Leta Blake's Blog, page 11

“If you like m/m romance this is a definite keeper!” Christopher Alford’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake

“Wonderful book! If you like m/m romance this is a definite keeper!”

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

 

 

“This book was REALLY powerful…” Review of Vespertine by Leta Blake & Indra Vaughn

“This book was REALLY powerful for me…because of my very personal relationships with the themes of religion and addiction. My ex-fiance had a heroin problem, and I had some very traumatic experiences with him and drugs. It’s still very triggery for me, but occasionally it can be really cathartic to read or watch things that trigger those memories in a certain way. In this case, because Nicky is getting help for his addiction, it was hard to read about but ultimately satisfying.”

Source: Goodreads | Keysmash Blog (Milwaukee, WI)’s review of Vespertine

 

 

Can a priest and a rock star obey love’s call? 

Seventeen years ago, Jasper Hendricks and Nicholas Blumfeld’s childhood friendship turned into a secret, blissful love affair. They spent several idyllic months together until Jasper’s calling to the Catholic priesthood became impossible to ignore. Left floundering, Nicky followed his own trajectory into rock stardom, but he never stopped looking back.

Today, Jasper pushes boundaries as an out, gay priest, working hard to help vulnerable LGBTQ youth. He’s determined to bring change to the church and the world. Respected, admired, and settled in his skin, Jasper has long ignored his loneliness.

As Nico Blue, guitarist and songwriter for the band Vespertine, Nicky owns the hearts of millions. He and his bandmates have toured the world, lighting their fans on fire with their music. Numbed by drugs and fueled by simmering anger, Nicky feels completely alone. When Vespertine is forced to get sober, Nicky returns home to where it all started.

Jasper and Nicky’s careers have ruled their lives since they parted as teens. When they come face to face again, they must choose between the past’s lingering ghosts or the promise of a new future.

“Rifter” Series by Ginn Hale

Susan discusses one of my all time favorite series ever ever EVER!

Book UNfunk

When John opens a letter addressed to his missing roommate, Kyle, he expects to find a house key, but instead he is swept into a strange realm of magic, mysticism, revolutionaries and assassins. Though he struggles to escape, John is drawn steadily closer to a fate he shares with Kyle—to wake the destroyer god, the Rifter, and shatter a world.

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“This is a great book about amnesia and finding love again. I give it 5 fangs.” The River Leith by Leta Blake | Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock

“This is a great book about amnesia and finding love again. Leith is a boxer who gets hurt and is in a coma for a while and when he wakes up he’s lost the last 3 years of his life. His brother Arthur and his boyfriend Zach have to decide what to tell him and not tell him. They tell him his father is dead but not that Zach is his boyfriend. This is a really sweet story of love and the sex, what little of it there is, is steamy and hot!! I love how Leith slowly comes to the realization that he loves Zach but doesn’t know how Zach feels. There is some angst and doubt about what is going to happen between  Leith and Zach. Will Leith get his memory back or do they have to make new memories?  Will Zach stay with Leith? This is definitely not a book for the under 18 crowd even though it is a tastefully written romance it is M/M. I give it 5 fangs.”

via The River Leith by Leta Blake | Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock.

AMAZON|KOBO|B&N|iTunes|ARe

AMAZON|KOBO|B&N|iTunes|ARe

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.

“Thanks Leta for this lovely series!” Review of Training Complex by Leta Blake #gayromance

The ending was perfect, goats and all, there were happy tears in this house at least. Thanks Leta for this lovely series.

via Goodreads | Bev’s review of Training Complex.

 

Buckle up – Matty’s back!

Figure skater Matty Marcus didn’t capture Olympic gold, but he won rancher Rob Lovely’s heart.

After Rob sold his ranch and Matty hung up his skates, they started a new life together in New York City. Now Matty has taken on a fresh challenge as a figure skating coach, and Rob’s second career as a physical therapist should be everything he’s dreamed of. But in the brutal heat of their third summer in the city, Rob yearns for the wide-open country, and the intensity of city life awakens Matty’s demons.

Matty asks for increasingly intense BDSM scenes, and his disordered eating and erratic behavior ramp up the stakes. Rob struggles to stay in control, and after a well-intentioned anniversary gift goes awry, he still thinks he can handle the fallout. But the concrete jungle is closing in and his coping skills are unraveling.

Their love is deep, but Rob will have to admit the truth about what he really wants before they both tumble into chaos.

Click for reviews and praise for Training Complex!

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Will & Patrick Fight their Feelings, Episode 4 Available Now!

 

Follow Will & Patrick in this fourth installment of the romantic-comedy serial, Wake Up Married, by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!

Will and Patrick have embraced adding hot sexy-times to their fake marriage, but as their emotions deepen, they confront whether or not they want to be more than friends-with-benefits. Freshly free of a restrictive relationship, Will’s not ready for more than exploratory fun. And no matter how Patrick feels about Will, his own difficult past has left him wary of love.

The heat is high (and occasionally kinky) in this episode of the Wake Up Married serial, but Will and Patrick struggle to accept their mutual affection, much less confess it. How long will they fight their feelings?

Episode 4 of 6 in the Wake Up Married serial.


also available on Kindle Unlimited!

Leta Blake’s Writing/Publishing Plans for 2016: ALL THE BOOKS! #amwriting #2016

The Sunsphere. Icon of Knoxville, the setting of the 90s Coming of Age series.

As I sit in the lobby of our local ice skating rink, waiting while kiddo and her pal skate, I’m being forced to listen to the most uncool playlist of 80s pop songs I’ve heard in a long time. I think my mother did Jazzercise to most of these, though, and so I have a certain fondness for them despite not really feeling the need to ever hear any of them again

I brought my laptop with me with the intention of getting some writing done, only to realize that I don’t have access to my Dropbox from here. Poor planning on my part. So, instead, I’m going to finally type up my writing plans/goals for 2016. Yes, that’s me burying the lede again. I’m good at that.

Wake Up Married serial. Episodes 4-6 will be released in the early months of this year. Pre-orders are available already for Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings and Will & Patrick Meet the Mob. The final installment, Will & Patrick’s Happy Ending, is not available for pre-order yet, but it has a Goodreads page. We are doing our best to be as timely as possible with them. Each installment of this serial is between 30,000 and 40,000 words in length.

I’m excited by the reception these episodes have received already despite the general consensus that serials aren’t most readers’ favorite way to receive their story. I do think the serialized format fits this particular storyline, though, and these guys. I’m excited to wrap it up and have the entire set out there for readers

How to Steal a Heart. A stand-alone art heist novel inspired by the movie How to Steal a Million. This book has been building in my head for about four years now. I’ve read tons of books about art thieves, art heists, art con artists, etc, and I feel like I’m ready to finally tackle it. I’m pretty excited for this one! I hope to have it out early in the summer, but it might take a backseat to the next items on this list if necessary, because they are where the bulk of my writing/publishing plans rest for this year. My goal for release is May or June 2016. But if I can’t make that due date, then we’re looking at Spring 2017 instead.

The next set of releases are books made up of pieces of my heart. Their titles are: Pictures of You, You Are Not Me, You Make It Real, and Never Tear Us Apart. Also known as The 90s Coming of Age series.

I started writing these books back before I knew I shouldn’t.

Yep, I started them in 2004, when writing a book set in 1991 didn’t seem like I was writing about a different world altogether. I wrote what I knew and mixed it with what I didn’t know, because that was the advice we’re all given to start. I wrote about a time before 9/11 when a non-practicing Jewish boy in Knoxville, Tennessee could be in love with a non-practicing Arab boy from “all over the world” and the issue of religion/race is the least important problem they face.

I wrote about emotional abuse. I wrote about being in the closet. I wrote about beards. I wrote about a world where first love doesn’t always mean last love. (But it’s me so there is a happy ending for the main character.) I wrote about a world where AIDS was still tearing down any sense of safety gay men might have ever created for themselves. I wrote about graduating high school and going to college. I wrote about all kinds of things that don’t fit what anyone expects from me as a writer or from novels in this genre because I didn’t know any better.

But my beta readers tell me they love these characters and this world. They tell me I have to put the books out. And to be honest, these books have taken up space in my head long enough. If I don’t publish them and let them be free, if I don’t let them go out in the world to face readers who will love them and hate them and whatever other reception they get, then I’ll feel like I let them down. I don’t want to do that. I want them to have their chance. So, yes, Peter, Adam, Leslie, Daniel, Minty, Renee, and all the rest will be out this fall. Releases expected as follows:

August: Pictures of You

September: You Are Not Me

October: You Make It Real

November: Never Tear Us Apart

December/January 2017: Box Sets of the above books

Middle Grade Christmas Book: I promised my ten year old daughter to write a Middle Grade book for her, and I intend to keep that promise. Her present for next Christmas will be the book she and I planned/plotted together. I’ll release it under another name, obviously, but I’ll let my readers here know about it when I put it out.

My last tentatively planned book of 2016, one that I’d love to release in December if possible, is an unnamed Christmas story. I honestly have my doubts that I’ll get it done in time, and if I don’t feel like it’s going to happen, I’ll probably shift my focus from it to the Mail Order Bride story that I hope to have out in early 2017. We’ll see how it goes. I always like to bite off a bit more than I can chew. It keeps me constantly striving. I have a terror of being lazy, so planning for more than I can accomplish is one way I keep myself from slacking off too much.

 

These are the books I’m looking at putting out for 2016. I hope you’re as excited by this list as I am and I hope you can make room in your heart to give the 90s Coming of Age series a try even if it’s different from what you might otherwise expect from me. :) Here’s to a publication packed year!

 

“This is my first Leta Blake book but will not be my last!” Review of Smoky Mountain Dreams #gayromance

“This is my first Leta Blake book but will not be my last!! I loved everything about Christopher and Jesse. I immediately felt their connection and attraction. I also knew it wasn’t going to be a smooth ride. I am a self-proclaimed angst lover (both reading and writing it) and this had just the perfect amount of constant turmoil that made me read into the middle of the night hoping this couple would find their happily ever after.”

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

AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMTED AND AMAZON

 

 

A l’ombre de Smoky Mountain – Leta Blake

Mon Paradis des livres

Je remercie Juno Publishing France pour ce service presse

Une lecture qui m’a prise par surprise. « A l’ombre de Smoky Moutain » de Leta Blake  est une histoire Poignante avec le parfait mélange de Tendresse, de Passion, de Douleur et d’Erotisme. Tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour passer un magnifique moment de lecture.

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“AMAZING! One of my all time favorite books. Can’t recommend enough.” Review of Vespertine by Leta Blake & Indra Vaughn

“AMAZING! One of my all time favorite books. Can’t recommend enough.”

Source: Goodreads | Lisa Lyons’s review of Vespertine