Luck of the Draw a M/M Light Fantasy Romance by Addison Albright ➱ Book Tour with Guest Post & Giveaway

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Luck of the Draw

Author: Addison Albright

Publisher: JMS Books, LLC

Cover Artist: Written Ink Designs

Release Date: July 22, 2023

Genres: M/M Light Fantasy Romance, Gay/Bisexual

Tropes: Peace Treaty, Arranged Marriage

Themes: Accepting Fate, Dark Secrets, Forgiveness

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 25 700 words

It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Publisher | Universal Link

Drawing the short straw is bad luck…isn’t it?

Blurb

Drawing the short straw is bad luck…isn’t it?

A treaty between three warring realms calls for a mass wedding ceremony amongst their eligible princes and princesses to solidify the peace. But since the number of males and females differ, one of the marriages must be between two of the princes.

Prince Obren of Canna draws the short straw, sealing his fate, and Prince Dukan of Butari volunteers to be the other half of the nontraditional marriage. The two princes fought nobly in the years-long war and are willing to do whatever it takes to finalize the treaty, ending the conflict that took the lives of their loved ones…Obren’s brother and Dukan’s lover.

Each harbors a dark secret, and King Rogan of Canna has long nurtured a deep hatred of Obren, blaming him for bringing home the deadly virus responsible for the untimely death of his much-adored wife. Obren and Dukan can’t deny their chemistry, but can they overcome the ugly truths complicating their path to a friendly, respectful, and—dare they hope—loving relationship? Will King Rogan stop at nothing to dash Obren’s chance at happiness, or does that short straw represent good luck, after all?

Excerpt

Chapter 1: Drawing Straws

Obren, a prince of Canna, had drawn straws many times in the past, but never had the stakes been so high. This time it was not about who would go first or last either in childhood games of years gone by, or in sexual liaisons from more recent years. It was not about who would help pitch the army tents versus dig the holes for the latrine. Or fill them in, later, when breaking camp.

This time, the rest of his life was at stake. Not life or death itself, but the direction his life would follow and its potential to bring him happiness.

Obren’s stomach twisted into a knot as his father, King Rogan of Canna, offered his closed fist. Obren drew in a deep breath, understanding, to the marrow of his bones, that any plea to avoid this choice was pointless. A straw must be drawn, and as the older of the two brothers, he would draw first.

Not that the order of drawing mattered. Whether or not he drew the short straw would be down to luck. The luck of the draw would decide his life’s path. His hand twitched as he checked a nervous impulse to smooth down his already neatly styled blond hair.

Obren closed his eyes, shut out the sounds of his father’s heavy breathing, and focused on preventing the quiver building in his gut from reaching his hand as he lifted it. He paused and opened his eyes. Was there any possible stratagem he could employ to boost his chances?

“Just pick one,” Lale hissed. “Let’s get this over with.” Lale, being Obren’s younger brother, was as invested in the outcome as was Obren.

Obren swallowed, squared his shoulders, and snatched one of the two straws sticking up from Father’s fist. He stepped back and stared at the stick, but it gave him no information.

No useful information, anyway. Length could be both absolute and relative. He could see that the absolute length of his straw was about six knuckles long. But it was the length relative to the straw remaining in Father’s hand that would give the answer.

Lale strode swiftly forward and grabbed the remaining straw. The brothers stood staring at one another for ten solid beats before slowly raising their hands to compare straws.

Obren stared blankly at them, but it was the slow grin spreading across Lale’s face that came into focus first. Lale held the longer of the two.

Heat suffused Obren’s face as he snapped his straw in half and let the two pieces drop to the floor.

“Enough of that.” The king used his regal tone, usually reserved for court. “You will do your duty, and you will do it without displays that should have been left behind when you graduated out of the nursery.”

Obren clenched his jaw. He shouldn’t say anything more, but his mouth ran on unheeded. “I’m older. It wouldn’t have been out of order for you to have decided based upon our ages.”

“Your sisters are older still. You’re not even the spare, let alone the heir. You don’t matter.”

Lale snorted, and Obren shot a glare in his direction. But Lale was looking at their father with an unwise expression of disgust. The snort hadn’t been directed at Obren; it had been in response to Father’s unkind remark about both of their worth.

Obren softened his own expression, and when Lale returned his gaze to Obren, Lale swallowed, and said, “Obren’s right. Neither of us wants this, of course, but it should be me.”

The two brothers had never been the best of friends. Their personalities didn’t align well for that. But they’d always felt the bond of brotherhood, and here, Lale probably felt a sense of duty to repay Obren for saving his life amidst a fierce battle in the final year of the war.

Obren wasn’t entirely sure if his conscience would have allowed him to let Lale take this burden upon himself after winning the draw—probably not, impulsive comment notwithstanding—but that option wasn’t on the table. “Nonsense. The selection was fairly made,” the king said with a glare of his own directed at Obren. “I expect you to behave like a rational adult at both the reunion dinner this evening and the ball tomorrow night.”

Obren held in his retort and gave a curt nod before turning on his heel and striding, with as much dignity as he could muster, from the room.

Anger roiled through his belly as he raced through the castle hallways to his suite of rooms. His footsteps clicked on the stone floor and echoed through the empty passages. A lingering whiff of the sausages they’d eaten at breakfast still hung in the air.

It was an understatement to say that Father preferred Lale. Had done since Obren had been a schoolboy. In fact, Obren wouldn’t be surprised to learn if Father had somehow manipulated the straws to ensure Obren picked the shorter of the two.

Father had never forgiven him for his mother’s death. As if Obren had deliberately caught the jumping spotty fever. He certainly hadn’t been aware enough during the height of his illness to influence his mother to stay away from him. She’d nursed him, as a loving mother would do, and she’d become ill herself, succumbing to the disease whereas Obren had recovered.

Once in his suite, he flopped face down onto the bed and screamed into his pillow.

Tell us a little about yourself.

First, thanks so much for having me here on your lovely blog today! I live in the middle of the USA and write (so far) M/M contemporary, paranormal (vamps & shifters), light fantasy, and sci-fi (accidental time travel) stories. I’ve recently passed my 15-year pubversary (publiversary?), though there was a several year gap in the middle of that stretch.

Do you have a favorite quote (either from your own books or one’s you’ve read)?

My favorite quote overall is “The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.” By Ralph W. Sockman. It’s so true, and makes the point so eloquently. It’s not from a book though. As for a favorite quote from one of my own books, I’ll go with “Call me when you land, okay, Henry?” from ’Til Death Do Us Part because I just want to bwahahaha at the foreshadowing of it. Hard to pin down a fave quote from books I’ve read. So many great ones jump out at me as I’m reading, but I don’t necessarily remember them later. So, I randomly selected one of my old AmReading blog posts where I usually shared a few fave snippets. Here’s a quote from Lyn Gala’s Two Steps Back: “If you’re trying that hard to be good, I’m wondering what you want,” Ben said. “I thought you were out. In fact, I believe you cackled madly like a stereotypical villain as you told me that I could fuck myself.”

Tell us about your writing style.

My writing style tends to be “tight.” Back when I was working with the developmental editor at (the now defunct publisher) Loose ID, one thing she drummed into me is that every scene, paragraph, and sentence should forward the story in some way. It made me allergic to filler scenes both in writing and reading. If you’re ever reading one of my scenes early in the story and think it seems like an odd thing to detail out or wonder why I’m emphasizing a certain point, and it feels like it might be filler…odds are it’s foreshadowing.

What does your writing process look like?

I’ve evolved from full-on “pantser” to more of a “plantser.” I still don’t detail out an outline, but I’ve got the broad strokes of the story figured out in my head before I start writing. Of course, it ends up varying from that plan as I go along, but at any point in the writing I’ll have a vague plan of what’s left in the story. It’s just unlikely that it’s the same plan I started with. Otherwise, I write when the muse is speaking, and don’t try to force a certain word count each day.

Why did you choose to write LGBT romance/fiction?

I read across many genres, but once upon a time I was heavy into M/F romance books. Then I read an M/M/F and thought that was quite cool, and from there I tried some M/M without the F, and absolutely loved the relationship dynamics. Maybe it was just the books I happened to read, but the M/F relationship dynamics didn’t vary all that much from a couple of patterns, at least at that time. So the M/M was fresher, and when I decided to try my hand at writing, that’s what I went for.

Describe a scene in your writing that has made you laugh or cry?

A scene I’m particularly proud of is one from my accidental time travel novel, When Are You? in which the MCs, Leo and Vinnie, get cut off from their toddler during a mad dash back through a time rift. Challenge number one was to have the logistics make sense as to why they were out in front dragging the stroller behind them at that point, but the biggest challenge was to convey how utterly gutted they were without using the words “Leo/Vinnie was gutted.” Conveying their torment without “telling” readers they were tormented. I went over that scene so many times, and definitely had tears in my eyes by the end of it. As for a scene that made me laugh…I’ll go with the “toad scene” in Weekend at Bigfoot’s. I hate to give away any more details than that. 😊

Give the readers a brief summary of your latest book or WIP. What genre does it fall in? It’s about Obren and Dukan, a pair of princes who must marry as part of the peace treaty ending a war that involved three neighboring realms. Turns out they each have a dark secret that affects the other that they’ll have to get past as they strive to make the best of their fate. They also have to contend with Obren’s father who has never forgiven Obren, who as a child, brought home a deadly virus that killed his beloved wife, It’s a bit difficult to nail down the genre…I call it light fantasy. It’s a made-up world with a historical feel, but has no magic/dragons/etc.

Will we be seeing these characters again? Is this book part of a series?

Ha! I say no, but I didn’t plan to turn The Contingency Plan into a trilogy or The Recruit into a duology, either. I have no plans at this time to continue Obren and Dukan’s story. The drama is pretty solidly resolved, so I’d have to come up with a fresh challenge for them, which is doable, but I doubt I’ll do it. Readers can probably expect bonus scenes to be included in my monthly newsletters and eventually get added to my website, though.

What was the last book you read? What did you like about it?

At the time of my filling out this questionnaire, which is toward the end of June, I’ve just finished The Infidelity Clause by Lisa Oliver. I love that the MCs are both likeable, and there’s no “big misunderstanding” that makes me want to slap either of them silly. Their drama comes from outside sources, and they face it all together.

How do you relax?

Walking. Lots of it. I’ve gotten away from using the treadmill lately and have taken to doing laps around the house. It’s good exercise on top of being relaxing. And I can listen to audiobooks or music or just ponder what to do in my next story.

Thanks so much for having me on your wonderful blog today! I’ll leave you with a quick link. I’ve created a handy list on Books2Read with all my books organized by different categories for readers’ convenience: https://books2read.com/rl/AddisonAlbright

About the Author

Rainbow Award winning author Addison Albright lives smack dab in the middle of the USA. Her stories are gay romance in contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction genres. She generally adds a subtle touch of humor, a dash of drama/angst, and a sprinkle of slice-of-life to her stories. Her education includes a BS in Education with a major in mathematics and a minor in chemistry. Addison loves spending time with her family, reading, popcorn, boating, French fries, “open window weather,” cats, math, and anything chocolate. She loves to read pretty much anything and everything, anytime and anywhere.

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