Heartsong by A.E. Wasp Blog Tour

“It just figures that the first guy I’m bringing back to my place is cute, single, and totally off-limits...”

Sean Johnson has spent his life waiting to get the hell out of West Virginia. His plans got derailed when his dad shipped him off to “pray the gay away,” but he’s over it, ready to prove that he’s a grown-ass man who can take care of himself. Of course, he’d have a better chance convincing himself if he could stop lusting after his grumpy roommate.

Army veteran Cooper Hill returned to Vermont minus one leg and one career, but determined to build a new life. When an army buddy asks Cooper to keep an eye on his nephew, a junior at the local college, Cooper can’t say no. He’s expecting a sheltered kid. What he gets is a gorgeous young man whose brilliant poetry gives voice to everything Cooper’s been trying to express. He wants Sean more than he’s ever wanted anything. And somehow, miraculously, Sean wants him too.

But wanting each other isn’t the same as being good for each other... especially when past pain threatens to write its own verse in their song.

A stand-alone novel in Sarina Bowen’s True North world, Heartsong contains first love, found family, kisses around the campfire, and two caring men who discover they make beautiful music together.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the Vino & Veritas series!
For book one, Featherbed, click HERE.
For book two, Heartscape, click HERE.
For book three, Headstrong, click HERE.
For book four, Undercover, click HERE.
For book five, Aftermath, click HERE.
For book six, Booklover, click HERE.
For book seven, Flipcup, click HERE.
For book eight, Hideaway, click HERE.
For book nine, Turnabout, click HERE.
For book ten, Unguarded, click HERE.
For book eleven, Insatiable, click HERE.
For book twelve, Daybreak, click HERE.

 

 

Book 13
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Paperback (US)
~  Also Available with KindleUnlimited  ~

 

 

Head down against the driving rain, body hunched over the injured dog, I don’t see the taillight of the car pulling out of a parking spot until it’s almost too late. Oh fuck. I close my eyes, turn the dog away, and brace for the impact.

Strong hands clamp down on my upper arms and yank me back. My back slams against a hard, broad chest, and then all three of us, me, my rescuer and the dog, are stumbling into the back bumper of a minivan.

The hands around my arms tighten and I lean against this stranger’s body for a second. The guy is almost the same height as me, but much broader, his chest wide and warm against my wet back. The feel of stubble against my cheek and warm breath blowing over my ear makes me shiver.

“Sean?” he says, voice deep and smooth.

Oh, holy hell. Can it be?

“Cooper, get the hell in here!” a second man calls from behind us.

A’course it is.

I straighten up and try to pull away. I swear his hands tighten on my arms, tugging me back against him for a glorious but far too brief moment before he lets me go. When I look over my shoulder at him, our eyes meet and my words lock in my throat as a sizzle of electricity shoots down my spine. It’s so real, I swear lighting must have touched ground somewhere. By the way his eyes widen, Cooper feels it, too.

I can’t hear anything except our breathing and the rain pounding on the gravel parking lot, soaking my thin t-shirt, and plastering Cooper’s hair to his head.

In my arms, the dog whimpers, and still I can’t look away from Cooper’s piercing gaze. What the hell is going on?

He starts to speak, and I sway towards him, holding my breath.

Those dark, intense eyes narrow and he scowls. “Don’t you fucking know how to drive?”

Speechless, I reel back and he grabs my arm again to keep me from losing my balance.

“Jesus Christ,” the older man says. “Don’t either one of you idiots have the sense God gave a goose? Get the hell inside.”

Cooper drops my arm like it’s scalding him, and I tear my gaze away from his angry face. An older guy with dark-brown skin, grey beard, and salt-and-pepper dreadlocks tied behind his neck waves at us from the open doors of the diner.

Grateful for the save, I walk carefully to the doors and into the diner.

“What happened?” the man asks as I pass him.

“This kid hit a dog and then almost got hit by a car himself,” Cooper answers from behind me.

“Are you always such a dick or is today special?” I snap at him.

 

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the thirteenth book in a series of stories written by a collection of talented authors and set in Sarina Bowen’s True North world. I am really enjoying the connections, and yet the variety of styles offered by the different writers. This time we have two men who chance has brought together, but who complete each other in a very healing and affirmative way – but the journeys both have taken to get there are complicatedly awful.

Sean is starting college late, and as far away from home as he can afford to be. His uncle has called up an old Army buddy, Cooper, and asked that if in exchange for renovation works, Sean could stay with him. At this point we have no idea why Sean needs the support, but let me tell you, as it is revealed, one's admiration for his resilience, and sadness at what he has suffered is high.

Cooper is busy trying to renovate a house on the shoreline just outside Burlington. He had to leave the Army due to injury, and is not sure how he even survived the accident which befell him. It does, however, mean that he needs help in some tasks, and so Sean's arrival makes those possible.

From how they first meet; from the involvement of vet Emmett and his partner Tai; from the secrets that both hold tight – we get a story of two damaged men who need each other more than either imagined. I loved how Cooper was so patient, and how perfectly his songwriting tied in with Sean's poetry. In fact, there has been a lovely theme of music through many of the stories in this series... as well (of course) as maple syrup!

Quite a tough read in terms of the pain these men have suffered, especially Sean's, but a lovely outcome deserved by both of them, and Stumpy.

 

 

 

After time spent raising children, earning several college degrees, and traveling the world with the U.S. State Department, she is returning to her first love – writing.

A dreamer and an idealist, A.E. WASP writes about people finding connection in a world that can seem lonely and magic in a world than can seem all too mundane. She invites readers into her characters' lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, living with the same hopes and fears we all have. An avid traveler who has lived in big cities and small towns in four different continents, Amy has found that time and distance are no barriers to love. She invites her readers to reach out and share how her characters have touched their lives or how the found families they have gathered around them have shaped their worlds.

Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in a town suspiciously like Red Deer, Colorado.

Connect with A.E.

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Facebook Group: Amy's Wasp Nest

 

 

 

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Heartsong (Vino & Veritas #13) by A.E. Wasp to read and review for this tour.