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!
Eli's Favs: "Creature" by Kim Fielding
Yay! This book was a homerun for me. I was listening to an interminably long thriller and got bored with it. I wanted something quick and fun to blast through the book doldrums. "Creature" was the right pick. I loved it.
Kim begins with a heartbreaking scene showing the "creature", John, in captivity. This immediately establishes empathy for him. I have a soft spot for underdog characters (versus perfect alpha males), and so I fell in love with John at once and had to see him get his happy.
He's removed from what might be decades of solitary confinement by the Bureau and Harry, who is picked to use John on a case. John is so grateful to be free and to be treated kindly. And Harry soon realizes John is much more than a "thing".
This is a sweet, dark little fairy tale and I read it in one sitting. Kim's writing is so effortless and appealing, it just pulls you right through the book, forgetting everything else.
Highly recommended. Now I want to go back and read the first two Bureau books.
Robby Riverton Blog Tour - MOODBOARD
Whoot! I'm excited AF about this guest post. It's a MOODBOARD for Robby Riverton. I had fun putting it together, and I hope you like it. Click at the link below. (There's' also a giveaway link there.)
Tellings Tales with Jamie Fessenden
Dreamspinner is having a Celebration of Community in which DSP authors tells stories about each other. Jamie Fessenden is one of my best writer pals in Romancelandia. He's always so level-headed about the waves of drama, and we are both equally laid-back. Also, I love his books, especially "Billy's Bones".
Check out the stories Jamie and I tell about each other.
Robby Riverton Blog Tour & Giveaway
Rachel at Signal Boost Promotions is helping me with a blog tour for Robby Riverton Mail Order Bride. Here are some stops so far. There is a giveaway of a $25 gift card and some of my books. You can enter the giveaway at any of the stops.
BLOG TOUR STOPS:
* Love Bytes Reviews - Eli's Top 5 Favorite Westerns
* My Fiction Nook - Excerpt: First Kiss
* Gay Book Reviews - Release day spotlight with multiple reviews
* MJ's Book Blog and Reviews - Review
More to come...
Release Day - Robby Riverton: Mail Order Bride
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.
Eli's Favs: "Femme" by Marshall Thornton
This book is an absolute delight. Marshall Thornton is an amazing writer, more literary author than romance author, but I love when he turns his hand to romance. Lionel ('Lynette') is a self-described queen, and her voice is just a scream. I listened to the audiobook and Joel Leslie was perfect.
Lionel begins a "thing" with Dog, a softball player who is more masc and can pass for straight. The road to true love, however, is rocky, as Dog has some growing up to do before he can admit Lionel is his boyfriend to his family and friends. The humor keeps this from being too angsty in spots, even when Dog messes up big time. There are some interesting musings here about femmes in the gay culture and the value of being yourself. But mostly, it's just pure pleasure to immerse yourself in Marshall's smart, witty characters. I would have rolled right into the sequel, "Masc, but it's not out for a few more days.
Highly recommended!
Five Dares - Re-release Blitz & Giveaway
Five Dares was originally with Riptide. But I got the rights back in March, and now it's available on Kindle Unlimited. To celebrate the new release, Rachel at Signal Promotions organized a blog tour and Rafflecopter giveaway. You can enter the giveaway at any (or all) of the tour stops and check out reviews and excerpts. Links below!
Eli's Favs: "His Quiet Agent"' by Ada Maria Soto
I loved this novella from Ada Maria Soto and ate it up in one evening. What's to love?
First, the setting of a "secret agency" was unique and fun. Arthur works as a data analyst in a "government" building (though he tells his mom he sells insurance). Everyone else in this shadowy organization keeps very much to themselves, even in the lunchroom. When Arthur decides he needs to improve his visibility by being friendly, he upsets the gloomy, uber private facade--especially when he picks the quietest, weirdest guy of all to befriend. There isn't a lot of explanation about what this secret agency does, but we don't really need it. The "secrecy" angle works to keep even Arthur and the reader in the dark. In this case, the author depends on us knowing basically what a secret agency is thanks to James Bond and its ilk. The setting felt very dry and tongue-in-cheek and was nice change from the usual romance tropes.
Second, the writing is really very good. As a writer myself, I'm always thrilled to run across a new writer (to me anyway) in romance who can cause me to smile and underline like a fool.
"I'm sure there's a culture somewhere where silently shoving finger food at someone is an acceptable form of courting. Hobbits maybe."
I enjoyed every word of this book. Sometimes an author's sense of humor connects with you and sometimes it doesn't. I've read some highly-ranked books filled with brash, constant sexual references and juvenile potty humor that I didn't find funny at all. But then, I've always tended toward the dry and subtle, and that describes this book's sense of humor to a T.
"Agent Sims used to do it, but he bashed a fax machine to death with a three-hole punch, then quit. So, that's an open position, as it were."
Third, I also appreciated the uniqueness of the characters and the romance. This is not your typical first kiss-bj-anal sort of romance. The characters aren't even sure they're in a romance for most of the book. One character is asexual and the other isn't sure what he is. It's fine with the characters if they never have sex, and it was fine with me too. Their sweet-weird-caring relationship was all kinds of awesome. I give the author all the props for just the freshness of this in the market and for the way the characters themselves had to feel around the edges of what they meant to each other.
But the word 'friend' seemed not to fit. It was too vague and common. What he felt was more complicated than a word tossed about by children or achieved through a click of a mouse. ... Martin let him see the cracks that night and the smallest hint of what lay beyond. He wanted to know what was truly beneath those cracks but also knew he would fight anyone who tried to break Martin open. For that feeling, he knew of no words.
If you're not sure if a romance like this will be your cup of tea, try it anyway. It's only 111 pages and I guarantee the smooth-funny writing will pull you through and make you smile.
In Ada Maria Soto, I've found a new author to follow and bless wishings upon from afar. :-) Hope you enjoy her too.
Eli
five dares now out on KU!
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
COVER REVEAL - Robby Riverton: Mail Order Bride
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.
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2018
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.
CLICK HERE TO GET AN EMAIL REMINDER WHEN IT'S 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
April's Featured Book: THE TROUBLE WITH TONY
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
Happy Easter & Robby Riverton Off to Beta!
HAPPY EASTER peeps! :-)
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.
"FALLING DOWN" AND "HOW TO SAVE A LIFE" NOW IN EPUB
For readers who prefer EPUB format, a bunch of my titles are now available again in epub or available for the first time. FALLING DOWN and HOW TO SAVE A LIFE (Howl at the Moon #4) are both available in epub for the first time.
Here are some purchase links.
Kobo (looks like they're still propagating through here but they should show up soon)
They should appear soon on iBooks as well.
Eli
New Eli Easton website is live!
When I had a friend of my husband's help me set up an Eli Easton website in 2012, I had sold three stories to Dreamspinner but had yet to have a single one of them come out. So "Eli Easton", at that time, was really only a dream--a hope that one day there would be a reason for an Eli Easton site to exist. :-)
Nearly six years and thirty books later, I've finally gotten around to redoing the website and making it look like a professional author site. Thanks to RJ Scott for prompting me to get my butt in gear and get it done, Sarina Bowen for the design inspiration, and squarespace for the rad tools. Oh, and my new logo is by Eriq Chang.
My old blog posts were imported over from my previous Wordpress site and so they look like ass. I don't intend to go back and fix them all. But moving forward, they'll look better, I promise. :-)
SO WELCOME TO THE NEW ELI EASTON WEBSITE!
Eli's Favs: "Love, Simon"
This past weekend, I went to see "Love, Simon" on opening day with a lovely author friend who was visiting, RJ Scott, and her husband. I expected to like the film, but nope. I loved it.
It's a standard high school film set-up with a theater group, wacky principle, and a group of friends. One of the friends, Simon, is secretly gay. He hasn't not come out for any profound reason. His family is pretty cool and open-minded. His friends would probably be supportive. But, as Simon says, he just doesn't want things to change. He has it pretty good, and he wants to just enjoy the rest of high school without drama.
But when a rather wanker-y kid at school blackmails Simon and threatens to out him, Simon does some not-so-cool things to keep him quiet. And then, of course it all blows up.
It's a fairly simple story, but what makes it so great is the level of diversity and acceptance in the movie. When Simon does come out, it's the actions he took when blackmailed, and not the fact that he is gay, that upset his friends. There's a lot of diversity in the cast. And finally, finally, there's a happy ending and the boy gets the boy.
I love reading gay romance, and I'm often frustrated there aren't more gay romantic films out there. "Shelter" is my favorite because it has a happy ending. "Latter Days" is good for that reason. But so many times, films with gay protagonists have to end in misery, such as the otherwise fabulous "Free Fall". Even "Call Me By Your Name" has a sad ending.
Let's hoping the success of "Love, Simon" brings more great gay romance (HEA included) to the screen.
What was almost as good as the film, though, was the audience reaction. Our five o'clock showing was filled with women, mostly teenagers, and they screamed, sighed, and applauded. I've never been to a regular het romance film that got that kind of reaction. I love the open-mindedness of the younger generation. And, yes, I felt proud to be a gay romance author!
So here's my rec: Go see "Love, Simon!"
Eli
Upcoming Publications
I've updated my schedule of what I expect to publish in 2018. Here goes.... UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS
APRIL 2018 -- Title TBD (but nearly done). A m/m historical romance set in the old west. Riley Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder committed 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 met on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his "intended", Riley's only ally is a lazy, gun-slinging sheriff who sees exactly who Riley is -- and can't resist him.
Summer 2018 -- Howl at the Moon #5 (title TBD) - Probably featuring Simon the terrier. :-)
Summer/Fall 2018 -- Another book to be announced
Christmas 2018 -- This year's Christmas book will be part of a series with 7 other awesome authors. Each book will be stand-alone but have a common theme. Mine will have a historical setting. More info later!
"The Little Matchboy" - free Christmas story for the Rainbow Advent
I wrote a free short story called "The Little Matchboy" for the Rainbow Advent calendar. CHECK IT OUT HERE.
"The Little Matchboy" - free Christmas short story
I've written a 6000 word Christmas short story that will be offered for free as part of the Rainbow Advent Calendar. The calendar has free fiction by a variety of authors, one story available each day of December. My story will be out Dec 14th. You can follow the stories on the Facebook group page here.
If you can't wait, my 2017 Christmas novella, "Desperately Seeking Santa" is available right now on KU here.
Rainbow Awards 2017 - "Falling Down" and "How to Save a Life"
I'm very happy to announce that two of my books placed in the 2017 Rainbow Awards. "Falling Down" was runner-up in the "Best Gay Book" and "Best Gay Contemporary Romance" categories. And "How to Save a Life" was a 3rd place winner in the "Best Gay Paranormal Romance" category. Many thanks to Elisa, who puts so much work into these awards and raises a lot of donations for LGBT charities. You are an angel. CLICK HERE to visit the Rainbow Awards and see all the winners.
Eli