Such a tiny word for a huge subject. At its core, art is a form of expression. A way to show a piece of your heart or soul when words fail.
As the shy kid hiding behind his mother’s Anne Taylor pant leg, skipping words altogether appealed to me. Putting pretty colors on a blank page and creating a picture, creating a statement without the awkwardness and anxiety, it was everything.
I love painting. I love everything from color theory to the first brush stroke. I love art.
Art is beautiful, transformative, passionate… and limited.
What you always wanted for Christmas, One Little Lie is on sale. Or maybe what you didn’t know you always wanted for Christmas. Yeah, that works. And because in my mind it’s appropriate, I picked part of the book to share where they talk about glitter because glitter is a vital part of Christmas. Not as celebrated as Santa but totally there in every shiny present and tacky decoration.
The book is about Luke, a popular athlete at his small town high school who just did the unthinkable by falling for another guy. His journey to figure out his sexuality will test everything he knows about his relationships and himself. In this scene, Luke and friends are going out to a gay bar and he’s trying not to freak out.
I wrote this book so long ago I barely remember writing it, but I do know this part was really fun. Luke and his boyfriend were both panicking for different reasons, and there is glitter, moody drunk girls, snark, and cuteness, which is apparently everything I adore.
~
Glitter!
Luke
As Ryan’s really good at being a spaz, I should leave that to him. Me? I’m awesome. I had to remember that. So what if I was going to a gay bar for the first time and couldn’t even get drunk? Without alcohol to help, I was a terrible dancer.
Did I belong at a gay bar? As a couple, yeah, I guess. But me? No idea. What if everyone looked at me and knew I didn’t belong? What if they didn’t? Did that mean I did belong?
I went simple with my clothes, a red shirt that hugged my muscles and tight jeans. Ryan… did the opposite. He looked good, a little ridiculous with all the glitter, but also like himself. Also super gay.
“What do you think?” Ryan asked coyly while preening, batting his eyes in a way he thought was flirtatious but was actually excessive.
Dragging my eyes away from their current focus, I managed to reply nonchalantly. “Are you sure that’s the most obnoxious glitter you could find? Because I can barely even see it when I close my eyes.”
-This is from One Little Lie, the second sweet and snarky M/M romance in the One More Thing series of contemporary YA novels. Grab this gay romance for 99 cents right now! The deal lasts from the 26th-31, for those in the US and UK.
If you miss the sale, you can still get a great deal! Grab the book here as part of the One Crazy Love StoryBoxset, which features the first four books in the One More Thing Series.
What seemed closer to a vast ocean as a child is actually a tiny oasis of blue and green serenity where water plants thrive. The greenish dark water and picturesque lily pads on top spark a rush of nostalgia. I remember the satisfying splash of chucking a bottle in there.
As kids, we were creative since we lacked glass bottles. Instead, we used old prescription bottles from our parents to deliver our notes. The little orange capsules stuck out, orange buoys signaling a secret message from friends.
Even getting into this class means I’m among the best artists at my high school, chosen by the notoriously eccentric Alessandria French herself. She only accepts a dozen seniors or less every year, those whose potential ‘speaks to her senses.’
My parents were so impressed they stopped telling me about the starting salaries for accountants. For a few weeks.
The school doors open, light from outside hitting him just right and making his blue eyes sparkle. And his hair color, a rich chestnut brown, is new and makes my knees weak.
“Hey, Bell!” he greets, calling me by my last name as usual. I ignore the popular people at his side who sometimes clearly wonder why we interact. “What’s up?”
Zach Ahmad is a fun character from the One More Thing Series. I would explain more, but I think this quote showcases my point without needing more context. This is from One Little Lie, which is now available as a box set.
Zach nodded his head at her words, then changed tracks. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re a bitch and we can definitely be friends. But is this seriously the only reason you guys are here? To talk about our big gay feelings?” He grimaced. “I’m already getting enough of this from Luke.”
Dylan was always caring, sweet, good. The perfect guy for anybody. The right guy. Yet I suppose I never truly stopped to ask myself whether he was right for me.
OneLittle Word involves pretend boyfriends, secret fake relationships, regular fake relationships, and actual feelings. All of this refers to one couple. In One Little Lie, there are secret relationships and fake relationships. Luke is one of the parties involved in both scenarios, but there are three people and two different relationships. I’m not sure why, but when talking about pretend dating scenarios, I like making everything sound as complicated as possible.
In one sense, I suppose fake dating is complicated enough. But if you like fake dating stories, then you like the kind of extra drama that can only happen in romcoms.
If you haven’t read One Little Word, no worries. One, it’s included in a box set with One Little Lie. And two, Ryan will also get you up to speed:
It started when an idiot from the baseball team (Luke Chambers) got himself in trouble. There was foul language, high stakes, dire consequences, and then… things got weird. The idiot, being an idiot, decided the best way to get out of the mess he created involved pretending to date me.
Wait, Luke’s moroncy aside, the whole thing worked out great for me. The broken leg sucked, but I healed, and now I had an awesome hottie boyfriend.
No matter how many times I paint the feelings, he doesn’t understand. The canvas displays the buttery yellow curtains of his room, the wide-open window and all the hope there painted in shades of pink and possibilities, but he never understands my message. He never hears my love for him.
Here’s a quote from Hunter Cruse, a main character from my YA M/M Kindle Vella novel, The Boy Next Door.
“Hey, losers,” says a voice from the side. Whoa, I was too busy agonizing about the new girlfriend to notice Hunter’s here, leaning against his car. “We can chat while we eat. Let’s go.”
“In a hurry?” Dylan teases.
The older brother looks around with contempt. “I’m done standing in the parking lot of my old high school wondering if maybe I just applied myself like all those teachers begged, I wouldn’t have ended up back here.”
“You can take Sam, right?” Dyl asks as he heads to his car hand-in-hand with Renee. No, no, no.
“Sure, we definitely need two cars for four people.” Hunter tosses me a dry look over his shoulder as he walks to the driver’s side, though it seems more at their expense than mine.
Gay Paranormal Romance 