Hiya đ„°
 The warmest of welcomes to my guest, the very lovely Maggie Blackbird, with her latest novel in the When We Were Young series: Toy Soldiers. đ
BOOK BLAST
Book Title: Toy Soldiers (Book 2, When We Were Young series)
Author: Maggie Blackbird
Publisher: Devine Destinies
Cover Artist: Martine Jardin
Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance, young adult, multicultural, LGBT
Trope/s: Friends to lovers
Themes: Coming of age, coming out
Heat Rating: 1 flame
Length: 70 349 words/ 244 pages
It is NOT a standalone book. Book 1 needs to be read first.
Buy Links
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU
Publisher | Kobo | B&N | iBooks
Once a thief, always a thief, and if he canât win the heart of the boy he loves, heâll steal it.
Blurb
Billy Redskyâs made one of his biggest dreams come true, but thereâs a problem. Even though the boy he loves is mere footsteps across the hall from his bedroom, they might as well live a country apart because claiming RenĂ© Oshaweeâs heart is more difficult than Billy anticipates.
Much to Billyâs disgust, RenĂ© canât accept his true self, so heâs incapable of loving someone else. And all he cares about is living a life the chief and his wife foresee for their youngest son.
If Billy is to finally have what he truly desires, he must stop René from running away from who he really is and face the man in the mirror, or what they share will never blossom into true love
Excerpt
Stuart lived past the recreation center. Billy huffed down the road. Sure, heâd be interrupting dinnertime, but big deal. He couldnât stay in Castle Oshawee any longer.
The boiling heat of anger beneath his clothing stopped him from freezing under the clear, cold sky. Darkness was fast approaching. The sun on the horizon was bursting with colors of mauve, scarlet, and pumpkin.
The big door at the recreation center opened. Billyâs old buddies, Lonn and Dylan, strolled outside to probably have a cigarette. When they strutted away from the doors and beelined for the road, Billy stiffened. They knew he could beat their assesâespecially since he outweighed them by a good fifteen pounds now.
ââSup?â Lonn called out, slyly grinning.
âNot much.â Billy stopped. He wasnât going to keep walking like a coward afraid of the neighborhood bullies. âHeard you both got kicked out.â Because neither rode the school bus anymore.
âNo biggie.â Lon shrugged. âYâknow we were bailing when we turned the big one-six.â
A direction Billy had been heading before dumb olâ RenĂ© had turned him into one of The Generalâs toy soldiers in Oshawee Army.
Splashes of rebellion bubbled under Billyâs skin. He mightâve blown off telling Mr. and Mrs. O where he was going tonight, but heâd been heading for Stuartâs, and later going home right on the button of his curfew time, like a good little grunt.
He folded his arms. âWhatâre you doing?â
âWhat else? Heading for the old house.â Lonn dropped another sly smile.
Dylan nodded, also grinning.
When Billy had used to party there, theyâd burned stuff in the woodstove to keep warm during the winter.
âYou coming, or are you still hanging with the geek twins?â Lonn elbowed a chuckling Dylan.
âSure, why not?â Nobody at Castle Oshawee had given a flying fuck Billy had left the house. As for RenĂ©, screw him. All he cared about was following the rules and obeying the orders coming from everyone seated in the living room.
About the Author
An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. When sheâs not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sisterâs house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.
Author Links
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