Guest Blog with Olivia Brynn (GIVEAWAY)

Hey all! Thanks, Emily for letting me take over your blog today. I promise to clean up after myself. I brought Golden Oreo cookies and tea. You'll have to bring your own liquid enhancements, I'm fresh out after a week in Chicago. 
Emily is so kindly allowing me to share more about my newest release. Flipped came out on Saturday! It's my first male/male romance. I thought I'd try a short story to see if I could pull it off. Well, it got published, that's the first test, and now I wait for the reviews to see if it worked.


Flipped is a friends-to-lovers story. I've always wanted to write one (and I might write more) just because although the line between friends and lovers is pretty defined, it's so easy to get swayed over it. Really, would you want to be lovers with someone you couldn't stand in the light of day?

Here's a short excerpt to show a bit of the friendship between Mario Gutierrez and Carter Hope:
***
Mario reached across the table to nudge Carter's elbow. "I'll never forget the time you tried to teach Elaine how to moonwalk."
Carter sprayed out his mouthful of beer before he laughed it back through his nose, the picture of their friend Elaine's wavering attempt at the dance move clear in his mind, though it had been four years ago. "Oh God, that was funny. I never knew anyone could fall on her ass so many times in a row."
"And then she backed over the dog and spilled that… What was she drinking?"
"Everclear and tomato juice."
"That's right. So disgusting." Mario chuckled. "Big-ass red stain on that carpet for months afterward."
"She finally got tired of the blood stain questions, so she threw it out."
Mario laughed harder, a full-bodied guffaw he never tried to smother. The man laughed with every fiber of his being. Just like he did everything else. All or nothing. It was contagious enough that Carter's face started to ache. "We have some weird friends."
"None weirder than you, dude."
"Me? You're the one who sleeps with a body pillow."
"If you thought it was weird, why did you buy it for me?"
Carter finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the edge of the table. "I forgot your birthday and had to find something quickly." He shrugged. "It was on sale. Cheap."
That was a lie. Carter knew how Mario propped six pillows on his bed in order to sleep. The body pillow was a logical choice for a gift. The fact that it came with the Superman seal all over the fabric was a bonus."You're such a liar. You left the damn receipt on the table. I saw that you bought it a week before my birthday. And it wasn't on sale." He flipped up his middle finger. "Admit it. You like me."
"Ugh. You're not my type." Carter snorted. At Mario's playful pout, Carter took a closer look at the guy. If Mario wasn't such a good friend, he'd be just what Carter wanted in a man: dark hair, dark skin, about four inches shorter than his own six feet, but lean and handsome. Great sense of humor. Smart.
Huh. Not bad.

 ***
Have you ever just taken a fresh look at someone you'd known for years? These two just needed me to nudge them in the right direction, and they figured out the rest. One of my favorite friends-to-lovers story is one by Sandra Brown, back when she wrote genre romance. It's titled A Whole New Light. I think I read that thing about fifteen times. 
***Please comment below. I'll randomly draw from the comments to win a copy of either Flipped or one of my backlist books***
Thanks again, Emily for having me over. You can find more information about Flipped on my website. Catch me on the web!

~ Olivia*Flipped* Website * Twitter * Facebook