YA M/M Romance: ALL the Colors of Love

SUMMARY:


It sucks being the son of a super villain. At home, Harry spends half of his time getting medical treatments and the other half tied up in his father's underwater lair. It was different when his mother was alive, but she disappeared when Harry was six. He can't seem to stay out of trouble at school, and his new roommate, Antonin, thinks he’s a spaz, but somehow Harry has to find a way to stop his father's evil plans.


Antonin Karganilla wants to become a comic book artist, but other than that, being gay is the most normal thing about him. His uncle is an aquatic plant man, his aunt is a molecular biologist back from the dead, and his mom is an overprotective pain in the butt. Antonin's in boarding school and it's starting to look like he and this Harry kid might have a lot in common... and that means a whole new set of problems.

Jessica will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour. Check out the schedule HERE!

Excerpt

He just wasn’t used to feeling like this, was all. Sometimes when he was alone he shook with it -- pinpricks of terror all over his body. Terror because he couldn’t quite understand how someone as fucked up as him could feel this good. 

But then he’d think of Antonin, and he’d remember. 

Harry took his customary seat at the back of the class and settled in for an hour of mystery speak from Professor Brill. Not Antonin, though. Antonin sat up at the front of the class with his notebook and his pencil, ready to take notes. 

Harry had known Antonin was smart from the get-go, and it hadn’t taken long for him to appreciate his fine, fierce beauty either. But it wasn’t until Antonin assured him with calm and deadly certainty that the Old Man was as good as dead that Harry appreciated just how savage Antonin really was. If there was any chance at all of ridding the world of his father, it lay with Antonin along with every other hope Harry had ever had. 

Brill was blathering on about the square of the hippopotamus or something, and for no reason at all, Antonin glanced over his shoulder at Harry with a little smile. Later he’d probably nag Harry for not taking notes, but Harry wouldn’t really mind. It was worth it to get that glance and that smile, a snapshot moment of dark eyes and soft lips that he could spend the rest of the day falling into. 


He was in such deep shit.

AUTHOR BIO

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Jessica Freely can't resist a wounded hero. As a reader and a writer, her favorite stories are of soul mates finding redemption in each other's arms. Married to the love of her life in a beautiful relationship based on mutual goofiness, Jessica also warps minds as an instructor in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Her dog, Ruthie, doesn't seem to care that Jessica's an award-winning and best-selling author in multiple genres. She just wants to play tug of war with Jessica's pages.

Top 5 Classic YA Romances

Author Lisa Cresswell is here to give us her Top Five Classic YA Romances, and I must say the list is definetly filled with some of my favorites. However, before you check out her list, get a good look at her new novel.

SUMMARY:
Hush Puppy is the story of Corrine Lamb, a seventeen year old black girl, and Jamie Armstrong, a poor white boy, living in a backwater North Carolina town. Intelligent Corrine, abandoned by her mother, and artsy Jamie, forced to play football by a redneck father, both dream of leaving their podunk town and never looking back.

Their shared love of literature and a dream of a better life brings them together and a romance blossoms between them in a secret place of their own in the steamy North Carolina woods. When Jamie is involved in the accidental death of a white girl, he's terrified of his abusive father. Corrine takes the blame to protect Jaime, with dire consequences for herself and her dreams of the future. Her life in danger, Corrine's left wondering if Jamie ever cared about her at all.

The events surrounding the death of Trayvon Martin underscore how prevalent fear and hate still is in our country. Sadly, many of the themes explored in Hush Puppy are extremely relevant to today's youth. It's my hope that Hush Puppy is a story not only about poverty and race, but about hope, friendship, and the power of love.

Lisa's Top Five Classic YA Romances

I have to admit, when Kenya asked me to name my five top YA romances, I did a bit of an uh-oh.  While I love romantic elements in books, I haven’t read any true romance novels in awhile. So, here are five (not necessarily romance) novels with romances that I loved reading.


I think all of  these books appeal to me because they’re about first love and all the crazy, mixed up feelings that come with that. They aren’t muddied up with baggage; well, except for maybe The Hunger Games.  For the most part, they’re full on, head over heels, I’ll die without you-type love stories. I guess I like it complicated and messy.


1. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

2. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

3. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

4. Anne of Green Gables series  by L.M. Montgomery

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Author Bio

WEBSITE

Lisa T. Cresswell is a professional archaeologist who works in Idaho and dabbles frequently in young adult literature. Originally from North Carolina, her stories are often inspired by memories of growing up there. 

Cover Reveal: The Cirque by Ryann Kerekes

A Goodreads reviewer that I truly trust in her book opinions was going crazy over this book. . .so. . .because I am sick. I rushed over, emailed the author, begged to get a review copy, and threatened to stand outside her home and sing Lil Wayne lyrics at the tune of country music songs.

She replied and sent me the book, although confessing that she loves Lil Wayne and an occasional country music song, so I could just BRING IT!

Anyway. Long story short. I'm reading the book and the fan girl inside my core is vibrating with excitement! Here is the Cover Reveal below.

I'll post my review and a giveaway for this lovely book on Feb 22.

Book Blurb:
Eighteen-year-old ballerina Ariel is determined to experience life
outside the dance studio. She auditions for the cirque on a whim, and though ballet training didn’t prepare her for dodging knives, she refuses to flinch and wins the spot of target girl alongside Gabriel, the mysterious knife-thrower.

There’s something unmistakably dangerous yet tempting about Gabriel’s crystal blue eyes and tattoos. She’s determined to solve the mystery of his past after learning he’s on the run from the law. Especially since the distraction is just what she needs to avoid admitting to her parents she was dismissed from her
ballet contract.

The more she learns about Gabriel, the scars on his body, the foster
homes he grew up in, and his fascination with knives, she knows she should run the other way, but that boy’s like crack, oh so bad for you, yet addicting as hell. When he’s arrested and forced to deal with his past, she has to choose between putting her own life back together and dealing with her parents, or taking a chance on Gabriel, as no one else has.

Author Bio:

Website
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Goodreads

Ryann Kerekes writes young adult novels with a strong dose of romance. She lives in Minnesota with a super cute husband and two puppies, one of which may be part monkey. When not writing, she enjoys reading, hiking, laughing and day dreaming about kissing scenes. The Cirque, a contemporary, sexy YA is her debut novel.

Guest Post: Classy Sex Scenes for YA & New Adult Books, by D.T. Dyllin

Check out this Guest Post by Hot New Adult author D.T. Dyllin, but first get a quick look at her book that's just been released this week!!

**D.T.'s Kindle Fire and eBook giveaway is still open!**

Hidden Gates
by D.T. Dyllin

For P.J. Stone, being a “Seer” who has never seen anything is less than fun. And P.J. isn’t known for her patience.

To make matters worse, she must choose a suitable mate to continue the Seer bloodline. Duty always comes before her heart…at least that’s what her parents taught her. When she finds herself wanting someone who is considered off-limits, P.J. is forced to question everything she believes.

As if navigating her love life isn’t complicated enough, P.J. finally receives a vision—of a threat to her world that only she can perceive. But no one will believe a fledgling Seer’s warnings. With nowhere else to turn, she may decide to trust a stranger with her life, her world, and maybe even her heart.

D.T. Dyllin

What’s up you sex crazed lovelies?!

Don’t try to deny it.

If you’re wondering how exactly to go about writing a ‘classy’ sex scene for a YA or New Adult novel, but can’t quite figure it out…then yep…your mind has been living in the gutter.

But no worries, you’re not alone. My mind lives there 99% of the time, and that’s why I also write adult books. It’s kind of nice to not have to censor myself.

Alright, so I’m going to jump right into this now…here are some tips on how to do the New Adult or YA sex scene with a touch of class… aka …  How not to incur the wrath of publishers and angry tween moms.

1)     Even if you’re not a mom, pretend that you are. We all know teenagers know about sex. But what would you be comfortable letting your own child read? If you wouldn’t let your own kid read the scene you wrote, then it’s time to edit it. ‘Nuff said.

2)     Don’t be overly descriptive of the physical parts. Yes, you need to describe things a tad, clearly, but describe the emotional part more. Plus we all know that can be hotter sometimes anyways.

3)     Watch your word choice. Don’t use words like c**, d***, c***, etc. in YA, or most New Adult for that matter. Here’s an example from Hidden Gates:

“A new type of warmth I’d never experienced before bloomed in my center. Soon it grew into a fire of need, spreading through my system, pushing outward into spasms of ecstasy.”

It’s pretty clear what’s happening in the latter scene, and I didn’t even use the word cum once. I know…craaaazy.

4)     Make it more about the connection, the love, and the romance than just the sex. Make the sex an extension of the characters feelings for each other and even if you slip up a bit and go more “adult” you still won’t go wrong.

5)     Last but not least. Try to teach responsible birth control usage and protection against STDs. I know, I know…it kind of sucks. But you have to think that we as adults realize that pregnancy and STDs are a very real risk, and some of the books we read are purely fantasy.

There are tons of things that I think are super hot in books that I’d never do in real life. For instance… just meeting a man and hooking up with him and not using protection. In real life I’d be like… "You better be wrapping that up, buddy boy.”

But sometimes teens and tweens still take cues from fictional characters if they seem cool. In Hidden Gates, I threw in a line about birth control between Bryn and P.J. I really didn’t want to, I won’t lie, but again, it’s our responsibility as writers to consider these things.

Alright, those are my hopefully helpful tips on how to write a ‘classy’ sex scene in YA or New Adult novels. Thanks to Two Fantasy Floozies for the invite to guest post! It was fun! Later all you sex crazed lovelies! J

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