Many thanks to Clare London for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romance, Pluck and Play (With a Kick #5), for a lucky commenter to win! Pluck and Play will be released by Jocular Press on January 31.

Everyone knows Curtis Wilson around the Soho business scene: a hard-working, budding young entrepreneur, who can get you supplies of whatever you need, and always with a joke and a laugh. Only Curtis knows that’s a purely public persona. Secretly, he’s still licking his wounds after being beaten up by his ex-lover, and he’s not about to let his guard down again.

Handsome Riley Richmond was born to be a cowboy, on his father’s side at least. But after his parents’ deaths, he finds himself stranded this side of the Atlantic, an anachronism in the bustling capital, and without financial capital. His consolation is his music, albeit he’s not a very successful busker and he loses his only decent piano gig after standing up for Curtis against a homophobic bully.

After that, they keep meeting, partly by accident, partly by Riley’s design. He’s smitten, and doesn’t mind letting Curtis know. Their music brings them together – Riley’s guitar playing and Curtis’ sharp, sexy poetry are a powerful combination. But Curtis still has some unfinished business with his ex-lover that he’s struggling to handle on his own. Riley intends to be the man Curtis calls on for help, whether he likes it or not. He’ll do whatever it takes to show Curtis that people can still be trusted to be honest and caring – even if it means walking them both into danger.

Excerpt (scroll down)

Other Books by Clare

About Clare

Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.

All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

You can also visit Clare at her blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Contest Rules

• To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Monday, February 2.
• By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
• If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
• Winner will be selected by random number.
• You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
• Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
• If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
• If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
• This contest is open worldwide!

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“The big kitty is behind me, isn’t he?!” -Mayhem

“My life sucks. Mayhem is in my spot. Woe!” -Chaos

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Make sure you enter the contest for A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2) by Keira Andrews! Closes 7 pm CST, Monday, February 2.

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Make sure you enter the contest for A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2) by Keira Andrews! Closes 7 pm CST, Monday, February 2.

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Welcome to another edition of the Misadventures in Stock Photography! Today we’ll be meeting Cowboy Who Fails At Rope Maintenance Guy (CWFARMG).

After they were done

(totally

),

rode

on the trail of

and

, hoping they wouldn’t get

because they were holding

and it was definitely time to

.

Back to making absolutely no sense at all!

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*sigh* -Mayhem

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Make sure you enter the contest for A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2) by Keira Andrews! Closes 7 pm CST, Monday, February 2.

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Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (romance/UF) and AAR (romance)
• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
• Dear Author on “the state of our reading habits”.
• “On the festishisation of gay men by women in the slash community – it’s more complicated than you might think“.
• James Patterson’s new thriller will self-destruct after 24 hours.

Think, Do, Make, Learn

• “US Senate votes that climate change is real as though that were the deciding factor“. (Are you terrified of US yet? For US, at least?!)
• How Bill Nye works.
• The life of an NHL dentist.
• How long would it take a bowling ball to hit bottom after being dumped in the ocean over the Mariana Trench?
• Hopefully none of you have one of the passwords on this list. *looks stern*

Recipes

• Massaman curry with beef.
• 21 soups from around the world.
• Thai sticky rice pudding with coconut sauce.

Gluten Free

• Chocolate poke cake.
• Slow cooker meatballs.

Crafty

• Knitting links from kmkat.

Cool

• Walking on the Mississippi River.
• Vintage postcards of Minneapolis.
• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Leatherman bracelet – 25 tiny tools for your wrist.
• Red Velvet Oreos.
• FOX wants to bring back The X-Files – with Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.

Wha…?

• Now you can wear Benedict Cumberbatch’s face across your ass. (via The Mary Sue)

LOL

• So true! (Hover cursor/long-press for additional text.)

Reading Update
Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne. Ok urban fantasy about Atticus O’Sullivan, a 2000 year old druid running an apothecary in Phoenix and hiding from an old enemy. I found Atticus to be kind of annoying, actually…
Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1) by Seanan McGuire. Ok paranormal romance about a cryptozoologist living in New York City, trying to launch a ballroom dancing career, prove to her West Coast family she can live on her own, and help out the city’s cryptid/monster population. This had a couple of particularly amusing bits (the mice!), but I didn’t quite gel with the narrator.

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*sniff sniff sniff* “Your woolly wooliness pleases me, sock.” -Mayhem

Sock without Mayhem (although that’s Chaos’s head and foot coming in frame):

Ravelry details.

Many thanks to Keira Andrews for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m romance, A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2), for a lucky commenter to win! A Clean Break will be released by KA Books on February 3.

They’ve escaped to the outside world – but can they really be free?

David and Isaac have found happiness in each other’s arms. In faraway San Francisco, Isaac’s brother Aaron helps them explore confusing “English” life and move beyond the looming shadow of their Amish roots. For the first time, David and Isaac can be openly gay, yet they struggle to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. At least they don’t have to hide their relationship, which should make everything easier. Right?

But while Isaac thrives at school and makes new friends, David wrestles to come to terms with the reality of the outside world. Haunted by guilt at leaving his mother and sisters behind in Zebulon, he’s overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city as he works to get his carpentry business off the ground.

While David and Isaac finally sleep side by side each night, fear and insecurity could drive them miles apart.

This is the second chapter in a trilogy of forbidden Amish love. This book features explicit sex and is not an inspirational/Christian novel.

Excerpt (scroll down)

Also by Keira

• Contemporary romance
• Historical romance
• Amish romance
• Tempting Tales (with Leta Blake)
• Young adult
• Free reads

About Keira

After writing for years yet never really finding the right inspiration, Keira discovered her voice in gay romance, which has become a passion. She writes contemporary, historical and fantasy fiction, and – although she loves delicious angst along the way – Keira firmly believes in happy endings. For as Oscar Wilde once said, “The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” You can find out more about Keira and her books at her website and on Twitter and Facebook.

Contest Rules

• To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CST, Monday, February 2.
• By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
• If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
• Winner will be selected by random number.
• You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
• Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
• If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
• If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
• This contest is open worldwide!

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“I’ll never let you go, sock!” -Mayhem

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Congrats to Val, who won Secrets and Charms (Secrets #2) by Lou Harper!

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Since I totally don’t feel like writing a Misadventure, I’m declaring a Misadventure amnesty day. Here, have a cute picture of a cat and a sock instead (click picture to embiggen):

“I love you, sock.” -Mayhem