I’m so thrilled to be here at Love Bytes today, especially considering I almost wasn’t! If it wasn’t for the beautiful, sweet, and much-more-organized-than-me Dani, I would have missed my last chance to be a part of the GRL tour. I agreed to participate during the summer when life is easy and breezy for me, and I fully intended to write the blog post and get ahead. But I was having fun in southern California and living the good life, and so every day I put it off until I’d plumb forgot all about it!

So, Dani, thank you, thank you, thank you!

But you know what? Things always work out as they are supposed to. Because you see, I had a new book release on Monday from Dreamspinner Press. Being True is a sweet coming of age romance between Tru Cobbler, the awkward new kid, and Javi Castillo, the hot, popular jock with a kind heart. While the novel does feature two teenagers as the main characters, the book isn’t young adult. Teens could probably read the book, which does include sex, and have a frank discussion with their parents on the subject, but my intended audience wasn’t teens.

In all honesty, the book was for me and for others who could relate to the person I once was.

My high school years weren’t the best. I was awkward and shy, and I did my best to fade into the woodwork. I didn’t let people get too close because if they did, they’d see the secret I carried around with me. So I kept my distance. I hid everything I was, good and bad, out of fear.

I wanted to write a novel about a boy who was not like me. I wanted to write about a teenager who had his act together. He might not be the most popular or attractive guy in school, but what mattered to him was that he knew who he was, and he accepted all aspects of himself—the good, the bad, and the really ugly because he loved himself first and foremost.

And that’s why I created Tru. He was the boy I would have liked to be. Other people’s opinions just don’t matter. Sure, their harsh words hurt. Shitty people and their opinions wound us all, but Tru doesn’t let them stop him from being Tru.

Writing Tru re-taught this 41 year old man a lesson he needed to learn at a pivotal moment in his life—being true to who we are is the only way to be happy.

Thank you again to Dani for everything. You are truly wonderful, and thank you to everyone who stopped by with me today. <3

For those interested, I have included a blurb and excerpt below.

BLURB:

Truman L. Cobbler has not had an easy life. It’s bad enough people say he looks like Donkey from Shrek, but he’s also suffered the death of his policeman father and his mother’s remarriage to a professional swindler, who cost them everything. Now dirt poor, they live in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. When Tru transfers to an inner-city high school halfway through his senior year, he meets Javi Castillo, a popular and hot high school jock. Javi takes an immediate liking to Tru, and the two become friends. The odd pairing, however, rocks the school and sets the cliquish social circles askew. No one knows how to act or what to think when Mr. Popular takes a stand for Mr. Donkey. Will the cliques rise up to maintain status quo and lead Tru and Javi to heartbreak and disaster or will being true to who they are rule the day?

 

“Sorry, I’m late,” the tardy hunk of lean muscle said as he exhaled a lungful of air out the corner of his lips. The sudden rush of air caused his dark locks to briefly flutter on his forehead before once again settling into perfect alignment. “But coach wanted to run a few things by me before practice this afternoon.”

Mr. Rodriguez’s snort told everyone he didn’t appreciate the tardiness. “Well, I will speak to Coach Moore about this, Mr. Castillo. That’s the second time this week.”

The young man shrugged in response to Mr. Rodriguez’s reprimand, as if being tardy was beyond his control and nothing to worry about. Had this guy ever worried about anything in his life? Most likely not. He was not only insanely good-looking, but he carried himself with a devil-may-care attitude that obviously swept up everyone in his proximity.

Mr. Rodriguez hadn’t interpreted his shrug as a discipline problem, and the class apparently thought he was the emperor of ice cream since they practically clung to his every word like eager little kids.

How did someone my own age pull that off so effortlessly? Hell, it had never occurred to me to shrug off a teacher’s comment before.

“You can take it up with him after class,” said Castillo. He pushed himself off the door upon which he’d been leaning and suddenly noticed me standing slack-jawed in the middle of the room. His eyes caught mine, which made my dick jump within its denim prison, and for the briefest of moments, time slowed to a standstill.

Gazing into his eyes was heavenly and momentous, like watching a comet streak through the night sky. It also unleashed a flurry of sparrows in my stomach, which decided to take flight at once, flapping their tiny wings with all their might. If they flapped any harder or faster, I’d likely soar above the classroom, which, even though that would be pretty darn cool, would probably just alienate me further from my classmates.

I wouldn’t be that cool kid who could fly. I’d be that weirdo who couldn’t keep his feet on the ground.

“New kid, huh?” he asked as he crossed over to me.

I nodded. What else could I do? My lips could only tremble, and I had to keep my cock from burrowing through the book to the other side.

“I’m Javi.” He extended his hand, and his lips broadened into a genuine smile. I’d been on the end of supposedly friendly greetings from popular kids before. They claimed to want to be my best friend and show me the ropes when all they were doing was setting me up for an embarrassing prank that every asshole in school played on the new students.

But I could tell that wasn’t what Javi was about. It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on. It was just sort of a feeling. You know the kind I’m talking about. It’s how you just know a random dog you spot on the street won’t bite you. That was the same gut feeling I had with Javi’s smile and his offered hand. They told me I could trust him implicitly.

“Truman,” I finally responded, and when I took his hand in mine, an electrical current coursed through my fingers, up my arm, spread through my chest, and down into my balls. “But friends call me Tru.”

I winced at my stupidity. Now that I’d made that little revelation, everyone would make certain to address me as Truman. No one wanted to be the new kid’s friend.

“Nice to meet you, Tru,” Javi said without missing a beat. He gave my hand a friendly squeeze before withdrawing. He spun around to the shocked looks on the other students’ faces. They couldn’t have been more dumbfounded than I was. Javi didn’t even acknowledge their collective horror. Either he didn’t see it or he didn’t care.

 

 

You can buy Being True here:

 Dreamspinner Press

 

About the Author :

 

Jacob Z. Flores lives a double life. During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator. At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hardass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.

 

Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse. When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his daughter. They both represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.

And I urge readers to visit me at any or all of my social media sites:

Website/blog: http://jacobzflores.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jacob.flores2,

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JacobZFlores,

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5142501.Jacob_Z_Flores

Jacob is giving away a e copy of a.title of his.backlist to one lucky commenter . Good luck !