RELEASE TOUR incl Exclusive Excerpt:
Burning Demons by Mina Elwood
Length: 101,000 words Series: Burning Torments, book 1 Genre: MM, Contemporary, Small-town, New Adult romance Tropes: Stepbrothers, fish-out-of-water, friends-to-lovers, opposites attract, history of abuse, recovery from abuse, bullying, slow-burn, new adult, MM romance. Trigger/Content Warnings: Taboo: Stepbrothers. Triggers: Off page childhood abandonment and sexual abuse of a minor, remembered loss of a parent, manipulation abuse, bullying, passive-aggressive bullying, depression and mental instability, homophobic language and aggression, underage drinking. Designer/Publisher: Magic Lane Publishing
Tate is running from his past and Wren is running from himself. Together, can these stepbrothers burn their demons and build a new life from the ashes?
Tate I don’t know what I thought I’d find in the slow, sultry heat of Hickory Bend, Alabama, but it’s got to be better than the hell disguised in money and privilege I’ve been living in, wrapped in a twisted bow my mother and her husband call love. But at eighteen, they can’t stop me from going to the father I barely know and the stepmother and stepbrother I’ve never met. All in the hopes of… what? Making a life for myself? A family? I’m not sure, but I have to try.
Wren I’ve spent my entire life hiding in the shadows, hiding behind the scars I’ve carried since the day my daddy died. I’ve never wanted a brother, never gave a thought to my stepdad’s estranged son either. When Tate shows up, in my face day and night, he turns my life into chaos. But somehow, he turns the lights on, too, and chases me out of the dark. Now, I just need to figure out what he wants—what I want—and if we can stop running long enough to catch each other.
Burning Demons, Book One in the Burning Torments series, is a sexy new adult story set in a small town with two stepbrothers who make the mistake of falling in love, because their lives weren’t complicated enough.
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“Your momma hates you?” I chuckled. “It’s funny hearing you call her ‘momma’ when I’ve always referred to her as Mother. She hates it when I call her that.” I shrugged. “Which is why I do it.” Wren laughed softly. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her sober. She drinks and pops pills. All things considered acceptable in her social circles. She told me once that I was the reason her first marriage ended.” “She said that?” “Yeah, but I think she hated me before then. She never said as much, but I’m pretty sure that was why she reached out to my dad when she did. I think for a while, she might have intended for me to go live with him.” And I would’ve been much better off if I had. “Why didn’t you?” “She met a man, her second husband, and I think he liked that she was supposedly all maternal and shit. That didn’t last long. Probably because he realized she wasn’t at all. Then she met this last one.” No more. I couldn’t say one more word. “Dad and I talked some, and I visited with him a few times.” I lifted my face to see his and grinned. “I saw the back side of you in one of their wedding pictures.” Wren huffed. “Yeah, well …” He didn’t finish the thought, but I already knew. Wren hated being seen. “Sam’s a great man.” “He is. Yeah, I know that. We’re getting there. Closer, I mean.” “Yeah.” He fell to his back and wiped his face with both hands. “Well, shit, I guess we’ve both been fucked up along the way.” A slow smile curled my lips as his words sank deeper. Our stories weren’t the same, but it was something we had in common. Pain. Confusion. Shame. Probably not the building blocks of easy relationships, but who needed easy? Telling Wren about Franklin sat on the tip of my tongue, but I held back. I needed clarity about it in my own mind before I tried to explain it to anyone. And maybe there were parts of me too ashamed to admit how much I’d given in to. How much I’d been betrayed, blindsided, maybe even used or abused. I had been young when it started, and I was sure someone would find fault with that, but I never fought against Franklin. I knew what we were doing, and I never told him to stop for fear he might actually do just that. Stop caring. Stop showing me I mattered. I shut my eyes tightly as the back-and-forth waged louder and louder with screams and accusations. Since that overheard conversation, every interaction for the past four years or more had been on repeat. My mind’s own opinionated voices cut and diced at every gesture, every phrase. What had he really meant all those times he said this? Was that his motivation when he did that? I couldn’t shut them up long enough to think properly. “Do they hurt? The scars,” I blurted. Franklin had never hurt me, never left scars on my skin, but the ones on my soul still bled. I blinked away the tears quickly before he opened his eyes and caught me. “Hurts to look at.” I turned to my back and gazed at the clouds through the branches. The rain had turned into a soft sprinkle. The sun wasn’t back yet, but it already felt warmer. “You’re wrong, Wren.” After a long pause, he said, “I like it when you use my name.” I turned my head once again. His faced me, and I reached for his hand on the table between us. I hooked my pinky over his, and then he hooked a finger over mine until all of them were slotted together. “Wren,” I whispered.
Condensed version in the back of the book: (Or maybe this is a full version. I write fiction. Facts about me are really hard!) Hi there! I’m Mina Elwood. I love reading adult romance, and so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve got so many ideas for more books and series, but finding the time to write is the issue. My husband helps a ton or this might not have ever been published.
Born and raised in the South, I now live on the face of the sun (feels like it anyway). I love cats over dogs, sorry. I do like dogs, but they just stick their noses everywhere. I’m horrible at remembering birthdays, or any special dates. I dabble in poetry, all unpublished because it’s not great, but I like it. I tell myself stories to help me sleep at night, and sometimes those end up in print.
Instagram: @authorminaelwood Website: www.magiclanepublishing.com Newsletter: www.magiclanepublishing.com/newsletter
Thank you so much for the spotlight on your site! – Mina