Are You a Romance Purist? Mistletowed Excerpt!

I recently guest blogged at the new site, Guys Like Romance Too. My topic was, Are You a Romance Purist? It inspired a lot of comment so i thought i would repost it here. If you would like to see the great new site and read all the interesting comments go to this site.

Are You a Romance Purist?

I’m delighted to be part of the launch of Guys Like Romance, Too! And I have a question for the guys and girls who do like romance. Do you only like books that are pure LGBT? No girl cooties?  LOL. Be honest. 

When I started writing novels I was told “don’t mix up your females in your male/male books because LGBT readers don’t like it”. I understand. I do like my beautiful guys. But in real life, gay guys know women and even have relationships with them. Some men who identify as gay have been married and had children. Or had girlfriends. And certainly, gay men and straight women are great friends. I can attest to that. So, how do you feel about books that include women? Or straight men as well as gay men?

I came to romance novel writing late in my career after many years of writing non-fiction so I tend to just write what I like and the stories that fill my head. I’ve been delighted that other people seem to like them too. Sometimes these stories aren’t pure anything (yep, pun intended). I’m interested in the fluidity of sexual identity and in people finding true expression for themselves. And I love stories that mix things up a bit. 

While some of my books are pure LGBT, I’ve also written two M/M/F ménages both of which include men who consider themselves gay. I’ve written M/M and M/M/M books including characters who had always thought of themselves as straight. And my ultimate mixup to date is my new holiday romance called Mistletowed. Mistletowed is definitely M/M. In fact, I would even call it LGBT although it starts with five friends, two male/female couples and their gay best friend. Then two more guys get thrown into the mix -- men who would probably call themselves bisexual. Add a dash of magic and a piece of mistletoe and poof, we end up with a book that is M/M, M/F and M/M/F with BDSM. It is an ensemble piece that defies categorization and yet I think it will be fun and satisfying for fans of LGBT romance. That’s my hope. My intention. Let me know if I succeed. 

And just for fun, here is an excerpt from Mistletowed for your New Year enjoyment.

Five friends, one piece of mistletoe. Christian Elliott has the perfect life -- right girlfriend, right job, right house and car. How come he’s only really happy when he’s with his best friend, Jason? Melanie Cantrell has everything she wants. Why can’t she stop cheating on her boyfriend with her yoga teacher? Buttercup Allender adores her stable life with Winston.  But she can’t give up her secret desire for BDSM. Stir them all together at a holiday party with a beautiful rock god and a submissive stockbroker and what do you get? It could be love and it could be magic.

Decision time. He pulled over into a waiting zone beside the road. He could chicken out and just go see Jason, vent his anger, and go home to Melanie. He could. He should. But an idea had been growing in his mind since Thursday after his amazing conversation with Jase. It had been impossible for Christian not to notice that he was fascinated by what gay men did…sexually. Were most guys interested in gay sex and just didn’t say so? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think so.

Had he always been interested in how much other men thought about gay sex? In truth, he’d spent a lot of his life avoiding thinking about sex. Since he was a teenager, anyway. It’d never seemed all that great. He got off on work and the thrill of a new campaign that moved the market share of his company. He chuckled. More interested in bottom lines than bottoms. He sighed. Sex wasn’t that satisfying for him. He noticed women were interested in him, but he didn’t care much.

But now Christian was interested. And not in women. He leaned back on the car seat. Shit, the alcohol was hitting him hard now. He kept wondering how it would feel to get a blowjob from a man. He remembered wondering about that with a cute guy in his neighborhood when he was about fifteen. But the guy always had a girl with him, and so did Christian, so he’d let it go. He had jerked off a couple times thinking about that guy’s pretty lips. Then he’d discovered business and forgotten the whole thing. At least until he met Jase. Of course, Jason would never want to go there with his best friend, but he’d made Christian think about blowjobs again.

What would it be like? He’d tried on the thought countless times in the last three days -- before that, if he was being honest. Right off he noticed that the idea didn’t disgust him. Actually, being honest again, it kind of turned him on. He couldn’t help but think that a guy would be so much better at it than any of the women he’d known. He probably knew the wrong women, but that wasn’t the question on the table.

What was the question on the table? Christian felt the alcohol in his brain and tried to think around it. Okay, Sea Shell Bar, coming up. Site of his first potential male blowjob. Or at least the candidates for it. Was he really going to do this? He giggled and slapped a hand over his mouth. Officially over the edge.

A couple of minutes later, he found a miraculous parking space on a street a few blocks from Jason’s house. Instead of walking to his friend’s, he headed toward town and the murky little bar that hosted mostly Laguna locals, including a contingent of the town’s large gay population. He’d been there with Jason a few times and always enjoyed it. Maybe he would tonight.

The little bar huddled between a large rug store and a florist. During the day you could barely see inside, it was so dark, but tonight Christian could make out a good-sized crew of preholiday revelers gathered at the bar and playing darts in the back. Okay, asking one more time. Was he going to do this? Shit, he had to know. He took a deep breath and walked in, squeezing between the people near the door to find a standing spot at the bar.

He looked around. A lot of men were clustered in couples and small groups. He could imagine calling them attractive. There were also a number of male/female couples, so just being here did not advertise his interest. But Christian knew one thing. While he didn’t think about his looks very often, tonight they were on his side. He knew he was pretty. Pretty enough to be noticed by someone interested in sucking cock.

“What’ll you have?”

It almost made Christian laugh. He smiled instead. “Bourbon and water, thanks.”

The big, muscular bartender smiled back. “Sure, beautiful.”

You'll find Mistletowed at AMAZON   Loose Id

Thank you for visiting the blog. Wicked Leanore is here on Sunday afternoon and Monday and then Wednesday, January 4th, look for the Huge New Year Blog Hop!! Thank you for visiting the blog.  :  )

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