Book Release-- Tarnished Souls-- By Dev Bentham

Title: Tarnished Souls

Author: Dev Bentham

Release Date: December 16th 2016

Genre: Contemporary MM Romance

BLURB

Tarnished Souls is a series of contemporary romance novels centered around Jewish holidays:

Life can be hard. Hard enough to leave two men tarnished and hopeless.They might be too damaged to see the truth in each other, but just maybe finding their bershert, their true love, will finally make them shine.

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Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

BOOKS IN THE TARNISHED SOULS COMPILATION

Learning from Issac

It’s hard to break out of a rut. For years, Nathan submerged himself into his job at St. Genevieve’s. He enjoys teaching, hates faculty meetings, loves his science and has committed himself to the cycle of college life. Along the way, he's become resigned to being a gay man in a straight culture, a Jew among Catholics, and single in a world of couples. Then the brilliant Isaac Wolf appears in his classroom. Isaac’s a few years older than his fellow students, gorgeous, self-composed and Jewish.

Isaac has his own secrets, which Nathan finds out at the racy new club downtown where the boys who dance out front can be bought in the back room. Nathan thinks he’s about to get a lap dance, but behind the beaded curtain the man on his knees turns out to be Isaac. Nathan's mind isn't the only thing Isaac blows. Afterward, Nathan can't stop thinking about that night. The question is whether Nathan can let himself fall in love with a student, much less someone with Isaac’s checkered past. Is it too late for a student to teach his professor the true nature of love and respect?

Publisher's Note: This book contains graphic imagery of men having sex together. And enjoying it. However, the story is primarily a romance. Don’t be disappointed if you read pages and pages and pages without encountering acts, organs or orgasms.

Fields of Gold

Life is full of compromises. That's what Avi Rosen tells himself. He's a yeshiva boy turned historian, working on his dissertation and stretching his meager stipend by moonlighting as a closeted politician's houseboy. Their relationship used to feel like a real affair. Lately it seems more like a job.

It isn't until he meets someone decent that he realizes how corrupt his life has become. Pete is a tall blond farmer who charms Avi with his dazzling smile and his straightforward life. But even if he can believe this refreshingly honest man doesn't have his own political agenda, will Avi find the strength to emerge from the dark life he's chosen and find a future in the sun?

Sacred Hearts

Life's a gamble--and lately David Schwartz's partner has been losing so much that David must close their restaurant, the hippest little place in Portland. He sells everything and moves back home, but at thirty-five, he's not eager to sleep alone in his childhood bedroom or to be supported by his father for the second time in his adult life.

David's had enough. He needs to start over, maybe with someone like the elusive man he's been seeing in his dreams. An old friend offers him a job catering a movie set in Puerto Vallarta. It's been years since David's alcoholism spun out of control along the highways of Mexico. Determined to experience Mexico sober, he stuffs his few remaining possessions in a backpack and takes the next flight down.

As Mexico prepares for Christmas, David lights Hanukkah candles, celebrating the return of the sun and wishing for true love. On the first night of Hanukkah, David meets a tall, dark stranger who rocks his world in a secluded moonlit cove. Is this the mystery man of his dreams--the answer to David's prayers? And what must David sacrifice to make his dreams come true?

Bread, Salt and Wine

Some wounds never heal. George Zajac grew up in a religious family with a father who beat “the swish” out of him. At thirty-eight he's a troubled man. Escaping his miserable life as a banker in New York, he moves across the country to start again in Los Angeles as the catering chef for a prestigious French Restaurant. Kenny Marks, a writer who’s currently waiting tables, is everything George cannot be—flamboyant, proud and sexually confident. Enthralled by Kenny, and against his own better judgment, George agrees to a date. Sparks fly. The sex is amazing. But even after the two get close, George is crippled by humiliating sexual hang-ups. Still haunted by his childhood, he lingers in the closet and can’t commit to a relationship with Kenny.

Love is the great healer, but is it enough? George’s emotional scars could drive Kenny away, and with him, George’s last chance at happiness.

The books in the Tarnished Souls series can be found on Goodreads

Tarnished Souls exclusive excerpt

(from Sacred Hearts)

“What do you mean, you emptied the business account?” I stared at Rick across our kitchen table. It was after midnight. I smelled the day’s cooking fumes on my clothes, in my hair. Rick looked handsome, contrite, and ready to be forgiven. Again. 

He stared at the coffee cup he was passing back and forth between his hands. “I was so close. If I’d had a few more chips, I could have turned it around.” 

“You promised you would never gamble again. ‘Not even a lottery ticket.’ That’s what you said when you begged me to trust you.” 

“I know.” He leaned forward, his eyes ablaze. “But, this is it, Davey. I can feel it, like fire in my veins. My luck is right here.” 

“Clearly.” I glared at him until he looked away. “How are we going to make payroll or pay the vendors? That money wasn’t yours to throw away.” 

His gaze flicked to mine. His voice rose and fell like that of a thwarted two-year-old. “But if I win, we can get that new stove you want. Maybe take a vacation. I’m doing this for us.” 

The chair clattered to the floor as I stood. “That’s bullshit. You didn’t gut our business for us. And since when did you care about us having a vacation? Remember the Caribbean cruise we had to cancel because you gambled away our vacation fund? Christ, Rick, it’s taken us three years to build up a safety cushion for the restaurant, and now we’re back at square one. We’ll need to stretch our credit to the limit to pay this month’s bills.” 

He shifted in his chair. 

“Tell me.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, about that. I meant to tell you, but I thought I’d get it back right away.” 

I opened my mouth, closed it. My voice came out in a whisper. “The business equity loan?”

 He nodded, his eyes fixed on the table. 

“Our credit cards?” 

He looked up at me from under those thick eyelashes I used to love.

 

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About the Author



I write contemporary gay romance. My characters are flawed and damaged adult men who may not even know they’re looking for true love, but when they meet their bershert, their true love, their lives are transformed. My stories are set in the real world where gay men have gay friends, families who do or don’t accept them, personal histories they’re not necessarily proud of and a myriad of experiences that have made them who they are.

I live in Northern Wisconsin with my Boston Terrier and Chicago spouse. I’ve published short stories, poetry, newspaper articles and academic papers and have worked in nearly every profession from restaurants to retail to open-water diving and now write m/m romance out of my fascination with love, courage and gender.

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