Cover Reveal: AJ Linn’s A Gentleman’s Fate

As many of my readers know, author AJ Linn is a friend of mine. You can find my other article about him here. Everything AJ Linn is doing is a testament to why it’s so incredibly important to support independent authors. Not only does he dream up and write books, but he formats and publishes them as well. He’ll tell you how hard it is, but he does it because he loves it (no matter how much he grumbles) and he does it for his fans. I am honored to be a part of the big reveal (albeit late…) of the cover to his newest book, A Gentleman’s Fate.  Read on for an excerpt from his new book, and learn more about this amazing author.

An Excerpt from A Gentleman’s Fate

We arrive at the dock, and before us is the hard-not-to-miss gondola, filled with red roses and surrounded by dozens of tiny white flickering votives. The priest and the gondolier are standing by, making the big surprise even more obvious with their shit-eating grins. It quickly becomes apparent to Scarlett what’s happening, and she doesn’t say a word. She just stands there, stunned, speechless, and horrified.

“Come aboard, happy couple!” the gondolier says, attempting an American accent, not overshadowing his own thick Italian. “We have-a da champagne on ice for da celebration of this most joyous of occasions!”

“The celebration? Donovan? What’s going on?” she asks, not taking her eyes off of the priest. “What is this?”

“This, Scarlett, is me trying to marry you. The romantic shit that you hate, remember?”

“Donovan?” A confused, terrified look sweeps across her face.

About AJ Linn:

A.J. Linn published his debut novel, A Gentleman’s Affair, Volume 1 of The Gentleman’s Series, in May, 2013.

Since that time, he has continued protagonist Donovan Hart’s story in A Gentleman’s Secret, published in December, 2013, and revealed Donovan’s earlier life in a prequel, A Gentleman’s Memoir, a novella published in August, 2014.

The series quickly became very popular with fans of his RP/character blog, which he’d been writing for almost a year. He credits those fans with this series, since they were the ones who encouraged him to “write a book” and dedicated the books to them.

With his unique voice and writing style, the popularity of the series began to grow, despite the promotion and marketing challenges facing a self-published indie author.

In an original and creative idea, he gave his readers the opportunity to submit “characters” for A Gentleman’s Secret and A Gentleman’s Memoir, which he crafted into the story. The results were intriguing and sometimes hilarious, as he paid the ultimate compliment to his fans and readers…making their characters part of Donovan’s story.

While having full-time job and a very busy life make finding time to write a challenge at times, his readers are in agreement that he has done a fantastic job: four books in two years is quite an accomplishment.

The paperback editions of the series can be found on Amazon. The ebooks are available on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes.

Support Author AJ Linn and Buy His Books

I’ve written about my friend AJ Linn before. He’s a guy who had a blog, then he started writing a book. Three books later and now he’s working on his fourth novel. Four books. The guy is a machine.

I’m shamelessly plugging the fact that Mr. Linn put his books on sale over at Smashwords (here is a direct link) and if you haven’t checked out his Gentleman’s Series yet, you should give it a shot.

It isn’t often that we get a romance series written by a man from the male perspective.  AJ Linn has done just that, and he brings a fresh voice to the genre with his hero and protagonist, Donovan Hart. Throughout the three novels (A Gentleman’s Affair, A Gentleman’s Secret and A Gentleman’s Memoir) Donovan tells the story of his very personal quest to find true love, including all of the hits and misses he suffers along the way.

Not only is it fun to check out a new series, but it feels great supporting a self-published writer who is doing everything on his own. 

I highly recommend the Gentleman’s Series. But hurry over to Smashwords–this sale won’t last forever!!

Book Review: A Gentleman’s Memoir by AJ Linn

In A Gentleman’s Memoir, AJ Linn’s newest volume of the Gentleman’s Series, we learn more about the intriguing past of alluring bachelor and badass playboy Donovan Hart. In previous books we have seen Hart endure date after exhausting date as he sought out his unico vero amore, his one true love, and at the end of the second book Hart has finally met his match with Scarlett Montgomery. Now we take a tour of Hart’s playboy past, beginning in 2006. Hart endures lust (though never love) and heartache as he moves down the path toward the powerful man readers have come to know and love.

Linn masterfully weaves together tales Hart’s beginnings in the “scene” along with his trysts and rendezvous with the people he meets along the way. All the while, Hart is building his business empire and caring for his heartbroken father.

A Gentleman’s Memoir is a quick read, and not just because it is, in fact, a short book. The story seems to fly through nearly a decade. Linn is a master at creating colorful dialogue between his equally colorful cast of characters while his talent for descriptive language makes the scenery as interesting as the characters.  Linn does an excellent job balancing Hart’s “man’s man” public persona while allowing readers to see just enough of his vulnerable side to make him a lovable and wholly relatable character.

If you’re a fan of AJ Linn’s work then you’ll find that A Gentleman’s Memoir is a tantalizing amuse bouche to keep his rabid fans sated as he works on the fourth (and final?) book in the Gentleman’s Series.

My friend and my Hero, author A.J. Linn

Over a year ago I told my friend that he should be a writer.  We both love writing a lot, but he was doing really exciting things on Word Press and Twitter and he was just ready to make the move.  So being the cheerleader/motivator/instigator that I am, I’d like to think I pushed him into starting on this adventure in publishing.

He just published his second book.  I’m in awe of the man.

His pen name is A.J. Linn and A Gentleman’s Affair was his first book and A Gentleman’s Secret is his newest release.  Now he’s working on a prequel.  The man is indefatigable. (He hates when I throw out the SAT words…)

His books are based on a playboy hotel owner named Donovan Hart.  Donovan is tired of being single and he’s looking to find his one true love.  These are his stories.  If you haven’t read them, they’re perfect reads over Valentine’s Day if you’re on your own.

Linn’s characters have depth.  How do I know this?  You fall in love with them instantly, and you have the urge to smack them when they do things that you, the reader, know they shouldn’t be doing.  That love/desire-to-smack relationship should be the goal of any writer.

I’m proud of my friend because he navigated the world of self-publishing on his own and he got it done.  Some people talk about their goals, and he went out and did it.  That’s why he’s my hero.

Good job, Denver 😉