Okay, sometimes I have trouble staying on topic. Though this isn’t completely off topic either. Gay Pop Buzz posted a list of 10 gay romance novels I thought I’d share. They’re not YA books, but they are gay, so enjoy!
Tag: fiction
Entirely Too Gay
I am the worst at figuring out intros for blog posts, so normally I just ramble about something and then get to the topic later. I don’t know if that’s a particularly good strategy, but it is my strategy.
Okay first, the rambling. Currently, I’m reading and loving Riding With Brighton by Haven Francis. I need a new show to watch because I just got done watching Insatiable, which apparently everyone hates. I love me a dark comedy and think it has potential.
Now the topic at hand. I have a free book available on Amazon, but I should probably talk about that on my blog to so, um, I have a free book available on Amazon. Here’s the link.
Wrestling: A school-sanctioned way to roll around on the floor with sweaty guys. Why didn’t more gay kids join the wrestling team? The other wrestlers.
The days of being picked on and beat up were over for Alfonso Flores. Instead of being the scrawny nerd everyone remembered, he returned to high school bigger and buffer. He just wants to be left alone in peace. How does he end up joining the wrestling team?
A guy, of course.
To get closer to Dallas, he’ll go where no gay boy has gone before: the wrestling team. Even if he doesn’t receive a warm welcoming. For big macho men, wrestlers were pretty self-conscious. Maybe it was a gay guy joining the team. Maybe they understood just how insane their sport was. It was pretty gay.
What’s the saying? If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Alfonso’s going to do both. He’ll try not to get killed in the testosterone filled, macho world of groping other guys for sport all while getting closer to Dallas and dealing with his overprotective father. If he doesn’t survive, at least he got to feel Dallas Archer’s muscles. Definitely worth it.
This is a humorous, light hearted story about getting out of your comfort zone and getting the guy.
Scene from What Love Means
My novel What Love Means is about boys and spelling bees. This is a scene from the beginning after Max’s sister April wins a small spelling competition at her school and wants to train for the harder bees.
This excerpt contains a little bit of material from the book but is mostly an extended scene that didn’t make it in the final version.
***
After April won, I walked over to where she stood with a crowd of her friends. She had a gold star sticker on her shoulder for winning. I gave her a high five. Her friends scattered. They had a hard time being in my direct vicinity without blushing to death.
“Will you help me prepare?” she asked.
“The real thing is different. It’s a lot harder,” I warned. These were easy vocabulary words that anyone who studied had a shot at. It was different when there was a whole dictionary to choose from and kids who wanted it just as badly.
“I want to do it,” April said firmly.
“Kids study a lot for it. It’s all they do,” I warned.
“Give me a word,” she ordered.
“What?”
“Give me a challenging word. Come on,” she urged.
We had a mini stare-off before I relented. “Alright… how about ‘sputnik’?”
A boy near us giggled at the word but she didn’t even hesitate. I thought a little harder this time, then tried again. “Salve?” My favorites had been Salvic, German and Old English languages because I thought they were the most fun to say.
April got it again.
“What about shrieval?” Okay, maybe that one was a stumper. It was an old English word used for sheriff.
She nailed it without hesitation and smiled confidently at me.
“How do you know that?”
“I’m smart,” she said like it should be obvious.
“I never doubted it,” I assured.
“Good, then I should have no problem competing.”
It dawned on me. “You stole my old workbooks,” I accused.
“Borrowed.” She waved that off. “I’ve been training.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I knew you wouldn’t like it.”
Well, she was right. I stared at her as she tried to stare back seriously without grinning. Crap. I didn’t want to give in. We both knew I would.
“Alright,” I relented. “It looks like you’re going to be a spelling champion.”
Check out the full book here.
Beach Bum
I live by the beach. I go to the beach occasionally, but I picture lounging in the sun and reading a good book and I can’t actually do that at the beach. I have a dog and I love my dog and my dog loves going with humans wherever they go and especially to the beach.
Or more specifically, my dog loves walking, finding food people have left behind on the sand, and jumping on people. She doesn’t understand relaxing on a beach towel. I could try anyway but she would whine the entire time. I had to put her in her kennel a few times when older relatives were around and she’s a dachshund so she’s stubborn as hell and she made noise the whole time.
Basically, I can’t leave her behind. I could but that would be really mean and she would know and give me sad eyes when I came back.
My aim is to write three books for summer, which seems like a pretty achievable goal when I’ve already written two. I haven’t solely been rambling on about the beach because the second of my summer novels is called Beach Bum.
Charlie Powell doesn’t date.
Until he meets Bryce Davenport.
Bryce Davenport writes appointments in a day planner, pays attention in class, and tries his best at anything he does. And his name is Bryce Davenport, which is pretty pretentious.
Charlie should find him repulsive, but Bryce is sweet and bossy and a million things that make Charlie’s heart beat a little faster and his palms sweat.
The problem?
Bryce has goals and ambitions. Charlie spends his days lounging at the beach. Bryce plays sports and loves staying busy. Smoking marijuana probably isn’t a sport, but Charlie would excel at it if it was.
Can the beach bum find his happily ever after with the perfect guy or will it all go up in smoke?
~~~
This is a coming of age story that features romance, humor, and growing up. It’s also super gay.
Get the book here!
freee boooks
Hello, how are you? I’m going to assume you’re doing fine, that’s great. We should catch up more often. What am I up to? Thanks for asking! I’ve been writing a lot and this month is going by fast. I have no idea how it’s already a few weeks into June. But there’s free books to be had, so here’s some of the giveaways for June.
The Truly, Madly, Deeply giveaway has 51 books in various genres. There’s some fantasy, historical, billionaires and fake relationship stories.
This one has 78 YA reads, with a focus on romance and content suitable for YA readers.
Check it out and see if there’s anything you’re interested in! They’re all free and include previews and full books.
Deleted Scene: Summer Romance
This contains spoilers for Summer Romance. The scene is between a couple, one person wants to come out and the other one doesn’t.
—
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.”
Blast From the Past
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
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.
Reasons to Love a Nerd Like Me Review
Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me: Love Stories Book 1
The Plot: Scotty is an out, self-described geek, or I suppose I should say nerd since it’s in the title. His life is comprised of schoolwork, a type-A, bossy best friend, and a bully who lives to terrorize him. Then the mysterious bad boy Vincent Hunter enters his orbit, and both are drawn to each other.
My thoughts: This reads like a quintessential YA rom-com. There’s a cast of zany characters, lots of opportunities for drama and misunderstandings and everything feels so important and immediate. There’s a lot of fun with classic types of characters like the jealous ex and the bad boy with the heart of gold.
Reasons to Love a Nerd Like Me is an exciting, energetic read. I’m an American who doesn’t fully get the British school system but its still easy enough to follow. It almost felt like a soap opera, which I mean in a good way, there’s a lot of melodrama and high tension and it’s easy to just get absorbed and enjoy all the antics.
The best part: The two main characters are just so damn cute together. From nicknames to exchanging music to text message flirting, I loved reading their interactions and was really rooting for them. I had a smile on my face while reading, they were so adorable together. Scotty and Vincent’s love story starts slow as they get to know each other and is full of lots of sweet interactions that really make the story great.
Real or Fake? M/M romance
The breakup scene from a supposedly fake relationship:
We need to talk,” Luke told me. A classic break up line. He couldn’t even be creative about it?
“I don’t have time,” I said, shutting my locker and walking away. A small, stupid part of me actually wanted him to let me walk away, wanted this charade between us to continue.
“Yeah, you never seem to have enough time for me,” he told my retreating back.
I spun around dramatically, intending to add flair to this scene. “We’re going to do this here?” I asked skeptically like we shouldn’t do this in public, but I raised my voice to catch more attention.
“We have to do this here because you’ve been avoiding me for days.” He sounded annoyed and I wondered if it was genuine. I had been avoiding him.
“You’re being dramatic,” I scolded.
“I’m the dramatic one?” He scoffed. “You love being the center of attention.” We were definitely the center of attention now: a crowd of eager onlookers had formed around us. Some looked uncomfortable while others were enjoying this, but they all seemed interested. I saw our friends Alicia and Lydia among the rest.
“Says the guy who is literally at the center of every baseball game,” I retorted.
“I’m the pitcher,” he said, exasperated, and a few of the guys on his team nodded at that.
“Don’t bring the bedroom into this!” I couldn’t help it.
Luke’s expression went confused for a second, trying to figure that out while the crowd murmured. I probably lost most of them with that one, but I had to fight a grin as I watched Alicia and Lydia dissolving into laughter and trying to hide it, turning towards each other and giggling helplessly.
Thrown off track, Luke went in a different direction. “I know what’s really going on here. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
I raised one eyebrow. “You want me to answer that?”
“You’re interested in him,” Luke spat out. I regretted not coming up with a plan. I hadn’t known the reason he’d give for our breakup.
“You’re jealous?” I asked, trying not to fidget.
“Hard not to be when my boyfriend is checking out someone else every time I turn around.”
There were a few football players in the crowd who had been watching in horror, unable to look away, but now they nodded after what Luke said. Luke was already more popular than me and better looking, and I was the cheating partner. He’d win our breakup.
It shouldn’t matter. I should just get this over with but I wanted something. I wanted to win. He was going back to being straight and likable, and I’d be the gay cheater whose social status plummeted impossibly lower. And everyone would wonder how I could be dumb enough to cheat on the captain of the baseball team when I was lucky to have him in the first place.
Luke smiled and started to turn away. Nope, he wasn’t going to leave me here humiliated and alone. “I’m sorry,” I started and he paused, looking unsure about whether he should trust the apology. Good instincts. “But maybe I have a problem being a phase for you.”
There were gasps.
“Dude, what?” he said quietly, just to me.
I kept talking. “You’re more comfortable dating girls and you know it.”
“But—”
“I’m not the only one looking elsewhere.” I pointed to Lydia, feeling a little bad about dragging her into this.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Luke tried. “She doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Lydia had an untapped talent for dramatics. She jumped in at that. “How can you say that?” she gasped. “You told me you loved me!” She inserted herself between us for a second and slapped Luke across the face. She stared me down fiercely for a few seconds, then grinned saucily and stormed off while the crowd parted to let her through.
“You got so caught up in having a boyfriend, but you spent no time actually being in this relationship. I need more,” I said bravely, pretending that I was fighting back tears.
“Don’t do that. You’re not into me. That’s what this is really about,” Luke said weakly, trying to get the power back. It was the wrong thing to say.
“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
Luke’s face went through a series of emotions too fast for me to interpret. Man, he really was a better actor than I thought, but my heart hammered in my chest too hard to pay attention. Tears welled up in my eyes, no longer fake.
“I think we need to break up,” he said quietly.
“I don’t think so.” His eyes widened. I thought I heard people gasp again. “I know it,” I said, head held high. “We’re over.”
People cleared the way to let me through. I think a couple people even applauded. I just kept my eyes ahead and concentrated on walking down the hall and out of Luke’s life.
Our relationship had been fake, but that breakup seemed real.
This is an excerpt from One Little Word,
Gay Paranormal Romance 