Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

Leta

Another 5 star rave for Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake! #gayromance #ebooks

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“Oh my gosh. I loved, loved, loved this book. I stayed up until 3:30 am finishing it because I could just NOT put it down. There are so many different scenes I could reference- scenes that took my breath away. I have been reading M/M romances for several years now and I didn’t think I could be surprised anymore. This book surprised me in the best way possible. The emotional connection between Christopher and Jesse was so intense, beautiful, and honest. Stop whatever you are doing and it read it now. But clear your schedule because you won’t be able to stop reading until the last page!!!”

via Amazon.com: Lori Hinsdale’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And now at KOBO.

“Perfect to curl up with for the holiday season!” Review of Smoky Mountain Dreams by @LetaBlake #gay #amreading #1click

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“As always with Leta’s work, this book doesn’t shy away from delving into messy emotions. The characters make mistakes, and I love them all the more for it. They’re flawed humans, and not cardboard cutouts. And as always with a Leta Blake novel, there’s a healthy serving of heat! Christopher and Jesse are smokin’ hot together.

This story is perfect to curl up with as we head into the holiday season! I’m already bugging Leta for a sequel. :D”

via Goodreads | Keira Andrews Toronto, ON, Canada’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

“Fall In Love Like I Did!” – 5 Stars for Smoky Mountain Dreams #amreading #gay

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“I absolutely love Leta Blake’s work and this was no exception. I loved how beautifully Jesse and Chris fell in love. It was just heart felt, real, and very intense. Everything I could want in a romance. Please read this book and fall in love like I did.”

via Amazon.com: Amazon Customer’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

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Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And now at KOBO.

Waking Up to #2! (And It’s Not Poo!) #thankyou #gayromance

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I’d stopped checking the charts on Smoky Mountain Dreams when it fell to #15 over the weekend. I figured the book had played out and I was okay with that, pretty pleased actually with how it had been received.

I woke up this morning to a text from a friend alerting me to this:

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I think my reply was, “Holy shit!!!” LOL. But guys, really, this is so unexpected! Thank you to all the readers who have taken a chance on me this year. Between Training Season, The River Leith, and now Smoky Mountain Dreams, I feel like readers have gone on a huge journey of trust with me and I’m honored and thrilled to find that so many believe the books won’t let them down. That’s something I treasure and feel so much gratitude for. <3 THANK YOU!

In important news, Ferguson is happening, protests are happening, and my book is small, small potatoes in the face of it. Still, I needed to say thanks. A book is nothing without readers–you let the characters live in you. <3

Leta Blake’s Writing/Release Plans for 2015 #bythepowerofbono #gayromance #loveislove

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So, when Smoky Mountain Dreams came out last week I had a lot of people saying, “Wait, what? You have a new book? We didn’t know anything about that! Why didn’t you say? I can’t believe I didn’t know!”

I was a little surprised by their reaction since I’ve done little else since June except think about Smoky Mountain Dreams (and the hopefully upcoming Training Season sequel, tentatively titled Training Complex), and surely my mental thought processes are broadcast worldwide every day at 3:15pm, right?

*wanders off into mental playland for the next paragraph; you can probably skip it*

Oh, yes, via the Power of Bono, my thoughts and dreams and aspirations are downloaded onto your iTunes playlists and inserted into the middle of that new Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters song, thus invasively keeping you abreast of my every thought and feeling. So cool, right? No? Well, it’s probably for the best that I don’t have that horrific power. I’d hate for all of my stuff to clutter up the mental space meant for all your stuff. And my beloved Sinead O’Connor would consider it an act of terrorism for me to use the Power of Bono in such an intrusive way. And I would too, actually.

But, uh, I’m babbling. About bullshit. Excuse me. Sometimes I get silly.

Anyway, I suddenly realized based on readers’ surprised reactions to the release of Smoky Mountain Dreams that, hey, maybe I didn’t talk about the upcoming book in a public way very much at all. And, jeez, maybe I should probably try to do that sort of thing a bit better.

The trouble is that I’m a bit superstitious about talking publicly about release dates and upcoming books. I don’t like the idea of getting anyone’s heart set on a book, only to find that my fitful muse has taken off down a new path with a glittery new friend, (temporarily) abandoning the project I’d already told everyone to expect. I don’t want to disappoint anyone.

[BREAK: OMG HOW AMAZING, HOW UTTERLY AMAZING, THAT I HAVE READERS WHO MIGHT BE DISAPPOINTED IN A BOOK’S DELAY!?! PINCH ME! IS THIS REAL LIFE!?! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE!]

But I do want people to have some idea of what I’m working on. Though, I admit springing a new book on folks is a bit fun. LOL. But despite that, I’ll go ahead and tell you what I’ve got cooking.

Attention: my muse insists that I tell you all that this is subject to change at her whim. But if we all tread lightly and speak very quietly, she might not get contrary on us.

1) Training Complex – the sequel to Training Season (which, by the by, is on sale for 99 cents until the end of November). I’m hopeful this book will be ready to release this spring. Probably late spring, but, yes, this spring is what I’m aiming for. I’m a little bit of a mess about this book. I can’t decide if it’s any good–though beta readers tell me it is–and so I feel like I’m wrestling a massive stone as it rolls down a hill completely out of control, bumping and bruising me along the way. At least it hasn’t cracked any bones…yet. Anyway, Matty and Rob are having…well, a lot of intense sex, honestly. *bites nails* I’m a bit uncertain of the reception this book will get because, well, yeah. Loads of intense sex. Let’s put it this way–they aren’t backing down from their Training Season sexual antics into some staid, sweet sex life. They’re into button pushing and…so they’re gonna push buttons. Hopefully these will be good buttons for many of you and if not…well, it’s all Matty’s fault. It was his idea to begin with.

2) Pictures of You series – This is a four book series that is more like one very long-ass book told in four novel-length parts. I try to end each book at a natural breaking point, a pause in the action so to speak, but the full resolution of any particular storyline doesn’t come until Book Four. I am 100% committing to having Book One out in September of 2015. I’ve had it mostly done for well over a year, but I am superstitious, like I said above, and didn’t want to put the first book out until I had a draft of the last book. Well, that’s still my aim, but even if I don’t have a full draft by September? Out Book One goes. Pictures of You series is set in the early 1990s and follows the main character, Peter, over the course of his senior year of high school and his first year of college. It’s a definite coming-of-age story arc with a lot of growing up, a focus on romance, and sex. Yay for sex! 😛 Hopefully it will be embraced by readers, but I recognize it isn’t necessarily everyone’s cupp.

3) Priest/Rockstar with Indra Vaughn – I threw out the idea for this combo on Facebook the other day and Indra jumped on me via email about writing it with her and next thing I knew I’d committed to starting this with her in March (or April). It’s gonna be an angsty one, guys. OMG YAY! 😀 I’ve started reading a on of rock star bios in preparation. Indra’s taking the priest POV and so I’ll leave that research mostly to her. Though I did read a bunch of books about the modern priesthood about six years ago (is that still modern? life moves so fast!) when I was researching a novel that I call Japanese Saint and which hasn’t even been started yet.

At this point, once these books are done, I’ll reevaluate about what to tackle next. I have quite a long list of works in progress and story ideas. I have three books that are more than half complete–Stalking Book One (the prequel to the freebie Stalking Dreams), a very dark erotica piece with a lot of very bad choices made, and an angel book that I’m quite fond of but requires a lot of work to finish off–and I’ve got a heterosexual romance novel idea that won’t let me go. I feel like if I want to work on the het book at all, then I need to have a year’s worth of m/m books “in the bag” to allow myself the time to complete a full novel in a different genre. (Though, really, why is it a different genre? Romance is romance. Love is love. Pfft.) Some of my other book ideas have been screaming at me for awhile–a heist book, a young adult book, a trans novel. And I have really fun ones planned in the Training Season Universe (Angus/Bill, Elliot/his love interest, etc). Then I also have ideas for continuation of the Smoky Mountain Dreams Universe (SEQUEL!), and, of course, new universes that I haven’t written yet.

All the books and too little time to write them! I always have new ideas for books! Any way, there y’all go. My current plans for writing/releasing books. Here’s to this next year being as productive or more productive than this year. Let’s do this thang.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

“Tension, drama, misunderstanding and hope, all the things I like in my HEAs!” 5 stars – Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake #1Click #amreading

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“I have a list of hopelessly romantic authors…and Leta Blake just made the cut. There is tension, drama, misunderstanding and hope, all the things I like in my HEAs.Highly recommend.”

via Amazon.com: Portia’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

An emotional masterpiece! 5 stars! Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake #gay #amreading

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“Love this long, angst filled, sexy-as-heck tale. I love Blake’s books, especially Training Season and River Leith, so this was an auto-buy for me. It’s a slow build to a great emotional arc as friendship turns to flirtation turns to sexy times turns to a deep and meaningful connection. Get your tissues ready! One of the most emotional books I’ve read this year. LOVED.”

Amazon.com: Annabeth Albert’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

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Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And now at KOBO.

The River Leith Nominated in Goodreads M/M Romance Awards! #gay #1Click

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Totally ecstatic that The River Leith took got a few nominations in the M/M Romance Awards for 2014 on the Goodreads site! Absolutely honored that readers enjoyed the book enough to nominate it for Best Contemporary and Best Story That Should Have Sequel.

I’m not sure about a sequel, but Zach’s been gunning for a prequel, so we’ll see about that! I have no idea how to vote for The River Leith or any other book, but feel free to go to Goodreads HERE and figure out how to vote for you favorites! LOL! 😀

THANK YOU, READERS! I appreciate you all so much!

Click through to buy at Amazon! Also available at B&N, iTunes, Scribd, Kobo, and Smashwords.
Click through to buy at Amazon! Also available at B&N, iTunes, Scribd, Kobo, and Smashwords.

“I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND Smoky Mountain Dreams to read by your Christmas tree.” 5 stars for Smoky Mountain Dreams! #1click

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“Yay! Always fun to have new Leta Blake to read! And her newest M/M romance Smoky Mountain Dreams has more angst than you can shake a stick at, just as we have come to expect from Ms. Blake.

Spoilers abound in this one, so I will be purposely vague. Failed making-it-to-the-big-time country crooner Christopher Ryder meets and starts a relationship with failed-being-a-gay-man Jesse Birch, who owns and operates his own jewelry design studio. There are so many things in the path to their happily-ever-after that it is almost comical. I mean, poor guys! You really will root for these boys from the word, “Go.”

Give yourself some time, because this is a longer book coming in at just over 400 pages. Don’t start it and then have a test coming up or a paper due! You’ll hate yourself because this is hard to put down.

This is a great book folks! It ends in the holiday season and is chalk full of warm ‘n fuzzy holiday cheer. I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND Smoky Mountain Dreams to read by your Christmas tree.

OMG, I forgot to mention the sex! *head/desk* Where is my brain? These two were outstanding in the sex department. And after reading this, you’ll never look at your or your mother’s or grandmother’s or anyone’s string of pearls the same again. *clears throat*”

via Amazon.com: Jen’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

Click on through to purchase on Amazon. Also available at B&N, Scribd, Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords.

Sometimes holding on means letting go

After giving up on his career as a country singer in Nashville, Christopher Ryder is happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee. But while his beloved Gran loves him the way he is, Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. Even when he’s center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.

Bisexual Jesse Birch has no room in his life for dating. Raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother, he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

Training Season: Best Book of Year Nom in Goodreads M/M Romance #gay #1Click

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Training Season is bringing home so many nominations! I am just overwhelmed and shocked by the number of categories this book has been nominated for! Thank you so much to every reader out there! Y’all are the absolute best! No matter the outcome, I know how unbelievably lucky I am just to have readers who love the book enough to nominate it! Sending out my love to all of you!

I have no idea how to vote for Training Season or any other book, but feel free to go to Goodreads HERE and figure out how to vote for you favorites! LOL! 😀

And guess what, guys? This book is currently on sale for 99 cents through the end of November. So, if you haven’t checked it out? Now is a great opportunity! Thanks so much for everything!

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ON SALE NOW FOR ONLY 99 CENTS AT AMAZON! Click through to take advantage of this limited offer!

 

Smoky Mountain Dreams is a Bestseller! Wow! #mmromance #ebook

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Yesterday afternoon, I got this crazy message! 😀

Congratulations!

Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake has just hit the Allromance.com Bestseller List!

You can check out all of the Allromance.com Bestsellers here: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/bestsellers.html.

I am absolutely thrilled. Thank you, Readers, for loving this book! I’m so proud to be able to add the ARe Bestseller icon to this book’s page! (Uh, when I finally make it!)

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Smoky Mountain Dreams at EIGHT on Amazon’s Gay Romance Charts! Wow! #amreading #gay

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So wowed to wake up and see this! Unreal! Thank you, Readers, for loving the book!

Reader reviews are coming in:

“Oh my gosh. I loved, loved, loved this book. I stayed up until 3:30 am finishing it because I could just NOT put it down. There are so many different scenes I could reference- scenes that took my breath away.”

“I have been reading M/M romances for several years now and I didn’t think I could be surprised anymore. This book surprised me in the best way possible.”

“So, so so well done. Leta Blake is one of my fave romance authors. THE RIVER LEITH is still one of my top 2014 reads and this is right up there with that.”

“This is a great book folks! It ends in the holiday season and is chalk full of warm ‘n fuzzy holiday cheer. I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND Smoky Mountain Dreams to read by your Christmas tree.”

Read more reviews and buy the book at AMAZON today!

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BUY AT AMAZON!

10 Free Paperback Copies of This Charming Man by Ajax Bell #gay #seattle #1990s

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“Ten paperback copies of this warm, funny story that captures perfectly a club hopping young man in 1990s Seattle trying to turn his life around after he falls for a cosmopolitan older man who lives in a different world.This Charming Man is an adult contemporary gay lit story, with a strong love story and elements of a coming-of-age story.”

via Goodreads | This Charming Man A Queen City Boys Book by Ajax Bell — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Run, don’t walk to win a copy of Ajax Bell’s wonderful new book!

WILL SEATTLE MAKE A MAN OF HIM YET?


It’s 1991 and Steven Frazier has danced away half a decade in the Seattle club scene with his beautiful-but-poisonous best friend, Adrian.

Two glittering princes against the world, too high above life to care about what they might be missing. But everything changes when a chance meeting with older—not to mention handsome—businessman John Pieters, reveals a cosmopolitan world and possible futures Steven’s never considered.

Flashy club clothes won’t impress John, this charming man who knows so much about many things. Motivated by fantasies inspired by his crush on John, can Steven finally fight Adrian’s sick hold?

As he steps out into the larger world, supported by new friends, Steven must prove to John—and to himself—that he’s not a hedonistic rhinestone club kid, but a true diamond in the rough.

Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake AVAILABLE NOW #gay #mmromance

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My next book, Smoky Mountain Dreams, has been a wonderful journey for me and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to write the stories of Jesse and Christopher. I’d like to thank my friend Alice Springs for loving the book first and for encouraging me to finish it. I hope readers love it even half as much as Alice did from the start!

Sometimes holding on means letting go After giving up on his career as a country singer in Nashville, Christopher Ryder is happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee. But while his beloved Gran loves him the way he is, Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. Even when he’s center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.

Bisexual Jesse Birch has no room in his life for dating. Raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother, he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

 

Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And will soon be available at KOBO.

Cover Reveal: Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake #gay #mmromance #amreading

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I am so thrilled to present the cover for my next book Smoky Mountain Dreams. This gorgeous cover is the creation of Dar Albert at Wicked Smart Designs and I think she has once again outdone herself!

Smoky Mountain Dreams will be released to the wild on November 18, 2014. It’s a story that I started about four years ago and then set aside in favor of working on some other books. My dear friend Alice Springs, who had read the initial 20% of the first draft, asked out of the blue last spring when I was going to finish this book because, “I’ve never read a gay romance like that one and I loved it so much.” Cue me pulling up the unfinished manuscript, reading it over, and deciding, “You know what, friend? I think now is your time.” And so it is. Thank you, Alice, for reminding me to love this book. You’re the best.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart. Find out more on Goodreads.

ETA:

Buy links!

SMD at Amazon
SMD at Smashwords

EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL: Fated by Indra Vaughn | Smut Book Club

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After the quintessential gay romance novel The House on Hancock Hill, Indra Vaughn decided to dip her pen into a darker, more mysterious world. Be the first to take a look at the cover of book one in her new Shadow Mountain series.

via EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL: Fated by Indra Vaughn | Smut Book Club.

I absolutely love this series. I’ve had the pleasure of reading the first two books for this author and it just gets better and better. *bounces* Check it out.

The Dream of the 90s Is Alive in THIS CHARMING MAN by AJAX BELL #seattle #GenX #gayfiction @flickerjax

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This Charming Man (A Queen City Boys Book)This Charming Man by Ajax Bell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This charming book is chock full of interesting, lovable, and, at times, hate-able characters. First is Steven, the narrator and main protag, who has come to adulthood but hasn’t really found his footing as an adult. For the past five years he’s been happily lost in that place familiar to most readers–somewhere between dependant adolescence and independent adulthood. Sure, he’s not living at home with his parents, but he’s holding a retail job during the day and clubbing the night away with his fascinating-but-cruel best friend, Adrian, most nights. He’s a typical Gen-Xer in that way, delaying adulthood and responsibilities, and prolonging the time between. Which, huh, speaking of Gen-Xers, he is one, since this this story is set in 1991. And that realization has given me a whole new spin/outlook on Steven. Basically, if you’re familiar with that Portlandia song “The Dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland”? Well, that’s the dream of the Gen-Xers, man, and Steven’s living the dream. [reference: http://youtu.be/TZt-pOc3moc]

But somewhere beneath his shiny, glittering night club life, he’s tiring of it all and he’s growing up, wanting to find something meaningful in his life, something beyond coffee shops, bumps of coke, and his retail job at a fashionable clothing shop. He’s wanting a career, a life, a true love, a home. And yet his current situation keeps sucking him back. It’s easy to stay the same and hard to change–especially when his best friend, whom Steven is half in love with, seems very invested in keeping him stunted.

Speaking of Adrian, he is a scene-stealer in the best way. He’s horrible and yet so compelling. If any reader has made it to adulthood without knowing (and being compelled by) someone like Adrian then you’re a lucky dog. I’ve certainly known enough Adrians in my time to feel both drawn to his flame and an intense world-weary disgust with him. It’s easy to see how he’s manipulated Steven into being his emotional prop through the last five years, and how Steven has been his eager toy.

Enter Steven’s motivation to change. One John Pieters, a charming older man (think Baby Boomer to Steven’s Gen-X) who has life experience and drive. He’s suffered through the 1980s horror of AIDS and clings with tight loyalty to his friends, demonstrating the kind of connection with his self-made family that Steven yearns for and doesn’t get with Adrian. He’s an adult in a way that Steven finds inspiring, arousing, and intimidating. Steven knows that a charming, handsome, older man must look at him and just see a wasteful club kid with nothing going for him.

While Steven does keep John in his mind as a motivator for the life changes he makes in the wake of meeting the man, it’s clear that Steven’s metamorphosis, his true coming-of-age, comes from within. John is the carrot that drives him, like a fantasy or a dream, but something so unattainable at first that it’s only as Steven begins the process of changing the he realizes that maybe it’s not so unattainable after all. At first his metamorphosis is about wanting to be the kind of man John would notice, but it isn’t long before the satisfaction of change motivates him on its own.

I don’t want to spoil too much, and a lot of the wonderfulness of this story is in the details and the way that Steven’s character (and every character of the book) is so relatable and yet so identifiable as being tied to the time (1990s) and place (Seattle). You’ll love Steven and want better for him, like a mother hen ghost, silently following him as a reader and rooting for him to make better choices and then cheering when he finally does.

Speaking of Seattle, the city during the 1990s is beautifully captured here and comes alive in the reader’s mind. While I was not in Seattle in the 1990s, myself, I’ve been given to understand from other readers that the scenes and places discussed are real and recognizable to people who were there.

This Charming Man is a charming, lovely read. There are no difficult hoops to jump through to get into the book. The writing itself is sharp and straightforward. I’ve read it twice and loved it both times, and both times found a deeper connection to the story and the characters.

I think Gen-Xers will especially identify with this story but it’s a great read for all lovers of gay fiction.

View all my reviews

Seattle? Club Kid? Older Man? Fall In Love with This Charming Man by Ajax Bell #gay #amreading @flickerjax

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WILL SEATTLE MAKE A MAN OF HIM YET?

It’s 1991 and Steven Frazier has danced away half a decade in the Seattle club scene with his beautiful-but-poisonous best friend, Adrian. Two glittering princes against the world, too high above life to care about what they might be missing.But everything changes when a chance meeting with older—not to mention handsome—businessman John Pieters, reveals a cosmopolitan world and possible futures Steven’s never considered.Flashy club clothes won’t impress John, this charming man who knows so much about many things. Motivated by fantasies inspired by his crush on John, can Steven finally fight Adrian’s sick hold?As he steps out into the larger world, supported by new friends, Steven must prove to John—and to himself—that he’s not a hedonistic rhinestone club kid, but a true diamond in the rough.

via This Charming Man Queen City Boys Book 1 – Kindle edition by Ajax Bell. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com..