April Keller is a supporting character in What Love Means and is Max’s little sister. She’s fun and lively, so she got a mood board too.
April Keller
“Have we not already established that I’m better than you in every way?”
The book is currently free on Amazon!
Outshine the Stars
Plot: Witty and self-absorbed Justin catches feelings and has to admit the world is bigger than himself.
My thoughts: I don’t know the right way to describe the writing in this short story. I think of it as ‘poetic as hell.’ It’s gorgeous and lyrical. The format wasn’t my favorite but I’m glad I stuck it out because it’s a good quick read with witty dialogue and a sweet love story.
Fave Part: I really enjoyed the prose, but the dialogue was good too. The conversations were a mix of how I actually talked in high school and how clever I wish I was in high school.
Arrested Development has been my current obsession for the month.
This has nothing to do with anything, I’m just showing my appreciation of Gob Bluth and Tony Wonder and sending out gay vibes into the universe so that their relationship continues in S5.
P.S. My novel What Love Means is available for FREE right now on Amazon.
My novel What Love Meansis available for free this week on Amazon.
Cal might not have a job, but he’s always busy. Getting into a good college takes work and it’s worth it even if he doesn’t have any time for himself. He doesn’t need a rugged dark-haired boy distracting him.
When Max and Cal’s siblings start competing in spelling bees, these opposites are thrown together. They have nothing in common. Except for their attraction to each other. As they grow closer while coaching their siblings, their attraction might lead to something more. But can their high school relationship…
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My novel What Love Means is available for free this week on Amazon.
Cal might not have a job, but he’s always busy. Getting into a good college takes work and it’s worth it even if he doesn’t have any time for himself. He doesn’t need a rugged dark-haired boy distracting him.
When Max and Cal’s siblings start competing in spelling bees, these opposites are thrown together. They have nothing in common. Except for their attraction to each other. As they grow closer while coaching their siblings, their attraction might lead to something more. But can their high school relationship survive real world challenges?
Spelling words and learning their dictionary definitions is easy. Real life is different.
Max and Cal know how to spell love, but they’re about to find out what it means.
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The free promotion lasts from Sunday to Thursday and the book currently is at number 1 in several of its categories. Thanks to everyone who’s gotten a copy so far!
With devil may care attitudes and rugged good looks, it’s easy to fall for the bad boys even when you shouldn’t. The bad boys in these stories shake up the status quo, cause trouble, and may break a few hearts, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find true love in the end.
Why are bad boys so irresistible? I don’t know, but here’s ten books about rebels, punks, jerks with hearts of gold, and dangerous, brooding bad boys.
(And I’ve also been expanding this list on my Pinterest account, so check it out too!)
Seventeen-year-old Connor works his butt off to maintain the golden-boy persona he’s created. He has the grades, the extracurriculars, the athletics, and a part-time job at his dad’s shop… every detail specifically chosen to ensure the college scholarships he needs to get the hell out of the Podunk town where he…
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This contains spoilers for Summer Romance. The scene is between a couple, one person wants to come out and the other one doesn’t.
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This was kinda weird. I was in a hospital room having a relationship discussion. Sort of. Carter’s dad had his procedure and Carter got his dad settled into his room or whatever while I went and got some lunch from the cafeteria for us and I hung around, letting him do whatever he needed to do and then his dad was asleep and we were on the floor of his hospital room, not talking much, but whispering when we did so that we didn’t disturb his dad.
His phone was obviously on silent, but it sat next to us on the floor. He’d answered it for a while, responding to people’s text but had given up for now. It keep flashing and lighting up, floods of messages pouring in.
“Everyone always loves you,” I whispered.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Maybe it is.”
“What so I should have no friends like you?” He winced immediately after he said it. He opened his mouth to apologize but I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. I looked at him, trying to gauge if that was okay. He glanced at his dad but then just sighed and squeezed my hand back.
It was hard to hold a few harsh words against a guy when you were keeping him company in his dad’s hospital room.
“I don’t see why I should want people to dislike me just because it builds character or something,” Carter said.
“The thing is, there’s always going to be something about you people might not like. You can hide negative stuff by being popular and friendly but it’s still there and maybe those people aren’t worth being friends with if they only want you to be perfect.”
My absent father wanted to speak to me, maybe meet up, and I… I could barely stand to think about reconnecting or whatever.
“I can’t deal with a nightmare from my past right now” I told my mother.
She laughed at me. “You’re so dramatic. That’s a bright side, huh? You won’t even have to come out to your dad, just say that.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Shut up.” Drinking and denial were better than drudging up the past. This conversation was proof. Shit.
“I’m just asking,” she said gently. “It’s your decision.” She was using a weird kind tone I didn’t like. Mom typically took the tough love approach with me these days. Her parenting advice normally involved stern words and phrases like ‘stop being a dumbass’ and ‘make smart decisions because I’m not paying for bail.’
“What would we even talk about?” Dad and I hadn’t had anything in common, something he worried about often. I wasn’t a ‘normal boy’ who’d liked sports and bugs and whatever normal boys were supposed to like. “Maybe dad and I will just hug and go play catch?” I quipped. Oh god, what if he really did want to play catch? He didn’t hide his disappointment at my inability to play sports very well when I was younger, but I was stronger now.
Mom thought about it. “Maybe you could guilt him into buying you beer.”
I laughed. “Tempting.”
She walked to stand in front of me. “I’ve got to go to work.” She bent down and kissed my forehead. I scowled as she smiled back at me. “Make good decisions, dumbass.”
Excerpt from What Love Means
Sam Dorsey and his Sixteen Candles is right up my alley. It’s a definite rom-com where’s there’s a bunch of zany antics that could realistically happen in real life but probably wouldn’t, especially at the same time, but if you’re someone like me who can suspend disbelief and just read about the crazy week Sam turns 16, it’s a funny, enjoyable story.
Sam Dorsey And His Sixteen Candles (Sam Dorsey And Gay Popcorn) (Volume 1)
My thoughts: The narrator in this story, Sam, has a good voice that adds a lot of character and…
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Sam Dorsey and his Sixteen Candles is right up my alley. It’s a definite rom-com where’s there’s a bunch of zany antics that could realistically happen in real life but probably wouldn’t, especially at the same time, but if you’re someone like me who can suspend disbelief and just read about the crazy week Sam turns 16, it’s a funny, enjoyable story.
Sam Dorsey And His Sixteen Candles (Sam Dorsey And Gay Popcorn) (Volume 1)
My thoughts: The narrator in this story, Sam, has a good voice that adds a lot of character and humor. The tone stands out and lets you know what you’re reading, it’s not just another book that blends in with the rest.
I feel like I should say something about the references to the Sixteen Candles movie, but as I’ve never seen the movie, I can’t. As far as I know, some characters have similar names, but it seems like it’s more the tone of the story that’s similar than actual details.
There’s a lot of guys in this story that seem to be at the very least bicurious. Just a whole lot of queer dudes, which is something you don’t see a lot anywhere, especially in YA. I think it’s great, especially as I tend to have multiple gay characters in my stories too.
Best Part: Many stories deal with the negative fallout of coming out and while that’s realistic, I don’t think disapproving parents are a universal experience anymore, so I enjoyed the approach this story took a lot.
I don’t know what classifies as full length or a short story and what this technically ranks as. Since the action takes place over a few days and it’s around 150 pages, it feels like a short story. It’s a cute, quick read. There’s other books in the series and they all seem to be available on Kindle Unlimited.
Gay Paranormal Romance 