Leta Blake

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

boxer

Five Free Copies of The River Leith at The Romance Reviews! #mmromance #gay #ebook

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Head on over to The Romance Reviews and participate in the contest for five free copies of The River Leith!

A sample of what some readers are saying about The River Leith:

“The River Leith is a delight: devastating, hopeful, sexy, romantic, and true.” — I’m With Geek Reviews

“I love Leta Blake’s writing. It’s so smooth and flowing. The River Leith is a very real book. Don’t expect any magical solutions or convenient plot turns. This is the story of two people who manage to find their way back to each other despite all odds being stacked against them. I highly recommend this book! ” – Rainbow Gold Reviews

“Elegant story-telling. I couldn’t put this one down. As would be expected with a story about a man with amnesia, there’s a lot of introspection and revisits to the past, yet it never once felt like the story had stagnated. In fact, the pace was so right, measured. Loved every word.” — Lane Swift, Goodreads

CLICK HERE to participate in the contest to win a copy! Five copies to give away!

Last day to enter is June 09, 2014!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Deleted Scene: The River Leith’s Alternate Ending #spoilers #extras

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So, when I wrote The River Leith, it originally had an epilogue after the last vlog post, but my editor said, “Nope. Nope, nope, nope. It ends nicely with the vlog. No need to clutter the book up with what amounts to two endings!” So, with a heavy heart, I deleted the scene.

But! That gives me an opportunity to share it with you now! Let me say in advance IT HAS MASSIVE, MASSIVE, MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE BOOK!!!! If you have not read the book, then you may want to take a pass on reading beyond the cut.

If you have read the book, then you know what happens, so let’s just cut to the chase! Click on through to see the deleted epilogue to The River Leith. There’s more texting, more Thakur, more Zach, and more Leith! *twirls and throws confetti*

[Read more…] about Deleted Scene: The River Leith’s Alternate Ending #spoilers #extras

Fan Favorite The River Leith is on iTunes Now! #gay #mmromance #amnesia

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Click on the pic to go to iTunes!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Opportunities to get The River Leith for free! #mmromance #gay

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I’ve been sick with a fever and tummy issues, so I’m a little behind! Sorry!

First, there are opportunities to win a copy of The River Leith at the following blogs:

1) Stumbling Over Chaos

2) The Novel Approach

3) Smut Book Club Raffelcopter at end of the lovely review post.

Second, I also did a guest blog at The Novel Approach.

And, lastly, The River Leith became an ARe Bestseller!!

BestsellerIcon100X100

Thanks to Chris, Lisa, and Solange for the wonderful help getting The River Leith out there!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Whoot! Free Copy of The River Leith at Stumbling Over Chaos! #free #ebook #mmromance

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Just click on over using THIS LINK to comment for a free copy of The River Leith!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Editing Woes: Leith & Zach’s Deleted Texts #mmromance #extras

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Whenever I pay to have something edited, the rule I set for myself is to always take the editor’s advice on what to cut, even if it makes me sad. In The River Leith there were a few lines that got cut that I liked a lot, and an entire scene that I’ll post at another date, but there was a specific text interaction that I’d really loved and it was especially hard to cut that one.

It was short. It was sweet. And it probably only makes sense in the context of the book. But here it is. The first text is from Leith, the second from Zach.

***

Today, my psychiatrist compared my mind to a map of the universe.
The reply from Zach took only a few moments.
My God! It’s full of stars!!!!

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Yep, that took me about thirty minutes of fretting to finally cut. It was the right choice, though. That’s what we pay editors for, my friends!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Yessss! The River Leith Now Available on Barnes & Noble! #mmromance #gay #amnesia

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Initial reviews for The River Leith are looking pretty good!

“I cannot even begin to express just how much I loved The River Leith. I tore through the book in a few hours because it captured me from the first page and did not let me go.” – Erika, Goodreads

And now it’s available for purchase at Barnes & Noble as well!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

Also available at:

Amazon

Smashwords

All Romance Ebooks

and Barnes & Noble!

Early Release Day! The River Leith Available Now! #mmromance #gay #ebook

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The River Leith is now available!

Amazon

Smashwords

All Romance Ebooks

and Barnes & Noble!

What is the reason for this early release? Well, see, I’d originally planned to release the book on the 18th, my husband’s birthday, as a sort of, “Hey, happy birthday, babe! In your honor I released a book!” But, uh, apparently he’d rather I spent his special day actually, you know, paying attention to him and not messing around with getting files loaded, dealing with glitches, messing with blog posts and announcements, and all that jazz. Can you believe that? I mean, so demanding, right? 😉 Seriously, though, obviously that release-day/birthday thing wasn’t the best plan in the world. Luckily, I resolved that and now…*drumroll*…the book is available several days early! Hooray! Go forth and buy! *bounces* *bites nails* Hope you enjoy!

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

“Leta Blake knocks it out of the park with delicious angst and drama.” | Keira Andrews’s review of The River Leith #mmromance

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“Amnesia is one of my very favourite tropes, and Leta Blake knocks it out of the park here with delicious angst and drama. Leith and Zach’s struggle to come to terms with the new reality where Leith can’t remember knowing Zach at all — let alone being madly in love with him — is gripping. My heart broke for both the characters and I rooted hard for their happy ending.

The book is told from Leith’s POV, but Blake uses vlog transcripts as a clever device to give us insight into Zach’s perspective as well. His anger, confusion and hurt comes across vividly. I loved that Zach and Leith are flawed people who make mistakes, and that there are no easy solutions to their predicament. I also loved that the slow burn of UST isn’t rushed. If you’re looking for mindless sex from the get-go, this isn’t the book for you. But when the sex does happen after a long buildup, it’s so much more meaningful — and smokin’ hot!

The supporting characters, especially Arthur and Dr. Thakur, are quirky and well drawn. Also, the author includes a note at the end of the book saying that she downplayed the medical realities of head injuries and amnesia for the sake of having fun with a time-honoured romance trope. I certainly have no problem with that, and was able to settle in for the ride with no concerns about the realism of head injuries (which, let’s face it — don’t make for very good escapism!).

Full disclosure: I worked as the editor on this book. The first time I read it, I’d opened the file to just take a glance. I ended up spending the new few hours gobbling up the story in one gulp! It was completely captivating. Two thumbs up!”

via Goodreads | Keira Andrews (Toronto, ON, Canada)’s review of The River Leith.

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

I Used To Know How To Use This Thing #blogging

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Well, hello there! I used to know how to use this site to do this cool thing called blogging, but then I decided that I needed a break because I had too much on me, and now I’m sitting here looking at this blank page and thinking, “What the hell do I do with this?”

I suppose I should mention that I’m going to have a book out very soon. I can’t decide if I should release it the last week of May or the first week of June. I feel like May is a better month. It sounds happier and it’s six months from when I released Training Season. But, realistically, if I want to have ARCs out, finalize the formatting, and not mess anything up due to a panicky rush, then I should probably set it lose in the wild the first week of June.

I’ve had people ask me what this book is about and each time I flounder. Of course I still flounder on how to talk about Training Season, too. I was at Rainbow Con (which deserves a post of its own!) and a lovely woman named Vicki was looking at a print copy of Training Season. She looked at me and said, “This is your book?” And I said, “Yes. I wrote it. It’s about…things. In a book. That people seem to like.” She looked at me like I was mad (which we all know I am) and smiled politely before putting the book down and walking away. So, yeah, saleswoman I am not!

But, this next book is totally different from Training Season. It’s shorter for one thing and it’s got zero enemas in it, which, hey, will please many folks, I’m sure. I swear I did not drink any liquor on my lunch break, just some kind of power-greens fruit juice thing which might have made me high? I don’t know. Anyway, there’s no figure skating, no ranching, and no D/s dynamics to speak of! And absolutely zero toilets! I promise!

That sells it, doesn’t it? You want to buy this book now, don’t you?

Um, let me try again. It’s a comfort-read featuring the ever-beloved amnesia trope! And a boxer! And a vlogger! And there’s romance and gay lovemaking and a kooky, cliche (in the good way) psychiatrist! And there’s drama! And angst! And hurt-comfort! And squishy, lovable, adorable characters who just make you want to hug them until they come to their senses and do their lives right! (Well, I feel that way about them anyway! And I hope you do, too!)

And if that doesn’t sell it, just look at this cover! I mean, guh, yes? When I send Dar (the cover artist) the back blurb (which is being crafted lovingly by Kathleen Tudor!), I’m going to see if she can’t pull him down just a tad so my name isn’t all up in his eyebrows. I think that will make it easier for me to make a nice little advert out of the cover later when I need one. Anyway, this cover is lovely, isn’t it? He’s looking at you and he’s saying, “Buy  me. I’m an amnesiac. I’ve forgotten things and need to relearn them. You can watch me LEARN ALL THE THINGS. *cough*”

Hooray!

The-River-Leith-web-copy
Hey, readers, I’ll be out during the last week of May or the first week of June, whatever my crazy author decides. In the meantime, I’ll be right here, looking like this, and you can visit anytime.

Well, lookie there. It seems I remembered how to use this thing after all! Just like riding a bike!