I’ve joined the Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook. From their description: “Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).” Pretty cool, eh? Don’t forget to “Like” my Facebook page and/or my Facebook profile while you’re over there checking out this fantastic group!
This week I’m snipping from The Best-Laid Plans. For context, princes Marcelo and Efren have begun their long journey to Efren’s kingdom of Zioneven, their caravan has camped for the night, and something has disturbed Efren’s sleep.
The story alternates POVs, but this thread is from Efren’s 3rd-person POV (refreshers under the spoiler tags):
This week’s snippet:
Surely it would be better for such an innocent to be killed in his sleep, or with scarcely a brief moment of shock beforehand than to spend minutes quaking in terror, unable to defend himself.
Efren shook off his doubts and quickly pushed out the weighty flap, sword raised ready, and opened his mouth to yell an alert to awaken any of his warriors who hadn’t already sensed the looming danger, same as he had. But the breath he drew to strengthen his voice instead choked him.
He’d never before smelled these fumes, but the pungent, wet-dog odor had been described to him. The material of their tents was heavily treated to keep the toxin producing that odor from permeating the walls and closed flaps.
Blurb & Links

A death that wasn’t what it seemed…
A kidnapping that isn’t what it seems…
Time is running out.
The morning after his wedding night, Prince Marcelo thought he’d be embarking on a journey to his own personal fairytale happily ever after with his husband, Efren, the crown prince of Zioneven. But when news arrives indicating his sister’s death wasn’t as accidental as previously thought, that journey becomes fraught with danger.
Enmeshed in political intrigue, death, and a kidnapping that might not be what it seems, will Efren untangle the web of misleading clues in time to save the naïve young man he’s already come to admire, or will Marcelo dig deep to discover a previously untapped inner strength and determination to facilitate his own survival?
Out now at JMS Books!
Publisher | Books2Read | Kindle | BAM! | Hoopla
Have you missed out on book 1, The Contingency Plan? You can get it as a single novelette, or as part of JMS Books’ 2018 Top Ten Gay Romance anthology:
Blurb/Excerpt/Etc. | Bonus (Alt. POV) Scenes
Novelette: Publisher | Kindle (in KU) | Books2Read | Bookstrand | Blio | BAM! | Hoopla | Overdrive
Anthology: Publisher | Kindle | Books2Read | BookStrand | BAM! | Hoopla | Overdrive

#RainbowSnippets
Spine-tingling description, loaded with tension! (heart)
Thank you! ❤️
I do like the idea of the drug. Much quieter than killing them all….
Yes, and better suited for their purpose. 😁
Uh oh. That sounds like it’s not going to go the way he planned. Great snippet!
Thank you! ❤️
Wet dog smell… ugh. This was a great snippet.
Thank you. 💖
Love the description and the tension it creates!
Thanks so much! 💖