FAMILY CAMP released March 28th. To celebrate, I’m doing a blog tour with Signal Boost Promotions. You can enter to win a $25 gift certificate at any of the blog tour stops.
CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE CONTEST.
Check out some of the reviews and stops so far on this page (under “What people are saying”).
EBOOK:
Amazon US - ebook and paperback
Amazon UK - ebook and paperback
READ CHAPTER 1:
Family Camp - Chapter 1
EXTRA STUFF:
Goodreads
FAMILY CAMP is out today! It’s available in ebook and paperback. The ebook is on Kindle Unlimited for the first 90 days.
AMAZON US - ebook and paperback
AMAZON UK - ebook and paperback
This is a sweet, feel-good romance with little angst and lots of family feels. I think we all need a little lightness right now! I hope it makes you smile.
BLURB:
When Geo signs up for Family Camp, he envisions nature hikes, s’mores, and a chance to win over his recalcitrant new foster kids, Jayden and Lucy. He’s tried to become a dad for so long, and he hopes the three of them can be the family he’s always wanted. What he doesn’t anticipate is the prickly and gorgeous camp counselor who constantly comes to his rescue.
Travis spends a week every year at Camp Evermore, the camp his adoptive parents own. As a pro baseball player, his presence guarantees a full campground and excited campers. He has one rule: never, ever mess around with anyone at camp. His profession demands he stay in the closet. But one sweet and funny new dad is about to test all his resolve.
Sparks fly for Geo and Travis, and not because of the nightly campfire. Having been a foster kid himself, Travis is drawn to Geo’s sincerity and big heart and to his kids. The four of them just fit. But will this be a summer romance? Or can they find a way to be a family long after Family Camp is over?
About the Daddy Dearest series
This series will consist of stand-alone contemporary novels focusing on single gay dads who find hot romance. Expect laughs, sweet and sexy slow-burn romance, and lots of family feels!
It's been a while since I read Big Love, so I read this as a stand-alone. It works fine in that regard.
This YA novel is about courage--the courage to be true to yourself no matter how non-conforming that is or the cost in bullying from others. Truman, the main character, lives in a small Ohio town and he’s openly gay and quite femme presenting. He is a senior in high school and doesn't hide his light under a bushel, so to speak. His has friends and a single mom who are incredibly supportive, so this isn't a bleak story in any way, though there is some bullying.
Truman's love interest is Mike, a good-looking, butch guy who has recently moved to town. He was gay in his previous home of Seattle, but he's trying to fly under the radar in Truman's small town. Although immediately attracted to Truman, for quite a while Mike ignores him, not wanting to reveal his own homosexuality. He's a bit hot and cold with Truman, but fortunately, he ultimately steps up to the plate.
There's a high school play Truman is involved with that brings matters to a head with both the town bullies and with Mike. Fortunately, Truman handles it with aplomb and we get an HEA.
If you enjoy gay coming of age stories, you will enjoy this one by Rick Reed. As usual, his writing is terrific and I read this through without a pause. Recommended.
I love hurt-comfort stories. I recently led a panel at Euro Pride Con about the appeal of the underdog character. I get more emotionally involved when a character has some difficult personal challenges to overcome such as a disability, homelessness, abuse, or other trauma in their past. I get very invested in seeing this type of character find love and get their HEA.
Some of my favorite books in the m/m genre that fit this theme are "Ethan, Who Loved Carter" by Ryan Loveless, "Blind Faith" by N.R. Walker, and "Love Comes Silently" by Andrew Grey. I've also written my share of books with an underdog hero including "The Mating of Michael", "Falling Down", and "Tender Mercies."
I just read "Love Me Whole" by Nicky James and it goes into the top tier of my favorite hurt-comfort slash underdog love stories. In this book, the love interest, Oryn, suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, or multiple personalities. This was presumably caused by horrific childhood trauma. Wisely, Nicky doesn't get into spelling out what that was, instead focusing on the "here and now" -- Oryn, as a young man, trying to navigate his life when he often loses time to these other personalities and has very little control over his world. Vaughn is the love interest, a man who befriends Oryn after they meet in a college class. He falls for Oryn despite the challenge of being in a relationship with someone who can disappear in the blink of an eye.
I loved this book. Not only was it highly readable and addictive, it was also fascinating. I learned a lot of things about DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) that I didn't know before. I especially loved the way the Vaughn had to navigate, not only his relationship with Oryn, but with each of the other personalities that resided within Oryn as well, including one who was very much a "straight dude bro" and another that was a child. Vaughn had to respect each personality as a separate individual, win them over, and earn their trust. And his relationship with the "main" personality, Oryn, had to be taken extremely slowly due to Oryn's tendency to trigger when Vaughn pushed too far too fast in a physical relationship.
This book was SO well done. I highly recommend this hurt-comfort story as one of the best. Cudos to Nicky James for managing a very, very difficult narrative and pulling it off 100%.
Here's a link to the book on Goodreads where you can find purchase links.
We bought our farm in Lancaster County, PA in 2010. Since then, things have been busy but relatively stable. We've loved the farm and it's been a stunningly beautiful, bucolic, serene place to write. I made a home office, but I rarely use it. We have a back room that's all windows, and that's where we spend 99% of our time. It's lovely to write on my laptop and look out over acres of green trees and a pond down below. It's like being in a private park all the time.
The farm has also inspired a number of books. All of the books below were set partially or entirely on our farm.
But as idyllic as this place is, it's also a lot of work and expense to upkeep. And honestly, my husband and I use so little of both the house and the property. I know a larger family, or someone who wants to use the farm as a farm, would appreciate the place more and do much more with it.
Over the years, we've considered starting a B&B or wedding venue or even a farm sanctuary. But the reality is that my husband and I area both introverts and I spend a great deal of time inside my own head. So us being professional hosts would not end well!
I've always been fairly transient, moving every few years. So the prospect of moving on to something new is exciting to me rather than depressing. But that doesn't mean it isn't a ton of work and stress.
We put the farm on the market in April and I took nearly a month off writing to try to get things ready. Now I find I have a little more time to write again as we're in wait mode, making sure the place is kept very clean and nice for the occasional showing and tinkering on less critical improvements. I'm also slowly going through every cupboard and getting rid of stuff or packing it. I'm looking forward to the day we have "60 days" or less to vacate to help goose my motivation.
Even in wait mode, though, our life is in upheaval right now and will be until we can settle into "The next thing". That can be disconcerting and annoyingly distracting. My brain is like a cat checking out a new place, constantly sniffing at this or that idea, posing forays into the unknown, doing research online, trying to figure out what might happen if we did x, y or z. It's not very conducive to absorbing myself in someone else's story.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR US IRL?
I'm not sure. My husband has a good job nearby, so we'll likely stay in the area and rent a house. But with two dogs, even roly-poly, snooze hounds like our bulldogs, that might be a challenge.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR ELI EASTON?
I'm currently working on a revised and expanded version of Puzzle Me This. But my big new WIP is a YA with a m/m romance that revolves around a school shooting. I've been really sort of obsessed with coverage of school shootings lately, rather infuriated, and also I feel so much empathy for parents who need to send their kids out every morning with this lurking fear, to the students who have to have this threat hanging over them, to the young activists who are going up against the NRA bullies to try to get things to change. I know it's a tough topic, and will likely be one of my more angsty books. But I feel a need to write about it. I hope I can do justice to the subject matter. And maybe my own life being in upheaval right now helps me write more angsty stuff.
As for longer term, wherever we end up, I'm sure you will see our new setting in many future Eli Easton stories.
Thanks to my readers for your ongoing support. You make it possible for me to write by buying my books, reviewing, making fun graphics, and sending me encouraging and inspiring emails. Love you all.
Eli
The featured backlist title for May (and June too, since I'll be travelling) is "Before I Wake". It's currently on sale on Amazon for 99c! AMAZON LINK HERE.
I wrote this story in 2012 for submission to a Torquere Press fairy tale themed anthology. The word count limit was pretty strict, so the story came in at 8K. I always find it an interesting challenge to tell a great story, the story I want to tell, in such a small amount of space.
I think the story worked well at its size, but when I got the rights back from Torquere I was able to add a longish epilogue that really capped off the story. The new version is now self-published.
There are a few things I particularly love about this story. First is the character of Jonesy, who is a huge man with a low IQ who works as a nurse's aide. His father was a gigantic boxer and his mother a sweet little wisp of a woman, and while Jonesy resembles his father, he has the tender-heartedness of his mother. He is immediately drawn to a young man, Michael, who is brought into the hospital after a hate crime and is in a coma. Michael has been rejected by his parents, so there's no one to root for him, come visit, or even care if he lives or dies. So Jonesy takes over that role, speaking and reading to the young man often, and trying to get him to respond and recover.
In case you haven't guessed yet, the story is a new take on the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty". :-)
The second thing I love about the story is the dream state that Michael is in and how he slowly becomes aware of and responds to Jonesy's voice.
It's a short book, but I think it packs a wallop, especially if you love hurt-comfort stories as I do.
Enjoy your late spring-early summer. I hope you find many wonderful reads!
Eli
This book is so fantabulous, I want to hold it up and sing songs to it.
OK, that might be a bit much. But it really is marvelous. The writing is excellent and the daring-do characters are so much fun. This is definitely an intrigue/swashbuckler tale with a dash of romance, as opposed to the other way around, but it is a perfect read IMHO. It gets the historical tone just right, and the first-person narration sparkles. Just smashing!
Check out this interview conducted by my good friend and fellow author, Jamie Fessenden. It's part of the Robby Riverton blog tour. Thanks to Bayou Book Junkie for hosting!
It's release day! This is a special book for me. There aren't many historical westerns in m/m romance, and I had put off the idea for this book figuring it was unlikely to sell well. But the idea kept poking at me and I finally decided to take the plunge and just write something for the fun of it.
I love the old historical western romances, and I had a blast writing my own version of that. I hope you will enjoy it too! Look for blog tour stop and a giveaway posting here soon.
LINKS:
BLURB:
Being a fugitive in the old west shouldn’t be this much fun.
The year is 1860. Robby Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder by a famous crime boss and is forced to go on the run--all the way to Santa Fe. When he still hasn't ditched his pursuers, he disguises himself as a mail order bride he meets on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his "intended", Robby's only ally is a lazy sheriff who sees exactly who Robby is -- and can't resist him.
Trace Crabtree took the job as sheriff of Flat Bottom because there was never a thing going on. And then Robby Riverton showed up. Disguised as a woman. And betrothed to Trace’s brother. If that wasn’t complication enough, Trace had to find the man as appealing as blueberry pie. He urges Robby to stay undercover until the danger has passed. But a few weeks of having Robby-Rowena at the ranch, and the Crabtree family will never be the same again.
FIVE DARES, my recent bff friends-to-lovers story about a couple of daredevils is now available on Kindle Unlimited.
Readers are calling this book one of my steamiest ever. So check it out... :-)
Eli
I'm excited to be able to share with you the cover for ROBBY RIVERTON: MAIL ORDER BRIDE. It's a gay romantic comedy set in the old west. The cover was done by Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs. It's based on the idea of spoofing old-fashioned, western mail order bride covers. I love it!
I'm so jacked about this book. It was a ton of fun to write and beta feedback so far has been wonderful. One beta reader said "Overall, an outstanding success in my opinion - one of your best!" I hope you all will think so too.
This book will debut on Kindle Unlimited and then go wide after the first 3 months. I'm also currently casting an audiobook version which I hope to have on Audible by end of June.
I'm not putting the book up for pre-orders to maximum release day sales, but if you sign up for the mailing list below (which is JUST for this), you'll get notified when the book goes live.
BLURB:
Being a fugitive in the old west shouldn’t be this much fun.
The year is 1860. Robby Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder by a famous crime boss and is forced to go on the run--all the way to Santa Fe. When he still hasn't ditched his pursuers, he disguises himself as a mail order bride he meets on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his "intended", Robby's only ally is a lazy sheriff who sees exactly who Robby is -- and can't resist him.
Trace Crabtree took the job as sheriff of Flat Bottom because there was never a thing going on. And then Robby Riverton showed up. Disguised as a woman. And betrothed to Trace’s brother. If that wasn’t complication enough, Trace had to find the man as appealing as blueberry pie. He urges Robby to stay undercover until the danger has passed. But a few weeks of having Robby-Rowena at the ranch, and the Crabtree family will never be the same again.
Damn, what a kerfuffle. If only Trace can get rid of the fugitive while hanging on to his own stupid heart.
That's all folks...
Eli
I'm starting a new feature here on the blog. Each month I'll focus on a backlist book and it'll be on sale. For April the book is THE TROUBLE WITH TONY. All through April it's on sale for just .99c on Dreamspinner. HERE's THE LINK. Keep reading for a little background on the story.
This was one of the first m/m romance stories I ever wrote, way back in 2012. It was published in 2013 by Dreamspinner.
Tony DeMarco is a private investigator in Seattle. He's looking into a young woman's death and he learns she went to a sex clinic the last few months before her murder. Did the sex clinic, or her therapist, Dr. Jack Halloran, have something to do with it?
To find out, Tony pretends to e a new patient of Jack's. At first Tony makes up a story about being a sex addict. But when Jack sees through that, Tony admits he does have a little problem. He can only have sex with specific men he's really attracted to. Only four in his life so far.
Things get complicated when Jack turns out to be #5.
This is a fun-set up that allows for a lot of humor in the book, especially since Tony is a big, wise-cracking, Italian tough-guy. There's also a mystery/investigation thread running through the book. It's fairly short at novella length, but it packs a lot in.
Eli's 3 Favorite Things about The Trouble With Tony:
1. The humor.
2. The stirrup scene (yes, OBGYN stirrups)
3. The appearances of sex surrogate Michael, who later gets his own book.
Hope you enjoy your time with Tony! Here's the book page on this site.
Eli
I hope everyone has a fun Easter weekend. Today I sent my latest book "Robby Riverton: Mail Order Bride" off to beta. That's a great feeling when a manuscript is finished, and clean, and is ready to share with others. I don't share it at all when I'm writing, because I'm usually all over the place, writing scenes as they come to me. And so the last phase requires stitching all that together and writing transitions and making sure the who-knew-what-whens are accurate so it all makes sense in a linear flow.
I'm particularly excited about this book. It's been a while since I wrote a historical romance. And it's pretty funny (I think). I have a soft spot for western romances. I read a lot of them back in the day when I read het romance. So this was just "all kindy fun" to write. Those of you who have read my "A Prairie Dog's Love Song" and "The Stolen Suitor" know my fondness for western dialect and Robby has that on steroids.
I also ADORE the cover, which was done by Dar Albert. It's a spoof on those old western romance covers.
COMING UP - Cover reveal by Apr 16th.
APRIL 26 - BOOK RELEASE DAY. It will probably be on KU for the first 3 months, then go wide.
BLURB:
Being a fugitive in the old west shouldn’t be this much fun.
The year is 1860. Robby Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder by a famous crime boss and is forced to go on the run--all the way to Santa Fe. When he still hasn't ditched his pursuers, he disguises himself as a mail order bride he meets on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his "intended", Robby's only ally is a lazy sheriff who sees exactly who Robby is -- and can't resist him.
Trace Crabtree took the job as sheriff of Flat Bottom because there was never a thing going on. And then Robby Riverton showed up. Disguised as a woman. And betrothed to Trace’s brother. If that wasn’t complication enough, Trace had to find the man as appealing as blueberry pie. He urges Robby to stay undercover until the danger has passed. But a few weeks of having Robby-Rowena at the ranch, and the Crabtree family will never be the same again.
Damn, what a kerfuffle. If only Trace can get rid of the fugitive while hanging on to his own stupid heart.
