A HOALE LOT OF TROUBLE by Declan Sands
A Hoale Construction Mystery - Book 1
Adam Hoale owns a construction company called, predictably, Hoale Construction. When he finds an eye opening surprise in the walls of a house he's flipping, and a libido flaring surprise standing on the lawn, he's willing to do the right thing with the surprise in the wall while entertaining dirty thoughts about the surprise on the lawn.
But as the world finds out what he discovered, and his new boy toy seems to be keeping too many secrets to make a relationship a reality, Adam soon realizes he may just get flipped himself if he's not careful.
BUY THE eBOOK *** BUY IN KINDLE *** READ THE EXCERPT
Declan Sands is NOT a man. But she plays one on the Internet.
Declan writes erotic fantasy and romantic suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Declan has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume. She has several books currently in the works and on the calendar for release in 2012. I hope you'll check them out!
WEBSITE *** FACEBOOK *** TWITTER *** GOODREADS
WIN - Leave Declan a question today at her Cyber Launch Party and your name goes in the hat for a a copy of her new book ! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are today's winner - Good Luck!
Good morning Declan and super congrats on the new release and the new series!!
ReplyDeleteTell us a bit about your new book and what your plans are for the series. And if you really love us, how about a teaser or two from the book??? Purdy pleeeeease???
You've got a lot of stuff going on, tell us what's up next for you?
I see that A HOALE LOT OF TROUBLE is already a bestseller over at ARe - WOOO HOOO - good for you! Hope it's your biggest seller yet!
Have fun at your party and enjoy the ride!
Congratulations to Donna! She wins a copy of A Hoale Lot of Trouble! I'll be sending that out to you shortly, Donna. Enjoy!
DeleteHey DeNita!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for letting me come over and hawk my wares. Snorfle! I'm soooo excited about this series. I already have the next book fleshed out and will start writing it as soon as I'm done with my current WIP.
Here is the Series Log Line: Sexy gay construction company owner, Adam Hoale, sometimes gets more than he bargained for when he flips a house!
Adam Hoale owns a construction company and he mostly flips houses. Adam's a thirty-something gay man who is comfortable with his gayness and surrounds himself with like-minded people in his job and life. He has a big, hairy dog named Walter who cannot be distracted from his 4 points of contact in the car, has poop stress issues, and likes to chase squirrels and hide skeletal remains in the yard. This is a fun, sexy series and I think people are really going to like it. Yes, it's already an ARe bestseller and has gotten its first 5 star reader review so I'm very excited!
I'll definitely share some fun snippets today!
As promised, here's the first little taste. The following scene occurs after Adam's workers uncover part of a skeleton in the wall of the house he's flipping. The police detective in charge of the investigation is not exactly one of Adam's favorite people.
ReplyDelete~~*~~
Adam headed for the Buford house the next morning, with no idea what, if anything, he’d be able to do there. He was ever hopeful the cops would decide they couldn’t hold his flip hostage while they meandered through a hapless investigation of the body parts in the wall.
At the very least he intended to harass Detective Clandestine until the curl fell out of his eyelashes.
An unfamiliar car was parked at the curb of the home on Jackson, behind CC’s frumpy Crown Vic. Adam looked the white BMW two door over appreciatively, stopping to check it out before going into the house. The interior was immaculate, with butter yellow seats and pale wood trim on the dash and between the seats.
The BMW was probably worth more than he paid for the house. There was only one person within his immediate sphere who could afford it.
“Adam!”
And there he was.
Adam looked up and tried not to grimace as Dirk bounced down the steps toward him. His body tightened at the sight, even while his brain told him that running into Dirk again so soon was a bad thing.
Dirk offered him his trademark, crooked smile as he approached and held out his hand, squeezing Adam’s affectionately when he reciprocated. “I’m glad you’re here. I was hoping you could give me a tour of the house.”
Adam lifted an eyebrow. He knew the Hollywood crowd could be a little dense at times, but the cops swarming all over the place were hard to miss, even for an actor. “I’m not sure that will be possible today, Dirk. You might have noticed the tall, rumpled looking guy with pretty gray eyes in there? He’s a police detective who’s trying to figure out how body parts got into the living room wall. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna tell us we can’t have a showing right now.”
“You mean, CC?”
Of course he’d met and probably already won over the stiff detective. “That would be him.”
“He said it would be fine. He just asked that we not go near the demolished wall or the basement.” Dirk dropped his arm around Adam’s shoulders and walked him toward the house. “I didn’t think he was stiff.”
Adam snorted. “Not to you, maybe, but around me he’s like a merry-go-round pony without a merry-go-round…all stick and no smiles.”
Dirk laughed. “You bring out the worst in people, Ads. Why is that?”
“I’ve been told I can be slightly acerbic at times.”
“You mean you’re a smart ass?”
“That’s a really mean way to put it, yes.”
Dirk stepped back and allowed Adam to enter the door ahead of him. “So what’s old CC doing this morning? Is he perched on the remains of the wall pecking at it with his beak and cawing whenever anybody moves too close?” Adam asked.
“It’s really cool actually. There’s a real life episode of CSU going on in there.”
“You mean CSI?”
“Yeah, whatever. They’re taking samples around where the dead bits were.”
Two people in pristine white overalls walked past carrying a large chunk of foam insulation between them.
“Oh, and they’re taking a lot of the wall to their lab for testing. They hope they can find DNA.”
Adam nodded. “Good. It will save me Dumpster space.”
They turned the corner and found CC, not quite pecking at the remains, but definitely waiting to swoop down on anybody who got too close. He lifted his head and looked down his beak at his watch, blinking his pretty eyes with feigned alarm. “Hoale, do you always start this late?”
Adam lifted his oversized cup of latte. “Coffee stop. Oh dang. I forgot to bring you one.”
CC pursed his lips. “I don’t drink coffee.”
“Really?” Dirk frowned, reminding Adam that his ex-lover didn’t trust people who didn’t drink coffee.
Adam peaked an, “I told you so” eyebrow.
Congrats on the new release. The book sounds amazing. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteDo you do anything special to celebrate a new release?
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
Hey Joanne!
DeleteI really don't do anything special. I'm usually so busy getting the word out about the book I don't have time to celebrate. LOL! But that's okay because I love talking about my new releases. Thanks so much for coming by my release party to see me!
Congratulations on the new release. I love the cover. Did you choose it or did someone else?
ReplyDeletesstrode at scrtc dot com
Sherry! How you doin'? Thanks so much. I'm really glad you like the cover. I was going for something masculine as well as representative of the series, and of course we needed the sexy construction guy too! LOL
DeleteI'm pleased to say I had plenty of input into the cover and I'm happy with how it turned out.
Thanks for coming by to see me!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the book! What kind of calendar do you have coming out?
ReplyDeletebn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
I'm aiming to release Book 2 of the Hoale Construction Mysteries in August. In addition to this series, I'll release Book 2 of my Bloodhound shifter series in June, and Book 3 in October. That's all I know for sure right now.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
And just for fun, here's another snippet from the book:
ReplyDeleteThere were two hundred Sanchezes in Fort Wayne. Adam signed up Maddy and Mink to help him make the calls and, after a few hours they had the list narrowed down to five numbers. He helped Walter into the truck and headed for Fort Wayne.
He didn’t get far. His phone rang as he was taking the ramp to Highway 465. It was Maddy.
“What is it, Mads?”
“I want to come with you.”
He sighed. “Why?”
“You need protection.”
He laughed. “Mads, I’m going to see an elderly Hispanic woman. What do you think she’s gonna do to me?”
“She might have a nephew who’s in a gang. I don’t know. You and Walter just seem to attract trouble lately. I can’t just sit here and let you get locked in somebody’s basement or slammed upside the head with a shovel.”
“Good god, woman. Stop reading thriller fiction.”
“I’m serious, Adam.
He was coming up on the exit to the Buford house. He had ten seconds to make the decision. Knowing his partner, Maddy would not give it up until he gave in. He took the exit even as he continued to argue. “You’re going to protect me? How exactly? You gonna jab your French manicure into the woman’s eye?”
“For your information that’s a very effective self-defense move. And no, because this week my nails are Ravenous Red.”
“Of course they are. I’ll be there in five minutes. Be ready.”
Five minutes later he swung up to the curb and Maddy opened the passenger side door. She looked up at Adam’s best friend. “Get in the back Walter.”
Walter whimpered and looked down at her, licking his lips.
“Come on, Walter. Get in the back.”
His tail fluttered at the end. He wanted to do what she asked, but he’d already assumed the position and there were rules about that.
“He’s not gonna move, Mads. He’s in the position.”
“You’re kidding me now, right?”
“I wish I were.”
Swearing like a sailor, Maddy slammed the door shut and opened the back door, sliding into the middle of the bench seat so she could lean forward and talk to Adam. “You know, someday you’re going to have a significant other and Walter’s gonna have to learn to assume the position in the back seat.”
Adam just shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” she shrieked.
He grinned. He could have repositioned Walter if he’d been so inclined. The big dog didn’t really care if he assumed the position in the front or the back seat. But Adam was annoyed with her for foisting herself on him.
It would be good for the Princess to sit in the back seat for once.
I just read another one of your books and loved it. This one looks wonderful. Do you write your own blurbs because this one sure is intriguing.
ReplyDeletedebby236 at gmail dot com
Hi Debby! Yes, I do write my own blurbs, thank you! That's probably the greatest compliment you can give an author because writing those things is sooooo hard. You need to pull the reader in while telling the gist of the entire story in just a few words. And if you screw it up you lose a lot of potential readers who might have loved the book if you hadn't accidentally misrepresented it. LOL Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteOh what fun. I love a good mystery. How did you come up with Adam's last name and how do you pronounce it?
ReplyDelete1_trouble AT msn DOT com
You pronounce it h-o-l-e. We actually know somebody whose name was Alex Hoale and of course we always had a good laugh over it behind his back. (A-hole...snorf) He married a friend of my daughter's and the name was so bad he took HER last name after the marriage. LOL
DeleteI gave my hero a strange name because I love strange names and it gives him character. It's just one more thing he needs to deal with in his life, and he does it with good humor and patience. Fortunately for the reader, it also provides some good comedy in the story. LOL
Thanks for stopping by!