Blog Tour Stop including Excerpt, Review, Author Guest Post & Giveaway - Tricks and Bids by Jacqueline Grey ~ BFD Book Blog

Title: Tricks and Bids

Series: Suit of Harte’s, Book One

Author: Jacqueline Grey

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: February 17, 2020

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 20300

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, BDSM, romance, contemporary, gay, sex industry, prostitution

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Synopsis

When Michael Nole propositions Dillon Spade outside a BDSM club one evening, all he is looking for is a potential client and a little kink. He gets much more than he bargained for. As a prostitute, Michael enjoys sex but keeps an emotional distance between himself and the men he sleeps with. His priority is to keep himself safe, but after a night in Dillon’s bed, he finds the line between enjoyment and occupation blurring.

Dillon hasn’t taken another man home since his previous lover passed away six years ago, but there is something about Michael that calls to his inner Dominant in a way he cannot resist. His instincts want to claim the boy even as he reminds himself that he is only paying Michael for temporary company.

Their relationship may have started as a business transaction, but it’s difficult to remain professional when breaking all the rules.

Excerpt

“Hey. Wanna play?”

Dillon glanced up to find a young man leaning against the hood of his car. At Dillon’s pointed look, he took a step back, so he no longer touched the automobile.

“What gave you the impression I want company?”

“You obviously didn’t find what you were looking for in there” came the reply with a nod back at Harte, the BDSM club Dillon had just exited. “If you had, you wouldn’t be leaving this early.”

“And you think you’re what I want?”

The boy shrugged.

Dillon peered at him. He appeared to be in his midtwenties, fit and tight in the way Dillon remembered being before he’d hit thirty-three. He was shorter than Dillon with dark-brown hair long enough to grip: two things Dillon liked in a submissive. There was something familiar about him as well. If Dillon wasn’t mistaken, he’d seen him heading into a nearby motel a few times and never with the same “date.”

“Are you a prostitute?” Dillon asked.

The blunt question evoked an expression of surprise, but it rapidly morphed into a smooth smile. “‘Prostitute’ sounds like a job. It’s more of a hobby.”

“One you get paid for.”

“It’s a good hobby.”

Dillon cracked a smile. “How much do you charge?”

“Depends on what you want to do.”

That was reasonable enough, and if he’d been waiting outside Harte, he must know to expect kink and charge for it accordingly. “Are you clean?”

“Yes, and condoms are necessary and at your expense.”

“Expense? That sounds like a job term to me,” Dillon teased.

He considered his options. The boy was right. He hadn’t found what he was searching for in the club, and he held no illusions he ever would. Even after six years, he couldn’t help comparing every submissive he came across to the lover he’d lost. Harte called him a stubborn old goat, but the thought of building a relationship from scratch exhausted him. It was so hard to find someone whose rhythms and tastes fit with his own. Granted, the club was designed for negotiation and mutually desired play, but that was for the scenes that took place there. What about the rest of the time?

Dillon didn’t want a casual play partner. That did nothing more for him than scratch an itch that would return in no time. He wanted someone he could build a life with. He wasn’t going to find that with a prostitute, but something about the stranger brought forth yearnings Dillon hadn’t felt in years. He could take the boy home with him, indulge in what he wanted in his own territory and under his own rules. It would be a purchased illusion, but it beat going home alone and sleeping in an empty bed.

“Come on,” he said, pulling his car door open and unlocking the other side. “We’ll talk details when we get to my place.”

“Your place? Don’t you mean a hotel?”

“My place,” repeated Dillon. “I don’t do quick fucks.”

4 of 5 Stars

This is a super quick, sexy read. If you’re looking for a lot of romance, this isn’t the book for you. However, if you’re looking for a fairly well written, hot D/s quick hit with a happy ending, you’ll probably like this story.

Dillon was a bit closed off at the beginning, but he warms up quickly. Michael is skittish but calms under Dillon’s touch. There isn’t a lot of character development – we only know a little about Dillon’s history and even less about Michael’s.

I liked Dillon’s consideration for Michael and his use of the D/s rules even for one night. The other good thing about the short length of the story is there is no lack of or miscommunication which I appreciated.

I see there is a series about the other friends in Dillon’s circle and I’d be up for reading them.

Hey guys. Jacqueline would like to add the following to the beginning of your guest. Thanks!

“I am so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.”

One of the most difficult questions for me to answer is “What is your favorite book?” My first thought is “Do you mean in a specific genre?” shortly followed by “Can I pick five instead of just one?”. Then I start mentally reviewing my bookcases at home. If I truly love a book, I want to own it in print. It isn’t enough to have it on a tablet to reread. I need to hold it in my hands and rifle through the pages.

There is one specific bookcase in my house that holds my very top favorites, so when attempting to answer the Favorite Book question, my mind immediately scans these shelves. The core of the collection has been consistent over the years, but it’s been added to as I’ve experienced new genres and authors. I thought I would share some of the contents of this bookshelf with you. I’ve grouped it by genre.

Science Fiction

I’m going easy on myself to start. Science Fiction is one of the few genres I can pick an absolute favorite in. For me the winner is the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “Trilogy”. I love witty British humor. There are so many quotable lines and passages in this book that sum up in a few words complicated ideas about life, the universe and, well, everything. This series is the reason that my favorite number is 42.

Dystopia

Another easy one since this is not a genre I tend to read, but a friend introduced me to Manna Francis and I was hooked. The Administration series is brilliant. Mix together a totalitarian government, mystery, a sociopathic main character, fully immersive virtual reality technology, intriguing plots, and lots of kink and I’m there.

Horror

Yet another genre I only skim the edges of. Here we’re talking about The Bone Key by Sarah Monette. I will read anything this woman writes. She is a master and when it comes to horror she is clearly and well influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. The Bone Key is a book of interconnected short stories about Kyle Murchison Booth, a museum archivist. The thing I love about these stories is that some are creepy, some are scary, but some are romantic, and all are in their own way beautiful.

Though if you read “The Yellow Dressing Gown”, do not doing it while waiting in a car at night on a road without streetlights. Bad idea. It will scare the shit out of you.

Non-Fiction

The last of the easy ones. I love fiction, but when I heard of the book What If? I needed to read it. If you have any interest in science, even just a tiny bit, this book is worth the read. It’s serious scientific answers to ridiculously hypothetical questions like “If everyone on the planet were to gather to one side of the earth and jump at the same time could we knock the Earth off its axis?” Technically this is a simple yes or no question, but the answer you’re given is so much better than that, but I won’t spoil you. If you want to know, you’ll have to read the book.

Fantasy

I have managed to limit myself to five books for this one. Thank goodness I’m working off only one bookcase. In no particular order they are:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The plot stems from two magicians who have different methods of teaching competing against each other. They do this by training apprentices and having their students do the actual competition. Whichever student is better will prove who is the better magician. Though this is the general plot, the real focus for me is on the circus. Any time I have tried to describe this book to someone I always come back to the circus. The prose when describing it is gorgeous, and each tent we enter is like a gift you didn’t know you dearly wanted until it was in your hands. This book is beautiful, from cover to cover.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. I love a book where the hero isn’t necessarily a good guy. I love a really good bad guy, better yet when the hero is the one who blurs the lines.

The Doctrine of Labyrinths series. I repeat. If Sarah Monette wrote it, it’s on my top shelf. Love her.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman. One of my favorite things about this book is the introduction about how the “good parts” version came to be.

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo. This is a series of fairy tale stories set in Leigh’s Grishaverse world. I have recommended this book to people who I know will never read any of her other books, because this one is different. Whether you already love her writing or not, if you like Grimm’s fairy tales you should try this book. These fairy tales do not hold back. There is no Disney here, and like a true fairy tale, there is a lesson to be learned. It’s also not the one you expect. This book has flavors and influences from the stories we are familiar with, but Leigh has taken them and made them her own.

The other part that makes this book amazing, and the reason I will never recommend it in audio is that it’s illustrated. Each story starts with a small image in a corner and as you turn each page the image grows, creating a frame around the words until, finally, you finish the story and the picture is filled in. It is a beautiful, interactive experience that I highly recommend.

Romance

As a writer of romance, I definitely read romance, but those books have their own special bookcase, so we’ll have to explore them another day. I am also a lover of manga, but I’ll leave that for another time as well.

What books are on your keeper shelf? Got any recommendations I should add to mine?

Meet the Author

Jacqueline Grey currently lives on an island on the east coast of the United States. She spends her time outside her day job juggling her many interests which include reading, writing and drinking tea. She loves M/M romance, usually focusing on stories that include BDSM themes to one degree or another.

Jacqueline has always been driven by characters. She loves a good plot, but it’s the characters that pull her into a story. She loves romance and believes everyone has a right to be happy. She enjoys seeing her characters find that happiness for themselves.

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