Please welcome my fellow Dreamspinner Press author, Mickie B. Ashling, to talk about her new release.
And when you read where it’s set, you’ll realise how VERY apt it is for me, after the tooth-saga-beset year I’m currently experiencing! Ah well, what doesn’t kill us, and all that … :).
Now over to Mickie …
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for inviting me to share an excerpt from my latest release Fractured. As an avid reader, I’ve come across every sort of character imaginable: firemen, vampires, shape-shifters, doctors, polo players, cops, teachers, you name it, I’ve seen it. The one thing I rarely find are stories featuring dentists. Let’s face it, almost everyone agrees on one thing—dentists rank up there with morticians and tax collectors. Most people associate them with pain and financial ruin, when they’re only trying to make things better, not worse. Imagine what your life would be like without teeth. Pretty grim if you ask me. Nowadays, you can get replacements with a lot less pain and trauma than in years past. But enough with the PSA. What I’m trying to say is we need dentists as much as we need our cops, firemen, and teachers. Let’s take them out of the Dark Ages and try to see them in a better light. The majority of them are pretty cool, and some are even drool worthy. What are the odds of falling in love at first sight in a dental chair? Stranger things have happened, and they’re usually happening in my world.
Like the previous novels in this series, Fractured is set in a San Francisco dental clinic. Characters from Impacted and Bonds of Love make guest appearances but Fractured can be read as a stand-alone. My latest dentist is Lance Roberts, new to the Bay Area and hoping to find the perfect sub to complete his Dominant nature. Roque Celdran is a struggling Mexican-American who’s just suffered some facial trauma due to an unfortunate encounter at a BDSM club. Neither man expects to find romance in this incongruous setting, but they do. Here’s the official blurb and a short excerpt.
Blurb
Roque “Ro” Celdran dreams of a better life, far away from the hand-to-mouth existence of his migrant worker family. He moves to San Francisco to study Landscape Design but finds himself short of cash. Tony, Ro’s identical twin, comes up with a plan to help Ro make ends meet. The BDSM club Tony frequents is looking for gay men to act as submissives to the Dommes-in-training. Ro reluctantly takes the job and falls headfirst into a world he neither understands nor desires.
Lance Roberts is the new doctor at the dental practice started by Scott Gregory and Robin Kennedy. On the surface, he seems to have it all: the Mensa IQ, blond and blue-eyed good looks, and the determination to make it in his competitive field. Underneath lies a frustrated Dom in search of the perfect sub who can handle his obsessive behavior and debilitating need for control.
When Ro ends up in Lance’s dental chair, the last thing either one expects is a physical and mental connection. Ro’s attraction to “White Bread” never pans out, and Lance’s weakness for Latinos always leads to a dead end. Could this time be different? What happens between the two alphas leads to a lot of soul-searching and some surprising conclusions.
Bio
Mickie B. Ashling is the alter-ego of a multifaceted woman raised by a single mother who preferred reading over other forms of entertainment. She found a kindred spirit in her oldest child and encouraged her with a steady supply of dog-eared paperbacks. Romance was the preferred genre, and historical romances topped her favorites list.
By the time Mickie discovered her own talent for writing, real life had intruded, and the business of earning a living and raising four sons took priority. With the advent of e-publishing and the inevitable emptying nest, dreams were resurrected, and the storyteller was reborn.
She stumbled into the world of men who love men in 2002 and continues to draw inspiration from their ongoing struggle to find equality and happiness in this oftentimes skewed and intolerant world. Her award-winning novels have been called “gut wrenching, daring, and thought provoking.” She admits to being an angst queen and making her men work damn hard for their happy endings.
Mickie loves to travel and has lived in the Philippines, Spain, and the Middle East but currently resides in a suburb outside Chicago.
Fractured is now available in paperback or e-book format at Dreamspinner Press HERE.
You can contact Mickie at mickie.ashling@gmail.com or leave a comment on her website at http://mickieashling.com or her blog http://mickiebashling.blogspot.com.
Excerpt
Dr. Roberts walked in before Ro turned on the music, and he removed one earbud so he could hear the doctor talk. He exuded the same confidence that had set Roque at ease when they’d first met, and this morning he was a welcome sight. An easy smile creased Lance’s face as he greeted him. The light-blue gown made of some papery fabric made him look like one of the surgeons on his grandmother’s favorite telenovela. Dr. Roberts epitomized everything Roque ever dreamed of in a man, although he was just as unattainable as the proverbial stars he longed to reach. He could only imagine Tony’s caustic remarks about his attraction for “white bread.” Was it the blond hair and blue eyes that yanked his chain, or was it everything else the man symbolized? Now wasn’t the time to psychoanalyze his feelings for the good doctor. There would be more time in the future to figure out what, if anything, was drawing him toward the guy. Hell, he probably had a wife and two kids waiting at home.
Continue reading
and it immediately evoked my childhood in Ontario’s cottage country. I wanted to write the book – 
