Phew! I’ve had two lovely reviews from early readers of SitS, and perhaps now I can stop quaking in my boots over whether my contemporary is any good or not 🙂
Shining in the Sun is a breath of fresh air and you will love the British and French ambience. Alex Beecroft is a wonderful writer and her prose is some of the best I have read. She has a knack for creating complex flawed protagonists with whom readers fall in love and I never want her books to end because I don’t want to leave the characters behind… Definitely recommended.
Which is enough to set me squeeing all by itself, but then Kate Cotoner also gave me a lovely chewy review on Goodreads here , examining the themes and contrasts of the book
This novel broke my heart then put the pieces back together again. …. I came away from the book with a sense of a specific place and time – a kind of fin de siecle moment that will resonate with anyone who’s ever loved, even hopelessly, in that golden period of summertime. Shining In The Sun is an extraordinary emotional and romantic story that’s richly rewarding to read.
Which makes me want to play Don Henley’s The Boys of Summer – which I’ve adopted as the SitS theme tune – very loud and break open something alcoholic in celebration. Thank you very much, Wave and Kate! You are complete stars and have put my mind at rest no end 😀
Woohoo! It’s launch day for my third professionally published novel, and my first ever contemporary romance 🙂 I’m doing that “new book out” thing of surfing the net looking for anyone who’s read it already and given it a review. Which is a silly thing to do at this stage, but I can’t help it. It isn’t every day you have a new novel out 😀
Here it is on My Bookstore and More, and here it is on Amazon. It’s only available in ebook for the moment, with the print version coming out next year.
So what’s it all about? Let me tell you… 😉
Blurb
Damn it, a man shouldn’t always have to be afraid…
Alec Goodchilde has everything a man could want—except the freedom to be himself. Once a year, he motors down to an exclusive yacht club on the Cornish coast and takes the summer off from the trap that is his life.
When his car breaks down, leaving him stranded on the beach, he’s transfixed by the sight of a surfer dancing on the waves. The man is summer made flesh. Freedom wrapped up in one lithe package, dripping wet from the sea.
Once a year, Darren Stokes takes a break from his life of grinding overwork and appalling relatives, financing his holiday by picking up the first rich man to show an interest. This year, though, he’s cautious—last summer’s meal ticket turned out to be more pain than pleasure.
Even though Alec is so deep in the closet he doesn’t even admit he’s gay, Darren finds himself falling hard—until their idyllic night together is shattered by the blinding light of reality…
As you may know, I’m somewhat wary of the alpha male hero, and I’m particularly wary of the alpha/beta pairing which has a tendency to read like a het romance with search and replace pronouns. I know that quite a few other people do alpha/alpha pairings, which tend to be very heavy on the testosterone and violence. But I wasn’t sure if anyone had yet done a beta/beta story. So this is my attempt at that very thing, because someone has to remember the other guys. As Darren says, “the meek will inherit the earth, as long as the strong will obligingly go and fuck themselves first.”
Darren does have a bit of a foul mouth, so I’ve warned for sex and swearing. I hope the world is ready for a book in which two gentle and slightly scared lads give each other the strength to take on their problems and win, but at least it will make a change 🙂
This is a very emotional and not necessarily easy look at a relationship that develops between the wealthy Alec and the struggling-to-get-by Darren. Issues are explored rather than glossed over, and Shining in the Sun is simply a rewarding read.
So I’m reposting that rather than blathering on myself, because I might think that it’s a good fun read but I’m obviously biased!
Heh, well, the net result of the two mile walk in broiling sun on Saturday (part of the saga of getting to London) was that Sunday was spent in bed, poleaxed with heatstroke. At least, I presume that was what caused the splitting headache and nausea. Still, it was worth it 🙂
Yet again I fail on keeping up a “post every day for a month” meme though, so catching up today I have:
Day 3 – Your favorite new show (aired this TV season).
Um… I don’t think I have one. I don’t even know what the new shows are (or when ‘this TV season’ starts and finishes.)
Day 4 – Your favorite show ever.
That’s hard. Possibly, on balance, it would have to be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This one:
not the movie!
I was a big fan of the book, and then this was shown every Thursday, just while I was going through my O’ Levels. It stopped me from worrying too much about the exams, as I was too busy looking forward to the next episode. And then, like a guardian angel, the series was repeated just as I was going through my A’ Levels. So, not only is this the real version of Hitchhikers for me, but it was an anchor in a time of trial for me too 🙂
Let’s face it, the film managed to ruin every bit of comic timing, and re-write all the jokes in such a way as to cunningly leave out all the punchlines. It was painful to watch. But – apart from the dodgy special effects – the TV series seems to be as funny today as it ever was.
After repeatedly saying that I intended to go into London to look at the Queen my books in an actual bookshop, I finally got around to it today. What a thrill! OK, the whole driving into Ely, parking in the free longstay car park and walking a mile in blazing sunshine to the train station, only to find that the train had gone and the next one wasn’t for an hour – that was a bit of a downer. But when I’d walked back to my car, moved it into the station car park and had the drink I was all but keeling over in need of, everything started to look up. I got into London easily enough, the tubes were no more horrible than usual, and Piccadilly Circus was cooler than it had been at home.
When I got to Waterstones, I hardly dared look, sure that – after all this – the book wouldn’t be there any more. But there it was, on display on a table in the Gay section. Appropriately enough it was the “Hello Sailor” table.
in some very good company too. I’m thoroughly over the moon and honoured about that. Hee! I’m not quite sure how it’s all worked out, but thank you to whoever is responsible. Elisa, I guess! 🙂
~
On TV news, I’m just going to have to stop having favourite characters. They always die, but usually not quite that fast. My kiss of death is clearly accelerating.
And speaking of TV, the meme goes
Day 2 – A show that you wish more people were watching (or that you wish more people had watched).
I love the books, which often manage to make me cry (in a good way) and the TV series did the same. Plus both of my daughters have a crush on Mr. J.L.B Matekoni. (I was very glad about that, because it shows that they have good taste. I thoroughly approve of my girls going for a man who is modest, kind, gentle, capable and helpful. Those are definitely character traits that come pre-approved by mother 😉 ) What’s not to like about this series? Mma Ramotswe is in every way the kind of role model I’d like my girls to have, but – more importantly than that – the stories are fun, sweet, and wholesome in a way that you just don’t see anywhere else. It’s nice to watch at least one programme where a lot of the stories only work because human nature is not that bad really, and sometimes it can be better than you think. It was one of the most life-affirming series I’ve seen in a long time and deserved to be much more popular. I can’t believe that when I went looking for a fandom I couldn’t find one at all.
I enjoyed doing the writing meme, if only because I didn’t have to think up topics to blog about, so I thought I’d jump on this one too. However, I don’t watch a lot of TV, so it may be sparse.
Day 1 – A show that never should have been canceled.
For example, I can’t think of a show I’ve watched that was ever cancelled. I do remember the mucking about that occurred at the end of Babylon 5, though, where the story arc was compressed into about three episodes at the end of series 4 because they were sure they were going to get cancelled and all the material for series 5 would have to be resolved early. And then they didn’t get cancelled – leaving them with a series 5 to write which had already had the whole punchline, denouement and point stripped out of it and revealed early in #4. That really shouldn’t have happened, and turned what would have been the greatest SF series ever into merely one of the best SF series ever. So I guess that’s an example of a series which should have been cancelled when they threatened to do so, but wasn’t.
THE DAILY ROSTER FOR THE MEME
Day 1 – A show that never should have been canceled.
Day 2 – A show that you wish more people were watching (or that you wish more people had watched).
Day 3 – Your favorite new show (aired this TV season).
Day 4 – Your favorite show ever.
Day 5 – A show you hate.
Day 6 – Favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 7 – Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 8 – A show everyone should watch.
Day 9 – Best scene ever.
Day 10 – A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving.
Day 11 – A show that disappointed you..
Day 12 – An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times.
Day 13 – Favorite childhood show.
Day 14 – Favorite male character.
Day 15 – Favorite female character.
Day 16 – Your guilty pleasure show.
Day 17 – Favorite mini series.
Day 18 – Favorite title sequence.
Day 19 – Best TV show cast.
Day 20 – Favorite kiss.
Day 21 – Favorite ship.
Day 22 – Favorite series finale.
Day 23 – Most annoying character.
Day 24 – Best quote.
Day 25 – A show you plan on watching (old or new).
Day 26 – Season finale that made you say, “OMG WTF?!”
Day 27 – Best pilot episode.
Day 28 – First TV show obsession.
Day 29 – Current TV show obsession.
Day 30 – Saddest death of a character.
Alex Beecroft’s The Wages of Sin is perfect for the reader who enjoys MM romance, an intriguing and dangerous mystery, a touch of the paranormal and two heroes that are brave beyond measure
Still no news on when the print anthology is out, I’m afraid.
I thought I’d post a link to my entry for Bearing Witness. We had a great line-up of posts yesterday, and I hope that it turns out to be the start of something rather than the end. I’d like to see the comm thrive 🙂
Anyway, my post is here: Freedom by Faith. It’s a bit autobiographical, but I thought “what the heck, isn’t talking about yourself what LJ is all about?”
Edit: Good grief! I’ve just been and looked for the 1st edition on Amazon, and it’s available new at a grand cost of $198! Be serious, booksellers! Who would pay that much for it? I’m kind of glad I kept a copy now 😉
The Boat of Small Mysteries - A cozy mystery aboard a narrowboat, in which a murder and a disappearance keep our aroace detective from fully relaxing into the idyll of country life.
