Book Name: Whispers
of Home
Series? Yes. Number: Book one.
Author Name: April
Kelley
Author Bio:
Born
and raised in Southwest Michigan, April lives with her husband and two
kids. She has been an avid reader for
several years. Writing her first story
at the age of ten, the characters in her head still won't stop telling their
stories. If April isn't reading or
writing she can be found outside playing with a farm full of animals or taking
a long walk in the woods.
Where to find the
author:
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Cover Artist: Carmen
Waters
All Jaron McAllister wanted to do was get out of the small town where he
grew up. After being bullied all his life for being gay, that’s exactly what
he does. He loses all contact with everyone in the town of Pickleville, including
his emotionally distant mother and the only true friend he ever had.
When his best friend and
mother of the child they share, get murdered he knows he must ask for help in
the one place he thought he would never go back to. Coming back home isn’t
easy and finding himself attracted to the town man-slut spells disaster.
Travis Heath isn’t at all what his reputation suggests though.
Categories: Contemporary, Erotica, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance
Excerpt:
Jaron looked through the
window of the diner from across the street. His mother’s hands gripped a mug,
probably full of coffee. Jaron thought he was meeting Brian but apparently
Brian had other plans. Brian always did think he knew best, the bastard. Jaron
was fully aware his oldest friend had set this up, probably getting in touch
with Gloria McAllister right after Jaron had called the first time, telling
her when Jaron would be here. Brian had never understood that the relationship
Jaron and Gloria had wasn’t like the relationship Brian had with his own
father.
Looking at his mom through the
glass was like watching a movie of her. He had never felt the connection with
his mom that he thought he should, even as a small child. Maybe that had been
his fault. That he wasn’t quite what she wanted in a son and therefore kept
just enough distance to make it seem like miles. Which was why he was confused
she had come instead of Brian.
When he was eighteen years old
he had thought he left because of a burning desire to fit in somewhere,
because he certainly hadn’t fit in very well in Pickleville. He needed that
connection to another human being, that knowing he was so important to another
human being they just couldn’t live without him. Ironically, it was a five
year old boy he felt unconditionally connected too. Now that he knew the
unconditional love a parent felt for their child, he wondered at his mother’s
parental instincts.
He stood on the sidewalk in
front of what used to be a place called the Hobbyist’s Dream but was now an
Asian market. He noticed the place was empty when he had arrived but his back
was turned now, his complete attention on the woman in the window. He thought
the Asian place probably wouldn’t have lasted long back in the day. Who knows
now? The diner was the only one in town, or was until they put in a McDonald’s
by the highway. Jaron hadn’t realized that things in this town could change
until the bus passed by the fast food restaurant. Somehow he expected
everything to be the same, as if time would stand still just because he didn’t
feel any different now that he was here.
Standing here, he felt that
maybe he left to put the physical miles between himself and the only parent he
had ever known. He had never fit in with her either.
He felt a tug on his hand and
looked down at sweet blue eyes. This small boy was as dependent on the next
few minutes and the woman in the window as he was. “I’m thirsty,” Bobby said,
around the thumb in his mouth.
“Me too. Let’s go.” Jaron
stepped off the curb and onto the street, gripping onto Bobby’s hand just a
little tighter, pausing for a car, and then continuing until he came within
inches of his mother, the glass the only barrier now. She looked directly at
him, showing more emotion in those few seconds than he had ever seen from her
during his entire childhood. He looked away and walked through the door of the
restaurant.
Pages or Words: 44,597 words
17-Mar
17-Mar
24-Mar
31-Mar
7-Apr
14-Apr
21-Apr
28-Apr
5-May
Sales Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Home-Pickleville-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00TVTOXYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425427783&sr=8-1&keywords=whispers+of+home
Rafflecopter Prize:
E-copy of ‘Whispers of Home’
Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?
I use a pen name. April is my real first name. Kelley is the name of a pet dog I had when I was little. I’m a big animal lover and even live on a farm now. When I was little I wanted to be a writer, so using the name Kelley is a way to respect my childhood dog and my own childhood aspirations.
Describe your writing space.
I sit in my living room on my couch, most of the time, in my pajamas.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I like to spend time outside, going on hikes in the woods around my house.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
Well characters always come first for me. After that, the plot sort of forms around whatever they tell me.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?
Eyes, hair. Definitely the hair, which is a weird thing to start with, isn’t it?
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I’m on my sixth now. I just finish book five in the Pickleville series and started another series.
Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your genre?
I’m pretty happy in the M/M romance genre at the moment, but never say never, right? I may stray outside the M/M genre down the road but I won’t stray from the broad LGBT genre.
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?
I’m working on a new Series called Lakehouse Security. It will come out in September of this year. I don’t want to give too much away at the moment but it’s about four brothers who own a security company. They get called to help out on a case by the local police in which gay men are reported as missing on a regular basis.
.jpg)
And now for the interview!
Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?
I use a pen name. April is my real first name. Kelley is the name of a pet dog I had when I was little. I’m a big animal lover and even live on a farm now. When I was little I wanted to be a writer, so using the name Kelley is a way to respect my childhood dog and my own childhood aspirations.
Describe your writing space.
I sit in my living room on my couch, most of the time, in my pajamas.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I like to spend time outside, going on hikes in the woods around my house.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
Well characters always come first for me. After that, the plot sort of forms around whatever they tell me.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?
Eyes, hair. Definitely the hair, which is a weird thing to start with, isn’t it?
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I’m on my sixth now. I just finish book five in the Pickleville series and started another series.
Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your genre?
I’m pretty happy in the M/M romance genre at the moment, but never say never, right? I may stray outside the M/M genre down the road but I won’t stray from the broad LGBT genre.
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?
I’m working on a new Series called Lakehouse Security. It will come out in September of this year. I don’t want to give too much away at the moment but it’s about four brothers who own a security company. They get called to help out on a case by the local police in which gay men are reported as missing on a regular basis.
