their lifetime.

I've become a statistic >.<

Alopex lagopus
3. Iceland’s only indigenous mammal is the arctic fox. All together now: Awwwwww.

Vicious beasts... Okay, not really. They're adorable ^.^

4. In Iceland, it rains sideways. This is because the wind never stops blowing. It’s death to hairstyles. If you visit, invest in a few scrunchies so you can wear a ponytail all the time and never, ever show the holiday photos to your hairdresser.

There's a joke about the part of Iceland that I live in: If the wind ever stopped blowing, people  would fall over face-first (because we always have to lean against the wind - okay, not funny when you have to explain it...).

5. Volcanic ash, which caused such a palaver a few years ago, is actually coarse, gritty black sand. It’s quite fun to scrunch your toes into when you go swimming in the Blue Lagoon. Less fun, obviously, when sucked into your aircraft engine.

Yeah, sorry, World. The Dutch and Brits wanted cash but we misunderstood and sent them ash :/

Elven graveyard (according to JL!)
6. There are elves in Iceland. So many, in fact, that in a hugely unpopular measure of 2007, the government enforced an official cull. Today, you can see the poignant sight of elven graveyards all over the country, the final resting places of the hidden folk marked by small cairns of stone.

Not true! The graveyards, that is - the elves are very real ;)

7. One thing I knew about Iceland before I went was that there are no trees there. This is a lie. THERE ARE TREES IN ICELAND! All right, there aren’t very many, and they’re mostly not very big, but they’re there. There’s a saying: What should you do if you get lost in a forest in Iceland? Stand up.

Damn, you stole my next joke :P That seriously is a joke that every Icelander knows (and we actually think it's funny, hehe).

No Sheep! 
8. Another thing I knew about Iceland was that it’s full of sheep. This is also a lie. THERE ARE NO SHEEP IN ICELAND! Nope, not one. I didn't see a single shake of a lamb’s tail while I was there. Of course, they could all have been hiding in the middle bit where the main roads don’t go… No, sorry, I don’t believe it. There are no sheep in Iceland.

So not a lie! They're as real as the elves!
9. On the other hand, there are MILLIONS of ponies in Iceland. Seriously. Everywhere you go, fields full of gorgeous, shaggy-coated, floppy-maned ponies. Which leads us to:

10. Those lovely Icelandic sweaters you see everywhere, with the thick wool and the yoke pattern around the neck? Sort of like Sarah Lund wears, only nicer? Knitted out of ponies. They shear them in the summer, bleach or dye the wool, and knit it into sweaters. Honest. It’s the only explanation.

Haha, maybe I should suggest to the farmers to collect horse hair to knit out of :P I couldn't wear one though because I'm allergic. We do make wallets out of fish skin though, so it's an idea ;)
  
***

Some memories are better off lost in the mist…
Eight months ago, British academic Paul Ansell lost his lover—and all the memories of their time together—in an accident at Iceland’s Gullfoss Falls. Returning to the misty island country to resume his study of the bloodthirsty Viking Egil Skallagrimsson is tough as he struggles to pull his life back together.

First, there’s his colleague, Mags, who treats him like glass, and summer student Alex, who peppers him with discomforting questions. Then there’s Icelandic jet-boat driver Viggo, a tattooed, modern-day Viking who won’t say much about how they know each other. Leaving Paul to wonder if their volcanic attraction is fuelled by a desire to make a fresh start, or desperation to forget the past.

As more fragments of his lost memories fall into place, Paul is unsure if he can trust himself, much less anyone around him. And he begins to suspect his accident was nothing of the kind.
Warning: Contains a modern-day Viking whose boat has V8 engines for oars, and a harsh land of hot springs and hotter passions that won’t forgive any false steps.




Giveaway:

I’m offering a free signed paperback copy of Pressure Head (I’m happy to ship internationally) to a randomly chosen commenter on the tour, plus a $10 Amazon gift certificate!

I’ll be making the draw around teatime on Monday 30th September, GMT. Good luck! :D


JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea.  She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance, and is frequently accused of humour. 
She is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Find JL Merrow online at: www.jlmerrow.com