And all because I asked...

Way back in December 2012, I was hosting my first ever chat on Facebook, as part of the release of my first book, Learning to Love: Michael & Sean. Dreamspinner let me take over their page for about three hours - brave people! - and I chatted with readers, ran a caption competition, and lots of other fun stuff.
One of the things I did was to ask questions of the participants. The most interesting replies came as a result of me asking "Is there a storyline that you haven't seen in MM but would love to see?"
I haven't a clue who gave this reply, but it stayed with me: "I'd like to see a story where stepbrothers fall in love."
And that got me thinking....
It wasn't until last year that the idea started becoming pretty insistent. Then one day I'm in the shower, like you do, when suddenly in my head, I'm hearing Marc talking with his housemate as he packs up to go home for the summer after his first year in college. Only he's dreading it. Marc is gay, but not out, and he's been in love with Tony, the young man he's grown up with for the past eight years. Marc's dad Dennis and Tony's mum Marie have been living happily together, along with their combined five kids, except Dennis has now decided to make an honest woman of her.
And Tony? The 18 yr-old Tony is in love with Marc....
Well, that makes things easy, doesn't it?
(Yeah, you've read my books... Uh uh)

And so was born Confetti, Cake & Confessions. I could see the cover in my head, and fortunately for me, my cover designer Meredith Russell is also a mindreader, because she translated it perfectly.



Tony Porter and Marc Powell had lived in the same house for the past eight years, since their single parents moved in together. When Tony’s mother Marie and Marc’s father Dennis decide to tie the knot at last, it should be an occasion of great joy for everyone. Except all Marc can think about is having to spend the next two weeks with the young man he’s been in love with since he was sixteen.

Tony feels so torn about Marc coming home from college. He keeps telling himself that it’s wrong to feel this way about him. After all, in two weeks’ time they’ll be related. So when the two young men are thrown together to prepare for the wedding, tensions rise and discoveries are made.
It’s going to be a very long two weeks, and a wedding that no one will ever forget.

#firsttime, #virgins, #wedding


CC&C will be my first novel to be available on pre-order from Amazon, and is due for release toward the end of September.