Thursday 31 December 2015

LOOKING BACK - 2015 IN REVIEW




This time last year, I had one book published and another accepted for publication. I was both scared and excited in equal measure. Would anyone buy my story of the teacher and the rugby player? In the end, Sporting Chance did moderately well and got some good reviews. I still get sales every week.

Learning point 1 – dealing with reviews.

 
RainbowConnection had a more difficult birth. I still love the story and the characters, and it’s had some lovely reviews, but hasn’t sold well. I know it could be better written, especially the show not tell aspect. When it came out, I had no faith in it and didn’t advertise or promote it properly. It feels like a family member you don’t talk about.

Learning point 2 – dealing with promotion.
Learning point 3 – approaching bloggers.

This year, I’ve written or finished writing, one long novel, four shorter novels and three short stories. I’ve also rewritten a fanfic to make it an original novel. It hasn’t all be plain sailing. I have times when I can’t write anything much. I worry whether it’s worth continuing, like all authors. I can't help comparing myself to others when I know it doesn’t matter. I need to produce what’s in my head and be true to my voice. However, I’m lucky to have found a publisher willing to take me on, and an editor who has taught me a lot and believes in my work.

Learning point 4 – don’t compare yourself to others.

Learning point 5 – people out there want to help you. Always say thank you and appreciate the time and support they give to a new writer.

My, this is sounding so serious. Anyway, this is what I’ve written this year.

Comfort Zone is a longer novel linked to Sporting Chance. I wanted to give Aron a story and a HEA. Aron was Dan Morgan’s ex-boyfriend in Sporting Chance. He has some specific issues to deal with when he meets Joe Welsh. The style is similar to Sporting Chance in that there are family and friends who all chip in their views. The novel will be out in print as well so I get to hold it in my hands and look at it on my shelf. I loved writing this one because it flowed so easily. Comfort Zone will be out on general release 2nd February but you can get it on early download from Pride Publishing 5th January.

I was asked to consider writing a series. This is such a scary idea, I decided to get a few written before I submitted anything. I’ve produced a series of short novels around 50,000 words each, set on the North East coast of Scotland – a place I know well from holidays there. The first story, sadly, will probably never see the light of day as the MCs are both aged sixty and it seems people do not want to read about older men, but Jamie and John to appear in the other stories. 
Therefore, book two, Choosing Home, became book one in the Call of Home series, with MCs Zac McKenzie, an ex-footballer, and Seth Pritchard, who is recovering from a car crash and running away from his past.
The second book in the series, Returning Home, has MC, Darach McNaughton, returning to his home town and meeting the intriguing Brice Drummond. Darach’s copper’s nose tells him there is something to find out about Brice and what has happened to him, but curiosity can be a dangerous thing. Both of these stories have contracts and will be out in July and August next year.
The third story sees Sam Carmichael, the local Church of Scotland minister facing up to his past. I won’t spoil the second book by mentioning the other lead character. I have ideas for the fourth, but haven’t started writing it yet.

Learning point 6 – Some stories don’t get published.

Learning point 7 – writing a series is hard, but rewarding, and continuity is a bugger to get right.

Writing a short story requires its own form of discipline, especially when they can only be a certain length and have to contain scenes of a sexual nature. believe me, writing a sex scene at a funeral wake was challenging! Stay, started as a story for a submission call on the theme of random acts of kindness. I wanted to write a Christmas story. Not Every Time was produced in a couple of weeks with an is he or isn’t he question about Raz. I’ve written a sequel, which will be out in May next year, called, A Bell Rings, because I wanted to answer that question.

Learning point 8 – it isn’t easy to write a good short story, and you have to get used to people saying it needed to be longer.

This has been my writing year looking back. I’m going to write another post looking forward with my plans, such as they are, for next year.
I wish you all success in all your endeavours and




 

Monday 14 December 2015

CHRISTMAS BLOG POST


 

 
 
This time last year, I had one published book, Sporting Chance, the story of teacher, Iestyn and rugby player, Dan. Now, I have four stories on Amazon, and the follow up to Sporting Chance, Comfort Zone, will be up for pre-order with Pride Publishing on 22nd December. More on that story below.

Today, my Christmas short story, Not Every Time, is on general release. (See links below). I’ve always written Christmas stories for my fanfictions, and I love including Christmas in stories. It features in Sporting Chance and in Comfort Zone, and so writing a story set at Christmas seemed a given.


Not Every Time, is a short, sweet and sexy read. It is about two friends, Raz and Jack, who have known each other for twelve years, since Raz saved Jack’s life. Raz loves Jack, but Jack is still looking for the right woman. In the story, he discovers he’s been looking for love in the wrong place. There’s also a bit of a mystery in the story – an is he or isn’t he? Oh, and did I mention there are kittens? When I finished writing this one, I wrote a sequel straight away in a very short period of time for me. This story takes Raz and Jack further and reveals all. It will be out next year and is called A Bell Rings.


Comfort Zone can be read as a standalone story, but Dan and Iestyn do appear, and it might be better if you’ve read it to find out a little more about Aron. Aron was Dan’s first love, but now he’s on his own and has thrown himself into his work. In the first chapter he meets, Joe Welsh, a man who he first met by the side of the road a year ago when both their cars had broken down. Since that meeting, Joe’s life has taken a dramatic turn. We meet Joe’s family and friends - I love writing families and how they interact – and discover whether Aron can step out of his comfort zone to find love again. Along the way we also meet Rhodri, the bisexual son of Aron’s factory manager, who at eighteen has more confidence than Aron, Emrys, the wonderfully OTT brother of Aron’s best friend, as well as Charlie the failed sniffer dog, and a wonderful little girl called Ellie. I loved writing this story so much. It goes on general release in February.

Next year, in the summer, the first two books in The Call of Home series, will be out. These stories are set on the north east coast of Scotland, a place I’ve visited often. In the first, you’ll meet Zac and Seth and the second Darach and Brice. The third is written, and I’ve ideas for the fourth.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas, and I wish you all a happy and successful New Year.
 

 

Links

             Not Every Time
             Publisher
Amazon US
            Barnes and Noble

 All Romance
 
Comfort Zone

 

 

Saturday 7 November 2015

Sporting Chance - One Year On


 
 
 
A year ago today, I was a bundle of nerves wondering if anyone was going to buy my first novel. It had taken me over two years to write Sporting Chance, the story of teacher, Iestyn Jones and rugby player, Dan Morgan. I found time to write when I could – before work in the morning scrawling words in a note book, at lunchtime, after work and at weekends, when I didn’t have marking or preparation to do. Somehow, by the end I had a 80,000 word novel. I asked a few people to read it, and they encouraged me to submit it to a publisher. The first one turned me down, but the second, Totally Bound, took a chance on me.

The day I got the e-mail, I couldn’t believe it. I read it so many times, with tears in my eyes, until happiness was replaced by that strange mixture of fear and excitement. It was a long process between that e-mail in March and the book coming out in November. When I read that submission now, I’m amazed they took me on. I made so many mistakes, but I was lucky to have Faith, my editor, to take me through everything. I learned such a lot, not only about grammar and punctuation, but also about point of view, independent body parts, dangling modifiers and putting the sex into sex scenes.
 
I discovered there are words you need to cull like that, just, only, suddenly, really and many others. I find there’s something new to deal with every story I write.

 
When Sporting Chance came out several reviewers were kind enough to feature my story on their blogs. I will admit, I’ve never found criticism easy, but I put my teacher head on and gave myself the talk I’d given to so many students – you learn from mistakes. If you get something wrong, you can learn from others. I may not have agreed with everything that was said, but I hope I’ve learned something from every word.

A year on from the general release date, I now have a novella, Rainbow Connection and a short story, Stay published. In December, my Christmas story, Not Every Time is released, the story of two friends who become lovers – one of my favourite tropes.

Next year is going to be very exciting. In February, Comfort Zone, the follow up to Sporting Chance is released, and A Bell Rings, the sequel to Not Every Time, comes out in May. It turned out that Raz and Jack had more to say. I also have a series coming out titled The Call of Home, set in Scotland.

When Sporting Chance came out last year, I would never have believed all this was possible. It goes to prove you can teach an old dog new tricks, and that you simply never know what is around the corner.

To celebrate this anniversary, I’m going to offer a signed copy of Sporting Chance and a signed copy of Comfort Zone when it comes out next year. I’ve also had some charm bracelets made with charms representing the characters in my stories. If you’d like a chance to win please comment on this blog post.

Lastly, I’d like to thank every reader, reviewer, and all those authors who gave me advice as well as my editor, Faith, and my publishers for giving a new author a chance. You have all changed my life.

Friday 30 October 2015

I don't like Halloween


 



There I’ve written it – I don’t like Halloween. When I was young we carved out swedes, put candles in them and made holes for string then carried them around. Yes, it was pretty lame. There were no pumpkins, or dressing up, or extra chances to let off fireworks, and there was certainly no trick or treating, and I’m so glad.

I would have hated dressing up – the pressure of finding a costume for a child who was larger than average and having to get my mother to make something. I hated fancy dress days at school as well. Now I know adults who dress up and decorate their houses, often a couple of weeks in advance – and they say Christmas is getting earlier each year - but I don’t get it.

On the night, I want to turn off all the lights and hide from the knocks at the door, but instead I reluctantly hand out sweets to the children who knock the door, glad that I don’t get many, and that most of them are with their parents. I don’t like the idea of sending children out to ask for sweets, or that there is a veiled threat of a trick if you don’t join in. I know people don’t see it that way, and I’m sure they have fun. I guess I’ll just be seen as a Halloween version of Scrooge.

So pardon me if I don’t enthuse, or hang spooky pumpkins, or spiders, or anything else on my blog or on Facebook. I’ll admire some costumes – although why they have to be sexy this or that for women I don’t know, including last year a sexy Ebola nurse – I kid you not.

Happy Halloween to those who enjoy it and for everyone else, including those who hide in the dark, at least it’s only one night a year.



 

 

 

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Stay - Update

STAY





Stay is now available from Pride Publishing for early download and on pre order from Amazon - links below.

Blurb

Ben Harwood loves his grandmother. When he visits her in the hospital, another old lady, Ivy, expresses a longing for an orange, so Ben, who works in a supermarket, takes her oranges the next day. Later, after attending his grandmother’s funeral, he discovers that Ivy has died too, and decides to pay his respects. There, he meets Ivy’s grandson, Martin Riley, and the attraction is instant. To his amazement, Ben finds he has become a bit of a hero to the Riley family, who have travelled over from America. For Martin, Ben breaks his three-date rule more than once. Is this simply a holiday romance with great sex, or can he and Martin build something more permanent?

Stay is also going on a mini blog tour and I've done author interviews for Goodreads and the new Pride Publishing blog. Thanks to the blogs for hosting me.

Buying Links

 Pride Publishing

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon Germany

Amazon Australia

All Romance












 

Sunday 28 June 2015

Congratulations America - Love Wins




I'm British not American, and I'm not married, but I wanted to say how wonderful it was reading through all the tweets and my Facebook feed on Friday when the Supreme Court announced that same-sex couples could get married all over America.

I read so many happy stories and watched some lovely videos. I was especially touched to see two men in their 80s, who'd been together over 50 years, get married in Dallas, Texas.

The haters are going to hate, but this time love won. There are other fights to be fought, but one major victory happened on Friday. I just hope the US has enough wedding planners!

Wednesday 24 June 2015

Update and what to write next?


What to write next? That is the question.

 


I am in the fortunate position of not having to write to keep my head above water. I write because I want to write. I can choose my hours, and how long I spend tapping away. Others, I know, do not have this luxury.

Some authors seem to be able to produce lots of words in a week and lots of titles in a year. I’m relatively new to being an author. I have one novel published, Sporting Chance which took me years to write, a novella, Rainbow Connection, which sadly hasn’t been as popular, but has received some nice reviews, and a short story, Stay which is due for general release next month. The follow up to Sporting Chance, called Comfort Zone, has been contracted and will be out next year. Comfort Zone has Aron’s story. The title came from a friend, as did the idea for the issue Aron has to deal with when he goes out of his comfort zone for love.

I’ve just written another short story. It’s had lots of names, but I settled on Not Every Time. This story was written in five days, and came from an idea about what happens if you save a life. Raz saves Jack from certain death, but Raz has a secret. I’m hoping my publisher will like it.

A friend recently asked me where my ideas come from. I have three or four stories with starts written, and I need to decide what to do next. I’ve also three stories completed, two of which need editing. Ideas come from all over the place, stories in newspapers, things from my past, conversations overheard or read online, television shows, photographs—all sorts of places. So far, I’ve written contemporary romance stories, but I have an idea for a time-travelling story set partly in sixteenth century Scotland at the time of the murder of Lord Darnley. The idea came from a photograph of a bare-chested man in a kilt combined with teaching Mary, Queen of Scots using this image.



 An idea grew from there. Maybe one day I’ll have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and write it.

So, do I choose to write the fourth in my Home series set in Scotland with the closeted church minister, Sam Carmichael and the grieving widower, Tosh Mackintosh, or a standalone story set in Norfolk about cat loving librarian, Will Owen and carpenter and am dram fan, Jonah Jackson. I seem to have written about a few cats recently, and this one is likely to have more smiles than the first. While I decide, I’ve Home Goal in front of me to edit with Zac and Seth’s story. There’s a cat in that one too – a ginger Tom called Ron, who weasels his way into Seth’s affections. I'm sure you can see what I did there.

How do you choose what to read and/or write next?

You can sign up below to get my blog posts in future and hear about my new stories.

And to celebrate Stay being available for early download, and it being my birthday next week, I'm going to have a giveaway so you can win an EPub or PDF version of STAY when I get my copies. Please comment below if you’d like to win a copy, and I’ll use random.org to pick a winner a week from today.

Stay can be bought here

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Stay available for pre-order

Stay

My short story Stay is available for pre-order today. Set in a small Lancashire town, this is the story of how an act of kindness can change your life.

Early Download - 30th June
General Release - 28th July

Blurb
An act of kindness is never wasted.

Ben Harwood loves his grandmother. When he visits her in the hospital, another old lady, Ivy, expresses a longing for an orange, so Ben, who works in a supermarket, takes her oranges the next day.
Later, after attending his grandmother’s funeral, he discovers that Ivy has died too, and decides to pay his respects. There, he meets Ivy’s grandson, Martin Riley, and the attraction is instant. To his amazement, Ben finds he has become a bit of a hero to the Riley family, who have traveled over from America. For Martin, Ben breaks his three-date rule more than once. Is this simply a holiday romance with great sex, or can he and Martin build something more permanent?

Sunday 17 May 2015

Hop for Hope

Hop against Homophobia, Bi- and Transphobia




 

17th May is the International Day against homophobia, bi- and transphobia. You can find more information here.
http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/


Hope

There is still a great deal of prejudice in the world, but I wanted my post today to be about hope. it may be a rather obvious thing to state, but I’m a great believer in democracy. I don’t always agree with the results, but as a history teacher for over thirty years, I know what people have done to allow me, a woman, to put a cross in a box. Over those thirty years, I’ve also seen great changes in attitudes. When I started teaching there were no out teachers or students. I’m pleased to say that by the time I finished that situation had changed. Some students no longer hid their sexuality, and it was a great privilege to have young people feel able to talk to me about themselves. Maybe it was the pictures of John Barrowman and Captain Jack Harkness, or my well known hatred of students using the word gay as an insult that made them feel safe talking to me. I don’t know. I’m just glad that they did.

Last week, one of those brave young people was elected to a local council. He had the courage to put himself up for this role and his victory made me smile. Democracy had allowed a young gay man to openly work for the betterment of society. On a bigger scale, the UK became the country with the most openly LGBTQI representatives in the world. The UK has its problems, but this fact makes me proud to be British. The sexuality of a candidate should not matter anymore than the gender of the candidate, or the colour of their hair or eyes. All that matters is that they want to do the job.

Hopefully, sometime soon, this blog hop will no longer be necessary. To more and more young people prejudice on the grounds of sexuality is something they do not even think about. At least some of the results from last week’s election give me hope that some things have already, and will, get better.
 
You can find more information about this blog hop here
http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.co.uk/


Anyone who makes a comment on this post before 24th May will be entered to win a signed copy of my book Sporting Chance or an amazon gift voucher for £10 depending on their location. Please leave your e-mail address for me to contact you.

Thank you for supporting this important cause. This link will take you to other participating blogs
http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=644125FF-AACF-4A13-A08A-696A562D8FB3
 

Friday 1 May 2015

New Release - Rainbow Connection


 

Rainbow Connection


 

I thought hard about whether to go with the title, Rainbow Connection, but in the end it was the one that stuck. This is the story of two men, Mick Flanagan and Ceri Llewellyn, two men with seemingly nothing in common until they discover a mutual love, and Ceri makes Mick an offer he can’t refuse.

I wrote this story in fits and starts, losing several chapters when my laptop crashed and destroyed my hard drive, at the same time as I wrote Sporting Chance. It was written for a submission call for a story about a man who finds love again after losing his first love. It was turned down for the submission, but the publisher gave me some advice and later, after some revisions, accepted the story as a standalone. I had my second contract.

The inspiration for this story came from a few places. I read a story in the paper about a grandmother, mother and daughter and their strange life. The relevance of that will become clear when you read the novella. Also, one early morning, I sat in my car watching the man who filled the vending machines at work and thought I bet no one has ever written a romance for someone with that job. So I chose to write about a romance between a shy security guard with a past and the guy who fills the water bottles while trying to pursue his dreams, only to find he isn’t good enough to achieve them. These two needed to share a passion to bring them together, so it seemed only natural for them to share mine – let’s say it involves a certain time traveller.

Mick is a man who copes with life through routines until Ceri comes along and turns his life upside down. Ceri has been floating through life but discovers he needs an anchor. Rainbow Connection is the story of how these two men find something in each other, but have to work hard for their happy ever after. I love Mick and Ceri and I hope you will too.


 You can find Rainbow Connection here. Other links will be added as they become available.

MLR Press
Amazon UK
Amazon US 
All Romance
Kobo






 

Wednesday 1 April 2015

World Austism Awareness Day


Autism Awareness Day Blog

Thanks to RJ Scott for organising this autism awareness blog. I’m glad to be able to do my little bit to support this important cause. Over my thirty years in teaching, I taught many children with autism. No two people with the condition present in the same way.    It is important to understand this, especially in the field of education.
FACT: One of the best known forms of autism is Asperger syndrome. People with the condition are often of average or above-average intelligence. They have fewer speech problems than people with other types of autism, but may find it difficult to understand and process language. Other people with autism have an accompanying learning disability, learning difficulty or mental health problem. 
 
Link to RJ Scott's post

 
From unlikely places

On this blog, I thought I’d write a little about the source of my idea for my short story, Stay, which is due out in August with Totally Bound Publishers.

Some of you may know I’m a big fan of the programme Supernatural and especially one of the stars. Misha Collins. Misha is involved in two particular charities, GISHWHES and Random Acts of Kindness. Reading about last year’s examples of kindness, I remembered something from many years ago when a friend and I were visiting her grandmother in hospital every day for a couple of weeks while her mother got some rest. There were quite a few senior citizens in there for various reasons, one of whom was a game old girl, with a huge sense of fun called Ivy. One day, she said she’d love an orange, so we took some to her the next day. Her face was a picture and her happiness at the simple pleasure of being able to eat that orange has stayed with me over the years.

In my story, Stay, Ben brings an old lady oranges while visiting his grandmother and that simple act of kindness changes his life. Below is the cover for the story being shown for the first time.



Thanks for reading and if you leave a comment below, I have either a PDF or EPub version of my story Sporting Chance to give away.

Wednesday 11 March 2015

What’s wrong with a happy ever after?


I write romance with happy ever afters or HEAs. I read a lot of books, and I watch a lot of television. Recently, I’ve begun to get angry while watching certain programmes, especially on the BBC because it appears that same sex couples cannot have a happy ever after, even for a few days. This afternoon, I’m watching WPC56 knowing the gay inspector of police is going to be exposed and it’ll probably end badly. Alright, it’s set at a time when homosexuality was illegal, but all the same the pair could go on quietly meeting.

On Sunday I watch Call the Midwife with my tissues at the ready. Like many others, I’ve been hoping that Patsy and Delia would set up their home and be happy – but no – Delia has an accident and loses her memory on the day they were going to move in together. A few weeks ago Caroline, the stuffy but wonderful head teacher, married Kate in Last Tango in Halifax. That marriage lasted a day with Kate dying the day after, leaving Caroline to cope with her loss and looking after a new born baby. A lot of tweets compared the two events and asked the same question of why it was necessary and I ask the same thing.
 
 
 Why can’t we have the gay version of Hilda and Stan and Jack and Vera – couples who have their problems but who love each other and have a love that lasts for years? I’ve read stories of many real life gay couples who’ve been together for decades. Today is the birthday of John Barrowman, who has been with his husband Scott for well over twenty years. Same sex couples have always existed in secret and in the open, living quiet lives with each other, but this doesn’t seem to be allowed on television and don't get me started on the teasing (and I can think of other names for it) of the relationship between Dean and Castiel in Supernatural.

Strangely, I started writing after the death of one half of a gay TV couple – Ianto Jones – the coffee making, suit wearing, devastatingly handsome lover of the omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood.
 
The out pouring of anger about this event is legendary. The shrine to Ianto Jones remains in Cardiff Bay nearly six years after his death. I, like many others, wrote Children of Earth fix-it stories where Ianto lived on revived by nanogenes or the Doctor turning back time. Here was another example of a same sex couple not getting a HEA – but this is Russell T Davies and he’d already killed off Owen and Tosh, so he had a track record of using death to create drama, and for those who watch Cucumber, you’ll have seen that Henry and Lance were doomed from the start.

I can only think of one couple who got to walk away from a programme and that was Syed and Christian on Eastenders, although I don’t think there was no mention of Syed when Christian appeared recently. Maybe you can think of another. I’d be happy to know that some couples didn’t end up with one of them dead, like Tara in Buffy, or even the fat one in the gay Anglican couple in Doctor Who!

It’s taken me forty minutes to write this piece and I was right. WPC56 has ended with the two men found in bed and arrested. I hate this. I know it happened, and I know we have to represent the past, but it’s the same in the present. I’m angry and sad at the same time. It’s taken long enough for gay people to be represented on television in a positive way, so why can’t same sex couples have a HEA like they do in the books I read and write. It’s long past time that TV caught up.

Monday 9 February 2015

Valentine's Day Blog Hop




 

 
 
 
 
 

Many many thanks to D P Denman for organising this blog hop to celebrate love in all its forms and fashions. Below you will find links to all the terrific authors who are taking part and also a link to a major Rafflecopter giveaway – enter it and you can win not only a Kindle but a whole load of ebooks to put on it.

Shapes and sizes - Forms and guises

Heroes, like love, come in all shapes and sizes and all forms and guises. When I started to write, I made no decision about which genre to write it in—I’ve always loved gay romance. I began writing fanfiction in 2009, and in these stories I wrote about heroes like Captain Jack Harkness, the Doctor, Dean Winchester and Castiel. My first book, Sporting Chance, features a six foot six inch tall, blond rugby player. Don’t get me wrong—I love hero as much as the next person. Many m/m romance novels feature hero occupations—police, agents, firefighters, soldiers, cowboys, doctors, lawyers. But what about men with ordinary jobs? Don’t they deserve to find love too? What about the pest controller, the binman, the window cleaner, (or is that too like a Confessions film and you have to be as old as me to remember them) the roofer, the hospital porter, the shepherd, the archivist, the bus driver, the surveyor, the railway guard or the taxman? All of these are necessary jobs, but not very glamourous. I don’t think I’ve read a m/m romance which had characters with any of these jobs, and I’ve read a few.

When I came up with the basic idea for my story Rainbow Connection, I decided to give my main characters occupations that didn’t dominate their lives—they didn’t go home with their jobs, but left them behind when they left the building. These aren’t jobs which keep you awake in the middle of the night, or give you bad dreams.

I originally intended to write a story about the theme of finding love again after you’d lost your first love, and to a certain extent that theme remains, but then I read two stories in the same week—one about someone who dyed their hair the colours of the rainbow and another about a family, but I can’t say much about that story without giving spoilers. Thus Ceri and Mick were born. Two men looking for love but who presented a challenge to the artist who designed the cover below.

Ceri dyes his hair every week. He dreams of being a professional skate boarder and he fills the vending machines and water dispensers in various offices to pay his rent. Mick works in one of those offices as a night time security guard. He fills the long hours watching his favourite programmes and reading books. Then, one night, a new person comes to deliver the water bottles and vending supplies and Mick can’t help watching him as he does his rounds. When they meet for the first time, it’s not really a case of instant love more instant curiosity. Ceri sees his life as an open book, while Mick keeps his life under lock and key, but maybe they can find something they have in common something they both love which brings them together.

I’d love to read more stories about men with ordinary, unglamorous jobs and maybe a few more when the men don’t have perfect bodies and six packs. Everyone has their story to tell and everyone deserves to be loved. We are all somebody’s hero.

 

BLURB

 

Two men, one with a past, and one determined to give them a future, together.

 

Mick Flanagan has kept himself hidden since his only lover died three years before. He works at night, keeps to his routine, has impressive facial hair and avoids contact with other people as much as possible. He lives in his imagination, where he is part of a crew of space pirates roaming the universe, spending his spare time writing long stories about his heroes. Enter Ceri Llewellyn, with his constantly changing rainbow-coloured hair, who for reasons Mick doesn’t understand, seems determined to talk to him. Ceri has been living a happy-go-lucky lifestyle since he was let down by his first long-term boyfriend, Jules, but something about Mick calls to him. His twin, Megan would say that it’s because he loves a cause, and perhaps she’s right to begin with. They find they have a mutual love of Doctor Who and this gives Ceri an insight into Mick’s personality and brings them together. Ceri suggests that they visit Doctor Who’s Cardiff locations, and Mick can’t resist the temptation of visiting places he has only seen on the screen. Gradually, Ceri introduces Mick to new experiences, but Mick has a past that contains more than a dead lover. Can Ceri show him that he deserves to be loved but, above all else, help him find his true self?

 

And now the big cover reveal. I hope you like it.

 

 


 

Ebook Prizes:

 

Aidee Ladnier
The Break-in
Amanda Young
Winner chooses from author's available titles
Bronwyn Heeley
Winner chooses from author's available titles
C. J. Anthony
Heaven
Charlie Cochrane
Something from my back list - winner's choice.
David Connor
Tidings of Comfort and Joey Down Under
DP Denman
Winner chooses from author's available titles
Elin Gregory
Alike As Two Bees
Ethan Stone
Winner chooses from author's available titles
Eva Lefoy
Love is a Mess anthology
H.B. Pattskyn
Hanging by the Moment
J.M. Dabney
When All Else Fails
Jessie G
The Protector
Julie Lynn Hayes
When Will I See You Again
Lisabet Sarai
Necessary Madness
Lynley Wayne
Winner chooses from author's available titles
M.A. Church
The Harvest series (book #1 and book #2)
Morticia knight
All Fired Up (Sin City Uniforms 1)
N.J. Nielsen
Winner chooses from author's available titles
Sibley Jackson
Private Performance
Sue Brown
The Next Call
Tali Spencer
Dangerous Beauty
Tara Lain
Canning the Center
Thianna Durston
The Blake/Dusty Chronicles: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Alexa Milne
Rainbow Connection (due out 13th Feb) or Sporting Chance.
Anne Barwell
Winner chooses from author's available titles
April Kelley
Whispers of Home
Brandon Shire
The Love of Wicked Men - Episode One
Catherine Lievens
Jamie
Cecil Wilde
Defying Convention
Christopher Koehler
Poz
Draven St. James
Scent of a Wolf
Elizabeth Noble
Winner chooses from author's available titles
Hayley B James
Undercover Addiction
Jennifer Wright
All 3 Finding Home Series books - Pavarus, Morvea, & Airos
Karen Stivali
Moment of Impact
Kendall McKenna
1) Strength of the Pack 2)Waves Break My Fall
L M Somerton
Rasputin's Kiss
Lily G Blunt
Paint the Sky
Megan Linden
Running Off the Edge
Stephen del Mar
Dark Love
TM Smith
Opposites
Tracey Michael
Pretty Please

 

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 Here is the Rafflecopter giveaway but if you'd like to win a copy of Sporting Chance or Rainbow Connection when it's out (which might be a little while) please comment below.

 
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