JL Merrow

…over at Elisa Rolle’s blog today, on the penultimate day of the Raising the Rent blog tour. You’ll find the excerpt here.

And remember: I’m offering a $20 Amazon gift certificate to a randomly chosen commenter on the tour. (See here for a full list of the blogs I’ll be guesting on, in case you’ve missed any)

I’ll be making the draw around teatime on Monday 27^th October, GMT. Good luck!

And in other news: I have internet again, so I’ll be able to catch up on answering comments! Yay!

*cheers, and scatters confetti all around the house*

*frowns, and thinks that’s going to be a bugger to clear up*

…is out today (just in time for Halloween)!

This is a re-issue of a spooky short story first published in one of Torquere’s Scared Stiff Taste Test mini-anthologies. It’s been fully revised and re-edited, and is around 15-20% longer than the previously published version (and, of course, it has a lovely new cover!)

The memory of this party could haunt him forever…

Dragged along to a haunted house by his mates, Sam’s at the Halloween party from hell—the guy he fancied has turned out to be a bigot, and Sam has just outed himself to  his whole football team.

Escaping to the garden, he meets James, an enigmatic stranger with a mischievous smile, and the evening soon takes a turn for the better. The night may be chilly but the heat between Sam and James is hotter than Hades.

But James has a role to play in the evening’s ghostly entertainment, and it’s a story with a deadly ending. Unless Sam can change the script and stop history repeating itself, “till death do us part” will come sooner than he thinks.

Available now in multi-format ebook from JMS Books (where for a limited time, it’s at 20% off), and to pre-order from other retailers.

JMS Books | Amazon.com | Amazon UK

Nope, not talking about me (these days I see myself as less of a tart and more of a rhubarb crumble.)

Today on the Raising the Rent blog tour I’m over at RJ Scott’s blog (while she’s away at GRL – how foolish of her to leave the keys under the mat) talking about that much-loved trope: the hustler with a heart.

Why not pop on over and let me know about your favourite fictional working boy/girl – and did they get their happy ending? I’d love to hear from you (although you may, alas, have to wait a bit to hear back from me *curses unstable internet connection*)

Giveaway: I’m offering a $20 Amazon gift certificate to a randomly chosen commenter on the tour. (See here for a full list of the blogs I’ll be guesting on, in case you’ve missed any)

I’ll be making the draw around teatime on Monday 27^th October, GMT. Good luck!

Just a quick heads-up: with impeccable timing (just what one needs when on a blog tour) my internet has become a bit iffy (which is still better than the landline, which is as dead as a deep-fried dodo). I’ve got an engineer booked for Monday, but have been warned that things may get worse before they get better.

So apologies in advance if it takes me a while to answer comments/emails etc – fingers crossed things’ll be back to normal next week!

…and today I’m over at Sinfully Sexy Books (and isn’t this banner they did for me just gorgeous?) talking about student/teacher relationships. Why not pop on over and let me know if you were ever teacher’s pet?

(It’s well worth the click just for Mark’s introductory first line alone!)

And don’t forget, one lucky commenter on the tour will win a $20 Amazon gift certificate. Good luck! 

There’s a list of all the tour stops here.

Fancy a sexy, spooky short to get you in the mood for Halloween? Well, Trick or Treat, previously published under the title Through a Western Door in a Torquere Press Scared Stiff Taste Test, will be reissued soon as a standalone ebook from JMS Books:

But in the meantime, you could be in with a chance to win a free copy – all you have to do is pop over to Stumbling Over Chaos and leave a comment on the giveaway post! Simples!

The memory of this party could haunt him forever…

Dragged along to a haunted house by his mates, Sam’s at the Halloween party from hell—the guy he fancied has turned out to be a bigot, and Sam has just outed himself to  his whole football team.

Escaping to the garden, he meets James, an enigmatic stranger with a mischievous smile, and the evening soon takes a turn for the better. The night may be chilly but the heat between Sam and James is hotter than Hades.

But James has a role to play in the evening’s ghostly entertainment, and it’s a story with a deadly ending. Unless Sam can change the script and stop history repeating itself, “till death do us part” will come sooner than he thinks.

…by the lovely Larissa, over at her site Bookwinked – and if you pop on over, you can get an exclusive sneak peak at the book I’m writing at the mo, Played! (#2 in the Shamwell Tales).

It’s not stated in the post (my bad!) but all comments on the interview post will count as entries in the Raising the Rent blog tour prize draw – so good luck!

Never fall in love with a customer—especially if it’s sex you’re selling

Yay! Raising the Rent is out today and available in ebook:

    Samhain | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | ARe

To celebrate, the Raising the Rent blog tour kicks off today at  The Novel Approach, where I’m talking about The Oldest Profession – just how old is it anyway? And has it always been an equal opportunities employer?

And remember: one lucky commenter on the tour will win a $20 Amazon gift certificate

Good luck!

…and, of course, the book itself!

Never fall in love with a customer—especially if it’s sex you’re selling

Rent boy Nathan’s determined to get an education and get off the streets for good. But when he turns up for his first day at college he’s horrified to find his English teacher is one of his regular customers: Stephen, the one Nathan dubbed The Voice because of his educated, honeyed tones.

Stephen’s just as shocked to see Nathan sitting in his class, not to mention terrified he’s about to be exposed as having paid for sex with a student. This could mean public humiliation and maybe the loss of his job. But when Nathan shows he’s only interested in getting his A Levels, not in blackmail, Stephen realises there’s more to the nineteen-year-old than meets the eye.

Nathan still has to earn a living, though—and when a customer turns ugly, he finds himself unable to work and homeless as well. Stephen steps in to help, and Nathan starts to think they could have a future together—but Stephen’s guilt and lack of trust could end this back-to-front romance before it even starts.

Warning: Contains unfashionable haircuts, unreasonably long words and a May-December romance between a not-so-streetwise rent boy and an erudite English teacher.

Due out from  Samhain Publishing 14th October 2014

Available to pre-order:      Samhain | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | ARe

To celebrate the release of Raising the Rent in ebook on 14th October 2014, I’ll be going on a blog tour, and one lucky commenter on the tour will win a $20 Amazon gift certificate 🙂

I’ll be making the draw around teatime on Monday 27^th October, GMT. Good luck! 😀

I’ll be making guest appearances on the following blogs:

Tuesday 14th October: The Novel Approach: The Oldest Profession

Wednesday 15th October: Bookwinked: Larissa interviews me

Thursday 16th October: Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews: Teacher’s Pet

Fri 17th October: RJ Scott’s blog: Tart With a Heart

Tuesday 21st October: Elisa Rolle’s blog: Excerpt

Wednesday 22nd October: Prism Book Alliance: Mind the Gap

– #3 in The Plumber’s Mate series

The wrong secret could flush their love down the drain

It’s been six months since plumber Tom Paretski was hit with a shocking revelation about his family. His lover, P.I. Phil Morrison, is pushing this as an ideal opportunity for Tom to try to develop his psychic talent for finding things. Tom would prefer to avoid the subject altogether, but just as he decides to bite the bullet, worse problems come crawling out of the woodwork.

Marianne, a young barmaid at the Devil’s Dyke pub, has an ex who won’t accept things are over between them. Grant Carey is ruthless in dealing with anyone who gets between him and Marianne, including an old friend of Tom and Phil. Their eagerness to step in and help only makes them targets of Grant’s wrath themselves.

With Tom’s uncertainty about Phil’s motives, Tom’s family doing their best to drive a wedge between them, and the revelation of an ugly incident in Phil’s past, suddenly Tom’s not sure whom he can trust.

The body in the Dyke’s cellar isn’t the only thing that stinks.

Warning: Contains British slang, a very un-British heat wave, and a plumber with a psychic gift who may not be as British as he thinks he is.

Due out from  Samhain Publishing 17th March 2015.